[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 go follow Renfield

[Assistant]
You push your way through the crowd and head towards where Renfield was lurking about. He isn't far, you can smell him. You follow a long corridor and then turn the corner to see Renfield hobbling down another passage, you quickly knock him to the floor, turn him over and kneel on his chest. He attempts to struggle, but you're still too strong for him.

"Well, well, well, I'm surprised your faggot master still keeps you around. Shit, you smell terrible, I suppose along with your flesh rotting, and lousy hygiene in general, all those ass rammings have taken a toll on you eh? Where the hell is he?"
"You! You've always been jealous of the master! Jealous of his wealth, his style and his beauty! You're nothing, but a lowly animal!"
"For someone who gets abused in every possible way, has no self respect, and is a filthy Ghoul, I wouldn't be calling anyone a lowly animal. And you're not really in the position to be pissing me off anyway. Now where the fuck is Fagula?"
"The master is going enjoy killing you, especially tonight! Now he'll be able to claim victory over TWO of his greatest enemies!"
"What the hell are you blathering about?"
"Oh you'll find out…" Renfield smiles with a set of blacken teeth.
"Yeah whatever, look last chance to…"

Suddenly you feel a powerful crushing blow to the back of your head. It isn't enough to knock you out, but you fall off of Renfield and roll over feeling very woozy. In your bleary vision you can make out the form of that cocksucker Dracula standing over you. Another figure stands there as well, you don't know who they are, but they look somewhat familiar.

"Wolf, I don't believe I invited you to this party, but it was good of you to come anyway. It only makes festivities more enjoyable! I think you'll give Jacob a good chance of testing himself. I was going to have him fight Renfield, but I'm sure you'll provide much more of a challenge. You think you're up for the challenge Jacob?"
"Sounds perfect to me." The other figure says and steps closer, and just before he kicks you in the head, you could swear it looks like Van Helsing, but much younger.

"Sonofa…" you begin to say and then get your face kicked in, knocking you unconscious.

Time passes and you wake up in a cage with silver bars. You see the figure that kicked you in the face on the other side, it is Van Helsing…or someone that looks like him since his name was Abraham, not Jacob. You find out soon enough, when he begins to speak.

"Wolf, you're up. Good. I'm anxious to test my new skills on you. Renfield certainly wouldn't have been much of a challenge, but you should prove to be. Even my foolish grandfather couldn't kill you. He couldn't kill Dracula either, but then Dracula was always superior in everyway. I have no idea why he pursued such an idiotic quest of trying to kill Vampires, they really are the supreme life form on this planet and certainly the most lovely and sensual. Vladimir has shown me such pleasures since our time together."
You shake your head and snicker. This must've been the "other" defeated enemy that Renfield was on about.
"So, that's how it is now? The Van Helsing bloodline finally defeated not through violence, but through seduction? Never thought I'd see the day come. I had my problems with your family and especially your father, but I could at least respect their dedication. You're a fucking disgrace kid."
"On the contrary, I'm merely ensuring the survival of my family name. What was I supposed to do, carrying on some pointless family tradition of monster hunting, and get myself killed? Fuck that. I want to live forever."
"Yeah? Well you can scratch that plan, because when I get a hold of you, you're going to be wishing you hadn't turned into a fucking bloodsucker."
"(Sigh) Yes, Vladimir told me you were always one to make unimaginative threats, I'll be more interested in hearing your howls of pain though, see you soon."

As Jacob leaves you to your cage. You hear another voice in the room.

"So…Vlad has now eliminated all his enemies, I guess I always knew he'd succeed."

You see another holding cell, but one made of some kind of heavy duty unbreakable see-through plastic. The top of it has a ton of garlic hanging from it. Sitting and looking utterly defeated is an ugly distorted looking humanoid, who is yet another face you're amazed to see. This revenge trip has just been one surprise after another.

"Orlock? Heard you were dead." you say.
"I wish I was, unfortunately Dracula insists on keeping me alive…feeding me rats…tormenting me…reminding me of my shameful defeat by his hands…I'm proud of him."
"You're happy that he's torturing you? Sheesh, all you Undead are fucking masochists."
"I'm not happy that he's torturing me you ignorant dog, I'm happy that he's proven to be so ruthless, despite his foppish ways. I must admit I had my doubts about him when I first created him."
"Yeah, I see that really worked out well for you."
"(Sigh) True. But it's my own fault for having a soft spot for him I suppose. I should've been more watchful of him. You'll be lucky, he'll just kill you, or rather have his new conquest Jacob do it."
"Nobody's killing me, I'm getting the fuck outta here right now. These bars aren't going to hold me."
"Won't that be difficult Wolf? Seeing that the bars are made of silver?"
"So fucking what? Doesn't mean I can't touch them! As long as the things aren't going into my body they don't mean shit! Thought you bloodsuckers knew that. See that's the problem with you Vampires, always underestimating your enemies and being melodramatic. If Fagula and his bitch boys were smart they would've killed me when they had the chance. That's what I would've done."
"You and I actually have more in common than you think. We both are the last of the old ways. I must admit that I too would've killed you immediately, rather than toy with such a dangerous enemy."

You ignore Orlock and concentrate on the bars. You easily pry the silver bars open and step out of the cage; you then rip one of the bars out to take with you. Orlock looks at you with interest.

"Why are you taking that?"
"Because unlike you Vampires, we Werewolves try to learn everything we can about our enemies. I know for a fact that silver hurts you fuckers too, though you guys like to try to keep that shit quiet."
"Ah. Tis a shame we never clashed Wolf, you would've been a worthy opponent."
"Yeah? Well when I kill Drac, I can come back to finish you off too."
"Ha ha! Glad to see you have such confidence. However, if in the unlikely event that you do defeat Vlad, by all means come back and finish me off to put me out my misery. I would gladly welcome everlasting death at this point."

You leave the room and find yourself in a corridor made of dull stone; you're guessing you're probably underground. Nobody's around, but you can still hear the noise of the party above. You're about to head back up when you hear a voice close by.

"Psst! Wolf! Over here! Quick!"

You turn around and at one end of the corridor you see Mary. Now what the fuck is SHE doing here?! You rush over to Mary.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" you ask.
"Trying to prevent you from getting yourself killed, you stubborn macho asshole! When the Wolflings returned to the studio, I asked them where you went, and they told me, so I went after you. What the hell did you think you were doing coming here to kill Dracula?"
"Just that! Kill his bloodsucking ass! How'd you sneak in here anyway?"
"I didn't, I got an invitation about a month ago to the party, so when I arrived I was expected. Then I heard you were taken down here by some of the guests."
"Oh I can see you and Drac are still chummy with each other, figures, all you Undead stick together. You're probably here to help him not me!"
"Goddammit Wolf, will you stop being so fucking paranoid! I wasn't even going to this thing; the only reason why I'm here is because of you! Because maybe you don't want to believe it, but I do love you, you've always only been the one to make me feel complete. After all the searching and traveling and trying to discover myself, it was our time together that I always held dear to me and stayed in my mind. Please, Wolf don't go through with this, we lost a lot of years already; now that we've been reunited I don't want to lose you permanently. This is isn't worth it. You don't have to prove anything. I'm familiar with the secret passages in this place, we could leave right now without any trouble."

Mary's face does show expression of concern, and her voice does display worry. She may or may not be telling the truth. If she isn't then she's done a good job of fooling you. However, even if she is telling you the truth, there's something else at stake here, namely your principles and pride. You'd really hate to run from Dracula, especially at this point.

[User] You leave with Mary

[Assistant]
You're a lot older and not exactly at one hundred percent right now.
Dracula is still in peek condition.
You're on his home turf.
There are other hostile Vampires, Ghouls and Humans here, not to mention Dracula's new boy Van Helsing.

You're not going to win this one.

Maybe if you were still alone you'd do it anyway, but Mary's words have had an effect on you. Your pride in the past is what got you into a lot of trouble, and most of it was unnecessary. With age comes wisdom, and maybe its time you started to act your age. Your past accomplishments have spoken for themselves; you don't need to prove you still have "one last fight" in you. Why die pointlessly for some feud that nobody else cares about, and throw away a potentially good future with Mary?

"Alright Mary, alright." You say.

Mary looks surprised, as if she thought you wouldn't listen to her, but she's pleased never the less. Having been involved with Dracula and been in his castle in the past, she is of course quite familiar with the secret passages of the place and you both leave quietly.

After resting up a bit, you get back to work on that movie with Mary. You of course still insist on her making changes to the script, which she does. The movie comes out and its relatively successful, it's not going to make you a superstar again, but it's good enough. Eventually you move in with Mary and live out the rest of your life with her.

You always expect Dracula to attempt to get you somehow for escaping, but he never does. In fact that whole event is never even brought up or made public, since you were also expecting slanderous attacks about how you ran away to show up in magazines or something. Maybe it was because he was too busy having trouble with his new lover Jacob attempting to get palimony, or maybe he didn't think the feud was that important either.

You still always will wonder what might've happened…


[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 alien Abduction

[Assistant]
It was the start of summer and you really wanted to be doing what you had planned for many months: sleeping. Well, of course you weren't going to sleep ALL day, but you certainly were not planning on getting up a five in the morning just so you could go stand in line... and then stand in line again... and then again.

Summer had arrived and while you had planned to spend the week sleeping and gaming, your parents had decided that instead you were going to spend a week with Aunt Mary. You really didn't have anything against Aunt Mary, but she was pretty plan and boring. Worse, she lived in a town with absolutely nothing to do. Last time you spent a week there, you spent most of the week sitting on the front porch watching the grass grow. Sure, you might catch up on some of your sleep in the first part of the week, but she didn't have a gaming system, so you knew you were going to be seriously bored. Then again, it's not like anyone asked you what you wanted to do. So you got up early and rode to the airport.

After getting dropped off, you stood in the line to check in. The days of the skycap were over, you know, because of "terrorism." Instead you had to walk inside and stand in line for an automated kiosk. You managed to make it through the line only for the machine to tell you that you had to check in at the agent counter. You trudged over to that line and waited at least 30 minutes before you made it to the front of the line. You handed ID, she pressed about 500 keys, then took your luggage with a seriously fake smile. This was really going to be a long day.

Thinking about Aunt Mary's tiny house, you headed over to the security line. Of course there were about 1,000 people in that line, most of them confused when the blue-uniformed Wal-Mart greeters told them they had to take their shoes off. Or leave them on. For some reason, some people had to take shoes off and some did not. The confused ensured the line would continue to move very slow. That and the "special" people who managed to cut into the front of the line after paying some bribes or some crap. You were just glad that when you finally got to the front of the line and through the scanners that you didn't get felt up by the goofy guards.

Next you had to wait for your plane to start boarding and then watch as all the people who were not called to board ran to get in line first. You had a ticket with an assigned seat, so you just waited until your row was called and then went to stand in line yet one more time. As you walked down the aisle of the plane, you counted the seats and knew before you finished counting that the seat next to the really fat guy that was having trouble breathing was your seat. Hooray for coach seats! At least you had the aisle seat so you wouldn't be squashed into the wall of the plane. You took your seat, fastened the stupid seat belt, and promptly closed your eyes, trying to ignore everyone and everything around you.

At some point in time, you woke up, wide awake. You're not really sure why you woke up. The plane was filled with the sound of airplane noises. You looked around and realized that there was some sort of odd greenish light coming in through the windows of the plane. A few people started talking about just that as more noticed it. You heard a popping sound and looked around for the source. Everything looked normal, but then you heard someone towards the front of the plane yell. You stood up, like most of the plane, and looked towards the front. Suddenly there was another popping noise, and half the people in front of you simply disappeared! They were there one moment and not the next. More people started to yell and run into the aisle. There was another pop, and everyone in front of you disappeared. You looked around towards the rear of the plane, and saw others staring at you, eyes wide open. Then there was another popping sound and suddenly blackness...

[User] You continue...

[Assistant]
When you start to wake up, you feel cold. Actually, mostly just your rear end feels cold. And quite uncomfortable for some reason. You slowly open your eyes and blink in the bright white light. You realize that you're lying down on your back and your pants are down around your ankles. You are lying on a cold metal table. Well that explains why your rear end is cold, but why does it feel like...

You sit up and look around, pulling your pants up. You are in a small, strange, round metal room. The floor is flat, but the silver metal walls curve up and around, creating almost a bubble. You are sitting on a table in the middle of the room and there is a large machine of some sort sitting right next to you. It has long probes on it that are pointed in your direction. Fortunately, none of them are moving at the moment, but your butt clenches as you stand up from the table.

There is an opening in the wall to the east that leads into a hallway, but you don't see any other ways out of this room. The floor and walls appear solid, but they also appear to be glowing a little, enough to provide light so that you can see all around you.

[User] You head out of the room to the east.

[Assistant]
You stand at the west end of a long hallway. The walls are silver and curve up and around the ceiling so much that you feel like you are walking in a long, strange tube. The floor is flat and level, but there are small dips at the edge, looking almost like gutters that you would find on the roof of a house, but not quite as deep.

To the west is the room where you first awoke with the strange table and probes that make you feel strangely uncomfortable. The hallway continues to the east, slowly bending out of sight to the right. To the south is a rounded doorway that leads into a well-lit room that looks like it might have some other metal tables in it.


[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]
Despite her wishes Sarah Fosdick does not die. Her sister Mary Graves returns for her and the pair cut up Jay Fosdick's body for food. Somehow Mary helps her sister rejoin the rest of the group and you silently eat the cold meat, the dead man's wife watching with tears in her eyes before silently accepting some flesh and chewing. Jay Fosdick's death means you, William Eddy and William Foster are the last surviving men along with the five women and Foster is beginning to show alarming signs of derangement. Drawing you and Eddy to one side he quietly whispers that at least one of the women must be killed to feed the others.

William Eddy's temper snaps and throwing a large stick to Foster he draws his knife and barks "defend yourself Foster!" You restrain Eddy while Foster stands motionless staring at Eddy before quietly walking away. For the moment danger is averted but the next day you come across the two Indians, Luis and Salvador, lying near death in the snow. Foster declares that the two Indians must die. When Eddy protests against this Foster draws his pistol and calmly shoots Luis in the head.

What do you do?

[User] You stand back

[Assistant]
You step back as Foster shoots Salvador in the head as well before dropping the pistol. The Indians are quickly carved up and a fire lit to cook their flesh. Foster sits silently by the flames, staring into their depths and not even his wife Sarah can trigger a reaction. Wearily you stumble on and three days later you meet with a small group of Indians who are so horrified by your skeletal appearance that they give you all some acorns to eat. The Indians are friendly and indicate for you to follow them. The women and Foster are too exhausted to walk so you and William Eddy follow the Indians and finally reach Johnson's Ranch, the first settlement in California.

When you arrive, leaving a trail of blood, Eddy knocks on the door which is answered by a young lady. In a broken voice you ask for a little bread. The girl takes one look at the pair of you, bursts into tears and you are both hurried inside. Oh the wonder of it! Hot tea, food, warm beds and all the comforts you could want are provided! Supplies are hastily sent to the other six survivors. You set out with seventeen people a month ago: two turned back, eight died and only seven survived.

For now you don't care: you are safe. Your terrible ordeal is over, thank god!

[User] You get some much-needed rest

[Assistant]
It doesn't take long for two familiar faces to turn up at Johnson's Ranch: James Reed and William McCutchen who both made it over the mountains ahead of the Donner Party. You and Eddy give them tell them what happened in the mountains and you are not surprised to learn Reed is putting together an expedition to rescue survivors. Another expedition is already ready at Fort Sutter and Eddy, despite the ordeal you have already been through is determined to lead it back to the Donner Party. It is up to you which you join: Eddy's is leaving quicker but his health is broken while Reed's and McCutchen's is leaving later but both are healthy.

Which expedition party do you want to accompany?

[User] You eddy's First Relief

[Assistant]
The journey out to where the Donner Party is stranded is a nightmare, despite the fact you have plenty of food the snow has begun to thaw a little. There are fourteen of you in this rescue party but halfway through the journey William Eddy, still weakened by his earlier ordeal, is forced to turn back. Two more men are left behind with some of the provisions while the rest of you struggle on towards the Donner Party. The group becomes very discouraged and when three more men turn back, the rest begin muttering that they'll be trapped in the snow like the Donner Party and die too.

What do you do?

[User] You press on

[Assistant]
Pressing on bravely you and the others stumble over the mountains and three days later you reach a huddle of cabins on the shore of Truckee Lake late in the evening. Here you find less than forty emaciated survivors, mostly women and children. The first that you meet is a gaunt woman with a hollowed face who asks if you have come from California or heaven. Apparently your companions have been dying on an almost daily basis and your arrival prompts a great many tears of joy and prayers to God.

Patrick Breen is one of the healthiest remaining alive and though he has not lost any of his children he tells you a dozen have died since the Snowshoe Party left and that the Donner Brothers and others are further down the mountain at Alder Creek. It is perhaps fortunate that William Eddy did not accompany the expedition all this way as his wife Eleanor and youngest child Margaret are dead, the other child James is practically all bone. It is a terrible sight.

Pushing on ahead to Alder Creek you get there to find Jacob Donner and three others have died and those that remain are in a poor condition: George Donner has an infected hand from an earlier injury and there are many starving women and children there. Of the two remaining teamsters alive with the Donner's one, Noah James, is too weak to help and though the other, Jean Baptiste is in better health he does not want to stay and it takes a great deal of persuasion to get him to look after the Donner's. Returning to the Truckee Lake Camp you discover that in your absence another settler has died, the infant Catherine Pike.

Finally those settlers strong enough to get down the mountain are assembled: twenty-one of them. The rest will have to wait for James Reed's Second Relief. The settlers you are taking down with you are the weak teamsters John Denton and Noah James, women Margret Reed, Philippe Keseberg, Doris Wolfinger and Eliza Williams and fifteen children. With such a weakened party of settlers the return journey will be far worse than the one there.

[User] Back to California...

[Assistant]
The return journey with the survivors is a difficult one. Teamster John Denton gives out and is left behind to die. The child Ada Keseberg dies of cold and another child, William Hook dies after over-gorging on supplies. You pass James Reed, William McCutchen and the Second Relief party going up into the mountains. Reed is overjoyed to see most of his family safe while McCutchen is devastated to learn of his infant daughter Harriet's death. They press on.

Nearing California you pass a Third Relief party going the other way led by William Eddy and William Foster. Both eagerly seek out news of their families: Eddy is devastated to learn that his wife and daughter died in the mountains. Parting ways the next day you reach Johnson's Ranch with your remaining eighteen survivors. There you rest. Reed and McCutchen come in a few days later with just three survivors, two of them Reed's children, having abandoned the rest in the mountains. A brave man called John Stark later brings in the eleven survivors from this group, Eddy and Foster return soon after with five survivors and state that they do not think there will be any more. George Donner, his wife Tamzene, their nephew Samuel, Levinah Jackson and Louis Keseberg remain alive in the mountains, having resorted to cannibalism to survive. In the first half of April William Foster organises a final Relief party to search for survivors. You can either accompany this group of if you have had enough of the business remain at Sutter's Fort with the other survivors.

What do you do?

[User] You accompany Foster's expedition

[Assistant]
You join William Foster's expedition, which is hopeful of finding at least Tamzene Donner or Louis Keseberg still alive as they were in the best health. It takes you less than a week to reach the camps in the mountains, the snow melting fast all around you as spring descends and what you find is terrible. At Truckee Lake human limbs and bones lie in every direction. Moving on to the Alder Creek camp you find more horrors including the body of George Donner torn apart with pieces of his brain in a kettle. Returning to the Truckee Lake camp you are surprised to discover Louis Keseberg, skeletal but alive.

As Keseberg ate Foster's child the two are not on the best of terms and the fact that Keseberg has clearly been stealing things from the Donner Camp and using them as his own does not improve things. When large amounts of money are found on him Foster accuses him of murdering Tamzene Donner and threatens to hang him and it is only with some reluctance that the group agree to take him back to California. Before leaving the camp, the last of the Donner Party to be rescued, Keseberg looks back at the cabins and mutters "I hope God will forgive me for what I've done." It takes just five days to get down the mountain and back to Johnson's Ranch. Along the way Keseberg discovers the corpse of his dead daughter Ada in the snow.

[User] Back to California...

[Assistant] Foster's Fourth Relief discovers Louis Keseberg still alive and that last survivor of the Donner Party is brought out of the mountains and into California. Altogether of the 90 members of the Donner Party (including you) 43 died, including infants Jonathon and Elizabeth Graves who die that summer from their sufferings in the mountains. Of those that survive some like Louis Keseberg are branded as cannibals and murderers. You were lucky to survive this truly terrible experience: a story that will go down in American History as a tale of cannibalism and death in the Sierra Mountains.


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

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
If you've learned one thing, numbers doesn't necessarily imply safety. With all the years of patrolling you've done along with your previous actions in Retlad so long ago, you actually feel more comfortable in smaller groups at this point. Your one and only rank and file battle didn't go well.

Your choice isn't surprising, if anything more people feel comfortable with you scouting ahead.

As you journey further into former Tulan territory, you don't encounter too much resistance. A few demons and crazed followers here and there, but nothing you can't take care of. It also occurs to you how "planted" you've been for the past five years. While it's true you did leave the fort a lot, you never ventured far from it. This is first time you've actually traveled. Ironic, since one of the reasons why you joined the army was the possibility of traveling to interesting places.

However, it seems like you only visit these interesting places after they're already destroyed. You're basically seeing the aftermath of the demon occupation. It sort of reminds you of what you'd seen back in Retlad when the Quillars were killing folks except the landscape is in even worse condition. The demons weren't content on just corrupting their mortal slaves; they were attempting to turn the entire land into their infernal realm. You can only imagine what sort of hell was going on while they were actually here.

You get to a small town that's completely wrecked and seemingly deserted. Its night time and normally you'd go back and wait until morning to scout it, but Captain Eckard is insistent on getting to the former Tulan capital as quick as possible. You split up into small groups to scout the town quicker and tell everyone that if they come across anything more then they can handle, to run and alert everyone else.

You go building to building not really encountering much of anything. Not even survivors. Lots of half eaten dead bodies in various states of torment though. You expect when Velzix was killed the whole realm descended into anarchy pretty quickly and the demons reverted back to their chaotic natures causing as much mayhem as possible without too much repercussion.

You enter a shop with two of your other team members. You hear a creaking sound, which doesn't sound good. One of your team members goes a little further in, and it gets louder.

"Step back! The floors is…" you utter and then a large portion of the floor collapses underneath him. You attempt to grab his hand, but fail and the rest of the floor collapses underneath you as well.

You don't fall too far, but you definitely feel it. You recover as quick as you can and hear your other subordinate who managed to avoid falling through the floor.

"Sarge! Are you alright?" Private Ramusen shouts.
"Yeah, yeah private. I'm just a little bruised."
"What about Gannon? Is he alright?"

You take your tinder box and make a small light. You look around and see that you must be in the basement of some sort of music shop from all the instruments you see. You didn't even notice when you first entered the place, it just looked like any other ransacked shop.

Upon further inspection you see a body lying on the floor. It's Private Gannon and he's dead. He didn't land in the "good way" you did and broke his neck.

"He's dead." You call up to Ramusen.
"Shit! He's fuckin' dead?"
"Yeah private, I just said he was! Now let me get the hell out of here…fuck! The damn stairs are completely destroyed. I can't climb up, or even attempt a jump. Ramusen, throw down a rope and make sure you really secure it!"

While you wait for Ramusen to complete this task, you take a look at some of the instruments. Lots of flutes and other wind instruments that don't interest you. You grab an old looking mandolin. It's definitely human design, but it seems very ornate though, must've been a specialty piece that wasn't for sale.

You pluck at the strings and despite the dirt, grime, and neglect of the instrument; it still manages to produce a fairly pleasing tone. You play for a good five minutes before you realize that Ramusen hasn't thrown down the rope yet.

"Private?" is all you utter, when you hear the slumping of a lifeless body, followed by a low voice.

"Beautiful…"

You grab your bow, when you see a dark figure loom above you. You fire, but miss due to the figure dodging quicker than anything you've ever encountered before. It doesn't help that this same figure has jumped down the hole beside you before you can blink.

You're standing right before the figure now. He has a pale, but familiar face, though the blood around the mouth is new and not encouraging. He knocks the bow out of your hand, but does nothing else to you. You wouldn't be quick enough to draw your sword given what you've seen. In fact right now, all you're feeling is fear.

"Almost hit me…you would've made a good addition. Maybe you could've even…no. Nobody can. This world is lost now and soon my kind won't even be around to guide your kind to combat the inevitable anymore…" Warnov says.
"What…what are you talking about?" you ask unsure what's going to happen next. Warnov looks as if he could tell you more than you'd ever want to know about lots of things, but instead he just shakes his head.

"Nevermind human. Telling you the whole story would not help you anyway. Perhaps it's best you hadn't joined us, seeing as I have been marked now. It won't be long before the rest of my kind are hunted down. He's really quite pissed at us, and worse, he can sense us you see…(sigh) I can only imagine what he did to poor Count Rostov…"
"Who's pissed?"
"Who do you think human? The Necro…I mean the Great Lich Lord of course. Oh yes. He's back…and this one isn't going to lose like the last one did so long ago."

You're not following all of Warnov's cryptic speak, but if the last bit he's said is true, he's scared the hell out of you more than he has with his actions. Warnov grabs your shoulder and looks into your eyes.

"I do not envy your fate human…the extinction of your species will soon follow my own. My advice to you? Live human! Live while you can, for eventually this whole world will be dead and under his complete control."

Sensing that he's brought enough doom and gloom to you, he relents and steps back.

"Play me a song human." He says catching you off guard.
"…what did you want to hear?" you ask shakily.
"I don't know…anything. Play what you were playing before."

You slowly pick up the dropped mandolin and begin playing the song that you were playing before and you play as if your life depended on it, though you get the impression that Warnov has no intention on killing you.

He sits quietly listening in the darkness, after finishing the song; he leaps back up through the hole.

"Beautiful…such talent…such a waste…"

A rope is thrown down and the sounds of feet running off are then heard. You wait a minute and then climb up the rope, taking the mandolin with you. You see private Ramusen lying nearby with his throat ripped out and thoroughly drained of blood.

You're also just in time to hear other members of your group coming to your position when you exit the shop.

What the hell are you supposed to tell them? Death to the world, reborn lich lords…you start thinking, what's the point of all this? Maybe Warnov was right, maybe you should LIVE while there's still time. Granted his information is spotty, but you can't help but thinking he's probably more informed on the situation than most people.

You've pondered it several times before, and you've even attempted it once, but deserting is looking very desirable again. In this day and age, who's going to know if were killed or not?

[User] You sneak off

[Assistant]
Last time you were wounded and had the misfortune of running into demons. Well you aren't wounded this time and you're pretty sure you won't be running into too many more demons. You'll be able to pull it off this time. You can't do this army shit anymore, as much as you want to help your family out, you've got to live your own life regardless of what the future holds. You aren't even worried about committing an executionable offense.

You easily sneak away as you hear your men call out your name looking for you. You're glad you didn't leave too much back at the fort, except your lute, but you've got your newly acquired mandolin to make up for it. Eventually you're away from civilization altogether.

While you're out in the wilderness you think about your family again, and you have to at least let them know you're still alive. Maybe you can still do something about them, after all it doesn't sound like the Zalan Empire is becoming a great place to live anymore. Perhaps you could convince them to move?

It takes a week of sneaking around and keeping out of sight, but eventually you make it back home. Zalan looks a lot different; hell home looks a lot different. There was a small wooded area near your farm, but most of the trees have been cut down now. You also remember fewer patrols. Your house looks in better condition however. You guess at least your family seems a lot safer, but for how long?

You knock on the door in the middle of the night and your sister Randi answers, Not too surprising as she always was a night owl when she was little. At least she used to be little. The passing of the years and she's now a teenager and grown quite a bit. You've been away so long.

What does surprise you is the flintlock pistol that she's currently pointing at you!

"Whoa! Hold on! It's me, your brother!" you say.
"…it is? It is you!" she exclaims and puts down the gun before hugging you.
"What the hell are you doing with a pistol?"
"The money you sent us allowed to buy new things you know and a traveling merchant was selling this for cheap!"
"No I mean, what are YOU doing with one? You'll blow your damn head off with that thing! Those things are unstable." You scold.
"What are you doing home? Are you on leave?"
"Uh…that's a long story. Wake up the rest of the family; I have to talk to you all."

Randi complies while you step inside the house and take in its new look. Eventually your Mom enters, followed by your brother Mallack and finally your youngest brother Calwin and sister Makana.

You all sit down at the dining room table. (You realize you haven't done that with your family in years) and you tell them everything. You get a lot of worried reactions. More for you than the other world impending doom stuff though. At least you know that they care.

"You gotta get back to the army right now! Say you got captured by something and it took you awhile to escape!" Mallack exclaims.
"While I'm sure that MAY work, I just don't want to do it…I can't take this anymore. The whole time I've been in the damn army, my music has kept me sane. I've noticed it have an effect on others as well. Never thought it would. I mean I have talent and…"
"…you feel like you've wasted your life?" your mother replies.

You pause for a moment. You almost want to say yes, but you can't even if you wanted to. You haven't wasted it, its just you've never really had the chance to do what you've ever wanted to do.

"No…I guess I haven't… it's just…"

Your mother takes your hand and speaks to you.

"I know. It's not fair. It's not right. Life isn't fair and it's starting to get a whole lot less fair. I know I've mentioned it in letters to you, but the Zalan Empire WILL be taking the farm…and it's looking like Mallack's going to be drafted if things are going the way they seem to be."
"But…see that's what I'm saying! We could all move! I mean of course I have to go into hiding, maybe Mallack could come with me. And the rest of you could use what money you have left and move to Retlad! It's a nice place. It's away from most of the fighting, and there aren't anymore Quillars there!"

Your mother shakes her head.

"You must be behind in the news, because Retlad is finally going to become part of the Zalan Empire soon, so going there to live wouldn't make any difference. The Empire can take this farm, but in spirit this will ALWAYS be ours. The Empire has said they will allow us to continue working it and living on the land and even if they didn't they'd have have to drag us all out and stick our heads on pikes before we'd leave. Your father and his father build this farm up to what it is. Our family is going to be here until the end."
"That's what I'm afraid of…what about you Mallack? You're probably going to be drafted. You aren't worried about that?"
"Sure I am. But what am I going to do, run? Where? From what you described you practically think the whole world is doomed anyway! I might as well take some of the undead bastards out before I go. I was getting bored of the farm anyway. Let Randi take over! Ha ha!"

Your mother addresses you again.

"Son, you know our family. We've always done the right thing, even if it doesn't coincide with what we want…I think you know what you have to do."

And so you do. So you do.

You spend one night with your family and make the most of it. You all laugh and joke, trying to put all the problems of the world out of your mind and of course before you leave you play a song for them.

Eventually you hug them all goodbye and take your leave. More than a few tears are shed on both sides.

[User] You head back to the army

[Assistant]
Now you have to figure out a plan that's going to prevent you from getting executed. You figure your brother's plan isn't exactly a bad one. Your record is good enough that you'd probably be believed. You think up a lie explaining that you were captured by a particularly sadistic vampire who was planning on draining you slowly to keep you as ongoing food. He took you to a cave in the hills where you barely killed him and escaped with your life. You would've made your way back sooner, but there were large groups of marauding orc raiders and demons escaping the ruins of the former Tulan kingdom that caused you to be extra cautious and forced you to hide for a few days.

Yep, that sounds good. You head out with the plan of meeting up with Captain Eckard's company which is surely at the Tulan Kingdom now.

Eventually you reach the same town you were at when you made your decision to try to leave. You find it occupied right now, it's not your company, so you're about to press on, but someone on patrol sees you.

"HALT! Where are you supposed to be soldier?!"
"Oh…uh…" you say getting caught off guard. You mentally curse yourself for not being more aware.
"Speak up! Wow, you look a little worse for wear…what company are you with?"
"I was with Captain Eckard…but…"

"Captain Eckard's company? Holy shit! We thought they all got killed! The undead reached the Tulan capital first and ambushed them! But why am I telling you? You were there! You must've just barely escaped! Don't worry; you can avenge your friends, we're gathering strength to attack soon!"

You don't believe this…

The guard begins speaking to you excitedly and asking you how you escaped. You just continue to say you don't know, it all became a blur when the ambush occurred and how you attempted to fight, but it was just too much. The guard sympathizes and tells you that you can explain more to his captain. You notice he isn't wearing Zalan armor, he's wearing Azi Republic armor. You can only assume that perhaps this is a Grand Alliance company.

Your ideas come true when you do indeed notice several kinds of troop types, though the Zalan Empire soldiers seem to be leading, as the captain is wearing the armor. Your heart sinks when you recognize her and she recognizes you. It was years ago, but you both remember.

"…what are you doing here?" the female captain asks. "Last I heard you were in Captain Eckard's company. A company that was reported to be wiped out completely. Have you managed to avoid death once again? You are the lucky one aren't you?"

Suddenly surrounding soldiers start to recognize you more closely. The Zalan ones especially.

"Holy shit it's him! You fuckin' survived not one but TWO overwhelming undead hordes! We gotta take him captain, he's obviously good luck!" the guard says a little misguidedly.
"Good luck? If you haven't noticed, only HE seems to be getting out alive on these things! I'd say he's bad luck!" someone else says.
"Nonsense! I heard how he's killed countless demons with his bow! We could use someone like that in our next attack." another says.
"Isn't he the guy that plays the lute really well?"

A few people start arguing until the female captain speaks again.

"ENOUGH! I'll handle this. You in my office now, I'll speak with you in private. And for the rest of you, get ready to move out. We're attacking tomorrow."

She turns away and enters a building; you slowly follow, while everyone else disperses.

When you enter the wrecked "office" she closes the door and tells you to sit down, but she doesn't. Instead she stares at you hard at you and draws her sword.

"Okay Mr. Survivor. Convince me."
"Convince you of what?"
"Convince me that you aren't some fucking undead spy!"
"WHAT?! How? I mean…"
"Easy! In the two encounters you had with the undead on any major scale, you've been the only one to survive. Once, maybe. But twice? Mighty suspicious…"
"But I mean…I'm not undead! Look I even walk around in the daylight, I'm not even pale!"
"I didn't say you were undead, I said you were a spy. There are few of those misguided traitors that think their necromancer overlords will be kind to them, by killing them last. Madness."
"But I'm not a spy! I killed…" you begin to stutter under pressure.
"Yeah, yeah, you killed demons. Big deal. The undead and demons weren't friends either. What better way to be a spy than to make yourself a hero?"
"But I'm not…"
"You're not what?"
"I'm not…"
"What? More lies? Spit out the truth spy!" she demands pointing her sword at your throat.

[User] You blurt out the truth

[Assistant]
You can't take it anymore.

"I'M NOT A FUCKING HERO! OKAY!? I NEVER WAS AND I NEVER WANTED TO BE! (sob)… I just wanted to go home…(sob)"

You weep for a few minutes before the captain speaks again.

"Alright then what happened? Tell me the entire truth and maybe you'll avoid the executioner's axe."

At this point you have little choice. You're too distraught to say anything else. You give a relatively condensed version of what happened. At Nuro and what happened recently. Your encounter with Warnov seems to surprise her quite a bit. You also go on to explain that it was high ranking Zalan officers that insisted on this hero nonsense. She believes you, like she knows something of it.

"(sigh) Yeah there's a statue of my dad in the Zalan capitol…but I know better…"

You don't question anymore about this quiet outburst from her since you're still too worried about what's going to happen to you.

"So why did you come back? You probably could've gotten away with it."
"The same reason why I joined. My family. I guess I just needed a reminder of that first hand. And if there's any hope of changing the tide of this war with the undead then I need to stand by my decision of joining the Zalan Army and making the world safer for them."

Once again the captain seems to soften. She almost looks like she's going to tear up as well, but she turns away.

"My family…I…" are all she says before taking a deep breath and turning back towards you, with a serious mindset again.

"Alright, I shall trust your word for now sergeant, but I will be watching you VERY carefully! Consider yourself lucky for evading death once again, perhaps you do have knack for avoiding it. Let us hope that luck rubs off on the rest of us in the upcoming battle. I'm putting you in charge of the Retlad archery platoon. They'll probably like you. Dismissed."

Before you leave she says one last thing.

"And sergeant, don't listen to what that bizarre vampire said. We're not going to become extinct. We're going to win and survive a long time. Besides you still have to play that song for me."

As you leave you feel a sigh of relief that you won't be dying just yet, but given that you're heading into battle soon with the undead, you're wondering if you just didn't postpone the inevitable.

Two years pass…

Seven years since the Nuro Incident changed the world into this living hell.

Your time served in the Grand Alliance has not really changed much. The Grand Alliance and the Zalan Empire are basically one of the same now thanks to the complete embrace of a totalitarian system. Might makes right. Nations like the Azi Republic protested, but there was little that they could, after all Zalan has been practically defending the world by itself for the past few years. You get the impression that if this war is won; the Zalan Empire is going to throw its hat in to be a one world government.

Amazing how power and conspiracy is plotted even when it probably won't happen. "Probably won't" because your superiors and political leaders are a lot more "optimistic" about winning than you are, but then they haven't had to face the horrors you've faced.

And horrors are a completely accurate word. You've gotten over your fear of the undead, but it doesn't make it any easier. You're starting to lose ground. Everyday the living lose someone, the Great Lich Lord gains. It's a question of numbers and quite frankly your side doesn't have them.

You sort of wish your old captain was here. She was a very good leader and inspirational, but then again that's why she was made a general and sent elsewhere. She asked you to play that song before she left though. Somehow it seemed to make her sadder afterwards.

"Captain, undead are on the move, they won't be long now." One of your messengers says.
"Yes, I can sense it. Here. You head back to my home. You know where it is by now, and give this message to my family. If you get back here and see undead, well get the fuck out and run back to Zalan territory."

Being a captain hasn't really turned you into a copy of the captains you served in the past, but then again you didn't even think you'd ever be promoted to one. Your reign as one has been a little unorthodox as you've applied more guerilla tactics than traditional ones, but given your assignment and your background it makes a hell of a lot more sense.

You're currently stationed on what remains of the Garwold Confederacy. It was a relatively peaceful nation made up mostly of Halflings and Gnomes, with lush green fields and flowers. Now it's just slowly becoming another massive graveyard and example of genocide.

You've gotten to know quite a few of them and you're always amazed of how they can keep their sense of humor in the face of utter destruction. One of them actually gives you an answer.

"To keep from crying."

Indeed. You've been playing quite a bit when you're not battling the undead. (The Garwold citizens enjoy your playing a lot) It's gotten to the point where you don't just play anymore to keep your mind off of things, it's like it transports you to a different world. A better world.

If only.

You often wonder how your brother Mallack is doing. He's been stationed in a relatively safer location back in Zalan territory. You're guessing that it lowers the odds of having your mom lose both of her sons at the same time. Like it makes it any better if she lost them within any length on time of each other. You wonder if the war is going to go on long enough that by the time Calwin grows up he'll be drafted as well.

If he even gets the chance to grow up.

You can't think about it now. A massive undead horde is coming and there's no where left to hide. There will be open battle and you need to stay focused.

You go through the whole order thing, and making sure your strategy is sound. You wish you had more wizards, but they seem to be in shorter supply these days. It's almost like they're being targeted deliberately sometimes…actually you don't think it, you KNOW that they are.

You see the undead horde approach. You look through some new fangled dwarven invention called an eye piece and see something makes your job a hell of a lot worse.

You don't just see the usual undead. You see fully armored Death Knights. Harder to kill than even a zombie giant. You see Blood Specters. Dark crimson spirits that can cause their victims to bleed from every orifice with their shrieks. Both of those are at the head of this horde, and this isn't even counting that you're severely outnumbered by just the regular zombies, skeletons, ghosts and the like.

[User] You break off into a smaller skirmishing force

[Assistant]
You know that this is most likely a losing battle, but some hope might be gained, if you can somehow draw out the knights and specters and get them by themselves. As powerful as they are, they're very hard to control even by necromancers and get easily agitated by living creatures.

You can't do it alone though. You take your best archers and a couple of your best wizards and mention your plan. You don't ask for volunteers, you just assign. You're in charge and you have to make the hard decisions, even if it might mean you'll die. They don't look enthused, but you aren't either.

You tell everyone else to hold their ground while you and your small platoon ride towards the horde.

"Ready those blessed silvers men, and you robe wearers melt those dead tin cans!"

You get close enough and you unleash as many blessed silver arrows as you can at the Blood Specters. You kill a few. The wizards don't do quite as well with the knights. However, both attacks are enough.

You see the Specters and Knights making whatever unearthly noises they do and begin to advance towards you far ahead of the slower yet steady moving horde. It apparent that the necromancer controlling them is attempting to bring them back under control, because they begin to squirm back and forth which gives you some more time to kill a few more during their confusion. Eventually the necromancer must give up total control because they stop squirming and advance upon you once again.

You ride back as quickly as possible with the Specters and Knights in full pursuit. You didn't expect those Specters to be so fast. A few of them manage to catch up to some of your men with grisly results. You yourself almost get smacked upside the head by a Death Knight mace. When you get back in range the rest of your awaiting army deals with your pursuers. More blessed arrows fly into the Blood Specters before they can do anymore harm, and eventually the Death Knights are brought down as well.

There is no time for a reprieve though, as the main horde is now almost upon you. You order a regrouping as best you can, and face the enemy, telling if possible for someone to aim for the necromancer in all of this rotting mess.

Bones and limbs from both sides are broken and hacked off. A zombie skull is smashed, splashing maggots, blood and brains all over you and you're not even thinking about it. You just have a tune in your head to take yourself away from the massacre. Somehow in all of the chaos, you single out the necromancer leading this army, he stands a far piece away from the main fighting, but he's arrogant enough to be close enough for you to hit him with an arrow.

And you have to hit him now. You see a Grand Alliance soldier who just took a fatal blow to the chest begin to rise…

Not many arrows left and not much time, you just load up and shoot, hoping you hit the bastard.

Your shot is straight and true. It strikes the necromancer in the stomach, causing him to fall back, which in turn causes the undead horde to momentarily stop their vicious attacks, giving your side a chance to turn the tide a bit.

Then you shoot another arrow when you see the necromancer attempt to get back up, which turns the tide completely in your favor. Zombies and skeletons fall. Ghouls flee at the loss of leadership and any remaining undead are quickly dispatched. You don't take chances though. You walk up to the corpse of the necromancer and shoot your last arrow directly into his head and stab him a few times.

You then start laughing.

"If this was the Great Lich Lord, I'd be a real hero right now!"

You quickly sober up from this macabre outburst when you hear shouting from some of your men and you look up.

It's another horde. Just as big. You look behind you and see that your own numbers are completely insufficient. The Garwold citizens are either mostly dead or demoralized at this point.

Even when you win…you lose.

Having no real options, you sound a retreat to fall back to the Zalan border and suggest that the Garwold citizens do likewise as there is nothing more for them here.

The Garwold Confederacy is now just one more loss for the living. The Zalan Empire won't be far behind.

Three years pass…

Ten years since the Nuro incident and The Grand Alliance is nearly just consisting of the Zalan Empire now, which in turn has had to adapt a siege mentality. There is no "going on the offensive" anymore. You're purely on defense.

Your brother Mallack died two years ago. Transferred to a location with more fighting due to lack of manpower. Like it matters. Didn't even get to say goodbye. You can only hope he didn't become one of those things…but you know he probably did.

You've been urging your family to run where it's safer, but of course they won't budge. The undead have been penetrating deeper into Zalan territory, you know it's only a matter of time before the Great Lich Lord decides to stop toying with you and makes his full scale attack.

Sure enough it happens. Town after town is taken; you're pushed back further and further, and you know there's nothing you can do to stop it.

An order is given to everyone to fallback to the capital and help defend it from an upcoming attack, but at this point you're just wondering if the rest of your family is still alive.

[User] You report to the captial

[Assistant]
Everything tells you that you should go to your family, but you question if they are even still alive. You don't want to think about it really since it's starting to upset you. The thought of your remaining family being killed and turned into undead parodies of themselves, makes you not want to know if that's what happened.

You wonder if they might've even fled already like you've been telling them to in your letters. It's certainly possible, even as stubborn as your Mom is, she might've taken your advice at least for the sake of the rest of your brother and sisters.

You mind suddenly goes elsewhere…

…Yeah…they left already. There's no point in going to your home. It's been abandoned. They're probably all safe in Retlad by now. No need to worry. You'll see them later. Surely this attack on the capitol won't be that bad. You've survived a lot worse. You've got orders and you need to follow them, because if there is any chance at stopping this dead plague, this is going to be a crucial battle. You did join the army to help your family after all, and what better way to help them, then to ensure their future?

After having this little delusion, you feel calm again. Oddly so. Even a little hopeful. You head off to the capitol with your troops.

When you get there, the general attitude is pessimistic. Most people don't seem to think they're going to win. You're getting that vibe even from the generals of the Grand Alliance. You don't see why. Surely the Great Lich Lord has finally overextended all his resources now. This attack will be a failure and from here you will be able to make a counter attack! Sure it won't be easy, but it can be done.

People are finding your optimism a little weird, especially those that have served under you since they know how that really isn't your personality. You don't think you've changed at all though. You just go about following your orders of making sure your troops are prepared in their defense of the south wall, humming little tunes as happy music fills your head.

A few days pass and you're visited by your old commanding officer who's constantly making sure everything is in place. She looks very tired; you tell her she needs to think positive. When she asks if you're feeling alright, you just laugh and ask if she'd like to hear a song.

She tells you no with a grim look. She also tells you point blank that she wants to get laid one last time before this battle. Being in the somewhat scattered mind frame that you're in right now, you ask who the candidate is.

A couple hours later, you have your answer. Before you leave her room, she asks you to play a song for her after all. It's the one she asked to play before. The one her mother sang to her.

As you play she noticeably begins to weep. She doesn't attempt to hide it. You stop playing and hold her until she calms down which eventually she does and composes herself.

She gives no further information and simply tells you to go back to your post and to carry on as if nothing happened. You do so without pressing the issue.

A week passes and the undead horde arrives. It's much bigger than anyone expected, and even worse, the Great Lich Lord himself is leading this attack.

Now your mind suddenly comes back to grips with reality.

The undead horde surrounds and storms the city. An attempt is made to kill the Great Lich Lord, but he merely gets back up from the hail of gunfire and arrows that strike him.

Soon the gates are compromised. You order your troops to take to the streets and fight off the invading hordes with the rest of the soldiers. You do likewise, though now you're really wondering about a way to try to escape. Its no use though, the dead are everywhere butchering anything alive. You kill one walking corpse and five more take its place.

In one particular brutal sneak attack, a ghoul jumps from a rooftop and tackles you. You feel a paralyzing bite as it sinks its teeth into you. Darkness soon takes you and you begin you new mindless undead life afterwards.


[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 crawl back out the way you came

[Assistant]
You figure you don't want anyone else seeing you run out of her tent with the book or else they'll only rat you out later. You lift up the tent and try to crawl back out. You waste too much time though; she wakes up when you're halfway through. She's not happy!

"GEEK! YOU DARE STEAL FROM ME! I CALL UPON THE SPIRITS TO CURSE YOU TO RESEMBLE THE LOWLY WORM YOU ARE!"

You don't think too much of those words at first, until you get fully out of the tent and find that you can't stand up to run anymore. You look behind yourself and to your horror you see that your legs have fused together into one fleshy mass. Soon the rest of you begins to transform. You gradually start to shrink as you try to crawl away in a hopeless attempt to escape your fate.

When you've fully transformed, Madam Orbec finally arrives to retrieve her book and sees you squirming around in the grass. She laughs and remarks how leaving you in that state is what you really deserve.

But she decides to show mercy for your plight by stepping on you and putting you out of your misery.


[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 look At The Hanging Photographs

[Assistant]
You pluck the hanging pictures from the strings, tossing them to the floor as you go. None of them seem particularly significant. Each one is a picture of your child self, teen self, or mugshots. Scratching at your arms, you stop to gaze at one from when you were in high school. The girl in the picture is beautiful and smiling, but you know better than to be fooled. You remember what it felt like to force the smile for that picture, what was going on behind the pearly white grin.

Letting the picture fall to the ground, you continue around the room until you have looked at all the pictures that were hanging from the ceiling. None of them seem to be of consequence really, but it does feel strange to look at them all.


[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] The Thirst For Knowledge

[Assistant]
"Wrong" it proclaims.  "While the thirst for knowledge may be limitless in your kind, it is not your primary concern in times of trouble now is it?"

"Well... erm..."

You don't have time to retort.  It fires a beam of negative energy into your chest and you disintigrate on the spot, bringing your quest to an abrupt end.

THE END


[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 wait

[Assistant]
You're unwilling to risk more lives and so decide to just shore up your defenses.

Another couple of months pass and a much smaller group of cyborgs arrive which confirms your ideas that they're running out of troops. One thing that's a little strange is that they don't immediately attack, they just make their presence known while attempting to stay out of the way of your snipers. They also make some "raiding" like attacks on anyone trying to leave the Fort to travel anywhere. They never directly attack the fort though.

These annoying raids go on for a year, until you get sick of them and finally decide you need to get rid of these things once and for all. You order a concentrated attack on all the cyborg raiders in the area, after a few weeks it's confirmed that they've all been eliminated. Afterwards you send a scouting force to the secret base, to see if that's the end of this cybernetic thorn in your side.

A week passes and you don't hear anything from your scouts. You curse and figure the cyborgs still have enough troops to defend their own base, but the truth is much worse as you come to find out.

A week after you sent your scout team, a new cyborg army appears within the sight of Fort Justice. Better improved looking this time too. Obviously while you were playing around with the cyborgs raiding you, someone else was upgrading and gathering more "recruits" from elsewhere while you still haven't replenished your own losses from last year…

Another battle is joined, but this time not in your favor. The fort is destroyed and in flames. Soon people are either, running, killed or captured. In the chaos of Fort Justice's final days, one of those you see captured is Marina as a big cyborg drags away her unconscious wounded body.

You desperately try to rescue her, but your head is completely incinerated by its high powered laser beam as soon as your bullets fail to penetrate its armor. Your headless carcass falls to the ground and left to burn up with the rest of Fort Justice.

Within the year, the Combine is no more and only the Cybernetic Evolution remains to continue its mission.


[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]
Sheltered Princess

The Future…

It's been about a month; Johnny should be home again soon. Just have to keep an ear open for that certain knock and his voice.

You wonder what things he will have brought home this time. You're still pretty much good with the necessities. Maybe he will have found some new movies or books to bring you this time.

At first when he started going out, you worried about him even though he assured you he would be fine. Of course as time went on, you ceased worrying altogether.

Still, after the first few years, Johnny was getting restless. Sure he was going out, but never for long periods of time.

Then one day he went out and didn't return for a full week. For the first time in a long while you worried so much when he did that. This caused an argument when he finally returned. You were so angry.

You even accused him of cheating on you, but deep down you knew that wasn't and would never be the case.

To Johnny's credit he was honest about what the problem was. He apologized realizing he should've at least told you before disappearing like that. He tried, he really tried and he thought that "you" would be enough, but he wasn't like you. He couldn't stay cooped up down in a shelter for long stretches of time. Even though he was in the presence of an "angel" he always felt like a trapped animal. Sometimes being around you made him feel and realize just how inferior he was to you.

He explained how the surface was better than he could've ever imagined. No law, no order, and freedom to do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. The pull was too great and was getting greater.

You were upset and rightfully so. After all he had professed that he would always be there for you, and now who would take care of you if he left?

Johnny however insisted that he wasn't going to break your heart. He assured you once again that he would still be there to take care of you; he just needed time to himself. He explained that he just needed to "wander" because deep down that's who he'd always be. He also explained it would be safer for you if he did wander as he didn't want to one day unleash his…urges out on you by accident.

What could you do? How could you compete? He was a slave to his nature. It was like Bobby all over again.

That first time, you practically kicked him out and he left without struggle or even raising his voice, he just told you that he would keep his promise and that you would see that he would not fail you.

Naturally you didn't believe him at the time you were too upset. That entire month was a pretty bad one for you. You spent most of your time crying and wondering if you'd been a delusional fool for sticking your head in the sand and ignoring reality as usual. You even started reading those survival books that you hadn't actually gotten to reading yet and rationing your food and water a little more since you were potentially facing an uncertain future.

But then when that month had passed and Johnny did indeed return like he always had in the past.

At first you were reluctant to even let him back in, but then you realized that he had kept his promise just like he always has to you. The reunion was a happy one and over the years you've gotten accustomed to this arrangement. In fact it's nice to be by yourself too. You'd actually forgotten what that was like during the years Johnny was around all the time.

You hear a familiar pattern knock on the shelter door followed by Johnny's faint voice coming from the other side. After taking the usual safety precautions, you excitedly rush to open it with your pistol drawn.

"I'm home, my perfect angel." Johnny says smiling and holding a couple of bags no doubt stuffed with goodies.
"Well don't just stand there, come in! I missed you." You say and welcome Johnny back home like you always do.

Johnny tells you a few things about the outside world like he always does, but in general you never care that much. As far as you're concerned, what he does out there you don't want to hear too much about and it doesn't matter anyway. All that matters is his time with you.

You happily accept all the gifts and supplies he has brought for you and later on you and he embrace as lovers do.

The pair of you enjoy your time together, until its time for Johnny to wander again. But you never despair about it, because you know he'll always come back.

And one day, you know he'll come back forever.

It's not perfect, but then nothing in this new world is.


[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] Begin a new story

[Assistant]
Chapter 1: Dark Beginnings

Well, you did it again. You slacked off all semester and didn't study for your finals. There's no way you're going to pass your nature magic test tomorrow. Those things are always killers. You don't even know why you enrolled in that class; you aren't even interested in being a nature mage. You don't even like the damn outdoors!

Oh wait, you know why, it's because you saw a cute witch taking the class, so like a dumb ass, you signed up for it. Naturally the moment you tried to impress her with some sort of cantrip, she laughed at you and said even if she was straight, she wouldn't go for a half assed hedge wizard like you! You really should've known better, half of those witches are lesbians anyway. That whole Mother Earth Goddess worship caters to the rug munching. (And no, there aren't any MALE witches, any self respecting man would call himself a WARLOCK, not a damn witch!)

(Sigh) Like your little sister's B'ar'b Dolly once said "Magic is hard!" Indeed. Sometimes you curse the day your mother passed her magical elven blood on to you.

Still, you're here now, so you need to make the best out of your life. You're already going to hear it from both of your parents of how you've been nothing but a disappointment to the both of them. Your Dad will probably do a little more than say that, he'll probably personally ride up to the University and beat the hell out of you for wasting his hard earned pillaging money to send you there in the first place.

Arrgh! You just wish you were good at SOME kind of magic! You have the ability; you just don't have the focus! That's always been the problem with you. Your sister has it easy, she took after Dad. Narrow minded focus on killing someone with a blunt instrument doesn't take too much effort. Of course you had to be the one that greater things were expected of.

You've tried all the schools, evocation, conjuration, illusion, divination; all of them. You can't excel in any of it. You can only get so far and then the words and gestures and well all of it just becomes too fucking confusing for you.

However, you haven't tried the "darker arts", but your Mom would definitely never approve. (Your Dad probably wouldn't care, but if you upset your Mom, it's a warhammer upside the head) In fact it's illegal to study any of them. They caused too much trouble in the past and nearly destroyed the world at one time. All who are known to even dabble in such arts are immediately taken into custody and executed.

You don't think you'd want to be summoning demons anyway; even the few "friendly ones" that work on campus are fucking assholes to the Nth degree. You can only imagine how bad the ones who haven't been living among mortals are.

However there is another dark art which you have to admit you've always had a bit of curiosity about.

The art in question is necromancy.

At this point you're willing to at least see if you're good at ANYTHING, so for shits and giggles you decide to blow off your test which you're going to fail anyway and go see if you can find out more about this outlawed dark art.

Though being a lazy sort you decide to try the library first.

[User] You go make a trip to the library

[Assistant]
Even though you're supposed to be a wizard in training, you spend as little time as possible in library if you can help it. Normally you just check out whatever you need to read for a class and leave.

You have little faith in finding anything substantial on Necromancy in there, but maybe you can find something that will at least quell this thirst for knowledge on it. You realize you're treading on dangerous ground, but you have to try to learn more.

The library is huge however, and you're unsure of where to look, it's not like there's a section on Necromancy or Outlawed Magic, but you figure you'll look in the History section first.

You glance and browse through the stacks until you pick up a few choice books that look like they might contain something, sit down in a quiet corner and begin to read. Naturally you don't learn too much. The history books mainly go on about how bad the Dead War was, important battles, the atrocities of the Lich Lord, the typical stuff you've read time and time again. Still, you're determined to find something new.

You spend hours reading until you realize you've spent the day in the library and that it's now night time. Oddly the library is mostly empty, and that's probably because finals are now over, one of which you've now undoubtedly failed. You think of how stupid you've been to obsess over an outlawed art that you probably wouldn't be any good at anyway! You've only been dwelling on the subject to ignore your own problems that you could've tried to solve yourself, instead of fantasizing about being some Necromancer. Raising the dead…what good would that do you? Delusions of grandeur. You wouldn't have enough motivation to try to take over the world anyway. There was only one person who truly motivated you, and she's gone.

You begin to think about Serena and begin to feel sorrow like when you first lost her. You've had enough of death. You leave the library in a daze and head back home to sleep off this miserable day.

You can't escape though; even your dreams bring death. You dream about Serena. At first she's alive and vibrant, and then suddenly she dies before your eyes. Then you see her grave with you sobbing over it and shouting how you demand that she not leave you.

Then she rises from her grave…and you wake up only to come face to face with her! She is a ghost floating near your bed.

"HOLY SHIT!" you shout and back up against your headboard.
"Shhhh! Hush my love, I'm risking a lot just by being here." She says looking around as if someone is going to bust down your door any minute.
"Serena, what's going on? This isn't a dream is it?"
"No, my dear I assure you that I am very real. And I have a message for you."
"A message?"
"Yes, embrace death and all the beauty it has to offer."
"You want me to kill myself, to join you?"
Serena laughs a bit. "No silly, you are to become a necromancer and bring the purity of death to the world."
"…yeah right. With my aptitude of magic, I doubt if I could raise a mouse skeleton."
"You always did lack confidence in yourself. I suppose that's why they sent me to motivate you one last time. Though I admit, I would've come to see you anyway."
"They?"

Serena side steps your question and continues.

"Look we haven't much time, but you HAVE the ability to become the greatest Necromancer since the Great Lich Lord who brought the world near the brink of extinction centuries ago, but you cannot do it alone…at least not yet. You must have allies. There are others like you on this campus who long to practice the dark arts. Seek them out and take over this college as your first step to your destiny."
"What? Hold on! What makes you think I want to do all this?"

Serena floats closer to you and touches your face with a ghostly hand. You feel completely calm.

"Because deep down it IS what you want. You know your thoughts are dominated by death. You even think of me rather than living girls and I've been dead for years. The very fact that your mind played a part in summoning me here is also proof of your desire."
"I miss you…"
"I know you do, but my point is, even before I died I remember you having an interest in the dark arts. Indeed it's part of what attracted me to you. But now I must return and you must fulfill your part in this world, whether you succeed or fail at this endeavor will ultimately be up to you, but I believe you will succeed."

Serena then floats a little closer to kiss you.

"Farewell, my love." She says and then disappears.

You're now wide awake and pacing the floor. You've been ambivalent about pursuing this path before, but the more you think about it and with this visit from Serena, this is the path you're going to choose. And why not? It's not like you have any better options in your life at this point.

You're going to do it, and though Serena mentioned others like you being on campus, you're damned if you have a clue to as of knowing who they are since you don't really socialize. Still, you can think of two people that could get you started. (Or at least not rat on you, when you start inquiring about Necromancy)

The next day you take your first steps towards darkness…

[User] You go talk to your creepy conjuration professor, Mr. Demar

[Assistant]
Chapter 2: Death Awaits

Serena's right, you're going to need the help of others and you head to Mr. Demar's office.

Mr. Demar's class was probably the only one you didn't struggle in too much. It's not really a popular field given that conjuration can lead to summoning demons. Still, there is use for it on a minor level, though of course it's strictly regulated by most governments.

Mr. Demar was a good professor, but the general agreement by everyone in your class, was that he was REALLY creepy. Plus there were always rumors about him. You always got the impression he was interested in doing a lot more with his area of expertise, but had to settle for teaching. He always seemed to be alright with you though.

When you get to his office, surprisingly it's open and he's busily shuffling some papers around.

"Mr. Demar?"
"Huh? What? Damn it, I thought I locked that door! Oh it's you, what do you want? And lock that door."
"Well uh…I had some questions…"
"Okay, what are they? Out with it." He says continuing to look at some strange parchments.
"Well, uh…I guess it's about magic, and I guess um…"

Mr. Demar looks up at you like he's going to slap you for stuttering so much. You finally speak up.

"I want to know more about Necromancy."

Mr. Demar steps back and gives you a few inspecting stares.

"I dunno what you're talking about, in fact if you don't get out of here I'm going report you to the dean for asking such questions." He warns, but you get the impression that he's not telling the truth. He probably thinks you were sent to spy on him by the dean or something. It's not like he hasn't been held under close scrutiny before.

"Mr. Demar, I'm not trying to get you into trouble, it's me! I really want to learn Necromancy, and you're about the only one I think can help me! I actually was worried about coming to you and I was nervous about the whole thing!"
"Hmm, well I guess I always did think you were inclined towards the dark arts and given your annoying stuttering a moment ago, you do sound like you were nervous. Okay, you want to learn? I'll teach you. I'll teach you like I'm currently teaching so many others right now. Surprised? Yes, the time is coming to pass that we who are inclined to REAL power begin to make our place in this world…permanently. Though I still have concerns about you, I mean while you did about average in my class, I'm well aware that you're not exactly the best student in other fields. I question whether you can handle the power of the dark arts, let alone become a Necromancer."

You stand up straight and reply. "I'm confident that this is my path."

"Good, I'm glad you said that, because there's no going back and this path is not for the weak. We also must maintain secrecy at all times until the day that we may take what is rightfully ours. Now come with me, we're going to see exactly what kind of potential you have."

Mr. Demar casts a spell and opens up a portal. He then prepares to enter it and beckons you to follow him, which you do. Suddenly you're whisked away into a place of near darkness. Given your immediate surroundings you'd guess that you're underground somewhere. You can hear the clinking of chains though nearby and moans.

"Where are we?"
"Your testing area, this where we're going to find out what exactly you're made of. In the next room, you'll find some undead friends. They're currently chained up, but they won't be for long. Now, you can kill them, but as a Necromancer you're supposed to be controlling them, so obviously you should try to do that."
"But I don't know how! You haven't taught me any spells!"
"And I'm not going to, you're going to have to figure this out yourself, but I will say this, it's all about the strength of willpower. Tap into your magical energy and if you have what it takes, you'll succeed. I'll leave you to it."

Demar disappears back into the portal and leaves you all by yourself. You've really gotten yourself into it and now there really isn't any going back, and you can hear the chains from the next room dropping to the ground and the moans getting louder and closer.

There's a large bone on the ground and not much else in the room, and you can't run either as there are no other exits.

[User] You pick up the bone and defend yourself

[Assistant]
You pick up the large bone and prepare for whatever is coming at you. A couple of zombies enter and as soon as they see you they shamble over.

You're a little shaken, and you attempt to do exactly what Demar said, but you're not having any effect. Soon one of the zombies is almost upon you and you lash out with the bone.

You give a few good whacks to the first one's skull causing it to collapse lifeless once again. You do the same to the second one. You're breathing hard and thank the fact that they were slow enough not to easily catch you.

However, your victory is short lived, when Demar appears again.

"(Sigh) you killed them, after I told you that was not the purpose. Plus you gave a poor showing in even attempting to control them. I don't see a future for you, if you cave under pressure like that."

You're a little dejected, but the worse is yet to come, when you find you won't be leaving this place. Mr. Demar can't risk you knowing about this place yet not being a disciple of his. He didn't last this long being undetected by taking chances.

With a few quick mumblings and you feel your body ravaged by rot. It's a horrible death, but one that results in you rising to take the place of the "test" zombies you just ruined.

You spend your remaining undead life shambling around underground until eventually when Demar feels it's time to attack, you're one of the first cannon fodder troops to be destroyed in the attempted take over.


[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 ... Researched the artifact

[Assistant]
You grab the artifact and fire up google.

What do you want to know?

[User] You what is a Shabti?

[Assistant] Shabti or Ushabti (Egyptian language) is a funerary figurine which served as a dead man's deputy in order to do labor for him, mostly agricultural, in the afterlife. They existed between the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt and the end of the First Intermediate Period.


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

[User] You stay 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] 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 restrict

[Assistant]
You begin restricting the amount of chems coming aboard, making sure not too much are given to each section of the ship, make sure only the safest are put through. The population, idiotic as they may be, react awfully, almost as badly as if the drugs were banned outright.

Additionally, you're forced to dedicate a portion of your men to enforcing these restrictions, as since the drugs aren't banned outright it means that the chem pushers have the ability to exploit, meaning you have to dedicate a force of soldiers to enforce these restrictions.

Still, in restricting the drugs, you stop the medical issues that most likely would've spread through the ship with allowing these drugs to spread through the ship.


[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 bah, you don't have time for this. You're going to sleep.

[Assistant]
You shake your head. You must be going mad to be hearing voices. It would be best not to look into it, for your own sanity if nothing else. You clench your eyes shut and throw a pillow over your head to block the voices out. Within minutes, you manage to doze off, falling into a fitful sleep full of nightmares.

In the morning, you begin to hear the voice again. It beckons for you to come to it, but you don't give in. You spend the day as you normally do, drinking wine and eating bread and passing out late into the night... But the voice does not stop.

This cycle continues for days, then weeks. You try to block the voice out but it keeps coming, and soon, it is joined by even more. Begging for you to come see them. When you resist, the voices continue, increasing in volume and barely contained rage.

One night you wake up in a cold sweat, greeted by the screeches of these specters haunting you. You're not sure how much more of this you can take.

[User] You need to escape, permanently. You reach for the dagger on your bedside.

[Assistant]
You can't take it anymore, no matter how hard you try. You reach for the dagger on your bedside, kept there for emergencies that never came. Now, it'll finally see some use. Ripping open your nightshirt's sleeves, you press the dagger against your wrist. The voices cry out for you not to do it, but you don't listen.

You slash downward against your wrist, splitting your veins and an artery. Blood leaks freely from the wound. Then, you do the same with the second wrist, beginning to feel light-headed. The voices continue to screech horrifically. It hurts your head to listen to, and combined with the blood loss makes your dizziness worse.

"You won't take me, you bastards!" you scream out at them, voice hoarse. With what little strength you have left, you pull your head back with one hand. With the other hand, you place the dagger against your throat and take a deep breath. Then, you slash. Darkness overtakes you.

Finally, there is silence.

THE END