Forums » Creative Corner » Read Thread

Escape the Dark Castle

You have no idea how long you’ve been walking, but it feels like forever. At least the pain does.

Besides the obvious pain of the occasional rough shove or whip at your back, your feet are bleeding from the hard ground you’ve been walking on.

You can’t see a thing with this bag over your head, you don’t even remember how you got in this predicament, but you know you must be chained to other people based on the sounds and the collar around your neck.

“Stop. Take their bags off.” someone says.
“What for?” another voice asks.
“I like the new prisoners to see where they’re going to be spending the rest of their short existence. It really gives a sense of hopelessness!”
“Won’t they get that feeling when they see the inside of their cells?”
“Yeah, but I don’t get to see the dread in their face by that point, I’m not assigned to the dungeons.”
“This seems pointless.”
“I’m in charge here! Take the fucking bags off!”
“For fuck’s sake, just take the bags off them son, this one always has to put on a show.” an older tired voice says.
“Fine, fine.”

You feel a set a hands take off the bag…

Well it certainly looks imposing.

Besides the four armored guards, you look around and see at least eleven other poor souls with you in chains. You’re all going to the same fate and whatever it is, it won’t be good.

“Hahaha! You see that? THAT’S where you’re going to be FOREVER! Don’t worry though, most of you probably won’t live nowhere near that long.” one of the guards mocks.
“Alright, you’ve had your giggles, we better get this lot to the cells, you know the master doesn’t like people fucking around on the job and you know the punishment.” the older one says.

With those words the bags are put back on your heads, and you are marched into the DARK CASTLE. You don’t know how many turns and corridors you walk down, but you couldn’t memorize it if you tried.

At some point you hear the guards talking about dividing you up and taking you to different cellblocks.

Eventually the bag comes off and you’re thrown into a cell with just a straw mattress and a small hole in the floor. You don’t know how long you’re in the cell, and for a long time you keep expecting someone to come for you to take you to be tortured or worse. Strangely though, you are never subjected to any torture. It’s more of a case of being almost completely forgotten. Almost forgotten, since every once in awhile some water and dirty food are shoved through a slot in the door. It’s enough to keep you alive.

Not enough to keep hope alive, of which you nearly have none until one day you wake up and see your cell door cracked open. You almost think you’re dreaming as it hasn’t opened since you were thrown in here.

You cautiously open the door and see torch light, you also see three others who seem to be in the same sense of disbelief you are. It’s been awhile, but you vaguely remember them from the first time you were brought here.

They know about as much as you do, but they’re all eager to get out like you are so you decide to join together to try to escape the DARK CASTLE.

Not far from your cell block you encounter what looks to be a small supply room of some sort. You may search here before pressing on.

If you decide to search pick a number 1-4. (Note: First come first serve and searching isn't always positive) Alternatively you can just skip searching and wait for everyone else.

When you press on, decide who is going to take the lead for the next encounter.

"You can't do this!" Connie said, "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

She was uncooperative, pulling at the ends of her chains whenever possible, and was practically dragged all the way up the hill. Turns out, it's really difficult to convince a gaggle of armed guards you have you in manacles what they can and can't do. Spitting out some dislodged teeth, she exitted her cell to meet with the others.

She was really frantic to figure out her surroundings- After what she'd seen at Nostromo, well... You could never be too sure what was behind the corner. She wanted to make sure nothing sickening or slithery was in, on, under, or around that chest...

1

Butcher Ben awoke to a throbbing pain in his head, one worse than the time he ate that bad piece of boar liver. He took a look around and his fellow prisoners and the surroundings they found themselves in and proceeded to introduce himself. "Howdy, fellas. I'm Ben, a butcher from out in the sticks. Quite the pickle we're in, isn't it? Might as well take a look around, see what we can find here in our cell before we head on out."

4

The Mason, Butcher and Shepherd all found corked bottle containing liquid. The Shepherd surprised the group by being knowledgable about such things and identified the Butcher and Mason as having found Elixirs of Insight, while the Shepherd’s bottle was an evasion potion.

Meanwhile the Cook found a scroll. Without thinking the Cook picked it up and attempted to unroll it only for it to completely crumble into black dust causing the Cook to have a hacking fit until he coughed up black bile.

The Cook has caught THE PLAGUE.

(You won’t die right away from this, but this has a cumulative effect as you may encounter other things infected with the plague making it even worse)

Not wishing to risk searching anything else, the four quickly left the supply room with the Butcher taking the lead since he seemed to be a simple sort.

No sooner had the four walked down several empty corridors when they were questioning their judgement of letting the Butcher lead. Wherever they were going smelled awful and the smell seemed to be getting worse.

The Butcher didn’t seem to notice the smell, perhaps that had something to do with his profession though.

As the group (minus the Butcher) complained about the smell, one of them told the rest to be quiet as they heard something…

“Will you be my friend?”

If picking up random plague ridden items wasn't bad enough, this thing is carrying it. If it hits any of you, you’re going to catch it (Or make it worse)

Your options here are either to rush it and keep it pinned so it can’t mount a proper attack

Or try to surround it and counter attack.

Why can't we just be its friend?

"Oi, shepherd! You've got that evasion potion, drink that and you can attack that thing without getting hit!"

"You're right!" Connie said, drinking the Potion, causing he to lean back unnaturally far as her joints and sense of balance loosened up. 

"Holy shit!" Connie said, unleashing an array of Jackie Chan moves, "I'm basically invincible! There's no way this could possibly go wrong!"

Ben advances a bit behind Connie, ready to jump in if necessary. 

"Why the fuck are you behind me?" Connie says, staggering around claws and things like a madwoman, "You're literally twice as big as I am!"

"It's like my daddy always told me when we went out boar hunting -the bigger they are, the wider of a target. I'd rather not get the plague just yet, thanks!"

"Coward! The longer this thing is alive, the more time it has to infect us all! Everyone needs to pull their weight and smash the bastard!" Connie said, "It's like my dad always said, 'united we stand, divided we fall'. And he was smarter than your dad, because I'm smarter than you are. I bet your dad doesn't even know what a potion of insight is."

"You watch your mouth about my daddy! He was the finest human being on the face of the earth, right up until he died in that tragic boar hunting accident! I ain't no yellowbelly, watch this!" Ben joined the fray, throwing vicious kicks at the monster. 

"If I get infected, I'm coughing into your damn mouth!" 

You Have No Friends

As the hideous creature approached, the Shepherd briefly got it into her head to make friends with the disgusting thing. The Butcher having a better handle on the situation yelled at the Shepherd which immediately snapped her back to her senses.

Before the creature could maul the Shepherd to death, the Cook and Mason both shoved her aside and leaped into battle without care for their own safety! The Mason was fueled by the glory of Allah that NOTHING could hurt him, while the Cook, already infected figured he had nothing to lose.

The creature was momentarily surprised and reeled back as the power of four black fists pummeled it. The creature was not dead yet though, it screeched and twisted its body around the floor managing to hit the Cook with a talon. It also attempted to smack the Shepherd with its tail, but the evasion potion was working well, allowing for an easy dodge.

The Butcher also managed to avoid being hit by dodging behind the Mason. Shouting loud prayers to Allah, the Mason ignored the creature sinking its teeth into his ankle and proceeded to stomp the hell out of the creature’s head with his other foot until there was nothing left but bloody green mush.

The battle was over and the group had won but not without cost.

The Mason has caught THE PLAGUE

If you want, you can search the creature's corpse, keep in mind it’s still diseased though so only the Mason or Cook can “safely” do it since they're already diseased.

Whether you decide to search or not, pick who is going to take point and press on.

Ben gave the remains of the monster a disgusted glance. "Looks like that iguana my uncle Robby ran over with his pickup truck. Thought that was good eating, lizard tastes just fine if you stew it." 

The butcher then turned towards the mason. "Aw heck, I feel kinda bad about cowering behind you and all, I'll take point. You two do have the plague and all." 

Connie continues dodging around rapidly, just in case that butcher decides to cough in her mouth.

Luckily, it looks like the butcher is utterly devoid of plague boils, but she's not taking any chances. She presses forward- but makes sure it's not with him COWERING behind her.

With the diseased creature dead and no longer fearing for his own health, the Cook searched its corpse. There wasn’t much to search however since it wasn’t like it was wearing any clothing. However, the Cook noticed its stomach was unnaturally distended and got an idea.

Using his strength, the Cook ripped into the stomach of the beast and began to search its guts. The smell of the rotten food and gases inside made him vomit but his idea was rewarded as he pulled something solid out.

After cleaning it as best he could, it was a book. But not just any book. Judging by the odd contents and symbols inside it was surely a spell book. 

Many parts of its rotting pages are barely legible and while the Cook was nowhere skilled in such things, he somehow understood some of it and could possibly cast spells from it in the future. It was a big heavy thing though despite its fragile state and it would be the only thing he could carry while in his possession.

With the body looted the group moved on with the Butcher leading the way.

The smell of this cell block didn’t get any better, but then again with the Cook carrying a diseased book, the Mason carrying part of a diseased corpse and the Butcher having no sense of smell, only the Shepherd was suffering at this point. 

Still what lay ahead had noises accompanying the smell…

FRIENDS! MORE FRIENDS! JOIN US! UUNNNNGH!

There’s nothing for it except to run as fast as you can and hope the plague ridden hands of these wretched souls don’t get a good grip on you which will either give you the PLAGUE or make it worse.

The Cook can attempt to cast a spell to make things easier for himself.

Of course you could also turn back and go a different route, but that will result in more encounters in the long run.

Make your choices and decide who will take the lead next.

These guys still seem so friendly even after all the stuff we did to that poor blob monster. Are we absolutely certain there's no way to talk our way out of this?

Maybe set some ground rules, like "friends don't touch friends without permission" and "Friends use their inside voices and don't make weird zombie orgasm noises"

Connie also charges through, now wishing that this was what she saved her potion of evasion for.

Ben follows behind the Muslim and Connie, doing his best to dodge the grasping hands. 

With Friends Like These…

The Mason ran through the gauntlet of plague ridden hands, and while a few managed to grab pieces of flesh from the diseased corpse he was carrying, none of them managed to grab him. Though the corpse of the creature which was already in fragile condition after the Cook ripped open its stomach was now little more than a big bloody rotten piece of skin with chunks falling off with each step.

The Shepherd was next and must have still had some of the effects of the evasion potion still lingering because she narrowly missed any of the hands grabbing her.

The Butcher followed, though unfortunately he didn’t get very far before a misstep in corpse goo left by the body that the Mason was carrying caused him to slip right into many hands all just eager to make him their new friend.

The Butcher screamed and struggled, but the grip of the hands were strong and nobody could help him as he was in the middle of the row. Eventually he got away, but only after several dirty fingernails had torn into his flesh and most certainly infected him.

The Butcher has caught THE PLAGUE

Finally the Cook was still flicking through the spell book hoping to make this whole ordeal easier, eventually the rest of the group shouting from the other side caused him to pick something promising looking and he began to chant a few words from the book.

Whatever he did was working as the plague prisoners began to back away from the bars allowing him to run through unmolested.

I’m going to post a quick stat/inventory check on the group next and then you can decide who is going to lead for the next encounter.

Butcher

Life - 11

Plague - 8

Carrying Elixir of Insight. Can be used in combat.

Cook

Life - 10

Plague - 4

Carrying a Crumbling Spell Book. Can be used in most situations.

(Can't carry anymore)

Mason

Life - 10

Plague - 1

Carrying an Elixir of Insight. Can be used in combat.

Also carrying part of a diseased corpse.

(Can't carry anymore)

Shepherd

Life - 12 (Maximum!)

Not infected (Yet!)

Not carrying anything

Note: Normally carrying around dead bodies isn't part of the real game, but since Berka seemed pretty dedicated to doing it, I figure what the hell, it's good for the lols. I am counting it as one inventory slot though (I'd count it as two, but I took into consideration that the Mason is pretty strong and the rotting corpse is pretty much fallen apart enough to not be that bulky)

Remember though you can still search for stuff, you just can't carry more than two items unless you find something to allow you to do so. Any health items can of course just be eaten on the spot if you want.

Connie dipped and dodged through the pus-encrusted moaning hands, cartwheeling and goose-stepping and whatnot to juke the Black Death itself- Only, then she tripped. She held her hands over her head and squealed with fear, desperately crawling to move forward!... But realized, she wasn't actually still in the hallway. Phew.

The shepherd stood up and dusted herself off, smiling proudly, "We're not doing too bad, huh guys?"

She said, to 3 wounded men leaking plague fluid from blackened sores.

"Come over here so I can cough into your mouth."

"Never! Stay ahead of me, you diseased rube!"

Ben coughed sickly as he scratched at the boils that now erupted all over his skin. "This is worse than the time the entire family got pox! I told cousin Jerry that he shouldn't have broken quarantine to meet with that prostitute, but he never listened, ol' Jerry." 

Ben looked around and began searching the area for anything useful. 

Connie will also search the room.

After running the gauntlet of disease, the group stopped for a moment in what looked to be a small guard room, fortunately nobody was here and it looked like a good place to try to search for something useful. 

The Mason searched first but came up empty, though his body was aching a bit from carrying around a rotten body and from the plague taking a toll on his joints. He asked the Cook if there was anything in that book that could be a healing spell. 

The Cook flipped through the pages until he found something promising and started to cast a spell.

Unlike his success last time however, he not only failed, but he failed in a spectacular way. Wether they said the words wrong or made the wrong gestures or whatever the case, the spell book bursts into flames burning the Cook.

While the Mason was beating the fire out of the Cook with the rotten skin, the Butcher and Shepherd were searching the room unbothered by any of this.

The Butcher searched a box and was promptly bit by a rat that had made its home there. He smashed the critter across the wall, but the damage was done as he felt sicker due to a spread of infection.

The Shepherd had found a scepter. It was a simple iron one with a skull on top of it. A little grim, but not too surprising given where they were. 

She began to swing it around believing it would at least make for a good weapon in this place, but then something terrible happened.

Whatever dark magic existed in the scepter had been awakened. A deep laugh was heard and a swirling black vortex appeared in the center of the room!

The group struggled to avoid being sucked in even as other items in the room smacked them in the body. Eventually though as quickly as it began, the vortex was gone, along with every item the group was carrying. (Yes, even the rotten corpse)

Before they could even recover from this, the sound of several creaking metal doors from the area they just ran through was heard, followed by the deep voice that was previously laughing.

“I RELEASE YOU CHILDREN OF PESTILENCE, GO FORTH AND MAKE NEW FRIENDS.”

The group’s sense of self-preservation kicked in immediately and they ran out the opposite door they came in which was in the process of being pounded on by a horde of plague carriers.

The group ran down a corridor and they almost lost all hope when they saw a dead end ahead, however when they got closer, apparently not all hope was lost yet…

This opening is tight, unlike the Butcher’s mom

Because the passage is narrow, cunning will be tested here. You need to chose what order you’re going in though because if someone gets stuck, that results in bad things for the people behind them.

Decide the order and assuming you all survive this, you can move on to the next encounter.

"Get back here you sloplord! I'm the cunningest!"

Connie, as the, er, slightest and most lithe of the four poor bastards, volunteers herself to go through the hole first. As first as possible, at any rate.

Cunning is the Kurt Vonnegut drawing of an asshole right?

Ah, yes. Then I must go second. If only to keep the Butcher as far away from my mouth as possible.

If you go in third, you'll be at the opposite end of my mouth! This is a much better solution. 

Fine, I'll go in third, but there better not be any plague farts.

The butcher attempts to go in second as well.

Takbir Allahu Akbar!

With the Cook going first, the Butcher entered next, followed by the Shepherd. The Mason however knew his huge body that Allah had blessed him with, would not be able to fit, no matter how hard he tried. 

Wishing his fellow escapees success and hoping that Allah would take mercy on their infidel ways, the Mason said his own prayers to Allah before engaging the plague horde.

The Cook managed to navigate the narrow passages pretty well, except for one particularly tight area, causing him to get stuck. As the Cook struggled through, the Butcher had a sudden panic attack screaming about how they were all going to die in this dark crawlspace. 

The Cook eventually managed to shove himself free, though he’d kicked the Butcher in the face in the process. Soon he found the exit, climbed out with the Butcher snapping out of his panic and following him.

The Shepherd on the other hand was calm throughout the whole ordeal, she was just more concerned about a nasty plague ridden thing suddenly grabbing her leg, but fortunately she had reached the other side with the other two without any problems.

The group had escaped, but not without cost.

Meanwhile…

With a right, left, right, left, one plague monster was down, the Mason wasn’t there to make friends, he was there to smite these diseased infidels!

He ignored the pain of the plague creatures’ claws and teeth as he put his fist through another plague creature and then snapped the neck of another. 

While the spirit was willing, the flesh was becoming weaker with each wound. He was already infected to a degree that he would never survive even if he somehow killed all of his assailants. He didn’t want to though, he didn’t want to become one of these soulless things. He continued to fight, they were going to HAVE to kill him.

The horde now was also no longer interested in making him one of them as another one of their friends went down beneath the Mason’s fists. One of the plague creatures took a healthy bite at the Mason’s neck, ripping out part of his throat. 

The Mason felt backwards to the floor as several creatures tore at him and a few more kicked him while he was down. He saw the disgusting faces hooving over him and then nothing at all as rotting fingers impaled his eyes, squeezing the ocular jelly within.

Bleeding out, blind and in a tremendous amount of pain, the Mason’s last thoughts were still positive. He would be released from this hell and rewarded with his 72 virgins in Paradise. 

Perhaps they would be even younger than his earthy wives, Allah willing!

Mufisto The Mason

Ripped Apart by Plague Prisoners

Survival Time: 3 Encounters

A gruesome but cool demise, I suppose. 

Will pour the apple juice I was drinking out in the kitchen sink in respects.

Also, glad to see CYS uphold traditional values by having the black guy die first.

No longer having the mighty servant of Allah with them, the group realized they would have to be even more cautious.

With the Cook leading the way, the group went down a nondescript corridor. It looked like they had managed to get out of the cell area of the castle, but that didn’t tell them anything about how far they were from true freedom.

As the group pressed on, suddenly a large gate slammed down in front of them…

CLANG

You’re either going to have to reach deep into the workings of the mechanisms to lift the gate or turn back.

If you’re going to try to open the gate, you need to choose two people to try to open it.

You can choose to turn back, but of course that will add more encounters.

Make your choices

A black eye now adorned Ben's face from the nasty kick he had gotten while crawling through the passage. "That poor sand person, he was the bravest fella I've ever seen. Braver than my great-uncle Bubba even, and he once went hand to hand against the Alabama Warewombat!" 

Ben turned his attention back towards Anders and the gate. "Right, we need to git through that thing. I'll give you a hand, but if you somehow kick me in the face again, you're gonna end up looking like the Warewombat after nine rounds with great-uncle Bubba!"

Connie, meanwhile, had gone feral with depressive guilt. She blamed Mufisto's death on herself. After all, she was the one who foolishly waved the stick around. She was lost in an abyss of her own mind- hearing her comrade's words with only vague comprehension.

"RAAAAAAGH!" She yelled in agreement, immediately jamming her fist down on the nearest lever within reach.

Ben does the same with the other lever. 

Just Chopping That Meat

With the Shepherd already trying to open up the gate, the Butcher quickly shoved his own hand into the mess of gears to help.

The main difficulty in getting the gate to rise was dealing with the weights and counter balances and making sure both sides were being raised simultaneously. Not doing so would of course result in imbalance which still wouldn’t be too much a problem if fragile flesh wasn’t in the way of the sharp gears.

The Shepherd still upset over the Mason's death wasn’t paying much attention to the Butcher who was a little slower on his side. At first the Butcher just felt some slight pinching on his hand and told the Shepherd to slow down. When the Butcher cried out in pain from his fingers literally being ripped and crushed, the Cook had to yell at the Shepherd to stop moving her side of things.

With great effort, the Butcher managed to hit a latch with what remained of his hand and the gate lifted up. As he looked at the new bloody nubs where fingers once were, all the Butcher knew is if he ever got out of here alive, he’d never be able to properly cut meat with this hand again.

Pick who will take point and move on to the next encounter.

Damn. Poor Butcher losing the tools that are his hands that aid his very livelihood. :(

Connie charges down the hall as soon as the gate comes up. Partially because she can't really tell the diseased mutilated butcher apart from the plague monsters at this point.

"Dammit...god fucking dammit..." Ben grits his teeth in agony as he cradles his mangled hand with his good one, trying to stem the bleeding stumps with torn fabric from his shirt. "I'm never gonna chop boar kidneys with this hand again. What's Grandpa Joe gonna say when he sees me like this?! Probably give me a few whacks with the ol' two-by-four and lecture me about how since I was always as useless as a cripple in the shop, he won't even notice a difference." 

"You fucking crippled me, goddammit!" Ben yells at the fleeing figure of Connie far ahead. "When I catch up with you, I'm gonna cough in your mouth, and then I'm gonna bleed in it!" The butcher follows, using the wall as support as he feels a bit faint. 

The Shepherd ran as fast as she could down the corridor just wishing that she was free from this place and hoping that the next passage would be the passage home. 

Then reality nearly cut her in two and she stopped running immediately. The Cook and Butcher finally caught up and shook their heads by what they saw…

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

Once again you’ve got the choice to press on ahead and risk the blades or turn back and find a different route. 

And as usual choosing to turn back results in more encounters.

Make your choices and decide who is going to take the lead for the next encounter.

"I agree, ain't no way in hell I'm going through there." Ben turns to head back the way they came.

Connie continued blindly running ahead, but the massive blade narrowly missing her fucking knees seemed to bring her back to her senses.

"We don't actually have to go this way, right?" She asked, grumbling about wasting her evasion potion when she didn't know how bad the plague was.

The group looked at the swinging blades and all agreed that attempting to run through them would be suicide, there was nothing else for it but to turn around, the Butcher being the first one to immediately walk back.

The group passed through the gate again causing the Butcher to wince at the gears on the left side still coated with his blood and fingers stuck in them. 

The group had to walk almost all the way back to the grate opening they first came through when they escaped the plague monsters (Happily none had followed through it) until they found another passage to head down.

The group went down this next passage hoping there would be less impediments along the way. Eventually they got to a door and opened it…

“Come on, we can still win the most sacrifices in a month award if we get ‘em!”

The high priest casts a spell causing a sense of paralyzing fear over the Butcher, before the cultists advance.

The first choice is to fight right now. The Butcher unfortunately won’t be able to participate at first due to the spell’s effects. After the first round of combat, he can help. 

The good news is he won’t take any damage in the first round either since the cultists will be focusing on the immediate threats.

The second choice is to run. Well the Shepherd and Cook can at least. If they run however, they won’t be out of the woods as at least two of the cultists (If both run) will give chase and catch up to them still resulting in combat (Though it’ll be easier since there’s less of them)

Of course this means the Butcher is left defenseless and will take damage before snapping out it to be able to fight alone.

Make your choices, and assuming you survive, you can search if you want and pick who will lead next.

Connie looked at the bewitched butcher in shock, before frowning intently at the hideous cultists, "You mongoloids! What did you do to this defenseless plague goblin!? Why don't you pick on somebody who can move?"

She bared her fists, mocking the weird stance she took involuntarily after that bottle of Evasion Potion. Hopefully she retained a thing or two about punching people out since then.

Ben stands as still as a statue as he watches the others fight, fury bubbling within him as the pain from his mangled hamburger hand and the plague boils shoots through his entire body. As soon as he is able to move, the butcher leaps towards the nearest cultist, yelling with feral rage. 

Death’s Door

The Shepherd immediately engaged the evil cultists as she was not going to just leave the Butcher to be sacrificed. While it took a moment for the Cook to find his courage, he joined in as well. 

They were outnumbered and suffered many slashes from the cultist’s blades, but they held against them. The High priest though was tough and started getting the upper hand landing a grievous wound on the Cook.

The Butcher shaking off the effects of the high priest’s spell, charged into the fray. The main one he focused on was that cow skull wearing fucker, knocking all the wind out of him when he shoulder charged him to the floor.

The high priest began moving his head in an attempt to gore the Butcher with his mask’s horns. The Butcher ignored the pain however and punched the high priest so hard in the face that it broke the mask, embedding skull shards into his good hand but more importantly into the high priest’s face and eyes.

The high priest didn’t get a chance to scream in agony as the Butcher then put both of his mutilated hands around the priest’s throat and squeezed with a twist. A satisfying snap was heard and only then did the Butcher allow himself to relent in his fury.

The battle was over and only the bodies of dead cultists littered the floor, but the group was severely wounded. Only the Shepherd was somewhat in one piece and she wasn’t sure if she would survive much longer if her companions fell.

You can decide to search or not, (If you find healing items, you can take them immediately if you want) 

Afterwards pick who will take point and move on to the next encounter.

Ben staggered to his feet, groaning with exhaustion and pain. The fragments of bone burrowed deep into his hand were like knives digging into his skin, and he couldn't even pull them out properly due to his other hand being nothing more than chopped liver. Trying to distract himself from how everything hurt, the butcher searched the bodies and the room for anything useful. 

Connie choked on ragged breath, pulling herself up to her feet and gazing with a blank, traumatized stare at her cuts. Not quite as evasive as she thought... At least that deformed buboe monster was okay. She raised a bloody fist in victory, and with much difficulty as a member of the fairer sex, widened her legs in a power pose and pissed standing up on the corpses of the nearest foe!... This probably wasn't the wisest idea, she realized... She should've done this after the looting was done.

"Uh, anyone else want to see what's on that guy?" The Shepard said, stepping away from the vanquished, "I'll go check the others, but this one smells funny."

The group searched the bodies all the while trying to not to pass out from blood loss of their wounds. They unfortunately found nothing to help heal them in any way.

The Butcher picked up a rotting shield though held little hope that it would protect him any better than nothing at all.

The Cook found a potion which the Shepherd identified as liquid luck. He kept it since he was going to need all the fortune he could get.

The Shepherd searched the high priest and found a bracelet with rune stones tied to it by leather strips. She sensed it contained magic which is probably why the high priest was so powerful, though the item didn’t seem inherently evil so she kept it.

With the Shepherd in the best shape of the three, she decided to lead the group and they pressed on.

The Shepherd lead the way as the Butcher and Cook staggered slowly through the corridors. Many times she had to stop and wait. Eventually she told them to rest a bit longer and she would scout just a little ahead. The Cook and Butcher just nodded in pain and slumped against one of the corridor walls.

The Shepherd walked down the corridor…

“This is going to hurt you a lot more than it’s going to hurt me. Hah! I love that joke!”

The Cook and Butcher soon realized that the Shepherd should have been back by now. They wondered if they should go look for her, but the pain they were both in was very great.

The Cook and the Butcher can choose if they’re going to go look for the Shepherd immediately or continue to rest.

In either case the Shepherd has to pick a trait to test twice

If the Cook and Butcher rest longer, The Shepherd must pick a different trait to test three times.

By the fifth test, the Cook and Butcher will have found and rescued her.

Make your choices

Ben tried to stand to search for the Shepard, but his injuries were too deep and he could not bring himself to his feet. "Damn...I ain't in the best shape, and you don't look too good either," he griped, turning towards the Cook. "Ain't no way in hell we can go looking for her right away, not in the state that we're in."

Butcher

Life - 1

Plague - 11

Carrying a Rotten Shield

Cook

Life - 3

Plague - 4

Carrying Liquid Luck

Shepherd

Life - 7

Carrying Replication Stones

If resting does them any good, I'll test my fist stat twice, and my Kurt Vonnegut Butthole stat 3 times.

While the Shepherd was strapped to a wooden chair, she remained stoic in the presence of the demented torturer. She might be in for horrible physical disfigurement, but she would NOT give him the satisfaction of expressing fear.

“Okay, let’s start off slow, I’ve got some nice bamboo sticks from the far east here to shove under those pretty fingernails. Never tried these out before, so this is a real special occasion!”

The torturer began his brutal work and grabbed one of her fingers to shove a bamboo stick in.

The pain was great and she nearly cried out, but she wouldn’t. She couldn’t.

“That sting a little bit? Don’t worry, I’ve got more for you.” the torturer chuckled and proceeded to work on the rest of that hand. 

Each stick hurt worse than the last. She closed her eyes, tears formed and her breathing became labored. Still, she wouldn’t scream.

“Hm, think yourself tougher than the rest huh? That’s okay. I like that in a girl.” the torturer remarked and then sniffed her hair.

“Smmmaaaah, lovely. Let’s continue shall we?”

The torturer took the Shepherd’s other hand and did the exact same thing making his various deranged comments. Nothing though, the Shepherd at this point was even getting accustomed to this sort of pain. The torturer also realized this and attempted something different.

He got a couple of metal boots and put them on the feet of the Shepherd (and spending a bit too long fondling her feet in the process) he then lit a small fire under the boots. The Shepard felt the scalding pain, but didn’t scream out, she just chanted various images of things like sunlight, blue skies, fluffy kittens and the like.

The torturer was getting obviously annoyed, but he tried to keep the upper hand.

“I know this hurts…just give me a scream baby. I know you want to. Give it to me. Come on, I wanna hear you beg…maybe I’ll be gentle if you do…mmmmm.”

And right there is when the Shepherd faintly smiled exclaiming that if he was expecting her to do something to help him get off on his little power trip, he was sadly mistaken.

The torturer became enraged and came close to punching the Shepherd in the face, but stopped himself. 

“Oh no, you’re not beating me. I can BREAK you, you’re nothing special, but I got something special for you. You’re going to scream I guarantee it. You are going to experience a level of pain you never have and I am going to enjoy every moment I inflict on you. Makes my dick hard just thinking about it. And if you’re lucky maybe you’ll get THAT too.”

The torturer then laughed and laughed and then felt a crushing blow to the back of his fragile skull killing him instantly.

The Butcher looked at his new shield, glad to see it didn’t fall apart after it’s first use, while the Cook quickly released the Shepherd.

The Shepherd told them it took them long enough and demanded they all get the hell out of here and move on. The Butcher and the Cook both asked if she was okay, to which she claimed she was fine, mentioning that the runestone bracelet must have protected her from any lasting physical damage.

Even with burned feet, she still kept a quicker pace than her comrades who were still pretty bad off and straggling. It was just as well, as it allowed her to silently weep without them seeing. Maybe the physical torture didn’t have a lasting effect, but the psychological effect was still lingering and affected her more than she had let on.

“Don't cry, I know this is an awful place, but maybe I have something to make things easier.” a voice suddenly said…

“It’s a living.”

You may trade with this odd merchant, he will give you two items if you give him one.

You can also try to fast talk him into giving you an item for free, though this requires a wisdom test. Failing the test results in gaining nothing and him leaving.

Make your choices, decide who will take the lead and move on.

Ben gave his rotting shield a gentle pat as a last farewell. "You killed that no-good lousy bondage fetishist, Woody. You done good." The butcher turned towards the merchant and presented the man with the hunk of wood. "I'll take whatever I can get for this here buckler."

"Oh, and somebody else should take point, I'm about to drop dead."

As difficult a time as Connie was having rationalizing the filthy foot-fucker's perversions, she was still as sharp as a tack. Or, so the stat sheet would insist. She casually leaned on the wall next to the merchant and prepared to fast-talk the merchant into giving her some items.

Her mouth was half-cocked into a smile, her mind had several pre-prepared lines of suave sayings and unflinching logic, potential bribes and business opportunities for the merchant once they got out of here, phony investment strategies... But all that came out was "FUCK! I'M BLEEDING! GOD DAMMIT! WHAT THE SHIT WAS WRONG WITH THAT SHITHEAD!?  THAT FUCKING ANIMAL! THAT DEGENERATE SLIMEBALL! HOW AM I EVEN WALKING!? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

She bit her tongue, hopefully that was adequately convincing.

The Butcher and Cook both gave the merchant their items feeling that two for one sounded like a good deal. 

Upon receiving their items, the merchant gave them what he felt they were worth which neither questioned, because they felt like they made out like bandits.

The Butcher received a couple of rusty daggers and a sealed bottle. Unlike most of the other bottles they had come across this one was opaque and an actual stopper rather than some half fit cork. He couldn’t tell what was inside, maybe nothing, but he felt the daggers themselves were worth trading the shield for.

The Cook received a scroll and a large net. The scroll he couldn’t read, but the net would come in handy for combat. 

While the Cook and Butcher were admiring their new loot, the Shepherd engaged in a little negotiation, unfortunately the merchant was completely offended by the Shepherd’s words, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Still feeling slightly put off by how triggered the merchant got despite him claiming he was going to help her, she cursed a bit more until the Cook tried to cheer her up by giving her his scroll, he couldn’t carry it with the bulky net anyway.

The Shepherd studied the scroll and recognized it as a healing verse which could randomly heal anyone in the group as long as they had it. At least one thing had gone right.

The Butcher decided to open his bottle as he couldn’t carry it due to his daggers which he was going to struggle to grip anyway with his mutilated hands.

Speaking of which,he fumbled to open the bottle with his stumpy broken fingers until he eventually dropped it and the bottle shattered releasing a mist…

“Thank you for freeing me strangers, it was really cramped in there.”

The spirit says she was the first prisoner in this DARK CASTLE and for helping her, she will help you for a short period of time before going into the light.

Whether you want her with you or not, decide who will take point (The spirit can also do this if you take her)  and go on to the next encounter.

The Butcher gripped the daggers awkwardly with his hamburger hands but was beaming with joy despite the pain. "Oh boy, got my hands on some quality blades right here! This'll be just another day at the shop now that I've got Sticky and Slashy with me." 

When the bottle broke and what appeared to be a genie of sorts emerged from the shards, Ben jumped back in shock. "Whoa there! You're paler than my auntie Loretta right before she kicked the bucket! God rest her soul, her liver gave out on her after the fourteenth jug of great uncle Bubba's moonshine. She was blind after the tenth, but that woman just never knew when to quit."

"Regardless, sure would be nice if you could lead for us, seeing as you're familiar with this here domicile and all." 

The shepherd, being sort of literate, eagerly attempted to use the strange stones she'd been holding onto with the scroll. Even though magic had been nothing but trouble for them so far, she figured you couldn't go wrong with attempting to combine two vaguely magic things, right? Connie gets behind the spirit, and urges the others to follow. She was still the healthiest of the bunch, but this spirit knew the place better than they did.

The group all agreed that the spirit should lead the way which she was perfectly fine with even if she didn’t know where she was going. She did die trapped here decades ago after all.

As the group followed the spirit down the corridors they heard a noise, it sounded like hooves.

“Um, you guys might be in for a fight.” the spirit said seeing the attacker first…

“Tee hee, I have a horsie!”

You can either run or fight. If everyone runs, the horseman can be distracted by the spirit, but this will “use up” her help and she will be gone. (You don’t get to search either, you just pick who takes point and move on to the next encounter)

Anyone sticking around to fight will still gain the help of the spirit in battle.

Make your choices.

What exactly do the replication stones do? Should I still foolhardily attempt to make two healing scrolls, or just use one now and hope it saves coins?

Gameplay wise it just counts whatever single you roll on your die as two.

So if you rolled a wisdom on your die, it would count as two wisdom.

Basically it'll help in combat and just general stat tests.

Connie had always hated horses. Her father had been a horse farmer, but after he left those useless animals to her in his will, she had them all killed and fed to the sheep. Seeing the zombie horse triggered within her a sort of primal rage- it took all her self control to read the scroll of healing aloud before punching it in the face.

The butcher is about to leap into battle, before realizing how much everything still hurts. Being far too wounded to be fighting, he backs away from the horseman. 

Smelly, Dumb Broniefag Scum

As the Butcher ran away from the battle entirely, the bronie swung his weapon at the spirit doing absolutely no damage whatsoever, while the Cook threw his net over him. The horse and it’s rider were both entangled to the point that they fell to the floor like a house of cards.

Taking advantage of the situation, the Cook and Shepherd assisted by the spirit all proceeded to do their best in killing the pony enthusiast, but even with this advantage, the panicked horse managed to land some strong kicks to them, doing more damage than its trapped rider could.

As the Shepherd attempted to beat the horse to death, she was reminded her happy times purging her farm of her father’s horses shouting something about if her father was finally paying attention to her.

Eventually the horse and its rider were sent to clopper hell and everyone was glad it was over. The spirit was still with them, but she was steadily becoming even less visible than she already was.

“I feel it will be time for me to depart from this wretched place soon and thank the gods for that.” she said.

You can now search if you want, afterwards, pick who will take point and move on to the next encounter.

The butcher peered around the corner he was hiding behind. Seeing that the rider and his amount had been defeated, he made his way back towards the group. "Whew! Sorry for turning tail there fellas, but I was still real hurt from everything else. I'll help out for sure with the next wrangler we come across." 

Ben then turned towards the ghost lady. "Yeah, I'd appreciate it if you would keep leading us while you're still here."  

@ISentinelPenguinI

Connie takes a great degree of satisfaction from the vanquishing of the horse- Though she realized now that there was also a man on top of it. She would step ahead of the cook in due time, but for now she was looking over the corpses- There had to be something useful on a zombie rich enough to afford armor.

The Cook and Shepherd searched and surprisingly found food in the clothing of the zombie horseman, a maggot infested cheese wheel and a half rotten apple. Since the Shepherd had no more room, the Cook kept both of the food items.

With the Group finished searching the Spirit once again took the lead and the Group followed her.

They got to a section which looked like it was in the process of being worked on. Broken walls leading into half finished rooms and the like. They hoped that maybe this lead to an exit.

Then a low growl was heard which instantly caused the Spirit to stop.

“Oh shit, I remember this guy, yeah you’re screwed and that’s my cue to go into the light!” the spirit said and disappeared into the light.

Meanwhile, the “guy” that the Spirit was talking about makes his appearance…

“Hurry up with this encounter before Games Workshop sues everyone for name infringement.”

At least one of you is in a fight as the Bloodthirster will be relentless in attacking the person with the lowest health. The rest of you can run or fight.

Assuming you survive, you can choose to search or not and pick who will take point next.

Make your choices.

Probably not the wisest move, but in addition to horses, Connie has also had a seething hatred of moist and smelly things for most of her life. Disgusted by the blood-thirster's horrible visage, she growls right back at it!... And then punches the creature directly in its flat, noseless face.

The Butcher readied his daggers before screaming a battle cry at the monster. "Yippie-ki-yay motherfucker!" He sprinted up to the Bloodthirster and began hacking and thrusting at its vulnerable parts. 

This Title Has Been Removed At The Request Of The Games Workshop

Sensing the weakness of the Cook, the *REDACTED* pounced immediately on the Cook in an effort to get that sweet red juice it so thirsted for.

The Shepherd and Butcher wasted no time in helping their fellow escapee, with the Butcher stabbing the creature in the back several times and his knives and doing the most damage in general

It looked as if the Cook was done for, but the combined effort of the three managed to bring down the creature putting an end to any potential death (and lawsuits).

Your group can now choose to search (or not), heal if possible and decide on who will take point next before moving on to the next encounter.

The Butcher wiped the blood off his knives with his filthy shirt before he began searching the body of the Bloodthirster and the rest of the room. He called over to the Cook upon seeing the weak condition of the man. "You've got those vittles with you, don't ya? Have yourself the apple and split the cheese with us, and we'll be in good shape." 

Once the Butcher finishes searching and receives his share of the food, he will take point. 

Connie is dizzy enough after having seen so much blood and feeling only pain in the 3rd-degree-burn-addled feet she'd been nimbly hopping around on like a boxer. No doubt she left shreds of dead skin all over the floor from ducking and weaving and swinging. Shaking at the knees, she frantically looked over the room for she knew not what, just anything she could get ahold of that might help.

Reinforcements

The group ate what rations they had and then proceeded to search the area.

The Cook found another half rotten apple on the ground which he snatched up. The Shepherd however wasn’t so lucky and thought she spied something shiny in a nearby crack only to pull a bloody finger back from a rat bite.

The bite itself wasn’t that bad, but everyone was all too familiar with what the filthy rodents carry in this terrible place, already the Shepherd could feel the effects.

The Shepherd has caught the PLAGUE.

While the Shepherd cursed her misfortune, the Butcher’s own search turned up nothing, but he did notice a familiar sight...

“Hey guys, sorry about disappearing before, but I brought help!”

“Oh. Yeah, hey.” - Casandra Wamen

The group began to demand answers from the spirit who admitted she does’t know why she can’t actually move on from this place. She believes that she needs to help others because of wicked deeds she did when she was alive and only with fulfilling the penance she will be able to break free of this place. Or at least that’s what she hopes.

Meanwhile, the Tailor just stood aside inspecting her new companions. She wasn’t really impressed, but at least there was another woman this time.

After the spirit saying she was going to stick around again to help directly, the group turned their attention to the Tailor. There were a few questions and answers back and forth and while this “joining” seemed forced, the group wasn’t going to turn down another potential hand in a fight.

With everything settled, the group of four (plus one) set off, with the Butcher taking the lead.

Butcher

Life - 7

Plague - 11

Carrying dented daggers (Two handed weapon)

Cook

Life - 3

Plague - 4

Carrying a half rotten apple

Shepherd

Life - 6

Plague - 3

Carrying the Replication Stones and the Healing Verses

Tailor

Life - 5

Plague - 4

Carrying a rotten shield and a potion of liquid luck

Also a friendly spirit is currently following you.

The group pressed on down yet another dark corridor more determined than ever in their goal of getting out of this awful place.

And as usual in this awful place, another group was determined in their goal of doing harm to them…

“Look at all the shit they got, I told you the old parts of the castle weren’t a waste of time!”

The thieves are actually more interested in your stuff rather than killing you, so if anyone wants to willingly give up their items, they can avoid combat altogether.

If you’re going to fight however, it’s going to be alone until you beat your own assailant. (And people carrying more items have more attackers on them) After which point, you can try to help someone else or just rest.

After the battle you can search the area and decide who will take point.

Make your choices.

(Me take the lead again? In your dreams!)

"Whah? You mean, this stuff? This stuff is my stuff! You're not allowed to have it!" Connie grimaced.

She was in horrible pain as always, but she was sure she could summon up one more boost of adrenaline to beat down a man with a sword.

"Careful not to actually cut me with that thing, I'm pretty sure these guys gave me the plague."

"You ain't taking my boys from me!" The butcher draws his knives and charges at the bandit(s). "I'm gonna stick Sticky up your bungholes!" 

Once the fight is done and assuming he survives, the Butcher will attempt to rest and then search the area. What he will not do is take point, that sounds like a needless risk when they have a perfectly good ghost to do that for them. 

The Cook not wishing to put up too much of a fight due to nearly already being dead, threw his only possession at the advancing thief who caught it, shrugged his shoulders and ran off. The rest of his pals wanted more valuable items.

The group however was more than a match for a bunch of common thieves given the horrors they had faced before. Wasn’t long before all the thieves were dead or run off.

The Butcher and Tailor began to search, meanwhile the Shepherd was looking around for an item she thought she had on her.

The Butcher picked up an iron scepter with a skull on top of it and briefly swung it about, wondering if it would make a good weapon for someone else in the group. 

The Shepherd might have spoke up before if she hadn’t been busy looking for a lost item of hers. When she saw the Butcher welding the scepter her eyes widened and shouted but it was too late.

Once again the dark magic in the scepter had been awakened. A deep laugh was heard and a swirling black vortex appeared in the center of the room!

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU FOOLS FELL FOR THAT AGAIN!”

The group struggled to avoid being sucked in even as other items in the room smacked them in the body. Eventually though as quickly as it began, the vortex was gone, along with every item the group was carrying. (Yes, including the liquid luck potion the Tailor just found)

The group had fought hard to keep their items only to lose them anyway. The mood of the group was miserable and arguing began to ensue.

While the group argued, the spirit tried to make herself useful by scouting the next room, she saw what lay ahead and returned to tell them to follow her quickly before their noise attracts enemies. Grudgingly, the group ceased bickering and entered the next room…

“Drink and taste life eternal. Drink…Drink…”

The group begins to hear an alluring voice all telling them to drink, unfortunately with everyone already at odds with each other this could lead to a physical altercation.

If you want to resist drinking the bottle of dark liquid then you’ll need to pass a wisdom test. Failure, leads to trying to drink the bottle.

If you fail your wisdom test (Or you wanted to drink anyway) then you’ll have to pass a might test with your fellow escapees. Whoever wins gets to drink. 

After resolving this encounter, pick who will take point next.

Make your choices.

Connie looked at the bottle longingly. Eternal life did seem quite tempting, but if it was an eternal life in this place... Well then, she'd rather not. She tried her best to leave the room as soon as she was able.

"Well, shit. Fool me once..." The Butcher muttered despondently, staring at his empty hands as if trying to will his knives back to existence. "So long Sticky, so long Slashy. You were the best pals I ever had." 

When they arrived in the next room, the Butcher heard the weird whispering and attempted to resist the temptation to drink. "I ain't drinking that! Unless it's moonshine, of course..."

Bloodshine

The group all attempted to resist the call to the bottle, but the temptation was very great and only the Shepherd managed to resist. The rest of them all suddenly scrambled for the bottle.

It was quick, but vicious struggle with the Butcher punching the Cook in the back of the head and then backhanding the Tailor before grabbing the bottle, unpopping the cork and downing the entire contents of it.

The Butcher then felt a surge of power afterwards and threw the bottle against the wall, shattering it. The dark red liquid had invigorated him to be sure, so much so that the Shepherd immediately noticed the Butcher now had a bit of a wild look in his eyes as if he wanted more of the stuff.

The Tailor still dazed by the Butcher’s previous attack, was unable to get out of the way in time when the Butcher suddenly grabbed and bit her arm. She screamed and the Shepherd ran to help her. The Butcher was too strong however and once again proved the might of his mutilated pimp hand, backhanding the Shepherd in the face.

The Tailor took the opportunity to pull away from the Butcher and back into a corner, the Shepherd quickly scooted away as well, but the Butcher was still thirsty. He was about to attack one of them and that’s when he noticed the Cook still on the floor barely alive.

With a creepy laugh, the Butcher went over to the prone body of the Cook, rolled him over and ripped out his throat with his teeth and began drinking his blood.

No sooner had he done this however when the blood madness that had overcome him, went away. Just like that. The Butcher realized what he was doing and immediately recoiled in horror. The Tailor and Shepherd both stood near each other in shock.

Meanwhile the Spirit was inspecting the skull on the table as if it was someone she might have known a long time ago. She then addressed the group.

“I can take point if you lot aren’t feeling up to it.”

Anders The Cook

Throat Ripped Out by Blood Drunk Butcher

Survival Time: 12 Encounters

"I think the spirit should take point."

Despite the Tailor's demands, the Butcher agreed that the Spirit should take point. The Butcher wasn't feeling up to leading anyone in his current state anyway.

The Spirit happily complied and lead the way while the Butcher followed first and the Tailor and Shepherd followed far behind and watched him carefully.

Though perhaps they would have been better off watching the side passages and nooks they were passing nearby...

"I CAN SMELL YOUR BLOOD! GIVE IT TO ME! GIVE ME THE PRECIOUS JUICE!"

You can either fight or run. If you fight of course you can search afterwards.

If everyone runs, he's going to try to chase at least one of you down and a cunning test will have to be taken by everyone.

The Spirit will offer to take point afterwards, assuming nobody else wants to.

Make your choices.

Connie was really pissed at this point. Everyone was trying to take her stuff. Her life, her items, and now, her JUICE.

"Take another step toward my bodily fluids," Said Connie, "And you'll get only my DEHYDRATED FISTS."

"HELL NO! IN FACT, YOU"RE GIVING ME YOURS! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE SO I CAN MUNCH YOUR NECK A LIL!" Ben howled, leaping towards the ghoul while wildly swinging his fists and biting the air. 

Tailor Made For Death

The ghoul attacked the group who all stood their ground, hoping that their superior numbers would win out. The ghoul was a formidable foe and very quick, striking and dodging more effectively than the group. 

Perhaps if they had been better equipped, they would have been more successful, but with the group already severely weakened by their previous encounters, the ghoul proved to be almost more than a match for them. 

The ghoul dodged one of the Tailor’s punches and followed up by shoving his sharp, boney fingers into her chest. The Tailor went into complete shock as she looked down to see the ghouls whole hand pull out her heart and then bite into it before she blinked and fell over dead.

The Shepherd tried to take advantage of the situation, but the ghoul was rejuvenated by his small meal and nearly proceeded to finish off the Shepherd in the same manner as the Tailor. The Butcher however managed to tackle the ghoul and smash its face into the stone floor until it was an unrecognizable heap of gore.

As the two survivors recovered from their wounds, the Spirit hovered over the Tailor looking a bit sad.

“Pity. I thought you’d last longer.”

Casandra Wamen The Tailor

Heart Ripped Out by Ghoul

Survival Time: 14 Encounters

Connie sank to the ground, holding her arm hard over the claw punctures over her chest. The muttered incoherently in order to cheer for victory, but it was clear that her grip on life was tenuous at best. She dragged herself over to the corpse of the critter and swung at it weakly, a wet slap over its face.

"Your shit is mine now!" She mouthed breathlessly, "That's what you get!"

The peak of her injuries was over. While she was no stranger to ignoring intense physical pain, she was having some trouble holding on to consciousness. But she was doing a good enough job at holding the blood in that she could retain her consciousness just a bit longer- Long enough to see if this ghoul had anything worth stealing.

"YOU DIDN'T SAY YOUR PRAYERS AND TAKE YOUR VITAMINS AND THAT'S WHY YOU COULDN"T TAKE DOWN THE HULKSTER!"

"OOOOOH YEAH! IT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL! LET'S SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!" The Butcher cackled, as he bent down to start licking the remains of the ghoul. "YOU DON'T LOOK SO GOOD THERE BROTHER!" He screamed, upon seeing the corpse of the Tailor. "WHY DON'T YOU SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM WITH ME?" 

The Butcher will also search for items and will let the Spirit take point. 

The Butcher and Shepherd both searched the area. The Butcher didn’t find much other than a half rotten apple, which he gave to the Shepherd to eat immediately. The Shepherd found an evasion potion and with the place thoroughly searched, the Spirit lead the way again.

The Spirit remarked on how despite everything, the group might be lucky coming through this older part of the castle since there are probably forgotten passages that lead outside. She goes on to say that as long as they hold on to hope, then escape is possible.

“WHERE’S THE BITCH THAT KILLED MY DAD?! I SMELL THE SCENT!”

Escape might be possible, but diplomacy isn’t…

BLOODHORN 3: SON OF BLOODHORN!

The young minotaur isn’t interested in talking and he’ll easily chase you down, you’re in for a fight. 

You can either rush him quickly and hope to catch him off guard or attempt to dodge and strike like a matador.

Afterwards you can search or not and decide who will take point (Assuming you don’t want the Spirit to do it.)

Make your choices.

"I FEAR NO MAN, NO BEAST OR EVIL, BROTHER! HULKAMANIA IS RUNNING WILD!" The Butcher bellowed as he charged the mini-minotaur and tried to grapple him by the horns. "STAY BACK, LITTLE HULKSTER!" He yelled to the Shepard. "YOU'RE TOO WRECKED TO RUUUMMMMBLLLLLE!"

Connie realised it was time for her to turn around and fuck off almost as soon as she was able to stand up. The single ugliest motherfucker she had ever seen was bitching about his dad, and man he looked tough. She staggered up to her comrade and fell partway forward, pushing a bottle into his chest.

"I gotta go or he's gonna kill me," Connie said, "But you... Have knives and shit, I guess. Look, I found a bottle of shit just like this back when we fought that molten wart-thing. Embrace the drunken style."

Bloodhorn: The Final Chapter

Before running off, the Shepherd tossed her evasion potion to the Butcher who was determined to face this beast alone.

Despite being weaponless, the Butcher’s fingerless hands had now been toughened like fleshy clubs which he used to great effect on the minotaur. He dodged the beast with ease at first thanks to the affects of the evasion potion. A couple times the minotaur had succeeded in hurting itself with its wild attempts of charging him, and for a moment it seemed like the Butcher would win this encounter.

But the Butcher, as tough as he was, was still not up to his full capabilities and all it took was one misstep. One slow move brought on by the potion wearing off. He failed to get away in time of a full charge by the minotaur and took a horn directly to the gut and through his back.

The Butcher was still alive for a full minute as the Minotaur continued his chase after the Shepherd.

“WHERE’S THAT BITCH WHO KILLED MY DAD?!”

The Shepherd at this point had gained some distance, but soon heard a noise of stomping hooves following. At first she turned around and saw the back of the Butcher’s body flailing about at her and wondered how the hell he was running so fast backwards, but soon realized it was just his body still impaled on the minotaur’s horns.

The Shepherd quickened her pace, but even with the extra weight of the dead Butcher’s body, the minotaur was fast enough reach the Shepherd.

The Shepherd was run down and felt the crushing weight of hooves stomping over her body. She was still alive, but just barely. 

She looked up just in time to see the Minotaur shake the body of the Butcher off his horns before turning around snorting the entire time.

The Shepherd managed to weakly push herself up and then felt a heavy hoof stomping into her head, crushing her skull and causing her brains to leak out all over the floor.

The minotaur brayed loudly in triumph and then kneeled down to sniff at the Shepherd’s body.

“Wait a minute. This isn’t the bitch who killed my dad.”

Ben The Butcher

Gored by Avenging Minotaur Offspring

Survival Time: 14 Encounters

Connie The Shepherd

Skull Crushed by Avenging Minotaur Offspring

Survival Time 14 Encounters

Group 2’s attempts to ESCAPE THE DARK CASTLE have ended here.

Epilogue

500 Years Ago…

The Fletcher regained consciousness. She felt very cold and felt as if death was very near. She was right in more ways than one…

“Ah you’re up, good. When the priestess’ retarded minions brought you in you weren’t breathing. Actually you still aren’t, but I’m sure you’ve noticed that by now. I’ve brought you back to life in a manner of speaking, you can repay me later. Which you will of course. In fact, you’ll be repaying me quite a bit I imagine.” a disembodied voice said.

“What have you done to me?!” she asked.

“As I said, I have brought you back to life to serve. Most of the time peasants like yourself are either just left to rot, to be eaten or maybe raised as zombies. Usually not as higher undead like you are now, but based on your ruthless actions, I felt you’d serve better with some of your intelligence intact. You should be honored.”

“My actions?”

“Well yes. I mean, if it wasn’t for you, I think you might have had a shot at escape. You deliberately always put yourself first rather than working as a group however.”

“That’s not true! I fought along side my group many times.”

“Oh sure, sometimes you fought along side your companions, but when push came to shove, you ALWAYS put yourself first. No shame in it, I can respect treachery, but your timing probably was off. I think the downfall was when you killed one of my defecting guards to help the weak willed Smith participate in a blood ritual.”

“The Smith needed the strength and the guard was nothing to us.”

“True. He wasn’t much to me either after he defected, but it drove away the morally annoying Hunter. Had he not left, you ALL might have lived to escape. He died a horrible death after he broke away from the group.”

“Not my fault he was short sighted.”

“Hrm. Indeed. And I think you still might have made it had you not completely backstabbed the Smith later by leaving him with the diseased bear to fight alone. I must admit, that was hilarious.”

“The bear was already upon him and the Tanner had already run off. Fighting the beast seemed too risky and there was no sense in catching the plague.”

“Ah, yes. You DID manage to avoid being infected. Not many accomplish that. Of course that still didn’t prevent you from dying. And speaking of the Tanner, you didn’t even TRY to help her in your very last fight did you? You just let that poor addle minded loon go in tits out retarded into battle, while you hung back letting her be a meat shield.” Face it, you were either directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of your fellow escapees.”

The Fletcher had no words. The disembodied voice was right, she had acted selfishly even though she believed herself to be acting strategically. And all it got her was…here.

“I don’t belong here, I did nothing wrong!” the Fletcher remarked which was followed by disembodied laughter.

“Your actions have proven otherwise. In fact you’ve proven that you belong here more than anyone, you’re home. I look forward to seeing how you settle in here. Anyway, I release you. Feel free to explore. Do as you wish, but remember, you’ll never ESCAPE THE DARK CASTLE.”

Present Day…

The Spirit reflected on those past words said by the master of castle as she floated away from the scene of the latest carnage (and a somewhat confused minotaur) she had lead the last group into. 

That particular group of prisoners had come almost as close as she once had to escaping as she once did. As much as she wanted to help them, she couldn’t help but to feel the need to ultimately betray and lead them into further danger.

She sometimes wondered if it was the evil of the castle that made her do these things, and while it would be easy to blame it all on this awful place, when it came down to it, it was her. She had the choice to be treacherous. She had that choice then, she had that choice now. She didn’t WANT to see others succeed where she had failed. She WANTED to see them die and be stuck here FOREVER.

The master was right, she did belong here. She was home.

“LOL FAGS.”

Fin.