Ghost essence infused paints. Animated, possessed paintings for the rich and powerful.
The artists of Doskvol have evolved their craft in the dim, maddening twilight of the broken world. Why paint a picture of your deceased loved one, when you can bind their soul into a scene of your choice, and admire them forever?
This requires specialized canvases and paints, and is highly illegal, of course. This is where your crew comes in.
What could possibly go wrong, easiest coin ever, right?
Easy money Ville S!
At first, I read that as “Ghost essence infused pants.” Which might be a whole different game.
The very first job I ran was for Mylera Klev. She wanted the crew to steal a portrait of the Weeping Lady from Baszo. When the crew broke into the vault and found the painting, they discovered it had been painted using pigments infused with Leviathan blood. And it moved, Hogwarts style (however, it did not talk).
My players (Daring Shadows, specializing in burglary) did a score last week to steal a much-hyped new oil painting from an art gallery… Rumor among the occult community was that the painting was done by a man possessed by the ghost of a long-dead famous artist.
The painting itself is just a solid square of black paint on canvas. Nothing too crazy, maybe noteworthy in an abstract avant-garde sort of way… But the hype around its upcoming reveal was all about its supposed origin.
Long story short, the crew got in, circumvented security, and got to the painting. The Lurk started to cut the painting out of its frame, and I called for a roll since there was still a patrol making the rounds and whatnot. We settled on a risky Finesse roll, and he came up with a 4. So he got the painting out cleanly, but as he did so… Minor harm: Rattled. The matte black paint shifted and swirled before his eyes, taking on color and shapes. I asked him to describe what he saw in the painting that unnerved him so much, which led to some cool character development stuff.
They wound up leaving with the painting right away, instead of sticking around to steal more art like they’d originally planned. They’re holding off on trying to fence this thing, and in downtime the Whisper has started a clock to study and attune with it (a complication in her first roll led to the painting shifting for her as well, leading to another cool insight into what makes her tick).
Been thinking a lot about where I want to go with this. Originally it was going to be just a minor flavor thing — this was their first job on their own, chosen for how daring it would be. The painting has turned out to be far more interesting than I first figured, so it’s clear that it needs to lead somewhere worthwhile now.