The Pestbearer

The Pestbearer is a browser-based dark fantasy text game built for the AI Apocalyptic Dark Fantasy Jam.

You play as a Marked one — a courier infected just enough by a spreading curse to walk roads that would kill anyone else. The kingdom of Valdris was once the brightest realm in the known world. Three royal cities. Trade routes to the sea. A king whose name was spoken with pride. That was thirty years ago.

Now the roads are empty. The cities shut their gates at dusk. The granaries stand half-full at best. And someone still has to carry the letters.

Five contracts. One unravelling kingdom.

Each contract pulls you deeper into what happened to Valdris — and who made it happen. A sealed letter. A missing soldier. A scholar lost in a flooded archive. A forged sigil that could open a garrison without drawing a blade. And a list of names, one of which is yours.

Contract I — The Sealed Letter Deliver a letter to a priest hiding in a dead-forest church. What you carried may have changed the fate of the realm.

Contract II — The Missing Soldier Trace a vanished soldier across blighted roads to the shattered heart of the kingdom. You find him alive — but changed. Decide what to bring back.

Contract III — The Saltmarsh Inheritance Descend into a flooded wasteland impassable to anyone without a curse mark. A scholar went in alone and found something she cannot leave behind.

Contract IV — The Forger's Commission Someone slides a package under your door with twenty silver on delivery. At a waystation between cities you learn what the package really is — and who gets hurt if it arrives.

Contract V — The Last Congregation Someone is hunting the Marked ones. Every road you have walked leads back to a name, a house, and a gate that should never be opened. The Vareth Estate is where it ends.

Features

• Five interconnected story contracts with branching outcomes
• A living curse mark that grows with every choice — reach 100% and it ends you
• Reputation and wanted systems that change how the world treats you
• Optional side routes and hidden locations
• Save and continue between sessions
• Fully playable in browser, mobile-friendly

Releases

v1.1
- GUI changes
- added sidequest on contract 2
V1.0
- Initial release