Plot and Character Feedback

In the earthen valleys of Gnomen, Gilda meets with Princess Amber, who more or less has her head knight Jasper do the talking for her. Jasper, treating Gilda’s idea as a sham, challenges her to clear the infestation of zombies/undead creatures in the kingdom’s mines. As Gilda ventures through the mines, she finds a pair of metal slippers that allows her to crush rocks/enemy’s armor/so on and eventually finds the reason of the infestation- the mine unknowingly shares its territory with a massive, hidden crypt built within the mountain. The remains of a necromancer who was interred there became reanimated by “some dark force that recently made itself known” and in turn raised the zombies. Gilda defeats the necromancer’s remains, but is angrily rebuked by Jasper “for doing his job for him” and not recognizing his challenge as an apparent joke.

In the dense forests of Draydea, Princess Lillian appears to be very supportive of Gilda’s idea and proposes that she solve the Ordeal Grove, a labyrinth once used to test knights, and ring the bell within it, as to provide morale to the movement. Within the labyrinth, Gilda finds a harp that shoots arrow-like sound waves and completes the dungeon’s three tests. In the end, she defeats the final test- a golem designed to test the knight’s combative skills- and rings the bell. Upon meeting with Lillian, Gilda discovers that the forest princess had mistaken her mission as dominating over knights and uses Gilda’s movement as a means of acting on her (Lillian’s) disliking of them.

In  the river delta of Undeem, Gilda meets with one of two of the kingdom’s princesses- River. River explains that her younger sister Rain has been recently-abducted by a disgruntled mystic named Leon and is currently being held at the area’s former palace, which had been abruptly abandoned for an unknown reason centuries before. River and her knights- Ren and Len- appear to support Gilda’s movement and propose that Gilda venture to the palace, wherein they’ll meet her later. Gilda ventures into the palace and finds a compact mirror that turns her into a shadow in what appears to be a hidden training room. Gilda saves Rain from Leon, who flees for the time being. Rain proves to be helpful when traversing the dungeon and Gilda eventually meets up with her after being stalked by what appears to be a patch of dark water in a sewer way. Just as Gilda and Rain get to the entrance, River arrives and is captured by Leon, prompting Gilda to rescue her. Like Rain, River accompanies Gilda throughout the dungeon, but is far less helpful/competent than her sister. In the end, Leon falls into the dark water that stalked Gilda and is turned into a hideous monster she defeats, Leon being reverted back into a human and reduced to a terrified, catatonic state. In the fallout of the event, River is denied immediate training, to which accuses her knights of discriminating her because she’s a princess. Ren tries to explain that it’s due to her lack of talent, citing that Rain will likely be trained due to her skill, but is promptly silenced. This results in Len dismissing Gilda’s movement and urging Ren to do the same, while River voices her support, it being clear she’s only in it for the glory.

In the volcanic planes of Salamand, Gilda encounters Boss Crimson Goblin, the leader of the minions who abducted her in the beginning of the game. Eventually, Gilda meets with Princess Scarlet and her knight, Ruben. Scarlet supports Gilda’s idea, while Ruben is skeptical of it (though he treats her views respectfully). Hearing that Boss Crimson Goblin is in the area and has settled in a nearby abandoned fortress, Ruben ventures out to evict them, but fails to return and results in Gilda venturing out to see what happened. Within the fortress, Gilda finds that Boss Crimson Goblin, suffering a sudden change in personality, turned against his men and began brutalizing/terrorizing/caging them. Upon freeing his men one by one, they explain that the personality change occurred after a drop of dark liquid landed on his head when entering the fortress and that he has Ruben hostage, wanting to lure Gilda into his clutches and kill her. Find the dungeon’s treasure, a bracelet that summons fireballs that circle around her, Gilda challenges Boss Crimson Goblin, who she appears to knock out before he awakens and charges her again. However, using the last of his freewill to break whatever control is over him, Boss Crimson Goblin warns Gilda of his mental parasite’s intentions and, to save Gilda/Ruben/his men, jumps into a lava pit to sacrifice his own life. As the duo leaves the dungeon, Ruben realizes what he went through is what a princess typically does. Though Gilda thinks that this will simply allow him to see things differently, Ruben misinterprets it as meaning that the knights “are the bad guys.” Gilda and Scarlet tries to explain that that’s not the case, by Ruben only listens to his guilt.

In the snowy mountains of Sylephy, Gilda meets with the head knight- Felix- and is surprised to learn that he’s already teaching the area’s princess- Diamanda- to defend herself. Enthusiastic to meet the princess, Gilda is told to head to a nearby tower that’s used to store artifacts, where Diamanda went to check on “some family heirloom or something” as she often does. Gilda ventures through the tower, finding a scarf that allows her to bound over pits, and encounters Diamanda, who explains that the tower had very recently become the subject of poltergeist activity. Reluctantly, Diamanda allows Gilda to follow her, provided that she keep what happens there a secret. Eventually, Gilda fights and defeats the poltergeist haunting the tower- a hooded figure that urges Gilda to “stop this and save herself” before vanishing. Diamanda reveals that she lied to Felix about checking on a family heirloom, and uses her visits to the tower to get away from training and “relax like a princess normally would” (having tea, reading, so on). Though Diamanda expresses gratefulness at her opportunities to defend herself, she prefers the spiritual duties/luxurious lifestyle of a princess as opposed to the combative one of a knight. She also expresses her worries that such a preference would hinder progress, which are concerns Gilda herself can’t sate.

Every dungeon’s treasure is found at the base of a tablet that has all but one part rubbed out, each tablet combined telling a complete story. The story itself is about an unknown woman who upset the status quo of the country, resulting in a clash between her group and the knights of the country. What happens in the second-to-last part of the story isn’t revealed, but the story ends with the country finding peace again.

After completing the dungeons, the princesses/knights of the country meet up at Gilda’s castle. What was supposed to be a diplomatic/peaceful discussion becomes an argument, which upsets a mentally-exhausted Gilda and has her retire to her room, Vinnie being able to sate the argument. Vinnie meets with Gilda and assumes she’ll stop her mission, only to have Gilda expresses hope in her idea and will continue on, despite how hard the journey has become. To Gilda’s surprise, Vinnie rebukes this, revealing his actual unsupportive nature to Gilda’s idea and explaining that the only reason he supported it in the first place was his belief that Gilda would give up and quit on her own. (This was also how he convinced the king to allow his daughter to start her journey, as well as the fact that he was actually shadowing Gilda the whole time alongside Roberto.)

Gilda, Vinnie, and Roberto are called by the king and the advisor to a secret chamber that contains an intact tablet that reveals the rest of the story. The mutual anger/outrage of the woman’s group and the knights created a monster that absorbed the woman, the act placating it and allowing people to seal it away. The king explains that every time the balance between knights and princesses are challenged, the monster awakens and can only be sealed if either the status quo is restored or if the person who causes the social disruption is absorbed by it. Gilda disbelieves this, until she realizes that the slime monsters were actually extensions of the monster and that it was the cause of most of the problems she encountered (Boss Crimson Goblin’s corruption, the necromancer awakening, the haunting in the tower, and Leon’s mutation). She’s further horrified when she discovers that the treasures she discovered in dungeons weren’t merely magic objects, but possessions of princesses the monster previously absorbed. The king and the adviser explain that such knowledge was kept a secret to give people the illusion of having a freedom of choice (as well as to keep them from knowing that an unkillable monster lives beneath their feet). Now seeing that her life is in danger, Gilda formally ends her mission to calm the feuding kingdoms/groups, but voices her despair of being trapped in the cycle she despised so.

That night, Gilda ventures to her castle’s library, finding herself drawn to looking up information on the monster. The ghosts of the dungeon treasures’ owner appear to her, revealing the monster to be called “the Misos” and that it’s actually contained in the castle’s catacombs. A calamity begins within the castle, it being discovered that Vinnie and Roberto had ventured into the catacombs to confront the monster. Wanting to save her knights, Gilda sneaks into the catacombs and encounters Boss Crimson Goblin’s minions, who help Gilda prepare to confront the monster that ruined/killed their leader. Gilda ultimately encounters Vinnie, who reveals that he’s only there to save Roberto, who had ventured in alone. Roberto himself explains that he wanted to kill the monster and help Gilda, himself agreeing with Gilda’s intentions and seeing them for what they really are. Vinnie rebukes this, his anger/malice awakening the Misos more than Gilda was ever able and having it break through its seal and pull Gilda and Vinnie within its blob-like mass.

Gilda awakens within the Misos and finds herself in front of a healing/saving statue, which reveals itself to be the remaining essence of the original princess that challenged the system. Moved by Gilda telling the statue her journey (the player saving), the princess tells her that she might be able to weaken the Misos enough to destroy it. Fighting her way through the Misos’s dungeon-body, Gilda is able to free the essence of the previous princesses, whose spirits confront the present day rulers of their domains and correct their misconceptions. In the end, Gilda confronts the heart of the Misos, which had binded itself to Vinnie. With Roberto’s help, Gilda is able to defeat Vinnie/the Misos, splitting the two. While Roberto tends to his brother, Gilda confronts the Misos’s heart (which takes the form of a male version of Gilda) in his cage. Rather than fight, Gilda talks to it, the heart slowly opening up to her and realizing that it’s current condition is similar to that of what a princess typically suffers. Seeing the futility of its own existence, the Misos vanishes, thanking Gilda and wishing her well.

The denouement has Lanayalan’s leaders/knights reevaluating their actions/the system, the player being able to freely roam Lanaylan. Should the player enter Gilda’s room, they will be confronted by Vinnie’s main enemy, who had been on vacation and is unaware of the events that transpired in the country. The overlord goes to abduct Gilda, the credits rolling just moments after he ponders why Gilda’s wearing armor/holding a weapon and is attacked by her.

Spoiler





"God once created several other races before humans even existed, wiping them all out due to finding these animals imperfect. when God had told the human race to eliminate themselves, this was the first time any creature had turned their backs on their creator. As god is not allowed to interfere with the planet physically after the foundations have been set, he proceeded to create a race that was once again in an isolated dimension however, this was no longer his attempt at perfection. These creatures were born with the following properties:


- They are born with an extreme bloodlust


- They are created in a way where the only food they find edible is human mean


The basics is that these creatures need to kill humans in order to survive and so were quickly given access to the dimension the humans currently resided at once the foundations for their dimension had been set. Humans have now been driven back through portals which were the only method for creatures to transport between dimensions along with the wildlife that was originally created to support their life who have since been freed and mutated constantly into several variations over the course of thousands of years. Humans current reside on the last livable dimension for their kind, their current goal is pushing back the enemy through dimensions against gods will and to eventually eliminate their kind in order to not be wiped out."

A murderous robot that loves teddy bears, and doesn't understand love.

A bumbling evil-in-training fire user that doesn't really know what he's doing yet.

A murderous ogre that just wants to kill, kill, and kill.

A skeletal secretary who's second in command on the holiday takeover project.

A mysterious leader, who seems to have a lot of dark power.

And Hitler. Literally Hitler.

A standard hero, that knows he's a standard hero, and is trying so hard to be more than that.

An idiot that seems like comic releaf, but is actually quite strong, and such a likeable fellow.

And a smartass ninja that doesn't mix well with the idiot, and proves for some very interesting dialog exchange.

-SHADOW DESTINY-


PLOT OUTLINE - part 1

• 
  Upon turning 18, Kell, who lives on a farm, begins having unsettling dreams.
  
• 
  Her parents tell her that the answer to these dreams may lie in a book once owned by her grandfather.
  
• 
  The book is currently in the hands of Kell's aunt, in the port city of Jasper, capital of the kingdom of Retante.
  
• 
  Kell's father offers to take her partway, to a coaching inn, from where she can get passage to the city.
  
• 
  They are waylaid by bandits before reaching the inn and Kell is forced to hide in a nearby cave. Her father is taken by the bandits.
  
• 
  Following a night of further strange visions, Kell explores the cave, noticing a sealed doorway at the back of it.
  
• 
  She is discovered by Noster, a young caravan escort based at the coaching inn. He rescues her and takes her to the inn, as it is closer than her home and she may find information as to where her father has been taken.
  
• 
  She does not, but she overhears a conversation that implies that the attack on the road was no accident. Unsettled by this and fearing there is more to the attack than simple banditry, she decides that she must return home to her mother.
  
• 
  Noster convinces her not to, the road is too dangerous and besides, what if there is a connection? She said so herself. Still conflicted, Kell agrees, but on condition that Noster sends one of his closest friends, Jakob, back west to look after Kell's mother.
  
• 
  Noster agrees, and insists on accompanying Kell to Jasper, although he is evasive when she asks him why he wants to.
  
• 
  The dreams are coming more often now, and Kell suffers another night of restless sleep. In the morning she heads out east along the highway with Noster. The two day journey is fairly uneventful, although the camp they make at a ruined temple the day before arriving at Jasper reveals more mysteries to Kell. She asks Noster about the strange cave he found her in, and the locked door, but he won't talk to her about it, saying only that it has remained shut for as long as he can remember, and to the best of his knowledge no one has ever been through it.
  
• 
  Kell is beginning to suspect that Noster knows more than he is letting on, and additionally that he is attracted to her, as he seems very eager to look after her on the road. Also, he does not seem surprised at the dreams she has had, nor at what happened during the night at the stones...
  
• 
  Further evidence that all is not as it seems however, occurs in a canyon not far from Jasper, where the two are beside by creatures from the wilds. Kell suddenly starts to recite a spell in an unknown language, following which there is a mighty flash and the once the smoke clears the creatures are dead, and Kell has fainted. Noster brings her round, but she has no clear idea or memory of what happened.
  
• 
  They arrive at Jasper and Noster takes Kell to see Sora at the Four Hands Inn, down by the waterfront. Kell wastes no time in bringing Sora up to date with all that has happened, although she leaves the part with her wanting to know about the book until after Noster has left - he says he has some tasks to perform, but that he will be back later.
  
• 
  Kell tells Sora about the book, and Sora says that she has it in the cellar of the Inn, hidden away to keep it safe. Sora's father, Kell's grandfather, had always told her to keep it hidden, he said it was a thing of Power, and should be treated as such. Sora tells Kell that Kell can go and look at it but she must not try to read it until Sora has joined her, as only Sora knows how to unlock the book.
  
• 
  Kell heads downstairs to the cellar and finds the book, hidden behind some old barrels. She takes the book out and lays it upon the floor of the Inn, waiting for Sora to join her. Suddenly the book unlocks itself and falls open on a page full of strange symbols and writing that she cannot decipher.
  
• 
  Kell looks more closely, trying to see what the writing says when suddenly the is a bright flash, the ground shakes and she feels a terrible sensation of falling. Everything goes black and Kell loses consciousness.
  
• 
  Hearing the commotion, Sora rushes into the cellar accompanied by Noster, who has just arrived, to find that Kell has quite disappeared and that the book itself is now blank on the pages that Kell was looking at.
  
• 
  Noster takes the book to his real employer, Radugar, a wizard of some renown. Radugar had originally sent Noster to the Inn as he had foretold that Kell, or at least the person who turned out to be Kell, would be travelling to it. Noster's job was to safely escort Kell to Radugar's residence just outside the city, after she had collected the book.
  
• 
  Radugar is angry with Noster for failing to keep Kell safe, and for allowing her to read and thus trigger the teleport spell that was written on the pages that Kell had been looking at when she disappeared. He tells Noster that he must go to find Kell and bring her back whilst he himself examines the book and tries to piece together the events of the last few days and what the knows of Kell and her story.
  
• 
  Noster asks Radugar where he thinks that Kell may be. Radugar tells Noster that he fears that she may have been carried to Knysse, the city in mountains to the west ruled over by Zildus, a wizard of great and dark power. It is likely, thinks Radugar, that Zildus also knows of Kell and the nascent power she holds within her. It may even have been his voice that she has been hearing...
  

End of Part 1

MAIN CHARACTERS

• 
  KELL VALLESSE: (F18) - a seemingly ordinary young woman living with her parents on a farm to start with. She turns out to have powers that she's not initially fully aware of, and certainly does not understand. Her rejection of these powers places her and the world in great danger.
  She is slim, with long black hair and, unusually, green eyes. Sheltered and a little naive, she has a good heart and a searching and inquisitive nature. She is often to be found looking up into the night sky and peering under rocks and into caves.
  
• 
  NOSTER KAMARLE: (M21) - a young warrior, initially from the south who meets up with and befriends Kell following the attack on Kell and her father and his subsequent disappearance. He takes on the role of her protector, but later, paradoxically, is also assigned to hunt her down and capture her. It turns out that there was more to him finding her after the attack than first appeared, and that his true employer is not actually the Inn of Cruces' caravanserai.
  Noster is fairly and short and stocky, though muscular from his time as a soldier. He has red hair and green eyes. He comes across as quite stern initially, but underneath this outward demeanor he is actually a bit of a romantic. He is an orphan.
  
• 
  RADUGAR: (M53) - a wizard. He has foreseen Kell's potential and tries to teach her to harness and control her powers, for the greater good. He initially meets with little success and Kell rejects him, turning instead to The Shadow: Zildus - whose castle she had previously been unwillingly transported to.
  Radugar comes across as rather bumbling and forgetful, although this is really just an act. He is considerably more subtle and powerful than he prefers to let on...
  
• 
  ZILDUS: (M??) - an ancient warlock of mighty power, holds sway over a dark, western kingdom in the mountains. He is interested in Kell's powers as well, though for use as his own, though there is another reason that even Kell is not aware of, when our story starts...
  
• 
  JALENA M'ZENDY: (F30) – An Elf and Zildus' second-in-command. She is completely faithful to him and carries out his commands to the letter. She is a powerful warrior in her own right.
  

OTHER CHARACTERS

1. 
   King Volnus: king of Retante
   
2. 
   Deukis Vallesse: Kell's father
   
3. 
   Latya Vallesse: Kell's mother
   
4. 
   Sora Bennethe: innkeeper in the city of Jasper and Latya's sister, she holds THE BOOK
   
5. 
   Dennis: a soldier
   
6. 
   Kensis: a traveling merchant
   
7. 
   Anna: a priest in the church in Jasper
   
8. 
   River Guardian: a holy being dwelling in The Chamber of Light
   

MAIN LOCATIONS

• 
  RETANTE: A small eastern kingdom ruled over by King Volnus. It borders the ocean on its eastern side and mountains to the north. In the south of the kingdom there are deserts with strange and ancient ruins in them, whilst moving to the north the countryside becomes greener and more fertile. Kell's parents' farm was located to the north, at the foot of the mountains.
  
• 
  JASPER: A port city in Retante and also the Kingdom's capital. Sora the innkeeper lives here, who is Kell's mother's sister.
  
• 
  KNYSSE: Capital city of Zildus' western Empire. Located by a huge, deep lake whose bottom is rumoured to house a strange and ancient ruin of vast proportions. Out of necessity, Knysse has trade relations with cities on the plains to its east, but few from there ever visit it.
  
• 
  THE INN OF CRUCES: An inn partway between Kell's parents' farm and Jasper. Notable in this story for being the inn that Kell and her father were heading for when they were waylaid by bandits.
  
• 
  THE CHAMBER OF LIGHT: A mysterious hollow deep within a cave system to the south of Retante. Kell and Radiger visit it in order to converse with the River Guardian.