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| Accept the mystery, and receive their help... |
Notes: So, the
exact extent of the powers of the Other Folk is left somewhat open.
The idea is that they are truly capable of anything that falls within
their purview. Those that play the role of the vessel are given
preference when the Other Folk are granting requests, though others
may beseech the manifested being. The rules for being a vessel are as
follows:
OSR
The vessel must make a save versus Poison. A success
means that their body is able to handle the stress of their
possession. A failure results in the loss of 1D10 temporary points of
Constitution, 1 point will return each day the vessel spends resting.
A critical failure results in the Constitution loss being permanent,
they are only able to be returned by spells like Miracle and Wish.
Crimson
Dragon Slayer
The rules work exactly like the OSR rules.
Dungeon
World
The vessel must make a Constitution based check. On a
10+, the vessel is able to handle the stress of the change cause by
the Other Folk. On a 7-9, the vessels loses 1D10 temporary points of
Constitution, 1 point will return each day the vessel spends resting.
On a 6 or less, the Constitution loss is permanent, the points can
only be returned by the cleric spell Repair.
 |
| Miracles are free, their help always comes with a cost. |
Tonight's
Guest
1) The Grins: Appearance
– The vessel's expression slowly changes to a wide smile,
usually from one of terrified awe. Soon, however, the smile spread
beyond what should be physically possible. Stretching out to wrap
around the jaw and cheeks to touch each ear. The grin becomes taller
as well, growing up to swallow nose and eyes until there is nothing
but hair, forehead, and grin. The teeth remain the same size, but
they grow in number until teeth are layered over one another and roll
back in rows down the vessel's throat. Behavior –
Condescension and false joviality drip from every utterance in a
voice that fluctuates between the deepest basso profundo to the
highest falsetto. He offers desires of hunger and lust, and asks for
very little. A favor, not now, but later. Later, when the buyer is
comfortable and secure. Later, when the buyer has ever-so-much more
to lose.
2) The Brick Wall Boy: Appearance
– The vessel's physical proportions slowly take on those of a
child, rounding what once was sharp and firming what once was flab.
Their hair grows, or shortens, into a blonde mop and their eyes turn
a piercing blue. Soon the skin takes on a ocher color and then a
rough, brick-like texture. Lines of mortar appear in regular
intervals along the body, while the floors creak under the new sac of
bricks weight. Behavior – Playful, innocent,
flighty, inattentive, and cruel. The Brick Wall Boy embodies every
stereotype of children, both the positive and the monstrous. He
offers protection and separation, building hidden barriers between
the seeker and the things they wish to avoid. The payment is usually
some bauble or trinket, or even a piece of candy. Whatever he wants,
the vessel never has it, and the journey to find the item quickly
becomes a complicated mess. Stores that used to sell the item no
longer carry it, an item the character had seen around frequently is
now no where to be found. The journey usually ends after a long
fruitless search, and the item's price is now far more than it
usually is.
3) Mister Stitches: Appearance
– The vessel's clothes begin to twist tightly against the their
body, filling the room with the sound of choking and ripping cloth.
Soon, clothes are unraveling, their threads swirling around the
vessel's body. Threads multiply and wrap around the vessel's body,
binding loosely around their torso and tightly around their limbs.
Halos of thread surround the transformed vessel, the halo surging and
receding with the rhythm of its voice. A nudist attempted to become
the vessel for Mister Stitches once, Waylon and the street-folk
refuse to speak about the incident. Behavior – A
mass of nervous energy, it paces about the room as it rapidly
narrates its own actions if left alone. When spoken to, Mister
Stitches has the unnerving habit of walking around those addressing
him. He speaks in a rapid monotone, his conversations linking topics
without concern as to how they relate to one another. Mister Stitches
offers those that beseech him the ability to bind people or concepts
to their identity. Want to be though of as charming, handsome,
intelligent, or talented? Mister Stitches can oblige, though people
won't be able to say why they think these things about the
individual. Want a new best friend, lover, husband, or wife? Mister
Stitches is the perfect match maker. The new love can't say why they
enjoy the individual's company, only that they would stay with the
vessel forever. All that Mister Stitches asks is for the individual
to separate themselves from something in their lives. Quitting a job,
ending a relationship, or removing an appendage, fulfilling Mister
Stitches' requirements are usually painful.
4) Our Lady of Neon: Appearance
– The vessel's skin begins to darken until it is the color of
night, the skin even and smooth like silk. The beauty of female
vessels is enhanced, lending them an almost divine beauty. The
appearance of males softens, giving them an androgynous, yet
pleasing, appearance. Soon color appears, at first just star-like
pinpoints of luminous neon color. After moments, the color spreads,
flowing over the vessel's skin in a riot of bright geometric shapes.
Their eyes are the last to change, irises taking on varying bright
colors in concentric rings. Behavior – Our
Lady of Neon, or just Lady Neon, focuses her attention making
situations more bearable. Just as neon light can beautify a dirty
alley on a dark night, she seeks to make a situation more bearable
without any intrinsic change. Lady Neon makes situations more
bearable through bolstering a person's tolerance to it, increasing a
person's patience or ability to tolerate pain. She is, by far, the
most benevolent of the Other Folk. The costs for her help are light,
though she does ask for something in return for her assistance as it
seems some kind of intrinsic quality of the Other Folk. Lady Neon's
price is for a person to bear something new, without her support.
This new difficulty is incredibly minor, such as minor tinnitus or a
paper cut that will not heal. Her behavior, while possessing a
vessel, is often described as kind and nurturing.
5) Mister Sandman: Appearance
– The vessel's skin becomes rough and grainy, the hues of their
body shifting to light browns and khaki. Soon their facial features
soften, losing definition across their entire body, until their form
resembles a wind-eroded statue of their former self. The shapes of
their body shift with each movement, like piled sand constantly
sliding and reforming to hold a particular shape. A whispering sound
surrounds them, accompanying every movement no matter how subtle.
Behavior – Mister Sandman prefers to play the
character of a small-town family doctor, even going so far as to
mimic a southern lilt to his whisper voice. His behavior is friendly,
even when threatening, veiling his threats as advice or gentle
warnings. He offers the veil of dreams, allowing individuals to drape
the fantasy over reality. While Lady Neon may make a situation more
bearable by slightly altering feelings and perception, Mister Sandman
fully replaces feelings and perceptions. A garbage strewn alley can
become a well kept suburban street, an addiction ravaged body can be
that of Mister or Miss America. In essence, Mister Sandman sells lies
that persist beyond thoughts and into reality. A person will still
perceive danger, and can very well be harmed or killed. The danger,
however, takes on a fantastic form to fit the individual's fantasy. A
sore covered, and knife wielding, drug addict can become a sword
swinging black-knight. An abusive spouse, can become a brooding
beauty, making their hurtful actions truly dramatic as in the movies.
What Mister Sandman asks for in return are the dreams of the 'buyer'.
While sleeping without dreaming may be easy to give away, the
imagination that is also taken can be sorely missed. Books become
mere words, stories become a disconnected series of events, and
ambition fades away. After paying the Sandman's price, people become
the two-dimensional characters on the movie screens that they envied,
without anything more than what is easily presented.
6) The Good Doctor: Appearance
– The vessel's clothes begin to lose color, while the fabric
taking on a perfectly pressed appearance, the creases and seams
starched. Clothing then changes to a physicians coat and scrubs. The
vessel's face slowly becomes more and more luminous, until its shine
obscures the vessels facial features and blinds anyone looking
directly at them. The Good Doctor's appearance is neither male or
female, the light making it impossible to read the physical
characteristics of the being. Its voice thin and reedy, though
without a hint as to the gender. Behavior – The
Good Doctor's demeanor is supremely cold, but also perfectly
professional, its only concern being the job at hand. The Doctor
offers physical change, whatever is desired by the 'patient'. The
drawback, or cost, to the procedure is that the Doctor gets final say
on the final form of the requested change. One might request to
become younger, the Doctor decides how far the clock is turned back.
A request for beauty will always be fulfilled, but by whose standards
is up to the Good Doctor. A payment is never asked for, the Doctor
'just wants to help'. The final drawback to the Doctor's assistance
is the possibility of addiction to the change the Doctor brings.
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| This is the motto of every building in Noir Weights. |
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