Copper Falls

How things are on the Isle of St. Brendan.

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Copper Falls Under Siege: A Point Crawl

A point crawl is designed to allow players to go from place to place in a sandbox environment, discovering connections to new locations as they go with no predefined order or narrative. Each point description contains potential items and characters present. Additionally, each location changes based on how long after the fog’s advent they’re visited:

Stage 1: fog enters, flesh twitches (up to one hour in the fog)

Stage 2: the weak are taken, the strong fight on (up to one day in the fog)

Stage 3: the opportunistic hide and manipulate; abominations appear (up to one week in the fog)

Stage 4: all is lost; men become animals (up to one month in the fog)

Stage 5: winter comes, and even death dies; the fog returns to the earth, and flesh is granted its right to putrefy

The map below gives the geographical locations of each point as well as the kinds of paths between each. The different paths indicate the travel time, chance of encounter, and resource drain of each way of proceeding.

R: Road—a plain, clear route that reduces travel time by 10%

P: Path—an uneven, sometimes unclear route

S: Secret—a route that takes a successful Perception check to discover

C: Conversational—a social route, whether joking, seductive, and so on

T: Stealthy—a route that hides its travelers

Locations

The Chirurgeon: Often the last stop of the living before sleeping off their lives in the graveyard.

Stage 1: The corpses on the surgical tables bloat and turn gray. In glass jars, eyes and organs aggressively flit about.

Stage 2: In a place where things come to rot and die, the living have no power and are forced to switch allegiances.

Stage 3: The dead, uncomfortable with this site of redemption, abandon it. Dirty William and Tad the Robber and their demon (if they survived) have taken up residence here.

Stage 4: The roof sags--mold grows there, left to evolve by flesh gone uninterested.

The Ash Pile, the Chopping Block, and the Robber’s Yew: Formerly the site of Mark the Executioner’s pride, hangings and burnings now account for most of the deaths here (as per the Duchess’s orders, may Ivar bless her name).

Stage 1: Corpses dance on their ropes; ashes swirl in stagnant air; heads, absent their bodies, blink their eyes and smack their lips.

Stage 2: Mark struggles against his former victims (50% chance of survival).

Stage 3: If the executioner was killed, his corpse now keeps watchful guard over his death tools. Otherwise, even the dead have abandoned the area in order to besiege the church.

Stage 4: An endeavoring arm of the fog (six arms, actually, sewn onto four legs) digs in the ashes and dirt for the last bit of bone.

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Bestiary I

A number of people seek to open the coffin. Few people advocate caution. When a crack appears in its dark skin, greasy yellow smoke billows out like oil into water. It expands throughout Copper Falls and the surrounding farms until the area is stifled in ochre haze. When it meets something that used to be animal--leather, feathers, flesh, bones--it seeps in and occupies it. The newly dead return to shambling life and seek to kill others to add to their coterie. They join lumps of meat with leather coats and catgut to create new forms of life. The mist seeks to bring all under its control.

For animated corpses, use the stats of standard zombies and skeletons. However, these things are fiendishly intelligent. Skeletons may graft new limbs to their bodies; zombies will impale cow horns into their heads for extra attacks. All this flesh bubbles as the smoke drives itself through it. All this flesh is one mind. Given enough time, it constructs new lifeforms to suit its purpose. Some are presented below.

Beefshoulders

The bulldog of the smoke-driven flesh, beefshoulders have stretched tight animal muscles across their shoulders and necks to give them increased strength of arm, often stripping the muscle from their faces to reattach elsewhere. They wade into crowds, swinging wildly, yearning for more flesh to add.

Leatherwisp

A kite of dried skin stretched across bird bones, the leatherwisps float silently across the yellow skies. When the see a weak target beneath them, they dive suicidally, impaling the victim and merging with it, wrapping leather and bones into armor.

Screamer

A scrabbling hand with a mouth in its palm and a shining lung dragging after it. It races across rooftops and down alleyways. When it finds still-living beings, it flops over and unleashes a violent, echoing scream to attract the nearest beefshoulders or leatherwisps.

Capillary

Covering a number of square yards, a capillary is made up of dozens of mammalian hearts and miles of veins and arteries. It circulates a variety of fluids that the other flesh things use for sustenance. When a living creature steps near, the capillary can net the unlucky thing and drain it of fluid in minutes or hours. The dry skin and bones can be used to create more leatherwisps.

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More Plotting

While the people of the city make their moves, a beastly quartet makes their way out of the hinterlands of the east. Their faces are wrapped in linen, and veils cling tightly to their eyes. Their jackets are stately purple, cut close to their bodies, and their gray pants, in starched flares at their hips, are tucked tightly into their leather boots. They hold between them a coffin, sharply angled and deep brown in color. It has been stained almost black, and pitch has been rubbed liberally into its cracks. Knobs of bone with meticulous serration extrude like cysts from the coffin.

They march silently to the outskirts of Copper Falls, arriving as the sun begins to set, and are sighted first by Mark the Executioner. He lifts his axe from the grindstone, more curious than fearful. The cloying scent of sulfur and something sharper dances about them. On encountering a human, the pallbearers set down their load and pull something small from their jacket pockets. It is flint and tinder, and on striking it, all four of them become playgrounds for flame.

They burn as fast as leaves would, curling into tiny black ashes that jump into the sky like insects. As they flicker away, nothing is left of them--no bones or buttons or belt buckles. The coffin sits heavy in the dust of the road.

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Brewing Rebellion

If the players gain any sort of negative reputation (whether deserved or not) with Captain Buchanan, the Duchess, or Dr. Loverockets, they will eventually be approached by part of a disguised member of a secret coterie looking to overthrow the Duchess. It may be any one of the following:

The Smallest Leech (Doctor Mrs. Elinora St. Marie)

actual doctor 6

Desires: alimony from Dr. Loverockets; ascendency of an intellectual elite

Fears: peasant rebellion; lack of recognition

Notable Statistics & Skills: Medicine, Conspiracy

Possessions: various medicines, bandana to cover her face

Relationships: part of a secret cabal of humans descended from university graduates; divorced from Dr. Ludovicus Loverockets

About: The less said of these things, the better. Can’t have you knowing too much in case you’re caught.

The Loper (Jon Peebles)

peasant 9

Desires: a return of peasant rule of the lands

Fears: heights, being ignored

Notable Statistics & Skills: Turn Into Bear

Possessions: farm and farming equipment

Relationships: pays a number of peasants to work the land; hated by the Duchess

About: Will only approach players as a bear until their trust is gained.

Ragged Lips (Richard the Cackling)

ruffian 6

Desires: money, power, a different kind of ruling elite (that includes himself)

Fears: having his tongue or fingers removed

Notable Statistics & Skills: Burglary, Climbing

Possessions: domino mask

Relationships: thick as thieves with the local underworld; suspected of many crimes by Mark the Executioner

About: Ah, well, you’re the ones on trial. You need to convince him to trust you.

Ivarsson the Tall (Friar Roland)

holy man 5

Desires: a theocracy run according to the tenets of Ivar the Headless

Fears: endless punishment in the afterlife

Notable Statistics & Skills: Acrobatics, Oratory

Possessions: stilts, ghoulish Ivar death mask, blood-stained topped with Ivar’s head carved from ivory

Relationships: knows the sins of many

About: He speaks for Ivar. You need know nothing else but that.

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Habitable Homesteads

Once you’ve accepted that there’s currently no way off the island, perhaps you’ll start looking for a temporary living situation. Unfortunately, homes within the city walls are reserved for official citizens, who are either born to citizens or pass the extensive Loyalty & Worship Test, 50 pages long and steeped in local Ivar beliefs.

Outside of the city walls, however, a few forms of shelter can be found if one looks hard enough. In searching, approximate the closest cardinal direction.

West — Abandoned Manse

A madman built it—a madman with money. Most of the homes inside the city walls are hovels. Trade is slow and iron is uncommon, so any buildings that aren’t part of the walls and castle end up looking like mangled things that washed in at high tide.

So it’s strange to find an abandoned mansion outside the walls. Anyone will tell you that it’s cursed. The builder summoned spirits to built it overnight, or he enslaved the slothfolk and ordered them to kill their oldest trees. And is that stucco on the walls? Do the islanders even know what stucco is?

At night, candles light and go out. Freezing drafts move slowly across the floors. The walls sweat, the doors shut, the floors creak. Who is haunting the home? Why?

Pros: fancy old rich person house

Cons: probably haunted

East — Abandoned Sloth Abode

They say that when the Ivar-worshippers landed (with Ivar’s head, as it is told in some versions), the slothfolk lived everywhere on the island except for the extant stone walls that would become Copper Falls. Trees covered the island back then, and the area was carved into intricate, overlapping districts depending on slothfolk lineage and tree species. Elder slothfolk still speak fondly of the great war between the Deciduous and the Coniferous, and upper branches still bear the carefully woven, still-living wreaths that marked the borders of the sloth realms.

All that has changed now. Disease and human incursion have driven the slothfolk away from human settlements, and their old ways have shattered as they are shoved against each other on lands they would never have considered occupying centuries ago. Without regular upkeep, most of their cultural artifacts have dissolved, but a keen eye might spot one of their old homes hanging from an ancient tree. The woven nest reinforced by stout bark spans multiple levels.

Pros: treehouse

Cons: hard to reach; in disrepair

North — Cave

The woods thin to spindly pines as reddish sandstone rises in lumps and columns from the dirt, eventually forming a mountainous plateau in the center of the island. Fossils of ancient fish dot the rock, and the river that lends its name to Copper Falls flows winding and crimson brown to the sea.

Somewhere in the rocks is an old cave carved by old people. The soft stone is filled with coffin-like ledges where dessicated dead still lay, offerings dried and crumbling around them.

Pros: dry; nearby water

Cons: filled with ancient corpses

South — Rare Beast Circle

Fire was the greatest weapon against the slothfolk. At the height of those long-ago battles, now centuries past, a hasty general put an entire swath of old growth woodland to flame, and the smoke was thick and oily with the slow deaths of the old and tired who slept in the leaves.

The trees haven’t reclaimed this wasted space. The dirt is black and gray, and the only plants that shove their way above ground are twisted and selfish. They say that the beasts that root around and eat these plants become diseased and aggressive, and if a man sleeps here, he will wake with a hunger for flesh. And there is something large that stalks the nights, looking for helpless things.

There is one safe haven, however: a circle of small white rocks, smooth as volcanic glass. A small camp could fit comfortably inside the circle, and small green sprouts, naive and soft, grow there.

Pros: isolation

Cons: if the circle is broken, the Rare Beast will eat you

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TREPHINATION: While the Players Play

Naturally, the murder and the escape don’t happen in a vacuum. While the players are incarcerated and on the run, the other survivors of The Empress are trying to adapt to life on the island. Specifically, Captain of War and Sea Cornwallis “Corny” Buchanan, having accepted that there are no seaworthy vessels to take him home, has begun to ingratiate himself with the gentry. He’s pointed out a number of weaknesses in castle and troops to the Duchess, and she has made certain promises regarding his future were he to fix those weaknesses.

On hearing of the murder, Captain Buchanan moves quickly to distance himself from the crime. He will, of course, track down the killers and make reparations. As “fellow mainlanders,” he thinks he understands the supposed murderers better than anyone on St. Brendan.

He has no real intention of capturing the real killer. He merely seeks fame and recognition. If this means turning in the players and convincing everyone that they are, despite any evidence to the contrary, bloody-minded criminals, so be it.

His end goal is to organize Copper Falls in a way that leaves him with a seaworthy vessel and a crew to sail him home. Money awaits him there as the true explorer of the long-lost island, he who civilized the Ivar-worshippers--perhaps even a dukedom or even ownership of the island.

Imagine with him: epaulets and medals, his choice of woman on his arm (a nice one with strong arms to bear his children, another all curves and plump give for cold nights), scholars seeking his opinion, childhood bullies now subservient and begging, and a virile line of small Cornys marching off into the future.

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Inside the Castle

The Duchess’s castle is much larger than it needs to be. The Duchess herself has a suite of 12 rooms for herself. There are multiple kitchens even though a single one of them is too big to be fully staffed. Empty rooms and passages are in abundance, entire wings lie disused, and hidden or forgotten passages riddle the old stone. Some say the castle and the walls of Copper Falls were already built when the heretic worshippers of Ivar the Headless arrived those centuries ago. Weird.

When wandering away from the well-trafficked portions of the castle, one may encounter a variety of things:

1 — The Twisted Nobleman swears that he is a distant offshoot from the royal family. Born disfigured and weak, he was raised to adulthood and then thoroughly ignored. By his reckoning, he is now 50 years old. No one remembers him. He may be willing to offer up his knowledge of the secret routes of the castle.

2 — Miser snails are new to Copper Falls, and no one’s quite sure where they came from. They seek precious stones and are able to dissolve the soft metals of rings and circlets to free the gemstones they desire. These stones are somehow passed into the hollow interiors of the miser snail’s shells. Salvage rights to the innards of slain snails is still an unsure topic for Rampus Reynaldus.

3 — Hunting parties are often organized to track down miser snails. Some work for the Duchess or lesser nobles; others are independent, seeking to split the spoils of the hunt between themselves. The slime of the snails also dissolves normal clothing and raises welts on exposed skin, so those hunting them are often dressed in various kinds of metal: chain, plate, or piecemeal armor. They are often suspicious of others, concerned that they, too, are after the wealth of gems.

4 — Conspirators often meet in the distant hallways of the castle. Some are dressed in formalwear and make plans over tea. Others mask themselves and whisper in the shadows. Depending on their disposition, they may inquire after the players’ loyalties or attack on sight.

5 — A lone colonizer spider has floated onto St. Brendan’s Isle after spending weeks aloft on a webby parachute of its own devising. At six inches from the extreme end of one leg to the other, it has yet to be discovered. It spends its waking hours building webs for its fellows who will eventually follow. Players may discover its webs. An attempt to destroy them earns the players a painful mental blast with a 50% chance to stun and confuse them. The spider follows this with a kamikaze raid, attempting to inject as many of its attackers with its mildly lethal poison as it can before being swatted. If its discoverers aren’t aggressive, though, the spider may telepathically converse with them.

6 — The Duke’s Head floats about on certain nights when ill stars hang in the sky. Ivar worshippers traditionally burn the bodies of the deceased and bury the heads. To have one’s head immolated or otherwise destroyed is seen as a fate worse than death. The Duke’s Head, spectral and charred, spouts gasping and angry curses. It can drain the knowledge of those it meets. Which Duke’s head was treated so? And why?

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Escape!

A jailbreak occurs. It’s no planned escape, though--it is a confluence of chaotic events and dangerous cross-purposes. The demon appears to claim the souls of the children, and it will unlock the cells of anyone willing to trade it one of the following:

their family name

their shadow

a year of their life (to be determined)

their fingernails and toenails

Carrot Destroyer gives up his claws in order to free him and Black Rhizopus. Marianne of the Hazel, seeking to trick the demon, offers to give up her human family name, which she has had no use for since childhood. Instead, the demon takes “of the Hazel,” stealing her powers along with it.

At approximately the same time as the demon’s arrival, the true murderer from Mathilde’s inn reveals himself. He comes through a crumbling wall into the player character’s cells. He is a snuffling mole-beast with folds of pink skin, sparse, stiff white hairs, and cloudy eyes. He is under the impression that one of the PCs has taken something of his. Conduct a Reaction Challenge if more information is desired.

Capital Success: “From the ship! It bore me through the waves, and in its womb, I found the device that would sustain me until I returned my people from limbo.” [The beast, his mind on the device, suffers a -1 penalty to all attacks, and players may take advantage of a surprise round.]

Success: “You really don’t know what I’m after?” [The players may take advantage of a surprise round.]

Failure: “Liars taste much sweeter!” [The beast gains +1 on any attacks against the player who initiated the Reaction Challenge.]

Distressing Failure: The beast issues a mindless howl. [It attacks the player who initiated the Reaction Challenge with no regard to its own safety. Treat it as an All-Out Attack.]

If any loud noises occur (such as a howling mole-beast), 2-8 guards rush down and attack anyone or anything outside of a cell. In the battle that ensues, many outcomes are possible. A few are listed below, but you’re encouraged to use your imagination and keep options open.

Innocence Reclaimed: There is a strong chance that the mole-beast can be captured and forced to confess his crime. If this is the case, the characters’ names are cleared. They are still viewed with suspicion, and local innkeepers refuse to put them up any longer. Temporary housing can be found outside the city walls.

On the Run: The characters can kill the guards and escape. The slothfolk, the boys, and Marianne will all assist them in this. The demon may help as well, but its focus is on claiming the souls of Tad and Dirty William. The battle out of the dungeon, through the castle, and out of town will be long and difficult, but it’s not impossible. The demon will disappear at whatever time is most inopportune for the characters. Depending on who escapes with them, the players may earn themselves boons.

If the slothfolk escape, they declare the characters animals of the wastes. This isn’t as bad as it sounds. As animals, they are beneath the notice of the slothfolk. Black Rhizopus won’t kill them. Other slothfolk won’t hide from them, but they also won’t trade with them. This boon takes the shape of a hand-carved wooden pendant in the shape of a wolf’s claw.

If Marianne escapes, she becomes a tree in 1-2 days. It’s the only way to reclaim what the demon took. The characters are blessed by the other trees. Roll on the chart below for the benefit.

1 — The character grows antlers. +1 to all Reaction Challenges.

2 — The characters feet are webbed. +1 to all Swimming.

3 — The character grows a tail. +1 to all Balance.

4 — The character’s hair grows into a mane. +1 to Intimidation.

5 — The character grows a snout and whiskers. +1 to Tracking.

6 — The character’s forearms are coated in bark. This can be considered a shield.

If the boys escape (which involves driving off the demon), the characters gain a +1 bonus in all dealings with the seedier populations of Copper Falls. This might be used to hide from authorities, gather information, or contact criminals and scalawags. However, it also earns them an enemy in the demon.

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What sort of dental work have I had? Does it disfigure me in anyway?

[Doctor Loverockets is the most educated man on the Isle of St. Brendan—premier historian, scientist, and master of etiquette & decorum. Occasionally, he deigns to answer the questions of those less fortunate than himself.]

Come over here, you amnesiac little beast. Open up. There, just like that. You look just fine from the outside, but then again, so did my wife as we were wedded.

Well. Ah. Well.

It seems to me that someone has gone at your teeth with a careful hand and fine, faery tools. Were you aware that each of your fangs has been shaped into a spicy young woman all wrapped in a shawl? Very enticing. I expect corn gets stuck on their perfect elbows quite often.

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Appendix D1: Demons and Their Origins

These things that the people of Copper Falls call demons have troubled the residents ever since St. Brendan brought the first load of heretics, those early worshippers of Ivar the Headless, all those centuries back.

The origin of the rituals used to summon these demons are unclear. They bear no linguistic or symbolic relationships to those classic rituals ascribed to witches, heretics, and hellions of our Medieval past.

Only a rare few rituals are captured in written form by the constabulary. One, scrawled in red chalk on birch bark, demanded a head that had been removed from its body under running water. After fleshbugs removed the carrion from the bone, a diagram detailed the location of a number of holes that were to be drilled into the skull.

A number of slothfolk have been detained and interrogated under the impression that they are the creators of these macabre demands. Even under extreme duress, however, none of the slothfolk have confessed.

Recently, scholars  of gods and rites have pointed to the complete lack of constellations, moon phases, and other celestial bodies in the rituals. One possible theory is that an underground culture is responsible for distributing the demonic filth to citizens of Copper Falls. Could an entire civilization live beneath the earth?

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The Usual Suspects

a slothman

slothfolk armorer 3

Desires: freedom

Fears: humans

Notable Statistics & Skills: Camouflage, Armorer, Carpentry

Possessions: none

Relationships: admired by the slothfolk of his clan for his artisanship; unrequited love for Black Rhizopus

About: Unless the players possess some sort of magic to translate this slothman’s tongue, they’ll never learn that his name, a slow burbling of syllables, means Carrot Destroyer. They’ll never learn that he is a renowned creator of “woodtanks”--the turtle-like shells that slothfolk use for privacy and protection. He and Black Rhizopus came to the edge of town to try to trade for some nails. A child screamed, its father came running, and the two were jailed.

a slothwoman

slothfolk hamadryas 6

Desires: the peaceful death of all humans

Fears: a future without trees

Notable Statistics & Skills: Herbalism, Curses

Possessions: none

Relationships: a pact with her now-dead aunt to slay at least three humans and leave their corpses to fertilize the woods

About: As above, the chances are good that the players will learn nothing about Black Rhizopus. While she has sworn to kill humans, no one in the jail is in immediate danger. Even if she was escaping, chances are slim that she would be able to bring a corpse with her. In her lifelong service to the trees, she has become infected with a flaky black mold that will eventually consume her entirely.

Marianne of the Hazel

human holy man 2

Desires: freedom

Fears: no man

Notable Statistics & Skills: Charisma, Fateweaving

Possessions: none

Relationships: owed by many peasants for fortifying their luck; feared by many more for her powers

About: Marianne tells no one of her past. She practices the Art of the Forking Branch, able to peer forward and backward along the trees of our lives and, occasionally, able to nip certain buds or encourage a bloom along the branches of those trees. She was accused of pruning away a woman’s love for an aristocrat.

Dirty William

human demon worshipper 1

Desires: supreme, hellish control over those more powerful than him

Fears: bullies

Notable Statistics & Skills: none of note

Possessions: none

Relationships: owes his soul to a demon (see below); emotionally abusive friendship with Tad the Robber; must be home before sundown or there’ll be no supper

About: Dirty William’s father died of drink. His mother tries to make ends meet as a seamstress. She’s doing a poor job of it. William used to spend his days in the cathedral and managed to learn to read, but after he found a book about the ancient demons entombed in the earth, he stole a page detailing their summons. The various gangs of kids around town would not accept him, but he convinced Tad to start a new gang. It was only yesterday that they finally found the all-black cat required to reach out to the demons.

Tad the Robber

human ruffian 1

Desires: a full belly

Fears: nearly everything

Notable Statistics & Skills: Mincing, Filching

Possessions: a lockpick

Relationships: owed thrashings by innumerable adults from whom he’s taken food; owes his soul to a demon

About: Tad’s a robber, obviously. No one ever loved him much, and he’s sure that no one ever will. He does what he does to get by.

Roll below to create the demon that William and Tad reached:

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The Law in Action

The known laws of the land indicate that Duchess Antonilla be the sole and final arbiter in all disputes within the region. In practice, she rarely rules on anything but the most high profile crimes, usually involving wealthy merchants or aristocrats in the public eye. She has empowered an official Adjudicator, Rampus Reynaldus, to speak with full judicial power when the duchess is unavailable.

Naturally, Reynaldus is kept quite busy dealing with land disputes between the larger independent farmers, damage to public property, and weights and measures. At the end of each day, he spends hours signing off on reports from Constable Parker Leanweight, approving of his decisions made while dealing with petty thieves, drunkards, and the occasional murderer. One such paper crossing the Adjudicator’s desk tonight will read as follows:

Rampus,

Got a killin in Mathilde’s place. Reverend Ponder got gutted while he was laying in bed with his dingle out. Not sure about the dingle, but I have the dirty murderers in custody. They’re folks what came in from the shipwreck. Fancy talkers. Got a busy schedule for for the old campfire this week--them two slothfolk, the witch from the cave outen town, and them kids got caught praying to that dead black cat--so I got these new ones scheduled for Friday. Nice burnin of the outsiders before the weekend. Running out of room in the dungeons, so they’re in the cell with the witch. They gave their names as follows:

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An Ill Night’s Rest

In the course of assuring the residents of Copper Falls that they are not demons, and in order to gain themselves a warm, dry place to sleep, the players find themselves in one week’s worth of indentured servitude to the innkeeper, Mathilde (human peasant 3). Potential questions they may ask are listed here along with their answers:

Q: Who comes to visit the inn?

A: Ah, well, I won’t point my fingers at the fine men and women who feel the need to come in for a drink every night. I’m a pious woman, and it don’t go to cast blame, and them that drink are my bread and butter. Same can be said for those who don’t feel so good sleeping in their own bed at night; lots of reasons for that sort of thing to happen, and Ivar bless them all for giving me their coin.

Used to be we’d get the occasional traveler as well. Maybe you don’t know, being from elsewhere, but there are a few other settlements here. I guess they’re strung out along the coast like a nice necklace around the island. No real reason to leave your home that I can think, especially with the slothfolk out there. People tend to disappear, or at least they never come back.

Not that I’ve seen any out-of-towners for a long bit. Weeks, probably. Maybe months. But that’s fine by me. I didn’t set out to live an exciting life. Nice and boring--that’s how I like it. It’s why I never married.

Your sleep that night is disturbed by the sounds of rain and thunder and gnawing in the walls. Rodents? The sounds become clearer, and something falls on the floor. You stumble to light a lantern. As the flame stutters up, you can see that a hole in your wall, just big enough to crawl through, straight into the adjacent room.

By the nervous light of the lantern, you can just see someone on the bed there, his guts a shining jumble jutting out of a tunnel through his torso. Naturally, this is when Mathilde enters your neighbor’s room. She narrows her eyes at you through the hole. Rain collects on the floor behind her, driven through an open window.

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How did you become the man you are today? How do I follow suit?

[Doctor Loverockets is the most educated man on the Isle of St. Brendan--premier historian, scientist, and master of etiquette & decorum. Occasionally, he deigns to answer the questions of those less fortunate than himself.]

While luck and fine breeding account for a small portion of my success, there are two main factors that have helped me reach the apex of civility and knowledge. The first is, naturally, my resolute gumption, my unwillingness to give up, my will to tenacity. I have sought out every opportunity to better myself (and the world around me), and I have seized those opportunities in my gleeful, long-fingered hands. The world is my buffet, and I will let no morsel go uneaten.

The second component of my success is ghosts. Have you ever thought, dear reader, how many things have died? I don’t have my calculations handy, but many, many things have slipped loose from their fleshy anchors. To observe the ghost is to observe the un-self-conscious--the true being.

And it’s not just the spectres of man that can enlighten us! The spirit of the wolf, while still moderately dangerous, usually sticks to the scents of the afterlife, so they can be observed while remaining unmolested. The patient scientist, exploring the bowels of the world, can find the spirit colonies of all those insects and spiders that have died under swatted hand.

And then there are the ghosts of slain hopes and dreams, the shades and apparitions of things that went unsaid and sounds that went unheard. It is truly special knowledge.

One thing that has not contributed to my rise is my shrew of a wife, that grousing dwarf who, despite still sharing my bed, has left my name in the mud like a rotten turnip. If you are unfortunate to come across the woman who now calls herself Doctor Mrs. Elinora St. Marie, cross to the other side of the street so as to avoid her clenched gaze and unkind tongue.

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The People of Copper Falls (Specified)

On a first trip into the city, one might meet…

Mark the Executioner

human churl 4

Desires: free time, recognition as farmer

Fears: sickness, regime change

Notable Statistics & Skills: Aim, Animal Husbandry

Possessions: axe +1 vs necks

Relationships: owes favors to the Duchess; owes spiritual closure to Sam Benson for wrongfully killing his father; owed money by Burl the Innkeeper

About: Mark the Executioner doesn’t do much execution anymore; the duchess prefers burnings, which she does herself. She keeps him around as a symbol of her commitment to the old ways, though. In his free time, Mark has become the premier duck farmer of Copper Falls. The eggs his flock produces are prized throughout the town.

Duchess Antonilla bon Vivant

human aristocrat 6

Desires: sour bread recipes, an absence of poor people

Fears: poor people, aging, dogs

Notable Statistics & Skills: Survival (woodlands), Intimidate, Heraldry

Possessions: crown, castle

Relationships: owed favors by upper class; cursed by a nameless witch to be killed and eaten by wild dogs

About: The Duchess’s father was killed in a peasant uprising, and she spent five years living in the woods as she created a power base to overthrow the demon-worshipping theocracy that had taken over in her father’s absence.

Sister Rachel

human holy man 4

Desires: enlightenment, peace, headlessness

Fears: failure, sin

Notable Statistics & Skills: Pain Tolerance, History, clean feet

Possessions: not even a bowl

Relationships: owes her existence, as do we all, to Ivar the Headless

About: Rachel gives away anything she comes by. She tends those so diseased that none will go near them. In aspiring to be like Ivar the Headless, god of Copper Falls, she has shaved her head and removed her nose and both ears. Headlessness comes ever closer.

Doctor Ludovicus Loverockets

human charlatan 5

Desires: respect

Fears: exposure, education

Notable Statistics & Skills: Manipulation, Charisma, Stamina

Possessions: books, ancient weapons

Relationships: owes Doctor Mrs. Elinora St. Marie alimony; owed favors by the Duchess for contacting her father’s spirit in the afterworld

About: The Duchess met Doctor Loverockets in the woods. He was her spy in Copper Falls while she put together a new revolution. When he’s not paying attention, he catches himself imagining what it would be like to kill someone with the sacrificial dagger he found long ago.

[copperfalls]

The People of Copper Falls

Copper Falls can be considered a Small Renaissance Walled Plutocracy in regards to population, resources, and technological level as described in Cities & Cesspools, pp 81-82. Specifics are below, with key deviations noted at the bottom.

Population: 1490

Spending Limit: 446

Wealth: 74928

Authority Title: constable

Guards: 16

Conscriptable: 83

Alignment: neutral suspicious leaning toward lawful selfish

Classes Present: ruffian (57), raving widow (2), holy man (7), crafter (162), charlatan (1), trickster monk (3), peasant (1090), demon worshiper (7), haughty academic (6), churl (127), starving artist (7), aristocrat (20), actual doctor (1)

Race: The population of Copper Falls is entirely human (full range of skin tones). At any moment, there will be 2-8 slothfolk in town. These may be traders, prisoners, diplomats, tourists, or so on.

Inherited Magic: Individuals born on St. Brendan have a 90% chance of being born with one of the following abilities: lightshow, spectral instrument, clean feet, or pouch. Possessing the ability does not imply an inherent skill in using it however; some spectral instrumentalists go all their lives without summoning their instrument, and lightshow users range from virtuoso entertainers to scared old men with guttering red halos they can’t turn off.

[copperfalls]

TREPHINATION: The Settlement of Copper Falls

Copper Falls is situated on the western coast of St. Brendan’s Isle (or just plain St. Brendan). The island was first discovered over 1300 years ago by St. Brendan of Clonfert while he sailed through parts unknown with 14 to 60 pilgrims (the numbers vary) and three unbelievers, as detailed in Nauigatio sancti Brendani abbatis (The Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot). The following excerpt was translated by Dennis O’Donoghue from the edition by Archbishop PF Moran.

"At the end of forty days, towards evening, a dense cloud overshadowed them, so dark that they could scarce see one another. Then the procurator said to St Brendan: ‘Do you know, father, what darkness is this?’ And the saint replied that he knew not. ‘This darkness,’ said he, ‘surrounds the island you have sought for seven years; you will soon see that it is the entrance to it;’ and after an hour had elapsed a great light shone around them, and the boat stood by the shore.

When they had disembarked, they saw a land, extensive and thickly set with trees, laden with fruits, as in the autumn season. All the time they were traversing that land, during their stay in it, no night was there, but a light always shone, like the light of the sun in the meridian, and for the forty days they viewed the land in various directions, they could not find the limits thereof. One day, however, they came to a large river flowing towards the middle of the land, which they could not by any means cross over. St Brendan then said to the brethren: ‘We cannot cross over this river, and we must therefore remain ignorant of the size of this country.’ While they were considering this matter, a young man of resplendent features, and very handsome aspect, came to them, and joyfully embracing and addressing each of them by his own name, said: ‘Peace be with you, brothers, and with all who practise peace. Blessed are they who dwell in thy house, O Lord; they shall praise Thee for ever and ever.’

He then said to St Brendan: ‘This is the land you have sought after for so long a time; but you could not hitherto find it, because our Lord wished, first to display to you His divers mysteries in this immense ocean. Return now to the land of your birth, bearing with you as much of those fruits and of those precious stones, as your boat can carry; for the days of your earthly pilgrimage must draw to a close, when you may rest in peace among your saintly brethren. After many years this land will be made manifest to those who come after you, when days of tribulation may come upon the people. The great river you see here divides this land into two parts; and just as it appears now, teeming with ripe fruits, so does it ever remain, without any blight or shadow whatever, for light unfailing shines thereon.’ When St Brendan inquired whether this land would be revealed unto men, the young man replied: ‘When the Most High Creator will have brought all nations under subjection, then will this land be made known to all His elect.’ Soon after, St Brendan, having received the blessing of this man, prepared for his return to his own country. He gathered some of the fruits of the land, and various kinds of precious stones; and having taken a last farewell of the good procurator who had each year provided food for him and his brethren, he embarked once more and sailed back through the darkness again."