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You begin wandering up towards the trees, holding your gun tightly in your hands. Whilst nature is no doubt a sanctuary to your young mind to find tranquility, there’s many dangers hidden. You point your rifle, making a loud bang sound as you picture yourself shooting a large grizzly bear like that your grandfather had stuffed in his cabin.
You reach the trees, leaning against a large, thick Oak tree and taking a deep breath, taking in all the scents the forest offers you. Your eyes scan the forest, quickly spotting several points of interest. Among the underbrush you spot a slightly trampled hare path, no doubt leading to wherever’s a good spot to graze. There’s also the stream, which you could wander along for a fair distance in search of anything worth seeing without getting lost. Finally, there’s a large oak tree with lots of strong branches. Perfect for climbing.
> You climb a tree
You leave your rifle leaning against the tree and grab one of the lowest tree branches, lifting yourself off the ground up onto it. You grab another branch, hopping up as you quickly begin climbing up the the tree. Soon, you reach a point where you can see far and wide in the glade without having your view obscured by the leafy tree tops. You peer out at the various things, seeing a few deer bound past, the rushing stream and a few apple trees worth reporting to father. Other than that, there's...
You stop, as far in the distance you see a pale figure bounding through the trees with unnatural speed. You pause, wondering what an earth it is. You stare curiously at it, before it disappears from view. Fascinating. You lower yourself from the branch to see if you can spot it from a lower angle, but sadly its completely disappeared. No bother, you'll make an attempt to find out what kind of creature it was another day. Time to head home and report your findings.
| 5 |
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You raise your hand and silence falls like a blanket over the crowd of people. Your eyes flick from face, some meet your gaze, others stare at their feet.
"We have been through hell, all of us. You have all lost people to the fyrd; fathers, brothers, sons. I understand your pain. But know this; they died with me, beside me, because we are the north! We live, we fight, and we die together! They say a warrior is only as strong as the shield held by his neighbor, they say this because it is the united who are strong, and we are the united!"
Your escort applauds, rattling swords on shields and roaring.
Some of the villagers clap nervously, but others remain still; one, a young woman with a grim face raises her hand. "Why was the fyrd so undersupplied? Why was it not provided with shields?" One of your men barks at her to be silent, but she snarls back, tears bead her eyes "I lost my husband and my son! Don't you dare tell me to be silent!" She stabs her finger at you, sobbing "Answer me! Answer me!" One of your men reaches for his sword, but you wave him off. Looking the determined young woman in the eye, you give her an answer.
> You say "If I could have saved them, I would have"
You sigh, an angry rush of air escapes your mouth. You lean in, and the woman recoils momentarily; mounted on your horse with gleaming steel at your waist, you look like an imposing figure. Sensing your tense emotions, Thunder bares his thick teeth, but you quiet him.
"If I could bring your husband and son back from the dead, I would. Truly. I do feel every fyrdmen lost under my service to be a terrible tra-"
The woman glares at you angrily, stepping forward
"Do you think I care? Do you think I want your condolences? My son, my husban-"
"I have lost people too!"
You snap irritably, and she backs off carefully. The crowd is tense, and your guards place hands on swordhilts. You wave them down and continue talking.
"I have lost family too. Every soldier dead in my service is a brother whose death I mourn. You lost two people, and I know their deaths will haunt you. But I am haunted too. I am haunted too; I am haunted by the deaths of not only the forty-eight warriors I commanded, many of whom I knew since they were boys, but also the deaths amongst the fyrdmen who died alongside me. We were all brothers; me, the fyrdmen, my warriors, all of us. those men who died were my brothers, and I mourn them like any other would. So know this; you do not grieve alone"
The woman meets your eyes for a long moment, and then turns away, the crowd lets her pass. Did those eyes hold forgiveness? Maybe. The crowd is equally divided; some seem unmoved, but many others look at you with a new appraisal.
Satisfied, you turn your horse homewards, and your escort follows.
| 4 |
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You raise your hand and silence falls like a blanket over the crowd of people. Your eyes flick from face, some meet your gaze, others stare at their feet.
"We have been through hell, all of us. You have all lost people to the fyrd; fathers, brothers, sons. I understand your pain. But know this; they died with me, beside me, because we are the north! We live, we fight, and we die together! They say a warrior is only as strong as the shield held by his neighbor, they say this because it is the united who are strong, and we are the united!"
Your escort applauds, rattling swords on shields and roaring.
Some of the villagers clap nervously, but others remain still; one, a young woman with a grim face raises her hand. "Why was the fyrd so undersupplied? Why was it not provided with shields?" One of your men barks at her to be silent, but she snarls back, tears bead her eyes "I lost my husband and my son! Don't you dare tell me to be silent!" She stabs her finger at you, sobbing "Answer me! Answer me!" One of your men reaches for his sword, but you wave him off. Looking the determined young woman in the eye, you give her an answer.
> You say "I am sorry for your losses"
What can you say? The truth, you suppose.
"War is brutal, it is horrific and ungodly. It is savage and barbaric. That your son and husband died is tragic, but it is also a reality, and it is a reality that we fast approach. William will come here, and the killing will continue, because that is war. And in the world of today; war is life. It is terrible and tragic, but it is the life we live and I cannot shield you from that."
You search for more words, but none come. None are necessary. The woman exhales heavily, fixes you with a mixed stare, and then departs, melting into the crowd. Did those eyes hold forgiveness? Maybe. The crowd is equally divided; some seem unmoved, but many others look at you with a new appraisal.
Satisfied, you turn your horse homewards, and your escort follows.
| 4 |
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| 5 | false |
You smell the town before you see it. A horrid combination of sewage and rotting thatch permeates the crisp December air. The town has perhaps a hundred homes at most, with most people living in farmsteads around the surrounding area.
Normally, the town would be fairly quiet, however today is Wednesday, marketday, and the town is filled with crowds of villagers from the farthest corners of your realm.
As your horses move through the center street, villagers hurry to make room. Some cheer, but others eye you with suspicion or even fear.
At the center of the town, you hold up your fist and your party draws to a halt. A crowd quickly gathers, all eyes are on you. Pausing to gather your words, you address your people.
> You say "You must be strong!"
You raise your hand and silence falls like a blanket over the crowd of people. Your eyes flick from face, some meet your gaze, others stare at their feet.
"As a husband and father, I can understand the devotion one feels for a family member, and therefore cannot even comprehend the pain of your losses. I wish I could tell you that they died honorably, but in truth they were butchered! William slaughtered them, mercilessly. What happened at Hastings cannot be repeated, and to ensure that I need your support. If not for my sake, or England's, then for the sake of avenging your loved ones. William must pay!"
Your escort applauds, rattling swords on shields and roaring.
Some of the villagers clap nervously, but others remain still; one, a young woman with a grim face raises her hand. "Why was the fyrd so undersupplied? Why was it not provided with shields?" One of your men barks at her to be silent, but she snarls back, tears bead her eyes "I lost my husband and my son! Don't you dare tell me to be silent!" She stabs her finger at you, sobbing "Answer me! Answer me!" One of your men reaches for his sword, but you wave him off. Looking the determined young woman in the eye, you give her an answer.
| 4 |
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| 2 | false |
"Thank you"
You snarl through gritted teeth. Anger wells up inside of you like a storm, like an enraged beast trapped inside a frail cage of flesh and bone. Beside you, Orvyn notices your anger and tenses up, every muscle in his body is ready to spring into action. Even William notices the tension and waves discreetly to the Norman soldiers behind you. You feel cold steel pricking at your back. William glares icily, he leans forward.
"You might be wondering why you are still alive, no?"
You shrug sardonically. William pretends not to notice your insolence.
"The North has proven especially difficult to pacify. I could have you executed, and place a Norman in charge, however I believe the peasants would disapprove, and I would prefer to keep them alive"
He pauses briefly, mentally collecting his words
"As such, I am reinstating you as lord in the North, providing you swear fealty to me"
He leans even closer
"Make no mistake. You will be closely watched by one of my men, whom you will take orders from. This is not an offer. Swear to me, or die. Your choice."
> You attack King William
With a short, deft movement, you leap to your left and crack a guard's knee with your boot. He gasps and collapses on the floor, cradling his injured leg.
From his limp hands you tear his spear and whip around. The guard behind you parries with his sword, but you twirl your spear around his blade and plunge it into his gut. Leaving it there, you tear the sword from his grip.
Behind you, Orvyn has also managed to acquire a weapon and is dueling with the remaining guard and the jailor. With his free hand, he waves to you
"Go, Aethelwulf, go! Kill him!"
You press onwards toward the throne. William's two guards stand ready for you. Taking a massive lunge to your right, you drive your sword at a guard's face. He deflects the blow easily with his heavy Norman kite shield, but the shield momentarily blinds him and allows you to cut past him.
William, seeing you in front of him, reaches for an ornate gilded sword at his side.
You don't give him a chance. Channeling all your strength, you drive the blade deep into his gut. Behind you, footsteps resonate, and shortly after you feel sharp steel driving into your back. It no longer matters. You keep pushing, driving the blade upwards. William's eyes roll back and his features curl into an insane grimace.
More men enter the room.
Orvyn dies.
Your hand, up to your arm, is covered in blood.
Another blade pierces you.
Your grip weakens.
You fall over, and your vision turns red.
Blood pours from your mouth, but you manage to spit out two words
"For England"
> The Aftermath...
With William dead, the Norman occupation crumbles. Multiple uprisings drive the Norman force out of London.
In 1067 the Normans rally briefly under William's son, who is also named William.
In an act of vengeance, he makes his last stand in Northumbria, your home. While he waits for the impending arrival of a unified English army, he makes Northumbria bleed. Entire villages are put to the sword, and your home is no exception. Your entire family is wiped out; an ancient bloodline extinguished.
The English forces catch William II in a deft pincer; most of his army is killed during the battle. Those who are captured are put to the sword. William II is taken prisoner, he is brought to London and found guilty of numerous charges by a completely unanimous jury.
On August 18, 1067, William II, at nineteen years of age, is executed. In the next four years a wave of bloodshed rips through England. Normans in hiding are methodically sought out and killed.
By 1071, there are none left. Meanwhile, many English lords vie for the throne.
In 1072, an English lord named Ryce takes the throne, and the English monarchy is preserved.
Although you will be remembered as the man who saved England, your actions resulted in your people being massacred and your family being killed.
As history progresses, facts will fade into legend, but you will always remain.
Your name will be lost to history, but you will be remembered instead by your posthumous nickname;
The Bloody Wolf.
| 3 |
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| 9 | false |
With a bitter taste in your mouth, you kneel. Orvyn looks openly disgusted, but he too gets down on one knee. William smiles contemptuously, he speaks softly, in an English that is only faintly accented.
"Ah, this one knows his manners. Good."
> You remain silent
You hold your tongue, but anger wells up inside of you like a storm, like an enraged beast trapped inside a frail cage of flesh and bone. Beside you, Orvyn notices your anger and tenses up, every muscle in his body is ready to spring into action. Even William notices the tension and waves discreetly to the Norman soldiers behind you. You feel cold steel pricking at your back. William glares icily, he leans forward.
"You might be wondering why you are still alive, no?"
You shrug sardonically. William pretends not to notice your insolence.
"The North has proven especially difficult to pacify. I could have you executed, and place a Norman in charge, however I believe the peasants would disapprove, and I would prefer to keep them alive"
He pauses briefly, mentally collecting his words
"As such, I am reinstating you as lord in the North, providing you swear fealty to me"
He leans even closer
"Make no mistake. You will be closely watched by one of my men, whom you will take orders from. This is not an offer. Swear to me, or die. Your choice."
| 4 |
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| 9 | false |
You remember what this room was like a year ago. Men and women laughed and cajoled, children played with the great wolfhounds that were always on the hunt for table scraps, and bards echoed melodies that filled the rafters with pleasant music.
But that was a different time, under a different king.
The throne room is empty, other than a handful of guards and a few servants milling idly, the throne room is devoid of people. It is silent too, the place is blanketed by an austere noiselessness, so that every footstep makes a clattering echo. Residing over it all, William sits in the throne, glaring at you thoughtfully.
With just a handful of meters separating you and the king, your guards stop you. William looks at you expectantly.
> You remain standing
You remain stonily silent, and stiff as iron. William sneers and barks a command in French, the two guards behind you force you and Orvyn to your knees. William smiles patronizingly, he speaks softly, in an English that is only faintly accented.
"I cannot imagine how tiring it must be to stand all the time. I thought you might appreciate a break"
| 3 |
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| 1 | false |
"Harold!"
You call out, sprinting towards him. He half turns towards you, and flashes one of his charismatic bright smiles.
The single arrow that flies through the air surprises you more than Harold. Curving gently, it hisses downward and slams into Harold's eye.
He lets out a startled cough and staggers backward. You keep running towards your king, but a Norman rider cuts in front of you.
Turning his horse neatly, the Norman swings his blade and opens your King's throat, spraying blood.
Harold falls to the ground, dead.
You falter indecisively, filled with wordless horror and remorse.
> You kill the bastard
You sprint full tilt at the Norman rider.
Your shield feels heavy on your arm, so you toss it aside.
Seeing your approach, the Norman wheels his horse around to face you. He knees his horse into a canter, driving it straight for you.
At the last moment you drop down and slide along the mud of the hill, under the belly of the horse. Thrusting upward, you plunge your blade deep into the horse's gut, drenching yourself in thick blood.
The horse collapses, but you roll out from under it.
You leap to your feet quickly; the Norman rider is slower to rise. From under the horse carcass, you see the hilt of your longsword protruding.
> You go for your longsword
The Norman struggles to rise, his leg is broken. He stabs at you feebly with his sword. You knock it aside and retrieve you own, pulling it from the horse's stomach with a sickening wrench.
Shoving the rider onto his back, you stand over him with your sword raised high.
"For Harold"
You breathe, and then plunge the blade into his chest, shattering the mail links and piercing his heart.
You stand there awhile, alone in the middle of a slaughter. Orvyn reaches you, and tugs urgently at your shoulder, he is yelling something, but you cannot understand him. The words sound far away; small.
You see a Norman on horseback charge towards you, he wields a cudgel.
You make no attempt to dodge. You just stand there, frozen. It is Orvyn who saves you, he ducks under the cudgel swing and drives his axe into the horseman's chest. The cudgel blow loses force and changes direction, clipping your helmet as opposed to killing you. Your vision fades and you feel the ground rush towards you, feel the mud leeching through your mailshirt.
Your vision blackens.
| 4 |
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You sprint full tilt at the Norman rider.
Your shield feels heavy on your arm, so you toss it aside.
Seeing your approach, the Norman wheels his horse around to face you. He knees his horse into a canter, driving it straight for you.
At the last moment you drop down and slide along the mud of the hill, under the belly of the horse. Thrusting upward, you plunge your blade deep into the horse's gut, drenching yourself in thick blood.
The horse collapses, but you roll out from under it.
You leap to your feet quickly; the Norman rider is slower to rise. From under the horse carcass, you see the hilt of your longsword protruding.
> You attack the Norman unarmed
The Norman struggles to rise, you ignore your sword and instead dive for him. Knocking him down, you press him down with your legs and drive blow after blow into his face, cracking your knuckles and snapping his nose.
The Norman writhes, and as you try and secure him he drives a fist into your gut. As you recover, gasping, he draws a dagger and stabs it at your neck. Twisting out of the way, you avoid most of his strike, but feel the blade cut up across your jaw.
His momentum throws him off-guard, and in an instant you are both clutching the knife's hilt. He fights hard, but his strength is the hot struggle for survival, and yours is the cold power of vengeance. You force the dagger down and plunge it into his chest, splintering his mailshirt and piercing his heart.
You stand there awhile, alone in the middle of a slaughter. Orvyn reaches you, and tugs urgently at your shoulder, he is yelling something, but you cannot understand him. The words sound far away; small.
You see a Norman on horseback charge towards you, he wields a cudgel. You make no attempt to dodge. You just stand there, frozen. It is Orvyn who saves you, he ducks under the cudgel swing and drives his axe into the horseman's chest. The cudgel blow loses force and changes direction, clipping your helmet as opposed to killing you.
Your vision fades and you feel the ground rush towards you, feel the mud leeching through your mailshirt.
Your vision blackens.
| 5 |
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| 2 | false |
Adding your voice to the English battle cries, you advance on the fleeing Norman foot soldiers. In front of you, one stumbles as his boot slides through a patch of reddened mud. He only falters a moment, but it is enough. Your longsword lances forward, piercing the fleeing Norman's calf. He screams and falls, holding up his arms to futilely ward off your blade.
You keep moving forward, using your heavy shield to shove the wounded Norman out of your way. Behind you, Orvyn's axe resonates with a heavy crunch as he finishes off the crippled soldier.
Ahead of you, another Norman stumbles forward, a heavy javelin slamming into his shoulder. He manages one strangled yelp before your blade connects with his neck, a heavy swing that severs his jugular and jars against his spine. You wrench the sword free and keep moving. This charge has filled you with fresh energy, filling your mind with bloody courage, but now it is starting to ebb and your mind is working more clearly.
There is something very wrong here. This retreat is far too organized, too simultaneous. The Norman foot soldiers are increasing the distance between themselves and the beleaguered English soldiers, the pounding of their feet grows fainter, but another pounding grows louder. Horse hooves.
You turn to your left, Harold has thrown off his battered shield and carries only a Daneaxe, which he wields two-handed. He is completely out in the open.
You turn and race towards him.
> You say "Protect the King!"
"Protect the King!"
You cry, and several weary Housecarls bound into action, following your lead. You sprint towards him.
He half turns towards you, and flashes one of his charismatic bright smiles.
The single arrow that flies through the air surprises you more than Harold. Curving gently, it hisses downward and slams into his eye. He lets out a startled cough and staggers backward.
You keep running towards your king, but a Norman rider canters in front of you, blocking your way.
Turning his horse neatly, the Norman swings his blade and opens your King's throat, spraying blood.
Harold falls to the ground, dead.
You falter indecisively, filled with wordless horror and remorse.
| 5 |
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| 1 | false |
The Normans advance, neat and orderly. Their armaments are very similar to that of their riders. Most wear mailshirts, and those bizarre conical helmets. Some carry axes, most carry swords, but all heft the customary Norman blue kite shield. That, at least, is some consolation. Whereas you English fight as a cohesive team, the Norman's tend to fight as individuals, because the kite shield, although effective, cannot interlock with that of a neighbor's. Despite your weakened state, a lone Norman is still a dead one.
You crouch low behind the horse corpse and wait. The familiar jingle of mailshirts heralds their arrival. Beside you, Orvyn bristles, but you put a cautionary hand on his shoulder. You want them close.
You wait a moment more, then leap out. Your longsword snakes forward, lashing out at a Norman's face. He raises his kite shield to deflect the blow, but as he does one of the men on your right sweeps his blade down and cuts into the Norman's ankle. The man screams and drops to one knee, Orvyn's axe crushes his jaw.
You press into the gap and push the Normans towards Harold's Housecarls, whose bloody Daneaxes make short work of the thin kite shields. Ducking under a Norman sword thrust, you stab forwards and gut the man. Kicking him aside, you search for your next opponent...
And find no one. The Normans are retreating. To your left, you notice King Harold. He waves madly with his axe, and men are surging forward alongside him. With a sudden shock you realize he is trying to rally the men and charge downhill, towards William's retreating infantry.
> You stay back
Some of your men are beginning to join this mad charge. Waving frantically, you call them back to your position. Most capitulate, somewhat reluctantly.
With your men beside you, you pause to get a better look at the retreating Normans. There is something very wrong here. This retreat is far too organized, too simultaneous. The Norman foot soldiers are increasing the distance between themselves and the beleaguered English soldiers, the pounding of their feet grows fainter, but another pounding grows louder. Horse hooves.
You stare with horror, Harold has thrown off his battered shield and carries only a Daneaxe, which he wields two-handed. He is completely out in the open.
Instinctively, you turn and race towards him.
| 4 |
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| 2 | false |
After much begging the members of the First Relief let you join them in travelling on to California and safety but the going is hard. Most of the children are so weak the rescuers have to take turns carrying them while you and the other adults stagger on as best you can. One morning John Denton, an English wagon-driver who has been of great assistance around the camps, is unable to continue and insists that he is left behind at the fire. Finding him unable to walk the other settlers agree and he is left behind.
What do you do?
> You press on with the others
Leaving John Denton behind you keep going but things continue to worsen. In particular Phillippe Keseberg’s infant daughter Ada is almost unresponsive and her mother desperately offers a gold watch and money to anyone who will help her keep her child alive but it is no good. By nightfall the infant is dead and her crying mother buries her in the ground. The wind that night is relentless and chills you to the bone, you are tempted to move away from the camp and try to find a better spot.
What do you do?
> You search for a warmer location
Rising to your feet you stagger away from the camp. In the flurrying snow you lose sight of the camp completely and wander round helplessly calling out names. Finally you can walk no more and have to lie down where you gently expire.
| 3 |
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| 7 | false |
Leaving John Denton behind you keep going but things continue to worsen. In particular Phillippe Keseberg’s infant daughter Ada is almost unresponsive and her mother desperately offers a gold watch and money to anyone who will help her keep her child alive but it is no good. By nightfall the infant is dead and her crying mother buries her in the ground. The wind that night is relentless and chills you to the bone, you are tempted to move away from the camp and try to find a better spot.
What do you do?
> You sit tight and make the best of it
Finally you make it over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and begin to descend the far side. On the way you meet the Second Relief travelling out to those of the Donner Party still stranded in the mountains, this group is led by James Reed and William McCutchen. When Reed’s wife Margret sees him she gives a cry of sheer amazement and collapses in the snow. The reunion is a moving occasion and Reed’s children cry as they embrace their father. But one person’s joy is another person’s sorrow: McCutchen learns that his baby daughter Harriet died at Truckee Lake. Reed still has two children in the camps and is anxious to rescue them.
You part ways, the Second Relief going on up into the mountains while you and the others go down: coming to where a large stash of provisions has been placed. You are overjoyed to taste good food again and eat. One of your companions, William Hook (Jacob Donner’s stepson) eats and eats until he can eat no more. You are tempted to stuff yourself too.
What do you do?
> You eat everything that you can
You over-indulge and that night your stomach is wracked by swift agonising pains. Moaning in agony this last pain is too much for your weakened nervous system. You die that night just a few miles from safety.
| 4 |
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| 4 | false |
Finally you make it over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and begin to descend the far side. On the way you meet the Second Relief travelling out to those of the Donner Party still stranded in the mountains, this group is led by James Reed and William McCutchen. When Reed’s wife Margret sees him she gives a cry of sheer amazement and collapses in the snow. The reunion is a moving occasion and Reed’s children cry as they embrace their father. But one person’s joy is another person’s sorrow: McCutchen learns that his baby daughter Harriet died at Truckee Lake. Reed still has two children in the camps and is anxious to rescue them.
You part ways, the Second Relief going on up into the mountains while you and the others go down: coming to where a large stash of provisions has been placed. You are overjoyed to taste good food again and eat. One of your companions, William Hook (Jacob Donner’s stepson) eats and eats until he can eat no more. You are tempted to stuff yourself too.
What do you do?
> You eat moderately
You are lucky you are able to resist over-indulging (William Hook is found dead the next morning) and a week later you reach Johnson’s Ranch, having passed a third rescue party led by William Eddy and William Foster going the other way. You thank them for warning the people of California of your plight but regrettably have to tell Eddy his wife and youngest child have died. The parties separate and soon after you are overjoyed to reach Johnson’s Ranch, a place of supplies and safety. There you rest for a month.
Meanwhile the relief parties continue to bring survivors in. James Reed and William McCutchen return with just three having abandoned more further up the trail. Another man called John Stark brings eleven of these in himself. Finally Eddy and Foster return with five more. They report that the remaining survivors in the mountains: George Donner, his wife Tamzene, their nephew Samuel, Louis Keseberg and Levinah Jackson, have resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. At the start of April William Foster begins organising a final Relief Party to bring in these survivors, if they are still alive. You can either accompany this group or remain safely at Sutter’s Fort.
What do you do?
| 5 |
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| 9 | false |
You are incredibly relieved to join the other survivors who are leaving, which consists of Elizabeth Graves (Franklin Graves’s widow), her four children, Patrick Breen, his wife Margaret and their five children, two of James Reed’s children and three of the Donner’s children. Your group sets off and initially makes good progress before disaster strikes.
Just a few days into the journey you are struck by a fierce snowstorm on open ground and are forced to huddle down below blankets: James Reed nearly collapses from the effort of making sure everyone is safe. Huddling together against the fierce cold you do your best. At one point during the storm it is discovered that Isaac Donner has died, slipping away so silently that the two girls huddled either side of him did not notice his death. In the midst of the cold the thought strikes you that the child must be buried.
What do you do?
> You stay with everyone else in the huddle
By the time the storm ends you and virtually all the survivors are too exhausted to continue. James Reed makes the decision to press on anyway, carrying his children Patty and Thomas with him while Solomon Hook is strong enough to continue. The remaining thirteen of you are abandoned by Reed, who promises to go ahead, get supplies and send them back. Soon after they leave the storm kicks up again. Elizabeth Graves succumbs, turning on her side she flings her arm out in one last effort and lies still as the life leaves her. The rest of you huddle together and try to endure. Mrs Graves’s four (now orphaned) children can’t stop crying and beg you to drag their mother’s body away from them.
What do you do?
> You move Mrs Graves's body
You move Mrs Graves’s body but the effort proves too much for you. Returning to the others you lie down with a sigh and do not get up again. Like the other dead your body will be cannibalised by the survivors.
| 3 |
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| 6 | false |
By the time the storm ends you and virtually all the survivors are too exhausted to continue. James Reed makes the decision to press on anyway, carrying his children Patty and Thomas with him while Solomon Hook is strong enough to continue. The remaining thirteen of you are abandoned by Reed, who promises to go ahead, get supplies and send them back. Soon after they leave the storm kicks up again. Elizabeth Graves succumbs, turning on her side she flings her arm out in one last effort and lies still as the life leaves her. The rest of you huddle together and try to endure. Mrs Graves’s four (now orphaned) children can’t stop crying and beg you to drag their mother’s body away from them.
What do you do?
> You remain where you are
For three days the storm rages and you all lie there without food and living on melted snow. It is a miracle any of you survive: even Patrick Breen begins to pray for death. The child Franklin Graves dies next, so cold he feels like he is almost frozen solid. His orphaned siblings Nancy, Jonathon and Elizabeth huddle round the body, too exhausted to even cry. The cold gets worst and to your astonishment you see Patrick Breen begin to carve up the bodies of the dead and pass the flesh around which is eaten cold.
What do you do?
> You refuse to touch it
You refuse to touch the human flesh while the others eat. Devoid of strength you sink into a sleep from which you do not wake and like the other dead your body too is cut up to provide nourishment for the remaining survivors.
| 5 |
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| 5 | false |
For three days the storm rages and you all lie there without food and living on melted snow. It is a miracle any of you survive: even Patrick Breen begins to pray for death. The child Franklin Graves dies next, so cold he feels like he is almost frozen solid. His orphaned siblings Nancy, Jonathon and Elizabeth huddle round the body, too exhausted to even cry. The cold gets worst and to your astonishment you see Patrick Breen begin to carve up the bodies of the dead and pass the flesh around which is eaten cold.
What do you do?
> You accept some of the offered flesh
Reluctantly you eat the flesh which ensures your survival. Tearing the cold flesh from the bones you feast on the bodies of the dead, doing anything to restore some strength into your weakened frames. Even Patrick Breen and his wife put aside their religious beliefs to feast. The meat saves your lives for a few days until a third rescue party led by William Eddy and William Foster reach you. They share some provisions with you and a brave man called John Stark volunteers to lead you all to safety. After more than a week of agonising walking the eleven of you miraculously make it to Johnson’s Ranch.
Here you rest and eat for a time. Eddy and Foster return soon after you with another five survivors and report that George Donner, his wife Tamzene, their nephew Samuel, Louis Keseberg and Levinah Jackson are still in the mountains. At the start of April William Foster begins to put together a final search party to go and look for them. Though still weakened from your recent experiences you are strong enough to join them or if, understandably, you don’t want to go back into the mountains you can remain at Sutter’s Fort.
What do you do?
| 4 |
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| 5 | false |
You choose to remain with George Donner and his family at Alder Creek, helping Jean Baptiste look after the two women and seven children there. There is some talk about eating human flesh but fortunately you manage to resist the urge to do that and in the first days of March a second rescue party arrives at Alder Creek led by James Reed and William McCutchen. They bring a little more food and offer to take three of the Donner children out but intend to leave a man behind to help Jean Baptiste look after the Donner family until the next rescue mission arrives.
What do you do?
> You stay with those that are left
You are certain that you are strong enough to stay and help Nicholas Clark and Jean Baptiste look after George Donner, his wife Tamzene and their children Georgia, Frances and Eliza as well as Jacob Donner’s widow Elizabeth and her children Lewis and Samuel. Though you are all weakening the efforts of you, Clark and Baptiste keep the others alive and at one point Clark is even able to shoot a bear. It is too late though: Elizabeth walks into George Donner’s tent and without a word lays the dead body of her son Lewis on Tamzene’s lap. Stumbling away she is found dead herself soon after. George Donner cuts up both bodies, cooks the meat on a fire and feeds it to the remaining children.
What do you do?
> You refuse to eat the human flesh
Refusing to eat any human flesh you return to your tent by yourself and lie under a blanket. That night as the snow piles up outside you succumb to your hunger and die.
| 3 |
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| 9 | false |
You are certain that you are strong enough to stay and help Nicholas Clark and Jean Baptiste look after George Donner, his wife Tamzene and their children Georgia, Frances and Eliza as well as Jacob Donner’s widow Elizabeth and her children Lewis and Samuel. Though you are all weakening the efforts of you, Clark and Baptiste keep the others alive and at one point Clark is even able to shoot a bear. It is too late though: Elizabeth walks into George Donner’s tent and without a word lays the dead body of her son Lewis on Tamzene’s lap. Stumbling away she is found dead herself soon after. George Donner cuts up both bodies, cooks the meat on a fire and feeds it to the remaining children.
What do you do?
> You eat the meat
Reluctantly you eat the flesh which ensures your survival. Days after the double-deaths and the beginning of cannibalism a rescue party arrives led by William Eddy and William Foster. They talk to George Donner about who can be rescued: Donner’s daughters Frances, Georgia and Eliza are quickly volunteered and both Jean Baptiste and Nicholas Clark choose to leave as well. Though Tamzene Donner is in good health she refuses to leave her bed-ridden husband George Donner and their nephew Samuel is too weak to be carried and near death. The rescuers prepare to leave with the four members of the Donner Party from Alder Creek and a boy called Simon Murphy from the Truckee Lake camp. You can ask them to take you as well or stay and help George, Tamzene and Samuel Donner.
What do you do?
| 4 |
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| 2 | false |
Each member of the Snowshoes Party is given enough food for six days (at least enough for a few bites each day) and a pair of snowshoes. It is quickly discovered that William Murphy cannot keep up and he is sent back to the camp with Dutch Charley Burger, a little chunky man who is not built for this sort of activity. If you want to turn back now this is your last chance, otherwise you’ll have to risk the dangers of the snow-filled passes.
What do you do?
> You turn back to the Truckee Lake Camp
Soon after setting off Dutch Charley Burger and young William Murphy return, having decided they cannot keep up with the Snowshoe Party. Reed Teamster Milt Elliott returns from a visit to Alder Creek with the terrible news that Jacob Donner, Samuel Shoemaker, Joseph Reinhardt and James Smith have all died. Dutch Charley, a chubby individual is the next one: weakening steadily he dies in Louis Keseberg’s lean-to soon after his return. You are all suffering now.
The cold is permeating every part of you. Every moment of every day you are hungry and at night the cold numbs your body. It is like being on fire and unable to put it out, one night it is worse than ever and you find all you want to do is give in, to walk out into the howling snow and die rather than go on suffering like this. Your companions are mere skeletons of themselves and despair is etched on every face.
What do you do?
> You venture out into the cold
You too do not survive the year. Rising from your thin blanket you stumble out into the cold. What you are searching for you do not know and never find out. Your body is found the next morning, half buried in snow.
| 3 |
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| 8 | false |
Soon after setting off Dutch Charley Burger and young William Murphy return, having decided they cannot keep up with the Snowshoe Party. Reed Teamster Milt Elliott returns from a visit to Alder Creek with the terrible news that Jacob Donner, Samuel Shoemaker, Joseph Reinhardt and James Smith have all died. Dutch Charley, a chubby individual is the next one: weakening steadily he dies in Louis Keseberg’s lean-to soon after his return. You are all suffering now.
The cold is permeating every part of you. Every moment of every day you are hungry and at night the cold numbs your body. It is like being on fire and unable to put it out, one night it is worse than ever and you find all you want to do is give in, to walk out into the howling snow and die rather than go on suffering like this. Your companions are mere skeletons of themselves and despair is etched on every face.
What do you do?
> You continue suffering
The New Year brings no fresh joys with it. Those in the cabins around Truckee Lake remain cold and starving and those at Alder Creek are little better off. After the initial wave of six deaths people are adjusting to the terrible conditions but that doesn’t make it any easier. The babies and young children cry continually and it is hellish for the adults. You have heard nothing of the Snowshoes Party and have no idea if any of them have made it to civilization. Things continue to worsen and near the end of January Louis Keseberg’s infant son, also called Louis, dies in the Murphy Cabin. Keseberg is grief-stricken and one night he stumbles into your cabin with his dead baby in his arms and asks you to help bury him in the snow.
What do you do?
> You help Louis bury his son
You stumble out into the snow with Louis and scrabble around in the snow trying to dig a shallow grave. The infant is finally laid to rest but when you return to your cabin you find you cannot see. The world is darkness. Lying down makes it better and during the night you slip away.
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
The New Year brings no fresh joys with it. Those in the cabins around Truckee Lake remain cold and starving and those at Alder Creek are little better off. After the initial wave of six deaths people are adjusting to the terrible conditions but that doesn’t make it any easier. The babies and young children cry continually and it is hellish for the adults. You have heard nothing of the Snowshoes Party and have no idea if any of them have made it to civilization. Things continue to worsen and near the end of January Louis Keseberg’s infant son, also called Louis, dies in the Murphy Cabin. Keseberg is grief-stricken and one night he stumbles into your cabin with his dead baby in his arms and asks you to help bury him in the snow.
What do you do?
> You try to get him to wait until morning
You manage to persuade Louis to wait until morning when a group of the remaining men help bury his son. The death of Louis Keseberg’s child is just the first of the year. John Murphy, a strapping sixteen-year-old who looks after his mother and extended family of younger children worsens steadily. His mother, Levinah Jackson, tries to revive him by placing a little piece of meat in his mouth and John swallows it, goes to sleep with a weak gurgling snore and dies. His mother asks you for your blanket to bury the child.
What do you do?
> You let him have it
Without your blanket you have no chance of surviving the bitter cold. Lying in the corner you too go to sleep, a deep sleep from which you do not wake.
| 4 |
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| 4 | false |
You manage to persuade Louis to wait until morning when a group of the remaining men help bury his son. The death of Louis Keseberg’s child is just the first of the year. John Murphy, a strapping sixteen-year-old who looks after his mother and extended family of younger children worsens steadily. His mother, Levinah Jackson, tries to revive him by placing a little piece of meat in his mouth and John swallows it, goes to sleep with a weak gurgling snore and dies. His mother asks you for your blanket to bury the child.
What do you do?
> You refuse to surrender your blanket
You hold onto your blanket, despite Mrs Jackson’s pleas. The deaths continue: the next to go is Margaret Eddy, the absent William Eddy’s infant daughter. She died one night in the arms of her mother Eleanor and her mother is inconsolable. Margaret’s death means that apart from you there are just forty other people remaining in the camps at Truckee Lake and less than half that at Alder Creek.
Patrick Breen and Louis Keseberg want to make sure the Donner group at Alder Ceek are ok and being too weak themselves ask you to travel down to their camp.
What do you do?
> You agree to go and visit the Donner's
You set off on the eight mile journey that morning but your weakened state soon becomes apparent. You get less than halfway before you have to lie down in the snow and rest. You never get up again, your strength simply slips away from you.
| 3 |
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| 4 | false |
You hold onto your blanket, despite Mrs Jackson’s pleas. The deaths continue: the next to go is Margaret Eddy, the absent William Eddy’s infant daughter. She died one night in the arms of her mother Eleanor and her mother is inconsolable. Margaret’s death means that apart from you there are just forty other people remaining in the camps at Truckee Lake and less than half that at Alder Creek.
Patrick Breen and Louis Keseberg want to make sure the Donner group at Alder Ceek are ok and being too weak themselves ask you to travel down to their camp.
What do you do?
> You sunday 7 February 1847: Truckee Lake, California
You refuse to make the difficult journey and a few nights later a pair of deaths shake the camp. Harriet McCutchen, an infant both of whose parents have left the Donner Party and who was being looked after by the Graves family dies. The infant had spent most of her waking hours crying and death must have been a release for it. Eleanor Eddy dies too: since her husband left with the Snowshoe Party she has been looked after by the Murphy family. Since her daughter Margaret died she lost the will to live, those she does leave a son James who is a toddler. Their deaths make the mood even more grim, that night as the wind whistles around the huddled cabins you are struck by an urge to go out and find something to shoot and eat.
What do you do?
> You go outside
You set out on your journey but do not return: losing sight of the camp you are hurled to the ground by the freezing blizzard and do not get up again.
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
You refuse to make the difficult journey and a few nights later a pair of deaths shake the camp. Harriet McCutchen, an infant both of whose parents have left the Donner Party and who was being looked after by the Graves family dies. The infant had spent most of her waking hours crying and death must have been a release for it. Eleanor Eddy dies too: since her husband left with the Snowshoe Party she has been looked after by the Murphy family. Since her daughter Margaret died she lost the will to live, those she does leave a son James who is a toddler. Their deaths make the mood even more grim, that night as the wind whistles around the huddled cabins you are struck by an urge to go out and find something to shoot and eat.
What do you do?
> Monday 8 February 1847: Truckee Lake, California
The day after the double deaths there is another death: at this rate there will be no one left by the end of the month. A Teamster called Augustus Spitzer collapsed in the Breen house two months ago and has been on the verge of death since. Today he finally dies, imploring Margaret Breen to put just a little meat in his mouth so he might remember the taste of it. There is none to give him and death soon follows. The Breen children are upset by his death and Patrick Breen asks you to help him move the body outside.
What do you do?
> You help Breen move Spitzer's corpse
You help Breen carry Spritzer outside but when you come back inside you find you cannot stop shake in. Lying down you force yourself to go into an uneasy sleep but it is one that you do not awake from.
| 4 |
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| 10 | false |
The day after the double deaths there is another death: at this rate there will be no one left by the end of the month. A Teamster called Augustus Spitzer collapsed in the Breen house two months ago and has been on the verge of death since. Today he finally dies, imploring Margaret Breen to put just a little meat in his mouth so he might remember the taste of it. There is none to give him and death soon follows. The Breen children are upset by his death and Patrick Breen asks you to help him move the body outside.
What do you do?
> You refuse
You refuse to go outside and remain in the cabin. The next day is Reed Teamster Milt Elliott’s last dawn. Lacking the strength to even get out of bed he lies muttering to himself and shaking all day before finally slipping away. The girls of the Reed family, some of whom were very fond of Elliott, bury him in the snow. That night Levinah Jackson approaches you and slips $100 into your hand. “I need meat so badly” she whispers to you. “Go and cut Milt’s hand off and the money is yours.”
What do you do?
> You go and hack up Milt
You go out into the cold and begin digging around for Milt’s body. Instead you find your strength fading from you and slowly sink into the snow. You are found there the next morning, frozen stiff and very dead.
| 3 |
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| 3 | false |
You refuse to go outside and remain in the cabin. The next day is Reed Teamster Milt Elliott’s last dawn. Lacking the strength to even get out of bed he lies muttering to himself and shaking all day before finally slipping away. The girls of the Reed family, some of whom were very fond of Elliott, bury him in the snow. That night Levinah Jackson approaches you and slips $100 into your hand. “I need meat so badly” she whispers to you. “Go and cut Milt’s hand off and the money is yours.”
What do you do?
> You give Mrs Jackson's money back to her
You refuse to desecrate the dead and give Mrs Jackson’s money back to her, she returns silently to her cabin. Almost stubbornly you continue to survive, holding yourself together and then, finally, a wonderful thing happens. A party of seven men, backpacks bulging with food, reach the camp at Truckee Lake. They have been sent from California: it seems that at least some members of the Snowshoe Party made it through and now rescue missions are being mounted. While some of the settlers travel down to visit the Donner Brothers the others remain at Truckee Lake and provide what medical treatment they can. It is too late for little Catherine Pike, an infant child in the care of her grandmother Levinah Jackson. Unable to even cry the child had been reduced to moaning feebly until one day it just passes away.
The rescuers re-gather and prepare to leave. They have decided they can take twenty-one people with them: weak teamsters Noah James and John Denton, women Margret Reed, Philippe Keseberg, Doris Wolfinger and Eliza Williams and fifteen children. The remaining men (George Donner, Patrick Breen, Louis Keseberg and Donner wagon-driver Jean Trudeau) have chosen to stay so that the women and children can leave in safety. More help is on it’s way to rescue them but if you truly insist you will be allowed to accompany the First Relief down.
What do you do?
| 4 |
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| 7 | false |
Building a lean-to on the other side of the Breen Cabin to the Keseberg’s you make yourself as comfortable as you can with blankets. Most of the settlers slaughter their remaining cattle and William Eddy takes his rifle with him most days on hunting trips, killing wolves, owls, ducks, squirrels and even a skeletal bear, the last nearly tearing him to pieces. Patrick Breen entertains himself by keeping a diary. Various efforts are made to cross the mountains but they all fail as it is impossible to battle through the snow.
Finally Franklin Graves has the idea to make snowshoes to enable people to walk on the snow and with the help of Charles Stanton they begin manufacturing pairs at the start of December, a slow process. Everyone is hungry and cold now and every night you are chilled to the bone. Baylis Williams, one of the Reed’s wagon drivers is particularly suffering and one night he asks if he can have your blanket, promising to give you his to sleep under tomorrow night.
What do you do?
> You refuse
You refuse to let Williams have your blanket and the next morning he is found to have died in the night of cold. His death sends shock waves through the camp as everyone realises you may all die of cold if no help is fetched. By now twenty pairs of snowshoes have been made and no less than seven volunteers put themselves forward to attempt the perilous journey over the frozen passes to try and get help.
This group consists of William Eddy, Franklin Graves, Patrick Dolan (Patrick Breen‘s friend), Jay Fosdick (Grave’s son-in-law), William Foster (the man who accidentally shot William Pike), Donner teamsters Dutch Charley Burger and Antonio, Sarah Fosdick (Jay Fosdick’s wife), Sarah Foster (William Foster’s wife), Mary Graves (Franklin’s adult daughter), Amanda McCutchen (William McCutchen’s wife), Harriet Pike (William Pike’s widow), Lemuel Murphy (who is twelve) and William Murphy (who is ten). The journey will be dangerous and extremely risky but you can either volunteer or sit tight in the camp.
What do you do?
| 3 |
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After falling back to sleep, you're rudely awaken by the telephone ...
RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! RING!
Who on earth could be calling at 8:30 in the morning on a saturday? Probably a telemarketer ...
> You ignore the phone
You let the answering machine pick up the phone and once again there is peace in the house. No loud phone ... or ....
RING! RING! RING! RING! RING! RING!
Argh! Why won't they let you sleep?!?!
| 2 |
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| 1 | false |
Another uneventful day at work. After getting home and eating dinner and watching TV, you get ready for bed. You fall asleep and are a ....
> You ... Heavy sleeper
As you snooze, you're awaken by a girl-like shriek:
Eeeaaaahhh!
It was Alex, and he's fallen down on the floor. You jump up and ask what is wrong. He says that he swear he saw someone standing in the office, by your new artifact.
He gets back up and takes another look -- nothing. "Heh," he says nervously, "amazing what you see when you're half asleep."
| 2 |
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| 2 | false |
The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing, but nothing to write an adventure game about. You did find a few hours of free time while Alex was busy at work. During those few hours, you ...
> You ... Surfed the net
It's amazing how much time flies while you're surfing the net. It's not like you really find anything new, but it's always entertaining. Before you know it, it's Sunday night, and time for bed.
As you and Alex get ready for bed, Alex complains that two of the fish died.
| 3 |
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| 1 | false |
The rest of the weekend was fun and relaxing, but nothing to write an adventure game about. You did find a few hours of free time while Alex was busy at work. During those few hours, you ...
> You ... Researched the artifact
You grab the artifact and fire up google.
What do you want to know?
> You what is a Shabti?
Shabti or Ushabti (Egyptian language) is a funerary figurine which served as a dead man's deputy in order to do labor for him, mostly agricultural, in the afterlife. They existed between the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt and the end of the First Intermediate Period.
| 6 |
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| 0 | false |
You grab the artifact and fire up google.
What do you want to know?
> You what's with the headdress?
You can't really find anything of note about this figure's headdress. From what you remember, you don't normally see a statue with a headdress but no beard, especially from this time period.
| 2 |
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| 0 | false |
You grab the artifact and fire up google.
What do you want to know?
> You what does the inscription mean?
The inscription is very difficult to make out, and you can't translate it at all. Normally, spell 472 from the sixth chapter of the Book of the Dead is inscribed in full on Shabtis:
Illumine the Osiris NN, whose word is truth. Hail, Shabti. If the Osiris NN be decreed to do any of the work which is to be done in the Khert-Neter, let everything which standeth in the way be removed from him - whether it be to plough the fields, or to fill the channels with water, or to carry sand from (the East to the West). 'Here am I', you shall say, 'I shall do it.'
The only word you can make out in the inscription is Burden.
| 3 |
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| 6 | false |
You grab the artifact and fire up google.
What do you want to know?
> You enough Research ...
How time flies when you're researching. Before you know it, it's Sunday night, and time for bed.
As you and Alex get ready for bed, Alex complains that two of the fish died.
| 2 |
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| 0 | false |
Pressing on you initially make good progress, reaching the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains after one day’s travel. Charles Stanton who has been exerting himself a great deal in making the snowshoes begins to suffer from snow blindness and fall behind. By the fifth day there is very little food left and everyone is exhausted. Stanton declares he is unable to walk and sitting by the fire calmly smoking his pipe he tells the rest of your group to go on without him. After a few moments hesitation the group resume their journey.
What do you do?
> You head on with the others
Charles Stanton is left behind and you continue to resolutely press on for another three days, William Eddy finds his wife has secretly packed some bear meat in his bag and shares it with the rest of you. After that there is nothing to eat and soon the talk is becoming increasingly wild, people proposing that some members of the group be killed for food or that they turn back to the camp. All the women and William Eddy are determined to keep going but all the rest want to stop.
As you are arguing a snowstorm catches you all out in the open. Immediately you and your companions gather together for warmth and wrap yourselves in blankets but it is no good. The young Mexican teamster Antonio dies first, perishing without a sound. Franklin Gardner, in his late fifties, succumbs next. He lies very still, barely moving and Eddy tells him he is dying. Gardner replies he does not care and urges his daughters Sarah and Mary to eat his body after he dies. He expires soon after. As the cold increases you feel an increasingly irrational urge to run out into the snowstorm and hunt for food.
What do you do?
> You leave the group to search for something to kill
There is nothing you can do. Losing all control of yourself you race out into the snow. Immediately you lose sight of your companions and never find them again. You stagger on until you collapse and half-buried by the fast-falling snow you never get up again.
| 4 |
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Charles Stanton is left behind and you continue to resolutely press on for another three days, William Eddy finds his wife has secretly packed some bear meat in his bag and shares it with the rest of you. After that there is nothing to eat and soon the talk is becoming increasingly wild, people proposing that some members of the group be killed for food or that they turn back to the camp. All the women and William Eddy are determined to keep going but all the rest want to stop.
As you are arguing a snowstorm catches you all out in the open. Immediately you and your companions gather together for warmth and wrap yourselves in blankets but it is no good. The young Mexican teamster Antonio dies first, perishing without a sound. Franklin Gardner, in his late fifties, succumbs next. He lies very still, barely moving and Eddy tells him he is dying. Gardner replies he does not care and urges his daughters Sarah and Mary to eat his body after he dies. He expires soon after. As the cold increases you feel an increasingly irrational urge to run out into the snowstorm and hunt for food.
What do you do?
> You sit tight
It is a miserable Christmas. All day the snowstorm rages and you are convinced that all of you will die out here. Patrick Breen’s friend Patrick Dolan goes next. He becomes delirious with hunger, tearing off his clothes and racing out into the storm: it is with great difficulty that William Eddy gets him under control and physically forces him back. He is held down until he becomes increasingly quiet and eventually dies. Poor Lemuel Murphy dies next: he showed great courage and endurance for a boy of twelve. Like Dolan he becomes delirious and his sister Sarah Foster tries to distract him with a story about the moon, tears in her eyes. Eventually he too slips away into the endless night.
The cold is overwhelming you and you want to do nothing but shut your eyes. It occurs to you that if you can just get some sleep you will feel stronger when you wake up and better able to handle the cold, which is piercing your bones like a knife.
What do you do?
> You shut your eyes
The darkness overwhelms you but you couldn’t care less. Everything is numb, faded and blurred and all you want to do is sleep. So you shut your eyes and drift down, down into the darkness and escape from this world of pain and terror.
| 5 |
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| 8 | false |
James Reed is nothing if not thorough in his preparations and it is not until the second half of February that a dozen men, including you, Reed and William McCutchen set off from Johnson’s Ranch into the mountains. Making fairly good progress thanks to the fact the snow is beginning to thaw you encounter the First Relief returning down the mountain. Reed gives a cry of joy when he sees his wife Margret and several of their children and races forward to embrace them.
You swiftly learn some very worrying things: at the camps in the mountains the remaining members of the Donner Party are dying steadily from hunger, just coming down the mountain wagon-driver John Denton and child, Ada Keseberg, died while travelling with the First Relief. Nineteen survivors remain with the First Relief but many more are still in the mountains, including two of Reed’s children. William McCutchen learns that his infant daughter Harriet died in the mountains and takes the news hard.
When you reach a huddle of cabins in the snow-covered wilderness on the first day of March the first person you meet is Reed’s daughter Patty, sprinting towards her father they embrace with shouts of joy. A few other figures emerge from the cabins including Patrick Breen and Louis Keseberg, altogether there are nineteen people still living in the cabins around Truckee Lake and about a dozen down at Alder Creek including George Donner. Staying only a day you gather together seventeen survivors, all you can take out. There is some discussion and it is agreed to leave a man or two to help the thirteen being left behind, especially those at Alder Creek.
What do you do?
> You volunteer to stay behind and help the remaining survivors
Staying with George Donner, his wife Tamzene, their daughters Georgia, Frances and Eliza as well as Jacob Donner’s widow Elizabeth and her sons Lewis and Samuel you help Nicholas Clark and Jean Baptiste look after them. Clark, like you, is a fellow rescuer and in good health but Baptiste is weakening. The whole party are in desperate danger, in one day both Elizabeth and her son Lewis die and to your horror pieces of flesh are cut off them and eaten by the starving children and adults.
Fortunately days later a third rescue party arrives led by William Eddy and William Foster. They inform you just three people remain alive up at the Truckee Lake camp and they have come to help those who can walk leave. Though Mrs Donner is in good health George Donner is bed-ridden with an infected hand and Tamzene refuses to leave him. Instead she asks the group to take her three daughters to safety. Jean Baptiste and Nicholas Clark take this opportunity to leave too, the latter carrying a backpack of goods purloined from the Donner’s. A fourth child, Simon Murphy, complete your little party (Samuel Donner is too weak to be carried down) and you set off. The last thing you hear is Tamzene Donner calling out to you to make sure her children reach safety.
> You to safety...
You join the Relief and exhausted and weary you stumble down through the mountains with the relief party, relieved to have survived for such a long time in the mountains. The snow is melting all around you and it takes just a week to make it to Johnson’s Ranch, the start of civilization in California. There you find most of the other survivors of the Donner Party and rest and recover your strength for a few weeks. At the start of April William Foster begins organising a final rescue mission to go into the mountains and try to bring down those five people: George Donner, his wife Tamzene, their nephew Samuel, Lavaniah Jackson and Louis Keseberg. You are not keen to return to the mountains so soon after escaping but if you are willing you can join the expedition or remain at Johnson’s Ranch.
What do you do?
| 5 |
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Each member of the Snowshoes Party is given enough food for six days (at least enough for a few bites each day) and a pair of snowshoes. It is quickly discovered that William Murphy cannot keep up and he is sent back to the camp with Dutch Charley Burger, a little chunky man who is not built for this sort of activity. If you want to turn back now this is your last chance, otherwise you’ll have to risk the dangers of the snow-filled passes.
What do you do?
> You turn back to the Alder Creek Camp
You make yourself as comfortable as you can in the Teamsters Tent but it is very crowded there: not only are there too manypeople in too small a space but one of the Reed’s Teamsters Milt Elliott is visiting you as well. A snowstorm blows over the Mountains and it brings death with it. Jacob Donner is the first to succumb. He dies while sitting at a table, his head bowed in his hands, the very picture of despair. Donner’s death is just the beginning.
Samuel Shoemaker, a teamster for the Donner’s dies next and he is soon followed by Joseph Reinhardt. Knowing he is dying Reinhardt confesses in front of you, Doris Wolfinger and George Donner that he shot and killed Mr Wolfinger but that he regrets it. He never explains why and the confession is of little comfort to the poor widow. James Smith, a teamster who actually works for the Reeds but has somehow wound up at the Donner Camp dies of the cold too. That night with the winter breeze piercing your body to the core you are struck by the urge to walk out into the cold and end it all rather than suffer this slow and lingering demise.
What do you do?
> You walk out into the cold
There is a fifth victim of this snowstorm. Numb with cold, pale with hunger and wrapped in your blankets you stagger out into the snow. Quickly the relentlessly falling white ice overwhelms you: cold permeates every part of your body and your body is found the next morning.
| 3 |
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A strange rattling sound pulls you out of your thoughts. It's coming from the pipe over the woman's head, but nothing but the noise seems to be coming out. Looking back at Monica, you notice that there is actually an envelope sitting on the ground near her feet.
You pick it up, eyeing her as she struggles against her binds before opening up the envelope and pulling out a newspaper clipping. Recognizing Monica's face on the article, you read over it quickly and feel your blood start to run cold. According to the article, Monica was part of a scandal in CPS where certain caseworkers had accepted bribes. Had she possibly taken a bribe to write off the allegations against your parents?
A small flashcard behind the newspaper article is written in the same handwriting as the other notes you have found so far.
Let her drown in the money she valued over the welfare of children or pay the price to forgive her.
To your surprise, a small key is taped to the back of the card. Though, you aren't so sure she deserves to be set free. She could have saved you from years and years of hell. But, she had left you to rot for cash? She was as much of a monster as your stepfather.
A metallic clacking sound catches your attention and brings it back up to the pipe. Something clatters down the pipe then falls down, landing on Monica's head before bouncing to the floor. Crouching down, you pick up what looks like a penny. It is hot to the touch, almost enough to burn. Another one comes clattering down the pipe, but this one lands on the floor and splatters slightly, halfway melted down.
> You do Nothing
You aren't sure what is about to happen, but Monica hadn't given much thought to what would happen to you when she had left you with your family instead of removing you. Bribe or not, she could have saved you and she didn't. Why should you do any differently for her?
Stepping back a bit, you watch as she continues to struggle against her bindings to no avail. The sounds coming from the pipe get louder with the occasional half melted coin dropping down it. One lands on her head, the melted copper burning into her skin and making her howl through the gag in a mixture of pain and panic.
Suddenly, you hear a very different sound coming down the pipe and jump a bit as a stream of molten copper suddenly falls from the pipe. It splatters onto Monica's side, burning into her shoulder and arm. She shrieks into the gag, struggling in an attempt to move the chair she is stuck in. It is secured in place, as is she.
> You let Her Die
You continue to watch as Monica writhes about in pain from the burning of the molten metal landing on her. Another large glob of the stuff falls from the pipe, this time splattering onto her lap. The melted down pennies look oddly pretty you have to admit. A warm glowing color, like the shiniest new penny you have ever seen. But, Monica's thrashing and screaming as it burns through her clothes and skin like acid makes it hard to appreciate the color of the stuff.
Still, you can't help but feel a little warm inside at the scene unfolding in front of you. She deserves this. And now she can't let any other children down like she did you. In fact, she'll never let anyone down again after this.
You watch in awe as a flood of molten copper pours out of the pipe, completely dousing Monica from head to toe in the stuff. She stops screaming, going oddly quiet as her body twitches under the liquified metal as smoke rises up from it. A moment later she goes still, the smell of her burnt skin and still cooking flesh mixing the scent of the molten copper in the air.
Another door opens in the far side of the room. You don't look back as you head out.
| 3 |
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You try to guage the distance between yourself and the note then make a jump for it. The nails rip into your feet on the landing, but the momentum lets you pull your feet up from the nails quickly enough. The pain shoots up your legs as you stand on your bleeding feet, but at least you made it past the bed of nails hiding beneath the floor. You pick up the card and read it, surprised that is much more straightforward than Forrest's. According to the note, all you have to do is press the button to speed up the bolts being drilled into their skulls. Both of them have their own button welded onto the metal sheet on the wall of the cage facing you. It must be remotes. Your mother's name, Karen, is on the left and your step father's name is on the right. You could kill one to save the other... Or both.
> You kill Them Both
Looking at the two buttons, you can't help but think about how both of them deserved to die. They had both worked together and destroyed your childhood. Both had hurt you in different ways. And neither of them had ever faced any sort of consequence for it. Until now at least.
You press both of the buttons at the same time before peering around the metal sheet to see into the cage. Greg has Karen pinned, trying to get to the fishing line in her mouth. But, now both of the devices around their heads suddenly begin to drill the bolts into their temples at an enhanced rate.
Greg falls backward from the pain, thrashing about as the bolts drill through his skull with a sickening sound. Your mother falls over as well, screaming as the bolts pierce through her skull bone and into her brain. Their bodies go into convulsions shortly after, bringing silence to the room broken only by the sound of the drill turning the bolts and their limbs kicking about.
Finally, the bolts are all the way in and the devices fall silent, as do their convulsing bodies go still. Blood trickles from their noses and foam from their mouths. Both dead as far as you can tell.
A door opens up in the corner of the room, beckoning you to leave this tomb. They deserved this. A pedophile and a worthless mother that let it happen. They belonged together in here. Now you can leave them to rot.
| 3 |
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| 7 | false |
You stare in awe at the swirling mass as it suddenly flies away from you, past the open gate and into the darkness.
What the... you think. .
After a few minutes you holster your gun and contemplate on what to do next.
Suddenly from a short distance you hear..."Find my bride...or I will never leave you...my sweet."
> You use your flashlight and follow the noise.
Turning on your flashlight, you make your way past the gate and into the darkness. A few feet past the gate, you see something shining on the ground. At closer inspection, you see that it's a pocketwatch.
You pick it up and examine the exquisite artwork put into the dark bronze cover.
"It's very beautiful." you think.
TICK, TICK, TICK...
Although it's looks very old, it seems to still function!!
You push a small button next to the winding wheel and the cover flies open showing the face of the watch. Inside the cover is an old sketch of a man and woman...one black and one white.
"What a cute couple. " you say softly.
Sadness seems to pour over you as you hear the faint buzzing of the bees.
Quickly, you shine your flashlight up ahead and make out the cloaked figure standing next to a large tree. The buzzing is coming from a large bee hive hanging from one of the branches.
"It is midinight!" cries the voice. You have until dawn to find me my bride.
You look down at the watch and notice the minute hand move over the twelve.
"Follow this trail into another dimension, a dimension I cannot travel. Find my bride...or live with me forever."
The figure dissapears. You shine the light to the right of where the figure once stood and find a dirt trail that leads over the hill the tree stands on.
"Let's go find this guy a bride." you say.
> You follow the trail.
Following the trail is quite easy to do since all of the bees lead you to where you need to go. Your trusty flashlight does the job but soon the night begins to break away and a hint of sunlight reaches over the horizon.
Soon, you don't need the flashlight at all...everything seems to be moving at a fast pace. You notice a jack rabbit dart past you on the trail but everything around it seems to blur. Realizing you have focused on the buzzing bees the whole time, you start to look around you.
Everything is moving at a fast pace yet nothing moves at all.
You stop as the bees surround your head and then dart away. You are standing in the middle of a ghost town. A few old buildings make up what is left of a town that looks like it came out of an old western.
In front of you an old saloon. The door to the saloon swing in and out with the wind.
Things are moving normal now. You are drawn to the old saloon.
| 3 |
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| 4 | false |
Before you can even put your hand on the door knob, something or someone breaks through the door pushing you violently back into the video cameras. Sparks fly all around as a menacing figure holding a chainsaw stands about 5 feet away.
BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! the chainsaw sputters. The figure wears a grotesque pig mask two or three sizes too big for it's body. It wears denim overalls and a red long sleeved shirt. The outfits you usually see farmer's wear.
You can hear muffled laughter coming from under the mask as the thin figure start to swing it's saw in a criss cross motion toward you. You try to run back toward the front office but it takes a second to get your feet to follow your commands.
The pig man barely nicks your shirt when the chainsaw comes in contact with a video monitor and then sputters to a stop. The pig man tries to start his saw again still laughing from under the mask.
This is your chance to act!!!
> You run directly at the pig man!!
Without hesitation you run directly at the pig man as it tries to start the chainsaw. You tackle it to the ground and the pig mask goes flying off the head of what seems to be a man in his late 50's or early 60's.
His face is stuck in a contorted grimace as he hits the ground with you on top of him. He begins to laugh as his bloodshot eyes start to dart in your direction. You make a fist out of your right hand and without even thinking, send it crashing into the nose of the laughing, old man.
Blood begins to flow freely form both nostrils as he continues to laugh at you. He raises on finger toward you in a mocking manner. At this time you realized you are going to need something more to finish him off.
What could finish off this crazy old coot?
> You hit him over the head with a video monitor?
As you go to grab a nearby video moniter, you start to feel very tired. The monitor seems to get very heavy as you pull the wires away and try to lift it over your head to finish off the old man.
Soon your eyes are unable to focus and you drop the monitor to the ground.
The last thing you can make out is the old man slowly getting back to his feet and putting on the pig mask. His laughter echoing in your ears.
You black out!!
| 4 |
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Without hesitation you run directly at the pig man as it tries to start the chainsaw. You tackle it to the ground and the pig mask goes flying off the head of what seems to be a man in his late 50's or early 60's.
His face is stuck in a contorted grimace as he hits the ground with you on top of him. He begins to laugh as his bloodshot eyes start to dart in your direction. You make a fist out of your right hand and without even thinking, send it crashing into the nose of the laughing, old man.
Blood begins to flow freely form both nostrils as he continues to laugh at you. He raises on finger toward you in a mocking manner. At this time you realized you are going to need something more to finish him off.
What could finish off this crazy old coot?
> You try to start the chainsaw and go "Leatherface" on him!!
You step over the laughing, old man and grab the chainsaw with both hands.
BRAAAAAAPAAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!! The chainsaw starts up after only one try. It takes a couple of seconds to wrench the saw out of the t.v. monitor but soon you turn and swing the chainsaw in the direction of the old man.
The old man's laughing face becomes one of sheer terror as you split his head wide open, blood flying everywhere painting the room deep red. It is you that has begun to laugh as the man's face becomes unrecognizable, his hands pumping into fists and finally releasing their grasps in the air and dropping to the ground. The chainsaw sputters to a stop halfway down the old man's face. The room suddenly becomes very quiet.
You finally stop and realize what you have done. After what has just happened, anything your grandfather has waiting for you doesn't seem all that interesting now.
What should you do...
> You head home and try to forget the whole thing.
You slowly pull out of the Motel's parking lot and back onto the interstate. You watch as the neon lights of the "Motel Hello" sign get further and further away.
"It feels good to be away from there" you think as you sigh in relief.
Your body starts to relax for the first time in hours and your heart rate starts to return to normal. You drive for seems like forever finding no signs or markings as to where you are. Nothing seems familiar on this road.
"Did I take a wrong turn somewhere" you think as your eyes start to get heavy. Soon you start to nod off.
You wake up to a blaring horn and head lights coming right at you! You swerve out of the way just in time to hit a tree head on.
BLAM!!!!!
You black out!!!!
"Dr. Tait, please come to room 315....Dr. Tait....room 315 please."
Whoa, what a splitting headache you have. You go to open your eyes and you are met with bright lights. The bightness soon fades and is replaced by a man in a white lab coat and holding a small flash light.
"I see he is waking up." the man says in a British accent.
"Oh let me see!" says another masculine voice close by you.
Soon the face of your father is staring back at you. You smile as he smiles back. You try to speak but are unable. You try to move but cannot. Your father's face becomes very sad and a tear wells up in his right eye.
"Your paralized my boy, your dad blurts out and begins to cry uncontrollably.
The doctor returns in view and explains what happened in the crash. Something about severing your spinal cord and being permantly paralized.
You want to pay attention to what the doctor is saying but you can't because your eyes are fixated on the old man standing in the shadows of your hospital room. He begins to laugh uncontrollably as he points a boney old finger at you.
THE END
You have reached a "MOTEL HELL" ending.
| 3 |
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| 7 | false |
You step over the laughing, old man and grab the chainsaw with both hands.
BRAAAAAAPAAAAAAAPAAAAAA!!!! The chainsaw starts up after only one try. It takes a couple of seconds to wrench the saw out of the t.v. monitor but soon you turn and swing the chainsaw in the direction of the old man.
The old man's laughing face becomes one of sheer terror as you split his head wide open, blood flying everywhere painting the room deep red. It is you that has begun to laugh as the man's face becomes unrecognizable, his hands pumping into fists and finally releasing their grasps in the air and dropping to the ground. The chainsaw sputters to a stop halfway down the old man's face. The room suddenly becomes very quiet.
You finally stop and realize what you have done. After what has just happened, anything your grandfather has waiting for you doesn't seem all that interesting now.
What should you do...
> You try to contact the local authorities (well...it WAS self defense).
Dropping the chainsaw, you stumble out the front door of the main office and walk toward Interstate 666. You are still in shock as to what happened tonight.
About a mile up the road you spot a phone booth with the light flickering on and off. You go inside, put a couple of coins in the slot and dial 911.
An operator picks up the phone and you burst into tears while explaining all that just happended.
You wait for the operator to respond but the phone seems to go dead.....then..."I'm sorry. the operator finally states. " I just don't believe you."
You are flabbergasted at the response.
"Excuse me?" you say.
"Go back to the motel and you'll find that it never happened......." CLICK.
You run back to the motel and into the back office where the whole bloody mess took place.
You find NOTHING!!! Not a drop of blood.
Suddenly , there is movement on one of the working video cameras next to the murder scene. You scream as you realize it's the pigman himself, waving a bloody chainsaw at the camera. He stops in time to remove the mask revealing a face you recognize.
Your own.
You stare at yourself in the monitor, your face, contorted into a sinister grin from ear to ear.
You can't bear it anymore...your heartbeat races and you find it hard to breath all of a sudden.
You faint.
> You is this the end?
Amonia fills your nostrils and reality re-aquaints itself with you in a rush. You can hear clapping and cheering all around you.
Could this all have been a crazy dream? you think.
"Where am I?" you whisper.
Opening your eyes, you find yourself on an ambulance stretcher in the parking lot of the "MOTEL HELLO" stage. An ambulance, two big semi trucks, and about 10 to 15 vehicles now litter the once eerie parking lot. Flood lights brighten the whole lot exposing at least 20 to 40 people clapping and cheering and pointing at you.
You notice your grandfather in the crowd also clapping although he looks like he is laughing at you a little bit. He doesn't look a bit sick.
A man in a black leather jacket smiles and walks over toward you. A camera man follows him.
"We want to welcome you to a new reality show in which you have unknowingly been the star for the past hour." the man says.
You look up at him in confusion.
" The show is callled " SCARED SENSELESS!" he continues. " It's kind of a game show to see how long it will take to scare someone into fainting." " You have been chosen as the very first contestant of the first episode, and may I say, you did very well." he concludes.
Your grandfather walks up beside you and gives a big hug and says laughingly, "You got punked."
You soon realize the whole thing was a set up from the start and your grandfather was behind it all.
He bought a local TV studio and hired a top notch film, special FX, and stunt crews to put together the first episode. He used you as his first victim to see if his little reality show was gonna sink or swim.
OH, IT SWIMS!...
Two weeks later the episode aires and it's an instant hit. Everyone loves it and you become somewhat of a celebrity.
Two weeks after that you are at home and opening your mail. You find a letter from your grandfather among other fan mail. Quickly opening the envelope you see a card with a ghost on the front and a check for the amount of $1 million. On the bottom of the card it says...
Thanks for being such a great sport. Grandfather.
THE END
You have reached a "MOTEL HELL" ending.
| 5 |
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| 8 | false |
"Amanda!" you yell from the kitchen. "I swear, if you don't turn the telly down, I will KILL YOU!"
The blaring from the living room drowns out her response, which drives you mad. You tap your foot impatiently. I will wait five seconds before I go in there, you tell yourself.
One.....Two.....Three.....Four.....
"'Manda! I'm coming in there!" You say furiously as you storm from the kitchen. The living room's lights are dimmed, so the glare from the telly makes you blink. Amanda is curled up on the couch, her eyes glued on the screen. Her red hair is a mess, and she is dressed in rumpled up pajamas.
"Amanda," you say as you grab the remote. "You really need to stop this! Your head is going to explode from the sound."
"Shut it, Jess!" Amanda shushes you. "Turn it up, this is really important!" You roll your eyes and listen to your roommate.
The reporter is just finishing up a story. "...and the residents of Greenwich should be more cautious. The number of robberies and break-ins have increased over the last two weeks. So, make sure to lock your doors when you leave to house."
"So?" you say as you turn it off. "It's just some robberies. Nothing unusual."
"But he said it was happening in Greenwich! That's here, in case you forgot!" Amanda says as she gets up from the couch. She stretches, and walks with you to the front door. "We have the same chance of getting robbed as anyone else here!"
"'Manda," you turn around, exasperated. "Who in creation would want to break into the flat of two twenty-year old women that can barely pay the rent? It's not like we have anything of value here."
You grab your purse from the table by the door. Glancing into the mirror, you check to see that your hair is still in its place, and your mascara hasn't smudged. Pleased, you turn to Amanda.
"We have a telly, a microwave, a DVD player, and some jewelry upstairs, Jess!" Her green eyes flash with fear. Amanda is always worried that someone would break into the flat that you share and steal everything you have.
"Oh, for God's sake. Listen to me. No one is going to rob us!" You unlock the door. "Right, I'm going out."
"Make sure you get some more apples. We're nearly out," Amanda reminds you.
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll remember." You walk into the hallway. "Lock the door behind me!"
Your best friend lets out a retort as you close the door in her face. Time to go to town.
> You going Shopping
You walk down the street, carrying a bag of groceries. The car is just down the street. Thank God. Once again, you made the mistake to wear heels to the shop.
Trying to shift your grip on the bag, you stop for just a moment. The bag is really heavy, since you decided to buy a few more things that you saw. You get a good grip just as a man runs straight into you.
"Oh, God!" You moan as your bag falls to the concrete sidewalk at your feet. Something broke inside of it; you could hear the smashing sound. "Thanks a lot! There's my week's pay, gone!"
You look up at the man who ran into you. "Sorry! I am so sorry!"
He is in a tweed jacket, a striped shirt, and a bow tie. You can't see his face, since he is bending over the bag on the ground. You get down on your knees next to him. Sighing, you say, "It's alright. Not your fault, anyway. I should have seen you coming."
The man looks up at you, finally showing his face. All you think is, Blimey, he has a big chin. His eyes quickly scan you, sizing you up. "What's your name?" he asks.
"Jess. Jess Rowell." you say calmly as you pick up some apples. "And, you are...?"
"The Doctor," he says as he puts the now broken mug into the bag.
"Doctor who?" you ask him.
"Just the Doctor." Finished, he stands up. You pick up your bag and get up.
"The Doctor?" you muse. "Well, Doctor, let me ask you this. Why were you running so fast?"
"It's quicker than walking. Now, I really have to go. It's important." he explains. And, just like that, he's gone. You can see his head in the crowd before that disappears as well.
You walk towards the car. Might as well go home.
> You previous Page
"Amanda!" you yell from the kitchen. "I swear, if you don't turn the telly down, I will KILL YOU!"
The blaring from the living room drowns out her response, which drives you mad. You tap your foot impatiently. I will wait five seconds before I go in there, you tell yourself.
One.....Two.....Three.....Four.....
"'Manda! I'm coming in there!" You say furiously as you storm from the kitchen. The living room's lights are dimmed, so the glare from the telly makes you blink. Amanda is curled up on the couch, her eyes glued on the screen. Her red hair is a mess, and she is dressed in rumpled up pajamas.
"Amanda," you say as you grab the remote. "You really need to stop this! Your head is going to explode from the sound."
"Shut it, Jess!" Amanda shushes you. "Turn it up, this is really important!" You roll your eyes and listen to your roommate.
The reporter is just finishing up a story. "...and the residents of Greenwich should be more cautious. The number of robberies and break-ins have increased over the last two weeks. So, make sure to lock your doors when you leave to house."
"So?" you say as you turn it off. "It's just some robberies. Nothing unusual."
"But he said it was happening in Greenwich! That's here, in case you forgot!" Amanda says as she gets up from the couch. She stretches, and walks with you to the front door. "We have the same chance of getting robbed as anyone else here!"
"'Manda," you turn around, exasperated. "Who in creation would want to break into the flat of two twenty-year old women that can barely pay the rent? It's not like we have anything of value here."
You grab your purse from the table by the door. Glancing into the mirror, you check to see that your hair is still in its place, and your mascara hasn't smudged. Pleased, you turn to Amanda.
"We have a telly, a microwave, a DVD player, and some jewelry upstairs, Jess!" Her green eyes flash with fear. Amanda is always worried that someone would break into the flat that you share and steal everything you have.
"Oh, for God's sake. Listen to me. No one is going to rob us!" You unlock the door. "Right, I'm going out."
"Make sure you get some more apples. We're nearly out," Amanda reminds you.
"Yeah, don't worry. I'll remember." You walk into the hallway. "Lock the door behind me!"
Your best friend lets out a retort as you close the door in her face. Time to go to town.
| 4 |
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| 6 | false |
Orvyn meets you at the edge of camp. A priest and a warrior, an Eriu and a Christian, Orvyn has been your stalwart follower and friend for nearly two decades.
You both clasp hands firmly and grin, filled with pre-battle adrenaline. Although Orvyn is not technically in command of your men, you have left your normal commander, Garyn, back at home to guard your wife and children with a skeleton crew.
With Garyn away, Orvyn is stepping in. He is a good commander for battles; he is amicable and courageous, but also capable and firm. In peacetime he would lack the rigid authoritarianism necessary for drilling the men, but right now they need a man to keep them confident. Orvyn inspires confidence; he isn't especially tall, but he is solidly built and a force to be reckoned with.
His beard and hair are both jet black, and both are kept in place by various bone rings. That, and his sparkling green eyes, give him a look of mad fanaticism that men are all too happy to follow.
You provide the encouragement, and Orvyn provides the fire. Together you are a killing force. Orvyn fingers the axe at his belt restlessly.
"Should we go to the shieldline?"
There is still probably an hour or more before the two armies actually meet, as men are ever reluctant to face a shieldwall, but being early couldn't hurt.
> You have some time, let's talk
You shrug
"We still have some time."
You find a moist log and sit down. Orvyn follows your lead and seats himself on a campstool taken from a nearby firepit. He cracks his knuckles
"So?"
You stretch, mailshirt shimmering
"I just wanted to talk"
"About?"
"The weather of course"
Orvyn looks at you quizically, and you roll your eyes
"I meant the battle. I wanted to talk about the battle"
Orvyn touches the hilt of his axe
"Mm. I might have preferred a conversation on the weather"
You spread your palms
"Sorry, just this; do you think that we can win?"
Orvyn shrugs
"Do you?"
For a while you sit in silence. Neither one of you is willing to speak. You grit your teeth angrily
"I was hoping for some encouragement. This is definitely not helping either of us. Come on, let's go to the front."
Orvyn nods, and helps you up from your log
"Alright, let's go then"
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
Acwellen continues to stare into the flickering glow of the burning town. His face is stony, unfathomable. You turn to leave, picking your way through a patch of muck gingerly. Pressing down with your foot, you assess the ground. Certain patches are dry, but the soil is perilously loose. All it will take is a night of rain to turn the battlefield into a muddy hell. Well, you think to yourself, at least the mud will hurt the Normans worse than us.
"Aethelwulf!"
A voice interrupts your musings.
A very familiar voice, deep and booming. It is the voice of Harold, your king.
At just under six feet, he stands a head taller than most, and is just on par with yourself. Both his beard and hair are a fiery orange, and both are thick and wild. His chest is broad and his body muscular, but you notice a distinct bulge in the leather jerkin around his midriff; his infamous love of revelry has not gone unpunished.
"Aethelwulf, you canny bastard!"
He bellows, grinning and thumping you on the back.
> You say "My liege"
Inclining your head respectfully, you murmur solemnly
"My liege"
King Harold laughs madly, and then punches you light-heartedly on the shoulder
"You always were a mannerful bastard, Aethelwulf!"
He chuckles, long and low.
"But come, I haven't seen you since our last battle! That was two bloody months ago, near as! Where've you been! Avoiding me, have you?"
You laugh, your respectful tone undone by his amicable nature.
"If I went to another feast of yours, I wouldn't fit into my mail"
He shakes his head ruefully
"You should learn to unwind more! Live your life, you know? Speaking of, how's your wife?"
You nod solemnly
"She fares well, and yours?"
Harold snorts derisively
"Fat and ugly, as always. Ah well, that's what tavern girls are for, eh?"
He grins and nudges you with his shoulder; you shrug. Harold notices your expression and laughs again
"As chaste as a damned priest! Ah well, we'll break you in eventually."
Again you shrug. You and Harold have very different views on the matter, he won't change, nor will you. The best course, you decide, is to skate around the issue altogether. Nodding towards the hill, you speak seriously
"What do you make of our defenses?"
Harold frowns, his earlier humor gone. He throws up his hands irritably.
"My Kingdom depends on a hill and five thousand farmers"
You shake your head
"Five thousand farmers and three thousand warriors"
Harold nods
"Aye. True enough. We'll make this William pay for every inch, if nothing else"
He squints at the hill in the fading light
"The scouts say William has four thousand cavalry"
You shake your head decisively
"No cavalry in the world can break a strong shieldwall"
Harold laughs bitterly
"Our shieldwall isn't strong! It's weak! Half of the bloody farmers don't even own shields! Goddamned useless bastards!"
Surveying the hill thoughtfully, two plans come to mind;
You could craft wooden stakes and plant them along the hill, disorganizing the horse charge.
Or you could create makeshift shields for the conscripts, to help them hold the line.
The carpenters will only have enough time to do one of the two tasks, you must choose which one you believe is more strategic.
| 4 |
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Gently, you place your hand on his shoulder and speak softly
"I'm sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine the pain of losing a son, but I am sure he looks down on you from heaven."
Acwellen's gaze remains fixed on the burning town, and his face is still set in a mask of stone, but his cheeks are streaked.
"Thank you"
He exhales shakily, opens his mouth to say something else, then closes it and remains silent, yet the words are plainly on his mind, trying to slip free like hounds on a leash. At last he speaks, grim and quiet, little more than a whisper.
"Can we win this battle?"
The question hangs there for an eternity, all the fear and anxiety of the English army expressed in the musings of one broken man.
> No
Hidden by the dense screen of trees, twelve thousand Norman warriors wait. Each one is battle ready, and battle hardened; professional killers. Within your camp waits fewer than eight thousand men, but of those eight thousand only three thousand can be trusted. The rest are just farmers, weary and ill-disciplined. Even with the high ground, these numbers are far too slanted.
You know it with a dull certainty; only death awaits you here.
Acwellen is still looking at you, waiting for a response. Your mouth moves of its own accord, the words escaping in a wisp of breath.
"No."
| 4 |
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| 3 | false |
All around you is the smell of warfare. Acrid smoke from the campfires, piss and refuse from the latrines, sweat from the men.
And fear. You smell that too.
These men have reason to be afraid. You have spent the last few months fighting King Harold's enemies, only to march double-time to confront his most dangerous yet; William of Normandy. His army is camped below, twelve thousand men strong, in comparison to your eight thousand. There is reason to be afraid. Are you afraid? No, you affirm decisively in your mind. You are not afraid. You are Lord Aethelwulf, The Lord In The North, King Harold's most trusted advisor, and the veteran of a hundred battles. Why should you be afraid of an army of ragtag Normans who come to die on your sword?
Shaking such doubts from your mind, you stride purposefully through the bustle of the camp, intent on checking on the forward defenses. A pair of giggling urchins weave nimbly around you and a staggering drunk lurches out in front of you, notices your sparkling chainmail armor and backs away, apologizing profusely. Striding onward towards the edge of the English camp you pass the watchful gaze of the sentries unchallenged and stand at the upper slope of the hill.
You are not alone. Another man sits on the hill, wreathed in the shadow of the setting sun. Drawing closer you recognize him as Acwellen, a minor lord, but stalwart fighter. His face is stone, his jaw grimly set and his eyes staring out at the horizon. Looking over his shoulder you see the black smoke smearing the red evening sky. In the distance the town of Hastings burns. In the blurry uncertainty of the setting sun, you cannot tell if the glisten at his eyes is tears or just the sparkle of dying sunlight. Acwellen's son, you remember, was put in command of Hasting's garrison.
Above the treeline you can just make out the crackle of flames. Hastings burns.
> You remind him his son could be alive
Adamantly, you grip him by the shoulder and turn him to face you. Kneeling, you look him in the eyes, grasping his shoulders with sudden ferocity.
"Listen to me Acwellen! Your son may not be dead. Every hour men from the garrison at Hastings enter our camp. There are survivors. Do not give up hope so soon"
Acwellen sighs raggedly, and seems about to disagree, but instead nods fiercely.
"Yes. You're right. I cannot give up hope, my son... my son could still be out there"
His conviction appears slight, but at least you have gotten his attention away from the blaze of Hastings' buildings. Acwellen exhales shakily, opens his mouth to say something else, then closes it and remains silent, yet the words are plainly on his mind, trying to slip free like hounds on a leash. At last he speaks, grim and quiet, little more than a whisper.
"Can we win this battle?"
The question hangs there for an eternity, all the fear and anxiety of the English army expressed in the musings of one broken man.
| 5 |
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| 5 | false |
After Reed and Herron leave the Donner Party’s situation continues to deteriorate. Indians shoot arrows at William Eddy and William Pike when they are hunting away from the main party and both are lucky to escape unhurt. Louis Keseberg irritated by his elderly wagon-driver Hardcoop’s increasing complaints orders him out of his wagon and snaps at him to walk. Hardcoop manages keeps up for the first day but increasingly begins to lag behind. Without James the Reed family have to abandon another wagon and now many of the Party are on foot: a dangerous situation to be in with so many hostile Indians about. At noon you see Hardcoop, now a long way behind, collapse and crawl under the shade of some bushes.
What do you do?
> You grit your teeth and press on
That day’s journey is a difficult one and that night Hardcoop fails to rejoin the group, William Eddy and another man do go out to look for him but return without him after a few hours. Without food and water and surrounded by hostile Indians there is little chance that the old man is still alive. Louis Keseberg is criticised by most of the group for forcing Hardcoop out of his wagon and Keseberg responds by angrily challenging anyone who doesn’t like him to a fight. The Party is beginning to tear itself apart.
Moving on the next day you come across the skeleton of a settler killed by Indians, more horses are stolen and that night nineteen cattle vanish, stolen by Indians who occasionally fire arrows at your group from hiding in the rocks all around. Keseberg steps on a spiked tree stump and seriously injures his foot, making him more disagreeable, Indians make off with no less than twenty-one oxen the next day and William Eddy is forced to abandon his wagon.
A week after Hardcoop’s death another wagon owned by a German called Wolfinger falls behind. Two other Germans called Joseph Reinhardt and Augustus Spitzer go back to help him. They are mean-looking fellows and for some reason both take their rifles with them when they go back. You don’t like the look of this but the other members of the Party appear not to see and continue struggling to get their remaining wagons to the Humboldt River.
What do you do?
> You go back to help Wolfinger
Leaving your wagon you walk back on foot towards Wolfinger’s wagon. As you approach you hear the boom of a gunshot and see Wolfinger fall from his wagon to the ground. You cry out and both Reinhardt and Spitzer, their rifles raised, turn and see you. As you turn to run they both open fire with deadly accuracy. A bullet hits you in the back of the head, killing you instantly and you fall to the ground, murdered like Wolfinger for your money.
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
You awaken to some sunlight beams leaking in through the shed. You stretch and yawn as you look at the jars of preserves.
> You have some preserves for breakfast
You eat some green beans, carrots, and applesauce. You figure this will be enough nutrients for now.
> You look around
You look back to the other shelf and see it has some weird contents. Some sort flesh and meat compositions that repulses you. You don't wanna know if its animal or...something else.
> You check the hatch
You the hatch door wide open and look down into it. You see a few more shelves and notice that room leads further back. You feel a draft coming from that direction.
> You exit the shed
Deciding against jumping down into a creepy underground room, you open the shed door. As you eyes san the area, you recall generally where you need to go to get to Bright Meadow.
> You get back on the road to Clayton
You walk down the country road and slowly scan your surroundings. Everything seems so silent. It's almost unnatural and surreal.
> You continue down the road
It's been roughly an hour now and the sun is really shining down you. You are becoming a little parched and in need of refreshment.
> You scan your surroundings
To the right there are fields that use to hold crops that are currently in decay. To the left there is a slightly decaying forest.
> You walk left into the forest
You walk into the woods and sit on a rock between a group trees. You wonder if there is some form of running water somewhere in here. You notice there are small pebbles at your feet.
> You pick up a pebble
You pick up the pebble and notice the ground if very dry. This makes you uncertain a water source could be nearby. You could try to go further into the forest or suckle on the pebble to create saliva to help your body sustain a bit longer.
> You suckle on the pebble
You roll the pebble around in your mouth and your mouth begins to salivate.
| 3 |
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| 7 | false |
You roll the pebble around in your mouth and your mouth begins to salivate.
> You head back to road
You continue down the road for another hour. You finally see a road sign saying "Clayton 5 Miles". This sparks a bit of joy in you. By this rate you'll definitely be there within an hour and half. Then to Bright Meadow within two to three hours.
> You move forwards faster
Your energetic boost pushed you further down the road. In the distance you spot an abandoned car.
> You search vehicle
You look through the windows and don't see much left in the car. One of the side windows was broken open.
> You get into the car
You immediately check for keys and they aren't in the ignition. You decide to search the car more.
> You check the glove box
You open the glove box and it has papers in it. Mostly car insurance and information.
> You check the backseat
You notice a dried blood stain on the back car seat. There is also some trash.
> You check the floors
You scan underneath the front car seats and the floors. You find the car keys were just out of sight under the driver's seat.
> You start the car
You try to start the car several times and nothing happens. You think of the possibility it needs gas and maybe they had spare gas in the trunk.
> You pop the trunk
You press the button to unlock the trunk. It slowly lifts open.
> You check the trunk
You get out of the car and walk towards the trunk.
| 3 |
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| 1 | false |
You walk back into the store and find a few shirts that you tear and wrap around your chest. It helps you feel slightly better. But you're still in a lot of pain.
> You take a quick rest
You slouch down to the ground and try to breathe steadily. The pain beings to magnify. You wonder what has happened to the world and if there are more hostile people out there like the guy who attacked you.
> You move further to the back of the store
Worried there are more hostiles around, you drag yourself to the back corner of the store.
> You access the area
The corner is a bit dark as the natural light hardly reaches there. There also seems to be some rubbish on the floor.
> You lay down the corner
You feel a little dizzy so you bring yourself to the dark corner to rest a bit.
> You take a short rest
You awaken to the sound of some footsteps nearby. Being a bit startled you pull yourself more into the dark corner. A sharp pain goes rings up from your ribcage.
> You listen for the footsteps
After you moved you couldn't hear the footsteps anymore. You try to steady your heart rate and your breathing. After a few minutes you hear the footsteps again.
> You stay quiet
A back door opens to your right and it startles you. You feel a cough well up inside you.
> You hold in the cough
You place you hand over your mouth as you see a women cautiously come inside. She doesn't really look harmful but who knows what could be on her mind.
> You stay hidden and attempt to escape
The woman looks around and beings to check the materials and rubbish scattered around on the floor mostly in the well lit areas. Your cough lets out.
> You make a run for the back door
You dash out the back door and hear the woman scream, "Wait! Watch out!!". You take a few steps forward through the door and suddenly fall down into a hole. You are knocked unconscious.
| 3 |
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| 3 | false |
The man shakes his head. "Hardly enough food for one person. I've only lived this long by looking after myself." He turns and starts walking away.
> You he's right. You look around at the everything and realize that taking care of yourself might be the best bet.
get back in your car
> You are uncertain of where you are, but at least you have this car for now. You ride down the main road and look for a bigger city.
You pass a farm house and you approach what looks like a warehouse and a mechanics shop just across from it.
> You pull up to the mechanics shop
You figure its possible to find more gas at the mechanics shop so you pull up to the garage.
> You check the garage door
The door is locked and the windows to get in are too high to reach. Maybe there is a key in the front desk area.
> You check the front desk office
You check the front and back door, they are both locked. However there are several windows you can break through.
> You break window
Thinking on it, you wrap your shirt around fist and bust the window open. You clear off as much debris as you can.
> You crawl through window
You pull yourself through and find yourself in a small bathroom. There doesn't seem to be anything important here.
> You open door to front desk area
You slowly open the door and see the front desk area is mostly untouched.There's lots of dust flying around.
> You search the desk area
You begin to scan the desk, there are lots of papers and receipts. You open the first drawer and find some keys.
> You take keys
You walk over to the front door and the keys on them. They don't seem to work.
| 3 |
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| 3 | false |
You open the back door into the house and go inside. You're in a combined kitchen and living room. You see several cupboard doors are hanging open, a fridge and several couches around a TV.
> You check the kitchen
You go through cupboards and find a few cans of beans. You pull the them out and place them on the counter. You hear the other guy rummaging through things upstairs.
> You check the refrigerator
You open the fridge and are greeted by a magnificent mold colony. However there are three bottles of water that can be saved.
> You put water on the kitchen counter
As you place the water on the counter you hear a shuffle and crash from upstairs. Muffled yelling from the man you entered the house with.
> You check on the man
You quickly head up the stairs and enter the room with the open door. You the man cradling his hand and cursing.
> You ask him what happened
"Was some sort of freaky looking rodent!! It bit me on my hand when I reached under the bed. I think it's still under there..." I tell him that i'm gonna lift up the bed if he will ready his crowbar to kill it. He nods in agreement.
> You lift the bed up
You lift up the bed and wait for him to have some reaction. You watch him crouch down and use the crowbar to hit some boxes and bags.
> You ask him if he can see it
"I would say something if I did" he sasses back at you. Maybe it's in one of the boxes or bags trying to hide. You are starting to get tired holding up the bed.
> You ask him to hurry
He scoffs at you and begins to wail the crow bar on the boxes and bags. We don't hear anything or see anything.
> You tell him you need to place the bed back down
He pulls the boxes and bags out with the crowbar and places them to the side. He nods at you.
> You put the bed down
You both slowly look through boxes and bags. You find a hanger and use it to poke through things.
| 4 |
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| 7 | false |
There's an old warehouse and a few mechanics shops.
> You check warehouse
Uncertain you'd find anything of need at the mechanics you head towards the warehouse. You're not certain what kind of warehouse it is though.
> You open door
You go straight for the front door and its locked. The windows are too high to break in to.
> You check the back of the warehouse
It takes you a minute to walk along to backside of the building. There you find several loading docks for semi trucks. You see on of the loading gate open just enough for to squeeze through.
> You access the loading gate
You check the loading gate before going under it. It seems pretty stuck.
> You squeeze through the gate
You sit on the ground and put your legs through the open. You laying down fully you pull your body through the opening.
> You look around
The warehouse looks slightly undisturbed. There are some boxes that have tipped over and scattered pallets in messy piles.
> You check some boxes
You grab the top of a box and pull it down. The box shifts forward and a bunch of doll heads spill. This startles you and causes you to gasp loudly.
> You examine the rest of the warehouse
You begin walking down the aisles and assume this a warehouse for toys or just parts of dolls. Then you distantly hear a playful voice say, "This way...come this way". They don't sound harmful.
> You go in the direction you heard the voice come from
"Hey, over here..." you hear the playful voice say from a short distance away.
> You walk towards the voice
You head in the direction you heard the voice come from. After passing a few aisles of stacked boxes you see an old man stand holding a doll. He beings to cackle.
| 3 |
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| 3 | false |
Back in the hallway, you look around you. The pale light of the Winter's moon is partially obstructed by clouds, and in its shifting light, your empty house seems grim and ghastly. The portraits on the walls, those of your forefathers, appear to look at you with dead eyes, following your every move. Somewhere in the distance, you can hear the creaking and groaning of your ancient house.
You still can't shake that shiver from your spine, as if a sliver of ice has lodged itself inside it. Trying to expel the ghostly image of Lenore from your mind, you notice the hairs on your arms start to stand upright. This is wrong, this is so very, very wrong. You fear that you might be slowly going insane. The events of the evening so far have left you certainly not unshaken.
Somewhere behind the staircase, a mouse patters off, the thread of its small paws echoing in the empty space. You jump, quite highly. Starting to feel slightly light-headed, you take a few, deep breaths. You swear you can practically hear your nerves shattering if you listen closely enough. Why is this happening to you?
TAP TAP TAP
You must have been mistaken. You wish, you wish fiercely that you were mistaken. That infernal tapping, that dreadful noise that has tormented you this evening has returned. As its echo resonates throughout your mind, your gaze turns towards the closed library door at the top of your staircase. Though seemingly left untouched, you know that behind it is the beast, the demon that has been mocking you this entire evening.
Or (you almost don't dare to wish it) might it be Lenore, trying to grab your attention? Surely she couldn't, surely you didn't just see her, or what remains of her. Surely, it is the delusion of your mind that is leading you to wish, to vehemently wish, such impossible thoughts. Then again, are you willing to risk finding out?
While you are contemplating moving back to your library, you hear the sound of creaking floorboards in the living room. 'Tis probably the settling of your ancient house, or the soft patter of the mouse you heard earlier. But then again, you heard a similar sound in the smoke room just moments earlier.
Then again, why should you stay here, in this house of sadness and pain? You remember that you are standing inside the hallway, and that the front door is just behind you. Why should you stay here, tormented by the demons in your mind, if you can escape them quite easily? Surely, if you come back tomorrow, peace and quiet will have returned?
As you stand in the dimly illuminated hallway, you feel your fingers twitch slightly. You can't take much more of the night's horrors, you are afraid. It is just too much. With a pounding heart, and shaking legs, you make your decision about where to go next.
> You investigate the Library
A cold wind blows towards you as you open the library door. Though the embers in the hearth have long since died down, the pale light of the Winter's moon is enough to look around. The chamber looks empty and desolate in the bleak light, your tome lying undisturbed where you left it. Yet you immediately notice that something is wrong, the light, for one shouldn't be shining. Wooden shutters, though worn with age, are supposed to keep the night's darkness out, yet now lie broken on the floor amidst a field of splintered glass. Winter's icy breath blows freely within the ancient room.
Looking around, your gaze falls upon the portrait of Lenore, hanging on your library wall. In the strange moonlight, she looks as if she is following you with her eyes, a sad, wane smile upon her lips. Lenore, has she been haunting you tonight? You are not sure, but her spirit, or at least her memories have kept you up this night. You might actually be going insane, but you also kind of want to be able to see her again.
'Nevermore.'
A voice behind you calls out in response to your thoughts, that dreadful voice that beckoned you here, creaking with malice. You turn around, expecting an attack by your mysterious tormentor, yet the hallway behind you look grim and desolate. Then a single, feather, black as the darkest night, flutters down from above. As look up, up towards the pallid bust of Pallas high above your chamber door, you see a shadow perching there. A raven, a seemingly normal raven, is perched above the placid bust of Pallas. Yet while you look at him, he stares back with a gaze containing a bottomless abyss.
Prickles run up your spine, and icy tendrils grasp at your mind's defences. You are tired, so very, very tired after this evening. And now, gazing into that black abyss, that demon's soul, you feel a wave of desperation overcome you. Lenore, the light of your life, your eternal love, has never felt so very far away. Not even when you buried her, not even when you thought you saw her earlier, have you felt such a profound sense of loss, and hopelessness.
CAW CAW CAW
The raven, not a flutter, never flitting, utters that dreadful sound that has haunted you tonight. As if its laughing at you, laughing at your loss, laughing at your powerlessness to overcome it. The malicious shadow of death that is haunting you.
'Heartless demon!' You cry out, 'Tormentor from the nightly shore! Have you no mercy for a poor man, mourning the mem'ry of his late Lenore? Take your break from out my chest, and take your form from off my door! Leave me here in peace this evening, let me forget my sweet Lenore.'
Quoth the raven 'Nevermore'.
Tears well up in your eyes, and your knees give way beneath you. The image of Lenore, once shining and radiant, has now turned into a mockery, a shadow of her former self. That rare and radiant, saintly-clasped maiden that you once loved, whose portrait still adorns your chamber wall, shall visit you nevermore. Her memory, haunting you like a shadow of despair.
CAW CAW CAW
The raven's cry sounds one last time, mocking you, laughing at your misery. That grim and beastly devil sitting above your chamber door. Snowflakes start to whirl around you, brought in by Winter's breath, through the gaping hole in your window. In the pale moonlight, the raven seems but a shadow against the pallid bust above your door. Yet you know that he is watching you, observing you, peering deep inside your soul.
You meet its gaze once more, its piercing, dead gaze, but cannot find any remorse in it. Silently it watches, waiting tirelessly. For what, only the heavens know. Yet in that cold darkness, in those remorseless eyes, you see that whatever your actions, whatever you do in your life, whatever the cold, lonely future has in stall for you, this demon, this beast, this devil from the nightly realm, shall leave you never- nevermore.
| 4 |
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| 10 | false |
Softly whispering, but slowly strengthening, you call into the black abyss: Sir, or madam, I implore your forgiveness. I was napping while reading a book and so gently came your rapping that I scarce was sure I heard you. Please good sir, or madam, make yourself known.'
You look around once more, but no further sounds can be heard coming from the shadows. Strange thoughts and dreams circle through your mind, but still the darkness gives no token. Wary, you whisper with a trembling voice: 'Lenore?' Silence follows, but an echo murmurs back this one word: 'Lenore!'
As you turn to return to the chamber, you once more feel an ominous tingling in your spine. With a beating heart you once more survey your surroundings. The hallway is the same as before, although the dance of dust and shadow has ended, and yet you can't shake of the feeling that someone, or something, is watching you. Suddenly the silence is broken by a ghastly noise, that same noise that led you into this darkness.
TAP TAP TAP
This time it is louder than the last. As your heart once more tries to leap out of your chest, you can feel the air grow colder. Shaking and shivering you try to determine the origin of that dreadful noise. Warily, you turn your head, convinced that an unknown assailant can reveal itself at any moment. Yet only shadows surround you. Anxiously, you keep repeating to yourself: 'There's nothing here but shadows and dust. Tis a leaking pipe that's making that noise, that it is and nothing more.'
Feeling slightly more secure you are about to return to the library, just as the eerie sound returns once more.
TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP
Startled, you look around and you notice the door near the end of the hallway. It's there were the origin of that noise resides. As you continue to gaze upon it, the doorknob begins to rattle, turned by an invisible hand, and the tapping sound strengthens.
> You scared, yet inquisitive, you approach the energetic door.
With every step you take the rattling gets louder, yet carefully, step by step, you shuffle to the door. Small clouds of dust erupt from the carpet with every carefully placed step, leaving behind a fleeting echo of your path through this endless void. A floorboard creeks as you walk across it, its thundering sound resonating off the windowless walls, mingling together with the ghastly rattling.
Finally, with your heart pounding in your chest, you reach the door. Even up close you can't see what's moving the knob, or what's tapping the door. Filled with fear and bursting with anxiety you extend your trembling hand towards the door. The closer you get, the louder the noise gets. But then, just as your clammy skin touches the cool brass, the noises stop altogether and a deadly silence falls over the shadowy hallway.
You once more feel an ominous tingling at your neck, as if the shadows themselves are massing behind you, waiting for an opportunity to strike, and... You don't want to finish that thought. However, you can't help feeling that whatever's behind that door, you won't like it. Alone in the dark, you try to decide if you'd better...
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
The lower level of Cassamento's mansion reeks of blood and the strong smell of industrial grade acid. This is where people are taken to to die. Hopefully Helena is alright. You can only pray at this moment.
There are too many guards and too little nooks to hide in to do this quietly. All you can do is head in fast and loud.
There is your first guard right there.
> You knock him out; you don't kill anymore, even in these circumstances.
No. Never again, you told yourself. Not after South America.
His back is to you, which makes it easy to creep up on him. You rise up behind him and apply a chokehold. He struggles for a moment, but before long he's out. You drop his unconscious body and continue on.
From there it's down and dirty brawling. Choking them out when they've got their back to you. Taking away guns and beating them something fierce when they don't. You interrogate a few, trying to get Cassamento's location; the first three don't talk, but the last one squeals. Not long after you find your way to the room.
It's all or nothing, now.
> You continue
When you enter the room quietly, closing the door behind you with a soft click, the first thing you see is Cassamento standing on a platform with a console. He looks at Helena, who dangles over a pool of acid by a rope. There's a guard not too far away, but he's not going to be trouble; a chokehold puts him out for the count.
"Cassamento," you say, heading up the stairs to the platform, "It's over. Let her go."
"Hmph. I thought you'd be dead by now, you faceless freak," Cassamento spits, "But no matter. Now you get a front row seat to Huntress' death." He flips a switch on the button, and the rope snaps. Huntress begins to fall.
> You try to wrangle her in with your grappling hook.
The hook wraps around her. But you don't manage more than that as she falls into the pool of acid. The bright green liquid turns red with blood.
Cassamento laughs.
Soon you have him on the floor choking on his own teeth.
By the time you're done with him his head looks more like a squashed cantaloupe than anything that's alive.
> The End
A Month Later...
You find yourself perched upon a rooftop in Hub City, dead eyes staring blankly at the streets below and hands clenching and unclenching every so often.
She's dead. You can't believe it. It seems as though the world has lost color.
You've barely eaten in the last month. Food has lost taste. Your weight loss has been dramatic.
She's dead.
Cassamento paid for what he did. But you can't take any consolation in that.
She's dead.
In the distance a scream pierces the quiet of the night. You find a man holding a woman at gunpoint, forcing her to remove her clothing.
He's dead.
You continue your endless pursuit for justice, kept going by the thought of her.
BAD END
| 4 |
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| 5 | false |
The smell of water clouded Gabri's mind. The vast painting of blue was beautiful. Forget the immense fog. Forget the millions of trees closing him in. All that was there was the pool of water. He began touching his feet inside. Its crisp freshness made him shiver with joy. Soon, he was wading, all of him, in the water. He swam around rapidly and then just let the water carry him. It felt good. Oh, how it felt good.
"Gabri!" shouted a voice from outside his own world. There, clothed in a brown and apricot robe, stood Ka Kamikaze, Jedi Master. His black hair, silver at the sides, clung to his scalp, refusing to let any wind pass through. His ashy black beard did the same. Ka was stocky, broad-shouldered. His blue lightsaber stayed tucked away deep in his robe. Gabri had never seen him withdraw it, but he had heard great tales in which he fought with it. Oh, if he could see him wield it, see all those tales come true, he would love it.
"No more tomfoolery!" Ka ordered in his bold voice, "Do you come or do you stay? I must search this area."
> You go
Gabri stood out of his soothing water, pulled on his robe, and followed Ka.
"A Jedi shouldn't play around like you do," Ka scolded, "I wanted a willing Padawan, not an immature little boy." Gabri looked up to Ka with great admiration, and he knew he played around more than he should, but he also knew Ka could be harsh. They moved on, the damp grass squishing under their feet.
"What are we looking for?" Gabri asked, again. He never really listened to Ka's answers for Ka always spoke down to him, and in sarcastic tones as well.
"If you paid the slightest bit of attention, instead of goofing off, you'd already know," Ka snarled. And so, Gabri's question went unanswered.
They walked a far distance until they came to a shed. It was poorly constructed and rundown. The door was off its hinges and nothing but dust and grime laid inside. They entered and found a Gungan standing there with flappy tan ears and eyeballs on antennae. He had a bill and a long tongue.
"Are you Jedi Master Ka Kamikaze?" he asked, "I have been sent for him." Ka nodded.
"I am Lum Blimi. A ship has been sent for you, from the Rebellion." the Gungan told them. He led them through the thick jungle and there before them was Y-wing, a mossy yellow color covering it. Ka boarded and Gabri followed. In its own little compartment was R2-B5, an astromech droid with yellow coloring as well. The droid beeped at Gabri and he waved. Then, he ran inside.
Sitting in the pilot's seat, Ka set a course for
> You tatooine
As they arrived at Tatooine, sand began pelting the windows and they could see nothing.
"A sandstorm! What luck!" Gabri complained. Ka paid him no mind to him. He tried to maneuver the the Y-wing but the sand kept it stuck to the ground.
"This is all your fault! We should have plotted a course to Endor!" Ka yelled at Gabri.
"My fault?! It was not my fault! I let you decide!" Gabri yelled back, even angrier.
"It was your fault! Everything's your fault! You never do anything right!" Gabri let his anger explode. The explosion was large and insane. He withdrew his lightsaber and killed Ka with much force. Ka's body dissolved, leaving a his robe and lightsaber in a pile. Through Ka did Gabri Joo now realize the evil ways of the Jedi. They were not defenders of the galaxy. They were destroyers. And so he became one with the Sith and killed many a Jedi. Ka had shown him the Sith were the righteous ones.
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
Gabri stood out of his soothing water, pulled on his robe, and followed Ka.
"A Jedi shouldn't play around like you do," Ka scolded, "I wanted a willing Padawan, not an immature little boy." Gabri looked up to Ka with great admiration, and he knew he played around more than he should, but he also knew Ka could be harsh. They moved on, the damp grass squishing under their feet.
"What are we looking for?" Gabri asked, again. He never really listened to Ka's answers for Ka always spoke down to him, and in sarcastic tones as well.
"If you paid the slightest bit of attention, instead of goofing off, you'd already know," Ka snarled. And so, Gabri's question went unanswered.
They walked a far distance until they came to a shed. It was poorly constructed and rundown. The door was off its hinges and nothing but dust and grime laid inside. They entered and found a Gungan standing there with flappy tan ears and eyeballs on antennae. He had a bill and a long tongue.
"Are you Jedi Master Ka Kamikaze?" he asked, "I have been sent for him." Ka nodded.
"I am Lum Blimi. A ship has been sent for you, from the Rebellion." the Gungan told them. He led them through the thick jungle and there before them was Y-wing, a mossy yellow color covering it. Ka boarded and Gabri followed. In its own little compartment was R2-B5, an astromech droid with yellow coloring as well. The droid beeped at Gabri and he waved. Then, he ran inside.
Sitting in the pilot's seat, Ka set a course for
> You endor
As they landed on the planet of Endor, they heard the shrill cries of Ewoks.
"We must help them!" Gabri shouted. Ka left the Y-wing and Gabri followed. They searched the dense trees until they found a small group-only three-of Ewoks. They were closed in by a horde of stormtroopers. A lifeless Ewok body lay beside them. They were whimpering and cowering like small children. Ka stayed back but Gabri leaped out of the underbrush. He had always questioned himself of who was truly the defenders of the galaxy: Jedi or Sith. But seeing those Ewoks, and seeing the motionless body, he knew it was the Jedi. They were the great ones, the ones who helped the harsh worlds. As he attacked the stormtroopers, he knew he was a Jedi. And a loyal one at that.
| 3 |
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| 3 | false |
"No, I..." you say, before realizing you need to explain the whole story.
For the next while, you explain the story to father. As you talk, his brow seems to furrow and his mustache droops. He stares at you for a while, before gritting his teeth.
"There's a witch, a demon, maybe the devil himself in those woods!" father yells, grabbing the newly made crucifix from its place in the doorway. "You've consorted with pure evil, child. We need to head to town, find a church and pray for forgiveness for our sins!"
"What? No, father, she was just a girl! You're talking craz...!"
Father slaps you hard, before grabbing your head and holding you close to his chest.
"Do you think the devil can't take any form which pleases him? Renounce the evil in your heart!"
> You refuse
"No, father! She was just a normal girl! She..."
Your father quickly unhooks his belt, smacking it into your head as you stumble backwards.
"By the lord's name, you will repent!" he screams, as he hits you.
"No!" you scream in defiance.
In a mixture of anger and panic, father stands over you, beating you desperately, not knowing any other choice. He yells at you, calling you a heathen, a spawn of Satan and more. The beating goes over the top as you continue to refuse to repent. Eventually, a frustrated, enraged blow at the wrong angle ends up snapping your neck, quickly killing you.
| 3 |
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| 2 | false |
"Kneel," you say, as Rose kneels.
You stand over Rose, opening your bible and beginning to read.
"In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints," you begin to read, as Rose begins to wince in pain. "And powerful in the holy authority of our lives, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil. God arises; His enemies are scattered and those who hate Him flee before Him."
You begin pouring the holy water over Rose, who begins to scream. You grit your teeth, and continue the ritual.
"As smoke is driven away, so are they driven; as wax melts before the fire,
so the wicked perish at the presence of God," you say.
Suddenly, Rose screams as she sets alight. She howls desperately in pain as the fire quickly burns through her dress, the very dress you stole for her. She screams horribly as she writhes in pain, and before you can act, her flesh and bone have burnt to ash. You drop to your knees over the ash, staring at it in shock.
God has failed. He has failed to save your love. He took her from you. You stare at the ash, your hands shifting through it. Rose is gone. Your tears fall into the ash as you cry.
After an hour of crying, you final stand. Your bible and crucifix lie next to you. You stare at them, wondering if God is truly with you.
> You reject him
You grab steel and flint, and set the bible alight. You hold the crucifix into the flames, as that sets alight too. The flames burnt brightly in your hands, licking your hands and arm. It hurts, but you grit your teeth. If God is up there, you best get used to the burning sensation. Once the bible and crucifix are ash, you stand. You're done here.
> You continue
Burning Passion
You walk through the woods, looking up at the starless night. Your burns still hurt, but you no longer care. You stare up at the sky, and know that God's either not there, or not worth your love. Who is he to claim you're a sinner with all the genocide and torture he's done? No. You're all sinners. No longer bond by silly superstitions and rules, life is yours.
| 2 |
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| 6 | false |
Your throw the crucifix, watching it disappear off out of view into the trees. Then you turn, walking back further into the cave. You walk back to the skull, and kneel in front of it, closing your eyes. You wait in silence for several minutes, before you finally hear a voice.
"Ah... you must be the boy. Hello, Jacob."
"H-h-hello," you stutter, trying to keep calm.
"Keep your eyes closed, would you, boy?" the voice asks.
"OK," you reply.
"I assume you know who I am?" the voice asks.
"You're Lucifer."
"So you know how high the stakes are here. What did you come here to do?"
"I want you to give Rose her soul back."
"I didn't ask what you wanted. I asked what you came here to do?"
"To... to get her soul back," you say.
"Oh, my dear boy, how is it you expect to do that?"
"I'm... I'm willing to trade."
"A soul is of infinite value. You have only one thing that even comes close to it in value. But you know that, don't you?"
You nod slowly, as you feel hands on your shoulders.
"So tell me... are you willing to give your soul for hers? The trade's simple. Your soul for hers. Do we have an agreement?"
> You reject the deal
"No," you say.
"Oh, pathetic," Lucifer asks. "You've wasted my time here."
Silence consumes you, and you wait patiently. After a few minutes, you open your eyes. The deer skull sits there, the same as ever. You stand, turning and walking out of the cave. You clamber down the hill, and start walking towards Rose. After a few minutes, you find her.
"Jacob! I told you to leave!" she says.
"I tried to talk to your father, but..."
"Jacob! No! Please, please don't take any of his awful deals! Just go! Leave, Jacob!"
| 4 |
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| 2 | false |
You awaken in the house, surrounded by the bodies of your loved ones and covered in blood. You stand, staring around your destroyed house. It seemed the creature took time to destroy the place. It's dead silent despite the sun having risen, so the roosters must be dead. You sit there, surrounded by bloodshed and death. You cry for a bit, sobbing into your hand, but eventually you stop. You know you need to be strong. You have to think about yourself. You have to think about Rose. You have to think about the future.
You stand, staring out at the woods. You wonder what you should. You could flee. The nearest town isn't too far. You could most likely walk to it in a few hours.
Or, you could venture out into the woods. Find Rose, attempt to find what's going on. It's a more dangerous approach, but at least it'll get you answers.
> You get out of this wretched place
You look out at the woods one last time, and quickly begin packing everything you have here, all the salted meat, all father's savings, everything you can find, and you begin walking away. It's a long walk to town, but you can make it.
> You continue
Lost Soul
You never find answers. You never find peace with yourself for what happened with that. With Rose, with the monster, with the woods. The memories haunt you. Eventually, you turn to the only thing you have left: religion. You pray every single day for redemption, for God's peace.
Eventually, you become a priest, and find yourself sanctuary in some desolate part of the wilderness.
Full of self-loathing yet knowing suicide is a sin, you spend out the rest of your days in a miserable existence.
| 3 |
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| 4 | false |
Now that you're finished working on repairing the ship and its back to full abilities, you have another issue. You restock at a nearby outlaw planet, trading much of Kyros' personal wealth in order to outfit and repair the ship, which is made simple with Primus' help. Ship operation seems actually fairly simple. As long as Amadeus is under your thumb and the military might is yours, you'll be fine. Most of the hard work required is done by Primus. With those two, you're golden.
One of the main issues, though, is the mutants. As your slaves have all been wiped out or had joined up with one of the war-bands, Kyros or your forces during the mutiny, mutants are now filling in most of the crew roles aboard this vessel. The thing is, they're getting antsy about their position, wanting more power and a say in the decisions of the vessel. Reports say that a mutant known as John the Hermit is leading the mutants, inciting dissent and rallying the masses of mutants.
Although the mutants are seen as an irrelevant issue by most, you know that's not the case. They're tough, with naturally mutated weapons, and there's massive numbers of them. If they're genuinely organized and inspired by this John the Hermit, they could easily take the ship when you're at low strength.
> You have John the Hermit brought to you
You sit in your war-room, waiting patiently. The room has been done up quite nicely now that you're in charge. The head seat at the table is a black, marble throne, with Magos' Cern's skull and Chapter Master Taj's head hanging from the red banner behind you, the banner emblazoned with the stark, spiky symbol vaguely shaped like the spear that once represented the Uwais tribe. You lieutenants are around you, Fay sitting directly to your right in an ornate red chair, with the upper half of the humanoid robot that Primus uses as his "face" to talk to to your left. Cain sits in a massive chair, a massive cooked carcass in his hands that he devours. Across from him sits Captain Hayes, who you've situated near the air vent to avoid choking on the ever-present smoke that emanates from the ever-present lho-stick clenched in his teeth. Olive and Castus are at the end, across from each other, which leads to an endless amount of bickering between the intelligent, pragmatic Olive and carefree, happy, impulsive Castus. You're all set up entirely to scare and intimidate John the Hermit when he enters. The Staine Siblings are off to the side with Meliodas, with Durge chewing on a rat carcass, Elizabeth reading, Elios waiting impatiently and Meliodas pacing the room. Hopefully, it'll work.
"By will of the people, I ascend to the chamber of the Gods! I will beseech them as a poor, twisted food, by will of the people!" a voice cries, as the door is pushed open.
Two Kasrkin soldiers stand next to John the Hermit. The mutant prophet is a horrible, wretched creature. His spine is twisted, making him a hunchbacked creature. The ring and pinky finger of his left hand is fused together, as is his middle and index finger, giving it a crab claw-like appearance. His other hand is different, a literal engorged crab claw, covered in a thick chitin, looking able to crush a man in half. His face is twisted and mismatched, with only a few oversized teeth in his mouth, one eye much larger than the other and a squashed nose that looks akin to it having been badly and repeatedly broken. His back is misshapen, covered with a thick chitin like that of a crab's being more akin to a shell than a human's back.
"With my own two eyes! With my own two eyes I see the supposed gods!" he says, walking forward with a strange look on his face that you can't decipher thanks to his deformities.
"Are you the man known known as John the Hermit?" you ask.
"The man? No, no, not at all. I am the beasts, a simple creature twisted by your inaction," John the Hermit says bitterly.
"My inaction?" you ask.
"Have you seen what freaks we've become? Nuclear waste from reactors aren't cleared off, even though we haven't used nuclear reactors for millennia! Malnutrition! Lack of medical attention! There used to be slaves who were constantly tortured and brutally forced to work, and we envied them!"
"What is it that you want exactly?" Primus asks.
"Who is it that runs this vessel?" John the Hermit asks.
"I do," you reply, looking briefly at Primus and the others for any signs of dissent.
"By what right do you claim to be leader? By will of the people, by democracy's gentle guiding hand, I am the rightful leader!"
"By right of force," you reply.
"Ha! I'd wager my army of malformed brothers against yours any day! We have the numbers, we have the will, we have the power to take this ship!"
"Did you come here to make threats and promise me you'll take over?" you ask, as your fists set alight.
"I came here to offer you a deal. John the Hermit is no leader. John the Hermit is a simple man. I just want a boost in our standards of living. Running water, good food, actual bedrooms, human rights!" he says.
"Primus, how much would that cost us?"
"If we were to raise the mutant standard of living to those described by John the Hermit, it would cost, and this is a rough, fluctuating estimate, twenty million thrones."
"That's doable, is it not? A few million Thrones to ensure your one at the head of this vessel? It's good, yes? I also want a place at your table, as an advisor, so I can continue speaking for my mutants. With this, we'll stay your humble servants."
> You set the mad hermit alight and be done with it
You fire a burst of flames. Unfortunately, John the Hermit goes down with a strength you've rarely seen among the best of men, let alone a wretched mutant. As John the Hermit was engulfed in fire by a flamer blast, his skin crackling, his flesh cooking and his bones melting, he begins to roar at you.
"You'll pay for this injustice! We'll rise up, crush you and break free! We'll rule the galaxy!"
It's only a few hours before the mutants learn what happened and rise up. You're simply unprepared for the scale of this rebellion. John the Hermit must have been planning this for decades, behind Kyros' back. Stores of ammo and weapons, hidden in stockpiles in the parts of the ship that hadn't been searched in millennia, are unearthed, as many of the functions of the ship cease as the mutants stop working. While your forces have better training, better equipment, better everything, as it has been said before, quantity has a whole quality of its own. The endless mutant hordes, entirely willing to die for their cause, all willing to martyr themselves as John the Hermit did.
As you stand in the war-room, surrounded by an army of mutants, burning dozens as lightning runs along your fingertips and psychic blasts kill all who could hope to oppose you, the mutants begin to overwhelm you. As their tentacles, hands and claws bring you down, tearing you apart, you have a brief musing about how similar this is to Kyros' death.
| 3 |
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| 12 | false |
"Alright, connecting..." your pilot says, as the ship attaches to the bays of the Quill. All your lieutenants stand around you. Immediately, you spot a trio of space marines clad in blue with yellow trim marching towards you. Those on either side are helmeted with a crest behind their head and holding bolters in their hands. The one in the middle has no helmet, instead wearing ornate golden robes over his power armor, holding a bolt pistol golden staff topped with a snake, with two Sapphires as the eyes. You rarely see a space marine with his helmet off. This man has short blond hair and a clean-shaven face.
"Ah! Kyros' over-throwers, is it? I..." the marine says, before stopping to stare at Meliodas. "You.... ah, I sense it now. A daemon, is it? Tell me, were you trapped inside Kyros' skull for all the times I met with him?"
"No, I've just moved in," Meliodas replies, as the marine nods.
"I am Khalid the Despised," the marine says, as his two guards stare blankly at you.
"My name's Karth," you reply. "This is Meliodas, Cain, Castus, Olive, Fay, Durge, Elizabeth, John the Hermit, Captain Hayes and Elios."
"Fuck, did you really need to bring the whole crew?" Khalid asks, staring at your lieutenants.
Khalid strolls along the line, nodding slowly as if he expected this.
"Yes, yes... at least you got rid of that crazy Khornate bitch. Still, you kept the sentient Slaaneshi dildo, the morbidly obese sore, the failure for a psyker and the jar-head. Oh look, you've a few more to your roster. A... I don't even know what this freak is," he says, staring at Cain. "Then we have a mutant who deserves to become dust like my own, a bunch of kids and the daemon who can't find a better crew. A pathetic group if I've ever seen one."
Khalid steps back, as most of you stare at him in shock. Only the Staine Siblings and Hayes seem unsurprised.
"How fucking dare you?" Fay says, as she raises her bolter to point at Khalid's head.
"Oh, you must be one of the shit-eating, backwater Ferals that Kyros tried to turn into a super-soldier, right? Tell me, are you pregnant by your father, your brother or your cousin? Who am I kidding, with a planet like you came from, he's probably all three," Khalid smiles.
> You set this tool alight
You let a wave of psychic flames release from your finger tips that quickly set his robes alight. Suddenly, the wave of heat floods through your body as you set alight, and you quickly burst into flames and are soon turned to ash.
| 3 |
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| 7 | false |
You nod, holding out your hand. Khalid grabs you by the hand, and stares into your eyes.
"This'll be simple enough. Just don't resist. Understood?"
"Got it," you say.
"With the Dark Gods, the Corpse-Emperor himself and anyone else out their with the power to oversee this bargain, I pledge these two souls together by the binding contract, that we will remain allies into all ways possible. Should we break this contract, let our souls be forfeit."
You hear the chattering of thousands of daemonic voices as they watch your deal. You feel your mind be flooded into by Khalid's, as consciousness, in the way normal humans feel it, fade.
You find yourself floating in a void, surrounded by an ever-shifting mass of golden energy, that seem to make up Khalid. You look around, as you see his thoughts floating around you. You reach out your hand, touching the thought screams as you hear Khalid's voice boom.
"Is the big freak literate? Is it even sentient? I would think not. If I had to look at that face in the mirror every morning I'd kill myself."
You frown, touching another.
"Is the dumbass seriously using Kyros' former lieutenants, those who enslaved his people, as his lieutenants? He saw them betray Kyros! And now the dumbass is reading your thoughts, no doubt learning that while I'll remain loyal to him, he's a fucking wanker."
You touch another one.
"You, Karth Uwais, are ugly. See? I'm not even slightly lying."
Well, you've got what you need from his thoughts. Still, in the golden fog of energy, you can see what you assume are memories drifting around. You see his staff floating through the void before disappearing, before you see a wolf bound through the fog. You can hear distant screams emanate through the fog from some horrifying memory. You see Kyros march across the fog and step back nervously despite knowing he's only a memory.
> You follow the wolf
You walk after the wolf, as it howls skyward and runs. You head forward, as it begins to morph into a strange space marine wearing an ancient power armor, with a wolf hide over his shoulder. The scene changes to a battleground, as you watch as similar space marines fight against those clad in the red and gold Khalid wore.
You see Khalid fighting, as he ducks under a bolter round. He fires a burst of flames, engulfing another wolf-marine who howls in pain, collapsing.
"Death to traitors!" a voice howls from the wolf-marines.
"You will not kill my brothers! You will not destroy my planet!" Khalid roars. "You don't understand! Horus is the traitor!"
A wolf-marine attempts to kill Khalid with his chainsword, but Khalid kills him with a burst of energy.
"STOP! The Emperor wouldn't do this to us! We are loyal! We're your brothers! Please!" Khalid screams.
Suddenly, a massive pyramid materializes next to yous. Thousands of civilians are fleeing up the ramps inside. Then, a massive explosion tears through it, as a fireball engulfs all the civilians inside and fleeing into it.
"NO!" Khalid screams, as a cry of "Traitor!" comes from both sides.
With that, Khalid lets out a fierce scream of psychic energy, charging forward. The room gently fades to black.
| 4 |
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| 7 | false |
In the courtyard, you grab a passing servant girl by the arm
"Have you seen my son?"
The servant seems unsurprised at your arrival; evidently news travels fast. She bites her lip nervously
"Ah... yes, yes I have, but-"
"Where is he?"
You inquire incredulously. The servant blushes
"He's in the stables my lord, but I really don't think you should-"
Waving off her concerns, you thank her and depart towards the stables.
The stables are large and ornate, a mix of carved wood and interlocking wicker. The smell is heavy of stale hay and horse manure, but the atmosphere is pleasant nonetheless.
At least three-dozen horses of various shades rest in the shade of the stable's long awning, but your son is nowhere to be found.
On a hunch, you decide to check the stable master’s quarters, at the rear of the stable.
As you approach the door you hear a muffled laugh through the porous wood of the door. Undoing the latch, you throw open the door and enter the dimly lit room.
Inside, you son Eamon, a long-haired blond boy of seventeen lies under an old cotton blanket alongside a freckled girl of similar age. The pair are twined together, moving rythmically, and apparently neither noticed you open the door.
You clear your throat politely. The girl gives a shriek of surprise, and covers herself with a fold of the tattered blanket. Your son looks equally surprised, but emits only a startled cough. You grin
"Hello Eamon"
You turn your attention to the girl lying beside him.
> You say "What's your name?"
You flash the young girl a warm smile
"Hello there, what's your name?"
The girl stammers out an answer
"L-lynette, milord"
You nod solemnly
"A very pretty name. Who gave it to you?"
While you spoke, Lynette had slipped on her threadbare tunic, in her panic she has managed to entangle the fabric around her face, and the cloth muffles her voice
"My mother works in the kitchen, milord"
"And the father?"
You inquire
"I don't know, milord"
She replies quietly, having finally wrestled her tunic into its proper position. With her attention switched from her tunic back to you, her embarrassment returns
"If milord will excuse me, I should be getting back to the kitchens"
"Of course"
Blushing profusely, the young servant girl scurries towards the door, executing a clumsy curtsy as she passes you. Your son stares after her longingly, he sighs, and you nod knowingly
"Is she a favorite of yours?"
Your son looks shocked
"I love her, father"
| 5 |
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| 10 | false |
You dismount and hand the reins of your horse to one of your men. Moving briskly, you cross the old stone bridge.
On the other side, Garyn dismounts and hurries to meet you. It has been several months since you last saw him, however he hasn't changed a bit.
He wears a mail hauberk, and his shield -emblazoned with your snarling wolf sigil- is slung over his back. On his left he wears a thick fighting sword, shorter than your longsword but almost twice as thick. On his right he carries a vicious looking seaxe, a heavy stabbing dagger perfect for thrusting through mail links. His face, like much of his body, is scarred by a lifetime of fighting. He is bald, and his hooked nose gives him a predatory, reptilian look. His eyes are hard, flinty; the eyes of a soldier.
You meet in the middle of the bridge and he clasps your forearm warmly, his face shows relief.
"Our scouts saw you coming, I came as soon as I could. The Lady Catheryn will be overjoyed to hear that you are back"
Catheryn. You feel your heartbeat rise. These months without her have been far too long. You can almost see her, like an apparition drawing you homewards. Footsteps echo on the bridge behind you; Orvyn has joined you. He speaks to you, but his eyes are fixed on Garyn
"We should ride to the villages first. As their lord, you owe them an explanation. Everyone there has a relative who served in your fyrd. They deserve an audience"
Garyn glares contemptuously at Orvyn
"A lord does not serve at the beck and call of his peasants. Maybe if the useless sods had held the line, we wouldn't be in this predicament"
Orvyn takes a step towards Garyn, Garyn's hand drops closer to the lethal looking dagger at his hip. Orvyn keeps his hands well away from his weapons, in an open show of contempt
"Do you want the commonfolk to rebel against us? What harm can it do to delay Aethelwulf's homecoming by a few hours!"
Both of them turn expectantly towards you, waiting for you to settle their dispute.
> You agree with Orvyn
Thoughts of your wife and children burn inside of you, but a good lord's first priority should always be to his people. You nod to Orvyn
"I will ride down to the villages. Garyn, send us some of your men as an escort."
Garyn obeys, but his lips are curled in an ugly sneer and he refuses to even look at Orvyn, who wears a distinctly smug expression. Following Orvyn, you turn your back temporarily on thoughts of homecoming. A good lord's duty is to his people, after all. You mount your horse and ride towards the town of Wichestun.
> You head into town
You smell the town before you see it. A horrid combination of sewage and rotting thatch permeates the crisp December air. The town has perhaps a hundred homes at most, with most people living in farmsteads around the surrounding area.
Normally, the town would be fairly quiet, however today is Wednesday, marketday, and the town is filled with crowds of villagers from the farthest corners of your realm.
As your horses move through the center street, villagers hurry to make room. Some cheer, but others eye you with suspicion or even fear.
At the center of the town, you hold up your fist and your party draws to a halt. A crowd quickly gathers, all eyes are on you. Pausing to gather your words, you address your people.
> You say "We stand together!"
You raise your hand and silence falls like a blanket over the crowd of people. Your eyes flick from face, some meet your gaze, others stare at their feet.
"We have been through hell, all of us. You have all lost people to the fyrd; fathers, brothers, sons. I understand your pain. But know this; they died with me, beside me, because we are the north! We live, we fight, and we die together! They say a warrior is only as strong as the shield held by his neighbor, they say this because it is the united who are strong, and we are the united!"
Your escort applauds, rattling swords on shields and roaring.
Some of the villagers clap nervously, but others remain still; one, a young woman with a grim face raises her hand. "Why was the fyrd so undersupplied? Why was it not provided with shields?" One of your men barks at her to be silent, but she snarls back, tears bead her eyes "I lost my husband and my son! Don't you dare tell me to be silent!" She stabs her finger at you, sobbing "Answer me! Answer me!" One of your men reaches for his sword, but you wave him off. Looking the determined young woman in the eye, you give her an answer.
> You say "War is brutal"
You exhale tiredly and spread your hands sympathetically
"I am sorry, truly I am. By joining my fyrd your husband and son were put in a dangerous position, and regrettably they were killed. I can never ask you to forget, but I can ask you to forgive. Will you do that?"
The woman says nothing; her cheeks are streaked with tears. Bowing her head, she pushes through the crowd, away from the market square, people make way respectfully. Tugging at your horses reins, you turn homeward, and your escort silently follows you.
The crowd remains silent, watching.
| 4 |
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| 8 | false |
“Zuzu.”
After everything that happened to her in those fifteen years, it all comes down to this moment.
There he stands. Behind him, there’s the waterbending girl. The Avatar didn’t die. He attacked the capital during an eclipse. They couldn’t bend. Only a dishonorable enemy would do that, but the Fire Nation repelled their attack.
Why! Why does Zuzu fight with the Avatar? He betrayed her! She wanted him to come home, but he sided with the Fire Nation’s greatest enemy. Why? She knows why. MOTHER. It’s her fault! It’s not Azula’s fault. Mother was the one who poisoned his mind ever since his birth. After she had to leave, Uncle continued. They turned Zuzu away. He even became the Avatar’s firebending teacher! WHY!
Then, Mai betrayed her. She did it so Zuzu could’ve escaped. He was in her clutches! Azula was going to subdue her, then Ty Lee attacked her. WHY! It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t compute. The world… the world doesn’t work this way. She’s Azula. She doesn’t fail.
Then, Father left her behind to kill a bunch of Earth Kingdom civilians. He didn’t see her as useful anymore. Why would? Everyone betrays her, so he discarded her like a used concubine. Why must everyone betray her!
She knows why. Mother was right. This entire time, she was right. I’m a monster. It simply took Zuzu longer to realize it.
“Sorry, but you're not gonna become Fire Lord today.” He lights his hands on fire. “I am. I challenge you to an Agni Kai. You tried to kill me too many times already. Let’s settle everything right here, right now.”
“I accept.”
For the first time in her life, she tries to truly injure her brother. She tried to hurt him countless times, but never did she want to cause so much damage. He fights backs using forms she never saw before, but the girl hardly recognizes anything. She focuses on trying to burn him, hurt him.
Why can't it all be better, when we were young? It was nice then. He didn’t think I was a monster.
She did so much for him. He said she was his sister. LIER! He knows she’s a monster. Monsters don’t have brothers. Monsters don’t have joy. They don’t have friends or happy ending. Monsters have pain, and they give pain. That’s it.
Why is everything on fire? Oh, I forgot. Today is Sozin’s Comet! That’s why Daddy’s killing people and babies. Last time this came, my great-grandfather killed every airbender except the Avatar. Daddy’s just gonna use this to kill more people! Why’d I forget that?
Some part of her mind tells her something inside is wrong. She’s breaking, slipping. She ignores that voice.
Their flames are more like tornadoes. The palace, the courtyard, everything. There’s fire everywhere. It’s so hot. She uses her flames to propel her. Maneuverability is… good? Tactical. It’s tactical for fights. Daddy says so.
Then, Zuzu throws a really big fireball at her. She keeps it from burning her, but she falls on the ground. That hurt. Zuzu hurt me!
“No lightning today? What's the matter?” He sounds angry. Why is Zuzu angry with me?
Two little voices in the back of her head tell her not to fire. One says he’s her big brother, and she shouldn’t hurt her big brother. Mommy wouldn’t want that. The other one, one that has been getting quieter and quieter, tells he’s planning something. He wouldn’t taunt her into using her lightning unless he had a good reason.
She ignores both. She tries to clear all feelings, but she can’t. The lightning comes anyway, not because she’s amazing or perfect. She isn’t amazing; she isn’t perfect. The comet merely provides her with enough power. The lightning seems to be burning through her body, her mind, and her soul. Pain. So much pain.
Then, she sees the waterbender. She’s close enough to be in the courtyard. Agni Kai’s are for two fighters, but that girl stepped into the courtyard. It’s a technicality but a victory. Azula won by default because Zuzu had an ally step into the dueling grounds.
I still want to hurt Zuzu.
She fires at her brother. He outstretches his hand as the lightning sink into his palm. He should be dead, an instantaneous death. Instead, the lightning seems to move through him for a moment. He raises his other hand and the lightning comes back out. Uncle taught him how to redirect lightning.
A great heat bites at her feet. An explosion rips through her ears before silence deafens her. For a moment, she feels wind blowing past her. No, she blows past the wind. The lightning hits the ground, and it launched her across the battlefield. She hits the stone ground with a crash. Her chest tightens. She doesn’t get up. She can’t get up. Instead, the girl spasms on the ground.
“Azula!”
Her vision darkens, but she sees her brother run towards her.
“Zuko, what are you doing?” It’s that waterbender. She looks unhappy, unlike Zuzu. He looks scared.
“She isn’t getting up!” He kneels beside her, but she doesn’t stop him. She can’t. I don’t have a heartbeat, do I? He presses his hand on her chest for a moment. “No heartbeat! Azula will die!”
Wasn’t that the point of this fight, dum-dum?
He cries and holds her hand. What a baby. “Katara! Can you save her?”
“No, I can’t restart a heart. Maybe shock her again?” But Zuzu can’t do lightning. He’d need perfect emotional control. Ha! As if. “What’s the point though? This’s Azula.” Azula the monster.
He shakes his head and stands. “I’m saving her because she’s Azula.”
As her vision fades, she sees him waive his arms in circular motions. My big brother is trying to bend lightning as he’s crying? If she wasn’t dying, she’d be laughing at his stupidity. The dum-dum can’t generate lightning when he’s crying. Right now, he’s anything but emotionally stable.
Azula’s body convulses again from the shock. The tension from her chest goes away and her vision returns. The first thing she sees is Zuzu with the last traces of electricity fading away from his fingertips. He bent lightning for me?
He picks her up in his arms. “Katara, she needs healing. I know where there’s water.” Oh, she’s a waterbender and a waterhealer. He runs and takes deep breathes.
Her body lies limp in his arms. Everything tingles and aches. Using all her fleeting strength, she asks a single question. “Why?”
“You’re my sister.”
No, I’m an evil, scary monster. Even as a child, I was unlovable. Not even Mother could love me.
“It’s gonna be alright, Azula. I promise.”
> You everything Will Be Alright
Azula takes a deep breath before entering the highest floor of the prison. It was specially refurbished for the sole occupant. That person should’ve been me. The Fire Lord decided to place over six dozen guards on this floor alone. They are on constant alert for him trying to break out or anyone trying to break in. I do wonder if the latter would break in to kill him or to free him.
The guards eye her with suspicion. With one exception, everyone does. And everyone should. I’m a m… I’m me after all. You’re such a dum-dum, Zuzu. Her footsteps click across the floor in the otherwise silent floor. No one dares to speak. Everyone seems on edge. Zuzu really wanted to come with her, but she refused. This is something I must do myself.
Azula stops in front of the cell. She doesn’t smirk. She doesn’t spit on him. She doesn’t laugh at him. He doesn’t deserve that. Instead, she keeps her face as a stone-cold gaze. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Father.” Her tone holds the slightest touch of disgust.
“Azula.” He doesn’t bother looking up.
She stares at him in silence. He continues to sit on his bed with his eyes transfixed on the floor.
“You disappoint me, daughter.” He looks up. She sees his eyes filled with hate, but they are also the eyes of a broken man. “After all you were, here you are. A broken little girl serving as an imbecile’s lackey. Have you come to see me fallen as well? That way, you can feel better about your utter submission to another man.”
I won’t show anger. I won’t give him that. Plus, Zuzu told me not to kill him, so I can’t do that either.
Azula smirks. “Father.” She pauses to spit on the ground. “You were the leader of the world’s only superpower. You have fleets or war zeppelins and the unlimited power of a comet for a day. What did you do? You lost a battle to the Avatar, a twelve-year-old BOY.” She pauses for dramatic affect. “Then, that kid took away your bending. Now, your son, the one who you banished and said was worthless, reigns as Fire Lord. By Agni, he’s doing a good job with it all too.”
“Yet here you still are, coming back to Daddy.”
Azula shakes her head. How did this man bind me to his will for so many years? “Yes, here I am. I am free, a royal under my brother’s rule. There was even a non-sentimental reason for it all. Rebels wanted to revolt against Zuzu. As the last real symbol of your empire, it stuck a deep blow against them to know I wholeheartedly pledged myself to the throne and not to you.” She clenches her fists. “Not anymore. I’m free. Zuzu and the Avatar didn’t just free the nations and the land from your shadow, Father. They freed the people, myself included.” She turns around and strides away without saying farewell.
“Azula!” Father calls out. “Azula, come back here!” His rage fills the room. “You cowardly, idiotic monster! Come back to me!”
The princess doesn’t look back. She shuts the door before curling up in the fetal position. He isn’t watching anymore.
“Would you be proud of me, Mother?” She whispers it to herself. Her mother lives out there, somewhere. One day, they’ll find her, so Azula can finally receive the answer to that question.
She stands up and straightens her armor. Then, she leaves the jail.
Azula smiles as she basks in the warmth of the sun.
| 4 |
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| 1 | false |
“Who was that?” She didn’t think Zuzu was paying that much attention. He seemed much more focused on that sand… sand mound? Perhaps it was supposed to be a palace or castle. That dum-dum has no artistic sense.
“A new friend.”
“Like Mai?” His eyes shimmer with that word. After a moment of contemplation, she decides it’s a shimmer of fear. Poor Zuzu’s afraid of girls, herself included. That’s good.
She nods. “Uh huh, this one’s flexible and jumpy. I’m gonna be so good, no one could shoot me in an Agni Kai, even if I don’t bend.”
“And she wants to be your friend?”
“Of course.”
Actually, Ty Lee, apparently from a family with a surname, seems to do this out of selfish reasons. She has a bunch of sisters, so being friends with a princess would differentiate her. All her actions scream “look at me” anyway. She’ll be easy to control.
Zuzu crosses his arms. “Will that one be heading to the palace?”
She raises her eyebrow. Why would she not? I wouldn’t befriend people who won’t be around. “Yes.”
“Oh.”
She puts her hands on her hips. “It’s not my fault if I have more friends that you.”
He smashes the sand mound with his fists. Mother would’ve yelled at me if I did that. She didn’t even notice her precious son doing it. Even if she did, Mother would coddle him. She doesn’t see regret in his eyes. If it wasn’t for Mother, maybe Zuzu would’ve had a small chance at being a warrior.
“It’s not fair.” He stands up. “How come you have so many friends?”
It’s Azula’s turn to cross her arms. “I have two friends. That’s not much.”
“More than me.”
She shouldn’t be so surprised. He either flounders in his training or gets coddled by Mother. Is he capable of doing those boy game? Probably not. She should’ve put two and two together. Her brother’s isolated. Azula has broken free.
“Zuzu, how many kids have you ever talked to?”
“Um…” He stares at the sand as if it has become the most interesting thing in the world.
“Let me guess…” She talked to him. Mai… Has Mai? Maybe. It’s hard to tell. “Two.”
He doesn’t say anything, but his fist clench and he takes a quick breath of air. I’m right, as expected.
“Do you even know how to play Hot Rocks?”
“No.”
Of course, you wouldn’t know. I made it up, just now.
“You heat up a rock like this one.” She runs to the edge of the beach where there’s a stone, probably sandstone. She uses her flames to make it hot, but not enough to make it explode. She found out how painful those can be. “Then, we throw it at each other.” I can let the heat flow through me. Can you, Zuzu?
She tosses the rock at him. He caught it and gave a very feminine yelp. Why am I behind him for the throne? He tosses it from one hand to another before chucking it back at her. She catches it and glances at the sun. From that angle…
She tosses it at Zuzu, but she lobs it at a high angle. Her training with Mai will reap some fun rewards. He looks up but can’t see it. The rock is falling in his eyesight to the sun, a blind spot made of light. Of course, a warrior or anyone with common sense would move out of the way, yet Zuzu’s too stubborn for that.
The rock hits his head, and he falls into the sand. Would Mother believe a bird would’ve dropped a stone on his head? Probably not. Did anyone see this? Mother and Father are down the beach sitting on the sand. The guards are back at the house, since it’s safe here. No one else dares come close to part of the royal family, except Ty Lee, but that girl has already wandered off.
> You sit Down next to Him
She walks up and sits down across from her dazed brother. Since he doesn’t whine about his thunked head, her dum-dum of a brother must be unconscious. Leave it to him to be the first firebending prince ever to lose a battle against a six-year-old girl and a little rock.
He opens his eyes and groans.
“You should’ve dodged, dum-dum.”
He rubs his forehead and sniffs. Is he going to cry? “There’s no honor in running away.” And now he’s talking about honor?
“The dead have no honor.”
He looks at her if she stabbed him. “But our great-grandfather killed the last Avatar. He beat the Air Nation. He started our war to spread our glory. How can he have no honor just because he’s dead?”
“The war’s still going on. Sozin died before he could finish his work. He failed. No honor, just another power-hungry dead guy.”
“No son of Sozin or any firebender would speak ill of our former Fire Lords.”
“I’m no son, nor am I just any firebender.” She pokes her chest in triumph. “I’m THE firebender.”
Zuzu stares at her, trying to read her expressions. She reads others easier than she can read that awful old poetry Mother likes so much. Zuzu couldn’t tell if she was sad if she was crying, not that she ever would. Maybe he thinks I’m joking, but I’m dead serious.
He crosses his arms. “How come you’re so good at everything?”
“Because I want to. I refuse to allow anything else to happen, so I become the best.”
He looks away from her. “It’s not my fault if you were born lucky. Dad says I was lucky to be born.”
Ouch. “So? You’re still related to the most amazing thing that happened in over a hundred years. Just don’t die or anything and I’ll let you be an armor bearing or something.”
“We haven’t had a princess in battle for centuries, right? Why would I then bear armor?”
“I will be a warrior. Plus, you’re too stupid to try to kill me, so I could trust you as my underling.”
His demeanor darkens. Ug, that sounds like Ty Lee and those auroras. “I don’t think I’ll ever get to a battlefield. I’d just get in the way.”
“Which’s why you should be my helper. That way, you’d have a purpose. Plus, I promise I’ll try to keep your stupid butt alive when I’m already busy killing hordes of peasants or something like that. I’ll always be on your side when we’re in battle. See? Now you have a purpose. I don’t think you had a purpose.”
They lie there on the beach until sunset. Neither wanted to leave, since both knew what’d happen. They’d revert to their normal ways. They’d fight for their parent’s attention. Azula would scheme. She can’t remember the last time they just… talked.
Both were right. They didn’t have a quiet moment for the rest of the trip. When they got home, they’d either avoid the other of fight. Azula would come out on top. She had to. Only perfection can reach the throne, and she’ll prove she’s perfection incarnate.
However, she didn’t lie, not when making that promise. Even though their daily lives are like a battle against the other, on the real battlefield, she’d be there for her brother. No matter how much she dislikes the dum-dum, she knows it’s the duty of a royal to protect the weaker members of the family. But, that’ll happen years from now, maybe a decade. The Fire Lord will probably be her tea-loving uncle by then.
Even Azula with all her cunning could never predict that the battlefield will come so soon. It’ll come charging towards Zuzu not from assassins or enemy soldiers. He’ll be threatened by his family.
| 4 |
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| 11 | false |
Azula giggles. It amuses her to see so many metal men run around. They always stand still or walk behind her, but now they seem frantic. They bend away the fire from the stupid, ugly painting. fears their red armor and spiky helmets, but not Azula. No, she’s a big girl who doesn’t feel scared.
“Azula!”
The girl feels scared as her mother stands in front of the… What was the word? Tapestry! It’s a tapestry. Mommy trembles. A tear falls down her face. Why is Mommy sad? I bended fire!
“What did you do, Azula?” Azula lowers her gaze. How come Mommy gets so angry at her and only her? She smiles at everyone else, well, except for Daddy.
“I…” Why am I in trouble? “I bended fire, like Daddy and Zuzu.”
“Tell me the truth. You’re two. No one bends fire at two. It was rare for Zuko to bend fire at only four.”
“But I am tellin’ the truth.” She crosses her arms.
“Did you hide the candles? Please tell me the fire you burned this with isn’t still burning.”
“I burned it with my fire!”
“You burned my only reminder of my family. Stop lying.”
“I am not lying. I am your family!”
She stomps her foot on the ground. The rug catches on fire where her foot made contact. Unlike before, pure joy, now she feels afraid. Will Mommy be angry about this too?
Instead of saying anything else, Mommy walks away in a hurry. The metal men, maybe they are called guards, bend that fire away too. She watches. They do it so easily. Why doesn’t Mommy yell at them? They bend, but she doesn’t mind. Why doesn’t Mommy love her?
“A… Azula?”
She turns her head. Zuzu stands in the doorway, eyes wide. Zuzu burned something too when he first bended. It was part of Mommy’s dress, a pretty and black one. Mommy was so happy when that happened even though the fire made her skin look a little red on her hand. She loves Zuzu.
“What did you do, Azula?” he asks, echoing their mother’s words. Again, Azula lowers her gaze.
> You tell Him
“I bended fire.”
“Really!” She looks up, and he smiles. “You bent fire? Now, you’re like me!”
But Mommy loves Zuzu but not me. Zuzu is not like me.
“No.” She points to the tapestry. “I bended fire and burned that. Mommy was angry.”
“That was Mom’s picture of her mom and dad.”
“I didn’t wanna.” She crosses her arms.
“I didn’t say that. Was it an accident?”
“Yes, but I do better. I won’t burn more things.”
“Good. Maybe we can practice together?”
“Yes!”
Zuzu will help her. She never got to do big kid things with him before.
They hear a new set of footsteps. She turns and sees someone she only remembers seeing twice before besides their nightly, tense dinners. Mommy stands behind him. She looks angry.
“Daddy?” she asks. Zuzu takes three steps backwards.
“Azula, you bent fire.”
“Yes.” She clenches her tiny fists. Will he be angry too?
“Good job.” He smirks. At this time in her life, it scared her. Eventually, she will learn to desire such approval.
| 3 |
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| 2 | false |
"Fuck...FUCK!" You shriek, turning back around to the box.
You don't know which one has the key, but it's the only way to open the locks on the straps keeping Forrest trapped. Taking a deep breath, you shove your hand back into the first hole as fast you can. The steam cranks on and burns hot, but you reach the bottom. You feel around for a second, but find nothing and yank your arm back out of the oven of steam.
Pulling it back out your enter arm is now covered in heat blisters and an angry, shiny red color. It surges with a pain you can barely stand. Tears stream down you face as you cradle your burnt arm.
"I can't do this..." You mutter to yourself as Forrest continues to scream in agony.
> You let Him Die
You jump slightly as the second series of torches start burning him at his thighs, hips, and waist. Watching as Forrest writhes about in his bonds and screams in agony, you steel yourself for what you are about to witness.
His feet are nearly burnt down to the bone and the thicker parts of his legs are starting to bubble with huge heat blisters. The skin is gone where the flames hit directly, the meat of him being burnt now. It is a sickening stench that fills the room and turns your stomach sour, you've seen a lot of horrible shit in your life. But this is something else entirely.
The next series of torches cut on, lighting up his arms and shoulders. He howls in pain, his face red with effort and veins bulging in his forehead. His eyes are wide in terror, tears streaming down his cheeks. It's too late now to save him, even if you wanted too he was beyond it now.
A few moments later, the final series of torches fire up. Flames lick up his throat and on either side of his ears. It lights his short hair on fire, engulfing his head in flames as his horrified shrieking intensifies then goes silent as his body goes limp. The flames keep cooking his corpse for a while as you stare transfixed at the scene, watching as his face burns away to reveal charred skull underneath.
When the torches finally turn off, you are left staring at a burnt corpse. The air is so thick with the stench of his burnt flesh and the smoke from it that you can barely breathe. The grinding sound of a metal door opening on its own catches your attention, but you vomit when you have to walk right past his body to get to it. The smell is overpowering and you have nothing in your stomach but acid to puke up.
This room will be his tomb, you know that as you walk out of the door. But, it won't be yours.
| 3 |
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| 9 | false |
"You ruined my life," You spit out at him, watching as he struggles to get free.
"Do you know what he did to me?" You can't help the bark of near hysterical laughter that escapes you. It's a pointless question though, he can't answer you with his mouth sewn shut like that.
Fidgeting a bit, you glance over at the screen once more. It's now counting down from ten seconds. You don't know what happens when it reaches zero, but you step back a bit just to be safe. Forrest ruined your life in so many ways, it feels fitting to be given this kind of power over him.
The countdown finally hits zero and you jump as flames shoot out of small metal pipes at his feet. Forrest's screams are muffled by his mouth being clamped shut, but the sound still rattles around inside your head even as the acrid odor of burnt flesh hits your nostrils.
> You watch
Crossing your arms, you stand firm and fix him with a cold stare. The stench of him cooking makes you nose burn and smoke is starting to rise up from his lower legs. The skin on his feet is gone where the flames hit, but the skin not in the direct heat is developing huge blisters rapidly before your eyes.
He continues to scream in muffled agony as you watch. It feels somehow justified to see him in pain like this. His will just be momentary, but yours lasted for years. He ruined your life. He used you and then traded you like a worthless trinket when he was done with you. There were years of your life that you could never get back.
But, his shrieking eventually leads to the thick threads holding his lips shut tearing through the skin. His once unintelligible noises are now words, screamed in pain and terror as blood oozes down his chin. It hurts to hear him in pain like that, no matter who he is.
| 5 |
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| 6 | false |
You reach into the box with the key, balling your hand into a fist to keep your fingers from getting snagged in the maze of razor wires. Gritting your teeth, you slowly push toward the back of the box. The wire slices into your fist and forearm, but it is a familiar enough pain that you manage to make it to the back of the box and grab the key.
Removing your hand is more painful than putting it into the box was. The razors drag across your already bleeding flesh, but you eventually pull your hand free of the contraption. Just as you are almost out, you feel your wrist snag on wire. Taking a deep breath, you decide to treat this like a bandaid and just yank your hand out. The pain is sharp and takes your breath away, but you make it out of the box with the key in hand.
Looking down at your blood slick arm, you wince as you see a strip of skin dangling from the top of your hand. You aren't sure if you should finish the job and remove the skin flap or set it back in place over the top of your hand and use some cloth to secure it in place.
> You wrap it Up
You shove the key into your pocket for the moment and survey the damage to your hand. An injury like this can score some good quality painkillers at the ER. Unfortunately, that isn't an option at the moment, but you're sure you'll get there eventually now that you have the key out of this hell hole.
Using your uninjured hand, you stick your fingers into one of the holes in your shirt and start ripping the fabric away. You end up with a nice strip of cloth, though you aren't sure if it will be enough. Gritting your teeth, you carefully place the flap of skin back into place on the back of your hand. It burns horribly as you place the cloth over it then your hand over the top of it. Pressing it into your stomach to hold the skin flap and fabric in place, you use your hand to wrap tie it tightly into place. It isn't perfect, but it should keep the loose skin from flopping about.
> You open The Door
Taking the key back out of your pocket, you hurry toward the door. Your injured hand burns as the cloth cinches the degloved skin tightly into place, but you push through the pain and push the key into the lock. It turns and you can hear the loud sound of the mechanism turning as the metal door screeches open.
Stepping through, you find yourself in a hallway with harsh fluorescent lights in the ceiling. You walk down it, but many of the doors are chained shut with warnings against trying to open them painted in red letters. It is cold and damp out here, making you shiver as you hurry down the corridor.
Finally, you come to a door with no warnings and a cassette labeled 'play me' taped to the middle of the door. Plucking it from the confines of the tape, you put it into the recorder and hit play.
"If you are listening to this, then you chose freedom over your addiction. This is just the first step to reclaiming your life, Ciara. For years you have blamed the people who came into your life for what you have become. Perhaps, you are right to blame them after they made you feel powerless over your own fate. But your obsession with blame keeps you from moving on. Beyond this door is someone who influenced your life early on. Today, you choose whether he lives or dies."
The tape comes to an end, leaving you feeling apprehensive about what is beyond the door in front of you.
| 4 |
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| 7 | false |
Pressing the play button, you hear a voice start speaking from the recording. It's clearly been distorted, but you can hear the words well enough.
"Hello, Ciara. For most of your life, you have been a victim. But, you have never truly tried to rise above this victim status you have held for so long. Within this room, are photographs of your childhood. Your pictures progress from a happy little girl to that of a criminal, but what fueled this change? For years you have been too busy blaming others and using past wrongs against you as an excuse for your own misdeeds. Today, you will face your inner demons. Beyond the door of this room wait a series of tests. But, first, you must prove to yourself that your life is worth more than the addiction that rules it. The door out is locked and the key is within your reach, so is your drug of choice. Will you reach for the key to your freedom or will you stay a slave to your addiction? Live or die, Ciara, make your choice."
The tape goes silent as you feel fear start to take over the haze of cravings and the pounding of the migraine in the back of your skull. Looking around, you spot the door and hurry to it. Just as the tape said, it is locked with a heavy bolt. You've never seen a door like this before, it's solid steel and doesn't budge when you push against it. The bolt has a keyhole in it, but you don't see a key anywhere.
Looking around, all you can see are pictures hanging up illuminated by the flickering candlelight, some photographs on a crate surrounding by a circle of candles on the floor, and what looks like a binder laying on the floor in a dark corner of the room.
> You look At The Binder On The Floor
Walking over to the binder on the floor, you pick it up and move back into a better lit area of the room.
Opening it up, you find an old family scrapbook. The first few pages are filled with family pictures and little notes that your mother had written about them, but as you flip through the pages you find that your mother's scrapbook has been changed. The pages show mugshots from your teen years, progressing on into recent ones.
It's a stark change as you look at each picture. You go from from a beautiful young girl to a battered junkie with each page you turn. The final page has the words 'Cherish Your Life' written in flowing script on the back.
What was there to cherish about your life exactly? This entire thing is fucked up. You've heard of the Jigsaw killer and the horrific things he does to people. But, what would he know about your life? There is nothing to cherish and no one would miss you if you die here.
In fact, you're sure the only person that might even notice your absence is your drug dealer would likely forget his regular customer after a few days .
| 3 |
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| 9 | false |
Her eyes dart from Fire Sage to Fire Sage. Of course, they will all betray her too just as everyone else has, but she can’t banish them yet. They must crown her first, but it’s a meaningless title now anyway. Fire Lord. Bah, what nonsense. Go back a few hours and it’d be the most powerful position in the world. The Fire Nation rules almost the entire world now, but with her father deciding to make himself the Phoenix King, not the most creative title, it makes her nothing but an honorary… something. Honorary vassal?
Oh, I’m letting my mind wander again. How foolish of me. I’m raving like a madwoman. She’ll banish the Fire Sages in a few moments before they could betray her. It all started with Mother. No, it started when Zuko betrayed her, stole all their mother’s affection by simply being born. At least Father pretended to like her. Too bad he just dumped her off here when he no longer had a use for her. Helping him commit genocide against the Earth Kingdom would’ve made some fun bonding moments.
What’s taking them so long anyway? Put the crown on my head! It’ll make her the youngest, fifteen, and the first female Fire Lord ever. She blows a strand of her hair that’s been dangling in front of her left eye. She should’ve hacked that one off too like all the other untrustworthy hairs. Maybe she doesn’t look perfect right now. She can’t tell. She destroyed her mirror after Mother wouldn’t stop talking to her, from the other side of the reflection of course. She had the gall to not age for over half a decade and not even speak to her in person!
What little remains of the logical part of her brain screams at her, telling her that she’s not well in the head. That was a hallucination, not her mother. All her servants, bodyguards, and teachers weren’t trying to kill her.
Azula ignores that little voice in her head.
Just as the fools were about to put that crown on her head, she sees him. Him! There he is, returning at the most inopportune moment! He’s been a traitor to her and their nation for how long? Weeks? He’s been hiding somewhere with this glorious nation’s most hated enemy, but he arrives to fight- No! He comes to betray her again, like everyone has done to her and like everyone will always do to her.
Azula stands up and faces him, grinning like a madwoman. She says one word to him. “Zuzu.”
> You 1
The baby reaches for the bright ball, but she can never grasp it. Why? Other balls come to her hands. That one doesn’t. It makes her angry, but it makes her want that bright ball even more. It warms her, lets her feel alive. She stretches her arms out to seize the ball again. She fails again.
The tall person says words to her. Of course, Azula doesn’t understand any of them, but the words seem harsh. She has a distant memory of those words once sounding nice, but not any longer. The being she will one day know as Mother doesn’t say nice things to her. Instead, she moves the baby under the shade of a tree.
She decides not to cry. It never does much good anyway. The bright ball disappeared under the green stuff above her now.
The tall person and the short person sit by the water. Azula understands water. Once a day, she is put in water even though she doesn’t like the feeling. The water feels bad. The bright ball feels good and warm even though she never reached it.
The two people throw something into the pond. Little fury things swim up and eat whatever the two of them toss into the water. Azula watches them until they run out of stuff to throw. She later learns it’s called bread. While the tall person stays by the water, the short one walks over to her.
She doesn’t understand what he’s saying, but his tone is happy. He stresses one word over and over to her. She watches his lip movements and listens to that sound her makes. Why not copy it? It’s how she learns many things after all.
“Z…”
He looks happier with that sounds, so he repeats that word over and over again. Perhaps he’s broken? Maybe he’ll be fixed by making that sound again.
“Zuzu!”
It’s the first word she ever spoke.
> You 2
Azula giggles. It amuses her to see so many metal men run around. They always stand still or walk behind her, but now they seem frantic. They bend away the fire from the stupid, ugly painting. fears their red armor and spiky helmets, but not Azula. No, she’s a big girl who doesn’t feel scared.
“Azula!”
The girl feels scared as her mother stands in front of the… What was the word? Tapestry! It’s a tapestry. Mommy trembles. A tear falls down her face. Why is Mommy sad? I bended fire!
“What did you do, Azula?” Azula lowers her gaze. How come Mommy gets so angry at her and only her? She smiles at everyone else, well, except for Daddy.
“I…” Why am I in trouble? “I bended fire, like Daddy and Zuzu.”
“Tell me the truth. You’re two. No one bends fire at two. It was rare for Zuko to bend fire at only four.”
“But I am tellin’ the truth.” She crosses her arms.
“Did you hide the candles? Please tell me the fire you burned this with isn’t still burning.”
“I burned it with my fire!”
“You burned my only reminder of my family. Stop lying.”
“I am not lying. I am your family!”
She stomps her foot on the ground. The rug catches on fire where her foot made contact. Unlike before, pure joy, now she feels afraid. Will Mommy be angry about this too?
Instead of saying anything else, Mommy walks away in a hurry. The metal men, maybe they are called guards, bend that fire away too. She watches. They do it so easily. Why doesn’t Mommy yell at them? They bend, but she doesn’t mind. Why doesn’t Mommy love her?
“A… Azula?”
She turns her head. Zuzu stands in the doorway, eyes wide. Zuzu burned something too when he first bended. It was part of Mommy’s dress, a pretty and black one. Mommy was so happy when that happened even though the fire made her skin look a little red on her hand. She loves Zuzu.
“What did you do, Azula?” he asks, echoing their mother’s words. Again, Azula lowers her gaze.
> You show Him
She shoots some fire. It catches Zuzu’s shirt on fire. He screams like a girl before throwing his shirt off.
“Why did you do that, Azula?” He has tears in his eyes. Did I hurt Zuzu?
“I…” She looks at the ground. “I wanted to show you.”
He glances at his arm again. “Fire can hurt. It can kill. It’s why we’re so good at conquering the world.” Azula nods at the last part. “Don’t do that anymore. I… I have practice coming up about control. Um…” He sighs, or maybe that was a groan. “You can come with me for that.”
She tilts her head to the side. “Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
Zuzu will help her. She never got to do big kid things with him before. He did all of this after she burned him? Her big brother is either the nicest person ever or a giant dum-dum.
They hear a new set of footsteps. She turns and sees someone she only remembers seeing twice before besides their nightly, tense dinners. Mommy stands behind him. She looks angry and confused. Maybe she’s wondering why Zuzu’s shirt is smoldering on the ground.
“Daddy?” she asks. Zuzu takes three steps backwards.
“Azula, you bent fire.”
“Yes.” She clenches her tiny fists. Will he be angry like Mommy?
“Good job.” He smirks. At this time in her life, it scared her. Eventually, she will learn to desire such approval.
> You 3
Azula fires another blast of fire with every punch. She imagines a new Avatar, unlike that one who died generations ago, standing in front of her. Each blast burns off more of his face until he’s nothing but a screaming skull. She would laugh at the sight, but she needs to focus. Her breathing is already… what was the word her teacher used? Impeccable. That’s the word. Her breathing is impeccable.
“That’s enough for today.” Her teacher’s words make the girl stop. She wipes the sweat from her brow and glances at the sun. It warms her aching limbs. As always, she pushes herself the very hardest to make Mommy proud. Not good enough. I must be better. Maybe Mommy will like it more.
Her mother moves from the chair she and the teacher sit at. She rushes past Azula and coddles Zuzu, struggling for breath. That dum-dum hasn’t come close to mastering breathing, let alone firebending. She knows she should feel pride. Already, she is better than Zuzu, but that hasn’t done anything for making Mommy like her. Why isn’t she good enough now? No, that doesn’t matter. She’ll become the best. That way Mommy must love her. Who doesn’t love the bestest of them all?
But… she is already better than Zuzu. He is nice to her, but Mommy doesn’t like her. Even if she becomes the bestest ever, what if that doesn’t work? I need two plans. Maybe, if Zuzu does bad things too, like burning tapestries, then maybe Mommy wouldn’t mind the bad things Azula does. But Zuzu doesn’t do bad things. He is nice.
She scratches her head for a moment before smiling. Zuzu doesn’t do bad things, but Azula does. Mommy only needs to think Zuzu did those. Maybe then she’ll be nice and love her.
What does Mommy like? Mommy likes plays, the beach, Zuzu, and Turtle-Ducks. Azula can’t destroy the beach, plus the beach is fun. There aren’t any plays around, thank goodness. She doesn’t want to hurt Zuzu. But…
She decides to do it at night. Night is dark, so most firebenders sleep. That means no one will see her, right? The girl waits until night. She refuses to let herself fall asleep and counts to six hundred before sneaking out of her room. She sneaks from corner to corner in the darkness.
> You go to the Rooftops to Sneak
Azula sneaks up to a second story window. It is a super far drop to the ground, but she isn’t afraid. I’m not afraid at all. This feeling is just excitement. She shimmies over the window and lowers her first foot to the roof. After testing for footing, she puts her other foot down.
The princess keeps her arms out to stay balanced. The roof has a small angle, so it will be easy to slip and fall. She looks around. Everything seems so different up here, but she sees where the pond rests. It isn’t far away, but right now it seems like an endless distance.
She gains confidence with each step. Her feet make small clicking sounds on the tile. I can do this to make Mommy love me. Her legs tremble. Almost there. Just a few more minutes.
A tile snaps loose under her feet. She slips and lets out a squeal as she grasps for any handhold. Then, she falls for a moment. Pain engulfs her.
Mommy! Daddy! Zuzu, help me!
She never does get to see her brother again.
| 4 |
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| 3 | false |
You grab a rock, swinging it forward and smashing it into the side of the Gretchen’s face. It smacks into the ground, and you climb atop it and smack it into the creature’s skull again and again. The Gretchen’s head is crushed, and you let out a relieved sigh. The relief is short-lived, though, as the orks continue to charge forward, swinging hastily-made weapons. The number of Azajaja survivors grows much smaller, as your tribesmen attempt to rescue both them and you whilst surviving the onslaught of Greenskin, but there’s just too many. Hands grab your shoulders and pull you up, just out of the path of an oncoming spear. You turn, to see the face of a young girl, barely older than you, holding a spear with a terrified look on her face. You blush as you realize she’s naked, before chiding yourself for having such an immature thought while people are charging to kill you. You hear a roar, and turn back to see an ork charging forward. He sees you, raising his axe.
> You attack
You grab a rock, swinging it forward, but the ork’s so big you can only reach its thigh, and the rock harmlessly bounces off the ork. The ork swings, the blade sinking into your shoulder, cutting through bone and flesh with ease. You let out a yell, as blood stains the ground.
| 4 |
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| 4 | false |
"What?" Cain grunts.
> You say "How old are you?"
"How old? I don't know. Time in the cold pod makes it hard to tell. There's no sun, no days, no minutes," Cain says, seemingly pondering this.
"This subject is roughly five years, three months and two days."
"Ah... interesting," Cain remarks.
| 3 |
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| 0 | false |
"What?" Cain grunts.
> You say "How many men do you have?"
"Do I look like I've counted many?"
| 3 |
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| 1 | false |
"What?" Cain grunts.
> You say "How capable are your men?"
"They're tough. We've fought many times before. Most of us can wield bolters, though a few just end up using them as clubs to fight with their claws. A few can operate bigger weapons, and a few can only wield clubs and such. They follow orders, though. They show no fear, feel no pain, lose no battle. They'll take as much firepower as the enemy can give, even without armor."
| 4 |
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| 1 | false |
"What?" Cain grunts.
> You say "What exactly is your motive?"
"Motive?"
"What do you want?"
Cain pauses, scratching one of his "horns". The horn begins to bleed, but you doubt he cares.
"I don't know," Cain finally answers.
| 2 |
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| 0 | false |
You look at the files and see three subheadings: Drake Amadeus, the Penthouse, Charles Antonguella and the Troupe of Dancing Blades. The files seem to be a mixture of printed out and hand-written, leading you to assume they're from different sources.
> You read File: The Penthouse
The Penthouse is a large house situated on the Roar of the Vortex. It is made up of multiple rooms, including a kitchen, a massive bedroom, a bath house, a large lounge, room for dozens of slaves to live and much more. It is the home of Drake Amadeus. It is occupied by not only Amadeus, but also bodyguards Charles Antonguella and the Troupe of Dancing Blades, as well as dozens of slaves and prostitutes under the service of Amadeus. The penthouse holds luxuries and treasures of great value, both monetarily and intellectually. All operations carried out here should take care around such items.
| 3 |
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| 3 | false |
The hospital seems to be completely empty. You wake up in an old rundown hospital with no memory of how you got there. You look around and see broken equipment lying around the room.
> You leave the hospital and see if there is anything outside.
Outside the hospital you see a worn down road and empty cars. Everything is strangely quiet and you start getting worried. You feel hungry and wonder when the last time you ate was.
> You try to find a working car.
You find a car with the keys in the ignition and try to start it. Nothing happens. You keep looking and find another car that looks like it might work. You manage to get the engine started.
> You drive around looking for any people or stores that might have supplies.
You drive around the town and see many boarded up buildings, but no people. Eventually you find a store that you think might have supplies.
> You go inside the store and see if there are any supplies.
It looks like the store has been ransacked and all the shelves are empty. You manage to find a package of granola bars and a flashlight behind the counter.
> You eat a granola bar.
You feel a little bit better. But you're still hungry.
> You eat another granola bar.
You feel better. You should probably save the rest of your food though.
> You leave the store and get back in the car.
As you leave the store you notice movement out behind your car. A man steps out with a hungry look in his eyes. His clothes are in tatters and he is carrying a crowbar.
> You run at the man and attack him.
You run forward to attack the man. His crowbar crashes into your chest and you fall to the ground. He kicks you a few times and then grabs your granola bars and runs off.
> You go after him.
You go after him. As you try and stand up though you realize you're in extreme pain. You think one of your ribs is broken. You manage to get yourself on your feet, but realize catching him is impossible.
> You look for something to wrap your chest with.
You walk back into the store and find a few shirts that you tear and wrap around your chest. It helps you feel slightly better. But you're still in a lot of pain.
| 2 |
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| 2 | false |
As you leave the store you notice movement out behind your car. A man steps out with a hungry look in his eyes. His clothes are in tatters and he is carrying a crowbar.
> You ask the man what he wants and where everybody is.
He looks at you confused. "What are you stupid? This is the end of the world man!" he says.
> You say "What do you mean? I just woke up in a hospital with no memory. What happened?"
He responds "Like I said, the end of the world. When the bombs starting falling three years ago we thought we could pull through. But then the skies turned black, crops started dying and everyone went crazy. Most people died in the first couple months."
> You ask him how he managed to survive.
He tells you that he was away hunting when it all started happening. He managed to live off the land for the first little while. But after the animals started dying he ran out of food and came to the city.
> You ask him if you two can work together.
The man shakes his head. "Hardly enough food for one person. I've only lived this long by looking after myself." He turns and starts walking away.
> You run after the man and tell him you'll both do better together.
He stops and thinks about it for a second, then says, "Fine. I guess there might be advantages to working together."
> You ask him where he thinks you should go next.
He tells you there is a house on the road that looked undisturbed that might be worth checking out.
> You start going towards the house.
You are walking towards the house. You reach an intersection. There is a police station on one corner an office building on another. The house is another half mile down the road.
> You keep going towards the house.
You keep walking and eventually reach the house. You see a two story house that looks fairly undisturbed. There's a garage on the right and a path to the backyard on the left.
> You go around the house to the backyard.
You go to the backyard of the house. There's a dirty grill and an overturned slide. There's a door to the house on the back porch.
> You open the back door into the house.
You open the back door into the house and go inside. You're in a combined kitchen and living room. You see several cupboard doors are hanging open, a fridge and several couches around a TV.
| 4 |
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| 5 | false |
The man shakes his head. "Hardly enough food for one person. I've only lived this long by looking after myself." He turns and starts walking away.
> You leave the store and get back in your car.
You think about what the man said. How is this possible? Why were you in that hospital and what should you do now?
> You drive back to the hospital to see if you can find any clues.
As you pull in to the hospital parking lot the car sputters and dies. It's out of fuel an slows to a halt.
> You go back to the room you woke up in.
You get to the room. It's the same as how you remember it. Broken equipment everywhere. But there's also a small notebook that you didn't notice before lying on the floor.
> You read the notebook.
It looks like a journal. As you flip through the pages you see drawings of the death and destruction. The journal talks about someone's horrific experiences during the aftermath of the war.
> You try to see if anything in it sparks your memory.
you read for a while hoping this will give you some clue. None of the events written about spark anything, but you do read someone's name that you feel like you should know. "Sarina". It says she heard about a community called "Bright Meadow" that was safe and had food and was leaving to find it.
> You see if you can find out where Bright Meadow is from the journal.
You look through the journal to see if there are any clues about where Bright Meadow is. You find a crude map that shows Bright Meadow to the north of a town called Clayton.
> You go to Clayton.
You don't know where Clayton is. But maybe if you found a map you could figure out where it is.
> You look for a map somewhere in the hospital.
You start looking around for a map. You find an administrator's office that you think might have one.
> You search the office for a map.
You look through the filing cabinets for a map. You find a bunch of patient records in a filing cabinet. In the desk you find a map that shows other hospitals in the region. It says Clayton is 15 miles to the West of here.
> You leave the hospital and start heading towards Clayton.
As you're walking to to Clayton you start getting hungry. You remember that you have few granola bars in your pocket.
| 4 |
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| 1 | false |
As you're walking to to Clayton you start getting hungry. You remember that you have few granola bars in your pocket.
> You eat a few granola bars.
You finish off the rest of your granola bars. You're full now, but are worried about what you'll eat when you get hungry again.
> You keep walking towards Clayton.
You walk for two hours and take a break. You've left the town you were in and are now in a more rural area. There's a farmhouse to your right and a forest on your left.
> You go in the farmhouse and look for food.
You try to open the farmhouse front door, but it's locked. There's a broken window on the right and a shed behind the house.
> You go through the window into the farmhouse.
You break the rest of the glass in the window and try to carefully crawl through. You cut yourself on the edges as you're climbing in, but you make it inside.
> You search the farmhouse for food.
You search around the farmhouse for food. You find some thick sturdy shirts and some rusty tools but no food. It's getting dark outside. You think it might be a good idea to sleep the night here.
> You sleep the night in the farmhouse.
You wake up in the middle of the night sweating from a nightmare. In it you saw a woman screaming in some dark place. You feel like you need to rescue her and that you're the only one who can help her.
> You go back to sleep till the morning.
You try to go back to sleep, but can't shake the feelings from your dream. You decide you might as well get up and see if you can do anything productive.
> You look around the farmhouse for anything else useful.
You look around the farmhouse for anything else useful. You don't find anything else useful.
> You leave the farmhouse and continue walking towards Clayton.
You get back on the road and continue your journey. After a few hours you realize how starving you are. You' really need to find a food.
> You look around to see what's around you.
There's an old warehouse and a few mechanics shops.
| 3 |
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| 2 | false |
You try to open the farmhouse front door, but it's locked. There's a broken window on the right and a shed behind the house.
> You head towards the shed behind the house
You notice there is a padlock on the shed. Maybe you can find a key or a tool to get in.
> You head back towards the broken window of the farmhouse
You have to go through the window to look for tools. You careful break the window more to go inside.
> You go through window
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.
> You search the farmhouse
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?
> You grab bolt cutter
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.
> You go back to shed
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.
> You enter the shed
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.
> You search the shed
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.
> You strike a match
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.
> You search the shed slowly
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.
| 3 |
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| 8 | false |
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.
> You eat some preserved fruits and vegetables
You delight it some pickled okra and some peach preserves. You think about bringing some food with you, but it will be too heavy for travel. So you try to eat as much as you can now. You decide to have some for the morning as well. It's getting late and with your full belly you are feeling quite tired. You can reenter the farmhouse or sleep in the shed.
> You stay in the shed
You remembered the noise you heard early and decide to holed up in the shed.
> You find a place in the shed to relax
You use your hands to guide you around the space. Just past the preserved goods on the shelves there seems to be a small rug that is folded.
> You adjust the rug to lay on it
As you kneel down to adjust the rug your hand touches something cold and metal-like.
> You access the metal object
It seems to be a large metallic ring connected to the floor.
> You pull the ring
The floor lifts slightly and a dusty smell wafts out.
> You shut the hatch back
It seems to be a hatch that leads to an underground area like a cellar or bunker.
> You open the hatch again
You open up the hatch again but a little wider and stick your head in a bit. It's too dark to see anything. All you can do is smell the muskiness of whatever is below.
> You close the hatch and resume to try to sleep
You lay on the small rug and try to get comfortable. You hold yourself and try to get a grasp on reality before fading to sleep.
> You wake up
You awaken to some sunlight beams leaking in through the shed. You stretch and yawn as you look at the jars of preserves.
| 4 |
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| 6 | false |
You find your pistol and cocking it you jump from the wagon. You are just in time to see Snyder staggering towards you, his eyes wide in shock and the handle of Reed’s knife sticking out of the centre of his chest. Reed stands shocked by what he has done and as you stare at him several other men including the Donner brothers come running up. Before your eyes Snyder collapses to the ground and breathes his last breath.
The men of the Donner Party quickly gather and Reed is surrounded, giving in without a fight. He is placed under armed guard while a quick discussion ensues over what to do with him. Franklin Graves is furious that Reed has murdered his employee while his wife and children are crying hysterically. “Hang him” Louis Keseberg urges, looking fiercely among you. “No” replies William Eddy (a friend of Reed’s and a skilled marksman). “Mr Reed should leave the camp.”
There is a great deal of arguing for a while and eventually it is agreed that Reed should take some food and be sent away to make his own way to California. One of Reed’s teamsters called Walter Herron volunteers to accompany him and Reed, still in a state of shock, says a brief farewell to his wife and children. Snyder is buried; the Graves Family are inconsolable and the whole Party is stunned by this sudden outbreak of violence. William Eddy is worried about Reed and Herron’s chances of making it to California on their own and mutters to you that perhaps others should go with them.
What do you do?
> You volunteer to accompany Reed and Herron
Your decision to accompany James Reed and Walter Herron raises some eyebrows but you are glad to get away from the increasingly slow-moving group and press on ahead. Unfortunately the journey turns out to be very difficult: you are all unsuccessful at hunting and by the time you reach the Sierra Nevada Mountains you have eaten all your supplies and are surviving chiefly on wild onions and beans. Herron wants to kill the horses for food but you and Reed persuade him that you need them.
Finally you make it across the Mountains and in Bear Valley where you have the wonderful fortune of meeting a party of settlers near Johnson’s Ranch, the beginning of civilization in California. They share some food with you and while you are there you meet Charles Stanton, who is on his way back to the Donner Party with seven mules of provisions and two Indians guides. Stanton is delighted to see the three of you and you quickly exchange news.
Reed tactfully explains that you three were sent ahead of get supplies, leaving out the part about him murdering John Snyder. Stanton tells you that William McCutchen has fallen ill and is resting at Fort Sutter. Reed decides to press onto Fort Sutter with Herron to get more supplies. Stanton suggests that you accompany him back to the Donner Party.
What do you do?
> You join Stanton in going back to the Donner Party
Setting off from California with Charles Stanton and the two Indians Luis and Salvador you initially make good progress. James Reed and Walter Herron are both at Johnson‘s Ranch, both in poor shape but keen to get more supplies from Fort Sutter and follow Stanton back to the Donner Party. Making a swift journey, thanks to your Indian guides‘ expert knowledge of the route you re-cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains and find the Donner Party camped at Truckee Meadows near the Humboldt River in a very bad state.
You are shocked to learn of four fatalities in your absence. Reed stabbed and killed the Graves Family’s wagon-driver John Snyder in an argument which led to his being banished. Louis Keseberg (A German settler with a fierce temper) abandoned his wagon-driver, an elderly Belgian man called Hardcoop, who fell behind and was never seen again. Another settler called Wolfinger was allegedly killed by Indians, though no one saw it except his friends Joseph Reinhardt and August Spitzer who many in the party suspect murdered him. Finally William Pike was accidentally shot and killed by his brother-in-law William Foster (a determined and able man).
The whole Donner Party are on the verge of running out of food, making the extra supplies extremely welcome, and immediately resume their journey after you and Stanton join them. You get a taste of what they have been experiencing when on the first day of the journey nineteen oxen are shot with arrows by an Indian who William Eddy (a first-rate marksman and teller of tall stories) shoots and kills. Soon afterwards George Donner badly injures his hand trying to repair a wagon and the Donner Brothers lag behind the rest of the group.
By the end of October you have reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains but on the last day of October it begins to snow. This is very serious because heavy snow will leave you trapped in the mountains and unable to continue. Patrick Breen (a staunch Catholic who is travelling with his large family), Stanton and a few others press on to try and clear the valley but others like the Donner Brothers are lagging behind and obviously in need of assistance.
What do you do?
| 4 |
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| 6 | false |
Riding hard for three days with your companions you cover a great deal of distance before finally catching up with Hastings and a large wagon party of a few hundred settlers on the shores of the great Salt Lake. By the time the four of you catch up with him you are all exhausted and your horses are close to collapse. Lansford Hastings is a strong-jawed man with a rapidly receding hairline and despite his note he is surprised to see you.
While Charles Stanton and William Pike rest their horses you and James Reed trade your horses for two fresh ones from some of the settlers with Hastings and ride with him to the summit of a nearby mountain where Hastings explains the best direction to travel across the Canyon’s wooded slopes and promises to continue leaving messages. Reed is keen to ride ahead and get back to the Donner Party to get them moving along this but both Pike and Stanton’s horses are tired. Reed proposes to split up: he’ll ride ahead back to the Party while Stanton and Pike follow behind.
What do you do?
> You ride with Stanton and Pike
Staying with Charles Stanton and William Pike you attempt to follow James Reed back to the Donner Party but unfortunately the three of you become lost in the Wasatch Mountains. For twelve days you wander through steep forested hills becoming increasingly worried as your food runs out until finally, when you are on the verge of killing your horses and eating them you encounter the wagons of the Donner Party and are enormously relieved. They have struggled to get across the Wasatch Mountains but have finally reached the Salt Lake Desert; as you and your companions feared you would run out of food in the mountains and starve you, Stanton and Pike are overjoyed to be back. Your odyssey was a sign of how dangerous it can be in the mountains. A few days after you return a tragedy befalls the group.
| 5 |
{
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"num_sentences": 13,
"is_complex": true,
"reasons": [
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"Deeply nested clauses (4) in one sentence"
],
"score": 10
}
| 10 | false |
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