Nightshade

Nightshade is the titular main protagonist of the game Nightshade Part 1: The Claws of Sutekh. He is an extremely powerful vigilante crime fighter, and the successor of the popular hero Vortex.

## Appearance

Nightshade is an extremely tall man wearing a black trench coat, fedora, and a pair of sunglasses. However, his black clothing appears brown within the game due to the excessive use of the color black due to the fact that the game takes place during the night. Nightshade's height is most likely between 9 and 13 feet tall, due to him being a small bit taller than a large ladder leading onto a roof, as well as around twice the height of most other characters in the game. He is also about a full head taller than a food vendor's stall.

## Personality

Nightshade is usually seen as a courageous and kind, yet sometimes sarcastic, or even downright mean and greedy hero depending on the player's choices. An example of this is when Nightshade is saving a woman in a burning building, where the player has the choice to threaten to leave the woman there. Another example is when Nightshade has the option to buy out a food vendor's entire supply of food, or when he consistently pesters a museum curator, before dismantling a skeleton. However, Nightshade has the option to rebuild the skeleton, revealing that it was actually a completely different dinosaur from the one that the curator thought it was, meaning that Nightshade actually did the curator an act of kindness.

## Biography

### Under the City

Nightshade is first seen tied up in a chair, where the villain Sutekh has a bomb planted behind him in order to kill him. However, Nightshade is able to maneuver behind cover, and then use a candle to burn himself free. Nightshade is then able to explore an undercity dungeon area, where he will need to escape through a sewer grate. Nightshade does this by grabbing a key, moving through a painting, sneaking past a fake rug, activating a switch, collecting a crowbar, and ripping open the vent shaft.

Nightshade then proceeds to make his way through a small sewer system, and then finds a secret brick wall, where he finds his first scarab behind a pair of flaming pillars which he deactivates. These scarabs are crucial to entering Sutekh's lair. Once he does this, Nightshade moves onwards to the main city, where his journey truly begins.

### The Treasures

Before being able to take on the crime bosses of the city, Nightshade must first find a group of four treasures, which will be stolen by each of the crime lords if Nightshade tries to stop them first. In order to protect these treasures, Nightshade must make his way to Vortex's secret hideout, which can only be accessed after performing favors, and beating up criminals. These favors include breaking down and fixing a statue, giving a dog a bone Nightshade took from a dead body in the sewers, saving a granny's cat, saving another granny from a beating by one of Goliath's minions, and beating up some other random criminals, as well as saving a girl from a flaming building. Ironically, the fire is never put out.

After doing these favors, Nightshade will become popular enough to enter Vortex's hideout, where he can grab four energy domes, which he can use to protect the treasures from Sutekh and the crime Lords.

The first treasure is in a museum guarded by two statues made of what is presumably diamond. Nightshade is able to hit these statues, and nearly disintegrate them with his punches, shattering them like glass, and causing them to spin violently. After this, Nightshade is able to make his way to the treasure, and protect it with the first dome.

The second treasure is a diamond, which is protected by a mummy, which Nightshade uppercuts, and sends spinning off in a tornado like fashion. Nightshade is then able to use the second dome on the diamond, protecting it.

The third treasure is a scroll. After handing a librarian a missing book, Nightshade makes his way over to the back of the library, where he finds a hidden book which leads to the scroll, which he uses a dome on. Nightshade also finds a book that allows him to read hieroglyphics.

The final treasure is a crown located inside of a vault. Nightshade makes his way to a small brick where he finds a pair of force gloves, which he will use later. After this, he makes his way to the outside of the Vault, where a Dapper Gent has left a bomb for him, which Nightshade evades effortlessly, however, the perpetrator runs off shortly after placing the bomb. Nightshade goes into the Vault, and uses the force gloves on a torch, which powers off the trap stopping him from using the dome. Nightshade then uses the final protective dome in order to stop the crime lords and Sutekh from taking any of the treasures.

### Goliath

After protecting the treasures, Nightshade has the option to go after one of four crime lords. Typically, the easiest way Nightshade begins his journey by going after Goliath, a large and burly man carrying immense physical strength, though likely not as strong as Nightshade himself. To get to Goliath, Nightshade must find a large skyscraper, and climb a ladder that leads to a balcony. Nightshade then jumps from the Balcony onto a moving elevator, where he goes up to the outside of the top floor, and jumps off before he is crushed by the elevator reaching the ceiling.

He then deactivates the power to a machine gun turret sitting on the next side of the balcony outside of the window. After making his way past the machine gun, he climbs up a ladder onto the roof, and then uses his crowbar to open a vent shaft which leads directly to Goliath's room. Nightshade then enters the shaft, and lands in the room, before defeating Goliath, and collecting the second scarab.

### Ninja Mistress

Once Goliath is defeated, Nightshade makes his way to a clothing store, where he is met by two curtains, as well as a clerk. The first curtain has a half naked woman inside, Opening this curtain will cause Nightshade to lose popularity. The second curtain contains a sacred urn. However, opening it will cause the clerk to reveal herself as a ninja, and attack Nightshade. However, she is effortlessly defeated, and Nightshade collects the urn.

After collecting the urn, Nightshade makes his way to the Southwestern most part of the city, where he enters a store district, where he effortlessly defeats another Ninja. After that, Nightshade enters a small shop, where he is challenged by a pair of ninja, who are again, effortlessly defeated. After defeating the Ninja, Nightshade can enter the Ninja Mistress' room, where he is able to defeat her. After defeating the Ninja Mistress, Nightshade gains his third scarab.

### Rat King

After defeating the Ninja Mistress, Nightshade makes his way to the main level of the sewers. However, before he can do this, he must buy a small helping of hot nuts from a vendor in order to feed what is presumably a rat in order to unlock a secret compartment with a gas mask inside of it. After making his way to the sewers, Nightshade must make his way past a gang of small rats that will damage him if they hit him.

After making his way past these rats, Nightshade opens up a path in order to find a cave underneath the sewers. After going through some parts of the sewers, as well as a gas chamber with the dead body of the super hero Vortex, Nightshade must fight the Rat King, who is beaten like the other crime bosses. Once the Rat King is defeated, Nightshade gains his fourth scarab, only requiring one more to reach Sutekh.

### The Staff Of Ra

Once the Rat King is beaten, Nightshade will have more than enough popularity to make his way to a small, bunkered off library, where Professor Sandleford will open the door for him, and give him a part of the Staff of Ra. However Nightshade first defeats another of the Ninja. After gaining the first part of the staff, Nightshade goes to another area, and talks to a group of cats, who will reveal the location of the second piece of the Staff of Ra.

### Lord Muck & Sutekh

After gaining the Staff of Ra, and defeating the criminals in the city, Nightshade makes his way to the area where the food stall vendor is selling hot nuts. If he buys enough, the vendor will give him special access to the inside of the club where Lord Muck is located. Nightshade must then defeat a pair of Dapper Gents, and then activate a secret lever disguised as a moose antler in order to fight Lord Muck, who is defeated, but with much more trouble than the others. This gives Nightshade his final scarab.

After defeating Lord Muck, Nightshade makes his way to a graveyard, where he places all five Scarabs he collected into a statue, which opens the way to Sutekh's lair. Once there, he can make his way down a large hall, where he finds Sutekh waiting for him. Despite his godlike powers and his minions, Sutekh is defeated by Nightshade's physical brawn, as well as the Staff Of Ra. If the player fails to defeat any of he bosses before Sutekh, those bosses must be fought beforehand in the aforementioned large hallway.

Once Lord Muck and Sutekh are defeated, the villains are locked away, and the city is safe from peril, and free of crime.

## Powers And Abilities

### Strength

Nightshade is capable of physically shattering diamond statues with his hands, as well as being able to physically overpower a man who had all of the powers of an Egyptian god, as well as a telepathic crime lord, and a man who is presumably capable of crushing human skulls with no difficulty.

### Durability

Nightshade is able to take machine gun fire, flames, telepathic falling boulders, ancient Egyptian magic, attacks from beings made of pure diamond, and punches from Goliath, who is implied to be able to crush a human skull without difficulty. He has also survived homing bombs, toxic gas, and attacks from the undead, all of which have barely phased him. He is also heavily implied to have survived Sutekh's freeze ray, however, it was still strong enough to trap him in place.

### Jumping

Nightshade is able to jump multiple times his height, which is extremely impressive since Nightshade is approximately 9-13 feet tall.

### Stamina

Nightshade is able to perform all of his actions without feeling any sort of exhaustion whatsoever. He can also perform these actions without any pause in between them.

### Learning

Nightshade seems to be an exceptionally quick learner, as he was able to somehow learn how to speak with animals through a statue, and learned how to perfectly read hieroglyphics after simply reading a book for a few seconds.