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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
Luckily, no one thinks to try and stop them - or wants to - and the docks seem deserted, at this hour. Except by the rats, of course. Ser Pounce, on his heels, gives them an interested look as they scurry past, and Anders leads them to the first dark, out of the way door one of those empty-looking warehouses affords them. Unlocked, by some minor miracle. "Come on, in here. We need to find somewhere to keep her comfortable."
no subject
In one lonely corner sits an abandoned box of textiles. "Could you support her for a moment, please?" she asks her friend quietly as she gingerly moves the woman over to him. Her misgivings about draining him with too many tasks, and physical ones at that, haven't gone, but there's a task to be done. A minor contribution she can make.
Upon examination, the contents of the box don't appear to be too foul. While they've undeniably seen better days, they'll make for a more comfortable resting spot than the bare floor. Chloe works quickly, efficiently, to fashion a human sized pile of fabric to cushion and cradle their injured companion.
Relieving Anders from his current duty, she lays the woman down and sits next to her. The android faces the entrance in order to keep watch, just as she said.
no subject
He's still relieved to hand her back off, though, and to see that Chloe's done a decent job of making her up a quick pallet to rest on. Not bad, really, considering. The hospitals around here are likely twice as filthy and even less comfortable, and he's glad again for a moment not to be trying them. This will work; he's sure of it. It has to.
Sitting down next to his patient as soon as Chloe has lain her on the makeshift bed, Anders begins to cast again almost immediately, checking her vital signs and pouring more of that healing spell into her. It won't take him long to run out; she was nearly dead when he found them. But it's all he can do, brow furrowed and lips drawn into the thin, pale sliver of a frown as he works.
no subject
She slowly looks their charge over, coming to focus on her chest. "Her heartbeat is getting stronger," she whispers encouragingly. She's hopeful. The worst could happen still, she knows, but being defeatist helps no one.
"I can monitor her vitals," she tacks on as a sort of explanation. And his, though she doesn't say as much. Normally she wouldn't conduct a scan of that nature without permission. Circumstances seem to call for it, however, as she isn't convinced Anders would tell her if the magic required becomes too much.
no subject
"You can?"
no subject
She gives Anders a little smile and nod. With how much he's poured into the woman so far, she's bound to be on the road to recovery. Right? As if the situation could have changed in a split second, she glances to their charge again to conduct yet another scan. The same. Good.
"And I'll stay right here with you. We'll be safe. What's one man compared to a horde of beach zombies, hmm?" The smile widens just a little.
no subject
But he can feel the weight of his waning mana pressing down on him, already, and he knows he'll be of no use whatsoever, if he wastes the last of it now on worrying, and she does take a turn for the worse.
Reluctantly, he nods and sits back on his heels, shuffling over to give their patient some space before actually relenting enough to sit down properly. Ser Pounce, who has tagged along dutifully at his heels, climbs into his lap at once, as if to help in weighing him down (or perhaps simply in selfish self-interest, because he's more comfortable than the floor). Anders has no designs on sleeping, now, but simple meditation should suffice (will have to).
His cheek twitches, an odd half-smile flashing across his face at her question. "One mage. And one android."
no subject
Quiet for a time to avoid disturbing him, she's continually on alert for any shift in their environment, the condition of the woman and Anders himself. Her LED blinks a quick-paced yellow as processing power is put to work in not letting any detail escape her attention.
It's about the most useful thing she can do. As she thinks on it more, she identifies the feeling as frustration.
"Anders...?" she interrupts quietly. "Are you able to use the energy of another to replenish your own?" If so, she imagines the offer is obvious. Assuming, of course, the artificiality of her energy would allow it to be suitable.
no subject
"No." The word is bitten off sharply, almost echoing in the quiet. The smell of drying blood strikes him distinctly, unnoticed thus far thanks to his years of practice with healing and tending to far more gruesome wounds, and sours his tone further. "I'd never stoop to something so foul."
no subject
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean... I'll let you rest." Saying she was only trying to help is utterly redundant, and she isn't looking to make him feel any worse. Returning to her quiet monitoring, she strokes the woman's hair. Her breathing appears to be less laboured. Doing well, all things considered.
no subject
"It's not your fault. If you've never seen the harm that blood magic can do, you can't understand why it's so dangerous."
no subject
Scooting closer, she takes one of his hands to just hold it. A sign all is forgiven, on her part (not that Anders actually needs any forgiveness from her), and to offer some simple contact after all this very literal mess.
no subject
But - Chloe isn't one of those people, and she's certainly not advocating for something so horrid. There's nothing to forgive, and he takes her hand easily, clinging tightly for a moment. Despite the blood on it.
"...We should find a way to get you cleaned up."