Pyre Part #1 - The Path Toward Salvation

Part 1: The Path Toward Salvation

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: Your days in the Downside brought slow, lonesome agony. Now, as you lie yielding to the elements, something rumbles into view. Three shapes emerge, each clad in strange attire.

: Hm. Another piece of filth expelled from the Commonwealth.

: See, right on schedule! What’d I tell you?

: You told us we would find someone alive.

: Someday! I said we’d find someone alive someday. Just not today I guess, but don’t be glum! You know I see you frowning underneath that mask.

: Pyre gives you, the player, the option to choose your gender and how others address you. It also gives you a ‘they’ option if you’d rather not be addressed as either a man or a woman. I’m a man, so, I’m going to go with male pronouns for this run.

: It seems he still is. Then stand aside. I shall send him to a better place.

: He’s a he? Can you people just tell?

: Hang on. The markings on his rags. I think he’s one of them.

: But look at him. He is beyond our help, and we are beyond his.

: Broken, shaking, starving, probably diseased… yeah, good luck with that there, chum! See you back at the wagon.

: Indeed. The day grows dim. You have at best an hour.

: Understood. I won’t be long.

: After the others leave, the man turns toward you and begins unfastening his mask.

: You are parched, and he gives you drink. You ache, and he binds your wounds. You hunger, and he gives you food…. Little by little, it helps.

: There. Turns out you’re tougher than you look. Name’s Hedwyn. Now, come on.

: You sense no ill intent as he helps you up and leads you to an old blackwagon, nothing like the stately vessels that paraded Commonwealth criminals through alabaster streets.

: The weather-beaten wagon is as much a mess inside as out. You see the masked woman and the talkative creature taking stock on ancient-looking books.

: I’m back.

: And with a guest.

: She loosens the clasps on her mask.

: You may call me Jodariel.

: And as for myself!

: The small one struggles with his mask. Jodariel soon assists him.

Gfy

: That is to say, you may regard me by the name of Rukey Greentail.

: Such pleasantries out of the way, the horned woman then motions to the others. She glances at you sidelong as she speaks.

: Can he do it?

: Hope so… I haven’t asked him yet.

: What?! Then what are we waiting for?

: We’ll frequently have the option to pitch into the conversation. We’re very rarely given actual dialogue and instead we’re given some broad statements to choose from – here, for example, we’re given a basic yes, no, or ‘remain silent’ option.

: Without giving too much away, the Commonwealth is… well, it’s a bit of a gilded cage. If you break a law there and you’re found guilty, you’re sent here to the Downside. Literacy is among the punishable crimes there.

: Pyre progresses despite whatever happens and which decisions you make, which is a neat storytelling tactic that I’m sure took many, many months to perfect. Since I’m reading the words on-screen and I’m writing these very words here, and I’m assuming you’re reading them too, that makes us all guilty of literacy. Rather than lie or be difficult, we might as well admit to it.

: You confirm their suspicions. There is no use trying to hide it now.

: Well then, glory days! Because it just so happens my associates and I, we got ourselves some nice material here for someone just like you.

: Reader. You still live thanks to us. We ask for something modest in exchange. Open one of those books back there, and tell us what it says.

: Sorry to put you on the spot like this, my friend.

: Well, what’s the harm? We’re already in jail.

: Whenever we have a bit of time to ourselves, we can fart around in the Blackwagon and interact with whatever happens to be in it at the time.

Gfy

: The blackwagon is currently empty, save for a minstrel that doesn’t want to be bothered right now; some imps that we can poke and prod for some fun; and a bright, glowing book. We can interact with the candles by blowing them out; we can interact with the cobwebs to brush them away; there’s a bunch of little stuff in here that makes it feel a little more homey, as empty as it currently is.

: Anywho, let’s poke around in that big ole’ book.

: You pick up one of the old and heavy volumes, bound in materials you do not recognize.

Gfy

: Whenever I post a new page like this one, and you’re having difficulty reading the font, click the picture for a clearer-text version to help you out.

: The book describes a complicated method through which exiles can return to the Commonwealth. The words swim through your mind as Hedwyn gets your attention.

: Well, friend? What does it say…?

: But then your vision starts to fade and blur. You feel your body weaken, and give out.

Gfy

The Path Toward Salvation – Gameplay

Music: Forbidden Knowledge

: … Well that was something.

: … That was our way out.

: So now we just follow the stars, or what?

: Supposedly.

: Reader! Come, let us regard the night.

: Now, show us, before the howlers catch our scent. Where shall the Rites commence?

: The Rites take place all over the Downside, but the location of the next one, and the order they appear in, is determined by the stars in the night sky. This is our ‘map’ of sorts when it comes to the next Rite we must perform in order to earn our right to escape the Downside and return to the Commonwealth.

: Among the night sky stars are constellations that map out figures. What they are and what they mean for us isn’t important right now, but we’ll be getting pretty well acquainted with them in a hurry.

: In any case, there’s only one star in this sky that’s especially bright, so let’s give it a looksee.