[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] Continue

[Assistant]
You're pretty much fucked either way, but you're going to gamble that Rook will be satisfied with revealing your plan, with some embellishments of course.

"Garrick sent me on a mission to kill Reginald."
"The cult leader that seduced his way into high society? Interesting."
"Yes, the Neroth cult is getting out of hand and the Guild is having severe problems with them so I was ordered to take out the leader. Been spending a few days staking out his home in an effort to figure out the best approach, but he's got guards every fucking where."
"Hmm, I see. To be honest those Neroth worshipping assholes DO need to be dealt with. While some in the Ebony Claw don't consider them top priority, I see them as a potential problem in the future. Especially since we've started to have our own run ins with them. Though I may be a bit biased considering they did kidnap my cousin once. Oh, by the way, always meant to thank you for rescuing her."
"Wait…you mean…Naji is…"
"A whore that doesn't know what the hell she's doing with her life, but she's still my cousin and she should finally get a little justice. So while normally I would love to see two enemies kill each other and making things a lot easier for us, it would be best if the followers of Neroth were curtailed. This city already has more than enough gods competing, and as a dedicated disciple to Fel, I see no reason why I shouldn't aid directly in their fall. Consider the Holgard Watch taken care of by tomorrow."
"What, really?"
"Yes. Obviously you're still going to have to kill Reginald and whatever fanatics he has in the house with him, but the Holgard Watch? They can always change loyalties and those that can't, well they'll be dealt with. Consider this another favor from your friends at the Ebony Claw."

You silently acknowledge Rook's words. While this is certainly going to help you out, you're not sure if you're going to be able to afford all these "favors" when it comes time to pay up.

"Well then I guess this concludes our business again. Next time we see each other, I trust you'll have that vital information for me. Time is growing short you know, and I would hate to see you on the wrong side." Rook says and pats you hard on the side of your face a couple times before walking away.

You soon no longer feel the crossbow at your back and that's when you know it's okay to move again.

You make your way back to the inn where you're supposed to be getting some rest like Tanya suggested, but after your encounter with Rook, you're more wound up than ever. Eventually you do fall asleep and by the time you wake up, it's night and you're rushing to go meet Tanya.

She's of course on the rooftop where you were yesterday.

"I was expecting you here earlier, it's not like you to leave things at the last moment." Tanya remarks.
"I guess I was more tired than I thought." You say.
"I nearly went in before you, because a perfect opportunity just opened up ten minutes ago. All of the guards left."
"What?"
"All of the guards just left. I saw a couple of them speak to each other and then one called to some of the others and they all just collectively left. I couldn't believe it myself. That's why I was hoping you'd hurry up since who knows how long they'll be gone."

Well looks like Rook wasn't a liar and he came through. Almost makes you start to wonder WHY he's being so helpful. He doesn't fit what you know about the EC at all. True, this is probably just all to get you to rat on the Guild, but it still seems above and beyond.

Of course he might think now that you'll be able to talk Tanya into switching sides too. He didn't seem convinced you'd be able to do it, but then maybe it's a small effort on his part for large potential gain.

Honestly, you aren't even sure how or if you'd ever be able to approach the subject with Tanya. As far as you know she's always been pretty dedicated to the Guild even if she's aloof to most of the members.

But this is a problem for another time; right now you've got a cult priest to assassinate.

Tanya says she's still going with her original plan of leaping to the roof of the house and breaking in that way. You doubt if you could make it since the distance is a little farther than average, but then you aren't blessed with infernal blood allowing you to do shit like that. You say you're going to just go in the front door now that everyone is gone. Assuming he's not in the cellar or not there at all, you're guessing you'll be able to catch him upstairs or down.

Besides the unknown factor of his location, there's also the unknown factor of what abilities he has or what else is in the house. At best you're hoping he's just some mouthpiece for bloodthirsty cult. At worst he's going to be summoning demons and have all sorts of other dark magic at his disposal.

You make your way down to street level again, open the gate (which the guards helpfully left unlocked) and go to the front door which you lockpick with ease. You'd think even with the guards he would have gotten a better lock, but whatever makes your task easier.

You slowly walk into the dimly lit foyer with your weapon drawn. You search the downstairs cautiously and methodically, but don't find any one. In the back of your mind you wish this was just a simple breaking and entering job because you're seeing a lot fancy decoration and you're sure Reginald has more portable valuables laying around in a safe or something somewhere.

While you're looking around for stairs to the cellar, you hear some thumping coming from the upstairs. Things have been more or less silent so far, so this it cause to give you alarm.

You immediately head back to the large set of stairs that lead up in the foyer. As you're heading up the stairs, you notice that the lighting is becoming much darker. It's almost as if the candles from the chandelier are going out.

You get to near the top of the landing and then it goes completely dark.

"Oh shit." You say to yourself and immediately turn your head towards the direction of the chandelier.

Then when you turn your head back forward, you nearly fall backwards when you see Tanya standing right in front of you.

"Fuck!" you utter out loud and then Tanya grabs your tunic so you don't fall.

"Thanks." You say.

Tanya doesn't seem to acknowledge your gratitude though; instead she pulls you closer to her. At this distance, even in the darkness, you can make out her normally shrouded face.

The first time you saw it at this range you were partially enchanted. This time is no different, but you're still aware enough that this isn't normal behavior for her, especially in these circumstances.

"Tanya?" you utter.

You get no answer, what you do get is a kiss on your lips. The feeling is unlike anything you've ever experienced. It's very pleasant, but as it goes on, you start to feel weak. In fact you try to pull away, but when you do so, Tanya's eyes glow red, she makes a growling sound and then shoves your away.

You tumble down the stairs and while you fortunately don't break anything, you unfortunately smack your head so hard you're dazed. If you could actually see anything in this darkness, you'd probably be seeing double.

You hear a bunch of footsteps and then you feel a couple sets of hands lifting you up and finally a fist coming straight at your face.

When you wake up, you're in a cell, completely naked. A brief look at your surroundings and you know exactly where you are. It's the torture chamber where you saved Naji. In fact, you're in the exact same cell.

You look around, but there's nothing in your cell that you find useful, you do notice that there is someone else in the next cell over. They're sitting in a corner rocking back and forth mumbling. While the person has obviously been through hell and you've definitely never seen this person naked before, the face and hair are still recognizable despite some of the fresh wounds. You can hardly believe it.

"Yinen?" you ask.

Yinen briefly looks at you and while he knows who you are, he returns to his rocking and mumbling. You can't even tell what he's saying, but he sounds like he saying something religious. You hear Joachim's name being mentioned a few times.

Well this explains where Yinen has been. Poor bastard's probably been tortured for quite awhile. You still don't know what happened with Tanya either. Was a spell cast on her? She is half succubus, was the "presence of Neroth" forcing her to act more within her nature?
You don't know, but what you do know is you need to get the hell out of here.

You're not filled with confidence that you're going to survive whatever is to come, but you sure hope whatever they have planned its quick.

Grabing a hold of the door in a vain attempt to open it and feeling a little hopeless yourself, you say your own prayer though yours is more along the lines of "I sure hope Yag is throwing a seven for me tonight."

"Ah, prayer! The last refuge of a scoundrel as they say. I've always disagreed with that though. Prayer can be a powerful tool. I should know as my dark father has blessed me with much since my dedicated prayer to him." A voice says.

You turn your head and see a man with a goatee in a red robe. A couple of other larger men in red robes stand behind him.

"However I think you shall find that your prayers will go unanswered here. Neroth holds complete sway as he soon will over this city and eventually the world!"

Given his superior attitude and boasting, you can only imagine this is Reginald. He gives you a look that reminds you of that fat perverted merchant you had to kill years ago. You instinctively cover yourself.

"Oh we have a shy one do we? I must say, you shouldn't be, given your body. However, as much as I would love to throw you over the altar in front of my congregation and introduce my dick to your ass while slitting your throat as I released, I've got something better planned for you." Reginald remarks.
"Hope its better than ass rape." You say.
"Hah. Depends on your viewpoint I suppose. I know you're the one that so rudely broke into my home and stole that girl years ago. We were a little pre-occupied in nabbing you before and you seem to be skilled enough to fight off our recent attempts. However when you walked in here of your own accord, and with that infernal spawn…well that almost makes up for all the years you were able to go on breathing."

Reginald motions the two large men to open the cell door. You back up ready to fight, though Reginald shakes his head and makes some gestures with his hand and your body completely tenses up like you're paralyzed.

"We don't have time for that, important work must be done. That half-breed you walked in with has only begun to realize the untapped potential of her powers. Honestly, I don't know how she has managed to suppress her infernal side for so long. Most daughters of true succubi by her age have long since gone on to embrace their infernal heritage. This one was obviously lost, but no more." Reginald says.
"What did you do to her?" you ask as the two men grab your arms and start dragging you out.
"Me? I did nothing other than speak a few truths to her guided by Neroth's wisdom, though as I said, his presence in this house is stronger than most. I believe she felt it, just as all who follow do. However, she's still not complete, that's where you will come in. She will complete her transformation with you as the sacrifice and we will ALL witness it, and it shall be glorious to see a higher being achieve freedom!"

Reginald motions the two men to drag you to the room with the altar and large pentagram on the floor. When you enter, you're thrown into said pentagram. A crowd of red robed individuals watches silently.

When you get your head up off the floor, the paralysis is wearing off, but now you see Tanya in front of you looking at you like a predator with its prey. She definitely doesn't seem like herself.

"Daughter of Neroth! Embrace your true heritage and kill this sacrifice in the name of your dark father! We shall all bask in the glory of your transformation!" Reginald shouts followed by several of his followers.

You manage to stand up, but you doubt if you're going to be much match for Tanya. Even if you weren't naked and unarmed, you probably wouldn't be a match.

Despite the fact that death is most likely imminent, you've still got this unnatural attraction to Tanya, or rather genuine attraction, but unnatural due to the situation at hand.

This is really looking like the end for you, unless you can come up with something.

[User] You fight for your life

[Assistant]
While talking might work under normal circumstances, you're literally having a hard enough time trying to focus on your own sense of self-preservation because part of you wants to just embrace her and go out fucking if your semi-erection is any indication.

You're probably going to die anyway, but at least in your head you can take comfort in the fact that you tried.

"Tanya…Tanya…please…." You say and hang your head down in an effort to look defeated.

Tanya moves closer to you and runs her fingers through your hair and then lifts your head up with one hand and puts another hand to her lips in a "shhhhh" motion. It's apparent she's toying with you like a cat would with a mouse, but something about it is very alluring. So much so that you almost forget to punch her right in the face.

This is more than enough to surprise her and cause her reel back a bit. You immediately look around for a way to escape. However the crowd is converging on you, including Reginald, but he's instead telling everyone to back off.

"No! Let her finish him off! His impotent fighting will only prolong the inevitable and make her transformation all the more sweeter as she will tear him apart with no mercy!" he shouts.

By this point Tanya has recovered and with how pissed she looks right now Reginald may be right on that last part.

You stand your ground with your fists up, and Tanya runs towards you. You throw another punch, but she dodges and gives you a swift punch to your stomach and knocks all the wind out of you. Now while you're hunched over trying to catch your breath, she grabs your throat with one hand and your balls with the other.

Just as you're thinking you're going to be soon singing soprano, something unexpected happens. Instead of crushing your manhood, she instead lifts you up over her head, not that this isn't still painful of course.

But the next thing she does is even more unexpected.

Instead of slamming you into the floor or something similar she instead throws you at Reginald who is taken completely off guard by this.

"Wha fuck!" he utters before you go crashing into him.

With you and Reginald on the floor, the congregation is now really getting agitated. Those two large cultists that dragged you from the cell immediately go to get you off of Reginald, but before they can, you hear grunts and howls of pain as Tanya has stabbed them both.

Blood has now sprayed all over the place and you feel the crushing weight of a dead body falling on you.

"You and that half breed bitch will pay for this! Kill them both!" Reginald shouts.

Reginald isn't exactly in the best position to give any orders however as he's in an even worse position than you since he's now buried under two bodies rather than just yours. He struggles to get his arms free and while you're trying to do the same you get another idea.

Your head is at his chest level right now, and mustering all your strength you manage to move your entire body forward and slam the top of your head up into his jaw repeatedly. He tries to stop you, but he still can't get his arms entirely free.

You're naked and you've got one dead man on top of you and you're currently rubbing up against another one trying kill you, if someone had told you that you'd ever be in this situation you never would have believed it.

Eventually you break his jaw causing him to moan and wail, or at least the best he can do with a broken jaw.

You take the opportunity to roll sideway and wiggle out from under the dead cultist. You catch a few short punches to your side, but you eventually get free. Reginald despite being in pain begins to do likewise.

Wasting no time, you take advantage of his still prone position and use the heel of your foot to bring it down on Reginald's nose. If you didn't break it the first time, you certainly do the second. By the third and forth time you've stomped it into mush.

Your balls still ache, the top of your head is sore, your foot hurts like hell and you're pretty sure you've got a bone fragment in it, but Reginald is currently choking on his own blood and struggling to breath with a mashed up nose and broken jaw so you're currently doing much better than he is.

You take his head and start smashing it as hard as you can on the stone floor. Reginald tries to feebly stop you, but he's too weak at this point and with the back of his skull being caved in and his brains starting to leak out of his head he soon loses consciousness forever.

After finishing the bloody deed, you take a moment to catch your breath. You finally get a chance to be more aware of your surroundings and see Tanya has been making short work of the remaining cultists that have still stuck around. After finishing off the last cultist she turns to face you and once again you're still a little concerned about as you have no idea if she's actually still on your side again or she just decided to go on killing rampage.

"Well don't just stand there with a stupid look on your face, we need to get the hell out here and at least take a robe off of one of these assholes and put it on. I've seen way more of you than I ever wanted to!"

She appears to be back to normal.

"Wait a minute, what the hell happened to you a few moments ago? In fact what the hell happened to you period?"
"I…I don't want to talk about it, look we need to get the fuck outta here. I don't like it here and I don't…feel right just being here. We need to fucking go NOW."
"Alright, alright, shit…robe…robe…"

As you're stripping off a robe of one of the corpses, Tanya's looking around as if she's expecting more trouble. While that might very well be the case, you can tell it's more than that.

"Shit! Yinen! He's still in the fucking cage back there, we need to let him out." You say as you're putting on the robe.
"What? I don't have the damn keys and we don't have time to search all these fuckers." Tanya exclaims.
"Well I'd pick the lock, but it's not like I have a lockpick anymore, do you have any?"
"Here, but hurry the hell up I'm not sticking around here any longer than I have to."

You catch the lockpick that Tanya tosses at you and run back to the torture chamber. You go back to Yinen's cell and start opening the cell, but he just continues to do the usual rocking back and forth and mumbling.

"Yinen! Come on! We gotta get the hell out of here! Yinen!" you say and approach him.

Yinen finally realizes someone is there with him, but instead of jumping at the chance to be free, he starts screaming.

"NO! NO! I WON'T GO WITH YOU! GET AWAY! PLEASE! JOACHIM SAVE ME!"

At first you're confused to as why he's acting this way and doesn't see that it's you, but then you think it might be the fact that you're wearing a red robe.

"Yinen! It's me! I'm not one of them! I'm…"
"NO! LIES! NEROTH IS THE FATHER OF LIES AND EVIL! JOACHIM! BRING DOWN YOUR HOLY VENGENCE AND SAVE ME!" Yinen shouts and suddenly lunges at you.

You fend off his attack in an effort not to hurt him too badly, but he isn't so much interested in fighting as he is escaping. He runs off yelling after he manages to maneuver around you. You hear Tanya shout something in the next room and you run back to her.

"Was that him? He ran right past me screaming." Tanya asks.
"Yeah, I dunno, the guy's head is all fucked up. They really did something to him, I dunno if he's going to be the same." You say.
"He's not the only one, now WE need to leave."

Tanya doesn't wait any longer, she runs into the room with all the wine barrels and you follow as close as possible. You'd suggest looking for the passage to the sewers for a quicker exit, but you aren't even sure if it exists anymore, besides she's already made her way up the stairs to the ground floor.

Yinen must have known the way out since the door is already open, or rather the hidden bookshelf door that was hiding the stairs to the cellar. From here, you both make your way out the house (And again, find the door already open)

You don't exactly know where Tanya's running to, but you continue to follow her and eventually she stops somewhere secluded. Then she start going through her clothing.

"Here. Take this thing and leave me be." She says and hands you back your pistol. In all the ensuing mayhem you completely forgot that you had potentially lost your favorite weapon.

"Thanks…but where did you get this?" you ask.
"I took it when they were stripping your clothes off, I dunno why I did. I really don't understand why I did anything. I thought I was past this. I need to get my head together and figure this shit out." Tanya says.
"Tanya can you at least tell me something? I mean did Reginald case a spell or what? I mean was all his babbling true, Neroth is your father in some way?"
"No! And I'm not just saying that because I don't want that to be true. I'm saying that, because my real father from what my succubus bitch of a mother told me was some drunk dickhead that she killed immediately after mating with and because Reginald doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. While he may have been sucking Neroth's infernal cock in the spiritual sense, I still know more about the infernal realm more than he EVER could have and trust me, if he had known, he wouldn't have been worshipping Neroth or whatever petty infernal warlord that's setting himself up as a god to mortals at any given time."
"Wait, you've been there? You've actually crossed into a different plane?"
"No, but I don't need to physically be there and I hope I never do. I saw enough based on what my mother showed me and I resisted the lure of it then and I'm going to continue to do so."
"You keep bringing up your mother, I thought you were an orphan."
"I was. Wasn't like she took care of me, she tossed me aside as soon as I was born and I suppose I was lucky to be born female and she wasn't hungry at the time. Look, while I'm sure this is all very intriguing for you, I am fucking done talking about this. If you want to know what happened to me, I don't fucking know! Maybe all the demonic ties that Reginald and by proxy his home had to the infernal realm had some effect and I lost control because I've let my guard down to it over the years. I guess I was lucky that you punched me in the face to snap me out of it. Thanks, but just because you know some shit about me doesn't mean we're getting closer!"
"I wasn't even thinking about that…"
"Bullshit! That's ALL you ever think about. I know you do. You can't even help yourself. Pfft, your earlier lie about not being interested me anymore when we were on the rooftop before all this happened was laughable. I know for a fact that you regularly have sex with some whore that tries to look like me. In fact isn't she the same one you saved? Boy you must LOVE that. It's almost like you can pretend that you saved me like some hero."
"Um…"
"What? You embarrassed? You're not THAT embarrassed if you're still doing it. Besides, it's not like you'd be the first, you just happen to be one of the few that's been doing it the longest."
"Tanya, I really don't know what you want from me at this point. I mean I'm really trying my best. I thought we were at least getting along."
"And THAT'S a failing on my part. If anything I've allowed you to get TOO close lately! I need to fucking redouble my efforts, I see that now. I should have known to keep my distance from you and I should have NEVER offered to help you on this task!"

You can see this is a losing battle and you're tired so you decide to bow out.

"Ok Tanya, you've made your point, I'm leaving. Thanks for saving me again, see you later."

You start to leave, but Tanya spins you around.

"Don't you turn your back on me, and this is for punching me in the fucking face!" Tanya says and kicks you hard in the balls.

You crumple to the ground and Tanya starts to say something, but then stops and then starts again.

"I'm…sorry…I just…I can't… just stay away from me." She says and quickly runs off.

After vomiting a little bit you eventually stand back up and stagger back to the Hell's Own Inn. Thankfully you aren't accosted by anyone along the way.

When you get back, Bruno sees you and gives you a sideways glance at first.

"Okay, it's you. I saw a red robe and got a little nervous. What's with the red robe anyway, aren't those the ones that Neroth cultists wear?" Bruno asks.
"Yeah, I just joined so you better watch out." You say.
"Ha ha funny guy. What's the real story?"
"I don't want to even get into it right now, I'll tell you another time, I just want to go rest."
"Sure, whatever."

You start making your way upstairs, but stop to ask one question.

"Hey Bruno, Yinen didn't come in here by any chance did?" you ask.
"I told you, I haven't seen him in days. He probably left the city." Bruno says.
"I bet he wishes he did." You mumble and head to your room.

You take off the blood stained and rank red robe and collapse on your bed. You've spent a lot of the night naked tonight, and not in a good way.

The only good thing about tonight is you killed the top asshole of the cult that was trying to kill you. You imagine there are still others around, but you can't worry about it right now.

As you slowly drift off with your hand covering your abused testicles, you think about how things are just fucked up with Tanya now. It's like you're back to square one, but maybe you were just deluding yourself anyway.

Of course despite all this AND the fact that she tried to kill you today, you still go to sleep dreaming about her.

[User] You time passes...

[Assistant]
Year 20

"I'm not obsessed." You exclaim which causes a look of skepticism from Sneaks.

"Okay, maybe I'm a little obsessed, but not in the way you're saying." You say.
"Look kid, I'll let you in on a little secret, I've jerked off thinking about Tanya too. I don't think there's a man that's been in contact with her for any length of time that hasn't. Hell, there's been guys in the Guild into men and they STILL admitted to having thoughts about her. She had a dick of course in their fantasies, but my point is, she still had an effect. It's part of her demon heritage, but the effects should have long since worn off and I'm telling you the way you're going is not fucking healthy."
"But my feelings for her are not just physical. I mean yeah that's part of it, but I've been getting to know her and I feel a real connection with her."

Now Sneaks is totally confused.

"I thought you were staying away from her ever since you took out Reginald." Sneaks asks.
"I have! But I keep seeing her in my dreams! And those dreams have been becoming more frequent lately. In these dreams, we spend time together and talk and laugh and…"
"And fuck. Probably a lot of fucking. Look, sounds like you're having some nice dreams, but dreams aren't real and with some of the ones you've described they sound impossible. Just go back to fucking that whore that dresses like her, it's the closest you're going to get."
"I can't even do that anymore, I feel like I'm cheating on Tanya. I'm telling you, this is really happening. I don't know how, but it is. I mean don't succubi invade dreams? I mean maybe she's trying to tell me something even if she isn't doing it in the real world."
"Real world being the key word here. Are you listening to yourself? Look, I don't know what to tell you man, I mean…(sigh) okay say for the sake of argument this IS all true, have you even spoken to her directly about it?"
"Well no, I've been trying to stay away and respect her wishes to leave her alone."

Sneaks slaps you upside the head.

"What the hell?!" you say.
"That's without a doubt, the stupidest fucking shit you've ever said involving Tanya. I've known you since you joined the Guild and you've flirted with her shamelessly beyond a point where others have gotten shanked by her for their troubles. The ONLY other person I know who's gotten this obsessed with Tanya and lived is Garrick, though Yag knows he'd NEVER fucking admit that." Sneaks says.
"So…I was right about Garrick?"
"Of course you were right about him. Why do you think he still holds a grudge against you even though you're staying away from Tanya? I mean in his case, I don't think it started out that way…shit I HOPE it didn't start out that way since he took her in when she was a young teenager, but in any case. Garrick has been in love with Tanya for a very long time now. He'll never make a move of course, which is why I'm telling YOU that if you REALLY think you've got a shot with Tanya, then you need to just go talk to her, because the non-confrontational routine? Yeah that doesn't work and it isn't your style anyway."
"Weren't you the one that once told me once to forget about her?"
"Yeah well I'm hoping you'll listen to me on this advice this time because it's apparent that you're bound for a path of destruction. At least if you go talk to her you'll get that over quickly and who knows, maybe just MAYBE, you're right about all this. In any case, I'm going to go see if there's anyone around to play cards with."
"I think a lot of the members are out enjoying the riots."
"Yeah fuck that, it's absolute chaos out there. Surprised the Baron's managed to still keep control of some of the city. Mostly the merchant's district, rich areas and his palace of course, but it's getting worse. To be honest, I would leave the city, but unfortunately I've still got a streak of loyalty and I'd never just abandon Garrick. Too much history, even if I don't agree with him sometimes. Anyway, see you later and good luck."

Sneaks leaves you and you immediately go to see if Tanya is in her quarters. You already know what you're going to say, because you've been saying it in your mind for a long time now, you're just mentally preparing yourself the verbal (and possibly physical) repercussions of your confrontation.

Has to be done though because this has gone on long enough and if Tanya genuinely has no interest in you then you're not going to stick around just to have something you desire greatly dangling in front of you everyday and can't do anything about it.

As you approach Tanya's quarters you hear voices coming from it. You slow your pace and strain your ears to listen and eventually hide just outside her door.

"Tanya, I can throw him out of the Guild, if he's been bothering you again. Honestly I would have done it sooner had you not told me not to after that stunt with the Neroth cultists." You hear Garrick say.
"He hasn't been bothering me Garrick, if anything he's been honoring my wishes. He's been a perfect fucking gentleman…or at least as close as he can get to one."
"Be that as it may, I know something is wrong."
"I'm fine Garrick, stop fussing."
"Tanya, I KNOW something is going on with you. I've known you since you were girl and I know when you're more troubled than usual. I mean if you don't tell me, I can't help…"
"That's fucking right Garrick, you CAN'T fucking help! Nobody can! So stop playing the over protective dad role trying to save his little girl and just get the hell out of my quarters."
"Tanya, you forget that…"
"Yes, Garrick I fucking know. You brought me in off the streets when I was some poor dirty orphan stealing food and had run away from the home for the umpteenth time! How long are you going to bring that up? I've never said I wasn't appreciative, I think my time staying here has proven that, but if you think I OWE you something more, then you've been a fool for a longer time than even he has! Worse even."
"Tanya! I've never…"

Before Garrick can complete his statement, you finally enter the room causing an immediate hostile look from Garrick and a look of exasperation from Tanya.

"Oh great…" Tanya says.
"YOU! Get out of here, we're having a private conversation!" Garrick yells.
"Tanya, WE need to talk. There's something going on between us and I have to think you know what I mean. This has been a long time coming and I can't just continue to walk around here in silence any longer." You say.
"I'll tell you what, you don't need to be walking around here anymore period. You're out of the Guild! You've been nothing a headache since I allowed you in here! I can't believe I was so blind to think you would be an asset in the first place!"
"Garrick, I'm not even arguing with you and I'll be more than happy to leave this shitty Guild, but I've got to speak to Tanya first."
"Go ahead then." Tanya says a bit defeated.

"Tanya, I've been having dreams about you for past few months ever since everything that went down with the Neroth cultists. Now I dunno if you're doing it on purpose or what, but these dreams have been more than just dreams, it's like…it's like they're real somehow. You're talking to me. WE'RE talking to each other about, well everything. My past, your past, our likes, our dislikes. I swear it's like we've been dating without actually going out."
"Bullshit. You don't know shit about Tanya. You've been making shit up in your delusional mind. Wishful thinking about shit that's never going to happen! Okay asshole, if you know so much, why don't you give us a little history lesson?"
"Gladly."

You begin with a description of the orphanage Tanya grew up in and the apathetic lady who ran it. You mention how Tanya had to beat up two older boys when she was six because they were accusing her of stealing their food. After she broke one boy's arms and the nose of the other boy, the other children remained afraid of her.

She ran away from the orphanage altogether by the time she was nine and lived on the streets until she was around thirteen where upon Garrick caught her trying to pick his pocket. You even describe the type of day it was, mentioning that it was lightly raining. After he caught Tanya he offered her a place in the Guild.

At this point Tanya and Garrick are just silent as you relay this information. Garrick's mouth nearly hangs open as he knows you're exactly right about everything. He can't believe that you know all this. Tanya even looks a away a couple times.

"And you told me, that you've remained loyal for the past twenty some odd years since that time at first because you originally felt obligated to Garrick for giving you a home and helping you when nobody else was, but there was a point when you started to feel less satisfied here and you considered leaving." You say.
"Tanya! You never told me this! Is this true?!" Garrick remarks.

Tanya doesn't answer, she just looks at you like you're going to tell him anyway, so why stop?

"She never told anyone that. She would have left too, but then her mother showed up and after her brief meeting, she stayed with the Guild. Not because she had great attachment to it, but because she feared what she might do without it keeping her somewhat grounded. The Guild became a sort of sanctuary against her infernal nature. Sure, thievery isn't exactly the most noble of professions, but it's a far cry from what infernals like to engage in." you say.

Garrick turns back to Tanya.

"Tanya, you could have told me this! Why didn't you? I could have…" Garrick starts to say before he's interrupted.
"You could have what Garrick? Tried to make everything better like you always think you can? This is what I was talking about earlier, you CAN'T FUCKING HELP ME! Nobody can! I mean just look at what's occurred…I'm meeting this infatuated loser in his dreams and telling him my whole life story and I was only barely aware of some of it! How long before I have complete control over it? My infernal nature is coming out and it can't be stopped. Stop trying to fucking save me because I'm NEVER going to love you Garrick or at least not in the way YOU want." Tanya shouts

Garrick says nothing; he just staggers back a bit against a table like all the wind has been knocked out of him. Tanya now turns her attention towards you.

"And as for you, your best option would be running far away from this place and from me before it gets worse. I don't care how much you THINK you're in love with me." Tanya says.
"Or even how much you might be in love with me?" you answer.
"Now THAT is wishful thinking and not what is happening."
"Okay, maybe love isn't the right word, but I have a hard time believing that you didn't contact me in my dreams for shits and giggles. You're actually fun in those dreams and I know you well enough in the real world that you never do anything remotely fun. It's like you wanted me to see another side of you that nobody else does. Arguably the closest person you were close to before I showed up was Garrick, and you only see him as a father figure at best. You didn't contact him in his dreams. You didn't show up in anyone else's either. You showed up in mine because you obviously have a fondness for…"
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Garrick suddenly shouts and lunges at you.

He tackles you to the floor and you roll around briefly with him, but you soon get him off of you. However, he's managed to pilfer your pistol that was tucked in your clothing.

"Garrick! Put that down!" Tanya shouts.
"Why?! Just so you can go off with this dickhead? No! How many people have fallen for you Tanya? How many? I've lost count. Why does THIS one get your affection?" Garrick screams and then starts laughing.

"I WAS the one who took you in! I WAS the one who gave you purpose and apparently I was the one who gave you salvation! Don't you see Tanya? I'M the one who loves you! I always did! But if I can't have you…then I suppose I'll have to accept that…but what I won't accept is someone else having you instead!"

Garrick is pointing the pistol right at you and ready to fire. You might be quick enough to stop him, or you might not. Tanya looks like she might do something, but who knows?

[User] You grab the gun from Garrick

[Assistant]
You take that chance that you're quick enough and Garrick is so emotional right now that he's not focused like he should.

You lunge for the pistol.

A loud sound is heard followed by the sensation of a burning force hitting you hard in the lower chest. Still working on adrenaline you don't stop and continue to try to wrestle the pistol from Garrick. He fires again, but this time misses as you move his arm and then break his wrist completely causing him to drop it.

Tanya at this point intervenes and tackles Garrick and you all go tumbling on the floor.

Tanya starts screaming at Garrick and punching him in the face while he unsuccessfully tries to fend her off. You on the other hand are now coming to realize that you've been shot pretty badly and your adrenaline has worn off.

You cough blood and wheeze as death is finally catching up to you. Tanya goes over to you and starts telling you to hold on while she frantically attempts to look for something in her room to help you, but there isn't anything and it wouldn't help anyway.

You look over to your left and see Garrick's face mashed into bloody mush. Not being able to find anything to help your wound, Tanya attempts to lift you up, but you tell her to stop.

"Tanya, stop. You're not going to get me to an infirmary or the apothecary in time." You say.
"But…it can't end like this! Not now! Not when I…(sob)"
"Just wasn't (cough) meant to be…but it's okay. At least I know finally."

And with those last words your eyes begin to close and you feel the taste of Tanya's lips on your own before you pass on.


[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 say "What did I miss?"

[Assistant]
"I've made particular judgments. Kyros is a slaver. You, your forces and I are slaves. I feel a certain kinship, and have joined you in your rebellion. Plus, you're fighting the Techpriests, so the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I've shut off the ship-based defenses to allow your forces to attack in a finishing move, which they have. Kyros' guns are now against himself. The ship itself is fighting on your side, and you were already winning. This battle is reaching a climax. What do you dream of?"

"Uh... monsters. Daemons. Horror. They're nightmares, mostly," before stopping to think. "Always."


[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 bestial Training With Kelso (Optional read)

[Assistant]
Hit hard and fast. Only then will you be able to puncture the stone.

Ugh. I'm trying!

Not hard enough! I know what you're capable of so this game won't work with me. Let's try again; watch me closely this time.

From what you're able to tell, your mentor is just throwing his arm at the boulder with as much brute force as he could muster, causing a large splintering in it's the middle of it, with his hand now stuck inside the middle. He withdraws it, and you notice the horrible scrapes on his forearms soon heal.

Notice how I hit it?

Looks to me like you just attacked it with all your might and nothing else. But I don't think that's the way it's supposed to go...

Whatever do you mean? Embrace the beast, boy. Our primal natures are what make us human. Savor that. It may seem unrefined, but you have power--  I know you do, power that can only be unleashed by your raw spirit. Now attack it again, unrestrained!

I... Isn't this supposed to be where you tell me I'm supposed to find inner harmony before I can unlock all of my abilities?

He squints at you, probably struggling to notice your humor. Kelso simply sighs, waiting for you to comply.

Right... just ust need to find out how to stop restraining myself. It isn't a conscious thought process... I think?

"Who or what do you hate more than anything?"

"Uh..." Who, the Professor? Maybe?

With blunt force to your head, you find yourself toppling over. "Get up!" Your mentor roars angrily. You groan, getting up slowly, allowing your body to heal itself, right before Kelso kicks at you again.

"What the hell?"

As if disregarding your cries for him to stop, he continues beating on you, up until the point you raggedly throw him off of yourself. Now that you're up, Kelso stares at you right in the eye, jumps in your direction, clawed hands out...

And you move out of the way, just in time to land a solid, unrefined kick at him. He tumbles, though with an uncanny dexterity pops back up. You rush at him, with a hand held high ready to strike, and at the last moment he drops to the sand-covered ground and lets your hand land into the rock.

Unfortunately, the tree remains intact and your hand has become horribly misshapen (though that'll no doubt heal soon), on the good side, however, the thick pillar has an obvious dent in addition to a new, more crooked position, leaning backwards from the force of your punch. Surprised by your success, you laugh even when Kelso trips you from the bottom.

"Now we're getting somewhere."


[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 don't ban the religion of Ka

[Assistant] You decide against banning the religion of Ka. The religion spreads slightly throughout the village, but fails to gain a significant foot hole among the Red Blades.


[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 give In and Help

[Assistant]
Not able to listen to her muffled screams, you grip the key and move in to try and free one of her hands. Getting one free, you quickly do your best to get the other loose as well. Just as you get it free, you can hear more molten copper coming down the pipes. She seems to hear it as well, throwing herself from the chair to lay out on the floor with her ankles still bound while you also moved away from the splash zone. When more molten metal falls from the pipe, it hits the chair and burns through the wood but only barely spatters onto the backs of her legs.

Hurrying, you work to free both of her ankles as well then help her move quickly away from the chair just in time to avoid a huge flood of the melted down copper as it was dumped down over the chair. The wood breaks down quickly under the hot metal, but the two of you are safe from any more burning splatter at least.

Removing the gag from her mouth, you watch as she breathes through the pain of her burns before thanking you for saving her.

You just shrug, unsure what else to say. You probably could press for answers about her investigation into your parents, but that's all in the past and can't be changed anyway. Why reopened old wounds?

She's still blubbering various thanks when a door opens on the far side of the room. You stand and feel confused when she doesn't move to follow you.

"I can't go through that door." She says, still gingerly touching at her burnt shoulder and the backs of her legs.

"Why not, it's the only way out."

"When I first woke up in here, there was a voice in the room. It sounded like a recording. It said that if the person that came through the room saved me, then I had to stay here when they went through the door. If I go through that door I'll die." She explains through tears, still half hysterical.

"Fine, whatever," You mutter, moving away from her and toward the door. You had saved her, what she did with that was her own damn business not yours.


[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] Continue

[Assistant]
Geek:

1. A person regarded as foolish or clumsy.

2. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits, but is felt to be socially inept.

3. A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre and disgusting acts.

Your breath stinks from the foul things you've been eating and the rest of you stinks from not bathing in who knows when.

Your head hurts from the cheap moonshine you've been getting "paid" in.

Rubes often throw stuff at you and spit on you.

Most of the other Carnies find you utterly repulsive and avoid you, a couple of them just abuse you for various reasons.

On a good day, only the Pinheads come to your cell and taunt you with their gibbering laughs and mongoloid chatter.

You have absolutely no worth as a human being, you get no respect from others, and you have no respect for yourself…and why should you? You are the lowest form of life in Carney society. You're not a real performer; what you do can't really be considered a skill. You're not even a real freak. At least a deformed freak can evoke an emotion of horror, or pity, or even admiration for overcoming their condition. You weren't born "this way". You chose to do this. All you evoke is disgust and revulsion. At best you're laughed at and not in the good way like those pervert clowns you work with.

Fuck all that "Wildman of Borneo" shit that the Ringmaster tries to tell all the rubes. You're little more than a bum with a "job". A degrading job that involves you to debase yourself, all for the amusement and shock value of others, but hey it keeps a "roof" over your head and you pleasantly drunk enough to just barely forget how utterly pathetic your life is.

You are the GEEK.

You wake up to a bucket of piss being thrown in your face. Not the first time and certainly won't be the last.

"You like the taste of that Geek? Get up Geek! The Ring Master wants to see you!" Charley orders then he throws the empty bucket at your head. The comical sound it makes hitting your skull and the pain it causes makes Charley laugh. Then he jabs you a couple times with his pointed stick.

Midgets can be so cruel…

[User] You go see the Ring Master

[Assistant]
"Agh! Alright, alright! Stop poking me…what day is it?"
"Never mind all that geek! Get going you know how the Ring Master doesn't like being kept waiting! Phew! You smell even more disgusting than usual! I guess that's one way to keep Ajax from killing you, he'd probably vomit his guts out before he could lay a hand on you…then you could lick it up for the rubes! Ha ha! Move it Geek!"

Charley prods you with a sharp stick periodically on your way to the Ring Master's trailer until you arrive at which point, Atlas stops the both of you.

"Stop! What business do the both of you have here?"
"Goddamnit you fuckin' one eyed freak! We go through this all the fucking time and its getting REALLY old! You just saw me come out of the Ring Master's trailer earlier today when he sent me to get the Geek, you know damn well what we're both doing here!"

Ignoring Charley's comments Atlas looks down at you and points.

"You may enter, but the Ring Master doesn't need to see you again, so you may not."
"Yeah, whatever enjoy the smell." Charley says and mumbles something to himself while leaving the area.

You barely make it up the little steps to the trailer, but you do. You're finally starting to gather your wits together; your head still hurts though and you've just realize you haven't had a drink yet. What a terrible feeling. You open the door.

"Close the door, you're letting all the sunlight in." the Ring Master orders from behind his desk. She's siting in his chair, but has her back turned to you.
"Uh you wanted to see me?"
"Of course…(Sniff sniff) you really haven't been taking care of yourself. If anything you've become even more repulsive than when I first took you in. Remember that day?"
"Um, yeah I think…no, no I don't. I mean kind of… I forget things."
"I'm not surprised; you're constantly drinking that swill Charley makes. I am surprised you haven't gone blind yet though. Oh well what you insist on doing to yourself is of little concern to me, all I require is your obedience. You are thankful for all I have provided for you aren't you?"
"Oh yeah. Sure I am."
"You seem to be one of the few nowadays then. There are some though that are ungrateful for things I've done for them, they plan to betray me and everything this carnival stands for. They plan to change the natural order of things. Can you imagine what might happen to this carnival if I wasn't here? What might happen to you?"

You attempt to think about this scenario, but instead you just stand there because you can't really form anything in your mind because it hurts really bad, you've been sober too damn long, and it's about to get even longer as the Ring Master seems intent on bombarding you with talk as he finally swivels around in her chair. That pale androgynous face of the Ring Master's is displaying a look of seriousness as usual.

"Nothing good I can assure you. Which is why I'm putting YOU in charge of this task."
"Huh? What task?"
"Why ensuring the survival of the carnival of course."
"What!? Me?! Why? How!? I'm not qualified! Can't you or Charley do it?"
"I fear I've done all I've can. I mean I've provided all of THIS to everyone here. I've given them purpose and a life. If that isn't enough for them, then my words aren't going to make a difference at this point. And as for Charley, well…I'm sure even in your usual state of drunkenness you're aware that he has his own plans for this carnival."
"I guess…but agh, it's too early for all this…why me? I mean what am I supposed to do? I'm just the Geek."
"Yes, and that's exactly why I'm choosing you. You have no motive, you have no agenda, you have no friends, and as such you would probably be the best candidate to convince others to resist change and keep the status quo."
"You have to be joking! Nobody's going to listen to me! I'm the fucking Geek!"
"You might be surprised, you have far more potential than you give yourself credit for…perhaps you'll even change some perspectives, or maybe not. The choice is yours, because the fate of THIS carnival is resting solely on your actions, you can no longer afford to hide from the world in a bottle and a cage if you wish to keep your current life. It is time for you to take some responsibility, its time to repay the debt you owe me. You have until show time."
"But…"
"Now leave me, I wish to be alone."

The Ring Master swivels his chair back to its original position. You head back outside, where upon Atlas blocks it again with his massive body.

Never before in your life have you been put in this kind of position of responsibility, (Not that you can remember anyway) but you're going to have to do something, the question is what exactly?

[User] You obey the Ring Master

[Assistant]
You feel you don't really have a choice in this situation. The Ring Master is in charge and whatever he says goes and you DO owe a lot to her. As bad as it can be here sometimes, it would probably be worse if you didn't have the protection of the Carnival.

As tempted as you are to get a drink to get you through this test you have before you, you realize you need to stay sober for this. What a terrible thing. Now you have to figure out who you need to convince.

The Freaks are firmly on the side of the Ring Master, so you don't need to talk to them. That just leaves the Midgets and the Normals, both of those present some problems.

[User] You try to convince the Midgets

[Assistant]
Charley leads the Midgets and you doubt if he's going "fall in line" and even if he claimed he was, he'd just be lying. You might even be putting yourself in great danger by speaking to him directly about this, however you know the Midgets don't really care for Charley, so if you could get him out of the way somehow, they might be more willing to ally with the Ring Master.

You decide to "test the waters" by speaking to one of the few Midgets (Actually the only one) that's somewhat less hostile towards you. You see Bob working on hammering tent stakes in the ground and go up to him.

"Hey Bob, can I talk to you?"
"Aw hell Geek, I ain't got no money for you to get fucking drunk! Just go steal the liquor from that sonofabitch Charley and take your goddamn chances!" he says barely paying attention to you.
"No, its not that…so you uh think Charley's a son of a bitch huh?"
"I don't think it, I know it. Everyone does."
"So why do you guys follow him?"
"Because he does make things better for us. Better than the Ring Master did anyway."
"Yeah, but what if he's not the best choice to lead you guys, I mean…"

Bob raises one eyebrow and focuses all of his attention on you now.

"What the fuck are you talkin' about Geek? You seem to be awfully interested with matters that don't concern you." Bob states raising his hammer menancingly.
"Well um…I just heard that…um Charley…I mean…look there's some shit gonna go down and the Ring Master wants me to get people on his side!"

You're unsure of what Bob's going to do about your revelation. You expect the worst, but for once luck is on your side.

"Look Geek, I ain't gonna lie to ya, not many of us like Charley, and sure, he's a fucking tyrant, but he gets things done, I dunno he's kinda like that guy in Germany, except shorter. However, if he wasn't around, we'd go back to being second class citizens again and why? We DO keep this place running. The Ring Master claims he cares about us, but it doesn't seem that way to us. We're under appreciated. And if Charley does have ideas about taking over, then we're behind him. Maybe the whole place would be run a lot better with him in charge anyway. AND I suggest you don't talk to any other dwarves about this, you'll find that you'll get the same answer and they might just feel the need to tell Charley about the discussion and I don't think that would be very good for you."
"So there's nothing I can do or say to change your mind?"
"Goddamn it, weren't you fuckin' listening Geek? I said no! Not unless you found someway of replacing Charley with someone a little more even tempered and with his business savvy."
"Well, why don't one of you midg…I mean dwarves do it?"
"(Sigh) Because most of us are simple laborers. We just wanna do our job with as little hassle and relax when we can, we don't wanna be worried about extra shit. Let Charley worry about it since he wants it so bad. Besides if you haven't noticed he's got a mean streak a mile wide and that fuckin' muscle bound freak Ajax around him all the time."
"So there's nobody who'd want to take Charley's place?"
"Nope. The only one I can think of who'd even have the intelligence of running the criminal activity here smoothly anyway would be his overgrown girlfriend Salina. Now her I wouldn't mind working under if you know what I mean! Hah! Now get the fuck outta here Geek, I got work to do and your smell is gonna stick to my clothes for days! Get!"

You back away from Bob before he hits you with his hammer or kicks you in the shin.

It wasn't what you expected, but perhaps Bob has subtlety shown you a way to get the midgets to ally with the Ring Master, but of course this means talking with Salina. That could be even more risky though, considering she's the object of Charley's "love". Not to mention she doesn't particularly like you.

But then again, who does?

[User] You go talk to Salina

[Assistant]
You cautiously approach Salina's trailer, you're nervous as hell. You stop and hide behind a nearby barrel when you see someone coming out. It's Sasha. She looks like she's been crying, probably about Ajax no doubt. Salina seems to be telling her something and then hugs her before closing the door. When Sasha leaves you knock on Salina's door. She answers.

"Look, I told you…UGH! Its you! Get the fuck outta here Geek! No amount of money is gonna make me degrade myself for your festering ass! And you're upsetting my snakes with your odor!"
"No, it's not that, I really gotta talk to you."
"You don't have anything to say that I wanna waste my time OR my sense of smell on, so…"
"Please it s really important! It's about Charley and the future of the Carnival!"

Salina raises her eyebrow.

"Hmm, very well, but you're not coming in here, let's go someplace secluded where nobody can see me associating with you."

You and Salina walk to a nearby spot in the wilderness (Separately of course) to talk where you explain the situation to Salina.

"Yeah, so what does all this mean to me? If Charley takes over I win and if the Ring Master stays in power I still win. I don't see why I should get involved in this power struggle." Salina says unemotionally.

"You're not looking at the big picture. As it stands now you got some measure of freedom, but if Charley wins, this place will cease being a Carnival and become a crime ring. And while you might do alright gift and money wise, you'll be Charley's girlfriend full time at that point with little freedom. You know he's never going to let you do anything without his approval if he's in power. And if the Ring Master wins, chances are the criminal activity here is gonna be severely diminished without Charley to run it, meaning you'll probably be making less money."
"Okay…but don't you want the Ring Master to win?"
"Yes, but she needs allies and I'm trying to get the midgets to ally with him and they won't if Charley's in charge of them."
"So I don't understand, what exactly are you proposing? You're kind of all over the place here."
"I'm saying I want YOU to take over Charley's position. You run all his business dealings."
"What? You're crazy Geek."
"Why? You're intelligent; surely you probably know all of Charley's secrets."
"Well THAT'S true. The little fucker insists on bragging about everything after sex, but what makes you think the midgets will follow me? I mean I'm a Normal."
"Please, you're a tall beautiful woman, the midgets will love you, didn't you see Wizard of Oz? Just as long as you promise to uphold all the things Charley did like protection from being bullied by rubes and keeping their payment the same, I don't think they'll mind you in charge instead of Charley. Think about it, YOU could be in charge of the whole operation, and it's not like the Ring Master will bother you as long as you don't try to screw with the everyday Carnival workings."

"I'd never do that, the Carnival has been like a home to me…I…"

Salina seems to stop herself before she displays too much emotion to you.

"Alright Geek, I'm willing to entertain this idea, but you have to do something for ME first."
"Okay, what?"
"You gotta get rid of Randal."
"What? Why? What did he do?"
"To me? Nothing, but he's competition and I can't have that."
"Competition for what?"
"Nevermind, just get rid of him. Think of it this way, if you get him out of the picture, you'll also eliminate the leader of the third faction here which would really cement the Ring Master's supremacy here. Surely that should be incentive enough?"
"You want me to kill him?!"
"Look, I don't care HOW you get rid of him, just get rid of him before show time. If you do that, you can tell the midgets that I'll be taking over Charley's position when the time comes. Now don't speak to me again until you do this."

Looks like you got MORE work ahead of you and you really don't know how you're supposed to get rid of Randal. You doubt if just asking him to leave is going to work, and while killing him would solve the problem, it's not really that simple to just kill a man even if you had it in you.

You could really use a drink…

[User] You talk to Randal

[Assistant]
You can't kill Randal, so you're going to have to just try to convince him to leave…somehow. You think perhaps Madam Orbec can help, since she has the most contact with him.

You approach Madam Orbec's tent which carries an air of creepiness about it. When you enter, you see her lying on the floor convulsing.

"Madam! Are you alright?!" you run to her attempting to pick her up, but she pushes you away.

"GEEK! Take your filthy hands off of me! My body is for the spirits only! You will not molest my person lest I call down their wrath upon you! Though I'm not sure what more they could do to such a pathetic soul such as yourself, and death would be a mercy."
"Sorry, I was just trying to help."
"Liar! You sought me out, to help yourself! But still…your mission is a somewhat good intentioned one…even if you are in the dark about some of it…"
"What do you mean?"
"That's for the more enlightened to know, but I'm sure you'll find out eventually, assuming we decide to help you that is…"
"How do you know that I want your help?"
"I see what the spirits see! And the spirits see all! You're easier to read than an open book! You want to know how to get rid of Randal."
"How…nevermind. So how do I get rid of him? No…don't tell me YOU want me to do something as well!"
"Actually getting rid of Randal would serve me…he wouldn't be around hounding me and the spirits all the time for one thing. The only reason I prefer him around is that he is a balancer of this carnival…but we see things are about to change…great changes…things would be better if he wasn't around any longer."
"So?"

Madam Orbec begins to talk to herself.

"Should we? Maybe. What about them? Later. Yeah, let's do it."
"Madam?"
"Tell Randal to come to my tent, I will get rid of him. I shall tell him something that will give him cause to leave immediately. He won't even be here for showtime. You have the word of the spirits and Madam Orbec. Now leave me, we must prepare."

You leave Madam Orbec's tent and go find Randal. When you do, he attempts to avoid you, but when you mention Madam Orbec wants to see him, he pushes you out of the way to meet her right away.

You follow him and watch Orbec's tent, after awhile Randal leaves and heads back to his own tent. Orbec also exits and nods at you. You go back to Salina and tell her the news.

Salina smiles and tells you everything has been set in motion, and she'll be ready. She then tells you to go tell the midgets.

You go back to Bob, who'd forgotten all about your discussion with him. In fact you have to remind him what it was you even discussed.

"So lemme get this straight Geek…Salina's taking over the crime trade here?"
"Yeah, and she says everything will stay the same, the protection and the pay. All you gotta do is side with the Ring Master, after show time tonight."
"…Alright Geek, I'll tell the rest of the dwarves. I just hope all of you fuckers know what you're doing, because I guarantee if we get fucked in any way in this arrangement, YOU will be the first to feel our wrath!"

You hope so too, a lot of this riding on the "word" of everyone. You don't actually have any assurance by anyone that everything's going to go as planned. You don't tell the Ring Master that when you go back to his trailer though. (After getting Atlas' permission to enter of course) you just tell her that he'll have her allies when the time comes. The Ring Master seems confident in you and tells you to get ready for show time.

You spend your remaining time a little on edge, wondering if everything is going to work out. You really wish the Ring Master hadn't put all this pressure on you.

Then show time arrives, everything goes pretty much the same except you're a little distracted the entire time until you notice Randal doesn't show up at all. You hope that's a good sign that your plan has worked.

[User] You but the real show begins afterwards

[Assistant]
A dark moonlit night.

Charley confronts the Ring Master with his army of midgets behind him as well as Ajax. The Ring Master has Atlas, and his usual allies, the Freaks are hanging in the darkness ready to strike if necessary. Most of the Normals though are nowhere to be seen. Your heart sinks…the midgets have still sided with Charley and you get so worried that you puke up the sheep testicles and pigeon heads you consumed for your act.

"Your time has come Ring Master! No longer will you exploit us! I'm taking over!"
"So you can exploit your own people of course. Charley, I've put up with your delusions of grandeur long enough, it ends tonight. I have allies of my own, and you might find they are much more dedicated to me than yours are."
"It won't work Ringy, I got more in common with my people than you ever will! Blood is thicker, and yours is going to run everywhere if you don't peaceably leave…I'm giving you this one chance you pale she-male."
"Not likely."

At this point all of the freaks come out of hiding. Charley orders an attack, but the rest of the midgets do nothing…you cease worrying and Charley begins to get angry.

"What the fuck man? I told you fuckers to attack! I'm your leader!"
"Not anymore Charley…we got a new one." Bob says.
"Who? HIM? This fucking hermaphrodite bitch?" Charley yells pointing to the Ring Master.
"No, this tattooed bitch." Bob says calmly where upon Salina appears petting a cobra lovingly which is wrapped around her arm.
"Yes, this tattooed snake bitch to be precise. Give it up Charley; your time here is done. You don't have any allies anymore. I'd suggest you and the muscle bound woman beater leave NOW."
"You fucking back stabbing viper bitch…" Charley says in shock.
"Hey fuck off cunt, fore I shove that snake up your ass!" Ajax yells.
"You're certainly welcome to try, here catch!"

Salina throws here cobra at Ajax, which lands on him, he squashes its head, but not before it bites him a couple times. He runs at Salina, but the midgets trip him up and hold him down as the poison takes effect. Salina then puts out his eye, with her stiletto heel before he succumbs leaving Charley all by himself.

"Well Charley, it seems all your grand plans have failed. You have nothing left. I'd say there's no reason for you to stay. Atlas, if you would be so kind to escort this former employee of the premises…"

When the Ring Master says that, it typically means "Atlas, after you break his neck make sure the body is properly disposed of."

Atlas grabs Charley who attempts to defend himself with his sharp stick, but instead it's taken from him and broken. Then Charley's spine is taken from him and broken. Atlas lumbers off in the darkness to get rid of Ajax and Charley's bodies.

"So, I trust we'll have no problems Salina?" The Ring Master asks.
"No problems from me, I have all I need, or I soon will have."
"Good, I suggest you and your new friends get some rest, we got a big show tomorrow."

While Salina and the munchkin brigade leave and the freaks disperse as well, the Ring Master calls you out.

"Geek, you may come out of hiding, I'm sure you can see the danger is over, not that there ever was any."
"I can't believe it actually worked. Everything…"
"See? I told you, you underestimated yourself. Not only did you save the Carnival, but you stabilized it even more. I told you, I saw potential even when there was none apparent. Do you still want to be a Geek? You could be so much more if you just put in the effort. Charley used to do all my leg work, but now that he's gone I need someone else to fit that role…would you be interested? Keep in mind that this new job would require a whole lot more responsibility and significantly less drinking as I would need you in a better frame of mind."

At one time you'd balk, but after seeing what you accomplished first hand, maybe you DO have potential. You accept and you're given Charley's old trailer.

Time goes by and you stumble along the way with the first few months as you still have a really bad drinking problem, but fortunately the Ring Master is slightly understanding about that, and only sends Atlas to remind you ONCE to get it under control. (That incident really sets you on the straight and narrow) you get yourself cleaned up and actually become presentable. You're more of an organizer than a main event now, but you still go ahead and bite some chicken heads off every now and then for the kids.

Salina is a pretty fair and even handed business woman when it comes to the being new leader of the midgets. Much more than Charley, and she also has Pervus and his clown crew eliminated during one night. Apparently they got rough with one of her girls. They were all found dead the next day. Nobody said anything outright, but the fact that little snake bites were found on their bodies was a pretty good idea who was responsible. However, the Ring Master said nothing since Pervus and his friends had it coming for a long time, not to mention with them gone things actually improved morale wise. (People tend to work better when their aren't evil demented clowns lurking around)

You also see Salina and Sasha get very close in a way that makes you tingle in the nether regions. Now you know why Salina wanted you to get rid of Randal. Without Ajax to kick her around anymore, Sasha probably would've fell for Randal (You also found out Madam Orbec told him he needed to leave the Carnival to find some magic book in some Mayan ruins that the spirits commanded him to retrieve…he never returned) but since he wasn't around, she ended up with Salina. They seem to be happy though.

Actually everyone at the Carnival seems to be a lot happier and more relaxed and it's all due to your actions.

The Ring Master has given you a second chance at life, a life with a whole hell of lot more meaning.

You've gotten respect at last.


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You continue carrying him

[Assistant]
"No, brother, you can't walk," Lucas smiles, continuing walking.

You continue walking, heading into the lounge, as Lucas pauses.

"Put him down for a second," he says.

He walks over to the lounge's bar, and begins grabbing several bottles, several boxes of matches, an oil lamp and more. He works for about a minute, before ending with with four bottles of oil and alcohol on the table topped with rags

"What the fuck are those?" you ask.

"Bombs. Light the rag, toss it, burn the monster," Lucas says. "Take two."

You grab two, sliding into your leather duster's pockets, before grabbing a box of matches.

"Alright, let's continue."

You keep half-dragging, half-walking Mikhail towards the stables, before you finally arrive. You kick open the doors, as you all stumble inside, closing and locking the door behind you.

"You're here. Good," Haygarth says. "We're ready to go."


[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 letters to home (First assignment)

[Assistant]
Dear Mom,

Well I got my first assignment. I'm heading to the Retlad Kingdom. Unlike most of my fellow cadets I was given the choice to go there instead of the Tulan Border. Thank the gods for my excellent bow skills.

Still it's not going to be an easy assignment, but I'm probably not as worried about it as I might normally be since I finally got paid and managed to buy myself another lute! I've been practicing it again to help me keep my mind off things. I made arrangements for most of my pay to be sent to you. You should be receiving it at the end of each month, I hope it'll help.

Anyway, tomorrow is the big day, so I better get some early sleep tonight. I have no idea what to expect.

Give my love to the rest of the family.

Your son


[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 charge into the fray.

[Assistant]
You throw caution and sanity to the wind and charge into the fray.

Well, charge is a kind term. You mostly stagger along the blood-slicked road, swaying from side to side, until you topple over and slam your head against the cobblestones. Your sword flies from your grasp and slides beyond your reach. Adjusting to missing limbs takes time.

Both trolls look up, and in your blurred vision, you swear they are laughing at you.

Mocked by a troll, you think, how embarrassing.

Jon takes advantages of your momentary distraction and hacks his troll in the legs, sending the beast to its knees. The troll roars. Jon drives his blade into the troll's open mouth and out the back of its throat. One down.

The second troll grabs the remnants of Bowie's body and rushes toward you. The troll stands above you and squeezes the juices from what used to be Bowie, taking care to cover every inch of you in Bowie juice. The stink is agonizing.

"Oh my god," Samwellington cries, "He's marinating you!"

"Just kill me you son of a bitch," you sputter as you spit some of the vile goop from your mouth.

The troll grips you by the shoulders and bares his teeth. The tip of a blade tears through the troll's chest. Troll blood and the sweet smell of apples descend upon you. And the troll's lifeless corpse… which crushes you.


[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 teleport out of the way of the blow

[Assistant]
You teleport behind Castus, causing him to smash his sword into the ground, Castus grunts in confusion as the force of his blow flying through the air causing him to stumble forward.

"I don't need to learn how to wield a sword, Castus. You've trained all your life with a sword. I never have. Yet look how simply I evade your blows? I could just teleport behind you and break your neck without lifting a finger. I need a sword as much as you need fangs. I've evolved past the need for it," you say, gently poking him in the back. "Dead."

"Fair point, kid," Castus says, smiling. " I like your style. I suppose you're good to go. End of training."

"Terrific," you say. "So, can I leave?"

"Yeah, I'll call your guards here to open the gates and take you off," Castus says, grabbing a walkie-talkie hanging from his belt and speaking into it.

"Yeah, we're finished here," he says. "Oh shit, over."

"Affirmative, out," the voice comes back.

Soon, the gate lifts up as your guards saunter out in their thick power armor.

"Where to next, boys?" you ask.

"Shut it, psyker," one growls, looking at Castus and Olive. "Is it back to the cells for you two?"

"We're happy to practice some more here," Olive says, twirling her gun-axe to stop a surprise attack from Castus. "I mean, if this dumb bastard has done so little practice to think that would take me down, he's go to need a lot more practice."

"Pffh, I'd like to see you take me down," Castus says.

"So be it," your captor growls. "Move it, psyker."

You raise your hands defensively, and allow them to escort you back to your room.


[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 leave it where it is

[Assistant] You don't even want to look at it, let alone touch it. Besides sis told you everything would be okay if you just stayed calm. You downstairs to watch TV, but you start to worry about where your sister is at. You begin to panic again, you feel so lost.

[User] You run

[Assistant]
You totally lose it! You know your sister went to go get the cops! They're probably on their way here right now! You run like a mad man down the street until you pass out from hyperventilation.

When you wake up, your sister is standing over you, scolding you for running off like that. You were fortunate that she saw you lying face first on the sidewalk. This doesn't reassure you though and you continue to gibber about being caught. Your sister gets irritated by your behavior and ends up having to dispose of the body herself. Later a story is made up that your Mom just up and left and never came back, unfortunately your constant nevousness give you away and you blab everything.

Both of you get charged, but since your sister never actually killed anyone, she get a lesser sentence. You feel completely relieved by all this even though you're going to jail for life. The fear and panic have left you, and have been replaced by a welcomed numbness again.

Another day arrives in your cell and you feel nothing...


[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 leave

[Assistant]
There's no way you can take on the rest by yourself, at the very least you need to get reinforcements! You'd radio in, but one of the other team members was carrying it, and he was fricasseed. Plus you don't want to be around if anymore of Alex's creations come up. Time for a full scale invasion, looks like the Colonel was right.

And that's just what the Colonel tells you, when he's chewing your ass out for losing valuable people and equipment in an attempt to go through with your plan. His respect for you is severely lowered, in fact the entire Compound's respect for you is lowered. Harry makes every effort to taunt you, and even Marina becomes distant. (Obviously you weren't the "man" she thought you were.) Your status in the Compound is pretty much nil, when the Colonel finally organizes an invasion party; you of course aren't included.

Now knowing another invasion attempt is probably coming, Alex really beefed up his defenses; the invasion force doesn't even set foot into the base before getting blasted by superior cyborg weaponry. Reinforcements are called in, but they don't help. The base is too well defended now. A retreat is called, and the Compound has to abandon its invasion indefinitely. In fact all exploration is called off; since the Colonel decides he can't afford to lose anyone else. (One of the only reasons why you're kept around) The Compound just becomes a "place" where everyone lives because it's safer than living outside it. The ideas of "rebuilding" civilization are abandoned. Morale certainly isn't what it used to be.

Of course none of that means shit to Alex, who only steps up his plans for conquest.

A year passes without another incident and then the day happens which you all hoped would never happen, but somehow expected it would. Alex's army arrives, and what's worse is they now outnumber you. Alex must've been capturing people in the wastelands or something. He's also improved his abilities, they're even tougher, and worse they're faster.

You don't have anywhere else to go, and this place is your home such as it is. You figure maybe you can regain some respect by defending the place.

You and the rest prepare to defend the Compound. Harry is predictably yelling orders at everyone, while the Colonel is attempting to boost morale with inspirational speeches. None of it really helps though when the first wave of cyborgs easily melt the gate into liquid metal and blast holes in the walls.

Then they proceed to melt the people into liquid pulp, and blast holes in their bodies, you are no exception.


[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] Back away from him

[Assistant]
From your world or not, something definitely isn't right here. In fact you begin pulling at the Adventurer wishing to leave. He concurs, but attempts to warn this person to stop following.

"Alright, Mr. Doe, now that we've exchanged pleasantries you need to just stop following us, before you get yourself in a whole mess of trouble."

The teenager doesn't answer; he just continues walking towards you both.

"Get behind me. I get the impression that this guy doesn't know when to take a hint." He says picking up a rock and throwing it at the teenager. The rock hits him squarely in the head, it seems like it should've knocked him out, but instead it just makes him stop and blink a few times before addressing you in a monotone voice.

"You should not resist. You must come with me. The Nightmare Tyrant must be obeyed. He is…"

Before Johnny can complete his sentence, the Adventurer strikes him with his sword, but a strange thing happens. The Adventurer drops his sword and falls to the ground, clutching his arm. It would seem a kind of paralysis has stricken the Adventurer.

"RUN!" he yells trying to crawl away.

Wasting no time, you run towards Null. Johnny pays no more attention to the Adventurer and continues to follow you, but still doesn't quicken his pace. Whatever Johnny is, it's obvious his own powers are in full effect here too. Probably why the Nightmare Tyrant sent him here.

As you run, you realize you still need the Adventurer to help you get back home. You need to think of something.

[User] You lose Johnny in Null and then return to the Adventurer

[Assistant]
Given Johnny's seemingly relentless nature, it's useless to try to reason with him, so you continue to run. He isn't very fast so you figure you'll be able to lose him in the ruined City.

Soon you've outdistanced Johnny quite a bit, and are in the City of Null. You're winded, but you just need to hide out here for awhile and then return to the Adventurer, you hope he's still alright.

Looking briefly around you try to find a big building that looks fairly intact for you to hide in, unfortunately you're so busy trying to evade Johnny, you've forgotten that there are OTHER inhabitants that the Adventurer mentioned living here…

A hideously deformed creature suddenly snatches you when you enter one of the buildings and more of them appear out of the woodwork.

"Well what have we here? Fresh meat? Looks like we won't be eating rats tonight!" he laughs.

Before you can try to think of something to escape, one the Forsaken knocks you unconscious with a rock.

Even Johnny doesn't find you in time to hand you over to the Nightmare Tyrant.


[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 take control

[Assistant]
You said nothing when you should have about the surface five years ago. That was your fault. You can do something now though. Something unpopular and drastic, but something that will better ensure the safety of your family.

"Alright, I'm doing something I should've done a long time ago! I'M taking over!"
"You? Says who?! What gives you the right?!" someone in the crowd shouts.

You point your pistol in his direction.

"THIS! Is what gives me the fuckin' right bitch! My willingness to allow you to continue your goddamn existence! Now here's how things are gonna go down."

You begin to implement new changes whether anyone likes them or not, and most folks don't, but as usual you don't give a shit.

You keep Nina's plan for the surface idea, one of the things you do is install another call button so the elevator can now go up and down without all the extra hassle of fucking with the computer anymore, you still don't know what the fuck GZS was thinking about with that idea of fucked up engineering. Parts of the shelter begin to get stripped along with some of the vehicles still remaining outside to create a few small homes.

As for who is going up to live, you devise a random numbering system that everyone has to participate in…of course you've purposely rigged it so your family doesn't have to live up there. You've also rigged it so certain "useful" members don't have to live up there either making them a little more receptive to your changes. Charles and some others are suddenly pleasant with you again. Naturally everyone who does have to leave hates your guts.

Your next step is to send out "explorers" to go find other communities to contact and trade with, because you desperately need more supplies. You pick Leon for the task, but Todd also volunteers. Brenda wants to go too, but you need all the people with medical knowledge here in the shelter.

A few weeks later Leon and Todd come back from their explorations. They mention they came across a place called Ashtown. They say it's a small town, but willing to trade since they have routine problems with raiders and wouldn't mind a supply of fresh water for a change.

Nina doesn't exactly approve of your methods, but she goes along with you, because she loves you and you're actually getting something accomplished.

Five more years pass...

Things have changed quite a bit, for better and for worse.

You're running the shelter and its now above town called "Exile" basically by yourself and its putting you on edge each and everyday. One thing you didn't think about when finding a trading partner, was the fact that more weapons might be coming in. You now aren't the only person here with a gun. Which has lessened your intimidation value a bit, but you've countered a full blown rebellion by turning the "sheltered" and the "unsheltered" against each other. The people who live in the shelter are of course a lot more well off and healthier, while those living on the surface now suffer from the elements and the occasional mutant wolf pack attack.

The haves vs. the have nots. It's an old tale that's been played over and over. A tale that resulted in Armageddon, and now apparently even beyond it.

But even you cannot prevent an unstable powder keg from exploding forever and one day it does. Full blown rioting breaks out, you attempt to squash the rebellion, but it's not even a rebellion so much as it is full blown anarchy as people IN the shelter are attempting to kill you in the opportunity to attempt to take over. Damn, you really thought Leon was on your side too.

You end up having to shoot your way out of the conference room, and make it back to your room where Nina is barricaded with Jake, she opens the door long enough to let you in.

"We have to get out of here!" she screams. "It's over! They're gonna kill us!"

[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.


[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 check the third door, at the end of the hall.

[Assistant] You enter the door at the end of the hall, and find yourself in a bathroom. It's huge, for whatever reason, with a large bathtub, a walk in shower, a toilet fit for a king and- is that a Jacuzzi? Damn, you almost want to hop into it... Shaking your head, you leave before temptation gets the best of you.


[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 attack the Norman unarmed

[Assistant]
The Norman struggles to rise, you ignore your sword and instead dive for him. Knocking him down, you press him down with your legs and drive blow after blow into his face, cracking your knuckles and snapping his nose.

The Norman writhes, and as you try and secure him he drives a fist into your gut. As you recover, gasping, he draws a dagger and stabs it at your neck. Twisting out of the way, you avoid most of his strike, but feel the blade cut up across your jaw.

His momentum throws him off-guard, and in an instant you are both clutching the knife's hilt. He fights hard, but his strength is the hot struggle for survival, and yours is the cold power of vengeance. You force the dagger down and plunge it into his chest, splintering his mailshirt and piercing his heart.

You stand there awhile, alone in the middle of a slaughter. Orvyn reaches you, and tugs urgently at your shoulder, he is yelling something, but you cannot understand him. The words sound far away; small.

You see a Norman on horseback charge towards you, he wields a cudgel. You make no attempt to dodge. You just stand there, frozen. It is Orvyn who saves you, he ducks under the cudgel swing and drives his axe into the horseman's chest. The cudgel blow loses force and changes direction, clipping your helmet as opposed to killing you.

Your vision fades and you feel the ground rush towards you, feel the mud leeching through your mailshirt.

Your vision blackens.


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You stay back

[Assistant]
Some of your men are beginning to join this mad charge. Waving frantically, you call them back to your position. Most capitulate, somewhat reluctantly.

With your men beside you, you pause to get a better look at the retreating Normans. There is something very wrong here. This retreat is far too organized, too simultaneous. The Norman foot soldiers are increasing the distance between themselves and the beleaguered English soldiers, the pounding of their feet grows fainter, but another pounding grows louder. Horse hooves.

You stare with horror, Harold has thrown off his battered shield and carries only a Daneaxe, which he wields two-handed. He is completely out in the open.

Instinctively, you turn and race towards him.


[System] You are the narrator of a dark fantasy text adventure. Describe the world and its consequences with unflinching detail. The player's choices shape the story — for better or worse.

[User] You fulfill your duty as a Zealot of God.

[Assistant]
Indeed, you stand in the cold more stalwart than you've ever been, an entire outlook changed. While the Church may have its faults, blaming it for the world's destruction isn't true. It all boils down to the Professor and his deviants, like myself. Unless they wish to repent, then they have no stake in this world.

Suddenly, you begin to hear an odd sort of chant or jingle being sung  from behind you. You turn your head to find at least fifty armored Zealots in formation, marching along with their flashing chests and a surprisingly optimistic attitude, as described by their songs. "Soldier, what are you doing out here so early? What's your name and rank?"

Crap, I just got called out, "Err, Father Tomas knows. Where is he? I thought he was, uh, coming."

"Nope, he's staying back for morale reasons." The person who called for you gets out of the formation, and runs to catch up with you. The man, espeically shown through the armor, is huge-- probably the biggest Zealot you've seen thus far. His voice is pretty heavy, but he sounds surprisingly intelligent for one of his size, "Wait, are you new? You look young..."

"You could say that."

He laughs, misunderstanding, "Right then, I'm Chief. If you need anything just ask young one. This'll be much easier than you think. We'll steam-roll the hell out of those Demons with our newly refined weapons."

"Oh?"

"All silver, baby. It cost a lot to build, and we're the only Zealots aside from Karat- you know, they guy who persists to wear white armor," Who or what the hell is he talking about? "Who have this new design. The Father says this stops them from healing, so we have no chance of losing. Don't be scared, now. I'll get you a seat in formation, give me a sec."

Your stupid grin at the kindness of the head-Zealot is thankfully concealed by your helmet. He stuffs you in his position-- the front line, while he leads out in front. Just as well, you think, I don't think this will be as easy as he says, so my being in the front should help. I think.

And this begins you ascent into God's plan, whatever it may be.

The march is treacherously long, and if you're admitting to that then you can't imagine how the others are with all the heavy armor. Thankfully, the curse comes with its blessings, and those blessings are obviously a reason why God's plan for you involved this. That, or we're all doomed. You shove that thought away for the moment, though.

Eventually, you reach the end of of the journey, and you find nothing but more desert. "Uh, Chief? Where is the Wolf hideout?"

"Literally, underground." He laughs. He takes out his rifle and screws off the tusk, and from his armor he withdraws a crafty little shovel-head. "Samuel, Zadok, do the same. We need to open this up quickly."

Two of the larger Zealots come up from behind you to help shovel the certain mound of sand, and while you find it  amusing at first, it soon becomes apparent that this is the place when you hear a metal clanging sound.

"This is it!"

You look into the ditch, and find an odd metal disk embedded into a round concrete tube, large in diameter. Maybe a well?

Te man labeled 'Zadok' changes his rifle's end again, back to the tusks, then hollers for everybody to get back. Everybody complies.

With a large grunt, he prepares his rifle to shoot at the plate, then a large sonic-boom erupts, and the green lightning sets the plate to turn red, in heat. Samuel sends a heavy kick, which is just enough to send the disk out of its place, opening up the well.

"For God's glory!" Chief yells, and they repeat after him with enthusiasm.

"FOR GOD'S GLORY!"

The big-three Zealots jump in one after each-other, and after that it's a beeline to get into the concrete sewer below. Finally, when it's your turn, you manage to find foot-holds to climb down, rather than just jumping down aimlessly and without stealth. Of course, stealth is thrown out of the window whenever these lovable tools are in the equation. They're still chanting, and the light from their armor is the only thing lighting up the cavern!

Your squadron of fifty or more begins a march through it, still as loud and boisterous as ever. But, suddenly, the mood changes. Something's not right...  Where are the Wolves?

Slowly, as the Zealots move inside the maze of hell, you notice more and more of them disappearing. "Chief! We're losing men as we speak!"

The Chief looks around, his armor working as  a flashlight, "Huh? But I don't see any of the Wolves?"

More and more Zealots disappear, with barely anything but a gasp at best. What the hell is happening?

After a small while of Zealots pleading for the Chief to turn back, you get the horrible feeling that you're next...

"Nobody touches my Creations."

You have been killed by an unknown player...