I am Corvo; Personal Bodyguard to Jessamine Kaldwin the Empress of Dunwall, and all round Good Chum to her young daughter Emily. A rat plague of unknown origin has infested our city and the Royal Spymaster uses his influence to convince Jessamine to send me away to look for a cure. She doesn’t want me to go. She doesn’t feel safe, but she is without another option. Upon my return my world is shattered as Jessamine is attacked. I fight them off but I am overpowered and Jessamine is slaughtered in front of me, and I am unable to protect Emily from hooded kidnappers with supernatural powers. The people of Dunwall are already suffering from the rat plague, and when the Royal Spymaster tells them that it was I that killed their Empress, they bay for my blood.

I am locked away and tortured. My captors admit to concocting the whole scheme. And they tell me I am to take the fall. My break finally comes when I am slipped a key to my cell, and so begins my search for Emily. In the six months since my incarceration Dunwall has all but fallen. The city is ugly, it’s people are ugly, ravaged by plague and famine. Those still alive are transients, thieves, and ruffians. The worst of them are the Weepers, who lurk in squats, held captive by their erratic pursuit of their last cohesive thought. They shed tears of blood. They scrawl madness on the walls. They talk in riddles to no-one.

It’s lonely on my side. Friends and allies are few and far between. And the key to Emily’s whereabouts is slipping through my fingers. I must succeed in their requests if I am ever to save her. So I do what I know best. I am an assassin. A headshot seeking sniper. This time. Maybe next time I’ll be a treasure hunter. Or maybe I’ll be a smooth talking, non-violent diplomat. A ghost in the shadows. I am Corvo, and I am all of these things.

I move like a stalking cougar between the derelict buildings. I count the guards. I see them all before they see me. There are guards on patrol, some are lazy oafs shooting the shit with one another, some are hunting me. I watch out for those ones. I count the broken windows and crumbled walls. I never trust the shadows. In my pocket are a couple of rewire tools, ready for me to use to hack the Arc Pylons and Walls of Light. My crossbow is at the ready. It is a silent hunter, like me. All I need is one clear shot to the head and there will be one less guard to worry about. I patiently wait for my shots and take them out one by one.

In a mansion that was once a place of aristocratic excess, I come across a Wall of Light that blocks me from the rooms beyond. If I walk through the force field, I will be naught but ash. I survey my surroundings. The City Watch Officers live here now. The servants of the house remain, their master long gone. Perhaps he is somewhere here still, addled by plague and pulling his teeth out one by one in the basement.

I have choices. I always have choices. I could disable the Wall of Light and sneak past. But I don’t. I am not that Corvo tonight. I insert the rewire tool and hack the software to attack the guards instead of me. I trip the alarm and hide in a curtain just beyond the force field. I make sure my feet are exposed. A couple of guards come bolting around the corner towards the alarm. They see me and draw their weapons. I round the corner away from them so that they have no clear shot. They have no choice. They run towards me through the force field and are instantly vanquished. I smile. The alarm still sounds and more guards come. One by one they run through the force field. It doesn’t take very long. Long enough for me to amass an impressive body count. Except I don’t need to hide these bodies because they are all ash. Only their ammo remains. Correction, my ammo.

And then it happens. A couple of smarter ones pick up on my ruse. They’ve seen their comrades make the fatal mistake and they decide they don’t want to be toast. They keep their distance. They draw their weapons and yell at me to come forward. I linger out of their line of sight but they aren’t taking the bait. So I draw my sword. The longer they yell, the more likely it is that they will attract more guards and there is a finite amount of whale oil fueling the Wall of Light. I must move on. I use my Blink power to teleport instantly to the nearest guard and sink my blade into his neck. It is as easy as breathing to me. The second guard doesn't even have a chance to raise his pistol before I do the same to him. And now the hallway is clear. I press on.

And don’t go thinking I’ve made things easier on myself. I haven’t. I am only one Wall of Light closer to Emily. I tell myself I'm doing this to protect her. To rid her city of the people who would betray her. The people who conspired to kill her mother. Or am I doing it all for me? And what will Emily think when she finds out all that I’ve done? She has always looked up to me and I'm all she has left now. I am Corvo, the assassin, Personal Bodyguard to Emily Kaldwin, wherever she may be.

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Created Jul 30, 2018 at 9:18pm • Submit your own review...