[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You hang up and go to the bar in town

[Assistant]
Fuck it, you don't feel like putting up with Erik's whining. You'll talk to him later when you're in the mood. You hang up and decide to engage in one of your favorite past time ever since you became part of "society". Drink. You head down to the bar in town.

When you enter you see it nearly empty. Usually there's someone here that you don't like which gives you an excuse to get into a fight. You sit down and order a Scotch. The bartender tends to let you just drink and cleans up the mess you make afterwards, but today turns out a little differently.

"Hey Wolf, some people have been wanting to see you." The bartender says nervously.
"Oh? Do these people have a name?" you ask downing your drink.
"Well they're in the bar right now actually, I think they're old acquaintances of yours."

You scan the bar, which doesn't take long considering its almost empty. And you'll be damned you see not one, but THREE people from the old days; you're surprised you didn't notice them before.

At a nearby table you see Dr. Henry Jekyll and Dr. Jack Griffin. Jack normally would be difficult to see in this dark lighting at the best of times, since he's invisible, but he's perfectly noticeable enough when he wears clothing. They see you and wave you to come over.

At a table in the far corner you see Dr. Alphonse Moreau. He looks like a wreck. He's obviously been chain smoking cigarettes and drinking a lot since he got here. He sees you and desperately signals you over like he needs your help severely.

While you're not surprised to see all these humans still alive (Mad scientists ALWAYS figure out how to extend their life spans past the normal human limit) you're just surprised that they all want to see you and it makes you suspicious. You've always been mistrustful of Mad Scientist types ever since your run in with Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

You turn to the bartender for more information.

"What the hell, is there a Mad Scientist convention in town or some shit? Why are they all here and why do they want me?"
"I dunno Wolf. I think its just coincidence. Henry and Jack say they got some sort of experiment going on and want your help on it. They know you've been needing some money lately and they're willing to pay you for your time. I think Henry wants to play catch up with you as well."
"Hmm, speaking of catch, there probably is one. So why's Moreau here? Same thing?"
"He wouldn't elaborate too much. He says he REALLY needs help with something, and it's not an experiment. He says he gave up trying to play God. I dunno what's wrong though you'll have to ask him yourself. He just said, he's willing to do anything for you if you help him.

Well this venture to the bar seems to have become potentially lucrative; the problem is you have to deal with a bunch of humans with God complexes. (You doubt what the bartender told you about Moreau, his type never gets out of the game completely) You decide to throw caution to the wind and take one of their jobs; you feel you'll be up to the challenge. After all its common knowledge of what you did to Victor when he tried to take advantage of you once.

All it comes down to is who you want to deal with.

[User] You go sit with Jekyll and Griffin

[Assistant]
Well despite your distrust of Jack, Henry's always been alright and you could use the easy money. If it doesn't sound like a good deal to you, you can always decline. You sit down with them both, keeping a constant eye on Jack, well his clothing anyway.

"Hey Wolf, glad to see you, it's been awhile. I remember when we used to tear up places like this back in the day." Henry says.
"Yeah, the good old days." You say agreeing.
"When we were young and a lot more active."
"Speak for yourself Henry." You stand up and start punching and kicking. "I'm still active and I'm only as old as I feel which isn't old at all! I can still… OW!" you get a slight sprain in your back when attempting to demonstrate your "youthful" combat abilities.
"No, Wolf you're not old at all." Jack snickers.
"Shut the fuck up Jack, I just haven't been in a proper fight in awhile, I'm a little out of practice. Say, how about I practice on YOU?"
"Uh, okay calm down Wolf! Jack! We're not here to antagonize anyone!"
"You're right so let's get all this catch up shit out of the way. Wolf, we got an experiment for you that should be right up your alley. It involves you testing those skills you claim you still have."
"Oh yeah? What kind of experiment is this?"

Henry interjects before Jack can continue.

"Well the government hired us to develop something that increased combat ability. We've been testing it on humans and the results have been good so far, however we want to see how good it is, so we wanted to test them against non-human opponents, you came to mind since well you ARE the Alpha Wolf and despite your age, you are probably the best the Werewolf race has to offer as far as combat skills. I figure you're still worth 10 of the cubs nowadays. Plus I know you like to kick ass and get paid for doing it. You know how the government likes to throw money around when it comes to new weapons, so I figure we can spare five thousand for your help."

[User] You accept the job

[Assistant]
"I guess you always did know me pretty well Henry. Count me in." you say.
"Great! I knew you'd be game."
"Let's get going, I'm ready."

You, Henry and Jack enter his car and drive to some nondescript building. The ground floor resembles just a normal abandoned warehouse, but of course you three enter a secret room with an elevator that takes you to a lab area, then you pass through a gym area where you see quite a few ugly overly muscular humans doing some rigorous training while doing a lot of shouting and yelling A lot of them look like they have severe 'roid rage and that includes the females.

"Huh, sure they all look pretty, but can they fight?" you mockingly ask Henry.
"Well that's what we're going to find out. Now the arena area is through that door, you can just enter and the testing will begin. Jack and I will be watching from an upper room. I'll see you when you're ready."

Henry leaves with the rest of the humans and you're about to enter the arena, but a hand grabs you causing you pull away in a defensive stance. It's Jack.

"Don't fucking touch me Jack!" you growl.
"Sheesh, calm down there, I just have to tell you something. Something important."
"What Jack? I don't have time for your shit."
"Yeah, well you'll be thanking me later. You need to take this." Jack takes a bottle out of his jacket and hands it to you.
"What's this?"
"It's MY invention. Henry hasn't been telling you the entire truth. He's setting you up to be killed. He doesn't have any intention of letting you out that arena until one of his super soldiers kills you, and I guarantee it'll happen eventually. He's already got most of them hopped up to the point of being uncontrollable. He'll probably start increasing the dosage if you start winning against the initial barrage. However if you drink my invention you'll be able to survive. It's just like what Henry's been feeding his Super Soldiers, but without all the side effects. Surely you noticed how ugly and distorted all those subjects were. All he did was make alterations to his original Hyde formula instead creating something new from scratch like I did, yet he claims my invention isn't good enough."
"This all smells like bullshit Jack, but assuming you're telling the truth, why's Henry doing it and why in this way?"
"I dunno, because he's a Mad Scientist, and prone to be dramatic I suppose, its just one of our endearing qualities. Plus we really are testing this shit for the government, so its still good research even if it's doubling as murder. If you want deeper reasons the only other explanation I can give is he's ALWAYS been jealous of you. Yes, it's true he did admire you, but he was always jealous of your natural abilities which he had to get artificially, and even then it wasn't entirely successful as you well know. I can personally vouch for having to hear him rag on you over the years."

This all sounds pretty suspicious especially coming from Jack who's known for his double dealing and sneaky ways. The bottle might contain poison for all you know, or maybe he's just angry at Henry for snubbing his invention and he's using you as a subject to test it which may or may not be as great as he says. Still, Mad Scientist types have tried to fuck you over before; you can't help but wonder if Henry is planning what Jack's claiming.

[User] You drink the bottle

[Assistant]
As much as you don't trust him, you have to admit Jack has never really done anything against you in all the time you've known him. If anything he's always attempted to be friendly. Is it possible you've just been an asshole to him, for no good reason?

Probably, but it wouldn't be the first time and that's all in the past. You take the bottle and down its contents.

"(BURP!) I don't feel any different."
"Oh you will trust me."
"I've put more than enough trust in you already, better not be trying anything Jack, because I swear I WILL get my revenge on you, if this is a fucking trick!"
"Not a trick, everything I've told you is the truth, you'll see."
"Yeah, we'll see."

When you enter the arena area, it's just a big empty white room with another door on the other side of it. High above you can see Henry on an upper floor with a clipboard behind some glass. He waves to you and speaks into a microphone.

"Okay Wolf, we're going to start off slow, this subject hasn't been injected with as much of the formula so I'm guessing you shouldn't have any problems with him. Try not to kill him though, since we DO want some of them to survive!"
"No killing eh? Well I suppose there's a first time for everything, alright Henry, send in the victim."

No sooner has the human entered the room, and you've already run up and drop kicked him in the face! You don't allow him to get back up, and end up breaking one of his legs by totally destroying his knee. He's in extreme pain and expresses it vocally.

"Damn Wolf! What the hell!?" Henry shouts.
"Hey you said not to kill him, you didn't say anything about not breaking bones."
"Alright, drag him out, and bring in the next one."

This goes on for the next five fights. If the subjects are supposed to be getting tougher, you haven't noticed. All you've notice is a severe change in the subjects, mainly being bigger and more vicious, they're starting to not even resemble humans anymore, and in fact they resemble "Mr. Hyde" but even more out of control. But you haven't even broken a sweat during all of this, it's like you're in your prime again. It must be Jack's formula. Looks like he didn't lie. You look up where Henry is located and you notice he seems to be ranting and yelling at Jack. He addresses you again.

"How are you doing Wolf?"
"Great! I haven't felt this good in years!"
"Hmm, well I guess I haven't been trying hard enough! Wolf, I'm sending three of them in there, try to beat that!"
"Hey, you're supposed to be testing their fighting skills not mine."
"No Wolf, I'm supposed to be KILLING you, but you're too fucking stupid to die properly! Well that ends now!"

Looks like Jack was telling the truth about that too, you attempt to leave the way you came in but, a solid metal door slides from a hidden panel to block your way. Even your increased combat abilities can't make more than a dent in it. Henry then begins to laugh maniacally and three lumbering hulks come through the opposite door all intent on doing you massive harm.

However, you don't have any fear about this situation, you're confident that you can take them and you do just that! You're literally a whirlwind of fury and violence. Bones are broken, flesh is ripped, faces are bitten and balls are stomped and happily none of them are yours. As you stand over the three large mutilated corpses you look up at the observation area and see only Jack standing there to address you.

"Hey Jack! Let me outta here, I got a score to settle with that fucking pussy Henry!"
"Uh, Wolf, you might want to prepare yourself, Henry said he's coming down to handle you himself."
"What as Mr. Hyde? Pfft! Yeah, I'm really worried. He's nowhere near as vicious as these fucktards were. I had to bail him out of most of the fights he started in the past. Sure he looked scary, still couldn't fight worth a shit though."

Suddenly a very large figure smashes through the wall opposite you, its Mr. Hyde and he's a LOT bigger and uglier than the last time you saw him. He's easily larger than the last three subjects you just put down.

"WOLF!!!" he bellows.

Okay somebody just overdosed on the "formula".

[User] You fight

[Assistant]
Yeah, you might be feeling in your "prime" and all, but Mr. Hyde is severely out of your weight class right now. You might be quicker, but all he has to do is hit you once and you're not that good to completely avoid being hit entirely…

And when you inevitably feel that pile driver like fist breaking every bone simultaneously in your body you know you've been hit. You don't feel the next one reducing you into a thin red furry paste.


[System] You are narrating an interactive fiction game in a dark fantasy setting. Bring the world to life with vivid prose, react meaningfully to player choices, and don't pull punches when the story demands it.

[User] You fight him head on

[Assistant]
Um…no.

Even in your prime you would've had problems taking on Frankie in his current updated state. At your age it's just unthinkable.

You attempt to bite his neck in an effort to tear his head off, but he crushes his strong metallic arms around you squeezing with all his might. Your pack attempts to help, but Frankie is too focused on his revenge. Even when you tear out his eyes, he continues to squash your internal organs until he finally breaks your back and throws you blindly into one of those electric generators.

Your limp corpse fries for a little while, but unlike Frankie, it doesn't bring you back to life.


[System] Narrate a grim fantasy text adventure. The Empire's world is brutal, its people hardened. Respond to the player's choices with immersive storytelling and let consequences flow naturally.

[User] You make something up

[Assistant]
"There is an extremely good reason for this," you say. You doubt that these men will believe you if you tell them the truth, considering their low opinion of your species to begin with. Your best guess is to fabricate something which seems believable. "This Flight scroll doesn't belong to me."

"We are quite aware," the official says fervently.

"No, no." You're not used to lying to people. There usually isn't any need to do so. "I was ordered by…by Mother Gherad to use it."

He frowns. "Do you expect me to believe that, Unworthy? A high-ranking member of the Gahl'vuhr Sehn willingly gave you a long-range Flight scroll? I have heard more convincing tales extending from the back of an anteater."

"She gave me the scroll," you say quickly, "in order to prevent it from falling into the hands…of…the enemy." What enemy? Who's the enemy? Lying to people is a lot harder than you thought. "The enemy, that is, of the Gahl'vuhr Sehn. A…rebel army of mutant rabbits."

"Rabbits," the official repeats.

"Yes, really. Really, really big ones. With axes." You're babbling now, but you might as well keep this up. "It was a valiant battle against the bunnies, and they were after the scroll of Flight in order to turn into flying mutant rabbits! They planned to assault this island, thousands of flying bunnies throwing axes at the poor citizens of Majeruk. Luckily, I thwarted their plans and now they will never have their rabbit revenge!"

"If I can just stop you there – "

"Mother Gherad died heroically defending the ship," you say dramatically, going all out with this story now. Now that you've started, you cannot be stopped. "We could not hold them back for long. We had to poison their supply of carrots just to get an advantage. Lettuce, too!"

"Wait a second," one of the other men interrupts. "You mentioned…it was a rebel army of mutant rabbits?"

You nod enthusiastically.  "Exactly."

"A rebel  army. So…how were they rebelling?"

"Rebelling against the Rabbit King," you say proudly. "There's a long, long history of all the rabbit rebellions before our time, going all the way back to Lord Rabbiter McRabbit himself. I will enlighten you now."

With a flourish, you then continue to rabbit on at great length, detailing the long history of two thousand years of rabbit-themed monarchs and bloody battles which claimed the lives of their citizens to gain vital land on the sky islands. You don't quite know how you came up with all this stuff, but you're going too fast to be able to stop now. The officials actually seem genuinely interested about all of this fictional backstory that you're pulling out of thin air – or at least, you think they are. They might not care at all.

"…and that," you finish, twenty five minutes later, "is the entire account of the rise and fall of the Rabbit Empire, shortly before Queen Fuzzlebunny came to the throne and brought civil war among the nations." You let out a long sigh, since you've been talking for some time now. "Would you like to hear it again?"

"That was very interesting, but no," the official says. He is looking at you long and hard. All of them are, actually. You can't quite tell what is going through their minds, but you're sure that you must have made a good impression. "I think we've had enough of rabbits."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" you ask. "Is it the rabbits?"

"No," the first Auvahr states. "It isn't the rabbits."

"What is it then?"

"We're looking at you like this," he says testily, "because we think you're insane."

"Really?"

He glances helplessly at his two companions, who look back at him in just a helpless a fashion. You watch as they whisper furtively amongst themselves, looking rather worried about the situation. Telling a tall tale about the rise and fall of the majestic Rabbit Empire was definitely a step in the right direction.

Eventually, the official steps forward towards you again. "We've decided," he says resignedly, "that we are not going to press charges to you, on account of you straying so far from the original question that we can no longer remember what we were talking about in the first place."

"It was the scroll," you remind him helpfully.

"Right. The scroll." The man sighs. "Look. I'm not prepared to hear you talk about damn rabbits for another thirty minutes. I don't have time for this. Rules are rules, and the Gahl'vuhr Sehn has to make sure everything is perfect. Especially here in Majeruk. What I'm going to say instead is that your usage of this high-level scroll was some kind of freak accident, because…you do not seem like the kind of person with the mental capability to steal a Flight scroll whilst knowing what you were doing. My colleagues here will bear witness to that."

"Definitely," says the official next to him. "She's bonkers."

"You may remain in Majeruk for the time being," he says, with long-suffering patience, "but only because I don't want to stand here for over an hour listening to a crazy girl talking endlessly about fictional rabbits. You're free to go. Just…don't do it again, alright?"

Elated, you smile as the three officials turn on their heel and march back down the street the way they came. Somehow, you've managed to get away with it. You're not sure where all of that inspiration for rabbit-themed history came from, but you ought to write it down sometime. Some people like that kind of thing, apparently, although you're yet to meet anyone like that in person.

[User] You proceed

[Assistant]
Majeruk promises to be an exciting place for you to live. There are numerous cities and towns across the island, and you take some time to explore your options before choosing on a suitable career path. In addition, the Gahl'vuhr Sehn occupy the whole of the land here and have set in place a number of strict rules for all citizens. After your last encounter with them, you decide not to do anything to annoy the governing body around here. You don't want to cause any trouble.

The first week is rather rough for you. With no money or resource of your own to trade – aside from the sword you kept from the airship, and that turns out to be worth very little of value in Majeruk – you are forced to sleep rough at night. The Gahl'vuhr Sehn do not allow people to sleep on the streets, which is fine for you because you see no problem with sleeping outside their towns. It's always good to experience new things, but you have to take care in doing so. The wrong situation could see you lose your life at the hands of the local wildlife, which turn out to be unexpectedly hostile…

It's some time before you finally manage to secure employment as a courier, delivering goods and packages between the towns in Majeruk. The job gives you an advance payment, enough so that you can afford to rent some accommodation in the suburbs of the central city. It's hard work, with long hours, but you keep at it and soon begin to learn the various trade routes going around the island. It makes your job easier, and it's another year before you have enough money and resources to try your hand at another job.

Every day, you hear news about the chaos on the surface and how more and more sky islands are falling down to earth in a blaze of constant destruction. It makes you think of home, or what used to be home. You think back to all the events that brought you here in the first place, to Mother Gherad and the captain on the airship which saved your life. You wonder if the captain ever made it out alive.

You make lots of new friends in Majeruk over the years, but still you worry that such a densely-populated island might suffer the same fate as your first island did. What if everything here is destroyed? With this in mind, you take to travelling. You've become quite an accomplished businesswoman by this point, taking on several jobs and even employing your own staff with ease. You're going up in the world. You manage numerous accounts of money, oversee cargo taken on board airships in an organisation built with your own two hands, and you know that you have to expand your horizons.

Many years have passed, and you have more than enough to purchase an airship of your own now. You travel through the skies, venturing far and wide, but never stay on board for too long. Airships can be dangerous. You become a kind of explorer in your own right, navigating countless islands and assembling a crew of your own. For some time, you pursue this exciting choice of life, but you're not really sure what you're looking for. You know you're searching for something, but you just can't put your finger on it.

It's several years after that when you finally return to the island of Majeruk. It's the same as always, and business is booming, but you're now experienced enough to put in several advisors who can easily run your organisation by themselves with only limited help from you. Even the Gahl'vuhr Sehn are respectful to you. They still refer to you as "Unworthy", more out of habit than anything else, but you have a mutual understanding of each other. You a force to be reckoned with.

Looking at everything you've achieved over the years, you finally realise what you've been seeking. You want a place to settle down. Somewhere to settle down. A home, in nature, but you already have several homes across the skies. You decide to settle here in Majeruk. You think about the future, and seek a husband with which to bring up a family of your own. There is no shortage of men in Majeruk, and all of them are falling over themselves to propose to you. It's sweet of them, really, but a woman of your reputation and wealth can afford to be choosy.

At the end of it all, you remain here in the island of Majeruk for the rest of your days. You have lived a life filled with contentment, riches and great respute. You consider having children of your own and handing down the family business to them, once you grow old enough to retire, but that's in the future. You could have never predicted that things would work out so well.

After falling from a great height, you have risen to become a woman of grand accomplishments and great success.


[System] Narrate a dark fantasy text adventure. The setting is harsh and morally complex. Describe scenes vividly, react to player choices with fitting consequences, and never shy away from the reality of the world.

[User] You father Can't Be Defied

[Assistant]
Father is going to kill Zuzu. I'd rather not have him killed. He is loyal, but I can't defy the will of Father and the Fire Lord. I must accept these things, but…

She sighs. Zuzu is still her brother. Anyone, even the barbarians, deserve to have a fighting chance. Knowing Father, he'd slit her brother throat under the cover of darkness. It'd be effective but almost too effective. Zuzu will die no matter what happens, though he deserves to have a fighting chance.

She sneaks away to the one place Zuzu would go at a time like this. Azula would flee for the docks to secure passage to the barbarian lands or hide among her friends. Zuzu would… be Zuzu.

The princess enters his bedroom as he sits in bed, covers up to his chin. Beds are flammable, dum-dum.

He looks scared. He should be due to his imminent and approaching death, but her brother doesn't know that yet since he ran away like a coward. He's being a scared little boy.

I should be direct. She sits on the side of his bed and stares at him. "Father's going to kill you."

"What?" He backs away from her. Oh, right. I'm Father's beloved child just as he's Mother's. I ALWAYS lie. Ug.

"He'll sacrifice you. The Fire Lord wants him to experience the supposed pain of losing his son, so he'll get rid of you. It's not as if he cares anyway."

He shakes his head. "Dad would never do that." Denial? At a time like this? Why can't you understand that our father wants you dead?

"Father doesn't love you. He doesn't like you. Maybe some Earth peasants would." Zuzu's really good at being a lovable idiot. Maybe some peasants would take pity on some lost Fire Nation noble. Then again, Zuzu would somehow tell them he's a prince and get killed. Plus, I want him dead, not alive. I don't like Zuzu, not at all.

"Run away?"

She shrugs. "Mopping the decks often gets free passage on merchant ships." I'm doing this just to be mean. Not to help him.

His eyes move to the doorway. She sees the recognition on his face. I thought Father said he'd do it tonight. Salvage the situation, Azula. Maybe I could act like I was trying to kill him?

"Azula." Fate must be on Father's side. "What are you doing here?"

I'm warning your son, Mother. "Talking."

"Come with me." The tone and the tight grip on her arm don't allow for protests.

As she drags Azula out of the room, she hears Zuzu muttering, "Azula always lies."

That HURT. She doesn't struggle at all as she's practically dragged through the halls. I'm the only person in the bloody world that's trying to help Zuzu, but you've entrenched your ideas so far into his head, Mother, that he refuses to believe me. You aren't good for him. You aren't good for anybody. Father's going to kill him, but you're the one who made him weak enough to kill. I wish you were gone. I wish you were dead.

Her eyes light up. Dead. Gone. She sees a new opportunity. It'd kill two birds… four birds with one stone. Father would be so proud if she could ever tell him. Too bad she can't and won't.

They stop in Mother's chambers. She stopped sleeping with father two years ago. Also, ew.

"What were you doing, Azula?" And she thinks I'm the baddy here. I'm just a monster. Father and the Fire Lord are amoral. I have principles at least.

"You once said you'd do anything if barbarians wanted to kill Zuzu."

Her eyes narrow. For once, Mother looks dangerous. Maybe I inherited a few things from her, besides beauty, after all. "Tell me the truth." Her grip on the girl's shoulder becomes painful. Maybe, it'll leave a bruise.

"Father's going to kill Zuzu tonight because the Fire Lord asked him to."

She doesn't believe me. "Tell me one reason why I should believe you."

"Four. Zuzu won't die. The Fire Lord will die. Father will get the throne, and you will be gone forever."

Her shoulders slouch. I don't always lie. I'm occasionally nice. More importantly, sometimes the truth hurts more than the lie.

"You have a plan, don't you?"

"Yeah." Azula smirks.

Later that night, the palace erupts into chaos. Azula stands watch in the shadows outside Zuzu's door. He sleeps, blissfully unaware of the subterfuge and murder that just occurred. No matter what happens, she will not let anyone into his room tonight. Well, except that one. A figure gracefully approaches his bedroom. Unaware of the hidden prodigy, Mother rushes into his room. She shakes him gently.

"Wha? Mother?" He rubs his eyes. None of the guards are aware of the woman in his room. Father happened to ensure no one was around his son's bedroom tonight. Too late, Father. We spilt blood before you could.

"Zuko, please, my love, listen to me. Everything I've done, I've done to protect you." She wraps his in a tight embrace. She loves you, brother. Now, she'll never see you again. "Remember this, Zuko. No matter how things may seem to change, never forget who you are."

Before he could say anything in reply, she leaves. To where, Azula doesn't know. All she knows is Mother will never return. She'll always live with blood on her hands instead of her son.

Azula smiles, a real one.

I got rid of you forever, Mother.


[System] Run a text-based dark fantasy adventure game. Describe the world with gritty realism, respond to player actions with narrative consequences, and maintain the tone of a world where survival is never guaranteed.

[User] You attack The Humunculi With Your Sword While They Are Relaxed

[Assistant]
These humunculi are blocking a passage that may lead to the Craxil; and the fewer of them there are, the less difficult it will be for you to have to sneak around.  You draw your sword and lung forth plunging it into the back of the nearest unsuspecting humunculi.  You swell with pride realizing that you have just killed your first monster, and a humunculi too!  Unfortunately, you have difficulty removing the sword from the humunculi's body and the others have immediately taken notice of you.  You attempt to run back out of the cave from whence you came, but the creatures are faster than you are.  They beat you savagely before bringing you back to their campfire for desert.

THE END


[System] Run a text-based dark fantasy adventure game. Describe the world with gritty realism, respond to player actions with narrative consequences, and maintain the tone of a world where survival is never guaranteed.

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
You're not wasting any more time on Lenay and as much as you'd love to put a blade into Eldolith from your last encounter, she's not worth the time either. The Arat Confederacy is no longer a concern. Let the Xi have Lenay if they want to continue throwing bodies at it. The gnomes are the greater threat; they've already got ships that fly in the air and who knows what the hell they have planned. Maybe if you take Telis, you can also gain the knowledge of how to build such machines because so far the experiments by your inventors haven't had much success.

The first thing you have to do is order a withdraw from the Lenay area. This confuses your officers, but other than General Ingrid who insists that the city can be taken, they all just follow your commands. (As does Ingrid after a bit of arguing)

The next thing you do is have the major wounded transferred back to Velizza or Atnil. The Xi are still a major concern in the area and hopefully the wounded will get well before the Xi start advancing on those cities because they're going to need all the extra protection they can get.

You also send a message to Sightmaster Crowley to send a full battalion of Eyes. You tell him to even take them away from security positions if he has to, because you anticipate that you're going to need the extra magic power.

You also tell Crowley that if you fall in battle that he's officially the successor of the Empire. A bit of an abrupt way of passing this decision on, but there it is at last. If he decides to use this as an excuse to stage a coup later, you'll have to deal with it later, but again, you doubt if you've really got much time anymore for "later."

The next step is making the long march to Telis. You know where it is, but even if you didn't you could just follow the occasional airship in the far distance. Unfortunately you have a feeling that if you're close enough to see them at all, the crews aboard such things can probably see your massive forces heading their way as well. There's nothing for it though, Arat has always been pretty open and there's no real way to hide a force as large as yours. You half hope some of those airships make a detour towards you, so you can call down a lightning storm on them the same way you did on that sea monstrosity years ago, but none of them do.

The Xi however give you more than enough trouble on your journey. You continued to be impressed by the Xi's tenacity to completely abandon any sense of self-preservation. They exceed orcs even in that regard and that's something you thought you'd never see.

If only there was a way you could've had them fighting for you instead, you wouldn't have had to waste so many years rebuilding the Empire in the first place. You could've just had it immediately.

You watch in the distance as some of the kobolds take down a single Xi warrior. That's something you never thought you'd see either. Fighting along side kobolds of all creatures and them actually being some of your best soldiers within their limited capabilities. Funny that you should respect or find a certain affinity to such non-human races like orcs, kobolds or even the Xi than you do with humans. Then again maybe it's because you've never really truly been human. You're just masquerading as one.

After a week of marching through Xi infested territory Telis is finally in sight. And from where you're standing, you see it being besieged by the Xi. Unlike Lenay however, Telis doesn't have the benefit of an impenetrable magic barrier defending it. It does however have several airships launching all manner of explosions and gunfire to the area around the city.

It would seem the gnomes are reluctant to damage Telis itself (though some of that is probably unavoidable), but the reason isn't clear. Are the gnomes Telis' allies? From what you've heard Telis did have a human population, so it seems unusual that the gnomes would be helping them given their new outlook on life. Unless they're invaders as well and just don't want their potential prize destroyed.

In any event you're somewhat glad that the Xi are involved. Gives the gnomes another target and divides the attention from you.

Seeing as the gnomes are less willing to blow up Telis itself, you figure your best course of action is to get your army into the city right away. Actually getting in doesn't look like it will be a large problem thanks to the efforts of the Xi, the problem lies more with fighting your way through the Xi while avoid potential bombings from the gnomes.

All available mages are ordered to put up shields and all soldiers are ordered to protect them while making the long march towards Telis or else nobody is going to make it to the city at all.

It's not a long distance, but it feels like one. Explosion after explosion crashes down on the magical shields. Since your shields are simple ones the Xi simply dig under them and attack that way, but the soldiers do a good enough job of keeping them from killing your mages. You do your part by supporting the magical energy required for this feat. It's a great strain on you, but you try to block out the pain.

You can see the Telis gate wide open and it reminds you of the day when the Felkan capital fell to your forces. What a glorious victory that was.

"Advance! Kill everything! They can't stop us! Not the Xi and not the gnomes and their machines! We will be the last ones standing and remembered long after worms have eaten all their corpses! Long live the Empire! Long live the Emperor!" you shout.

While it's a simple speech meant to encourage the surrounding troops, your last line was probably a little strange since you're the Emperor and it sounds odd. Of course you realize this soon after you said it because you temporary forgot what the hell time period you were in.

"Shit, get focused…" you mumble.

Memory lapses aside, your army continues to battle its way into the city. Some of your people have already reached the entryway and that's when a large rumbling noise is heard from the city and then the ground begins to shake. The shaking soon becomes more violent tremors to the point that the ground starts to crack and that's not from Xi digging…

Many of your people have a hard time keeping their footing and during this time some of the mages lose their concentration. This is a fatal mistake, which soon results in entire companies being blown to bloody pieces by the airships continuing to dump bombs from above.

The airships aren't the only things that are flying now though.

The loud rumbling continues along with the earth shaking and you soon see what is going on. It's Telis. The city is rising off the ground. Whatever the hell the gnomes have been doing, this has to be part of it. They've created a flying city!

The gnomes have already displayed a significant amount of power with their airships. With this city they could very well be unstoppable.

Questions about how and when they did this will have to wait, what matters now is that you have to stop them. The city has only just started to rise and its taking a long enough time that you see several Xi and your own troops grabbing on to what they can before its completely out of reach.

You're either going to have to destroy it or capture it.

If you were younger you'd just unleash a firestorm or something similar without another thought, but that's a risky endeavor in your condition for several reasons.

Capturing it is probably going to be even harder, especially since you're going to have to board the damn thing. You MIGHT reach it in time if you make a full dash towards it now, but that would mean no longer supporting the mages to defend the rest of your army.

[User] You capture the city

[Assistant]
Probably a fool's task, but if you survive this you're going to have to still deal with the Xi. A flying fortress would give a significant advantage.

You stop using your own energy to support your mages and refocus on a creating a personal shield around yourself. You give the order for everyone to get out of your way or grab on to Telis if they can.

It isn't too bad, most of your mages hold their own, and continue to protect a majority of the army, but its yourself that you're concerned about as you attempt to reach Telis which is slowly becoming completely airborn. You ride your horse as hard to the point where it probably isn't going to survive after you intend to make a leap forward off of it.

You pass your soldiers, you pass the Xi fighting them, you pass over the torn up ground from the battle and bombs and you look up and see Telis escaping your reach.

"No, I've come too far!" you say and you stand on top of your horse, nearly falling off in the process while still attempt to upkeep your shield…

You make the jump towards the city and manage to grab ahold of one half of Telis' front gate doors which is currently hanging off its hinges. Your shield is down, your body hurts and you're practically deaf from all the explosions going on around you.

You hang on for dear life as the ground gets further away and attempt to climb up, but your strength is failing you and even if it wasn't the door is slowly loosing its weak attachment to the rest of the city.

"Shit! Shit! No! No! No! Not like this! Fuck! Hate this weakness!" you exclaim as you prepare to either lose your grip or for the door comes loose. And you doubt you'll be in any condition to "repair" yourself when you take this long fall.

Fortunately it doesn't come to that.

"Emperor! Take my hand!" a human soldier shouts and reaches over the side. You waste no time in accepting his help and soon a couple of other soldiers help him lift you up just in time for the door to fall to the ground.

After catching your breath and assuring the soldiers that helped you that you're fine, you get a better assessment of your surroundings.

"Okay first things first, what's your name so I know what to call you."
"Lieutenant Renly, my Emperor and this what's left of my platoon." Renly says and waves his arm to six other soldiers. "We're not the only ones here, I believe there's a couple of orc platoons further in the city. They're probably fighting the Xi that managed to get in or combating the gnome clockwork golems. Hell even the teams of gnomes with their rapid repeaters isn't something you want to deal with and that's not even counting the ones probably trying to spot us from the nearby airships."
"So wait, are there no humans or regular citizens in this place?" you ask.
"Not from what anyone can tell. It's like the whole place is empty other than the Xi, the gnomes and us. Unless the Telis citizens are all hiding somewhere."
"Or maybe the gnomes did something to them all. Well it doesn't matter we need to figure out where the hell the controls are for this thing. We get control and we can get rid of those airships with a lot more ease."
"Not sure where something like that would be located Emperor."
"That's easy, we keep moving towards the areas that have most of the little bastards and their damned contraptions. It's going to be the most heavily defended place because it's the most important thing in the world to them."
"Well then I believe we should take a left down that street over here. Saw a gnome patrol accompanied by two clockworks not long ago."
"Okay, but when possible we should probably stick to the back alleys. Don't need one of those airships floating by and spotting us. In fact our best chance is to do this as stealthily as possible. A rare tactic for us I know, but our main task is getting control of this thing."

You, Renly and the rest of his platoon make your way towards where you hope some sort of master control is located. Along the way, you see the remnants of where small skirmishes have already taken place. Bodies riddled with bullets or in some cases chopped up. They're mostly bodies of the Xi, but some of your soldiers as well. You don't see any gnome casualties other than pieces of their golems.

The sounds of battle can still be heard throughout the city, but it gets concerning when the sounds get less infrequent, since that means the gnomes are probably mopping up invaders to their city, which means less distraction for them.

Your attempts at sneaking around are fairly successful. As you stealthily avoid these patrols, you finally see the gnomes and you can't get over how radically they've changed. With their dark red caps, goggles and stylish leather uniforms, they couldn't look anymore different than their pathetic ancestors that you helped round up centuries ago to have their souls utterly obliterated.

Really though, after an event like that and who knows what else during the Cataclysm you suppose it shouldn't be surprising that the gnomes decided they wouldn't be victims and became hostile towards other races. Let alone rely on other societies to defend them any longer.

They shaped their own destiny and you can certainly respect and even admire that; after all you never hated them. That was the Emperor. You were just following orders at the time.

Eventually the gnome patrols are getting too thick and you can't really properly proceed without engaging the enemy. Just as well, you were getting sick of acting like a shadow.

"Alright, everyone get ready, because it's going to be killing time from here on in. I'll take the lead on this." You say.
"Emperor, shouldn't you stay behind us so we can better protect you?" Renly replies.
"While I appreciate the sentiment, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have, if anything you all should try to stay behind me and in cover until I clear out most of the rabble. Don't worry, I may be old, but I'm not out of this yet. And if you all survive this, you'll all be getting promotions and whatever else I think might be an appropriate reward, so it behooves you all to listen to me if you want to reap the benefits of this situation."

With this understanding, Renly and his platoon follow your lead. Still unseen, you take advantage of a group of gnomes tanding around with their clockwork creations.

You unleash a flurry of fireballs, which not only has the desired effect of killing some of the gnomes outright, but also causing an explosion due to their hand thrown bombs they carry on them The explosion takes care of the golems.

"That's one group down, but the rest aren't going to be as easy!" you say and advance with a shield up.

Not easy is correct because the little bastards start coming out in full force. You just try not to get surrounded. The unrelenting repeater weapons are bad enough, but the gnomes also come out with weapons that emulate some of your spells! A single gnome who managed to sneak up on two of Renly's men blasts them with some sort of weapon that emits flames. Renly shoots the gnome in the head before turning his attention to grab one of the repeaters from a nearby dead gnome.

"They're all coming out of that big red building, that's probably where we need to go! Come on!" you shout and take out another golem."

During the carnage you think back to how you used to mainly use your sword during battles. During this one, you haven't even used it yet. In fact you haven't done so for so long, you wonder if you'd even be able to use it effectively anymore. Granted in this situation like this you've practically got no choice but to rely on your magic, still though you miss the good old days.

The closer you get to the building, the waves of gnomes lessens, until you see one of them close the door just as the last few golems are shot to pieces. The sky above you grows darker and you notice an airship looming overhead. They don't throw bombs at you, but they certainly unleash a volley of gunfire, which manages to kill another one of Renley's platoon before he and the rest can get into cover.

As for you, your shield is working just fine, but you need to get into that building which is probably locked and barricaded. You aren't going to be able to blast it open with that airship firing at you.

[User] You refocus the shield to repel the bullets back

[Assistant]
Normally you don't do this, because repelling projectiles actually takes more focus than flinging fireballs or putting up a shield in the first place, but if you can take out all the guns firing on you with their own bullets then you'll get the breather you need.

You refocus the shield and sure enough the bullets are repelled back towards the guns that are firing on you. It isn't an exact hit, but enough of them hit their own guns (or in some cases the gunner) enough that it puts them out of commission, other bullets either go flying off wildly into the air or into other parts of the airship. In any case you hit something that causes problem since you see and hear minor explosions, which the gnomes are probably busily trying to contain. The airship shudders in the sky a bit, but it isn't falling out of sky, which it probably would have done if you'd lobbed hunks of fire at it.

Taking advantage of the respite, your soldiers take what explosives they've found on the bodies of the gnomes, pile them up against the building's door and you hurl a ball of fire at it. Naturally it not only explodes spectacularly, but it also succeeds in destroying a couple of golems that were waiting to ambush you. You and the other run inside, before the airship above you manages to get its guns working again.

When you get inside you see that the building consists of a lot of desks and generally laid out like a bureaucratic office. You briefly think that maybe this was all for nothing and your hunch was wrong, but sure enough when an automated repeated pops up out of the floor and puts several holes into one of Renly's platoon and more golems appear from other trapdoors in the floor you're fairly certain you're still on the right track.

You and Renly's ever dwindling platoon take care of your assailants though at this point they're probably hoping there aren't too many more.

"Glad this building doesn't have multiple floors." One soldier remarks.
"It still might, those golems came out of the floor. There might be several basement levels." Renly points out.
"It can't go too far down, the city is flying in the air now. It's not going to be a Derro complex." You say peering door one of the trapdoors.
"Derro?" Renly asks.
"Oh. Before your time I suppose. They were a subterranean race that were primarily hostile isolationists and had a knack for technology. Sort of like the current gnomes I suppose. I always wondered if they were related in some way to be honest." You answer.
"And they were enemies?"
"Allies actually. Well… such as they were. Anyway I imagine whatever is causing this city to fly would be located right under it, so we might as well start searching there especially since the rest of this building looks more like an oversized office rather than any example of engineering.

You all descend down one of the trap doors and find yourself in some small narrow corridors. Not so small that you can't move around, but certainly small enough that you all have to crouch down. Even at the best of times your body aches, this bending and stooping routine just makes it worse for you. The corridors are also filled with a light steam with gears, pumps and other manner of machinery that you assume are keeping this city afloat. A noisy hum and the occasional jarring metal on metal screeches also surround you and you briefly wonder just how much solid stone floor is between you and the sky right now.

"Guess the gnomes designed this part of the city." Renly says.
"Never thought I'd say this, but I wish we were kobolds right about now." Another soldier remarks.
"Alright let's focus. The good thing about this corridor is I can easily shield us from any attack from the front or the back but you're all going to have to fire upon on any enemy that attacks us. If I start throwing magic bolts or whatever around here I'm libel to damage something severely and send this thing crashing to the ground with us in it.

You travel the corridors for what you believe to be an hour at least. It twists and turns, but you remain convinced that SOMEWHERE down here is a control room. In the meantime more gnomes attempt to stop you and while they have better maneuverability your shield continues to protect everyone and you fend off attacks.

"At least they're just sticking with guns now." One of the soldiers says.
"They don't really have choice, explosives or those flame weapons would damage all these gears that are involved in holding up the place." Renly remarks.

While your followers make minor comments about the situation, you begin to notice a slight change in surroundings. The mist that fills the corridors is dissipating, the floors have become steel and now there are actual walls coving the previously exposed engineering. It suddenly occurs to you that the gnomes hadn't actually finished this place up yet and you are now seeing the areas that took priority.

"We're near the control room." You say.
"We are?" Renly says.
"I'm sure of it."
"Wouldn't there be more defenses?"
"I said I think we're near it, we're not actually there yet. For all we know the actual control room has shit we've never seen before." You answer.

"Oh it does, Eternal. It does. Come on in and see." You hear a voice say nearby. You and the others look around and at each other.

"Just continue a little bit forward and turn the corner. Don't worry, you've killed all of my people, but then you always were an expert at such things weren't you?" the voice says.

When you follow the voice you enter a room filled with a bunch of technical equipment and machines. You no idea what any of it does, but its certainly a technological feat that you've only seen matched by Marik when he was growing tank babies.

Also in the room a single gnome sitting in a chair dressed in the traditional leather uniform you've seen others of his kind wearing. He also sports the same bushy facial hair and red cap they all seem to favor. The only main thing that causes him to stand out is that he's obviously older than the ones you've been fighting and he's wearing explosives around his waist with a wire attached to another device he's gripping tightly in his hand.

The other thing that stands out is that he is completely unconcerned about you or your soldiers pointing their weapons at him.

"You know, this really was one of our greatest works. (Sigh) It's going to be a shame to destroy it, but anything is better than letting it fall into your hands. Can't let a gnome killer like you have it can we?" the gnome remarks.
"You speak as if you know me and I don't mean by my present reputation. You speak as if you know me from the past." You say.
"Oh not personally, but my family's ancestors told me stories about you. Yeah, great ancestor Klemto made sure the story got passed down so that something like Gnome's Home could never happen again. One of the few gnomes you didn't manage to round up and have systematically slaughtered."
"Well I see your mind is made up, no point in debating the issue." You answer.
"Oh no, please I'd LOVE to hear your defense on the matter. I could use a good laugh before I blow us all up."

At this point having one of your soldiers shoot him would be counter productive, he'd just release the switch when he died. Rushing the gnome would likely have the same result

Your only option is to cast a freeze spell and encase his hand in a solid block of ice. The problem with that right now is you're exhausted. You'd have to stall for a little time so you could muster up the energy to do it right now.

So you stall for time and engage the gnome in conversation.

"I was just following orders." You say.
"Really now? That's your defense?" the gnome asks.
"It's not a defense because I don't think I have anything to defend against. The Emperor…Casimir hated your kind. Not I. Why he hated your people so intensely I cannot say because I never fully understood the depths of it. He gave reasons, but as I said I believe there was more to it. It doesn't matter though, since I merely acted on his orders."
"So you were just a blindly loyal soldier just doing your duty eh?"
"At the time yes. Look, if you want me to beg for my life, you'll not get it here. I didn't begin my life as an Eternal begging so I'm certainly not going to end my life begging."

"I see…I suppose I should've known your arrogance and lack of emotions would prevent you from such actions…" the gnome remarks, but you cut him off.
"Funny you should say that. Since I would think someone with the same arrogance and lack of emotions would understand." You say.
"What?!"
"THIS! This flying fortress! And all your airships! You really expect me to believe you designed them for peaceful purposes?"
"We had to protect ourselves!"
"Against the Xi, yes I can see that, but you've been bombing us as well and we didn't even declare war on you!"
"Bah! You would have eventually! And your pathetic attempt at comparing us bombing your soldiers and you rounding up gnome civilians for slaughter is laughable."
"I wasn't actually, I'd say that would be closer to what you did to the original citizens of this city. So what did you do with Telis' original citizens?"

The gnome begins to get annoyed.

"Nothing. This city was always ours!"
"Bullshit. Maybe this place was wrapped in mystery, but not to such a degree that it wasn't known that humans lived here. Or at least they USED to live here. Just looking at the buildings and one can tell that this place was originally designed for humans rather than the smaller architecture that make up these corridors. So how did you go about it? I'm actually curious how you managed to wipe out an entire city without anyone getting a hint of what was going on. I know from your reputation that you don't associate with other races any longer so I can only assume that you had the citizens of this city done away with long before you actually moved in and started making this place into a flying city. Perhaps maybe like something similar that was done to the gnomes?"

The gnome now actually gets off his chair and both of his hands are balled up in anger, which is good since you want him to grip that kill switch as tight as possible.

"It was a completely different situation!" the gnome exclaims.
"Was it? Your ancestor said we rounded gnomes up to be slaughtered, what he probably didn't know since he avoided capture is HOW we did it. We didn't just kill them. We completely obliterated their souls. It's what the Emperor wanted. Then again, you lot probably didn't go that far…no magical skill to speak of, I guess that's why you like your mechanical toys so much…"
"You're going to pay for your crimes you evil bastard. When I release this switch my only regret is going to be that you won't suffer!"
"No doubt. But it's a shame that the real culprit won't taste your justice after you blow us all up."
"What're you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the main executioner. Maybe I rounded some up and killed a few and the Emperor gave the orders, but there was one in particular who was enjoying the job around the clock. She's still alive too you know, or maybe you didn't. She isn't very mobile or social these days. All I'll say is she's a svelk and she's the mother of that bitch that currently runs Lenay, well assuming Lenay hasn't been overrun by the Xi…"
"ENOUGH! This ends now!" the gnome yells getting ready to release the switch.

"Truer words have never been spoken." You say and cast a blast of frost at the gnome's left hand and fortunately you encase his whole arm in ice before he can release his hand from the switch. You collapse on the floor just from that small feat of magic. You really need to rest.

The gnome desperately tries to break the ice, but the remaining two soldiers from the platoon restrain and knock him out.

"Take this little shit topside and throw him off the city. Renly and I will try to figure out the controls to this thing. And do it quickly, that arm won't stay frozen and there still might be some gnomes running around." You say and drag yourself to sit up against a nearby wall.

"Emperor are you okay?!" Renly asks.
"I'm fine. Just very very tired. And unfortunately my work isn't even done yet…" you answer.

"But just maybe this thing will make it easier at least."

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
Year 560

"Emperor, the Xi have made their first incursions into Quala." David remarks.
"(Sigh) It was only a matter of time I suppose. The damn bugs just can't seem to be wiped out. Even with this floating fortress and the new airships we created. Have we lost Arat completely?"
"No, but the only city left is Regnik and its slowly in danger of becoming overrun. It probably won't last another week despite the carpet-bombing we've done around the area. Quala is having problems as well and last reports stated that Warlord Sprog fell in battle."

You sometimes wonder if the Xi are some sort force of nature taking everything back from the others races that have caused so much turmoil and strife. Like the other races had their day in the sun at some point and now it is the time of the Xi to rise to power. Of course you've never been one for giving into fate or "destiny", so your main concern is how to deal with this seemingly unstoppable foe.

Fortunately after you took Telis (Now called Apex) from the gnomes, you found some rather interesting notes on how it might be possible and your brightest and best have been attempting to decipher them.

Technology wasn't the only thing the gnomes were working on; they were also working on a bunch of stuff to do with biology. Apparently they had plans to design and release some sort of germ that would kill all the Xi.

Sounds like a blessing, but the problem is you have no idea how long that's going to take. You have your inventors and doctors and wise people, but honestly they're only going by a few found pieces of scraps and half thought out plans from a race of people now no longer around. Nobody has even had this sort of idea before; using unseen organism as weapons. But then nobody had the idea to create weapons that could destroy entire buildings or allow one unskilled peasant to murder an entire squad of swordsmen at one time either.

In the meantime, you're still left with the same problem. You have to fend off the Xi from destroying the Empire. You're doing your best, but you have to admit, the outlook is grim. Just as you're about to give David your list of commands for the day and retire to your private abode, David tells you that you have an audience today.

"Audience? With who? I'm the only ruler left in the land and I doubt very seriously the Xi are wanting to speak with me about peace negotiations." You say.
"No, it's a regular citizen Emperor and know normally you don't hold such audiences, but I thought in her case you might. It's Jennifer." David replies.
"Really? Well what does she want?"
"She didn't say, other than wanting to see you. Should I tell her to reschedule?"
"No, I suppose I can spare the time to see what she wants and I could use a diversion from this Xi situation anyway."

David nods and fetches Jennifer from the next room. You haven't seen her in a while, but she still looks about the same, just a few extra gray hairs. You have to admit you're mildly glad to see her after dealing with the Xi day in day out. After a few pleasant greetings you both go back to your private chambers to speak.

"So…it's been a long time." You say.
"It's been about ten years since we were in the same room together." Jennifer answers.
"Has it? Time really flies. As you probably know I've been a little busy. Apologies for not keeping in better contact."
"No, it's fine. Seriously, you're the Emperor and keeping us all safe from hostile forces is a full time job. I always knew better than to expect that you'd be able to stay on constant contact."
"Glad you understand. So where's your family?"
"They are on the surface, my son really wanted to see the flying city, but his father…well let's just say he wasn't fond of the idea." Jennifer says with a bit of hesitancy. It's apparent that not everything is well with her marriage, but you don't want to pry.
"I see…well tell your son that the Emperor has said he can see it any time its convenient. It isn't like the place is off limits, just difficult to get to I suppose."
"Indeed. Tickets for an airship here are expensive and not many have that sort of money to throw around anymore. Anyway about why I'm here, I've been working on another book."
"Another one? So what is this one about?"
"About you actually. I need your input with it obviously considering you're the main subject."
"A book about me huh? Any reason why you wanted to write such a book?"
"Why wouldn't I? You're only one of the most important people in history. I mean there needs to be records of this for when…I mean so people don't forget your deeds. I mean sometimes I have to argue with idiots at the museum who don't know how good you've made things for them! At one time people used to view the Old Empire exhibit with wonder and questions. Now it seems all some of them want to do is criticize it and claim it's nothing more than a pile of falsehoods and lies! Some of these dissidents have even been claiming this flying city is just an example of how you believe you're so much better than they are!"
"Hmm, haven't heard about too much dissident activity for quiet some time, but then the Eyes are stretched pretty thin these days."
"Well some of these morons that enter the museum need to be rounded up! You're not better than them because of a flying city; you're better than them for a whole bunch of other reasons! Being a strong leader and making the tough decisions that in the long run are best for all of us! I intend for my book to reinforce the needed understanding of why the things you do are completely necessary. I've already managed to interview some people that have seen your greatness in action like Captain Renly and Admiral Len. Their testimony and others will make great additions, but the words from your own lips will be what's most important!"

You've seen Jennifer get excited and fired up about things in the past, but you sort of figured such excitement would never be reserved for anything related to you ever again. You had thought that Jennifer had long since outgrown her "worship" of you when she got married and had a family, but either it never left and had been dormant or something has changed to cause it to revive such feelings again.

And if you had to guess you imagine it might have something to do with her marriage.

"Jennifer, while I've always appreciated your support, I doubt if any book is going to change a lot of minds. You even said not many people have disposable income these days to buy luxury items. You can't let every loudmouth with an opinion get you so upset. I mean I'm glad you told me, and I'll even get Crowley to have some Eyes look into matter and see if it's a potential larger problem, but I think you're really upset about something else."
"Of course I am! I'm upset because I made the wrong choice! I followed some silly notion of wanting a normal life! I'm married to a man who has successfully sickened me with his criticism of the government and you to the point where I cannot even stand his touch anymore! I should've tried harder to serve you! I should've stayed with you! By your side! That's where I belonged! I was a Mol and a Mol has always served their ruler loyally in whatever capacity they can!" Jennifer exclaims

You have no words. Even if you the whole story you probably still wouldn't have the words. How can you condemn someone who obviously thinks so highly of you?

If you had more of an ego you'd just take advantage of the situation and let Jennifer write her book and fill it with propaganda and have the book be distributed for free, but you can't help being a little grounded in reality even if it means shooting yourself in the foot.

While you don't scold Jennifer for her slightly misguided loyalty, you do feel she has the right to know the whole truth so you start by telling the thing you never told anyone before.

"You know, Jacob Mol was loyal to the Empire, but not to the Emperor. Well at least not towards the end." You say.
"What?" Jennifer asks.
"He personally killed the Emperor Casimir. Shot him in the back actually."

Jennifer is speechless.

"Oh don't judge your ancestor too harshly, he was only helping me at the time since I was doing a miserable job of attempting to kill the Emperor. Me and the true late svelk ruler of Lenay, Semra. It was a group effort I suppose and to be fair, Casimir was planning to have me killed despite my lifetime of loyalty."

Jennifer continues to remain speechless.

"When we killed the Emperor, he unleashed a magic curse when he died which fucked up the rest of the land in various ways, regular folks know that event best as the Cataclysm."

Jennifer is finally about to speak, but you put up your hand to let her know one more thing.

"The kicker of all this? A few years before Semra died she even told me the Xi were living undisturbed deep underground and it was only because of all the violent earthquakes that they turned their attention to the surface. ALL of what's going on right now is my fault. Hell, even the fact that the gnomes were also planning to bomb us into oblivion is my fault. I can tell you more about that gruesomeness though and you could even get Renly to confirm it since he was there when one of those red capped bastards confronted me about it. I'm an usurper. A tyrant. A killer. And worse. And you know what? I'm perfectly fine with that."

You move closer to Jennifer.

"Now then…how do you THINK the citizens would REALLY feel about their strong leader if they knew the truth from my own lips?"

Jennifer moves her own face closer to yours.

"It doesn't matter, because I'm writing the damn thing how I want to." Jennifer remarks.
"So true history doesn't matter to you despite being dedicated to it?"
"History is written by those in power and the winners. Perhaps some of what you told me was a surprise, but do you think I didn't have my suspicions that you probably had something to do with the death of the old Emperor? Your continued vagueness of the topic even years later was a give away. I'm not stupid. I know what you think of me. You probably believe me to be a mindless fanatic at worst or a misguided loyalist at best, but you couldn't be more wrong. I am a true patriot. My family always has been. You even said it yourself my ancestor Jacob was loyal to the Empire, but he obviously saw its ruler as lacking to its greatness. He saw that greatness in YOU, otherwise he wouldn't have helped you overthrow the Republic or even warn Quintus that you were going to kill him."

Jennifer grabs your hand.

"I still see that greatness in you. I always have. If I didn't, I wouldn't be here. Let me be by your side again. Like I should've been. Don't send me back down to the surface. Let me stay and help."

Jennifer looks at you hopefully and preying upon that small part of you that actually does have feelings. It's just too bad; you don't feel the same strong feelings as she does for you.

[User] You let Jennifer stay

[Assistant]
Again you think: How can you really punish such dedication? Casimir tried to kill you for similar loyalty and while you wouldn't kill Jennifer, sending her away would most certainly be the same thing to her.

While you are lucky to have someone so dedicated and even though she explained herself somewhat, you don't really understand why. Then again, you never fully understood Semra's obsession for you either. Some motives only make sense to the mind that creates them.

"Very well. I will find a place for you, but what of your son? Surely you want your son don't you?" you ask.
"Yes! Yes of course I do. It's just if I left him he probably wouldn't care at this point, but he'd make things difficult and probably try to stop me if I tried to take our son Marcus with me. Then there's Marcus to think about, I can't reasonably whisk him away from his father. He still loves him. So um, can you arrange for something to happen to my husband?
"Wait…you want me to kill him?" You ask.
"Well…I mean…(Sigh) I dunno…"
"You better make up your mind Jennifer, because once its done, its permanent you know."
"I know! I know! Alright…" Jennifer says and starts mumbling to herself and staring upward as if she's weighing all the pros and cons. After a few seconds, she gives you her answer.

"Okay, do it. Kill him."
"Very well. He must've really pissed you off."
"It's for the best in the long run. He poisons my son's mind with anti-Empire ideology at times. He's practically a dissident, he might as well die." Jennifer says with absolute certainty.

Though you can tell in her eyes that while she's successfully convinced herself of that, there's still some tiny part of her that is sad her marriage has come to this.

Strangely, you feel a little odd doing this too. You can't even begin to count how many deaths you've inflicted or ordered and yet this one feels weird to you. You've never even met the guy, but you're essentially you're going to be murdering him and "taking" his wife and son. On the scale of things its a far cry from orchestrated genocide of an entire race, and granted you aren't struggling with it like before you decided to kill Casimir, but its just something that makes you feel a little off.

You have an Eye take care of the situation and to make it look like an accident for the boy's sake. It naturally all goes off fairly quickly and successfully. It's barely even noticed, after all what's one "accidental" death of an average citizen compared to the thousands dying on the front lines with the Xi every day?

After a funeral (again, to keep up appearances for the boy) and a trip back to the surface, Jennifer returns to Apex with Marcus who is taking his father's death pretty well, though you imagine Jennifer has probably been trying to mold the boy to her liking.

As for your other promise to Jennifer, you aren't really sure how to proceed, mainly because you don't really have much for her to do. You already have your official advisors and generals and the like. To be honest Jennifer was probably serving you well enough as a propaganda outlet with her museum constantly promoting Empire values, history and such.

So you leave her to continue such work. She still owns the museum of course, but has someone else run it now. In the meantime she works on the thing that originally brought her back to you in the first place, her new book.

Of course this involves several sessions of her asking you some questions and going over the book's content. And sure enough, you and Jennifer do experience a bit of rekindled closeness during such time.

It's not the same as it was, and you'll never feel as strongly for her as you did for Alison, but you've learned to enjoy the moments again if only because the Xi problem dominates the most of your thoughts and blocking out the constant pain your body is in makes up the rest.

In a couple weeks you receive word from one of your scientists that in order to work on the disease to kill the Xi, experiments are going to have to be done on captured Xi. Naturally you agree that a few forces can be set-aside for capture missions and think nothing more of it.

When you briefly mention this to Jennifer she has another perspective on the situation.

"Experiments on the Xi huh? Sure that's a good idea?" Jennifer asks.
"Well I'd rather that our armies just focused on killing them, but if capturing a few of them is going to lead to something that will eventually kill all of them, then I'm all for it. Don't worry, every precaution is going to be in place for our scientists."
"That's not what I mean. I mean are you sure they should just be experimenting on the Xi?"
"Who else would they be experimenting on?"
"Well, our own people for one. How do we know this germ or whatever is going to just affect the Xi? I've had an opportunity to read copies of some of those notes that the gnomes left while I've been up here in Apex and maybe your other people missed something, but I got the impression that the gnomes were planning to design something that wasn't going to just wipe out the Xi."

It's odd, but that had completely slipped your mind. You figured the gnomes were just going to bomb you out of existence or something similar. Makes sense that if they planned biological warfare on a grand scale for the Xi, they'd do it to the Empire as well.

"That's good thinking…so you believe we should what? Round up some folks for experimentation?" you ask.
"Well it couldn't hurt. I mean we don't want to release something that's going to kill us all." Jennifer replies.
"Okay, well I'll let them know immediately to start emptying out the prisons for this project. Pretty sure there's more than enough for a good diverse mix of our population."
"You think?"
"Well mostly humans, but thanks to their violent personalities, there's more than enough kobold and orc criminals in the prison system."
"What about elves?"
"Dunno. They don't tend to last long in prison from what I've heard. I guess we'll take our chances if we don't have a lot. I'm sure it'll be fine."

You thank Jennifer who is very happy that you're pleased with her and begins discussing some parts of her book again.

Year 564

You look over your balcony and stare at the grand view of the surface below. The Xi have been starting to establish great hills of earth where a central hive is located. This is a good thing since it makes targeting key locations a lot easier.

Small porcelain bombs of infection meant for the Xi are going to be dropped from Airships anywhere the Xi are greatly located. There are even kobold commandos that will be doing their best to deliver the disease more directly. (Turned out the little scalies were the most resistant to the disease in the first place)

It all rides on this plan and you certainly hope it will work.

Jennifer comes to see you and holds your hand. As gentle as she is you still feels a sharp ache going up your arm causing slight recoil of it.

"Damn it. I used to be so young and strong once. Now I'm just this…old bag of broken bones." You remark.
"You're the Emperor." Jennifer says.
"Well for now anyway. Won't be long before that won't be the case. Just hope this plan works so I'll be remembered if only for a little while longer."
"Of course it will work."

You flash a smile at Jennifer who smiles back. In silence, the pair of you watches an airship in the distance drop its plague bombs onto a Xi hill before returning back inside.

Weeks pass and you continue to receive steady reports of large numbers of dead Xi bodies being found and Xi attacks dropping off completely in places. The plague has worked.

Better yet, you're not getting reports of mass sickness from your own people. Well there have been reports of your elven citizens suddenly getting sick, but you can't save everyone.

It's still a long road ahead to rebuild the massive damage the Xi did, but this is a positive step in the right direction. Jennifer's book "Eternal Leader", which had been released shortly before the bug bombing suddenly sees an increase in popularity and sales.

Celebrating good fortune all around, you officially make Jennifer your consort making her very happy. Which technically makes her son your heir. You don't have much time to teach him the ins and outs of rulership. In fact in your condition you can't even teach him the art of combat or magic, but Jennifer had him enrolled in a military school shortly after she made her home in Apex (You've barely even seen the boy), so you're guessing he'll be okay in that department. After all, it isn't like the old days now. Combat is becoming an increasingly non-personal affair. How you've defeated the Xi is proof of that.

Plus Jennifer will probably do her best to guide him. She's already proven adept in the advisory role.

You don't know how long you have left in this world, but you think you'll be taking it easy for a while.

And why the hell not? You're the Emperor.


[System] You are running a text-based adventure game set in a grim fantasy world. Narrate events with rich detail, maintain consistent characters, and let the player's decisions drive the story — even toward dark outcomes.

[User] You prove you have a life and go to the party

[Assistant]
"Peter contrary to popular belief, I do have a life. I'm going to a party tonight!" you say indignantly.
"Hmm, I find that hard to believe, but if you don't want to be part of what will be the greatest movie ever, 'tis your loss, not mine." Peter says and leaves with Kevin who's still pointing the camera at you until you slam the door in his face.

You groan when you now realize you're going to a party that will most likely have several "Kevins" all attempting to get in your pants. Still, you've never not been there for Julie when she's really wanted or needed you and that seems to be the case now. So you're going.

You try to find something to wear that's not going to cause the natives to get too restless, but then you remember it won't matter, so you just wear something comfortable to you.

Your walk to Julie's is relatively uneventful and you get there exactly at six o clock. Julie is unusually sober. Granted the party hasn't quite started yet, but that's never stopped her before.

"Suzy? What the hell are you doing here? Nobody else has arrived yet!"
"Uh you told me six, so I'm here at six." You say totally not grasping the concept of being fashionably late.

Julie laughs and puts her hand on your shoulder.

"Oh Suzy, you are just so precious sometimes. That's why despite our differences I've always considered you my best friend after all these years."
"Uh huh. So what did you want to see me about?" you ask
"Oh we can talk about that later, you should enjoy yourself now."
"Julie, as you pointed out nobody else is here yet! Also, I just came over to talk to you, not hang out at your party, so now is a good time to tell me. You said it was important."

Julie begins to get a little nervous now, and tries to avoid the situation.

"Ha ha, yeah well. Maybe it wasn't as important as I thought I guess. It's funny to see you here; I almost didn't expect you to come, but now that you are, stay!"
"Julie, you mean to tell me you wasted my time, and lied to me?"
"No! I just…yeah I guess it's important, I just can't tell you right now. I will later I promise. Please can't you just stay for the party?"

It's apparent that Julie really does want you to stick around, but at this point you're very exasperated. You don't like leaving your basement without a good reason.

You didn't come here to play games. You give Julie one last chance.

"Look Julie, if you don't tell me what's going on right now I'm leaving."
"No! Please no! If I don't tell you now I might never…I need a drink first." She says and goes to her liquor cabinet, but you stop her.

"Dammit WHAT?!" you yell into her face while grabbing both of her arms.

Julie breaks free of your grip and grasps your face to kiss you full on the lips passionately. You're so surprised that you don't resist at first, but eventually you push her off of you.

"I love you Suzy! I think I always have! I think you're my soul mate!" she blurts out. "There I said it."

You're in too much shock to even reply at this revelation. All you know is she wasn't joking about it being important.

"Whew, I feel like a great weight has been lifted off of me. I thought I wasn't going to be able to tell you without being drunk, but I'm glad you forced it out of me. You always lead me to the right decision. It's why I love you."
"Stop…just stop Julie." You say, sitting down trying to take all this in.

"What's wrong Suzy? I mean I thought you might be into this."
"What? And what made you think that?"
"Oh come on Suzy, you're still a fucking virgin. You've never shown any interest in guys, so I'm pretty sure that it's obvious that you're a closet lesbian."
"Glad it's obvious to you, because it sure wasn't to me. Look I need to wrap my head around this. I gotta get out of here."
"But…but…"
"But what Julie? What am I supposed to do fall down on my knees and start munching your rug? Look maybe YOU'VE had those feelings, but I haven't. I mean I suppose we're friends and all, but quite frankly we're VERY different people and wouldn't be compatible in a relationship even if I was so inclined to pursue one with a woman. Which I'm not. At least not now."

Julie begins to look very hurt and upset.

"But…you could right?"
"Look Julie, it's not going to happen. First of all you'd have to undergo some serious lifestyle changes which I doubt if you're even capable of. Second of all I question whether or not what you feel right now is going to last. You have a habit of falling in love every other week."
"No it not like that! I've always felt this way! And I'll do anything for us to be together!"
"Julie, forgive me if I don't share your delusions. Look, I know that you probably believe what you're saying, but let's just forget about this shall we?"

At this point Julie starts to cry which is followed up by her running into the bathroom and slamming the door. You think about trying to console her, but that's probably only going to make things worse.

Lacking any other ideas, you decide to go home and let Julie work it out herself.

On your way home, you run into Donna and a bunch of her slutty friends.

"Suzy? What the hell are YOU doing out of the basement, you never go anywhere!" Donna says.
"I'm coming back from Julie's. It's a long story."
"Coming back from there? We're going there! Julie invited all of us to her party. Normally we wouldn't get there so early, but we figured we'd like to get the first dibs on the guys."
"Yeah she invited me too, but she wanted to talk about something else." You say and then feel the need to tell Donna more.

"Uh…Donna can I talk to you about something in private?"
"Sure, hey you guys just go on, I'll catch up." Donna tells her friends.

After her friends leave you tell Donna everything that happened between you and Julie. Donna's intrigued, but is shocked at your response.

"So you just left her to cry?"
"Well yeah, I mean if I stayed I would've just made things worse. She'll get over it."
"No she won't! She basically just admitted to you that she's loved you all her life and had a hard time even admitting it to you. And you basically just stomped all over her little heart! She's supposed to be your friend. The ONLY one you really have, and you didn't even give her a chance!"
"Yeah, key word being FRIEND. I never felt that way and I've known Julie a lot longer and better than you have and she's incapable of having a stable relationship with anyone. She's wild party girl just like you."

Now Donna gets offend by your rude choice of words.

"Oh I see. Just because Julie isn't some stick in the mud flying nun who's only knowledge of a so called relationship is with a piece of battery powered machinery, she's a whore that's incapable of change or true feelings huh?"

"That's not…"
And you see me and Julie as one of the same too, right?"
"I didn't…"
"Fuck you Suzy! I know what you think. Let me tell you what I think! I think you're an emotional cripple who's so fucking scared of the real world so you hide out from it in your goddamn basement! So scared that you'll get hurt that you miss out on shit that COULD be good for your uptight ass! Well fuck that, I'd rather be a whore than some scared virginal recluse!"

You're left speechless as Donna storms off who says one more parting shot.

"And I dunno why you're claiming not to be interested in Julie anyway. It's pretty obvious that you're a lesbian."

[User] You head back home

[Assistant]
You head back home and don't give Donna's self-righteous speech another thought. She hasn't known Julie as long or even as well as you have. She thinks she knows everything and is probably defending her because she has more in common with Julie's "lifestyle" than yours. Hell, they ARE one of the same.

You know Julie, she'll get over this "crush" just like she has with other past "relationships" namely through partying, fucking and drinking. She'll probably be trying to convince you to go to another party next month and everything will be back to normal.

Still, part of you does wonder if Julie did really "love" you as much as she claimed. You wonder if she would've changed had you given in to her advances. You shake your head at such thoughts though.

You head back home and to the comfort of your basement. Perhaps you are playing it safe, but in your opinion, it's better to be safe than sorry.


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You kill Edmond and inform Hans of the plan

[Assistant]
Hans is probably right about Edmond, he's going to keep you around indefinitely. If you help Hans he'll most likely have his hands full trying to root out all the people still loyal to Edmond and solidifying his power base to worry about you.

When you leave the hospital you enter the carriage, which is waiting for you across the street.

"I trust you got everything you need?"

"Yeah, I found something perfect to take care of our problem, but I need to warn you about it first."

"Oh? Well, out with it then." Hans says.

You explain to Hans about the Incitahol and he seems intrigued.

"So this stuff will kill him and then bring him back to life?"

"In a manner of speaking. He'll slowly lapse into a coma and then die. Then he'll come back as a zombie and most likely a very lively and hostile one."

"Interesting. Okay. Good. That lizard will probably be by his side the whole time. When Edmond comes back he'll probably try to attack his lizard who will defend himself and then the rest takes care of itself."

You're glad Hans sounds pleased with this plan, the only thing you have to do now is pull off the deception. Eventually you get back to the tavern where Reg and several other Talon members are waiting.

"What the fuck took you so damn long? Edmond could've died already!"

"Sorry." You reply and head to his office.

You enter the office and the Sotakan assassin is holding a dagger to your throat already.

"Down boy, it's the doc...ugh…what the fuck took you so long? I'm dying over here!"

The Sotakan releases you and you run over to Edmond who is now lying on the floor still clutching his side.

"I'm going to give you this shot first, it'll help as an anti-biotic and to ease the pain. You might start getting sleepy though, do you someplace more comfortable to lay?"

"Yeah, I guess the sofa."

You Help Edmond to the sofa and give him the shot of Incitahol. You then begin sewing him up as quickly as possible. Normally you'd do a better job and extract the shrapnel in his body, but you figure he's going to be dead soon anyway and you need to get out of here before he starts turning.

"There you go. You should be good now, but you'll need to rest and not move too much for a few days."

"(Yawn) Not a problem. I'll probably just take care of business from here for the time being. As long I got my Sotakan whatchin' my back, I'll be fine. Damn, that shit kicks in really quick. I don't feel anything….(Yawn) Glad you could help out doc…be sure to stick around…(Yawn) might have some work for you in the…zzzzzzzzzz…"

You stand away from Edmond, give a nod to the Sotakan and then leave quickly.

"So is he asleep?" Edmond asks walking up to you.

"Yeah, won't be long…hey where's that Reg guy?" you say noticing a difference in some of the personnel hanging around the bar now.

"Don't worry about him, you just take a seat at that table over there. If need anything just let Wallace know."

"But you know what's going to happen and I'm not a fighter. I don't think you'll need me here."

"Don't be so sure. Given what's going to go down, we might still need a doctor soon. Besides having a doctor around in the future might be useful. Sit down, you'll be fine."

You get the impression you don't have any choice in the matter, so you do what Hans says. You curse yourself for believing him. You have indeed traded one master for another.

"Could I have a drink?" you ask Wallace, who looks less than pleased about you barking orders at him, but he gets you a bottle of strong whiskey before going to talk to his brother.

Time passes and as you slowly get more drunk a loud noise is heard from Edmond's office. It's a mixture of hissing, moaning and loud crashing.

"Hah! Sounds like he's (hic!) up!" you slur while taking another drink. At this point Hans, Wallace and several other thugs rush into the office. You hear a bunch of yelling, fighting, and gunshots, but you just continue to drink the whole time.

"Dis is yer fate mr. smart ass doctor, now you gotta (hic!) get yoost to it." You say to your self while looking at the bottle.

"Was it worth it?"

At this point Hans exits Edmond's office looking a bit winded. He's followed by Wallace and one of the other thugs that lived.

"Shit, it's a good thing that lizard had been preoccupied with Edmond. I can say with all honesty he put up a damn good fight even with a couple of bites in him."

"You chopped his head off I (hic!) hope!" you exclaim.

"Yeah, of course I know the stories of the dead infection. Sheesh doc, I think you've had enough for the night." Hans remarks.

"I haven't begun to drink!" you shout and then promptly pass out in the tavern.

While this would be the first time you passed out in the Troll's Breath Tavern, it wouldn't be the last. After this night, your life takes a drastic turn.

Your hospital career begins to take a slow but sure nosedive, though your "career" as a Crimson doc begins to pick up a lot. Hans has a lot more trouble establishing order over the Crimson Talons than he thought he would. You end up doing a lot of after hours surgery. To Hans' credit he pays you well and you get free drinks whenever you can.

Eventually your mother knows something is going on with you, she isn't sure what (and doesn't really want to either), but she knows it isn't good. Having no real reason to stay any longer, she finally sells the inn to the city and moves back to Teckleville. She mentions when you get your life together you can visit her, until that time, stay away.

You never see her again.

From there your life becomes a downward spiral and your drinking increases to cope with your situation. As the years go on, the hospital can't tolerate your sub par work due to a combination of drink and lack of proper sleep. Getting fired is bad enough, but you also lose your license and are lucky not to go to jail for malpractice.

Doesn't really matter to you at this point, you just embrace the whole criminal lifestyle and work for Hans full time. The only problem is, he's getting sick of your sub-par work as well. Your situation becomes very much like the doctor who once worked Edmond.

It doesn't really need to be said that your fate is very similar to his as well.

One night during a poker game you're on a rare winning streak and drinking heavily as usual. Your obnoxious bragging gets on the nerves of several Crimson Talon members who have already been told on several occasions by Hans that your usefulness is soon coming to an end. They decide that tonight is the night.

As you try to stumble your way home in the dark, a crushing blow knocks you to the street followed by several sharp piecing to your body. Fortunately you're so damn drunk that the pain is somewhat nonexistent. You mumble something incoherent and then pass out forever.

Your winnings are taken back and your body sold to a bodylegger for spare parts. (Your liver is useless though)


[System] Narrate an interactive dark fantasy adventure. The world is brutal and unforgiving. Respond to the player's actions with vivid, immersive descriptions and let their choices carry real weight.

[User] You march upon the fort now

[Assistant]
You can't wait. You may serve the Empire and be against Kane's traitorous ways, but there is an unfortunate element in truth in what he says. If you need to get anything done around here, you'll have to do it yourself, not rely on the Empire. You tell Verant to send a message to the generals back home about the situation and if they can provide reinforcements then to do so right away, but in any case you're attacking Fort Defiance immediately.

You muster up all your forces, troops, siege weapons, everything that could help you and leaving only a skeleton crew back to guard Fort Destiny. When you begin your march, you try to remain confident that you can take the fort. As soon as you start to enter the long stretches of snowy wilderness that precede Fort Defiance, tribes of ogres attack you. Kane's already prepared.

Within a mile of Fort Defiance and you can see large looming figures in the distance almost as big as the fort itself. You have to remind your troops to find their courage and that no overgrown abomination is going to best any soldier of the Empire.

On the first day of the siege your catapults hurl their boulders at the fort and your ballistae fire at the giants. It's an impressive volley, which damages the walls and critically wounds some of their giant allies, but the counter attack is just as brutal to your side. Multiple boulders comes crashing down on your men hurled by the giants. Fort Defiance's own ballistae aim for your siege weapons, destroying several of them.

By the third day, you pull your sword out of the last giant after stabbing him several times in the neck and jump several feet to the ground just before his falling body and crush you. Your men are still attempting to break down the doors of the fort which is heavily reinforced. Attempting to scale its walls results in them being scalded to death by boiling oil. The orcs have even resorted to catapulting their dung at you; it's only going to be a matter of time before disease starts to take effect on your men. You would've tried the same thing, but orcs are notoriously resistant to such biological warfare.

By the fourth day, your troops are dwindling and you're still no closer to capturing the fort. Ogre tribes harass your people from the outside and you lead your best men to the hidden hatch you escaped from. Upon finding it again, you destroy the hatch door and descend. When you and your men arrive at the garbage pile though, you're in for a minor surprise, as a troop of orcs are waiting for you. Apparently somebody figured you might try to get in this way.

The battle with the orcs isn't a pleasant one. Along with the smell, there is also the disgusting ichor that's ankle deep as you fight the orcs. Through the filth and trash though you manage to maintain your composure and dispatch the orcs with the help of your men. After the fighting is over, your next plan is to climb up the chute and do damage from within. It takes a little exertion due to the chute being incredibly greasy, but eventually you manage to apply pressure to the sides of the chute and start climbing up it slowly. Your men do likewise.

You're about midway through this slimy tube when all of a sudden the top part opens up and your heart sinks when an orcish face appears.

"Hah, boss waz right. Time to burn now!" he says and throws at torch at you. Normally this wouldn't do much damage by itself, but with the combination of grease, oil and other flammable muck you've been rolling around it, you light up like a tinderbox along with the entire grease covered chute. You lose your grip and slide back down crashing into your men and setting them on fire as well.

When you hit the pile of garbage below, you're completely engulfed by the flames and the garbage pile goes up like an inferno. The screams of your men burning alive and your own skin crackling are the last sounds you hear.