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

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
You might be reverting back to old habits, but if there is some hectic bullshit going on out there, then you want to avoid it. They can handle it and you decide to be extra cautious and block the door with a chair.

You hear the sounds of gunfire above you. That isn't what bothers you so much as it's the growling and yelling that sounds like it's coming from nearby. You remember that there are other "patients" on this same floor.

More time passes and you still hear gunshots and the inhuman noises. You are starting to worry that it's quite possible this house is going to be overrun by these things, and you haven't even seen one. This fear becomes even more intense when you stop hearing the gunshots and only hear the guttural noises nearby. You start to feel like you've made another bad choice.

Suddenly there's an attempt to open the door only to be stopped by the chair you've propped against it. This is followed by a loud bang on the door, which scares the hell out of you.

"Suzy! What the hell? Is this door barricaded?" you hear Lilith's voice shout.
"Yeah…is it safe?" you ask.
"It's safe in that we're not in any immediate danger, but we gotta start getting the hell outta here. Open up!"

Wasting no time you move the chair and the door opens up. Lilith throws your clothes at you and you can hear those awful noises in the corridor. Yelling and banging.

"Here. Get dressed and don't worry about the noises, the other subjects aren't getting out of those rooms anytime soon." Lilith says.

You're not as sure as Lilith is about that, so you just get dressed as fast as you can and exit the room with her.

"So what's going on?" you ask as you follow her.
"What's going on is Leslie and I are heading to that GZ Shelter after he and I gather a few things. The crazies from town are spilling out from it and we don't want to be here in case another wave comes. I was hoping to have more time to pack, but I guess we can't have everything."

You and Lilith get to the ground floor and finally see the house proper. It's a bit of a mess now probably due to all the running around and shooting, but obviously was nice at one time. Then you enter the front room and see several broken windows, and couple of dead bodies. One of them is a uniformed man with his throat ripped out and several slashes across his face.

Nearby him is a body of a disheveled looking woman with several bullet holes in her body and head. She still has a chunk of flesh in her teeth and even in death her eyes display a crazed look. It sort of freaks you out.

"Um, that guy in the uniform, shouldn't someone shoot him in the head?"
"What? No. These aren't zombies. They're just well…rabid." Lilith chuckles. "Headshots aren't even necessary to kill them, though it sure as hell helps."

A couple more uniformed men with the Ground Zero insignia on them walk into the room holding rifles.

"Place seems to be all secure Dr. Morningstar. No other hostiles in the house or around the house." One of them says.
"Good. Glad not all of you were incompetent. Wait, are you two the only ones left?"
"Afraid so doctor." One of them remarks.
"Oh well. Okay, I want you two to stand guard out front. Make sure there isn't another horde or whatever coming our way and if there is, run back in here and tell me immediately."

The two uniformed men nod and leave out the front door which is now half hanging off the hinges. You and Lilith both take a quick look outside and see the bodies of several crazies as well as GZ security. In the driveway you see that Lilith's truck is heavily shot up and a couple bodies of crazed townies lie next to it.

"Great, these assholes never learned the concept of one shot one kill. (Sigh) Guess we're all just piling into the Ground Zero van." Lilith says shaking her head.

Lilith continues looks around a bit more at her partially destroyed house.

"Well at least nobody has to clean this up this time. I remember the many many times I'd come home from work and I'd find Leslie had left a damn mess all over the house, much worse than this sometimes even. A lot more bodies too. Still remember the disorder he left when he was trying to write a poem for me on one of our past anniversaries. But it was such a lovely and thoughtful sentiment so I wasn't too mad…anyway have you made your decision of what you're going to do yet?" Lilith asks.

You still really aren't sure and lacking an answer, you ask a question.

"What would I do at the shelter again?
"Well I told you, I'm not in charge of assignments, but I'm sure there would be some sort of position there for you. Ground Zero doesn't waste resources."
"I see."

Lilith looks at you with a squint.

"You…still don't trust me do you? Don't answer. I know you don't. (Sigh) I suppose I don't blame you. Look, if you don't want to go with us you don't have to, I meant that. Still, I think it would be foolish if you didn't."
"It might be equally foolish if I went with you. Who knows what the hell is in store for me in an underground shelter." You say.
"True, but think on this. If I really had anything bad in store for you there, don't you think I would've just had security and my brother restrain you and take you there against your will anyway? I'm giving you a choice. You can go with us, or not. One of your problems Suzy is you don't take chances, you stick with what you think is safe and look where that has gotten you. But if safety is your main concern, I'm just going to say that staying here isn't exactly the safe option. This house isn't secure, you'll have a few days of food and water at best and if the crazed townsfolk don't come ripping this place apart again, there are always just the plain opportunists that are no doubt lurking about as well. You don't even have a vehicle to leave this place. Mine got all shot up and we're taking the other one. Do you even have a plan if you stay here?"

You don't…as usual.

"No." you reply.
"Well I'd think your choice would be simple then. Anyway, I have to bags to pack and when I'm done, I'm going to need to know what your answer is Suzy." Lilith remarks and leaves you by yourself.

You walk around the ground floor of the house a bit, just looking around. You start to form various thoughts in your head about how this place could be made more defensible. You just aren't sure if you're up to the task though.

You briefly consider the idea of somehow overpowering one of those GZ security guys outside and driving off with the truck yourself, but you aren't confident that you'd be successful. You then wonder if you could successfully flirt with one of them…

You head outside and speak with both of the guards while attempting to be as charming as you can. You even manage to muster up the fortitude to blatantly make sexual innuendo and such.

It doesn't work. One of them is gay and the other is happily married and even if that wasn't the case, they get irritated at the fact that you're distracting them from their duty and start telling you to go away. You realize your plan isn't going to work and you give up.

"Christ Suzy, some seductress you are." You mutter to yourself.

This brings you back to your original two choices and both of those have the potential to go to shit for various reasons, but it's all you got.

[User] You stay at the house

[Assistant]
Lilith's right. Your choice is simple.

And that's the one that doesn't involve going somewhere with a pair of sociopaths and a shady corporation.

"Safest choice my firm ass it is." You say to yourself.

Lilith's psychobabble about you might've been a bit spot on in places, but it made you realize that not only is it not completely true, but that this past week you HAVE been making a concentrated effort to adapt to your surroundings.

True, you haven't been successful at it for the most part, but you've survived this long in this fucked up week, so you must not be too terrible at it either. Having to fend for yourself isn't fun, but then being alone isn't exactly new to you.

In any case, you still don't trust Lilith and begin looking around the house and there in the kitchen, you pick up a fairly large butcher knife. Actually it isn't a knife so much as it's a machete. One can only imagine what the hell it's doing in their kitchen, but you can take a guess.

You at first wonder if you should go try to kill Lilith or something, but then you think that probably isn't the best plan. It's likely to just end in your demise at the hands of her guards or her brother. You're not some close combat expert and despite what Lilith said about you possibly "exploding into a ball of violent rage" you actually don't have so much hate for her that you want to kill her without provocation. She actually might be telling the truth about the shelter as well rather than have any sinister intent.

Still, you aren't ready to take that chance either. While she has said she'll just leave you in peace if decline the offer, you still have images of someone grabbing you, drugging you and taking you to the shelter against your will.

So that leaves one option. You're going to go hide. The question is where though. Lilith's upstairs, he brother is in the basement. You imagine if you hid somewhere on the ground floor, you'd get discovered pretty quickly…

It occurs to you, that you could just go out the backdoor and leave the premises for a while. You know they're still in a hurry to get the hell out of here, chances are, they are not going to spend a whole lot of time looking for you, let alone looking for you off the grounds of the house.

So that's what you do. You leave out the backdoor. Unfortunately the backyard has a high wooden fence so climbing it wouldn't be the easiest thing to do (And chopping it with the machete, would just cause noise) and the gate leading to the side of the house is locked.

You see a shed, but you imagine that's locked as well and it doesn't seem like it would be a good place to hide. There are a couple trees in the yard and that's when you notice that one of them has a few branches hanging over the fence.

The tree in question looks a lot easier to climb than the fence so you go up the tree which is slightly tricky with the machete still in your hand, but you soon make it to the branch you need to get to, drop the machete on the ground first and then drop down.

And promptly land wrong and twist the hell out of your ankle as you crumple to the ground.

"Fuck. Shit…" you start to curse until you stop yourself, when you hear a voice yelling on the other side of the fence.

"I dunno where your blonde lab rat is, go get your guards to look. I'm trying to look for my favorite machete! I thought I had it in the kitchen, but it's not there. I'm going to check the shed."

From your low angle and through the slats of the fence you can see Leslie walking towards his shed. Definitely turning back now as you're most likely in possession of Leslie's favorite machete and you really hope that this isn't going to inspire a "hunt."

You crawl away from the fence and the house as fast as you can. The pain in your ankle makes standing to "limp away" a bit more painful, but your desire to not get caught allows you to fight through it.

The high grass and the occasional bush or tree makes your escape into the "wilderness" slightly less nerve wracking since at least you aren't in a completely open field where if they were looking for you, you would be an easy find.

Just as you think you're getting far enough away, you hear a voice call out your name in the distance. You freeze and turn your head to look behind you, but you don't see anyone. You still hear Lilith's voice shouting for you from far away, but you guess that she's just doing it from near the house rather than actively searching for you.

Eventually you cease hearing her call for you and you take a breather within a cluster of trees. Actually you think if you went any further, you'd probably start going into a forest which you're prepared to do if you think anyone is actually going to come looking for you. For now though, you need to rest your ankle a bit.

A few moments pass and you don't hear anything other than the occasional bird. A rabbit bounding nearby makes you jump a bit, but so far you don't think anyone is coming out this way to look for you.

Still, you can't tell if they've all left yet. You decide to be on the safe side, you'll wait a little longer. No more than that though since you really don't want to get caught out here in the dark.

So you wait, keeping your eyes and ears open. Really before now, you didn't realize how rural of an area you lived in. You don't think you've ever appreciated the outdoors before…and you still don't now.

Time passes and still no sign of anyone heading your way. You decide they've probably left by now and it's probably safe.

You ankle feels slightly better, but it still aches. As you try to keep your weight off of it and make your way back to the house, you suddenly hear rustling noise in the trees and bushes nearby. At first you think it's another rabbit, but then you see exactly what it is

"Shit!" you exclaim when you see a wild looking man with an equally wild look in his eyes. He sees you and makes that awful animalistic noise you heard while you were locked away in the basement and then sprints straight for you.

Fear grips you, but you know you can't outrun it with your ankle not being a hundred percent. Your only saving grace is you aren't completely defenseless.

You barely have time to react by the time it lunges upon you. You manage to swing your blade and as luck would have it you sink the blade across the thing's face while its mouth was wide open.

You weren't strong enough to cleave its head off, but it can't really bite you with a machete blade in the way either. Still, that doesn't stop it from tackling you to the ground, not to mention the blade is now stuck half way through its head and you couldn't really pull it out if you wanted to what with it being on top of you now.

With blood spray all over you and this thing still trying to kill you, you do the only thing you can think of: You push the flat edge of the blade on your side and the handle so the machete cuts deeper into the thing's head. It makes horrible squeals and shrieks, and keeps attempting to claw at your face, blood, teeth, bits of flesh are spraying/falling on you, but you keep the pressure on until at last you successfully shove the blade all the way through and the top of it's head come off.

After a bit more struggling, you get the thing completely off of you as it still attempts to kill you in its death throes. The thing continues to twitch and you're busily looking around to make sure more of them aren't coming or if the Morningstars are still around and heard all the noise. There doesn't seem to be anyone else around though. By the way this thing was dressed he even looked like he might be a camper so hopefully it was just him in the woods.

You just realize you killed someone…well someTHING at any rate. You don't feel bad, since it was more out of necessity. You get the impression you might be killing more of these things in the near future, so better you get used to it now.

You quicken your pace to the house though still proceeding cautiously as possible. You hug the back fence and slowly edge your way around to the front of the house and you see that the Ground Zero vehicle is gone, along with the two guards that were out front.

At least that's one thing you don't need to worry about.

You enter the house through the still open front door and check the ground floor and find nobody around. The place is still a mess though. You're about to check the upstairs when you see a piece of paper attached to the refrigerator with your name written in big black marker. You take it and read.

Suzy,

Assuming you came back here, I just want to say I understand why you ran off like you did and I probably wouldn't have completely trusted you if the roles were reversed. Still, it is a shame we didn't get to say a proper goodbye to each other. Leslie was quite angry with your theft of his favorite machete, but I talked him out of attempting to hunt you down for it. Not like we even need it where we're going.

Anyway, I imagine you should have power in this house for a couple days at least. There is food and drink in the fridge and in the cupboards. You'll probably want to eat the stuff in the fridge first before the power goes out and spoilage occurs though.
Not sure if you'll like some of it, but considering you liked the meatloaf, maybe you'll like what's in there.

Good luck Suzy, I certainly hope your foray into being a survivalist is successful. I mean that. You're going to have to really push yourself and prepare for what is coming, but I think you've got a shot.

Lilith Morningstar

P.S.

The other patients are still locked in the rooms in the basement. There are four of them in total and have already very likely broken their restraints by now. As I have said before, the doors should be more than enough to contain them and you should be safe from them as long as you don't open the rooms.

Well that was certainly a thoughtful note to you.

You sit down for a second thinking of what to do next. You thought that maybe you'd try to barricade this house up and stay here, but now you're wondering if you shouldn't just leave considering you've got four of those things clawing to get out of the basement. You to come to the conclusion that you might stay here another day tops and that's only to just search this place of anything useful and then you're heading out to well, you don't know where exactly, but you're going to continue to play this by ear.

For right now though, you really need to wash up. You're covered in blood, gore, dirt and generally feel really gross. You really don't want to use the shower in that room you were in during your time in the basement of this place though. You head upstairs in the hopes of finding another bathroom and sure enough you find one.

Lilith's clothes are a slightly bigger size, but you can't afford to be choosey since your own clothes are a bloody mess and it doesn't make much sense changing back into them.

During all this, you continue to keep your wits about you. Still afraid that something may pop up to attack at any time. By the time you're out of the shower, night is beginning to fall.

While you would've liked to have gotten started on searching the house you're a little wary of turning on the lights in this house since it might very well attract more attention than you want. You do gather up a duffle bag that Lilith apparently decided not to use and plan to use that as your container for your search tomorrow.

Given that you're staying here the night, you need to secure this house as much as you can. You lock the back door and the basement door. (And trying to ignore the noises you hear coming from down there) You then shove a sofa in front of the ruined front door. It's not much, but if those things try to come in, you'll most likely hear it at least.

You also realize you haven't eaten all day, so you look in the fridge and grab something that looks similar to the meatloaf you ate yesterday since you don't feel like making a decision.

"Hm, Lil and Les really liked their meatloaf I guess." You say and eat the stuff in the dark. (At least you don't need to look at it this time) Tastes okay.

You're up for quite awhile paranoid about every noise you hear. However, you know you can't stay awake all night despite your paranoia.

You head back upstairs to one of the bedrooms and close the door. You then shove a dresser in front of it. Best you can do.

You then flop down on the bed and reluctantly let sleep take you.

[User] Next day…

[Assistant]
FRIDAY

You wake up to the sound of a noisy vehicle outside. You waste no time in springing to your feet.

You cautiously peek out the window and see a beat up pick up truck pulling up behind Lilith's shot up vehicle. You then see two familiar figures get out of the truck with one of them speaking loud enough for you to hear even from your position.

"Woowee! Looks like we missed some shit going down around here! Make sure you keep yer eyes peeled! Thinkin' Doc might not even be alive anymore!" Jed exclaims.

"Shit. What the fuck are those two assholes doing here?" you say to yourself.

You see Hugo and Jed both carrying shotguns and going to the back of the pick up, which from your vantage point you can see a pile of blankets in the bed of the truck. Jed uncovers the blanket and reveals a naked woman tied up with ropes. She looks dirty, beaten and bloody. You can't quite tell if she's dead, but she's definitely unconscious.

You then see Jed say something to his brother and points to the house. Hugo nods and you see him walk out of your view. You temporarily freeze up when you hear a knock from downstairs. You hear it several times until you hear Jed shouting at his dim-witted brother.

"Jesus fuckin' Christ Hugo, are ya stupider than usual today? Can't ya see that door is already hangin' off the fuckin' hinges? Just go in, and fuckin' check the place out, then let me know if Doc's even around or not. I'll be out here keepin' this fierce one entertained." Jed shouts and you see him patting the leg of the girl a couple times.

The knocking becomes a crashing sound as you hear Hugo bashing the door in and probably moving the sofa in the process. You turn your attention away from what's going on outside and how you're going to handle this situation.

You think about climbing out the window and on to the roof, but that's a risky proposition. Not really so much of the risk of falling (Though your ankle still hurts a bit) but more because Jed is practically in front of you and if he just bothers to till his head up or hears you, he's going to see you and probably open fire.

You look around the room and hoping maybe there is a firearm or something that Lilith didn't take, but you don't find anything. That dresser you put up against the door isn't going to last long if Hugo tries to come in here.

You suppose you could just try shoving move stuff against it, but considering he not only looks extremely strong, he's got a shotgun and could probably just blast his way through.

You hear Hugo stomping around downstairs.

If Hugo comes up here, and you hide in the closet, there's the possibility that you could get the drop on him as he walks in.

You wonder though if it might not be more advantageous to just head downstairs and try to sneak up on him now though. If he comes up and things go to shit, you aren't going to have any place to run to, especially if he traps you in this room.

[User] You seek out Hugo

[Assistant]
Either way you're going to have to get the drop on him, better you have more places to run to, rather than just being trapped in one room.

As quietly as you can you move the dresser out of the way of the door and exit the bedroom. You still hear Hugo clomping around downstairs and you actually wait around the corner of the stairs hoping that maybe if he is heading upstairs you can ambush him that way.

Waiting doesn't prove fruitful though and in fact you think Hugo's footsteps are actually getting fainter. It then occurs to you, he's probably looking for Leslie and Leslie would be down in the basement.

You cautiously head downstairs though you do it fairly quickly since the last thing you want is to be wrong and get caught going half way down the stairs while Hugo is going up them.

After a quick look around on the ground floor and keeping your ears open you're not hearing or seeing Hugo down here. You are starting to hear Jed shouting from outside though. When you peek out the window, you can't quite see everything, but you notice Jed is clearly doing something with the woman that was in the back of the truck. You can guess what that might be given his movements and vulgar shouting.

You head towards the stairs of the basement and you nearly fall down them when you're startled by a sudden gunshot coming from down there. Hugo must've just shot one of the four "patients" down there. Of course it's hard to know if he'd opened a door and killed one or perhaps it managed to get out on its own. Either way, you're going to have to be really careful.

You get to the basement floor and the noise of those things is much louder. You peek around the corner and down the corridor you see two doors to the rooms open. The closest one you know was yours, so nothing in there. The second one however looks like it also has a dead body lying partially in the entryway.

You see Hugo in the corridor opening up another door across the hall of the other two open ones. He isn't really paying much attention to your direction and when he steps into the other room, you make a dash for your old room and get inside.

Along with hearing the banging of the creatures still locked up, you hear another shotgun blast signifying Hugo's killed another one. You figure before he opens up the next door, you run up and chop him in the back of the head.

You peek out from behind the door and see Hugo exiting the room. He walks to the middle of the corridor and begins fiddling with his shotgun, as if he's having trouble with it.

Just then the door across from him bursts open and one of the patients attacks him. You see and hear them struggle, growling, yelling, and everything else that comes with a life or death situation.

It gets more interesting however when you see Hugo drop the shotgun as he's struggling with the patient.

You waste no time and rush from your position to nab it. Hugo meanwhile is still struggling with the patient who has now bitten into Hugo's hand. You're about to put a hole in the pair of them and that's when the door to the room containing the last patient bursts open.

The thing seeing that one of its "fellows" is already struggling with Hugo, it screams and lunges forward to attack you instead.

You instinctively turn the shotgun towards the patient and pull the trigger, unfortunately it doesn't work which is why Hugo was fiddling with it earlier. It was jammed.

Before you can pick your machete back up to defend yourself, the thing has already tackled you. You struggle for a moment, but this one is a lot stronger than the one you fought with yesterday. It soon overpowers you and its teeth are ripping your throat out and its fingers are clawing your eyes out.


[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 run to the van and look for a weapon, maybe a tire iron.

[Assistant]
Your ears are still ringing as you run around the rear of the van and do indeed find a tire iron right inside the back doors. You grab it and turn around to see the man standing there, nodding his head. He reaches out and adjusts your grip on the tire iron, explaining why holding at the different location can give you better leverage. He also shows you a number of other different, common items in the back of the van that could be used as quick, improvised, and deadly weapons. He shows you a few places to strike people that will work better to stun or disable them long enough for you to escape, should the need arise.
The man looks at you and says, "We have time for just one more training session. I can teach you more details about what you already know, or I can teach you a different skill, the choice is up to you. And yes, there is going to be a test at the end of this. It will be a real test, and you might not survive. But I hope you do. So what do you select for you final training?"

[User] You stealth training

[Assistant]
The man leads you over to a large table along the wall of the warehouse. Spread out across the table are a number of different types of gadgets and devices. He takes the time and shows you how to use some simple items to pick a lock and how to disable a security system. He shows you how you can use some of the gadgets to help you distract people and allow you time to move about without being seen or heard. He shows you simple ways to break into place and more difficult ways to bypass security systems and other types of systems designed to keep you out.
The man looks at you and says, "We are out of time. You are either ready or you are not ready. And that is what we will determine now." He turns and walks over to a door in the rear of the room and disappears through it. You are alone in the large warehouse, wondering if you were supposed to follow the man.
You have trained the following levels of skills:
Stealth: 2
Charm: 0
Weapons: 1


[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 did you have family?

[Assistant]
"Did you have a family?"

She seemed puzzled at that question, as she didn't immediately respond.

It took you a moment before you realized how stupid that question was, of course, she had a family when she was still alive. Fuck, that was a really stupid question.

"Yeah..." She answers a bit awkwardly, with her eyes moving in different directions again.

Let's try that again.


[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 convince her to take Kong back

[Assistant]
Nope you were here to help Kong and that's what you're going to do, for good or bad.

"See? See what I'm saying Nancy? You're doing it again! You're falling for the romantic bit. Ymir's just saying all that shit to get on your good side."
"You think so?"
"Hell yeah! A lot of guys do it; you should know that by now! Look, I've used the same damn routine on several occasions until I just got too fucking lazy and decided it was too much trouble!"
"I suppose you're right, but why would he be too shy to show up? Surely it can't all be an act."
"Hey, guy can do anything to get the pussy. Of course maybe it isn't an act, and he's just a creepy stalker type. You ever think of that? Maybe hiding and secretly spying on you! He is smaller than you, you know."

Nancy looks a bit worried by that revelation.

"Eek! I never even thought of that!"
"See? That's why you shouldn't even consider getting with Ymir and should go back with Kong, at least you know where you stand with him."
"Maybe…but what about Glenn?"
"What?! Hell no! You don't want him, he's a fucking nutball! Maybe Kong's not the most sensitive, but at least you can reason with him. He can't be all bad; you have stayed married all these years."
"I guess you're right. Maybe I overreacted…okay you can tell Kong he can come back, but he's going to have to stop saying some of the shit he says to me!"
"I'll tell him."

Nancy puts you back on the floor and opens the door for you to leave. You get back on your bike and ride back home to where Kong is munching on some leaves in a bored fashion.

"Hey Kong…what the fuck man? You eat every leaf in the fucking forest?"
"Just the ones in the immediate area…what? I was hungry!"
"Well, you can get yourself a home cooked meal now, Nancy's willing to take you back, BUT you need to at least act a little less like an asshole. Tell her you love her and all that shit every now and then."
"Aw man…"
"Jesus fuckin' Christ Kong it ain't that hard! Hell she's doing everything for your broke ass. I wish I was that fuckin' lucky! You oughta be a little bit appreciative! She's got other giants after her already."
"What?! Oh shit! I guess I better watch myself."
"Guess you better, okay then off you go."
"Hey thanks Wolf, I won't forget this, when Nancy gives me my weekly allowance I'll make sure to have a check sent to you."

He takes his leave and you head back home, not really expecting anything from Kong, a few days later when you're dreading having to take that comic convention job, you get a check in the mail, its from Kong just like he promised.

Hooray, you can avoid being a guest speaker for a bunch of nerds for at least another year!


[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 quit

[Assistant]
After a long period of introspection, you realize your choices haven't really gotten you anywhere good. You've alienated your mother by breaking the law. You continued to break the law while in possession of the inn and your staff grew to dislike you and you don't even own the place anymore. You moved on to being an accessory to murder in illegal experiments for monetary gain and your own obsession to go to medical school.

You've managed to get away with it all so far, but for how much longer? Are you going to end up like Dr. Kovas and be a misanthropic asshole hated by your colleagues by day and be a completely batshit insane madman by night? You know you aren't a "good guy" after all the shit you've been doing, but you figure you can do something to at least keep from getting worse.

So it's decided, you leave Klyton with no fanfare. You aren't particularly worried about Dr. Kovas. Most likely he'll just curse you for being a "weakling bound by pangs of morality" but that's about it.

You end up going to Teckleville where your mom is surprised to see you. You make up with her and apologize for what happened between the both of you. You of course don't let her know about all the stuff you did while assisting Dr. Kovas.

You live with her for a while and try to figure out what you're going to do with your life and eventually you get a job as a teacher at the high school in town where your extensive knowledge on the sciences comes in quite handy and greatly appreciated.

For several years you live a fairly mundane life. It's even a little boring at times, but you don't mind it. You may have lived out the rest of your days in Teckleville if things had gone right, but as they say, there ain't no rest for the wicked.

While you were building a new life in Teckleville, Dr. Kovas was still continuing his illegal experiments; he also eventually got caught and was arrested for his crimes. He wasn't in custody for long since he was killed trying to escape. Unfortunately for you, he kept detailed journals about his experiments and your name was mentioned several times in them. (Mostly in hate filled rants after you left)

One day while you're teaching a class, the Klyton militia shows up and you already know what they're there for.

"Um, okay class just take out your books and read chapters twelve and thirteen until the bell rings, I have to speak to these men for a moment." You say and leave with the militia.

You are shackled and taken away in a coach. It's quite the spectacle to the folks witnessing the event. You don't ask to say goodbye to your mother, you wouldn't know how to explain this and it would just break her heart again. Granted she's going to find out eventually anyway, but you don't have to be the one to face her.

Your return to Klyton is a short one since you immediately plead guilty to the judge. No sense in drawing it out you think. You spend your last few days in a cell waiting to be hanged, thinking about the mistakes you made and how you're finally sorry that you didn't make better choice when you had the chance.

When you're at the gallows you are asked if you have any last words, but you have none. The lever is pulled, you fall through the hole and the rope snaps your neck instantly.


[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 visit the Tau Empire

[Assistant]
Your shuttle slowly docks with the Tau ship, named the Blah Blah Blah Blah Nonsense Bullshit Weird Alien Language, or something like that. The Staine Siblings, Captain Hayes and Fay are with you.

"So, you're sure you don't what to tell me what to expect here?" you ask Kyros' surviving lieutenants.

"Kyros kept his dealings with these Xenos hidden from us," Durge says, staring at you. "He didn't tell any of us, and I doubt he told Rebecca. He kept his information to the Magos and the Taj."

You look at Hayes, who raises an eyebrow.

"Shit, seriously? Is that why you made me come to this?" Hayes asks. "Karth, I don't know what fucking deal you made with the the mutant hermit guy, let alone the deal Kyros made with the Tau. Shit, I'm not even sure what the deal is between you and me. Are you paying me? Do I get a share in the ship's profit, or some bullshit like that? Fuck if I know."

You sigh, as the shuttle doors open. A dozen tall, slender blue-skinned Tau stand there, wearing red robes. They all smile as they see you, with the one in the middle stepping forward.

"Hello, Karth of the Uwais Tribe of Rama! I am Flo'O Vior'La Vin Dorn Varoh. Please, call me Varoh for short. I recognize all your esteemed lieutenants and companions. The powerful warrior Fay of the Azajaja Tribe of Rama, Ex-Captain Jon Hayes of the 22nd Regiment, Elizabeth Staine of the One-Eyed Crows, Durge Staine the Ever-Rotting of the Black Rats and Elios the Perverted of the Shrieking Harpies."

"Terrific. Now that the names are out of the way, shall we get to business?" you ask.

"If that is what you wish, Karth," Varoh says. "Before we begin, we have gifts for you."

The other Tau negotiators step forward. One offers you a large copper and bronze staff topped with a human skull that seems to have been forged into the staff.

"For Master Karth, we have a gift of the Staff of Acetabularii," he, or she, it's not exactly easy to say. "It is an ancient bronze and copper staff millennia old excavated on a recently colonized world that ancient Shamans used with their magic."

You take the staff, and channel a burst of psychic energy through it. From the top of the head bursts a jet of flames as purple flames dance around the skull itself. Perhaps a useful artifact and a tool for less trained psykers, but for you, it seems unnecessary. The negotiators look extremely shocked and surprised at this, to which you frown.

"Sorry?" you say.

"Uh, no, not at all! We're glad you like it!" Varoh says. "It's just fascinating you can do that."

You wonder what he means, as this was far from a psychic achievement, before remembering Primus' briefing you on how the Tau aren't a psychic species, and have no psykers.

"Ah, OK," you reply.

You look at all your lieutenants as they receive a gift from the Tau Empire. Fay gets a flamethrower-type weapon from some Xenos species, Hayes gets a set of dark green and golden Carapace Armor, Elizabeth gets a large tome with a bestial skull seemingly built into the cover, Elios gets a strange device with a long of needles, and Durge receives a rotting skull covered in fireflies in a glass, clear box, which the negotiator handles very carefully.

"Thanks," you say. "Can we go?"

"Of course," Varoh replies, as he and his negotiators lead your crew down the hallways to the meeting room.

You all sit around the table, with you facing Varoh at the head of the table.

"Can I smoke in here?" Hayes asks, already lighting the cigarette between his lips.

"Of course," Varoh says. "So Karth, I assume you're here to renew the deal we made with Kyros, yes? We offer you the same terms."

 "Yeah, about that. We're not exactly sure what deal you actually had with Kyros," you say.

"Oh," Varoh says. "Did he not tell any of you? One would think he would trust his lieutenants."

"Yeah, whatever. So tell me, what was this deal you had?"

"Military assets are hard to find in this area. Kyros was a prominent war-band that raided the sector, so we made a deal with him. Kyros had a habit of raiding worlds, so we made a payment to him in order for him to make several promises. For our continued payment, he avoided raiding any Tau assets or engaging any of our assets, and he would take our advice in which worlds to hit. If a trade convoy was bringing weapons to the front to fight off our advances, Kyros would target it for us. Additionally, he'd also place us as his prime client for mercenary work and would sell us what he raided."

"How much would that deal earn us?" you ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Twenty million Thrones," Varoh says, as you grin.

"Ah, that sounds... acceptable," you say.

"What if we refuse?" Elios asks.

"We have other offers," Varoh says. "If that's too much, we simply want a non-aggression pact, and to have a small group of a half dozen Tau on your vessel to make the voice of the Tau Empire known. You avoid attacking our assets, and we pay you ten million Thrones."

"Is that all the offers?"

"Well... we had offered Kyros a better offer, but he refused."

"What was the offer?"

"For thirty million Thrones, we become allies. We'll offer you our support when needed, and we expect you to offer yours. The terms are similar to the twenty million Thrones offer, except except instead of our advice, you will assist us when we demand. Please know, we will must definitely not be unreasonable. If you find we are taking advantage of you, we are more than happy to rearrange the deal. We'll even give you a small portion of Tau forces to assist you in your mission."

Hmmm... the deal they're offering is an interesting one. There seems to be dangers with the thirty million offer, but that money could be essential. The ten million offer most definitely will be accepted if the others aren't, as harming the Tau wasn't really on your list anyway, and you could use the funds.

[User] You become full allies with the Tau Empire

[Assistant]
You extend your hand, smiling.

"Alright. We'll become your full allies for a payment of thirty million Thrones."

The Tau negotiator grins, shaking your hand.

"Please, it's not a "payment". Consider it a gift. Consider us funding you as proud allies of the Greater Good, so you can do what's necessary."

"Terrific," you reply. "Well, I suppose that's all we have to discuss. We're ready to go."

"The Tau forces to join you will join you in a few minutes," Varoh says.

You nod, say your goodbyes and head back towards your shuttle. You arrive, finding a small squad of Tau Fire Warriors waiting for you. One works forward, saluting.

"Sir! I am Shas'Ui T'au Kais Ranar. The rest of the Tau auxiliary forces to be placed under your command are taking shuttles to your ship."

"Perfect," you say. "I'll have Primus sort you out with your beds and all that."

"Understood Sir, thank you sir," Shas'Ui Ranar says.

"Just head to whatever shuttle you have, and get aboard the ship," you say, turning and walking off.