Cityapolis, Halloween Night 2008 - a little too old for trick-or-treating, a little too early for the parties to start. Together with your friends, all members of the minor Tau Digamma Qoppa fraternity, you're roaming the streets, looking for fun, babes, or adventure - in no particular order of priority.

After an hour of meandering and a couple stolen treats from an unescorted child's Halloween bucket your wanderings leads you to Trebmal Grove Drive, a rather disreputable part of town with squatters claiming many of the boarded up and run-down properties along the dead-end street. The old Trebmal Manor lies at the end of the street, atop a small rise, overlooking an abandoned park to the south, and the decrepit district now colloquially known as Bumtown to the north.

Local legend holds that the manor is haunted. Every few years or so, there's a story in the papers about someone who braved the mansion and was never seen again. Even the local squatters seem to give it wide berth.

Naturally, it draws the attention of your group, and with typical macho bravado there's much boasting and swaggering about exploring the place, though no one seems inclined to be the first to try. John, the self-proclaimed leader of your little gang, gives you a little shove, pushing you toward the rusty cast-iron gate to the property. "Alright, dawg, you're up."