[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 don't address it

[Assistant]
If this war against the Empire is going to succeed on any level, the unity and upkeep of morale must be there. You're not going to destroy those things at such a fragile time, even if you do know that Dendrin's opinion of the shadows hasn't been high in a long time. Besides, you've paid lip service to the lie this long, you can do it a little longer. You have to, no matter how much you don't like it.

After Cyrus catches you up on the situation at Rask, you and Talia tell him what happened at Gloom. Talia fills in the details better since she was actually there. Cyrus seems a little distraught at hearing so many shadows dying never mind losing the shadow home, but he doesn't seem broken in his goals to continue to fight the Empire.

"It doesn't matter, we've still got agents in the Quala province and other places. Once we reconnect with the various cells we can regroup. We need to tell the others here though now, the sooner we get this information out the way the quicker they can deal with the loss. The Empire is desperate and we'll overcome whatever else they decide to throw at us because Dendrin will see us to victory."
"Indeed he will. I know its why he warned me to go back to Gloom and help who I could there." You respond.

Cyrus looks at you as if he's unsure of how to take your claim.

"Yes, so you mentioned before in how you even knew about Gloom. Are you sure it was Dendrin and just not perhaps some sort of instinct? We are all shadows after all and we do have a bond."
"There can be no mistake, Dendrin spoke to me and warned me in a dream. Even Master Ebon believed me in his final moments."
"It's true, he did." Talia says.
"Forgive me brother, it's not that I meant to call you a liar, it's just I would've thought if Gloom was in danger that he would've spoken directly to Master Ebon about it or any other shadow at Gloom, like Sister Talia.
"I cannot know the will of Dendrin brother, I can only follow the way he guides me." You answer.

Cyrus nods at you answer as if to acknowledge that it satisfies him.

"True brother. Well, I suppose maybe this was all part of Dendrin's great plan. I mean not to speak ill of Master Ebon as he was a great man, but perhaps Dendrin saw that he wasn't the one to lead the shadows into the next era. Perhaps it was meant to be that a new leader take charge."
"Oh? And who do you think that leader is?" you ask.
"I don't know, but I'm sure Dendrin will pick the next Master when the time is right. In the meantime I think that we three should pick up the leadership slack." Cyrus answers.
"Yes, I agree."

After you agree, Cyrus excuses himself saying that he should break this news to everyone else. When he leaves it gives you and Talia a chance to speak.

"Thanks for backing me up, I don't think Cyrus really believed my claim."
"No problem, but I don't see why he wouldn't, I mean it makes perfect sense that Dendrin would warn you about Gloom. As I have often said, we may be shadows and devoted to Dendrin, but we're also Eternals and are better qualified to lead. Perhaps Cyrus is right and Dendrin sees that as well. I heard Master Ebon when he said Dendrin never spoke to him. It's obvious that he was never truly meant to lead the shadows."
"Maybe, but personally I'm just glad I got to you in time."

Talia smiles and moves closer to kiss you. With all that's gone on today, you just enjoy the moment.

In the weeks to come, the three of you are taking steps to regroup the shadows and the rebellion in general. Despite some of his earlier claims of reconnecting with shadows south of Rask, Cyrus doesn't seem to put much effort in to it and focuses his attention mostly on consolidating power in Rask. Cyrus claims that if you get enough support pushing the Empire entirely out of Rask would follow and then you could get so entrenched that the Empire would never be able to take back the province.

While that's a not a bad idea, you believe it would ultimately be folly to only focus on such a plan. The Empire can't be allowed to mop up the rest of the rebellion in other places. They need to have their attention and forces divided as much as possible. Cyrus of course feels it would be a waste of time to continue supporting the rebellion in other places and would only weaken your position in Rask overall. When Talia points out that it's not just rebels, but fellow shadows that need help, Cyrus relents a bit, but he still doesn't seem to eager to send people.

So you take it upon yourself to reconnect with the other shadow cells. You tell Talia, that she should stay to help Cyrus since you can easily do it on your own and that Cyrus wants all the help he can get consolidating power in Rask.

What you don't tell her is that you'd like somebody in Rask to keep an eye on things since Cyrus is starting to act a little sketchy. You figure that if Cyrus is up to something, Talia will no doubt inform you.

After a few months you manage to make contact with most of the shadow cells and get them regrouped to do the maximum amount of chaos. You were glad to find that Sister Yvette has been leading well in your absence. Her and another shadow cell leader, Brother Theo have joined together and have been doing their best in creating trouble for the Empire. After your new orders and some encouraging words about how Dendrin will still see the shadows to victory, you assign them both to be your "go to" shadows as far as rebellion operations outside of Rask are concerned.

In the meantime, Talia has been attempting to fix the allied relationship with the orcs at Rask. The orc leader Captain Gruz still hasn't been heard from, so it is assumed that he was found out and executed. The orc liaison Flog at this point has declared himself leader and is increasingly feeling underappreciated mainly because Cyrus has been more or less treating the orcs as battle fodder, which is exactly how the Empire was treating them. Not a great idea especially since he's big on the whole idea of getting enough support to drive the Empire out of Rask.

On the outside, Cyrus is supportive and even friendly at times towards you when you're actually in his presence. Talia says other than what you've noticed, he hasn't acted strange in any way. Cyrus has just been focused on stirring up more dissent in Rask, but you get the strong impression he's plotting something more. You just don't exactly know what it is yet, but you imagine you'll find out eventually.

Hopefully it won't involve killing him because you didn't fake your devotion to Dendrin just to have the shadows torn apart by a petty power grab.

If it wasn't for Talia, you'd be half tempted to just let it all fall into ruin at this point, but you'll see this through for now.

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
Year 30

"No, I say we take all of our resources and make a forward push on Fort Destiny. We can hit Captain Kane from the north and from the south." Cyrus says.
"And I'm telling you that we can't do that. Our people aren't grouped together on the southern Rask border ready to strike, they're scattered all over the place and that's how they should remain! I keep telling you this, besides I've got a better plan for the shadow cells in the Quala province." You remark.
"Brothers, this yelling isn't helping." Talia sighs.

Another typical day on the "Shadow Council", you and Cyrus arguing, with Talia stuck in the middle. You really wish that wasn't the case, but it is just inevitable that you and Cyrus are going to always disagree on something. You don't even know why you bother meeting to discuss battle plans nowadays, what usually happens is a bunch of arguing like this and then you both go off and do your own thing. This hasn't really been a problem in the past mainly because your plans are all outside of Rask, while Cyrus' plans are always within Rask so they never conflict for the most part. Also, the Empire's attention was divided due to their war with the Felkan Kingdom.

However things have changed. The Empire recently signed a non-agression pact with the Felkan Kingdom meaning they've been able to focus a hell of a lot better on the rebellion. You need to do something to swing the tide in your favor before they begin to gather enough momentum to roll right over you.

Cyrus' plan is the one he's been endorsing for years. Consolidate Rask and drive out the Empire from it completely. As the war has raged on over the years this has been done for the most part. The only thing that really stands in the way are a few of the loyalist border towns and Captain Kane in Fort Destiny. The problem is that's still a big obstacle to get over and a major assault would result in considerable losses.

Cyrus has in the past sent groups of shadows to assassinate Captain Kane, but so far all attempts have failed. Kane's reputation as the "Butcher of Rask" isn't just for show and him being a battle hardened Eternal means he's more than a match even for the average shadow. Cyrus probably would've sent more, but Talia convinced him that it was just pointlessly sending shadows to their deaths. You didn't necessarily think the idea was without promise, but you suggested that an assassination attempt might work if you, Talia and Cyrus actually did it since you feel that you'd have the skill to pull it off, but Cyrus dismissed that idea, claiming that Talia is right and that assassination should be taken off the table.

So a major assault it is, of course this is why Cyrus wants you to gather all of your shadow cells outside of Rask and have them attack from the south in a classic pincer maneuver. It would probably work, but you'd still have heavy losses especially those attacking from the south since the Empire could redeploy reinforcements early enough that your forces could be caught in the middle too.

You imagine this idea would appeal to Cyrus since then options would be limited to just focusing on Rask and you wouldn't have any forces at all anymore. You get the impression that when the Empire is finally defeated Cyrus has major plans for Rask given how badly he wants to focus on it. Perhaps he has some long-range goal of starting his own "empire." However, he's still short sighted as far as your concerned because even if you went along with his plan, it would just hold off the Empire a few extra years and wouldn't stop them from taking back Rask given the new information you've received from your contacts.

The Empire has been breeding new Eternals, the number is unknown, but it's apparently enough to create an army of them. They're not "ready" yet, but in a few more years they soon will be and if that happens you might not be able to stop them if the Empire unleashed them on Rask. However, you've received the information of where this new Eternal training camp is which is a remote location in the Quala province close to the Arat border. The only other information you have on the place is that the main complex appears to be underground since children. The place doesn't appear to be heavily guarded up top, but who knows what security is like down below. Considering magic is involved in creating Eternals, it's a sure bet that there are going to be wizard types about.

Your plan is to destroy this place by leading a small group of the most skilled shadows you have. While this is going on, your other cells will strike out at vital areas in the Empire at the same time to keep them from immediately sending out reinforcements to the camp. You actually wouldn't mind Cyrus to come with you since he is a skilled fighter, but you aren't even going to ask since you know what his answer will be. Cyrus doesn't even believe that it's a top priority and claims that if Rask is liberated then you can attack the camp later since these new Eternals still won't be battle ready for a while.

If you go off and do your own thing, your concern is that Cyrus is going to do the same thing and get everyone under his command killed in his attempt to take Fort Destiny. Of course if you help him you're left with the same problem that it's very probable that your shadow cells are going to get hit pretty hard during the assault on Fort Destiny and Cyrus won't actually lend any help when you want to destroy the new Eternal camp.

There's also the issue that you're trying to maintain the unity as always. Cyrus is really pushing for this assault on Fort Destiny and doing your own thing this time might be the "last straw" and the last thing you need is to do is start a shadow civil war.

After a lot more arguing, everyone decides to call it a day and make a decision tomorrow. Talia as always says she'll side with whatever you decide, but would prefer if you and Cyrus actually worked together for once. That doesn't exactly help you and you have a hard time sleeping. When you finally do get to sleep you still don't get any rest…

"So what are you going to do Eternal? You and Cyrus continue to clash and it's only a matter of time before things between you are going to end badly." Dendrin remarks.
"Doesn't take a god to figure that one out." You say.
"Yes, but it takes a fool to blatantly ignore the obvious. By continuing to not support Cyrus' you're just driving a wedge deeper in the shadow organization that will eventually split you in two. Something I thought you were trying to avoid given that you made such an effort to keep it together."
"Well someone had to, because you certainly weren't doing it."
"I'm not here to hold the collective hands of the shadows. As I've said, I've done that already and it was a boring experience. Besides you seem to be enjoying your new leadership role, who am I to take it away from you?"
"I'm not leader of the shadows, I'm…."
"Nonsense! You ARE leader of the shadows. Perhaps you're currently sharing that duty with your Eternal peers, but you're clearly the strongest of that group. Talia certainly has potential, but her blind devotion to certain things is her weakness. It clouds her judgement."
"So she's not worthy because she's so loyal to you?"
"Not just me, but to you as well. It doesn't occur to her in the slightest that you're keeping secrets or lying to her about your real feelings on the shadows. She just believes you, just like she misguidedly believes that one day she'll have eternal shadow babies with you."
"Wait, she can't have kids?"
"No and neither can you. Neither can Cyrus for that matter, though I doubt it that's ever going to come up with him. Don't ask me why you can't, I don't know. I can only imagine it has something to do with how they magically altered you Eternals back in the labs. I'm not a fertility god either, so her constant praying to me isn't going to help."

This sudden news does explain a few things. You're going to have to inform Talia of this at some point, you just don't know when would be the best time. Yet another thing for you worry about.

Dendrin continues his speech

"And for all of Cyrus' bluster of being a shadow he obviously lacks as a good leader. I dare say if you weren't around, the Empire would be on the verge of driving the shadows to extinction right now. He may be better liked than you, but even that's starting to change and it certainly doesn't hold true for any shadow not stationed in your little fort. You've got allies and support in places other than Rask, Cyrus doesn't and it worries him. After all it's well known now that you were the one that heard my warning about Gloom and attempted to save who you could."
"You didn't warn me, you gave a cryptic comment and it wasn't even one that urged me to return to Gloom. I just told everyone you did."
"See, lying to the rest of the shadows about something I didn't actually say. You're already doing a great job of following the traditions of shadow leaders!" Dendrin laughs.

Is Dendrin mocking you, is he encouraging you, is it both? You can never quite tell.

"So what are you saying? Are you officially appointing me as the new leader of the shadows?"
"Official? Since when have you known me to be so formal? And I'm not appointing you as anything; you don't even have faith in me anyway, but if you really want to be in charge just do it already. I'd be careful though, that Cyrus fellow might get the same idea someday soon and I suppose you'll need to decide if the expense of your own ambition is worth keeping the shadows together."

Once again after Dendrin's little mind games you wake up. Whether Dendrin's encouraging you or not, you're going through with you plan and if that hurts Cyrus' fragile ego then you'll deal with it later, because the Empire is still a bigger threat right now.

The next day you tell Talia that you're going through with your plan.

"I figured you would, but you know Brother Cyrus isn't going to be happy about this."
"Brother Cyrus needs to realize that Rask isn't only front we're fighting the Empire on and get over it."
"Yes, I know. (Sigh) Well I'll try to keep things stable here while you're gone. Hopefully I can convince him that now is not a good time to assault Fort Destiny."
"No, I'd rather you join me on this mission. I could use all the powerful shadows I can get, because I'm certainly not going to be able to get any other shadows to join me from here."
"You want me to go? I mean of course I'll go with you, but aren't you worried about what might happen here if I don't stay to help look after things?"

While Talia would certainly be a great asset to your mission, but she also serves as a bit of a counter balance to Cyrus when you're not around.

[User] You have Talia go with you

[Assistant]
As much as it might be wise to have Talia keep Cyrus in check, you'd rather her come with you on this mission, as you'll need all the skilled help you can get. Talia's shadow magic is certainly more powerful than your own, even though you've found in recent years that yours isn't weak as it once was.

When the pair of you confront Cyrus, he's predictably furious claiming that the pair of you are wasting time and not following Dendrin's plan like you should be. He goes on about how the attack on Fort Destiny should take top priority. You don't bother arguing, it's all been said before and if he wants to do anything about it, then he can try to stop you. He doesn't of course, but there's definitely a hostile glare as you leave.

"You think he'll go ahead with his attack anyway?" Talia asks.
"If he does, I can only hope he's as determined to drive the Empire out of Rask like he seems to be because that raw desire might just win him through the day. Anyway we'll deal with it after this mission."

Talia and you travel a couple of days to the Quala province and eventually reach the meeting spot at night. There await around twenty shadows you picked which also includes Sister Yvette. You would've picked Brother Theo as well, but you needed someone to coordinate the other shadow cells in Quala.

"As soon as I got the message that you were coming, our other shadow cells got into position to strike out at the other targets across Quala. I assume you're ready to assault the camp brother?" Sister Yvette asks nearly as soon as you arrive.
"Yes, let's get this over with, because this is going to be pretty grim business. Now I know some of you have already done a few necessary things, but probably not on this scale. These new eternals are only going to be children, and if the rumors are true, hundreds of them. Despite this they will still be dangerous, as they have no doubt gone through some of the Empire's brainwashing techniques and training. You are not to hesitate just because they are young. Slay all of them…for Dendrin." You add at the end.
"For Dendrin!" the rest of the shadows say in unison.
"Also be aware that there will no doubt be battle mages around and who knows what else. Let's try to do this as silently as possible until it's no longer an option. Everybody cloak."

Sister Yvette and couple of the other shadows take the lead due to their basic knowledge of the outside of the camp and even some of the interior. When you have to go below ground though, it's going to be anything goes. You know going in that you'll be severely outnumbered, but the whole point of doing it this way is to utilize your strengths which is stealth and terror on a grand scale. Something Cyrus doesn't really get despite his dedication to Dendrin.

Neck snaps, bolts to the head and blades to the back dispatch the patrolling soldiers quietly and quickly. You then move from bunkhouse to bunkhouse slitting the throats of the sleeping soldiers inside. With everyone up top dead, it's time to descend into the underground.

"I'll take the lead for this." You remark. "Everyone remember, we've got a lot of killing tonight, there's A LOT of these new eternals. Try not to speed yourself up unless it's necessary. You don't want to exhaust yourself prematurely. In fact save the magic for just cloaking if possible, we're still going to try this the stealthy way."

You make your way through the underground complex, which is very well made. In fact the solid stonewalls remind you of Gloom…and that might not be a good thing.

"Where do you think they're keeping these new eternals?" Talia asks.
"I don't know, they have to be around though. I mean I'm a little surprised that they'd all be asleep. As I remember our training we didn't get much of that and were even woken up in the middle of the night to perform tasks." You reply.
"True, I can still remember Mistress' domineering voice commanding that we all wake up followed by a whip crack…maybe she's not in charge anymore?"
"I hope she is, I'd like to repay that bitch while we're here." You remark.
"You don't think they moved everyone out do you?" Talia asks.
"We've been watching this place for a few months now and just yesterday I saw a large group of those new eternals training up top. I don't see how they could've moved them all so quickly without us noticing." Yvette answers
"We are underground, who knows maybe they've got escape tunnels. (Sigh) Shit, I really hope that isn't the case, because I'm already concerned with the architecture of this place." You say.
"What do you mean?"
"The walls, the archways, doesn't it look a little familiar? Like Gloom right? And who originally made Gloom?"
"…the Derro." Talia says.
"Exactly and while I was expecting battle mages or elite guards, I wasn't expecting those little armored juggernauts on legs. Okay fine, we'll deal with it, we just need to decide on what to do next."

Your comment is met with silence, mainly because everyone figures that you're the one to come up with the plan on what to do next.

"Everyone stay here, Talia and I will scout ahead a little bit then come back with a plan." You say.

You and Talia continue down one of the corridors hoping to find something, almost anything really and that's when you finally stumble upon an argument between a derro and a mage at the far end of the corridor. The pair of them don't sense either of you, but there's no reason to be foolish, you and Talia quickly get out of their possible line of sight and you listen for a moment.

"When the hell are you dwarves going to start harvesting those trolls? I want to get on with the enchantment process!" a disheveled looking mage with a scraggly beard says.
"When Marik's done brewing the last batch of regeneration serum. No point in doing it until then and I'd remind you to watch your words with me wizard." A short figure in heavy armor remarks in a very deep tone. This is the first you've ever heard a derro speak common before, you don't know if that's his voice or his armor causing it to sound like that.
"Watch my words? I'll do as I please! I don't even want to be here with you rock eaters! Your boss is a mad man that barely knows what he's doing. I swear we were better off with svelk mercenaries as trainers."
"I'm not surprised you would praise such a decadent race as your own race is decadent as well. You are lucky to even have us as allies due to a pact, now I suggest you go back to your quarters where the rest of your kind may play with your magic lights until you're called upon to actually do something useful for a change. Do not speak with us again until such time."

The wizard nearly says something, but decides not to and storms off in one direction while the derro warrior walks off in the other.

"Well if that's any indication we know where the wizards are and we know where the derro are." Talia says.
"Yeah, but where the hell are the eternals?"
"Perhaps we'll find them after we dispatch those two groups first?"
"I sure hope so."
"We probably should split up the group and tackle them at the same time, because I'm sure we won't remain stealthy for too long while fighting either group and we certainly don't want the other to come running and attack us from behind when they hear the sounds of battle."

As far as you can tell magic isn't all that effective on the derro and while Talia's an excellent fighter, her superior magic skills would probably be more effective eliminating the mages. You tell her that you'll take on the derro and to go get the rest of the group.

After retrieving the rest of the group, you and Talia part company. Yvette goes off with Talia as well. You're confident that they'll easily succeed in their task, you're a little more concerned with how you're going to accomplish yours though especially if it turns out to be a lot of derro.

Your groups heads off in the direction that you saw the derro walking towards. Doesn't take long for you to start seeing a few of them milling about in the hallways and side rooms. None of the shadows in your group have ever faced the derro before, they've just heard the stories of how they destroyed Gloom. Naturally they want revenge.

"We're not attacking them yet. We'll find a better way… Dendrin always provides a better way." You say which calms them down. You can't believe how effectively either. It's a little unsettling to control a group with just the mere mention of a name, but that's how shadow masters have been doing it for centuries you suppose.

Your group takes to spider walking on the ceilings to avoid the derro, It worked back in Gloom and it works here too. As you creep through, you can hear rumbling and monstrous growling followed by shouting in the derro's language. You follow sound and eventually you reach a large lab area filled with contraptions, a lot of alchemy equipment and several metal boxes of what you would guess to contain very angry trolls. From their growling they sound as horrible as the stories you've heard. You've also heard how strong they were too; whatever the derro got them locked up in must be some very strong material because you can see several punch marks even from this distance.

Several derro warriors stand near the boxes with weapons ready, a few more are standing guard at strategic areas. In the center of all this is another small figure, but this one isn't armored. He's bald with a gray skin color and dressed in a white robe of some sort, which is covered in blood, and several other unidentifiable fluids. He's frantically going back and forth to several tables with mutilated bodies on them, waving a sharp knife in his hand all the while yelling in his language. You're guessing that's what one of these derro really looks like. Certainly less impressive.

You have no idea what exactly is going on here and what it has to do with the new eternals, but you need to attack the derro fast before Talia attacks the mages and causes enough noise for some of the derro to investigate it.

You suppose you and the rest could just drop down from the ceiling in a surprise attack, speed yourself up and hope for the best, but circumstances have given you something else to work with.

It's a simple magic trick that most shadows take for granted, in fact most never really appreciate its uses and that spell is one that unlocks regular locks which the derro have seen fit to use on the boxes they're holding the trolls in. If you did that, you could unleash the trolls on the derro, of course the problem with that plan is you've never faced trolls before and they could be ten times worse than the derro. Not to mention you'd have to deal with both groups.

[User] You drop down for a sneak attack

[Assistant]
Not wishing to add a third unknown element to the fray you decide to just deal with the derro. You signal to your group to speed yourselves up and jump down for the attack.

The derro are surprised at first and due to your unnatural speed, your group actually manages to bring a couple down due to ganging up on them. The problem is you're outnumbered and despite your speed, your weapons are largely still not very effective on them in one on one combat. It doesn't help that the derro begin to haphazardly lob their firebomb weapons in order to stop the shadows from zipping around all over the place. It's sloppy, but effective as you see several of your fellows get caught in the blasts. The derro on the other hand are mostly protected by their heavy armor.

You see the unarmored derro run away to a locked door on the far side of the room, and just when he manages to open it; you shoot him in the back with your armbow, which causes him to collapse to the floor. You don't know where he's trying to go, but he's not getting far.

Unfortunately neither are you as a firebomb lands right near your feet and explodes. You feel the impact and the burning as you go flying in the air. Your death comes quickly when your burning body lands wrong and breaks your neck.


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

[User] You grab the gun

[Assistant]
You go for the pistol and manage to pick it up. Unfortunately the creature you just beaned in the head has already recovered from its head wound. Much like Helen, you manage to pull the trigger and get a couple shots to its stomach, but it isn't slowed down and uses all its weight to cause the pair of you to crash to the floor.

You drop the gun, but you still have the lamp in hand and you attempt to swing it from your prone position, but the creature has already dug its fingers deep into that arm and forcibly holds it to prevent you from doing so. You punch with your other free arm, but your hits to its face do nothing. It just repeats what it has done to your other arm and digs its nails in deeply. With horrible snarling, foam and blood coming from its mouth and more ruthless savagery than you have, the thing soon overpowers you completely and its face meets your own to bite your nose off. You scream in agony as a gout of blood gushes from the new hole in your face.

Your screams soon stop completely when it bites out your throat.


[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 decline

[Assistant]
"No, no thanks. I'm fine. That's enough," you say, as Elios whimpers.

"Oh, pity," he says. "Not even a little?"

"No, Elios," you assert.

"Shame," Elios says.

The rest of the bathing experience is fairly peaceful. You wash, relax and just take your mind off the world. Soon, you notice the sun is setting.

[User] You finish bathing

[Assistant]
"Sun's setting," Elios says. "We better go."

"I thought we were supposed to be here for several hours," you say, confused.

"How long do you think we bathing?" Elios asks.

"An hour? Two?" you ask.

Elios smiles slyly, gesturing towards the stars as they appear in the faint sky.

"It's been more than a few hours, little one. Let's head out, then," Elios grins.

You inhale once more, before tossing it over your robes and shifting them until you're dressed normally. Then, you begin to saunter off towards the dropship.


[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 have a closer look at the chest of drawers.

[Assistant]
You have a look a the chest of drawers. It seems old and rickety. It is shoddily bolted to the wall and the floor.

Why is everything bolted down?


[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 swing forward, the pipe going in an upward arc before ending in between his legs. Grinning slightly when you see pain make itself known on his face, it takes all of your willpower to keep yourself from laughing when he falls to his knees and fondles his manhood. "Batter," you swing the pipe into his face, "up!"

He goes down, but it takes a few more hits before he's unconscious. Even then, you throw in another hit or two, just in case.

Another hitman tries to ambush you from the back!

[User] You wait until he's up close, then hit him with your pipe!

[Assistant]
As soon as you hear his footsteps right on top of you, you twist around, swinging your pipe right into his arm as he attempts to pull a katana out from a sheath at his side. You hear a nasty crack as the arm breaks, before swinging the pipe into his side. He falls to the ground, and you give his head a quick stomp to make sure that he stays that way.

Huntress finishes up with her batch. You toss the pipe and head out, getting the hell out of this warehouse before more goons show up.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
It's been a week. A week of fighting every night.

Nino Panessa rose to the role of Don of the Panessa family following his father's death. His first order of business: releasing a bounty of 500,000 dollars to the person who brings him Huntress's head. Since then, you've had to fight off innumerous hitmen during your nightly escapades to uncover the person framing Huntress. Just now was one of those times.

The two of you make your way back to her apartment.

"What was that, third time tonight?" Huntress asks as she removes her mask.

"Just about," you reply, releasing the adhesive gas and removing your mask. "Those guys though, they were better than the schnooks they've been sending after you in the last week. They're upping their game."

"Doesn't mean we can't take them." She begins to head into the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower, see you in a bit, Q."

You nod in reply, taking a seat on the couch.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
As she showers, you think about how things have been going between the two of you.

It's all going alright. The two of you are friends, and while you wish it could be more than that, you're happy for what you have. Hopefully when this is all over you'll be close enough to confess your feelings and for her to accept.

Huntress steps out of the bathroom a few minutes after you finish up your bit of self reflection. She grins when she sees you. "C'mon, Vic. Let's get to work." Nodding, you stand up and follow after her.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
The two of you enter her secret room through her bedroom, like you have so many times over the course of the week. With Tomaso Panessa dead, you're not sure exactly who is behind the murders, or if it's even connected to the mob at all. Yourself and Huntress have been tracking leads, however, and with the information you uncovered tonight it's time to make your move.

"Alright Vic," she says, leaning against the wall, "We found out that Cassamento is taking over some of Panessa's operations now that Tomaso's dead. This can't be a coincidence," she approaches the table.

"Right. It all leads back to Cassamento. We have to find out what he knows. He might've been the guy behind it after all, leading us on a cat and mouse chase," you reply.

"Exactly. So how do you want to do this?"

[User] You say "We raid his mansion."

[Assistant]
The next night finds you raiding Cassamento's manor.

Huntress will take one path through the front; you'll take the back, through the hedge maze and into the manor proper. The two of you will meet up at Cassamento's study after you've taken out all the guards in your path.

Guards patrol the hedge maze, presumably so they can make sure no one is trying to sneak through it, like you currently are. You've got to take out every one of the rat bastards. Better get started, eh?

How do you want to play this?

[User] You use the firecrackers you brought along; lure them to you, then take them out.

[Assistant]
Pulling out the bundle of firecrackers and your zippo, you light the fuse, tossing them just ahead of you and shrinking into the hedges to hide. The firecrackers go off; you hear curses, exclamations of surprise, all throughout the maze. Then marching footsteps. Showtime.

When they all converge on your position, you leap out, slamming your fist into one's face and breaking his nose. He falls to the ground, and as he does so you grab his assault rifle, swinging it around into another's head and knocking him into the hedges. You pull out your grappling gun and aim at another, firing; your impromptu harpoon gun doesn't kill him, but it pierces his body armor, and you pull him forward and slam the butt of the rifle into his face.

There's more coming. You crack your neck, sighing. This is gonna be loud and nasty.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
8 minutes later...

You finish breaking the poor son of a bitch's arm, ramming an elbow into his face and sending him into blissful unconsciousness. That's gonna hurt when he wakes up in the morning. Covered in the blood of your opponents, you continue on to the manor, confident all the bastards on your side are taken care of.

The manor is just like how you remember it: large, foreboding. As you approach, you can tell this is the end of your quest. Cassamento is behind it all. Call it intuition.

You slip in through the backdoor.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
The backdoor of the mansion leads into the dining room. Hands in your trench coat pockets, you continue to walk, keeping an eye out for any danger. And it is danger you find, in the form of a guard patrolling the hallway leading to the stairwell. He only has a baton on him, no pistol from what you see. Just down and dirty brawling with him, it seems.

Alternatively, you can avoid him entirely.

[User] You take him out.

[Assistant] Your loafers clack upon the floor as you run up to him, and he turns around to meet a punch to the face. He stumbles, pulling out his baton and swinging it at you.

[User] You leap out of the way.

[Assistant]
You jump back, avoiding the baton narrowly and delivering a kick to his left leg. It breaks, and he falls to the ground, clutching at it and screaming at the top of his lungs. Feeling pity for him (though mostly to avoid his screaming alerting any nearby guards), you grab his baton and knock him out.

You drop the baton and continue onward.

[User] You upstairs

[Assistant]
You head upstairs, eventually reaching Cassamento's study. But he isn't there. But what you do find is an atom bomb.

Cassamento. You old son of a bitch.

It's a laptop, almost identical to Tomaso Panessa's. Except this one has a password on it. You begin to hack in, eventually discovering that the password is Nino.

The laptop you found wasn't Tomaso's. It was a fake.

In this you find the exact same documents, nix the one detailing Tomaso's hiring of the PI to spy on Huntress. It all falls into place. Cassamento hired the PI, gave him Tomaso's name so you'd go after him. Replaced the laptop in the study with a double. This was all part of a master plan of his to topple Huntress. But why? Why go through all the trouble just for her?

You dig deeper.

Deep within the files of the computer, you found a photograph of a man and a woman, no doubt about to engage in, er, 'physical activities'. It was probably a photo taken by the FBI during investigations into Cassamento that he managed to get a hold of. You recognize the man as Cassamento, though much, much younger. The woman you also recognize, but you don't remember from where...

Then it hits you. The photograph in Huntress's apartment. The woman. Her mother.

Cassamento was seeing Huntress's mother.

.... And you thought the last bit of information was a bombshell.

Then you hear a scream from the lower levels of the mansion, it's faint but it still sends a chill up your spine. Dear God, he has her. Huntress. Helena. Your Helena.

You take off in a sprint to the basement.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
The lower level of Cassamento's mansion reeks of blood and the strong smell of industrial grade acid. This is where people are taken to to die. Hopefully Helena is alright. You can only pray at this moment.

There are too many guards and too little nooks to hide in to do this quietly. All you can do is head in fast and loud.

There is your first guard right there.

[User] You snap his neck; now isn't the time to take chances.

[Assistant]
His back is too you, and you creep him up to him slowly, like a leopard ambushing its prey. Quickly you rise up to him and break his neck, a quiet snap not leaving the vicinity. He drops to the floor. You take his gun.

From there it's cold, bloody slaughter. You've got to kill every motherfucker you come across. You are death incarnate, and you've come to claim their souls. Oh, sure, you keep a few alive; but only for a few moments, and in the first three cases it's because they wouldn't tell you where Cassamento is. The fourth one, though, he knows. He tells you. And then you leave his corpse slumped against a wall.

[User] You continue

[Assistant]
You kick in the door, seeing Cassamento standing over a console and Helena dangling over an acid pool from a rope. For a moment you think of secret agents movies and the ridiculous traps the villains use to dispatch the hero, but this thinking is cut off as you dodge bullets. There's only one guard here.

You aim your rifle and fire, the contents of his head splattering across the concrete ground. Cassamento backs away slowly from you as you approach, eyes wide with fear. You relish in it. He's right to be afraid of you.

You fire once, twice, three times into his chest, and he falls over, dead as a doornail. Operating the crane, you move Helena out of the way of the pit and lower her to the platform with the console. She's passed out, no doubt from fear. You pick her up and carry her out of the mansion.

[User] The End

[Assistant]
A Week Later...

You find yourself on the express train out of Gotham, eyes cold and mouth quirked into an unnerving smile. She rejected you. Said that you were changed. You weren't her Q anymore. That night when you brought her back to her apartment, having gathered the evidence to put Cassamento away, she looked you in the eyes and said that what she saw was different. And she didn't like it.

Whatever. The dumb bitch just didn't know what she's missing out on. You're so much better now, free from your ridiculous attraction to her. What a hypocrite, rejecting you for being a killer when she's no better.

That's why you just so happened to forget to send the evidence into the police; and instead sent the information about her identity to all the major crime families in Gotham. It didn't take too long for the news to get out about a local school teacher brutally shot and killed in her home. Helena Bertinelli. Your Helena. If you can't have her, no one else deserves to have her.

Your mind has snapped. You'll never recover.

BAD END


[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 go with Helen now

[Assistant]
If Bobby's feeling a little down about everything and Helen feels like you could cheer him up, it couldn't hurt to go see him right now. Not like you've got anything better to do.

"Alright, I'll go see him. I suppose I might as well get used to walking around in this thing." You say.
"Oh I know he'll be so glad to see you, here let me get the door." Helen says and opens it for you.

You walk down the corridor with Helen nearby going on about how she's so glad you're officially going to be part of the family.

"And don't worry, when you start having all those babies, I can certainly help you out on that front."
"Great. I'll be looking forward to it…" you say unenthusiastically while at the same time still trying to maintain your balance on the heels.

When you get to the stairs you stop.

"Shit, I think I should take these heels off before heading downstairs. I don't want to fall." You say.
"Oh don't worry about that, just hang on to the railing and I'll be right here to make sure you don't fall. In fact I can even put my arm around you just to make sure you don't." Helen says and goes to balance you a bit.
"Well thanks, but I really don't need your arm around m…" you start to say and then Helen punches you in the face.

The punch itself isn't even that hard as far as punches go, in fact Helen even winces when she does it as if she wasn't confident in her abilities and was reluctant to even do so.

However combined with being on top of the stairs and your high heels you lose your balance completely and go tumbling down them.

Falling down a flight of stairs is always a bit of a crapshoot, sometimes people survive it with just a few bumps and bruises and other times they break their necks and die before they reach the bottom.

You fall somewhere in between, you break your neck, but you don't die. You won't be moving anytime soon though. You'd probably be in more horror about the situation of not being able to move if your head wasn't so scrambled from the fall.

As you struggle to remain conscious, you see Helen coming down the stair before you. Her face has a sad expression.

"Oh no. I was afraid this might happen." She says with the tone of being genuinely upset.

As Helen approaches and kneels near your head you both hear the sounds of gunfire outside and shouting inside the house. Neither of you know what that's about, but you're in no condition to worry about it.

Helen picks your head up and speaks.

"Sorry Suzy, but I just love Bobby too much to let you have him. I wish there could've been another way, but I'll make this quick."

You don't respond, you just close your eyes and let go.

And then a final snap.


[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 wipe out the Archers

[Assistant]
Scanning the area, you decide it would be best to take out the archers first.  Your plan is to split the groups into two, each taking out a column of archers, and then catching the knights in a pincer attack.

You and the chief lead one group to the closest archers, and Dekard and another orc lead the others.  They take their group a longer way as their targets are further away.  Although you figure your distraction will let them take the other column even easier.

You slowly pass through the trees, the sounds of fighting slowly dying down until you creep up behind the archers.  The orcs prepare their weapons, waiting for the signal.

As you are about to charge, an Imperial archer steps out from behind a tree, adjusting his belt and sighing contentedly.  Although his hood is up and his mask is pulled up over most of his face, you see the surprise in his eyes when he sees you all.

"Attack!" he cries, and at this point you all gallop forward.

The archers scramble to get ready, and Greusim make a passing swing for the Imperial.  He ducks under, and in the same movement grabs onto Greusim and his horse, pulling himself onto it.

As you ride forward, and Greusim tries to throw the archer off, the Imperial draws a small dagger.  The chief cries out in agony as the Imperial buries the blade into his back.  The chief falls, taking the Imperial with him.

The other orcs are coming up on the archer column, several having been killed by arrows.  Greusim groans and the archer attempts to stab him, but he catches his wrist, and the push and struggle.  Normally Greusim could easily overpower him, but getting thrown off the horse must have done a number on him.

[User] You continue the Charge

[Assistant]
Greusim seems to be doing well enough, so you decide to charge forward.  The orcs have broken through the middle of the column, leaving crushed and mangled corpses strewn about.  You break into the utter chaos, cleaving half of an Imperial's face off.

To the left a group of archers tries to form, and you attempt to go straight through them!

You duck low onto your horse, and as you approach them, you feel a stinging in your side.  You ignore it as your horse slams into some archers, screaming sounding out.  You lop another's arm off as you ride by, circling around and preparing to finish the group off.

One of the archers, helping a wounded friend, drops him and notches an arrow.  As you ride forward he lets it loose, and you grunt as the arrow buries itself into your thigh.  In anger you don't even bother using your axe, you just trample him and his friend with the horse.

Looking out, you see that the orcs have decimated most of the archers.  The other column seems to be in chaos.

Out towards the clearing, you see the lawless orcs have charged the Imperial knights, overwhelming them with sheer numbers.  They hack and beat the knights to pieces.

A hot pain shoots up through your body, and looking down, you realize you have an arrow buried into your side.  Groaning, you steer the horse over to the other orcs as they finish off the archers.

From out of the trees, Greusim stumbles out, panting and covered in wounds.  He has multiple gash marks and three arrows dug into his back, side, and hip.  Looking behind him, you see multiple archers laying broken and bloody on the ground.

The chief hefts his club over his shoulder.

"It'll take some more than some tender-bellies to take me down," he says.

The chief grunts as he pulls himself onto his horse.  As you ride to meet with the rest of the orcs, you break most of the shafts from the arrows on your body.  You leave a portion in so as not to make the injuries worse, and so that you can get them out later.

Your comrades seem to have wiped out the other column, and the lawless orcs you helped start to walk towards you.

Before you can do anything else, a cry rises up from the forest behind you.


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

[User] You charge the Thrall from his flank

[Assistant]
You charge forward, raising your shotgun into the air as you run low and fast, fingers ready on the trigger. You emerge from behind your choice of cover, rushing forward as you raise your shotgun, firing through the thrall's chest. He screams, his clothes lighting into flames as he screams, catapulted into the wall. He lets lose with his rifle, either as his twitching body pulls the trigger or in one last burst of dying energy, and bullets slam into your chest.

You feel the air knocked out of your lungs as you bounce against the wall and collapse to your knees. For a moment, you just feel a cold swelling through you as you're left unable to breathe, before the pain begins to burn its way through your chest.

Gasping for breath that won't fill your lungs as you find them filling with warm, wet, blood instead, and you're left drowning in it. You manage to pull a few strangled breaths from the air, as you stay on your knee, knowing that if you collapse you'll end up letting the darkness taken. All you can think is that you can't fall out, and you should've clalled for fucking back-up.

Then, somewhere in your struggle, you hear loud footsteps to your right. Turning your head, you find yourself staring up at a tall, deathly pale figure. It's skin seems almost entirely hairless except for the thick black hair that hangs down from its head. Its eyes, however... its blood red eyes betray an inhumanity that you'll never be able to comprehend.

"Hello," the Vampire smiles, revealing a fanged mouth stretching from ear to ear. "And of course, goodbye."

"Fucking... blood thirsty... prick," you say, struggling to keep from collapsing to the ground.

The Vampire slowly walks forward, it's grin stretching further and further until it seems like it should be tearing its face in two. You know he could strike far faster, but the vampire seems to be savoring his kill.

You go to your revolver, hidden at your side, grabbing the ivory handle as you attempt to draw your gun. You fumble to pull it from the safety of its holster, before the Vampire grabs his wrist, bending your arm behind your back as you scream. His jaw snaps forward, a fanged mouth tearing into your neck. You let out a scream, teeth bursting through flesh and slicing into veins. Your body weakens in the creature's grasp as it begins to drain you of your blood, and the world rapidly goes dark as blood loss takes you.


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

[User] You go home

[Assistant]
You never really had a relationship with Eliza on any romantic level; it's probably just the "idea of Eliza" that's getting to you. Your life is probably going to change a lot in the near future so your mind is starting to look for loopholes to stay.

But you shake off these feelings. Your life is going good right now, why jeopardize it with poor judgment and fear of the unknown? You overcame hardship to get where you are now. To invite more drama when it isn't necessary would be foolish.

You head home and when Cindy is finished with her classes you take her out for romantic dinner to reaffirm your dedication of your future plans together. This seems to please her greatly.

During your last remaining year in Klyton, you don't visit your family's inn anymore as a safety precaution. You don't need doubt plaguing your thoughts again. You do make one more visit to your mom before you do eventually leave though.

Thanks to Cindy's family connections in the Delantium Kingdom, your job at the Sivak hospital is more or less secured (Obviously hers is as well), though they were in need of more medical professionals anyway. The hospital there is a little newer and understaffed, so for a while you're working a little more than you usually did, but over time your workload becomes manageable.

Your life in general plays out rather mundanely, you end up living in a nice area and eventually you have a couple of children. No major problems for you ever truly crop up though.

As for the old inn, your mother eventually does sell it a few years after you initially left Klyton and retires to Teckleville. On one of your family visits you ask who bought the place and she says Wendy ended up taking it over, which doesn't surprise you. Curiosity gets the better of you and you ask your mother for more information on your old co-workers. Your mother mentions that Rita quit about a few months before she sold the place. Apparently she finally snagged a guy rich enough to settle down with. Flameflower took her place as hostess and she, along with her sister Sunshine still work there. As for Eliza your mother says she was still working as the head barmaid there.

"All seems like a lifetime ago eh?" your mother says.

"Yeah. I suppose so." You answer a little preoccupied.

"Is there something wrong son?"

"Oh no. Nothing wrong, just momentarily lost in thought."

You don't really explain anymore than that, but your mother senses that you're playing "what could've been" again. She doesn't address it directly, but does mention of how successful you are and how you've got a good life. She also mentions of how it's everything that your father and her could've hoped for you. This truth snaps you out of it, and you never dwell on the past again.

You live out the rest of your life in Sivak working as a physician until you decide to retire. You grow old with Cindy, your children eventually have their own families, and one day you fall asleep and don't wake up.

Yes, it was a good life overall, but your years as an innkeeper were definitely the ones that helped achieve it.


[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 an Oak Tree

[Assistant]
"An Oak Tree," you say softly.

"Oh, you're actually answering the riddle? How delightful! Maybe I misjudged you!"

"Am I right, then?"

"Well, I am in a forest, so maybe," the Fool grins. "Well, I best be off. Good luck dealing with my boy tonight, Willy."

"Wait!" you growl, aiming your shotgun at him. "You move and I blow your brains out!"

The Fool sighs, shaking his head.

"I don't think you really know how this game works, do you?" the Fool says.

The Fool leans forward, placing his thumb against the shotgun barrel. He scratches at his puffy, burned eyes, sighing.

"You're not going to shoot that gun," he says simply.

With that, the Fool turns, strolling off into the woods. You try to aim your shotgun, but find your arms are incapable of moving, the numb, cold muscles refusing to work. All you can do is watch as the Fool disappears into the darkness.

When he's out of view, you snarl. You sniff the air, smelling the scent of prey, and... you try to focus on the pain for a moment, ignoring your bestial senses, before you smell something else. The smell of smoke, in the distance.

You pause, raising an eye. Smoke means fire. Fire means activity. There needs to be something in that direction.


[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 refuse and Go it yourself

[Assistant] You decide to refuse the offer and exit the barricade choosing to make it on your own.

[User] You head to another part of the city.

[Assistant]
You decide to head to another part of the city and are flitting from building to building when you see a massive attack by Turric troops to your left. To your right an explosion rocks the streets and ahead, you see a Deathmagus and his Vanguard accompanied by a horde of undead. You are spotted by the Deathmagus down the streets and you turn to run, there are just too many of them. At first you try to retreat and go back to the barricades but another explosion collapses the buildings around you.

You are now faced with running into mass combat, into the necromancer or down the alley where an explosion just occurred. You run down the alleyway and lose sight of the Deathmagus and the battle but run into a mass of Turric reinforcements. You are trapped. You retreat and are now surrounded by the three forces.

You resign yourself to a death by the sword. Choosing the least dangerous option, you run into the mass combat. The chaos of arrows, swordfighting, and bodies moving en mass make the situation deadly. You duck, twist, and dodge through the massive melee. Unfortunately, you are struck by an random arrow and then tripped by the boot of a running soldier who is quickly killed by a crossbow bolt. You try to rise but watch as a roiling ball of flame explodes incinerating those around you.

Another explosion takes a building out and it collapses showering stone and mortar over the street. You are caught be a falling piece of rubble the size of a horse and it lands on your leg. You try to free it but another explosion demolishes the next building and it collapses and sprays more stone upon you. You are killed by a falling brick  that turns your head into a read smear.

YOU HAVE FAILED!!!

[User] A Horrible Awakening

[Assistant]
Blackness.

Your mind is cloudy and hazy.

Pain. You feel pain.

Flashes of sound burst in the distance. You slowly feel awareness coming back, the world leaking back into coherent form. You are in so much pain. Around you you hear familiar sounds: Screaming, the butchery of men, the agony of rape, buildings burning, children screaming, and the cheers of the victors.

"Where am I?" You think to yourself. Slowly you move your fingers, then your toes. A soft moan issues from somewhere around you. You realize it is you and you begin to make your stiff body begin to move again. First one arm, then your leg, then you slowly lift up and look around.

You think hard to remove the fuzziness of the recent events from the corners of your mind and concentrate on survival. "I've got a concussion." You conclude.

Finally, you peer through the dense smoke and realize that you are in a crater, the bodies of men, horses, and weapons of war surround you. The acrid smell of burning flesh mixed with the tinny smell of blood, the pain in your head, and the entrails of the man you ran beside all make you vomit.

Strangely, you feel just a little bit better and your head is starting to clear, "I'm Sebastian, a mercenary, I chose to defend the city of Essitrea against the Turric . I don't think we won... I think I'd better get the hell out of here!"

Looking around you a sturdy broadsword sticks out from a body of a Turric soldier, you recognize the blade as yours. You stagger over to the soldier and with effort pull the blade free from the man's corpse.

Now armed, you know you've got to get out but amidst the rubble and the ruffians running amok, the sounds of battle in the air, and the thudding of artillery, every step could be your last.

You decide quickly that you can either run building to building a fast method of travel but with heavy odds of discovery; try to enter the sewers, an obviously unsanitary means to travel but with less likelihood of discovery, or you can try to hole up in the nearest building and wait for the action to die down.


[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 the phone

[Assistant]
Thinking long and hard, you decide to take the phone. Perhaps it could be of some use. Maybe. Hopefully, you never have to use it, but you didn't survive this long in the field by turning away potential gifts, and you're not going to start now. Everything you can use in the fight against darkness, you will use. You slide the phone into one of your secure pockets, buttoning it up and patting it to make sure it's secure.

Your job done, you quickly set apart eradicating the evidence this place ever existed. You pack up the jars of blood into the truck, for disposal somewhere that won't be investigated. You also take the IV and tubing, before grabbing your fuel cans. You quickly perform the same patterns, spreading it through the house evenly enough, focusing on that you need destroyed and that which is most flammable. Once that's done, you head out of the house and set the home alight, watching as the flames run through the house and engulf it in an inferno.

You don't feel like watching it, not feeling the usual satisfaction of watching a lair of darkness light the shadows as a beacon of warmth and light. You just feel tired, even more so knowing that you're not finished your work tonight.

You head back to your truck, climbing in and heading off down the road again. The drive goes by quickly, as you turn your radio up until it's almost blaring some inane Norwegian pop song, and continue off down the road.

It's not long before you pull up to the old country house again. The signs of the night's lateness are more obvious, now. A few of the vehicles parked outside are dented or have blood smears or bullet holes, and the Hunters that walk about them seem more exhausted. You head into the house, taking a moment to appreciate the light of the fireplace. But, the night is still young, and you have targets to hit.

You walk towards the sitting room, one of the old house's converted into a "base of operations" of sorts. Although as Hunters, you tend to work independently, only using the Lodge for resources, resupplying and rest, as well as letting them know every so often you're not dead in the long periods of investigation and tracking in trying to find the lairs and dens of beasts, and trying to distinguish psychos and fools from men tainted by the demonic, or worse.

However, it's the night of the Hunt, that beautiful night of the year where you wipe out the monsters that dwell in the shadows in one quick sweep, not even giving the bastards time to flee or figure out what's going on. And on the night of the Hunt, sometimes you need to work together. While maddened werewolves and loner vampires are easy prey with modern technology, hard-work, training and of course the element of surprise, when the creatures of darkness work together, so must you. When that happens, you plan and prepare in the lounge.

You walk into the lodge, finding a large table with a map stretched across it. A half dozen men stand around it, all of whom you recognize as veteran Hunters. The leader of the group is the head of the Lodge, a man known as Ernest Collier. The old man's scarred, wrinkled face smiles at you as you enter. Ernest's too old at his age to still hunt, having since lost the physical peak that Hunters are required to be at, but his mind is strong and he's well experienced. Thus, he serves the cause through leading the lodge. Everything from supplying Hunters to recruiting to planning the larger hunts falls under his purview.

"William. How have your two hunts been?" he asks.

"Successfully," you say simply.

The next man is Father Féval, a tall, gaunt figure with spectacles dressed in black. His lips turn upwards in the barest facsimile of a smile as he looks at you. You know he's only trying to be polite, his professional, cold nature means he rarely takes joy, and lives of a live of abstinence and religious duty. You retreat to the car, calling into the Lodge. They report back that they've a spare Hunter to send out, one who is only acting on stand-by. Father Paul Féval. You know the man well, and have worked with him before. The man's a representative from the Vatican, a priest even, and as adamant in following the laws of the Bible as you are in never leaving the Lodge without a spare, but the man's a professional and an experienced Hunter. The man's permanent cold, professional demeanor means you'd be hesitant to call him a "friend", but you feel it'd be disrespectful to like anything.

After him stands former-Unteroffizer Hans Hirsch. The tall man has dark black hair and light eyes, his face decorated with a long scar that goes vertically just left of his left eye. He leans over the table, scanning the map. His finger gently runs across hunting paths through the thick forest as he whispers to himself. Hans is a strange man, with a taste for drink, cigars, cigarettes, whores, gambling... anything he can get his hands on. But, he's a good hunter, having served in the military of his home country and having a great record on all his previous hunts.

The final man is an Alaskan by the name of Russel Sloane. Time has taken the black from his thick beard and the hair from his head, but left the man's strength, speed and cunning, and only given him experience and wisdom for the trade. He's a powerful Hunter, and took the shift from bears and wolves to Kushtaka and Tupilaq with ease. He smiles at you grimly when you enter, his face showing a hint of more worry than usual.

"Are we ready to start?" you ask.

"We're waiting on someone," Russel says.

As you raise an eyebrow, the door swings open and you find yourself staring down at a young boy, barely in his mid teens.

"This is my boy Wyatt. Now that's he's a full man, we'll be taking him on tonight's hunt, showing him how we fight. I filled him in on the details."

"Pleasure to meet y'all," he smiles nervously, as you look him up and down.

He's young, short, weak and skinny. You don't think he should be coming out, but he's a man more than you would normally have for this mission, and you're not going to be telling his father how to raise his own child.

"Take a seat, Wyatt," Ernest smiles. "We're going to go over tonight's details."

Ernest takes a seat, as you stare down at the map ahead of you, which shows you a massive woods, with several hunting paths, potential lairs and scenes of incidents highlighted.

"Let's recap for those who didn't get to hear it directly from me!" Ernest says. "There's been several mauling's in these areas, and we've had reports a werewolf pack is responsible. Not just one werewolf, but an entire pack of about six to twelve creatures. We're taking a small team in their to set up an ambush, draw them out and kill them all. The plans' simple. Take a truck into the woods with a mutilated deer carcass, slathered in human blood. The scent should draw the werewolves into your area, where you'll have set up an overview to take them out. Simple."

You all nod, the review of your plan unnecessary for everyone but Wyatt.

"We're heading off in an hour and a half. I want all of you prepared and by the truck for then, understood?"

There's a chorus of affirmatives, as Ernest smiles.

"Good to know. Best of luck, men."