Suffering (Game)

## Premise

Passing through the portal Nightmare's ritual created to summon Oblivion, King Mouse and Mouse are separated in a new land. King Mouse goes on an epic journey to reunite with Mouse and defeat Oblivion before he can call upon his own master; Deathbringer.

This is the third and final game in King Mouse's trilogy.

## Synopsis

As King Mouse and Mouse pass through the gate to Oblivion, they are immediately met by Oblivion's voice asking, the now deceased, Nightmare if he finished his task. Mouse slips up and mentions King Mouse by name alerting Oblivion of your presence. You're both suddenly brought forth into a new world, separately.

King Mouse finds himself in a green land where he is met by a superhero cat who helps you back to his town of Jatow where King Mouse is initiated to become a superhero. On mentioning "Oblivion" to Super Cat, he replies having never heard of it and believes King Mouse is speaking of "Noivilbo", a town 50 miles north. Arriving at Jatow Pillar, King Mouse is met by a being of darkness who's seemingly lost and confused and leaves when he misreads "Jatow Pillar" as "Jato Llar" when the entrance randomly shifts upwards into its written name. After completing the required tasks in Jatow Pillar to become a super hero, Super Mouse is assaulted by ninjas randomly. This proves somehow useful to him almost immediately as the being of darkness appears before him once more now with his memory given back to him by "Deathbringer". He reveals himself to be Oblivion, the second highest lord of evil, and he's come to take King Mouse back to Losaffi. Ninjas suddenly assault him as he takes the wrong step towards you and allows King Mouse's escape.

King Mouse finds his way to a shoreline where a seafarer named Gomo arrives by raft and asks if you've seen his twin brother Arch. He helps you travel across the Dark Seas and tells you of Suffer whom he made a deal with in which he'd be able to travel the seas safely forever. This deal was somewhat literal in that if Gomo does not travel alone, all people traveling with him are not safe. Suffer returned to have Gomo's debt paid by taking his brother, which you inform of his demise inside of a giant whale. Arriving on shore, Oblivion meets you but chases after Gomo when he learns that Gomo has information about Suffer.

A castle of light and darkness sprawls out before King Mouse as the owner, Count Morti, introduces himself and his Castle "Midlet". He asks you to follow him before you turn into a spirit. King Mouse quickly is parted from Count Morti in the maze-like structure of Midlet's halls before meeting a white mouse named Moe who you join in eavesdropping on Count Morti and Oblivion. It is revealed that Count Morti plans to give you up to Oblivion and Moe wants to help you into the Dark Side of the castle, which is where his lost brother Miney is.

Entering the Dark Side of Midlet requires a certain orb which is locked behind several walls. The first wall is wooden and Moe chews through it, but the other two will require keys found within the castle. Moe helps you locate them as you both hide from Count Morti, who becomes distracted by a massive experimental creature of his known as Twizle. The two pass by a chamber with a chair hooked up to two massive containers of blood with decapitated heads floating inside labeled "Dark" and "Holy" blood. They then arrive at the Jail Cells where they find Mouse who was imprisoned once he found out Count Morti was working for Oblivion.

The jail cell key is retrieved from defeating a strange wooden being made of a large head and hands which scares off Moe. When the being is defeated, its body parts turn into large white spirits and float through the darkened windows of the Dark Side of Midlet. King Mouse returns to release Mouse. Mouse talks to King Mouse and explains that Ocarina was being controlled by a being stronger than Oblivion named Deathbringer and the portal they were in flung them into this world. He tells King Mouse that Deathbringer needs his soul for something and he is never to return to Losaffi.

They find their way into a graveyard which is flooded by rising zombies. The two escape into a crypt hidden beneath a grave and find themselves in a bleak tunnel. Mouse runs in fear as he hears Suffer coming and King Mouse becomes trapped behind rocks and rubble. Moe arrives, chewing his way through the dirt, and guides King Mouse back to the door to the Dark Side of Midlet now that they have the orb to open it. Moe and King Mouse find out that the orb doesn't open the door and Count Morti appears on the scene with Oblivion. He reveals that the door will only open with Count Morti's soul as the key. Just before they are able to capture King Mouse, Twizle arrives and flings Count Morti high into the air, dropping him savagely onto the ground. Oblivion takes Count Morti to the blood room where he is filled with the blood and turned into a horrible monster.

Monstrous, bloody hand prints are left all over the castle leading to Count Morti's new form which begins to fade and deteriorate as his body rejects the twisted experiment. His body converts into a soul, opening the door to the Dark Side of Midlet. Inside, Moe is reunited with Miney and they continue their dangerous trek through the castle, avoiding evil spirits along the way. Along the path, a spirit speaks to you revealing himself to be Mouse. His punishment was to be turned into this by Suffer. He warns the group of a monster that consumes souls called the Soul Eater somewhere in the castle which they find promptly and run from. King Mouse is vehemently confronted by Count Morti's soul who swears vengeance on him and that he'd haunt him when he least expects it before disappearing.

King Mouse battles the Soul Eater which spits out all the souls its eaten upon it's defeat. The group are able to leave Midlet (with the exception of Mouse whose soul is shackled to the castle now) and continue their path to Noivilbo. The mice split from King Mouse as they take a small tunnel to Noivilbo and King Mouse is found by Gomo as he reaches another shoreline. The raft suddenly sinks and they find themselves in some sort of grotto where they meet a one-armed pirate who introduces himself as Verginix who merrily wishes to help Gomo Pallitax, siting him as the legendary man who faced Suffer and lived to tell the tale.

The grotto mysteriously loops tunnels magically and only Verginix knows the way. King Mouse becomes lost from the path and is eventually found by Verginix again after passing several obstacles. Time suddenly seems to freeze and eyeballs appear all over the stage as King Mouse is fronted by Sentry who promises his race's protection before disappearing. King Mouse soon happens upon Verginix speaking with Suffer who orders him to kill King Mouse and lead his body to Losaffi. Soon, King Mouse and Verginix battle which ends in King Mouse flinging Verginix's sword back at him, decapitating him. They leave the cave on the back of a flying mud worm and King Mouse reunites with Miney and Moe at Noivilbo where King Mouse enters some sort of spiraling portal.

In the portal, Suffer emerges and sells your soul to Oblivion who promises to kill you and lead your soul back to Losaffi. He forces you though his own portal and fights you, eventually morphing into a large spider monster and losing as Sentry appears to protect you, freezing time once more. King Mouse escapes and finds himself in the burnt down Losaffi.

Battling past a Hellstorm and various pieces of wreckage from his old castle and land, King Mouse is engaged by Oblivion who claims to have defeated Sentry. Deathbringer emerges and tells Oblivion that he'll be ruling this world alone then kills him. Deathbringer forces King Mouse into his gate where King Mouse is shrouded in darkness, meeting the old king of Losaffi. He reveals that all of this is his fault as he made a deal with Suffer to become king which caused Suffer to begin making the Hellstorms. King Mouse doesn't lose hope and the old king of Losaffi follows him as they go through the hellish land and find several of the captured Losaffians to free from their torture.

Deathbringer finds King Mouse in the end and remarks that his journey would make an amazing story, but one no one would hear as they'd all be his slaves and King Mouse will be gone. The two battle as they are ported through several variations of landscapes passed throughout King Mouse's entire adventure. In the final panel of the fight, Deathbringer points out that King Mouse is unable to kill someone and someone else always appears to do the job for him. Suddenly, all of King Mouse's allies appear and gesture "and what's wrong with that?" before collapsing upon Deathbringer and destroying him thus ending his reign.

The credits tell that Losaffi was rebuilt from the Cyber's fire, Gomo became the new king, Suffer never bothered another individual again, the Hellstorms came to an end, Miney and Moe lived happily ever after, and King Mouse married and had a child.

## Main Characters

### King Mouse

The main protagonist and king of Losaffi. He's been slated for some type of sacrifice which would require his soul and spends a majority of his adventures avoiding those individuals who would ultimately bring him to Deathbringer.

### Oblivion

Shrouded in darkness and death, the second highest lord of evil pursues King Mouse throughout the adventure in order to bring his soul to Losaffi as tribute for his leader, Deathbringer.

### Gomo

A seafaring Losaffian who travels across the seas on his lamp-lit raft. He warns those to never bargain with the demon of the dark flame, Suffer, despite having done so himself in order to travel the seas safely. His debt to the monster was paid with his brother Arch's life. Gomo aids King Mouse in his travels and helps him dodge Oblivion and other antagonists along the way.

### Mouse

An individual whose journeys mirrored King Mouse's in various respects. He is joint by King Mouse in the Oblivion Gate starting this adventure and is met again later on in the jail cells of Midlet before succumbing to his debt to Suffer.

### Count Morti

A dark man who owns the castle of Midlet. Oblivion is aided by him in the attempted capture of King Mouse. He eventually is defeated and turns into a spirit trapped within his castle's walls, promising to haunt King Mouse when he'd least expect it.

### Miney & Moe

Mice brothers who venture through Midlet. Moe in particular partners up with King Mouse in order to find a way into the Dark Side of Midlet to reunite with his lost brother, Miney.

### Suffer

The Demon of the Dark Flame. Crafted in ghostly fire, the demon is known for making pacts with individuals who would sell themselves into Suffer's accursed debt. Several characters, both virtuous and antagonistic, strike deals with the demon which tend to lead to their demise or the demise of others. Suffer is ultimately responsible for the destruction of Losaffi, the Hellstorms, among other events.

### Deathbringer

A horned red demonic man robed in black. A chain of several servants loyal to him are tasked with finding King Mouse and retrieving his soul in order for Deathbringer to rule the world. He betrays his underlings when the time comes to rule by himself and is defeated by King Mouse's allies after he rallies them from Deathbringer's hell.

## Trivia

* Miney and Moe are named after black and white gerbils SG had as pets in real life.
* Several references to The Edge Chronicles are made throughout the game. (Such as Verginix's name, characters exclaiming and thanking "The Sky", among several lines of dialogue.)
* The castle Midlet is named after a nick name for Onni's real life cat Middy.
* The Soul Eater is what Onni considers his first successful attempt at a boss, despite SG never being too fond of the encounter.
* Midlet was considered the first large scoped level that had its own sense of atmosphere and development.
* Count Morti was named on the spot as Onni asked his mother for a name off the top of her head and she said "Morti".
* The Deathbringer encounter was created before Zant's in Twilight Princess. SG believes Onni should seek a lawsuit.
* For a time, "Noivilbo" was used as a type of curse word between Onni and SG purely for its humiliatingly nonsensical sounding name which was partly used to make fun of Onni's judgement in naming things.