While hiding in the hay, the disorientation from the fall begins to fade and you start remembering past events bit by bit.
Your mission, the reason you're at this castle in the first place, slowly creeps back into your mind. Startled by your realization, you quickly search your pockets until you're able to feel its oval shape close to your body.
Relieved, you decide to stay hidden until [[nightfall->Nightfall]] and rest while you can.As you run towards the gate, you notice that the cart you had stowed away in when infiltrating the castle is no where near you. If only leaving was as easy as entering.
The guards at the gate notice your intentions and begin raising the [[bridge->Bridge]], but you see a path to your right headed towards a [[staircase->Stairs]].
And if all else fails, you can always [[surrender->Surrender]], though a jail cell isn't the first place you'd want to find yourself inAs the sun sets down you decide to take a nap and rest as much as possible before you make your escape.
Awoken by the sound of carriages and people, you find that the castle you've infiltrated is hosting a sort of social gathering for nobles.
You realize that you could [[infiltrate->Infiltrate Party]] this party and attempt to escape through the guise of some rich noble, but that would be a risky plan you're not too thrilled about.
Theres also the possibility that you could use the commotion of the event to [[avoid attention->Avoid Attention]] and sneak out of the castle's walls, but that's way less fun.As you reach the top of the wall surrounding the castle, you see a [[weapon rack->Turn and Fight]] near you
In front of you is a stone fence short enough for you to peek outside. As you look down towards the ground you see the river underneath the bridge. It's possible to [[jump->Jump]] down and get to land, but unkown depth and dark colored water deter you from instantly doing so.
(if:(num: $Intellect) > 7)[You see a [[barrel->Barrel]] near the top of the staircacse, and come to the conclusion that rolling it down the stairs would very much end in the worst way possible for the guards. Are you willing to see this deicision's effect?](if:(num: $Speed) > 5)[You manage to reach the bridge before it is fully closed, and jump into the river under the castle.
You find yourself swept by the current and taken on a not so joyous joy ride to the lake south of the castle.
As you swim to land, exhausted and dripping wet, you search your pockets and find that the ruby amulet you had stolen from the castle is gone.
[[Try Again.->Choose Your Character]]]
(else-if:$Speed < 6)[Despite your best efforts, the gate closes before you can reach it, and you feel a spear touching your [[back->Surrender]].]The guards who have only seen your back till this point now find themselves in front of you, leading you to the [[cellar room->Cellar Room]] with spears and swords in hand.. Luckily they don't see you capable enough to steal anything, so they don't bother searching your pockets. Yay.Not as shabby as the last jail cell you'vc been in, but could still use some redesigning
The walls worn and iron bars rusted, the cell you find yourself is crowded with bugs and skeletons; instant 3/10.
You are unable to find a way out of the cell; no gaurd to trick, no intact piece of bone or stone to make into a tool, nothing.
After days in the cell, you are hanged in front of the villagers, your corpse shown as a warning to any who dare oppose the noble of the castle.
[[try Again->Choose Your Character]]Good news: Your legs didn't break from the fall. Not so good news: The arm you landed on sure did. The water was deep enough to engulf you, but not enough to ensure no injuries.
Due to the amount of pain you're end, it becomes difficult to remain conscious.
(if:(num: $Stamina) > 6)[Despite this, you pull through, and while excruciatingly painful, you keep going. You swim to shore as soo as you're far away from the castle and take a short break. With the adrenaline starting to wear off, you hurry to the nearby village and search for a doctor. While battered and bruised, you see today's mission as a success, and start daydreaming about what you could possibly do with the money the jewel would fetch for.
[[Go back to the beginning.->Choose Your Character]]]
(else-if:(num: $Stamina) < 0)[You lose the the drowsiness, and faint. You never wake up.
[[Try Again.->Choose Your Character]]]With a sword in hand, you prepare to attack.
With the guards going up the narrow staricase, you find yourself with the upperhand.
(if:(num: $BIQ) > 7)[You charge at the guards head on, knowing full well that the encounter will end in your favor. Victorious and free of any damage, you go towards the [[gate->Gate]] now that there are no guards to interrupt you.]
(else-if:(num: $BIQ) > 3)[You cautiously walk towards the men, blocking as many attacks as possible. By the end of the fight, you find yourself the only one standing, though not unscathed. Wincing at the sight of your wounds and bruises, you decide to approach the [[gate->Gate]] in an attempt to open it.
(set:$Stamina to 4)
(text-colour:red)[Stamina -5]]
(else-if:(num: $BIQ) < 4)[You're dead. As you raise your sword in an attempot to swing it, a spear finds its way into your chest. It kills you, though it allows you enough time to curse at yourself.
[[Try Again.->Choose Your Character]]]Attempt to pull of a [[noble's appearance->Noble's Appearance]], or just accept the fact that you have no style and try blending in with the [[staff->Cook's appearance]].As you sneak along the stone wall surrounding the castle, you find what appears to be a [[manhole->Manhole]] under a flight of stairs. You decide to take a risk and go down it. Not the best scenario to find yourself in, but the only one you got.As you spend time at the party socializing and stealing all the appetizers, you hear that the auction taking place later that evening was suppose to include a precious ruby amulet that had recently been stolen just hours before the event.
Huh, wonder who stole it.
The nobles begin heading towards the room hosting the auction. You can either [[join them->Auction Room]], or [[wander off->Wander Off]] and find a way out of the castle.The manhole leads you to a drainage tunnel, and [[Wait->Wait]] for a distraction and then leave. or throw all caution out the window and immediately [[swim->Swim]] to the other side.You find a carriage with some spare clothes inside. You put them on, and, despite a serious wedgie from tight under garments, you proceed with the plan. No one seems to be suspicious of you as you walk into the building, though they give you a weird look for having no wig or tights. Nobles have weird taste.
[[Party time.->Party Time]]In an attempt to sneak through the back entrance and into the kitchen, you bump into a butler on their break. Perfect timing.
By the time the last carriage arrives, you're able to don the butler's clothes and help the nobles off their carriage.
With everyone turned the other way, you sneak inside the carriage's storage compartment and hope they don't check it on their way out.
A few hours later you feel the carriage starting to move, waking you up from a short nap. Stealing from a noble is hard work, and taking a nap is warranted,
After what you feel is a safe amount of time for the carraige to get far enough from the castle, you ditch the storage compartment and make a run for the nearby forest.
While not the most glamorous exit, at least you're outside, and the jewel in you pocket will make sure that you won't have to go inside any more storage compartments for a long time.
[[Back to the beginning.->Choose Your Character]]Entering the auction room, you notice that the items up for auction are either shiny jewels (a must have for nobles), art pieces, or relics of unkown origin. Spooky. You sit down with the rest of the nobles and watch as auctions keep rising and nobles keep glaring at the prized items.
After the auction. everyone goes back to the the ball room, though not before some guards take interest in you and begin following you.
You notice immediately, and decide to make a run towards the door.
(if:(num: $Speed) > 5)[Despite wearing noble flats with absolutely no traction on them, you manage to evade your pursuers, and make it to a hallway with multiple doors, including some that you perceive as highly ominous.
(set: $door to (random: 4))
(if:$door is 1)[Without much thought, you pick [[one->Exorcism Room?]] of the ominous doors and go inside.]
(else-if:$door is 2)[Without much thought, you pick [[one->Treasure Room]] of the ominous doors and go inside.]
(else-if:$door is 3)[Without much thought, you pick [[one->Dragon Room]] of the ominous doors and go inside.]]
(if:(num: $Speed) < 6)[The flats you decided to disguise yourself in seem to be going the opposite way you head towards, and soon the guards catch you, taking off your disguise and throwing you into the castle owner's personal [[jail room->Cellar Room]]. Yippie.]You decide to wander off into the castle and hope it leads to a way out.
The hallway you find yourself in offers a variety of doors, though you find that most of them are either storage rooms or bed chambers after some exploration.
(if:(num: $Intellect) > 7)[You soon find three unexplored rooms with distinct symbols. Through a bit of brainstorming you end up deciphering the symbols and understanding their purpose.
The door to the right of the hallway's first pillar reads "[[Beware of->Dragon Room]](text-style:"wavy-strike","blurrier","rumble")[Dragon]." The last part is too worn out to read.
The door near the beginning of the hallway states "[[Necromancers Only->Exorcism Room?]]." Seems fun.
The last ominous door is at the very end of the hallway. The door reads "[[For Noble Eyes Only->Treasure Room]]."
You suddenly hear footsteps approaching you, seconds away from reaching your location.
Without much of a choice, you're forced to pick out of the three supicious doors.]
(else-if:(num: $Intellect) < 8)[Among the unopened doors are three that seem different from the rest; there are different symbols on each door, although you are unable to tell what they mean.
(set: $door to (random: 4)
(if:$door is 1)[As you struggle to comprehend the symbols, you hear footsteps approaching you. Before the owners of those footseps can see you, you pick a [[random door->Exorcism Room?]] and go inside]
(else-if:$door is 2)[As you struggle to comprehend the symbols, you hear footsteps approaching you. Before the owners of those footseps can see you, you pick a [[random door->Treasure Room]] and go inside]
(else-if:$door is 3)[As you struggle to comprehend the symbols, you hear footsteps approaching you. Before the owners of those footseps can see you, you pick a [[random door->Dragon Room]] and go inside]]It seems that not all the party guests arrived on time. An hour after you discovered the manhole, you see a carriage on the road heading towards the castle.
With the drawbridge covering the tunnel exit and the carriage overpowering any noise in the vacinity, you decide to make a run for it.
It seems that the sneaky approach worked, and by the time the sun comes up, you are already at home celebrating your somewhat successful infiltration.
You're ego, as well as your pockets, grow tenfold, and you decide that since it was so easy last time, you might as well [[try again.->Choose Your Character]].(if:(num: $Luck) > 6)[While swimming to the other end of the river, a flock of geese start attacking the guardtower's archers, giving you an opportunity to escape intact. How lucky.
You sucessfully escape the castle with your life, as well as the jewel, still intact. You count yourself lucky for surviving, but you fear that you won't be so lucky next time. While you were able to return home, you decide to retire your life of crime and pursue something less risky.
[[Return to the beginning.->Choose Your Character]]]
(else-if:(num: $Luck) < 6)[As you turn your back towards the castle, an archer spots you from the top of the tower. With his bow drawn, he releases the arrow that soon finds its way to the back of your skull. You dead.
[[Try Again->Choose Your Character]]]You already start regretting your decision by the time your turn towards the open room. Inside you find a large beast on top of mountains of rusty relics and gold.
The dragon soon wakes up, and spots you immediately. While in chains, its presence still scare you, and you are taken back for a short while. How will you confront it?
(if:(num: $Intellect) > 5)[You decide to take the peaceful approach, and attempt to converse with the dragon. Before you can speak, you hear the dragon in your head, asking for the reason behin your sudden and unannounced visit.
Trying to find an excuse, the image of the door with the "For Noble Eyes Only" sign. You figure that it is probably a treasure room, and a wild idea comes to mind.
You tell the dragon that while searching for a way out of the castle, you came across a treasure room. The dragon's eyes widen, as if in a trance, and starts paying attention. Yow [[ask->Ask]] the dragon for a safe way out of the castle, and that in return you would free it of it's chains and lead them to the treasure room.]
(else-if:(num:$Intellect) < 6)[You're unable to come up a plan to confront this beast, and you end up dead on your tracks, long enough for the guards to check the room and [[apprehend->Cellar Room]] you and lead you to their jail cells.]Closing the door eliminated any trace of light in the room, and you're unable to even see your hands. You see a faint glow coming from the floor, and upon closer inspection, you see that the glowing is making a sort of pattern. You step inside it, and by the time you realize what is happening, the runes activate and trap you.
You begin seeing shapes of people appearing in the room, though they seem to be tranluscent and glowing. You soon come to the conlusion that the room is some type of exorcism room, and wihout any experience with necromancy, you are unable to deal with the rune or ghost problem.
Despite your best efforts, you become possessed by the phantoms.Cue wierd stuff ghosts do while in your body, such as crawling on the walls and or excreting some sort of ectoplasm out of your body.
By the end of it you wake up in the middle of a forest, covered in weird goo and almost no trace of clothes;
It takes you hours to reach civilization, and roaming the streets half naked and gooey doesn't give off a good impression for the villagers. Lucky, what remains of your clothes contained the jewel and some money, so you decide to check into an inn while processing what happened to you. At the end of the day, your mission was a success, though most of it you have no recollection of it, probably for the best.
[[Go back to the beginning.->Choose Your Character]]Upon entering the room, you find yourself face to face with a pile of... well treasure to keep it short.
You see a variety of shiny objects common for nobles to horde. From priceless relics and paintings, to gold and diamond pendants, you see treasures that far surpass your life earnings.
You try to take as much as you can, your greed clouding your judgement and ceasing any opportunity of leaving the castle.
All the gold and items way you down, to the point where you are unable to take two continuous steps. This gives the guards enough time to spot you and catch up, and by the end of your "attempt" to leave with your spoils, you're met with iron bars and a skeleton for a [[jail cell->Cellar Room]] companion.You have been given 25 character points
Assign character points to the chategories below however you see fit
[[Combat IQ->Combat IQ]](input-box:2bind $BIQ,"=XX=",1,"")
[[Speed->Speed]](input-box:2bind $Speed,"=XX=",1,"")
[[Intellect->Intellect]](input-box:2bind $Intellect,"=XX=",1,"")
[[Luck->Luck]](input-box:2bind $Luck,"=XX=",1,"")
[[Stamina->Stamina]](input-box:2bind $Stamina,"=XX=",1,"")
When you are done and have spent all your points, just give me a heads up.
[[I'm done->Confirmation]]1-3: You somehow manage to cut yourself whenever you hold a sword. You lack any talent for the bow, and would rather negotiate when on the other side of a sword.
4-7: Being a self taught swordsman, you know a few tricks here and there, but no enough to always ensure your safety.
8-10: You've had to defend youreslf since you were little, and have the ability to leave a fight victorious and unscathed.
[[Go Back->Choose Your Character]]1-3: Tortoise level. It's a wonder why you haven't been caught stealing at this point.
4-7: I don't know what animal represents average speed. A mouse? Either way, you're able to keep yourself from being a caught during tag most of the time, but that's it.
8-10: Hare level. You a speedy boi.
[[Go Back->Choose Your Character]]1-3: You're notthe brightest of the bunch. You're able to put two and two together, but when it comes to strategies and books, your head has more air than the atmoshere.
4-7: You got an average IQ, but that's pretty much it. You're not the dumbest, but you're not exactly a prodigy either.
8-10: You're the teacher's pet. There's not much else to say here.
[[Go Back->Choose Your Character]]1-3: Black cat levels of bad luck. You die if you step on a crack
4-7: You don't win the lottery, but at least you don't have to worry when you walk under a ladder.
8-10: You find spare coins under your pillow every day, and never have a bad hair day. Godly.
[[Go Back->Choose Your Character]]1-3: You have the stamina of a toddler. How are you even able to walk a few steps?
4-7: You can survive a marathon, but just barely.
8-10: Might as well tackle a few tri-athlons during the weekend.
[[Go Back->Choose Your Character]]When you come to your senses, you realize that the 3 story fall onto some hay didn't kill you. Unfortunately, the few seconds you were unconscious gave the guards enough time to reach the stairs, allowing them to continue their pursuit.
Of course stealing their noble's precious jewel would lead to such a persistent chase, but you had planned infiltrating a much less garuded castle, and your back up plan went out the window as soon as they noticed you.
Two choices pop up in your head: either [[hide->Hide]] somewhere nearby and hope the guards give up their pursuit, or [[run->Run]] for the main gate.(set: $Points to (num: $BIQ) + (num: $Speed) + (num: $Intellect) + (num: $Luck) + (num: $Stamina))
(if:$Points is 25)[(t8n-time:2s)[[I'M READY WOOOOOOOOO!!!!->Start]]]
(else-if:$Points < 25)[You seems to have left some points unspent. Please [[return->Choose Your Character]] to the previous page.]
(else-if:$Points > 25)[You seem to have used up more points then you have. Please [[go back->Choose Your Character]] and make sure to spend your points wisely.]You kinda fucked up for picking this option not gonna lie. Anyways, you push the barrel and smile from ear to ear as the guards either jump out of the way into the cold hard ground, or get the air knocked out of them shortly before their faces meet the stone stairs. Damn.
With the guards unconscious, you decide that its safe enough to approach the gate in an attempt to [[open it->Gate]].(if:$Stamina > 4)[While troublsome, in the end you're able to get the front gate open, and you walk out before any other guards can get to you on time. Soon you find yourself at the nearby village, drinking to your heart's content after your more than successful infiltration.
[[Go back to the beginning.->Choose Your Character]]]
(else-if:$Stamina < 5)[Despite your best efforts, you are too exhausted to open the gate. You fall to the floor due to overexertion, and you lose consciousness. YOu wake up and find that some of the guards are still alive, an astute observation you make as they [[apprehend->Cellar Room]] you and take you to the castle's jail cells.]The dragon sees your plan as their best course of action, and decides to help you while also helping themselves.
Luckily freeing the dragon is as easy as grabbing the keys near the door and opening the locks. The dragon, now free, stretches for a bit, before lowering its head and asking for the directions to the traeasure room.
After giving up the information, the dragon tells you to get on its back. As you do, the dragon lifts off and crashes through the ceiling. With a rough idea of where the treasure room is, the dragon swoops into the csstle, shattering the roof of the treasure room and taking a mouthfull of treasure with it.
After, the dragon flys away from the castle, sending a few fireballs at the castle as it leaves, and drops you off a nearby village. Thanking you, it gives you an indefinite inviitation to their cave, though you are not allowed to take any of its treasure, else you'll be traated the same way the castle was.
Though a pretty eventful day, you're thankful that's the end of it. You're extremely tired, and you just hope to make it to bed before you end up sleeping on the ground.
[[Go back to the beginning.->Choose Your Character]]