When a freak tor.nado swirling with winds of pure black and white strikes Hometown, Kris and Susie are swept off to a foreign Dark World. They crash-land into a western town lost to time.
Local sheriff Ralsei greets the suspicious newcomers. It turns out that Kris and Susie aren’t the only Lightners who’ve been stranded by the (un)natural disaster. They come across their old neighbors in new forms, transformed to fit the setting. Susie and Kris themselves have been assigned outlaws. The two form an unsteady alliance with Ralsei to solve various mysteries and crimes plaguing the dusty region of Nowhere.
Peril assaults them at every turn. It turns out a certain Knight has placed a bounty on The Rune Gang. They don’t know which Darkners (or Lightners, for that matter) to trust.
Frankly, Kris and Susie just want to go back to Hometown. But hey, if they get to fuck around in a spaghetti western-inspired world before finding a way back, then they’re game.
The Westerune AU takes place in an environment suspiciously similar to a point-and-click adventure game. That’s because… it is! Wow!
THE SOUL
In this AU, the SOUL acts as the in-game cursor. It exists as a tool that helps characters interact with the world. The Westerune AU pretty much takes place within a point-and-click adventure game world, inspiring the overall look and feel.
The CURSOR can change shape, morphing to indicate when something can be observed, grabbed, spoken to, etc. The SOUL is its own entity that may or may not have some surprise abilities, but by default does not necessarily possess/directly any one character.
Kris is currently the only one who can see the SOUL/CURSOR. (Supposedly.)
KRIS
The boss. Back in hometown, Kris is your average prank-pulling teenage punk. In the Dark World, they’re a daring fingergunslinger sporting the biggest bounty on for being Nowhere’s Most Wanted. Why is that, anyway…?
SUSIE
The brawns. Not long before the tor.nado she had just settled into Hometown. Westerune Susie starts off as a firebrand and dubious frenemy to Kris. Eventually she teams up with them and Ralsei. Susie still maintains her spitfire temperament… especially when she senses a threat.
RALSEI
The babyface. I mean the, uh, sheriff of Nowhere. Though he tries to be intimidating he mostly isn’t taken very seriously. He’s determined to prove himself worthy of wearing his badge.
THE ROARING BANDIT
The ????. They are known by many names. There's a rumor that they will bring the first and last nightfall to Nowhere. Their shadowy visage matches their Big Iron, a transforming blade of pure midnight. A run-in with this outlaw could mean an eternal goodknight.
Seriously though, who is this mysterious figure? And why are they so hellbent on tracking down The Rune Gang?
NOELLE
The beloved. Childhood friend of Kris from the Light World, she tags along with the outlaws during a fateful meeting in Chapter 2. Her personality is mostly the same, except now she’s also a fingergun-wielding badass on the run!
BERDLY
He's in this AU too.
OTHER DARKNERS
More on your favorites (including some Lighners) coming in later posts! We've, uh, already run out of paper to print on. Luckily fan fiction websites are known for having a lot more room for publishing.
In the Westerune AU, Hometown exists as we know it in canon. Up until the pure black and white vortex swallows it whole, that is. Every house, denizen, and stray milk jug is sucked up and spat out.
When the dust settles our protagonists find themselves in Nowhere.
Nowhere is a space of... questionable existence. There's no such thing as morning or night; it's a realm lit by perpetual twilight. Nowhere is the region of land where all the dark corners of the world--which were previously unreachable--thrive. Rather than being split into multiple self-contained realities, it's one huge swath of land.
Not much is currently known about its true origins. When Kris and Susie arrive there already seems to be a small, raucous town with its own residents and local history.
Instead of turn based battles, our heroes need to collect items, help out locals (and maybe other lightners swept up by tor.nado?!). As well as solve puzzles to progress through the game. Luckily for Kris, they have little helpful arrow shaped, floating creature(?) to show them the way. Although watch out! You may run into conflict, ready your fingerguns!
If the lightners were swept by a tornado, does that mean they can't go back to hometown?? (Does another tornado carry them back?? Lol)
Good question đź‘€ and a central one to the story! At first it's not clear how they get home from this parallel reality, or if "returning" is even possible.
question about westerune, does kris just have implied speech like in canon or can the player actually read/hear their dialogue?
Many old point-n-clicks adventure games are well known and loved for their dialog, so we would love to let Kris talk in this AU and characterize them more.
The SOUL wouldn't have a direct control over Kris, so they could speak their mind whenever they please. And we can read/hear it "in game".
But Kris is still not that talkative. (Like their OG counter part.) They would be short and to the point in their speech, and moreso show their feeling towards friends and others through action.
Their voice would be mumbly and a bit hoarse (from talking more than usual).
