[StarFire] Endless Duress

Endless Duress



BackStory

Spoiler for BackStory:

There were few ways for a young person to make an honest living in a city, too few ways.
In the city of Lincada, you were either part of the working class or you were filth. Those who were below that order had to steal to survive and quickly banded together under the same interests.
Our young female lead (named Lily) is one such person, being forced to steal to survive.

Her natural skills at lock-picking earned her high respect from her local people; yet she often wonders why an honest life seems to be beyond her reach.

One night, the group of thieves learns about a massive shipment that's been delivered to a local small shop and decide to target it for their next stealing escapade; hoping that they can haul in enough to feed them all for a long period of time.
But something goes wrong, they are all caught by the shopkeeper and attempt to flee the scene. During the commotion and confusion the shopkeeper winds up lifeless on the ground... The group just committed murder.
While grief begins to trike at their hearts, they quickly take anything that they can and completely flee the vicinity.

They would later find themselves back at their local area, trying to ignore the situation and pretend it didn't occur. But the ice soon breaks and they all question what happened. Some saying it was immoral to kill him, whilst others make mention that this was the best haul they ever received.

Our young protagonist chooses to avoid this senseless argument and take a walk outside. She too was at the scene of the crime and worries about any action that could be taken against her for this.
During her thought process, she unintentionally walks directly back to the shop. She sees no one around except for the remaining body of the shopkeeper and a young little pup sitting next to him; the pup stares intently towards the shopkeepers face, waiting for any sign of movement.

Lily, feeling guilt-ridden and deeply saddened, walks over to the pup and reaches out for it; pulling him back away from his owner and into her arms.
The pup shows no sign of resistance but instead looks her in the eyes and then back towards his owner. She carries him home resting on her shoulder.

The thieves (now being done with their little scuffle) have started to drink till their heart's content; they question Lily and her new-found pup, but she makes no mention of the shopkeeper to them.
It is at this point that Lily decides that this lifestyle is not never was what she wanted, she will live a normal life ~ or die trying.




A couple of years have passed since the shopkeepers death and the group of thieves is more renowned throughout Lincada; mostly as a bunch of thieves, but at other times for murder.
Lily does not have contact with this group anymore as she has gotten a daytime job playing music at a local (and busy) auditorium. Her natural talent at playing the piano has earned her much praise throughout her local area, however she does not get paid enough to buy her way out of the Slums of Lincada and is forced to live in between one of the healthy parts of town and the poor area of the city.

She has given her dog a name (Rally), who happens to appreciate his new owner very much; showering her with love and fighting for her.
On the occasional night, Rally will leave Lily's presence and return to the old store to wait for his old master to return.
The investigations into the murder of the shopkeeper have since gone cold and investigations have been called off. This was one case where everyone got off scot-free... or so they thought.

Plot

Spoiler for Plot:

Lily is a musician who plays for a daytime job at a local auditorium; her musical skill have earned her some respect around her area and she is content with her life as it is now.

Lily having previous skills as a reliable lock-picker make her an asset for people will intentions to enter a forbidden location with some stealth.
As such is the case, she is constantly blackmailed and threatened by her old thieves group to continually work with them or risk some miraculous new evidence to be found in the shopkeepers death investigations; which would force Lily to lose everything she loves about the new life she now has. Reluctantly, she agrees to help.

Rally is deeply attached to Lily and managed to learn some things about being stealthy from her, for this reason he will help Lily solve her current problems until she can find a way to keep herself from being at risk of losing her current life.

Features

Spoiler for Features:

• Explorable City
• A side story for you to enjoy, should you pursue it.
• Stealth System
• Control two different characters on and off the same maps to solve puzzles and explore different parts of the city
• Control Rally and use him to speak to the local wildlife to learn some secrets
• Musical minigames for you to play
• Buy decorations for your home

 
 
 
Characters

Spoiler for Lily:

Name: Lily
Age: 19
Biography: A young girl with a little bit of history behind her. She is skilled with lock-picking and the ways of music, mostly centred around the piano.
She fears losing the life that she worked hard to build up and will do what is asked in order to keep it.


Artwork, by ZodiacLiere

Spoiler for Rally:

Name: Rally
Age: 5
Biography: A dog which has become well attuned with the ways of silence and stealth, he happily fights to protect Lily and will talk to the local wildlife in an attempt to get information for her.
On the occasional night, he can be seen leaving Lily's presence and returning to the old store where he last saw his previous owner; Rally awaits the return of his first master, promising not to forget him.

Interesting, so you control two different characters at the same time?

Sounds pretty neat! I am looking forward to seeing how your guild executes the idea.

Wow, the whole stealth thing seems like itd be really awesome!

Not at the same time, more like you press an input key to swap between them.
They don't have to be on the same map either.

So Lily could be on the otherside of the city and still swap characters with Rally.

I'm interested! I like when the main area is a big city as opposed to a world map.  Cheers and good luck!

I really like that you can control two different characters and one of them's a dog! Great work!

Love the idea and I'm looking forward to playing it...

Also, playing with a dog reminds me of my very first game!! There you had to play with a horse