I have decided I will resume working on the game I started planning for Coldstone, A Silent Fall (ed: this was posted a month ago). This is the text I have written to go along with a cutscene for the player setup. I posted a very rough version of this same text about nine months ago, so I decided to repost it for the enjoyment of everyone else. And for those who have read my initial version, there are some subtle changes too.

Enjoy, and feedback would be appreciated.
The following is Copyright 2001 by Matt Lyon.

Not many strangers ask about my involvement in the Sunset incident anymore. The bounty hunters stopped calling long ago, which is why you are still alive. I would ask why you seek me, but I no longer have anything to gain by denying history. I suppose you would like the whole story? Very well.

Since you know of my involvement you are no doubt aware that I am a practitioner of the black arts. Your curiosity likewise demonstrates you do not share the misdirected fear of my kind held by the general populace. That is good, you may well be capable of handling the truth.

Under different circumstances I would not have been involved in the incident. My involvement in Sunset is loathsome to me—but who can foretell such laments? Certainly, who among those alive could have predicted such a thing as Sunset?

( Flashback )

TERRANCE: It is time. I will perform the ritual tonight.

MASTER: There are risks, you know.

TERRANCE: I am aware of them. We must all face them to progress. I am ready.

MASTER: So you say. There is no going back, once you choose. You can choose to go home and lead a normal life. You would remember a lie, I can arrange that. I can promise you a life without curiosity of the arts.

TERRANCE:

MASTER: Or you can choose the path of my kind. Should you survive initially, you will never have an easy life, even if the current fervor over our kind should die down. As long as there are practitioners there will be the hate, perhaps longer.

TERRANCE: The preparations have been made. I will perform the ritual tonight.

MASTER: Very well. Peace be with you.

TERRANCE: May you walk as silent as the wind.

( End Flashback )

I succeeded, mostly. To be aware of the risks and to deal with their consequences are two completely different states of mind. I was lucky the ritual did not completely backfire. However, it is almost as if fate ordained my involvement in Sunset when I contracted Scorat’s disease.

I am uncertain which is more dangerous, the physical effects of Scorat’s disease or the social consequences of having a condition derived from forces beyond the comprehension of the general populace. Whichever, I had but ten days to find a cure, a feat not even Scorat himself could accomplish.

After much research I discovered my only hope. A woman mentioned only in passing as Persephone, had apparently cured herself of Scorat’s disease. She supposedly lived somewhere near the Turtle Coast. It wasn't much to go on, but it was all I had. The Turtle coast was far and my time was short—I left immediately. On the pass through the Alisir Mountains, I discovered a sinkhole...

(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 09-23-2001).)

(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 09-24-2001).)

Very nice! The whole time I was reading it, I kept hearing a very deep male voice reading it out, sort of along the lines of the Diablo II intro. I don't know if that's what you're planning to do, but having the cutscene play while the voiceover sounds could be really good.

Thumbs up Matt. If the rest of the story is as interesting, I'll definitely give your game a go. Sounds as if it's going to be good. More please.

-Andiyar

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"Any good that I may do here, let me do now, for I may not pass this way again"

Matt, aka sanehatter,

All I can say is - I am intrigued and want to play the game.
Keep up the good work and post more if you like. I'll be here
to read it.

Kagi

excellent. except for a few rough patches, that all sounds very intriguing. you have a talent for keeping melodrama out of fanciful dialog -- a skill the game industry is sorely lacking in. I look forward to seeing it all come together in a game.

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Do not follow me for I may not lead. Do not lead for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone.
-Jedi

This sounds like it will be extremely interresting. I'm looking forward to seeing and playing this one.
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(This message has been edited by Kireck L (edited 09-23-2001).)

Good piece, and I enjoyed it, though you might want to cut out the "speaking in punctuation marks" bit of the dialogue unless you're trying to achieve a Final Fantasy style.

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"I don't believe in hate crime legislation.
Even suggesting it makes me mad. You're telling me that someone who is a minority, gay, disabled, another nationality, or otherwise different from the mainstream of this country has more value as a human being than I do as a white male." - Ted Nungent