![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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
The woman's throat is very cleanly cut, though he has to take into account the fact that Chloe tried to save her when he's considering blood spatter evidence. It's smattered all over the front of her dress and the ground around her. Putting on some leather gloves from his pocket, Malcolm gently turns the victim's hands over, looking for any evidence that might have gotten caught in her nails.
When Chloe returns from speaking with the locals, he glances up at her. "Learn anything interesting?"
no subject
"Well, it sounds like there have been a few knifings in this neighborhood lately, a couple of deaths, but it's tough to separate hearsay from actual reports. Everyone seems to agree, though, that there's a man with a knife, and he targets sex workers."
no subject
He points to the cut on her neck with a gloved hand. "It's a very clean cut, all the way across. It stands to reason that the killer knew what he was doing. He knew this would be a mortal wound." It's not self-defense, that's for sure.
Malcolm stands up again. "I'd like to see if we can identify her and find some next of kin. Maybe talk to some of the other stabbing victims?" If they're still alive.
no subject
"It could be. It could also be a copycat of some sort, or any number of other things."
She pulls out a scrap of paper, on which she's already written a few names.
"These are supposedly recent victims of knife attacks in this neighborhood. These two are dead - this one is still alive, at least, according to the person who told me about her."
It could all be hearsay, but that's all they have to go on right now.
no subject
The other stabbings could be related, or they could be completely different situations. A lovers' quarrel. Gang activity. Robberies.
"Let's see if we can find her after we finish here," Malcolm says. "You don't suppose that the police are going to let us look at any of their records?"
no subject
It’d be easier with Lucifer around - he can charm his way into anything. But he’s not, and wishing he was here won’t help their current situation.
no subject
He didn't think they'd be able to get a look at the files. Plus, he doubts they'll believe that Chloe is a cop. Murder is considered too scandalous for a woman's delicate constitution.
"We'll have to start from scratch then and try to interview all of the victims," he says. "Let's make a sweep for evidence and then see if we can track down the living stabbing victim."
no subject
She's already doing a visual sweep - has been for the past couple of minutes as they talk - it's an old habit, but it's also really dark and dingy in this alley and hard to see anything, especially at night.
"I really wish I had a pair of jeans and a flashlight right now," she says with a heavy sigh.
no subject
"Jeans I can't help you with," he replies. The pair of jeans that he bought at the Mall probably wouldn't fit her right. "The flashlight though..."
Malcolm wanders off until he finds a house with a lit lantern out front. He carefully eases it off of the peg that it's hanging from. Hopefully the home owners won't miss it for about fifteen minutes.
"We're going to have to go really old school," he tells Chloe when he returns. Malcolm crouches slightly and brings the lantern down near the ground so that they can get a better look at the cobblestones in the alley.
"What's that?" he asks, pointing with his free hand to an object in the street about three yards ahead of them.
no subject
"It's a chain," she says, curious. "Like a jewelry chain, or a watch chain. Looks like gold."
She holds it up so Malcolm can get a look at it, too.
no subject
"I wonder if our killer's watch chain got broken." He scans the lantern over the ground again, in case there's a pocket watch laying in the alley.
no subject
"Malcolm! There!" She points. Another glint.
no subject
A pocket watch.
Malcolm reaches into his coat with his free hand and pulls out a handkerchief. It's not an item that he usually carries, but it came standard with this type of outfit. He carefully picks up the small golden circle with the handkerchief and turns it over.
"I wonder if there's an inscription or anything..."
no subject
no subject
"Can you hold this for a second?" Malcolm asks, handing Chloe the lantern. He needs both hands to open the watch. With a corner of the handkerchief, he pries it open.
Holding the watch up to the lantern light, he squints at the letters that are etched in cursive on the inside.
"N... W... S...?"
no subject
"Someone's initials?" she asks. A girl can hope, right? Though, of course, they could stand for any number of things.
no subject
After another sweep of the crime scene area, the two of them are satisfied that they haven't missed any clues. Malcolm will probably return again when day breaks, but for now, they're finished here.
"Do you want to try to track down some witnesses?" he asks. It's getting late, and even though Malcolm doesn't sleep, Chloe might. Especially after what she witnessed tonight.
no subject
"Time's up," she says wryly.
no subject
Malcolm offers Chloe his arm. Just a gentleman escorting a lady in the street at a very early hour. Don't mind the blood on the front of her dress. Fortunately, the sight of blood probably isn't as uncommon in a time and place like this.
As they're walking away, Malcolm leans his head closer to hers. "You'd probably like to get changed anyway." His voice lowers. "Are you okay?"
She hadn't seemed entirely okay after the murder had happened, but who would be after having a woman die in their arms?
no subject
"I will be," she says after a moment, letting a breath out in a slight woosh. "I just. Back home, before I came here - my ex-husband was killed in the line of duty. I'm the one who found him. I held him, while he bled out, and I couldn't... help him."
no subject
What Chloe says causes him to stop in his tracks though. He was expecting that she had experienced something similar, but for it to be her ex-husband makes it so much more personal. "I'm sorry," Malcolm says, looking at Chloe before turning his gaze to his feet. "That's... horrible."
no subject
She shivers a little, though the night isn't particularly cold.
no subject
They walk in silence for a while, Malcolm not wanting to babble on just for the sake of making noise. After an examination of the evidence, they'll be able to go out and question the witnesses.
Chloe should try to get some rest too. Malcolm knows that he won't, now that he has a case to work.