Assignment: Still Life
General Summary
The Circle of Chaos & Ash is called in to investigate the strange disappearance of a post-mortem photographer's deceased wife. Through their investigation, they learn that the camera used to photograph the woman was actually an artifact called the Eye of Emrys, which has the capability to return the dead to life. In order to protect the city of Newfaire from a rising force of undead known as Shutters, the circle members raced against the clock to return all of the Shutters to their final resting place.
This assignment took place on Late Autumn 6, 1907
Pre-Session
Charlotte "Charlie" McGrath found a strange set of notes tucked into the pages of the book she had stolen from the Chapter house in Assignment: The Light Eater of Bridleborne. She recognized some of the text as being in written in Ancient Fairen, but was unable to read it herself. She gave the notes to Eddy McGrath, who immediately recognized that the text in Ancient Fairen was coded, but did not have time at the present to put to deciphering it.
The notes Charlie found
Hook
A pallid, feminine hand hangs slack and unmoving until, ever so gently, a man weaves a near-invisible length of thread between the fingers. Each touch between them is one of deep love. The threads pull the hand into a forced pose. A quill is gingerly placed between the fingers. Another length of thread is pulled taught. The woman's face, seemingly tranquil, is devoid of life. The man's hands tip her head ever so slightly, then add an ornate hairpin to her dark curls. He flexes his hands, open and closed, open and closed. She's perfect.
Postmortem Photographer Oscar Enfield takes a step back from his subject. Tearfully, he says, "You're as beautiful as the day I married you, Nora." The cadaver says nothing in return. He stares through the frame at Nora, frozen in her favorite pastime: writing poetry. She is perfectly situated, staring intently and forever at a poem she'll never complete. He snaps the picture--FLASH
The front door jingles, reluctantly drawing him out of the room. When Oscar returns about 25 minutes later, he's holding a large box. But he drops it when he spots the empty chair where his dead wife once sat. Cast onto the seat, as if her corpse were still in place, lies her ink-black shadow. As Oscar runs from the empty chair, a small spatter of blood sprays onto the back window.
The Call
All of the members of The Circle of Chaos & Ash are summoned by a Mr. James Astell, a courier for Candela Obscura. He finds each of them in their preferred settings:
- Charlie and Eddy are in the the back room of their home, going over The Books of their family business together.
- Arthur Hurley and Cy Barret are within the library of Briarbank College. Arthur is holding office hours while he grades students' work, though nobody is attending. Cy is lounging in one of the armchairs, reading a book as he fiddles with his pocketwatch.
- Pierce is in a bar in The Silverslip, drinking a fake gin & tonic as he eavesdrops on the political figures of the city. He overhears a rumor that the Premier's daughter has dealings with The Red Hand.
Arrival
Upon arriving at 32 Green St. in Briar Green, the younger members of the Circle of Chaos & Ash immediately set about investigating the room while Arthur speaks to and tries to comfort Oscar Enfield. Pierce uses his Bleed Detector, which operates like a news camera, to take a photo of the room. Any occurance of Bleed will take the form of distorted images and film errors on the photograph.
While he waits for the picture to develop, Cy and Eddy both investiage the camera while Charlie looks elsewhere in the room. Cy is able to find a false bottom to the camera that reveals a strange sigil, which he then passes to Eddy. With his knowledge of the occult and magickal sigils, Eddy is able to determine that the markings on this camera have to do with "eternal life", but also steals life energy. Cy accidentally sets of the camera and it snaps a picture of the room. Though nothing seems to happen, Cy does feel a bit of a drain of his energy.
The Bleed Detector photo reveals that there is a small amount of residual Bleed on the shadow of Oscar's late wife, but a great deal on the camera itself. Oscar informs the Circle that he bought the camera at The Cracked Lens in Groundswell, and insists on joining them so that he can set things right.
As they are leaving Mr. Enfield's home, everyone but Eddy and Oscar notices the body of a dead rabbit that seems to have had a bite taken out of it. Eddy has elected to be the one to carry the camera.
Exploration
The group travels to 57 Cinnabar St. in Groundswell, to The Cracked Lens, a small camera shop owned by Sara Khalil (she/they). Mx. Khalil is very forthcoming and allows them into the back room to see the box that the camera came in. Cy and Charlie go in first while the rest of the group is still speaking with the store owner, but without a clear direction in the extremely densely packed room, they quickly find themselves feeling awkward and self-conscious in each other's presence.
The pair are saved from an awkward encounter as Mx. Khalil and the rest of their group enter the back room and retrieve the box. Pierce was able to find a false bottom at the bottom of the box, which contained pages of notes and diagrams, including a note written by Sara's grandfather, detailing the dangers of the camera. It reads as follows:
In order to protect anyone else who may stumble upon this wretched thing, I leave a warning. The Eye of Emrys is a curse, which must never be used again.
When it first came into my possession, I thought it a fine camera that seemed to photograph well. Mere days after I had bought the damned thing, I was called upon to create a postmortem photograph of Father Joseph Vienna. The session went as normal, and I began packing my belongings.
In a blink, the priest awakened from the dead and grabbed hold of me. Father Vienna pressed his face up against mine, his teeth clicking hungrily. He let out a rasp, then began to inhale. I felt my very essence being torn asunder, pulled into the nightmarish maw of his animated corpse. To this day, I still feel a piece of myself missing. My sense of self-preservation outstripped my sense of dread and I threw him off me. In our scuffle, we knocked into the Eye of Emrys. Falling caused the camera to go off, and the body went limp in my arms. This device can awaken the dead, but it seems it can also send them back. It's too dangerous, and must be destroyed. the consequences of cavalier misuse cannot be overstated.
As they were in the process of trying to decipher the other notes they found, screams erupted from outside, accompanied by the barking of dogs.
Escalation I
As they ran outside, the Circle discovered a group of undead dogs that were chasing and attacking the citizens of Groundswell. With their newfound knowledge of the Eye of Emrys and its ability to stop the undead creatures it creates, Eddy took over using the camera to take pictures of the dogs and stop them. It was a learning process, with Charlie helping him reload the slides while Pierce fired a shot into the air to distract the dogs and Cy fought them off physically. Arthur made certain that Mr. Enfield and Mx. Khalil stayed safe inside The Cracked Lens.
Once the fighting was over and the dogs were motionless on the ground, Oscar emerged from within the store with his ledger in hand. With horror, he realized that nearly all of the people he had taken post-mortem photographs of were buried in The Sacred Ascension Cemetery in The Shriveline.
The sight of the undead was too much for Arthur and triggered terrible memories of his past, and he directed his anger towards Oscar for so foolishly inflicting such an unnatural condition on people. He demanded Oscar return home so that the Circle could "clean up his mess". Defeated, Oscar turned over his ledgar and left to return home. Piece called for a car to bring their Circle to the cemetery as quickly as possible.
Climax
The Circle arrived at the cemetery just as the corpses, called Shutters began emerging from their graves. In order to prevent them from escaping, Arthur quickly set to chaining the gates closed. Pierce took over using the Eye of Emrys so as not to put additional strain on Eddy, adn Eddy took over the role of reloading the camera slides. Cy and Charlie took position as the front-line defenders of their group, and as a result took damage from the Shutters that managed to get too close.
After securing the gate, Arthur climbed onto the top of a mausoleum with some help from Cy, where he could get a vantage point of nearly all of the shutters in the cemetery. Pierce and Eddy were quickly running out of slides, and they would not have enough to stop all of the Shutters from where they stood. Charlie acted fast, taking the Eye of Emrys from Pierce and ran it over to where Arthur was positioned. While she ran, Eddy and Pierce drew the attention of the Shutters away from her and into a more dense position to make getting the frame easier for Arthur. He was able to take the photo, and all of the Shutters fell to the ground.
Charlie picked up an old wedding band from one of the corpses before they left.
Resolution
The Circle returned to their chapter house, where they updated Sylvia Reed on what had occurred and turned the Eye of Emrys over to her so it could be held by Candela Obscura for safe keeping.
Circle Resources Used
- Pierced used a Stitch & Refresh
- Eddy used a Stitch, and was therefore unable to spend any time deciphering the notes
- Charlie used a Refresh
- Cy used a Refresh
- Arthur used a Train
Character(s) interacted with
- Oscar Enfield
- Sara Khalil
Copyright: This product was created using the Darrington Press Community Gaming License. The Illuminated Worlds Standard Resource Document is owned and copyrighted by Darrington Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
Attribution: This product is based on the following Public Game Content created and owned by Darrington Press: Illuminated Worlds Standard Resource Document, Darrington Press, LLC, 2023, available at https://darringtonpress.com.
License: The Public Game Content identified above is licensed via the Darrington Press Community Gaming License available at https://darringtonpress.com.
Modification: The Public Game Content has not been modified by the author.
