SHARON DA SILVA (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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countryclub2022-12-02 01:00 pm
fogsong) wrote in countryclub2022-12-02 01:00 pm
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An Otherwordly Player Plot!
Did you know that everyone has their own hell in Silent Hill?
This is a long-term player plot that will last for several months starting December. Sleepers will have the chance to be suddenly transported to a hellish otherworldly version of Trench where they can be confronted by monsters born of their fears, guilt, and personal traumas, along with a strange variety of puzzles and items that will hint that this world is picking up on the things they refuse to address.
Wait, what?
Sharon has the ability to shift reality and pull others into a nightmarish version of the world she's in! It's an ability that she's avoided taking advantage of due to personal issues but she's come to realize that it might prove useful in the future so she's out here practicing by sporadically opening up the Otherworld and drawing characters in for a limited amount of time.
This is her testing her reach and her control by picking and choosing the districts she plunges and limiting the amount of Sleepers that can be drawn in. As the weeks go on, her reach extends and her control grows as she begins to better understand her ability.
Like all player plots, this is entirely optional!
How do they end up there?
It can happen anywhere and at any time. A dense fog will roll in, no matter where a Sleeper might be, inside or outside, that will obscure their vision and muffle sound. A darkness follows soon after, followed by the sound of a siren. If your character has a light on them or can see in the dark, they'll see that the fog is gone but the world around them is shifting, aging and corrupting in fast forward right before their very eyes. (Outdoor Example, Indoor Example, and Indoor Example II)
Once the siren is done sounding, the darkness will let up and they'll be in a very different Trench. A Trench full of different monsters, some that may tickle at their memories or remind them of people or experiences that have impacted them through their life. A Trench that taps into their fears and regrets and brings them to life.
What's it like?
The Otherworld is very clearly Trench. Sleepers will be able to recognize shops and homes and familiar streets but it's as if the city itself has succumbed to corruption; twisted and rotted after years of neglect. The streets in areas have given way and collapsed, taking a normal route from Sleepers and forcing them to cut through row houses or shops to reach the other side. Monsters roam the dark streets, and it's always safer to be inside than it is to be outside but there may be times when Sleepers have no choice.
Although Trench will be dealing with snow, this Otherworld version of it will be notably absent of thick drifts. There may be the occasional dusting of snow, or even rain, but it will be appear wrong; tainted and dirty.
Each district might have a different vibe to it. Lumenwood may find monsters based around plague doctors, blood ministers, and nurses roaming the streets and buildings and there might be plenty of used, rusted medical equipment laying about. Whereas Crenshaw might have smaller monsters that remind Sleepers of children or horrifying family units that stalk the streets while toys, drawings, and bicycles could litter the ground..
Monsters?
The monsters can change depending on the Sleeper, often reflecting their own traumas or guilt back at them (though not always) in ways that might not always be obvious (eg: the armless man symbolizes being trapped in one's self as well as a toxic hatred that corrodes everything around it due to the acid it can spew from its chest or dark nurses who represent Alessa's jealousy of womanhood). It's possible for two Sleepers to be in the Otherworld together, fighting the same creature, but both seeing something entirely different!
Don't be afraid to experiment!
Give your Sleeper a boss fight they have to beat to finally escape this Otherworld! Give them a stalker monster that hunts them relentlessly through this twisted city until the darkness fades! Give them a monster that never attacks but whenever it's around there's a heavy feeling of oppression and sorrow in the air! Hell, give them a monster that helps them out when they're in danger that reminds them of someone important to them! The sky is the absolute limit here!
Feel free to use monsters already known to the Silent Hill universe
Safe Rooms?
Although it's not a feature in the films, it's common in the games for our protagonists to have a room where they can collect themselves and save the game. The Trench version of the Otherworld will have safe rooms that can be easily located by clusters of wispy butterflies that hang around the doors leading to the room. It will almost seem as if people are being led there on purpose. In every safe room, there will be a note telling characters they can remain in this room until the world returns to normal if they need to.
What else can be found?
That depends on you and what you'd like to do with this place! Maybe your Sleeper is a soldier and they find the dog tags of long dead companions. Maybe your Sleeper is a parent and they find sketches that look a lot like something their child once drew. Or maybe your Sleeper spent a lot of time in a hospital and they start finding old hospital records.
Can my character figure out its Sharon?
Yes! It won't be obvious to the majority, in fact it will just seem like your average Trench nonsense, but anyone she's discussed her ability to shift the world with could easily put two-and-two together. There will be notes throughout the Otherworld in her handwriting offering tips (eg: "they're attracted to the light" & "keep quiet" & "sometimes it's better to run") and, sometimes, apologies. Of course, your character could miss those notes entirely!
If you think your character may be able to put it together because of a specific ability they have, let me know! I'm pretty open about what can come from this!
How long are characters trapped in this Otherworld?
Sleepers can be trapped for upwards of a day or as little as an hour! It's entirely up to you and what you're willing to put your character through!
Here's a plotting form to help you get started but feel free to add anything that helps give a good feel of what your characters Otherworld will be like including pictures and descriptions!
QUESTIONS?
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I'll be putting up a log but you can also use the prompts in your own catch-alls & logs!
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Character Name: Taro Watanabe
Team-up or Solo Totally open to him going through with others! He's genre savvy so he'll be trying to remember bits of media he knows. Feel free to either throw me someone he can make modern jokes with or someone who has absolutely no clue what the genre of 'horror' even is!
Monster Ideas:
- Wispy floating orbs that laugh and giggle like children
- A monstrous feminine monster that stands on her hind legs like a werewolf. The face is distinctly vulpine, and she uses her tails like whips to lash out at those she comes across.
- Skittering rodent-like creatures that smell of disease and rot.
- A trio of monsters - two large, one small. They have empty eye sockets and reach out towards the nearest sound. Their grips are vise-like and they will break down their prey and swallow it with distended maws.
- Birds. Lots and lots of birds. Diseased-looking crows and ravens in particular, culminating in a large avian monster that rots anything it touches and poisons anything it breathes on.
- POSSIBLY MORE AS I THINK THEM UP???
Any CR or experiences you'd like: Probably not death so early, but Taro being rescued and especially people who find him in his tanuki form. He's probably going to have a breakdown or two as he hasn't... fully accepted his own death yet at this point. Like... he knows but he's still trying to deny it partially. Boss fights would be cool but would require a fighting character with Taro as he's not a fighter.
Handwaving: I'd prefer to play most of this out, but I'd be down to handwaving some exploration and vague chatter if you'd like!
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Character Name: Mike Enslin
Team-up or Solo Either/or! He knows this genre and is pretty hard to scare, so he's good for a team up!
Monster/World Ideas:
- Mike's daughter, Katie will try to lead people to the safe room, leave drawings as clues, make it into a game of hide and seek to find her (in the safe room), and hand out protective slap bracelets that help with stealth or bravery!
- Mike's dad will be a monstrous,seemingly frail skeletal man who uses his wheelchair and his far reaching, clawed hands as weapons. His words will be tailored toward any inner failings a character has, and he will seem deceptively befuddled and harmless as a tactic to draw in unsuspecting victims.
- The air vents seem safe. There are zombies in them! Maybe even zombie wolves.
- Harp music will also be discordant but will lead to a safe room eventually.
- The Carpenters 'We've Only Just Begun' ...if that starts to play, though? Get the fuck out!
- Anyone with a slap bracelet will also see the AC repairman, who will warn them away from The Room.
- Would you like televisions to just rudely start playing heartbreaking moments for your life? They can do that! They can be anywhere!
- Mundane paintings turn monstrous and then they're attacking!
- WOLVES!!!
- Books everywhere, sometimes just pages floating by.
- You too can have an unhelpful narrator by the hotel's "room service". Would you like to check out?
- Words change on signage to say horrifying or very personal things. Even the nonsense is dreadful.
- Random! Floods! Happen!
- There's a beach. Everyone on it acts like nothing is happening, nothing is weird. Even if something is trying to eat your face, they will just go about their business.
- Sometimes there is a Lighthouse. It sucks and you can never reach it.
- The beach is sometimes chicken soup instead of seawater.
- The saferoom is either a hospital room, where Katie climbs into a bed OR it's a beach house.
- There are all kinds of ghosts! Murder/suicide victims abound. If it's an urban legend it might be here.
- The beach can be full of glass eyes.
- Would you like to see a doppelganger of yourself? It can happen. It can also talk to you through your Omni. Spoiler: it's a jerk.
- There is a bookstore. It's almost empty and you are kind of unwelcome. But sometimes everyone in it is so happy to see you and it's very full! Either way, you are watched. It's uncomfortable, but monsters can't attack here.
- Plaguedoctors and medical monsters are definitely a thing. They drag IV drips. They try to put you back in a bed.
- Some places are dark and there are glowing blood and fluid stains everywhere.
- You can feel like you're being followed by a woman, but the further away you get from her the worse you feel. YET. You still have the compulsion to run.
- Would you like to be followed by a dead man with a baseball cap? He might have a pack of wolves. He might ask you for a smoke. He will not attack, but the wolves might. Or they might eat him in front of you!
- There is a woman that may attempt to walk into the sea, or into the Room. There will be the urge to not let her do that! It's a terrible idea!
- Samuel L. Jackson will judge your choices if you want, but politely. You're the dumbass that insisted on coming here, after all. (he can be a saferoom guide (Olin's office) or an evil fucking room fakeout that tries to shove you in a mini fridge.
- Doorknobs will roll by. Keys are everywhere. Every painting looks crooked. The buildings look crooked (and then they don't) and cause nausea.
- Paper cutout buildings! Popup figures!
- There are random phones. They, like other things ...are prone to melting.
- Would you like a boss battle? It can be Room 1408! What a fucking mess that can be!
Any CR or experiences you'd like: Let someone else deal with this fucking room, for shit's sake! Let Mike save you from it! He can be useful! Feel free to breeze through it just meeting Katie. I am down for all the CR honestly. Handwaved or non handwaved. Short threads that eventually handwave are great! I am a fan of handwaving.
Handwaving: Looks up. ^^^I am cool w/handwaving via discord or plurk for time reasons!
Sharon Da Silva | Silent Hill
Character Name: Sharon Da Silva
Team-up or Solo Because she's the architect of this world, she'll always be available. She can easily be located at her house in Crenshaw that will be appropriately changed to match the awful, rusted surroundings. If your character doesn't have an ability to locate Sharon with, it's here that they can find her naturally through exploration of the Otherworld.
Monster Ideas: The monsters in Sharon's world are available to everyone and range from commonly seen monsters to boss fights.
• Armless Man | found on the streets of any district | shambling around in groups or solo and will chase after anyone who makes a lot of noise. they're capable of spitting an acid from their chest that can quickly eat through most everything. they can take an impressive amount of damage before they're down for the count.
• Dark Nurse | only found in Lumenwood | attracted to light and sound but light can be used to distract large groups of them. they carry scalpels and needles to attack with. they make a lot of sexy moaning sounds.
• Grey Children | found in Crenshaw, the orphanage, and the school of mutter | small, childlike monsters that scream and cry as they chase after anyone they think may be able to save from the burning under their skin. they're hot to the touch.
• Mannequin Spider | Boss Bitch, Stalker Monster, found wherever | this is a spider made up from mannequin parts that has a tendency to target women. it will grab characters and wrap them in a plastic webbing. after a while, characters that have been bit by it will start to turn into plastic themselves. like all spiders, fire is the best option. or run. running is good too.
• The Split Woman (cw: nudity) | only found inside | a nude female figure with four arms & missing her head. she waits in the shadows for someone to stray into her area. it's only when she spots a victim does she split open, revealing a mass of tentacles and teeth. once she grabs a character, she wraps them up in her arms and pulls them in towards her opening to slowly devour them. any buildings she hides within smell distinctly of butyric acid.
Any CR or experiences you'd like: I'm open to just about anything and death isn't off the table! She's here to be a rescuer or play at being as lost and confused as everyone else! I'm interested in some confrontation with characters who may disagree with her actions as well!
Handwaving: I'm always open to handwaving. Sharon can follow your character around as they experience this Otherworld (like some weird creep) or maybe she intervenes when your character gets into a spot of trouble!
Re: Sharon Da Silva | Silent Hill
Would you be up for an interaction with them, at Lumenwood (since Luz does have her light glyphs) and then with the Mannequin spider?
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But, yeah, I'd be absolutely down for some interaction between them in Lumenwood & dealing with the mannequin spider! Sharon won't run from that bitch this time around (because she absolutely ran from it in the film)!
Luz's face: Why would you do this to me, Pedro?
Awesome! I'm going to sleep on it and then come up with my own scenario for Luz!
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Character Name: genjiro chibana
Team-up or Solo team up, ideally!
Monster Ideas:
Any CR or experiences you'd like: i'm a little on the fence about genjiro dying; i think it'd be interesting for his arc, though. other than that, allies who can help him fight since his combat ability is pretty much non-existent. also with this month's moon effects on palebloods, he'll probably be pretty wary at first.
Handwaving: i'm ok with jumping right into the middle of whatever, or threading out what happens beforehand.
slides in late with starbucks
Character Name: Shiro, aka: Takashi Shirogane, aka: Space Dad
>Team-up or Solo
Oh I am always up for a team-up. Anyone, new CR or old, can absolutely join in on this dorito-shaped man wandering the Otherworld.
Monster Ideas:
- Horrible amalgamations of doctors and gladiator prisoners.
- Hazmat suit monsters. Look in their visors once they're dead. They're human.
- Something scurrying around on all fours that looks an awful lot like a person on a table. If you squint.
- Okay you know the Happy Mask Man in Majora's Mask? His big bag of masks? Like that, but with human and inhuman faces. That scream. Some of them look awfully familiar.
- Boss Monster????
Any CR or experiences you'd like:
... yeah there's probably going to be some mental breakdowns. Shiro's gone way too long without having to face the (potentially literal) demons in his past. What a great time to throw them back in his face. And probably some sort of Boss Monster, though I haven't entirely decided on it yet.
Handwaving: I'm up for handwaving if things go in that direction! I love threading things but if someone doesn't have time or energy to do that, we can absolutely handwave some stuff, no problem.
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Hi, it's been a long time since Lance strolled through Shiro's nightmares and tried to help him out :3
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probably
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WELLP let's begin the trauma conga line
might even bust out my old notebook to doodle some horror
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Luz Noceda | The Owl House
Character Name: Luz Noceda
Team-up or Solo Team ups are good! Definitely shooting for those!
Monster Ideas:
- The Spineless Banshee- This is the monster that you'll meet more often than not, indoors. They look like husks of what was a human, shriveled and shivering, and crowd by you to get cold. Prsblem is that if you look at them directly or shine a light near them, they let out an ear-piercing wail that alerts any monster you might be hiding from, so you're better off hiding from them too!
- Tree Butcher- These are fewer and found in Cassandra woods. Hollowed out eyes with garments that look to be sculpted from the wilderness itself. These will actually cause earthquakes and will also shoot bolts of lightning at you. They laugh cruely and disappear as quickly as they reappear.
-La Madre Solitaria *boss*- This being changes from a human guise to a long, shaggy haired beast. In human form she wails from bleeding eyes, but that form can change to her beast form that is anxious to rip you apart, piece by piece. They can fly and also come up from the ground, and they are fast.
I may come up with other monsters or borrow some SH ones too!
Any CR or experiences you'd like: This is going to relate specifically to the things parts of herself Luz is trying to keep away from others, so yes, all the CR, in any way I can get it!
Handwaving: I can do that if needed!
lance (voltron)
Character Name: lance | voltron: legendary defender
>Team-up or Solo
definitely want to team up many times over the months that this will be going on. others can feel free go through lance's otherworld stuff with someone not lance or solo. i'm more or less open to everything.
Monster Ideas:
- lots of moving smoky shadows monsters in the distance/peripheral that seem to be the source of a consistent screaming and whispering commentary to each other. sounds similar to this.
- sickly, malformed people covered in horrific radiation burns and on fire screaming but walking steady and persistant like the terminator.
- 3D holes to open space and infinite darkness with few stars that pulse with a haunting sound. Will follow and suck people in where they could be trapped and lose their minds to infinity or die of space exposure, depends on preference.
- being inside will sometimes result in the walls and ceiling literally pressing in and trapping, threatening to crush. They can even shift to look like the walls of a cave, or like open space with stars, resulting in loss of gravity, but no visible direction to go. Follow the whispers.
- sudden floods of blood indoors and in the streets that threaten to sweep you away or drown you depending on whether it appears indoors or outdoors.
- A lighthouse like what appeared at the end of deerington that allowed people to return home appears in the distance and it can never be reached and trying to causes it to burst into a monster made of blue flame and dripping dark blood and wails mournfully as the streets flood with bloodied water.
- random holes open up around the street that can plunge you into all kinds of caves, spikes, corpses, but also a wholesome family home, but all the siblings and parents have no faces and garbled squelching sounds come out of holes in their throats.
- A massive wave can come in from the beach and pull you to it, the sand is now bright white and the waters crystal blue but there's a storm all around with lightning striking and the waters are electrified and rising.
- notes are left all around from little Lance in blue crayon with blood and tear stains, giving bad directions to safe houses and apologizing. all in spanish, sorry. but there are drawings!
- some areas are dead silent, no sound can be heard or made and there are men in astronaut gear with dark fluid leaking from their helmets crowding in around you, and they will crush you as you shrink beneath them all, screaming soundlessly.
- sometimes there are random radios/flight recorders with lance's voice, or his mother's or someone on his team, trying to say things that sound urgent and important to you but you can't make it out. Disturbingly, the words you can make out are disturbing like 'kill you' 'flesh' 'can you hear' 'screams'
- A large, looming man-shaped one-armed creature with skin that constantly swirls with sickly white black and purple with yellow eyes and a melted/stitched mouth that screams in alternating desperation and anger. It may resemble Shiro a little and represents Lance's guilt, shame etc. over not getting the message about the clone as well as his fraught relationship with said clone that had some lasting damage.
- A young woman who looks like a female version of Lance, but has odd shifting light and shadows over her face walks resolutely over the cliffs into the water and then jerkily climbs back out bloodied and broken and does it over again and again. All without expression.
- A sobbing and constantly vomiting overweight and middle aged woman, representing his mother and the pain of failing to return to her, missing his family and feeling like he let them down. the vomit is acidic and her sobs are hypnotic and can freeze you in place for her to get close enough to try to embrace you... and vomit on you.
- A beautiful woman figure made of multi-colored light and long flowing hair who screeches so loud it'll burst your eardrums and shatter windows. Blood flows down her face and her eyes are open wide and terrified never blinking, she has no other features. Her chest is and open gushing wound where white light bursts forth to physically pierce and blind people with its brightness. She represents his guilt and regrets over killing Allura and his muddled romantic feelings, inadequacy and failure.
- A massive wolf the size of a building made of black and red fire but dripping with dark blood along its ribs, it casts a long shadow that consumes you and is almost always facing away, only looking at other from over its shoulder. This represents Keith and all the complex feelings of being in his shadow but also loving him and failing him and not measuring up and his fear of being left by him again and again. When the wolf does turn to face someone, a wall of flame ignites close enough to set you on fire.
- A small child that looks just like Lance himself who looks sick and thin but tries to smile and lead you to safe rooms. But seemingly at random and unpredictable moments, he can suddenly become something else. The veins in his skin turn black and move like lightning all over until he looks like a living shadow and he starts sobbing and screaming like he's in pain, grief, angry and terrified. The shadow creatures that whisper and scream close in like they mean to make him one of them and if they manage to grab him, which they likely will, he will.
- Another monster that is deteriorating and stumbling, twitching and foaming at the mouth with four arms and two small legs, the dark substance that comes out of every orifice lets off a steam that smells of alcohol and sick and can burn the throat and cause one to pass out and possibly even suffocate, lungs will definitely be burned. Represents Lance's substance abuse issue.
- A piercing roar of a massive silhouette on the horizon that looks almost feline through the fog, the size of a skyscraper or a mountain. Its roar sends blasts of gravitational waves so strong that the ground is uprooted and buildings are displaced, reality becomes distorted in all kinds of ways. A black hole appears high in the sky and starts slowly sucking in all light.
- Pockets of reality distorted by prism physics appear, when inside, cellular structures start to break down, people start sprouting extra eyes and limbs, fuse with walls and animals, blood boils and stay too long, you will begin to lose your mind.
- an amorphous reflective mass imitates you and circles you, it's mocking you with every pass reflecting a facet of yourself that you hate and the constant whispers and commentary of the voices on your every action and thought gets louder and more varied.
- winter lanterns (especially their song), lickers and stitched zombie carpets in many of the streets, all from the sinkhole in old deerington. winter lanterns eat sanity, lickers are, well, lickers and the stitched carpet of corpses can come alive and eat you.
Any CR or experiences you'd like: Dramatic rescues, exploration, defining moments and development of relationships, reveals, personal revelations, definitely mental breakdowns and hella boss fights. Just give me the whole shebang people.
Handwaving: I'm fine with handwaving like a standard monster encounter, but if you want to deal with the monsters and other things that are rather significant to Lance as a person and his relationships, then I'd rather thread that out.
Keith
Character Name: Keith
Team-up or Solo I'm good with teaming up! It's more fun that way.
Any CR or experiences you'd like: I am honestly up for anything, even death at this point. :D So, yes please.
Handwaving: I don't have any specific plans here, but if anyone wants to handwave something, I'm up for it. I'd love to thread things, of course, but I can understand things get crazy and busy, so I'm open.
I'm putting all my monster ideas in another comment under this one in case I want to add more later. Please reply to this top level for plotting. Thanks!
Keith - Monster Ideas
- A tall man, burning, fast... if you chase him, you'll never reach him. You have this desire to go after him, to find him, to get him back. You're afraid to lose him. This represents Keith's dad and his grief over losing him when Keith was very young. However, while chasing him, he'll always lead you to a safe room.
- A woman, mysterious... there's no defined shape to her body. She seems to morph between various people you may know, but never really defined as someone in particular. She's hard to catch, hard to find, even. But, if you do catch her, she finally settles in shape into someone you recognize as a mother figure. This represents Keith's mom and his years of never knowing who she was. She will take you to a safe room.
- A black and white monster with glowing eyes... they shift between yellow and purple. He attacks with a blade of magenta light coming from the right arm. The arm is mutated and grotesque, oversized, metal. The metal goes from the entire shoulder all the way to the fingertips. The monster is mostly incoherent, but occasionally nitpicks your worst doubts about yourself, undermining any confidence you might have. If you fight him, the magenta light of the blade will, at some point, disappear, and the arm turns into a massive canon, firing magenta laser bolts. The light burns if it touches you, searing hot, and can slice through anything, leaving a melted mess in its wake. It's relentless in its fighting. The only way to defeat it is to cut off the right arm. This represents the clone of Shiro and how it forced Keith to fight it. As you're fighting, part of you wants desperately to "cure" the monster of whatever you think might be causing it to be so violent towards you.
- There are five different lions. Black, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow. Each of them will lead you to a safe room. The Black one is sure-footed and steady. He just brings you straight there (he might even kitten carry you in his mouth). The Red one is a little picky. She might lead you on a little chase around town before getting you to the room. Depends on her mood. The Green one is curious and tends to get distracted by interesting things along the way. You'll have to keep her focused. The Blue one is encouraging, giving you the sense that she wants you to find your place in the world. She's a bit of a mother hen type, and might even stop to groom you if you've just come from a rough fight. The Yellow one is a solid presence, and will let you ride on his back if you need to. He's a little slower than the others, but steady as a rock. All of them will fight alongside you and defend you. Together, they represent the parts Voltron itself, and are the defenders of Sleepers in Trench.
- There are monster versions of the lions. From a distance, it's hard to tell the difference. These versions are the same colors, but they're corrupted, almost zombie-like. The Black one will turn its back on you and try to abandon you to whatever other creatures are looking to do harm. If you try to follow, it will attack, sending out violet-colored stars like bullets from its mouth. The Red one is the fastest to attack. It's angry, and breathes fire. The Green one will likely ignore you unless you attract its attention. Then it will ensnare you in vines, slowly constricting them until you choke or get crushed. The Blue one judges you from afar, watching you. If it thinks you're a threat, it breathes ice, and will encase you in ice, freezing you to death if you can't break out in time. The Yellow one is the least likely to attack. However, if you do manage to rile it up, it will try to crush you under its massive weight after turning itself into living rock. These represent Keith's fear of failing as Voltron's leader.
- There is also a white lion. She can shift between benevolent and helpful, a healthy-looking lion that will lead you to a safe room. Or, a wasted zombie-like creature, snarling and growling, eager to rip your face off if you let her. Most of the time, she is the former and willing to protect and lead, but, if you have any doubt in your heart, she will appear as the monster of herself. This represents Allura and how Keith thought she had turned on him when he found out he was Galra. This is why the lion only becomes evil when she senses doubt. This can even happen during an interaction. She may initially appear as helpful, but if you begin to feel doubt of any kind, then she will turn on you. The only way she can be defeated is by conquering your doubt... otherwise, you might want to run.
- A massive dark cyclops. It screams at you, and you get this crushing sense of hopelessness, that anything you do is wrong, and all is lost. It can eject you from any room you're in with it. It is capable of sucking away any confidence you have in yourself and your abilities to survive this world. It cannot be defeated, but it can be left behind. This represents the drill instructor from the Garrison and how Keith got expelled.
- This large lizard has a prehensile tail it can use to grapple its victims. It's purple, but that's kind of hard to make out under all the burns and charring. It's dripping with ichor and blood, and has large claws. This represents Regris, another member of the Blade of Marmora who was killed in the explosion of a sabotaged battlecruiser during a mission Keith was on with him and Kolivan. Keith made it out, barely, but Regris did not, and Keith deeply regretted the loss of his fellow Blade and that he'd been unable to go back for him.
- Another reptilian-like creature, this one is capable of teleporting, the power manifesting with a blur of shadow each time it disappears. It stands on two legs, and can use blasts of dark energy to fire off at its target. It's fast, and hard to track when it teleports. This represents Macidus, a Galra druid Keith had to fight twice in canon. Keith was burned in the first fight on his right hand, and Macidus disappeared when Pidge broke through the wall with the Green Lion's head to rescue him. Macidus later was slowly luring in all the Blades by using a tortured and captive Kolivan as bait, and fought Keith again after showcasing all the swords of the other Blades he had killed. For Keith, this was a consequence of Voltron's fight with Lotor, that the jumping between realities they had done had cost them three years of being absent from the universe, and much of the work they had done to take down the Empire had been lost when various Galra military leaders took over worlds and became warlords, tearing the universe apart into more fighting.
- You get a strange message on your Omni, almost a distress call. You can't tell who it's from, but you're compelled to answer. When you arrive, the building the message came from looks abandoned and empty. Going inside to investigate definitely feels creepy, and, the more you explore and look for the message's source, the more you feel like you're being followed... tracked... hunted. You never quite see what it is, you just know that its there, and it wants you. No one else. In fact, you're pretty sure it doesn't care about anyone else with you. You can feel it. It moves fast, just large shapeless shadows on the edge of your vision. If you try to leave, the building is locked and you're trapped inside. The monster can only be defeated by trapping it in a room inside the building, and then destroying the room, whether by explosion or magical fire or something, but, as long as its free, it can't be hit by attacks. This monster represents the "Weapon" created by a Galra General using too much quintessence he couldn't control. Keith and Krolia (his mother) set it loose inside the base it was developed on while they were trying to escape. However, the creature was attuned in such a way that it only tracked other Galra to kill them, and no one else. The creature later found a way to escape the base they had left it on, and began making its way from Galra base to Galra base, slowly, and destroying them and killing all the Galra occupants inside. To defeat it, Keith used himself and another Galra as bait to lure it into a control room and locked it inside, destroying the room with it in there.
Darth Maul | Star Wars
Character Name: Darth Maul
Team-up or Solo Either/or! Maul's hard to scare but this is gonna test him given it's gonna pull from his background.
Monster Ideas: cw: Some of the following ideas will contain elements that pull on Maul's background as a child, specifically child abuse both mental and physical, and food deprivation.
- A tall, pale woman with black tattoos on her face that is clearly not human who weeps tears of blood and green ichor as she continuously asks where her children are, representing Maul's mother Talzin. She'll ignore anyone until they actually try to interact with her, at which point the green ichor starts to enter a person's lungs and burn them from the inside out. Fortunately, she is rather easy to take down with almost any weapon, dissipating into green smoke as she does.
- A gaping void of darkness rather like a black hole in nature about the size of a small car, representing the trauma Maul's had from people always leaving or abandoning him in his life. It's a terrifying abyss that feels like you will never escape from it. Surprisingly, characters will feel the urge to want to go inside it, for they can feel, hear, and sense the presence of their loved ones (dead, alive, basically as long as they're dearly missed they'll count) just beyond their grasp. The trick to defeating it is to embrace the darkness once a character is inside it and essentially face any negative emotions they might be feeling. The darkness will then let go of them, leaving them feeling more peaceful than before.
- A small, humanoid looking child that always appears to be in the shadows even when out in plain view, though the horns on the head and golden eyes make it a dead giveaway who this represents. Rather than being aggressive, the little shadow Zabrak is easily frightened, and when scared makes a piercing cry that affects eardrums and the mental state of a person both, feeling like it goes straight to their heart. This one can be defeated in one of two ways. Those who are kind to the being will find it is quite helpful and will lead them to a safe place where they can rest and catch their breath. It will watch over them until they are ready to go again and then disappear with a child's innocent giggle. But when someone is cruel to it, trying to make it go away or even unintentionally hurting it, it will reach out a hand and Force Choke the person to punish them, sometimes all the way to death.
- A monster that looks like a humanoid figure but when it opens up its mouth, it reveals a mouth full of sharp teeth big enough to swallow a person whole. This one represents the various times in Maul's life he's gone through food deprivation. While freaky, this one can be taken out easily with any sort of weapon.
- This last one is part-monster and part a force of nature. At times, a lightning storm will come upon a person but it's clearly sentient, toying with its victims as the lightning strikes close to them or just hard enough to cause pain but not kill. One can often hear maniacal cackling that comes from the sky and might hear whispered words in their ears telling them they're not good enough and never will be during these times. This one represents Maul's fear of his master Darth Sidious. The only way to escape this monster is to physically hide until the storm passes by.
Any CR or experiences you'd like: I'm up for just about anything! I'd LOVE to play around with both Maul's personal monsters and those of others, especially anything really psychological and dives deep into the psyche. This is going to tie nicely into a canon update I'm planning in a few months where Maul is forced to face his copious amounts of trauma in canon, so this is going to help him start the work of facing everything in his past. He's also a key to defeating any of his personal monsters if nothing else works. If he can face what shaped them head-on and acknowledge them, they'll instantly disappear and be vanquished.
Handwaving: If we want to handwave the initial meet-up of "Oh noes we're in a new freaky world!" and just dive right into trauma, I'm fine with that, but I do want to play the majority of this out.
luna lovegood | harry potter
Character Name: Luna Lovegood
Team-up or Solo Either/or!
Monster Ideas:
Any CR or experiences you'd like: Luna's usually the one helping with everyone else, and she's a pretty formidable fighter. But girl's been hit hard with the trauma to be left with some pretty deep wounds. This time she's going to need some help. I kinda like the idea of this being her face off with Bellatrix she was meant to have in canon, fighting with Hermione and Ginny. So someone helping her fight the creature/boss, but also she needs someone to pull her out from PTSD-hell she'll be diving straight into the deep-end with. She'll be going into mental breakdown hard.
Handwaving: I'm cool with things, for the most part. Let's talk!
Echo | Pandora Hearts | late and overthought
Character Name: Echo
Team-up or Solo Team ups would be best, but she can handle most of this alone.
Monster Ideas:
Marionettes – Basic monster encounters. They are mostly blank wooden marionettes in various states of decay (or not), including how many of their strings are attached, and those lead into the unseen of the fog or a ceiling. There is very faded paint on them, and what can be made out will resemble whoever is looking at it (i.e. you will see yourself), although the details are so faded it may take a few encounters to start noticing this. They wield knives, daggers, or whatever sharp weapon they've managed to find in the area. Symbolizes Echo being considered an emotionless doll by practically everyone and her being in a long line of puppets under Duldee's control.
Chains – Basic monster encounters. Skeletal birds, about medium-sized in the avian family. They have no legs; their torsos are fused to the broken shell of an egg which is razorsharp. Their wings are long metal chains, which they will use to whip or ensnare their targets. They are also very hot to the touch; they leave burns which also become a prickly heat rash making them itchy as well as painful to touch.
Chessmaster – Single monster. It looks like a huge queen piece made of flesh, with two sets of long spindly arms emerging from it. Its eyes are different colors, the right red and the left gold. It holds a Marionette along the front of its body with one set of arms almost possessively, the head tilted just next to its own. One arm is pressed against its chest while the other is typically wrapped around the waist area. The Chessmaster uses it as it sees fit, first infusing it with poison from its mouth, then perhaps using it as a shield, throwing all of it at you or dismembering it to use parts of it as projectiles or a weapon. When one is used up, another Marionette emerges from inside and the process begins all over again. The Chessmaster may also swipe at you with its free arms, and the tips are sharp and also poisonous. This is for the abuse she suffered under Vincent and how he only ever saw her as a tool.
Blood Squid – Single stalker monster. Large for a squid but an average size for a person. As the name suggests, its shape resembles a squid which is almost completely covered in and dripping blood. When you first get near the beach, it will emerge from the water, slowly walking toward you using its two tentacles like legs. You may not even notice it at first. A humanoid pair of red eyes can be easily made out. Once it is within a few yards/meters of you, it will occasionally say "Echo!" in a distorted and almost pained voice. People who knew Oz might be able to recognize his voice behind the distortion. Its eight arms take the shape of two scythes, and once it's in reach it takes frequent but broad swings indiscriminately. As already implied, this one symbolizes the blame she's put on herself both for Oz's death in Trench and his call back to the sea not long after. Echo probably won't be of much help in battle. She's not seeing the same thing as you.
Decoy – Single monster found near Sanguine Graveyard (and/or the Pandora House, they're pretty close together). It resembles a large, burly humanoid training dummy like you see in video games. The target, on the left side of its stomach, bears a puncture wound from some sort of blade and is bleeding. It is surrounded by pungent smoke, making it difficult to spot until it's right by you. It attacks by extending long chains from its back, aiming for your limbs or any other good place to hold you still before strangling you. This one is the guilt she still has over letting her guard down and not being able to stop Noise from taking over and fatally wounding Oscar Vessalius.
Flesh Mirror/Puppeteer – Single monsters, found inside somewhere. Styled like a final boss but doesn't have to be. The first monster looks like a full-body mirror, except it's really part of a full body. Flesh surrounds the surface and feet stick out the bottom, arms come out the sides and a head similar to a Marionette's that's also made of flesh is on top. It has eyes, which have a wild look in them, and eerie, cruel laughter can be heard. One hand holds a large knife, and in spite of the awkward shape it moves very quick and nimbly. When defeated it all shatters much like a normal mirror, and the pieces will suddenly snap back on strings that were unseen until just then. A giant monster emerges from beneath the water (which stays as a surface you can stand on), a sickly gray color with hollow eyes and a wide crazed grin showing off its pointed teeth. The pieces of the previous monster become completely wrapped by a large fishing net the monster holds above you, and also attached to the net is a control bar for marionettes. Multiple Marionette enemies hang from the strings and attack you, and once one is broken, worn down, or has just been out for a while it is dropped into the water and replaced. The Puppeteer also will shoot out large ribbon-like tendrils from under the water and try to wrap you in them and drag you under. It's possible to break out, but it's also possible to drown. Symbolizes a crapton of things.
Any CR or experiences you'd like: Getting Echo to realize how certain things in her past have affected her and maybe learn what some of her feelings are is my main goal, followed closely by an opportunity for others to learn more about her. I'd like her to make peace with as many of the things she feels guilty about as possible. I also think it'd be good for her to understand how awful things really were for her if only so she can work toward finding more healthy relationships, and maybe even start to get an idea how to move forward with her life as an actual person because she's been very stalled on that front. Most of these she can confront fairly well in the sense of combat but she may need help on the emotional side, especially on the feelings she still doesn't understand. The Oz-guilt monster is definitely going to make her a mess and she may not be able to do any of that herself, so that could go a variety of ways depending on what happens.
Handwaving: Sure, just contact me! I'm especially fine with handwaving traveling through town/encounter the mobs/basic attacking portions with the longer boss fights because that's just gonna be thread padding. You are also free to control any of the monsters as you see fit as long as it's in my guidelines even if I've already written something for them! I may need to write the death scenes for one or two of the boss ones though; I didn't list everything I came up with.
Xerxes Break | Pandora Hearts
Chains: These are the "demons" of the Pandora Hearts world, creatures of the Abyss whose primary motivation in life is to make Contracts with suckers who have wishes. This gives them the strength to exist in the real world, whereupon they manipulate their Contractors into sacrificing people to feed to them, claiming this will give them the strength to bring that person to the Core of the Abyss where their wish will be granted. This is, by and large, a giant crock of lies. Contractors typically go insane long before their Contracts are finished, and if they manage to complete them before they're taken down by Pandora, they die upon reaching the Abyss and become Chains themselves.
TL;DR Contractors are magic serial killers driven by the demons they've bound themselves to, motivated by wishes.
Why is the place overrun with these? Because in the distant past, Break was one such Contractor, and through dumb stupid coincidence was the one sucker who survived and did in fact get his wish granted. All that did was make everything worse, he's hated himself for all that murder and such ever since, and one of his primary motivations in life is preventing others from making his same mistakes. Given that those mistakes were focused around an inability to let go of the past and move on, this has been relevant again in the year and a half he's spent in Trench, grieving his old life.
There are a number of ways to handle this scenario:
- Break can show up to disrupt the Contract before it is formed, and subsequently talk your character through their wish. He was a professional hunter of these things for many years, and he has a solid sense of who among those he's met in Trench would have been a Contractor in his own world and why. If he can't get through to your character, he'll attack the Chain.
- If a character denies a Chain, either on their own or with Break's help, the Chain will attack, and Break can assist.
- If you want the fight but not the wish baggage, an NPC Contractor can try to kill you.
- We do have a deus ex machina in one of the helpers, so if things really go to shit we can call on it!
The beauty in using Chains for this plot is that each one is different and has a different power, and will seek out the Contractor who suits them best. All are based on characters and creatures from the Wonderland novels. There are some canon ones to choose from, but plenty of others that are never really defined. So, if this is something that interests you, let me know what you're looking for and i will be happy to help make up some custom shit just for you.
Most of the truly Break-centric monsters will be in closed threads, but I have a couple that will have open prompts:
The Pool of Tears: This one exists not as a creature per se but as what is essentially black ice that conceals a pool of saltwater. Symbolizes Break's fear of and preoccupation with drowning. It's difficult to get out of not because the water is that deep, but because once it has you, the abrupt weight of intense grief holds you underneath the surface -- because grief is an emotion that strikes without warning, immobilizing. Characters who fall in, whether it's your character or Break, will need to be pulled out, and will struggle to breathe until enough good old-fashioned hurt/comfort has been applied.
The White Queen: Corrupt White Alice who pulls people into her room of chattering dolls and toys, who will try to take something from her victim unless offered a wish of her own. Represents Break's complicated feelings about White Alice and having devoted his life to her quest -- Alice was the very Will of the Abyss he sought out to have his wish granted, and in exchange for that, he accepted her plea to figure out how to set her free. This task took fifteen years and Break ultimately died for it, and while he doesn't regret it, his time in Trench has cruelly emphasized his regrets about the way devoting his life to that quest resulting in holding those he came to love at arm's length.
HELPERS
- Reim: Break's best friend and, let's be real, handler from home. Shows up primarily to dispense information and to point in the direction of the safe houses, but doesn't help in combat. May or may not turn up with a gaggle of Pandora grunts if more manpower is needed.
- Mad Hatter: The deus ex machina of the Chains, this one was hand crafted especially for Break by the Will of the Abyss herself, and it doesn't need to eat people. Its power is to destroy anything and everything related to the Abyss, be that dusting a Chain or more elegant tasks like breaking through a Chains power in the case of things like illusions.
- Shelly Rainsworth: Shows up to provide a healing boost in the event of injuries. Generally found in the saferooms, and most always when Break is either absent or asleep.
SAFEROOMS: Marked by gold butterflies rather than blue, because of Break's strong attachment to Ange Ushiromiya.
- The Rainsworth garden: A door in a stone wall opens up into the sort of magnificent garden you might find in the estates of the wealthy in Europe, all perfectly tended rosebushes and beautiful marble statues and even a nice gazebo. The temperature is pleasantly warm, the sun is shining, and there is a pleasant little table with a pleasant little tea setting waiting to go. The tea is gently flavored and delicious, and there are all sorts of cute little sandwiches and cookies. Honestly you should probably just stay here.
- The Pandora House movie room: This is just straight up a piece of Break's house in Trench. They keep a room set up with a screen and such for frequent movie nights -- movies are terribly exciting when you are a rich Victorian and if you want to see a show you have to put on your nice pants and go to the theater. The couches are fantastic for napping, there are cookies and hot chocolate on the coffee table, and an omni projecting onto the screen cycles through some of Break's favorite comfort movies: Beauty and the Beast, Pride and Prejudice (The Version With Miss Knightley), and Sleeping Beauty.
- Ye olde generic tavern: A blast from Break's distant past, this is where Break used to hang out with his knight buddies in his early twenties. There's a warm fire, cozy lighting, and hearty stews and warm bread set out if you need something more substantial than tea snackies. There's also a certain table that seems drenched in shadow, though it shouldn't be. And, though the tavern is empty, now and again the echoes of fiddle music and laughter drift past.
Any CR or experiences you'd like: Honestly what I don't want is much more important -- no negative CR that has no chance of going anywhere, please. I just had my first and only baby this past December, recovery has been long and hard, and while my little one is healthy and energetic at first glance she has some underlying medical stuff we're still chasing down and it's stressful as fuck. Given that, I have zero patience whatsoever for characters who are antagonistic for the joy of it, even knowing it's only fiction. Thanks in advance for respecting this.
Handwaving: Yes, I am happy to work things out! Just come talk to me about it, so I know what your character is finding out about Break's world. If Break hasn't met your character at all yet, however, I'd prefer that we thread out any interactions that would get more than an "oh hey I saw you briefly in passing that one time" later on.