[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] Begin a new story

[Assistant]
Year 23

You take a moment to catch your breath after running from the guards. Warts soon joins you, though he's got more on his mind than just catching his breath.

"What da hell? Youz wuz just gonna leave me there?!" he says.
"Warts, they didn't even see you, they only saw me, and I figured you'd be fine anyway. And look, I was right, you're here to bitch at me." You say.
"Bullshit. Anyways, youz wouldn't have alerted the guards if youz wuz a better thief!"
"Fuck you, I'm a fucking fantastic thief! I was part of the Guild AND the Syndicate!"
"Yeah? And where are they now?"
"Both gone, while I outlasted both organizations."
"Hm, from what youz told me, sounds more like you destroyed them both. No wonder nobody else wants to work with you. Youz a jinx."
"Then why are you still willing to work with me?"
"Cuz I got Yag wit me always. Sides, it's usually more profitable than working with the Spider Fangs nowadays. Idjits too busy warring with da elves rather than simple banditry. Not hangin' around for dat."
"What about your guide gig?"
"Bah, nobody gets lost like they used to. Dat Baroness has mades effort to chop a lotta trees in da surrounding area and make a road as opposed to the simple dirt path it once had."
"Yeah Baroness Varsakken is unfortunately a lot more efficient than her father was. Been a steady increase in security in the city making life harder in general. Miss the days when they wouldn't even bother you or you could easily just bribe them."
"Dat's becuz there's no organizations anymore. Without da Syndicate or even the Guild around, the criminal element here is easy pickin' for da guvment. No need to appease or even profit from them. Easier ta just execute or toss 'em in prison."

Warts never appears to be bright a lot of times, but it's insight like that which always reminds you that he isn't as stupid as he tries to pretend.

He's right of course. The criminal element has been disorganized ever since the city pulled back from anarchy and Baroness Ludmilla Varsakken took power from her father Vlad and brother Farad (And most certainly had a hand in killing them both).

The Ebony Claw Syndicate chapter here never regrouped. None of the members who survived (And were mostly the lower ranks anyway), ever tried to reform and seemed to just go their own way. The ECS leadership back in the Delantium Kingdom never came back to "reclaim" their chapter either. You assume that they wrote this place off as a loss and moved on.

Initially this all seemed pretty ideal, as you were no longer under their threats or watchful eye and at the time the Holgard Watch was still fairly weak and recovering from the anarchy.

In time though, it turned out Ludmilla was far more competent and more pragmatic than her father and started actually focusing on making the city safer and less of pit of crime and disorder that it's become known for. Which in turn is making your profession a bit harder.

The more you think about it, you're starting to wonder about what the hell you're doing with your own life and it isn't exactly as good as it could be.

This living day to day without thinking about the future was okay before, but now you're starting realize that maybe you should be rethinking your simplistic approach to life. Because even if you're still a good enough thief to evade the law and trouble most of the time, you're getting a little bored of doing it. Something different might be in order.

You think again back to just a few years ago and the fact that you were part of not one but two criminal organizations. You didn't give it too much thought at the time, mainly because you were thinking more about Tanya, but sometimes you wondered what it would be like to be running said organizations.

Given how Garrick and Rook ended up, you have to believe that you'd do just as good of a job as they did, maybe even better.

Maybe YOU could form a new organization. If you did, you'd certainly bring in more money and strengthen the underworld here again. Maybe you could even influence the government like the Ebony Claw Syndicate and the Guild once did.

"Warts, I think I should form an organization." You say.
"Wut? Dat's a terrible idea." Warts says.
"Why?"
"Cuz, more people around, more problems, dat's why! I mean you should know dat better than anywun! Besides, I know too, Spider Fang tribe, full of idjits, why you think I stay to myself a lot?"
"Because they don't truly accept you from what you told me, and besides didn't you tell me the Spider Fang tribe survived when others didn't because they worked together the best?"
"Tru…but they probably gettin' demselves killed by warring with da elves. Sides, ain't nobody gonna follow youz. Youz a jinx remember? Anyone left from the Syndicate isn't likely ta like ya."
"Yeah? Well they don't need to like me, they just need to fear and believe in me. You forget, I was known as a Claw killer before I joined. I mean that should still count as a serious reputation."
"Maybe…but I dunno…seems like ya just invitin' trouble."
"Can't be any worse than what I've already been through."
"Hm, so whatcha callin' it?"
"Calling what?"
"Yer gang, ya idjit. Geez."
"Oh. Shit, guess I should come up with a name. Fuck. Can't think of one right now."
"Sounds like a great start."
"Forget the name for now, what we need to do is gather up everyone."
"We? I didn't agree ta dis."
"Warts, you'll fucking help me, because I've saved your damn life on more than one occasion."
"Sheesh, if I'd known you'd become such a fucking asshole, I woulda left ya ta rot in the woods years ago. Alright, fine. I'll help, but only becuz I ain't got anything better ta do right now. I ain't getting' tied down in dis little organization of yers either, assumin' it even gets off da ground to begin wit. So whatcha need?"

Seeing as you don't want to be bothered hunting down every petty criminal in Holgard, you assign Warts that task. As strange as it may seem, he can be fairly convincing to those of similar low status.

As for you, you're of the mind that you need to find a suitable headquarters. You suppose you could just "take over" the current inn you're living at. It wouldn't take much to intimidate the owner, though your bigger concern is visibility. Gone are the days where organizations like the ECS could just sit out in the open and the Watch would turn a blind eye. You'd have to be more careful to keep up the appearance of legitimacy.

Ideally, you'd like to use the old Thieves' Guild location. The problem with that is it's currently an underground slave market and run by the closest thing to a "criminal organization" still left in Holgard.

When word of Rook being dead spread, remnants of ECS members that had been assigned to the slave market just stayed there and went into business for themselves. Some of the other members joined soon after. It's one of the few things that the Holgard Watch has not been efficient in eliminating. Though the location never was known to general law enforcement anyway.

From what you know, they're little more than a gang of thugs, but they're organized enough that they've lasted this long and even have ties to certain pirate groups based in Hessla.

You can't imagine that convincing them is going to be easy, in fact you might have to wait a bit before trying. Go there when you've built up a bit more muscle as a show of force.

Of course you could just go in now and shoot everyone. Probably a lot more dangerous and you'd be depriving yourself of possible followers, but if you're successful, you'd certainly establish yourself as the big swinging dick of the underworld, along with taking over the territory you wanted in the first place.

[User] You ruthless Aggression

[Assistant]
Well, shooting people is something you're good at, so it might actually be easier anyway.

Though you hope you aren't too rusty at it, you haven't been doing as much shooting as you once did. (And as much as it might be more convenient at times, openly killing Holgard Watchmen on a whim is likely to get you hunted down a lot quicker) Still, you do try to keep in practice in the sewers where nobody gives a shit if you're firing off a weapon you're not supposed to own anyway.

You've also acquired a few other firearms over the years as well. You've got a musket, a blunderbuss, and various other one shot flintlocks.

You might as well bring them all for this, because you're not going in subtle.

While you're mentally preparing yourself for this assault in your head, Warts is still around asking you questions.

"Ay, youz still with me?" Warts asks.
"Huh? Yeah, just deep in thought." You answer.
"Hm, never had dat problem. Anywayz I was askin' where ya gonna hold dis meetin' of Holgard's most wanted, an when?"
"Oh. Just tell them to come to the Blackheart Inn, where I'm currently staying by the weekend. That should give you enough time to scout the streets, taverns, and wherever else. Oh and let them know that the drinks will be on me, so that should help entice them as well."
"Blackheart Inn…why the hell don't these inns ever have invitin' names? Like I dunno, the friendly titties, or sumthin."
"Because that name was taken by one of the brothels presumably. Look, I'm leaving you to it, I gotta go get ready."
"Ready for what?"
"I got my own shit to do before this meeting. Later."

You leave Warts and head home to the Blackheart Inn. On your way to your room, you toss a bag of coins to the innkeeper stating that you're going to be having a "gathering" on the weekend and you need . He doesn't ask questions since he knows by now what sort of man you are and more importantly all the coin you've given him is understanding enough.

You go to your room and after moving about furniture to access your items, you check everything and load it all up. You then get some rest, because tomorrow you've got big plans.

The next night, with all your gear, you head to the nearest sewer entrance and descend down. You still remember the way to the Thieves Guild so it doesn't take long.

No sooner do you get closer to where the entrance would be located and several of the slavers are hanging around.

"Shit! He's got…"

Before any of them can make a move or sound other than a scream, you've shot your blunderbuss and taken out three of them with the spread. You finish off the fourth severely wounded one on the ground with blade to his neck.

You can't be sure if that's already alerted more of them, but you enter quickly. As soon as you do, you've draw attention not from the ones running the market, but from some of the potential buyers. More than a few just run for cover, others foolishly draw on you, which you return in kind.

As you get closer to the hub, more of the slavers appear to defend their territory. A few of them are armed with crossbows and their own firearms, so you take a nearby customer and use him as a meat shield. He screams the entire time until he finally takes a shot to his head, splattering part of his brains on you.

You toss away the body and shoot several more of your assailants with your pistol.

At this point the market is in chaos. People are running everywhere and a couple mini-fights have broke out, including a couple of the livelier slaves that are taking advantage of this situation.

Eventually you've shot and stabbed enough people and the rest have either fled or cowering somewhere. All things considered, you haven't been wounded too badly in all this. You guess you never lose your touch on some things.

"HEY! HEY! STOP SHOOTING! CAN'T WE COME TO A DEAL?!" a female voice shouts.
"Perhaps. You the leader of this lot?" you answer.
"No, you shot off half of his fucking face five minutes ago. Though, I guess maybe I am now. I'm Vera. What the hell do you even want?"
"I want this place, that's what I want." You answer.
"Yeah? Well most of the fucking slaves just got killed thanks to you."
"I don't give a shit about the slaves. I want this territory! This whole fucking area and eventually the city. I'm putting together a new underworld organization to be a real force in Holgard again and this would be a good spot for the main base of operations."
"Is that so? Well I'm not sure if murdering potential members was a good way to go about it."
"An example had to be made and you lot were the strongest. The sad fact of life is our kind only ever really respond to is fear and strength, so this was entirely necessary."
"Pretty sure the entire world works that way, still I can't argue with your logic. Look, I know who you are. We actually met when you were working for the Syndicate."
"We did?"
"Yeah, back at Rook's mansion, you came by with a bag of bloody heads and threatened to rape and kill me if I didn't let you in."
"…oh yeah, I remember that. Um, I wasn't really going to rape you, I would have just killed you. I was just trying to be threatening to get my point across."
"Yeah, well you're really good at that obviously. Look, you're not getting any problems from me or whoever else you left alive. So you want this place? Fine, I ain't fucking dying for it."

Well that was easier than you thought.

"Okay. That's good. What about my offer?" you say.
"Oh, you mean the one about creating a new criminal empire and joining you? Uh…well do I really have a choice?"
"Not really, unless you want to leave the city entirely."
"Hm, how generous of you. Fuck it, I guess I'm in, can't speak for anyone else still alive though. I just hope you do as good of a job in a leadership position as you are at killing people."
"Guess we'll find out together. In the meantime, clean this place up and sell off whatever remaining slaves you have. If we do get back into that business, it'll have to be done elsewhere. In any case, expect me and a bunch of others to be moving in here by the weekend. I suggest you take second best room you can. That's it for now, but before I go, I need to take something first."

After some quick looting of bodies and few other tasks, you give Vera a few more instructions who seems to readily comply to anything you command. She's just glad she survived your attack (Again it would seem).

You soon return back to the Blackheart Inn and make a request to the innkeeper before retiring to your room.

You take steps in coming up with potential plans and ideas of how to organize all this for the remaining week. While you hope Warts has managed to convince a lot of people to come to this gathering, you're confident that even if that isn't the case, in time many will eventually flock to you.

When the night of the gathering comes, you don't make an appearance right away. Eventually Warts comes to get you.

"Ay, I gotz a lotta people here. Aren't ya comin ta make a speech 'bout a glorious future or sumthin?" Warts says.
"Yes, but I'm establishing how things are going to work already. THEY will wait for ME. They're at my beck and call, not the other way around." You reply.
"Yeah? Well I still say ya betta hurry up. A lot ain't dat patient."
"Duly noted. I'll be there soon. Just let them know."

Warts nods and heads off. Meanwhile you go see the innkeeper about something and he gets a large bag out of his icebox.

"Glad to be rid of that thing." He says.

With the bag over your shoulder, you head to the large back room of the inn, where you're met by several criminal types. A lot of them have already been drinking heavily. Some nod at you with respect, while others not so much.

"Oh 'ere he is. Fuckin' thought you'd never show up." One says.
"Yeah, you drag us all here sayin' it's important and then don't even show up on time for yer own meeting." Another remarks.
"Hell, if it wasn't for him payin' for da ale, I wouldn't even be here. So what's in da bag?" A third says.
"Glad you asked. You see, while Warts was inviting you all here in a civilized manner to join me, I was having a discussion with a group that might be less willing to see reason…" You say before you're interrupted.
"Wait a minute, did you say join you?"
"Yes, I'm rebuilding an organization for us and you're all invited to join and get richer than you are."

This response is met with a lot of derision.

"Join you?! I see you've been drinking too!" one laughs.
"Not that I'm not flattered by the offer, but weren't you part of the Syndicate AND the Guild? Seems suspicious that both were destroyed while you're still here." Another adds.
"Yeah, and I was part of the Syndicate once too. Not for very long, but long enough to remember that you were killing them at one time. Some of those guys were my fucking friends! Okay, maybe not friends, but a couple owed me money which I'll never fucking get back now!" a third says.
"And as I said, stick with me and you'll get richer than you are, now don't anyone fucking interrupt again. As I was saying, I was having a discussion with a group that might be less willing to see reason than you lot, so I took it upon myself to take matters into my own hands. Hope none of you were into slaves, because the market might be closed for awhile." You say.

You then dump the contents of the bag on the floor and several bloody frozen heads roll out. This is met by gasps, shock, silence and one person surprisingly even throws up.

"By fucking Yag's loaded dice. That one's Ellis! He ran the slave market!" one says.
"Are you sure? Half of its face is blown off. Ugh." Another remarks.
"Either way, he sure killed a lot of people. Fucking hell…" a third says.

You clear your throat to call the attention back to you and off the heads you just dropped on the floor.

"Yes gentlemen, I did kill a lot of people and if you'd like to not be on that list, you'll either join me or get the hell out my way. Because it's like this; I really want to be in charge. Are there any objections?"

Several of the people look at each other in silence wondering if anyone is going to protest, but nobody does.

"Very well. Let's get to it then shall we?"

And so you take your next steps in building a new criminal organization.

(You're still having trouble thinking up a good name though)

[User] You time passes...

[Assistant]
Year 25

Things could always be better of course, but all things considered the Nocturnal League is doing well under your leadership. You actually managed to surprise yourself. Reminds you of when your father once told you that you could do very well anything if you just applied yourself.

Well you did, but you're pretty sure he didn't have this in mind.

Of course part of your success isn't just all your own talent. It probably helps that the city is once again experiencing an inner conflict. Not a revolution or anything like that, but more of a religious faction war. Holgard has always had a bit of a problem with religion and it's the fact that there is too much of it in the city.

It didn't start off as violent as its become, but its been bad enough that the Holgard Watch has been more focused on breaking up fights between religious factions and members in the streets than keeping an eye on crime and happily, the Holgard Watch has slowly started to revert back to their corrupt ways. Not enough like the old days, but enough that they aren't as much of a problem anymore.

As for your organization's role in the current religious squabble, you've managed to keep out of it so far and you've told everyone else to do likewise. This is mainly towards a few ex-Syndicate members that still have leanings towards the Temple of Fel. Though more than a few in your group give a few prayers to Yag too and while you've been known to do the same from time to time, you aren't looking to side with them either.

At least not unless there is some profitable reason for doing so.

In any case, there are also other areas some of your more enterprising members have been trying to convince you of expanding into.

"I'm telling you, we really should bring slave market back. It brought in a lot of coin when it existed and I'm fairly certain I could convince some of those Hessla pirates to bring their business here again." Vera says.
"Feh, if it did all that well, why weren't you rich?" Warts asks.
"Because Elias was a bastard boss that kept most of the money and then would promptly blow it all on alcohol and Blue Dream. I know with a more levelheaded person like our current boss running things, a new slave market could be even more profitable."
"Sheesh, such obvious flattery. Why don't ya just suck his dick while ya at it?"
"Fuck off Warts, why the hell is this half breed even still allowed around here? He's always claiming he isn't really part of the League anyway."
"Eh, Warts likes to play the role of a freelance outsider, mainly because he's been doing it for so long he's comfortable in that role. Nevermind the fact that deep down inside he wants to be part of a tribe. And that's us, though he'll never admit that, right Warts?" you say.
"Right. No wait! I'm not part of the League! Fuck, youz twisted my words! Anyway, slave market is a bad idea, too much upkeep, an' too much trouble ta capture people. Youz should just expand outside the city and send sum people ta rob the merchants on da road." Warts says.
"Oh, brilliant idea. Since when the hell did we become a bunch of unsophisticated bandits?" Vera remarks.
"Given the lot we have, I don't think sophisticated is exactly the word that would describe most here." You remark.
"Well you may be right, but come on, don't you think we're at least above that sort of guileless criminal activity? Besides, you send some of these people out there to do that and it isn't like you can keep as good of an eye on them. If they get successful enough, they may just decide to keep everything and fuck off elsewhere leaving us with nothing."

As with most ideas, everything has its pros and cons, you need to think about all this a lot more. You tell Warts and Vera this and while Warts happily leaves your office to go about his own hobbies, Vera stays behind.

"Is there something else?" you ask.

Vera goes over to the door and locks it, which immediately causes you to draw on her.

"Shit! What the hell man?" she exclaims raising her hands up.
"What the hell indeed, you're the one locking the door and acting all suspicious." You answer.
"I'm not trying to assassinate you if that's what you're thinking, I just wanna talk to you a little more privately so we aren't interrupted."
"About what? I told you I'd think about your proposal."
"Yes, but I REALLY think I can convince you that my idea is a good one."

At this point Vera starts unbuttoning her shirt and unsuccessfully attempting to walk seductively towards you and stumbling in the process. It's pretty embarrassing.

"Stop. Stop. Stop. Are you seriously doing what I think you're trying to do?" you ask.
"Hey look, I'm not proud. If I gotta suck your dick in order to convince you to set up a new slave market here and make me head slaver, then that's what I'll fucking do."
"Head slaver, interesting choice of words considering this situation. And now you don't just want me to go with your idea, you want to be in charge of it. That's pretty presumptuous of you."
"It's pretty presumptuous that you won't, after I'm done."

Looks like she took Wart's suggestion to heart.

At this point Vera's on her knees in front of you and her face is practically making a beeline towards your crotch. While this "offer isn't completely unenticing, you've got some reservations and not just the usual ones.

"Vera just stop. This isn't going to work." You say pushing her away a bit.
"What? So you wanna fuck me? I mean we can do that too…um you don't want to do it the other way do you? I mean…if I gotta take it in the ass, (sigh) I will, but you can't expect me to fake enjoying that."
"No! We're not doing anything Vera. Just put your tits away and get your hands off my dick."

While this would probably be enough to give most the hint that one isn't interested, Vera's a little more persistent.

"Okay, I'm confused. Based on my observations of how I've seen you look at women, I know damn well you like girls. In fact, I've noticed you even checking me out on occasion and your dick was getting hard when I was touching it so I know it can't be because you find me repulsive. And I doubt if you have any moral objections…" Vera says before you interrupt.
"That's exactly it. I like to get to know someone first before being intimate with them. Maybe that sounds weird to someone so free with their…sexual activity, but that's just how I was raised and some things just stuck with me."
"You're kidding. We work together, while I don't pretend that we know everything about each other, we're not exactly strangers."
"Look, I don't shit where I eat, so if you don't mind, get the fuck out of here and go blow somebody who cares!"

Vera isn't exactly buying your excuse, but she's buttoning up her shirt and getting back up.

"I know you're the boss and all, but I have to say, sometimes you're a very poor liar. But, whatever just as long as you're not chopping my head off to make a point I guess."

Vera lets herself out and you're breathing a sigh of relief that you didn't give in since you're fairly certain you would have, had Vera not left when she did.

You've never told anyone this, but you're convinced that having sex results in your partner's death. Not instantly, but there's been too many incidences for it to be a coincidence.

For a long time after your parting of ways with Tanya you didn't even show much interest in other women. Indeed you felt a great loss as if she died and you were in mourning.

Tanya however, was correct that in time you'd "get over" her. Maybe not mentally (You can't help but think about her still) but physically you definitely did.

So it was with no surprise that during your time before forming the League you went with a few other women from time to time.

And every single one of them died.

In your line of work you tend to bump into the same people and frequent the same places. So you started to get suspicious when women you had been intimate with started always winding up dead…

The taverns…

"Where's Lucy? Usually she's serving drinks tonight."
"Lucy? You didn't hear? She fell off the docks and drowned two days ago. Tragic."

The streets…

"Any of you lot seen Ophelia around?"
"You mean the new up and coming cutpurse with the cute face and nice ass? She got a bolt to the head a week ago. Found dead in an alley. Damn shame, she had a lot of potential. Fucking tragic."

And especially the brothels…

"I think I'd like Francine tonight."
"Francine? Oh, you must not have heard. She was found dead of a Yellow Devil overdose a week ago. It's weird because I made sure none of my girls ever took drugs, let alone that vile stuff. Tragic."
"Oh. Sorry to hear it. Um, well I guess I'll take Patricia then."
"She's no longer with us either. She was murdered by some unknown assailant nearly a month ago. Very tragic."
"Well shit…"
"I might as well tell you too, that Helena is also gone. Died in a house fire yesterday. I tell you, it's been a tough time for this place lately, but hey we're always here to please and there are still many lovely girls here. Hey did you want to see Naji? She's free this time and it's been years since you indulged in her services. I bet she'd love to see you again. Always said you used to be the best customer she ever had."
"Um, no. I gotta go."

While perhaps it is just very bad luck and coincidence that all these ladies that you were intimate with, met tragic deaths, but you feel very certain that this has something to do with being bonded with Tanya. It's your curse as it were.

If you were a complete asshole you suppose you wouldn't give a shit and just think with your dick anyway, but even if you just gave into your base desires, Vera's useful enough that you'd hate to lose her help in the organization. Besides all that, you half wonder if Tanya is somehow keeping track of you.

Granted you've not seen her in person or even a dream ever since she departed to the infernal realm, but she said she'd always be linked to you. What if every girl you've fucked is just making her madder and madder? What if one day she'll come back to punish your "infidelity"?

True, you two were never married and she did tell you to go live your life, but…well she IS a demon and who knows what the hell she's like now.

You're starting to wonder that maybe you weren't so much bored when you came up with the idea to form the Nocturnal League so much as you were trying to keep your mind occupied on other things. It actually has worked great in that regard, or it did until Vera was about to pursue promotion via cock sucking.

(Well at least taking matters into your own hand is always safe)

In any case, you put Vera's inviting mouth out of your mind and refocus on business, which involves going over the ideas that were proposed to you by Vera and Warts in the first place.

[User] You expand outside Holgard

[Assistant]
Besides your distaste for slavery, Warts' plan sounds a lot simpler to implement and you figure Vera won't be occasionally trying flirt with you for favors (or whatever) if you side with him and hence removing temptation.

Vera's right about someone potentially "going rogue" and just fucking off to do their own thing so you'll have to really lay down the punishment implications to everyone about doing such a thing. Which is exactly what you do. You also tell everyone to not create a bloodbath and if they do, they need to take steps in covering their tracks. Last thing you want is to create too much attention.

Warts is mildly smug about you choosing his plan over Vera who in turn is obviously perturbed. She makes no pretenses about not wanting to be one of those stumbling about in the woods. You reassure her she can focus on her city activities since reassigning her would just cause unnecessary conflict in the long term anyway.

A few months pass and you're making a fair amount on this venture. You weren't sure about it at first, but Warts had a good idea.

Surprisingly he has another one.

"Hey boss, I got some hobs from da Spider Fangs dat wanna join wit us." Warts says.
"Really? Thought you told me the Spider Fangs shun human civilization centers." You say.
"Eh, ever since dey got their asses kicked hard by da elves and lost a good portion of the tribe, there's been sum serious re-thinkin' on how things are gonna work now. Anyway, just wunderin' if they can join."
"I'm guessing you had something in mind for them to specifically do?"
"I figured dey can take part in robbin' da merchants gig we got going now."
"Yeah, and I figured that's what you'd suggest. Probably would be the best use of their skills I imagine. I suppose that would free up some of the folks who still aren't exactly thrilled about their new assignment. They can come back to the city and the hobs can take their place. Now do I have to talk to these hobs about how I want things done or are you taking care of it?"
"I'll take care of it. Most of dem are teenagers so be better if I speak to dem. I know what ta say."

Before you can say anything else, a small ugly green child wanders in behind Warts. You don't know how old it is, but it can't be older than a toddler.

"Wargh! blag! Graaah!" it shouts causing Warts to turn around.
"Damnit, Gubbins! I told ya ta wait in da corridor!" Warts reprimands the child.
"Warts, I'll admit I'm not completely familiar with the growth size of hobgoblins, but I know damn well that's no teenager."
"Wut? No! Dis one ain't robbin' merchants, well at least not for another few years anyway. Dis iz my son."

Now you're just confused.

"Your son? When the hell did you have a kid?" you ask.
"Two years ago I guess. Didn't know for an entire year either since I hadn't been back ta visit Snuffit in awhile. Boy wuz she pissed at me when I returned. Anyway, he's sort of with me for awhile since Snuffit says I should be spendin' time him. She's probably right. It's hard growin' up with no father." Warts says with a bit of an introspective look down.
"Hm, I suppose you would know about that. You never told me all this about having a family and shit."
"Didn't think you'd be interested given how youz got yer mind on other things. Got a daughter too, Zuggins. Twins actually. That's another reason why Snuffit wuz so pissed at me. Hey, didn't youz say you were a twin?"
"Yeah. So about these other hobs, you sure they're going to listen to you? Last time I remember you weren't accepted as a true hob with the Spider Fangs."
"I told ya, things are different now. Most of da assholes I didn't get along with are dead in dat tribe and it's takin' a new look on things as it were. Most of da young hobs I'm suggestin, are orphans now anyway and like I said, I kinda know what it's like not growin' up with at least one parent so I think dey gonna…I dunno identify wit me more an' youz don't have ta waste yer time."

You think about this a few moments.

"Alright, you seem to have come up with one good idea that's gone over well, so I'm trusting you on this Warts. Go make the preparations."

Warts nods and leaves with his spawn who sticks his tongue at you.

You snicker a bit at the thought of Warts having a couple kids, but you suppose he seems happy with them. You're just glad you aren't saddled with any; you've got enough complications in your life.

Then again with the curse you have, that isn't likely to ever be a problem.

In any case when Vera hears about what you've allowed she doesn't do much but shake her head.

"What?" you ask.
"Nothing, you're the boss." She says.
"But obviously you have issues with this."
"Look, if you want to hire more hobs on the payroll fine. I can see them being an asset in a menial manner, and working outside Holgard on the road robbery jobs is probably the best place for them mainly because I won't have to deal with the filthy greenskins."
"But?"
"But, my issue is you placing so much fucking trust in Warts. I thought you were smarter than that. Mark my words, that little halfbreed is going to get drunk with power and try to betray you."
"Warts? I…mean I'd never rule anything out, but Warts really isn't the leader type. I'm surprised he's taken on as much responsibility as he has honestly."
"Yeah, well maybe his new family man role is urging the halfbreed to start thinking about his future. Maybe his ugly hob bitch is nagging him to earn more for their equally foul hob spawn."
"Sheesh Vera, I didn't know you hated hobs so much."
"Yeah well they're a bunch of savages, and I'd watch Warts if I were you. Nothing worse than a mildly intelligent savage with delusions of grandeur."

Well Vera's made it quite clear how she feels at any rate.

A few more months pass and so far there haven't been any issues with your arrangement and business is doing fine. The religious faction war is still going on, but you're still keeping out of that one.

The only thing that's starting to bother you a bit is that Warts has apparently restructured the "bandit parties" outside Holgard without your knowledge. While you replaced some of your less "outdoors" folks with hobs, Warts has been completely segregating the groups so that the hobs are all in one and all the humans are in another.

When confronted by this, Warts explains that the hobs just work better together since they all grew up in the same tribe. He also says there's less potential for infighting during slow periods. He then points to how much success they've had with this arrangement.

Still, you've got enough to manage and until you see signs of treachery on Warts' part, you'll continue to let him handle the outside operations. You're fairly confident you'll be savvy enough to realize if something is going wrong and even if you don't catch it, Vera's suspicious enough of Warts that she'll probably tell you.

Year 26

"I told you this was going to happen!" Vera shouts, as she's running along side you.
"Damn it! Don't fucking follow us! Spread out! Spread out! Everyone spread out!" you shout at the various members also running in your direction.

You never saw this coming. And despite Vera's comments, she didn't either, or at least not what she assumed. She was so busy worrying that Warts and the hobs were going to fuck you over that she didn't take into consideration that their recklessness and stupidity is what drew more attention by the government, though you think you played a large part in that same stupidity by NOT keeping a better eye on things and just leaving it all to Warts.

Now it's everyone for themselves as you're stomping through the sewers trying to evade the Holgard Watch who apparently took a step back from keeping the religious factions from destroying small parts of the city, to focus on the assholes who were severely disrupting trade in the city.

It's one thing to rob the odd merchant here and there, but when enough of them were going missing, the Baroness had no choice but to step in. And she stepped hard.

Ideally, you could have separated yourself and just placed all the blame on the hobs and claiming that they weren't part of the Nocturnal League, but Ludmilla was unfortunately a little smarter than just sending her troops into the woods and had a series of spies (Some of who you think were probably Felians, since you know she had ties to the church at one point).

Hobs, never being the subtlest ended up unwittingly showing the Baroness where the hell your secret tunnels to the city were and practically to your front fucking doorstep as they were dragging goods back.

It's actually amazing you managed to fight your way out of this surprise attack like you did. Your headquarters is gone though and you can't imagine that your businesses in the city are going to be around much longer.

Eventually you finally evade the law and it's just you and Vera panting heavily ankle deep in shit water. She immediately starts bitching at you about your bad choices while you're attempting to figure out your next move.

"Will stop fucking being a massive bitch right now? I know everything's fucked up! I just need a minute to think for a moment!" you say, trying not to shout and possibly alert attention.

"Think? You should have been doing that before! This is a fucking disaster! Y'know I actually thought you were someone worth following. I even had a little crush on you even though you kept turning me down, but shit, I can see now that you're a damn jinx at best and a complete fucking idiot at worst and I'm not hanging around you any longer! Have a nice fucking life!" Vera snaps.

As Vera starts walking away from you, you realize that you have no more organization and no more followers of any kind and oddly that's what feels more like a loss to you than the massive amount of coin. You were actually stating to just get into your role as an underworld boss and now its over already!

Ironically, the only thing you might have left are your people outside of Holgard unless Ludmilla caught up with them too, but given how many of her people came to wipe you out just now, you have to think she focused her forces on the inside of the city rather than the outside. You imagine Warts might be out there somewhere, it's just a matter of tracking him down.

Then again, Warts and the hobs are what caused this mess in the first place; maybe you need to just start over somewhere else. Still, you don't want to start completely over. This is a lot easier with help and Vera would still be pretty useful in that regard.

She's pretty pissed at you though so you don't know if that ship has sailed.

[User] You convince Vera

[Assistant]
For all her faults, Vera's your best shot at properly rebuilding a new organization again. You probably should have gone with her plans to get into the slave trade rather than listen to Warts in the first place.

You run back to Vera and call out to her.

"Vera stop. Stop. Let's talk about this. I apologize for calling you a bitch." You say.
"Will you keep your fucking voice down? There are soldiers crawling all over the sewers right now and you're calling attention to our location! And as I said, I don't have anything else to say to you. It's obvious you've never appreciated my advice, so I don't see why I should waste anymore time with you." Vera snaps.

When you don't respond immediately, Vera stops walking and stares at you expectantly.

"Well?" Vera asks.
"Because…because I really do care about you." You say suddenly.
"Oh fuck off! You do not! You have gone out of your way several times to make it quite clear that you are NOT interested in me. You're just telling me this shit so I'll join you again and now I'm fucking insulted that you think so low of me that I'll follow you around like some love sick admirer."
"No, it's true! I really do have feelings for you, I just was too …argh, it's a long story. Just you gotta believe me on this."
"You're going to have to do a better job at explaining if you want me to believe you."

You realize this is going to take a lot of sweet talk to patch this relationship up and in the back of your mind if you're successful, you're still going to have another issue to deal with, but maybe if you explain the curse to her, she'll be sympathetic.

"(Sigh) Fine. I've never told this to anyone before, but for you I'll do it. Okay, here it is, I'm fucking cursed." You say.
"No shit." Vera remarks.
"No, I'm not talking about what happened with the League, that was just…bad management on my part though I suppose the curse played a part in my bad decisions."
"Look, if you're cursed, then I REALLY don't want anything to do with you."
"Will you listen?! You asked me to explain, so I'm trying to! It's not that sort of curse anyway. It's on my dick and that's why I kept pushing you away."

Vera steps back from you.

"What you got crotch rot?" Vera asks.
"I wish it was that simple. No, what I got is…"

Suddenly you hear a loud blast and feel the piercing of a metal object hitting you in the back. You fall down in the filthy water and struggle to breathe, let alone get back up.

The shouting of several watchmen is heard followed by Vera shouting back and returning fire. She attempts to pull you up, but the bullet has shattered your spine and you're not going anywhere

"Go…just go…" you utter as she gives you a frustrated look mixed with sadness before running off.

Dying face down in shit water is one of the less dignified ways to go out, but you don't dwell on it to much before one of Holgard's finest puts you down for good with a bullet to your head.


[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 read File: The Troupe of the Dancing Blades

[Assistant] The Troupe of Dancing Blades is a Chaos group under service of the Chaos Lord Kazirai the Beast-Fucker, known for both his highly amusing name and his large amounts of sexy aesthetically pleasing warriors who served as his mistresses. They fight with acrobatics and long blades. They have extensive use of stealth technology as well as hallucegenics. They are currently in service to Kyros, acting as bodyguards to Drake Amaedus.


[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] Continue

[Assistant]
You awake in the morning unsure what to do. Your plans had been of an easy year living off your money and you could still do it, prices would probably go up for a time but you'd still comfortably now that your settled. But you are now sure you'd lost any place that you had called home and your closest friend in the fire so you at least wanted to find out what had happened.

You grab some food then head out to start trying to ask questions and see if anyone is the wiser about what had caused the fire, and to do a last look through the survivors for any sign of your friend.

You ask several guards but most don't seem to know any more than you do. Eventually you see a guard that isn't as shell shocked as the rest and he tells you that the captain over at the military barracks has all the information about the fire and that you should speak to him. You head there to see what he knows.

'The Barracks' as it is generally know does contain the city guard's barracks but also the military side of things, the army barracks, its armory, offices and everything else it needed all in one giant building  that straddled and made up part of the wall between the iron and stone districts. You quickly see a small group of people talking to soldiers outside one of the entrances and approach them to hear what is going on.

Its one of the captains explaining the fire to them, a few minor details extra but basically what you had heard before. Once he is done you ask him about how it started. He looks you over then sends you in and tells you to talk to the man at the desk, first room on the right. You enter and realize you not left with much choice as to where to turn since there is a group of soldiers blocking the corridor a few meters away with only one door standing open between you and them. You enter and approach the man looking at you from behind the desk.

"What can I do for you?"

"I want to know how the fire started."

The man seems mildly amused by your abrupt response but any trace of amusement quickly vanishes as he replies.

"A ship packed with flammable fuel was set alight and rammed into our docks. the fire was deliberate."

Stunned by the sudden revelation you ask "Are your sure? wait are you just telling everyone this, wont it cause a panic?"

"There's no point trying to keep it a secret, half the fishing fleet saw it happen as did many of the survivors that ran into the sea and were picked up the by the ships, the entire city will know in two days at the most. Also there were thousands of people in that district at the time, I wont dishonor them by lying about their deaths."

"But who would do it, what is there to gain from burning down old district?"

"We think it was Carn, at least the burning ship and the one that had been accompanying it bore their colours"

You think for a few seconds but the name rings no bells "Who?"

"Carn, the city a few weeks along the coast by boat, you been living under a rock or something? There has been minor trouble and trade disputes between us for nearly two years now."

"I've been up North for years in the mines, news apart from bandit activity doesn't make it up there..."

"Well long story short we started full maritime trading over 3 years ago, then two years ago some minor trade problems began, then it was about land, finally about fishing rights. things had been getting tense for months with armed ships keeping fishing boats company for protection and guards on our borders but no-one expected this. They have been sent ravens with questions about the ships but they will of course deny all knowledge, then it will be war. The king has already started recruiting to replace the men lost in the fire and more to fill out the army."

You just stand unsure what to say, should you hate an enemy you don't know for what they did? Denounce their tactics, or just avoid the war and try and rebuild a life in the city.

"So son" the commander stands up "we are still recruiting and the army wage is just as good as the miners one. You want to enlist?"

[User] You cant accept what They did to your city and your friends. Setting the city on fire with no warning to kill civillians was not an act ment to go unpunished so you enlist.

[Assistant]
Life in the army starts with training. You're assigned a bunk and basic leather armor on the first day and the next morning at dawn you're woken with the other new recruits to head out for basic training. Your unsure what to expect but life in the mines has kept you strong and and in excellent physical condition so the exercise runs, weights and jogging in full armor don't overly strain you. Other recruits don't fare as well but your not given the time or opportunity to help one another.

Your thinking the training is a little harsh for the first day as many of the men and boys in your group have never done physical labor when your all gathered and told that today was the testing day. They needed to asses what sort of condition you were in so they could get you into the proper training programs. You see that everyone is relieved by this and you start marching back to the barracks as your sergeant tells you the last task for the day.

"Everyone is to be interviewed about their experience and past jobs, don't worry this isn't a test and it will be kept informal, we just need to know if you've ever held a weapon before or which part of the army suits you best".

You all enjoy your evening meal then are called over one by one to the sergeant's table. You tell him that your good with a bow and passable with a knife but that you've never had formal training with a sword before. Your experience in the mines interests him more and one of the other men at the table takes over and asks you several technical questions about struts and construction work. You answer all he asks fairly well and after the Sarge gives him a nod he says "Welcome to the engineering division".

You look momentarily confused until he laughs and asks where you thought all the forts, war machines and defenses came from and who you thought build the army's outposts. The light dawns on you and the man smiles.

"That's right, you'll be supporting the army using your experience, building our defenses, putting together our war machines and constructing everything from our forward base to our cooking tents. It may not sound as glamorous as charging in with the vanguard but we have a much, much higher survival rate and if the camps are attacked we defend them shoulder to shoulder with all the rest, what do you say?"

Your readily agree and Sergeant Reardon, as he introduced himself, leads you off to meet your new training squad. Your introduced and learn they are made up of everyone from those with basic unskilled labor experience to a couple full guild engineers who signed up on the day of the fire.

Your training goes well and you get on well with your squad, learning to treat them as your friends as well as squad mates. After a couple of weeks pass War is finally declared. You had known it was just a matter of time but you quickly find your Sarge and ask what it meant for you.

"For you and your squad? Nothing at all! Your not fully trained yet and once your basic is over you still need to be assigned to your unit and your duties explained. Since you've got good solid construction knowledge and the experience to back it up you'll most likely be sent to Third company on our borders to get the forward forts built and running as the war progresses. Wont be for another month yet but either way no chance I'm letting my boys out near the fighting till they are ready."

Reassured by the Sarge's attitude you pass the info onto your squad and finish out the last of your basic training in the barracks.

[User] You third company

[Assistant]
The Sarge is a little off in his estimate of your departure time. It actually takes a month and a half to get your squad in shape. Its been a long wait but you are finally all ready to head out to the front to help in the war effort!

Your squad is woken by an early bell ringing somewhere in the barracks tower and you all assemble in your new polished steel armor. during your training you had all been measured and fitted out in strong forged steel, it turned out many of the iron mongers and jewelers of the city had turned their forges over to making weapons and armor so there was no shortage of equipment for the army.

The Sarge gives you all one last look over.

"Well its taken longer than I'd like but your all ready to serve your king! You're all heading out to the 3'rd to help in the construction of the new bases so our boys on the front have a good foothold in place before winter hits."

A soldier to the left pipes in "But I thought we already had bases on our borders?"

"Our Borders? Boy do you think the entire army has been sitting and waiting for you since the war started? They have been advancing solidly for the past 6 weeks. The new borders are near 2 weeks march further forward and THATS where we need the new bases."

You think to yourself that the army has made pretty amazing advances considering the fact that Carn was the kingdom that started the war.

[User] You it DOES seem odd, so you speak up

[Assistant]
"Sir, Our men are making amazing progress in the war but I have to ask. Carn were the ones that started the war, I mean they sent the ships into the Old Quarter and everything with the trade disputes. Were they not prepared for our counter attack?"

You see the Sergeant frown and a shadow clearly crosses his features. He quickly shakes it off and explains that the first week or two on the border was intense fighting and lead to a great many casualties. However once the army had broken through the initial defense line, it had been much easier to push ahead and prevent the Carn army from regrouping properly.

You think that this is indeed a possible explanation but a few doubts still remain in the back of your mind.The Sarge says a few last tips and goodbyes then heads off. The last you see of him is as he walks out the door with the shadow back over his features as if he didn't really believe what he had said himself.

You see a soldier you don't recognize step forward.

"Right then, I'm Capt. Argor. Since I took an arrow in the knee and had to come back here for treatment, I've been given the onerous task of accompanying you to the front lines to make sure you ladies don't get lost. You were all told to report here in full gear and with all your supplies so has anyone left anything behind that they just must run back to their rooms for? Hankies? Training Bra? No? Good, I might not have to babysit you all quite as much as I feared, lets head out cos this is gonna be a long trip for you city folk."

[User] You quick march out of the city with the new Capt. Calling you all little girls for the entire 6 hour march.

[Assistant]
You are given a break for lunch with only cold rations, then double speed marched hard till dusk. The Capt. Pulls you all off the road beside a small stream and even though your all ready to collapse and pass out he has you form up.

"Right then, this is first point spring. A few generations back some officers from the 1st and 2nd companies were insulting the 3rd, saying we weren't real soldiers because we just built things while they won the war. Our officers didn't take too kindly to this and lets just say a bit of an argument broke out. After the tempers calmed a bit our men challenged the rest of the army to prove their supposed superiority"

He paused to give you all a big grin.

"Our boys in the 3rd work hard every day moving timber and stone, carrying loads long distances and almost never take days off. Their boys sit on their arses most of the time and only train short periods a day when they aren't actively attacking something. So our officers said they should all go for a little march. You all just made it here within daylight hours which isn't bad at all for this time of year. The 1st and 2nd company soldiers made it in about the same. OUR officers beat them by 3 hours and had a full camp set up and running by the time they limped in. They looked up from their fires and said this is normally just the first point the 3rd stop at before marching on but they had thought they should wait for them to catch up. Its been known as first point ever since. Now anyone joining the 3rd makes the march, so welcome to the 3rd gentlemen, now get our camp up!"

Relieved that Capt. Argor wont be calling you all girls for the rest of the march you all set up camp and get some fires going. You're just settling down beside your fire to have supper when a couple of other come over and join you.

"We had been thinking the same thing as you about how fast the war is going so when you spoke up we thought we should have a chat and share our concerns about the situation."

You think slowly before the reply

[User] You say "Well then what did you think of Sarg's answer?"

[Assistant]
The two men seem to sense your hesitation so think for a while before one answers.

"I would say... that I'm not sure he believed it any more than you or I did."

It's exactly the feeling that you had gotten but you also wonder why they are bringing this up now.

[User] You say "Honestly? Your right, I'm pretty sure that no-one really bought it and there are other higher ups back at the barracks that seemed to share the doubts."

[Assistant]
The men think for a bit before replying, the one who had been silent up till now looks at his companion and says "On your head be it." then gets up and leaves.

"Sorry about him." the man says "He is just a little bit on edge about this whole situation."

"And just what is this whole situation?"

"Ha! fair enough. Well I can tell you some of it now, You did some work in the mines recently and our employer owns several of the new sites that have been opening, so in reality you've been doing work for him."

You nod slowly, its common for prospectors to open several sites to ensure one produces. You don't have enough information to pin down a specific job or owner though so keep listening.

The man continues "He developed an interest in you from the reports he was receiving which is what put you on our radar and your behavior and reaction to the war made up my mind to come speak to you. Now you can appreciate how much of a risk I am taking here but I have decided to trust you. The war isn't all it seems and you know that. There are a lot of things you don't know about but the main one is that Carn didn't start the war and didn't attack the Old Quarter."

He pauses to watch your reaction before continuing.

"Now lets set one thing straight, we aren't talking treason here, we are completely loyal to the king, but we think he is being betrayed and tricked by his council. Now I will give you tonight to think this over and talk to you tomorrow evening again if you want to know more."

The man gets up and leaves. You realize you don't even know his name but he is too far to call out too now so you sit back and think over your options.

[User] No matter what they claim, they are commiting treason, report to the Capt. During the day and stop them!

[Assistant]
Evil council tricking the king to start a war, its like something out of one of your dreams... you briefly mull over the fact you haven't had any of those recently but put it down to being so tired from army life and move on to planning.

You know what the two men look like and one other man that they talk to a lot so you just need to avoid them during the day and get to Capt. Argor with your information. You keep an eye out during the next days march and try to act as normal as possible, when one of the men comes over to you during a break you even share a water flask before moving off so you don't raise their suspicions.

You finally see your chance as the camp is being set up for the night, the two men are off at the edge of camp to set up their bedrolls like normal and the man they talk to a lot is on sentry duty. You don't know their names but you can give a near perfect description and point them out once you have the Capt. and other guards with you.

You move quickly over to the Captains' fire where he is talking with a runner from a temporary camp up ahead. He motions for you to wait until he is finished, you are impatient to tell him what you know but have no choice but to wait a moment since you don't want to blurt it out in public.  One of the cooks hands you ale and you sip at it nervously as you wait. The man drops his tray against your ankle as he passes and you almost jump out of your skin but just about remain calm and give him a nod when he apologizes.

Theres no sign of the men and you only wait one minute but you are dripping with sweat as he waves you over. You realize its FAR too much sweat as you try and speak and feel your throat close over and collapse at his feat.  The Capt. immediately calls over a medic and crouches beside you but you are suffocating and he cant help, the medic runs over and immediately points out two small puncture wounds on your ankle. "He's been bitten, looks like Asp poison, I'm sorry but theres nothing we can do."

"It was the cook, he poisoned me and stabbed my leg when he dropped his try!" you try to shout, but all that comes out is a rasp.

You fade into black as you hear the Capt. ordering the men to kill all snakes on site and double check all kit before use.


[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 will use your mental reserves instead to camouflage yourself, so that the goblin patrol will not find you.

[Assistant]
You throw yourself flat on the ground the moment the goblins begin moving into your direction. There, concentrating, you weave a small charm that blends your Pattern into that of the surrounding, effectively becoming invisible to the casual eye.

You have a good view of the goblin patrol, and as they approach, you use what little power remains within you to handle safely to mask your breathing and movements.

The goblins still approach, to the point where you can smell their sickening stench and hear their gutural language, which you do not understand. But obviously they are searching for someone, or something, and are not too happy about it.

You cannot stop yourself to breathe a sigh of relief as they pass you, unseeing, and vanish into the darkness of the hills below.

You wait for another quarter of an hour, and then you release your magic, slumping on the ground, mentally completely exhausted.


[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 stay quiet

[Assistant]
You stay silent as Quintal continues to jeer Fryer, who largely ignores him, replying with brief, disdainful sentences. Suddenly you all jump as a bizarrely high-pitched cry rings out from further up the deck and you all glance up to see the comical form of Bligh striding towards you.

"You infernal scoundrels!" he roars. "How dare you cowardly rascals show such insolence and contempt for Mr Fryer! Mr Fryer, how came you to permit such a thing to happen sir? Twenty-four lashes sailor to remind you of the proper way of addressing your superiors! Master-at-Arms, fetch the lash! Quartermaster, prepare this man!"

Quintal is seized, the shirt torn from his back and he is lashed to the mast. The Master-at-Arms approaches with the cat o'nine tails and begins flaying Quintal's back. Soon blood is pouring down his backside and legs as the flesh is stripped from his back but Quintal takes it all in silence. The crew also watch in grim silence until the punishment is complete.

"May that be a lesson to you all!" Bligh declares.


[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 say "I prefer a genius but cruel child."

[Assistant]
"My man!" shouts Connor.

"Har har Greg probably wants a retarded child to have someone finally agree with him," Tom jokes.

Tom and Connor start shouting about how much of a dumbass Greg is. You agree, but don't join in on the berating. Instead, you walk out of the tavern without a second glance. As you make your way outside you are hit with a rush of cool air.

"I can't wait to meet Catia," you mutter to yourself.

You tuck your hands in your pockets and begin the walk to your home. On the way, you bump into a familiar face. It's Lars.

"How did last night go?" he asks.

Something about Lars is rubbing you the wrong way. It might be his emotionless eyes or his downtrodden tone, but you feel like telling him about Catia is a bad idea

"I nearly froze to death," you say, wanting to be vague.

"Yeah how exactly did you avoid doing that? When I left it looked like you were about to pass out."

"Just lucky I guess."

"Lucky huh? Well it's your 'luck' that got me fired. Thanks a lot, now my family can starve to death before getting killed by demons."

You remain silent.

"The captain chewed my ass out for quitting guard duty. I thought he would berate me and give me a warning, but he fucking fired me. I told him how much bullshit that was because I would have frozen to death otherwise. He told me I was lazy and incompetent because 'the other guard didn't complain' as if your dumbass was smart to stay."

You try to apologize but Lars is having none of it. He gets angry and says,

"I pray to god the demons invade and gut you and the captain like fish. Scrape out your insides with their claws and your other insides with their dick."

"Jesus man I said I was sorry."

"Sorry doesn't feed my family. Get out of my way, I'm gonna' drink until I die."

You move aside as Lars storms past you. Well, that was an interesting encounter. You don't even know what to think, were you wrong to lie to him? How would he have reacted if you told him the truth? You push these thoughts out of your head and focus on getting home. It's super cold and you don't want to freeze to death and not have a succubus save you.

You find yourself exiting out of the slums and into the residential part of the city. Most guards sleep in the barracks, however, since your parents never returned from their trip their house is all yours. If they ever return, you hope they don't mind you bringing a demon inside the house. Although, they were always bugging you about finding a girlfriend, this might not be what they had in mind.

You arrive at your parent's old home and open the door. The wooden door squeaks loudly as you open it.

"Some things never change," you whisper to yourself.

You immediately start making yourself more presentable. You change out of your soldiers' uniform and put on a loose-fitting black tunic. You probably should take a bath but you're too excited to see Catia that you forget to. Do demons mind odor?

You're about to sit down in your bed when a chill runs down your spin. Your door makes a squeaking noise and a cold breeze rushes towards you.

"Is somebody there?" you ask.

No reply, although you don't know what you were expecting. It's possible the breeze pushed the door open, it's pretty flimsy and it wouldn't be the craziest thing that's happened in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, you can't shake the feeling your being watched. Should you grab your sword and investigate?

[User] You close the door and get in bed

[Assistant]
It probably was just the wind, no need to be paranoid. You hop in bed and close your eyes.

"Cat---"

Your head is struck making you collapse.

"They may have taken my job, but they didn't take my sword."

"Lars?" You ask through blurred vision.

"Why yes, it's me, demon! You really think I believed you survived on pure luck?"

He looks completely unhinged. You try to say something but just start coughing blood. It comes out in chunks resembling mashed berries.

"You really thought you could get away with it, didn't you? HAHAHAHA! I know you've been possessed by a demon; how else could you survive the frigid cold?"

Clumps of blood continue flying out of your mouth as you fail to speak. Lars crotches down next to you and strokes your face.

"It's ok, calm down. Like I told you before, or at least the non-possessed you, the city could use some heating up."

Where is this going?

"I want to make a deal with you! Kill the Captain and I'll let you live. Hell, I'll even give you something in exchange. Perhaps a part of my soul? If there's anything left in there."

[User] You nod your head

[Assistant]
That's the last thing you do before passing. Between your shuttered eyes you can make out one last thing.

An even bigger smile on Lars' face.

The next time you wake up your chained in darkness. You can still reach around a fair bit and waste no time exploring your surroundings by touch. When you get to your face you find it hastily wrapped in gauze and bandages. You shallow and taste dried up blood sticking to your mouth like honey. You really need a drink. With nobody around you start banging your chains against the ground. It makes a loud rattling sound that will surely attract anyone close by.

Nothing. Wherever you are nobody is here. Although, you assume Lars will be back soon. That is, unless he was killed as raving mad men often are. As you sit here hungry, tired, and thirsty you rack your mind trying to remember anything that can help you. Your head pounds with each thought, it feels like a hangover but a 100 time worse. Getting whack in the head may have some long-lasting effect on your mental capabilities.

After a few minutes of fruitless concentration, it hits you. The thing that got you into this mess is what will get you out; Catia. While the alcohol has mostly worn off, your injuries have left you in a susceptible state. Assuming she wasn't lying when she said she would meet you again, she should be able to get you out of this mess. You can't believe you need a demon to rescue you, but you have no choice.

"Catia," you whisper.

A few seconds pass and despair creeps in. Just before you lose all hope a dark cloud appears in the room. It dispels a nauseous fume that ferociously attacks your lungs. You start violently coughing more blood, mostly dry, as you vision blurs. Your eyes shut close and you feel your grip on reality slipping away.

You awaken to find yourself in a metallic cage. This room is much brighter than the one before.

"When I saw you chained I figured a cage would make you feel right at home."

It's Catia and you're getting a very different vibe from her than last time. Your gut tells you to do what she says as you are powerless.

"Now tell me, how come I wasn't the first one to put you in chains?" she says while licking her lips.

"It's not like it was consensual. I was blindsided and nearly died."

She gives you a playful smile and whispers in to your ear

"Tell me everything and don't spare any details.

Seeing as you don't have much of a choice you describe everything that's occurred since you last saw her. You don't withhold even the most irrelevant details.

"It's nice to know you believe I exist. I know it's hard to believe someone this beautiful isn't a figment of your imagination."

Her red eyes pierce into your mind, daring you to think otherwise.

"So, what do you think we should do about Lars?" you ask.

She starts laughing to herself.

"What?"

She walks towards your cage and reaches inside. She puts her hand on your chin and points your head upwards. She locks eyes with you and grins widely

"You're going to kill the captain!"

Later

It took a lot less convincing that you thought it would. Something about Catia just makes you want to obey her, though this time around you didn't have much choice. She didn't give you a reason other than saying

"Chaos sows the seeds of discontent."

Which if you agree with this line of thinking, you are only helping the infernal realm by following Catia. Her influence is so strong you didn't consider any other option. Or maybe you just really want to fuck her. Either way, time to kill the captain.

After releasing you from your cage, she offers to heal you with dark magic. You agree, as you can barely move let alone assassinate someone. What you didn't know is that another demon would be performing the ritual.

"Why is a human stinking up the place?"

"Mind your manners, Jirzan. Someone finally wants you for your magic and you treat them like this?"

"Heh I guess you got a point. They don't call me Jirzan the Lunatic for nothing. Alright tell me what you need me to do."

She whispers into his ear and is too quiet to understand. Though you make out words such as "transform" and painful.

What exactly do they plan on doing to you? Perhaps you should try backing out of this whole ritual.

[User] You go on with it

[Assistant]
Catia asks you to join hands with Jirzan and her. Once you do, they begin chanting nonsensical words. Their eyes roll into the back of their heads and their bodies go limp. After a few seconds they get up and it's now you that's limp. You feel excruciating pain course through your veins. Your skin burns, and it feels like fire ants are crawling in your eyes.

You can't help but scream as every part of your body feels like hell, literally. Your skin starts to red and your head feels like it's being ripped apart. They can't be doing what you think they're doing.

"The transformation is working!" Jirzan shouts.

You begin spazzing out on the floor. This isn't what you thought she meant by healing you.

"Enjoy your new life under my servitude," Catia laughs.

Your body starts contorting as blood spills out of your eyes. You jolt in and out of consciousness while Catia laughs louder. Her voice sounds dreamlike as the room around you morphs into hell. You black out.

When you wake up you find Catia and Jirzan shorter than before. In fact, the whole room feels smaller.

"There he is!" shouts Jirzan.

"How does it feel?" asks Catia.

You stare at them in shock.

"What did you do to me?'

Catia approaches you differently than before. She no longer seems to be trying to seduce you. Rather, she carries a wave of supremacy not present before.

"You will obey my commands as long as I live. Now, get on your knees," she says.

You try to protest, but find your whole body paralyzed. You assume this must be some sort of magic forcing you to obey. This however is not the case as she makes clear.

"WHY AREN'T YOU MOVING?"

"It seems like my ritual may have had some unintended effects."

Your body goes into an epileptic seizure as they start arguing over the ritual. None of that matter to you as your heart can't support your new body. The world becomes a blur as you hear one last thing,

"Great, I'll never return home now that he's dead."

While you aren't dead yet, you will be soon. Your tale ends here.


[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 brenda (Loss)

[Assistant]
After discussing a few more things about the plan to break away from the Empire, you change the subject to a more personal nature.

"So other than the slow collapse of the Empire…how have you been doing?" you ask.
"Me? I've been okay. Just been taking one day as it comes, I guess in times like this though, that's about all anyone can do. I've just been keeping myself occupied, sometimes hard to do since like I said, it's relatively peaceful here. Guess our plan might shake thing up a bit though." Brenda remarks.
"Yeah, hopefully for the better."

There is a long pause before Brenda continues the conversation

"I just want to say, I appreciated the letter you sent when Roldan died." Brenda says.
"Well I felt it was only right, I probably didn't have the words that Gerald might've had though."
"No, they were fine. I was almost just as upset to hear about him as well that day, even though I hadn't spoken or seen him in years. Had a hard time keeping it together for the next few months, don't really know how I did it."
"You're an Eternal, and you'll always have an inner strength to carry you through the hard times when you need it."
"Perhaps. (Sigh) It's been a few years now and I still think about Roldan. I mean I know there was always the potential for danger, and one of us getting killed was a possibility, but I dunno it just doesn't seem real at times. I remember when we first started to desire one another, it didn't seem real either, but then it just felt so right. We knew each other, we grew up together, and we just operated in perfect sync."
"Yes, Roldan mentioned feeling the same way. He loved you very much."
"I know."
"So…where did you bury Roldan?"
"I didn't. I had his body burned and his ashes spread to the wind outside Fort Glory. He would've wanted it that way. He said when he died, he didn't want some lavish military funeral. Still, a lot of the soldier still paid their respects by standing on the battlements and giving a salute in unison."
"Well, sounds a lot nicer than what I could do for Gerald. After the mission I dragged his body out of the swamp and back to Sinkhole. The local Empire officials said they wouldn't bother with a proper funeral since he had no family and that it would've been better to just leave him in the swamp. After slamming that pencil pusher's head into the desk, I went straight to the local undertaker and had him dig a hole for Gerald in the cemetary. Not the most elaborate of funerals, but he deserved a proper buried rather than just being left face down in the mud…though I guess in the scheme of things it hardly matters, its still in the ground and getting eaten by worms…"
"No, no, you did the right thing." Brenda says reassuringly. "You always did look out for the rest of us in some way. That's why I never blamed you for Roldan's death. I knew you would've prevented it if you could've."
"Yes, I would've."
"Well, let us not dwell on such dark issues too much longer, we've got other things to think about. Better ones for a better future, like you said."

Brenda smiles at you and you return the gesture.

You feel sort of funny about it, but you briefly wonder if you had still been stationed here instead of Roldan, would you and Brenda gotten together?


[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 kick at Charley

[Assistant]
You stagger to get up and attempt to kick Charley, but instead to trip over yourself and fall…right on to Charley's pointed stick. The only good thing is you skewered yourself right through the heart killing you instantly.

"Aw hell. Hey guys! Someone get me another Geek! This one's dead."


[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 memories (Triffids)

[Assistant]
Killer Plants: Triffids

There isn't much to know about Triffids, they're basically intelligent plants that like to kill people with their stingers and then use them for fertilizer. There have been questions if they came from spores from a crashed meteor or if they were yet another genetic experiment gone wrong. Given your past dealings with Mad Scientist types and humans in general, you'd say the latter.

Fucking humans never know when to leave shit alone.


[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 make an attempt to escape

[Assistant]
You aren't going to stick around to be someone's lab rat only to probably get disposed of later. And you know enough about the Morningstar family that they're all a bunch of damn psychos at their core. You need to make your escape now.

Lilith undoes your straps and you're soon free. You sit up, stretch and then make out like you're about to fall.

"Oh shit." You say and Lilith quickly comes to your aid to prevent you from "falling."
"Whoa, easy there, you o…" Lilith starts to say and then you elbow her in the face.

Lilith falls to the floor and you grab a particularly sadistic looking knife from the table. Lilith is remarkable quick to recover because by the time you've done all this, she' already run to the door and opened it.

"LESLIE!" she shouts before you manage to grab her hair and put the knife to her throat.
"Don't move. I don't want to kill you, but I will to get out of here." You warn.
"This was a very stupid thing to do Suzy. If you'd cooperated you would've gotten out of here in a few days at most. Now you've sealed your own death certificate."
"Quiet! Now I'm taking your vehicle, so I'm going to need your keys. After I grab those I'll be leaving and if YOU cooperate you won't get hurt. So you better tell me where we're going and NOT shout for help again!" You say.
"(Sigh) Fine. I have my keys with me in my pocket. We just have to go to the vehicle. This way." Lilith says and the pair of you leave the room.

You constantly look around thinking you're going to see Lilith's brother coming around a corner, but so far nothing. Lilith tells you which way to go and eventually you're heading up the stairs. It's at this point Lilith starts talking shit again.

"You're not getting away with this you know. My brother's going to stop you before you can escape and when that happens…well you think things were going bad in your life before? You're going to soon learn that they're going to be infinitely worse."
"Yeah well I haven't seen him yet. I guess he didn't hear you. Probably too busy with his experiments or whatever fucked up shit you two do here. Christ, your family is fucked up."

Lilith laughs.

"Yes, and that apparently that didn't stop you from dating one of us." She says.
"That was different!" you snap.
"Of course it was. Extreme situations tend to create unusual pairings. Such as the one you and Bobby had. Although I think it was more unusual for him rather than for you given how much of a slave he is to some of my family's sillier traditions."

You get to the ground floor.

"Bobby saved you like some damsel in distress from your mean old serial killer uncle. Makes sense you'd latch on to him the way you did. In a way you're very much like one of those fairly tale princesses locked away in a tower, except in your case, you locked yourself away in your basement. Bobby was your Prince Charming."

You continue to ignore Lilith's ramblings.

"Now of course you still KNEW what Bobby was, but you willingly looked past that. Why? Was it love? No, even if you thought it was at first. If it was love you would've married him in his compound instead of being here. Was it low self esteem? Possibly. But even as introverted as you are, you're still a very pretty girl and you have to know that on some level…I mean even YOU aren't that stupid."
"Will you shut up?"
"Not to mention you seem to be fine by yourself. Even Bobby mentioned that you seemed to prefer your own company when you weren't with him. So where does that leave us Suzy? Why would you willingly date someone from a family as fucked up as ours? Do you know the answer?"
"Shut the hell up, I don't care! Just tell me where the front fucking door is!" you exclaim.
"Next two rooms to the right."

Lilith is quiet again and you make it to the front door. Still no sign of Leslie, so far so good. When you open the door, Lilith once again starts getting chatty.

"Since our time together is almost at an end, I guess I'll tell you the answer. You went with Bobby because deep down underneath all that apathy you're just as fucked up as the rest of us."
"That's not even remotely true."
"Oh, just because you were merely looking away from my nephew's murderous deeds, that somehow makes you less fucked up? That's classic enabling behavior, not to mention your co-dependency during your relationship with Bobby. Hell, before Bobby came into your life, you were pretty detached from the real world and lived in your own made up reality anyway. I'd say under a different sort of extreme circumstance, you'd easily turn into a killer like your uncle especially since from what I've heard the rest of your own family isn't exactly well adjusted either. Didn't one of them kill his whole family before shooting himself?"

You press the blade closer to Lilith's throat to the point that it draws blood.

"You keep talking and you're going to find that THIS extreme situation is the one that turns me into my fucking uncle, so keep fucking talking and you're going to be the first fucking victim!"

Your threat finally shuts Lilith up.

You make your way to the truck, still looking around Leslie, but you don't see anything. Eventually you get to the truck.

"Alright, very slowly grab the keys out of your pocket. Drop them in my other hand and I'll release you."

Lilith complies with your orders and as soon as you have the keys you toss her to the ground hard. You then open up the door and suddenly feel a hand grab one of your upper ankles and then a sharp blade cutting into where the tendon would be. You scream out in pain and fall on the driveway pavement. Then another hand grabs your other ankle and you feel a blade cut into your other tendon. Meanwhile Lilith has recovered and taken away the knife you dropped. She stands over you while you scream in pain.

An older man with completely white and wild hair crawls out from under the truck. He wears a bloody lab coat and goes over to Lilith and asks if she's okay and remarks on her neck, she nods that she is fine.

You roll over and try to stand, but find it's quite impossible with your tendons sliced the way they are. You're bleeding all over the place and the fear of what's coming next is overwhelming your physical agony.

"Told you my brother would help me. I knew he would. He's my Prince Charming after all. Hm. I suppose because it's drilled into our heads when we're little that on some level we all like to be rescued. A big strong man charging in to save the day and all that chivalrous patriarchal nonsense, but on some level it's still sort of hot." Lilith says and then gives her brother a long kiss and hugs him.

You try to crawl away, since you can't even stand at this point, but you don't get far.

"Too bad nobody's going to rescue you now though. Should've killed me instead of holding back…but then that's always been your problem isn't it? Squandering your potential." You hear Lilith say and then what follows is a hefty kick to the back of your head. You black out.

When you wake up you're firmly strapped to another table completely naked. This isn't a regular surgical table though since your legs are spread apart.

"Oh…no…NO…NO!" you start to say and try to struggle free.

Your voice calls attention to Leslie who was currently hovering over another body on a different table.

"Oh good, you're up. I wanted you to be before I started. My sister said it was imperative that you not be unconscious for whatever I have in store for you."

You start screaming for help in vain and Leslie goes over to you and starts stroking your head.

"Now she did suggest that one of the things I should do is hand you over to a couple of my redneck assistants and let them have fun with you, but no. After you harmed my sister's lovely neck with a blade, I think I should have ALL the honors. I'm going to do things. Bad things and I'm going to have fun doing it and nobody is going to stop me. We'll start off slow." Leslie says patting your head.

You begin to cry and for whatever reason in your grasp for hope in this hopeless situation you call out for Bobby.

"Bobby?" Leslie chuckles and then moves over to the part of the table where your legs are spread open and he gets between them while undoing his belt.

"I'm afraid he's not here to help you blondie. I will say that I've never considered this before, but since this is a unique situation… is my dick bigger than my nephew's? I guess you can be the judge."

What Leslie proceeds to do to you next is horrible and degrading.

Then it gets worse.

And worse.

And worse.

The next day, what's left of you (which isn't much) is cooked and wrapped up for sandwiches. What isn't used for lunchmeat is tossed in the trash.

And that is the story of you.


[System] You are the game master of a dark fantasy text adventure. The world is dangerous and choices matter. Narrate with immersive detail and let the story unfold naturally from the player's decisions.

[User] You visit the Brothel

[Assistant]
You arrive at a large building and take a deep breath, breathing in perfumes of foreign fruits and sweet incense. An elderly woman walks out, and smiles at you.

"Ah, a patron. How may I help you, Sir?"

"I'd imagine it's the same reason everyone comes here." You reply snidely.

"Ah, of course. I'm sorry, you look like Gruft, the debt collector. I assumed you were a brother of his filling in."

She leads you into a back room, where you take a seat on an old dirty bed. She leaves, before arriving back with three women. One of them is a middle-aged, chubby, unattractive woman in a plain dress. She smiles at you.

"I am Helga. She says.

The second woman is a younger, plain faced woman with a nice bosom and bum, which quickly draw your attention.

"I am Liz." She says, smiling at you sweetly.

The final girl is a short, small, pale blond girl. Her features are sharp and angular, and you recognize her as an elf.

"I am Starflower." She says.

"The prices are simple." The Matron says. "Helga is five coins, Liz is ten, Starflower is fifteen."

[User] You pay for Helga

[Assistant] You pay for Helga, and all others but her leave. You quickly undress, and for the next hour, allow your animal urges to take over. You quickly fuck her, trying to focus on the feeling rather than her less than appealing appearance. Afterwards, you clean up and quickly make your way back to the street, a happier orc.


[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 give it all to the first hunter

[Assistant]
"You give all the coins to the first hunter," you say.

"Yes, another answer! Gods, I really like you!"

"Is it right?"

The Fool shrugs, smiling at you.

"Who knows? I'll be off, anyway, my eyes are beginning to burn," he says, scratching at his burned up eyes. "Good luck in there. Shame it's not a silver mine, am I right?"

He smiles, grinning, as you snarl. He raises his hands defensively, shrugging.

"Fine, fine, I'll be on my way. Best of luck in there, Willy."

You don't even try to stop him, your gun feeling unnaturally heavy in your hands as you know the patchwork man's magic is at work here. As soon as the Fool disappears into the trees, your gun lightens in your hands, and you heave to stare off into the mineshaft, smiling.


[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 don't allow them to join

[Assistant] You decide enough is enough. You're not a safe haven for every coward and weakling who cowers from war.


[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 drive east

[Assistant]
You come to the conclusion that there is literally nothing for you back in your hometown. Given the state it's in, it doesn't seem like there is much possibility there either and you'd be better off just trying to make it on your own.

This is very new territory for you just throwing complete caution to the wind like this, but you're determined to turn over a new leaf. This is going to be a brand new Suzy and your new life starts right now.

You start up the car and drive off.

As you drive you keep trying to form various plans about what you're going to do when you get to the next town. First thing to do will be to get a room somewhere… or maybe you should just sleep in the car. That would stretch your money out a lot more, but you can't just do that can you? You'll need to bathe every once in awhile! Whore baths in a public restroom perhaps?

As you're attempting to figure out how you're going to go about your new life, you start to get a headache just realizing how much hard work this is going to be. You turn the radio on in an effort to keep your mind occupied on something else.

"…remember our shelters are the best in the world. Your family's survival is important to us, so don't settle for imitations…"

"Ground Zero ads. Of course." You say.

You try to find a station that doesn't seem to be bought out by this company, but the only luck you have is a few doomsday preacher type stations. Since you're not really in the mood for that either, you turn the radio off and return to silence.

You continue to drive for some time. You notice you haven't even seen another vehicle on the road, which is a little eerie, gets even more so when it starts to get dark.

You haven't seen any signs of civilization for quite some time, just rows and rows of trees on either side. You never realized just how rural of an area you've lived in before.

Eventually the trees thin out a bit and you see a looming structure in the distance on your left.

It's a Grey Building.

"What the hell? Did I drive in a circle?" you say to yourself.

You can't imagine that you did considering you've been pretty much driving in a straight path the entire time. You suppose it MIGHT be possible since your attention hasn't exactly been completely focused since the drive itself has been so boring, but this seems pretty damn odd.

Odd or not you're back where you started and you stop your car near the Grey Building pretty frustrated at your situation.

"Shit!" you exclaim and bang on the driver's wheel.

You have half a mind to just continue on and go back to town, but you sort of feel like that would be giving up when really this is just a minor set back and you've had much worse ones.

Jack probably has a GPS, maps or something in that treasure trove of shit he collects and he'll probably be more than willing to help you out. You just hope he doesn't see this as a "sign" that you decided to stay after all.

You park along side the Grey building, get out and make your way towards the door.

Remembering that Jack told you to knock three times, you do so and the door opens up. Jack isn't there at the door though; maybe he's got it on an automated system.

The other thing that seems strange is that it's pitch black inside. You step just inside the entryway and still can't see shit. Not even the dim moonlight from the outside is providing any minimal illumination within the doorway.

"Hey Jack! It's me Suzy! Why are all your lights …Ungh!" you start to call out before you get smashed in the head and fall to the concrete floor.

"DIE INTERLOPER! THIS IS MY GREY BUILDING!" a horrible voice screams before you're forcibly pulled deeper inside and the door slams shut leaving you in complete darkness.

You try to get up to run, but a very strong force is keeping you down. You hear the sounds of a rusty chainsaw being started up followed by insane laughter.

In your last moments before the chainsaw starts ripping your flesh, you realize that you've made a terrible mistake.

You didn't drive in a circle and this isn't the GRAY Building.

This is the GREY Building

You don't understand it and you never will, but it doesn't matter, you're dead.


[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 stay and fight

[Assistant]
"NEVER! I'M the one who saved this shelter from its own idiocy! If it wasn't for me, this place everyone would probably still be living crammed together like fuckin' sardines! They WILL fall in fuckin' line!

Unfortunately like most people under a dictatorship, they don't see you as a great savior but rather as the tyrant you are. Eventually a group of the surface people come down en-masse and overrun the place, you try to prevent more from coming by barricading yourself in the computer room and shutting off the elevator, but its too late, there are already a lot of them down here. There's no way you can fight all of them, you don't have the ammo and all your loyal guards are dead. You and your family are trapped and you know what they'll do to all of you if they take you alive, you look at Nina and Jack…

Nope, you're still in control of some things around here. You take a deep breath and look directly into Nina's eyes.

"Know that I always loved you…the both of you." you say sadly.

Then without any further hesitation you shoot them both in the head.

After wiping a tear from your eye, you start paying attention to the threats outside your door.

"Get outta there you sonofabitch! It's over! You and your fuckin' family are through!"
"Oh yeah?! We'll see who's fuckin' through you ungrateful bastards! If I'm going down, you're all coming to fuckin' hell with me! SCORCHED FUCKIN' EARTH BITCHES!"

You start shooting the GZS central computer, lighting starts flickering and eventually you hit the right vital spot and the entire shelter's power goes dead. Immediately you hear some shouting from behind the door, and they begin blasting it open. Won't be long now.

You fire at the first figure that you can barely make out in the darkness, then the rest open fire on you. You see the flash of multiple muzzle blasts and then fall to the ground near Nina's body.

In your last moments, you grab onto Nina's hand and squeeze before darkness takes you.