The Lure of the Gallows

- AN INTERACTIVE FICTION NOVEL BY KILLIAN FAUST - 

In the unsuspecting small town of Washington Bay, Delaware, you have just become the last living seer after a fatal house fire killed your parents. When the town's designated Council of the Paranormal descends into havoc and refuses to pursue the investigation into the murders, you are forced to launch your own campaign to find the person responsible, even at the cost of your own life.

Across the country, in the modest tourist town of Melchior, Oregon, you are its most dangerous secret after the sudden disappearance of your father. Ever since you were a child, you have mastered the ability to control cell regeneration: with a wave of your hand, you can decay living organisms to the point of no return… or even revitalize them, if you so choose. In your greatest time of need, your father has vanished with only one, simple instruction: go to Washington Bay, and find the last Seer living there before it’s too late.

You are not alone: you have allies and friends, enemies and family. The truth of your ancestry is an ancient, terrible beast, and he has a familiar face. Yet as worlds collide and burn in fantastic light, you may find that the face you recognize the best, the one you’ve known in the mirror your whole life, could be the only thing you cannot turn away from.

And it could be the very thing that finally, truly kills you.

✒ THE SEER || 19 || PLAYER CHARACTER

One of the playable protagonists, the Seer is capable of experiencing future events before they come to fruition. This ability is uncontrollable, which leaves them young and inexperienced when their mother, the only other seer they knew, dies so suddenly. Armed with grim premonitions and allied with merely a few friends, they must establish their own path and discover the truth about their own ancestry.

✑ THE NATURALIST || 19 || PLAYER CHARACTER

As the other playable protagonist, the Naturalist is a dangerously gifted supernatural with the ability to control cell regeneration in people, plants, and animals. Their ability is unmatched compared to their closest peers, and they have been properly marked as a threat to humanity. Tasked with finding a seemingly unremarkable seer living across the country, they are flanked by enemies and allies alike and haunted by the violent truth hanging over their head, breathing down their neck, and threatening the precarious life they built for themself.

♖LEO GIDEON || 19 || THEY/THEM || SHAPESHIFTER

The unfortunate heir to one of the most influential shapeshifter hierarchies in Washington Bay, Leo is wrought with overbearing responsibility and plagued by a familial downfall.

♙ELI ABERNATHY || 20 || HE/HIM  & SHE/HER & THEY/THEM || MAGICIAN

As the forgotten young magician of the once well-respected Abernathy bloodline, Eli is a temperamental yet steadfast ally in a time of true chaos.

♕ WARREN SINCLAIR || 20 || HE/HIM || INCUBUS

A societal outcast and proud of it, Warren devotes his lonely life to the history of the supernatural and all of its grim shadows despite the dangers that loom above.

☽ FINLEY RAMSEY || 19 || THEY/THEM || HUMAN

At first glance, there seems to be nothing remarkable about Finley, and yet they remain one of the most elusive marvels of the world.

☼ AMBROSE SOLOMON || 21 || HE/HIM || LIGHT MANIPULATOR

Driven by the purpose of his work and numb to the world around him, Ambrose is a dangerous person to have an unexpected truce with.

✩ LUNA MORALES || 20 || SHE/HER || SHAPESHIFTER

As a wayward daughter with a target etched into her back and a history of burned bridges, Luna trusts absolutely no one to a dangerously fatal fault.

∞ JULES PEARCE || UNKNOWN || HE/HIM & THEY/THEM || VAMPIRE

A frustratingly vague personality and a sharp contrast to their more stern partner-in-crime, Jules prides himself on the unknowable. It’s their specialty.

Ω HAZEL HUDSON || 19 || SHE/HER || SHAPESHIFTER

Under the order of her Alpha, Hazel has traveled far to reach you and unearth the secrets that torment the shapeshifter community.

☠ FAYE CATHAL || 20 || SHE/HER || BANSHEE

Plagued by the presence of the dead and the dying, Faye is intent on saving the lives that still have a chance, even if that means leaving behind the only life she's ever known.

WASHINGTON BAY, DELAWARE, USA is a fictional town near the coast of Delaware that was established in the earliest days of European colonization. The ratio of humans to paranormal beings is about 2:3 according to the Council’s annual mandatory census surveys. The Council of the Paranormal is the officially elected group of representatives for the paranormal population in town. There are currently four members to reflect the highest supernatural populations: a shapeshifter, a vampire, a half-blood, and a spirited.

MELCHIOR, OREGON, USA is a fictional town near the coast of Northern Oregon that was established in the early nineteenth century as a trading town for those crossing the national border. The town’s residents are overwhelmingly human compared to the supernatural population in a 3:1 ratio, and as such, there is no official Council of the Paranormal. Rather, there are two representatives (a vampire and a shapeshifter, respectfully) that conduct supernatural business on behalf of the entire town.

IN THE UNITED STATES there are four different classifications of supernaturals: the Creatures, the Sorcerers, the Manipulators, and the Diviners. Worldwide, there are different names and systems in place to recognize the same variety of supernaturals.

Throughout the course of the novel, the player will encounter a variety of supernatural beings, and explore the limits of their own abilities... 

• Choose your name, appearance, gender, and sexuality, and establish a personality through various choices that will have consequences. Some direr than others.
• Focus on honing your abilities, or choose to rely more on your own wit and resourcefulness.
• Explore the Divide, a veiled world beyond our own with unimaginable power.
• Face the truth of your own ancestry, and the years of lies that have torn a world apart...

The Lure of the Gallows is rated 18+ due to mature content and themes.