"Welcome to the Dark Land!"
That was the first thought that came to me when I woke up in the bed at night. And then — laughter. Mocking laughter that followed me for a while. Then everything went quiet.
No matter what, I have to find three agents who were sent here before me and went missing — white-haired girls just like me. And I need to figure out what the hell is going on in this place.
I looked around.
The bedroom in twilight. A window with pale moonlight. But then the moon slipped behind the clouds. Darkness filled the room. A living darkness. Thin black shapes moved inside it.
Dozens of yellow eyes lit up in the dark. They stared at me with hunger. Hunger called to them. They started moving closer. Fear touched me.
Morale: 9 (-1)
On the nightstand beside the bed lay a magic amulet.
"Throw it at them! Now!" — I heard a voice in my head. A woman's voice, strong, with something in it that made me trust it.
I grabbed the amulet and hurled it at the creatures closing in. The object flew into the cluster of shadows.
A flash of bright light. The eyes vanished. I was alone in the room again. No more terrifying night visitors.
Morale: 11 (+2)
A completely unfamiliar place: the bedroom I had never seen before, the house I hadn't known until this night.
I focused on the window and the door. Look through the window or step out the door?
There are windows you should never look through — otherwise whatever you meet there will turn you toward it and make you pay in full.
Driven by my boosted morale, I walked to the window and looked outside.
At first everything seemed normal, if you ignore the fact that the landscape was clearly magical: a dark garden below, a tall stone wall, and beyond it a black ancient forest. In that forest stood a castle — gloomy, frightening, irresistible. My heart began to beat faster.
Then something awful happened.
I stared into its windows and saw red light burning behind them. A sudden shift tore through my reality.
Suddenly, I found myself in a dark, vast corridor. Long rows of portraits lined the walls. Pale, sinister faces stared out from them. They smiled, baring sharp teeth, and fixed their red eyes on me.
But the worst was the figure approaching down the corridor — towering, over 6'6". Human… or not? Wearing a hat, with eyes glowing red from beneath its brim. Its mouth stretched into a wide grin full of long, sharp teeth. Dressed in a nobleman's suit, it spread its arms, long black nails gleaming, and moved toward me. Flashes of lightning struck the corridor — one, two, three. The terrifying nightmare drew closer. One of the bolts struck me.
I came to on the bedroom floor, breathing hard. I no longer had any desire to look out the window.
Morale: 8 (-3)
Energy: 9 (-1)
I stood and approached the door.
From behind it came a whisper of many voices at once:
"Yes, go on! Step outside! We're all waiting for you!"
And a quiet, hateful laugh that froze my blood.