Finally, I look up at the looming prison ahead of me. High, black-stoned walls are covered in ice and snow while two high spires jut into the clouds on the farthest corners. It’s huge, and seems to go on forever- but that thought only makes me tremble in fear. An endless place of pain and torture, and we are walking right towards it…

The gates slowly open, metal screeching and clunking as the frozen chains work to pull the heavy iron. There are 6 guards lined up outside the gates, their hands on their weapons as if any of us would try and step out of line. 

We all shamble into the outer courtyard; the centerpiece, of which, is a dark gray statue of the twin Goddess and God, Ruka and Rune. They stare down at us with matching expressions of hardened acceptance… an acceptance that we defiled their world with use of magic, that which only they can use.

You were ripped away from your home, your life- all because you were accused of using magic. Sent away on carriages, bursting full of others like you, being brought to Kenneski Prison. It’s a prison made specifically to hold those that can wield magic, making it so you are powerless. It’s a death sentence for most that go there. 

But not for you.

[[Kenneski is an 18+ interactive fiction that takes place in an ancient, fantasy world. Content warnings will be available before each chapter.]]

In this IF, you can find...

Customizable MC; including name, pronouns, appearance, and more.

4 [?] ROs

Mysteries about the world, some of which you can help solve

A prison escape! Whether it's successful or not is depending on your choices...

Multiple endings, many branching paths, and choices that are life or death.

Fantasy religion, fantasy politics... all that fun stuff

Romantic options...

Halson ‘Hal’ Bennett
[Male]
29 years old
Height- 6’2’’
Eye/c- Icy blue
Hair/c- Dark brown
INFO- Hal is not only known for being a magic user- but one who uses dark magic. More specifically, necromancy. He is from a noble family, and it is definitely strange that his family didn't bother with the accusations against him. He claims there was a reason he was learning about necromancy, but he never actually performed any of its rituals. He is kind, but can sometimes have an ‘air of nobility’ about himself, and he seems to be rather useless when it comes to knowledge about some everyday things. [Like- things that his servants usually did for him.]
Sazora Clarano
[Female]
25 years old
Height- 5’5’’
Eye/c- Dark brown- glows white/lavender when she uses her magic
Hair/c- Black
INFO- Sazora is a thief from the major city of Evandore. She belongs to a guild of thieves named The Fulgur Clan. She was caught when a heist went wrong, and she was caught while using her speciality- lightning magic. Although lightning magic is really difficult to control, she has somehow mastered it enough for it all to work in her favor. Until she’s collared at Kenneski prison. But her magic isn’t the only thing she’s mastered- she was a thief for a reason. She’s smart and cunning, sly like a fox, but she does sometimes let her temper get the best of her. 
Roman Silok
[Male] 24 years old
Height- 6’5’’
Eye/c- Hazel
Hair/c- Dusty blonde
INFO- Roman is a guard at Kenneski Prison. He was forced to join the guard when he turned 18 by his father, when he refused to take on the family butcher business. He’s a kind soul, and doesn’t want to hurt anybody. He believes that what the Kenneski officials are doing to magic users is wrong, and wants to put a stop to it. He’s huge- both height and width wise because of his muscles. He’s very intimidating- until you get to know him, that is.   
Nephinae Wylder
[Female]
30 years old
Height- 5’10’’
Eye/c- Dark green
Hair/c- Pale blonde
INFO- Nephinae is one of the head magisters in Kenneski Prison. She’s rather daunting, tall and quiet and mysterious. Her father is the head priest of The Church, the same church that is imprisoning 'magic users'. And although she is technically walking in her father's footsteps, she wants to do what is right, knowing that what is happening to magic users is not it. There is something else about her, as well, something that tells you there is more you need to learn about her that you just aren’t able to in the prison.

+2 secret RO options that will be available later in the story! 

Links...

Patreon

Ko-fi

Tumblr

Spotify [Not made yet]


Development log

Comments

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(2 edits) (+1)

Errors I found while playing:

  • Various minor grammatical errors, I won't catalogue them all here but it might be worth getting a proofreader of some kind.
  • When chosing the "short" height I get an error where a variable call ($height3) is visible in the text and thus is not set. Later in the story, when this variable is called it then doesn't work properly because it was not set properly here. Also just as a note as a developer, the way this variable is used seems to define the height of a specific character as a string of text like "a woman shorter than you" or such. This is generally not how these kinds of variables are used, more usually being compared in an if statement whenever a character's height is important so that the author can write appropriate descriptions on the fly and doesn't have to rely on the same text string forever.
  • When going to the infirmary for the sick old man, I did not listen to the voices or look behind any curtains but the following text seems to imply that I did (the doctor being suspicious of me and a later passage saying I ponder what I read, but the variable for what I read is not set so it just displays the variable name).
  • Two commas in the scene where the doctor returns with the old man: "My eyes snap to the back of the room,, but"
  • When interacting with Wylder, taking her hand (both flirt and normal) reduces her relationship instead of adding to it. The relationship stat goes from 50 to 5 or 7 depending which I pick, likely the result of the variable call setting the relationship stat to a number instead of adding that number to the current relationship value.

Overall a promising little demo. Just needs a clean up pass to tighten some stuff up. One personal pet peeve of mine is how often numerals will find their way into the text. Like instead of "you two" it will say "you 2". Its not major but in my opinion it comes off as sloppy, sort of like inserting texting abbreviations like 'tho' or 'smth'. Numeral characters aren't usually used for small numbers in stories. That's nitpicky though and ultimately I can look past it since the premise is intriguing.

(+1)

I appreciate all this feedback, thank you!! 

About the heights- I wrote that particular part before I even knew what if statements were LOL I have since then figured out how to do that, and have changed it up in the story. [Just haven't updated the public demo] 

And typing out the number instead of the letter thing is my little bad habit... I'm trying to break out of it 😂 

Anyway, thank you again for the feedback. It's much appreciated!! 

(+1)

LOL thats very fair, and I wish you luck on learning all the fun lil things you can do with twine then! Looking forward to the next chapter!

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smh im stuck between wanting to romance Halson or Roman, the agony of choices

ur story*



Also i think i found a bug? Is it supposed to drop Wylder's opinion of you by -50% if you take her hand? It does the same with the [FLIRT] option too
Not taking her hand doesnt change her opinion
Is it supposed to be the other way around?

(+1)

Hehehe 🤭

And no, taking her hand is supposed to be a positive addition to her approval rating, but not taking her hand isn't supposed to affect it at all. I've been going through and finding these little bugs like that all throughout the story, so I'm hoping to have it fixed by the next update. I thought all of the approval stats were up and running, and it turns out that... they were not. 😂
Thank you for bringing my attention to it though!!

(+1)

Oh i loved the update but you  really had to end it like that omg 😭

heeheehee 🤭 sorry, I love cliffhangers 😂 

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i love this!! can't wait for more <3 and wanna fight all the guards ;)

(+1)

Everything of yours is fantastic!  I will forever be a fan and can't wait for more of this one, the setting is incredibly interesting!

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Well that's time to break out of this prison!!

(+2)

I am liking what I'm reading so far, but one thing that I'm noticing is a lot of disparity between the calm and collected options/responses and the scenes right after almost being a emotional breakdown of the character. 

While I can understand those responses, being a almost hopeless setting with little to no way out in sight, I can't help but feel a bit confused about the choices presented. Does the MC have some sort of condition in this story that isn't explained at the start or am I just not really understand how they feel about it?

It might just be me being a moron here (wouldn't be the first time), but it kinda bothers me in a sense that this is happening.

hello! thank you for the feedback. You aren't a moron at all, and I'm definitely going to be going back and be changing a few things. This is, of course, not the first draft- but it will be changing constantly until I get it like how I want! 😊 I definitely want it to be a bit confusing though, considering that when MC wakes up, they don't really remember a lot about how they ended up where they are. [Like, how they ended up getting arrested? Why they were just coming out of a trance-like state?] And I want there to be a sense that maybe MC can't exactly trust their own emotions/judgment... There is more going on inside MC's head than first realized, and there is definitely going to be more explanations later on... but at the start, you should feel like you were basically thrown into this situation with no information, because that is technically what happens to MC. 

But! Trust your reading comprehension- because I do! If you say something feels weirdly timed/oddly played out and doesn't make sense in the context of the story, then it means it is! And that is on me, and I will definitely be going through it again and making some changes before the next update.

Again, thank you for reading and giving some feedback! It's greatly appreciated. 😊

(+1)

Ah, glad to hear it's just intended to be like that.
I'll keep this on my list of updates to see where it goes, thanks for the reply btw

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Oh wow Devi. I can't believe I'm saying this but i might actually like this more than i did Demo. The writing is honestly so good. I just wanted to keep going! I love how different the ROs are but hal is just 😍 top of the list. I really really enjoyed this. I know i say tht for all your stories and I'm a fan duh but seriously this was very well written.

heheh 😊 Well, I'm glad you like it. I love writing darker/fantasy settings, so this is definitely more my element, rather than a modern day setting like Demo and SoS. [Not that I don't like writing those, though. 😁]  thank you for reading!! And for always leaving me such sweet comments, it always makes my day. 🥺