Psychic Mystery Survival Horror: (New Players Wanted! This Means YOU!)

Started by Starlequin, March 19, 2011, 09:58:56 PM

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Starlequin

Horror at Harrowgate Manor

In 1919 the Harrow brothers, William and Edmond, returned to their hometown of Cypress Falls, Tennessee, from Europe after facing the nightmares of The War to End All Wars, and built for themselves a lavish and splendid family estate, Harrowgate Manor. Rumor had it that construction of the manor was funded by ill-gotten gains the brothers had acquired during their tours of duty, and the Harrows did little to discourage suspicion. Still, the manor was exceptionally beautiful and helped the town prosper by encouraging out-of-state tourism, so the townspeople let things lie. Things were so fine for about ten years, it was rather easy to ignore the periodic disappearances among tourists, the occasional blood-curdling  screams from the direction of the estate, and the subtle sense of dread that hung over the town like a funeral curtain.

Then October 29, 1929 rolled around, and everything went to hell.

The Crash hit the Harrows hard, and their fortune was wiped away. The manor quickly fell into disrepair, and tourism to the town trickled to a standstill. With the flow of tourists dried up, the disappearances began striking the townsfolk. Without the brothers financially bolstering the town, Cypress Falls' citizenry almost immediately became far less forgiving. One evening, an angry mob descended on Harrowgate, pitchforks, torches and all. No one from town had actually been inside the manor since its construction, and what greeted them that night assured them their town had played host to a devil's bargain.

Pieces of furniture were decorated with desecrated human remains. Entire rooms were painted with black-red blood. Strange, eldritch sigils and runes were carved into floors and ceilings, and those who watched them long enough swore they moved about on their own. A thorough search was made by the mob, but while every room offered a fresh horror, while every nook and cranny held an unspeakable blasphemy, the Brothers Harrow were nowhere to be found. The mob, more than sixty men strong, tore the estate to pieces that night, purifying the wicked house with hammers and flames. By dawn, Harrowgate Manor was almost completely destroyed. But so was the mob.

In the early morning light, only seven men staggered away from the remnants of the manor. Each of them, down to the last man, had gone nearly catatonic, and none could say exactly what had happened to their fellows. For the rest of their days, the Cypress Falls Seven, as they came to be known, suffered myriad mental and physical ailments. One suffered a stroke soon after the incident and never spoke again; another's sight and hearing deserted him. The third's very muscles wasted to practically nothing, leaving him an empty shell of a man who prayed nightly for death. He didn't wait long.

The fourth man remained hale and healthy for the rest of his days, but his mind abandoned him completely; he spent the rest of his life being spoon-fed by his wife as he stared into nothingness. The fifth and sixth men developed such severe phobias of all manner of things, from spiders to darkness to strange number sequences, that they committed suicide within days of each other. And the seventh man spent the rest of his life hooked up to a respirator, and broke down into a gibbering mess every time he so much as turned in the direction of Harrowgate Manor.

Now, more than eighty years later, the manor has been rebuilt. Caleb Hatcher, a real-estate tycoon from nearby Memphis, has bought the property and is planning to turn it into a luxurious southern resort hotel. However, the manor's dark history refuses to be swept under the rug, and although the Cypress Falls Seven and their families have all long since passed or moved away, rumors still haunt the now-thriving city. The disappearances have become less frequent, but they've never ceased. And every few months, screams from the direction of Harrowgate can still be heard in the dead of night. In Mr. Hatcher's view, none of these things makes for a particularly appealing vacation spot, and he's done everything he can think of to put a shine of normalcy on his new property before it opens to the public in the fall.

Now he's down to his last option. He's placed ads in internet classifieds and newspapers all over the country, looking to hire a team of exorcists and psychics to come in and try to clear the manor of whatever plagues it. That's where you come in. Mr. Hatcher is prepared to pay $25,000 each to those who answer his ad and help to exorcise Harrowgate Manor.

Think you've got what it takes?

***********************************

This is a freeform small group game, and I'll probably put it on the Extreme board just to minimize constraints. I'm looking for 4-6 players; I'm going to try to GM this and run a character myself, but if there's enough interest I'll just stick with GMing and playing the house and its unearthly occupants. I've intentionally left vague the nature of the hauntings to allow the group to work some things out for themselves through clues I'll be providing, but I'm not going to completely leave people floundering.

Applicants who meet the requisite criteria will be welcomed on a first-come, first-served basis. While player gender is largely irrelevant, I would like to see a fairly even mix of male and female characters, but this is not an absolute game-breaker. I only have a few requirements for players, and they stand thus:

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-Moderate to advanced levels of literacy should be evident in writing. Capitalization, punctuation and paragraph structure,  while not strictly required, will be highly appreciated. Non-native speakers / writers will of course be welcome to  participate if they are comfortable in their own fluency. I'm not going to be all "Rawr! Bad Grammar!" on anyone over simple mistakes though, so don't let this put you off.

-In general, replies should be no less than two solid paragraphs of 3-5 sentences each. Of course I'm aware that sometimes a  character just doesn't have anything to say, and if a one- or two-liner is appropriate to a situation that's fine. I'll try  to keep the action moving, though, so such circumstances will hopefully be few and far between.

-Godmoding will be met with swift and terrible retribution. If a player feels it is necessary to assume control of another's  character during a scene, s/he is welcome to do so only after discussing it with that character's player (and perhaps  running it by me, if appropriate). Otherwise, please write within your character's limits, not your own. There IS a difference.

-The GM's word is law. (This one shouldn't even require explaining.)
***********************************

This is my first-ever attempt at running a game of my own, so I would like to take a moment and ask for patience from those who decide to join. This will not be a fast-paced game; players will not be expected to post more than once or twice a week. However, if a player goes more than three weeks without either a response, a PM, or an explanation for absence in the OOC thread, I'll assume that player has dropped out of the game and will either suspend or remove their character from play.


And now, for the Character Sheets!

Name:
Age:
Sex:
Orientation:

Appearance: (either pictures or text is acceptable)

Personality:

Bio:

Special Abilities: Your character may possess either: one Minor / one Moderate / one Major ability, two Minor / one Moderate ability, or one Minor / two Moderate abilities. Minor abilities are simple talents that can be passed off as parlor tricks (lighting a candle from a few feet away, levitating small objects weighing less than a 8 oz., automatic writing, etc.); Moderate abilities are considerably more powerful, but costs  the user a much greater strain, either mentally or physically (telekinesis, pre- or postcognition, remote viewing, etc.). Major abilities are exceptionally powerful, but may only be used once per game and will render the user unconscious (generating a lightning storm, summoning an angel or other powerful entity for protection, opening a portal into the Spirit World, etc.).

Special Tools: Your character may possess up to three items with intrinsic powers (an amulet or crucifix that repels malevolent spirits for a short while, a small pistol that fires blessed bullets, a vial of holy water, a miniature EMP device that disrupts pyschic energy, etc.); these items must be small enough to fit inside an average backpack or jacket pocket. Each item may be used no more than three times during the game.

Belief System: Your character's belief system defines how they utilize their abilities. A character with a religious background might operate on a more intuitive level than a character who places his faith in science and rationality, or one who believes in more secular or occult explanations for their paranormal experiences.

Likes:
Dislikes:
Limits: (Ons/Offs will be respected)


If anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to let me know. I look forward to writing with you!
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Acid Lips


Acid Lips

Name: Esther Mc.Glone
Age: 21
Sex: Female
Orientation: Bisexual

Appearance:

Personality: She is the type of woman who cares for others, she does not care if she has to give her live to help people in need she would gladly do so. Might be considered weird at times because of her abilities but she is a very kind girl that is looking to be accepted in this word even though her age makes people don’t take her seriously.

Bio:
Born in England, Esther always had a ability to see odd things, ever since little she could sense people around her and sometimes even heard whispers on her ear from people that were not there. She remained quiet about this but slowly she was growing more and more impatient and sometimes considered crazy. Her parents thinking that was just hormones decided to leave her alone, however one single event changed her life forever. It was a night of party on her high school years, she was partying like a animal trying to forget everything about her weird abilities or curse as she so called it.

Turns out there was a man that spiked her drink, but before he could do anything she left the party and drove herself into a cliff. Her seatbelt saved her life but her abilities increased because of the accident, now she could actually see people that passed away and talk to them like a normal person, sometimes she even talked to them thinking they were alive when they were not. After a few months in the hospital she recovered and graduated from high school. The next step was collage and then maybe find a boy, marry him and live happy.

However in collage she met this girl, like her she had a special ability. She could sense ghost near her and other people that could do it. Needless to say they formed a very strong friendship and that was when she was told to use her skills to help people in need, maybe she could earn a few bucks from it. She started working in that, truly surprised on how much people needed her services to the point that she quit collage to follow her career as a ghost investigator.

Special Abilities: 
Minor: Ghost sense- She is able to sense and hear ghost whenever they are near her this is a passive ability (always active)

Moderate- Ghost Sight- She is able to see ghosts and communicate with them, she must maintain concentration and it usually spends her.
Major- Banishment- She can banish a ghost to the other plane, this is a very powerful ability that will knock her off for a day or two.

Special Tools: Your character may possess up to three items with intrinsic powers (an amulet or crucifix that repels malevolent spirits for a short while, a small pistol that fires blessed bullets, a vial of holy water, a miniature EMP device that disrupts pyschic energy, etc.); these items must be small enough to fit inside an average backpack or jacket pocket. Each item may be used no more than three times during the game.
EMP, Amulet of protection  (protects her from being controlled by ghosts/Demons), Holy Water (Small vial that she carries next to her amulet wich hangs on her neck.

Belief System: She thinks that ghosts are just individuals that did not had a chance to pass on the other life, it can be due to unresolved situations or anything like that. She thinks that religion and science  are not right but are not wrong either, she respect both of them but she thinks that if a ghost is talked and helped they can move In peace. Demons are just demonic beings that just wants to play with humanity, she does not like them since she has no power over them, only ghosts.

Likes: Being silly, Having fun, being around people that she can help, music, singing, sex.
Dislikes: Rude people/Ghosts, Gross things, people who think they are over anything else, Snakes, Fire, Closed spaces (phobia)
Limits: I am open for everything except scat. Gore and vore.

Starlequin

Oh, yeah. You're in.

Whoo-hoo, my first player! You get a cookie!
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Acid Lips


Starlequin

Alright, I've decided I'm gonna  go ahead and run a character, too. Meet Mal.

Name: Malcolm Wade
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Orientation: Hetero, mildly bi-curious

Appearance: 5'11", 185lbs. Straight, dark brown hair kept shaggy and parted to the left. A head slightly too large for his body, and ears slightly too large for his head. 'Sharp' is the word that comes to mind when talking about Malcolm's facial features; when he was a teenager, his old man used to joke that if an eagle ever fucked a razor blade, the hatchling would have Malcolm's face. Hazel-brown eyes watch the worlds from gaunt, sunken sockets over thick, pronounced cheekbones, and slightly yellowed, crookedly spaced teeth hide behind a friendly but guarded smile. Malcolm is a little too meaty to be called lanky, and too thin to be called solid; even his clothes usually don't know how to settle on him properly, often either hanging from or clincing to his frame, and always in the wrong places.

Still, even with all that going against him, Malcolm's not unattracti-...well, he's got sort of a...he has his own...alright, so most days he's not much to look at. He cleans up nice though, and as his ex-wife could attest, there's something supremely sexy about him when he gets a certain 'never-say-die' look in his eye.

Personality: It is, in Malcolm's view, a plain and simple fact of the universe that if something can possibly go wrong, it will almost certainly go wrong. If he himself is involved, the universe will actually break its own rules to ensure that it will go wrong. In light of this, Malcolm is one of the most calm, resigned people you will ever meet. As he puts it, there's something inherently serene about knowing that no matter what happens, it'll get worse in a minute. Of course, it's a pretty depressing serenity, but sometimes you just take what you can get. He tends to comfort himself with the thought that as long as he's the one getting hammered, maybe the innocent people around him aren't.

Bio: Eh, not much to tell, really. Born poor in Baton Rouge, LA, grew up the same way, parents were both alcoholic assholes when they noticed they even had a kid. School was sort of a get-away from a rotten home life, and through both grade- and high school his friends were usually the only things standing between him and a final check-out. After high school, though, he and his friends went their separate ways: they to college, he to...whatever. He spent the early part of his twenties working on river barges. Nine months away from home at a stretch, but the pay was good.

When he was 24, he met and married one of the local no-good girls, Marie LaSalle. The marriage lasted less than a year, but it was just long enough to produce Malcolm's first genuine reason to live: Coraline LaSalle-Wade, his one and only daughter. The couple divorced not long after Cora was born, but Malcolm has made it a point to keep in touch as his little angel's grown up. He's on better than average terms with Marie -- well, considering they're divorced, anyway -- but everytime he considers rekindling that old spark, he remembers what broke them up in the first place: namely, that she's crazier than a gator in snakeskin boots.

Malcolm didn't actually develop his powers until shortly after his 26th birthday, but when they came, they were a real doozy. He was driving home from a bar late one night and stopped at an off-road gas station to fill up. Having had a couple too many before closing time, Mal didn't really consider the wisdom of putting out his cigarette before unscrewing the gas cap and inserting the nozzle. After that, everything went black; he woke up in the hospital two days later with Marie standing over him.

Apparently, a cinder from his cigarette caught a fume from the gas nozzle and in a fluke accident, the whole station exploded around him. His car was completely gutted, charred inside and out. The station attendant was fortunately in the rest room out behind the station when the underground fuel tanks exploded; when the emergency responders questioned him afterward, he said he came out and saw Wade just standing like a statue in the center of a raging inferno, like he didn't have a care in the world. Everyone who heard the story, from the firemen and EMTs who arrived on the scene to the doctors and nurses in the hospital to Marie and her nosy, bible-thumping mother agreed: Malcolm Wade was protected by a miracle that night.

Malcolm whole-heartedly disagreed, and if any of them could have seen what he saw when he woke up, they would have, too. Marie wasn't the only woman standing over his bedside. On the opposite side of the bed from her, Mal saw the first of many disturbing things. A woman, strangely alluring, long blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes, with a huge, gaping hole where her chest should have been, stood smiling down at him eagerly. From the moment he opened his eyes, she started talking. And she has literally not shut up since. To this day Malcolm has no idea who -- or what -- she is, or where she came from, or why she's hanging around him. She's never given him a name (at least, he's never caught in amidst her usual chatter), so he just calls her Cathy. She's friendly, at least, and doesn't seem to wish him harm.

After his 'psychic awakening,' as he calls it, Mal gave up working the rivers and went into business as a private investigator, naturally specializing in cases with unusually high levels of weird shit. The pay's not as good as his old job, but it just feels right to try using his gifts to help those who fall through the cracks in the system. Cathy's far from the best assistant a man could ask for, but the two of them have closed some pretty heavy cases together. He supposes it could be worse. Which means that, eventually, it probably will be.

Special Abilities:

Minor Ability: Automatic sketching
Despite being born with two left thumbs and never being able to draw anything more artistic than a stick figure, when Mal focuses on a person or object he can sketch a small picture of someone, something, or somewhere important relative to his target.

Moderate Ability: Chatty Cathy
You'd think it would get annoying, being talked to constantly, day in, day out, for years. And you'd be exactly right. But Cathy, Malcolm's spirit (guide? companion?), never shuts up. Ever. Fortunately, Mal can put her to use by sending her to investigate places or objects while he's otherwise indisposed. Malcolm can't actually see other ghosts himself, but Cathy acts as his go-between. This may explain why most ghosts really don't like communicating with him.

Moderate Ability: Devil's Luck
In Malcolm's opinion, it's only fair that the horrendous luck that follows him like a rabid cat should occasionally work to his advantage. It's the only reason he can think of to explain why he's survived as long as he has, especially with some of the cases he's taken and scrapes he's been in. The first attack of any opponent is rendered null, and is often somehow reflected back at the attacker. Not that Mal ever quite makes out unscathed...

Special Tools:

-Deck of Cursed Tarot Cards
-A Small Stack of Sealed and Unsealed Envelopes Covered with Arcane Symbols
-Digital Recorder

Belief System:

Malcolm tries, he really does, to look for rational explanations behind...well, everything. But more often than not, they slip through his fingers like a greased up salamander. So, he's willing to settle. He doesn't put much stock in religion, but sometimes the priests really do get it right. Especially where exorcisms are concerned. He's learned a lot of interesting stuff in the three years he's been doing this, but the occult-types usually just have too many rules for him to bother with.

Likes: Good jazz or blues, good bourbon, Cathy, a nice steak sandwich, the occasional 'extra-grateful' client, and visiting his daughter
Dislikes:  Vengeful poltergeists, Cathy, assholes with an entitlement complex, Cathy, and seeing innocent people get caught up in his bad luck
Limits: Scat, torture, or being eaten / otherwise horribly murdered (Come on, Mal can't get killed. Didn't you read? He's got a little girl to take care of!)
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Fulgrim

If you don't object, I'd love to introduce a good friend of mine, Father Graham.

ArabellaT

I would very much like a spot too.
Victoria Tate, a psychic who dabbles in the occult, and paganism, if that is fine with you?

Starlequin

@Fulgrim: by all means, we'd love to meet him!

@ArabellaT: sounds great, bring her along!

And with those two, I think we've got room for one more character...
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

ArabellaT


Name: Victoria Mary Tate
Age: 27
Sex: Female
Orientation: Straight

Appearance:
Victoria is a small lady. 5'2", average weight of about 120 pounds. She's fairly curvy, with hips and naturally big breasts for being a small lady. She dresses moderately, rarely showing to much off. She usually wears a t-shirt and jeans, however when at work she wears slacks, or knee-length skirts, and button up shirts. Victoria has emerald green eyes, that sometimes turn a little more yellow when she gets mad, not that they change color they just seem to. Her black hair reaches to the middle of her back, and obvious curls in it. She has bangs that help accent her face, however they are long enough to go behind her ear. Her skin is fairly pale, but he face has some red like she is constantly blushing. It's obvious that Victoria isn't strong at all, but she's not out of shape either.

Personality: Victoria has a smiling face and bubbly personality. She's not preppy, she just understands that the world seems to be a better place when you look for that better in things. Victoria isn't loud when you first meet her, or outgoing looking. She's rather shy around new people and tends to keep quiet, but once you get to know her, she can talk you ear off if she felt like it. She loves to learn about new things, and spends some of her time reading, learning new crafts and talking to her friends. Victoria is quick to blame herself for everything, and views herself as a klutz when not everything that happens is her fault. which also means she goes out of her way to protect others and would be willing to give herself away for another to live. Whats the point in the scrawny girl who can't do anything right to live if someone who can do better is dead or dieing because of her?

Bio:
Victoria, or Tori by what her friends like to call her, grew up in a small town in the middle of no where Kansas. However, that all changed when her grandfather had almost died of a stroke. They moved to a small city, which was pretty big to Tori. However, that change ruined her life for good. Her mom went crazy, fast. Tori was always the one at fault, her mom blaming her for everything. After a while, Tori started to believe her. Her father was always at work, never at home because he didn't want to deal with Tori's mother. Her brother stayed quiet, and never seemed to want to stick up for Tori, so Tori went to her friends for her.

It was when she was staying at a friends house that she found out about seeing ghosts. Her friends house was almost crawling with ghosts. It was old, lots of things happened in that house. Tori spent her time figuring out the ghosts, most of them where harmless. However, the more that the disfunctional emotional teenage Tori stayed, the more and more the ghosts started to feel her energy and they started to act the same way, quickly on their way to becoming poltriguists. Tori learned to control her emotions, and the ghosts started to go back to normal. She knew it was because ghosts fed off energy, she had looked it up.

When Tori turned 18 she moved. She never said by, she was just gone one day. Off to college. She wrote her dad, talked to her brother online, but never spoke a word to her mother again. Tori went off to school to become a teacher. She graduated and started teaching at an elementry school in a small town in Kentucky. However, after some time of ignoring ghosts, they finally caught up to her. One of the children talked about a ghost in her house, a mean rude one. Tori ignored it at first, but after a while the stories got worse, and worse. Then Tori decided she had to do something.

She went to the childs home one day after school, the parents checked out enough and Tori knew that there was no abuse in that house. Tori could see the ghost, the angry one. The ghost knew it, and the house was starting to become a walking death trap. Tori didn't know what to do, but she seemed to have said something, and next thing she knew a white figure had come into the room and protected the group, the ghost that harmed them was never seen again.

Tori however, did not know what happened because the moment that white figure came into the room to protect them, she blacked out from lack of energy it seemed like. Tori woke up in the hospital a day or so later, and the family explained what they had saw. The white figure had stopped the ghost from harming them even more, and soon they had both vanished and the house was fine. Tori had passed out, the doctors commenting on how it seemed she over exerted her energy, from lack or sleep or something. Tori knew she slept enough, had enough energy when she went to that house.

She knew after that accident, that she would ahve to use whatever powers she had to help others. She studied the occult, and other things like that, things that she could use to save lives. She never told anyone though, she kept this a secret, not wanting to scare others off.

Special Abilities:

Minor ability: Ghost sense, Tori can always tell when a ghost, or entity is around. Usually she can tell from that energy if it means to harm them or not, just like how a person gives off certain feelings, a ghosts' energy can too.

Moderate Ability: Spell craft: Tori does dabble in spells, and using the right tools and words most of her spells can happen. Small protection spells, spells for good luck. Things like that. Of course it takes some of her energy to make the spell work, and she knows there are some consequences to her spells if they don't go perfectly. Not only that, but spells can always be countered by another entity, as long as they find the right way to counter it.

Major Ability:
Guardian Angel: Some other worldly being out there some how decided that Tori needed to be protected in some way. When Tori is a huge bind, something terrible a white figure always comes and protects her from whatever that thing is. It's only happened on rare occasion, and she has never seen what it does herself because she always passes out right when she see's it.

Special Tools: Spell component bag. Tori always keeps a small bag of her most important and precious herbs and small candles with her. Inside are herbs for protection, quick healing, advise, things that she might need a spell for while she is "hunting" and some small objects, like a small rock, clamshell etc.

A protection necklace. In her believe, the sounds of bells drive evil spirits away, so she put a spell on a small bell that she placed on a necklace to help protect her. Always wears the small bell around her neck, managing to make it so it rarely rings unless she fiddles with the necklace a bit or moves the bell around to ring it.

A camera with a great SD card. Tori knows that evidence is something that needs to be gathered in a case, so she went out an bought a great digital camera with an SD card. She can take video or pictures, and has captured some of ghosts in the past.


Belief System: Tori believes in paganism, and the occult, and the use of spells and magic to help get her way. She believes that Ghosts are people that have became to attached to something in the world to move on from the world into their next life. Demons are forces that use their energy to try and control humans, or hurt them. They want to dominate the world, while angels or good creatures are ones that are there to protect the world from the destruction of the demons. She believes in the world having a balance of good and evil and to much of one thing could be a bad thing. She doesn't just blindly believe what others say about ghosts and demons, she looks for proof because she has seen many people lie about ghosts and demons.

Likes: Curling up on a couch to read, cuddling, her students, knitting, talking to her friends, a quiet night, helping ghosts, warm summer days, hot baths
Dislikes: Agressive/abusive people, anger, demons, liars, being inturrupted, seeing someone get hurt, not being able to help, feeling alone
Limits: Scat, vore. torture, I might have other things, but right now I cant think of any! Haha. xD

Starlequin

Stew and Tori both look great. Welcome aboard! With Fulgrim's priest, that'll give us 5 players, 3 male and 2 female, so we've got room for one more lady. I'll get the OOC and IC threads set up later this evening.
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Fulgrim

Name: Sean Owen MacDermott
Age: 31
Sex: male
Orientation: hetero


Bio: Born as a child of Irish ancestry Owen had been raised by catholic parents. Growing up in Boston hadn't always been easy. His parents and his older brother died when he had been 8 years old and he and his sister moved in with his uncle, a priest in South Boston.
As the years went by and Owen grew up he made his first contact with a group of small-time criminals. His charismatic nature helped him to quickly rise in their ranks. He made himself a name and was one step away from the “real thing” when he got busted. Lucky for him the officers – dedicated members of his uncle's parish – turned a blind eye to Owen and delivered him to his uncle instead of the police station.
Humbled and beaten black and blue by his uncle, the boy decided to run away from home.
That was when he first had the dreams. Dreams of his dead brother, of his parents evoking cryptic warnings. 
The next day Owen returned to school and turned his back to his his criminal past.
After college he went to become a priest like his late uncle.
Being commendable and devout he came to visit seminaries all over the world: Dublin, Paris, Munich, Madrid. Eventually he arrived in Rome. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, successor of the Holy Inquisition had taken interest in him due to his weird dreams of the dead and undertook the task to make Owen an exorcist.

Owen returned to the U.S. a full-fledged priest, and even more than that. For several years he roamed the land as exorcist and visiting priest in catholic parishes he visited. But with every new ghost he banished, with every new demon he exorcised a little bit of his conviction that god would save mankind died.

Today Owen is a cynic gambler and alcoholic indulging in animal desires.
He makes some bucks by roaming the states and expelling ghosts and other malevolent beings  - whether they do exist in reality or just in the heads of some overly superstitious people.
On the rare occasion he visits his baby sister and her family he makes sure that her house is "demon prove" as he likes to call it.

Personality: Owen Graham is a powerfully eloquent and charismatic man. Everyone who has heard one of his sermons says that, but it has been a while since anyone did.
Now, if you had only one word to describe Owen's personality you'd certainly go with “cynical”.
As every cynic, he once had been an idealist but only the naïve stay idealistic in a hellhole like this world. Along with his former idealism his sense of ethical values had been lost; Owen smokes steadily, drinks even more and is far away from living as a celibate. All things – apart from wallowing in vice – he does without passion. He simply doesn't care – or at least it seems that way.
Deep inside there's nothing Owen fears more than damnation and being unable to step in the way of what he considers “evil”…
He's pretty open towards different religions and rather interested in ther exorcism rites.


Belief System: Although being a priest Owen doesn't believe in god, not anymore. There can't be an almighty god who would allow all those terrible things in the world to happen. But Owen believes in the devil. He has seen his influence each and every day of his life. He has seen his sinister servants. And he is sure that one final day they will come and claim his soul and punish him for all his sins.
Owens fears that there might be no god but not all of the old rites are nonsense. He prepares himself, fights “evil” wherever he may find it. God might not be around anymore but at least one of his servants still stands – and he's gonna give those devilish bastards hell.


Special Tools: An old revolver with, three sanctified silver bullets left. Usually he carries more of them but he isn't well prepared this time.
A holy bible filled with exorcist's rituals.
Jewish phylacteries (Tefillin)he once got from a rabbi with whom he had hunted down shedim. They will help to break the control of a demon.

Special Abilities:
Minor: Lay on Hands – Owen can heal smaller wounds (sprained ankles, small gashes, slow bleeding – nothing some plaster or bandage couldn't fix) and ease pain. It's helpful but with actual injuries you still should see the Doctor
Moderate: Dirge - the death whisper cryptic warnings when Owen is about to get into danger.
Major: Sacrifice of Vessel – Owen devours a demon's essence and merges it with his soul. This will incapacitate Owen for a few days. From then on the demon will whisper his corrupting thoughts into the vessels mind. On the other hand if the vessel resist long enough the demon's soul will be cleaned. (After some years of training the vessel might be able to control a little of the demons powers, but that won't be a matter here)

Likes: drinking, smoking, gambling,
Dislikes: what has become of him, “the devil’s servants”
Limits: mutilation, scat, vore

Starlequin

A world-weary priest with an attitude. I like it. Welcome aboard, Fulgrim.

Also, it looks like someone dropped out, so there's still room for one more guy and girl.
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

ArabellaT

Hilariously enough, my favorite characters in movies are the priests who lost faith. :3

I can't wait for the role play to start! It sounds so interesting!

Starlequin

You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Duchess


Starlequin

You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Starlequin

Quick notice: recruitment for Horror of Harrowgate Manor will be closing in 24 hours. There are still two slots open, for those who are interested.
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

luphawk

I'm working on a character and should have him up either tonight or early tomorrow.
current statues:  looking
my ideas / my f-list

Starlequin

Great! Please remember to post your char here or PM it to me first for approval. Looking forward to seeing your character!
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Devi


Is it too late to get involved on this one? I love survival horror elements, and have an idea for a female parapsychologist.

Starlequin

There's still space if you're interested, Devi. We could do with a scientific type, sure.
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got.

Grunt777

I'm actually interested myself, and would have no problem playing the scientific type.  Savvy?
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Devi

Name: Lisa Morgan
Age: 26
Sex: female
Orientation: Bisexual

Appearance:




Personality: Vain, cynical, sarcastic, insecure, and not nearly as sure of herself as she let's on. She is used to being the center of attention, and unless it's proven otherwise she tends to assume she is the smartest person in a room. As far as the supernatural is concerned, she is just in it for the money, and doesn't believe in it for a second. Or want to.

Bio: A nerd at heart, Lisa was always the smart girl in her school - perfect grades, always reading a book, always a step ahead of the other kids. And as kids do, they hated her for it. Unpopular and largely left alone, she developed into an attractive young woman almost without noticing it. Almost. But slowly at first, then more quickly, she began to realize that with a tighter shirt here, a bit of fishnet there, she could really grab the eyes. A bit of drama picked up from a lifetime of reading, some cryptic speech here - the kids might not like her much, but they sure paid attention to her, and she decided she liked that quite a bit. Talking to ghosts, reading tarot cards, psychic parlor tricks; these were a route to something more than sitting alone watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The world is a predictable, orderly place, and while there is no room in it for ghosts and magic, there is plenty of room in it for a smart girl to tell some rubes what they want to hear - and hey, who loses? She's happy, they are happy, and the dead are...well, they are dead.

  Long story short, she got very good at telling people what they wanted to hear, and she had a face the camera could be pretty fond of, and a wardrobe of vinyl and fishnet that spoke to her target sci-fi geek audience. Soon enough she got a gig on a ghost hunters type show, which did pretty well before it folded under backroom tension and an excess of wires being spotted even with the shaky cam and nightvision, and she was out on the street. But with her trusty digital camera and a video record of her stay in the famous Harrowgate Manor, she is more than ready to get back into the spotlight and a hopefully higher paying show.

  All that said, she remains a smart girl at heart - she has the equipment, she knows how each bit of it works. She's never seen a ghost, never seen evidence of a ghost, never even tried to go somewhere there might be a ghost (Why try? there's no such thing as a ghost!). But if a ghost shows up, she has all the training and equipment to know what is registering. It remains to be seen if she could accept it - the existence of ghosts goes against everything she has ever believed.

Special Abilities: Lisa can, surprisingly enough, sense manifestations of the supernatural. She is fairly in tune with spiritual phenomenon in her own way, but she rationalizes any such feelings as a perfectly rational wariness of that run down old house and transients who might be inside, or as an irritable refusal to waste her time checking out yet another abandoned warehouse people think is haunted. She avoids any sign of the supernatural with an uncanny precision, and if she didn't need the money she would probably bail in a second upon seeing an actually haunted house. She has no significant powers beyond this, however.


Special Tools: She carries a EMF detector designed to pick up residue and energy from spirits and their activity, an EMP Device that disrupts psychic energy (thanks for the suggestion :) ) and a camcorder that can switch between various readings, allowing her to record herself and any spiritual activity with ease. Unfortunately, all these items run on battery.

  She also carries a few entirely mundane pieces of equipment designed to make "spiritual activity" happen, a flashlight, and a can of mace in case anyone get's fresh.

Belief System: Lisa does not accept the existence of the supernatural, and is largely here for a paycheck. She runs through the routines out of a general respect for science - even negative evidence is evidence, and her eventual tell-all will show all the suckers just how big a joke all this ghost and spirit nonsense really is. In the meantime, she plays the parapsychology game as it is meant to be played. Partly so she can tell everyone she gave the crazies a fair show and found nothing, but mostly because that is what the tv viewers want to see.

Likes: cigarettes, attention, science, easy money
Dislikes: what she doesn't understand, being mocked, being confined, death
Limits: I don't like toilet play, but otherwise I am pretty open. In a survival horror game I expect survival to be an iffy proposition, and I have no problem with terrible things happening to my character, however creative.

Grunt777

Name: Gavin Huxley
Age:27
Sex: Male
Orientation: Anything of beauty. (Bi, liking feminine figures)

Appearance:

Personality:  Incredibly analytical.  He's a very nosy individual with a strong mind.  He's incredibly awkward around partners, and tends to avoid much contact with members of any sex.  An introvert to the extreme, he copes with life outside the walls of his home by simply denying the existence of others.  If you feel like he's looking through you, he probably is.

Bio:  Gavin spent the majority of his days home schooled.  He was incredibly bright and had a wonderful imagination.  After a few years, he suffered traumatic events in his home.   (( Okay, i'm actually passing out as we speak.  I'll leave this here so I can come back to it, and you can see where it might be going.))

Special Abilities: Minor - Sneeze. (Taken from Cantrip sneeze)  If he can lock eyes with someone, he can make them sneeze.  It hardly ever fails.  Moderate - Pyrokinesis.  He can light things on fire.  The smaller the ignition, the less energy drained.  Moderate - Cryokinesis.  As the name implies, he can chill, or freeze objects or points.  Larger objects take more force.

Special Tools: Pill bottle labeled "PsychoBooster."  Experimental drug made to increase the takers focus.  There are serious, yet unknown side effects.
                       A wrist mounted EMF Jammer.  Made to suspend and scramble all EMF within a 6' radius.
                       The magic pipe.  Smoking allows the smoker to regain his mental energy.  It is labeled, "Holmes."

Belief System: Purely Scientific and Logical.  His various "powers" are nothing more than his will, focused to achieve certain goals.  This makes him unusually strong in these regards, but he tends to lose control easily when discussing higher powers.  His strongest belief is in his disbelief. 

Likes:
Dislikes:
Limits: (Ons/Offs will be respected)
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