Mortish Writes

Just a nice lady who writes about hot vampires. Play my interactive erotic romance novel Bride of Shadows on Itch. No reaction asks.

[mortish-writes]

You wake in a frozen wasteland, abandoned, hungry, and with no memory of who or what you are.

Two dark and powerful men find you in the snow. They take you in and keep you warm. Try as you might to resist them, it isn't long before you lose your heart and your virtue.

As your past unravels, the mystery surrounding you only deepens. They tell you you're one of them: a darksinger, immortal and god-touched, cursed with a lust for blood and a barren womb.

If that's true, how is it that you are carrying their children?

The Bride of Shadows rework is now starting on the public build. While the story will feel familiar to players of the former version, it has gone through a comprehensive restructure. Former save games no longer apply.

Choose from a variety of physical characteristics that impact your narrative. Human skin tones or the blues and purples of a shadewalker? Slender or voluptuous? Short or tall? The love interests and the world will respond to your unique appearance. 

Craft a personality profile that grows with you. Are you bold and opinionated, or calculating and adaptable? Do you take control of your fate, or is the deck always stacked against you? No choice is wrong—each trait unlocks unique dialogue and opportunities.

Can't decide between the love interests? They don’t mind sharing. Dive into a dangerously passionate romance with all three and explore their tangled, fiery bond.

Choose your romantic dynamic with each love interest. Play hard-to-get or melt in their arms. Your love story and their behaviors will adapt to your choices.

Journey through a vast Scandinavian-inspired dark fantasy region. Discover a rich, immersive world brimming with hidden lore, moral dilemmas, and centuries-old rivalries. 

Experience pregnancy and motherhood through the perspective of your MC. What will your children be like, and can you raise them to be virtuous in a dark world?

Tailor your explicit content. Are you provocative, bold, and adventurous in the bed furs? Or is your MC demure, preferring to be shyly led as her lovers take the lead? Do you want MMF intimacy, or do you prefer to be center-stage in MFM love scenes? Same rules apply for MMFM scenes.

Bride of Shadows is a female-protagonist interactive romance novel intended for readers 18+. It is a text-based game with explicit content. It is a work-in-progress and currently playable through Night II, approximately 19,000 words. New updates on Itch will be rolling out every 1 to 2 weeks. Huge thanks to the patrons who made this possible, both with allowing me to write full-time and providing crucial feedback to improve the narrative and gameplay.

[Play the Public Build]

[Delve Deeper on Patreon]

Fated Mates Route ★ Contains everything in the classic storyline, but the MC will experience an intense mate bond with Valdricht. Serax and Valdricht will not be romantically involved. Your MC can develop a friendship or antagonistic relationship with Serax. Kerach will keep his distance. MF only. Darker than Classic. Ideal for dark fantasy aficionados who prefer monogamy. Currently playable up to Night 3.5.

Dark Maiden Route ★ Everything in the classic route, but darker. The choices are limited. Serax, Valdricht, and Kerach will expect the MC's complete submission. Love looks a lot like Stockholm's syndrome. MMFM only. Kerach paternity included. Not for general audiences. Ideal for veteran dark romance readers looking for a more sexual, intense submission & breeding romance. Currently playable up to Night 3.25.

All patrons receive access to both additional routes and the ability to customize the genders of their children. Darksinger and Duskweaver members receive 1 week early access to new content.

[mortish-writes]

Hi! Sorry if this has been asked before but does the Patreon version have more explicit scenes? I vaguely remember a post about Itch policy changes where you mentioned censoring the public version, so I wasn’t sure. I’m new here and the fade-to-black caught me off guard lol. I read the Patreon descriptions but I’m still a bit confused.

Yes, all explicit scenes are now in the Patreon version that way the free version doesn’t have to be indexed as adult. All tiers on Patreon have the NSFW version only.

[mortish-writes]

i totally get it if it’s spoilery to answer/not set in stone but I’ve been wondering about the power-scaling of this universe since Serax’s line in the old demo ‘I could probably kill him’ in reference to Oskari and was thinking about it more this Dark Maiden update when it seemed like all the love interest responded to the sithrak tracking/attack?

Where sort of do Val, Serax, Kerach fall on like combat power for lack of better word in comparison to sithrak’s and other darksigners lines? Or if that’s too spoilery could you maybe say if other darksingers are capable of hunting/tracking sithrak the same way the love interests are?

(also I loveee Kerach acceptance route he’s so soft and will make him and Serax get along just every once in a while)

Not too spoilery. For them, taking down a single sithrak is simple. A swarm of them is a more complex process, with Valdricht having an easier time of it due to his ability to teleport short distances. Even so, it's unlikely that monsters would pose a real threat to them without extenuating circumstances, it's more that if they aren't attentive the MC could be in danger.

Kerach isn't a darksinger and perhaps not even a shadewalker. Physically he is stronger than both Valdricht and Serax. He doesn't like sithrak and tends to want to avoid them whenever possible, but it may not be fear that his aversion comes from. He does have some unique abilities in both of his forms that will give him a marked advantage in combat against monsters, which will be revealed later.

Compared to darksingers, Kerach is stronger than a lot of them, but not all. He has a lot of resistance to their compulsions (songs) which gives him an advantage over any darksinger who relies solely on songs to fight. Serax is stronger than a lot of darksingers by virtue of his bloodline, however at only a little over a century old he's quite young by their standards and a lot of his songs are sloppy or ineffective. Like Kerach, he has pretty good resistance to the songs of weaker darksingers and would likely win in a fight versus darksingers 2-3x his age.

Valdricht is very old and powerful, but extremely measured. Your MC isn't likely to understand the full scope of his capabilities until much later in the story. There's only one living darksinger who he'd be hesitant to fight, but even that would be a tossup. However, as Valdricht himself has explained in the original story and will later lay out, there isn't much value in being the strongest darksinger. There have been plenty of powerful darksingers who have been overcome by a village of determined humans because they were careless. They're particularly vulnerable during the summers, for obvious reasons.

There are also a variety of gods/demigods scattered around Nazralt which you'll encounter at various parts of the story. Some are stronger than Valdricht/Serax simply by virtue of being immune to darksinger songs, which is why it's important for them to be competent fighters.

Glad you enjoyed the acceptance route for Kerach, I think he really complements the dynamic nicely :)

[mortish-writes]

March 29 is my birthday so as a birthday gift, to myself and the story I'll write a character inspection through song. I got two songs in mind so this will be a two part and will have some small description and song title. The two parts do not have any continuation between them only the different themes for my Mc Lure.

Part One: The Hare and the Beast

Song: Who is She? By I, Monster

Covers: by Justine M. Or Andra Ariadna

Note: I gave both covers because both are equally good though I do find the Andra version to be more haunting compared to Justine's but work for the mood I'm trying to provoke.

Scene: A lost maiden looking for salvation after fleeing from a chance meeting with a beast.

Her heart races as continues running through the foggy forest, she doesn't attempt a chance to look back after seeing the woman in the wedding veil and those sharp fangs that haunt her memory. It's so, so dark than what she thought it was before she ran... Perhaps the forest makes it look that way? The trees are so cluster together that its leaves block the moon and its light.

Her legs and feet ache but she can't stop now unless that b-beast comes for her, no she must keep moving to get more space between them, the more space the more safety she will be right?! Y-yes that's right! It has to be! She shouldn't overthink this — she can't be frantic now... Calm thoughts... Calm thoughts... She is safe now... She will be safe.. surely someone will find her and kill that....

...

...

...

She couldn't remember what she was fleeing from.

No, that's not right... There was a beast right? It was going to eat her right?! It had sharp fangs... At least she thought. She took a moment to stop and look around her surroundings, her feet aching and throbbing as if she ran from miles, she sure if she took off her shoes and socks it was soaked with sweat and blood from how hard she was running but the tree looked familiar...

Too familiar...

As if she ran in a circle... But that cannot be as trees while looking the same always have small differences in them like the angle of their branches or its markings but no... They all have the same markings and their branches are all positioned in the same way... How can this be?! Is she losing her mind?! No! No! No! She refuses to believe that! She can't just run into an unfamiliar forest for no reason and run into the same cluster of trees over and over again until her feet bleed.

Who is she? Who was that woman that she walked by?

The memory is so misty like in a fog... An image of a face that has haunts her memory like a lost embrace...

Was the strange aristocrat woman just a dream? Or is she a beast after her? No... She is not a monster... How could that stranger be one? Because she wears a viel and is accompanied by that handsome man. Perhaps her husband?

What a mystery that woman is... Dressed in fine silks and lace, pretty like a doll but every inch of her covered from the satin gloves to the intricate lace around her delicate neck...

So beautiful...

So beautiful, she is sure

For why else would someone hide their own face unless to cover the beauty from underneath... Yes... That's it... Someone that is that beautiful must keep her image hidden less she gets attacked by unruly men that have means to hurt her and take her virtue...

She can hear someone calling her name...

It's faint but so soft and sweet...

She must follow that unknown voice...

Closer...

Closer...

Closer...

She needs to be closer...

It feels like she is walking through the sands of time but she can't stop now not when she is so close!

Her goddess is waiting for her feast...

The immortal is waiting for me in her heavenly embrace...

Welcome me...

Welcome me...

I'm eternally hers..

My blood is her wine to dine..

The immortal she

I'll return to thee

Happy birthday! I wish I could have gotten the Dark Maiden update in for it, it’s around 1am here and I have been at war with my code since noon. I was about to go to bed feeling pretty bummed and thought it would be a good time to check social media because I have a dumb lizard brain. So this was really nice to see. 🫶🏾 It feels very fitting for Lure and I love the echoes of the OG Bride of Shadows.

Hugs from a fellow ♈️

[mortish-writes]

So I played Dark Maiden and for once did a brat who opposes Val as much as she can for the time being and tells him no when on his naked lap..... but then the next morning she gets all horny watching Valdricht's hands, which ok, they are probably pretty sexy. But now with the sex scene she keeps say "No" and "like yesterday" "use your fingers!" Which uh.. he didn't do? I'm not sure if there is another passage for the other choices that got accidentally switched because of coding issues or if maybe this fell into a little plot hole? So I figured in case it's a bug I'd let you know. It's not a big one, but it does make the previous choice to get a bit prissy very meaningless after all. Thanks for writing and sharing, I adore the story and my MCs harem of giant northern hunks. Sister Eshula would be so jealous, if she knew.

Sister Eshula 🤭 Probably a coding bug. I’m doing a bug sweep this weekend and I’ll take a look. Likely a variable that isn’t firing right. Thanks for reporting it!

[mortish-writes]

Thank you for making a romance with a strict poly couple 🙏

You're welcome! Happy to see there's an audience for it. I struggle to enjoy the pick-your-lover-from-this-harem type romances. Why must we be made to choose? :')

[mortish-writes]

hi, I tried to subscribe to your patreon but for some reason they deactivated my acount. Is there a way for me to read the patreon version on your ko-fi ?

or am I just bad luck .....(sigh)

I'll see about adding Ko-fi subs as an alternative next week. It's definitely on my to-do list.

[mortish-writes]

not an ask! just appreciation! i’m so very deeply in love with your writing and the world you’re building and all the characters!! every route you take whether it’s classic route, dark maiden or fated mates, each and every experience is unique and so, so much fun! i look forward to every update! <3

Thank you so much, that's very kind and really wonderful to hear <3

[mortish-writes]

Hi mortish! Hope everything is going well for you snd your loved ones! So, I've noticed something in the re-write:

Did you tone down the boys "jerkniess" in classic route? 😂

I've noticed a lot of scenes where they're deff less mean than I remember, so I'm guessing you left those to the Dark Maiden version? Hmmm that puts me in a situation... I can say with confidence I LOVE angst, i eat that for breakfest, so I was okay with with their behaviour as long as it was addressed or improved once they went "ohshit i thinl im in love" u know?

Sooo I'm not certain i should go to Dark Maiden..I'm not sure if I'm a BIG dark romance fan. I like stories that make it HURT, but there needs to be consequences, so the couple can grow from it and their love stronger.

SO, tell me, which version should I go for? 😭 The worse it hurts now the sweeter it'll be later, provided its not just the FL taking the shorter end of the stick all the time

It's definitely toned down from the original Bride of Shadows. I actually felt like the original version was pretty tame, but there were a lot of complaints, particularly when it came to misogyny.

In the current version of Classic, they're fairly tame but still douchier than standard romance fare. Valdricht is pretty manipulative, but not in an overt manner. He just says whatever he has to do to manage the MC and sleep with her. Tbh I think a lot of players don't even realize how much of a snake he is. As for Serax, his less savory impulses are curbed by Valdricht who is genuinely protective of the MC. You'll see Serax get more assertive after he's slept with her for the first time, and more abrasive as he competes with Valdricht and eventually Kerach for her attention. Where that abrasiveness is directed depends on your dynamic. The MC can also be pretty toxic in Classic, depending on how she handles Serax and Valdricht's relationship. I'm giving players the option to be a team player or jealous/territorial for either guy.

Dark Maiden is very different from Classic, a lot of players play both routes, assuming they're comfortable with the dubious nature of the DM relationship. The guys aren't very nice in Dark Maiden. They aren't cruel imo, but it's clear that the MC, at least initially, is just a body for them to use. In Dark Maiden, it's actually Serax who is clingier in the early chapters. The MC is kind of like a toy that he and Kerach are constantly fighting over, while Valdricht is like the aloof, mercurial overseer who's somewhat distrustful of the MC. I like Dark Maiden because there isn't really an early bond between the MC and the guys, it's more of a relationship born of desperation that slowly evolves into something more. When it finally does, I think it feels pretty earned, but it depends on how tolerant you are of being objectified/used for most of the first act of the story.

If you're torn between the two, read both. Even most of the dreams are different after the first couple nights, there's really little overlap between the two. The most challenging aspect for players of Dark Maiden seems to be the language barrier.

[mortish-writes]

I know Valdricht is the main partner but just curious if it's possible to focus on Serax if I prefer him? I remember the old version had a bath scene or something similar with Serax for one of the routes which I remember thinking was fun but that doesn't seem to be in the rewrite anymore.

The Serax relationship is more of a slow burn. He warms to the MC over time. You’ll see more interactions with him in Night V and he’ll start actively seeking your MC’s attention in Night VI and beyond, though your interactions will be influenced by your dynamic. If you’re Combustive, he’ll try to tease/annoy you. If you’re Kindling, he’ll be a bit clingy. In Classic route you’ll be able to choose to spend more time with him over Valdricht and (eventually) Kerach.

[mortish-writes]

Hello I would like some clarification on your patreon tiers. It says that on your shadewalker tier the patreon version and password to access it should be included, however the posts that have the password and link are only available at the higher tiers. Please clarify if the the patreon version of Bride of Shadows and the password is available on the shadewalker tier or if that is an error.

The Shadewalker tier only updates when the public build updates and I only change the password when there is new content. Darksinger/Duskweaver tiers get early releases of all routes and are not playing the same game build as Shadewalkers, which is why there are monthly password updates. For example, tomorrow the public build will update with Night V, so there will be a Shadewalker update and a new password.

Overall I’m pretty lax with the passwords tbh, some months I don’t even change them. I may start changing passwords at the beginning of the month for both versions to avoid confusion. But the short of it is: if there’s no post with the monthly password, it’s because the password for your tier hasn’t changed.

[mortish-writes]

Just a quick update to let you know that Classic Night V is being rescheduled to Friday February 27th for patrons and Friday March 6th for the public build on Itch.

I'll go into more detail in a dev log, which will be tomorrow. The short of it is that we've had a scary weekend here in Mexico. Everyone in my family is fine but we've been glued to the TV and our phones all weekend. We had some gang-related unalivings on Saturday and then there were guys with assault weapons cruising through our local farmer's market on Sunday which was pretty wild, but the national guard showed up and aside from some fiery cars, civilians in our town are okay and everything has been really calm today. I might spill some tea in the dev log for those interested in cartel drama, but I won't bore you normal people with the details. I'm lowkey obsessed with it, the mafia has nothing on the cartels, but my husband will not permit me to write a book or a game on the subject. Yet.

[mortish-writes]

Hey ,so I am wondering since there are a lot of game modes like classic,fated mates ,etc . Is there one where the mc can reject the condition and still continue the journey?

If you mean reject sleeping with the guys, no. It’s a pregnancy romance and there is no version of the story that exists without her having children with Serax/Valdricht. It’s a core pillar of the plot and the MC’s existence. The option to reject the guys in Classic Night IV is just an off-ramp for players who might have wandered in not reading the tags/warning messages prior to diving into the story. I used to have a message in the early death saying as much but players complained it was too lecture-y, so idk. I’ll probably put it back in anyway. It is nice to know that the worldbuilding is interesting without the romance though, so thank you.

[mortish-writes]

​Night IV of Bride of Shadows is now available to play on Itch! This update actually includes the second half of Night III in addition to Night IV, adding around 30,000 fresh, hot words of gameplay. Enjoy some banter with Serax and intimate moments with Valdricht, all while delving deeper into the mysterious world in your dreams.

[Play for Free on Itch] [Follow on Patreon]

Bride of Shadows is a text-based interactive novel and a WIP. There are four chapters available on the public build, with around 60,000 words of content. It is a dark fantasy for adult readers who enjoy story rich tales and toxic males. Please mind the content warnings.

Housekeeping

It's way past my bedtime. Here is some stuff mostly for patrons who see this before my posts tomorrow:

Shadewalker Edition is updated! I'll be making an alternate link this weekend for users who need it.

Fated Mates excerpt will be posted tomorrow evening. When I was writing my schedule I kinda forgot I had a whole chapter launch scheduled for today, and I haven't had time to transcribe and edit the excerpt yet. I've added a cool fork wherein even if you asked Valdricht to marry you, you can still let him debauch you in the morning. Just don't expect him to be rushing you the the altar, you degenerate.

I'll be posting some longform excerpts of Dark Maiden and Fated Mates to Patreon next week. These will be free for followers to give everyone an idea of what the Dark Maiden and Fated Mates routes are like.

The sexy content in the public build update is time sensitive. Next week I will be transitioning Bride of Shadows to Mature, a step down from Adult. This means that explicit encounters will become fade-to-black, however sensual scenes will remain intact. I don't think I'll have to change any of the language or violence levels, but I'll double check with the guidelines and let you guys know.

Note, this is only for the public build, Patreon versions aren't affected by this. Once the changes are made, UK players should be able to access Bride of Shadows on Itch again. Users can play the uncensored version of Night IV on Itch until February 9th.

G'night! Mortish

[mortish-writes]

I'm sure this is old news to everyone by now, but it seems Itch is being pressured to delist and/or remove games that contain adult content due to activist groups putting pressure on payment processors.

I write an interactive erotic romance novel and as such my game seems to have been shadow-banned. My game has nothing in it that you can't find in the romance section of a Barnes & Noble or on the Amazon bestseller's lists, albeit with shoddier writing :) As such, I'm hopeful that Bride of Shadows will at least be able to remain on the platform, even if it remains shadow-banned.

The story will continue. I have no intention of shelving Bride of Shadows and in fact the next update is right around the corner. What I may end up doing is publishing a new clean/SFW version of Bride of Shadows as a public build that way new readers can still find the story. This is very new and I'm going to give Itch a few days to figure things out, I'm sure they're having a hard time on their end. I imagine that the adult games represented a majority of their income and I doubt this was a decision they made lightly.

I don't see this affecting the Patreon as of right now, but I will be looking into alternative sites just in case the censorship brigade comes for Patreon NSFW, too. In the meantime, I'm going to get back to writing.

-Mortish

[mortish-writes]

Basically me all week as I edit this scene into something that both feels true to the characters and also doesn’t cross a line.

I think I cracked the code and made something solid, hot, and realistic. As realistic as a priestess sleeping with a pair of hot vampires three nights after they stumble across her in the arctic wilderness can be. Can’t fit Kerach in, at least not in this night, Valdricht is being too Valdricht. It’ll probably be out in a couple of days, I need to give it a thorough preening to ensure you don’t trip on typos or stumble into a void of bad code whilst enjoying. This is one of those scenes that begs for an alternate POV, I can’t wait to share it as soon as I can, the guys are in rare form.

[mortish-writes]

I recently discovered your story, and I’m so excited to see where it goes! I’ve been searching for something like this for such a long time, and I’m thrilled to have finally found it. ❤️ Wishing you all the best in your writing journey—I hope it continues to bring you joy!

Thank you, that's very kind. I think this is the perfect note on which to end my ask answering and get back to writing! <3