Narrator (Darkest Dungeon II)

The Narrator of Darkest Dungeon II is a new character called the Academic. He has a similar role to the Ancestor in the previous game, and is also voiced by Wayne June.

Identity
In peaceful years long past, the Academic met the player at the University in The Sprawl. Together, they studied the metaphysical structure of the world and learned a horrifying truth. The player left and secluded themselves at their home in The Valley, but the Academic continued his research. Later, as the world teetered on the brink of oblivion and madness overwhelmed all, the Academic tracked down the player, shook them out of their complacency, and charged them with taking The Flame to The Mountain to stop the source of the evil.

Narrator's Responses
The Narrator reacts differently to many events and actions of the player. He will comment on a grand variety of events and parts of the game including the opening cinematic, critical hits, bosses, and various interactions throughout the game.

The Howling End Trailer
"In the howling darkness of the end - men will become monsters, but hope will ride those courageous enough to carry... The Flame."

A Glimmer of Hope Trailer
"You were right to fear the world. It has gone mad. The gutters brim with poets, and decency lies burning in the street. But this is not a time for heroes. Look instead to those battered souls who have known fear and failure in ample portion, but rise again to reclaim a glimmer of hope from the spreading stain of the Darkest Dungeon."

Launch Trailer
"I know failure well. I glimpsed it lurking at the ragged edges of your mind. I watched its venom spread through the veins of the world, and I trembled at its terrible reverberations. But I have seen its true nature. Beneath its bluster, deep within the debris of its crushing collapse, there lies a noble road. It calls out if your brave enough to believe, that you are not a prisoner of your past, that the fractured bones of this world can be mended, that a fragile flame long guttered by sour winds can blaze radiant once again. The time has come to face your failures, or be consumed by them."

Intro Cinematic
"Ruin has found you at last. My protégé - my friend - our calculations were correct: the ephemeral equation is unbalanced. The earth spins on a strange and terrifying new axis and everywhere... unbridled consequence. The world is a wasteland of failures past, and you must ride out into it, unafraid. Take this - it is Hope. The very last of it. It is yours now. You were bold once. Be bold once more. Free yourself from this suffocating stillness, fix your gaze on the horizon, and face the fearsome truth... of the Darkest Dungeon."

Traveling
"Up ahead - a light in the limitless expanse..." "Forward now, into oblivion's inky embrace." "Push ahead, beyond the reach of this tenebrous malignity."

"The greatest horror, it would seem, is nothing at all." "An ocean of emptiness... slowly swallowing the world." "While the Flame still burns, hope remains." "A nebulous nightmare - an apocalypse that only we can oppose." "How many souls are lost forever in this lightless obscurity?" "Stagnant and sprawling, this hellish abyss extends beyond sanity itself." "We travel through the incalculable dimensions of human weakness."

"Remain here if you wish. There is always more that can be learned."

Choosing your Confession
"You came here seeking solace but found stagnation instead."

"The seat of your denial - perched precariously in the murky gloaming." "Indistinct and ill-lighted - no comfort awaits you here..." "The house on the borderlands, half-swallowed by the stain." "Your sanctum, adrift in this bituminous nightmare." "You must face your failures, or be consumed by them."

Selection
"The Shackles of Denial Must. Be. Destroyed."

"You have cowered in your crumbling denial long enough."

Introduction
"I remember our first meeting on the steps of the University - a collegial handshake that would doom us both. Your insightful questions during my lectures gave me pause, and I recognized in you something... of a kindred spirit. Despite our differences in age and position, we shared a keen fascination for archaeology, folklore, and of course, occultism."

Additional Lore
"Interminable faculty socials became something of a delight, knowing we'd abscond to a quiet table and lose ourselves in riveting discussion and passionate debate." "Commonalities between the mythos of ancient cultures was not a new area of study for either of us, but it was there that we first noticed the pattern."

"We spent long nights immersed in crumbling, worm-eaten volumes, plumbing the forbidden secrets of antiquity." "Between semesters, we would spend our days rambling the woods, talking excitedly of esoteric theory and ancient mysteries..." "The university's resources were impressive and yet, on occasion we relished in... firsthand experience."

"You were my brightest student, my research partner, and my dearest friend."

Fight Begin
"The mind must be freed of its self-imposed incarceration!"

Victory
"At last, the world's mind is free to remember a time before the cancerous corruption."

Conclusion
"It was you who found the cypher, scribbled hastily in the decaying margins of some long forgotten tome. Scribbled... in blood. Whether by providence or happenstance, we stumbled upon the mark of some strange power invoked the world over, reflected in cultures predating mankind itself. A semicircle, radiating five points of power - a symbol hidden deep in the iconography of every ancient empire. The Iron Crown... enigmatic, and ubiquitous."

Selection
"Left unsurfaced, grievances gain a terrible strength." "Let us drag your agglutinated indignities out into the light."

Introduction
"Your vociferous calls to bring our findings before the faculty were dangerously premature. Given the gaps in our understanding, doing so would risk ridicule, or worse, robbery. I took no pleasure in asserting my seniority - stifling your protestations with a strict mandate of absolute secrecy. You acquiesced, but your plaintive susurrations betrayed a burgeoning resentment."

Additional Lore
"We had managed to grasp a thread of connective worship - that stretched across vast gulfs of time and tribe. but we did not understand it."

"We required the highest standard of empirical evidence, lest my career and your future be compromised by the cynicism of our peers." "Time and time again, I impressed upon you that any adulation afforded us would be fleeting if we could not properly defend our findings." "I understood your eagerness to build a reputation, and it pained me greatly to hold you back." "You mistook my abundance of caution for a lack of confidence, and would perseverate on your grievances at length."

"The subsequent months were measured in melted candles, and mounting disappointments."

Fight Begin
"The Seething Sigh, stertorous avatar of ill-concealed rage!"

Victory
"Your fault was not in burying your furies, but in thinking they would accept such a fate."

Conclusion
"The blaze began in the east wing of the Great Library. Within hours, the entirety of our effort lay in a smoldering, ashen heap. I braced against your rancorous buffeting, avowing a certain hesitant relief at our freedom from that mocking sigil. The uncanny arrival of the letter, however, heralded a new, pernicious phase of our investigation..."

Selection
"Mania and misery - companions to the last."

"Morality chokes on the poison fruits of preoccupation."

Introduction
"We set out immediately into the kaleidoscopic wilds of the countryside, and by sundown, reached the remote manor whose whereabouts formed the sole contents of that cryptic invitation. At the behest of our charismatic host, we feasted beneath a banner of the Iron Crown; questioned exhaustively by an eager cabal of masked delegates."

Additional Lore
"Our host assured us of the groups anthropological values, but I sensed his designs extended well beyond the theoretical."

"The house was scattered with ancient rarities and timeworn artifacts - all bearing that damnable emblem that had come to dominate our thoughts." "Eyes wild beneath their masks, the assembled devotees shared their terrible theories of timeless extradimensional intelligences of forces beyond human comprehension..." "As the night wore on, circles were drawn carefully in chalk, and salt was laid upon the floor. This was not research, it was ritual. And I could not stifle my repulsion."

"They lit black candles and chanted rhythmically in the gutteral tongues of long-forgotten tribes. Even now, I can hear the echoes of those awful invocations." "At my insistence, we retired to our room, where I countered your excitement by clearly outlining the vulnerability of our position. Reason prevailed, and we elected to block the door with a large dresser."

Fight Begin
"Obsession's unshrinking gaze, focused to a fault!"

Victory
"Obsession blinded you to your blessings, and smothered you in a fever dream of dissatisfaction."

Conclusion
"We awoke to an empty house. the garroted bodies of the attendees lay around the basement dais, each prostrate along a point of the Crown; our host conspicuously absent. I could scarcely countenance such obscenity, but you were transfixed, eyes ablaze with inspiration. The failed ritual would become your obsession - from that pivotal moment, you were blind to all else."

Selection
"A relentless reach left you empty handed, clutching for more." "Ambition's rewards are dwarfed by its consequences."

Introduction
"Refusing enrollment in the fall, you took up in that mouldering brownstone, where I joined you in a vain attempt to assuage your aspirations. Now free from academic oversight and moral restraint, you vowed to reach into the blackest depths of the occult sciences and be the first to grasp the secret of the Iron Crown. The polarity between us reversed - I became your reluctant assistant in dozens of deplorable experiments, crushed in the grip of your ambition."

Additional Lore
"You calibrated prisms along the points of the Crown, cackling in smug satisfaction as wavelengths of hideous and indescribable light burned our eyes." "You attempted to map the geometric proportions of the Crown to frequencies of sound, and in the resulting silence, our ears welled with blood." "At night I could hear you shuffling about the house, muttering with diabolic intent." "The walls of the place closed tight about us, and it seemed at times that the outside world was a dream we could scarcely remember." "Desperate to somehow help you regain yourself, I prepared a breakfast, and an urgent appeal. My words fell on deaf ears; the food flung to the floor. Your appetites demanded more than I could hope to provide." "The Crown was a hateful and ravenous thing - it had consumed our careers, our lives, and our friendship. And still, it hungered..."

Fight Begin
"Ambition's reach forever exceeds its terrible grasp!"

Victory
"Ambition drove you to abandon everything you had... for everything you wanted."

Conclusion
"Unable to suffer your unprincipled overreach any longer, I made ready to depart; imploring you to rejoin me in more wholesome pursuits. Instead, you babbled of impossible measurements, ushering me down into the bolted cellar. In the dim light, I recoiled at the preparations you had made. Four bodies, laid out along the lateral points of the Crown. As the dagger's blade revealed itself through my chest, I understood I was to be the fifth."

Selection
"Cast your cowardice aside, and make right what you have wrought." "Your craven past is behind you - ahead lies redemption!"

Introduction
"A precise arrangement, the sacrifice of conscience, the abandonment of self the Iron Crown had found its king. Upon your furrowed brow, the mathematics of our existence, the geometry of the cosmos - an ephemeral equation wholly expressed in negative space. To invoke its power was to refactor the most fundamental underpinnings of our fragile dimension, to imprint one's mind upon reality itself..."

Additional Lore
"The wind blew sour, the oceans roiled. The earth shuddered at the coming change." "What world could be born of a mind so sharpened by appetence?" "Mankind became a mockery - his newly horrid outlines a twisted tribute to the shape of your flaws." "Newborn horrors, spawn of the crown, imprinted with your insatiable, reaching hunger." "Our world convulses, stretched and torn by the emptiness that surrounds it." "This existential dissolution is born of you, and only you can do what must be done to stop it."

Approach
"Here, at the nexus of ruin, loathing poured forth from the darkest recesses of your mind. Your failures took form, and the world bowed in honour of your great wretchedness. The stain of your bankruptcy frayed the very fabric of our dimension. But you were afraid to face what you had wrought, and fled down the long road of your memories. Hiding yourself away. I remember our first meeting on the steps of the University... You were golden, lit from within by the glow of potential. Finally, my friend, I would see that potential realized. It is time to reclaim the world from your weakness. Meet your derelictions with blazing defiance! The Equation must be balanced. Gaze now upon your great achievement - the sumtotal of your failings. Your Body of Work."

Fight Begin
"The carious gut of the coward, rife with toxic pusillanimity!" "Its infernal gaze pierces the veil of reality..." "Behold the hateful God upon His throne - your failures made flesh."

Victory
"To destroy the thing is to destroy yourself, but the world will spring anew from the memory you kept of it."

Conclusion
"Your confession is complete. The cosmic axes are aligned once more. Forgive yourself. Humanity is a weak hypothesis, after all. An unbalanced equation... an imperfect angle. We sow the seeds of our ruin, and seek to deny its reckoning. We make mountains of our mistakes, monsters of our misdeeds. We slip and stumble, we fail and we falter. And yet, in each of us, a hopeful light, holding fast against the hellish shadows that gather between our good intentions. And in each of us, the limitless emptiness... of a Darkest Dungeon."

Highwayman
"Hunted, harried - a fugitive seeking to outpace the past."

"A watchful protector, he will safeguard the roads he once haunted."

Man-at-Arms
"Pride - more devastating than the horrors of a hundred campaigns."

"Humility fortifies the hand and the heart. Behind his unwavering shield, the peasant militia will rally."

Grave Robber
"Avarice slips unseen into the catacombs of the mind."

"She will seek out what was lost to the shadows, and restore it where it is needed most."

Plague Doctor
"Indiscriminate science stains the surgeons hands."

"The world's wounded have much to teach - she will study them, and work tirelessly to treat their trauma."

Hellion
"Beneath the bloodlust and fury, there is emptiness... and shame."

"She will unite the remnants of her people and rid the wild steppes of what roaming horrors yet remain."

Runaway
"Nothing remains... save a burning will to survive."

"She will teach others to survive in scarcity. And through her, abundance will bloom from lifeless debris."

Jester
"A murderous melody lingers long after the final chord has been struck."

"Wherever people gather, his songs will soothe the destitute, and galvanize the fearful."

Leper
"Making peace with adversity is the very essence of existence."

"Wherever the weak and vulnerable bow beneath a cruel yoke, he will be there to repay their oppressors in kind."

Occultist
"To know the abyss, one must embrace it."

"Warden and watcher, master of the outer spheres. He will be a cosmic bulwark against intrusions from the void."

Vestal
"A sister of battle - repudiated but unbowed!" "A beacon in the dark, her radiant faith will affirm the humanity in us all."

Flagallant
"Zealotry - an undying blight upon the soul." "In the world's dark corners, he will revel in his rotting immortality."

Bounty Hunter
"A glint in the shadows - the hunter is here." "The thrill of the hunt... the promise of payment." "He has no past, no future... no mercy." "He will lend you his wicked talents... for a price." "The contract is sealed with a silent nod." "There, above the hearth, the hunter's mark..." "The hunter waits, brooding beneath his cowl." "There is no man behind the hunter's mask - only a terrible thought."

"He is the perfect weapon - a sharpened edge without pity or remorse."

Random Party
"Let us suffer the pitiless whim of chance then."

"A random seed - a supplication at the altar of the unknown." "Is this fearlessness, or indecision?" "We tempt fate, and accept damnation."

Arriving
"You must remember the world as it was, if you hope to save it." "It was not a perfect world, but it was ours, and we must fight to restore it." "Perhaps the world was a dream. Even so, it is surely worth remembering." "It is your charge to manifest a vision of the sane earth." "Little by little, your recollection mends the rifts of this sundered plane."

The Intrepid Coast
"Wisdom will help you choose a path, resourcefulness will ensure you survive it."

"Study the winding roads and routes of our Kingdom - find any advantage!"

"Hail, the vessel of your deliverance."

"These wheels are invested with noble purpose. Every rotation, blessed rest for the warriors of our cause." "There is no shame in celebrating your gains." "The struggle enriches your spirit." "Your boldness will not go unrewarded." "Your determination does you credit!" "Do not retreat from painful remembrance. Embrace, and learn." "A welcome reprieve from the rigors of academia, the salted air and steady surf lulled us into a deep, restorative sleep." "Along the lively docks, cheerful fishmongers offered a limitless array of marine delicacies at a pittance." "We stood on the shore, gulls wheeling overhead, the horizon brimming with infinite possibilities..."

Companionship
"A little company for the long ride ahead." "It cannot fight, but perhaps it can calm."

The Working Fields
"To recall a thing is to make it real once more."

"Spare a thought for tools of iron - such implements will serve us well."

"New instruments will help us diagnose the world's affliction, and overcome it."

"A drop of sanity... in a sea of madness."

"A welcome advancement in the science of survival."

"Every twinkling recollection is another implement at our disposal."

"Though infrequent, our pastoral retreats were always welcomed by the hardy folk of the fields." "Reticent at first, the farmers grew to appreciate our interest in their lifestyle and their lands."

"The cropper's folklore was as rich as their soil, and we delighted in their ancient tales and esoteric rumours..."

The Living City
"Look to those who have known fear and failure in ample portion."

"Hearts and minds will carry the day."

"These are beaten, broken souls - and yet, our fortunes ride with them."

"A little more light, a little more strength." "The true splendor of a world - those who live within it." "Teeming markets, bustling streets - we delighted in the city's vitality."

"We would often take our afternoon tea at the quaint café a few blocks from the library..." "I recall evenings spent sipping wine in the square, marveling at the architecture I was sure would outlast us both."

The Timeless Wood
"The more they have to hold on to, the harder they will fight."

"Memory is the hearth that warms the mind."

"Reflect now on simpler times precious moments, and finer things." "As the mind wanders, the past feels almost within reach..." "When all is lost, we cling to what we can remember."

"A fleeting impression, a flickering light."

"Bask for a moment in the light of distant days."

"A memory of pleasure can dull a moment of pain."

"Sun-dappled roads winding through ancient forests, our murmured conversations in the coach... We were close then." "Ancient bridges, crumbling old walls - you knew the history of each, and I delighted in your stories." "When the coach slowed at last, I demurred at how the voyage is often more transformational than the arrival."

The Mountain
"Permutations of an idea, iterations of a soul." "Variety - superfluous for some, a necessity for others." "Tools and trappings - the regalia of a life." "Let them be properly attired for the apocalypse."

Completing A Track
"It is done." "Your labours have borne fruit." "Imperfect, surely. But whole once more." "Wholesome accomplishment is good for the soul."

Spending All Candles
"You have exhausted your supply...for now." "Each flicker has found gainful purpose. Seek more." "Assign no anguish to an empty purse." "Experience, well earned and well spent."

Leaving
"Once more into the maelstrom, in search of what hope yet remains." "Sanctuary - as fleeting as a dying star." "The road calls once more to its dark passenger."

The Crossroads
"The Crossroads - who will step forward into the light?" "The Crossroads - where lost souls hope to find their way." "The Crossroads - wait by the lantern's light and welcome what help may come."

"The Crossroads - a place between places."

"The Crossroads - a beacon for the broken and the battered."

The Valley
"The time for denial has passed."

"Onward once again, though all the worlds horrors bar the way."

"The Flame - sacred and sputtering. The last hope for us all."

"Forward now, into the crumbling chaos of the world." "When you are ready, this rutted roadway will finally take you home..."

"The road is yours to travel, but you are not alone."

"This was a beautiful place once... what a pity." "The leaves fall, never to grow again." "Onward - and let us hope enough yet remains of the world..."

The Old Bridge
"You can feel it - a change in the air." "The winds whip more harshly on the far side of the brook."

"The point of no return welcomes you with open arms..."

"Comforts are exhausted... ahead, only trial and tribulation."

Cemetery
"Each gravestone is more than a failure - it is a promise to do better." "Echoes of allies reverberating in the void." "To attempt and fail is no shameful thing."

Gaunt Road Battle
"You see? Even your valley is not immune to the spreading stain."

"The bulwark of your denial is giving way..."

Leaving Road Battle
"Are you shaken? There is so much worse in store."

"Push on to the Inn. Rest and resupply await you."

Arriving
"Behold the great cities of man - ruined and aflame."

Insight
"Rubble and flame... as far as the eye can see."

"Unhinged by the impending apocalypse, the fanatics burn book and building alike." "Centuries of human learning and achievement, ruined,by riotous contempt." "The fanatics feed themselves to the fire. Their flesh melting like candle wax."

Arriving
"The rancid crop grows unchecked and abhorrent..."

Insight
"Voracious and decadent, the landowners and peasants alike descended into an orgy of consumption." "They emptied their larders, gorging themselves as the world began to crumble."

"First, they ate the rotten flesh of their animals. Then, still hungry, they turned upon themselves."

"They thrill to the succulent flavour that grows up from some nightmare pit far beneath the earth."

Arriving
"War rewards only resignation."

Insight
"Resigned to the end of things, they waited for death. And still they wait." "Emptied of mind and spirit by some existential shock, the poor devils roam aimlessly amidst the trees."

"These seasoned soldiers were deployed to a winding front... meant to prevent the cult's descent from the Mountain." "When the cult came, no orders were shouted, no swords were drawn. There was only stupefying horror, and the catatonic lethargy that follows it."

Arriving
"Propriety floats listless on the tide, brined in noxious degradation."

Insight
"Desperate to survive the rising tides, the fisherfolk of the coastal provinces resorted to a debased worship of the sea." "Primeval, water-worn monoliths were flung up from the ocean floor by some unaccountable tectonic action." "They prostrated themselves before the primigenial power of the obelisks, and were rewarded for their supplication." "To save themselves, they would slip beneath the brackish waters and be reborn in the image of their aquatic demiurge."

Arriving
"Tread carefully and quickly. This is swine country."

Insight
"Hidden in warrens and ancient waterways, the swine proliferate unseen and unchecked."

"There are rumours these rancorous beasts have some demoniac spark of... otherworldly intelligence." "The swine were first reported by denizens of a small hamlet nestled on the eastern coast."

Arriving
"At last the great Ziggurat - temple of failure and regret!"

Mountain Base
"Behold, the source of the stain. Gateway to incomprehensible emptiness." "The collagenous cathedral, malign temple of the Iron Crown." "The nightmare gate is revealed! Beyond, only infernal nihility and nonexistence!"

Unscouted
"The unknown awaits. Be wary." "We venture blindly forth, at the mercy of the road and its myriad dangers." "Travel without proper reconnaissance? A hasty and reckless thing indeed..." "The tangled trails whisper of torment..." "Our once-familiar kingdom, a stranger to itself..."

Trap
"Vermin hide by the roadside, waiting in ambush for unwary travelers..." "Their devices may be crude, but promise atrocity all the same."

Rough Patch
"The road ahead is washed out and strewn with rocks - mind the wheels." "The route will exact a toll on wheel and axle both - hold fast."

Oblivion Tear
"The void has rended reality once more - a psychic onslaught awaits!" "Despair and disorientation - steel your mind as we pass through the void."

Fight
"Ruts in the roadway - there is a barricade ahead." "See the debris ahead? That is where they'll make their move!"

Empty Path
"Safe passage along this stretch - a welcome reprieve." "Let nothing bar your path!" "A rare opportunity - let us advance unimpeded."

Generic
"Though decidedly inconvenient, at least we know what's coming." "Is your coach prepared for the upcoming obstruction?" "Brace up - there is danger on this path."

Loathing
"The Loathing Consumes..."

"The Loathing Howls..."

"The Loathing Whispers..." "The Loathing Festers..." "The Loathing Abates..."

Approaching
"Reliable information brings accurate insight after all."

Arriving
"The fog is parted. Our way is made clear." "Look to the horizon and lament." "Everywhere, in all directions, destruction has claimed dominion." "The value of such a view is matched only by its unsettling awfulness."

Approaching
"If you hope to heal, you have chosen wisely."

Arriving
"She heals the injuries of others, while ignoring her own." "She understands the futility of her work but undertakes it nonetheless." "She weeps for the fallen, and knows she will join them soon enough." "Joints ache, and muscles burn. The body requires attention."

Locking a Quirk
"Strength comes in many forms." "We must preserve what is best in us."

Removing a Quirk
"Even the worst habits can be overcome." "We need not be defined by our shortcomings."

Curing a Disease
"The treatment is harsh, but undeniably effective."

"We can suffer no sickness on this pilgrimage."

Purchasing Goods
"The odds of illness are high - best to be prepared." "Tonics, tinctures, and remedies - the science of hope."

Approaching
"This is no place for decent folk."

Arriving
"Lost and desperate - they need your help."

"Let us temper this world's cruelty, just a little."

"The Flame sputters - you must give hope to get it."

"Let us hope their desperation can be eased."

"Facing oblivion, these folk have kept their honor. Have you?"

"You must be strong enough to shoulder more than your share of the burden."

"Desperate and wanting. Will you rebuff their earnest pleas?"

"Look upon their noble struggle and be humbled by it."

"Giving into madness is easier than holding out against it. They are heroes."

Approaching
"Look ahead - a place to reflect, remember, and reconcile."

Arriving
"Who will face the half-remembered horrors of their past?"

"We must understand the past if we are ever to be free of it."

Failing
"It is a difficult thing to face the past... and even moreso to reconcile with it." "Acceptance requires honesty, painful as it might be." "Only when we acknowledge the past can we be free from it."

Approaching
"Let us hope the madman's scrounging has borne fruit."

Arriving
"His stifled smirking betrays a malign madness."

"He struggles to decide what is real, holding back fits of laughter, and tears."

"He chatters incoherently - but his prices remain fixed."

"His attention is unfocused, as though he is in two places at once."

"Trinkets and baubles, paid for in blood."

Combat items
"The tools of violence. Despicable and dangerous." "A regrettably necessary acquisition."

Inn items
"A bit of comfort on the road to damnation." "Something to ease the rigours of the road."

Trinkets
"Trinkets and baubles, paid for in blood." "... such power in such a little thing."

Stagecoach Equipment
"A sound investment in roads yet untraveled." "Anything that lets us travel further is worth the cost."

Approaching
"Up ahead the seat of our regrettable research."

Generic
"A place of research and inquiry. A monument to a once prestigious career." "This unkempt study evokes a feeling of the familiar does it not?" "An academic's study. Full of the forbidden, and the forgotten." "Rummage through the shelves, laden with echoes of indistinct ideas."

Specific
"The inscription reads, "The sacrifice of Hope opens the gate to ruin. Offer of yourself if you crave the Void."" "Despite being in perfect working order, it remains damnably stuck, just before twelve." "An early experiment. Gerd yourself, and don't stand too close." "We found the pathetic creature chained to an obelisk a half mile beneath the old church ruins." "The theory at the time was that harm could be rendered to a subject, by proxy." "The well-worn seat of our research, still littered with notes, diagrams, and dusty journals." "I regret ever buying that cursed clay from which sprung this anathema." "Recovered from the sunken temple off the wind-whipped coast, it emanates an antediluvian power." "We were able to replicate the dark song, albeit in a more conventional key." "It would be unwise to open this hateful portal, if memory serves." "You painted without rest for days, babbling incoherently about distant, half-imagined places." "We reasoned that the mind must be dissected if it is to be understood." "A rare and impressive collection of folklore, ancient wisdom, and sinister secrets." "A handsome rendering of some wealthy degenerate." "There is something unearthly in the tannin of this unsavory vintage."

Approaching
"A sanctum of tranquility awaits..."

Arriving
"A refreshing commune unburdens the mind."

Approaching
"Ahead, a bestial refuge, littered with bones and... less identifiable remains."

Arriving
"Sharpen your blades, that we may properly excise our portion."

Approaching
"Supplies this way if you can make it."

Arriving
"Perhaps I left this for you. Perhaps you left it for yourself. Perhaps it is not here at all."

"My wealth and possessions, bundled into this meager pile."

"Take up these goods and imbue them with purpose."

"Karma abhors waste. Best to take all you can."

Approaching
"The Avatars of Oblivion, clergy of the Spreading Stain."

Arriving
"The beautiful illusion that was the world - fragmented and undone." "Reality comes asunder before our eyes!" "Emptiness and dissolution have wormed their way into the world!" "Behold, the infinite emptiness of the void!"

General
"Perhaps you are finding your courage at last."

"Chaos must be met with unwavering resolve."

"You will fight so that others may flee."

Arriving
"They revel in debauchery, debasing themselves in the face of the end." "Your path lies through them, and so they must fall."

"Pity a soul so twisted by despair."

"To arms, though it brings no satisfaction."

The Sprawl
"Lament the knowledge taken by the fires of these fanatics." "Emboldened anarchists, desperate to exercise their nihilism."

The Foetor
"Plague Eaters - feeding on the tainted crop." "Toothy and corpulent, slaves to their hunger."

The Tangle
"Slow, vacant, and resigned, the lost battalion shambles on." "They had honour once. Now they have nothing at all."

The Shroud
"These slovenly creatures worship the sea. Let us return them to it." "The guttural prayers of the fisherfolk must be silenced." "The Leviathan's breath thickens the air!"

The Sluice
"Swine folk, indulging their vileness in the dark." "No choice - the brutish creatures must be confronted."

Approaching
"I trust you have calculated your odds carefully... this will not be easy."

Arriving
"This is a den of absolute evil and wretchedness. Prepare yourself."

"Foul winds and foul tidings, no doubt the source is within."

"Beware what awaits you inside."

"Steel yourself, the hulking horror inside will not fall easily."

First Battle
"The Library burns - and with it, the remains of philosophy, reason, and insight."

Third Battle
"The conflagration must be stopped! The Librarian Must. Be. Destroyed." "He teeters madly upon his ladder, reveling in the fiery destruction of human accomplishment!"

First Battle
"The landowner's manor - do you hear the child's cries?"

Third Battle
"The harvest is here - pity those with a place at the table."

"Born to a corpulent half-eaten mother, the child is a ravenous avatar of degeneracy!"

First Battle
"Within every Keep, a General and his loyal, lumbering guard."

Third Battle
"He has retreated, undying, into a dream - and there he must stay."

"Locked in a nightmare slumber, he is tortured by failures both real, and imagined."

First Battle
"The Church of the Change, an inglorious heap of rotting timbers."

Third Battle
"They must be made to see that their monstrous god is mortal."

Inn
"At last, respite within reach."

"The hearth calls out to the weary."

"Haggard, tired-eyed, all are welcome here." "These warm, candlelit windows promise refuge." "A fortifying meal, a strong drink, and finally - rest."

Gaunt
"The lost souls of a dying world - empty of hope and humanity."

"Stumbling and grasping, shadows of what they once were."

"Echoes of humanity, twisted by hopelessness..."

Pillagers
"The worst kind of parasite - opportunists." "Pillaging brigands, enriching themselves as the world collapses," "It is low indeed to profit in destruction."

The Sprawl
"The hooded watchers howl to their horrid kin."

The Foetor
"A festering impasse - tended by toothy fiends!"

The Tangle
"They stand guard even now, deathless and dreaming."

The Shroud
"The docks are choked once again with the repellant stench of rotting fish."

The Sluice
"The pitiless stamp of cloven hooves can be heard ahead..."

Losing All Wheels
"Wheels askew, coach limping - be prudent!"

"Mind your wheels - they have nothing left to give."

Losing All Armor
"The coach's plating is spent - we are exposed!" "Our protection has been stripped to its last..."

Urgent Repairs
"Quickly - repair the damage and be off!"

"They seek to strike while we are vulnerable - hold them off!" "You must survive this onslaught short-handed!"

"Work fast - and fight even faster!"

Finishing Repairs
"Leave the wretches choking on our dust!"

"Let us hope these repairs will hold..." "We move once more... albeit unsteadily." "The timbers creak, the wheels groan. But we press on nonetheless."

Approaching
"Think carefully - today's oversight is tomorrow's regret." "Myriad options require careful deliberation."

"The destination is never in question, only the route you take to get there."

"When deliberation is exhausted, trust your instincts."

"Consider all variables... but do it quickly."

"A simple choice. At least, it should be."

"An elementary problem, is it not?"

Stopping
"We must keep moving..."

"Destiny will not be denied."

"Procrastination of the inevitable is futility itself." "Onward, while there is still time!"

"Push forward - lamentably, there is no other choice."

"Your collection can wait - press onward!" "Analysis is invaluable, until it becomes an excuse for inaction."

"All that matters is the flickering torch you bear..."

Overencumbered Coach
"Your coach is laden - you can carry no more."

Travelogue
"Rest tonight, under the Mountain's unblinking gaze."

"The fire is lit, the table is set. The Inn awaits its favourite guests..." "There are yet places such as this, where a little light still gathers." "Rest now, for a time."

"The roaring hearth does much for the weary body... even more perhaps for the restless soul."

"Lower your guard, soften your gaze - it is safe here."

"We would come here in summers of years gone to write, think, and rest."

"The place is a little worse for wear, but familiar nonetheless."

"The familiar hearth crackles invitingly once again..."

End Expedition
"Learn a little, and begin again."

"Will you press on into uncertainty... or claim what you can?"

"Shall we continue, or is the lesson too demanding?"

"Sometimes it is wiser to try anew, fortified by trials past."

"Every league, a lesson."

The Provisioner
"Conventional fare, but fairly priced."

"Precious relics remind us of a time before the end."

"Spend what you can, for wealth no longer has meaning - if indeed it ever did."

Mastery Trainer
"Learn what can be taught, that you may stand just a little taller at the end."

"Listen, practice, improve."

"One learns quickly when survival demands it."

The Wainwright
"Your coach must be maintained if it is to carry you where you must go."

"Each improvement a new variable in the equation of your fate."

"Planning and mindfulness, as vital to survival as sharpened steel."

"The next stop is leagues away - plan accordingly."

Equipping Upgrade
"Good - an improvement." "This will serve well."

"Any advantage is a good thing." "Bolt it on and be off. The Mountain will not be denied."

Removing Upgrade or Trophy
"Experimentation - your academic instincts serve you well."

"Reconfigure - meet each challenge on its own terms."

Equipping Trophy
"An accomplishment worth remembering!" "Let them know us by our reputation."

Equipping the Radiant Torch
"Radiant light will suffuse you with the strength of your convictions..."

Equipping an Infernal Torch
"Only death for those who would seek to stifle us."

Repairing Wheels
"A smoother ride, for a time at least."

"Repaired and refurbished - ready for the leagues ahead."

Repairing Armor
"The plating is patched, the coach stands ready once more." "The roads a rife with peril - a little protection is always welcome."

Select Route
"The first of many forks in the road. Choose your path and ride out unbowed." "Everywhere in ruin, everywhere in need."

"The provinces and cantrevs of our land, crumbling and undone."

"Every road a winding torment. Every turn bent on our destruction." "Rain, fire, and rot. Is there no sanctuary from this madness?" "Consider your position and plan accordingly."

The Sprawl
"Our great cities burn. All that beauty and knowledge, ash on the wind." "Another nameless city, another inferno of mutilation and madness."

The Foeter
"The tainted crop continues to spread its tendrils of rot and pestilence." "The farms and fields of our kingdom, overrun with putrescence and rot."

The Tangle
"Mud and rain. Resignation and death. This land is truly barren." "Trenches and tents - the front lines of a war that was never fought."

The Shroud
"The barnacled timbers of the coastal villages are sodden with salt... and secrets." "The shrouded coast - isolated, and drowning in amphibious degeneracy."

The Sluice
"Unmapped, unexplored. A risky proposition." "Abandoned waterways, home now to far worse than rats."

The Mountain
"There is nothing for it now but to press on, come what may." "The inevitable end of your journey awaits you once again." "All roads lead to the Mountain, but only one leads beyond it." "Refracted, distorted - these glacial walls reflect the twisted heart of their maker." "Frigid wind wails through desolate canyons - a eulogy to the sane world." "The climb is treacherous, the air thin, but you will endure it." "No further shelter awaits. This is the very summit of cruelty."

Respectful
"Tried and tested - a bond to be counted on!"

Hopeful
"Aspiration unites the hopeful!"

Amorous
"While the heart still beats, desire will never die!"

Hateful
"Cruelty and callousness have claimed dominion here."

Resentful
"Resentment - the slowest and deadliest poison of them all."

Envious
"Each covets what the other has, and plots to take it."

Suspicious
"Narrowed eyes, muttered threats. All trust is lost."

Viewing an Enemy
"Analysis is a natural prelude to action." "What can we learn upon closer inspection?" "Let us take a closer look at the thing, as repulsive as it is."

"Observe the subject carefully, and you will discover its weaknesses."

Viewing an Hero
"There is beauty in our imperfections." "All heroes are human."

At Low Health
"This one is inches from death, is there nothing you can do?"

At High Stress
"The mind cannot hope to withstand such a protracted assault."

Healing an Ally
"A little help, impeccably timed."

"A calculated generosity, but a welcome one nonetheless."

"This road cannot be walked alone."

"A small foundation of trust..." "Relief comes rarely in these times - savour it."

Self Healing
"Self-reliance is a rare and wonderful thing."

"There remains a foothold out of this mire - now climb."

Stress Healing
"There is comfort in company."

"A simple kindness."

"A small reprieve from this carousel of horrors."

"Lenity, grace - small acts that drive back the darkness."

"Compassion quiets the howling mind."

"The pulse slows - sanity returns."

Buffing an Ally
"Empowered - emboldened!" "Cooperation is the key!" "In crisis, we can rely only upon each other." "Collaboration confers advantage..."

Removing DOT
"Welcome relief from caustic agony..."

"This wound at least has been tended to." "Extinguished at last!"

Killing an Enemy
"One less obstacle in our path."

"Another impediment cleared with impunity."

"Messy, but effective." "The work continues..."

"A righteous action!"

"A petty hinderance!"

"A simple variable, easily resolved." "A lesson taught is a lesson learned." "Straightforward, and effective!"

Killing an Enemy quickly
"Let us hope to finish this quickly."

"A promising development..."

"Early results... are encouraging!"

"On to the next!"

Killing a weak Enemy
"A trivial worriment..." "Easily dispatched!"

"A trifling matter..."

"Elementary." "A simple solution."

Killing a strong Enemy
"A resounding response!"

"They falter - so press your advance!"

"Take heart! And do not relent!"

Killing a large Enemy
"All problems have their solutions... even the big ones."

"Persistence will overcome even the greatest of threats."

"The unrelenting application of violence yields morbid gains."

Killing an Enemy with DOT
"The smallest variable can make all the difference."

"A deliberate and methodical appliance of harm."

"A steady subtraction; an invariable result."

Applying DOT
"A slow dissection... an unavoidable end."

"The enemy weakens and wanes!"

"The fiend's strength dwindles..." "Malaise, measured and steady..."

Debuffing an Enemy
"Weaken them, that another may finish the work!" "Any being, however horrid, can be brought to heel."

"Cunning! You may outwit them yet..." "Victory supposed strategy. Press on!"

Striking a Critical Hit
"A breakthrough!"

"Excellent work!"

"A brilliant conclusion!"

"Lethality writ large!"

"Stupendous!"

"Bravo!"

"A masterstroke!"

"Well done!"

Missing an Attack
"A miscalculation, perhaps?" "An opportunity, squandered."

"Haste and carelessness - hallmarks of the unprepared."

Receiving DOT
"A slow suffering begins..."

"Incremental, but deadly all the same."

"Measure out your violence, then apply it judiciously." "Agony by accumulation."

Receiving Heavy Damage
"This is no time to falter!"

Receiving a Critical Hit
"Steady yourself!"

"Hold fast, for who knows what lurks in the beyond."

Receiving a Stun
"Stumbling and stupefied!" "Bafflement and vexation!"

Receiving Stress
"Anxiety foments insidious fears..."

"The mind's grasp grows tenuous..."

"Trammeled! Trapped! Held captive by fear!"

"Awash in turmoil!"

"What is it, then, that gazes back so intently from the abyss?"

Arriving at Death's Door
"And now... the greatest test of all." "Darkness encroaches, inexorable..." "Perhaps they have given their last..."

Surviving Death's Door
"A setback, nothing more."

"The siren song of the void - spurned for now." "Through adversity and affliction, the heart beats still!" "Another blow on the bruise."

Leaving Death's Door
"Dragged back from the brink!"

"Fellowship forged through toil." "The path of exculpation need not be a lonely one." "Solidarity may yet arrest this collapse."

Returning to Death's Door
"Once again teetering on that terrible precipice..."

Receiving a Deathblow
"Let us hope they find peace." "A long road... and an abrupt end."

"Sadly, some casualties are to be expected." "Sacrifice bestows an uncertain absolution..." "Another wound, another loss..."

"The sumtotal of violent equation, unfavourably rounded down." "An unforeseen complication..."

Highwayman
"Every road must end." "Not all who seek redemption will find it."

Man-at-Arms
"At last, the battlefield has claimed its due." "Another old soldier lays down his life in the dirt of a distant land."

Grave Robber
"Death comes to the rich and poor alike." "She fades into the shadows for the last time..."

Plague Doctor
"Nothing can survive such a wholesale organic failure." "She understood death, but could not defy it."

Hellion
"A warriors death - redemptive and transcendent." "She sought a glorious death, and found it."

Runaway
"Snuffed out before her time." "Extinguished, she can run no further."

Jester
"The minstrel takes his final bow." "The final chord is struck."

Leper
"Go with grace into the great beyond."

"He was mourned years ago, now he is simply... gone."

Occultist
"He courted the unthinkable, but to no avail." "He will drift among the stars."

Vestal
"Pray her convictions lent some small comfort in her final moments."

Flagellant
"At last... the thing has finally passed on."

Bounty Hunter
"A solitary life, a sudden death. Who knows what this one leaves behind?"

Prolonged Battle
"An interminable conflict!" "Fight through the fatigue!" "Sweat-soaked brows, unsteady stances - exhaustion takes hold."

Winning a Battle
"Cut down these nightmares and blaze the trail to your redemption."

"The past is gone. Let it die."

"We are the Flame, burning brightly for all the world to see."

"Though unpleasant in the extreme, this work is noble... and necessary."

"Sweet reprieve, until the next test is put before you."

"Greater threats await those who dare."

"In this weighty gloom, a spark."

Winning a Battle, but losing an Ally
"We will see them again, I am sure of it." "In life or in death, we are all prisoners here." "For every miscalculation, a consequence."

"The blood of the valorous and cowardly alike soaks this tainted soil."

Partial Victory
"Cowardice - a crude term for the science of self-preservation." "Recalculating one's odds is never a wasted endeavor." "Recognize your disadvantage, and accept it." "When myriad options align themselves against you, it is wise to desist."

Gaining Loot
"In this world, wealth is worthless without purpose." "Scavenge what you can and be off once more." "An unexpected find..." "Abandoned or forgotten - it is ours now." "In crisis, no gain is insignificant." "An impressive haul; put it to good use." "A fortune in memories long forgotten." "The wainwright awaits, eager to ply his trade." "An inkling of potency still lingers in some of these well-worn relics." "Amidst the spoils, an artifact of unparalleled power!"

Gaining Mastery
"The means of mastery!" "Experience, however painful, is the greatest teacher of all..." "By confronting the past, we learn to face the future."

The Exemplar
"Push this half-made horror back into the void!"

"Loathing made manifest!"

"A parody of human outline - it must be destroyed!"

Encountering
"Death has come to claim her elusive prize!" "Death is manifest, and will suffer no abnegation." "The Pale Rider has tracked her quarry."

Defeating
"Denied once more, she retreats to some unknowable place..." "What man is he who defies Death by sheer force of will?" "The undying Flagellant escapes the scythe afresh..."

The Antiquarian
"The Antiquarian wants what we have and she will not be denied."

"Once she had a sliver of decency now, only greed."

"She searches the dying world for the keys to her own salvation."

The Shambler
"The walker from beyond the stars - a shambling horror!" "We tread beyond the realms of reason!" "A star-spawned child of the infinite void!"

Victorious Expedition
"At last - the veil begins to lift." "The shadow's advance has been halted - for a time." "Success, so long pursued, is rewarded only with creeping revelation."

"The Flame sears the skulking shadows from the darkened corners of the earth!"

Failed Expedition
"Do not despair. There is nobility in the attempt." "Remain undeterred, and you may yet prevail."

"Learn from each attempt. Deepen your understanding and victory will come."

"Try and try again. You will break through this gloaming murk."

"On and on, over and over, until the truth is laid bare, and you are finally free."