Prequel

Darkness... [[Take a step forwards]]

*...Darkness...* ...[[another step]] leads you further down the path...

A dim **light** *flickers* in the gloom! A shroud of steam circles the alleyway as the air grows warm, caressing the icy vestage of your lungs. The soothing radiance of the amber light casts long shadows that run into infinity, revealing the silhouette of a vast city, it's disjointed lines running high into a faceless, featureless crimson haze. Do you [[Slowly step towards the light]] or [[Run towards the light]]?

The light grows... It's haunting pulses shimmering against vast webs of tangled metal, piercing buildings like jagged spears. [["Where the HELL am I?"]]

The light grows. *Voices murmur...* Your hearts pounds...[[keep running]] or [[slow]], creep your way through the shadows?

The light grows... Faint silhouettes can be glimpsed shuffling against the grey. The pulsing amber of the light shrouds their featureless faces in coursely reddened mist... [[your heavy feet]] have attracted some attention it seems...

[[Sneak forwards->"Where the **HELL** am I?"]]

Footsteps draw closer. The Light flickers in through the shadows. [["Who's there?"]]

The light grows. Faintly, the amber flickers againt the grey. Hunched figures stoop and pass through the shadows. Silhouettes.... Ghosts... Clouds of steam envelop the end of the narrow passage. [[The light flickers through the the Steam]]

You strain your eyes through the gloom... Shadowed specks dart and jolt above, glancing through huge steam jets like arrows. Your face wet with sweat, you notice the heat of the city, the humidity stifling. Stumbling, tired, you hunch against the passage wall. [[The light. It flickers through the steam]]

The wall is hard. Cold. Metal. **THE LIGHT FLICKERS THROUGH THE STEAM** The passage wall. It's sharp corrosion. Rusted. Bites at your skin. Do you [[Move away from the wall]], back into the street, or [[Move further down the wall]]?

Still Dizzy. Your balance fails you. You stumble... Colapsing into the street. [[You SCREAM in Pain]]

Your tired body scrapes down the gnarled metal... [[You fall]]

**YOU FALL...** The hot air fills your lungs as the blackness of the invisible ground [[spins closer.]]

**YOU FALL...** A lifetime passes... you wait, anticipating the bone-cruncing embrace of the cobbled street floor. [[You close your eyes]] and await the inevitable.

**THUD** Your fall is kindly broken by your face smashing into a SOLID. IRON. LADDER. **THE LIGHT FLICKERS THROUGH THE STEAM** You can [[Haul yourelf up the ladder]] or [[Plunge into the Steam!]]

Your fingers grasp the rungs of the coarsely corroded ladder, metal splinters sticking, clinging into your fingers as you slowly heave your [[limp body upwards.]]

You dive headlong into the sea of steam. Figures pass you by as you wade through the thick clouds of vapour. Reaching the light, you can make clearly it's purpose. A solitary street lamp. The sound of whistling can be heard from round the corner. [[follow it.->window]]

No time to feel sorry for yourself. You Haul yourself to your feet. [[Your Screams have attracted some attention->your heavy feet]]

Pain surges through your limp body. The ground cold, wet, clings to your back. Straining, your eyes you see only darkness… *… an endless black void.* With muscles aching and head spinning, you slowly try to [[struggle to your feet]]

(either:"You Stumble forwards.","You lurch into an open space.", "A bitter draft of air fills your lungs as you drag your heavy feet forwards.", "Your bones creak as you step onwards." ) You find yourself standing, peeling into the night, again, your vision shrouded in **Black**. Disoriented, it's hard to tell if you've been here before. In the distance you (either:"hear a low thud, a distant cranking of gears","hear the haunting sound of an old man whistling...", "hear the whirring of a Cycle-Zeppelin overhead...", "can just about make out a huge tower looming ominously...","can smell jets of hot steam being bellowed, reverberating as if being proppeled through a vast chamber...", "can smell the fainlty familiar smell of burning plasma wafting through the air...", "hear the screech of rocket jets soaring far overhead", "can just about strain your eyes to make out the outline of a strange looking child, tiptoeing, vanishing into a plume of dull, grey steam..." ) A flicker of grey amidst the night reveals it is possible to either: [[Move East]], [[Move West]] or [[Move South]].

You step cautiously through the maze of darkness. (either:"Each step a terror.","You place your feet with caution, fearing what the shadows hide.", "Your eyes dart, searching frantically for something, *anything* against the void") (either:"A sudden flash of amber reveals there are paths","A brilliant flash, breifly reveals there are streets", "Feeling your way, you notice there are passages") [[Northwards]], [[Southwards->A Passage East]] and [[Westwards->struggle to your feet]].

You step cautiously through the maze of darkness. (either:"Each step a terror.","You place your feet with caution, fearing what the shadows hide.", "Your eyes dart, searching frantically for something, *anything* against the void") *Will this darkness ever end?* Your feet still lay heavy on the [[The Southern Path->Move East]]. A sudden **Flash** Catches your eye in the east. Dare you leave the path and [[Travel East]] or [[Travel West]]?

You step cautiously through the maze of darkness. (either:"Each step a terror.","You place your feet with caution, fearing what the shadows hide.", "Your eyes dart, searching frantically for something, *anything* against the void") (either:"A sudden flash of amber reveals there are paths","A brilliant flash, breifly reveals there are streets", "Feeling your way, you notice there are passages") [[In the South->A Narrow Tube towards the West]] or [[In the East->struggle to your feet]].

You step cautiously through the maze of darkness. (either:"Each step a terror.","You place your feet with caution, fearing what the shadows hide.", "Your eyes dart, searching frantically for something, *anything* against the void") (either:"A sudden flash of amber reveals there is","A brilliant flash, breifly reveals there is", "Feeling your way, you notice there is") [[A Passage East]], [[A Narrow Tube towards the West]] or a way to [[Move North->struggle to your feet]].

You step cautiously through the maze of darkness. (either:"Each step a terror.","You place your feet with caution, fearing what the shadows hide.", "Your eyes dart, searching frantically for something, *anything* against the void") (either:"A sudden flash of amber reveals that","A brilliant flash, breifly reveals that", "Feeling your way, you notice that") [[A Narrow Passage Looks West->Move South]] and [[A Rusted Iron Stairway heads north->Move East]]

You step cautiously through the maze of darkness. (either:"Each step a terror.","You place your feet with caution, fearing what the shadows hide.", "Your eyes dart, searching frantically for something, **anything** against the void") At your feet lies a small manhole cover... *Haunting groans can be heard, faintly below.* (either:"A sudden flash of amber reveals there are paths leading towards","A brilliant flash, breifly reveals there are streets leading towards", "Feeling your way, you notice there are passages leading towards") [[A Narrow Tube towards the East->Move South]] or a pathway [[In the North->Move West]].

The flash vanishes. Once again you are consumed by Darkness. [[Run Blindly into the Darkness->struggle to your feet]] or [[Sit... and Wait]]?

You feel lost! Will this maze of darkness ever end? Frustrated you [[Lunge->struggle to your feet]] once more into the night..

Time passes... Thorin Enters from the east... Thorin offers you the **MAP** [[Take Map]]

*I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE WORD "MAP"* ... Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold... [[Get up and leave him to sing in peace]] or [[Sing Thorin some Gandalf's Fist]]?

You move slowly through the blackness, your eyes tarred with the night. In the West, the faint murmor of Dwarf-Song can be heard. Suddenly... you glimpse a pinprick of light! **A solitary FLASH in the Dark!** Shrouded again in darkness, you [[Fumble->Start]] towards its source.

Displeased with your abomination to Music, Thorin uses his **DWARVEN MAGIC** to send you into the Abyss! [[SHAZAM->struggle to your feet]]

The figures, countless in number, plunge out of the Darkness and clasp their boney hands on you... The scream *"NIGHTKEEPERS!"* reverberates from windows high and low, the echoed warnings bouncing from rusted building to rusted building... In the commotion you overhear the word: "[[Dungeon]]"

You find yourself in a cramped dungeon In the corner a man can be seen sobbing. Dare you consider [[Escape?]]

You Escape. Fleeing the growing sounds of cries and footseps you scale the nearest ladder. Reaching the top you encounter a heavy manhole cover blocking your ascent... [[PUSH!]]

Despite your feeble body you are able to dislodge the cover. You [[Clamber ->A Narrow Tube towards the West]] onto the street above...

Standing atop the building you can see the sea of mist spreading below, filling, circling the street as a phantasm may stalk its prey. Clearly now, the amber light floods onto cobblestones, wet with vapour... a solitary streetlamp amidst the darkness. You notice a stooped figure passing through the shadows and rounding the long, arching corner into the black. The sound of a man whistling echoes from the void. [[Climb back down the ladder]] Or [[Jump from the roof]]

You step towards the ladder. [[The floor beneath you gives way]]

You leap from the rooftop like madman possessed. Your leg becomes caught in a loop of iron spindle, swinging you reverse-tarzan style onto the [[street below.->window]]

You hit the floor with an almighty thud. The room spins as your body shakes with pain. A man in black appears out of the gloom. [[Fight Him]] or [[Flee]]

You deliver a swift kick to the figure's nutsack. His agonising groans allow you to escape from a nearby [[window]].

You run wildly into the street. Once more the black clouds your vision. Gripped with fear [[you flee into the darkness->your heavy feet]].

As you round the corner, the amber lamp vanishes from view. You stop. The cold and dark begin to creep around you once more. Suddenly, another light blinks into existence. Then another. Closer now... One ignites at the end of the street. You notice a figure moving towards you. [[Hide!]]

You dive into the bins, covering yourself in a mountain of refuge. The figure stops dangerously close and begins to whistle, propping a ladder against a lampost. You dive deeper into the rubbish. A roll of disgusting paper [[sticks to your face]]

You examine the paper. You can just about make out the words "STORE PROMO CODE: LAMPLIGHTER" scrawled accross it's grime covered surface. The figure whistles his way to another lamp.... [[THE END]]

**CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING THE GANDALF'S FIST TEXT ADVENTURE, A PREQUEL TO OUR NEW ALBUM. IF YOU HAVE DISCOVERED ANY PROMO CODES, MAKE SURE YOU REDEEM THEM OVER AT WWW.GANDALFSFIST.COM/STORE! TO FIND OUT WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP A WEATHER EYE OPEN FOR OUR NEXT RELEASE IN 2016! ALL THE BEST, DEAN, LUKE STEFAN & CHRIS!**