Fading Loyalties (Game)

## Premise

King Mouse's kingdom is under attack by an assassin named Eman who is attempting to capture him for some unknown reason for his master Nightmare.

## Synopsis

Following the burning of the great Losaffi tree and the appointment of the new King, King Mouse, the kingdom quickly becomes terrorized by magic which brings objects and environments to life. Casualties are quickly had, notably King Mouse's best friend, Oiram, and King Mouse attempts to escape the chaos through the flooding walls of his tower after his castle's gate attacks him.

King Mouse makes his way through his castle's traps and hazards and is met by a blue man with tall horns named Eman. Eman introduces himself as Nightmare's assassin and that he plans on killing King Mouse as soon as he has Nightmare's permission. We soon see Eman creating a green monster with magic that he names "Fang" which will be fought later. Eman is also found silencing a Losaffian that tries to tell King Mouse why these strange things are happening.

Outside the castle, King Mouse quarrels with the monster Fang on a patch of land which is destroyed during Fang's assault. King Mouse escapes and is met by another creation of Eman's named Heat. King Mouse continues his trek which takes him underground and across a dam that breaks in front of him. He eventually battles against Heat and escapes again with his life.

A factory is found further down the path where King Mouse dodges corrosive chemicals and finds Eman once more as he creates another minion in the water pool. The monster rotates its tentacles across the factory floor as heated blocks appear around the stage. An end orb appears and King Mouse absconds. A Losaffian emerges to tell King Mouse that Eman was created from Oiram's death in the throne room and Eman arrives to offer King Mouse a choice. Eman brings Oiram back to life and tells him that if Oiram is to live, so is Eman, but if King Mouse chooses, he can have them both killed. King Mouse chooses to let them both survive and Eman leaves and promises to come back for his life. (If you choose to have them both killed, Eman fulfills the command and you are given "The bad end")

Alone with Oiram, he tells King Mouse that he saw Nightmare through the spirit world and King Mouse will have to travel through the Door of Dimensions in the ruins of Hell's Tower to find him. They activate an unstable generator to power up the factory and use a master computer in order to discover that Nightmare is somehow connected to the Hellstorm. King Mouse leaves and travels a path over water and boardwalks, with the help of the fish race he helped in a previous adventure, in order to arrive at the ruins of Hell's Tower. King Mouse enters the Door of Dimensions and is met by Eman who has been permitted by Nightmare to kill him. Eman is defeated after a battle stocked with massive saw blades and fire.

Through the Door of Dimensions, King Mouse finds himself in his old castle which is now owned by Nightmare and finally meets him face to face. Nightmare demonstrates his alacritous speed and asks King Mouse is he would join him as his apprentice. He is refused and tells King Mouse that his mind will change and they'll meet again. (If you choose to become Nightmare's apprentice, you are trapped behind walls and become his sacrifice.)

King Mouse makes his way out of the castle and dodges a vicious whale enemy along the way which attempts to eat him. He is then met by a vicious lunatic of an assassin who throws several daggers at mouse before jumping towards him with a bridge over a river which King Mouse quickly strides across, escaping him. In a forest setting, Oiram glides past the trees and tells King Mouse to follow him.

A black screen appears with an echoing display of "Mouse!" and King Mouse awakens mysteriously on a cloud-like plain with a blue man donned with a halo informing him that he was having a nightmare. King Mouse quickly discovers that the angel man is working for Nightmare and was tasked with defeating him. In the cloudy environment, King Mouse deals with bat-like creatures and heavy winds until he is met by the fake angel who realizes that King Mouse overheard his conversation with Nightmare and starts making red clones to attack him with. His assault fails and King Mouse leaps from the sky, landing in Wolf Forest with Oiram finding him in a forest clearing.

On his way to Oiram's house, King Mouse is toyed around with by Nightmare who is using his speed to constantly shift around the end orb's position until he talks to King Mouse and reminds him of the deal they can have before departing. King Mouse arrives at a peaceful pond with a reflection of fireflies and TwoMoons which Oiram introduces as Mystical Water Lake. Oiram invites King Mouse inside his house and demonstrates either a fire spell or a lightning spell (the player gets to choose) before a smoke grenade is tossed inside and fills the room with opaque gas. As it clears, they discover that Oiram's spell pots have been stolen by Nightmare and he tasks King Mouse in retrieving them before they can be used for evil.

Back in Wolf Forest, King Mouse is suddenly swallowed alive by a whale's attack at the water's edge. Inside its bowels, an erratic Losaffian confuses King Mouse for his twin brother Gomo and ventures deeper into the whale becoming digested by its organs which King Mouse then fights to escape the whale.

Departing from the whale, King Mouse enters a dessert setting where he passes a strange eyeball in the sand and enters a pyramid with a riddling maze, passing through it. Then in a grassy land, a flaming ghost-like demon named Suffer meets King Mouse and makes a deal with him which King Mouse will pay for somehow later on. In doing so, Suffer lets King Mouse find Nightmare. This leads King Mouse to a metallic setting where he finds a robotic guard to an establishment and guesses the password correctly in order to enter. Inside a room with a computer screen showing the Mystical Water Lake, a blue-cloaked figure approaches King Mouse and tells him that his destiny lies there.

King Mouse promptly leaves and destroys the whale with a cannon along the way. Suddenly, King Mouse is trapped by red walls and Nightmare reveals himself and the newly resurrected Eman. They release King Mouse briefly to show him that they zombitised Oiram. They then lead King Mouse to the Mystical Water Lake which is drained revealing a secret base.

Beneath the lake, Nightmare praises Eman on leading King Mouse here and that he should have valued him more. Eman agrees spitefully and turns on Nightmare sparking a fight which results in Eman's demise. Nightmare reveals to Mouse that he's going to sacrifice him to his leader Oblivion for immortality. As things seem hopeless and Nightmare mocks King Mouse's lack of allies left, he reveals that the cloaked figure from earlier was actually Ocarina the faerie who switched to the dark side. Mouse surprisingly arrives to save the day and matches Nightmare's speed in combat. Nightmare questions how this is even possible and Mouse proclaims the deal he's made with Suffer. Nightmare then desperately grabs Ocarina and sacrifices her to Oblivion.

The heroes quickly abscond as the ritual to summon Oblivion begins. Nightmare and Mouse clash once more resulting in Nightmare being wounded. He rushes off to the sacred waters of Mystical Water Lake in order to heal the wound, ignorant that if a dark soul touches the waters, they will be destroyed and the souls of whom they killed will be released. The two finds a screaming Nightmare standing in the pool before he is promptly eradicated and the souls of Eman, the fake angel, and Oiram are released.

Mouse and King Mouse venture beneath the waters once more to find the Oblivion Gate already activating. They travel inside for the chance to kill Oblivion and end this conflict once and for all.

## Main Characters

### King Mouse

The new reigning King of Losaffi and our main protagonist. Throughout his adventure, several being hunt him down in order to either murder him or use him as a sacrifice.

### Oiram

King Mouse's best friend who is killed almost immediately in the plot. Eman brings him back to life and he aids King Mouse in his journey from that point onward. He has some magical properties to him and can cast spells from the spell pots in his home.

### Eman

A blue horned assassin working for Nightmare. On several occasions, he summons monsters to fight King Mouse. He is eventually defeated by both King Mouse and Nightmare in the adventure.

### Nightmare

Ultimately, the main antagonist of the adventure and a being who wishes to capture and sacrifice King Mouse to his leader Oblivion in order to gain immortality. Nightmare's defining trait is his almost un-paralleled speed.

## Trivia

* Fading Loyalties was actually supposed to end about 60/131 panels in during Nightmare's introduction but the game was suddenly lengthened dramatically as more and more content was produced.
* Eman is "Name" backwards. We've really come full circle this time.
* This is the only game Onni created music for which plays in the Factory segment and Wolf Forest.
* It's also the first game Onni uses existing music in.
* This is the first game with easter eggs, shortcuts, and hidden panels.
* The password given to the robot guard "The World is Quiet" is a reference to A Series of Unfortunate Events.
* It's more than likely that the game was named "Fading Loyalties" for no purpose whatsoever and explains how hamfisted the namedrop is during the climax.
* This is the first game which has a "Coming Soon:" section to the credits.