Party of Four is an adult (18+) interactive fiction game with RPG, romance, and dungeon break themes written in ChoiceScript.
The known world of Vert is at peril from the appearance of portals: vortexes of mana that open into a land of dungeons separate from yours, filled with traps, mazes, and monsters. The populace is in constant fear of monsters that escape the portals and roam across the landscape. Your world relies on two things: the Heroes who band together to enter theses dungeons and close the portals, and the Gods who Mark them.
You are an orphan that grew up in a church dedicated to one of three patron gods: Nivari, Goddess of the Sun; Peysca, God of the Ocean; and Alina, God of Wilderness. One day a rumor comes to light - a prophetic dream has been plaguing the upper clergy, depicting that you will be the next chosen Disciple and given a Divine Task both great and terrible.
You will head into the dungeons, you will fight, or you will suffer the consequences.
In Party of Four, you can:
Play as male, female, nonbinary, or trans; be gay, straight, bi, aromantic, or asexual.
Choose the God you follow: Nivari, Peysca, or Anila.
Choose your class: Warrior, Mage, or Healer. Differentiate your talent further by picking a specialization! Are you a faithful Warrior Templar, a whimsical Wind Mage, or maybe a bumbling Herbalist Healer?
Choose your four person party from a cast of characters.
Explore dungeons using your skills, wit, or stand behind your friends.
Befriend a giant pack beetle that comes with you on your adventures.
Romance, befriend, or discover a situationship with a shieldmaiden, an arrogant mage, an awkward healer, your childhood friend, an aloof ranger, an electric guild mate, or a mysterious bard.
Explore the city of Sentari and the sights it offers.
Become a feared vigilante of justice.
Pet the giant rat (or bat; or spider).
Graphic violence against fantasy creatures and humans.
Religious themes.
Explicit sexual content. (skippable)
My humor. (not skippable)
Raena: Your childhood friend and fellow orphan in the same church as you. She is the pride of the parish's Armsmaster and has been training on the bow since she could hold one. While she can be rash and impulsive, she admires you greatly and will go out of her way to help you.
Vana Peacebearer: A shieldmaiden from a clerical family. She is slow to warm to others, but will always reciprocate any kindness she is shown. Vana will follow the player character out of a sense of duty, but there is something that she desperately wants and cannot have. . .
Maymie Fox: A mage with an affinity for short-range elemental attacks, her favorite being lightning. Maymie will do whatever it takes to come out as the top dog. As an ex-street rat her morals are questionable at best, and vicious at worst. If you make a friend of her, she will drag you right to the top with her, whether you like it or not.
Jem Miye: A little shy, and a lot awkward, Jem is the quintessential healer. Like you, he's a Disciple, but to the God Melekoth, who rules the Moon. He has a feminine appearance that makes him insecure, but you can build him up with your friendship (or love).
Linzel Syrat: Linzel is just charming enough to mask how much he absolutely does not care about other people’s problems. He wants to join your party for the profit, although he'll be the last to admit he finds you interesting. He has a giant spider/bat/rat named Fancy that follows him wherever he goes. (Familiar choice available to players who might suffer the 8-legged aversions.)
Aslo Gergin: Loud, brash, a man's man, Aslo is a mage who likes to fight on the front lines, no matter how ill-advised others think it is. He's a hot and cold person, always willing to reexamine his opinion of people on the fly. He loves fiercely and immediately, which can get him into trouble.
Sweets: A follower and devotee to the Goddess Myrtle, patron of music and merrymaking, Sweets is a playfully mysterious bard who resides in Sentari, the capital of Vert. They enjoy getting other people to talk about themselves and making a pretty penny at the night markets off accidental confessions or juicy gossip in general. Your name is on a lot of tongues lately and Sweets is very interested to know more.
Patreon | RO Intros | CoG Forum Thread | Current Demo (153k)
Second IF Project (Sci-Fi High Stakes Slice of Life)
CEO of Raena asks again (can't get enough of her and neither can my MC) thanks so much for the answers! With the glimpse of how supportive Auntie Maymie will be to my OTP's future kids it's safe to say my party's been set!
Next ask this time focusing on the past instead of the future: Maybe it's been answered already but how long has Raena had a crush on MC and what's the main thing that drew them to her?
Maymie will make the best Auntie. Buying all the toys and threatening, I mean, negotiating with anyone that makes her little's life hard haha.
Ooo fun question, too!! So it would probably be somewhere in their early preteens that Raena's feelings for MC would evolve from friendship into a crush, though she wouldn't really understand her own feelings until a couple years later, and even then she doesn't have the courage to act on them until she thinks it could be too late.
And if MC isn't interested in women at all, instead of a crush Raena develops a sense of responsibility for MC and a wish to be like siblings because that would put her on a level higher than all of MC's other friends. It's also why she nags MC about Thobias even if she's not romantically interested lol.
The main thing that draws Raena to MC probably sounds something like a trauma bond now that I think about it lmfao. They both grow up in a similar sense of isolation, not only in age since there aren't any other kids in the church close to their age (the others are either several years older or younger), but they're also socially separated from the others due to their relationships with higher ranking members of the clergy (in this case Sister Agamantha and Armsmaster Yoren). Even when their world expands and she and MC meet more people their age after joining hero training, Raena still covets the spot of MC's #1 person, because by that point she's in deep, either crush-wise or the with the need for found family. 😌
On the flipside (pun intended) could a super tall MC with high enough STR build up carry Raena and Vana (or even Aslo and Vana) at the same time?
Ooohh yes to Raena and Vana at the same time!
I don't think even the tallest or strongest MC could carry Aslo + another, since Aslo is always taller (and also he's built like a brick house), so he'd have to be fireman carried, probably lol. Might be able to drag him along, though!
I recently played the demo and loved it so much!!! I'll always try to steal Jem's last name 🙂↕️ .... and always choose to betray Raena with the kiss because the angst is too good and messy bisexual characters are so funny to play 😭 looking forward to the next update!!! Are we going to be able to go back home by the end of the story?? I gotta wrap things up with everyone (cough Thobias cough) before the epilogue or whatnot
Jem just doesn't know that you trying to take his name is just foreshadowing. 🙂↕️ Delaying the inevitable...
You 🤝Me: messy bisexual playthroughs. Like, you did this to yourself, MC Hot-Lips! Let me see how this will keep blowing up in your face down the road! Add kissing Aslo to the list and I feel like there's going to be a straight up fist fight (and probably an ultimatum and the end of at least one route/party partner possibility haha).
Are we going to be able to go back home by the end of the story??
MC will have contact with the people back home via letters through the game (including Thobias!), so there will be epilogue content about MC either going home to visit/live and what happens with the side characters there depending on how you responded to them!
Considering we can immediately just be 100% committed to Raena and she can be with us, what if they not just had the pregnancy but had the whole kid during rhe adventure? Would they carry their baby around in their inventory like Aerie and Charname's baby from Baldur's Gate 2? (At least until they grow up and can fight alongside mama and papa too)
Bonus: Similar to my sickening sweetness ask: Jem and other party member reactions if the preggo thing happens right after they reunited? (What can I say theyre an eager young couple in love, the whole dungeon thing didnt come to mind at their moment)
[...for the record I am sending a lot of the Raena asks but not ALL of them. I will still however humbly accept the title of CEO of MC x Raena]
Hey there CEO of Raena asks!! 💛
Imagining Raena ending up pregnant within weeks of reconciliation makes me giggle to myself. Ah youth! The things they do the second they realize they're no longer supervised... lmao.
It wouldn't actually happen in-game just for plot reasons, but the reality of it would be difficult. Raena would end up sidelined and someone else would have to take her spot, then after the birth she would have to decide to either join the party again and leave the baby with either family (in this case raised by Yoren) or a paid full-time nanny (expensive but possible on two hero salaries); or she could just raise the baby herself and meet MC between dungeons much like a Sweets romance route.
The world's sadly too dangerous to tote around a baby -- especially once they become toddlers and want to put everything in their mouths or be naked all the time. 😔 Even bringing a child who can swing a sword decently along would give both parents and any other party members serious pause, probably some feelings similar to child labor and endangerment lmfao, though I think if they were pre-teen or older taking them into green level dungeons would be seen as okay and maybe even a good idea for a future hero career lol.
Bonus reactions to quickly knocked up Raena:
Jem: flabbergasted. Because like, when did this happen? How --? Actually never mind, he doesn't want to think about how. He'll give her health checks whenever they meet, though, out of some weird sense of obligation to MC.
Vana: pitying. Yet another woman's potentially excellent career in heroism comes crashing to the ground. It's a shame, but these things do happen.
Linzel: laughs. It's not convenient in the slightest, but knowing how embarrassed both Raena and MC are at the idea of everyone knowing they couldn't keep their pants on for more than a day is enough teasing ammunition to last him the rest of their lives.
Maymie: uncannily sympathetic. When you like someone, you like them. And if you get knocked up, well, then you take responsibility. She offers to help raise the kid, both monetarily and as an auntie, but only if she can help pick the name lol.
Aslo: weirdly proud. This is proof that soulmates exist. It gives him an undeserved sense of hope for himself lol.
Sweets: [waving frantically to the herbalist they took MC to the other day.] I TOOOOOLD YOU SOOOOOOO!
So will we get to arm wrestle Vana? I want my MC to beat her by an extremely small margin after a long and grueling battle and then for them to make out and fuck nasty, plus or minus Raena.
Bestie, the way my face must have looked when I read this as I slowly devolved into shock and confusion because my dumb ass was like 'aw this is so wholesome' at the start lmfao.
I can't say I have an arm wrestling scenario in mind for the future but now the seed has been planted. 😂
The eroticism of Vana carrying both MC and Raena over her shoulders........ got damn. Petition for eventual nsfw campervan poly content, whether in game or bonus content, to feature this 🙋♀️
I see you anon and I'm taking notes!!! What a great idea! 🧐
Important question for Vana! Could she pick carry MC and Raena at the same time? One thrown over each shoulder.
Hell yeah she can, anon!! Unless MC is ridic tall, then she might have to resort to dragging them by the collar or leg with Raena over the other shoulder lmao
She potentially could! I feel like she'd really only do it in emergencies if MC is unconscious or weak -- unlike Vana who would do it in an emergency and also just because she feels the need for a powerplay haha.
God i dont want raena in my team over linzel, Aslo, or vana but I also dont want to see her cry because we kind of promised her why must you do this to me
That's on you 🫵 for making promises you can't keep!
Hi! I really liked Jem and Sweets and I've just had this scenario in my head for weeks (or months... time is an illusion). Anyways how would they react if they heard Mc talking to someone and this was the conversation:
(For Jem)
Person: Oh what's your favorite jewelry?
MC: Jem!
Person: That's not... you mean the crystal right? Which jem?
MC: I know what I said.
(For Sweets)
Person: What do you like to eat the most?
MC: Sweets
Person: ..the... the flavor right?
MC: ..... :)
Person: right!?
(Might make a meme out of this)
I love this haha just MC sitting in the corner like:
After seeing a lot of having kids asks and not finding if this has been asked yet, I'm wondering if an MC not wanting to have kids would end the relationship with any of the ROs who are interested in becoming parents? I'm assuming it would for Maymie.
Nope!
For Maymie it would probably result in some serious talks about the future and initally be upsetting, but in the end what she craves is giving something to a kid that she never got to have. So if she ends up adopting or even just mentoring a few kids from the local orphanage/parish, she'd be okay with it as long as she feels like she's making up for her own childhood.
As for others, the only one who'd also feel kinda upset about it is Aslo, but he's whipped enough that he'd agree. He can settle for being the fun uncle considering he has plenty of siblings who are more then willing to facilitate that role lol.
i have a few new questions, this time about Surnames:
so, if i remember correctly than orphans dont have surnames, correct?
i assume that if a orphand gets adopted before adulthood, they simply get the surname of their family.
so since MC isnt formerly adopted, they never had a surname until they needed to sign a document. which leads to the following questions:
is MC´s situation common? so does it mean if an orphan never receives an surname, they just have to think about one on the fly when they need to sign somethin for the first time?
or is MC´s case unique? in that case what would be the usual procedures? would the owner of the orphanage sit down with the adult orphan and help them come up with a surname before sending them out to live on their own?
following this, assuming the oprhan finally chose their surname, are there other things that need to be done? like e.g. would an orphan/MC need to go to the nearest church/governmental building and "register" themselves with their new surname?
are there any "rules" for choosing ones surname? i guess something like "your not allowed to choose the surname of a (famous) noble family"/etc.
these questions are less lore-questions and more "gamplay"-questions:
4. will there be unique flavourtext/interaction if we choose one of the suggested surnames? i just found out (via a different ask) that the suggested surnames change depending on MC´s deity, so would e.g. people who learn about MC´s full name say something like "Sunsword? Your a follower of Nivari?" "Yes." "Thought so.", or something like that?
5. will there be unique flavourtext/interaction for each of the reasons (it was Sister Agamantha surname/MC read it somewhere/etc.) MC picked that surname?
e.g. if MC chose their surname because it was Sister Agamantha`s one, could there maybe be an encounter where we learn more about her past ("Sunsword? your not related to Agamantha Sunsword, the famous adventurer"
thank you once again for oyur answers.
Heyyyy!!! Thank you again for the thoughtful questions!! 💛💛
For surnames!!
MC's situation isn't uncommon. There are a lot of orphans in Vert due to the sudden appearance of portals, roaming monsters, and general poverty that comes with home and crop destruction. Not many families can afford to take in orphans, and orphanages are usually run through successful churches.
Most will give themselves a surname once they're of age to have an identity. Many, like MC, Maymie, and Raena, don't bother until they have to register their name somewhere, such as a guild, for a bank account, or for general employment.
New surnames aren't really kept on record anywhere beyond the village or town hall that keeps a census and for old and/or clerical families officially adding the child's name to the family tree. Too many people end up missing, dead, or drifting for any kind of large scale census to happen or be accurate for longer than a few months.
While there are general rules of manners, such as not taking on notable surnames from prestigious families, it can still happen. It boils down to if they're willing to risk having these families seek them out and 'rectify' the situation in order to keep their name, and therefore, bloodline unmuddied. Many places of employment won't accept people with surnames that are offensive or 'too foreign', so it's one thing that's considered, but it's not a hard law. I guess it would just depend on the person's determination to have that name lol
For gameplay!!
There will be some minor flavor text for the premade last names! It will likely be Raena approving of MCs choice and calling it fitting of their background. Other followers of MC's God will likely make comments about it during the game as well!
There will definitely be flavor/scenes that call back on MC's surname reasoning! Especially if it's Sister Agamantha's last name, Father Bardley's, or Aslo's. While we do learn more about Sister Agamantha's past, it will be through other avenues!
Other surname tidbit!! If Raena doesn't take MC's last name, she will have a God related surname that she confesses is Armsmaster Yoren's surname that she received permission to take and people will comment on it since Yoren was a rather famous Hero before she retired when her party disbanded. The potential surnames being: Brightbow, Tideshot, or Arrowpeak.
