text: [Themes: Fantasy, multiple protagonists]
  
  Content warning: Violence, wounds.
  
  The noon sun burns hot even with the wind rushing through your hair. Catching a quick glance of your reflection in your blade, you quickly return your attention to the important matter at hand - your foe. It has been a long battle, but now the advantage is yours. It is time to make the decisive move, and to
  
  Finish your Foe!
  
  Standard Rules version 3/120430 by Graham Nelson
  English Language version 1 by Graham Nelson
  Extended Grammar version 8/140501 by Aaron Reed
  Basic Screen Effects version 7/140425 by Emily Short
  
  (Did you know?) By default, the game asks you to press the space bar after showing the aftermath of an action. You can turn this behavior off (or back on) with the command "autopause off/on."
  
  [Author's Note: The afternoon sun burns hot even with the wind rushing through your hair. Catching a quick glance of your reflection in your sword, you quickly return your attention to the important matter at hand - your foe. It has been a long battle, but now the advantage is yours.]
  
  > About you
  You are Pia, wielding a sharp blade, and wearing some well-made armor crafted by your brother Piet. Piet who, unfortunately, is facing you right now in combat, wielding the accursed Thornblade - the weapon that you found abandoned, that you suggested Piet could wield, that you should have recognized as a tool of corruption. This is all your fault.
  
  In the last moment, you hesitate, the realization of what you are about to do weighing you down. Are you really going to kill your brother? Though you have convinced yourself that it would be deliverance, with that accursed blade having corrupted him, part of you still wonders whether you really did your best trying to save him from the Thornblade's curse...
  
  Piet, it turns out, has no qualms. He lunges at you, and as your vision turns to red, you see the Thornblade sticking out of a weak spot of your armor. ... of course... he was the one who forged it...
  
  *** Your hesitation has cost you dearly. ***
  Maybe things could have gone differently...
  
  The noon sun burns hot even with the wind rushing through your hair. Catching a quick glance of your reflection in your blade, you quickly return your attention to the important matter at hand - your foe. It has been a long battle, but now the advantage is yours. It is time to make the decisive move, and to
  
  Finish your Foe!
  
  Standard Rules version 3/120430 by Graham Nelson
  English Language version 1 by Graham Nelson
  Extended Grammar version 8/140501 by Aaron Reed
  Basic Screen Effects version 7/140425 by Emily Short
  
  > look at Piet
  Your brother wields the evil, cursed Thornblade. Its corruption has taken a clear toll on him. His eyes shine with hatred, his face twisted into a seemingly permanent snarl. He wears some crudely-made ring mail, something he would have never done before his corruption.
  
  In the last moment, you hesitate, the realization of what you are about to do weighing you down. Are you really going to kill your brother? Though you have convinced yourself that it would be deliverance, with that accursed blade having corrupted him, part of you still wonders whether you really did your best trying to save him from the Thornblade's curse...
  
  Piet, it turns out, has no qualms. He lunges at you, and as your vision turns to red, you see the Thornblade sticking out of a weak spot of your armor. ... of course... he was the one who forged it...
  
  *** Your hesitation has cost you dearly. ***
  Maybe things could have gone differently...
  
  The noon sun burns hot even with the wind rushing through your hair. Catching a quick glance of your reflection in your blade, you quickly return your attention to the important matter at hand - your foe. It has been a long battle, but now the advantage is yours. It is time to make the decisive move, and to
  
  Finish your Foe!
  
  Standard Rules version 3/120430 by Graham Nelson
  English Language version 1 by Graham Nelson
  Extended Grammar version 8/140501 by Aaron Reed
  Basic Screen Effects version 7/140425 by Emily Short
  
  > kill the brother
  Gritting your teeth, you rush at Piet. Almost as if it had its own mind, your blade moves, and with a sickening sound, it finds your brother's stomach. He looks at you in surprise, his eyes free from the corruption that had taken him. "Why, Pia?" he whispers as his blood stains your hands. "Was there no other way?" These words echo in your head much louder than Piet spoke them.
  
  *** You can wash away the blood, but not the deed. ***
  Maybe things could have gone differently...
  
  The noon sun burns hot even with the wind rushing through your hair. Catching a quick glance of your reflection in your blade, you quickly return your attention to the important matter at hand - your foe. It has been a long battle, but now the advantage is yours. It is time to make the decisive move, and to
  
  Finish your Foe!
  
  Standard Rules version 3/120430 by Graham Nelson
  English Language version 1 by Graham Nelson
  Extended Grammar version 8/140501 by Aaron Reed
  Basic Screen Effects version 7/140425 by Emily Short
  
  > Xyzzy
  You mutter the ancient words that you've learned from the strange hermit, not expecting a whole lot, but your surroundings fade away, leaving you and your brother in a strange gray void along with a third figure, hulking, thorny, towering. The curse of the Thornblade incarnate. Alone, you would not be able to defeat it. But in this realm, your brother is free. You two make quick eye contact, nod, and explode into teamwork that you thought long forgotten. It is another long battle, but you two end up victorious, the curse of the Thornblade fading with the gray realm.
  Back in the real world, Piet tosses the blade down, trampling it until it breaks like wood, and looks at his hand. "I'll bring you to a priest who'll heal those wounds, brother." you promise, but he shakes his head. "Those wounds run deep. I'm not sure there is a healer strong enough to treat them within a few days' travel." - "There is. I brought her with me."
  
  *** Your brother has been freed from your foe. ***
  Maybe things could have gone differently...
  
  The noon sun burns hot even with the wind rushing through your hair. Catching a quick glance of your reflection in your blade, you quickly return your attention to the important matter at hand - your foe. It has been a long battle, but now the advantage is yours. It is time to make the decisive move, and to
  
  Finish your Foe!
  
  Standard Rules version 3/120430 by Graham Nelson
  English Language version 1 by Graham Nelson
  Extended Grammar version 8/140501 by Aaron Reed
  Basic Screen Effects version 7/140425 by Emily Short
  
  > take the blade
  (the Thornblade)
  A quick feint and a step towards your brother. Piet doesn't step away as you draw closer, so you strike another feint that your brother tries to parry with the Thornblade - which is exactly what you were hoping for. You catch it with your other hand, its thorns burying deep into your flesh, its curse flowing into your veins. "Pia? What are you..."
  "Piet." you interrupt his brief moment of clarity. "Together, we're stronger. Stronger than the curse. Right?"
  
  Of course, you aren't. Over the next few days, the Thornblade reshapes itself back into a blade held by the two of you. The blade's terror though has more than doubled.
  
  ) You can refer to the shovel as a spade. Pia doesn't like that much, but obliges anyway.