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Got the morbs.
✖ VICTORIA'S SECRET
Ⅰ. ARRIVAL & THE TEMPLE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The ferry pulls into port in the evening, when shadows are long and gas lamps burn through a veil of mist. Dozens of other ships are docked as well, with men unloading crates and boxes from their holds. Beyond the wet wood and lapping sound of the ocean, a city looms like a charcoal smudge on a purple sky. The air is smoggy and thick, and the river that flows from the sea into the city smells foul. Walk the cobbled streets and you will find that the city is crowded and filthy, but full of merchants, pubs, and theatres. Vast wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.
In the center of the sprawling city is a temple with towering gothic spires and huge stained glass windows depicting all manner of beings that might be gods or angels or monsters. You could look for hours and still be finding new figures plucked straight from books of myth and religion. Inside, the main chamber has a grand vaulted ceiling, and dozens of pews line the aisle up to the altar, which is oddly anticlimactic compared to the lavish surroundings: just a plain stone table with a lit oil lamp in the centre. Two hallways branch off on either side of the room: one leads to private baths and a communal kitchen, the other to monastic style chambers with thin beds. Not the most comfortable place to stay, but it’ll do in a pinch!
Alternatively you can venture into the city and find yourself some other lodging - every Traveler has been supplied with some pocket money. Just be careful that it isn’t stolen by some street urchin. Travelers can also find an era-appropriate outfit that will fit them perfectly laid in the first sleeping chamber they visit.
Ⅱ. SEANCE
CW: grief, past trauma.
Perhaps you overhear talk of it at a pub, or maybe you’re handed a small card as you push your way through the crowded city streets. Maybe you just wander in by accident. However it happens, you find yourself being ushered into the parlour of one Miss Mary Price: Spiritualist.
You and several other people are instructed to sit at a round table in a very dark and musty room. The walls are covered in thick black curtains, and maybe you’re the type to suspect that there’s someone hiding behind them somewhere. Once everyone is seated, Mary Price herself enters the room. The lights are all extinguished save for a single candle.
Mary calls out to the spirits. They communicate through a series of knocks, or the movement of a Ouija board. Someone at the table is put in contact with a deceased aunt who reveals the location of a family heirloom. Someone else is able to say goodbye to a son.
Mary Price looks at you with eyes so dark they look black, and asks, “What haunts you?”
Maybe you answer honestly. Maybe you don’t answer at all, but that doesn’t matter because the spirit tapping around the room is more than happy to narc on you and tell the whole room what or who it is that you cannot forget.
You can deny it all you like, but the spirits don’t have a reason to lie. And if you try to mess up the seance, you will spend a month being hounded by an angry poltergeist.
Ⅲ. THE RIPPER
CW: murder, gore, violence.
You’re lost at night. Maybe you were in the pub too late, or maybe you were searching for more illicit fun - weren’t there opium dens around this time? - or maybe you just weren’t keeping an eye on the time. However it happened, you’re on the streets in the dark.
It’s very foggy; you can barely see a foot in front of you. The streetlamps look like dimly burning ghosts and when the odd person passes you they are felt more than seen, just a darker shadow in a world of shifting shades.
Very suddenly you hear a scream - short, and swallowed up quickly by the fog. Still, it’s enough to get you to turn and hurry down a narrow alleyway.
Sprawled on the ground amid a lake of blood is a body. It’s immediately apparent that this person is probably beyond help - their throat has been slashed ear to ear. Your appearance was not expected, however, and you can see that you’ve startled the killer: they’re running down the alley in the opposite direction.
You have a few choices: you can chase the killer and attempt to catch them, you can try to help the victim, you can get the authorities, or you can just walk away.
What will you do?
Ⅳ. RESURRECTION MEN
CW: dead bodies, grave robbing.
You’re not entirely clear on how you agreed to this. Maybe it was a barroom bet gone wrong. Maybe you’re broke enough that you need money fast. Or maybe you want to help some wannabe medical students. However it happened, you’re in the cemetery.
And you’ve got a shovel.
Time to rob some graves! You’ve convinced yourself somehow that this isn’t morally reprehensible, and so you and your partner are just going to get down to business! What corpse should you unearth? You feel like a kid in a candy store!
The problem comes once you’ve unearthed the body because it seems terribly familiar. Which is… creepy. Creepier still when it starts talking.
Maybe it’s a family member, or an old friend. Maybe an ex partner. Whoever it is, they immediately start telling your fellow grave robber about some incident from your past that you just. Can’t. Let. Go. Of. And even if you whack it with a shovel it won’t stop. Bad corpse! BAD Corpse!
Which of course is exactly what you have to try and do if you want this chatty Cathy of a corpse to shut the hell up.
Sometimes I can still hear his voice...
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The ferry pulls into port in the evening, when shadows are long and gas lamps burn through a veil of mist. Dozens of other ships are docked as well, with men unloading crates and boxes from their holds. Beyond the wet wood and lapping sound of the ocean, a city looms like a charcoal smudge on a purple sky. The air is smoggy and thick, and the river that flows from the sea into the city smells foul. Walk the cobbled streets and you will find that the city is crowded and filthy, but full of merchants, pubs, and theatres. Vast wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.
In the center of the sprawling city is a temple with towering gothic spires and huge stained glass windows depicting all manner of beings that might be gods or angels or monsters. You could look for hours and still be finding new figures plucked straight from books of myth and religion. Inside, the main chamber has a grand vaulted ceiling, and dozens of pews line the aisle up to the altar, which is oddly anticlimactic compared to the lavish surroundings: just a plain stone table with a lit oil lamp in the centre. Two hallways branch off on either side of the room: one leads to private baths and a communal kitchen, the other to monastic style chambers with thin beds. Not the most comfortable place to stay, but it’ll do in a pinch!Alternatively you can venture into the city and find yourself some other lodging - every Traveler has been supplied with some pocket money. Just be careful that it isn’t stolen by some street urchin. Travelers can also find an era-appropriate outfit that will fit them perfectly laid in the first sleeping chamber they visit.
Notes:
1. Unless this is your character’s first island, the High Temple and anything you may have stored there is off-limits this month.
2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.
3. The city greatly resembles Victorian London, and the technology and general way of life is all of that era. Feel free to explore the city! These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.
4. Most food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities. Most. Some of it’s going to be pretty gross or cooked improperly, so be careful.
5. The people in the city are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.
6. Have fun!
Ⅱ. SEANCE
CW: grief, past trauma.
Perhaps you overhear talk of it at a pub, or maybe you’re handed a small card as you push your way through the crowded city streets. Maybe you just wander in by accident. However it happens, you find yourself being ushered into the parlour of one Miss Mary Price: Spiritualist.
You and several other people are instructed to sit at a round table in a very dark and musty room. The walls are covered in thick black curtains, and maybe you’re the type to suspect that there’s someone hiding behind them somewhere. Once everyone is seated, Mary Price herself enters the room. The lights are all extinguished save for a single candle.Mary calls out to the spirits. They communicate through a series of knocks, or the movement of a Ouija board. Someone at the table is put in contact with a deceased aunt who reveals the location of a family heirloom. Someone else is able to say goodbye to a son.
Mary Price looks at you with eyes so dark they look black, and asks, “What haunts you?”
Maybe you answer honestly. Maybe you don’t answer at all, but that doesn’t matter because the spirit tapping around the room is more than happy to narc on you and tell the whole room what or who it is that you cannot forget.
You can deny it all you like, but the spirits don’t have a reason to lie. And if you try to mess up the seance, you will spend a month being hounded by an angry poltergeist.
Notes:
1. The spirit can communicate through knocks, the Ouija, actually vocalising through the medium, or via ectoplasm.
2. What haunts your character does not have to be the memory of a dead person. It can be an event - maybe they’ve never gotten over losing that science fair in grade three. It is the feeling of being haunted that is important.
3. If you choose to trash the seance, the spirit will follow you for the rest of the month. It can range from annoying to actually dangerous.
Ⅲ. THE RIPPER
CW: murder, gore, violence.
You’re lost at night. Maybe you were in the pub too late, or maybe you were searching for more illicit fun - weren’t there opium dens around this time? - or maybe you just weren’t keeping an eye on the time. However it happened, you’re on the streets in the dark.
It’s very foggy; you can barely see a foot in front of you. The streetlamps look like dimly burning ghosts and when the odd person passes you they are felt more than seen, just a darker shadow in a world of shifting shades.
Very suddenly you hear a scream - short, and swallowed up quickly by the fog. Still, it’s enough to get you to turn and hurry down a narrow alleyway.
Sprawled on the ground amid a lake of blood is a body. It’s immediately apparent that this person is probably beyond help - their throat has been slashed ear to ear. Your appearance was not expected, however, and you can see that you’ve startled the killer: they’re running down the alley in the opposite direction.You have a few choices: you can chase the killer and attempt to catch them, you can try to help the victim, you can get the authorities, or you can just walk away.
What will you do?
Notes:
1. The inspiration for this prompt is Jack the Ripper but you do not have to use that case as a basis for your killer.
2. You can get as involved with this as you would like. You can have your character catch the killer in a chase, or form your very own detective squad and hunt them down that way.
3. Naturally, walking away from a potential serial killer might not be great for your Scrywatch grading!
Ⅳ. RESURRECTION MEN
CW: dead bodies, grave robbing.
You’re not entirely clear on how you agreed to this. Maybe it was a barroom bet gone wrong. Maybe you’re broke enough that you need money fast. Or maybe you want to help some wannabe medical students. However it happened, you’re in the cemetery.
And you’ve got a shovel.
Time to rob some graves! You’ve convinced yourself somehow that this isn’t morally reprehensible, and so you and your partner are just going to get down to business! What corpse should you unearth? You feel like a kid in a candy store! The problem comes once you’ve unearthed the body because it seems terribly familiar. Which is… creepy. Creepier still when it starts talking.
Maybe it’s a family member, or an old friend. Maybe an ex partner. Whoever it is, they immediately start telling your fellow grave robber about some incident from your past that you just. Can’t. Let. Go. Of. And even if you whack it with a shovel it won’t stop. Bad corpse! BAD Corpse!
Which of course is exactly what you have to try and do if you want this chatty Cathy of a corpse to shut the hell up.
Notes:
1. If you do NOT let go of this past event, the corpse will follow you the rest of the night singing Henry the Eighth I am, I am.
no subject
"Raymonde Belmonde," the medium supplies.
"Ouais." He looks at Logan. "How can she know this?"
"The guilt, Jean-Paul. After all of these years, you still hold it in your heart."
no subject
"Yer askin me?" he shrugs. "I don't know the first thing about what makes this place tick and frankly I've given up tryin'." His eyes narrow at the medium again. "We all got guilt, lady. You might try bein' more specific if you're lookin for answers from him," he grumbles in Jean-Paul's defence. He really doesn't know how to protect people from things he can't stab.
no subject
"For my death. He blames himself for not stopping it."
Jean-Paul sighs. "Of COURSE I do. Find me someone who works in spandex who doesn't carry that kind of guilt."
no subject
"Your death?" he looks confused at their hostess a moment before realization strikes him and he just feels foolish and old. "Oh. Right. You're him. He's you. Or something... Whatever. I get it." Fucking magic.
"Man's got a point, lady. Can't threaten us with a good time." He points at Jean-Paul as if to validate that remark with their nosy host. "I dunno what this bird expects you t'do about it, Jonny. You want me try'n shut her up? Say the word I'll give her six good reasons."
no subject
Jean-Paul actually snorts, shocked into something close to a laugh. "Logan," he says, and shakes his head. It helps, though, to remind him that this place thrives on mind games.
"You're going to stab a woman for channeling my guilty conscience and/or the ghost of my old guardian? Logan, you're too sweet." He sighs.
"When you're a speedster, not being fast enough to prevent something tends to sick with you. I suppose you have similar feelings."
no subject
"How'd it happen?" he asks, his brow furrowing like he can't imagine a situation in which Jean-Paul wouldn't be fast enough either.
no subject
no subject
"Jonny," he grumbles softly. "How old were you even?"
no subject
no subject
He nudges Jean-Paul with his elbow. "I know you don't need me, or this witch, to tell yuh you ain't to blame. I know 'cause you wouldn't let any of those kids hold themselves responsible for a thing like that either."
no subject
He sighs. "No, but... Ugh. Again: I hate it when you're correct. It's just so hard to let go of. You know that."
no subject
"Course I know," he says. His heavy hand squeezing Jean-Paul's shoulder. "There's no epiphany for that. But you know what I find helps? Knowin' that somewhere out there, there's a school full a snot-tosed, smartassed teenagers dyin' to call you a hypocrite for not takin' your own medicine."
no subject
Across from them the medium sighs and sags forward, head lowering until her chin is practically resting on her breastbone. Jean-Paul leans in a little, curious, jerking back when the medium lifts her head with a gasp.
"The spirit is gone," she declares.
"Good," Jean-Paul says simply.
no subject
When she moves he watches her intently until the tension in the room relaxes and he can too.
"Hey, let's get outta this slumber party. I'll fix you up with another sorta spirit," he says nudging Jean-Paul with his elbow.
no subject
He stands, nodding. "Ouais," he agrees. "Thank you EVER so," he says sarcastically to the medium. "Now come on. Before I start downing 'medicinal' cocaine and party like I'm twenty again in an effort to forget all of this bullshit."
no subject
"There's a place called the Ten Bells pub. Lemme buy you a drink and you can tell me where you been squirrelled away in this town?"
no subject
"Deal. You'll have to tell me what you've been up to. I know it's trouble."
no subject
"Course it's trouble," he agrees easily.
The Ten Bells is no unremarkable pub. A standard brasserie on the ground level of a four-story Georgian building in Spitalfields. A rough neighbourhood in London's east end. The foot traffic it pulls in from blue collar workers keeps it well worn. No surprise Logan's hanging out here.
Even if he looks like he's keeping a low profile.
He passes some coin to one of the barmaids who delivers a few pints shortly.
"Been keepin' to the temple or what?" he asks.
no subject
Jean-Paul stands out even if his clothes aren't as fancy as he would like; he holds himself like he's superior to everyone at all times.
"Non, I've been out and about. I try to keep an eye on David. He's terribly high strung. And Carter. ...gross, I sound paternal."
no subject
When the crowd calms a little in here he passes Jean-Paul a folded piece of paper. Thick, sturdy stock that's been run through a printer.
"So speakin' of trouble...."
Apart from being a little warn at the creases it unfurls to reveal a wanted poster with a likeness of his face on it. An etching turned into a printers plate and laid out along side the words; WANTED DOCK WORKER SUSPECT TO WHITECHAPEL MURDERS.
no subject
"God your hair is stupid," he says. Then he shakes his head. "They think you're Jack the Ripper? Chrisse. We should keep you out of view."
no subject
"Yep. Well. Some folks do. S'why I'm here actually. Whitechapel. This bar. He hangs out here. The real ripper."
and a million years later from me XD
His expression sobers. "You want to catch him, then."
lol no worries I've been on the road for days.
He offers a noncommittal shrug. Of course he does. "Seems like the fastest way to clear my name."
no subject
He stretches. "Naturally, you may have my assistance. You're welcome."