Turn 2: The Museum, the Novelists, and the House (Patreon)

[X][DIVA] Write-In: A Tasteless Museum: In the midst of his downward spiral, Professor Arkham arrived at an obsession much like that of other pompous conservators: collecting cultural objects he had no right to. Sourced from a number of disreputable sorts, Josiah began to build an eclectic collection of native peoples' and disadvantaged foreigners' heirlooms; blowing through his earnings in his creation of a tasteless private museum.

[X][CRANE] Crane Co. Dry Ice Manufacturing: Zelda would further hone her dry ice manufacturing capabilities, simplifying the process enough she was able to sell the Lounge enough to further cool their cold room and even chill drinks.

[X][LIBER] Novelists: With many East Enders learning to read, more than a few had taken to writing as well: in the coming years, many of the residents of East End would begin publishing stories in their free time. A few of these would go on to be remembered as classic staples of african american literature such as Night in Gotham, the Cry of the Vampire Bat, and various memoires, though they would only receive mainstream recognition decades after their authors death. Still, these stories would help shape the landscape of American fiction for decades and help bring several black writers to early prominence, as well as influencing later authors and prominent figures.

[X][WITCH] A Location: Fifteen years ago, Abigail Roth lived at this location. It was the most recent lead on her Josiah had: if he investigated it, he might be able to learn more about the young woman, and thus progress his investigation.

!!!!GOTHAM!!!!

The Gotham Tribune, November 2, 1900

A Review of the St. Majeste by Benjamin St. Cloud

Dear reader, I find myself with recent renovations revisiting my review of the the Lounge: at any time of the day, you can order fresh steaks, fried oysters, and frozen fruit, and the drinks are always chilly. The show may be not be on par with what you can get at Hermann’s, the service may be a little slow and you may have to fetch your plate yourself since the kitchen only has a single cook and no wait staff, but rest assured dear reader that the menu and offerings have improved both in price and quality that THIS casual diner will be returning!

!!!GOTHAM!!!

An Academic Analysis of Cry of the Vampire Bat, by Jason Todd, submitted as an assignment for early mid 20th century african american literature studies, 2037, Gotham U, Page 1

The Cry of the Vampire Bat is considered one of the seminal pieces of Gotham Literature and one of the most famous examples of African American horror. Written by Delton Harding during the late 1950s[1], it follows the perspective of Wayne Hanlon, a man returning from the killing fields of the second world war to Gotham to find East End and other poor black neighborhoods being menaced by a mysterious serial killer that has begun targeting the residents of those neighborhoods. Harding, a veteran himself, based much of the events on his own experiences, drawing on the alienation he felt as a black world war two veteran returning home to breath life into the novel. Harding, born in East End in 1919, September 9th, grew up with little formal education: like many writers from East End, he was primarily home educated, learning literacy primarily thanks to his mother and the Mark Jacobs Library, then known as the East End library, taught by the founder himself and, when Harding’s talent with the word was encouraged, tutored by the Library

Much of the story is told via epistolary, consisting of excerpts from Hanlon’s own diary, newspaper clippings detailing the public outcry to the grizzly murders based on similar coverage to the real life Crimson Vampire murderers[2], and letters between the main character and an unknown third party referred to in narration only as Jonathan. A recurring motif of the novel is the bat: juxtaposed with the far more ‘human’ villain of the novel, he contrasts them. The bat is considered unsanitary, ill-omened, and the bats that show up in the story are all invariably aggressive. Yet the narrative emphasizes that they are, ultimately, animals: their aggression ultimately only a result of their habitat being destroyed and intruded on. The human villain of the work, however, Silas Temmander, is shown as outright parasitical, killing black homeowners to commit real estate fraud before contracting Gotham Rabies, only being stopped because his condition (while not being remotely accurate to how rabbies actually works[3] ) drove him more and more mad, with Harding emphasizing how the public only cared once the villain went beyond killing African Americans and how he had only been allowed to operate due to the medias apathy when it comes to the victimization of the African American community.

The novel is notable for it’s heavy focus on atmosphere: Harding, having been a fan of noir films and literature, had done his best to emulate the style, attempting to emulate the hard-boiled, dark and moody tones and feelings of movies such as the Maltese Falcon [4] ....

!!!!!GOTHAM!!!!!

Daniel stared, horrified. In front of him, face pinned into an uncanny, false looking smile, was a corpse, its pallid skin caked with makeup to help it regain its color, eyes cold, unblinkinking, stuck staring in two slightly different direction. The head was covered in a massive headdress assembled from what looked like turkey feathers that had been dipped in paint, and the only clothes on the cadaver was a loincloth. Over its head it held a tomahawk, posed as if it is going to throw it, while in another, stuck straight outward, it held a skull. It stood in what was unmistakably a squat, which combined with the loincloth and the rod going from the base of the display up the spine and the expression on the caricaturish display made it look like the taxidermied corpse of his fellow was engaged in…

“STUFFED CORPSE OF POWHATAN WITCH DOCTOR BROTHER REDFEATHER, 1769-1818,” The bronze plaque next to it said. The entire room, the “museum of curiosities”, was filled with that sort of tasteless trophy: stolen sunwheels, pillaged shrunken heads and  deformed skulls, deer skin decorated with various pictures done upon it, bronze gorgets…

The Powhatan had been traveling. He had heard that Arkham Lounge was a good place to eat and had unusual drinks you couldn’t find elsewhere. He had heard you usually got a show. He had not heard about this…museum of fascination operated by it’s owner, who he could hear performing in the Lounge, but a room away. Right now, he was doing a rendition of Faust, placing himself in the role of Mephistopheles manipulating the young Doctor Faust into selling his soul: the audience was enjoying their dinner at the same time, meaning no one else was in the room but Daniel.

Frowning, the man’s mouth tightened in displeasure at the sight of his kins remains being displayed stuffed and mounted alongside various possessions of his people like some sort of vulgar sideshow…which, he supposed morbidly, it was.

))))GOTHAM((((

Josiah stood outside the building, the remains of a humble three story building in Cape Carmine. It was on a slight hill compared to its neighbors, and in poor condition, windows having long since been shattered and boarded up, the slightly leaning building sprouting from the ground like a grim specter

The magician made his way up, rain dripping on the path, submerged under several inches of water. It wasn’t flood season yet, but it was growing closer and closer. As he rose, eventually he would find dryish (as much as the weather would allow) ground.

As he rose the wooden steps of the porch, he found himself having to apply the nimbleness he had once applied to burglary and some of his more foot-work intensive acts to avoid stepping through a patch of decaying timber here and there, or have the thing he was stepping on give way. The magician did have to admit, it brought back fond, if slightly illegal, memories. Reaching the door, he pressed on it, brow furrowing as he realized it wasn’t budging. Well, it appeared it was made of sturdier stuff. Stepping away, he pressed on the board covering the windows, noting the same.

Giving a huff, the man stepped away, gingerly making his way off the porch before walking through the soft gotham soil and overgrown grass to go around back, hoping they had a back door or ground-level means of entrance.

The back of the building was as shadowy as the front: it had a single tree, a rope hanging off one of the bare limbs, a board tied to it to make a swing of sorts that drifted listlessly in the air. By the back, near the broken down fence where the land finally flattened out near the base of the slight hill the house was erected on, there was a location where the grass was ringed by stones, a pair of markers set near.

As far as alternate exists went, nothing he could find, no back porch or door or convenient window he could crawl through without something to help him rise, though as he walked along the perimeter of the house he did spot a basement window of sorts, though when he had stuck his lamp near to peer through it, it shone on a room that was completely flooded, and he could see no stairs.

Sighing, the man pulled the lantern back, standing up, shoes squishing in the soil as he began to walk away. Well, he had a lead at least: all he had to do was continue investigating this house.

Alright, and with that we are now on turn 2. All in all, not gonna lie, you’ve taken some hits to finance: you spent a LOT of money, and while revenue is up, its not up enough to fully cover your expenses. As a result, your financial situation is now ORANGE.

Now, once more you get to play on the skeins of fate because of your decisions. Because of your choices, Arkham Lounge has a lot of mystic frauds lying around, drawn by your atmosphere, your drinks being good at loosening marks, and the ad.

Now we’re going to pick the Museum of Fascination. Bluntly, it’s tacky, offensive, and extremely tasteless. It also fits the oeuvre of the era and the sort of character Josiah is. It’s negative, but the crass negative. And we all remember what I said about being crass. As such, something bad is going to result from the Museum. Doesn’t need to be to Josiah: just needs to relate to the Museum in some fashion. Maybe a murder happens there, maybe it causes a new racist fad in the bottom dregs of histories magic fraudster. It just needs to be bad, dramatic, obviously a consequence of his actions in some way, and most of all interesting.

Of course, you can absolutely have something bad happen to Josiah: I’ll go ahead and spoil that no matter what you do he won’t come out looking rosy, but there is something satisfying conceptually about him being cursed as a consequence of his theft from the culture of others.

The action code here is [KARMA].

[ ] Josiah would accidentally purchase an item with a mysterious aura for his museum, swindling it from the owner. Little did he know his actions would bring him a night of absolute terror.

[ ] Josiah would get swindled, losing a great deal of money on what turned out to be garbage, making an already not particularly well financial situation get worse.

[ ] A Murder in the Museum! An argument between two parties or more went out of control, resulting in multiple deaths followed by a suicide!

[ ] Chief Redfeather is missing, and across the city, people have begun reporting being attacked by a man dressed similar wielding a tomahawk.

[ ] Write in.

That’s the skein of fate. Now we get the Hotspot. For this one, we’ll be exploring your choice with the magicians: in the bar, as we speak, two mystics, neither with real magic are discussing their work, debating cons, workshopping ideas. Magnifico the Sublime and Johsanna the Seer.

Where exactly do their ideas go? Action code [HOT]

[ ] The Mother of All Cons: Johsanna had an in with one of the First Families: one of the Cobblepot Clan had become taken with her fortunes. If she and Magnifico worked together, they could eat well for years off the fat of the family.

[ ] The Burglary: Magnifico was skilled at illusion and Johsannah had a contact at the bank: if the two of them aided each other, they should be able to sneak in, rob the place blind, and be on a steamer to europe before the day was out.

[ ] A Murder: Each of them had a grudge with another performer, Bartolomeo the Wise, who had stolen one of Magnifico’s acts and was in the process of blackmailing Johsanna. They wished to remove him from the board, once and for all.

[ ] Write in.

And now, we get to your ACTs, ASSETS, etc.

Josiah Arkham: The owner circa Aug. 1900 - . A stage magician trained in burglary among other arts. Has sold his soul to Abigail Roth, who he encountered in a dingy bar while drunk, in exchange for his Bar having an assured stream of clientele, though not neccesarily enough to make ends meet. Obsessed to an unhealthy degree with various indigenous artefacts.

Violet Hall: A singer Josiah had located while looking for entertainers: they had agreed to work using their voice, their pay a few dollars every day they worked.

Stout Beers: Stout Breweries were one of the lesser sources of alcohol in this town in terms of quality, but they were cheap, meaning that they served as the source of much of the alcohol served.

Crane Brews: A collection of beverages that incorporated various narcotics and minor neurotoxins to deliver an alternate intoxication to beer, one that bypassed most peoples alcohol tolerance. Thanks to recent investments, cheaper than before.

Dry Ice: Good for special effects, good for keeping things cold.

The Kitchen: A kitchen ran by Mark Jacobs with cheap foods of various types such as eggs, bacon, toast. It sported a cold room that held a variety of other common Gotham foodstuffs, such as oysters.

St. Majeste: An old riversteamer where the Arkham Lounge was located, it was a barely floating wreck that required significant repairs. So far, the only functional parts was the engine, the wheel, and the actual lounge itself, as well as a kitchen and small pantry.

And now, a list of acts:

Taming of the Fouls: An act that involves a large number of doves and pigeons. Currently, most were kept in a special coup when not acting. They had been trained to be surprisingly well coordinated, and more important, unlikely to crap in a customers food.

Stories of Smoke and Mirrors: A sadly slightly undercooked act consisting of tales spun by Professor Arkham in the form of puppetshows with himself as the narrator and villain: the smoke and props gave it an interesting atmosphere, but it was still subpar for various technical reasons.

Gimme an act for this turn. Again, repeating an act is a valid action: sure, it won’t be as impressive, but there’s nothing wrong with returning to basics while preparing for something more advanced. Action-code [ACT].

After that, you have four AP to spare. Josiah’s priorities this turn are as follows: 1 AP must be spend on improving or working on the Lounges entertainment in some manner. 1 must be spent on management as a whole. 1 AP needs to be spent on continuing to investigate Roth, whether breaking into her house, talking to her neighbors, hunting rumors, etc. Lastly, the final AP needs to be spent on something social for Christmas: either calling upon someone, asking a character on a date, doing something recreational for the holidays, etc. The codes for these are the same as last turn, otherwise. [KARMA], [HOT], [ACT], [SHOW], [BAR], [ROTH], [PER].

[ ] Scout New Talent: Josiah probably wasn't going to find any good magic acts since Hermanns Theater existed, but Gotham had plenty of other forms of entertainment if you knew where to look. For instance, traveling carnivals, other lounges, etc.

-[ ] What kind of entertainment are you looking for? If you can think of a specific place to scout you can use it instead, but considering its turn 1 I don't imagine you'll have many ideas.

[ ] Hire New Staff: Sure, you had a bartender, but you need more than just that to run a place. Janitors, delivery people, waiters, additional bartenders who can pick up more shifts. Just keep in mind that the more people work for the Lounge, the higher its costs go.

-[ ] What kind of staff are you looking for?

[ ] Diversify Spirits: Stout produced low quality, but cheap beers. They were in your budget, but unless you diversified, the drinks would likely never be a major draw.

-[ ] What kind of alcohol are you looking for? Just a few words is fine: 'expensive wines', 'inexpensive whiskeys', 'swamp bought moonshine'.

[ ] Renovate the St. Majeste: Only part of the St. Majest was open to the public: the ship was still seaworthy inasmuch as any vessel of its class might be, but the prior owners had apparently been less than gentle with the vessels insides, meaning most of it required repair.

-[ ] Like prior options, what are you repairing? I'm not gonna list every possible space on the ship, especially since they'll probably be used for something different: instead, just specify a potential location that could conceivably exist on the ship and what you want to use it for. A gambling hall, another drink lounge, theaters, cabins people can pay to sleep in, etc.

[ ] Call On a Someone: Josiah knew a lot of people. He could lean on them for favors, or else simply visit them to deepen friendship.

-[ ] Select a character and your reason for visiting them.

[ ] Investing: If you have a particular business partner, friend, venture, or industry you want to put some of the Lounges funds into, this is the option you want.

-[ ] Who or what are you investing in, and do you have any stipulations?

[ ] Go on a Date: Ah, Romance. Select this option if you're interested in a character in a less than platonic manner. Note that they need to be someone Josiah would be interested in pursuing and of compatible orientation and gender.

-[ ] Select a character and provide a brief idea for a date.

[ ] Rumor-Hunting: Josiah has a topic he's interested in. He was going to collect rumors in the hopes of finding a lead, whether from the bars of gotham, his various old criminal contacts, calling on his mentor, or other means.

-[ ] Write in topic and means of hunting it

[ ] Gotham University Research: Gotham University was the center of academia in the city. If there was anyone who might know about various subjects such as the history of gotham, various scientific and literary facts, and other useful subjects that Josiah might find useful, it was here.

-[ ] Write in subject you're looking to research.

[ ] Write In.