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Carcosa, pt. 2
✖ Carcosa
Ⅰ. CARCOSA
You Are Still Here.
Another month, and you’re still in the city of Carcosa! Isn’t that just wonderful?
You still have access to the city’s temple and the High Temple.
The side effects you may have suffered from throughout the month of May are now at an end - if you had a pesky mask glued to your face the whole time it will now fall off. You might need a little moisturizer, but otherwise you’ll be just fine.
You could sit around inside the relative safety of the temples, of course, but why not get out there and explore the city some more? Come on, grumpypants!
Ⅱ. SPEAK EASY
CW: Optional alcohol consumption.
What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at 1 AM? That's right - the best damn pet shop in town! Sidle up to the back door of Curly's Pet Shop and a panel will open enough to reveal a pair of eyes. "What's the password?" you'll be asked. Whatever word first comes to your mind, well, that apparently is correct because you're let in at once.
The front of the building definitely does indeed house fish and birds and kittens, but the back room is definitely not a good place to find a new animal companion; you find yourself in a crowded little room with low lighting and a small bar crammed into one corner. There's seats and some tables, and most importantly there's a band playing jazz music across from the bar.
Why not take a seat and have a drink? It's probably not paint thinner. Probably. Maybe you'll spot some of your fellow Travelers and you can sit and have a chat. Make a new friend who can hold your hair back if you party too hard.
And you better hope that the place doesn’t get raided!
Ⅲ. EXPRESSIONISM YOURSELF
CW: Optional paranoia, hallucinations.
If you wander the streets at night, you may find yourself getting turned around. You'll find that the streets have lost their many lights, and the beautiful and delicate art deco architecture has given way to something much more stark and heavy. The buildings are block-like, but they curve in exaggerated ways that hurt the eye if looked at too long. All are in blacks and whites and greys. Nothing looks quite real, but you can walk along just fine. Probably better not to go off alone, though.
Periodically you will encounter that pesky sign of some sort painted on the walls. If you follow the sigils, you will eventually be led to a long staircase that winds down and down until it finally terminates in a large white room lit by a few electric lanterns. There's black paint there, with brushes. Maybe you're feeling creative?
Ⅳ. AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER
CW: Optional gun violence, injury.
Art? Theatre? Music? BAH! Boring!
Maybe your tastes are a little more on the dangerous side? Whatever this island may be, it seems to offer plenty of opportunities to get into the seedy underbelly. Maybe you feel the need to steal a car, rob a bank, transport some illegal hooch for a smiling fellow in a yellow fedora. Grab your tommy guns, kids, it's time to outrun the Feds!
Naturally, you could wind up injured having all of this fun, but surely you could get some help from your fellow Travelers, either directly or by having them haul you to some sort of underground doctor. These doctors do exist, although it might take a while to get referred to one by a local.
You might also find yourself under arrest and stuck in an old-timey jail cell for a month. What fun!
You still jamming to that Carcosa playlist?
You Are Still Here.
Another month, and you’re still in the city of Carcosa! Isn’t that just wonderful?
You still have access to the city’s temple and the High Temple.
The side effects you may have suffered from throughout the month of May are now at an end - if you had a pesky mask glued to your face the whole time it will now fall off. You might need a little moisturizer, but otherwise you’ll be just fine.
You could sit around inside the relative safety of the temples, of course, but why not get out there and explore the city some more? Come on, grumpypants!
Ⅱ. SPEAK EASY
CW: Optional alcohol consumption.
What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at 1 AM? That's right - the best damn pet shop in town! Sidle up to the back door of Curly's Pet Shop and a panel will open enough to reveal a pair of eyes. "What's the password?" you'll be asked. Whatever word first comes to your mind, well, that apparently is correct because you're let in at once.The front of the building definitely does indeed house fish and birds and kittens, but the back room is definitely not a good place to find a new animal companion; you find yourself in a crowded little room with low lighting and a small bar crammed into one corner. There's seats and some tables, and most importantly there's a band playing jazz music across from the bar.
Why not take a seat and have a drink? It's probably not paint thinner. Probably. Maybe you'll spot some of your fellow Travelers and you can sit and have a chat. Make a new friend who can hold your hair back if you party too hard.
And you better hope that the place doesn’t get raided!
Notes:
1. The drinks are all era-appropriate - you’re not getting Redbull with vodka here - and even if your character has non-human physiology they will work the same as they would on a baseline human. That’s right, your magic or your healing-factor or your vampire blood is no match for these Gin Rickeys!
2. If Curly’s does get raided while you’re there, you can run and hide or choose to engage with the police, who are armed and not too shy about opening fire if you go on the offensive. As with the rest of the regular residents of Carcosa, the officers are human and can be killed. Killing them may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. (Is it beneficial to personal growth to kill in order to save someone else, for example? You tell me!)
3. Did you want a pet from the front of the building? Well, just remember that baby turtles and alligators might SEEM like a good idea, but they grow up! Also any animal you take will not travel with you to the next island. So sorry.
Ⅲ. EXPRESSIONISM YOURSELF
CW: Optional paranoia, hallucinations.
If you wander the streets at night, you may find yourself getting turned around. You'll find that the streets have lost their many lights, and the beautiful and delicate art deco architecture has given way to something much more stark and heavy. The buildings are block-like, but they curve in exaggerated ways that hurt the eye if looked at too long. All are in blacks and whites and greys. Nothing looks quite real, but you can walk along just fine. Probably better not to go off alone, though.
Periodically you will encounter that pesky sign of some sort painted on the walls. If you follow the sigils, you will eventually be led to a long staircase that winds down and down until it finally terminates in a large white room lit by a few electric lanterns. There's black paint there, with brushes. Maybe you're feeling creative?
Notes:
1. You’re pretty sick of this stupid sigil, aren’t you? In fact, you consider yourself QUITE the detective and have been searching after its meaning! Or maybe you played Call of Cthulhu a lot in college, you nerd!
Painting the sigil on the wall will cause you to feel disoriented and paranoid until you leave the white room. From that point on you can discover a copy of a play entitled The King In Yellow anywhere in the city you choose. Reading the first act of the play has no effect on you, however if you choose to read beyond the first line of the second act you will spend the rest of the month suffering from periodic hallucinations, often of a tall man in a pallid mask.
2. While there is no compulsion to paint, choosing to work out any of your character’s issues through art therapy can be reflected in your Scrywatch colour if it is significant enough.
Ⅳ. AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER
CW: Optional gun violence, injury.
Art? Theatre? Music? BAH! Boring!
Maybe your tastes are a little more on the dangerous side? Whatever this island may be, it seems to offer plenty of opportunities to get into the seedy underbelly. Maybe you feel the need to steal a car, rob a bank, transport some illegal hooch for a smiling fellow in a yellow fedora. Grab your tommy guns, kids, it's time to outrun the Feds!Naturally, you could wind up injured having all of this fun, but surely you could get some help from your fellow Travelers, either directly or by having them haul you to some sort of underground doctor. These doctors do exist, although it might take a while to get referred to one by a local.
You might also find yourself under arrest and stuck in an old-timey jail cell for a month. What fun!
Notes:
1. As was stated in the first prompt, the regular residents of Carcosa are normal humans. Killing them is possible and may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. Any weapons you find are era-appropriate.
2. You can break out of jail if you’re resourceful enough.
3. The underground doctors aren’t working in a real hospital for a reason. In fact, some of them might be less doctors and more, well. Vets.
Victor Frankenstein | Penny Dreadful | OTA
Honestly, Victor isn't one for alcohol. He can't drink. Not because he doesn't want to. It's just that medically, alcohol doesn't mix very well with his chosen vice. And honestly, he probably shouldn't do this here. But it's not like Victor hasn't done this sort of thing in front of others.
A tourniquet, a needle, and then just the lethargic feelings that come as his world calms, his thoughts finally slow, and he allows this new strange music to sweep over him.
There's a soft, almost sad smile on his face. The problem comes when the police show up. There are shouts and people are scattering. Except for one still rather blissed out scientist. He's got no idea what's going on and even less ability to really function quickly. But he can at least be there to stall. "You should go. I'll keep them busy."
Ⅲa. EXPRESSIONISM YOURSELF
[Victor pulls a small leather bound journal from a pocket. He'd picked it up in his first weeks in this place. Already, pages are being filled with words and drawings and questions to be answered.
He stops before the symbol and makes a quick note. This again. Let's see where you lead.
[It's probably not very smart for him to simply go off on his own to check things out, but that's never stopped him before. He might find answers.
Instead, he finds eyestrain and a headache as well as a pure white room with paint. In a flash of inspiration, he sketches out the symbol.] Nothing ventured.
[No sooner has he done that does he feel it. The same terror he's felt day in and day our since he'd fled from his first creature.
His breath starts picking up and Victor places a hand against the wall to steady himself.]
He's not here. He'd have made himself known already...
Ⅲb. The King In Yellow
The book appears next to Victor's cot at the Temple. The young man gengerly takes the tome carefully. He knows it wasn't there the night before.
He itches to read it. "Who ever owns this, I'll be borrowing it. I should be finished shortly."
It won't take him all that long to finish the entire play. Even if he pauses halfway through to remark "Shakespeare this is not."
Ⅳ. AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER cw: blood
He's been asking around for doctors and others in the profession for a while now. There's a lot of new things he needs to learn. Medicine has changed a lot, even within the next twenty to thirty years. Victor wants to know it all.
Eventually, he finds himself in a rather nostalgic place. It looks like a run down factory, with creaking stairs and leaking ceilings. It's all dirty and ramshackle.
At first, the doctors scoffed at him but soon enough, Victor is elbows deep in removing bullets and setting bones.
He's just finished with a minor surgery. It's not even remotely what he's capable of with the right tools.
He steps into the waiting room. There's a bright splash of crimson against a pale cheek. It splatters across the apron he's wearing but his hands are very clean.
He looks over those still needing to be tended to, far too calm for someone working a back alley emergency room. "Next."
IV.
nothernecromancer.Harrowhark the First, or Harrowhark Nonagesimus, or 'Harrow is fine' depending on who you might ask, found her way there via the rumor mill. She's pretty sure that she wants to see these doctors in action, and she is also pretty sure that some of them might like to see her. It is penance, or retribution, or something against the toll of her birth that she may offer her services here.
"It is quieter here than I expected," she says, not knowing this is also the fastest way to curse an emergency room. No one is screaming yet. Harrow is honestly a little disappointed.
IV
Which is how she ends up in the back alley hospital looking entirely out of place with a buttoned-up white pharmacist's coat and far too clean for the surroundings. Her fingers twitch slightly as she glances over the wounded, tempted to intervene and triage, but she has a purpose here. Somewhere in this charnel house is someone who, directly or otherwise, has access to what she needs. She only has to find them and Victor looks like a start.
"When you're done with the guy with the probable pneumothorax," she points to a guy wheezing and half-collapsed against a wall, "I'd like to discuss a possible exchange of resources."