Negligent Neighborhood

Negligent Neighborhood is the first of the true Hidden Nightmares in Dark Deception: Journey of the Girl in Red. It takes place in a normal-looking neighborhood at night, with heavily distorted houses. All of the homes in the neighborhood look newly built, but the architecture is completely irregular, inside and outside.

Introduction
Platini starts in the middle of the road, behind the portal is a one-way roundabout, and thus she can only go forwards on the street. It is extremely eerie with only the street lamps lighting up the roads and houses and a few cars parked here and there, but there are no people. The neighborhood has been quarantined and cut off from the rest of the outside by huge Tesla towers. All of the streets are nearly fully flooded, with muddy puddles and big mounds of scrap metal staining the filthy residue of the dark, gloomy river, as well as being packed with various types of rubbish and dumpsters with a glowing mystery liquid spilling out anomalous particles. The walkways, back alleys, and interiors of some of the buildings are not flooded, but all of the roads are covered with a tar-like substance.

At the end of the alleyway, there’s a locked electrical fence that prevents further access to the suburban neighborhood on the other side, which Platini must open by searching for the nearest power breaker. Once the fence has been successfully deactivated and opened the gates, Platini will explore the other section of the suburbs, all while a strange rain of oil pours down on her, creating overflowing puddles and more rivers of oil, and slush that litter the fainted pavement of the withered road. Street lamps, and signal poles lean, as the player walks through the city, passing rotted buildings, and wrecked cars that let out thick steam, as the oil continues to set the flames ablaze that previously infested the broken-down engines of the vehicles. As such, Platini must traverse the other section of the city street once the fence has been successfully deactivated and the gates have been opened, all while a strange rain of oil pours down on them, creating overflowing puddles and more rivers of oil, as well as slush that litters the faded pavement of the withered road.

Platini then is suddenly grabbed by a long black arm and taken into one of the houses it is coming from.

Platini: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

A figure that the arm is attached to is seen, and it says "Shhhhh, you need to be quiet otherwise you'll attract they're attention"

Platini: "Who are you and what do you want?"

The figure comes closer and reveals itself to be The Professor.

The Professor: "I am the Professor, I used to work for the MDE Organization but in a great tragedy I am not with them anymore. I'm here because I'm trying to study and collect samples from the House Horrors. More importantly, what are you doing here? I thought you watchers stayed in Malak's realm"

Platini: "Funny story, so one night I woke up in a hall with multiple portals that lead to different nightmares, and I'm trying to collect the pieces of a key that unlocks the way ho- wait what's a House Horror?"

The Professor: "The House Horrors is a species of anomalous lifeform that the organization I used to work for attempted to contain or neutralize. By now I'm also sure the SCP foundation is getting onto them. They are known because the adults have an ambush predator strategy where they hide inside a house and extend out their limbs during the night to catch food. The juveniles however are more violent, they chase after anything to eat, but their teenage years are when they begin developing their ambush strategy, although they still don't have much patience. Thankfully I was the one who grabbed you instead of them. My wife is back at home so I can't have her eat these things, meaning I need to be sneaky about this"

Platini: "Your wife?"

The Professor: "Funny story, my wife is another anomalous lifeform that can shape-"

Platini: "Alright I get it you're a real science guy, now I need to find that key piece"

The Professor: "If you're looking for a key piece then it is hidden deep inside the nightmare and is guarded by the House Horrors, I suggest you don't go alone, let me come with you"

After this, the Professor temporarily joins the party. The Professor shows Platini through one of the windows before several juvenile House Horrors run near the house before running off. A car that seemed to be uninhabited then opens its windows and reveals an adolescent House Horror before it drives off. Platini then breathes in before heading outside and going into the maze section of the nightmare.

Act 1
The maze is gigantic being 10 times the size of the one in Jungle Jeopardy, with it being composed of streets and roads. The most dangerous aspect of this level is the streets. Wet, unpainted asphalt roads have the consistency of quicksand, but if in contact with them for an extended period, they will rapidly solidify, suffocating the victim as they become submerged in the substance. While the stone sidewalks lining the roads do not appear to be unusual, they should be avoided due to the risk of slipping into the pavement. Not only that, but the roads are also impossibly twisted and cameras can be found everywhere. As Platini explores this level, gravity may pull her to different paths and angles. The street lamps that dot the level are usually turned off and inactive, yet some oddly flicker despite the lack of power.

Inside each house is a two-story modern layout with practically the same structure: a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen, nothing special. Although most houses are empty from the inside, some may contain a few furniture items scattered around in a nonorderly matter, and others may be presented fully furnished. They may appear to be furnished and fairly new, containing items present in typical houses, such as sofas, televisions, beds, refrigerators vast yards containing a wide amount of vegetation. In rare circumstances, some houses have been observed to be entirely void of any of these features, completely barren. Most electronic devices located in the buildings are also nonfunctional, given the absence of a valid power source for the systems to operate. Another anomalous property of this level is that you can find two houses weirdly clipped inside each other when traveling too far. These houses are divided into streets and avenues. It's hard to tell where is each street, but everything is oriented by how far from the house that you came in. However, they aren't made of concrete. In the middle of the maze is a one-way looping roundabout, and in the middle of the roundabout is the key altar.

Some of the houses can be entered to collect soul shards, and others contain secrets. Entering the houses is sort of necessary due to the following enemies: The traps consist of lamp posts that spurt out electricity when approaching them, automated sentry guns, exploding barrels, rigged cameras that produce a time warp cube that slows everything inside it down, and sprinklers that spray out a purplish-black corrosive liquid. After all the soul shards are collected, Platini heads to the key alter, but an adult House Horror appears from the house behind it before snatching the key piece and retracting back into the house.
 * The House Horrors: The House Horrors come in 3 different types, the Juveniles, Adolescents, and Adults. The Juveniles are the most common and are the only ones that can be fought as their bodies are exposed, however, the Adolescents and the Adults aren't due to the fact their bodies are protected by what they are residing in.
 *  The Juveniles: The Juveniles are the most numerous and most active, but also the weakest, they have 680 HP and deal 95 damage per attack. They should not be underestimated though due to their numbers, speed, and their AI, as they can also belch grey projectiles from their belly mouths, leap long distances and even kick down doors if Platini hides inside a house. Still, they're not as hard to deal with as the older specimens.
 * The Adolescents: The Adolescents are invulnerable due to hiding inside cars. They will drive around and dry to disguise themselves as normal cars. If Platini gets close enough, they will send their heads and tentacles out to capture her, but if dodged they will lose patience and retract, then begin driving. In this state, they will continuously charge at Platini. In their normal forms of attacks, they will use their tentacles to slap, dealing 150 damage, but in their drive mode, they will run Platini over, dealing 300 damage. After 15 seconds pass they will retreat and try their ambush strategy again.
 *  The Adults: The Adults are the most dangerous but also the least numerous. They are invincible but don't move at all. They will hide in houses and when close enough, they will come out and attempt to attack. They attack by slapping with their tentacles, dealing 200 damage, but they can also slam them on the ground to create shockwaves. Also, when they are active, they will screech and alert nearby Juveniles to Platini's location. Platini can use time stop to slip by them unnoticed. The Professor also attaches to Platini a sensor device that beeps when an Adult House Horror is close by.
 * Body Hijackers: Levitating purple ghosts that wander aimlessly around the environment. They have 550 HP and will briefly possess another adversary in their surroundings before dissipating and turning invulnerable. After a period, they emerge from their host and shoot a massive cluster of spectral projectiles in that direction, dealing 30 DPS, before returning to their floating state. This likelihood is doubled if the enemy they leave is low on HP. When leaving an enemy, they have a chance to fly right into another enemy, avoiding the idle period. They will be compelled to leave the battlefield early even if the adversary they are presently controlling is slain, although they may potentially launch a projectile attack at Platini for additional damage.
 * Chaotic Cephalopods: Strange-looking humanoids who appear to walk on their hands. They possess 740 HP and live in some of the nearby houses. They can walk on ceilings and can turn invisible while approaching lampposts, however, they move quite slowly. Approaching or staring in their direction for extended periods can severely impair Platini's movement and vision, as her vision will gradually become surrounded by static. They will occasionally hide within cupboards at random, and when they get close enough, they will promptly burst out of the hiding spot and attack. They attack by slapping Platini with their extraordinarily long limbs, which may reach her from a distance and deliver 250 damage. However, if they accidentally smack an obstacle, they will emit a high-pitched shriek that notifies other Cephalopods of the player's position, all while spraying blood projectiles in random directions from their wounded arm, each dealing 50 DPS. If a Cephalopod sustains enough damage, it will attempt to deceive its victim by appearing to be dead on the ground. For a brief instant, the head, arms, and legs split and become autonomous beings. The subsections of Cephalopods will hop erratically and attacks Platini by strangling her to death, although they are much weaker than the original Cephalopod as they only possess 150 HP.
 * Grisly Gardeners: The Gardeners appear to be scarecrows with a pair of slender, cybernetic limbs and a worker's uniform on. They also wear a sackcloth with red camera eyes on it, and have two large scissor-like blades on their arms. They have 1200 HP and are relatively swift in terms of their movement pattern and attacks. However, their detection range is limited as the Gardeners can only notice Platini (even while motionless) if she's close to them or if they saw the Platini relocate to that location. Through the use of their massive scissors, the Gardeners possess a quick spinning attack (which deal 350 damage), a double slashing attack (each dealing 100 damage), and a strong rolling attack where they transform into scissors and charge at Platini (dealing 400 damage). They're only vulnerable after attacking, so bait them and get out of the way.
 * Terrifying Topiaries: The several Topiaries found surrounding the hedges provide additional dangers. There are numerous varieties, the majority of which simply stand around. There is a handful that resembles Murder Monkeys, Gold Watchers, Dread Duckies in disguise, Lucky the Rabbit, Mama Bear, etc. Some of the Topiaries may also resemble characters from other Dark Deception fangames like the Wiki Deception trilogy and Dark Deception: Resurrection, such as the Death-Bots, Salmon the Cat, Corrupted B.B, etc. There are a few different types of Topiaries that might be dangerous in various ways. When triggered, the Topiaries can morph into and out of two different states when stunned: the normal form and the aggressive form. When they get aggressive, their bodies mutate and develop white patches throughout their grassy skin (As evidence of the appearance that all possess in their natural state, some are bigger than their normal counterparts in appearance and have bright white eyes). The evil variants of the Topiaries consist of:
 * Attack Topiaries: These have the appearance of lion-like beasts with tentacles protruding from their necks and a golden mask covering their face. They possess 950 health and attempt to blend with their surroundings, disguising themselves as "fake" Topiaries. When Platini walks in front of them, they will growl and dash forward at full speed, dealing 300 damage. Additionally, it can attack from afar with a red laser beam (either horizontally or vertically), dealing 180 damage. The Attack Topiaries will patrol the hedges after charging, following Platini if she reaches a brief radius around it. They turn corners slowly but when enraged, they will roar, alerting Gardeners and House Horrors around them to Platini's location.
 * Alert Topiaries: These resemble gigantic crows and will only occasionally tilt their heads to confront Platini from a distance. They possess 400 HP and essentially operate as spotlights throughout the stage; if the player is not cautious around them, they will almost surely be detected. Their eyes emit a red flashlight-like beam that allows the player to observe where they are gazing, and they will usually explore the neighborhood from houses, hunting for anything that passes through their watchful sight. If Platini stands within their line of sight for more than 3 seconds, then they will start squawking loudly, alerting any nearby Gardeners and House Horrors to Platini's location. They then have to wait a lengthy period before doing it again, and all Alert Topiaries share the same cooldown. Aside from that, the Alert Topiaries are also capable of flying over the terrain, effectively spying on Platini's location while exploring the neighborhood. While airborne, the Alert Topiaries will have an offensive attack where they will launch their feathers as a projectile, dealing 60 damage and effectively slowing down Platini's movement/attack speed for a brief second.
 * Additionally, some topiaries change poses when the player doesn't look at them, but won't attack or do anything otherwise.
 * Lady of Suffering: The Lady of Suffering appears to be a cyan female ghost, wearing a torn blue dress. She has no eyes and has green light-like pupils in her sockets. Her nails are long and sharp. Her hair is black. She has marks on her face that make it look like she is crying and her mouth is always open, showing dirty, crooked, and sharp teeth. The Lady of Suffering will float crying around the area, she will take you unnoticed if she approaches you, but will chase you if you attack her. By attacking her, she will not stop chasing you and you will not be able to damage her. The Lady of Suffering can make screams that will slow you down and slowly drain your health. Upon catching you, she will take 3/4 of your health. She has 700 HP.

Platini: "Guess we have no choice but to enter it to get the ring piece"

The Professor: "Indeed, this is going to be one hell of a story I'm going to be telling my wife."

Boss Act
Platini heads into the very large house. and initiates a boss battle against the House Horror. In the extremely large living room, it turns out it ate the key piece. The head of the creature then appears and screeches before taking out its tentacles, initiating combat. In the boss battle, only its body takes damage, not the tentacles which it uses to attack. After being defeated, the mouth on its body vomits out the key piece before Platini collects it.

Escape Act
Platini then must make quick haste out of the house and back to the portal, but Adolescents and Juveniles will spawn in huge numbers. Platini finds the portal and then exits soon right after another adult House Horror appears behind it.

Enemy List
TBA

Trivia

 * Negligent Neighborhood's setting is somewhat similar to Level 9 of the Backrooms.
 * Due to the chaoticness and wackiness of the first level of JOTGIR, this level serves as a reminder that it is still indeed a horror game.
 * This is the first level chronologically to introduce the party system.
 * The Grisly Gardeners and the Topiaries were created by TheUserNamedT for his fanmade "' T's Topiaries" level, but was later transferred into this article instead.