#beyond the mist

[intimidatingpuffinstudios]

You are a young adult adrift in life, suffocating under the yoke of your oppressive parents. Feeling out of sync with the rest of the world, you yearn for freedom and life beyond the bounds of your prison.

You find it in the form of a ravishing stranger and a long lost city, calling out to you across space and time. Something is beckoning underneath the ancient city's glimmering white tiles, something old and powerful. Someone.

Will you resist the call beyond the veil and the promise of belonging it brings, or will you let yourself go and embrace the path destiny has set before you?

The choice is yours. Magnustor is waiting for you.

Features

2 romance options that can either be male or female (player can choose the gender of both).

3 different romance routes; 2 monogamous ones or 1 polyamorous one  (a triad between the player and both romance options).

Romance and customization focused narrative; you can play as straight, gay, or bi and as cisgender, transgender, or nonbinary.

(4?) different endings.

Set in the same universe as The Soul Stone War.

Credits:

Filopay Illustrations for all art  @filopay

Feniks for Inline Conditions

~*~

The Ren'Py demo is live, folks!!!!

I'M SO EXCITED! PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK, AND SPREAD THE WORD IF YOU CAN~

THANK YOU!!

[faerie-mafuyu-official]

>I possess regret for what has been done.

Then find her and apologize

...I don't know how to find her, and it is unwise, as it might hurt her. She will be happier never hearing from me again.

[notthewalrus4evr]

[writing-for-life]

In Which Morpheus Gives The Key To The New Caretakers Of Hell—Jill Thompson

[pigeon-princess]

Hi! I'm sorry if this is repetitive, but I want to get your zine, but I can't find the link. Would you be willing to tell me where I can find it?

Hello!! No worries at all! Here is a direct link to the zine for you!

[fictionadventurer]

There is not a single homely thing that, looked at from a certain angle, does not become fairy. Think of the Dapple, or the Dawl, when they roll the sunset towards the east. Think of an autumn wood, or a hawthorn in May. A hawthorn in May — there’s a miracle for you! Who would ever have dreamed that that gnarled stumpy old tree had the power to do that? Well, all these things are familiar sights, but what should we think if never having seen them we read a description of them, or saw them for the first time? A golden river! Flaming trees! Trees that suddenly break into flower! For all we know, it may be Dorimare that is Fairyland to the people across the Debatable Hill

-Lud-in-the-Mist, Hope Mirrlees

[oswednesday]

a woman almost lost her life when i was on my way to my class, the opposing vehicle had exactly two bumper stickers 1) my other ride is a broom in "harry potter" font 2) fueled by caffeine and disney in "disney" font, she cut my mom off at speeds and my, woodstock born detriot raised precision driver while under multitude of Influences, mom who has never lost a car accident decided to grant mercy by merely honking the horn instead of tapping the bumper in a way that would have torn the mini van asunder

[the-moon-in-the-gutter]

Thinking more about past lives of ghouls, specifically Mist and Alpha. A pair of ghouls who knew each other in their previous life, working close together. Only to have found that they somehow know the ghoul stood before them, the soul connection clicking and gifting them memories of their past lives. They were never romantically involved, they were best friends who formed a bond in the work place. Not too different from how they have found themselves in ghoulhood.

In a past life, Alpha was a chef at a restaurant while Mist had worked as a bartender. It was a rather upscale restaurant but was cemented in the night life of the city, Mist commonly having the call the head chef (Alpha) out of the kitchen to handle rowdy patrons. They had met on Mist's first day, as the head chef was in charge of introductions between the new employee and the rest of the staff, as she held kitchen duties when short handed as well. The pair of ghouls found themselves getting pulled for catered events, Alpha and Mist arguing like children on the appropriate way to do a pack out for a certain type of event. They would take smoke breaks together, stood behind the restaurant in some of the most atrocious weather for a break from the noise and annoyance of their coworkers. Walking to their cars together at the end of the night.

The memories surfaced the first time they cooked together in the kitchen of the ghoul den, Alpha's normally quiet demeanor changed. It was when Mist called out "Hot! Behind!" to Alpha as she was crossing behind him to the sink with a pot of pasta. Prior to that, the fire ghoul absolutely ruined the first batch of homemade sauce from the bickering they were doing. The pair had looked at the sauce, looked at each other before Alpha said "Waste it?", earning a quick nod from Mist.

[mistswalker]

OKAY. NEW SOTO CHARACTER INTRO TIME.

Meet Stephan Corsello~!

Former street urchin kid turned into the most scholarly sneak-thief you've ever met. He grew up picking pockets on the streets of Garenhoff and daydreaming about what fantastic magical goodies could be sealed away up in the Wizard's Tower (and what those magical goodies might be capable of).

It had always been a dream of his to be able to properly case the place. Make off with a few trinkets or a powerful relic -- nothing too noteworthy. He didn't want to pick a fight, after all. He'd just never had the chance to properly study magic and feels that artifacts are the closest he'll be able to get.

That was, until something happened to the tower, and the elementals ran wild.

As it turns out, he's not from our Garenhoff. He's from the fractal Garenhoff that spilled out of the Mists. When everything in his life upends and suddenly goes pear-shaped, he gets the bonus crisis of his entire concept of reality being overturned added shortly thereafter.

After being helped to safety by Wayfinder Arwn, and beginning to put together bits and pieces of what's happening around him, he insists on joining her to help other refugees of the shattered fractals. Now, as a new and somewhat inadvertent recruit to the Astral Ward, he accompanies her through the events of SotO to learn more about the world he came from, the world he's now in, and hopefully help stabilize the Mists.

He's got some serious lost puppy energy, and his lifelong dreams of daring adventurous capers are helping him... postpone a bit of the existential crisis of processing the reality of his existence. He can get to that later, when there aren't demons to worry about, right? Right??

[nexo-nex]

there is something about this dialogue that drives me insane everytime I read it

[intimidatingpuffinstudios]

The Future of Beyond The Mist: Beginnings

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, Beyond The Mist: Beginnings did not meet its funding goal. I want to offer a big, heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who pledged and cheered the game on. Your support means the world to me!

So, where do we stand now? The game cannot be turned into a visual novel without funding, thus that format is now out of the picture. That does not mean, however, that this is the end of the story!

This story is dear to me, and I will tell it no matter what. What this means is that I will release the game in a purely interactive fiction format.

No images besides a static background and the cover art, but the structure of the writing will remain the same, with all the choices and branching I've already showcased!

There are benefits to this approach: since I won't have to implement art, the game will be completed much faster! I also won't have to work around art limitations and compromise the storytelling to fit budgets and the like.

I will continue to update everyone on the progress I make both on my itch.io as well as my Tumblr account, so be sure to subscribe to either of these to continue following the development!

I will also be providing early viewing access of the BtM alpha build every month for my Ko-Fi and Patreon patrons.

So the development of this project remains very much alive! Thank you again to everyone who pledged, and I hope to have the full game ready for you all soon!

Cheers,

Morgan

[faerie-mafuyu-official]

*You can hear hurried steps in the distance, slowly getting closer and closer. Eventually, a familiar voice starts calling your name*

Yuki? Are you ok?

...

Yuki! Oh, thank god you're fi-

*Rin looks a bit distracted by the fact that Yuki and someone else are flopped on the floor purring*

(I see what they meant by "we need the cat trio". I feel like I've walked into something I wasn't meant to see)

*her ears start twitching a little bit*

@undercove-r

*Mafuyu stays flopped over, still purring, not quite all there*

//@shinonome-ena-official

[mariakannon]

[rchtzr]

wanting to listen to doctor sleep on audiobook because i just finished the shining only to see that the narrator is someone i do not like to listen to

[pigeon-princess]

Just received the zine I got from your shop and it is GORGEOUS. Beautiful print quality, its so neat to get to have your art in my hands! I wasn't expecting the written fragments, its so so cool - thanks for making this available to order I love it 😁

Thank you so much!!! aaaa I'm thrilled that it arrived to you safely and that you've enjoyed it so much!! All of the written fragments are all the works of my wonderful friend and fellow player Nico! Its such a treat to have a written record of each of our sessions through Luci's diary and I really wanted to include some of them in the book!

[heliacalxrising]

While the Sinners know of the Seven Rings of Hell despite being trapped in Pride, there is an 8th Ring that Lucifer and Lilith created together intentionally, simply called Punishment. It's deeper than the other Rings, with very dim lighting, and it's reserved for the Souls that they find repugnant. The Sinners who go to Punishment are the only souls that are exempt from the Exterminations, simply because the magic that manifests a Soul into Hell sends them to Punishment depending on the severity of their crimes on Earth.

In Punishment, these Sinners are tortured for all eternity. Forgotten by all, in the dark, feeling never ending agony. It's what they deserve. And Charlie will never know that Punishment exists.