The Castle of Count Malvorin

The castle looms above the cliff beneath a blood-red moon, and bats swirl like smoke around the spires. The great doors swing open before you knock, and candlelight throws dancing shadows over velvet curtains. Tonight there is a ball, and the music has already begun though you see no one playing.

Every generation someone vanishes from the village at the foot of the mountain, and this time it is the daughter of a distraught mother who begged you to go. At the top of the marble stair the host waits in immaculate black: Graaf Malvorin, Heer van het Kasteel, awake for centuries, and he already knows your names. Until the moon stands full in the sky, you are his guests. After that he decides whether you are still human.

You move through a gothic maze of halls: a ball full of pale nobles dancing too gracefully, cellars that reek of blood and earth, mirrors that show the wrong thing, and servants who whisper of the way to the dungeon where the girl is held. Every conversation is a dance on a knife's edge, and every courtesy hides a fang.

The twist comes when you learn why Graaf Malvorin summoned you, and that the captive daughter is more than a victim. Before the moon reaches its height, you must find a way out and defeat the count in his own throne room, where he is strongest and where the blood-red moonlight never dies. Fail, and none of you will leave this castle as yourselves.