#darkfall

Darkfall

Dark Fall: The Journal (2002)

Dark Fall is a 2002 first-person psychological horror/adventure game developed and independently published for Microsoft Windows by Jonathan Boakes, under the XXv Productions label.

February 16, 2022:

Obsidian Secondary, Guardian, Firefly.

Darkfall - Episode 01 - Blight (part 3) 

From a distance, the tree seemed completely normal.  As they drew closer, Irma stopped to take the sight in.  Something about the bushes and even the ground surrounding it seemed strange.  The ground was softer as though muddy and red streaks shot through the leaves and bark.

She lowered her bag to the ground and crouched to zip it open.  It contained several empty collection vials and bags, along with tools for collection.  Irma removed a bag and short scraping tool and turned her attention to the tree.  She slipped the scraper beneath a piece red bark and slowly pried at it with the bag waiting below.  As the bark came loose, a thin greenish slime stretch between it and the wood.  Irma eyed it narrowly as she tried to get as much of it into the bag along with the bark.

“Is that sap?” Jill asked excitedly from behind, bent at the waist.  Irma started slightly, not realizing Jill had been standing behind her the whole time.

“I don’t think so,” Irma said, irritated.  “Aren’t you supposed to be assisting me?”

“Where do I start?” Jill asked, straightening to look around.

“Just bag anything unusual,” Irma ordered terseley.  Jill shrugged and walked off semi-aimlessly.  Irma sighed and rolled her eyes.

Jill’s wandering brought her to a cluster of shrubs.  The ground was unusually soft here as well and the leaves shot through with red like veins.  She put her own bag of collection gear down and withdrew a bag and small trowel.  As she dug into the soil, a pungent odor stung her nostrils.  She grimaced and turned her head slightly as she filled the bag.  She dropped the collection bag into the larger one and sprang to her feet.

“Hey, I got some!” she called across to Irma, who had moved away from the tree to another.

“And?”  Irma called back.  “Find more.  Vary your samples.”

Jill scowled slightly and ripped a fistful of leaves from the bush.  She winced as she did so, the leaves stung her hand.  She quickly stuffed them in another bag and involuntarily shook her hand.  She held the bag up to her face and inspected the leaves.  They didn’t seem to have thorns of any kind.  Holding the bag in her hand, it seemed strangely cold as well.  Shrugging and sighing a bit, she dropped it into the collection bag with the soil and closed it up.

With the bag over her shoulder again, Jill looked around for something else.  A giant tree, fallen on its side, drew her attention.  She glanced over to Irma, mouth open to speak but closed it again.  She moved over to the tree, running her eyes over it as she approached.  It looked normal - healthy even, no red streaks in leaf or bark.  The only sign of wrongness that she had quickly learned to recognize was the softening of the ground.

As she approached she could more clearly see just how massive the tree was.  At least ten feet across and hundreds tall.  A gaping hole was left in the canopy to match the one it left in the  ground.  Jill came up to the rim of the hole and peered down.  The gaping hole in the ground was filled with the remnants of the trees root-structure.  Although from here she could see they were discolored - the red didn’t surprise her but the almost black purple did.  Also the horrible smell of death was new.

Jill hopped down inside and immediately covered her mouth as the awful smell assailed her nostrils.  She opened her collection bag again and removed her tools.  Stretching latex gloves over her hands and removing her tools, she scanned the area for something to collect.  Dread flowed over her but she put the mission first.

“Is this normal?” she muttered to herself as she gingerly poked at a section of an intestine-like root.  It was soft to the touch and a dark sludge dripped out from where it had ripped away from the tree.  She dabbed a finger into a puddle of the sludge and pressed her fingers together.  The goo stretched between them as she moved them apart.

Knowing she wouldn’t be able to figure anything out, she quickly pulled a vial out from the bag and scooped some of the sludge inside.  She capped it, stuck it back into the bag and withdrew the trowel again.  Another collection bag followed and she scooped up another sample of the softened soil.

“What are you doing?” Irma’s sudden call startled Jill.  She turned to see Irma standing at the edge of the crater. 

“Look at this!” Jill called back, holding the end of the mutated root and shaking it slightly.  Some black goo sprayed around.

“Quit playing and bag it,” Irma ordered, not seeming to show any interest.  She moved her gaze off to one side, deeper into the forest.  “There’s not too much else here to collect.  I want to move further in and see what we can see.”

“I thought you didn’t even want to be here?” Jill asked as she used a small cutting tool to remove a piece of the root.

“I don’t, but I’m still not going to half-ass it.  Maybe there are clues out here.”  Irma turned on her heel and stalked off.  Jill quickly stuffed the weird flap of tissue into a bag and jumped out of the hole.