EPISODE 18: That was enough
over 5 years ago – Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 10:09:45 PM

This is a story driven Kickstarter campaign. It will be run as a paragraph game (gamebook). Under this link you will find a previous episode of the story. And here is a new one:

EPISODE 18: That was enough

To say that I was afraid would be an understatement. When I was walking in the direction of the police station I was sweating so hard that the sweat was dripping from my fingertips.

Suddenly a hunched old lady in front of me straightened up and screamed with a man's voice:

'Location C! He's in location C!'

The vegetable vendors around the place took out police guns and ran to one of the tenements, along with the jaunty old lady-man. I recognized it as Sherlock Holmes himself by the voice. He screamed from the window of the tenement.

'Why, if it isn't Colonel Sebastian Moran! The veteran of the British East India Company! He had to be doing Moriarty's deeds, but where's the devil himself?'

That was enough for me to realise that his plan didn't work and that I still wasn't safe in London. So Sherlock cannot blame me for what I did next - I carried out my part of our agreement: I risked my life by going where he wanted.

After the whole event I ran to the destroyed factory, gave Mahesz the money, and told him about the dire situation in which I found myself. He promised to help. From the building level he led me to to sewers and told me to wait for a messenger.

I sat in the darkness for what seemed like an eternity, but finally a very quiet boy came to me. He in turn told me to follow him and led me to another dark building. He gave me some worker's clothes, a loaf of black bread, a chunk of cheese, and a bottle of beer.

The next day, Mahesz came for me and guided me to the factory through the sewers.

In the factory I met Lenore and a lot of workers, vagrants, women of many professions and immigrants, all armed with shotguns, cleavers, and knives. Lenore kissed me on the cheek, thanked me, and got up on the rostrum, where she was spurring them to the fight, which was supposed to start in just a couple of days. She talked about a better world awaiting all those people, about allotting funds frittered away by the royal court to help the poor, building factories for people, jobs for everyone, and equal rights for men and women. She was delivering a speech enthusiastically about how the time has come for everyone in the empire, including women, to vote and hold positions in the government.

I won't lie, this made me a bit anxious. What exactly was I participating in? I imagined men feeding children and changing their diapers while women are going voting! Women in parliament elections, in the parliament itself, in directors’ boards. Wouldn't that be a frightening world?

“Equal rights for men and women.” Story Goal achieved!

New agent sculpt revealed: Suffragette.

Now choose your next step

I decided to:

- Accept this brave new world despite my fears (vote A).

- Stop this madness, even if it meant turning in Lenore to the authorities (vote B).

- Get Lenore out of all this for her own safety. Lord Bellinger will surely help me with this (vote C).

Please make your votes in the comments section of this update. One backer - one vote. If you use social media, you can also vote on the PHALANX Facebook profile.

We will count the votes till the end of this campaign (23.59 EST on 20th of September) and our character will follow the way you have choosen in the Epilogue, posted at 10.00 AM EST on 21st of September.

Thank you for these 17 days, all your votes and comments under this story. It was a great fun for us!

Happy gaming!

PHALANX Team

EPISODE 17: Stalking in the fog
over 5 years ago – Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 01:20:39 AM

This is a story driven Kickstarter campaign. It will be run as a paragraph game (gamebook). Under this link you will find a previous episode of the story. And here is a new one:

EPISODE 17: Stalking in the fog

I was fully ready at the foggy dawn. I wrote a letter and gave it to the messenger boy to give to the paperboy. The paperboy opened the package and found a closed envelope, a letter for him, and a few pounds for delivering the message to the Artful Dodger at East End. The tosher also found a letter, pounds, and a closed envelope in his package. In the letter I begged him to take the payment and go through the sewers to Baker Street, and give the envelope to Sherlock Holmes himself. Of course, I explained to the detective how the professor exploited me, but I did not feel it was necessary to mention the hefty sum I got for it. To my horror, after just three hours Holmes appeared at my room in the inn.

'Moriarty had to survive the fall from the cliffs. I don't know how, but apparently he was more prepared than I thought before our famous encounter. And now he continues to plot, even using my would-be clients as puppets. Are you aware, dear sir, that not many people will think, like me, that you were UNAWARE you're participating in a murder? Any old judge will send you right to the gallows!’

I burst out crying from all the nerves. And Holmes started to comfort me.

'But I will not let it happen if, of course, you'll help me to capture this villain.'

'What should I do?' I asked hopefully.

'Moriarty could certainly see you betrayed him by how boldly I went inside the inn. He will want to kill you. I advise you not to approach the windows and keep the curtains closed. I have brought you a book, please spend your day on reading. And tomorrow you should go straight to the police, taking the shortest way possible. I will walk before you, in disguise. Moriarty will most probably be hiding in one of the abandoned tenements next to the police station, carrying his silent gun. And policemen in civilian clothes will be waiting at all of them. When I see the mysterious sniper, I will tip off the officers, so they can run into the right building and arrest this evil genius.'

'I understand you guarantee my safety, Mister Holmes? I will not be harmed during this whole action, right?'

'Quite the opposite. You might die. But here you at least have a chance of survival, whereas in the death cell you would end up for complicity in a murder - not so much.’

“I have brought you a book.” Story Goal achieved!

The Artbook add-on will be enlarged by additional 24 pages dedicated for the gamebook story you have been shaping during this campaign. The story will be a background intro that will allow you to emerge into the game itself. It will introduce the most important figures and places you will encounter in the game.

Now choose your next step

What else could I have done?

I agreed. I didn't think I had any choice (vote A).

I agreed, but only to convince Holmes that I would cooperate. I wasn't planning on risking my life in such a stupid way. I decided to wait until he left and then escape to Lenore. And hide from the world as a revolutionist, just like her (vote B).

Please make your votes in the comments section of this update. One backer - one vote. If you use social media, you can also vote on the PHALANX Facebook profile.

We will count the votes at 06.00 AM EST and our character will follow the way you have choosen in a new update, posted at 10.00 AM EST. Please note that this campaign will end at 20th of September, 23.59 EST, so we are close to the grand finale of our story. Please vote, as you will decide the final outcome!

Thank you and happy gaming!

PHALANX Team

EPISODE 16: The Monster
over 5 years ago – Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 12:01:38 AM

This is a story driven Kickstarter campaign. It will be run as a paragraph game (gamebook). Under this link you will find a previous episode of the story. And here is a new one:

EPISODE 16: The Monster

Going to Professor Moriarty seemed like a great solution. He brought me to a particularly clapped-out, abandoned factory (how many of those could one find around London?) and offered a task of ensuring that a very dangerous criminal, rapist and degenerate gets recognised by one of his victims. I was supposed to lead him to a window through which the person who barely survived his attack could see him. And then the police were supposed to arrive.

I checked into the hotel where the monster was also staying using a false name. I went to my room and changed into the clothes of a bellboy. I approached room no. 23, where the "suspect" was supposed to be, and asked the gentleman inside to come outside because a lady was waiting there to speak to him. He didn't want to do it, as Moriarty predicted, but he agreed to see her through the window. So as the professor said I led him to the corridor and opened the window as wide as I could. And then the woman was supposed to recognise him.

But this did not happen. There were no women on the street. And then the gentleman fell back with a bullet in his forehead. What frightened me the most wasn't his sudden death, seeing his corpse, but the fact that he was definitely shot and I didn’t hear a sound!

Panicked, I ran to my room, changed clothes, and left the hotel without checking out. I didn't go far.

Moriarty caught me at the end of the street and asked me to come with him into the alley. I was so afraid I just went with him like cattle led to the slaughter. He gave me my share and added that I just got involved in a really nasty case and it would be best if I did not tell anyone about it.

'Accidents happen,' he said calmly, but with an eerie smile on his face. 'There was a gentleman not long ago, who died in a hotel from a bullet in his head, but nobody heard the shot. Another man, who ran out of the hotel right after, is being constantly followed, though he does not see the people following him.’

I nodded, indicating understood the threat.

“He brought me to abandoned factory.” Story Goal achieved!

New building sculpt revealed: Factory.

All jittery, I went back to my inn. I was wondering if I should inform Sherlock Holmes about the case (through a messenger boy, not in person, obviously) (vote A)...

...or not tell anyone about it and just give Lenore the blood-stained money and hide (vote B).

Please make your votes in the comments section of this update. One backer - one vote. If you use social media, you can also vote on the PHALANX Facebook profile.

We will count the votes at 06.00 AM EST and our character will follow the way you have choosen in a new update, posted at 10.00 AM EST.

Thank you and happy gaming!

PHALANX Team

EPISODE 15: The Fallen Angel
over 5 years ago – Tue, Sep 18, 2018 at 12:02:13 AM

This is a story driven Kickstarter campaign. It will be run as a paragraph game (gamebook). Under this link you will find a previous episode of the story. And here is a new one:

EPISODE 15: The Fallen Angel

When I was walking down the street, all the facts started to come together in my head.

Despite what Sherlock Holmes told me, Moriarty was alive, but there was nothing pointing to his involvement in Lenore's death. The tosher and Fagin said it was someone from the aristocrats and Fagin specifically named Lord Bellinger (but without any evidence to support it, apart from his own intuition). He insisted the mere fact she resigned from working for him to help the paupers could have made the Lord angry enough to hurt my beloved. He also suggested that Lenore left him because the Lord hurt her how a man can hurt a woman most atrociously. Lord Balmoral was in love with Lenore, but she rejected him. But when Lenore moved out of West End he made a strange, costly bet with Lord Bellinger that she would l come back safe and sound. He lost and Lord Bellinger multiplied his fortune.

Lenore tried to borrow a large sum for charity, but to no avail. It's not certain, however, that she had not managed to do so, just from someone I haven't reached yet. If so, she could have been a tasty morsel for a murderous robber. Both the ghastly Gradgrind and the maid noticed that my turtledove was exceptionally smart. Maybe that's why she knew she was in danger, according to the words of the little match girl. The swarthy man with a towel on his head might have been her friend... or someone passing as one. He could have been a killer hired by Bellinger.

So everything points to Lord Bellinger. He seemed very open when I was visiting him... Too open. I know he has some important documents at his mansion, but I was still able to wander around freely. Only a very stupid man would allow for something like that. Or one that wanted to gain the trust of the investigator for any price.

Still walking down the street and deep in unhappy thoughts I almost stepped into a rather nasty puddle. I jumped sideways and then heard someone scream:

'Watch out!!!' he uttered at the top of his lungs.

I looked over my shoulder and it took me less than a second to notice a man on a very peculiar vehicle. It was two-wheeled, but one of those wheels was gigantic (as high as a grown woman) and the other one was very tiny, maybe twice the size of a pram's wheel. The driver sat on a saddle above the big wheel and guided it to gracefully pass me. But the wheel hit a stone and the handlebars jerked up. He fell, chafed his hands painfully, and hit the ground with his head in a really frightening way.

I ran to him as fast as I could.

'Are you alright?' I asked, all jittery.

The poor wretch groaned twice in a long, drawn-out tone, picked himself up on his mutilated hands, and got back onto his feet.

'Where do you think you're going, you clown!' he yelled at me. 'This is all your fault!'

'I am very sorry, I've never seen such an invention and wasn't aware someone was riding it behind me. I read about penny-farthings, but it's the first time I have seen one up close.'

'Were you born yesterday?!' My answer apparently didn't soothe the anger of this man. 'There are plenty of them in London!'

'I have not been here long and the weather wasn't so brilliant, so I haven’t seen any cyclists outside. But I do apologise. And for your moral losses I can offer you a penny and a farthing. The penny-farthing survived intact, so you can spend them on a porter to soothe your pain.'

The cyclist brightened up upon hearing those words, took the coins from me, and we parted ways in peace.

What will they think of next? My "province" doesn't have such "all the rage" things. When people want to run you over, they use horses. A horse can bolt or rear up, but by God, a skilful rider doesn't fall on his head after every halt!

Walking more carefully now, I started to plan my revenge on Lord Bellinger. It was time to learn why exactly he murdered my beloved. And to mete out justice to him.

I had to buy some rope, something for a gag, some ether, a carpet to wrap in the unconscious body, a gun, hire a carriage, and think of a place to interrogate him, and how to carry him out of the mansion without raising anyone's suspicions.

Oh, how I wished that drunken seaman from East End was right. That my Lenore is alive and well.

I was deep in such gloomy thoughts, thinking about how could I get some ether in London and suddenly I smelled it very vividly... from a cloth pressed right to my face by a strong hand. I remember someone dragging me into a dark alley. I tried to fight, but couldn't. I started to hit my attacker with a cane blindly, but it had almost no effect on him. I was losing both my strength and my consciousness.

I came to in an abandoned warehouse, tied to a chair and gagged.

Above me I saw a sinister dark face with a turban on top.

'I think he's waking up.'

My head was spinning. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them... she was with me. My beloved Lenore. Her face was very sombre.

The whole situation seemed hopeless to me, but I tried to connect all the facts. Lenore was dead, but she was right in front of me. Her face showed no joy. Before that I saw a sinister man with a dark face and in a turban.

Therefore, I'm surely dead and in hell. But why? My life was pretty decent. Or... My God... so the Catholics were right. Or the Orthodox. Or the Jews. I'm here, so certainly not the Anglicans. Lenore was also damned and the swarthy man was definitely the devil. It must be quite easy to hide the horns in the turban...

'Lenore,' I managed to say. 'I am so sorry... Maybe we'll get out of it at the Last Judgment...'

''What is he talking about?' the demon asked.

'He's delirious. You gave him too much ether and he's still not entirely conscious,' Lenore said.

'My beloved, who murdered you and how did you die? I know I shouldn't ask now, but there will not be a better moment. Please, tell me.'

Silence ensued. Lenore was looking with surprise at the demon, the demon looking with as much surprise at her.

'He thinks...' the fallen angel started.

'He does not understand yet...' Lenore interjected.

'It was Bellinger, am I right? I know it was him!' I interrupted to stop the insinuating remarks about me not understanding anything. My investigation was very meticulous!’

Lenore took a deep breath and squatted next to me.

'Try not to scream or we will have to gag you,' she asked. 'Can you do this for me?'

I nodded.

'I will now untie the rope on your left hand so that you can touch my face.'

She did just that and I was able to touch her beautiful countenance.

'Oh, Lenore,' I said with joy.

'Could you touch the face of a ghost?' she asked.

'If I was alive, then no, but between ghosts...'

'You are not a ghost,' she cut me off. 'Can you tie a ghost to a chair?'

'I don't think so. But in hell...'

'You are alive. I am alive too.'

'But I was at your funeral and...'

'It was a prostitute in that coffin, she died of the fever. Her face was shot off post mortem, so no one could notice that she was not me. I did it because I had no choice. We gave her my dress so no one would know I am still among the living.'

'But... Why?' I asked, shocked.

'Because, with other brave people, I am preparing a revolution. We will finish what the chartists started, but not with just protests. With guns. And as long as there will be a dead woman serving as the leader, it will not be easy to track or arrest her. I have to ask you an important question, my dear, and please think carefully about the answer. Can I be certain you will not turn me in and you will finish this irrational investigation that keeps everyone's attention on a girl named Lenore?'

'I love you, my beloved, so I will do anything to keep you safe.'

'Mahesz, we can untie him and let him go free. I trust him.'

'If you say so,' the man in the turban answered.

When I was untied, Lenore told me:

'Leave as soon as you can. Soon London will not be a safe place.'

'I will not leave without you,' I answered.

'You can either leave or stay and help. I warn you though, the second option is not safe...'

'I'm not afraid of danger.'

'...and you have to prove your worth to our movement. The people are ready and weapons wait for our money in guarded warehouses at the docks. The problem is that we still lack quite a big sum of money to make the deal and those French rats do not want to lower the price. We need...' and again, a sum so unbelievable that I started to wonder if the Londoners had any restraints when it comes to money.' 'If you get this much, you will prove your commitment. If not, you will not see me ever again and please, don't try to find me. You would put me in a great danger. Mahesz will wait for you in this factory for two days. He will collect the money.’

I didn't have the foggiest idea what the revolution Lenore talked about was, but I knew I wanted to protect her. If I have to get the money to be closer to her, then I will do it. I know I have just one shot at getting the money, considering the amount of time. I had to choose wisely.

“You can touch my face.” Story Goal achieved!

New personality card revealed: Lenore Lloyd.

New agent sculpt revealed: Cyclist.

Now choose your next step

I decided to:

- Go to Fagin and take on the lucrative job against Lord Bellinger he mentioned (vote A).

- Help Lord Balmoral to win his bet. I can just prove Lenore is alive and Lord Bellinger would have to pay Balmoral the large sum Balmoral promised to share with me (vote B).

- Go to Professor Moriarty and ask him if he has something lucrative to offer (vote C).

Please make your votes in the comments section of this update. One backer - one vote. If you use social media, you can also vote on the PHALANX Facebook profile.

We will count the votes at 06.00 AM EST and our character will follow the way you have choosen in a new update, posted at 10.00 AM EST.

You have asked for Wooden Card Holdres add-on photo, so here they are:

New language edition

The game will have a full Italian edition, published by our trusted partner Cranio Creations. Please share this news to your Italian friends, as there are still few days to jump in! :)

Thank you and happy gaming!

PHALANX Team

EPISODE 14: Why did you kill Lenore?
over 5 years ago – Sun, Sep 16, 2018 at 01:33:04 AM

This is a story driven Kickstarter campaign. It will be run as a paragraph game (gamebook). Under this link you will find a previous episode of the story. And here is a new one:

EPISODE 14: Why did you kill Lenore?

Early morning i went to Hyde Park. I lurked in bushes and waited. And I was lucky. He was slowly walking down the alley, focused on reading some fat volume with graphics of London architecture. So I approached Professor Moriarty from behind and quickly squeezed his neck with a cane, holding it in both hands.

'Why did you kill Lenore?' I asked with despair.

'Khrr hrrr,' he answered, not at all politely and off topic, in my opinion.

'Don't fib!' I cried out with authoritarian voice. 'Tell me! What was your reason, you monster!'

'Khrrr... I can't... grhhh... breathe...'

I worked out that the professor was trying to tell me that in his current position he was quite unable to tell me anything. It was his wheezing, but also the fact that his face became alarmingly blue. So I released his neck and waited for explanations. He breathed heavily for a good five minutes, massaging his neck and Adam's apple.

'Man,' he whispered finally. 'I have no idea who this Lenore was.'

'Don't lie!' I screamed, very agitated.

'Why do you think I have anything to do with the woman of that name?'

'I have good sources.'

'Which ones? Who is my enemy? What false evidence did he provide you with?'

'No evidence. None was needed.'

'Was he claiming to be a witness of Lenore's death?'

'No.’

'Did he point to any false witnesses?'

'No.'

'Then by God,' were the next words professor Moriarty uttered. 'Why do you think I have something to do with that woman and her death?'

I decided to come clean.

'Sherlock Holmes said so. He's supposed to be the most famous detective in this city.'

'Holmes? The junkie? Do you know what he smokes in that pipe of his?'

'A specific mixed with tobacco that helps him work in top gear.'

'And when you talked to him did he seem concentrated and focused to you?'

His eyes were actually restless and he seemed hyperactive.

'No. But he is a famous detective.’

'Yes, that's true. Watson is in love with him and really helps his reputation by writing quite embellished accounts of his investigations. And do you know who I am?'

'Professor Moriarty, the genius master of crime?' I answered, a bit bewildered.

'Is that what he said? You fool! I am a detective, his competition!'

'I haven't heard about even one investigation of yours,' I answered, trying to sound like an expert on the topic of London's detective agencies.

'Because a good detective doesn't run to the papers with accounts of his investigation, but tries not to blow up sensitive cases for the good of the client. Holmes is famous, but a queen would not hire him for any delicate case.'

Moriarty took a couple of deep breaths.

'This guy Sherlock hates me, because I take the best clients from him, and rightly so. He cooks up nonsense about me and spreads it around. It's so absurd that it's not even worth focusing on. When he is so zonked he almost falls under the wheels of a carriage? Moriarty's fault. A flowerpot falls right next to him? Moriarty's fault. He scalds himself with tea? It surely was Moriarty! This man in that stupid hat of his is bonkers! I think that before he ended up in the gutter, he was quite aware that his stories about me are just perfidious lies. But after all those drugs he's gone off his rocker so far that he started to believe in them. I even heard that he claims he fought with me at the edge of a precipice... when he was on holiday in Switzerland! My dear sir, I've never even been to the Alps!'

His explanations seemed to be much more logical than Holmes' stories. I apologised for my behaviour and was about to leave when I had a premonition.

'Professor Moriarty, so you are a detective?'

'Exactly.'

'Then could you maybe take on the case of the murder of my beloved Lenore?'

'Certainly! 'My fee is...' and he named a price so high that what Sherlock said seemed to me like a bag full of pennies.

'I beg your pardon, sir,' I said politely. 'I don't have such an amount.'

'I see. I can maybe inform you that sometimes I myself need some assistants while arresting particularly vicious individuals. I pay very well. Around four of such interventions and you would not only be able to pay me, but there will even be some money left for your pension. I don't need help at this moment, but do visit me sometime later... You might be much needed.'

I thanked him politely, but I had no time for making deals. Justice and my personal revenge on the murderer of my angel were more important than all the pounds in England. But this conversation allowed me to reject the last erroneous clues. Now I knew who was responsible for her fate.

“I squeezed his neck with a cane!” Story Goal achieved!

Alternative personality card revealed: Professor Moriarty.

New add-on revealed: Artbook.

There will be no voting today, as we want to let you (and us) have a little break during the weekend. The next episode will be published on Monday, and there you will find one of the most important voting in our story. Stay tuned! :)

About the Add-ons

Artbook, Additional set of 50 metal Victorian Coins, 99x66 cm Canvas Mat and Wooden Card Holders are add-ons that you can add to your pledge for extra cost.

To include add-ons in your pledge, please click on the Manage Your Pledge button. To include any items you would like to receive, simply increase your total pledge for the amount of the add-ons. For example - if you want to add Canvas Mat to your pledge, please click Manage Your Pledge button and increase your pledge from £60 to £95. You will be able to let us know in the Pledge Manager (after the campaign ends) which items you have added to your order.

The Artbook, 50 metal Victorian Coins and Wooden Card Holders add-ons do not affect your shipping price. The 99x66 cm Canvas Mat add-on will increase your shipping price by £8-£10 (this is huge!). You will pay for shipping in the pledge manager, after the campaign ends.

Please note that the Artbook is Kickstarter exclusive item and won't be available in retail distribution.

Thank you and have a nice Sunday!

PHALANX Team