Narrative Design

(set:$insane to 0) (set:$birb to true) You trudge through thick forest and cold rain, trying to ignore the pain of your aching joints as you take point on your surroundings. It's been so long since this folly began, but soon, this melancholy span of time will come to a close. You scan your surroundings. You clear your nose. (Click:?trigger)[He ran through a few hours ago. Thick tracks beset the sour muck. With your skill, perhaps with luck, you'll finally catch him. You can. You've come so far, with no tools but your senses. You are here to [[kill]] (replace: ?deadPhrase)[ ]][[He]<trigger| is close.]<deadPhrase|

the ''//[[Tomahawk Man]]//''. (css:"font-size:80%;")[Made in Twine by Rilee Horowitz.] <img src="https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/TomahawkMan.jpg" width = 40%></img> <audio src= "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Thunder.mp3" autoplay></audio> <script> var audio = document.createElement('audio'); audio.src = 'https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Rain_01.mp3'; audio.loop = true; audio.play(); </script>

As you slink between the trees, you think back on these years past. You never thought you'd be this near this fast, within your grasp is the man who stole away your sweet dear (if:$insane < 1)[(link: "Annabel")[(goto: "Annabel Lee")Annabel]](if:$insane >= 1)[girl.] This Tomahawk has put you through hell. It doesn't feel like long ago, but truly, you aren't sure how much time has passed. A year? A decade? It is a blur. ☉ [[A Shadow Is Cast]]

The clouds cover the moon. A torrent of rain pierces your bones. The biting cold brings you back to reality. You hone in on your mission, enough reminiscing, you'll soon meet the man you're missing. Mud coats your legs and boots and you continue to push on. Not too much farther into the trees, a clearing opens up, revealing a [[large house]].

(if:$birb is true)[You approach the door, cracked and rotting. You spot the form of something squatting above the graying frame. A (if:$insane >= 1)[[[dark black bird]]](if:$insane < 1)[dark black bird] stares down at you, its head cocked to the side. ] The crack that splits the house in twain bisects the door perfectly. The cut is not clean, but clearly visible on the surface of the wood. ☉ [[Enter]]

Through fractured glass inside you see with squinted eyes a darkened room. You wipe away the dripping water from the glass to see in farther.(Click: "farther")[ The carpet is stained with mud and soil, the room is furnished poorly. chairs are rotting, a bed frame is barely holding up. The fireplace is empty but smoldering. Who must live here but the man himself, the Tomahawk is near. The window slides up with ease, but perhaps a more careful method is required to catch the slippery man once and for all. ☉ (link: "Climb In")[(goto: "Window Way")Climb In] ]

You attempt to make your way past the labyrinthian mess of fallen beams and boards of wood, but try as you might, you cannot climb the stairs without injury. ☉ (Link:"Back Down")[(goto:"Enter")Back Down]

You slowly let the door creak open and peak your head in. It is black as midnight inside, you are blinded to the room. As you squint your eyes, a ringing in your ears begins to make you wince. ☉ [[Open Your Lantern]] ☉ [[Enter The Room]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) The creeping fear of losing her, more so than was her fate, eats at you every day, and the night you’ve come to hate.(click:"night")[ For when you close your eyes, take respite from your plight, she greets you with a solemn smile, your throat becomes quite tight. (click:"smile")[ You do see dancing images of flowing gowns and moonlight, she’s prancing through a glen, she’s gleaming in the night, reaching out towards you yet your mind never affords you just a single glimpse.(click:"glimpse")[ You forget her eyes. Her lips are next. Her visage slips from your memory, you are vexed. Her ghostly form remains, though. A faceless shell. What next will (link: "go?")[(goto: "Tomahawk Man")go? ] ] ] ]

<img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/The%20House%20of%20Usher.jpg" width = 50%> </img> The manor stands towering above you, casting silver shadows upon the ground. It is in a state of total disrepair. Roofs are caved in, vines and mold have overtaken the walls, and windows are shattered. Upon seeing it, a sense of insufferable gloom pervades your spirit. The house feels familiar somehow. ☉ [[Remember]] ☉ [[Press On]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) <script> audio.pause(); </script> <audio src="https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Annabel%20Laugh.mp3" autoplay></audio> Ghostly apparitions assault your every sense, the laughter is quite vivid, the sunshine quite intense, you fight for just a moment then surrender mind and body to whatever force is drawing you back into your memory.(click:"memory")[ (if:$insane < 2)[You see your darling Annabel before the wilting manor, she's running through the grass, she's laughing, this began her sprint towards the old house, which now appears to be lacking the cracks and splinters that scored the building, but is instead in a state of opulence.(click:"opulence")[ Annabel, the playful girl, beckons you to join her. You find your legs move by themselves, you run towards her. You feel strong, fit, and clear of mind, but soon you find that Annabel has gone, like fading mist, a spectre.(click:"spectre")[ The memories are fading fast, you can not hold on to them, and the image of your darling girl evaporates before you. What color was her hair? The timbre of her voice? The house decays(click:"decays")[ <script> audio.play(); </script> (goto:"Press On")] ]]] (if:$insane >= 2)[You see your girl, in fractured form, she's fading from your mind. Her dress flows far behind her as she runs laughing, a playful ghost, towards the broken manor.(click:"manor")[ A shattered sight of the old house shows sections without mold or decay, in fact a majority of the building is in a state of opulence, a beautiful sight.(click:"opulence")[ This happy feeling quickly crumbles and the girl begins to fade, like mist, before you can reach out and touch her, feel her warm skin, and as she goes, you make out her honey-sweet voice, before that too is nothing but a whisper on the wind. The house decays(click:"decays")[ <script> audio.play(); </script> (goto:"Press On")] ]]]]

You shake away the memories, they are no use here. You've found the hiding place of your cowardly prey, in the crumbling mansion, and now you must close in. A large bridge spans a moat that encompasses the property, and a large crack bisects the front wall from doorway to roof. Windows flank the front door, large frames with cracked panes. Water spills over aged shingles and shattered glass. How will you approach? ☉ [[Door]] ☉ [[Window]]

<audio src= "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Quoth.mp3" autoplay></audio> (set:$insane to $insane+1) (set:$birb to false) <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/White%20Raven.png" width = 50%></img> You inspect the raven, roosting on the broken house. It glares down at you with a knowing stare, the peck peck pecks on the rotting door. It cocks its head again, then opens its mouth. You swear you hear it speak for a moment. Whispers in your ear eat away at your mind. The raven's voice taunting you with a knowing word.(click:"word")[ but all that comes out is a loud //caw//. The dark bird flies away with a flap of its wings. You shake your head and approach the entrance.(click:"entrance")[(goto:"Door") ]]

You shake your head and pull up your [lantern]<lantern| (click:?lantern)[ lantern?(replace:?lantern)[] ] (click:"lantern?")[The lantern materializes in your grasp, like smoke becoming solid (replace:"?")[] The scene before you takes form as well as your senses are assaulted by [[visions]]. (set:$insane to $insane + 1)]

You enter the bedroom as the darkness lifts, giving way to a misty scene.(click:"misty scene")[ You can hear quite clearly the events that take place in the room, and you see a frail old man asleep in a bed. The room appears clean, well kept, opposite the dilapidated manor you once stood in. At the door, you see a figure where you once stood. ☉ [[Look Closer]]]

You can hear quite clearly the events that take place in the room. Despite your lack of sight, your ears have become keen to every movement and action.(click: "action")[ Slow breaths ring out through the darkness, there is someone deeper within the chamber. A burning excitement rises within you. The sleeping man is your prey. You intend to kill him. But you can't yet. Not until you see his evil eye. ☉ [[Open The Lantern]]]

You undo the lantern cautiously, oh, so cautiously, for the hinges creak. you undo it just so much that a single thin ray falls upon the evil eye. The face is wrinkled, the eyebrow grey with age, and the eyelid closed.(click:"closed")[ Always closed, every night you come in at exactly midnight and shine the lantern on the old man. You feel quite wise and clever for being so cautious, so careful with every move you make, and you are quite diligent in the job you have given yourself. However, every night the vulture eye is closed, and so, you cannot do the work. It is not the old man who vexes you, it is the eye. ☉ [[Wait]]]

You opt to wait a while longer(click:"longer")[ just for an hour(click:"hour")[ watching the man as he sleeps, but the eye never opens. A shame. You'll try again tomorrow night.(click:"tomorrow night")[ Once again you arrive at the old man's door, more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than yours does. You think, quite giddily to yourself, that there you are opening the door little by little, and the old man is unawares to your deed. ☉ [[Chuckle At The Idea]] ☉ [[These Are Not Your Thoughts]]]]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) You chuckle at the idea, and perhaps the old man hears you, for you hear him move on the bed suddenly, as if startled. You know he cannot see the opening of the door, though, the room is dark as pitch. ☉ [[Push On]]

You falter and take the time to clear your aching head and think. The lantern disappears from your grasp as you step away from the door. There, a foul creature lurks, a misty apparition that can barely be discerned, lying in wait before the door. Of course, the visions are aiding in your hunt, for the imp that crouches before the door is none other than the Tomahawk Man, or at least an image of him. He must be. ☉ [[Watch And Wait]]

You keep pushing into the room, [steadily]<stead|(click:?stead)[ [steadily]<steady|(click:?steady)[ You have your head in. ☉ [[Open Lantern]]]]

You move to open your lantern so as to discern the state of the evil eye.(click:"discern")[ Your thumb slips upon the tin fastening. The old man springs up in bed, crying out "Who's there?"(click:"Who's there?")[ You freeze(click:"freeze")[ keep quite still(click:"still")[ and say nothing(click:"nothing")[ You wait(click:"wait")[ for an entire hour(click:"hour")[ you do not move a muscle(click:"muscle")[ You listen, but do not hear him lie down. He must still sit up in bed, listening, just as you did night after night. ☉ [[Listen]]]]]]]]]]

You hear a slight groan, and you know it is the groan of mortal terror. The old man has been lying awake ever since the first slight noise when he had turned in bed. His fears have been ever since growing upon him.(click:"growing upon him")[ He has been trying to fancy them causeless, surely, but can not. He has been saying to himself, "oh, it is nothing but the wind in the chimney, it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "it is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." ☉ [[Yes]]]

He has been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions; but he has found [all in vain]<vain|.(click:?vain)[ All in vain(click:"All in vain")[ because Death, in approaching him, has stalked with his black shadow before him, and envelops his victim, and it is the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that causes him to feel the presence of your head within the room. ☉ [[The Lantern]] ☉ [[These Thoughts Are Not Your Own]]]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) You have waited a long time, quite patiently, without hearing him lie down. So you resolve to open a little(click:"little")[ a very(click:"very")[ //very// little crevice in the lantern. ☉ [[Open It]]]]

[Stealthily]<stealth|(click:?stealth)[ //stealthily//(click:"stealthily")[ you open the lantern, until, at length, a single dim ray, like the thread of a spider, falls full upon the [[vulture eye]]]]

It is open(click:"open")[ <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Vulture%20Eye.png"></img> //wide open//, and you grow furious as you gaze upon it. You see it with perfect distinctness, all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chills the very marrow in your bones ☉ [[Furious]] ☉ [[This Is Not Your Anger]]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) <script> audio.pause; audio.src = 'https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Heartbeat%20sound.mp3'; audio.loop = true; audio.play(); </script> Now, a low, dull, quick sound, which rises slowly, steadily. You know that sound all too well.(click:"well")[ It was the beating of the old man's heart. ☉ [[Increase]]]

You falter and take the time to clear your aching head and think. The lantern disappears from your grasp as you step away from the door, the boiling rage within you fades away. There, a foul creature lurks, a misty apparition that can barely be discerned, lying in wait before the door. Of course, the visions are aiding in your hunt, for the imp that crouches before the door is none other than the Tomahawk Man, or at least an image of him. He must be. ☉ [[The Tomahawk Grows Excited]]

Your fury increases, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage. But even yet you refrain, keep still, hold the lantern motionless. You hold the ray upon the eye.(click:"eye")[ Meanwhile, the hellish tempo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must be extreme.(click:"extreme")[ And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of this old manor, so strange a noise as this excites you to uncontrollable terror. The beating grew louder, louder! You think the heart must //burst!// ☉ [[The Old Man's Hour Has Come]] ☉ [[Stop This Madness]]]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) With a loud yell, you throw open the lantern and leap into the room. He shrieks once, only once. In an instant you drag him to the floor and pull the heavy bed over him.(click:"him")[ You then smile gaily, to find the deed so far done. But for many minutes, the heartbeat on with a muffled sound. This did not vex you, though. ☉ [[At Length It Ceased]]]

You pull away from the madness and rage that boiled within you. This is not you who wishes death upon an innocent old man, it is not you who takes delight in clever murder plots. As you step away, you see, crouched at the door, shaking with glee, a shadowy figure of another man, lantern in hand. You're sure, it must be the Tomahawk.(click:"Tomahawk")[ In an instant, before you can truly catch your bearings, the monster crouched by the door fully extends, lunging and grasping, leaping into the room after the old man with an animal roar. ☉ [[Stop Him]]]

(set:$insane to $insane+1) You cut off the head(click:"head")[ and the arms(click:"arms")[ and the legs(click:"legs")[ Then take up three planks from the flooring and deposit the man between the scantlings. You then replace the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that surely no eye, not even his, could have detected anything wrong. ☉ [[You Are Not This Man]] ]]]

You step away from the cold, dead corpse of the man, horrified with your vigor and enthusiasm in ending his life. You do not know how to feel, what is real, what is vision? Standing over the old man's corpse, a shadowy figure breathes heavily. (click:"heavily")[ You realize now what your visions have shown as the figure takes out tomahawk most wicked. You watch as the monster you hunt, or an echo of him at least, strikes the corpse again and again, cleaving free his head and limbs. (if:$insane < 6)[You are sickened as h](if:$insane >= 6)[H]e lifts up the floorboards, stashing the corpse within, hiding it beneath the manor's floor. You now know the origin of the scent. [[The Vision Fades]]]

As you seal the floor where you quarry now rests, hidden from all, you realize(click:"realize")[ These actions are not your own. You stand, shaken, and step away from the bed, staring down at your hands which fade in and out. You are not this man. (click:"You are not this man")[ You are //not// this man...(click:"...")[ Are you not?(click:"not?")[ ☉ [[The Vision Fades]]]]]]

There, a foul creature lurks, a misty apparition that can barely be discerned, lying in wait before the door. Of course, the visions are aiding in your hunt, for the imp that crouches before the door is none other than the Tomahawk Man, or at least an image of him. He must be. ☉ [[Watch And Wait]]

You stand motionless in the room, bearing witness to what presumably happened long ago. The old man rests peacefully as the door creaks open, and the Tomahawk peeks his head in. (click:"head in")[ You wait for what seems like an eternity, watching intently as the figure stares on at the old man. Then, a sliver of light spills out from the lantern he holds, falling on the closed eye of the sleeping man. He does not stir, but still, the Tomahawk Man waits, keeping the beam of light on the old man. ☉ [[Finally He Leaves]] ]

The lantern closes, the head retreats, and you are left in darkness. (click:"darkness")[ to wait(click:"wait")[ for hours it seems(click:"hours")[ but finally, the light returns. The old man is slumbering still. The door creaks open. You hear a brief but distinct laugh. The Tomahawk, giddily reveling in his own sick plans. ☉ [[The Old Man Stirs]]]]]

You watch the Tomahawk freeze as the old man startles awake and sits upright, staring with fear towards to door. He cannot see through the darkness like you, he is blind, save for what his ears can tell him.(click:"him")[ There is a sharp creak of the lantern's hinges, the Tomahawk's second mistake. The frightful elder cries out, "Who's there?"(click:"Who's there?")[ Silence. The man quivers with fear, letting out an involuntary moan. ☉ [[You Can Only Watch]]]]

Slowly, carefully, at the pace of a snail, the Tomahawk opens the lanturn. That thin beam of light shoots out across the room, igniting the old man's pale blue eye. (click:"eye")[ <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Vulture%20Eye.png"></img> ☉ [[The Tomahawk Grows Excited]]]

You see now the Tomahawk shudder and shake, his movements erratic and animal. The beam that lights the old man's eye remains steady, however. The Tomahawk waits.(click:"waits")[ Then, in a moment, one you almost miss, the monster at the door lets out an animal shout and leaps into the room, hand outstretched towards the old man. ☉ [[Stop Him]]]

You move like lightning, barring the space between this monster and the man. You mustn't let this Tomahawk kill again, but your efforts are for naught. (click:"naught")[ You watch in horror as the misty form of the Tomahawk passed through you like a gust of wind and tears the man from his bed, throwing him to the ground. ☉ [[He Kills The Old Man]]]

He pulls the bed overtop the struggling man, suffocating his weak form until he moves no more. Through the shadows that surround the nebulous form of the Tomahawk, you make out a gay smile, gleeful in having completed this terrible deed. There is more to see.(click:"see")[ He takes his wicked hatchet and strikes the old man with it. The head comes clean, followed by the arms and legs. Floorboards are pried up, and body parts hidden within the bowels of the house. You think you know the origins of that horrible scent. [[The Vision Fades]]]

You mull it over for but a moment before approaching the floorboards in question. Years of enduring the elements that invaded the manor through the crumbling roof have caused the floor to rot and warp. It is easy to pull up the flimsy wood.(click:"flimsy wood")[ (if:$insane <= 4)[The board bends easily. But as you pry it up, the horrid stench you met upon entering the house becomes poignant as it invades your nostrils from below. ☉ [[There He Is]]] (if:$insane <= 6)[(if:$insane > 4)[You tear the boards up, wincing as the scent of death hits your nostrils. You glance into the hole. Your muscles freeze. ☉ [[There She Is]]]] (if:$insane >= 7)[You tear the boards up desperately, ignoring the terrible stench of death as it hits your face. But now, as you gaze down into the hole, you are perplexed. ☉ [[There You Are]]] ]

You have no desire to dig up skeletons. You find the door to this cursed room and promptly make your exit. The entry hall is just and destroyed as you found it, and, making your way outside the manor, view it one more time in all its degradation and ruin. Then you see him.(click:"see him")[ <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Him.jpg" width = 30%></img> A sad looking man stares out at you from with a first floor window. His eyes bore into yours, staring deep into your soul. You feel almost a kinship with him. Another who knows your pain. (click:"pain")[ He inflicted that horrible pain you now bear, so he must understand it. Your bitter hatred bubbles up inside you as you stare down the man who sent you down the hardened road. You want to give chase.(click:"give chase")[ But before you can move, already the shadows envelop his form. Like a fading vision, an apparition in the night, the Tomahawk Man slowly evaporates into the darkness. [[He Is Gone]]]]]

The old man, or rather, what is left of him, rests beneath the floorboards. His body is in pieces, and that pale blue eye looks up at you. You are distraught. Again, the Tomahawk has claimed another life. "Sad, isn't it."(click:"Sad, isn't it")[ <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Him.jpg" width = 30%></img> You look up to see a small man dressed in dark colors, a black bird perched on his shoulder. He stands above the hole, with a sad look in his eye. He stares at you. (click:"you")[ "We both know how this happened," he says dejectedly. "A monster was left to its own devices, and this is what became of it."(click:"became of it")[ The bird cocks its head inquisitively. "That monster is inside you, you know. You can't stop it. That horrible thing we call a mind."(click:"mind")[ "It will play tricks on you. I'm sure you know. We did this." He gestures to the rotting corpse in the hole. You let me out."(click:"out")[ "I killed this man. I killed Anabel. But you just won't let me kill you too."(click:"you too")[ It is admirable of you. To try and hunt down the part of yourself you cannot control. You are a fool, but an admirable one. Don't stop trying. Maybe one day you'll kill me."(click:"kill me")[ His form begins to fade. Shadows envelop him. He once again resembles the creature you saw hunched outside the door. He gives you one final stare, sorrowful and empty, before he fades from your sight entirely. ☉ [[He Is Gone]]]]]]]]]

Inside the hole you see her, finally in her entirety. Her once beautiful hair now matted and drenched, covered in dirt and grime. Her full lips blue and lifeless. Her eyes, once full of life, stare blankly onward. Your darling Annabel lies dead. "You killed her, you know." (click:"You killed her, you know")[ <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Him.jpg" width = 30%></img> You look up to see a small man dressed in dark colors, a black bird perched on his shoulder. He stands above the hole, with a sad look in his eye. He stares at you. (click:"you")[ "We both know it. Maybe you loved her too much. Maybe you despised her. Can you really even remember? Was she even real? A shame, how quickly the mind rots."(click:"rots")[ "It will trick you, your mind. It is fickle and unreliable. How long have you hunted. How long have you searched for me? You don't know."(click:"You don't know")[ "You only know this dead girl. You are only driven by tragedy, because the mind craves it. And now you've began hunting down the parts of yourself you hate. The monster within you. Me."(click:"Me")[ "I wish you good luck with your endeavor. It is a foolish task, albeit admirable. Maybe you'll be better than the rest. Maybe you'll actually kill me. One can hope."(click:"One can hope")[ His form begins to fade. Shadows envelop him. He once again resembles the creature you saw hunched outside the door. He gives you one final stare, sorrowful and empty, before he fades from your sight entirely. ☉ [[He Is Gone]]]]]]]]

Inside the hole you see something you're not sure how to describe. For within the darkened depths of the mansion you see the corpse of yourself. (click:"yourself")[ <img src = "https://twineassets1.yolasite.com/resources/Him.jpg" width = 30%></img> A sad looking man stares up at you, with a familiar morose gaze that chills your bones. You stare, your mind racing, trying to comprehend what exactly you are viewing. Then the you in the hole chimes in. (click:"chimes in")[ "You are dead. I am too. I am you, but surely you knew that. You didn't come here to kill anyone. Except for yourself. That darkness within you has taken hold."(click:"hold")[ "You're mind is fractured. In pieces. You need something like me to keep it all together. You think me a monster, but I'm just you. You cannot hunt down your deepest darkest demons without hunting yourself as well."(click:"yourself as well")[ "You think a dead girl drives you. You are only driven by tragedy. You crave it. Yet you hate me. Do you not seek to feed the monster inside you? Why else have you come this far?"(click:"this far")[ "I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor, but unfortunately it is an impossible deed you seek to have done. You will never kill the Tomahawk Man. You can only make me stronger. Seek your dead girl that you cannot remember, seek out the grisly and the evil. You only feed me, and I, in turn, feed you. You need me."(click:"You need me")[ His form begins to fade. The earth envelops him. Before he is buried, he once again resembles the creature you saw hunched outside the door, covered in misted shadow. He gives you one final stare, hateful and empty, before he fades from your sight entirely. ☉ [[He Is Gone]]]]]]]]

The Tomahawk Man fades from your view. His words carry little wait, you cannot let him torture you with such ideas. You will find him and you will kill him. (click:"kill him")[ You can still sense him near, watching you. You can't let him slip away again, you cannot lose him. He killed you darling Annabel, he killed this dear old man. You dash out after him, into the wood. (if:$insane < 3)[But then you pause for a moment. Should you keep chasing this shadow?] ☉ [[Give Chase]] (if:$insane < 3)[☉ ''//[[Give Up]]//'']]

You've been hunting him so long, searching for some form of redemption. Some reconciliation. But destroying yourself like this has only brought you more suffering. You feel the urge to run, to sprint, to chase, but instead, you sit and wait. (click:"sit and wait")[ Time passes at a snail's pace, but still you sit and wait. You breath. You will not hunt him again. After a few moments, he appears. (click:"appears")[ He is still sad, but somehow more calm, as he fades in like morning dew. He looks down at you with some disdain, but in his eyes, you can see a faint smile. He sits down opposite you in the wet grass.(click:"wet grass")[ "The monster within you cannot be killed," he says, "but you can still be happy with this dark passenger. Let me show you how." [[Show Me How]]]]]

You trudge through thick forest and cold rain, trying to ignore the pain of your aching joints as you take point on your surroundings. It's been so long since this folly began, but soon, this melancholy span of time will come to a close. You scan your surroundings. You clear your nose. (Click:?trigger)[He ran through a few hours ago. Thick tracks beset the sour muck. With your skill, perhaps with luck, you'll finally catch him. You can. You've come so far, with no tools but your senses. You are here to [[kill...]] (replace: ?deadPhrase)[ ]][[He]<trigger| is close.]<deadPhrase|

You are here to [[kill...]]

''End''

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