Crux

(align:"=><=")[Prologue] The sky was pitch black. No moon, no stars. There was no breeze, and it was neither hot nor cold. As I walked through the forest, I realized I had been there before. I allowed my memory to guide me through the trees and to a clearing near a black river. Once I reached my destination, I saw someone familiar waiting for me; A beautiful but gaunt woman with inky black hair and amethyst eyes. Riding a Stygian horse, she towered over me, eliciting a deep sense of awe. Her long black dress billowed in the wind, and her hood kept her face cloaked in shadow. “Who are you?” I asked, and she made me wait patiently for an answer. In this place, it seemed, time was painfully slow. “*Death.*” Her gentle voice was a soothing embrace, a feeling of finally being where you belong. After a difficult and restless life, her voice was sleep. "No, this isn't right," she said, her amethyst eyes piercing through my soul. *"Your story isn't over."* [[Continue|P2]] {(set: $exp to 0) (set: $caseAXEL to "locked") (set: $caseOD to "unlocked") (set: $casePOL to "locked") (set: $rmom to 100)}

(align:"=><=")[Chapter One] (align:"=><=")[Level: $level] (align:"=><=")[EXP: $exp / $needed] (align:"=><=")[???: $influence%] {(if:$exp > 1000)[(set: $level to 7)] (else-if:$exp > 800)[(set: $level to 6) (set: $needed to 1000)] (else-if:$exp > 600)[(set: $level to 5) (set: $needed to 800)] (else-if:$exp > 400)[(set: $level to 4} (set: $needed to 600)] (else-if:$exp > 200)[(set: $level to 3) (set: $needed to 400)] (else-if:$exp > 100)[(set: $level to 2) (set: $needed to 200)] (else-if:$exp < 100)[(set: $level to 1) (set: $needed to 100)]} *"Your story isn't over."* Those words echoed through my skull as I woke up in the hospital bed, feeling empty and numb, like something inside me was missing. I sat up quickly, eliciting a scream from my mother, who was sitting next to me. "Y-you-" Mom started. "You were dead." She attempted to maintain her composure. "What?" "Your heart flatlined." She looked over at the monitor. "The monitor says it's still not beating." "Must be an issue with the machine. I'm alive," I replied, but for some reason I felt like I was lying. Was I alive? I reached to my neck to check my pulse and felt nothing. [[Truth|No Pulse]] [[Lie|Pulse]]

(if:$exp > 1000)[(set: $level to 7)] (else-if:$exp > 800)[(set: $level to 6) (set: $needed to 1000)] (else-if:$exp > 600)[(set: $level to 5) (set: $needed to 800)] (else-if:$exp > 400)[(set: $level to 4} (set: $needed to 600)] (else-if:$exp > 200)[(set: $level to 3) (set: $needed to 400)] (else-if:$exp > 100)[(set: $level to 2) (set: $needed to 200)] (else-if:$exp < 100)[(set: $level to 1) (set: $needed to 100)] (align:"=><=")[Level: $level] (align:"=><=")[EXP: $exp / $needed] In my cluttered office, I spun a pen in my hands. My boss, James, looked distracted by it, so I stopped. The smell of his coffee made me hungry. "I heard there was some kind of miracle in that hospital room, huh?" said James. I never did know if James was his first or last name. "Uh, yeah, sorta," I answered, opting not to tell him that I had become a Revenant. "You're pretty pale. Are you feeling well enough to get back to work?" "Yes, Sir," I replied, determined to keep working. "Good, because Jones just quit." I was a lesser-known private detective working for a small agency that specialized in crimes involving monsters and other supernatural creatures. It felt slightly ironic to be a monster investigating monsters. "Well, let's get you back to work, then. A couple new cases have come in." I opened up my laptop. [[Log on to the Computer|Page 1]] (set: $caseAXEL to "locked") (set: $caseWID to "locked") (set: $casePOL to "locked") (set: $caseBD to "unlocked")

I looked through the cases on the computer. Available cases: Page 1: * (if: $caseBD is "unlocked")[ [[The Blood Drained Body]] - Incomplete ](elseif: $caseOD is "locked")[(Not Yet Unlocked)](else-if: $caseOD is "complete")[The Blood Drained Body - ''Complete''] * (if: $casePOL is "unlocked")[ [[Staked Politician]] - Incomplete ](elseif: $casePOL is "locked")[(Not Yet Unlocked)](else-if: $casePOL is "complete")[Staked Politician - ''Complete''] * (if: $caseAXEL is "unlocked")[ [[The Vampire Ascendant]] - Incomplete ](elseif: $caseAXEL is "locked")[(Not Yet Unlocked)](else-if: $caseAXEL is "complete")[The Vampire Ascendant - ''Complete''] * (if: $caseWID is "unlocked")[ [[The Widow]] - Incomplete ](elseif: $caseWID is "locked")[(Not Yet Unlocked)](else-if: $caseWID is "complete")[The Widow - ''Complete'']

Test

(align:"=><=")[The Vampire Ascendant] Rumors of a powerful vampire have been circulating, and an anonymous tip was submitted that it may frequent a nearby forest. Do I want to select this case? [[Yes|VA1]] [[No|Page 1]]

(align:"=><=")[The Vampire Ascendant] (align:"=><=")[Level: $level] (align:"=><=")[EXP: $exp / $needed] (align:"=><=")[Demonic Influence: $influence%] I walk through the forest, searching for signs

"I don't have a pulse," I said, slightly panicking. "I don't-" My mom looked at me before she began to pray. "Holy spirit, we ask..." I didn't hear the rest of what she said because an excruciating wave of pain hit me. I felt like I was burning. *There is no God in this place, Revenant.* said a wicked voice, but it wasn't quite inside my head. A Revenant? Revenants are undead creatures. I couldn't be a- It started to make sense. The vision of death, the empty feeling. I was a Revenant. A person sent back from the dead. Oh my God, I'm going insane. Her prayers continued, burning my skin. [[Tell her to stop]] [[Endure]]

"Yeah, my pulse is normal. It's just the monitor, nothing to worry about." She breathed a sigh of relief, standing up. "Are you going to be alright?" I nodded. "I'm going to head home then." Why didn't I have a pulse. All of a sudden, it started to make sense. The vision of death, the empty feeling. I was a Revenant. A person sent back from the dead. [[Continue|Chapter 1]]

{(set: $rmom to it - 10) (text-style: "smear")[//Relationship ↓10//]} "Mom, stop," I said, interrupting her prayer. The burning sensation stopped. "What?" She said, offended. "It hurts." "What hurts?" "When you pray... It feels like my skin is burning." "Oh dear," she said softly, her brown eyes starting to fill with tears. "What happened to you?" She cried for a few minutes before standing up. "Well, if you're... Alright... Then I'm going to go." [[Continue|Chapter 1]]

I stayed quiet through the rest of her prayer, feeling like I was floating for a moment before collapsing back to the bed from the pain. [[Continue|Chapter 1]]

(align:"=><=")[Questions/Answers] * (if: $BDVname is false)[ [[Do we know his name?]] ](else:)[His name is Thomas Hernandez and he lives at 3303 Pine Street] * (if: $BDVtime is false)[ [[How long has the body been here?]] ](else:)[The body's been here less than two days.] * (if: $BDVsighting is false)[ [[Have there been any vampire sightings lately?]] ](else:)[There have been no vampire sightings.] [[Back|BD2]] (if: $BDVtime is true and $BDVname is true and $BDVsighting is true)[(set: $BDVspeak to true)]

(align:"=><=")[The Vampire Ascendant] (align:"=><=")[Level: $level] (align:"=><=")[EXP: $exp / $needed] I arrived at the lake to see the blood-drained body of a teenage boy surrounded by police tape. No doubt this was a vampire's doing. I walked past the police tape and looked to the officers standing around it. "Poor guy. Completely drained of blood and thrown in the lake." [[Speak to the Officers]] (if: $BDVspeak is true)[ [[Continue]] ]

(align:"=><=")[The Blood Drained Body] A man was found dead in a lake, entirely drained of blood. Do I want to select this case? [[Yes|BD1]] [[No|Page 1]] (set: $BDVspeak to false) (set: $BDVbodyexamine to false) (set: $BDVname to false) (set: $BDVsighting to false) (set: $BDVtime to false)

"Do we know his name?" I asked the officers. "Yeah, we found his ID in his wallet." The first officer said, handing it to me. I took a look at the ID. //Thomas M. Hernandez.// //3303 Pine Street// [[Back|Speak to the Officers]] {(set: $BDVname to true)}

"How long has the body been here?" I asked. "No more than two days. The family called him in as missing two days ago." I look at the body. The time period checks out. [[Back|Speak to the Officers]] {(set: $BDVtime to true)}

"Have there been any vampire sightings lately?" "Not that we've heard of," said the second officer. That makes things difficult. [[Back|Speak to the Officers]] {(set: $BDVsighting to true)}

What should my next step be? [[Go to the victim's house]] [[Ask locals for information]]

(TBC)

What next? (if: $BDVspeak is false)[ [[Speak to the Officers]] ] (if: $BDVspeak is true)[ [[Continue]] ]