The Monster of Kirkdale [Freeform, NC, Extreme]

Started by DisciplinedPleasures, April 23, 2014, 06:39:58 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

DisciplinedPleasures



The Monster of Kirkdale
Freeform, NC, Extreme


I am looking for four players to join a game I'll be running here on E:

  • This will be a freeform game.
  • I will be tagging the game NC and Extreme to enable some darker and more-otherworldly things to happen, but this game will not simply be about sex. Of course, sex will play an important role, but if all you're after is a fuckfest then this isn't the game for you.
  • The game will contain elements of horror, modern fantasy, and the supernatural.
  • As for posting frequency, quality, and length, I'll expect players to post several times a week (although not necessarily every day), to have a good grasp of grammar, and to post at least a few paragraphs at a time. So nothing too unusual there.
Still with me? Good...

You'll be playing one of four postgraduate students (ordinary human beings) who get thrown into less-than-ordinary circumstances on a research trip to a remote Scottish island. Your supervisor, Dr David Armstrong, is one of the world's leading experts on mythology and cryptozoology. This morning you received the following email from him...

Dr Armstrong's Email


Hi all,
 
I've asked Stephanie to send this email to all my current postgraduates. A rather interesting opportunity has come along. Yesterday I received a letter (yes, a letter, pen and paper!) from a woman in Scotland, inviting me to go and investigate some strange sightings in her village. I've attached a typed version of the letter below, for your perusal.

I'm inviting you to join me on a trip to the Outer Hebrides. The university is willing to fund the trip for myself and four students, so it's first-come first-served, I'm afraid. You'll need to be able to leave on Friday (I know it's short notice), and we'll be away for at least a week, maybe longer.

So, if anyone wants to come along and look for the "monster of Kirkdale", let me know! It should be interesting, and fun!

Cheers,
David.

P.S. For those of you with classes to teach, don't worry; I'll arrange with Stephanie to get someone to cover for you while you're away.

View Attached Letter


Dear Dr Armstrong,

My name is Elin O'Riordan. I am the schoolteacher in the village of Kirkdale, on the Isle of Sumerway in the Outer Hebrides. I doubt you will have heard of our island, and I'm certain you will never have heard of Kirkdale, but I hope this letter will change that.

First, a little history. Kirkdale was apparently founded by the Vikings, although some local historians insist on a pre-Viking existence. Once or twice archaeologists have tried to find evidence of pre-Medieval settlement here, but as far as I know nothing has been turned up. As you can probably guess from its name, the village became a religious outpost once the Vikings had left, although I think that the version of Christianity practised here would have been unrecognisable to those closer to Rome's authority. Even today the kirk follows its own code, and those locals who wish to observe more orthodox religious practises do so in private. But that is not why I am writing to you.

As you can tell from my name, I am not originally from Sumerway. I was born in Ireland, and studied comparative mythology at the University of Dublin, but I fell in love with the island when I visited it as a student, and after some failed attempts to find more central employment I decided to move out here. Luckily for me, the old schoolmistress at the Kirkdale School had passed away a few months prior to my application, and I got the job without difficulty. I have now been here for three years.

As I said, my degree is in comparative mythology, and of course I encountered your works while I was writing my thesis. In particular, your book on Cryptozoological Mythologies moved me greatly. I can't say that, at the time, I agreed with everything you had to say, but recent events have changed that.

Something strange is happening here in Kirkdale. It has always been a superstitious place, but until recently the mutterings about strange beasts and otherworldly beings were limited to the older members of the population. All that has changed. I myself have seen things that I cannot explain.

Three nights ago I was awakened by a knocking at the door. It must have been very loud to wake me, since I am a sound sleeper, but as soon as I opened my eyes it stopped. I was sure that I wasn't dreaming it, so I went to check the door. (Although I live alone, this was not as rash an action as you might think: Kirkdale is exceedingly safe, even for a single young woman at night.) There was nothing there, but I heard a scrabbling up on the shingled roof, so I looked up. Lit by the moonlight was a ... creature. I could not see it well, but it looked like a misformed human, with unusually long arms and legs, and skin the colour of ash. It seemed to be naked, and it scrambled up the roof like a frog, arms and legs splayed. At the peak it squatted and turned, tilting its head down. I'm sure it was looking at me, but in the dark I couldn't see its eyes or face. Then it darted down the far side of the roof. I rushed through the house to the back windows, but by the time I got there the noise had stopped, and there was nothing to see.

As you can imagine, I have not slept well the past two nights. I am not alone in that – a number of people I know have complained of being awoken by strange noises, and half the village is going about with grey shadows under their eyes.

And so I'm writing to you, inviting you to come to Kirkdale. I don't know how many of these letters you get, and I'm sure most of them are from cranks, but please don't throw me into that category. I am not a superstitious person, and I've read your research, and ... I know I'm sounding desperate, but I am.

Please come.

Yours sincerely,
Elin O'Riordan.

Will you be one of the four to join Dr Armstrong on his trip? I'll be accepting applications until I have four that appeal and would work well together. (Note that, while Dr Armstrong may be operating on a first-come first-served basis, I am not!) Applications should follow this structure (pictures are welcome, but not essential):

Application Format

Name: Obviously.
Nationality: Where is your character from?
Physical Description: What do we see when we look at your character?
Personality: How does your character interact with the world? What do they do for fun? Under pressure? In secret?
Sexuality: What are your character's sexual preferences?
Reply: Finally, post your reply to Dr Armstrong's email. This is your chance to get inside your character and bring them to life.

I really look forward to seeing your responses! If you have any questions, please feel free to post them, or to PM me directly.

RainyHigh

#1
Name: Kala Kumari
Nationality: United States (Parents are from India)
Physical Description: Kala is a woman of average height, around five feet six inches tall. She usually wears traditional saris in the warmer months, but in the colder months, she is usually seen in jeans, boots, and tunics on top of sweaters. Kala has light brown skin, her eyes are a brown, and her hair is a dark black. Kala usually wears her hair in a ponytail, the length of her hair flowing around the middle of her back. Kala has an average build and weight; she rides her bike daily for exercise and practices yoga with her mother whenever possible.

Personality: Kala is a young grad student, still in her late twenties. Growing up in Austin, Texas has made Kala more open-minded to the world around her. Kala has studied anthropology in her BA program at the University of Texas at Austin. She then turned her focus towards Cultural Studies in her Master’s program and is now working towards getting a PhD in Anthropology with a concentration in Cultural Studies and Cultural Forms. Kala is all about Folklore. A religious individual herself, she still keeps her mind open to all kinds of sciences and has always bordered on the fence of believing and non-believing. Kala is a polite individual, but sometimes she can seem abrasive due to the fact that she is not a pushover. Kala likes to paint for fun; she also enjoys swimming and fishing. When under pressure, Kala becomes rigid, her actions become slow and she refrains from speaking due to the fact that her brain is thinking too fast for her mouth to keep up. In secret, Kala runs a website under an alias about creature sightings around the world, letting people know her opinion about it; she doesn’t let on the fact that she is a doctoral student though.

A response to Dr. Armstrong’s email…

Dr. Armstrong,

I would be absolutely delighted to join your group on this trip. I have an interest in this field and hate to say that I don’t have an inkling of what folktale this ‘monster of Kirkdale’ might be related to. I am only teaching two classes this semester so it will be fairly easy for someone to cover them while we are away. This could be an interesting boost of inspiration for me; I’ve been lacking some as of late.

I would be able to leave this Friday for the trip.

Thank you
Kala Kumari
College of Anthropology
Rainy's Ons and Offs
Currently not open for solo stories

DisciplinedPleasures

@RainyHigh: Very nice! I'll just wait for a few more responses before we kick off.

Oliander

#3
Name: Peter Harding
Nationality: United States
Physical Description: Peter is tall and slim. He's taken care of himself, but academic pursuits haven't given him much opportunity to build his body. He has bright blue eyes and short, bright blonde hair that stands up unruly despite his many attempts to tame. He often dresses in suits, even when he doesn't need to, firmly believing that a professional visage fosters respect from others.

Personality: Some people call him uptight, but Peter considers himself highly motivated and detail-oriented. He makes his decisions based on fact and laughs when people talk about 'going with their gut'. He reacts to criticism with more criticism, and when under pressure, could tend to ramble out whatever he thinks is relevant to the situation. Currently holding a BA in Biological Sciences, and on track for a Master's in Zoology.

Sexuality: Peter would identify himself to others as straight, but his buried curiosities and fantasies would pin him as a bisexual with a submissive streak.

Email

RE: The Monster of Kirkdale

Hello David Armstrong,

I received your email about this field trip and I'd like to start by saying, if you aren't willing to stand up for your beliefs, don't bother replying.

If you are willing, then I'd like you to know that I'm currently working on a paper that will be debunking many popular 'crypto' theories by analyzing the current available 'evidence' and showing how they cannot hold to the scrutiny of something as simple as the scientific method. Now this 'Monster of Kirkdale' myth was not one of the stories I planned to tackle, in fact, I'd never heard of it until just now (It wasn't widespread enough to show up on my radar). However, first-hand experience of a cryptozoological study would be invaluable to my research and have decided to apply immediately.

I understand most people in your 'profession' probably don't want skeptics along to ruin your fun, but I've looked you up and you actually seem to be somewhat accredited, and no true man of science would reject a peer review.

So I'd like you to consider this a challenge: Can your research hold up to scrutiny and a critical eye? Are you willing to try and 'convert a non-believer'? Do you have the conviction it takes to be challenged? If so, go ahead and sign me up.

If not, well, that'll be all the evidence I need.

Sincerely,
Peter Harding
San Francisco State University

DisciplinedPleasures

@Oliander: Very nice. A couple more characters, and we'll be away.

DisciplinedPleasures

We're looking for one more player, bringing us up to four.

DisciplinedPleasures

Hello all,

Just to let everyone know, we are still seeking one more player to join us and get this game underway... I hope to see some interest in the next day or two.

DP.

Birchleaf

I think that I will try for this group. I am not certain what to expect, but whatever it is, it should be interesting.

Name: Taliesin Rhydderch
Nationality: U.S/U.K.
Physical Description: Tall, pale, dark-eyed, dark and curly haired, piercing gaze and handsome features. He usually dresses quite formally, often archaically. Though he does not look very strong, in grand Welsh tradition he is an avid fencer and archer.
Personality: Taliesin is, in many ways, a model student. Non-drinking, non-smoking, no parties, no drugs, no girlfriend (sniff), nothing to distract him from full time pursuit of history, mythology, philosophy, and literature. While in his element, the classroom, lecture hall, library, research field, etc., he is calm and confident in his abilities. Outside of his narrow comfort zone, he is ill at ease, shy, and more than a bit recalcitrant. He is always polite, and becomes even more polite and self-effacing when nervous or disoriented. Likes people, but is often scared of them unless meeting in an official capacity due to work or school. Does better the more pressure he is under. He has Bachelor degrees in History, English, and Philoshophy, and is working on his Masters in Medieval History and English Literature.
Sexuality: Straight.
Reply:
Greetings, Esteemed Dr. David Armstrong

Your offer of a chance to head to Scotland and observe the charming local legends could not have come at a better time. Though not technically related to any of my current fields, the area will provide fertile ground for my research on how the Vikings mixed with the Picts of ancient Scotland. More to the point, however, the tale intrigues me. While I live with my father's family in the U.S. now, as a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom I spent much of my childhood in the Welsh countryside where I came into contact with many similar tales of strange creatures and inexplicable happenings. While I not inclined to credit them with being anything more than... well, delusions caused by coincidence or poorly understood natural happenings, I have always harboured a desire to find proof for my mother's old tales.

Yours Truly:
Taliesin A. Rhydderch

inflatetress