By the Light of Day

They took everything from you. Everyone you loved, everything you built, and left you to die. They left you to them. But you didn't die. You survived. Now you live, such as it is, for one purpose: revenge.

The item system is not too complicated. Certain pages will ask you to craft potions using herb items in sequence, and then using those potions will reveal the next link. Note: you will need BOTH weapons to be anointed eventually.

To those of you trying to gain a quick point by rating a storygame, for your convenience I've left "End Game" exits whenever you die.

Special thanks to BradinDvorak for help with scripting regarding the item menu.

Thanks for playing!

Here is a trailer to give an idea what the game is about: Chivalry: Medieval Warfare Trailer

Death has come, and now the Lingering begins.

For ages, the Woe has approached. But as the Light of Life wanes, its spread accelerates. The guilty shall reap their cruel rewards, and only you know what you truly deserve. But what of the innocent? Preserve the Lingering, or all will feed the gnawing darkness.

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What are the limits of human ingenuity? Usually it is Nature who decides when a species is no longer worthy of continuation, but humans alone are able to truly understand their own limitations. However, understanding what you cannot do is not always enough, and eventually Nature decided to put human ingenuity to the ultimate test. Unfortunately, humanity knew they would fail that test the moment it was revealed. Unable to save themselves, they created something that could: PSYOPS.

Some quick info on the setting: It is generally believed that hominids lost their thick fur around 1.2 million years ago or so, give or take. However, for the sake of this story, Homo neanderthalensis will have thicker body hair than Homo sapiens (not bear-thick, but still thicker). There are two reasons I have chosen to do this: (1) They lived in the colder regions. (2) Homo neanderthalensis appears to have had primitive clothing compared to Homo sapiens; basically just fur capes, while Homo sapiens had more advanced stitching and more tightly tailored clothing (which kept them more warm). So I feel having neanderthals a little more hairy than Homo sapiens is a reasonable liberty for me to take in this story.

As for language and technology, both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis shared almost identical vocal anatomy where it matters. Despite neanderthals not having left behind nearly as much advanced artwork, they very likely had complex language just like Homo sapiens. As for fire technology, for the purpose of this story I am assuming that different hominid tribes were further advanced than others, irrespective of species. The neanderthal tribe the protagonist comes from has yet to master creation of fire.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Update: Put an End Game link on the same page the Epilogue link is, so you can skip it if you want, since it is so unpopular ;) .

The plague has come.

Humanity's brief moment on the clock of existence is winding down. As the undead slowly replace the living, the experts and leaders of the world have told you to accept this new reality, and survive the best you can.

And worst of all, they didn't tell you of the shame: the shame you feel as you watch your loved ones being torn apart by your own cold, undead hands...

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The Story of Count Osmond Jorgensen

There's no price a good man won't pay to save the woman he loves...

It was an unlikely marriage, but still somehow a happy one. Though he barely knew her, Count Osmond Jorgensen counted himself fortunate on the day of his wedding. Talia was more than he could have ever hoped for: beautiful, temperate, and always smiling. Osmond was fully taken, and believed that he would do anything for her. Over the years, he discovered just how far he'd go for the woman he loved.

WARNING: There isn't much by way of blatantly graphic sex in this storygame, but there are plenty of deviant erotic situations, including some pretty rapey ones. If such scenarios disturb you, this storygame probably isn't for you.

At its core, this storygame is a tale of a screwed up BDSM relationship, which you cultivate as the ultimate "sub." The goal of this storygame is to get your boss to engage in as many "unprofessional" acts as possible, and to eventually sway him into falling for you, all without getting fired along the way. If you make the right decisions, the game escalates from event to event, bringing you closer and closer to a relationship with your boss. It's pretty linear, and you'll know for certain if you get the "winning" ending. Let's just say it will involve a leash and some public humiliation. *1/8/2019 Republishing to re-upload background images.

You work in a small law firm, performing both receptionist and data entry roles. Your job is thankless and tedious, but one thing keeps you coming back: your boss, Brandon Wheeler. Aloof and dispassionate, Wheeler exudes a muted but overwhelming power you find irresistible, and you are determined to tame that power, even if it costs you your career.

Synopsis:

The ancient wisdom says, "If any man would not work, neither should he eat."

Fortunately for you, there is enough evil lurking in the dark corners of the world to pay the bills. Or to at least get an extension on them.

Usually, rumors of a witch savaging a village send travelers away in fear, but not you. As a contract witch hunter, you rejoice at such news and the promise of a financial windfall that comes with it. This particular contract, however, seems unusually dangerous. Witches tend to follow certain patterns, the most consistent of which is an attempt to remain unnoticed beyond the village they victimize. This one, however, seems to be recklessly spreading destruction, showing no fear of repercussion. Unfortunately for you, such contracts are rare enough that you cannot turn them down. Risk of life and limb, or worse, simply comes with the job.

Lol I remember when that happened to me. I wanted some clarification about the prompt before I agreed to participate, and got roped in. Probably got shamed.

After that I felt like the story needed the main character to go on a journey in the aftermath of the destruction caused by the storm, and to then meet a jaded kind of antihero, and I guess I kind of "pantsed" it for a bit after (although I still had key scenes I wanted to happen, like meeting Lucifer and so on).

That's usually how my process goes. Events aren't exactly planned, but rather, emotional states and "vibes" are planned. So does that make me a pantser, a plotter, or something in between? I will say that I usually know how I want my stories to end, but I don't really know where that puts me on the spectrum. Probably more pantser since I'm not usually meticulous about the details, other than knowing I want a few specific scenes.

In the case of this story I'm working on, I will say that there have been a couple moments where it's become too much about the list and less about the inspiration, so I'd agree that keeping up the passion when you're following an outline is a bit more difficult. And maybe trying to make the outline work and fit with your emotional vision can be tiring as well.

I hit some major snags with the logic and plausibility of some things—the punishment for trying to make something a little more complex than I usually do which doesn't just rely on either hand-wavy world-rules or deus ex machina moments all the time (For example, I spent the better part of two weeks on the logistics, motivations, and character reactions related to a conspiracy in the story, because I kept undermining my own character plots and actions by questioning if they were plausible over and over again. Several times the questioning was justified, which means I didn't think things through very well initially.). I still probably have a little of that despite my best efforts to beat it out of the narrative.

The fallout from this hangup is that my writing was completely derailed and frozen to a halt. My outlining phase went twice as long as I wanted it to, and now I have half the writing time for the full pages.

The positive from that is that I have the most detailed and lengthy outline I've ever had. I think—or at least hope—that writing the pages will come like melted butter squeezing through a gorilla's fingers because of that. The only conundrums will be starting each page, since I like to always set the scene, and not taking too long a break after finally finishing a detailed outline.

But for once I'm not approaching writing a story merely with vague ideas. I know exactly what I want to write. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to add an entire extra pillar to the story, but that may not happen. Either way, I think there's hope I'll finish in time.