Top Gentleman
Vale, an upstanding gentleman with a top hat and suit, sits still in a locked mansion, until he meets Elaine, a stunning young lady dressed in ropes who enters his room and hands over a photo for him, advising him to meet her at the photo’s location before vanishing away into thin air. Now with a clear objective, Vale organizes his stuff and exits his room, however he bumps into Declan, who warns his master will not be happy with him leaving. Vale has had enough waiting however, and strikes Declan down with his hidden umbrella blade. After subduing Declan, he rushes out of his room and enters the rest of the complex, although Declan likely already called his master to come forth. Sure enough, Vale hears heavy footsteps nearby, and decides to go hiding for the time being. Luckily he manages to stay unnoticed and slowly inches his way to the exit. He grabs the key before leaving, and unlocks the door and out into the open, his next goal now is to reach the haven depicted in the photo Elaine gave him. While walking across the streets however, he bumps into Declan again, this time along with Kelly, a towering individual and his supposed master, who’s ready to teach Vale a lesson or two about escaping. Vale makes a run for it, and manages to outmanuver Kelly, though he’s sure it won’t take long for the former to re-track him again. Sure enough, Kelly manages to find Vale again, when suddenly the two get greeted by Destin who teleports Vale away before Kelly could reach him. Vale and Destin then arrive at a library, where the former shows him the photo Elaine gave him, however Destin doesn’t have the faintest idea as to where this location could possibly be, thus couldn’t take him, regardless he’s here to help Vale if ever needed. As Vale frantically tries to figure things out at the library, believe it or not he hears Kelly again storming in looking for him. It’s not guaranteed that Vale could stand his own against him, thus he goes into hiding again. Thankfully, Kelly eventually gives up the search and exits the way he came from. Knowing he can’t stay here forever, Vale quickly decides to travel to the distinct street outside of the empty city that he resides in.
Once Vale exits the city, he meets Shae, a trusting individual who encourages him to go down a secret road she’s already taken multiple times. She guides Vale over to a mansion where he meets Xia, Shae’s aloof yet close companion. Shae claims she’s been looking for someone, another lost companion and is open to receiving any intel from anybody. Vale asks if the two have seen Elaine, Shae recognizes her and claims to have seen her at a quiet shop. Both Shae and Xia are dressed similar like bandits, along with their attire, whilst they spend time together with Vale at the mansion garden however, they see Declan spying on them, and immediately leave the scene as quickly as they can. The three agree to head over to the nearby woods for now in order to achieve each of their goals, however once upon arriving, they spot Declan tailing them. The three manage to somewhat shake Declan off their trail while moving forward their path until the coast finally seems to be clear, and they make it to a clear path. Vale follows the path until he arrives at a crop field, where much to his dismay he runs into Declan again, who this time gets ready to take on Vale by himself while hiding around the crop. During their encounter, Delcan manages to land a sneaking attack on Vale with a blade before sneaking away again, however after he tries it again, this time Vale turns the tables and stabs him and then again after Delcan tries retreating past the high crop. Now with Delcan subdued, Vale finishes him off while he’s down, killing him so he won’t be going after him again and proceeds to head over to the next area. Vade slowly arrives at a lonely village, where he may as well rest and tend to his injuries for the time being. Luckily he manages to find some first aid, which is sure to help him recover, before leaving; however he meets three villagers, who hold him hostage due to believing he could be a wanted serial killer.
During Vale’s stay in the village, he meets Xia again along with Shae, who explain to the villagers that Vale was with them back at the city and that they have places to go. During Vale’s stay at the village, he learned about The Goldripper, a serial killer who’s rumored to have killed six people, is still at large and is suspected of roaming around here on these parts. Regardless, the villagers now get suspicious of Shae and decide to take her in for questioning too, as she and Vale later get locked into a cabin where they are to stay for the time being until further judgement. Xia also gets taken in, though regardless they weren’t going to stay for long, as Shae and Xia had a plan of breaking out. Once it’s nighttime and the villagers are asleep, Shae pickpockets the door open, thus the three get out on the opening and sure enough manage to sneak past the fields undetected with Xia and Shae leading the way. During their escape Xia managed to sneak in an interesting instrument back at the cabin, possibly linked to the serial killer.
The trio follow the path and arrive at a daunting castle, where Vale all of a sudden sees Elaine at the rooftop spying on him. Vale rushes over to find her, when suddenly she teleports down to the field, as the two finally meet face to face again. The sights matched the photo, Elaine claims Vale has finally arrived for the “big moment,” and invites him to show up inside the castle interior. The doors slam open as Vale enters the big pathway, with candles lighting the walls above among the ever so empty grounds along with fair decorations. Vale goes upstairs to the upper room, while Shae and Xia follow him. Once they make it up however, they are suddenly greeted by the ghost of Declan, who somehow got resurrected and heads out to attack them! Vale stays away from him for the time being, as he was intangible, however luckily he finds a potion and throws it at Declan, thus making him fade away for the time being. Vale then reaches the third and final floor, he looks down at the field again which has decorations and flowers akin to a parade, and sure enough he meets Elaine again, who offers a dance with him for his efforts. However right before everything seemed like it was going smoothly, the two heard Kelly approaching them upstairs coming right for them. This time having nowhere to go, Kelly finally faces Vale head on the spot, and pounds him away as the latter stands no chance in defending himself. Before Kelly could continue his assaults however, Elaine steps in and casts a magic barrier in front of them and Kelly. While they have time to spare, Elaine hands Vale a magical sword over, which will help defeat Kelly as he tries to smash down the barrier in front of him. Kelly is an abnormal bulk of a man, so strength was definitely his arsenal, however Vale’s magic sword is much stronger than his umbrella and will surely change the tides. Once the barrier goes down, Vale charges at Kelly, and lands some successful blows on him until finally finishing off by fatally stabbing him through an opening.
Now that Kelly’s finally dead and taken care of, Elaine insists on decorating the entire castle, and sure enough after a short notice, everything looks so much more akin to a parade. The castle floors and outside are decorated with all sorts of blooming flowers, akin to the rest of the city. Shae also helped decorate however she eventually decides to leave on her search along with Xia. Not knowing where else to go, Vale decides to leave the castle and join the duo, thus Elaine will continue waiting for his return. The three eventually arrive back at the mansion, where all of a sudden they just so happen to run into Diamond, their long lost companion who’s also dressed like Xia and Shae who got lost after the three tried stealing a prized possession of the city, due to their poverty. Much to their disbelief, Diamond actually managed to find this possession, or a well, diamond along with a key of some sort. Vale decides to visit Elaine again, and the three bandits decide to join him, as they walk across the desolate bleak terrain, they make it to the castle. Vale sees Xia leaving the group at the corner of his eye, and entering some form of passageway. Regardless, the castle is now blooming ever so with flowers and life, more so than the rest of the city has ever been for a long time. During this time, Vale suddenly encounters Declan’s ghost again, but this time he makes short work with him now with his magic blade, thus making him disappear again.
While looking around the castle however, Vale does not find Elaine but instead another photo linking to another location. Vale knows exactly where Elaine is pointing, more precisely hell itself but the question remains as to how he will get there. He does find a cellar somewhere in the castle that may take him somewhere, thus he decides to go investigate. He opens the front door with a key he found and hurries over to a dark room with chains and gates, reminiscent of hell. Shae agrees to follow him along with Diamond to go check it out until sure enough the two eventually feel a fire breeze on them, which takes them straight to hell. Upon arrival, Vale encounters Kelly again, or his damned ghost along with Fia, a demonic entity sitting on a throne looking down on him and is also Elaine’s sister and princess to an heir. Suddenly Elaine shows up next to Vale and casts a barrier in front of them here to protect the two against Fia’s assaults as they head straight to her. Fia tries to fend them off with her cast demons and pyromancy, but regardless Vale pushes forward and reaches Fia, and gives her a critical blow with his sword, causing her to teleport away, however she shortly returns and this time challenges Vale alone with trident on hand. After a tough battle, Vale barely defeats Fia by impaling her, thus causing the latter to disappear via a consuming fire while dropping her crown. Vale picks the crown up, knowing what it stands for and despite Elaine’s pleas, sits down on the throne, now the new ruler of the underworld. Elaine reluctantly teleports away after giving him one last chance, thus leaving Vale alone for the time being, as for Fia it’s unknown if she survived the battle or not. Vale shortly later gets new attire suitable for his rule, along with another photo that presumably could be from Elaine.
The End
After defeating Fia, Vale holds hands with Elaine who travels him back to the surface world. Once there, they are greeted by Xia and Destin, the latter gives Vale a bracelet of some sort that’s supposed to help him against injury, and is also happy to help the others. Vale has one last place to go to however, in order to meet a certain someone. Once he arrives back to the city again, he meets Chance, his ever lost companion who helps him find the lost path they have been searching for that could take them away from civilization. The two later reach a frosty part of the city, that could be their ever so exit, Vale decides to head back to the castle in order to let the others know, once he arrives however, it appears everyone is gone, thus he heads over to the mansion where he believes he can find them. After dealing with Declan’s ghost once again, he meets Diamond and tells her of his discovery, that they can finally leave this town and find someplace better. When he asks where the others are, Diamond responds that they must have left to anonymous places, thus Vale decides to look for them, starting with the city along with Diamond. After enough searching, the two decide to head over to the village to investigate, where they suddenly find that there are no villagers here, not to mention multiple of them are found killed, scattered around. Vale and Diamond break into a hut that supposedly belongs to the killer, where they find a bloody chisel, photograph of a woman and the killer's clothes. In addition they find a diary that belonged to the killer, which contains their plans and overall experience, indicating they must have lived here as a villager before bailing out. Vale eventually reunites with Desten, Xia and Shae again, as the four suddenly get greeted by Fia who shows up via a flash of fire, slowly but surely setting the entire village on fire. Vale and the others quickly try to leave before things escalate, before Fia promises to burn down everything else on her path. Once Vale and the others reach a safe point, he brings out the frozen pathway he found, and that it could lead to a potential new haven outside of this city.
Everyone collectively agrees to finally leave this city, and thus heads straight to the pathway, with Vale leading up front. After traversing the city, they finally make it to their destination and without looking back make it out, looking together for a new peaceful haven.
The End
Vale and the others agree to head over to the castle again, once they arrive they see how everything has blossomed, and that this is their new safe haven, where they will stay together in harmony away from the cold, desolate city that’s been dead for so long. Vale still wonders why Elaine wanted to take him over to her in the first place, once he asks her, she responds that she just needed a friend, though regardless Vale is ready to help her out on any future quest or need, believing she has something in store for him.
The End
Based on the Goldripper’s journal, they were planning to leave the city for good once the murders were carried out. During Fia’s attacks, their outfit got burned to a crisp along the village, thus it’s unlikely they will continue to carry out their tasks. Based on the journal, Ripper had quite a history with the villagers and was an outcast, though regardless to this day they still haven’t been persecuted for their crimes and haven’t been spotted ever since. The woman in the photograph is not the killer, but perhaps an old acquaintance.
