Maze of Sorrows

Good evening, citizens of San Justo. This is SJN TV with a developing story that is already sending waves across the the city.

After months of speculation, officials have confirmed has announced a new hero on the rise on July 7 at 18:00 EST.

Everyone has been already debating a crucial question:

“Who is this new rising star?”

For now, officials remain tight-lipped but anticipation continues to grow as the countdown begins.

What have you done to me? you ask through a blood-soaked throat.

A rhythmic thumping echoes in your ears. Cold, wet earth wedges between your teeth; your tongue feels fuzzy with dirt. You peel open your eyes.

Your pupils blow out, twinned voids drinking in what should be total darkness. Planks of plywood stretch overhead. Panic forces your hands up until you're scratching against the wood, scrambling for freedom. Terror and rage bleed out of every pore.

Soil falls into your mouth. You gasp. Oxygen floods your throat and sets it ablaze. You're on fire. Your stomach spasms, a cramp bringing tears to your eyes. Hollow--empty. Starving.

You've been buried alive.

"Knock it off. You'll be out in a second."

You wake up in a grave. Your grave. Fuzzy memories come crawling back. A nightclub. A stranger. A flashing smile; teeth in your throat. They creep back until you remember your own death. Before the details settle, steady hands pull you out of your casket. You've changed, the mouth that killed you explains. The caterpillar and the butterfly. You're something else, something better. A vampire.

I kissed you. I killed you. I turned you into a god.

FEATURES:

Be reborn as a fledgling vampire brought into a world unlike any you've ever known. The city comes alive at night, it turns out, for those whose hearts have long since stopped beating.

Play as a man, a woman, or nonbinary; trans or cis. Customize your appearance, your pronouns, and build up your fledgling's distinct personality throughout the game.

Embrace your new place as a creature of the night--develop your newfound abilities, get to know the other members of your coven, and find yourself knees-deep in a potentially deadly game of politics.

Or reject the life you never asked for. Seek out a cure and potentially help more than just yourself...or become obsessed with revenge, doing everything in your power to vanquish the undead.

Seek out love after death...or something like it.

Neverland is an 18+ dark supernatural romance work in progress in the early stages of creation. It's a story about terrible people doing terrible things to one another. And vampires. Mostly vampires. This is my secondary project and for the time being, updates will be extremely infrequent.

DEMO (tba)

Just finished part 1 of the chapter 2 rewrite. Added new stuff, like expanding the flashback with Soren. Adding choices to boost a skill. The scene with Isoldes' ladies is now optional, too. You don't have to join them if you don't want to, but be warned that this will lower the relationship with them. not by much though.

I also added a new little choice in Lucian's scene.

Part 2 of Chapter 2 will be out whenever I write it. Could be next week or it could be June lol.

If you find any bugs in this chapter, send them to the game's Discord linked on my intro post or dm them to me. I won't know they are there if you don't

Link

Welcome to Talesmoth, the city where you'll hunt down the legendary Black Hare.

Your goal is to...

> > bring him down. [Vigilante Route]

> > become his successor. [Apprentice Route]

On the train ride to Talesmoth, you strike up an unlikely friendship with...

> > a melancholic aristocrat looking for the husband who abandoned her. [Genevieve's Path]

> > a rough-around-the-edges lawman searching for his long-lost brother. [Kane's Path]

> > a wise and spunky elderly woman trying to reunite her family. [Lavender's Path]

> > a nervous, determined teen looking for the father who abandoned him. [Reed's Path]

When you arrive in Talesmoth, your journey begins. Explore an entire bustling city, get to know its varied residents, and find clues that will bring you closer to finding the elusive Black Hare - all of this through the lens of who you are at your core:

> > a person of integrity.

> > an outlaw.

> > a risktaker.

Maybe, when it's all over, you'll find your way home to your family...

> > by the endless sea.

> > in the charming countryside.

> > in the city you call home.

Nope. No AI was used towards the project at all, and with the icon specifically, I have a Speedpaint of it right here (I assume you mean this? If we’re talking about my PFP specifically, that’s from a different game)

Ignore how messy it is, I went through a few different choices before settling on the actual thing, and if you want recordings of the different chapter banners, I can provide those too.

I know that verifying writing is a little hard, but I will say this: I feel like generative AI is a cheap way to make something creatively, and even if it means that my work isn’t the best, I’d rather have that than something that wasn’t made by my hand.

I wouldn’t say my writing or my art are the best, but I do them on my own anyways because I love doing it, and just generating stuff takes that process away for the most part.

"Stein's always onto somethin'. Can't stay in one place." - TONY TON

a tattoo artist who works at EDGING OFF in halvrest and the infamous spitkisser00. on a summer vacation with their friends in camp hillbird. because of their drive for adventure, they personally wanted to tour-guide the camp and town, joining in on the investigation. seems to be unfazed by the paranormal. hell, it excites them as much as you three.

AKSEL HAUSTEIN.

ALEKSA HAUSTEIN.

BASIC PROFILE. around their 20s (24-26). black + norwegian mixed. november sagittarius. enfp-t. 7w6. an impulsive and sensation-seeking individual. conversational style is unfiltered, dynamic enough to engage others across a wide range of topics. thrives in unconventional settings. has strong interpersonal awareness. may fluctuate from playful confidence to quiet withdrawal.

APPEARANCE. has a deep umber skintone with full dark brown eyes. they recently dyed their hair platinum blonde but their natural hair color is black. they have multiple piercings in both ears, a bridge and a septum piercing in the nose, and don’t want piercings in their lips. only aleksa has her nipples pierced. tattoos all over the body, featuring ornamental, tribal motifs and references to their favourite bands.

if aksel — dreadlocks with an undercut, tied up in a short ponytail or down on its own. wear smoky eyeliner sometimes. punk and distressed graphic shirts. basic colored henleys with print. jackets with fur lining. jeans with edgy patterns. leather pants. chains around belts. silver bracelets and rings. hiking, balmoral boots and classic vans. if aleksa — braids with an undercut, afrocentric + alt hairstyles (half down, half up. raindrop braids, jade braids, etc.) wears smoky eyeshadow and eyeliner, dark-colored lipsticks. likes to show off her skin. halter tops with bra showing underneath. punk and distressed graphic shirts. jackets with fur lining. shorts and skirts over ripped leggings with belts. low-rise jeans with edgy patterns. long and layered necklaces. silver, chunky bracelets and rings. boots like the studded ankle and knee-high ones and classic vans.

FUN FACTS!

helps out at the homeless shelter and is good friends with some of the people who reside there.

how do they count with their fingers? starting with the middle finger (1), index finger (2), thumb (3), ring finger (4), and then pinky finger (5).

they hate bright light, so don’t shove any bright light source against them. sometimes, they wear sunglasses indoors.

LOVES pickles. eats them as a whole or in slices. dips them in any sauce.

they have stitches on the back of their head. [hint to their SECRET ?]

DEMO [TBA] ┃ ITCH.IO

FLESH REVIVAL is a narrative-driven paranormal and found footage horror game featuring themes of witchcraft and mythology, psychological distress, and mature, disturbing subject matter intended for 18+ audiences.

a self-built website with a youtube channel, created by you and your two best friends, where people online can submit requests involving paranormal activity in hopes of it being handled by you three investigators. provided with filmed footages.

most clients don’t ask too many personal questions, which is a good thing… for now.

anyway, want to communicate with ghosts? sure. need them banished from your home or business? a little difficult but not impossible.

when a new request comes in all the way from north dakota, there’s no way you’d turn it down. because this isn’t a case of one ghost. or even a family of them. it’s an entire location filled with unidentified entities.

camp hillbird in halvrest.

submitted by spitkisser00 (who is this person?), the request goes into detail about the town but focuses on camp hillbird, known as a hotel and camping resort. tourists and locals alike have reported seeing "specters" wandering the land.

the county police don’t bother with anything supernatural (they do not believe. not surprising.) so spitkisser00 turns to flesh revival instead.

they made the right call. after all, the resort and town would be in the hands of a ghost-hunting tech expert, an occult specialist, and you. the clairvoyant who can see the otherworldly with a membrane filter under your eyelids.

inspiration derives from franchises such as supernatural, silent hill, the ritual, the blair witch project, phasmophobia, and ghost files.

WHO ARE YOU ? fully customize yourself. choose your gender, pronouns, appearance, clothing style, personality, the skills you specialize in, and level up your clairvoyant ability.

GEAR UP FOR THE UNKNOWN. test out advanced ghost-hunting equipment, including new ones aided by the ahlstrand family.

DOCUMENTATION. own a detailed journal of everything you encounter. record evidence and their patterns, determine what kind of entities you’re dealing with. you will also get to read your self-entries.

TRUST NO ONE (OR DO ?) interview the residents of camp hillbird and the beyond with a voice recorder. there are open books, others are not as their secrets run deeper into the truth.

LEARN THE OLD WAYS. study protection and warding practices under crane, and collect items, incantations from “eccentric” individuals. you will have an inventory log of what you keep.

INVESTIGATE HOTSPOTS. search every corner thoroughly for hidden clues, strange markings and objects. the more you find, the better.

TEAM UP OR GET CLOSE. partner with others to unlock new paths. along the way, relationships can grow from platonic to something more if you can manage them.

ROMANCE OPTIONS. RESIDENTS OF CAMP HILLBIRD

AKSEL / ALEKSA HAUSTEIN [M or F] The Reckless Lagomorph. the one who sent your team to camp hillbird in the first place. yes, they are spitkisser00. A works as a tattoo artist and is an avid fan of your paranormal youtube channel, fascinated by every strange thing flesh revival manages to uncover. with a reckless appetite for adventure and a talent for making bad ideas look fun, they insist on joining the investigation as your self-appointed guide.

PERCY / PIERCE DILLANE [F or M] The Bleeding Hound. a traveler returning to halvrest to help at their uncle’s auto shop, while also taking on fishing work around camp hillbird to keep their family afloat. unfortunately, they also happen to be someone from your past. as one of the people tied to the ugly history you and your friends would rather forget. even if they are almost impossible to ignore, the sharp-tongued P wants nothing to do with your investigation or with you. though somehow, bad luck keeps forcing the two of you into each other’s orbit.

TAKANE / TAKERU MEGURO [F or M] The Hillbird. the owner of camp hillbird and the architect responsible for much of its design, making them the person standing closest to every secret buried beneath it. however, for someone so elegant and frustratingly unreadable, T is being haunted. if anyone holds the truth about camp hillbird, it's them. you just have to be persistent enough to get close.

MAVERICK WARDWELL [NB] The Crooked Stag. a well-known regular at camp hillbird with a jack of all trades reputation. hunter, horse rider, professional bargainer, you name it. charming to a dangerous degree, maverick trades secrets for favors. whether they are helping you or simply entertained by you remains unclear.

SALEM ABERNATHY [trans M] The Sentient Vulture. a park ranger assigned to oversee camp hillbird, meaning he also has to deal with you and your friends. salem spends most of his time patrolling the grounds and making sure no one gets themselves in trouble chasing ghosts in places they absolutely should not be (aka you guys). he's armed with too little sleep and the patience of a man being tested by the universe.

DEMO (TBA) • RELEASE DATE (TBA)

Once, the Rosanne Family was noble, unsullied, believed to bleed blue.

After millennia left unconquered, the glory of your family became a privilege witnessed only by your forefathers.

You and your sister Amelia seemed fated to waste away as orphaned scribes in the Great Library of Mortimer, your homeland.

The hand given to the two of you changes abruptly when a distant, long-forgotten maternal aunt passes away;

Mistress Seraphina Lerofey of Belamour Estate has proclaimed, in her will, that her lands are to be given to both you and your sister.

Having been gifted untold prosperity, you felt, for the first time in many arduous years, that this would be your gentle epilogue, a new chapter in your life.

However, when a midnight adventure in the maze behind your new Estate ends with your sister disappearing and you waking up in an endless, enchanted waterland, you begin to question what it truly means to be alive.

Can you find your sister and return home? Would you even want to return?

• The possibility to customize your Rosanne's name, gender, appearance, pronouns, sexuality, personal aspirations, strengths and weaknesses.

In a world that seems to have come straight out of a fairytale storybook, what does it mean to be human?

• Build meaningful relationships with a vibrant cast of characters, including three romantic options.

Love and friendship must be cherished.

• Define the relationship you had with your sister prior to her disappearance. Were the two of you close? Enemies?

Would you do anything differently? Would Amelia?

• Let your dormant magic unfurl.

This strange world allows beautiful things to blossom.

• Learn more about your forefathers and Aunt Seraphina.

Who ruined your family?

• Explore the mythical world of Lisianthus, a wondrous city elevated above crystalline waters, lovingly based on the Palafitas Brasileiras.

An homage to the hidden gems of my homeland.

• Return home. Or stay.

The choice is yours.

Helena Cassander (F) is the quiet, gentle owner of the Morena Mansion on the outskirts of Lisianthus.

She owns Mora's Tea Shop and is always ready to lend a listening ear and provide you a soothing, warm cup of peony tea.

Lonely as she is, Helena's sweet disposition never wavers.

Appearance: rosy skin with freckles on her cheeks and nose, pale blue eyes, and waist-length pin straight black hair. She is also blind. Helena is 25 years old.

Will you prove to her that the right person always stays?

Oriel Crescent (M) is bubbly, clumsy and spirited; many things in one.

A researcher, botanist and weirdly careful alchemist, is to him people turn to when they need a cure for their afflictions.

Affable and buddy-buddy to quite literally anyone, Oriel takes an instant liking to you and your mysterious condition. Granted, his curiosity can be grating, but Oriel's effortless charm makes up for it.

Appearance: medium brown skin, hazel-green eyes, and short-length curly caramel blond hair. Oriel is 28 years old.

Will you prove to him that love is not an exact science?

Juno Annika (F/M) is a mischievous, utterly distracted Toy Maker in Lisianthus.

Talented in all things they do, Juno prefers to live inside their own head, daydreaming and crafting their creations to perfection.

Absent but welcoming, they are sympathetic to your plight, having had a family member who went through the same your sister did.

Appearance: tan skin, grey eyes. F!J has mid-back length wavy auburn hair. M!J has wavy auburn hair in a neck-length mullet of sorts. They are 24 years old.

With a heart of gold, Juno is the friend you can depend on. Will you anchor them in reality, or better yet, join them in the clouds?

Content Warnings include verbal abuse, mentions of death, foul language, possible suggestive content and more. Player's discretion is advised.

@interact-if