In our version of Duskwall…
I love those creative spaces Harper creates for groups to fill, making every game unique. So I wanted to ask you about those little details that make Duskwall your own. Care to share?
In our version of Duskwall…”
* Red Sashes have an “eastern” look, the Temple of the Path of Echoes have a pagoda-like architecture and the duelists live in a “dojo” but they use more middle eastern outfits and duel techniques.
** Each “dojo” is protected by an ancestral sword that holds a sliver of each swordmaster that has wielded it ( #theMalkavs stole one).
** The Temple of the Path of Echoes is protected by armor animated by the spirits of brave iruvian warriors bound by ghost locks.
* The Leaky Bucket is a neutral ground for all factions to share. It’s also a melting pot for people around the isles to gather, iruvian lanterns hang beside sevorian witch-candles and electric lights. Currently the tavern is composed of three different buildings, one original and two annexed. Its neutrality is sponsored by the Crows.
** Only has female waitresses.
** It is owned by Lorette.
** It has an exclusive gambling table placed under a stuffed crow.
** It’s the only area where prostitutes can work independently inside Crow’s Foot, otherwise they work for the Lampblacks or else…
* All spirit masks look the same, making it hard to recognize Whispers.
* There is a secret net of canals under Crow’s Foot only Gondolier knew. A crew of smugglers working for the Lampblacks have stolen a map picturing this net. The Hive have purchased another map from the Gondoliers, and are pushing for complete hold.
** After midnight the spirits start haunting the waters, and a Whisper is needed to navigate safely the hidden canals.
** Duskwall waters are filled with the bodies. Thousands of spirits dating before the Cataclysm plague the depths but are bound to the water. Falling to the canals is a death sentence. Bodies disappear never to be seen again.
** With the help of the Gondoliers the Hive has set a series of secret caches in the crypts below Crow’s Foot, that can be accessed though the abandoned canals below the city and some sewers.
* Hive workers can be identified by their yellow girdles.
* Iruvia has (or had) a royal family. The old painting #theMalkavs stole numbers at least 20.
* There’s a haunted library at the end of Narrow st.
** it stores ancient documents from the first days after the Cataclysm. The Grimoire of Saint Vestine is among them.
** the Grimoire holds the spirit of St. Vestine. Thanks to #TheWarts It is now in possession of Vladimir Kristov, a successful historian and novelist.
** It is run by six possessed librarians occupied by five spirits. They can be recognize by their height, grey robes and beards and blue fire lamps.
** it is warded by runes that alert the whisper librarian.
* the City Watch won’t bring order to Crow’s Foot until the war between the Lampblacks and Red Sashes ends, making it a haven for criminal pursuits.
* the Wester Family, a low ranking noble house with people on the Council paint themselves as extravagant and occult.
**Lady Remira Wester stages illegal seances with smuggled electroplasm, charging a fee to any noblemen who wants to take part on their depraved parties.
**All noblemen are talking about the mysterious Madame La Mort (actually #theMalkavs disguised as medium performers) and the last seance at Remira’s house where the murderous spirit of Lord Veleris Wester manifested and threatened the guests.
***Lord Veleris is pissed.
** Lord Veleris has being enslaved by Lovelia the Whisper and now acts as her personal murder-ghost.
** Now with proof Inspector Morlan can raid Lady Remira’s house and bring her decadent clients to justice.
* Inspector Emeric Morlan is bound by bureaucratic red tape. The Wester family has some important connections among judges and councilmen. There is a trial waiting for happen.
* #theMalkavs discovered that the Morlan family has some kind of grudge against the Westers.
* There’s a ghostly information net that Whispers can consult, not too different from eavesdropping rumors. The dead can talk.
** Using this net opens up your mind to any ghostly influence up there. You are easier to find by vengeful spirits in there.
* Being attacked by ghosts deals both ethereal and physic damage.
** Lovelia has a beautiful frostbite scar on her chest to show it. Whispers can be recognized by this kind of marks.
* There is a race of Time Daemons charged with regulating the time flow in the material world. This are atemporal beings, invisible to most humans. Not inherently evil nor benign.
** Time Daemons are depicted as lions wearing iron crowns.
** One of these demons occupies an ancient mausoleum in the city graveyard.
*** The trapped time-daemon reached out to Nienna, warning her of dark times to come, implying that there is another time-daemon on the lose and alerting her to keep an eye for the house of clocks.
* There is a Deathland Scavengers warehouse on Crow’s Foot stacked with haunted items and rogue spirits.
** the Deathland Scavengers brought an idol from the Brokend Lands that holds a daemon, it is now trapped by a seal drawn by a whisper of #theWarts
* the seal was designed by Roethe, a demon in disguise, and can be only broken by him.
** there is a possessed broken-wolf on the lose. It became known as “The Wolf of Crow’s Foot.”
* Acaste, high priestess of the Forgotten Gods thinks that this wolf is a servant sent by the Lord of Beasts to empower the cult and is trying to capture it.
* The wolf is actually possessed by numerous ghosts. Warped and corrupted it haunts the streets of Crow’s Foot.
* The cult of The Forgotten Gods is a syncretistic religion that merges divinities, spirits and gods from before the Cataclysm.
** It is mainly a death cult, focusing on the those elements of the old religions. There is no single God of Death, but all gods are different aspects of death itself.
** The cult is run as a matriarchy.
I will update this post after more play.
