Spine-Chilling Story of School Scissors

> "*Kouji Tagawa, class photographer stays late at school to investigate the case of a missing friend. Little does he know he's not alone in the building...*"
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**Spine-Chilling Story of School Scissors** is one of many playable mysteries that can be carried out in order to bring a player closer to defeating the Old God of their playthrough. In the 2017 demo and the full games tutorial, it is the personal mystery of Kouji Tagawa.

## Introduction

*"Another boy from your school has disappeared. Rumor has it, a terrible woman has returned from the grave. A woman with the widest smile... and the sharpest scissors.*

*You knew your friend was up to something when he left you his notebook full of cryptic notes. 'I can send her back where she belongs' he claimed.*

*After he disappeared too, you decided to study the notebook for clues. It details a ritual that can stop the wicked woman once and for all. What's the worst thing that could happen?"*

## Mystery Progression

In total, the player must investigate the School 5 times in order to perform the ritual and then conclude the mystery. This mystery has no side quest.

### First Investigation

***The school is eerily quiet at this hour.***

*"Your missing friend has left you a notebook.* *If the rumors are true, to stop the TALL WOMAN WITH SCISSORS, you'll need to perform a ritual to force her material form to appear in our dimension.* *Accomplishing this requires first the drawing of an eldritch sigil and then the lighting of holy candles.* *You can only hope your friend has left them somewhere around the school."*

On this mystery screen, there are the following 4 options:

* 'ACCESS YOUR STORAGE' - Allows the player to access their item storage. This is primarily for retrieving the Friend's Diary, required for the player to know the correct ritual sigil.

* 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' - This option will progress the mystery to the next step, and let the player encounter a random School event.

* 'PERFORM THE RITUAL' - Until the school has been explored 5 times, attempting the ritual will send the following message in the log: *"The ritual is not ready."*

* 'CHECK OUT SCHOOL LOCKERS' - Choosing this option will bring the player to a screen showing 11 lockers, 3 of which are marked by symbols and openable.
	+ Opening the leftmost marked locker will reveal what seems to be a grotesque mouth lining the inside of the locker. This results in the player taking 1 REASON damage and sending the following message in the log: *"w-what's that?"*
	+ Opening the middle marked locker will reveal a Wooden Bat. The following messages will be sent in the log: *"Inside a locker, you find a baseball bat. / Feeling you might need it later, you decide to pick it up."* The Wooden Bat will be added to the player's inventory.
	+ The rightmost marked locker is locked, and requires a Tiny Key to open. Opening it will consume the Tiny Key, but also add the Sport Rifle and 2 bullets to the player's inventory.

### Second Investigation

***BLESSED CHALK: not found | HOLY CANDLES: not found***

*"You feel like something horrible is happening within the school. You must hurry and find those items!"*

The same aforementioned 4 options are available to the player. Once again, the player needs to select 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' to progress the mystery to the next step.

### Third Investigation

***Something evil stalks the empty school corridors...***

*"You found an additional page from your friend's diary. It seems that the BLESSED CHALK was left \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.* *You must hurry and find it!"*

The blank portion of the above message changes depending on the location of the BLESSED CHALK and will forecast the event the player will investigate next upon selecting the 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' option. Once again, the player needs to select 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' to progress the mystery.

* ...in the pool - The player will encounter Dead Man's Float.
* ...on the roof - The player will either encounter Drifting Classroom or fight Maru, Marked by the Scissor Lady.

Along with the four aforementioned options, there's a new option: 'PEEK OUTSIDE'. Selecting this option will show a door that the player can open by clicking and dragging the door handle to the left. Doing so will reveal a 'school wraith haunting the corridor'. Attempting to open the door after it has already been opened will send the following message in the log: *"You shouldn't risk that again."* Opening the door serves as a way to jumpscare the player and grant the 'PEEKING TOM' achievement, but otherwise has no purpose.

### Fourth Investigation

***BLESSED CHALK: found | HOLY CANDLES: not found***

*"You've found BLESSED CHALK, which you can use to draw the sigil in your ritual. You copy the sigil as best as you can on the blackboard."*

On this screen, the options to 'CHECK OUT SCHOOL LOCKERS' and 'PEEK OUTSIDE' options are removed. There are 2 new options, both named 'REDRAW SIGIL', along with the 3 earlier options of 'ACCESS YOUR STORAGE', 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' and 'PERFORM THE RITUAL'.

Redrawing the sigil can send either of two messages in the log: *"It should be correct now."* and *"What was the design?"*. **It should be noted that this is not representative of whether the drawn sigil is the correct sigil depicted in the Friend's Diary.**

Once again, the player needs to select 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' to progress the mystery to the next step.

### Fifth Investigation

***BLESSED CHALK: found | HOLY CANDLES: not found***

*"The sound of scissors is getting louder. You must hurry!"*

The options to redraw the sigil are now gone, leaving only 3 options present: 'ACCESS YOUR STORAGE', 'EXPLORE SCHOOL', and 'PERFORM THE RITUAL'.

Once again, the player needs to select 'EXPLORE SCHOOL' to progress the mystery to the next and final step.

## Performing the Ritual

***BLESSED CHALK: found | HOLY CANDLES: found***

*"You've found the holy candles in your friend's backpack. You lit them as instructed by the notebook. Everything is ready for the ritual..."*

On this screen, there are only two options: 'ACCESS YOUR STORAGE' and 'PERFORM THE RITUAL'. Choosing 'PERFORM THE RITUAL' will bring the player to a screen showing the Scissor Lady lurking outside the classroom door, and the message *"wait, what's that?..."* is shown on the left. After a short duration, the Scissor Lady will knock on the window above the classroom door, and the option to 'CONTINUE' will be present.

From here, the mystery will branch into 2 different paths:

### Correct Sigil

*"You take a step back as a writhing amorphous mass slowly takes shape.* *Soon, it becomes a tall, woman-like creature with three faces, all connected by a wide smile.* *Now it is your chance to fight and defeat this horror. It is also your only chance."*

Selecting 'prepare for combat' will then initiate a fight with Scissor Woman. Defeating her will show the player **Ending A**, while reaching 0 STAMINA or REASON against her will result in **Ending C** and a game over instead.

### Incorrect Sigil

*"The SIGIL and HOLY CANDLES don't seem to have any effect on the horrible monster. Had you drawn it wrong?* *Frozen in fear, you watch as the twitching horror gets closer and closer.* *It raises its enormous scissors and croaks:* *~~~~aM I bEaUtIfUl?~~~~"*

Selecting 'prepare for combat' will then initiate a fight with Scissor Woman (Horror), who is stronger than Scissor Woman statwise. Defeating her will show the player **Ending B** and award the Cursed Scissors, while reaching 0 STAMINA or REASON against her will result in **Ending C** and a game over instead.

## Mystery Changes

### Burned School

If the player had chosen the option to burn the school down in Macabre Memoir of Morbid Mermaids before investigating the mystery, the following changes will occur:

* The school is noticeably damaged with burn marks.
* Instead of finding the Wooden Bat in the middle marked locker, the Torch will be found instead. The log text will still say that a Wooden Bat was found, however.
* On Timeline A, regardless of whether the sigil matches the depiction in the Friend's Diary, the text for drawing the Incorrect Sigil will be displayed instead. Instead of fighting Scissor Woman (Horror), Scissor Woman (Burned) will be fought instead. Likewise, defeating her will show the player **Ending B** and award the Cursed Scissors, while reaching 0 STAMINA or REASON against her will result in **Ending C** and a game over instead.

### Timeline B

If the player is on Timeline B, the following changes will occur:

* The Friend's Diary will show the first 2 moves of the Ghosts banishment ritual in order (from top to bottom) at the top left.
* Drawing the correct sigil does not change the outcome of the mystery.
* Upon opening the classroom door after **Performing the Ritual**, a tall conjoined pile of heads will be seen instead. The event text is as follows: *"You take a step back as a writhing amorphous mass slowly takes shape. A pillar of heads is nearly reaching the high ceiling. Each face has the same expression of pure hatred. Each mouth screaming the same question... ~~~~aM I bEaUtIfUl?~~~~ ~~~~Am I BEAutiFuL?~~~~ ~~~~AM i beAUtIFUl?~~~~ [Now it's your only chance to send this monstrosity away. Input the correct combination of BOWS and CLAPS to perform the banishment ritual]*
	+ The banishment ritual is the exact same as the one used for ghost enemies. If not already known beforehand, the player can use this combination to instantly banish future Ghosts encounters in the same run.
* Performing the banishment ritual will display the following message: *"You take a step back, praying that the banishment ritual was effective..."*, while showing whether the ritual actions performed were correct or not.
	+ If an individual ritual move was correct, +5 EXP is awarded.
	+ If an individual ritual move was incorrect, the player is damaged for -1 ALL. This is despite the UI claiming that the player is damaged for -2 ALL.
* Regardless of whether the whole banishment ritual is correct or not, **Ending D** will be shown.
* **Endings A, B and C** are not achievable in Timeline B.

## Endings

### Ending A: Saved Friend

This ending is achieved for being on Timeline A, drawing the correct sigil, and defeating Scissor Woman.

*"The ancient horror lies dead on the classroom floor, slowly dissolving into nothingness...*

*You find your friend, gravely wounded but alive. You help him up, and both of you limp away from the school as the police sirens get louder..."*

### Ending B: Legend Continues

This ending is achieved in one of two ways:

* Being on Timeline A, drawing the incorrect sigil, and defeating Scissor Woman (Horror).
* Being on Timeline A, having burnt down the school previously, and defeating Scissor Woman (Burned).

*"The ancient horror lies dead on the classroom floor, slowly dissolving into nothingness. The only trace left of her is the large scissors.*

*You stare at them, unsure what to feel. Something tells you, you want to keep them.*

*You need them.*

*Very slowly, you pick up the scissors and your mouth widens in a smile..."*

The Cursed Scissors is also awarded for achieving this ending.

### Ending C: Slit Mouth

This ending is achieved for being on Timeline A and reaching 0 STAMINA or REASON against Scissor Woman, Scissor Woman (Horror) or Scissor Woman (Burned). This ending also results in a game over.

*"Frozen in fear you watch as she gets closer. Her sharp scissors are slowly cutting through your cheeks as she asks you:*

~~~~aM I bEaUtIfUl?~~~~

### Ending D: Ambulance Ride (Timeline B only)

This is the default (and currently as of Halloween patch) only ending for Timeline B. It is achieved after the ritual combination is entered regardless of if the banishment ritual is correct.

*"The eldritch horror is slowly moving towards you, seemingly unaffected by the ritual. When you were sure this would finally be the end... you wake up in an ambulance.*

*The paramedic calmly explains that they found you collapsed in one of the classrooms. He shrugs when you ask him about the Scissors Woman and your friend.*

*'Probably just a heat stroke-induced hallucination,' he says, injecting your arm with a needle.'*

*The last thing you see before losing consciousness for the second time is the face of the paramedic...*

*Two old scars visible on both his cheeks."*