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

[User] You go with the cyborg

[Assistant]
You lower your rifle (But still hold on to it) and walk side by side with the cyborg who is surprisingly chatty, you also see it walks a bit irregularly, like it hasn't been spliced together correctly.

"Alex will be most pleased to see you; you'll be the first human here in months!"
"What happened to all the others?"
"Oh well most of them have been improved like m-m-m-m." the cyborg hits itself in the head before he stops stuttering "Like me, sir."
"Hmm, some improvement."
"Oh well, its not so bad. Alex promises to give us a tune up when he gets the necessary time, he is only one man after all. Some assistants would certainly help."
"So Alex is a surgeon?"
"Well he's not really. I mean he didn't start out that way at least, but he's completely self taught and trying to learn more each day! Sure there have been some failures, but there's also been success! Why look at m-m-m-m." the cyborg hits itself in the head again while you just shake yours. You can see this is going to be an interesting meeting.

"So who were you before Alex…uh improved you."
"Oh I was a regular military man who guarded this base with no real identity. Just a name and a number really."
"And now?"
"Now I'm known as J-34 and I protect Alex!"
"That's great… so everyone here is a cyborg like you?"
"Just about. Most military personnel were friends with Alex before being renewed, so they were happy to be improved. The GZS personnel weren't so enthusiastic about the idea, in fact they were mad that Alex discovered their top secret project. They tried to stop him, but they were stopped instead. Alex saw that the project would be pointless in trying to perfect it to use in a war that was going to be over in six minutes. Better that it should be applied to those that would surely survive the aftermath of that same war. Here we are, I'm sure Alex will want to hear all about the outside world, hey maybe he'll improve you too!"

You enter an office where a man sits at a desk pouring over technical manuals and medical books. Two more cyborgs armed with some sort science fictionish weapons stand by him. There's no way you could hope to kill him without them killing you as well. He looks up.

"Ah a guest! Been a long time since we've seen anyone new…in fact I'm a little puzzled on how you even found this place, let alone entered it…you're not GZS are you?" Alex says changing his pleasant demeanor in mid sentence.
"No! Not at all! I'm here because the Colonel sent me. He says you and he are friends. Here. Here's his ring and a letter he wrote to prove it. He'd also given me a security pass so I could enter this place."

Alex takes the ring and letter and inspects them both, before addressing you again.

"Well it looks like everything's legitimate. I shall trust you. Though I'm not sure I trust the Colonel. I never did trust him. He only wanted to use me so I could get access to high tech weaponry, but instead I found much more here! Much more than I ever told him! Ha ha! I hear him trying to radio in, wondering if there's anyone here, I've been ignoring him. He and his group of right wing loonies are unworthy of being re-made. If they think they're true survivialists then they don't need the gifts that this base provides. All of it is mine, I EARNED this place and it shall be I who ushers in a new era. Not GZS, not the government and not the fucking goddamn Colonel!"

Alex is obviously unhinged, you don't know if he was always this way or got that way later, but it hardly matters, what's of major importance is that you walk away from this meeting unscathed. You try to calm him down.

"Whoa hold on, I don't think the Colonel or any of his right wing loonies would want to be re-made."
"Nonsense, anyone with any sense of survival would want to be re-made if they new about what was being worked on here."

You can't help, but notice that Alex hasn't done any improvements on himself…

"However, I can see you don't share that same short sighted thinking that the rest of those Compound cronies do. You are worthy of being re-made! In fact I would like to start now, I've been studying up on some new techniques and I would love to test them out. I think I could do a really good job this time, there will definitely be less acc…er complications than in the past."

This is just getting worse. Now this nutjob wants to work on you.

"Look, I don't want to be re-made! I was just here to see if you were alive and scout this place out! Now that I've done that, I'm to return to the Compound!"
"Oh well now that's going to be a problem…I can't risk you telling him what's here."

You really didn't want to hear that.

"Look, I'll tell the Colonel that there wasn't anything here, I can reason with him. You can even take my security pass to make sure I can't get back in if you're really worried. However, if he doesn't hear from me, he's only going to send more folks to this place."
"And what of it? They wouldn't be able to get in and even if they could, his weekend warriors would be no match for Cybernetic Evolution!"
"No, but they could just blow up the elevator trapping you down here forever, and you'll never be able to leave to allow your genius to usher in the new era that you were talking about."

That seems to relax Alex a bit, as always a little flattery goes a long way to ease an unbalanced mind.

"Hmm, perhaps you make some sense, and you seem like a trustworthy sort…very well. I shall arrange for you to leave. Give me your security pass."
"Okay, and I'll be needing the Colonel's ring and letter back, so I can say I didn't find anything here."

You and Alex exchange items and he and his two cyborg guards escort you back to the elevator.

"Goodbye, perhaps if we meet again you will be more receptive to being re-made. It's a harsh new world, and you'll soon wish you had an edge to survive it." Alex tells you before you leave.

"I'll do alright."

The elevator goes up and you're back on the surface again where you make your trek back to the compound in just a few days. You notice there have been a few changes in the few days you've left. Namely there's a still to make hooch. And you now have some working vehicles that been modified to run on hooch. The same still that people are making cheap booze from they're also using it as fuel, which basically translates into the vehicles running on "garbage" given that's what the booze is being made out of. Smells pretty bad, but whatever works. Though from what you heard some towns have been found to be running their vehicles on shit (animal AND human) so the smell could be worse. There's been a couple deaths from some of the other recon missions, but for the most part everything else is normal.

Everyone's almost surprised to see you come back, Marina's happy, Harry obviously isn't. The Colonel though wants to see you immediately.

Since you don't owe any allegiance to some nutcase playing Frankenstein in an underground base, you tell the Colonel everything. You expect him to get mad at you, but he doesn't.

"(Sigh) Alex always was a bit unstable; I always wondered why the army never gave him a section 8. Anyway, what you're telling me doesn't surprise me, though I wish you could've gotten away without giving up that security pass. It's going to be harder to get down there now."
"You still want to go down there?"
"Of course! What you think I'm going to let Alex slowly refine and build up his cyborg army? Who do you think he's going to attack first? No, we need to get rid of him NOW. I suppose we could blow up the elevator doors to gain access. Not like we don't have the means to do that."
"Yeah, but don't you run the risk of blowing up the entire elevator, and causing it fall and crash down the shaft? We wouldn't be able to send anyone down there in an efficient manner. Let alone fighting off cyborgs who would cut us down with ease if we were trying to repel down the shaft or huddled together coming off the elevator, besides Alex might have left the elevator on his level given the recent visit of mine."

The Colonel lets forth another sigh knowing that you make a good point, but frustrated as well.

"You're right, so what do you suggest we do then? Sit and do nothing with our thumbs up our asses?"

[User] You suggest in hacking the security system, then invading the base.

[Assistant]
"Well I suppose you're right in that we need to stop Alex, but blowing up the elevator still isn't going to help, I suggest we hack the security system to gain control of it properly and then send down the invasion force and hope we can deal with the robots and cyborgs down there." You reply.
"Sounds like a better plan, I didn't know you had so much computer experience though, let alone able to hack into a secret army base."
"Huh? I don't. I mean, don't you have people like that here?"
"Excuse me, but you seem to be new here, hello welcome to the Compound…NO OF COURSE I DON'T I HAVE ANYONE LIKE THAT HERE! Sheesh! It's not like we figured advanced computer hacking skills are going to be that useful when the world is blown back to the stone age! So you mean you don't have the ability to pull off this amazing plan of yours?"
"Well, not really, not to that degree at least…I suppose there's just taking the panel apart and re-wiring it so it opens up for us though, you got any electricians or someone of that nature?"
"Yeah a few, but I hope you do too, because you're going to assist the team since you're the idea man for all of this. After you clean out all the cyborgs and whatever the hell else Alex has built down there, remember to grab those weapons and come back. We'll go back to occupy the base later. Now go select your team and whatever else you think you might need."

After asking for the names of the electronically "gifted" around the place, you go about following the Colonel's orders and saying goodbye to Marina again, she looks more confident that you'll return this time, you wish you could feel the same.

When you and your team get to the base in a few days, you're in for a little surprise. A medium sized robot is patrolling the courtyard. Looks like your friend Alex also dabbles in robotics as well as cybernetics. You and your team hide behind the outer wall when you all catch sight of it. Apparently Alex didn't trust you any more than you trusted him, and looks like both of you were right.

"Uh, what's that?" one of your team members asks.
"It's a robot, what's it look like?"
"Well what're we gonna do?"
"Kill it! Everyone open fire!"

You have no idea if your bullets are going to penetrate its armor, but you you're going to try anyway. Everyone fires upon the robotic being, which begins to shutter and spark, but returns fire and a bright burst of light strikes one of your team members and completely incinerates him.

"Holy shit, get cover and keep firing!" you shout.

The rest of the battle doesn't last too much longer, while your team continue to fire bursts at the machine while they dodge plasma blasts, you get enough time to toss a grenade at it and blow it to smithereens. Shards of burnt twisted metal lie all over the place.

"Come on we need to open up that door, before something else comes out of the damn thing!"

You and a few others start working on the card reader, trying to get it open as fast as possible. You don't even know how you're going to rewire the damn thing; you'll just keep doing something until something else happens! As it turns out you didn't need to do anything, while you and few others are fumbling around, the elevator doors open. At first you think you it was you who opened them, but in fact it was Alex who was controlling the elevator from the bottom. Two heavily armed cyborgs exit and begin firing immediately turning most of your team into charred skeletons. You manage to just barely get away and duck behind one of the buildings. Fortunately they don't seem to be very fast, so when they try to chase you, you toss a few grenades in their direction, blowing them up in the same manner you destroyed the robot, except a bit bloodier, given their human bits.

You come out of your hiding place and see nothing left of your team, they've all been killed. The elevator door is still open; you could enter and finish the job, or return to the Compound in failure.

[User] You enter

[Assistant]
You take a deep breath and enter the elevator taking it down. As soon as it opens you step out and blaze away at the first metallic monster that pops from around the corner, hitting it critically in some vital component. In fact you're doing okay all things considering, but as they say, it usually isn't thing that you're expecting that gets you.

Thinking you have a breather, you duck into one of the rooms to reload; unfortunately you feel a dart go into your back, before you enter it. You pull it out and see it's a tranquilizer dart. Already you feel drowsy, and begin to collapse. You ban barely make him out in your current state, but Alex soon enters with a victorious look on his face, holding his tranquilizer gun.

"Well, it looks like I was right to not trust you, but you'll be able to repay me back soon enough. Trust me, you'll thank me for this remaking."

Despite Alex's claims you're unable to do much talking at all after Alex remakes you, let alone thanking him. He basically designs you in such a way that only your basic brain functions remain. Just enough for you to obey simple commands such as "Attack the Compound".

Obeying that command is the last thing you do, before you're eventually blown to bits during Alex's attack on the Compound.


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

[User] You apopo.

[Assistant]
"Um, let's go with apopo," you say. "I can't really see what the difference is, though."

"Apopo?" the guard says.

"Yes, apopo."

The guard turns triumphantly to the king. "Ua koho ka holoholona e make i 'apopo, hiki ia makou ke 'ai i kana hoa i keia po!"

"Ua lo'ihi ka manawa i ho'oholo ai," the king says. "Lawe i ka holoholona ma mua o ka ho'ololi i kona no'ono'o." He gestures to a guard, who then grabs you by the shoulders again.

"E ho'omakaukau i keia holoholona no makou e 'ai ai." This time the king is pointing to Gary, and as another guard grabs him some of the villagers step forward to get a closer look at him.

"Wait, what's going on?" Gary says. "I am not 'apopo'! I think you're confusing me for somebody else!"

"Ka ne'e, holoholona!" your guard bellows into your ear. You're not sure what you have just set in motion by choosing "apopo," but you and Gary are pulled in opposite directions. The last you see the rock climber, he is being steered through the crowd and into the cluster of huts. Meanwhile, your guard forces you back toward the pit on the edge of town. It is at least twelve feet deep, but rather than waiting to get pushed in headfirst you jump in on your own power. The landing winds you, and your momentum sends you sprawling face-first into one of the earthen walls that contain you.

"E 'ike kakou ia 'oe i ka la 'apopo!" the guard says before disappearing from view, leaving you alone at the bottom of the pit.

Without Gary to fill up this desolate space with his friendly chatter, it seems so much more empty and forlorn. You are surrounded by vertical walls of hard-packed dirt, with nothing that you could grab onto for the purposes of extracting yourself. Gary's metaphor about being the rubbish seems apt: you feel like you have just been discarded into the waster paper bin.

Although on second thought, perhaps the more accurate analogy is that this is the Woban's food pantry. After a moment passes at the bottom of this pit, when you figure out that you are not in immediate danger, it dawns on you what just happened up above when you were standing before the Woban king. That choice you were forced to make — apparently "apopo" meant you were selecting Gary for tonight's meal, and saving yourself for some other occasion.

This leaves you not only alone as you huddle in the dark at the bottom of the pit, but terribly guilt-stricken. The fact that you had no idea what you were choosing at the time doesn't change the consequences of your choice. You feel as sickened with yourself as you would if you were the one making the killing blow. For all intents and purposes, you are complicit in Gary's murder at the hands of these beastly cannibals.

At least you feel buffered from the grisly celebrations that are being conducted a short distance away. Down here, the tall earthen walls muffle most of the sounds coming from the village, and all you can see is the light of the bonfires illuminating the trees directly above the pit. The details are left to your imagination.

So instead of imagining, you try to occupy yourself by exploring every cubic inch of your prison, or at least those portions within arm's reach, starting with the floor. The space is about eight feet long and six feet wide, and if you tried to dig at the walls you'd either wear your fingertips down to bloody stumps or trigger a cave-in. Everywhere you turn, you are facing dirt. Hamlet was wrong; being bound in a nutshell does not make you feel like a master of infinite space.

One end of the pit feels damp, but not with water; you reel back when you realize that this was where the dead woman with the pith helmet had fallen. You have no idea who she was, and you never did get a good look at her. Gary was correct, though: the pith helmet was a rather cartoonish fashion statement.

Groping around the edges, you come to the spot where you're pretty sure your rock-climbing friend was sitting when you first awoke. Expecting to find nothing but more dirt, your fingers brush past something metallic pushed up against the wall — tucked in so tightly that you have to dig the object out a bit. You then discover there are two objects, each about eight inches long and wedge-shaped. Holding them up, you can see that they are rock-climbing pitons. Clearly they were left here by Gary, who must've had them in his pockets when the Wobans first tossed him down here. He then hid them in the dirt where he had been sitting, knowing they would be useful in escaping this prison. All he needed was to wait for the right time — which for him never came.

And so now it is you who are sitting alone at the bottom of the pit, holding the two pitons in your hands and examining the walls above you. Even with the pitons to wedge into the dirt, it is not going to be easy climbing your way out of here. But considering how unimaginable the price of failure will be, you see no other alternative.

__________________________________________________

[User] Next page.

[Assistant]
The trick will be to wait for the Woban festival to end. The only thing you can do is wait patiently for the glow of the bonfire to fade away, and the sound of voices to grow silent. Knowing you're only going to get one shot at this, the risk of getting caught trying to flee while there are still Wobans around who might see you is too great. You have no idea what the custom is here, but you hope that eventually even a three-eyed, seven-foot giant must sleep, and that after the party is over the people of the village will return to their huts for a night of contented sleep.

It is a long and agonizing wait, but your wishes to eventually come to pass. Keeping track of the time on your watch, the Wobans begin to lose steam well before midnight. Good — they're not night owls, living it up into the wee hours of the morning. The light in the trees directly above you grows dim, and slowly the sound of communal conviviality devolves into isolated banter. You momentarily panic when voices pass so close to the pit you can make out individual voices: "He ahaaina nui ia." "'Ae, 'o ka 'i'o ka tastiest a makou i lo'ihi ai." But when they pass, you can detect nothing but darkness and silence from the bottom of the pit.

A sense of caution tells you to wait a little while longer to be sure — there may be other Woban voices you can't hear way down here — but you've been trapped so long in this pit that you can't sit still any longer. With a piton in each hand, you reach as high as you can and thrust the wedges into the earthen wall. There is a trickle of dirt from each impact, but the pitons hold as you lift yourself up. Immediately you can feel the stress this going to place on your upper arm muscles, so you kick at the wall with the toes of your boots. With some effort they carve out a slight toehold, letting you stand a short distance above the floor. A moment later you pull the right piton out of the wall, reach up, jam it in, and pull yourself up another few inches. Next you do the same with the left piton.

In this method, progress is made by a factor of inches. Your biceps are burning, and your fingers feel bruised as they tightly grip the small steel wedges — but this momentary discomfort is far better than the alternative. So rest on your toeholds when you can, and inch your way upward so that you may live to see another day.

The village is indeed dark when you are first able to peep over the rim. This is good, because at least there will be no witnesses to this graceless final maneuver to pull yourself over the top. You first hoist your torso onto the level ground, your feet still dangling in the maw of the pit. Then you swing one leg up and roll over, above ground but extremely worn from the effort. You try and let go of the pitons, but you have been gripping them so tightly and for so long that your hands are locked into position around them. Begrudgingly your fingers open slightly and the pitons slip away. You can see the red indentations they have left on your fingers and palms.

It takes a few minutes to work some life into your arms and hands. They have done a yeoman's service tonight, and now it's time to throw the rest of your body into your escape effort. You stand up from your position beside the pit, flexing your fingers to try and restore movement. Below you are the two pitons, right where you dropped them. Your first impulse is to pick them back up and keep them as souvenirs of your epic climb to freedom, but instead you kick them back into the pit. You probably lack the articulation to grasp them and place them in your pocket anyway, and the next occupant of this pit will probably need them as much as you did. Pay it forward, as they say.

So now you are standing on your own two feet, with nothing but a dark village before you and not a Woban in sight. All you have to do is slip into the jungle and put as much distance as you can between you and this place. But a thought has been nagging at you for a while now: Gary the rock climber, and the fact that he had just completed an "epic climb." He said that he had been hired to take pictures, but what if like you his real purpose was to claim the Stone of Vul-Kar? Where else would he have climbed other than that main summit?

If this is true, the gem that you seek is no longer in some ancient temple, but right here in the village. Therefore despite your sense of self-preservation, which wants you to leave this place immediately, you creep toward the huts, back toward the center of town where hours ago you uttered the fateful word apopo.

You hear snoring in the huts that you pass, the sounds of people shifting in their sleep, incoherent mutterings in the dark. If you are going to do the exact opposite of what common sense says you should be doing, then you might as well do it quickly. So instead of creeping, you shift gears and jog toward that small shelter near the king's "palace." The wood pile is now greatly reduced in size, and there is a smoldering heap of coals and embers. The hut you are seeking is just as you remember it, and there is Gary's pack with its ropes and carabiners, visible in the dim light of the setting moon. You open up the top, and the first thing you see is a purple crystal.

__________________________________________________

[User] Next Page.

[Assistant]
So this is the Stone of Vul-Kar? It is certainly a large and hefty crystal, but more like a hunk of colored quartz than a priceless gem. But hey, it's Walter Berringer's money, and he can spend it on what he chooses. Right now you are just grateful for Gary Gaffney doing all the hard work for you, sparing you the need to climb the mountain. He deserved a better fate than what he got.

You have nothing to carry it with, though, so you turn to see if your borrowed book bag is in here too. But what you find is even better: your brand-new green REI backpack, the exact same one that Meredith stole.

It looks a little scuffed up, but otherwise it is still in good shape. You open a side pocket and find a six-inch knife that you've had since forever, and the folded-up military maps that Berringer procured back on Oahu. This is how you know beyond a doubt that this really is your own backpack, and not just someone else's look-alike. But that means…. You never got a good look at the woman in the pith helmet, but now with your stolen pack back in your possession, it makes sense that you had briefly shared the bottom of the pit with Meredith's broken body. You feel a chill go through you at the thought of it, but your employer will probably be pleased to hear the news.

So you place the Stone of Vul-Kar in your own pack and prepare to embark on your return journey. Meredith messed up all the strap settings, but that is easily rectified. What a doubly awesome discovery! You are reunited with your gear, and your mission is a success! Now it's just a matter of getting out of here.

However, that might be easier said than done. You are, after all, alone and in the dark of night, on an unknown part of the island. The quarter-moon will set soon, and when that happens you will have to fish out your headlamp if you don't want to grope your way through the lightless jungle. The Wobans must maintain several trails leading out of this village, but where do they go? Which one leads to safety, and not just into another trap?

The sound of moving water behind you catches your attention, and you turn to see a wide path leading down a bank. It brings you in a few hundred feet to the side of a wide stream — probably the combined output of those three waterfalls that you saw earlier, back when you and Gary were being led to an audience with the Woban king. This is interesting; all streams on this island logically must flow to the ocean, and the ocean is where the Big Papi is patiently waiting for your return. Therefore you have just found your way off the island! Even if this stream flows to the opposite coastline, all you need to do is make a quick call on the satellite phone to arrange a pick-up with Berringer.

The trail seems to turn and follow the small river downstream, right where you want to go. But then you notice that what you assumed was a log lying on the bank is actually a dugout canoe — a small craft for use on a small stream. This almost seems even better than the trail! Considering your poor luck so far following the Wobans' trail network, maybe you would fare better on the water. Sooner or later the Wobans are going to come looking for you, and you'll be harder to track if you aren't leaving footprints all over the place.

But who knows how navigable this stream is? The trail might lead you to more Wobans, but at least it will be easier to find your way.

__________________________________________________

[User] You take the canoe.

[Assistant]
The last time you tried following a trail on this island, it led you straight into the predicament that you are now trying to escape. So if nothing else, the canoe seems attractive just for the sake of variety it offers. But more than that, you expect the canoe will allow you to put greater distance between you and the people who want to make you their next supper. And when it comes to avoiding cannibals, distance is a good thing.

The canoe is upside-down on the grassy bank, so the first thing you do is flip it over. From what you can tell in the dim light, it was made from a single log hollowed out by fire. There is no seat, so you assume the occupant is expected to kneel on the bottom, using the pole tucked inside to steer and propel the craft against the current. It is big enough to hold only a lone occupant, which suits your purposes just fine; you assume this is someone's fishing boat, and you could care less what they think about you taking it.

You stuff the backpack into the rear of the boat, slide the log hull into the water, grab the pole, and then gingerly step into the canoe. It wobbles at first, but seems more stable once you're inside. From what you can make out, there is a long section of stillwater here, a place where the river is calm like a linear pond. The mountains are silhouettes against the starry sky, and you can hear the distant waterfalls. That is not the direction you want to go, so you point the canoe downstream, where no hills block the horizon. That way lies the most direct route to the coast.

There is a slight current, so you don't need to push very hard with the pole to put the canoe in motion. Mostly you just need to steer, shoving the pole into the water until it hits the bottom, and then giving it a good push. You have no idea how long this stillwater extends, although you doubt it goes very far; the river must get rougher as it tumbles its way out of the mountains and down toward the ocean. The question is, how much rougher does it get?

An answer to that question comes soon enough. The current becomes swifter just minutes after you set off, and you can hear rapids up ahead. Considering that it is nighttime on an unfamiliar waterway, it seems prudent to land the canoe and seek your refuge on shore. But you've only just started; you didn't haul your way out of that pit only to huddle in the dark just a few hundred yards away from the village. So far this stream seems manageable, and you'd prefer to take all the distance it can give you before you call it a night.

But the current is only just starting to pick up steam, and soon you are getting buffeted against rocks you can't even see in the dark. OK, so this is starting to get too intense. You try and push yourself to shore with the pole, but at first you can't reach bottom. Then it gets wedged in something in the water, and the next thing you know the canoe is spun around backwards.

You clutch onto the pole as dearly as you did the pitons, but the river's current is very insistent. Given that the strength in your arms has long since been spent, there is little you can do to improve your situation. And when the pole snaps in half….

Now you have no ability to control yourself, no ability to see where you're going, and no knowledge of what lies ahead on this river. So maybe the canoe wasn't such a good idea. The waves are getting bigger, and you are getting drenched in spray. Perhaps you should consider yourself fortunate that the canoe is still upright. You resolve to get out of this thing as soon as you get kicked out of the current and drift to shore — hopefully before you reach the source of that unnerving roar ahead of you, which is getting louder and louder by the second.

But the current doesn't cooperate. It pushes you over the edge of a tall waterfall, which plunges over volcanic rocks into a boulder-filled pool below. Both you and the jewel are lost forever.

THE END


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

[User] You try to struggle

[Assistant]
He might very kill you, but you're definitely not going to let him rape you. You continue to yell for help and with all your strength you begin to fight back, moving your legs and arms. You even get a couple good hits to his face, but it doesn't deter him, all it does is anger him.

After he recovers from your assault outburst he punches you in the face several times and swipes wildly with his razor muttering obscenities the entire time.

Your throat is slashed open and your body isn't even cold before he starts violating anyway.


[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 time to break out of here, youÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢re stronger than most and a few good charges will bust the door wide open.

[Assistant]
There's no way you're staying locked up in here, not when you're close to a perfect food source that will last you months, you're hungers back again stronger than ever for some reason too. Time to act on it!

You get yourself prepared and listen at the door but hear nothing there; you back off and charge the door with your shoulder. You feel it crack but it's not open yet. You back off and try again, this time smashing through as the bolts give way.

You're just about to congratulate yourself on your own strength when the shouting catches your attention. Guards are coming down the stairs just 20 feet to your right. Seems smashing a door open makes a lot of noise.

You sprint at them and catch them off guard near the base of the steps, they clearly didn't expect your speed or strength as you punch one in the chest, feeling his ribs crack.

The others react better, trying to raise their guns. You move quickly and swat one to the side, punching the guy in the throat before spinning on the last guard. You can see in his eyes that he just simply want prepared to fight anything as fast or strong as you as he fires and misses right before you kill him too.

You quickly ensure they are all dead and are about to leave when your hunger gets the better of you and you take a moment to grab one of the men's knives to hack a chunk of flesh off which you eat ravenously.

As soon as you have eaten and your hunger subsides your senses return somewhat. "What am I doing? I can't waste time eating here when more guards will be coming." You think. You glance around but the tunnel is blocked off at the other end and the only way is up the stairs. You can also already hear a lot of guards up there shouting and cocking weapons for you.

"Bloody hungers gotten me killed, guess that bite did have some affect after all."

You back off, trying to think of a plan when the new guards arrive. At least a dozen with guns, all ready to fire and pointed your way. Once they see what's happened they simple swear and some look like they are about to fire when one man steps a little forward and raises a hand.

"HOLD!" he looks behind to ensure the men obey before turning back to you. "SO you smashed through a solid door, killed three armed guards and ate some of their flesh, all while not acting crazy. Welcome to our holdout harbinger."

The men all start swearing and some are clearly getting itchy trigger fingers despite the hold order.

You finally reply. "Well this isn't exactly how I wanted to be found out but getting bitten earlier today seemed to send my hunger into overdrive. But yes I am indeed a harbinger, I usually only get to tell people before they die rather than before I do but I guess I had a good run and ate my fair share of people" you end with a bit of a grin, awaiting the bullets.

"Oh you won't die so easily." The Capt. Replies. You are about to question him when he gives the order to shoot your knees and elbows. It seems like every man there was just waiting for the chance and you feel you limbs practically disintegrate from all the shots.

"Bind the wounds and retrain him, we have experiments to conduct." You hear as you lose consciousness.

You survive the experiments for several weeks due to your advanced healing and innate strength before your mind and body finally give out to the torture, it seems they found out little of use, but many of them defiantly felt better as they tortured you.


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

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
These stories occur within a set time limit where the reader has to solve the mystery by asking the right questions to the right people and looking in the right places for clues (and recognizing the importance of some clues over others). The Normal setting for this TIME challenge is 100, if a reader wants an Easier game they can select this feature to be allowed a TIME of 125, for a Harder game a TIME of 75 is given (this isn't recommended for readers reading the story for the first time).

So Reader, Choose your Difficulty.

[User] You easy Difficulty (125 Time Points)

[Assistant]
The Dorset Evening Gazette - 1 July 2000

TRAGIC DEATH ON BLACKSEA ISLAND

The residents of Poole were shocked to learn this morning of the apparent suicide of Blacksea Island resident Robert Powell, aged 15. Powell and his mother Olivia Powell, aged 40, were volunteers for the National Group and both lived and worked on the Island. Powell, who took the ferry to and from the mainland to attend and leave Poole Grammar School every morning and evening was described by one classmate as a "happy" and "intelligent" student.

In a statement issued by the Dorset Police Force it was confirmed that "A teenager died during a fall from a clifftop on Blacksea Island sometime between the hours of 10pm and 6am last night. At this time no foul play is suspected as the part of the island on which the deceased and his mother were living, known locally as "The Wetlands", is enclosed by a high spike-topped wall and barred gates, making entry by a third party extremely unlikely.

This paper was able to speak with Barry Guest, owner and operator of the Blacksea Ferry. "I can't believe it," he told us in a statement. "Robert was a happy boy and just about the last person I would have expected to top himself. I reckon it was an accident, a fall from the cliffs though Robert would have known better than to go up there at night. I feel sorry for his poor mum, she's been left all on her own now."

Robert Powell's suicide is the third such to happen on the island within living memory: on 25 December 1920 island owner Colonel Augustus Foster shot himself in the Hall of Blacksea Castle and on 5 July 1960 Castle Housekeeper Gwen Green apparently drowned herself in a Lily Pond on the island following a devastating fire on 30 June that had claimed the lives of her husband, butler Jack Green, and the island's owner, Lord Marcus Van Raalte.

Blacksea Island has a history of death and madness and indeed the eccentricity of a number of the island's owners, most notoriously "The Mad Doctor" William Benson and the much-reviled Lady Mary Bonham-Christie, who closed the island to the public during her ownership of the island from 1960 to 1980, has done much to bear these suspicions out. This latest suicide is just the most recent in a long line of tragic and unusual deaths to occur on this notorious island.

[User] The Mystery

[Assistant]
You lay down the Dorsetshire Gazette for 1 July 2000 (by now, nearly a month old) and stare moodily over the Blacksea Ferry's railing towards Blacksea Island, squatting like a bug on the gentle sea, its thickly-growing dark green trees clustering together like a wall which, together with the almost total lack of beach beneath the steep cliffs, makes the island and its secrets appear ominously impenetrable. With a sigh you flick open your notebook to a page you have titled SUSPECTS.

SUSPECTS:
The ten Resident Volunteers who were actually on the island on the night of 30 June 2000:
Iris Grey (50), Castle Compound Volunteer.
Barry Guest (40), Ferryman of the Blacksea Ferry.
George Loader (80), Castle Compound Volunteer.
Gerry Luff (30), Island Handyman.
Father Patrick Ould (40), Island Priest.
Bill Parsons (30), Island Farmer.
Olivia Powell (40), Wetlands Volunteer.
Robert Powell (15), Wetlands Volunteer and Murder Victim.
Arthur Van Raalte (40), Castle Compound Chief Volunteer.
Charles Whitburn (20), Island Gamekeeper.

You stroke your finger over Robert's name. To you it's not just a name, it's a friend, a hundred happy memories, an ear in times of trouble and a joker in times of play. He was your best friend in school and given time he might have become more than that. That will never happen now and you want to know why. You KNOW Rob would never have killed himself. You KNOW that. So now you need to find out if his death was accident or murder.

You suspect the latter.

Your name is Susan Knox and you are a fifteen-year-old amateur detective. You know that your time is limited: the first ferry arrives at the island at 9am and the last ferry leaves the island at 5pm and tomorrow, because of the tragedy, the National Group Volunteers on the island will be moved to another location and a new group will move onto the island: this is your last chance to find out what really happened to your friend Robert.

You don't believe either the accident or suicide theories which means it must be murder. There were only nine other people on the island on the night your friend died and as steep cliffs ring the island except in one place where the ferry lands (which is locked up at night) you are sure that his killer must be somewhere on the island. You are determined to find out who it is, how they murdered your friend and why.

As the ferry bumps alongside the Island's Quay you rise to your feet alongside the other tourists who visit the island daily. As you climb off the boat with the others you reflect that time is short and you have to search everywhere and talk to everyone to find the clues that you need to solve this mystery so that you can confront the staff of the island when they gather together to leave on the last boat.

You owe it to the memory of your best friend to find the person who killed him.

NOTE: YOU MIGHT FIND IT USEFUL TO PICK UP THE LIST OF SUSPECTS TO REFER TO IT IN THE FUTURE. TAKING NOTES OF YOUR OWN WOULD ALSO BE A GOOD IDEA.


[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] Continue

[Assistant]
Karnival of Karnage

The Future…

You sit comfortably in your modified jeep watching yet another small settlement burn before you. Not the first time, and certainly won't be the last. The screams and gunfire are starting to die down which means today's raid is nearly over.

Still, it isn't completely over yet and there's always something fun to see.

"Woo hoo! Looks like that new recruit has got the right attitude!" you say watching a young man wearing an outlandish green wig and novelty nose glasses swing his machete into the skull of another young man who was previously begging for his life.
"Hrm. Wasn't too sure about him at first, but I guess he's proven himself on this raid. Speaking of which, looks like we've made a good haul. Lots of food, water, even medical supplies." Lifto remarks sitting next to you.
"Wheeee! Gimme that map, I want to see where we should hit next." You say.
"I believe Captain Howdy has it."
"Well, call that pierced freak over here then." You say.

Lifto nods and calls for Captain Howdy via bullhorn. Eventually a heavily pierced man wearing a beat up pilot's cap, black face make up and carrying an assault rifle over his shoulder appears.

"Black face today? Isn't that a bit unPC?" you say with a smirk.
"Eh, fuck'em if they can't take a joke." Howdy says apathetically.
"Truer words my friend. Lifto says you've got the map of this area." You say.
"Oh yeah, I do. Here let me get it out of my pack."

Howdy takes off a small backpack and opens it up to give you a well-worn map of the area.

"Let's see…okay…we hit that place…and that one…" you start to say looking for a new target.
"How about Redemption? I hate those religious types." Howdy says.
"While I have no doubt that town of pious zealots is well stocked, they're also very well armed. In fact I've been hearing rumors that they've been launching their own little crusade against neighboring settlements." You say.
"I heard that they went complete Spanish Inquisition on one town. Crucified most of them and burned the rest alive. That was of course after they already had tortured the shit out of all of them." Lifto adds.
"So? We could take those assholes." Howdy remarks.
"That may be, but not in the near future. It would be a very dangerous undertaking and we are not doing this for the risks and to prove how badass we are. We're doing this for survival…well that and to have a little fun in the process." You say with a smile, though Howdy is still one of your more "macho" members and still wants to prove he's got a dick by killing something.

You reach out to his face with a gentle touch and soothing voice.

"I know you like to kill things, but I don't want you to get killed in the process. Just because we tend to pick easier targets just means I really don't want you or any one of us to get killed. We're all family and I don't want to see any one of you die, you understand? That's why our mode of operation is to go for low risk, high reward and I'd say its work for all these years wouldn't you?"
"Yes, I suppose it has." Howdy says.
"That's right. Anyway it's looking like we have hit every place that's worthwhile around here. We should start heading east and raid merchant caravans coming out of those city-states. They're all fucked up after that big war they had with the Ground Zero Corporation so they're lacking in the defense department now. Okay, let's start shutting down this circus and move on." You say and take the bullhorn from Lifto.

"Alright you clowns gather up all the shit we've looted, pile it in the vehicles and let's get this freak show on the road! We're heading east! Flammo! HEY! That doesn't mean start another goddamn fire, it means let's go!" you shout shaking your head and throw the bullhorn in the back seat.

Lifto starts up the jeep and you stretch a bit waiting for your family to finish packing up. Lifto waits in silence, but you feel like talking.

"A Pennywise for your thoughts." You say which causes a snort from Lifto.
"Oh nothing, I suppose I was just thinking about how much things have changed. The past. Sometimes I miss it."
"Oh that. Well I don't miss it. Glad that part of my life is over."
"Not just the old days, but people as well like Fatty, Shrimpy… Klepto."
"Well that's different. I do miss them. They were family and I'll never forget them. We sure had some fun times back at that farmhouse remember?"
"Heh, yeah. Shame what happened; maybe we could've made a more stable life there rather than doing this raider thing."
"Perhaps, but we can't dwell on what if in the past. Just have to focus on today and if possible, the future. That's what's kept us alive and allowed us to build our new family." You say and touch Lifto's hand.

Lifto looks and smiles at you. You aren't sure if he's ever completely agreed with how you've gone about things, but he loves you enough that he'll stand by your side no matter what and that's enough for you.

To be honest you did latch on to Lifto a bit in the beginning because he was obviously a big guy that could definitely protect you in a time of trouble, but it's a bit more than that now. Given that you're both the only two left from the original group, your ties have naturally grown quite a bit.

You've done a lot of bad things since your new life began, but it's a harsh world and you're just living in it. Sometimes you have bouts where you wonder if you should feel bad about doing the things you do, but then you just laugh and remember to not dwell on the past.

"I love you Kenneth." You say using Lifto's real name, looking at him and touching his hand.
"I love you Suzy." He replies back and leans over to kiss you.

With this exchange of affection, you, Lifto and your gang of clowns drive off in search of new prey.


[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 head towards the shed behind the house

[Assistant] You notice there is a padlock on the shed. Maybe you can find a key or a tool to get in.

[User] You head back towards the broken window of the farmhouse

[Assistant] You have to go through the window to look for tools. You careful break the window more to go inside.

[User] You go through window

[Assistant] You cut yourself on the edges as you're climbing in, but you make it inside.You find some thick sturdy shirts and there are rusted scattered tool scattered throughout. There doesn't seem to be any food around, however you wonder if there is a tool or key to open the shed.

[User] You search the farmhouse

[Assistant] You're Not the best educated when it comes to tools but you have an idea of what kind of tool you need to use. You see lots of shovels, rakes, and pitchforks. You notice something that looks like big pliers...maybe that can work?

[User] You grab bolt cutter

[Assistant] You could go back out to open the shed but it is starting to get dark. You think about resting in the farmhouse or going to check the shed out.

[User] You go back to shed

[Assistant] Dusk is setting and you climb out the window unscathed. You walk over to the shed and begin to attempt cutting the lock off. Your stomach growls as you place the bolt cutter on the lock. In that moment you think you hear rustling behind you. You turn to look and nothing is there. so you resume cutting the padlock off.

[User] You enter the shed

[Assistant] You remove the padlock and slowly open the door. With the sun setting, it's a bit difficult to see the contents of the shed.

[User] You search the shed

[Assistant] You can make out that there are some storage shelves and a few tables. You see something that looks a tin pot or jug to some sort. You check it and it has nothing inside. Next to it on a table you see a matchbox. You take the matchbox because it's likely to help you see.

[User] You strike a match

[Assistant] The first match goes dull quick. The second and third match break as you try to strike them. There are only two matches left. You try to relax a bit to keep yourself from breaking another match. You strike the match and it stays lit.

[User] You search the shed slowly

[Assistant] To your right you see jars filled with preserved fruits and vegetables. To your left you see more jars but can make out the contents clearly.


[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 defend the captain

[Assistant]
Maybe you're having some "good deed" moment during this dark hour, but the old guy actually has been more or less alright with you.

You run over to the captain and block the charmed crewman's sword with your own, then you follow up with a thrust with your dagger that's in your other hand. It sinks deep into the assailant's chest and as he slumps to the deck, you help the captain up.

"Come on! Come on! You're too fucking slow! Move your ass!" He orders.

You start to wonder if you should have just left him!

With the captain in tow (And shouting in your wax filled ear) you make your way to the rowboat, get in and deploy it. It drops a lot faster than you intended and you land hard, but there is no damage and all you get is a little wet from the splash back.

"Row! Row! Row northward and don't do anything else! Don't look at anything except down at the floor of this boat!" Rifiv shouts.

Between the wax, the captain's shouting and some more explosions from the ship as it sinks, you're not hearing the mermaids anymore. It suddenly occurs to you, maybe that's why Rifiv is still doing all this shouting. Now you're glad you helped him.

Still, blocking your hearing is only part of the solution. Now you're in a rowboat which is a lot lower to the water. You see a green hand reach out from the water and grab the side of the boat...

"Damn it man, I told you not to look! Close your damn eyes! Just keep rowing, we're almost there! Get back sea sluts! Yargh! Yargh! Get back! You'll not get me with your wiles!"

You do exactly what Rifiv says and try to focus on just rowing as you close your eyes. It isn't easy though since you can still hear the sounds of battle and the captain shouting the entire time. You also feel a bit of pulling at not just the oars, but your arms as well. You don't know how the old man is holding out so well.

"Stop! No...YOU'RE NOT MY WIFE!" You hear the captain shout.

And then nothing but a loud splash.

You call out to the captain, but hear no answer. This causes you to row faster with all your strength while still keeping your eyes closed.

"Come to us...let go..." You start to hear in those melodic voices again.

You can't think of anything else to do so you start singing various bawdy songs you've heard over the years at the top of your lungs as you row for your life.

"...AND HER ASS TASTES LIKE MOLASSES AND I THOUGHT THAT WAS MIGHTY FINE! SECOND VERSE! OHHHHHHHH..."

As silly as it is for you to be singing loudly in the middle of the fucking ocean about a priest's daughter losing her anal virginity, it's keeping you alive. This must go on for at least an hour or so.

Eventually you hit something, or rather something scrapes the bottom of your boat. At first you think it's the mermaids trying to tip it over or something, but you risk opening your eyes and find that you've hit land or at least the rocks near it. In fact you've damaged the boat and you once again find yourself aboard a sinking ship.

Fortunately, the mermaids seem to have stopped harassing you and the water isn't too deep so you make it to shore. Even so, you run pretty far inland before you stop to take a better look at your surroundings.

You cautiously remove the wax from your ears and you don't hear any mermaid songs trying to bewitch you any longer. You do hear the sounds of a few birds though. Wherever you are, you're in a wooded area with a large amount of trees and bushes.

You aren't sure how big this patch of land is though; for all you know it could be a small island or a large continent. One thing is for sure though, it's cold and you're a long damn way from home.

While this isn't the best situation, you're not giving in to despair. As soon as you figure out how to survive here, maybe you can somehow figure out a way to get back.

Or maybe you'll just stay here. You'll see how it turns out.

Either way your days of being a rogue are over.


[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] Continue

[Assistant]
You decide to call the police in the morning. The rest of the day is combination of worry, anxiety and boredom. After the sunsets you go to bed. During the night you don't get much sleep during as you constantly check your phone to see if Victoria has contacted you. When morning arrives you dart out of bed and rush into Victoria's room not bothering to knock. Your worst fears are confirmed when you see her bed is still empty. With no other option you call the police.

"911, what is your emergency?" The operator on the other end inquiries.

"I'd like to report a missing person," You answer.

"What's your name sir?"

"Ben Higgins."

"Who is it that's missing?"

"My sister, Victoria Higgins."

"How old is she?"

"Twenty."

"How long has she been missing?"

"Since yesterday morning."

"So your sister Victoria Higgins has been missing since early yesterday?"

"That's about it."

"I need your address."

"219 Okonedo Street."

"Alright, I'm sending someone over."

The operator hangs up and you spend several minutes pacing back and forth until you notice a police car pulling into your driveway.  A few seconds later there is a knock at the door. You open the door to find a women slightly older then you with light brown hair in a bun and matching colored eyes. You would find her pretty if wasn't for the serious look on her face.

"Hello, I'm detective Carla Northcutt are you Ben Higgins?" She asks you with a no non-sense demeanor.

"I am, come on in," you respond in a direct way.

Carla walks into your kitchen as you notice she as a somewhat annoyed look on her face. It's hard to tell if she's annoyed at something in general or if this was her natural personality.

"So when did you last see your sister?" Carla begins her investigation.

"Two nights ago a friend of hers picked her up, Vic told me she was going out and would be back later, pretty much routine, the next day  I noticed she wasn't back and she hasn't responded to any texts or messages, this morning nothing had changed so I called the police," You bring Carla up to speed.

"You wouldn't happen to know where she went or who picked her up would you?"

"No I never really pried, she hates when I do that."

"I'd like to search her room."

You lead Carla to Victoria's room and open the door. The detective doesn't seem bothered by the mess and eyes Victoria's computer. "This might be able to help us," Carla suspects.

"I tried that yesterday, it's password protected," You point out.

Carla is undaunted as she sits at Victoria's desk and begins typing on the laptop, after several tries she manages to get past the login screen and gains access to Victoria's files. "Jackpot," Carla exclaims.

"How'd you do that?" You say with astonishment.

"The password was password," Carla explains.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I learned a long time ago it's better not to over think things, now I'm going to see what your sister's various social media pages can tell us," Carla browses through Victoria's various online accounts while you watch over her shoulder. One account has numerous photos and Carla begins looking through them. Most of the pictures are selfies, Victoria with various friends, even one with you and her. Suddenly one picture catches both you and Carla's attention, a picture of her kissing a man you don't recognize.

"Looks like somebody has a boyfriend," Carla says with the satisfaction of finding a break in the case.

"She never mention this to me," You say in a surprised and annoyed tone.

"Let's see who is, once I find a name I'll go pay him a visit and see what he knows about Victoria's whereabouts." Carla begins to read the comments of the photo in order to identify the man.

"You and Steve look SO cute together," one comment reads.

"Soon I'll be calling you Mrs. Upton," another comment says.

"His name is Steve...Upton I'm guessing, but yesterday there was...oh fuck!" Carla says as her tone goes from confidence to concern. She quickly gets up and turns to you.

"Now listen to me Ben, what I'm going to tell you isn't to make any sense, but you have to do exactly what I tell you if we are to have any chance of finding Victoria," Carla warns. "Yesterday a man named Steve Upton was found murdered in his home and I'm positive it's the same guy your sister was dating, I'm also positive that the person behind it also is behind Victoria's disappearance, the less you know the safer you'll be, I'm going to give you my card and call you if I find anything, do not under any circumstances call the police again."

Upon hearing this dozens of questions enter your mind but Carla quickly leaves the house before you can get answers for any of them. Something was going on and you're in the dark. You need to get more information but how exactly?

[User] You look for information on the internet

[Assistant]
You need answers, even if Carla is right when said you'd safer knowing less, finding your sister is more important. Your gut is telling you that you should avoid the police let Carla said, so you chose to sit at Victoria's desk and try to find information on the internet about Steve's murder. After searching "Steve Upton murder Van Hove", you find an online news article and begin to read it:

Murder on Kerr Road

Steve Upton, 28, was found murdered in his home around noon. Police had gotten a call from a neighbor about a possible break-in at Steve's address and his body was found shortly after entering the house. A Van Hove police spokesmen says that Steve was found with a "W" carved in his chest, the trademark of the notorious gang leader who goes by the alias Westfield. Police have asked anyone with information to come forward.

A second search for "Westfield" revels information about a gang simply called Westfield's gang. You learn about rumors of having police officers on the take may explain why Carla didn't want you calling the police again. The gang itself commits nearly crime in the book from drug dealing to armed robbery to downright murder. You need to find out why this gang killed Steve, why they took Victoria and how you plan to get her back, the first step is taking out your cell phone and calling Carla.

"Northcutt," Carla greets.

"Detective Northcutt, it's me Ben, I just found out my sister was taken by some guy named Westfield, I really don't like being kept out of the loop," You complain.

"Look Ben, Westfield is an extremely dangerous man and I didn't tell you anything to keep you out of harm's way, if you're so insistent on getting involved then come over to my place where at least I can keep an eye on you, I'm at 224 Shamrock way."

"Why do I have the feeling there is still more you're not telling me?"

"Just come over here and I'll answer your questions I promise."

Carla hangs up, you get the feeling she is a caring person but has a very hard time showing it. Heading out the door and into your car, it occurs to you that Carla believes you're in danger, granted dealing with a criminal gang is dangerous but how much is her worrying justified and how much is simply in her head. You figure it's not worth worrying about as Carla is most likely you're best chance of getting your sister back, since it seems the police are at best useless and at worst the very reason you're in danger in the first place.

Arriving on Shamrock way you pull into Carla's driveway and notice along with a police car there is two black sedans in the driveway as well. Carla didn't mention she was having anyone else over and you doubt she bought two identical cars. Perhaps you're over worrying as much as Carla is and is something else she neglected to tell you.

[User] You go around back

[Assistant]
Something isn't right, you don't know what is as information is proving to be hard to come by today. You walk down the driveway and into the backyard. There is a small patio complete with two outdoor lounge chairs. On one of the chairs is a heavyset man smoking a cigarette. This man might as well wear a sign that says "criminal" and you're positive it's better to stay away from him. There is a backdoor leading into the house and plenty of space between the man and the open door for you to avoid drawing attention. You manage to get inside and find yourself in a kitchen. Ignoring the dirty dishes everywhere you walk out of the kitchen and into a foyer. Briefly glancing at the rooms along the hallway you find they are all empty and eventually you reach the front entrance.

A stairway to your left is your only option as you quietly head upstairs. On the upper floor there are a few doors to the left and a few to the right. You hear footsteps that are too heavy to belong to Carla coming from the right so you head left, as you look into a room and at last you find Carla. The discovery is bittersweet as you notice she is tied to a chair with blood coming out of her nose and she has acquired a shiner along with several other bruises. Without thinking you walk in as Carla franticly shakes her head, then you feel something hit on the back which causes you to fall to the ground. You're vision is a bit blurry but you see a man with slicked back blonde hair, wearing a white t-shirt and jeans, along with a revolver in his hand.

"Hello Ben, I'm Westfield, selling of drugs and take of lives, yeah that was lame I have to work on that, anyway it has come to my attention you're looking for your little sister and to answer the two questions on your mind, yes I took her and the reason why was I wanted to make money off her by turning her into a whore, I'm sorry about this, I purposely only take girls that have no family to avoid situations like these, but that dumbass Steve lied to me, good thing I killed him while I had the chance, sadly this makes you a loose end and you know what happens to lose ends, but since this wasn't suppose to happen, I'll give you a chance to say your final words, make them count" Westfield rambles.

Behind Westfield you notice Carla beginning to free herself from the ropes tying her hands to the chair she is in. If you can continue to distract Westfield long enough, she should be able to free yourself. "Well what are your last words?" Westfield asks impatiently.

[User] You say "What's your name?"

[Assistant]
"What's your name?" You ask in an attempt to keep Westfield's attention on you instead of Carla.

"It's Westfield, that's literally the first thing I told you," Westfield says somewhat baffled by your question.

"No, I mean your real name, if I'm going to be killed, I should have the right to know the identity of the person who is doing the killing."

"I see your point, alright I'll let you in a little secret, I was born and raised in a town called Westfield in New Jersey, I loved that town, of course when I first became a criminal I made a lot of mistakes and the police were closing in on me, I eventually had to leave and I resettled here in Van Hove, I learned that it's important to have an alias and to make sure the police are on your side, most people think nicknames are way to be cool but for me, they make staying out of jail a little easier, but if you really must know my name it's John Tiegel," Westfield  prattles. You can see Carla almost is free of her restraints. If you can just distract Westfield for a little bit longer Carla should be able to escape.

[User] You say "I won't tell anyone about this"

[Assistant]
"I won't tell anyone about this," You plead to Westfield.

"Well it really wouldn't make a difference if you told anyone about this or not, I own the police in Van Hove as I'm sure you already know, but it doesn't matter since I have no intentions on letting you leave, you see I plan on keeping your sister as I went to some lengths to obtain her and I know you're not just to going to forget about it, one day you'd come after me, maybe in a week or several years to try to take your revenge," Westfield explains in a rather longwinded way.

"For years Carla has tried to bring me down, despite my repeated warnings, I bet your wondering why she took on this case despite the dangers, well part of it is because she believes in law and order but I'm willing to wager it has to do with what happened to her family." Westfield continues as Carla makes a muffled scream through the tape on her mouth as if the topic is causing her to become upset. The scream causes Westfield to turn his attention back to Carla and she is forced stop trying to wiggle free.

"You see Carla wasn't always planning to be a cop, she was originally going to be a doctor, but one day while she was away at college someone broke into her family's home, this home, and killed her parents and two little sisters and before you ask it wasn't me, after that incident she quit college and joined the force, perhaps saving your sister would allow Carla closure for the failure of saving her family, but now it won't matter, she won't save her, she won't save you and she won't save herself and now Ben it's time for you to die," After Westfield's speech he turns back to you and shoots with his revolver, another victim of Van Hove's crime problem.


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

[User] You tell Suzy to come home

[Assistant]
You can't do it. Even if you could pull it off and ignore the immorality of it, you still can't do it. If you did, you'd be taking the easy way out just in a different fashion.

Besides, what right do you have to take this good life away from this reality's Suzy? You don't.

"No! We wouldn't dream of making you do such a thing! You come right over, and we'll answer the door when you arrive." You say.
"You sure?"
"Of course I'm sure! What kind of parents would we be if we didn't let our own daughter back into the house?"
"You two really are the greatest parents sometimes. What am I saying? You two are the greatest parents ALL the time! Okay, well I guess I'll be seeing you tonight then."
"Suzy?" you utter.
"Yeah?" she asks.
"I want you to know that your father and I love you very much."
"I know that mom. I love you guys too."
"Just always remember that, okay? We'll see you when you get here." You say before hanging up.

You have to fight back the urge to cry.

"Did I hear you on the phone out here?" you mother says walking into the kitchen.
"Huh? Oh, yeah just someone trying to sell something. They were really persistent." You reply.
"I can tell, you hardly cut up any of the carrots."
"Sorry, I guess I got caught up in telling them to never call here again. I should have just hung up I suppose."
"No worries, I've gotten directly angry at those telemarketer types too."
"Hey mom, I've got some things I left here that I want to get and I know they're probably in my room somewhere, you don't mind if I go take care of that do you?"
"No, not at all. We can talk later. Let me know if you're looking for something in particular. I might know where it is."
"I will mom."

You leave the kitchen and head to your room where you close the door and break down a bit quietly. It isn't fair, but it is the right thing to do.

"Well, at least I had a few more moments with her, even if she wasn't my real mom." You say to yourself.

After a few moments of being sad, you finally motivate yourself to action.

"Well, I might not be killing her, but I'm not above stealing from the bitch." You say and grab an old looking duffle bag out of her closet and grab a bunch of her old clothes out of her drawers for yourself.

Sure they're going to be a little tight, but at least you won't have spend money on clothes for awhile and you're going to have to make that thousand dollars you still have last until you figure out a way to make a living in this world.

After pillaging your alternate's room, you decide you probably should leave now. No point in drawing this out and it will be easier for you. You imagine that your visit here is probably going to leave some very strange questions for this family when the real Suzy arrives, but you really can't worry about it. Besides, you're sure that everything will work itself out anyway. Seems to have so far with this Suzy.

You head back downstairs and find that dad is back home.

"Hey Suzy, where are you heading off to?" dad asks.
"Oh, I'm just going to put this in the car and maybe drive around town. Look up some old friends and such. Might not be back until late so I might be knocking on the door waking you up again."
"What? You're not even going to have dinner with us tonight? I thought the whole point of this visit was to see us!" your dad exclaims.
"It is, but I still want to visit a few old school friends I haven't seen in a long time too. I mean we'll have lots of time tomorrow and the rest of the week!"
"Rest of the week? I thought you had to leave here by Monday."
"Oh, yeah…well two days is still a lot of time!" you say.
"I suppose…it's just…well your mother and I were really happy that you arrived a little earlier than you did since we don't see you as much anymore and we really wanted to enjoy the time we were getting with you. The extra day was like a bonus."

You look a little downtrodden at dad's disappointed tone.

"But I guess if you made other plans with other people, I wouldn't want to stop you." Your dad remarks and leaves the room.

You nearly say something, but stop yourself. Instead you just head out the door and to your car.

You throw the duffle bag in the trunk of your car and get ready to drive off…

"(Sigh) Shit…" you say to yourself as you hang your head down with the key just in the ignition.

You get back out of the car and head back to the house.

"She's not supposed to arrive until after midnight. Still gives me plenty of time. It's not going to hurt to have dinner." You say to yourself and ring the bell.

The door soon opens and dad answers.

"You forget something?" he asks.
"Yeah, my manners. You're right, I should be spending time with you guys. Sorry dad." You say and give him a hug.
"It's okay honey." He replies and hugs you back.

You pass the next few hours chatting with dad. Mostly about mundane matters, which actually don't involve any more insight into what your alternate life was like here. Doesn't really matter though, you're actually just enjoying the conversation. Back in your reality, you don't think you ever spoke more than a half hour with your father at most.

Eventually when dinner is served you sit down to eat with mom too and the conversation continues. This time you do learn a little more about your "life" here and through careful weaving and quick thinking, you manage to navigate through questions you might not otherwise know the answers to.

By the time dinner is over, you're enjoying your time with mom and dad so much that you put off leaving immediately after. Instead you play a few board games with them (Which you definitely never did as a child with either of them in your own reality) and continue to have more fun.

Eventually the time is getting very late and you do start to get concerned that the other Suzy will arrive earlier than expected. Fortunately mom and dad being creatures of habit tell you they're turning in for the night and after a few more words, hugs goodnight and mentions of plans for tomorrow, they go to bed.

You look at the time and see it's indeed getting up for midnight. You leave the house and get in your car once again.

As you drive off, you notice you aren't sad. Well you're sad that you do have to leave, but you not the emotional wreck you thought you might be. Maybe that little extra time together brought closure of sorts. You certainly are more at peace with it all. You wipe a few tears from your eyes and smile.

This moment of "zen" is suddenly cut short by a car slamming into your driver's side while rolling through a stop sign due to neither you nor the other driver paying full attention to your surroundings.

The impact is pretty hard and given you weren't even wearing your seatbelt at the time makes it worse. Unlike the car crash you had this earlier week, you're hurt very badly and you even can't move in your current condition. As you're lying in your car bleeding, bones broken, having a hard time breathing drifting in and out of consciousness and a piece of twisted metal impaling your side you don't think a mysterious stranger with magical healing gel is going to fix you this time.

You also can't help but think that this is probably the only way this week could have ended for you. Part of you wants to fight, but somehow with the last few good moments you just had with mom and dad make you actually want to let go. Why keep struggling? If you live you live, if not, well at least you had some joy during your last day. More than you might have had otherwise. Maybe you just weren't meant for this world either.

You aren't sure how long you lay twisted in the wrecked vehicle for before you hear sirens, but you aren't even awake long enough to hear the ambulance sirens, let alone before anyone actually comes and helps you. You die of your wounds in the ambulance thanks to the paramedics attending to the other driver first. Who are more than a little freaked out when they first see you and the driver of the other car.

The funny thing is, you never did see that it was a silver sports car that slammed into you. Somehow fitting that this reality's Suzy was luckier than you.


[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 help Jake

[Assistant]
Even if you made a dash for the door, you don't think you'd make it before Trent's friends would reach you, better that you help Jake.

You rush over to Jake and also grab Trent's hand that is still clutching the pistol. Jake and Trent are also hitting each other, though Jake can't really get a good hit in due to the counter being in the way and Trent being tall and having a long reach. Trent maintains a vice like grip on the pistol.

"Hey you motherfuckers come help me! Fat ass and this bitch are trying to get the gun!" Trent exclaims.

Jake seeing that you have a grip on Trent's pistol hand, Jake releases one of his hands to try to pull Trent forward over the counter.

He succeeds easily and Trent is half way over the counter, though two of his buddies manage to grab ahold of his legs and waist.

Meanwhile Trent's third friend has jumped over the counter and grabbed on to you. It's mister pimple and he's more like groping you rather than just trying to pull you off of his buddy.

In your attempt to get the little perv off of you end up letting go of Trent's pistol hand and while Jake still has a partial grip on it and is currently punching Trent in the face with his other fist, Trent manages to at last get his finger back around the trigger and starts shooting.

Of course he's firing wildly due to getting punched in the face and still not having complete control over his gun, but unfortunately you're close enough and in the direction he happens to pull the trigger.

You catch two in the chest and his buddy groping you gets one in the throat. The pair of you fall to the floor, him gurgling and spiting up blood and you struggling to breathe and also coughing up blood.

You die in a bloody heap on top of some acne ridden virgin that still manages to be clutching your right tit even in death.


[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 escape into the woods

[Assistant]
Who knows what Martin and Jeanette have in store for you or even if they are actually going to let you go. You decide to go into the woods to make your escape. Quietly you walk to the woods edge to avoid waking up Martin, once there you make a run for it. After several minutes of running you slow down to so you don't trip over any roots or hidden tree stumps. You think to yourself once you're on the other side of the woods, it'll be easy to find help.

Several hours later you come to conclusion that you are most likely lost, you wish you knew how to get back, as Martin and Jeanette don't seem so bad compared to your current situation of being, tired and hungry. At this point it's best to keep walking and eventually you'll be out of here, at this point you're probably one or two towns away from Destiny Hill. Hours turn into days as you are exhausted, starving and your mind is beginning to crack. You are convinced you are in the largest forest in the world or you're walking in circles, it's hard to figure out which theory is right. Days turn into weeks as you collapse in front of a large tree, dying is far less painful then you thought it would be.

Your disappearance becomes one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Destiny Hill become a tourist attraction as people come all across the globe trying to solve the disappearance of Linda Niles. Martin and Jeanette move away several years later to small town in Pennsylvania. No one ever suspects them. Twenty years later, lumberjacks find your remains while clearing out the area to make room for office buildings. The mystery deepens.


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

[User] Continue

[Assistant]
You can barely move, so you know you're in a susceptible state. The question is, does she still want to see you?

"Catia," you whisper.

You wait a few tense seconds and feel the pain in your head begin to relieve itself. But then, nothing. She never comes and the pain comes rushing back. You find tears streaming down your face as you realize your chances with Catia are probably over. You're also in no state to continue working as a guard and will probably be fired soon. The only thing you can do is lay in bed and suffer.

Days past and your state of mind only gets worse. You begin seeing shadowy figures at the corner of your eyes. One day you manage to touch one and ask,

"Who are you?"

He laughs and laughs before disappearing. This isn't the most psychologically scaring part of this ordeal. Your recurring nightmares are much worse. You dream of your family returning home in vivid detail, only for it to all come crashing down as you realize they're not real. You stop eating and drink only when necessary. It gets to a point where you know if you don't try to seek help you will die.

You have no idea where to go for help, especially since the local witch doctor has been arrested for using humans as potion ingredients. You wander aimlessly taking morning walks in a vain attempt to find your savior. Shadowy figures whisper about you as you walk past.

"There's nothing out here, return home"

"You're never going to get better, why not end it?"

You've been seeing these shadowy figures more frequently recently. You chalk this up to your lack of sleep. Sleeping is when your most vulnerable, so you try to do as little of it as you can.

During a morning walk you run into a familiar face. It's your childhood friend Julia. You haven't seen her since schooling and boy does she look different.

"Is that…" she says

"Yeah it's me," you reply

"Boy do you look different."

You haven't been grooming yourself since the madness occurred. You have lots of dark circles under your eyes and probably don't smell too good either.

"You also look different."

She raises an eyebrow not knowing if your complementing or insulting her.

"In a good way in a good way!" you clarify.

She laughs as her dress flows in the wind.

"Sorry I can't say the same to you. Down on your luck?"

"That's putting it lightly," you say jokingly, even though it's the truth.

"Hahah I bet. I was just about to get some coffee, wanna come with?"

"Would I ever! Is it ok if the shadow people follow along?"

"The what?"

"Never mind."

Later

Julia and you decided to go to the Cinnamon Pearl Cafe. As fancy as it may seem, its nothing more than a place to eat pastries and drink coffee. She begins telling you what's she's been doing lately.

"You know Andy right?"

"Of course, me and him have been on guard duty together a couple times."

Julia bites her lips and chooses her words carefully,

"Well we broke up recently due to the fact that he...he...raped me..."

You're shocked at this revelation, Andy has always seemed like a standup guy.

"How could he do such a thing?"

"He's a piece of shit that's how!"

Your lower your head as she composes herself.

"Sorry, I'm just not in the best mental space right now."

"No need to apologize, you have every right to be angry."

"Thank you."

"So tell me, what happened?"

She explains how one night, after a long tiring day working as a cleaner, Andy wanted sex. They had been dating for a few months and had yet to have sex. The conversation went a little like this,

"All of my other friends constantly brag about sex. If I keep telling them I haven't fucked you yet they might start thinking I'm gay," says Andy.

"Stop pressuring me! I told you, I am not in the mood and am not ready to pursue that kind of relationship with you."

"You're such a bitch, you know that right? Fuck you make me angry," Andy says while walking towards Julia menacingly.

"Back off, get away from me!"

Julia stops talking and begins to choke up. She covers her face with her hands and says shakily,

"He grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth and clenched my throat. He violated me and nobody cares to do anything about it. Everyone's to focused on the damn demons to give a shit about poor ol' me."

"That's horrible, who else have you told?"

"Just you and the captain of the fucking guards. He wouldn't even fire him, saying the demand for guards is 'very high' right now. No guard is better than a guards that's a mother fucking rapist."

"I wish I could help, but the captain probably won't listen to me anymore. I haven't shown up for work in days and didn't give any notice."

"It's ok, I don't want the captain's help anyways. I need to move on and be strong."

You make small talk about various things before saying your goodbyes. With Julia in such a vulnerable state, you wonder if it's best to give her time to heal. At the same time, you long for human relationship. The shadow figures just aren't the same as real human contact.

[User] You pursue a relationship

[Assistant]
You're both facing adversity in life. In a sense, you've both been raped. Julia in a literal sense and yourself in a mental sense. Catia cursed you and has left you a shell of your former self.The past few days have been hell. Why not reconnect with a old friend and see if it leads anywhere? Everyday you walk to the Cinnamon Pearl Cafe hoping to see Julia. A few days go by and you never see her, however it's not all bad. You're now eating and staying hydrated, which is never a bad thing. You haven't seen any shadow people in days and have stopped having nightmares. Things are looking up for you.

One day after ordering your usual (a cup of coffee and cinnamon toast) Julia walks in. She's all alone and you make eye contact with her. She winks at you and holds up a finger indicating that you should give her a second. You watch as she orders a coffee and raisin bread. After paying, she walks over to join you.

"I'm surprised to see you here," she says.

"I'm here all the time now. I mean, their coffee's really great."

She laughs and asks,

"How have you been doing?"

"I'm great, but I've been worrying about you, how have you been holding up?"

She gets a little teary eyed while saying,

"That's so sweet of you, but you don't have to worry about me. I'm planning on leaving Ashton tomorrow morning."

You sit mouth agape shocked at the news. She could have easy left without telling you. You might have gone mad waiting for her, but now you have a chance to leave with her.

"Why are you leaving? I get why you might not want to live in a place with bad memories of your past, but why leave so soon?"

"It's no longer safe here and you should know better than anyone being a guard and all."

"Former guard, and what do you mean it's not safe? I haven't heard of any demon sightings..."

"Well there was one just a few nights ago and people living in Ashton died. I have family up in Kingsburg and know I'll be safe there."

"Are you going all alone or bringing anyone with you?"

"As of now, all alone. I don't know how difficult travel will be, back if I survive, I'll finally have a place to call home."

You really don't think it's a good idea for her to travel alone. One for the selfish reason of wanting to be close to her, but also because it's the middle of winter and travel hasn't been safe since the demonic invasion. This is all happening so fast, you barely know Julia the adult considering you just reconnect with you. Will she even let you come with her if you ask?

[User] You ask if you can come with her

[Assistant]
"Hey do you think I could go with you?"

"Umm...why would you want to do that?"

You explain how you don't have any reason to stay in Ashton anymore. Your parents are likely dead and you're unemployed. A new start in Kingsbury is just what the doctor ordered.

"You can come...just meet me outside the Cinnamon Pearl at dawn."

"Yes! Thank you so much, I can't wait!"

You leave the cafe and feel an incredible sense of euphoria. You can't believe she said yes, although she was a bit apprehensive. You can't wait to show her that she made the right choice in letting you come along. You spend the rest of the day gathering all your most prized belongings. You also take all of your parent's savings figuring they're never coming back. You fall asleep and begin to dream...

You're back in school and are sitting next to Julia. You don't hesitate and begin talking to her fully lucid of your actions.

"Hey Julia! Want a cookie?"

You pull a cookie out of thin air and hold it out to her. She reacts in disgust,

"Did you really think you could win my love so easily? Andy's my boyfriend and we're going to be together forever!"

You stammer out,

"One day you'll realize Andy isn't as nice as he may seem. Appearances can be deceiving..."

She bursts out in hysterical laughing and you have no idea why. Your look of confusion becomes apparent as she says,

"Appearances sure are deceiving!"

"Yeah..."

"For instance, I'm not even Julia."

Your pulse increases as you feel yourself losing control. Julia's face contorts feature by feature. First, her eyes turn red, then horns grow out of her head. By the end of it you are staring face to face with the demon of your nightmares.

"Catia?"

"You may think you've escaped me, but Julia will never be your true love."

"Shut up! Julia's just a friend..."

"No, YOU shut up! I know your deepest secrets and desires. Why keep up the charade? I know you think Julia can fill the void in your life, but that's just a fantasy."

"None of this is real and that includes you. This is nightmare, that's all."

"Go ahead, believe that. Just don't act like I didn't try to warn you."

You wake up as your head pounds like never before. You're suddenly very scared and seeing Julia and aren't sure why. It's clearly irrational, but a part of you wants to contact Catia again. Who's to say the curse will go away just because you're with Julia? Should you even bother?

[User] You go to the Cinnamon Pearl

[Assistant]
It's best to ignore the nightmare and pretend it never happened. You head to meet Julia at the Cinnamon Pearl. You arrive shortly after and see her waiting for you.

"Ready to go?"

"Ready for anything," you stay while brandishing your sword.

The road to Kingsbury is no easy journey. You feel Julia is glad you came along as you can scare away any thieves and bandits you come across. Who knows if you'll make it in one piece but at least you have a purpose. You leave through the city walls and take the old dirt road to Kingsbury.

"You know the forest would be faster?" you say.

"I know, I have a feeling we're much safer this way."

You look at her and smile. Her blue eyes sparkle as you realize one thing: true beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You've been staring it in the face since childhood and are only realizing that now.

[User] You epilogue #4: The Kingsbury Kiss

[Assistant]
The journey to Kingsbury wasn't easy. You and Julia saved each other's behind on multiple occasions. Through adversity, you grew closer together. Once you arrived at Kingsbury you had no plan. Julia saw this and invited you to stay with her. Before you knew it, you two started dating. She was everything you've ever wanted and more. You never cared that she wanted to take things slow, in fact, you embraced it.

"You only live once, might as well enjoy the whole ride," you said to her one night.

"Oh shut up, you and your cheesy sayings need to stop," she says while touching your shoulder.

"You want me to shut up? I'll do it, just for you my Cinnamon Pearl."

"If you say something cheesy one more time I'll..."

"You'll what?"

She pauses and stare at you with her beautiful, shinning blue eyes. You don't have time to react before she leans in and says,

"I'll... kiss you."

Your lips connect and you feel a fullness in your heart for the first time in years. You're reminded of the night you met Catia where everything about her gave you joy. Except this time it's different, this isn't some spell or magical aura. This is all real, and you can't believe it.

"I love you," you say to remind yourself this is really happening.

"I love you too."


[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 was hitchhiking and was dropped off here...

[Assistant]
The man smiles and offers you another frosty crush from his buzzing freezer.

Soon he is on a CB radio and states he is escorting you to your grandfather's house since "it's something to do." he states

You and the sherriff drink beverages and drive out of Gold Flake. You relate the crazy story of how you ended up here and he just laughs and drives on.

Soon you are at your grandfather's house. He and long lost relatives are happy to see you and relates old memories of times past.

Your grandfather leaves you the old mansion and you end up moving in.

All is well.

~THE END~

You reached the "quick and painless" ending. No movie relation to this ending. Go back and try again.


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

[User] You refuse the offer

[Assistant]
There is no way you can betray your friends like that, even if it means certain death. They would never betray you. That manner of treachery is the stuff villains are made of, and that is a long dark road you want no part of. Villains never get princess bosom! You're also not too sure about their bacon situation.

"I'll never join you!"

"Really? What a pity. I suppose I'll have to waste you now." The bandit leader draws his scimitar. "Ebony, get in here!"

A slick dark chocolate goddess enters the tent: scantily clad in bosom emphasizing furs. "Yes, father?"

"I wanted this chump to see what he was missing out on. Flash him a little more skin… no not that much! Put your top back on!"

"Wait a second," you say. "You named your daughter Ebony? Isn't that crass?"

"I'm not very creative, alright. I don't even have a fucking name of my own."

"I'm just going to call you Sinbad. Because you sin and you're bad. Get it?"

"Oh mother-fucking merciful God!"

The bandit leader, now known as Sinbad hacks your body to bloody bits with his scimitar while Ebony rubs her nipples in the background. Something tells me she has daddy issues. Anyway, you're dead, so you won't get to explore them.


[System] Narrate a grim fantasy text adventure. The Empire's world is brutal, its people hardened. Respond to the player's choices with immersive storytelling and let consequences flow naturally.

[User] You say "There's something more going on..."

[Assistant]
"I found Carst's personal computer in his room about an hour ago. It was well hidden, and he'd been using it to send and receive coded messages to someone outside the Order network."

"Really? Shit." Hinsman sighs, running his fingers through his dark hair. "Now we've got that to figure out."

"Who would have a satellite out here aside from the Order?" you ask.

"Traders, miners, colonists, pirates...?" Karoff ticks the list of anyone you might expect to encounter past the edge of the frontier off on his fingers.

Hinsman has a thoughtful frown. "Seems like it'd have to be pirates. Anyone else would have it registered so we could protect it. They'd have to be pretty organized, though. Damn, I don't like this at all."

"Oh, but what if it's aliens!"

You and Hinsman both give him a look. Hinsman sounds a little exasperated. "Enough joking around."

"Whatever secret Carst had, Inea must've found out. Maybe something happened between them in the medical wing...he might've killed her on the spot, given the caveman tactics used," you say.

"The sabotage, though?"

"Lots of people have it out for the Order. Maybe treason was always the plan and being found out screwed it up somehow. We need to find out what those messages said." This last you direct at Karoff.

He explains to Hinsman. "I plugged them into the main computer when Zee brought it to me. Give it a bit more time, it should be able to crack the code."

"Let's go there then. Should shed some light on matters. And Kar, you can run a search for the report on Inea's death while we wait. I know we don't have a record of it but Matti said they wrote it, it's possible it was just never finalized and sent. I'd really love to see what load of crap Markov was planning to feed HQ."