Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon is a 2016 gothic Lovecraftian horror turn-based RPG by Red Hook. The player assumes the role of the heir to a decrepit estate who must defeat the supernatural horrors unleashed by their ancestor. One of the central gameplay mechanics is managing the stress of party members— if their stress meter gets too high, they may start to engage in destructive behaviors or even risk dying from a heart attack.

Introduction

Darkest Dungeon is about making the best of a bad situation. Quests will fail or must be abandoned. Heroes will die. And when they die, they stay dead. Progress autosaves constantly, so actions are permanent. The game expects a lot out of you. How far will you push your adventurers? How much are you willing to risk in your quest to restore the Hamlet? What will you sacrifice to save the life of your favourite hero?

The Ancestor

• [First line] Ruin has come to our family.
• You answered the letter. Now, like me, you are a part of this place.
• The plume… and the pistol. A fitting end to my folly, and a curse upon us all.
• Monstrous size has no intrinsic merit, unless inordinate exsanguination be considered a virtue.
• The bigger the beast, the greater the glory.
• I was lord of this place… until the crows and rats made it their domain.
• Perhaps… things are not as bad as they seem… [rueful, sinister laugh]
• Women and men, soldiers and outlaws, fools and corpses; all will find their way to us now that the road is clear.
• A predator is often blind to its own peril.
• The way is lit. The path is clear. We require only the strength to follow it.
• Even the fiercest beast will lie down when it hasn’t eaten.
• [On the swinefolk] They breed quickly down there in the dark… but perhaps we can slay them even faster.
• The fiends must be driven back. And what better place to begin, than the seat of our noble line.
• I beg you, deliver our family from the ravenous, clutching shadow… of the Darkest Dungeon.
• Alone in the woods or tunnels, survival is the same. Prepare. Persist. And overcome.
• Shoot, bandage, and pillage­­ - the dancing steps of war!
• [On the Leper] This man understands that adversity and existence are one and the same.
• To those with a keen eye, gold gleams like a dagger's point.
• You remember our venerable house, opulent and imperial. It is a festering abomination!
• [Blight/bleed kill] Great is the weapon that cuts on its own!
• Curious is the trap-maker's art... his efficacy unwitnessed by his own eyes.
• As victories mount, so too will resistance.
• Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer.
• In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings...
• Can you feel it? The walls between the sane world and that unplumbed dimension of delirium are tenuously thin here...
• All the decadent horrors I have seen pale in comparison with that final, crowning thing. I could not look, nor could I look away!
• A little hope, however desperate, is never without worth.
• Every creature has a weakness. The wise hero trains for what she will face.
• Some may fall, but their knowledge lives on.
• In the end, every plan relies upon a strong arm, and tempered steel.
• A strict regimen is paramount, if one is to master the brutal arithmetic of combat.
• They must learn more than brutal bloodletting — they must learn to survive!
• You will arrive along the old road. It winds with a troubling, serpent-like suggestion through the corrupted countryside. Leading only, I fear, to ever more tenebrous places. There is a sickness in the ancient pitted cobbles of the old road and on its writhing path you will face viciousness, violence, and perhaps other damnably transcendent terrors. So steel yourself and remember: there can be no bravery without madness. The old road will take you to hell, but in that gaping abyss we will find our redemption.
• Corruption has soaked the soil, sapping all good life from these groves… let us burn out this evil.
• A little hope, however desperate, is never without worth.
• At last, wholesome marine life can flourish - if indeed there is such a thing.
• [On the Siren] Hideous matriarch, vile queen of the aphotic depths - she has no place in the sane world!
• The space between worlds is no place for mortal men.
• [On the Man-at-Arms] The raw strength of youth may be spent, but his eyes hold the secrets of a hundred campaigns.
• [In The Color of Madness DLC] The poor Miller — thrice a victim. The seasons took his livelihood, I took his land, and now, uncountable years later, the comet has taken his humanity. My only regret is that I did not live to see that shoddy mill smashed to pieces by the miraculous bounty I reaped from beyond the void.
• [In The Crimson Court DLC] Madness can take many forms, but none so contemptible as man's belief in a mythology of his own making. A world view buttressed by dogmatic desperation invariably leads to single-minded fanaticism, and a need to do terrible things in the name of righteousness.
• Great adversity has a beauty - it is the fire that tempers.
• Ignorance of your enemy and of yourself will invariably lead to defeat.
• Where there is no peril in the task, there can be no glory in its accomplishment.
• You cannot learn a thing you think you know.
• We fall so that we may learn to pick ourselves up once again.
• Death cannot be escaped, but it can be postponed.
• [Encountering an obstacle] Even the cold stone seems bent on preventing passage.
• The darkness holds much worse than mere trickery and bogeymen.
• There is power in symbols. Collect the scattered scraps of faith and give comfort to the masses.
• [After killing the cannibalistic Hag] The wood is still poisoned. The way is still blocked. But less people will be eaten.
• [After killing the Prophet] Did he foresee his own demise? I care not, so long as he remains dead.
• I knew all these paths once; now they are as twisted as my own ambitions.
• [On the Necromancer] A devil walks these halls... only the mad or the desperate go in search of him.
• Robbed of their writings, the Swine will grow ever more ignorant - if such a thing were possible.
• There is… method in the wild corruption here. It bears a form both wretched and malevolent…

Generic

At the brothel

• This may sound like a strange request at first, but…
• Shall we settle on a safe word?
• [If a hero with “deviant tastes” tries to enter the brothel] They haven't let me in ever since the … "incident."
• I choose you, you, AND you. It's been a rough day.

Meditating

• My two eyes close, that my third eye may open.
• I will touch the thoughts lightly, and let them go.
• Death, glory, pain, and pleasure. We are all one.

Flagellating

• My body is the source of my sin - it must be razed!

Undergoing treatment

• Is that device entirely necessary?
• S-shackles? Really?
• How many leeches does really this take?
• It's just a rash. Why do you need the knife?
• Wait, what's in that syringe?
• That curative salve smells like a gong farmer.
• I place my trust in your gnarled, warty hands.

Town Cryer

• Gods and men… gods are men… gobs of men… [laughs hysterically]

Caretaker

• Powerful spirits will wash the taste of maggots out of my mouth.
• Sometimes it's nice to find a quiet spot, that my dark musings go undisturbed.
• Peace is acceptance. We are all but playthings of the Gods!

Highwayman

• [Healing companion] Did I wash this needle? Well, too late now.
• I cleaned the wound with the last of the wine. ... SIGH.
• I never miss.
• Fear not the hangman, nor the reaper!

Leper

• The tide rises. And the tide falls.
• If I’ve survived this long, so can you all.
• Truly, I am a wretched thing.
• I know this one thing: survival is a state of mind.
• The sun always rises. Evil cannot even stall it.
• Perseverance is power. Remember that.
• My sword, my trusted ally, unphased by my aspect.
• Do not dwell on your end. Think instead of today.
• Wine, song, naked feet. Fresh dew in springtime.

Hellion

• You have the heart of a panther. I can hear it purring...

Houndmaster

• Whatever tomorrow brings, six legs are better than two!

Arbalest

• Have you ever seen a colour out of space?
• If it bleeds, we can slay it.