Reaction Circa Honor Unstained. 2698 Words.
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GHOST STORIES: BLATANT WISH FULFILLMENT: RIHAKU PLEASE DO A HORROR QUEST
2355 words
I tried reading some of My House of Horrors, and that's definitely not a bad idea. For those who haven't checked it out, it's like Haunted House Ownership meets The Gamer meets Chronicles of Darkness style horror adventures. I've got an idea of my own though. If Rihaku's interests somehow returned to fanfiction instead of original work, what if he did something set in the Craft Sequence universe by Max Gladstone?
It's Magitek fantasy, the big leaguers who aren't gods or their close servants are immortal magical Necromancer Lawyers called craftspeople, and the Craft's analogue to court bears an uncanny resemblance to a cage match. The Craft is what enabled mortals to challenge the gods, they were sufficiently successful in the war that ensued after the discovery of the craft that the world is now divided between Gods and Deathless Kings/Liches who are essentially the apex of a Craftsperson's magical evolution and have enough power to call Gods peers.
The Craft can't do everything though. Things like giving, charity, and altruism are alien concepts to the Craft. Gods are still needed. Inability to pay your student loans for a graduate of the Hidden Schools(they got set up to float in the sky to hide during the God Wars and you need some Craft knowledge to get a bridge to them to learn more and become a Craftsperson properly) can get you turned into a mindless debt zombie. Money is literally metaphysical power because people use chunks of soulstuff as currency. There's also funky nightmare stuff, dream communication, etc. It's a giant capitalism metaphor where resurrection of a dead god can be analogous to corporate bankruptcy proceedings.
AN: Rihaku-666 subsists off a diet of nerd terror-sweat and street-level tragedies with bad endings as mortals who can't powerlevel must outwit, scheme, and run from things that easily kill them.
The Rihaku of this reality causes his fair share nerd terror sweat too, given what is going on right now as we're trying to talk our way out of fighting with Vanreir Amarlt of the transcendent thrust. I agree he could probably pull off horror.
"There is no escape from death. No escape in death. You, of all people, should know."
Ouch. The question is what the precise ouch is. The Underworld from Geist the Sin Eaters 2nd Edition is not a pleasant place, ghosts that run out of essence get eaten by the walls.
Shenzhang City. Caught between the ancient and the modern, the fastest growing economic centre of the North.
So a city in Northern China. Fitting given what prompted this alternate universe quest.
Its people grow unwieldy with wealth, its resources tapped, skyscrapers emerging like the teeth of maturity from the rice fields, trumpeting the coming of modernity. And like teeth they displace their predecessors, deride them as the mere interstitial stage of civilisation, an embarrassment.
And like a predator's maw, the teeth of this city devour the weak and the unwary. But of course this is a horror setting, some of the things they deride as embarrassments will turn out to be entirely sensible practices that existed for good reason.
In this new world, there is no room for farmers or priests, necessity transmuted to sufferance.
Necessity transmuted to sufferance? Interesting turn of phrase. Brings to mind the urban vs rural pissing contests you'd find if you wandered into the right SB thread. The priests is the really unfortunate part though given again, this is a horror setting though modernity refuses to admit it. The old folklore has a point in this setting, the priests are genuinely necessary.
The face of success has changed: cleaner teeth, whiter skin, colder eyes, taller, slimmer, rich. The concrete fingers of the free market worm through and over the hills and valleys, and the clever ride with it, daring to dream. A more expensive meal, a prettier wife, a new brotherhood, an unending world of leashes awaiting dogs.
Money will not buy happiness for the person with no concept of what they want. Moloch's fingers are supposedly ten armies and it often gets analogized to capitalism. They're riding with Moloch and it won't help them in the end either. "From Modernity you will find no quarter?" They're as miserable as everyone else, it's like... I don't know Geist 2e. That's a setting where Buddhism is essentially 95 percent, if not completely correct. You can't have attachments or you become a ghost and risk getting eaten by the walls of the Underworld. They're only setting themselves up for more misery I guess?
But the higher the towers climb, the longer a shadow they cast. Evil lurks the streets as it once lurked forest and dale, but it was never the forest that was evil.
No that was humans obviously. Nature is for better or worse, amoral. Outside of morality.
Missing persons cases rise by the hundreds. The streets ring with sirens, violent crimes units working day and night. Behind every door is cruelty. Behind every eye is wickedness. Behind every man is his future thief, conman, killer. And behind every death is a life truncated, potential cut loose to snarl and twist, becoming a monster man has forgotten.
You're definitely getting the Chronicles of Darkness as a mortal style atmosphere across here.
The city rolls on, a behemoth ripping free of its creators and rolling them under tread, blood for the gears. From modernity you will find no quarter; no matter how bright the light, you will find the shadows just as deep.
Moloch is strong here. It has devoured the world whole and the horror elements mean it's only going to get worse.
One day, you will be consumed. You will join the ranks of those you bled so hard to quell. But you will not go quietly.
*Lights a candle for the Vigil*
Make no mistake. Yours is a black path through the night. But who was the walker?
[ ] The Enthusiast - Young, naive, optimistic. A diligent and filial son, excelling in every objective you chose to pursue. Your sole vice: an embarrassing interest in foreign horror films. Your parents are labourers, your family poorly educated; you are the first of your cousins to graduate with a dual college degree. Your move to Shenzhang was predicated on the rising tech industry, but openings are scarce or denied to the entry-level. While working odd jobs to pay rent, you notice a persistent stain in your bathroom wall...
*Young and fit, with a strong heart. Can take a shock or two.
*You are book-smart! You are not street-smart.
*You possess a dual degree in STEM fields achieved overseas on scholarship. Though reality has proven less practical than previously assumed, technology yields to your expert hand.
*Your overseas degree was mostly so you could watch American films. Nevertheless, you are fluent in English and have a patchy cross-section of Western cinema. You aren't a banana, but you're banana-adjacent. A plantain, perhaps.
*You have an uncanny instinct for navigating dangerous situations. It's not something you've developed, but that may change.
*Your love of horror has given you a near-encyclopaedic grasp of horror tropes and conventions. Aside from that, you're also well-versed in navigating net forums and sifting information from trash, a skill that comes in handy when you need to research something obscure.
*Regrettably, the number of years you've been single equal your age. You are Unsullied. Take care, for a virgin's flesh is a delicacy in some circles...
*You don't have a car! Opportunities are limited based on transportation. Your Lair is a Communal Apartment.
*Special Skill: I Played College Ball: Once per mission, you may sprint five hundred metres across any terrain.
*Playthrough leans more on mystery than horror. Depth of route before retirement: 10%--40%.
So this route, I guess we're a Horatio Alger who got stymied, interrupted, etc and need the money. The route is mystery more than Horror so we're more likely to deal with mundane killers than anything actually supernatural. We're a Chen Ge figure, or an analogue to somebody who posts on boards like this one. Given the depth of the route before we can get out I guess we don't have much incentive to go deep. We retire once we have a job we actually like. I don't think I'm remembering this correctly but for whatever reason the bathroom wall stain is giving me echoes of Silent Hill 4.
We've got a middle of the road constitution. Unless we're willing to get cursed we've got one spiritual gift at Beginner strength. I'm not sure how to develop them but given we're more likely to deal with mystery scenarios than supernatural horror scenarios on this route, we could take the Stony Liver, maybe get free meals out of Restaraunt Spicy Food Challenges if they have those, then when we take it up a notch to Novice and get protection against Serial Killers trying to poison/drug us and save money on winter clothing.
That's kind of petty though. Our big strength on this route is internet knowledge/genre savvyness. We could take Thief's Ear to leverage this fully, we can speak ghost if we run into any and have the skills to research what we learn from them. We could also take Blood Eye for the intention reading abilities and aura perception to compensate for our lack of street smarts, and get better ability to function in the dark too.
If I had to take a curse/artifact with this character, it would be the Wishing Pen or the Corpse Ink. Wishing Pen for Thief's Ear to improve our ability to ask it questions, Corpse Ink if we took Blood Eye as a Specter defense tool so we can target properly. As for our curse, I'd take Cowardly Tenor or Impurity of Heart. Cowardly Tenor synergizes with our sprinting ability. If I was taking a second spiritual gift instead of an artifact it would be Stony Liver to go with Blood Eye or Thief's Ear.
[ ] The Entertainer - Look, you went somewhere you shouldn't have. The things you saw in there, what happened to your crew, it doesn't bear thinking about. If only your damn camera hadn't been rolling. Now you're the most popular livestream channel on the net, and your producers are leaning on you to make more just like it: original, riveting, inimitable. Nobody said it was easy at the top, but your crew (whatever's left of them) are happy to push you off...
*Nearing the dessert days of your youth. You're starting to think of things like blood pressure and cholesterol.
*You're sharp as a tack! Fastest joke in the East, they call you.
*You used to have quite the temper, and your fists still remember how to talk for you.
*Your sense of humour helps settle the nerves.
*You've always had a sixth sense for when things felt wrong.
*Look, you've been around the block a few times. Money may not buy love, but it can buy its spitting image. You are Sinful.
*You're a grown adult with your own transport and housing! Increased latitude and freedom. Your Lair is a Townhouse.
*You're not poor!
*Special Skill: It's Just FX: Once per mission, you may concoct an elegant deception to simultaneously calm others while directing them to your instruction.
*Depth of route before retirement: 30%--90%.
This is a route where we actually have reason to stay in the game. We don't have any second career option to pivot into for retirement like we do with the Enthusiast and are presumably too old for things like reskilling. We need to find another source of wealth or get brutally killed trying.
We've got excellent social skills, fistfighting ability, resources, and a sixth sense. What we don't have though is spiritual purity for whatever precisely that entails in the setting. This guy's route gives me echoes of the host of Mysterious Mysteries on Invader Zim after the ending of that episode only the world is extremely dangerous instead of the stupid inherent to the Zimverse.
We shouldn't be banking on our constitution without something to boost it. We've got one spiritual gift at beginner strength and it's harder to decide in this person's circumstances. I guess Blood Eye is a good option so we can find interesting things to stream about? If we took a curse to get a second Spiritual Gift I'd go with Thief's Ear so that we might one day turn our social skills against the specters. If we took an artifact to go with the curse I'd take the Moon Mirror. With resources and a production crew we could afford the blood needed to use the mirror without risking our own health.
[ ] The Exorcist - Grandfather's appeal to the Ministry of Culture failed, and the highway demolitions proceeded as planned. When the construction workers were found hooked from the seal-pillars, some very insistent questions began to be asked. Now you've slowed down, having shaken the trail, but in a foreign city with no papers to your name. But one thing's the same: wherever the sun shines will cast a shadow, and the shadows here are deeper than you think...
*Extremely fit. Excellent cardiovascular health.
*Skilled in martial arts.
*A masterful calligrapher.
*Experienced in forestcraft.
*You are vegetarian.
*You are an adept reader of people in the individual and group, an innate talent honed through occupational training. Though you lack official accreditation, your knowledge and grasp of the human mind rival clinical psychologists produced by prestigious universities renowned for such.
*Your dialect marks you as a foreigner. Your rustic clothing and attitudes are unfashionable. You were raised in a rural village, and unfamiliar with technology later than the horseless omnibus. You are the opposite of cool.
*You have no official documents of identity, and very little money for a city life. You're technically a fugitive, but if you keep your head down it's unlikely anybody will draw connections.
*You have lived the life of an ascetic; the stain of hypocrisy does not mar your soul. You are Pristine, maintaining your prenatal innocence.
*You are trained in locating passages to the Blood World, and educated on the nature of its denizens. You are a master of rituals.
*The Blood World is sick here. Finding treasures to leverage will be dangerous.
*In your escape, you seized an Artifact from the family record room.
*You begin with no Lair.
*Special Skill: Ancestor's Binding: Once per mission, you may invoke the name of the Patriarch, borrowing his wisdom in the fields of Swordsmanship, Courage, Exorcism Science, and Blood World Lore. If your spiritual condition is Pristine, you may use this binding to compel a Specter into slumber. This invocation persists until the hour of dawn.
*Depth of route before retirement: 100%--170%.
This is the route where we get to see just how deep the rabbit hole of this world really goes. We're significantly more badass, have clinical psychologist level understanding of people, we're in good health, we have excellent spiritual purity, we know the Blood World exists and how to get in without needing Blood Eye. That place sounds exceptionally dangerous, whatever precisely it's like. The problems though are big to compensate for our badassery. We are a walking anachronism. Horseless Omnibus? I digged around in Wikipedia and those are basically late 1800s early 1900s carriages. We are poor and homeless, don't officially exist, and have to keep our head down lest we attract government attention. The problems we get to go with actually having some power to deal with the supernatural horrors are serious doozies that open us up to a lot of mundane horror. Our Forestcraft skills won't help us much in a city.
For the starting spiritual gift I'd take Stony Liver because we're homeless and need to be able to eat anything we can get and forage around in the Blood World. Combined with the environmental protections like Frostbite resistance it'll make it much easier for us to live as a homeless person. If I was going for something with more esoteric/supernatural relevance I would take the Thief's Ear to read Spectral Characters and mimic voices to fool unperceptive spirits, or Pale Fingers for the Psychometry powers. I would take the Corpse Ink for our starting artifact to reveal/harm ghosts since we aren't taking Blood Eye with this build presumably. Also because our special skill is something that can only be used once per mission.
For my curse preference if we took a Curse of Karma, I'd take... I don't know this one is a doozy so all I can say is anything but Impurity of Heart. For a second spiritual gift to go with the curse assuming we take Stony Liver as our first gift, I'd take Thief's Ear, and if I was taking a second Artifact I'd take the Golden Compass so we can pull a Harry Dresden for people occasionally by tracking down missing people.
Select one of the following Spiritual Gifts. For the Enthusiast and Entertainer, skill in the Gift will be at Beginner level; the Exorcist will be trained to employ his Gift at Journeyman level.
[ ] Blood Eye - By design or circumstance, your eye is damaged. The resulting blood contaminating the vitreous humor does not impair vision, but instead renders its owner able to perceive the Blood World. In the daylight, you can observe the presence of Specters and the true intentions of others. At night, your vision is unimpaired by total darkness or blinding light in succession, and you fully perceive Specters.
Beginner - See traces in daylight, perfect night vision, perceive Specters.
Novice - Perfect vision, detect passages into the Blood World <1 hour old, perceive the aura of humans.
Journeyman - Directly perceive the Blood World from the mortal world. See distant objects with negligible loss of detail.
This one seems most useful for the Entertainer, and is kind of weird zig-zag wildcard for the Exorcist. The Exorcist explicitly knows that the Blood World is sick so being able to see it from the mundane world is useful to investigate. However, they know how to get into the Blood World, regardless of if they take the eye. I'm not sure that "See the true intentions of others" thing got quantified here though. Which skill level is that unlocked at? Is it part of "perceive the aura of humans"? I'm not sure how to parse "unimpaired by total darkness or blinding light in succession" unfortunately.
[ ] Stony Liver - A calcification is embedded in your hepatobiliary system, emanating vigorous energies. An unnatural fortitude suffuses you. Your digestion of dangerous foods is enhanced.
Beginner - Eat spicy food up to 100,000 Scoville Heat Units without impairment. Experience no indigestion from poor diet.
Novice - Withstand freezing temperatures without frostbite. Moderate resistance to pain. Cannot be poisoned by mundane toxins.
Journeyman - Consume Blood World flesh without issue. Survive without food or water for a week.
This one is the Exorcist's best friend and has some potential value for the Enthusiast. For those curious what we can tolerate at 100,000 Scoville Heat Units, what that actually means is that we can tolerate low intensity Habanero chili, and high intensity cases of stuff like Malagueta pepper.
[ ] Thief's Ear - Once in your youth, you were stung on the ear by a blue-winged wasp. Though it eventually healed, there remains a small discoloration, though lately it has spread. Like a bat, you can navigate without eyes, relying purely on the sounds of the wind.
Beginner - Sharper hearing, ability to comprehend the Spectral Tongue.
Novice - Echolocation, immunity to deafness.
Journeyman - Voice mimicry, ability to read Spectral Characters. Yes, that's right, read with your ears.
Considering two of the options give us improved ability to navigate in the dark, it's fairly obvious this is going to be relevant. The question is superhuman hearing or vision? With the Exorcist or Entertainer this could be good for a Specter befriending route I suppose. Also voice mimicry seems like something that can be overwhelmingly, ludicrously powerful with the right mindset. The Entertainer may be able to get that mindset, with lower odds for the Exorcist and the Enthusiast in last place.
[ ] Black Marrow - Instead of red, your blood is black. While you pass it off with makeup and claim a genetic disorder, your tone of flesh disturbs others. Nevertheless, you are as energetic as any other red-blooded human. You are unable to make a Blood Door.
Beginner - Can substitute blood for ink. Can hold breath for fifteen minutes. You scab instantly.
Novice - You are able to persist with half your normal blood volume. Your resting body temperature is elevated to 39 degrees Centigrade.
Journeyman - Black blood is an omen of heavenly malfeasance. Feeding your blood to a Specter briefly elevates their capabilities.
I'm not sure what a Blood Door is. Is this how people reach the Blood World without detecting passages with Blood Eye? If so this is a big no for the Exorcist. This might be beneficial for the Enthusiast if they have to escape from a serial killer with a fondness for exsanguinating people. It could help any character if they need to hide underwater from hostiles or the building spontaneously catches fire and they need to find a way to escape without choking on the smoke.
[ ] Pale Fingers - An incident in your youth amputated your fingers, and they had to be surgically reattached. Miraculously, aside from minor circulation issues, you retain full motion and dexterity.
Beginner - Can touch Specters. Can grasp freezing objects.
Novice - Can perform psychometry on cursed objects. You do not bleed from wounds to your upper limbs.
Journeyman - Can perform the Corpse Grip, a clenching exertion capable of tearing steel.
If we take exorcist with this route we get some measure of knife resistance if we have to take a blow on an arm. They aren't invincible though, we just don't have to worry about bleeding to death. The Martial arts and psychometry route where we can if the time calls for it, just punch the ghosts if we took a curse with Blood Eye, or took Corpse Ink as our artifact and used it.
If you are an Exorcist, select one of the Artifacts below. If you are an Enthusiast or Entertainer who has taken a Curse of Karma, your selection will change aesthetically to match modern provenance, but is otherwise functionally identical.
[ ] Moon Mirror - A circular mirror of shaped bronze, meticulously maintained save for the reflective obverse, which is indelibly corroded. By filling its pitted face with blood, it is able to reveal the unseen.
*Takes 5cc to form a minimally reflective surface, 40cc to make it smooth enough for visual use. Users with Black Marrow must double the costs.
*By filling it to its original surface depth (100cc), the Bronze Mirror can be activated to capture any Specter that gazes upon their reflection. Wearing the Bronze Mirror from that point on will deter any Specters of lesser power to that contained within. You are unable to use the Mirror to reflect the Blood World while it contains a Specter; gazing into it will cause the Specter to possess you. Blood must be donated to restrain the Specter (400cc/month), or else it is released.
*Modern forms include a shattered compact mirror or car wing-mirror.
The average human adult has 4.5 to 5.5 liters of blood in their body according to a cursory google search. 5 cc is 0.005 Liters, which translates to assuming a human body with 5 liters of blood in it(.005*100/5), costing .1 percent of their blood. 40 cc is .04 liters, or 0.8 percent of their blood(.04*100/5). 100 cc is 0.1 liters, or 2 percent of their blood(0.1*100/5). 400 cc is 8 percent of their blood(0.4*100/5).
Keeping a specter safely imprisoned singlehandedly looks like it's extremely unhealthy. 400 cc is pretty close to a mundane blood donation which takes 10 percent, and according to the NHS article I found, people should wait 12 weeks if they're male, and 16 weeks if they're female between blood donations. Because of this, the Entertainer is the only character who has any business using this artifact to imprison a specter. Still, if the Entertainer takes this artifact, they can get away better with not taking Blood Eye, given how it can be used to see into the Blood World.
[ ] Corpse Ink - A gargantuan inkstick, one chi in length, capped with a heliotrope medallion. Compressed from the soot and fat of burned humans, the figures of its victims are preserved with vivid detail. When ground against a rough surface, it releases a fragment of that funereal flame, revealing and scorching Specters. Ink rendered from this inkstick is especially effective against Immolated Specters.
*Leaves a greasy stain on the fingers.
*Erodes slowly, if at all. Segments can be "burned" at once for significant effect.
*The Blood World is quite wet; you may find it difficult to find a dry surface.
*Modern forms have the images of cows and juvenile poetry.
Well this is a macabre artifact but I suppose it fits given the setting. For those who don't feel like googling the unit of measurement, this inkstick is a third of a meter, or slighly over 1 foot. The Entertainer and the Exorcist are the most likely characters to be able to benefit from this artifact, The Exorcist less so given his interest in the Blood World and his special ability but it still could help in a multi specter scenario.
[ ] Wishing Pen - An aged calligraphy brush of poplar wood and human hair. Ask it a question, and it will write no lies.
*Will answer within ten characters or less! Functions without ink.
*Information concerning the motivation or true disposition of people is more accurate than environmental data or combat capabilities.
*Semi-sentient.
*Cannot be lost. If misplaced, will reappear in nearby pockets or hidden spaces.
*Modern forms include pagers or text messages from unknown numbers.
This one has some value as a crutch for somebody who took the socially impaired curse of karma, it needs a character well suited to utilizing information to be able to use it to its full potential though. This means Blood Eye, Thief's Ear, or possibly Pale Fingers if you're the Exorcist who can use Psychometry instead of the Enthusiast who's able to ferret around for obscure information on message boards. This one seems good for somebody with an Enthusiast+Thief's Ear Build I suppose.
[ ] Golden Compass - A luopan modified with additional rings denoting geographical and coordinate data. A superb tracking tool; by placing a symbolic piece of your target in the place of the needle, you will locate them in space and time.
*Can live-track a human in the past year perfectly, and imperfectly project their future. Tracking beyond this window exhausts the Compass for a day.
*Appears to function globally.
*Works imperfectly in the Blood World.
This one gives us something that while it resembles Dresdenverse Thaumaturgy when applied to tracking, in some ways like determining where somebody was at a given time in the past year, it's actually superior. If we're the Enthusiast we probably couldn't use this to play Harry Dresden and help the police with missing persons cases because we'd soon end up a suspect. It'd be an atmospheric prop for the Entertainer without sayyy... Thief's Ear to know who specters have grudges against and track them down, but that role seems like it'd fit more with the Exorcist. Having to livestream kills your ability to use the compass stealthily and it could help him rescue normal people trapped in the Blood World.
Take on a Curse of Karma for an additional selection of a Spiritual Gift or Artifact, up to three. It is not recommended to take more than one.
[ ] Zodiacal Malediction - An unrighteous marriage, a poisoned bloodline, whatever the reason, Heaven itself turned its face away the moment you were born. Unless directly named, you are automatically excluded from all protections, rituals, and benedictions laid into the bedrock of the continent. Your only protector is the eye of the noonday sun, who discriminates no wretch.
Wow. This one is nasty. I'm not sure what to think about this one.
[ ] Impurity of Heart - You were not steadfast in thought and deed, and performed ill-workings to others. Lower your Spiritual Purity by one level.
This one kills the Exorcist's special and so is a big no for him. Not sure what this would do to the entertainer.
[ ] Cowardly Tenor - You are more easily shaken, weak-stomached and frail. In times of crisis your mind will turn to flee from peril.
For this curse to be worthwhile the protagonist needs to be fast enough to flee first. This means it's a bad idea for the entertainer but a semi-decent option for the Enthusiast or the Exorcist.
[ ] Perverse Hungers - You are wracked with forbidden desires. To some Specters, you may strike an intolerable resemblance.
This one is bad for any route that tries to befriend specters I guess. There's an anti-synergy between this curse and Thief's Ear. The anti-synergy only gets worse if this curse is taken on a Thief's Ear+Entertainer build.
[ ] Rationalist - You are convinced there is no power greater than the human mind, no engine more excellent in its function than reason and intellect, the eternally self-crafting work. You're in the wrong genre, friend. Increased difficulty in rituals, slow to adapt.
The Exorcist is a master Ritualist, so maybe he could afford to lose some aptitude for them. The Entertainer can hire a ritual specialist so this means it may be a viable curse for him, and this just seems like too much of a bad idea for the Enthusiast if they ever run into a genuine supernatural occurrence.
[ ] Socially Impaired - You find it difficult to impossible to read people's emotions and motivations.
With the right build you can mitigate this. The question is whether or not the kind of benefits of a build you can take to mitigate this curse stand on their own as a good build. Do not take this if you are an entertainer, this kills one of his biggest strengths.
Enthusiast Build:
[]Thief's Ear
[]Cowardly Tenor
[]Wishing Pen
Entertainer Build:
[]Thief's Ear
[]Rationalist
[]Moon Mirror
Exorcist Build:
[]Stony Liver
[]Corpse Ink
[]Rationalist
[]Thief's Ear
