Arkham Lounge Turn Five: A Matter of Framing (Patreon)

[X][HEALTH HAZARD] Cauldron of Madness: A unique chemical reaction between some of the lower quality Bowman Moonshine when consumed with Witches Brew and a few other substances was capable of causing mood swings, auditory hallucinations, insomnia, and paranoia, among other symptoms. Bar causes psyche damage to patrons over time.

[X][HALL] Violet is an Anarchist, having been radicalized by the naked corruption of Gotham.

[X][FILM] BARTOMATIC FILM DEVICE: When a technology is in its infancy, you get a few people like Harrison K Bartholomew, or Mr. Bart as he would be known to the history books, an independent inventor and film-maker who successfully created a prototype for a new device, an extremely large combination camera and projector that despite being wheeled required two people to move. Despite this, in theory the device supposedly possessed the ability to not just show off film, but create them, though it did neither well. Mr. Bart had agreed to sell Josiah the patent for the machine along with the prototype if the manager agreed to help finance both Mr. Barts studio as well as his research into refining the device into something actually sellable, a process that would likely be involved and expensive.

!!!!GOTHAM!!!!

From the Mystery Files of Fred Jones, Circa 2024​

Name of Phenomena: Arkham Madness

First Documentation of Phenomena: August 9, 1901

Currently Identified Patient Zero: Elmyra Barrows - Disguise: Witch of Slaughter Swamp

Currently Identified Point of Origin: Arkham Lounge

There’s some force in Gotham that drives people batty: no other cities in america except for Bludhaven and the capital of Arizona has its particularly even distribution of normal, rational crime like tax fraud or kidnapping billionaires versus the kind of crime where you dress as the subject of a local urban legend or in some crazy clown costume to either scare people or rob orphanages (or robbing orphanages by scaring people).

I’ve done a bit of research in my free time, and this isn’t a recent phenomenon. If anything, the brief period where organized crime in Gotham was as dominant as it was before Batman was the irregularity: starting in the VERY early 1900’s there are dozens of newspapers referencing masked and costumed criminals.

[ADDENDUM: And frankly even during the era of organized crime in Gotham, you still had a very large amount of extremely eccentric (if morally complicated) lawbreakers, like Luigi “Party Hard” Giorno.]

[ADDENDUM: Remember to edit addendums into footnotes before filing this and to DELETE THIS ADDENDUM. Seriously Fred, don’t forget!]

As far as I can tell, the cause doesn’t seem to be any one thing: while the origin of the phenomena as a whole seems to be the Arkham Lounge, as far as we can tell the reason for this is because of a toxic side-effect of some of the chemicals used in the original Witches Brew formula when mixed with bad moonshine. The problem with this theory is that Crane would only be available to produce the Lounge for a few more years while their moonshine supplier would eventually upgrade their stills.

And yet the phenomena didn’t stop. Even as the quality of the drinks improved and there ceased to be an easy medical explanation, the Lounge would still be the epicenter for people snapping, going mad, putting on costumes, and turning to crime.

[ADDENDUM: Shaggy has said that my language here might not be sufficiently compassionate. I’m going to note for anyone reading this that the people that most affected by this phenomena weren’t exactly the nicest typically beforehand and many did go on to do awful things, but they were still victims, and it should be remembered that no matter what their actions, they were neither in their right mind nor at fault for being affected by whatever origin this phenomena had.]

Typically, those affected are anywheres from 25 to 45, low to median income. Documentation, witness testimony, and historical autopsy reports indicates that most initial victims were regular drinkers of both cheap Bowman Moonshine and occasionally Witches Brew: ironically those who were wealthy or poor enough to stick to one were typically affected less. Once these drinks were discontinued, the amount of victims would somewhat taper off, but the pattern becomes a lot harder to identify: the general trend seems to be high stress individuals in general after this.

The standard pattern of progression seems to begin with mood swings. This can last anywhere from one to three weeks. At this point, the sufferers begin suffering from heighened paranoia and brief bouts of ego-mania: by this point, their personal support network and means of income are going to be suffering, usually increasing the stress suffered by the victim. At some point they begin suffering from stress induced psychotic breaks. From there, symptoms vary: some deal with auditory hallucinations, others acute mania, and reduced impulse control is fairly common.

I don’t know the current cause of the phenomenon: poison only makes sense as an explanation during a relatively specific timeline. Velma suggested that it was partially psychological in nature: people who were already near the breaking point went to drink at the Lounge where multiple patrons had snapped, hear the stories, and combined with the alcohol begin to suffer psychosomatic stress induced psychosis. It’s a neat theory, but something about it doesn’t sit well with me. Shaggy suggested the place could be haunted, which is also a possibility, but opens up a bunch of issues too.

For now, the truth about the Arkham Madness remains a mystery.

Alright, you picked Cauldron of Madness. What that means, and what Freddie-Boy here doesn’t know, is that that means that the chemical cocktail you have your guests swallowing messes with other drugs something terribly. It’s not just your drinks: they can do a number, sure, but they don’t have that X factor you get from mixing them with ye olde cough syrup.

Sure, stress helps, but it helps in the sense that it makes the person more susceptible to the influence, so to speak. This effect primarily is going to hurt your more middle of the road clients: unfortunately, guys like Chalmer Chill get to be insulated from health hazards by dint of being able to afford the good stuff.

The effects aren’t going to be immediate, but they’re going to be nasty. The good news is, this can benefit you. As the spirit of the Lounge, you can whisper in the ear of those affected, accelerating the rate at which they learn skills, driving them to perform particular actions, and manipulating them to accept certain philosophies and ideas, among other things.

Going forward, we’re going to label this ability the Hand of Madness: basically, think of it as a “create/aim/upgrade supervillain (or scooby doo bad guy, if that’s your jam)” button. Please note that it only works on patrons of the lounge, and once used it has to spend 5 turns cooling down before it can be played again. Going forward, this ability will be labeled a Frame Card.

There are other Frame Cards you can unlock, each representing a different aspect of your control over the Lounge and it’s inhabitants and the world beyond. Each has their own uses and limitations. The biggest universal one is that by using them, you have to forgo your opportunity to manipulate the skein of fate that turn: note that this doesn’t necessarily negate negative consequences incurred by your choices (though there are frame cards that can accomplish this).

Think of them as the player controlled equivalent of random events: if you don’t like the random event you got, play a Frame Card.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Bird, this is meant to be a BAD thing, why are you rewarding us?”

Because, dear reader, sometimes being bad pays better. So, first, here’s the list of Frame Cards you’ve unlocked:

Hand of Madness: You can whisper into the minds of your patrons susceptible to your influence, accelerating and manipulating their madness to achieve your desired fate. Enhanced potency while drink selection is toxic. Allows for manipulation of madness. 5 Turn Cooldown.

Financier of the Future: The Manager had embarked on a venture that had them acting as a major financier for one or more people and projects. You could use your hold over the manager and their wallet to help grease development along. Enhanced potency when revenue is GREEN. Additional potency at BLACK increasing every rank after that. Can spend an additional Manager AP upon a major venture that you are already backing. No Cooldown, but costs LARGE amount of revenue.

Now, I’m gonna go ahead and put your Skein of Fate opportunity here.

Because of your decisions, insanity is flowing like water from a tap, flowing into your customers brains and building, building, building: eventually, it’s going to blow. You get to pick how. Since you no longer have to stick with the Skein of Fate, the action code for this part is now and for the foreseeable future [Power of the Lounge]

[ ] Axe Murder: One customer with a particularly violent temper would snap, taking an axe and attempting to murder someone. Maybe the victim lives, maybe the victim dies, but regardless it isn’t the kind of thing one comes from whole.

-[ ] Name someone to get Attempted Axe Murdered.

[ ] Serial Killer: One customer with a particularly bankrupt soul would take to stalking Gotham, beginning a career of murder and death. You won’t be told their identity: instead, you get to choose their motive.

-[ ] What drives this person to kill?

[ ] Gotham Bomber: One customer with more engineering skill than sense would start a bombing campaign against Gotham City, targeting a certain public institution or building.

-[ ] Who do they try to bomb?

[ ] Play a Frame Card: I don’t like any of these choices, I want to make my own.

-[ ] [Insert Frame Card Here] Insert Action Here.

!!!!GOTHAM!!!!

Josiah

You were warned. And yet I see you still haven’t changed your mind or amended your policy, which means I can’t really chalk this up to an innocent mistake or moment of temporary insanity. Alright then, I can see how it is. You’ve made your decision loud and clear: betray your race in exchange for profit. Sleep with one eye open, Josiah, not that it’ll help. People like you always get what they have coming eventually.

-Garret

Dear Garret:

Eat rocks

Love and warm regards,

-Professor Arkham

Alright, welcome to the Hotspot. I’m gonna be honest, this one is gonna suck. You have to pick a member of your bar staff to get arrested on bogus charges. Now, some of them are more prepared for this than others, but I’m not going to reveal who. You need to infer based on what you’ve observed or decided so far who would handle getting arrested the best and whose the most likely to get let off versus who's the most likely to get charged.

[ ] Mark Jacobs: The cook without whom Arkham Lounges kitchen wouldn’t function. On the one hand, black. On the other, well educated and decently wealthy.

[ ] Violet Hall: The median-most singer in Gotham. Sure, she was a woman, but she was a woman working in a integrated bar, one who was an anarchist.

[-] Josiah Arkham: Our dear manager. The easy option, and thus the one that’s banned.

[ ] The Waiter: Hey, the guilt free option. Not like Josiah hasn’t been going through em. Sure, you’ll be fucking over someones life in the crossfire, but at least it won’t hit anyone you actually care about.

[ ] The Bartender: Big burly man from metropolis, Josiah didn’t know his name, just that he was a frequent drinker himself, one who kept otherwise to himself. Much like the waiter, a guilt free option, though one that ran into the issue this guy could probably break Josiah like a kit kat.

And with that, we have our turn, and onto the next. First, let’s go over your assets and menaces and what not. Your financial situation is now RED: things are still bad. You fixed some of your supply issues, but not enough to be where you once were, especially since you’ve taken on highly expensive projects like the Gluckenmotor or the Bartotron. However, you are no longer in active freefall, just a noted decline. Let’s hope you can keep that up.

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. Politically an anarchist, personally when it comes to her job as a performer Hall is also highly ambitious and driven when given the reigns.

Davis Jacobs: Cousin to the cook, and the house Handiman. A skilled carpenter and laborer who allowed for more ambitious projects and kept the Lounge maintained.

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.

Bowman Moonshine: Cheap, low quality, and powerful. Sourced from Bowman Island, this drink caused occasional sickness, cramps, and other problems, but it made up for these issues by being ungodly affordable.

Assorted Goth-County Farms: Josiah had secured deals with numerous integrated and black communities in Gotham County and beyond to supply the Lounge with food, typically cheap staples such as rice, corn, chicken, and pork as dictated by the season.

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

Vogel and Brown: The house comedians. Former performers at Hermanns, they typically worked the day matinee with Violet or did evening show when Josiah was busy.

The Kitchen: A kitchen ran by Mark Jacobs with cheap foods of various types such as eggs, bacon, toast that the waiter brought to customers. It sported a cold room that was mostly empty these days.

St. Majeste: An old riversteamer where the Arkham Lounge was located, it was a barely floating wreck that required significant repairs. Mostly functional, it had the Lounge, a kitchen and pantry kept cold by dry ice, and a library for its owner to use, and had been given a modern electrical system that it couldn't yet fully power.

BARTOMATIC PROJECTING RECORDATRON PROTOTYPE: Big, bulky, and expensive to produce, this device allowed for both the filming and projecting of short reels of modest quality.

And now, your 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.

Crystal Ball Act: It didn't have an official name, but it was an act where Josiah would use a crystal ball, ventriloquism, and cold reading as well as a healthy dose of spying to create "predictions" for his audience.

The Lady of Moon and Stars: An operatic and emotion inducing series of ballads sung by Violet dressed as the titular lady of moon and stars. It was technically unimpressive but in terms of performance had generally still received positive reviews.

First off, gimme your Act. And for the record: upgrading certain acts can lead to Frame Cards being unlocked if upgraded, repeated, and refined enough.

[ ] Insert Act Here

And now we get to priorities. First off, Garret is an enemy. Josiah isn’t one to let an enemy be. You have to spend one AP having him take some action against the chief, whether gathering blackmail, investigating him, commissioning Abigail to perform some kind of hex on him, etc. Code is [WAR].

Next, you have your general bar improvement action: [MANAGER]. I’d suggest looking for funds here, whether a high revenue earner like gambling, securing investors for the bar, etc, though if you think you can use a different AP for that, you might also consider improving security, whether physical or legal.

Now, bad news: Zelda has come knocking. She wants her favor repaid: you get to influence what shape that favor is going to take, but only to a limited degree. At a minimum though it needs to be on par with ‘help kill a guy’: she gave you plenty of time to make the first move and kept on supplying you exclusively even when she could have gone to someone else and probably got twice the pay, so Josiah isn’t really in a place to say no. Action-code [FAVOR].

And that leaves us with Josiah’s personal AP, which unfortunately is also going to be a little more limited: he hasn’t talked to his cousin for awhile, so it’s probably time to pay him some attention. Letters, visit him directly, ask him for help, invite him to hang out at a location, offer him Josiah’s own help (whatever you think he can actually give), etc. [AMADEUS] is the code.

Now we move on to the Staff Action. This turn, Josiah has to make good with Mr. Bart: he would help the film-maker slash inventor continue work on his studio. You get to pick the specifics, once again: does Josiah help by commissioning Gluck to help improve the prototype? Does he have Davis renovate a section of the Lounge to act as a studio, or renovate some staff cabins so Mr. Bart no longer has to worry about rent? Work to secure Mr. Bart additional investors so he can hire more engineers and workers? [FILM] is the action-code.

On that note, since you’re financing multiple people, you’ve also unlocked another Frame Card: Financier of the Future. This lets you spend money to improve one of your various ventures in some way by giving you another manager AP, whether just an injection of liquidity or something more substantial: best of all, it can be played over and over and over. Just keep in mind, blowing money to force progress isn’t cheap, and not just monetarily.

Codes are [WAR], [MANAGER], [FAVOR], [AMADEUS], and [FILM]

[ ] 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.