The Metropolis Cluster

[HyperionSol]

This idea hit me a while back and I'm putting it on paper between my day to day life and other projects. Most Domains have options for urban horror, but I didn't get the feel that there was much of an option for it beyond Paridon and Timor with maybe Borca and Dementlieu offering options. My theme for this cluster and first Domain are an urban setting with things which should not be frightening being turned to horror.

The Metropolis Cluster

The Metropolis Cluster is a grouping of Domains that consist of pieces or entire cities which expand over large tracts of land rather than open rural provincial areas such as the lands of other Domains. Altogether, the Domains appear to be one massive city that appears like a sprawling metropolis, hence the name of the Cluster.

Each Domain makes up a section of the city, but each part has a different aesthetic appearance, appearing like a different time period. Despite the different appearances, the people of the Domains merely consider themselves as part of ‘The City.’ Despite their cultural differences and their ways of doing things, the people just see others in the neighboring Domains as ‘just how they do things.' Despite technology between the different Domains, unless the Domains share a cultural level, they do not share it even if a Domain might benefit from it, finding the technology either too antiquated/outdated it was or too frivolous or for the lazy.

This Cluster remains all but isolated from the rest of the Demiplane. Mistways which lead to this Cluster are rare, appearing only in Renaissance Domains and usually in alleys, sewers, or other places where there is only the surroundings of a city. The pattern in which they appear is hard to predict, appearing when it seems the moon shines through an alley, or by following a rat. Any nonsensical means involving pure urban environments seems to trigger the mistway into the Metropolis Cluster.

Few actually get into the Metropolis Cluster and then manage to return. They speak of mechanical marvels, metal carriages that move by themselves, machines that speak, mechanical men, and other things. Many consider such ideas mad, but some, most within Lamordia and societies of artificers and tinkerers, show a distinct interest in trying to find a reliable way into the Metropolis Cluster so they might find these technological marvels themselves.

Leaving the Cluster is just as difficult. It usually involves completely removing oneself from city life, wandering through nature, underground, or some other means. Such green spaces in the Metropolis Cluster are rare, making individuals who vanish from the Cluster noticed in their communities, although some are chalked up to the native hazards.

Magic in the Metropolis Cluster

Magic is alive and well in the Metropolis Cluster, albeit not as widely practiced as it once was. There are magical scholars, societies, and those who show a deep interest in it. However, with the technological advancements in some Domains, and religious dogma in others, magic is secreted away, considered fantasy or evil by the people at large.

Despite this belief in the general population, magic proves just as potent as it ever way. Hidden wizards conduct their studies using magic for their purposes behind closed doors. Sorcerers struggle with their gifts, blindly stumbling their way through learning their abilities. Warlock make deals with hidden entities of their homes, earning power to put towards their goals in return for favors or service.

Like any Domain of Dread, monsters also exist in the Metropolis Cluster. These monsters are able to hide themselves better, finding niche homes for themselves or hiding in plain sight. With the disbelief in magic, denizens of the Cluster are woefully unprepared for dealing with them. When such monsters inevitably claim victims, most people rationalize it away as accidents, human evils, or something grounded in their views of the world. Only the few who pursue supernatural avenues truly understand what has happened and might be in a position to do something about it.

Nonhumans in the Metropolis Cluster

The people of the Metropolis Cluster hold an amazing amount of apathy. In many cases, if it doesn’t directly affect them, they don’t really care. When faced with something strange, they rationalize it. Such as if faced with dwarves or elves, they don’t really notice they are not humans. Gnomes and halflings are often mistaken as kids or people with a condition. True nonhumans, civilized ones, are considered to be actors in costume or some crazy fad. With belief in science and a focus on logic, barely anyone considers anything supernatural as a valid reason for anything.

[HyperionSol]

So here is the first domain of the Metropolis Cluster. It was inspired heavily by Bendy and the Ink Machine, but also a bit of the idea of Walt Disney parks and set in the era of rubber hose cartoons. The theme here is dreams gone wrong, a bit of corporate greed left unchecked, and having unrealistic expectations and hypocrisy.

The Rusty Kingdom

Cultural Level: The Rusty Kingdom is a modern cultural level, equal to that of New York in the 1940's.

Religion: Cult of the Ink Demon, Cult of the Creator

Locations: The Domain encompasses the amusement park, which is split into four sections. There is also a studio where the animations were made and the multiple levels underneath.

Darklord: Joseph DeWitt

Inspiration: Walt Disney, New York World’s Fair

The mists of Ravenloft dissipate for the smog of the big city. The natural landscape vanishes for towers of rust and metal. It begins at the gates of what used to be an amusement park. A smiling cartoon devil's face hangs above the entrance, pockmarked with rust. Past the gates are ruined monuments to a beloved childhood dream and the end result of crooked ambition.

This is the domain of The Rusted Kingdom, an amusement park that used to be located in the rather plain world of Earth. This park was to be the culmination of the Darklord's dream, a home to both his achievements and his headquarters to build on top of it. However, his ambitions only sent him to ruin and all that he has left is a crooked empire. It begins as the rusted remains of a cartoon kingdom, but the deeper one goes, the more horrifying it becomes.

Joseph DeWitt, The Cursed Dreamer

Joseph DeWitt was always a dreamer and had grand ideas to gain fame and fortune. In 1929, the people of New York needed reasons to laugh as times were getting tough and people needed to find something to feel good about. Joseph, or ‘Joey’ to the people he was schmoozing with, got an idea with his best friend Harry Stern, a talented animator, and the two founded Joseph DeWitt Studios, a studio which would create cartoons, animated pictures, to amuse people and give them a reason to smile.

The studio found success as Harry created a character, a lovable cartoon devil named Rusty, and made him the center of many cartoons. The mischievous devil proved to be a smash hit. As success came to Rusty, more of his friends followed. This included Annie Angel, Bert the Wolf, and the Back Alley Gang, a cartoon team of hooligans who were often Rusty’s antagonists. It made the name famous and Joseph DeWitt became a household name.

Despite the success, things in Joseph DeWitt Studios were anything but pleasant. Joseph was a big dreamer and had grand ideas, but those were the only things he had. He'd always dream of doing things but often would just discard them for new ideas. The work of animation and other things were delegated to Harry who chafed under the work, unable to even see his wife for days on end. Eventually, Harry had enough. Despite his love for the characters and cartoons he helped create, Harry loved his family more and he resigned from Joseph DeWitt Studios.

Joseph barely seemed to notice his best friend leaving and instead just focused on making bigger and better things for his beloved moneymaker, Rusty. He hired numerous workers and as animation technology advanced, he hired musicians, voice actors, and other talents to keep Rusty on top and the first name for when people thought about beloved cartoons.

By the 1940's, despite years of success, the studio began to decline. Joseph was funding his most ambitious project yet, Rusty’s Kingdom, an amusement park based on Rusty and his friends. However, Joseph did not have the sense for funding as he did his ideas. He drove his financial department crazy with his constant need for funds to pay for new ideas he had for the park, often disregarding their insistence on curbing his spending, or being more financially aware. The studio was losing money and fast. To deal with this, Joseph began cutting corners, leaving issues unattended to save money. He also enforced stricter rules on his employees to short their hours and keep them from doing things that would cost the studio money, despite it affecting the quality of their cartoons.

In 1946 the studio was on the verge of collapse. Rusty’s Kingdom was not returning all of the investment which Joseph had put into it. Rusty was losing popularity. To make room for more machines to try and keep on the cutting edge of animation, Joseph had his studio expanded by going downward, making illegal and secret additions to the studio with unsafe construction. Worse, Joseph began threatening his employees with disciplinary actions or termination if they did not meet his ridiculous deadlines for his cartoons. To force them to meet the deadlines, he would barricade the offices and force the workers to stay for weeks without seeing their families so they could produce the product. With the government in chaos from the recent war, he was able to get away with it. Still, the workers complained and threatened actions that would bring bad attention to the studios.

By the end of the 1940's, Joseph DeWitt Studios were bankrupt although few knew it. Rusty’s Kingdom was being foreclosed on due to the lack of business. The cartoons were on the verge of cancellation. The studios were falling apart from the shoddy foundation and construction. Employees were quitting in droves, not having been paid for some time. Desperate and having no idea what to do, Joseph gambled it all on one last idea: a machine that could bring his characters to life.

Working with the GENT company, Joseph had a massive machine built which had ink being piped all through the studios to a massive machine that produced ink and could also use it to create large 3D figures. It was costly and Joseph had to pretend he had money he did not to get the machine built, but he was sure it would be what he needed to put himself back into the limelight.

The machine was turned on, pumping ink all into the machine and it worked. It produced a life-sized and 3D figure of the sketch loaded into it. However, Joseph was not pleased. He saw imperfections all over. Slight imperfections his fantastic dreams could not overlook. Worse, the figure did not look like it was alive, just a big figure made from ink turned into a 3D figure. Enraged, and knowing he was now ruined, Joseph desperately sought an idea to make his characters come to life. So he grabbed an employee and threw them into the ink machine, letting it drown and crush them in the ink, their life used to feed the next figure.

As the next figure began to be made, the mists of Ravenloft billowed over the studio, swallowing it whole.

Joseph watched with glee as the next figure was born, anticipating a living Rusty to greet him and bring back his fame. What came out was a veritable nightmare. It was a tall, skinny, half-melting ink monster that only had a slight resemblance to Rusty. All around it, ink began to bleed from the walls, horrifying Joseph as his beloved devil was turned into a monster.

Joseph fled his creation, trying to escape, barely noticing that his entire studio had been transformed into a texture and style which resembled his old cartoons. Emerging from the studio, he came out into his old amusement park, rusted and ruined like his other dreams and appearing like his cartoons, only decayed and ruined.

Joseph attempted to escape but found himself unable to even get to the front gates. He would always find himself in another part of the park. Unable to escape, on the brink of hysteria, he instinctively sought out the only place he felt like he had control and comfort. He fled to his offices in the studio, leaving what remained of his staff and employees, the surroundings having returned to normal.

Joseph had the sense of mind to know that he had done something in his creation of the Ink Demon. He knew that he had somehow made his situation with his strange surroundings. Although he didn't believe outright in magic, he did believe his act of murder had created his situation. A situation Joseph knew he could get out of if he just believed and had a big enough idea to do it.

Joseph DeWitt got his idea: If an imperfect creation made their situation, maybe a perfect creation would fix it.

Joseph played it cool, seeing his employees didn't seem to notice their changed surroundings. Taking advantage of that, Joseph worked to try and create perfect copies of his characters. One by one, time after time, Joseph lured his employees to the ink machine to throw them inside, letting them die so their souls could be used to animate new figurines made of ink and dreams. Time after time, they come out imperfect. Most simply come out as humanoid blobs of ink called Ink Blots. Others appeared to be like characters but were often disfigured and imperfect.

Eventually, Joseph ran out of employees, leaving ink blots and various disfigured characters to populate his empty park and ruined studio. He was left alone to stew in his ruined dreams, faced with the truth that he only ever had his dreams and none of the drive, skills, or tools to bring them to life like he intended.

Appearance

Joseph DeWitt appears as a man in his forties, wearing a sharp suit with slightly graying black hair and a sharp mustache under his nose. He often dresses professionally and is ready to lay on a pitch to people he talks to.

He portrays the image of a kind, jovial, and caring individual who might be a little over the top, but otherwise does wish for people to be able to achieve their dreams. In truth, this is a facade. He is cruel, greedy, manipulative, callous, and is a backstabber who is ready and willing to do whatever it takes so he can have everything he wants for himself alone.

His only positive traits are his optimism and his work ethic. However, he is harsh on anyone working under him, expecting everyone to be just as hard-working as he is. Joseph’s standards are quite high on people working under him, expecting everything to be perfect. His hypocrisy shows in his own standards, as he often settles for ‘good enough for him’ so long as the final product looks perfect. If someone calls him out on his, he often ends up flying into a rage. Since becoming a Darklord, this often comes to him murdering someone, feeding them to the Ink Machine in one more hope to get that perfect figure.

Current Sketch

Joseph’s ultimate goal is to get himself back to the fame he had with the perfect cartoons he created, even though he didn’t play much of a role in creating the figures. He thinks he can undo the Ink Demon he created by making a perfect Rusty. After his numerous failures, he has come to discover that the more someone was involved in bringing the characters to life on screen, the more perfect the result from the Ink Machine will be.

This discovery had Joseph re-open Rusty Kingdom to draw people in and try to get Harry Stern to notice and come back. Joseph plans to feed Harry to the Ink Machine, believing the man who first created Rusty will become a perfect Rusty and cast down the Ink Demon which is stalking the studios.

In another idea, Joseph often recruits visitors to his parks. Anyone who seems to have a lick of creative talent, he instructs his ink blots to offer tours and employment opportunities in the studio. Once he has them, Joseph works them to the bone creating more Rusty cartoons, usually one he thinks their personality is suited for. Once they have worked enough on such cartoons, Joseph pretends to let them go, but instead throws them into the Ink Machine, creating another Ink Blot or imperfect cartoon character.

Joseph is running his park and studio, although needing to do it himself is forcing him to face the imperfections of his dreams at every turn. The ink characters he can control, he can’t stand because they are failures or warped versions of the characters he wanted to bring to life. His park is run down and not the perfect portrait of the crown jewel Joseph pictured for himself. It all constantly aggravates him, but he cannot fix it since he is juggling the running of the park and his studios, unable to really update or truly repair anything. The park hangs on the brink of collapse and Joseph can’t scrape together what he needs to make it the marvel he dreamed it to be.

Joseph is also constantly faced with the Ink Devil wandering the shoddy corridors of his maze-like studio. It always seemed to show up. It horrifies him and he often flees from in, both terrified of what it is capable of, but also reminds him of his constant string of failures. It is a major contributor to his inability to really run his own studio and amusement park.

The Land

The Rusted Kingdom’s borders end at several feet from the property lines of the park itself. The park is, from a distance, colorful with all the cartoon imagery and promises of family-friendly fun. Up close, the park appears almost as if it should have closed down. Everything shows signs of age, rust, outdated advertising, and signs of a past age to some people. All the attractions are still, relatively, safe but the signs of decay on them do not inspire confidence.

Despite the looks, the park has proven to be popular to visit. Older generations remember Rusty Cartoons with nostalgia and enjoy visiting to relive their younger days. Younger generations just enjoy someplace to go and have fun in the Cluster where such attractions are not always so plentiful. They also enjoy swapping urban legends about the park, many of which are closer to the truth than anyone realizes.

The people who live in the park are the inkblots. They appear humanoid in shape if they concentrate on holding their forms. Often they dress in elaborate clothing, masks, and gloves to hide their inky nature and keep the secrets of the studio. They are the ones who wore the park, tend to attractions, and repair what they can of the rides and hidden mechanics. While there is plenty of staff, they are woefully undertrained and undersupplied, often making do with what they can substitute until Joseph finally gets around to ordering some supplies.

The park is split into four sections, each one dedicated to a certain theme. This includes Darkland, which caters to teens and adults with attractions such as a Tunnel of Love, the Haunted House, and other such attractions. Littleland is set for children, with oversized mushrooms, cartoon bugs, and plenty of playgrounds and kiddie rides. Bigland holds large attractions like the Ferris wheel and roller coaster. Lightland holds the attractions meant for entire families, like mini-golf, merry-go-round, and other attractions. The main avenues are lined with games and shops, selling copious amounts of Rusty merchandise. In the middle of it all is the Tower Stage, a tower with Rusty’s cartoon head on top. At the base is a large stage of costumed mascots to act out Rusty’s cartoons for the masses.

Prominently placed at the back of the park like a castle overlooking their domain is Joseph DeWitt studios. On the outside, it appears like a typical brick and mortar building of its time with a large sign identifying itself with Joseph and a cartoon Rusty shaking hands.

Inside of the studio, it appears to be completely normal for an animation studio of its time. The only oddity is pipes periodically seen pumping a dizzying amount of ink somewhere. If asked, the reasoning is that for more efficient working, and to supply the numerous projects they have, ink is pumped to stations through the studio for easy access.

As one goes further down, the layout of the building becomes more and more shoddy. At first, it appears to be simple repairs needed, the lower than that, the rooms show their shoddy construction, bizarre layouts, and at the bottom, only tunnels dug in the rock, shantytowns of inkblots, and pools of ink running through it all. This is where the depravity of Joseph DeWitt comes to roost and reveal just what he is, all show and no foundation for his numerous dreams and schemes.

The Law

Joseph DeWitt is the boss, no exceptions. He runs his park with an iron fist and everyone is expected to put in their work and cannot go anywhere until he says so. Fortunately, Joseph is usually wrapped up in his affairs to keep the park running and getting some profits to really keep an eye on his workers. With his ability to control ink and call monsters from it, none of the inkblots want to run the risk and do their work, 9 to 5 every day. They aren’t paid, which is fine since they barely need to eat and don’t really have anything to spend money on.

Closing the Borders

When Joseph wishes it, the borders of his park close and all gates to the park close themselves and lock tight. If someone is outside of the gates, but outside the borders, mist closes them and makes a thick fog, not unlike a liquid in appearance. Braving it will only make the person attempting it feel like they are slogging through molasses before they find themselves back in the park, usually inside of one of the attractions or worse, inside of the studio.

The Folk

The only people who live inside of the park are the inkblots. They used to be normal folk, but have since been sacrificed to the Ink machine. They did not have a strong enough bond to be made into characters, so only emerged as animated piles of ink. Some have enough sense of self to take on a humanoid form and be able to blend in and interact with others again. Others lost themselves, being little more than anger, instinct, and move as half-humanoid oozes which lash out.

Destroying an inkblot is not the same as killing them. If slain, their bodies dissolve into ink which is either absorbs into the ground or sinks between floorboards. It eventually sinks back down to reservoirs of ink that exist under the land or in the studio where it rejoins the rest. Eventually, that inkblot emerges from the ink again, perhaps lesser than before and tries to get back to where they were before.

Two versions of faith exist among the inkblots. For the more feral ones, they come to revere the Ink Demon as a vessel of punishment and pray for his mercy. They offer sacrifices of park guests they manage to capture, hoping to appease the demon and earn freedom from their inky bodies. More often than not, this only has the demon appear and attack them and their intended sacrifice.

The other faith is in the Creator. He is revered among the more humanoid blots as the one who might be able to finally end their nightmare and end the reign of the ink demon. They know the Creator made Rusty, who later became a demon, but they pray that he might return and erase his creation and set them all free.

Facing Joseph DeWitt

Facing Joseph DeWitt is an easy task, at least on first impressions. He is no trained warrior, powerful cleric, sneaking rogue, or a powerful wizard. He is utterly ordinary. Inside of his Domain though, he still holds great power.

Rather than fight himself, Joseph will instead bring copious amounts of ink to where he is being threatened. He will try to summon vicious blots to protect him but also mutated characters despite how much he hates them. Once distracted, he may even try to burst pipes and have his attackers drown in the ink, their bodies dissolved and their souls manifesting as more inkblots. In a worst-case scenario, he will summon the Ink Devil to protect him. It will come, but only so it can punish and terrify Joseph later.

Encounters

Threats in the Rusted Kingdom come mostly from the more feral ink blots. They attack with pseudopods and their stats can come from an ooze. Their first goal is to capture people and use them for sacrifices to appease the Ink Demon. Others may try to throw them into the ink, trying to increase their numbers or in some deluded, mad idea it might make a perfected Rusty to save them all.

Wandering around in the studios are malformed cartoon characters. They bear a passing resemblance to the characters they were meant to look like but are mangled with limbs growing from odd places, famous tools being incorporated in their bodies. Some are little more than zombies, but others are much more dangerous and cognizant.

The ink itself is also a hazard. In small amounts it is harmless, but in large amounts, it threatened to dissolve people, sinking their souls into it and manifesting as another blot. Stepping into pools of it threatens acid damage. An inkblot or cartoon character who steps into it is dealt double the damage and risks dissolving, coming back as something else.

The most dangerous entity is the Ink Demon, the warped image of Joseph’s most famous character. Its presence causes ink to seep from the walls and everything to take the appearance of ‘rubber hose’ cartoons. It wanders, seemingly at random, and able to seep through walls as if its entire body is made from liquid ink. It attacks blot and humanoid alike, seemingly trying to clear the studio. Why this is, no one is sure.

[Mistmaster]

Did you just make Walt Disney a Darklord and Disneyland a Domain of Dread?

[HyperionSol]

Did you just make Walt Disney a Darklord and Disneyland a Domain of Dread?

Well, I took more inspiration from Bendy and the Ink Machine, but the park may be more reminiscent of Disneyland, but the studio is more Max Fleisher, the guy who invented such cartoons that Disney drove out of business.

[Evtrax]

ooh, i really like the bendyland domain. I am eager to see what else is in this cluster.

[HyperionSol]

This domain is inspired by the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. With this franchise and its antagonist, it was ample ground for making a Domain. So the theme of this one is childhood wonder in friendly machines going wrong and ghosts of the past not being buried despite people wishing to move on from them.

Fischer’s Valley

Cultural Level: 1980’s-1990’s suburbia

Religion: The Angelic Pantheon

Locations: The Domain consists of a residential suburbia/edge of city environment with Buddy Bear Entertainment HQ, the famous Buddy Bear Pizzeria Restaurants, an upcoming shopping complex, and the closed sites of the original franchise.

Darklord: Wilhelm Ashcroft

Inspiration: Chuck-E-Cheese, Five Nights at Freddy’s.

The mists of Ravenloft reveal little, but you walk from dirt roads to asphalt as the mists slowly reveal suburbs. Quaint homes, apartments, and local businesses line the roads. At the far end of the street lies a brightly lit restaurant. A cute bear mascot waves welcomingly to all who come near.

This is the Domain of Fischer’s Valley. This place appears to be quaint and peaceful, but it hides a sinister secret that the locals wish to put behind them. The innocent and friendly mascot which is such a source of income for the community has a dark past and one not for the faint of heart. It is also the personal punishment of one of the foulest Darklords yet.

Wilhelm Ashcroft - The Cursed Attraction

Wilhelm, to many who knew him, did not seem like anyone out of the ordinary. He was a noted businessman, entrepreneur, and a skilled engineer in the field of robotics. No one really had much to say about him, although he was often considered somewhat cryptic. That was just considered going hand in hand with someone of his level of intellect.

What Wilhelm managed to keep expertly hidden was the fact that he was a highly functioning sociopath, if not outright psychopath. He had the presence of mind to act civil and be seemingly normal. Inside though, he was a cruel, petty, sadistic, and a textbook definition of evil. Still, his greed and desire to be adored offered a surprising counterbalance to these tendencies, allowing him to focus on his business and community reputation.

At some point, Wilhelm met a man named Harold Erst and the two would go into business together. They created the Buddy Bear Family Restaurant. It was a marvel for its time as Harold created robotic endoskeletons and would place friendly animal costumes over them, creating the beloved mascots Budy Bear and Ricky Rabbit. As a further bit of ingenuity, the costumes could be removed with special spring locks and could be worn by a human to interact with the children.

The restaurant proved to be quite the success and it allowed the two men to open new restaurants in their home city. All the children wished to go to the restaurants and meet with the mascots who were growing in number, including Charlie Chick and Ferdie Fox.

Despite all this success, people were attributing the genius of the new animatronics to Harold, perhaps rightly so since he was the one to design and build them when no one else saw them before. Still, Wilhelm grew enraged with the praise that Harold was receiving. He considered Buddy Bear to be his brainchild and all the success due to his business skills. Yet, the people awed by the props and heaping praise on Harold who, in Wilhem’s mind, was only a small part of the business.

One of the things Wilhelm held as precious to him was his pride in his achievements and for perhaps the first time, his control over himself slipped. Angry and seeking revenge for the slight against him, Wilhelm targeted the one thing Harold took the most pride in: his daughter. On a rainy night, he found the girl outside of the first restaurant and seeing the opportunity, killed her in a back alley.

Harold was devastated by the loss and the authorities investigated, but between the rain and Wilhelm covering his tracks, no culprit was found. Wilhelm smugly felt justice was served, but soon karma came for him. His eldest son, a bully, decided to torment his youngest brother who was afraid of the animatronics and shoved his head into an animatronic’s mouth. The machine then moved, crushing the boor boy’s head and rendering him braindead before finally passing away. The scandal of the two deaths caused the closure of the first restaurant.

Wilhelm was horrified by the loss, and his control over his sociopathic ways slipped once again. Furious and angry at what happened to his family, another point of pride, he decided to ruin his own franchise. It was a completely illogical move, but Wilhelm’s sociopathy did not follow logic. He would enter the second restaurant location and wear a golden Buddy Bear costume and lure children into the back. There, he would kill them, indulging in his sadistic desires as well as lashing out at what he felt wronged him, the franchise itself. To hide his tracks, he actually hid the bodies inside of the animatronics themselves.

He took five innocent lives and was indeed questioned by authorities. However, because of the insane place he hid the bodies and the kill room not being on the blueprints of the restaurant, he could not be arrested. However, what happened next was something Wilhelm could not expect. The souls of the slain children possessed the machines, animating them and at night, would wander, trying to hunt Wilhelm, and slaying any adult they saw after hours, confusing them for Wilhelm. With more missing people, and the animatronics growing to stink and secrete foul fluids, it was the end of the restaurant.

The scandal caused the closing of the second restaurant and the franchise was sold. Still, Wilhelm discovered something as he cleaned the machines to cover his tracks. The metal within the animatronics had gained new properties, ones which made for more lifelike robotics, able to think and act on their own. With the souls infused in the metal, it proved to be a potential boon.

Wilhelm saw an opportunity in this. With this Remnant metal, one could conceivably build a new body and house their soul in it, becoming effectively immortal. Wilhelm saw a way to bring his dead son back, to fix him as he so dearly wished.

Wilhelm soon got to work. When a new franchise for animatronics opened, Wilhelm went about his killing spree, recreating the events of the first restaurant to see if it would work. As he hoped, the souls of his victims animated the animatronics, their endoskeletons turning to Remnant. With more scandals closing the restaurant, he bought it, creating Buddy Bear Entertainment. He broke down the new machines, using the Remnant metal to build new animatronics. He would then rent the machines out to parties, programming the machines to capture and kill children if they were alone.

Wilhelm smugly thought he found a way to extend his life, toying with the idea of immortality more than saving his child. However, karma came again when one of his machines, Baby Clown, killed his daughter when she disobeyed him and wished to meet the robot alone. Wilhelm went over the edge, his family lost and so was all his restraint on his psychotic impulses. He ordered his remaining child to release her soul, but he too was killed as the machines tried to use him as a means of escape from Wilhelm.

Wilhelm realized his machines were now free, running around without restraint, and able to speak, to potentially expose him for all of his crimes. Desperate, he tried to hunt down all the machines, covering every track he could. Following the trail, he went back to the old restaurant where he stashed the old machines. He entered and lured the machines to the backroom like he did so many years ago, knowing exactly how to disable and dismantle them. If it got him more Remnant to use, all the better.

However, dismantling the machines released the souls of his victims. The five ghosts cornered him, and Wilhelm feared for his life ot the point of near hysteria. Seeing an old springlock suit from the first restaurant, Wilhelm dove into the suit to protect himself, recalling the animatronics did not attack other mascots. He thought himself safe and began to gloat, but the neglected spring locks, in all the movements suddenly gave and Wilhlem found himself crushed in a bloody mess, dying, his greatest fear.

And the Dark Powers finally moved, swooping in to claim their newest prize.

Wilhelm found himself unable to die, despite the constant pain he was in. His body was utterly mangled by the mechanics of his suit, but his soul was unwilling to move on and instead animated the machinery, using his own body as an endoskeleton.

Immortality achieved. It only cost him his family, his reputation, his livelihood, and his humanity.

Appearance

Wilhelm is now trapped inside of a rotting animatronic suit. His mangled corpse is inside, his bones being used as an endoskeleton. The formerly cute form of the rabbit mascot is utterly mangled and looks like a horrifying mix of man and machine.

Wilhelm still retains his cunning and talents with his machinery, although he still deals with the pain of his formerly fleshy body and what it suffers through on a constant basis. Still, Wilhelm’s mind remains as sharp as ever and he continues to try and figure out a way out of his mess.

For all of his cunning and intelligence, at his core Wilhelm is a complete coward. He believes there is something after death and he knows something awful is waiting for him after he dies. It did not seem to stop him from committing vile acts, but rather become more frantic to try and find a way to avoid death and his punishment instead. Unbeknownst to him, he may have avoided death but not his punishment.

Current Sketch

Wilhelm desired immortality, and now he has it, but now he cannot enjoy anything that he wanted. He wants to find a way to get a proper body back, but keep the immortality that he found himself with.

He has hidden himself in the old restaurant site and is trying to tinker with what Remnant he can get and try to build a proper body for himself. His current one is a shambling mess with none of the fine motor control he was used to as a human.

One perk to his condition is that Wilhelm has the ability to control other animatronics which are within a certain radius of him. They respond to his wishes and act as his loyal soldiers, handling tasks with their better mechanics and articulate joints. Inversely, if the animatronic has a soul in it, Wilhelm to struggle to control it, often needed saving throws to keep his control, taken at a disadvantage if the action is opposing the alignment of the victim within the animatronic.

Wilhelm’s attempts to produce Remnant are stifled as thanks to the materials which make the local animatronics, whenever they kill someone, the animatronics incorporate their souls, turning their endoskeletons to Remnant, but start bucking his control. It has made something of a hidden street battle between Wilhelm’s animatronics and the coalition of souls who seek justice.

The Land

The layout of Fischer’s Valley is suburbia, making for a residential section for the Metropolis Cluster. Families move here for the cozy homes and the safety of the streets and good neighbors. It has plenty of green spaces and open spots for the families to play in.

The biggest source of entertainment is in the Buddy Bear restaurant franchise which has several restaurants open within the Domain and are attempting to expand into others. It is famous for its animatronic mascots who sing and dance to the delight of the children who are such fans of them.

Animatronics, the staple of BBE’s merchandise, can often be found everywhere. From educational displays to fast food attendants. Some of the elite even use them to handle small duties like that of butlers or security guards. This has many in the Domain consider itself to be the cutting edge of robotic technology.

The Law

Fischer’s Valley is a corporate town, practically run by Buddy Bear Entertainment. Although there is a mayor and district council, the higher ups in BBE hold so much sway with money or clout in the politicians, they practically run the town. The company’s first priority is keeping the company healthy and profitable. This means anyone who tries to remove their animatronics, air the dark past of the company, or other things which could damage the company are targeted and either discredited, kicked out, or perhaps framed from actual crimes. Almost every store has merchandise or advertising from BBE on it.

This would not be so bad, if BBE would follow the rules. The company is notorious for cutting corners and ignoring safety problems in order to save money or avoid bad press. Often they reuse old, outdated mechanics for their attractions. This included scrapped and dismantled animatronics which have a problematic history. This has given the company a bit of a muddy reputation, some even saying they are so cheap, they even recycle pizza not eaten by customers.

Closing the Borders

Wilhelm can close the borders when he focuses. When the border closes, a thick mist surrounds the Domain. If someone attempts to cross the border, their vision becomes filled with static and pixels. Further attempts to leave will have the person’s body put as if under a Command spell and turn around before returning to Fischer’s Valley.

The Folk

The people of Fischer’s Valley seem to be like ordinary people. They work, do chores, and just live an ordinary suburban lifestyle. However, the people have a resentment towards BBE and also are very protective of their children.

The people remember well the Missing Children incident surrounding Buddy Bear Pizzeria. Since no one was ever caught, even though many are sure it was Wilhelm or he knew something about it, people still fear that the killer may return to pick up their killing spree again. Because of this, the streets are always deserted by nightfall, no one wanting to go outside save for adults who work night shifts.

This partially leads to resentment towards BBE, thanks to their disregard for the past and the company’s assurance that they have better security for their stores now. Not many believe it, especially since it is an open secret that they cut costs everywhere they can.

Unknown to many, there is a community of animatronics who have souls thanks to being made victims in the past. They often stumble in confusion through the streets at night, or hide in abandoned or closed franchise buildings. They have some memories of their lives, but are distrustful towards adults, often attacking them if they wear purple or yellow, mistaking them for Wilhelm. The largest hide in a new development, a shopping complex which BBE is building, but has been stalled due to many setbacks.

Buddy Gold is the leader of these animatronics, bent on revenge on Wilhelm. She is one of his first victims and possesses one of the oldest suits, a yellow Buddy Bear animatronic which is the partner to Wilhelm’s now mangled yellow rabbit suit. She wants justice for herself and her fellow victims, although her hate and rage makes her violent towards people she perceives as siding with Wilhelm which include security guards or pizzeria employees.

Facing Wilhelm Ashcroft

Wilhelm’s body is too mangled to really be an effective combatant. Even if he was, he does not have the courage to fight. He fears death too much. If faced with combat, he will try to hide, preferably lock himself away in a security room in his lair before activating his animatronic servants to kill anyone threatening him.

The only way Wilhelm will face a group of characters is if he is utterly confident that he will win. He delights in letting his victims know who killed them and enjoys the sight of their torture, even dancing erratically when he’s watching someone die in pain. His tendency to gloat can make for ample opportunity to strike him down for a craft hero.

Even if his mechanical or fleshy body are destroyed, the Dark Powers won’t let such a treasure go. Eventually, either Wilhelm will reassemble himself, or BBE will somehow come across his parts and use them in new animatronics thanks to their cost-cutting. This may make Wilhelm a greater threat, spread across multiple bodies.

Encounters

The threats to any adventuring party in Fischer’s Valley are the numerous animatronics which populates the Domain. The animatronics wander after dark when few people are on the road. Either they are Wilhelm’s corrupted soldiers, hunting humans or Remnant animatronics in their confused existence trying to hunt Wihelm.

The animatronics glitch constantly, either from Wilhelm’s control or the souls inhabiting them. This causes them to develop strange habits or aspects to them that can be exploited. Some of them are attracted to certain noises, even if they are pursuing someone. They can be stopped by visual stimulation, especially if it’s something they are programmed to respond to.

To avoid this, the animatronics become ambush hunters. They hide, trying to lure targets in with sounds they make. Once prey is within their range, they leap out, making an ear-rattling scratch as they do so before attempting to tear the target apart.

Animatronics come in a number of shapes and sizes, from animals to humanoids, making their hunting patterns different and their tactics versatile, especially if different types are working together.

Well, Domain number two. I'm scrolling through mostly games for ideas to set in urban horror. I've got ideas for something like Bloodborne or Blasphemous is a religious sector to the city. Maybe the Suffering or Outlast for a prison or mental asylum. Let me know what you think or if you have ideas.

[Evtrax]

Great FNAF domain. You even have some Security Breach elements, what with the servant animatronics. I can totally see the sun/moon animatronic being a popular child care model.

[HyperionSol]

Benwich Cay

Cultural level: 1950’s

Religion: Angelic Pantheon, specifically Nathanael, an angel of punishment and redemption

Locations: The domain consists of an entire island and some sea. This includes Nathanael State Penitentiary, the former Benwich Mental Asylum, and C.O. Town

Darklord: Warden Dallas Bradley

Inspiration: The Suffering

The mists of Ravenloft part to reveal an island in the sea. The colors seem dull, dreary, and grim. The island shores are rocked with cold waters with only a single lighthouse acting as a beacon for anything at sea. The only major man-made structure visible from the shore is the dark, concrete maximum security prison which rises from the dull grounds.

This is the domain of Benwich Cay, a realm of imprisonment for the criminal elements of the Metropolis Cluster. From the outside, the prison is a bastion of order, keeping the evil elements from the good people of the city. Inside, the prison is on the brink of anarchy despite the best efforts of its warden.

Dallas Bradley - The Cursed Lawman

Dallas Bradley was a man born to uphold the law. He came from generations of lawmen sworn to uphold the law, serve and protect, and punish criminals. The latter is where Dallas found he excelled.

Being raised to be a lawman, Dallas saw a lot of the worst in society. He saw the murderers, the thieves, and the degenerates. Seeing how many criminal elements seemed to prefer committing crime rather than trying to make themselves better. He soon saw them as festering tumors rather than people, unwilling to better society and instead leech off of it.

Once he became a proper officer and no longer under observation in his rookie period, Dallas began to apply his vision of justice to society. In short, absolute and all, in order to excise what he saw, were tumors on the law-abiding people. To his credit, he obeyed the letter of the law, but stretched it to the very limit without actually breaking it.

Still, Dallas was brutal on the criminal element. He wasn’t afraid of hurting criminals in his pursuit of them. Bruises, black eyes, and bloody cuts were common with the criminals which he brought in for their crimes. Dallas was reprimanded, but his arrest record and the praise he received from news reports offset any punishments he may have suffered from his brutality.

Dallas rose through the ranks, leaving a trail of brutalized criminals behind him. It did not matter if they were first offenders or career criminals, they were all put down and hard. Many were driven to leave the city just as much as some did give up their criminal lives. It served to clear crime out of the city, giving more praise to Dallas and his methods of getting things done. The majority of the people had no idea just what lengths Dallas was going through on his beat to remove tumors from society.

What rising star Dallas did have suddenly fell when he went too far. In his usual beat for crooks, Dallas came upon a group of people he quickly deemed to be criminals. He found them hanging out in a shady spot, looking like they were about to break into a house. With his time on the streets, he was very confident that he could recognize a criminal when he saw one. He stepped out and confronted the trio with his usual methods, brutally threatening them, wanting to know what they were doing, and then attacked them when they tried to proclaim their innocence.

Dallas arrested the three and had them brought in, and listed their crimes (or what he believed their crimes were). An investigation did follow, just to ensure everything was in order as it always did when Dallas brought in offenders. It was soon revealed that far from trying to break into a house, the trio were in fact the new owners of the property and were trying to access it, although the way in was proving difficult due to the age of the locks.

Dallas insisted he was right, citing his experience and his own two eyes. When pressed to present any actual evidence, he did not have any. When the three he brought in proved a notarized deed of ownership, a key to the house in question, and identification, it showed just how badly Dallas had fumbled. Worse, when faced with this evidence, Dallas refused to believe any of it. He dismissed the evidence as forgery, refusing to believe all of his instinct and intuition could have been wrong, and even tried to threaten the trio into confessing. He had to be dragged out by other officers in his fury.

With the revelation of Dallas’ ‘punch first, ask questions never’ approach, and legal charges brought to the department, the once celebrated officer became a pariah. Even more deplorable to the people, Dallas refused to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong. He still maintained that the three he arrested were criminals and were making up their story. He did not lie, instead reported he had to use force in order to ensure their compliance. None of this endeared him to the people and the department faced even more embarrassment.

To get rid of Dallas, the department transferred him to Benwich Cay and the Nathanael Maximum Security Prison. It was supposed to be a punishment for Dallas, to make the tough man in a small pond see what the true worst of the worst could do. Instead, Dallas saw his talents being put to true use.

Dallas thrived in the prison, using his strength and brutality to put down any uppity prisoner and remind them of their place. He enforced powerful order in the prison and made sure any potential riots or other incidents were swiftly put down. His folder in the prison was filled with glowing praise for his discipline, efficiency, and ability to keep the inmates in line. The only mark on his record was his lack of desire to stop inmates from hurting each other, often remarking why they should stop the ‘animals from killing other animals’.

Dallas was, needless to say, a firm believer in capital punishment and took every chance to be on duty when execution was used. He watched with grim satisfaction as the ‘tumors’ of society were excised. It was validation of everything he believed in. In time, his dedication to order and keeping the prison running saw him get appointed as the warden, a major point of pride to the man.

His path into the mists began when reform came to parts of the justice system. Partially that involved evidence, burden of proof, and other means which made the use of execution much more difficult. It raised Dallas’ ire as he saw the inmates as needing to be executed for the betterment of all. Frustrated by inmates taking up space and society’s resources, Dallas was only more brutal to the prisoners.

His first true act of evil came when an inmate was set to be executed via an electric chair. The process was set up and witnesses were present. Dallas was at the ready and was set to enjoy the show. At the last minute, a call came from the mainland authorities. It was an urgent call that revealed the inmate in the chair had their case being re-examined due to prosecutor misconduct. This meant the inmate would keep their life, perhaps if the reinvestigation went their way, their freedom.

This fact made Dallas furious, unwilling to accept that anyone who took such a lofty position in law could do such a thing. His instinct and intuition all screamed at him that the inmate was guilty and had to be executed. His ideal of absolute justice would never allow anyone to escape their punishment. So after pretending to accept the order, Dallas ordered the execution to continue and the inmate was executed. Dallas then, without lying or breaking laws or rules, managed to set a scapegoat after it was realized the execution was not supposed to happen. The executioner was fired and kicked off the island for apparently ‘misinterpreting’ the order to stop the execution.

This began a deadly trend. With many cases being reinvestigated, many death row inmates were saved for the electric chair. Dallas only grew more furious at so many stays of execution. He did not see any inmate as innocent, framed, or unfairly punished. The people who upheld the law said they were guilty, and so those criminals had to be punished.

To ensure justice was taken out, Dallas would purposefully ‘miss’ important calls or messages which would stall executions. He would keep other officers involved cut off from communications so they would not hear of any stays of execution. Several inmates, some of which had been innocent of their death penalty crimes, were executed in such a way.

Despite being a massively secured prison, it was easy for secrets and rumors to spread. The inmates soon heard that Dallas was hiding the knowledge that death row inmates were getting new trials and stay of execution. That he was purposefully killing them just because he didn’t like them. Knowing for sure that the warden was going out of their way to kill them, not just sanctioned by the state, the inmates began to riot. Not just out of disobedience, but for their very lives.

Dallas did not take any disobedience to the law, especially his own prison rules, lightly. Rallying with the officers in his employ, they struck back hard and fast against the rioting inmates. Many inmates were brutally injured, and some even killed since the inmates were fighting for what they felt like their lives.

Dallas still won the battle and had his men line up the prisoners on their knees. Once assembled, he recited all of their crimes in addition to their original ones, and sentenced them all the execution on the spot. Taking his weapon, he put them all down as the criminal scum he saw them as. That was when the Mists of Ravenloft moved to swallow him and his precious prison.

It was not long before the night of no moon rose, the night after the riot. That very night, Benwich Cay showed its bloody history come to life. The ground shook and several holes opened up like open sores. From it, mangled creatures rose up, savage and cruel, manifesting various forms of unjust death, and went on killing sprees among the COs and the inmates. The two sides, while seething with hatred for each other, had to work together to survive and bring the monsters down until daylight returned and caused the monsters to run away.

Dallas was left with a skeleton crew of men and many inmates with a grudge against him.

Appearance

Dallas Bradley is a man in his early forties with mutton chops and a thick mustache. He wears his officer uniform to pressed perfection. He strives to ensure he is always fighting fit, ready to lay down the law on anyone who comes onto his island.

Dallas is a man who strongly believes in the law and obeys it to the letter. Normally, this is an admirable trait, but Dallas believes in putting in any means necessary to ensure the law is upheld. Not to the point of corruption, such as falsifying evidence since that is against the law. However, he sees no issue with using violence to ensure compliance with the law, HIS law in the prisons. He also vastly overestimates his prowess as a lawkeeper, often relying on gut instinct and experience, which is considerable, but not as effective as he thinks in identifying criminals. He often jumps to conclusions, painting many types of criminals with the same brush and brooking no arguments, believing his deductions perfect, even if real evidence proves him wrong.

Current Sketch

Dallas Bradley’s goal is to ensure perfect compliance with the law and ensure order reigns in his prison. His long line of lawkeepers has him paint a very black and white image of the world and he demands that all of his officers and inmates follow that with no exception. The law is an absolute necessity to ensure society can keep moving forward.

Sadly, in Dallas’ Domain, law and order are in short supply. With the rising of the Malice, and the creatures it spawns, the officers and the inmates have to fight for survival every night when the moon doesn’t rise. All the rest of the time, it is a war between inmates and the officers who struggle to take control of the prison and surrounding land of the island. There are too few officers to keep the inmates in check, allowing the inmates to form gangs and run portions of the prison. Considering the threat to their survival, it would be more pragmatic to work with the inmates, building a rapport to end the Malice but his black and white view of the world prevents it.

In truth, Dallas is his own worst enemy in regards to the Malice. For every unjust death which happens on the island, a new Malice creature is born. Because of the disbelief in magic within the Metropolis Cluster, little research has been done in regards to the nature of the island or the Malice, so Dallas does not know this and continues his executions, believing his self-righteous abilities as a lawman are never wrong and usually executes prisoners unjustly. Were Dallas actually adhere to the proper procedures of the law and stop his executions, the Malice creatures would dwindle and no longer be such a threat, but again his self-righteous view of his own abilities has him unwilling to entertain such a notion. He views himself as the law on the island and he will enforce it his way.

The Land

On the surface, Benwich Cay appears to be completely normal. It sports coasts, some forest, rocky hills, and some pleasant beaches. However, there is a deep darkness which permeates everything on the island. Each time the island was developed in the past, bloodshed, evil, and misery followed before the island was abandoned for a time. It would eventually be re-developed for a new purpose, continuing the trend.

C.O. Town was first established as a sect of worship of the Angel of Purity, Araqiel. The villagers of the period believed strongly in being pure of sin and temptation and would react harshly if faced with a hint of sin, evil, or corruption. This led the village to abandonment when three young girls accused eleven random people of witchcraft for amusement, leading to their executions. The girls were eventually discovered and they vanished, supposedly running to avoid punishment, but the village was abandoned since the people believed the land was tainted by evil to lead three children to do such things.

The Benwich Mental Asylum was established by Dr. Vellian Shaw, an expert in several kinds of psychosis and mental illnesses. Hailed as an explorer at the forefront of science, he established his asylum to research, analyze, and eventually cure mental afflictions. After some time, scandalous rumors emerged that Shaw had been conducting unethical and even inhumane experiments on his patients. An investigation was launched and the asylum was a place of horror, showing numerous maimed patients who were dead, or suffering to an immense extent despite their belief that their mental issues were getting better. Shaw vanished before he could be arrested, leading many to wonder where he fled to.

After the asylum closed, it was eventually resettled with a military base. It was both a base and a prisoner of war camp. During the Great War, an enemy vehicle crashed nearby. The commander, who had become paranoid and overzealous in patriotism, believed one of his men who had similar lineage to the enemy, had told them where the base was. Without investigation or trial, he executed those men. When word got back regarding his actions, he committed suicide rather than face the dishonor of the trial.

After the base was closed, it was eventually reopened as a prison before the construction of the modern additions left those sections abandoned and sealed off.

The island seems to bring out the worst in those who have a predilection for acts of evil. In fact, multiple residents of the island could have become Darklords over the decades were it not for them either being caught and receiving punishment or ending their lives before they could commit their act of ultimate darkness and summon the Dark Powers.

The Law

The law in Benwich Cay is in the prison and the law is ruled by Dallas Bradley. He has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the law and he expects it to be obeyed to the letter. However, he is anything but fair in his deliberations. He determines who is guilty or innocent and he often relies on his instincts and experience rather than investigation and evidence. His punishments are draconian, coming to beatings or outright executions. They are often extreme and do not follow proper standards of punishment. He justifies this as due to the dire circumstances they are in, stating the law codes allow such extremes until the threat has passed.

In the sections of the prison controlled by the inmates, things are surprisingly fair. Despite being hardened criminals and the worst of society, they have created a kind of law of their own. There are gangs and violence, grudges which are settled by said violence, but the inmates seem to have a keener sense of survival and pragmatism than Dallas and his officers do, working to survive the Malice and the creatures it spawns. Their version of law is more relaxed, but still can be strict since the inmates know their lives are on the line if they don’t work together.

Closing the Borders

When Dallas wishes to close the borders to his Domain, fog will circle around Benwich Cay several feet out to sea. Anyone who tries crossing the borders when they are closed will find the mist physically restricting. If they persist, they will find themselves bound by it and when the mist vanishes, they will be in a cell inside of the prison.

The Folk

There are two kinds of people on Benwich Cay, the correctional officers and the inmates. Both sides control a large portion of the prison and when they aren’t dealing with the Malice and its creatures, are trying to push back against each other to claim more of the prison and potential resources, weapons, and defenses.

The correctional officers under Dallas control the administration building, death row, infirmary, the armory, the military base under the prison, and CO Town. They hold the points of proper civilization on the island and are able to receive supplies and more men from the mainland, ensuring that the inmates don’t eventually outnumber them after a night of the Malice. They are rigid and disciplined, especially since any breaking of the rules brings the draconian punishments from the warden.

The inmates control the wings, recreation yard, workshop, the quarry, and plenty of the open space, allowing them to grow food and have an easier time getting fresh water. Despite not having access to manufactured weapons, the inmates show their ingenuity in being able to craft makeshift weapons from what supplies they could get. Despite their lethality, the Malice creatures are alive and can be felled the same way as ordinary people can be. Although the inmates have a higher chance of being slain by the creatures, the rest of the Cluster still ship their worst criminals there, ensuring they aren’t wiped out entirely.

Facing Dallas Bradley

Fighting Dallas is a daunting task. He has a number of powerful firearms in his arsenal and is not shy about using them. He also commands his officers to fight with them. He does not hold back, often declaring anyone who stands against him as guilty and states their punishment is execution.

The issue also exists in getting to him in the first place. Dallas administers his portion of the prison from his office which is behind several layers of security. He only comes out when the creatures of the Malice attack, or there is a push to retake portions of the prison from the inmates.

Encounters

The most obvious threat on the island is the Malice. It is not so much an entity, but a force of nature built up from ages of cruelty, evil, and bloodshed. It stirred when Dallas began his executions and when the Dark Powers took the island, it became a constant phenomenon. It is utterly neutral, targeting anything sentient on the island with its creatures.

The Malice operates by spawning creatures which appear humanoid, but suffer a torture similar to a way that someone died on the island. Beheadings, buried alive, lethal injection, the list goes on. They are a mix of symbolism and punishment and the features of the monsters hint they are meant to be punishments for the ones who did the killing if they died, or a vessel of vengeance for victims. The truth is, they are just engines of malicious murder for everyone touched by the Malice. These creatures spawn from the soil of the island itself, one for every person which has died unjustly in the past. Due to the history of the island, there are plenty of creatures to be spawned, and Dallas ensures there continue to be more with his unrelenting executions on anyone he perceives as a lawbreaker.

The inmates and the officers are also a threat on their own if they think someone is on the other side. The true threat though can come from the monsters hidden in their ranks. Because of the disbelief in the supernatural, any humanoid monsters who may be caught by authorities, like vampires, werewolves, or others, can be shipped to the island and have all but free reign to continue as they did before and no pesky heroes to get in their way.

Underneath it all, the Malice’s presence itself can be a threat. Anyone who already has predilections for evil faces a greater temptation to commit it now that the island exists in Ravenloft. Often such temptations come as malicious whispers, urging someone to do something evil, justifying to as self-reservation. The only exceptions are the truly good people who so far, the Malice does not seem to bother with and the creatures do not go out of the way to hunt. Sadly, in a place like Benwich Cay. truly good people are few and far between.

Dread Possibility

There is the distinct possibility that the Three Little Liars from the Purty settlement, Dr. Shaw, and the Mad Colonel were all guilty of evils which had Ravenloft swallow them, but they had not crossed the line to become Darklords themselves.

The Three Little liars may have ended up in Tepest, appearing as orphans and believing they were free from punishment, began their malicious little ‘game’ again. They likely would have failed several Dark Powers checks, giving them influence over fire, but also starting to suffer burns with anyone they send to the fires.

The Mad Colonel, being dead, is likely a ghost somewhere, perhaps Falkovnia since the people and their culture do reflect a more medieval version of the people he was fighting. He sees their plans and tries to leak them to whoever the Falkovnians are fighting, but his words are difficult to convey, driving him mad that he has become the perfect spy, but can’t share anything.

Dr. Shaw likely would have ended up in Lamordia. Surprisingly, he is the least likely of the Benwich Cay residents to become a Darklord. He lacks empathy, restraint, several morals, and is a bit of a flamboyant narcissist. However, his goals are entirely altruistic. He seeks to help people with their mental illnesses and cure them. Praise and fortune will come naturally from his achievements and he regrets every failed experiment and procedure, but every failure helps him learn more and his next patient has that much of a higher chance to survive. Maybe they will even be cured. Perhaps it is extreme, but his methods are indeed how science in medicine is advanced. He is twisted, but he is maliciously good all the same.

[HyperionSol]

Who's Doomed of the Metropolis Cluster

There are three unique individuals who seem to hold much power behind the scenes in the Metropolis Cluster. They reside in three areas of the lands which most people simply do not go, feeling only but fear as they go there.

They are simply known as the Crypt Keeper, the Vault Keeper, and the Old Witch.

Although each live rather solitarily, the three are hardly hermits. They readily enjoy having company and swapping tales. They all tell a similar story to their appearance in the Land of Mists. By their accounts, they were collectors and storytellers of tales that told macabre morality tales and warnings of falling into hubris. Then an entity known as Seeseeay forced the three to leave to make a better ‘unliving’. They found themselves within the Demiplane of Dread and simply settled down, enjoying the lands and being able to collect their tales.

The trio are not Darklords, despite their macabre abilities and horrifying tales. If anything, they are pleasant to speak to, if not off-putting due to their tastes and constant use of ghoulish puns. If anything, the Metropolis Cluster and the Domains beyond are breeding grounds of evil people who often end up becoming the subject of the trio’s tales which they delight in telling.

The Crypt Keeper is a gnarled old man who is often wearing a blue/black set of raggedy robes. He is often found in the basement of his derelict manor. With him live a number of monsters and other creatures, but they are often subservient to him, or on good terms. He holds a library of moral tales, detailing the exploits of people within the Metropolis Cluster who suffer from their own hubris and receive severe comeuppance for it.

The Vault Keeper is a gaunt man who wears dingy green robes and caters to what he called the Vault of Horror. No one knows exactly where the vault is, but it is known to be underground. Often one does not find the vault under their own will but stumble onto it with the Vault Keeper giving them a warm, albeit ghoulish welcome. His tales often chronicle not only history but also the ripples of these terrible events, often repeating themselves or inspiring later generations to pen their own tales of horror.

The Old Witch is a hag of a woman in red who lives within a deep cave at a cape overlooking the sea. She is much like a kindly granny…although she enjoys ghoulish tales of her own and keeps the company of all kinds of macabre creatures. She likewise has a collection of tales for herself, but she prefers to have them in the form of fairy tales that give a dark moral to their stories.

The trio share an odd relationship, loving to poke fun at the others and twist their noses, but readily share the spotlight, sending people who enjoy their tales to the other two for more of their brand of entertainment. Because of their love of collecting tales of horror, the three have perhaps the largest repositories of macabre knowledge in all the Domains of Dread. This knowledge always comes in the form of shocking and even horrifying stories, but if one takes the time to study them, they can learn much about the nature of creatures of the night, evil humans, and other macabre entities.

While not evil in themselves, the trio seem to not mind sharing the company of evil folks who share similar interests. The Old Witch delights in meeting up with other hags and witches so they can talk shop. The Vault Keeper digs up undead and zombies so they can catch up on the dirt in other lands. The Crypt Keeper himself always enjoys a good brew with werewolves and vampires while sharing tall tales. It shows that like the Vistani, the trio seem capable of navigating the mists at their leisure in order to get the stories. Why the Dark Powers allow this is unknown, perhaps enjoying the libraries full of their Darklords' tales or lists of potential new Darklords within their Domains.

The Trio seem always happy to entertain guests, from Darklords to heroic individuals. Their knowledge and stories are freely given for anyone to enjoy. Still, it would be considered polite to share a new story with them in return for the knowledge they seek.

[HyperionSol]

Well, this one might have a bit of difficulty in fitting into an urban cluster, but feeding the people of the cluster has to be done and the food has to come from somewhere. It could have taken the route Paridon did, using any green space they had, but it would make the cluster rather unstable. So I decided the Metropolis Cluster needed at least a little green space to grow food, but also be a potential avenue of escape from the cluster, as being removed from anything urban is one of the things needed to trigger a mistway out of the cluster. So for a theme, I picked farming county, and what better inspiration than a scary farm tale like Children of the Corn, only in this case, the darklord is not nearly as successful as the antagonist of the story way.

Nusquam Acres

Cultural Level: Depression-Era Kansas

Religion: Pantheon of Angels

Locations: Nusquam Acres consists of multiple produce and livestock farms. The Domain is mostly flat with much of the space being used as farmland.

Darklord: Isaiah Greenrows

Inspiration: Children of the Corn

The mists of Ravenloft part, revealing multiple fields of grazing animals or crops of produce. The breeze hangs in the air and it appears like an idyllic farmlands. Passing by the rows of crops, there is a foreboding sense of being watched as if something was in the rows…

This is the Domain of Nusquam Acres. This is the predominant source of produce and animal products for the Metropolis Cluster. This makes the farmers there very busy and incidentally, very rich as so much of their produce, meats, cheeses, and other products are in such high demand. Unbeknownst to the adult population of the Domain, a creature exists in their midst who their children fear immensely.

Isaiah Greenrows - The Cursed Child

Isaiah Greenrows was a typical child, born to farming parents, and lived the lifestyle of those who worked the land. His childhood was enjoying playing with the animals who parents, playing at the local pond with friends, going to school, and typically running around and enjoying the wide open space to explore and play pretend in.

Still, childhood eventually ended and Isaiah grew to being twelve and was being forced to help more and more with his family’s farm. Isaiah resented this though. He just did not want to do the jobs, deciding that the physical labor of farm life was not for him. He preferred to continue to run around with his friends, spend his days fishing by the river. He was also discovering more way of entertaining himself, such as stealing sips of moonshine from a stash his father thought of secret, or betting loose change on events around town. Farm chores just didn’t compare, so he would skip them every chance he got so he could do the things he wanted instead.

Naturally, his parents punished him for this. He was cuffed on the ears, spanked, kept from dinner, and any punishment a parent could think of. Isaiah just resented his parents for forcing him to do chores and punishing him. He just kept telling them that he didn’t like doing it, but he was told if he didn’t help with the farm, he wouldn’t get the privileges he was used to. His response? His insistence that he could do whatever he wanted since he wasn’t a baby anymore.

His parents called his bluff and refused to feed him, buy him sweets, or allow him any of the privileges he had grown up with. If he worked chores again, he could have them again. This enraged Isaiah, angry that he would be denied things and forced to work. He sulkingly got back to his chores, resenting his parents the entire time. He really set to work, but not at his chores, but ways to try and get around his punishment and get the time he wanted to do other things with.

His plotting involved trying to get his friends to sneak onto the family farm and do the chores for him, but how would he do it? They weren’t stupid and if he didn’t pony up anything to entice them, they weren’t going to help him.

Isaiah got an idea when he heard one of the grannies in town telling her grandchildren about a scary monster that lived in the corn rows and other crops. One that would hunt and grab bad little children who didn’t do their chores and made mischief. It was just an old tale the adults told kids to make them behave, but the small children still believed it.

Isaiah quickly hammered out his plan. He started telling tales to the small children around town. He told them scary stories about He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows, a scary monster that he had seen snatch away other boys and girls who got too close. Easily fooled, the children began to get afraid of the crops and fields around their homes. He reassured them that he knew how to keep the monster away though, they just had to give him sweets, money, or little things like that and he would do a ritual which would keep the monster away.

Sadly, the naive children believed him and began stealing candies, spare coin, and other things Isaiah wanted. In their little minds, they were keeping a scary monster away from their homes and keeping everyone safe. He took them all, promising to do the ritual and keep He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows away.

With his gains, Isaiah bribed his friends to come over to his farm and help him with his chores. He would do minimal work, or just ‘supervise’ while they toiled. If his parents were nearby, he would have them hide and make it look like he was working. His friends didn’t like being labor, but he was paying them so it would fill their pockets.

Isaiah soon had his free time back. He lounged, he played, he fished at the creek. All the while, he pretended to get his chores done by bribing his friends with stolen goods he had tricked the small children of town into stealing for him.

Still, Isaiah began getting greedy, wanting more for himself to fuel his fun. He forced the children into stealing more while trying to keep more of their spoils for himself. His friends were also getting tired of Isaiah treating them like workers. He helped less and less, just lazing back while they worked, smirking at them like they were fools. He would often nitpick the work, using it as an excuse to keep from having to pay them.

Anyone with a lick of business sense or social experience could tell that was a bad idea. But sadly Isaiah, like many at his age, thought he was smarter than everyone else and he knew all he needed to know. He naively thought he could keep the charade going, just living for tomorrow and not planning for the future. More and more he was starting to get attracted to entertainment for adults, getting an eye for a local girl who started wooing with some of the goods he had gotten from his little minions.

When he turned thirteen, Isaiah’s little web of lies and laziness caught up to him. His demands for more goods were making the small children frantic to find something to appease him with. Families soon began to catch their little ones making like thieves. They were punished, but also asked why they were doing such a thing. Tearfully, they revealed what Isaiah told them and they were trying to keep their homes safe.

Angry parents began spreading word, including to the siblings of Isaiah’s friends. Finding out he had been exploiting their siblings and paying them to do his chores with their own property enraged them. They were quick to tattle on Isaiah, telling their parents about his little scheme to get out of doing chores.

Many enraged parents called on Isaiah’s parents, demanding compensation and punishment on Isaiah for what he had been doing. His parents were shocked and humiliated at what they were doing, causing many to question their parenting skills and tarnishing their reputation. With many neighbors and friends demanding repayment for what was stolen, it would have also put a dent in their funds, of which were limited until the harvest was pulled in.

Isaiah’s parents were furious and hunted him down. As expected, he was lounging near the creek, enjoying a lazy summer day as he bribed more friendss into completing his chores for him. He quickly noticed his parents and the utter fury in their faces. Realizing he was in deep trouble, he fled, trying to hide in the cornfields near his house. His father followed, roaring for Isaiah to come back and face what he had done.

Isaiah got as far as a scarecrow in the field, cobbled together from spare materials and old, worn down tools. His father caught up to him there, lifting Isaiah by his lapels and roaring at him in anger over what he did. He laid into the newly-minted teenager, calling him a lazy good-for-nothing, how he’s ruined their family’s good name, how he could be so cruel as to manipulate little kids, and how he was going to get the punishment of a lifetime for it.

Frantic and afraid, Isaiah grabbed at anything to help him escape his father’s grip. His hands landed on something and he yanked on it, pulling it free before hitting His father with it. The man choked and gagged, revealing Isaiah had drawn an old hand-scythe from the scarecrow. The blow wasn’t immediately lethal, and the farm could have been saved. He dropped Isaiah in shock, looking at his own son in horror.

Isaiah quickly saw his chance, saw a means of avoiding responsibility, to finally stop the endless chores, finally be free to do whatever he wanted like he knew he could. His resentment for what he perceived as ‘unfair’ chores and labor boiled over with his panic and he swung a second time, cutting his father’s throat.

As the man fell to the ground, Isaiah ran deeper into the corn, desperately trying to think of a lie he could use to get out of his current problem. As he ran through the corn, the mists of Ravenloft rose up and swallowed him.

He ran through the corn, but soon found himself smothered by the numerous and thicker plants. Finally, he could run no more. The corn stalks shifted and merged together, tethering him, holding him down. From the collected plants, a face formed.

He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows had risen, and Isaiah was going to be its new chore boy.

Appearance

Isaiah has the appearance of a regular thirteen-year old boy. He sports dirty blonde hair, freckles on his face, and vibrant green eyes. He looks much like any other boy his apparent physical age. This is a deception as by the current year, Isaiah is much older than he looks.

Isaiah has become a master manipulator, managing to convince people to do things for him, helped by his age and knowing how to play up his ‘country bumpkin’ persona. In terms of personality, he’s a lazy bully who will do just about anything he can think of to make people do things for him, or make them hand over something he wants. He’s always quick to run when it seems like his actions are catching up with him.

Current Sketch

Isaiah’s curse is that he cannot age. Most would see it as a boon, but in his current state, he’s trapped in an in-between state he despises. He’s too big to be considered a child, so he cannot go back to his days of endless freedom and play. He’s also too small to be considered an adult and is deprived of the more adult pleasures and pastimes he knows so many others, including his now adult friends can enjoy.

Normally someone would notice a boy in their community who never seems to grow up. Part of this curse seems to change the memories of people who are born in the domain. After they age to a certain point, they forget their past with Isaiah and new memories of him appear, having him lose his bullied victims, or his paid goons, and watch them grow up and leave him behind again.

Isaiah now lives in his old farmhouse, but there is no one to run it. He has to do it himself, but he has gotten a way around it. By becoming contracted to He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows, he has become a warlock. He’s used his magic and the eldritch creature’s contract to animate numerous scarecrows who work in the fields for him. He usually has them work at night so no one will notice, but people constantly wonder how his family’s fields get done.

Isaiah keeps up his stories of He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows, keeping the children afraid and stealing for him. The eldritch being whispers to Isaiah, sharing what it wants. Whatever the creature is, it seems to have an agenda, but serves a purpose in the community by ensuring planting and harvest is always bountiful. In return, it demands a sacrifice twice a year for those purposes. A human sacrifice. Isaiah obliges, luring someone into the fields at the time, sometimes more. He hates his now grown up friends, dangerously envious of what they get to enjoy so it is no hardship for him and it makes his own crops the most bountiful, meaning more wealth to enjoy his own activities, no matter how dull they are to him now.

The Land

Nusquam Acres is an expanse of hills with fields everywhere. As much land as possible has been converted to farming due to the demand coming from the portions of the Metropolis Cluster which has no room for agriculture of their own. Multiple crops are grown such as grains, corn, potatoes, and other such items. Other fields remain open, used for grazing animals such as sheep, cows, goats, and the like. On clear days, in the right spot, it’s possible to see from one end of the domain to the other if one stands on the right hill, the land is that clear.

Multiple farmsteads dot the landscape and fences which mark property lines run all over the area. There are only two major settlements. The first is Shady Creek, the place where local blacksmiths, merchants, and others do business with the farmers when they come into town. It is also the center of the government where issues of law, property rights, and other disputes are settled, if they get that far.

The other settlement is a relatively recent one. Called Swapper’s End, it’s where merchants and travelers end up looking to sell their wares or find employment. It’s more filled with who the locals call ‘city folk’ congregate in order to do their business. It has a higher standard of living, since many wealthy residents of other domains hope to build country homes out there, although open land to do such a thing sells at a premium.

The Law

The people of Nusquam Acres elect a Townmaster in order to officiate legal disputes. Usually these come to land disputes, unpaid dues, and other small town rural issues. More often than not, many of the hardy farmers prefer to settle their issues themselves. It is not unusual for neighbors to begin feuding over the positioning of fences, whose animals damaged a crop, or trespassing. It is not unusual for some to come to blows over defending their land, and the locals often support this practice.

Closing the Borders

When Isaiah wishes to close the borders of his Domain, he simply concentrates and mist thickens. Anyone attempting to leave will find themselves lost before they find themselves surrounded by rows of corn, fields of wheat, or other crops which becomes almost a maze that is very difficult to navigate.

The Folk

The folk of Nusquam Acres are hard, blue-collar workers who take pride in being able to work the land for generations. Their pride in their work has only gotten stronger when the demands for produce became so insistent. Money is flowing into the domain, making many farmers wealthy. Some take it humbly, living as they always did while others have discovered how to use it to influence some policies in town, or even make issues against them disappear.

Many of the downtrodden or poor travel to Nusquam Acres looking for work. The fields are so large that when time comes for planting or harvest, the farms always need extra hands. The good ones pay well for experienced labor, bad ones tend to be cheap and try to pay as little as possible, usually only getting first-time workers.

The children of the domain live with the secrets of He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows. Isaiah tells them the story of the creature, which is actually true now. The children frantically work to obey Isaiah’s demands, passing him things he wants. Usually it is childish wants he has, such as candy to soothe his bad moods. Other times it's for materials and things he needs to make scarecrows or other things he reluctantly has to make to replace scarecrows or other constructs.

If Isaiah had more ambition beyond just making the other kids fear him, he could have brainwashed the other children into forming a cult dedicated to his patron. Even if he tried though, the aspect of his curse would prevent it from taking hold in the community. When they get old enough to truly be functional for Isaiah’s purposes, their memories change and they see him as just another local kid who likes to tell tales, or remember him as someone younger than him who they often disregard.

Facing Isaiah Greenrows

Isaiah appears as a thirteen-year-old boy and his physical abilities reflect that. His only supernatural abilities are the magic that is granted to him from his contract with He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows.

Isaiah knows some magic, although he mostly focuses on building scarecrows, or using juvenile tricks to amuse himself. If he gets in trouble, he often will have his scarecrows and other cobbled-together constructs help him. In a pinch, he will run to the crops and beg for He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows to help him. The entity will help, but usually for the promise of a sacrifice, one which Isaiah will have a more difficult time following through with.

Encounters

Monsters in Nusquam Acres all focus on the fields of crops that populate the domain. Scarecrows are the most visible, made one by one by Isaiah to serve him. They remain on their stands during the day, but wander the fields at night, doing the jobs he doesn’t want to do, spy on other people on his orders, or hunt down anyone snooping on Isaiah’s land.

The most dangerous entity is He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows. The entity is most active during the time when the crop fields are tall and strong. While the entity likes to pester Isaiah, charging him with formal duties which it knows he hates, it does have its own designs and keeps eyes all over the domain.

The entity is able to spawn creatures from the crops it creates. These monsters come in the form of plant creatures. The most common are blights of the twig or vine variety which stalk the rows of corn or blend into fields of grains.

The entity’s presence has been known to affect the crops it manifests in. Some creatures that eat it, such as various animals or insects, mutate and grow into large variants of themselves or become unnaturally aggressive. Adults who eat the produce inside the domain seem unaffected by the entity’s touch. On the other hand, children who eat it become more susceptible to Isaiah's storytelling, ensuring his grip on them. However, as their memories change, whatever effects the product had disappears as well. Anyone who eats the products outside of the domain seems to suffer no effects. The entity’s power ends at the borders.

Dread Possibility

He-Who-Walks-Between-The-Rows is not some eldritch entity, remnant of a pagan deity, or supernatural form. It is in fact a manifestation created by Isaiah’s desperate desire to escape responsibility for his actions. He used the entity as a scapegoat for his manipulations and final crime, he would attribute anything bad happening to it. On becoming a Darklord, the Dark Powers made the entity real, giving weight to Isaiah’s denial of responsibility, but also constantly reminding him of what he did and forcing him to do what he hates in order to avoid being pestered by his guilt given physical form.

[Mistmaster]

Nice but too young for my tastes.

[HyperionSol]

Nice but too young for my tastes.

Yeah, I was iffy on how old to make the Darklord since it is inspired by Children of the Corn, which is part of what makes it so creepy. If it helps, by the current year in the cluster, he's well into his adult years, but trapped in a younger body.

[Evtrax]

i get evil tom sawyer vibes from isiasah.

also, i consider that dread possibility canon.

[HyperionSol]

i get evil tom sawyer vibes from isiasah.

Hm, you're right, there is a tom sawyer vibe to him, isn't there? The kid who would rather slack off instead of doing his chores.

[Evtrax]

yep. but evil because, to the best of my knowldge, tom wasnt willing to kill like iasiah was, and is.