The Way is Lit

by tsundekawaii

Darkest Dungeon isn't the story of heroes. It's the story of people, and people are fragile. People can break, and, unlike heroes, people can only handle so much. This is the short story of four explorers who find themselves entering the ruins of this once immaculate estate, wondering if they will ever leave.

The shadows of the room around us danced in the firelight like demons waiting for a member of our party to foolishly leave the light. The sharp creaks and menacing groans of long rotted wooden panels and unsteady floorboards echoed through the halls of this place, promising damnation for anyone foolish enough to travel alone. It always seems the meager light of our fires extended just far enough to keep the edging abyss away, but never enough to provide any real comfort. The crumbling ruins of a once grand estate sat behind us, while a sheer cliff face gave us a clear view of the full moon to the side where a wall had crumbled away. Luckily, all the walls shrouding other parts of the house had not crumbled, giving us some respite from the creatures stalking the halls on the other side of the singular door back into the manor.

Reynauld sat by the fire, dark lines flickering on his face. His left hand held prayer beads, slowly being nudged one-by-one with his thumb. He was a holy crusader from far to the west. Looking at substantial frame and robust form, coupled by the large sword he carries and his armor emblazoned with symbols of the church, any onlooker would call this man a warrior. I know, though, that on the inside, all he wants to do is sit down in a church somewhere and pray for absolution. Pray for all the lost souls and the sins he had committed in the name of God. He caught my glare and I looked away. A hint of a smile crossed his battle-scarred visage.

"Something on your mind?", he asked me.

I looked back into his eyes. "Oh… I'm just thinking. You know how it is with these sorts of scouting missions into the ruins."

"Yes, I suppose I do." He replied. This was our fourth foray into this abandoned complex in just as many weeks. "You know that Lord Sauvigni would never send us into any challenge he did not think we could overcome."

"Yes, I know… It's just… have you noticed that the creatures we have been fighting have become increasingly… er… troubling? As we have moved onward? At first it was just bandits and the occasional rabid dog, but lately there have been many more… unholy entities."

His smile disappeared as he looked back towards the fire. "Yes, I have. I just hope we can find the abomination spawning these creatures soon enough, and rid this place of their foul stench."

We turned back to our own devices. Reynauld had a good heart. Unlike many of the others who had come here under the call of Lord Sauvigni, he had not come for money. He had come to "cleanse the land of that evil which is currently eating it, and to protect the remaining innocents whose livelihoods are being destroyed." Always one for the dramatic, I suppose.

I looked at the holy book sitting next to me on the floor. I was a vestal, a holy warrior. Specifically, a battle nun, but that sounds a lot less menacing than holy warrior. I could relate to Reynauld's efforts to protect the realm, and of his unwavering devotion to God, but I could never muster that sort of resolve in the face of adversity. I went into this line for the simplest reason I could… because I had to. There was nowhere else that you would be fed and given a place to sleep for free if you had been a thief for all of your early years except for the church or prison, and when I had first stumbled half-starved and on the brink of death to the doors of the Chapel this was the best occupation for one with my talents. Of course, over the years I did develop a reverence for God, and I did develop skills meant for healing wounds and bringing comfort rather than causing destruction and selfish self-preservation.

In the end, though, I had come here for a different reason than I always had. I had chosen this life. I could have lived the easy way and become an old nun in some convent for the rest of my days, or become a crusader like Reynauld had. Both were the expected paths of one in my position, but I had for one stupid moment longed to choose my own life. I wanted to come to this dark, plagued land to start anew and choose my destiny . I wouldn't have to be the one choosing the path of least resistance, like the young thief with no parents or the pious warrior who did what she was told. I could finally have a real future, and if it meant going to the most dangerous place I could find, I would do it. The pay wasn't all that bad either to be honest. Never got paid to be a battle nun.. er… "Holy Warrior".

I looked over to the far wall of the room, where Garnet sat. I had never seen her face through the plague doctor mask she always wore, and when I had inquired as to whether she could remove the mask she had replied with a fear of being contaminated with toxins from the air. Of course, for those in her line of work it makes sense to be cautious of these sorts of things, so I hadn't pushed the topic further. She had joined the party because the blight which was spreading through these lands was something that should be "studied" first and foremost. She had remarked that these sorts of poisons could often be made into remedies which could be used for good instead of the evil which they were currently inflicting on this place and its inhabitants. I could never really get my mind around that of a scientist, though. As far as I'm concerned, the faster we get rid of this eldritch magic the better.

Garnet glanced over at me and excitedly waved me over. I got up, and as I walked over to her location I noticed the foul stench emanating from the pot in front of her. I found out when I finally reached her and knelt down next to the vessel that the foul smell was coming from the many leeches currently filling the pot. I quickly realized my mistake in coming over, and looking back over my shoulder, wondered how acceptable it would be to just turn around now.

"Ros! I found some leeches in the water flooding down the cliff! I can now remedy the ailments inflicted upon you earlier today!" she exclaimed in her high-pitched voice. It was really strange hearing the voice coming from someone so ominous looking as a plague doctor, but she had assured me that her voice was simply naturally very high. She tilted her head at me. I could feel the happiness radiating off of her, even though I couldn't see her face.

"Um.. alright I guess.." I held out my arm for her.

"Yaaaay!" She grabbed my arm and picked up one of the squirming leeches from the pot. "You know most people don't like it when I bring out leeches, but I have cleansed them of disease in this pot, and this remedy is the most tried and true! Everyone thinks plague doctors are crazy for believing they'll work, but it's all hard science!"

I just looked away and let her do whatever she needed to do. While the healing practices of the more… secular sciences seemed backwards and barbaric, Garnet had never let the party down, and her knowledge of chemicals and toxins to this point seemed unparalleled. She hummed a lighthearted melody while she worked; A hard contrast to the darkness creeping in around us as the fire began to go out. I looked over to the cliffs edge at our fourth and final companion.

He was very tall, and his great broken executioners sword sat in a large sheath on his back. His immense size was toned down a bit by the slope of the ground, and he looked minuscule compared to the great ocean and sky behind him. Sitting at the edge with his back to us, I couldn't see his face, but I knew that even if I were looking at him from ahead I would still see nothing under his polished bronze mask. Bandages covered every last inch of skin, and his slow, raggedy breaths raised and lowered his body like a ship calmly floating in harbor. His chest was covered with a bronze chest plate extending to his waist, and his head and shoulders were covered with a dirty, torn coif. This was also a man of faith, though how he found the fortitude to come here I could never imagine.

His name is Ferroy, and he is a leper. He is a man who knows; who truly understands that adversity and existence are one and the same. He was the newest addition to our party, and this was his first mission into the ruins. He had replaced an old highwayman by the name of Dismas, who couldn't handle the stress of being sent on another mission here. Like our benefactor had told us: "Men and women; Soldiers and outlaws; Fools and corpses. All will find their way here with promises of riches and purity, or salvation from their own inner demons." New people arrive every week from every profession, but nearly half the ones brought on burn out within one or two missions, and those of us who have been here for a long time, namely Reynauld, Garnet, and I, have seen many of them psychologically damaged beyond repair, or even worse, nearly insane or possessed by demons, changed forever by the dark scrawlings and unholy terrors which hide in this estate.

In Ferroy's hand was a small pendant, which he usually hung around his neck but took off whenever we made camp or rested. Possibly a remnant of a life long past. One where he was a happy man, perhaps, or one much less brooding. Maybe he had a wife and children somewhere. Everyone had a past, and it would be rude of me to pry anyways. For all I know he could have come here to escape that life.

"There, all done!" I felt a prick on my arm of the leech being taken off, and looked back at Garnet.

"That's it? I thought it would be more… painful."

"Oh, silly Ros. If leeches were painful, they would have died out long ago. After all… if we noticed every time a leech stuck onto one of us, they would never get any food at all!" She poured the remaining contents of the pot into a little jar, which she then placed into a pouch on her bag. "You might feel a little lightheaded, but otherwise you'll be all fine by morning!" Her mask seemed to portray her facial expressions perfectly, even though it never moved and all I could see were those unchanging glass circles for eyes.

I thanked Garnet and walked back over to the fire. It was already very dim, and Reynauld was leaning against his pack with his eyes closed already. Typically, we would need to fear a possible ambush in the night, but this night I had cast a blessing upon the room, giving us sanctuary from the possible horrors outside. For tonight, we were hidden at least. The moonlight shone ever brighter as the last of the embers faded, and a dull blue glow surrounded our party. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought of the poison in this land, and how it had come to be. A small blue mote of light, a firefly, drifted next to me, and landed on a small flower growing out of a crack in the once opulent floor. Empowered, it seemed, by the moonlight, the small insect then drifted away into the night. The way is lit. The path is clear. We require only the strength to follow it.

….

Reynauld slowly opened the door and peered into the hallway from whence we came.

"It's all clear. I'll lead the way." He held the torch up high as we ventured into the darkness of the corridor. The halls of this place are wide, and littered with relics of the past or the remains of the more unfortunate adventurers who came before us. Reynauld led the way, with Ferroy following stoically behind him, always watching to make sure we were not ambushed. Garnet followed behind them, happy not to be last, while I brought up the rear of the party, as I was our main source of battlefield healing, and thus needed the most protection.

We had already gone through this corridor once before the previous night, and had already looted all the spoils, but were glad to see that no fel beings had made camp once we had left and the hall was in very much the same condition as before, albeit stripped of any valuables. The door on the opposite side of the hall had also remained slightly ajar, exactly as Reynauld had left it. Promising, at least, that we would not have any surprise visitors in any already explored territory. We entered the room, cautious as ever, and planned our next move. This room had three corridors leading to it. We had first ventured into the room through the door on our right the previous day, and had now come back through this door, leaving only one final exit through which we could move. The previous day, we had scouted that the corridor it led to had a band of enemies which could not be avoided. If we were lucky, they would have left and moved on, but unfortunately we were rarely lucky.

Reynauld moved slowly to the next door and opened it. The corridor curved gently to the right and downwards, with small piles of bones littering the floor just before the curve began. To any amateur explorer, they would have just looked like old bones; Long forgotten, but we were much more experienced, and saw the slightly glowing runes carved into the bones which indicated something more sinister was at work. Luckily, we would have the element of surprise, as these creatures had not animated yet, and so would need time to quite literally "pull themselves together" before they could fight back.

"Steel yourselves, friends. The battle is about to begin," Reynauld whispered back to us. He immediately ran forward into the hallway, with the rest of us following behind. The runes on the skeletons flared brightly for a moment before the dark magic began to pull the bodies into recognizable figures. Four figures emerged, two bone soldiers and two courtiers. The soldiers were weak and common in these ruins, but the courtiers may pose a threat if left alive long enough. Reynauld slashed his sword through the bone soldier in the front, reducing it to dust before it even had a chance to completely materialize.

"Continue the onslaught! Destroy these unholy abominations!" Reynauld hefted up his sword as Ferroy charged past him, chopping at the other bone soldier. Fully assembled, though, it slipped to the side at the last second, the heavy executioners blade missing by mere inches. Garnet threw a glass vial at the two courtiers, spreading glowing green poison over their bones. The red runes flashed green, and the two undead beings recoiled at the poison slowly breaking them apart. I raised my spiked mace club, and muttered a few words of prayer. A bright light burst forth from the torch in Reynauld's other hand, slamming into the second bone soldier as it counterattacked against Ferroy's clumsy strike. It staggered back, stunned for the moment.

A courtier took the opportunity to throw a vial of liquid at me, the volatile substance quickly covering my arms as I lifted them to protect my face. The liquid smelled so sweet, as if it were everything I would want in this world. I felt my legs go weak for a moment, overwhelmed by the sheer power of the liquid. For a moment, all I could think was that if I ever lost the scent, I would go insane, but I quickly recovered and looked to Reynauld. The other bone courtier had pulled out a knife, and had stabbed at a kink in his armor while I was incapacitated.

"Be healed!" I opened my book and small wisps of bright green light swirled around Reynauld, mending the wound in his arm. Ferroy quickly recovered and made another large slash with his executioners sword, bringing the other bone soldier to the ground and crushing its rune. Garnet threw forward a disorienting blast of smoke, stunning the courtier with the knife, as Renauld hit it over the head with the pommel of his blade, destroying the unfortunate creature. Before the final courier could do anything, the green blight snaking across its bones finally grasped its tendrils around the rune on its skull, causing it to flash bright green for a moment before going dark. The lifeless skeleton crumbled to the floor.

Our party quickly went to looting the bodies for any valuables. Reynauld relighted the torch, and we collected a neat total of nearly 500 gold from the old bones. An old locked display cabinet stood towards the side of the hall, the glass unbroken and gleaming.

"Could be treasure in there," I remarked. "Did we end up buying that skeleton key from the provisioner back in the hamlet?"

"Unfortunately not," squeaked Garnet. "Why don't we just break it open with this shovel we bought?" Garnet procured a shovel strapped to her back. Ferroy grabbed it and hit the smooth clear surface as hard as he could. In a single swing, the glass shattered and we reached in and grabbed the contents. Just a few jewels, but they will sell well back in town.

Ferroy looked back at the shovel. Slowly, the wooden handle of the tool stretched open at a crack in the middle, and finally broke in half, the head clattering to the floor.

"Say, why didn't I just use the pommel of my sword to do that?" questioned Reynauld from the side.

"I guess.. I guess I never thought of that before." I replied.

We continued on silently, disarming a trap on the floor before moving into the next door at the end of the broken corridor.

This room was dark, and seemed to be some sort of storage room. It had one other singular door on the opposite side leading to a downwards staircase, and smelled of rot and mildew. A lone statue stood in the center of the room, depicting two intertwining tentacles reaching up towards the heavens. I could feel a demonic energy coming from the relic, and stood back. Reynauld moved forwards.

"This is an Eldritch Altar. We must destroy it." Reynauld cautiously walked towards the center of the room as Ferroy checked the sides to make sure that we were safe.

"Careful," I warned. "You never know what sorts of horrible things these altars are meant for. Maybe we should come back when we know a little bit more about its purpose."

"No. As far as I'm concerned this may be the reason these creatures are even here. It must be destroyed as soon as possible before it can reanimate any more corpses." Reynauld reached out to push the statue to the ground, but the moment he touched it he recoiled back and his eyes turned wholly black. Garnet and I rushed to his side and caught him as he screamed, and in an instant it was over. He lay on the ground, panting.

"What happened! What did you see?" Garnet yelled at him. She handed him some dark green liquid from a flask at her side and he took a large swig of the medicine.

"It was… It was unimaginable. Horrors of unspeakable size walking the Earth, cleansing it of life. I.. I don't… Just give me a moment to recompose myself." He sat back up and clutched at a pile of rubble beside him. For several minutes we sat there.

Reynauld finally stood back up. "I think it's best we keep moving. I'm still in plenty condition to fight, but the sooner we leave this place the better."

"I agree. I feel like the stress of this place is overwhelming, and this mission has been the most dangerous yet." I handed him the torch and we moved towards the end of the room. The light of the torch began to dim further, though, and we were quickly running out of torches to use. The hallway flickered with a dim light, and the moment we stepped through we knew we were in trouble. A cultist wearing a golden skull mask stood in the middle of the hall, reanimating two of the corpses around us while a second cultist stood in front, ready to attack.

"They must have heard the screaming from the previous room and prepared for us." I remarked.

Soon, the two corpses had reanimated into another courtier and a single bone warrior wielding an axe and shield. It was much more heavily armored than any of the soldiers we had fought before. The cultist casting the spell immediately screamed an incantation, and dark energy spilled out of her staff and spun around Garnet, causing her to scream. They disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, and Garnet stood her ground, albeit shakily.

The bone warrior charged forward and thrust his shield at Reynauld, causing him to stagger backwards and drop the torch.

"Such devastating force!" yelled Reynauld as Ferroy pushed past him and took a swing at the armored skeleton. He dented its armor quite a bit, but it reeled back, preparing to strike again. Garnet shakily prepared another vial of the blight poison, hastily throwing it at the cultist and the courtier at the back. Unfortunately, it only hit the cultist, but the green glow spreading through her veins meant the poison was already taking an effect. The courtier threw a vial of liquid at Reynauld, sickeningly sweet fumes spreading over him. I knew the effect of that liquid firsthand, and quickly rushed forward and swung my mace at the bone warrior ready to strike at the stunned crusader a second time. I managed to hit something vital because the moment I struck, the armor clattered to the floor and the lifeless bones crumbled into a heap.

Unfortunately, the second cultist came forward and swung his golden claws at me, lacerating my arms, and causing me to begin bleeding. Garnet ran forward and administered one of her medicines to the wound, immediately stopping the bleeding but not doing much for the damage.

"Thanks," I said to her as I stumbled back to my feet. As I looked back up, I saw the cultist who had just swung at me impaled on the end of Ferroy's sword, clawing at the masked leper but just a bit too far out of reach. He withdrew the sword and the cultist crumbled to the ground clutching his chest. I could feel the stress building up within me, though. The cultist at the end of the hall threw another spell of black magic to me this time, and I understood why Garnet was screaming. All around me I saw horrible undead abominations crawling around me, ripping into my skin and my face. I could hear dark whispers clawing into my mind as I struggled to escape the onslaught of the dead. Suddenly, I felt a hand grip mine.

Ferroy pulled me up and the darkness retreated immediately. The visions disappeared, and I watched as the poison coursing through both the courtier and the cultist caused them to crumble to dust.

"Maybe… Maybe we should just give up and go home." The quiet voice of the usually happy Garnet spoke seemingly to nobody. She was shaking hard, and was sitting on the floor Honestly, I could see the appeal of just abandoning the mission and going back.

"We can't give up right now… I don't want to die here as much as anybody, but according to the map that Sauvigni gave us, the last room we need to enter is the one at the very end of the hall. There should be an exit there." Reynauld stood up. He had bravery in his words, but I could see the apprehension in his eyes. He had sustained some wounds in the fighting that would take more than a simple healing spell to heal, and his armor had small dents in several places.

"I agree." We all looked over to Ferroy. This was the first time he had spoken during the expedition, and we were all moderately surprised at his interjection. "We cannot end this here. We must finish it."

I stood up and extended my hand to Garnet. "C'mon. Let's get going. The sooner we're out of here the better." She grabbed my hand slowly, and the shaking slowed a bit. We distributed some of our rations to eat before going forward. I felt a little better after eating, as the food was imbued with slight healing properties.

"Let's move onward then." Reynauld led the way as we marched towards the door. He put his hand on the handle. "Good thing we're on our last torch. Hate to have wasted some mo-"

He was cut off as a shield knocked him to the back of our party as the door opened to reveal two more bone warriors and two more cultist acolytes. In the very dim light, we had failed to see the trap they were setting up for us on the opposite end of the door. A single eldritch tentacle grabbed all four of us and dragged us into the room, closing the door behind us.

"We need to leave! Now!" I screamed as I kicked at the door behind us. Reynauld was sprawled behind me, still stunned from the surprise blow. Ferroy immediately rushed forward, wildly swinging at the first warrior who had ambushed us, but missed as the defender jumped backwards. The second warrior ran forward to strike our now unprotected backline, and swung his claws at Garnet. She screamed as the claws swiped through her mask, shattering it and leaving two wide scared eyes staring back at the skeletal nightmare. She began to gasp and swipe at her now unprotected face and immediately ran back towards the door, beating her arms against it. The stresses were probably too much, and she couldn't handle it anymore.

"Get us out! We have to get out of here!" She banged helplessly at the door, tears streaming down her face. "I don't want to die!"

Reynauld rushed forward and tackled the bone warrior threatening Garnet, plunging his sword into its skull, shattering it. He grabbed Garnet. "Get a hold of yourself! We need to fight! We can win this battle if we just focus!" He turned around, but was struck with two of the black energy beams from the cultists in the back. He fell to the floor, screaming. I had seen what a single vision could do… but two at the same time?

I ran to Reynauld and grabbed him. "Snap out of it!" I yelled. I tried to lift him but his armor was too heavy. He quickly sat up on his own, but his eyes looked wild and insane. They eyes of a madman. The darkness must not have been completely purged from his system yet.

"It is hopeless! I have sacrificed so much just take me now!" He stood shakily as Garnet sat at the door, crying to herself.

The remaining skeletal warrior lunged forward at Ferroy, but he managed to deflect the attack with minimal injury to himself.

Reynauld ran forward. "Noo! He is just a child! He didn't do anything wrong!" He made an unsteady swipe at the undead foe, but missed.

I sat back on the ground, frozen. I looked to the hysterical Reynauld, hallucinating over his own past and irrational beyond measure. I looked back at Garnet, who was hysterical and scared beyond action. She was picking up the shattered fragments of her mask, trying to piece it back together. Perhaps this was a failed mission. Perhaps I should never have come in the first place. Perhaps all of us would die here, and none of us would ever fulfill our goals. The darkness in this land is already so strong. It reanimates the dead and it corrupts the land. It brings forth ancient creatures into the world that are beyond belief. Just look at the Weald or the Cove. Even the Warrens are full of death and pestilence. What other choices do we have but to surrender? The onslaught is coming, and perhaps we should just get out of the way. Death is an inevitability. Just like the past, I have no choice in this matter. I have come here just to have my final choice taken from me. My choice to die.

…..

The human mind- fragile like a robin's egg. Overwhelming stress and peril can bring the mind to its knees and test the very limits of sanity and thought. Some, when reaching that point, turn to cowardice and self-preservation. Some others ,when reaching that point, become irrational and disoriented. Still others simply become completely hopeless. When all light is gone and the darkness is peering into the deepest recesses of your mind and all seems to be lost, there are many afflictions that can test the strength of even the most spirited warrior. Even the strongest oak can be felled by the tempest, and when an individual's resolve is tested, the abyss can come streaming in and overwhelm all clarity.

But there are those who, when brought to the brink of sanity itself and with unrelenting torrents crashing against their mental bulwark, not only do not give in to the darkness, but instead find the ability within themselves to push onwards. To finish the mission given without fear, and to stand their ground against the horrors of the world.

As Ferroy looked back at his fallen comrades, frozen in fear or devoid of hope, he saw not the situation at hand, but another situation. A vision of loneliness on his journey to this forsaken place, and of sadness and estrangement from those he loved. A disease which makes the world reel away from you in disgust, and makes it impossible for anybody to be close again. To never feel the warmth of another human being, and to only feel the torrent of judgement and pity from everyone you meet. He saw another vision. One of bitter rain and a dark sky outside a small shack in the forest. Inside sat a man who had lost everything. Inside was a man who wondered if anybody would notice if he had ended his life right then and there. A man whose mental bulwarks had broken and whose will was nearly defeated. That is what Ferroy saw.

In that moment, Ferroy knew what was to be done. What needed to be done. A bright light shone from his sword as he plunged it into the shaky Earth beneath his feet, the light nearly blinding the other members of his party.

….

I looked up from my daze as a flash of bright light illuminated the room.

"I am armored in more than just steel, you creatures of hell! Come, warriors of light! Come stand with me. Mountains will defy the consuming sea!" He raised his sword once more and dodged an attack from the bone warrior.

Ferroy pointed to Reynauld. "Holy warrior! You are the champion of the weak. You must stand and fight for your cause, and find strength within yourself. You must lead the charge, and if you do all of hell will know to fear the flame!"

Reynauld took a deep breath and steadied. "Nothing will break me!" He charged forward and crashed into the skeletal warrior in the front.

"And you!" Ferroy pointed to Garnet. "You are not a victim. You are a master of this plague… of this corruption. You will do more than destroy it. You will learn it! You will defeat it with its own power. The darkness will not.. no… cannot defeat those who are willing to use its poison against it. Know that fear wears off like a mild poison, and that you will heal this afflicted land!"

Garnet looked up from the shattered mask, and the light coming from the sword shone onto her face. She quickly dropped the mask and began mixing some potions from her belt.

"Finally, Vestal." He looked at me. "The night is dark, yes– but the fire burns bright. Your journey is not yet over. What grace has given me, let it pass onto you, hero. The world still needs forces to stand against darkness, and you will heed its call not because you are forced to, but because it is your destiny."

Before I could respond, he turned around and charged forward at one of the cultists in the back. She was already beginning to cast another dark spell, but I immediately opened my holy book and a brilliant flash of light stunned the cultist for just a moment. Ferroy's blade cut her down in a single broad swipe. Meanwhile, Reynauld was chugging down the potion that Garnet had just concocted. Then, with seemingly inhuman speed, he charged towards the remaining acolyte and procured a golden scroll from his satchel. The light from the scripture burned with righteous intensity, leaving the cultist as nothing but a pile of dust.

The room plunged into silence. Ferroy crumbled to the ground, spent of his energy. While Reynauld and I gathered any possible spoils from this final encounter, Garnet sat next to Ferroy and they talked. Suddenly, she lunged forward and wrapped him in her arms.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Er…" Ferroy looked very uncomfortable. "Are you sure you want to be touching me without your mask on? What if you catch my disease?"

"Leprosy isn't actually all that contagious, actually. Besides, I've already been developing some treatments for it, and it'll be great to have a test dummy to use them on." She gave him a big smile, but she was beginning to visibly shake again.

Reynauld heaved his pack and walked towards the end of the room. "Alright, everybody. We should get back to town now. I want to get out of this place as soon as I can. He opened a trapdoor on the roof and sunlight flooded into the room.

We left and began our slow walk back to town. I turned to Reynauld. "What's actually written on that scroll of yours? You seem to be able to damage our enemies using just what's on that piece of parchment."

"Oh.. this?" He took out the scroll in question and unfurled it. "It's just a grocery list. They used to teach us that what was on the paper wasn't that important. What mattered was how holy and just your intentions were. Of course, writing scripture was supposed to make the spell stronger, but I was always stubborn and thought I could make the spell strong without using scripture."

"Well I guess it worked, considering how well it went back there in the ruins." I looked up at the sky. "Are you going to stay on? I'm having trouble really seeing how well things would go after what happened today." I had always considered the possibility of leaving, but never really thought about it until now. I had the perfect excuse to go, after all, and Lord Sauvigni had made it clear that we were free to leave whenever we wished.

"Nah, I think I just need some time in the Abbey, and I'll be fine. I can still see flashes of my past in the corners of my vision." He blinked his eyes a few times. "Besides, you heard what Ferroy said back there. The world needs heroes to stand against the darkness. That sounds like exactly what I'm looking for."

I thought about what he had said. Perhaps I should stay, after all. I could be a soldier for the light again, but this time it would be on my terms. This was my choice. Of course, I think the rush of the battle was wearing off and I could feel the hopelessness closing in on me again. Mental barriers weren't really meant to be strained this hard, I suppose. Reynauld could go to the Abbey to pray all he wanted. I'm going straight for the brothel when I get back to town.

….

The longer these ailments go untreated, the worse they become. When the four returned back to the dark hamlet, night had already settled. Unlike the other members of the party, Ferroy didn't need to enter the Abbey or the Tavern. He just wanted to rest. He had scouted ahead alone to make sure the path was clear for the other three, and so had arrived in town a while before the rest did.

As he lay in his room in the inn above the tavern, he heard the door to the room next to his open and shut, with multiple sets of footsteps shuffling in. That was Ros's room. He listened closely for a moment.

He heard a few sobs before Ros said in between tears, "Just hold me for now…"

A/N: This story is basically fanfiction for the game Darkest Dungeon, which is something that I've been getting pretty into recently. It's super fun, and I personally love the "You can't lose the game, only be set behind" attitude the game cultivates. Because it's basically fanfiction, however, there are a lot of references that people who don't play the game won't understand.

Just to make things clear for those who don't really understand what's going on, the game is centered around some guy who had a really really big house and estate and whatever and he did a lot of digging around and basically found a portal to hell. After that, shit began to go very badly and all the land got corrupted because he unleashed this horrible evil on the world. The point of the game is he sent you (his son? grandson? I think grandson but not sure.) a letter telling you to come here and hopefully right all the mistakes he made and cleanse the estate of the shit going on. All the people you use in the game are people you hired yourself, and all the characters you hire can die and when they do they never come back.

The game also has a "sanity" system where if enough bad shit happens to your characters on a single mission, they can go insane and possibly become "afflicted" with something. Afflictions include hopelessness, fear, selfishness, anger, etc. They can also become "virtuous" instead of afflicted, though, and they look really badass when they do that.

But yeah that's the general gist of the game (not really there's a lot more that I'm too lazy to type). If you haven't played it before I highly recommend it. 100% quality game.

So basically that last part with the "only tears" is just a funny reference to what really stressed characters say sometimes when they enter the brothel in the game, and doesn't actually mean anything.

This is probably the longest thing that I've ever written, and if anybody actually reads it I would really like some feedback.

A few of the passages here are actually from the game itself, and I modified them a bit to make more sense from a narrative standpoint. I always thought the game had very eloquent language, and it's partly what made me decide to write this in the first place. Some of the things characters say in the game are also said here, along with some descriptions of people. (Not trying to blatantly copy. It's more of an homage.) ((tho I kinda am blatantly copying ~(o.o)~ ))

PS This story is actually based off of a real life experience of the author when he was playing Darkest Dungeon

except half the characters died instead of making it all the way through. RIP.

PPS Shoutout to /u/RedDyeNo5 for the sick artwork. Of course, I didn't ask to use it but hopefully it's ok? If it's not I'll take it down (If they ever see this :^) )

Here's a link to their masterful artwork album for Darkest Dungeon: /a/GUdWc

THE A/N WAS FROM MY BLOG SO SORRY IF IT KIND OF DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.