The Nocturne Nightlife

[Inkbones]

There are those who live in the Light. They don't see the shadows gathering around them. They don't see the war being fought in front of their closed eyelids. They live in blissful ignorance, walking though life, unsullied by the truth of the world.

But not you.

You are a Hunter.

You are the one that kills the shadows before they can breach the Light.

You are the one that makes bedtime horrors shudder in the gutters they hide in.

You fight the hidden battles of this world. Your arena is the back ally and the deserted car park, your shield is your unflinching will to drive back the forces of darkness and your weapon is how awesome you look while doing so.

To those who live in the Light you are a phantasm, a shadow whose presence is vaguely terrifying and quickly forgotten. You won't have to worry about the police chasing you down, but don't think for a second that your actions don't have consequences.

Everything you do, from using your various unnatural abilities, to avoiding getting stabbed, increases your Grim. If your Grim gets high enough, your Dark level increases. The higher your Dark level, the further you're pulled out of the Light, and more you leave your humanity behind. If you allow yourself to lose your humanity entirely, you will cease to be a Hunter and become a monster for someone else to fight.

Now that we've gotten that our of the way, there's the simple matter of how, exactly, you became Initiated.

[ ] Dynasty| You're the most recent scion of a long lineage of Hunters, and as such you stand to inherit centuries of accumulated monster-hunting wisdom. As well as the family enemies. Pros: access to the family library. Cons: gain two enemy factions from the start.

[ ] Contract| you died (badly), but a Patron brought you back in return for Hunting specific targets. Pros: you cannot be killed until your Contract is fulfilled. Cons: Failure to Hunt targets will be...punished.

[ ] Back in Action| you were legendary, but your heart tired of it. You retired, but something has pulled you back into this life. Pros: significantly better starting gear. Cons: maluses to physical rolls.

[ ] Survivor| you lived in the Light, until something horrible almost killed you. You were saved by strangers in black, and you're unwillingness to forget accidentally made you one of them. Pros: start at -1 Angst. Cons: no starter gear.

[ ] Escapee| they thought you mad. They locked you up. You got out. Maybe they were right. Pros: resistance to mental effects. Cons: first mission is escaping the Asylum.

[ ] Errant| you were inducted into an an ancient Order, who consider the task of Hunting a divinely issued one. Pros: allied Hunters willing to help you in times of need. Cons: your Order is constrained by a tight moral code, if you cross it one too many times they will cast you out.

Everyone needs a little leg up at the beginning, right? Choose yours. Be warned, the more you use these "gifts," the more they will consume you.

[ ] Infernal Brand| the energies of the Inferno burn within you. The more you use them, the more Infernal you will become in form.

[ ] Celestial Mark| commonly known as angels, the Celestials follow the commands of their superiors without question. Borrow too much power from their Mark, and you will too.

[ ] Corrupted Blood| your blood has been intentionally tinged with the blood of vampires. The thirst is a real and very present problem for you, but you should be able to hold it at bay...at the moment.

[ ] Changeling| you have been touched by the Fey, and I shouldn't have to tell you how pernicious their presence can be.

[ ] New Eyes| the power of the Old gods is as twisted and insane as they are, but nothing if not reliable.

 

[Inkbones]

A brief word on the identity of our protagonist.

You are a Hunter, all other facts are secondary. Certain details, such as your gender, ethnicity, etc., are intentionally made ambiguous as an exercise for the reader.

You could, for instance, look like this:

Spoiler: A possibility

Spoiler: Credit

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8klm

Or, perhaps, like this:

Spoiler: Another

If not, maybe this one?

Spoiler: Yet another potential candidate

If none of these are the face the reader has imagined for their Hunter, please feel free to institute a different one.

 

[Inkbones]

Spoiler: The Vote

[X] Through the Looking Glass
-[X] Escapee| they thought you mad. They locked you up. You got out. Maybe they were right. Pros: resistance to mental effects. Cons: first mission is escaping the Asylum.
-[X] New Eyes| the power of the Old gods is as twisted and insane as they are, but nothing if not reliable.

Praise be to Ru_, whose small and mostly non-canon omake shall reap unexpected rewards.

Also, possible trigger warning ahead.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You don't remember where you were going, just that you had a train to catch, and you were almost late. You had been pushing and shoving people in an effort to move through the thick crowd of the train station when the stabbing happend. The maniac had done it right in front of you, just whipped out a knife, looked you straight in the eye, and stabbed it into their own gut.

People surged forward toward the corpse, perhaps to supply aid, but more likely to witness the spectacle. You, on the other hand, were trying to get as far away as possible. You weren't exactly a very religious person, but what few senses you had were screaming at you to get away.

Yet again, you were pushing against the crowd, but your late appointment couldn't be further from you mind. You pressed against the tide of warm bodies, dread curling around your guts like a venomous serpent, but somewhere in your mind you knew that you weren't going to escape this.

A gasp made you reflexively look behind you, where the corpse lay in it's own blood. In a trick of the light, it looked like it had become black and shiny, like the knife they had impaled themselves with. And the blackness was spreading. Bystanders scream as shards of black stone pierce the ground and then their flesh. The tide around you became a stampede, surprise becoming fear becoming brain-boiling terror.

1d20=17

??? {X|_|_}

A man beside you was suddenly crucified by a black stalagmite, but you managed to avoid a similar fate. The ground beneath you was becoming black, with red light shining from the cracks. Something spears out of one chasm and tried to wrap itself around your leg.

1d20= 9

??? {X|X|_}

You tried to avoid it, but it curled around your leg anyway. You retched when you saw it; it was like an octopus arm, made only of scarlet eyes. To see them burned you.

1d20=15

??? {X|X|X|}

You grab it and rip it off your leg, screaming as you feel a strip of your skin come off with it. Then the Tower was there.

It shot out of nothing, broke the ceiling, and kept going. It was taller than the sky. It was built before time. It was a monument to everything that was lost. It looked at you, and into you. It saw everything you were, and everything you are, and everything you could have been, and it was bored. It put a piece of itself into you as a matter of formality, then looked onward.

When they found you, later, surrounded by corpses and curled into a fetal position, you were rather catatonic.

They told you that there was an explosion, a bomb. You wanted to nod your head, to believe the lie like they did. But you couldn't. You couldn't lie to yourself about what you'd seen. You told them what really happened. You showed them the eye growing under your skin. They told you it was a burn from the bomb. They said this while your eye blinked at them. You said that they were insane. They said you needed rest, that they were sending you somewhere where you could get a lot of it.

The box they put you in is padded. They jacket they put on you is uncomfortable. Every so often a man comes and puts food in your mouth. You have time to think now, and you have come to the following conclusion.

You don't care how much it will cost. You don't care what you'll have to become. The next time you meet the Tower, it won't be bored.

[ ] Every now and then, a man comes and takes your mask off to put food in your mouth.

[ ] Talk to him, try to learn something.​

​

[ ] You watched a television show once, about a magician. He learned how to get out of a straight jacket by dislocating his arm. You could try to do the same. [Progress: {_|_|_|_}] [Increases Grim]

[ ] You feel your eye blinking under your sleeve. You have a piece of something foul inside you, might as well try to use it. [Increases Grim][The Tower grows]

[ ] The back of your eyelids feel greasy, but you've been so...tired...lately. Perhaps it's the pills. Perhaps something is calling you. [Decreases Grim]

Spoiler: Portent

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grim: VVVVVVVVVVVV

Dark: \/\/\/\/\/

 

[Inkbones]

[X] You feel your eye blinking under your sleeve. You have a piece of something foul inside you, might as well try to use it. [Increases Grim][The Tower grows]

Potential trigger warning.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's far past nightfall. There are no windows in this room. The only light comes from the edges of the door, but that is hardly sufficient to fend away the dread gnawing at your spine.

You can feel it. Like an itch you can't scratch, a wound filled with rotting fluids. You hate it. And you cannot resist it's pull.

Spoiler: Roll

1d100=51. Success, but there is a complication.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then, a small crack appears in the wall, letting a sliver of scarlet like leak in. Then the entire wall is stripped away and all you can see is the Tower.

It's eyes do not see, they accuse. It's chains will bind the deserving and undeserving alike. It was built by humanity, brick by blasphemous brick, and it's sight made you wonder why you had ever believed in fairy tales like "mercy", or "pity."

A few hours later, you come back to yourself. Your straight jacket lies shattered around you. You are on your knees as if praying, a mad grin still on your face. Nonsense written in your own blood is scrawled across the floor, walls, and even the ceiling. You scream from the pain of your wounds.

Still, while your foray into the darkness was not without price, it was also not without gain.

{-----------------------------------------------------}
You have unlocked the Gift of the Tower. You may now learn to channel power from your patron, if you can learn to withstand it's influence.

There are five approaches to power, and five principles that govern them. Choose a principle with which to advance, for the moment. [Don't worry about picking the wrong thing, this is the tutorial]

[ ] [Gift] Hand| the principle of the Hand is immediate and brutal, dealing with a problem directly and unsubtly.
[ ] [Gift] Eye| the principle of the Eye observes and comprehends, dealing with a problem by understanding it and piercing it's weakness.
[ ] [Gift] Smile| the principle of the Smile avoids and manipulates, dealing with a problem by undermining and working around it.
[ ] [Gift] Bone| the principle of the Bone protects and withstands, dealing with a problem by resisting it's consequence.
[ ] [Gift] Blood| the principle of the Blood exalts and advances, dealing with a problem by making it surmountable.

Gained Wound: Flagellations [bedridden, -10 to Sanity rolls]. Healing Progress: [_|_|_]*

Spoiler: Grim Roll

6 - 1d6= 5

Grim: VVVVVVVVVVVV
{------------------------------------------------------}

You woke up in the hospital wing, wrapped in bandages and a pint of blood being squeezed into you. An orderly built like a granite boulder stands guard, presumably to keep you from harming yourself further.

After a while, the curtain around your bed is moved aside, revealing a man in a white lab coat over a suit and tie. Like everything else he is a sterile black and white, making the red stains on your bandages stand out all the more.

"Hello, I am Doctor Melinoe. It is my job to try to make you well."

You regard him for an uncomfortable beat or two.

[ ] [Dr. Melinoe] Sarcasm| "Think it's a bit late for that doc."
[ ] [Dr. Melinoe] Acid| "I have no use for well-meaning fools."
[ ] [Dr. Melinoe] Cordiality| "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."
[ ] [Dr. Melinoe] Write-in.

He merely smiles and adjusts his glasses.

"Be that as it may, I have seen many cases like yours. People subjected to horrible sights, doubting their own eyes. Fear not, my friend. Sanity is a choice."

He brings out a small wooden box from under his arm.

"And with that in mind, would you like to play a game of chess?"

[ ] [Chess] Agree [Grim Decreases]
[ ] [Chess] Refuse [Return to the padded cell]
[ ] [Chess] Fling the board in his face [Grim Increases] Grim is too high for this action
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plan format please. Votes:

• Gift
• Dr. Melinoe
• Chess

*This is a progress clock, it's a timer that shows how much something has developed. In this case, it will take roughly three healing rounds to completely heal your wounds.

 

[Inkbones]

Spoiler: Winning Vote

[x] [Gift] Eye| the principle of the Eye observes and comprehends, dealing with a problem by understanding it and piercing it's weakness.
[x] [Dr. Melinoe] Cordiality| "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you."
[x] [Chess] Agree [Grim Decreases]

------------------------------------------------------
This doctor is no less insane than the rest of them, but a good impression might improve your chances of escaping this place. So you smile, calmly trading small talk as his pieces slowly take over the board like a pernicious lichen.

"I must admit, having someone to talk to is a nice change." you say, moving your king out of check once again.

"Yes. In my experience Cassandra Asylum is the place people put problems they don't want to deal with. To say that they're uninterested in patient remission is somewhat of an understatement." he said, capturing your knight.

"Doesn't explain why you're only talking to me now. I've been in this place for weeks." And there goes your other knight.

"I suppose you could say I'm somewhat of a specialist in cases such as yours. Very few people survive contact with the Tower."

He says it as if talking about the weather. Like there's nothing particularly exciting about the thing that broke through reality and stole any chance of having a sane life from you.

"That's the name of the group that bombed the train station. Some sort of religious cult, I understand. Check."

Oh. He still thinks it's a bomb. For a second you thought he was sane. You absentmindedly move your king.

"Have you seen it?" he says, leaning forward, voice barely above a whisper. The room dims, and a familiar red fire appears behind his eyes "burning with a thousand eyes? Made of stone blacker than nightmares? Seek the Heath, climb the Stairs, reach the Altar. Everything else will make sense."

You look into his crazed eyes, unbelieving.

"What? How do I-"

"I said checkmate." he looks at you puzzled, a mild-mannered doctor once again.

You look down at the board once again. Yup, his bishop is threatening the only square available. You tip your king over.

"Good game my friend" he says as you shake hands "I hope this is not our last."

Spoiler: Relief Roll

1d6=2

Grim: VVVVVVVVVVVV

Lore Discovered: Seek the Heath, climb the Stairs, reach the Altar.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[x] [Gift] Eye| the principle of the Eye observes and comprehends, dealing with a problem by understanding it and piercing it's weakness.

The doctor leaves, but your guard stays by your bedside. You try talking to him, but he simply regards you with stony silence. Eventually you pretend to sleep by breathing slowly and closing your eyes. What you really do is open your real ones.

All your life, you've wanted to be magical, like the superheroes you've always secretly idolized. And now you are.

You see the room you're in as if from on high. In this state, the world becomes a blur of black and red shadows, the only color coming from the silhouettes of people. You can see the dark blue yourself lying on your bed, your guard slowly pacing beside you leaving a trail of light green in the air behind him. A canary yellow nurse attends to a patent whose outline is merely darkness, with the smallest spark of violet in the center. Dr. Melinoe is almost to bright to see, a kaleidoscope of colors burning inside him.

For all the wonder of this second sight, you can tell this is only a taste of the power you can get for yourself. You lick your lips in anticipation of more.

Tower's Gaze: see a third person perspective of the area a small distance around you, as well as the auras of people inside your field of view. Costs 1 Grim per round.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are receiving medical attention, all healing clocks will progress once per turn.
You are Bedridden. Moving faster than a hobble or any strenuous physical activity will provoke Grim. -1 Action

Wounds:

Flagellations [bedridden, -10 to Sanity rolls]. Healing Progress: [_|_|_]​

Grim: VVVVVVVVVVVV

Actions(chose two):
[ ] Rest| you will be at the mercy of your dreams, but perhaps awake replenished [Decrease Grim, chance of ???]
[ ] Eavesdrop| use Tower's Viewpoint to eavesdrop on the Asylum staff [Costs 1 Grim]
[ ] Chess with Dr. Melinoe|it's nice to have someone to talk to [Decreases Grim] The Doctor has a busy schedule, he should be able to meet with you again soon.
[ ] Talk| perhaps you can learn something.

[ ] The Patients| most of them are either completely lost or too medicated to string a sentence together, but there are glimmers of truth here and there.​

[ ] The Staff| not many of them are willing to talk to you, but you might find yourself an ally.​

[ ] Explore| they're not as vigilant at night, you could explore the medical wing in greater detail.
[ ] Attune| The Tower is within you, you know it can give you more.

[ ] Five Fingers| seek another Gift entirely. Progress: [_|_|_|_]​

[ ] Wider| increase the range of the Gaze​

[ ] Deeper| see more of people's auras​

[ ] Sharper| see in greater detail​

[ ] Poltergeist| actually manipulate the environment instead of just observing [_|_|_]​

[ ] Write-in a way to advance your powers​

[ ] Write-in

 

[Inkbones]

Seek the Heath, climb the Stairs, reach the Altar.

 

[Inkbones]

Grim: VVVVVVVVVVVV

Dark: \/\/\/\/

Traumas:

3rd Level​

Flagellations [bedridden, -10 to Sanity rolls]. Healing Progress: [X|X|X]​

2nd Level​

1st Level​

​

Aspects:

Dream: when you rest, you have a chance of seeing useful or harmful visions ​

Words: you can passably hold a conversation, but you're not exactly persuasive ​

Sanity: you have a reasonably firm grasp of reality, enough to resist some minor mental effects​

Gifts:

Hand| the principle of the Hand is immediate and brutal, dealing with a problem directly and unsubtly.​

​

Eye| the principle of the Eye observes and comprehends, dealing with a problem by understanding it and piercing it's weakness.​

Tower's Gaze: see a third person perspective of the area a small distance around you, as well as the auras of people inside your field of view. Costs 1 Grim per round [Patronage of the Tower].​

​

Smile| the principle of the Smile avoids and manipulates, dealing with a problem by undermining and working around it.​

​

Bone| the principle of the Bone protects and withstands, dealing with a problem by resisting it's consequence.​

​

Blood| the principle of the Blood exalts and advances, dealing with a problem by making it surmountable.​

 

[Inkbones]

Winning Plan: We need to go deeper
--------------------------------------------
[X] [Nightmare] You're not scared of monsters, let it find you and kill it

You do not bow to shadows.

Spoiler: Battle Roll

1d100=91

You wait patiently as it charges toward you, then grab it's spine and hurl it to the ground. It writhes under your grip, but your flesh is harder than granite. As the dream fades, you feel the monster die and become part of you.

You have gained the option to Dreamwalk
You possess the heart of a Nightmare
------------------------------------------
[x] Eavesdrop| use Tower's Viewpoint to eavesdrop on the Asylum staff [Costs 1 Grim]

One quirk about spying on people this way is that you can hear words, but not tone. All voices are a monotone rumbling, like an actor who couldn't care less about sounding authentic.

Two nurses are having a smoke break in an abandoned closet, just on the edge of your range. You think the first is the one who snubbed you yesterday, the other you don't recognize. Both are tinged with fear.

"So how many does that make?"

"Three. All of them from inside their cells. This one was still in his straight jacket."

"Maybe he smuggled a spoon in or...something. There's an explanation, there has to be."

"No. Nothing remotely sharp, certainly not something that could do...that."

The nurse you don't recognize takes a puff of his cigarette. You watch the smoke curl inside his lungs.

"I've...hear things. Rumors."

"Of course you have. People are always saying things when they're scared."

"What if it's one of the patients? One with a lock pick, or a stolen key. They wait for us all to go to sleep, open their cell-"

"Stop. Wild conjecture isn't going to help anyone. We're all on night duty now, Dr. Melinoe has hired extra guards."

"That just means they'll got after us instead!"

"No one's going after us- fuck, someone's coming."

As the two of them hurriedly put out their nicotine sticks, you open your real eyes and try to process what you just heard.

Grim: VVVVVVVVVVVV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-[x] Attune| The Tower is within you, you know it can give you more.
--[x] Deeper| see more of people's auras [Sanity Roll, DC 40]

Spoiler: Sanity Roll

1d100=13

Your screams split the night's silence. A nurse comes and holds your convulsing form down while another sticks a needle into your arm. Even in a drug-induces sleep, you feel the pain as they dig the slivers out.

Later they tell you that you thrashed in your sleep, broken the vase on your bedside table, and driven the shards into your arm. After they take the bandages off, you look at your arm, where splinters of obsidian are bursting out of your skin like flower petals.

The Tower: [X|X|X|_|_]
Your Sanity Aspect is Level 2, +10 to rolls
-----------------------------------------
You are receiving medical attention, all healing clocks will progress once per turn.
You are Bedridden. Moving faster than a hobble or any strenuous physical activity will provoke Grim. -1 Action

Wounds:
Flagellations [bedridden, -10 to Sanity rolls]. Healing Progress: [X|X|_]

Actions(chose two):
[ ] Rest| you will be at the mercy of your dreams, but perhaps awake replenished [Decrease Grim, chance of Dreaming] you're rested, for the moment
[ ] Dreamwalk| revisit a place you've been to in dreams, and possibly explore onward. [Chance of Grim increasing or decreasing]

[ ] Palace of Windows|your first sojourn into somewhere else, you killed one of your monsters here. [Dreaming Roll, DC 60]​

​

[ ] Eavesdrop| use Tower's Viewpoint to eavesdrop on the Asylum staff [Costs 1 Grim]
[ ] Chess with Dr. Melinoe|it's nice to have someone to talk to [Decreases Grim] The Doctor has a busy schedule, he should be able to meet with you again soon.

[ ] Talk| perhaps you can learn something.

[ ] The Patients| most of them are either completely lost or too medicated to string a sentence together, but there are glimmers of truth here and there. [Words Roll, DC 60]​

[ ] The Staff| not many of them are willing to talk to you, but you might find yourself an ally. [Words Roll, DC 60]​

[ ] Explore| they're not as vigilant at night, you could explore the medical wing in greater detail.​

​

[ ] Attune| The Tower is within you, you know it can give you more.

[ ] Step by Step| seek another Gift entirely. [Sanity Roll, DC 60]​

[ ] Poltergeist| slightly manipulate what you can see [Sanity Roll, DC 40]​

[ ] Wider| dramatically increase the range of the Gaze [Sanity Roll, DC 20]​

[ ] Deeper| see more of people's auras [Sanity Roll, DC 40 20]​

[ ] Whispers| see when someone is looking at you [Sanity Roll, DC 40]​

[ ] Write-in a way to advance your powers​

[ ] Write-in