Upon The River: Carlston Dale, August Maybe Not [English Eerie] [One-Shot]
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| Art by Doug Bolden but see Credits for more explanation. |
Previously...
Ivy has thrown herself into the river as a sacrifice. Jules has a fit and slips further away. The piping gets ever closer as Carlston's grasp on sanity weakens by the hour. Either the sun has ceased to rise or time is stretching out. The stars and the moon are different than what should be over the English countryside.
About Upon the River
August 1921: Carlston Dale takes his dying fiance on a trip down a idyllic river so they can have the honeymoon they will never get to experience. Things go wrong when they wash up upon a riverbank where the rules have changed and things move in the constant fog that always blocks the horizon.
Content Warnings: Mild tobacco use, mild drinking, death, some cosmic dread...
Upon the River is played using English Eerie scenario "The Lost River" (with obvious nods to Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows," as will be obvious). No additional oracles or tools are used. It will be played in one-day-per-day style format.
Any errors in geography, history, or language are all mine. I do my best.
This "one-shot" will be played In-Line style.
CARLSTON DALE
3 Spirit :: 1 Resolve
The son of shop owners in Bicester, moved to London after a war injury involving a landmine occurred in the very final days of The Great War. Became an undertaker and got engaged to Julia "Jules" Harcourt. She has been diagnosed with an incurable heart condition and is not expected to live past the end of year. She refuses to marry Carlston, now, so instead they take a trip with two of his friends—Mary Jones and Geoffrey Rose—as well Mary's friend Ivy Prairie. Meant to be a chaste honeymoon and likely Jules's last outing.
Distinguishing Features: Red hair, deep scars on right arm, walks with a notable limp.
Fears: Silence, Deep Water, and Being Trapped.
Morning Card (23rd?): Secondary Character Obstructs (6+2).
Jules is found to have wandered off into the water, or has she? Failed and a Spirit is Lost
Evening Card (23rd?): Secondary Character Harmed (7+2)
Mary injuries herself trying to desperately repair a canoe. Carlston intervenes in time.
August Maybe Not
I had a shock just now. I wrote and wrote and wrote in my journal as the night sky danced and turned and refused to cease. Eventually, exhaustion took me and I awoke to more night sky (the same night? did I sleep through the day?) and found a shock. Jules was gone. Mary was still passed out on the other side, still reaked of alcohol. But Jules was gone. I shouted briefly to get Mary's attention and dashed out.
Despite the ever night, the light above by the incessant stars and false moon gave me enough illumination to see Jules half way into the water, face down. Like she had tried to follow Ivy but her weak form could only get so far. As I ran to her, the water's pull caused her whole body to slip in and go under.
I dove into the river and was shocked to find the water warm. It felt thick alive hungry
I do not know how to describe it. Warm. That will have to suffice. I managed to snag Jules by the ankle and with my left arm pull her out with about all the strength I could muster. Whle she has not truly responded to anything for some time, I could tell she had slipped further away. I administered the Silvester method of resuscitation only face down how Shafer described, something I picked up during my long time spent reading in the hospital. After a few moments, a vast amount of water poured from her mouth and I was struck that I had seen this before
where did it come from this memory of mary and geff and ivee and i dancing around jullll and into the water we pushed calling her out or widdle chicka
The strangeness continues. I woke up face down in this journal and as I looked up, I saw Mary dragging Jules back inside. Mary glared at me with much reproach. Did I not bring Jules back inside? Surely I did. No, she must have done it twice! I went to ask Mary but she left the tent immediately and I soon heard hammering.
Jules was already dry. She had been left outside for a long time. Unfortunately, though she breathed a ragged breath, there seems no more life in her but the most basic physical existence.
While staring down at the remains of my fiance, I heard a curse.
I headed out to see that Mary has taken to hastily repairing one canoe like there is any escape
Somehow she had misjudged the angle and drove a nail into her own thigh. Unlike my failed attempt to save Jules, I did come through with Mary on time. Grabbing up one of the undrunk bottles of whiskey and tearing my own shirt I was able to treat the wound and clean it up somewhat.
Mary and I hugged and then together worked on building the misshapen raft.
no food no water no hope no
I had to look up the history of resuscitation techniques to have at least a general idea if he would have done anything to help the rescued Jules. Since he was in a hospital, but not a medic, I did not read too carefully. He would only be going by memory.
CREDITS
Upon the River is played using only Scott Malthouse's English Eerie, Second Edition and a regular deck of cards built in the instructed manner. For this playthrough, no other oracles or tables will be used.
The picture at the top is something I created using a few settings and tools in GIMP. I just wanted a bird that was like a bird but also off-putting. I accomplished this by starting with "Bird Tree, Black and White" by Kytalpa and then started by removing all the parts that were not black and white, ran it through filters to make it more like a stencil of the the original photo, and then blurred and warped it a bit. I took that version and color-swapped to red and then cloned in the bits (which were further blurred and warped) until I got what I wanted. Only, it was not weird enough.
I took this public domain sketch of a bird head and then warped it and fitted at the wrong angle on top of the other. The eye and feathers and such line up incorrectly and that is 100% on purpose.
It's a quick fix and super big thanks to Kytalpa and OpenClipart-Vectors for uploading some sources I could use.
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