Setting: Wealthy district in London, 19th century

Action: A brown paper package sitting on a doorstep while rail splashes around it, the shadow of a figure with an umbrella standing over it, blocking the rain. The label is smudged from the rain, but the name is clear: Dr. Percy Delvers. No postage. 

Focus: The package

Mood: Mysterious with intrigue, what could the package contain?

Item Description: Despite the rain, the package is remarkably dry. Did someone just drop it off at the doorstep? To save postage perhaps - but the use of full name and title intrigues. What could be inside? 

Setting: Rural England apple orchard, 19th century

Action: Twisted apple tree in the background with a standard steel shovel on the grass. The pointed head of the shovel covered in sticky black blood dripping down the wooden handle. Red/brown blood handprints left behind on handle. 

Focus: The shovel

Mood: Vigilance, protect family at all costs.

Item Description: Beasts do not wait for you to be prepared to attack. The shovel was all Delphene could get her hands on, but with the determination to save her family, it was the only weapon she needed. Others are not so lucky - but they shouldn’t have to rely on luck and farm equipment. 

Setting: Market district in London, 19th century

Action: A burlap sack with irregular, angular teeth inside - maybe one poked through. The bag is stained black from the blood. It is being handed from young female hands to calloused and scarred hands. 

Focus: The bag 

Mood: A transaction - like that of selling your soul to the devil.

Item Description: The Hunter’s Guild will only accept apprentices if they provide proof of a monster kill. Once the hide is sold to smiths and the organs to apothecaries, they take the bones with a preference for teeth. No monster has been lacking teeth. 

Setting: London basement, 19th century

Action: On a dirty rag is a crumbly cheese roll. A little burnt, but for a hungry stomach it is a five star pastry. 

Focus: The cheese roll

Mood: Celebration, indulgence

Item Description: A slightly burnt cheese roll won’t be missed by kitchen staff, but among the apprentices this is currency. Food can be used to get access to the better weapons in practice or a week of sleep on the only dry bed. Or it could be extra calories to make it through the brutal training. 

Setting: Forest cave, 19th century

Action: A rusty bear trap with nasty jagged, serrated teeth - open and bolted down at the mouth of the cave. Dried black blood spattered on some of the pieces. 

Focus: The trap

Mood: Threatening, ominous 

Item Description: A good trap can keep a local monster population down, if checked regularly and reset. Due to the rise in self-inflicted injuries by trap setters, the snap traps have fallen out of favor. 

Setting: Village outskirts, 19th century

Action: An old well, weathered by thousands of storms, some stones out of place. A cluster of creatures as old as the well lurk inside its shadow. Glint of eyes and the teeth in the dark, with some talons sticking out of holes/crevices in the stone. 

Focus: The shadow of the well - eyes/teeth/talons

Mood: Terrifying creatures want to drown unsuspecting victims. 

Item Description: Lurkers are often found in dark quiet places away from populated areas that will hear their victim’s screams. Wells, swamps, and caves are their favorite. They attack in packs and will eat their own even if well-fed. 

Setting: Guild hall, 19th century

Action: A used dagger with black blood staining the leather hilt and nicks in the blade. The bare minimum for the job. A freshly scarred hand with dirty nails  holding it. 

Focus: The dagger

Mood: Gritty determination and will to kill evil monsters despite lacking tools. 

Item Description: The survival rate of a Hunter’s apprentice is so low, the Guild doesn’t hand out new daggers anymore. They just recycle the ones from those that didn’t make it for the next group. The Guild hasn’t had to purchase new daggers in over a decade. 

Setting: Market district in London, 19th century 

Action: View of an apothecary storefront from the dark evening street - with herbs drying in the windows, labeled bottles on shelves, rolls of bandages and poultices advertised on a poster, and light from candles pouring out from the windows onto the dark streets. A hanging sign reads: “Malati’s Apothecary”. 

Focus: The storefront

Mood: A safe haven from the dark and dangerous streets and creatures. A place for healing. 

Item Description: Apothecaries trade poultices with Hunters in exchange for monster organs. While most apprentices can’t cover the cost, those that help grind herbs and have steady hands can assist Malati and receive aid. 

Setting:  Wine cellar in London, 19th century 

Action: A dark wine cellar. It looks like a battle has happened, some of the caskets have been broken or sliced, scratches on the surfaces - wine spilled out onto the floor. A broken oil lamp on the ground ignites the wine, flames starting to catch all around it. 

Focus: The oil lamp

Mood: Sometimes destruction is needed to eradicate the monsters. 

Item Description: Turns out when you destroy a client’s wine cellar along with the infestation of Eight-Eyes they hired you to kill, they don’t end up paying. Delphene was rewarded with something much better than coin - knowledge of a new monster weakness. Fire.  

Setting: Hunter’s Guild Hall in London, 19th century

Action: In a ceremonial box lined with a fancy fabric lies a shiny new revolver with “Interfice aut interficeris” engraved on it. The crest of the Hunter’s Guild stamped in the inside of the box. A dark shadow hovers over it as it is held out. 

Focus: The revolver

Mood: A weapon dressed up as a gift, but is actually a noose. Item Description: Every Hunter receives a revolver as they enter as a fully-fledged member of the Guild. A reminder to pay your dues or your contracts will be taken away and others holding the same prize will have a contract for you. 

Setting: London street, 19th century

Action: A newspaper lies in the gutter of the street as rain pours. Most of the newspaper is damaged, but an advertisement can be seen - a contract for Hunter Delphene Elui for a very enticing sum. 

Focus: The contract advertisement

Mood: A conspiracy is forming and the hunter is being hunted. 

Item Description: Newspapers are the lifeblood of information in the city. There’s no way a Hunter wouldn’t see the contract out against one of their own tucked away inside and a similar chance they would pass up such a lucrative payday. 

Setting: Small flat in London, 19th century

Action: A bone china tea cup with lovely painted details broken on the wooden floor. The spilled contents is a black tea, but in the glint of light, there is an oil-slick like sheen on the spilled tea.

Focus: The shimmer on the tea

Mood: Attempted murder.

Item Description: The Steelrose with its beautiful petals and a lovely honey-sweet scent, is a popular one in every garden. Its soft leaves, however, contain a bitter substance that can cause instant drowsiness and stop the heart. Unlike most tea leaves, it leaves an oily residue on top of the tea. 

Setting: Police Station - Pittsburgh, PA 

Action: A Pittsburgh police badge sits on top of a desk next to a standard issue police glock and set of car keys. 

Focus: The badge

Mood: Actions have consequences. 

Item Description: Only a couple years on the job and you’ve already made the wrong kind of enemies. Without the badge to protect you, you’re not going to last long. 

Setting: Henry’s House - Pittsburgh, PA

Action: Stack of envelopes on a kitchen counter. Utility bills, internet bills, mortgage bills, angry red stamps: Last Notice! Final Notice! Overdue! 

Focus: The urgent notices 

Mood: Financial stress, desperation. 

Item Description: Never did you think you’d be letting your car payment lapse so that you could keep the lights on and water running. And they just keep piling up! After looking up mortgage refinancing, you might want to check out bankruptcy options. 

Setting: Henry’s House - Pittsburgh, PA

Action: A hand holding a glossy resort pamphlet for “Prohibition” a 1920s themed resort with pictures featuring an antique train, dashing men, gorgeous women and lots of alcohol. Near the bottom it says “Hiring! Security Personnel”

Focus: Hiring message

Mood: Interest - a light at the end of the tunnel

Item Description: Prohibition is an adult-only resort like no other! Relive the roaring twenties with historical costumes, luxury rooms, and limitless cocktails! Be a new wealth millionaire or a gritty gun-slinging bootlegger! 

Setting: Prohibition Train

Action: Henry’s large hand with a green hand stamp on it, like a nightclub stamp with a design that looks like a scarab beetle. Standing over a fancy bathroom sink as if to wash his hands. 

Focus: The stamp

Mood: Entry granted -  but at what cost?

Item Description: The green stamp from the Ticketmaster for entry to the theme park won’t wash off, no matter how many times you wash. Hope you like beetles. 

Setting: Prohibition Train

Action: The view of a Henry’s poker hand around a table with other players. Two aces in his hand with three other cards: a ten, a three, and a nine. Poking out of his jacket sleeve is another ace. 

Focus: The ace in his sleeve

Mood: To cheat or not to cheat?

Item Description: Two of a kind is a decent hand, but it can’t guarantee a win. Three of a kind… those are better odds. You like those odds, but what are the odds you’ll get caught? 

Setting: Prohibition Resort 

Action: The glint as if Henry is looking at the costume he’s wearing in the mirror. Something like a 1920s police uniform - buttons and all just with better tailoring. The badge is authentic-looking giving it more of a cartoon look. 

Focus: The badge 

Mood: How far the mighty have fallen. 

Item Description: You’re not actually security here, you’re just a plucky character like the rest of the staff. But you’re wearing the badge and you’re going to make it mean something. Even if it’s fake. 

Setting: XXX Bar, Prohibition Resort

Action: A dark red-brown cocktail in a martini glass with a garnish of honeycomb. 

Focus: The cocktail

Mood: The kind of drink where you don’t know where you’ll wake up in the morning. 

Item Description: Spiced rum, pomegranate juice, and honey with a dash of cinnamon and orange blossom is a mixture called the Feather of Ma’at because it causes even the highest of tolerances to confess their secrets. 

Setting: Lounge, Prohibition Resort

Action: Lines of a yellow powder drug, “Buzz”, on a black table top while a rowdy party rages on around, set in a cushy jazz lounge. Lots of alcohol and drug use. 

Focus: The lines of powder

Mood: This might be your last memory of the night. 

Item Description: Buzz is a custom party drug for those who specifically don’t want to remember the night. It’s all about living in the moment without the baggage. 

Setting: Mr. Beaufort’s Office, Prohibition Resort

Action: The body is obscured by Mr. Beaufort’s large desk, but there is blood and viscera everywhere. Walls, ceiling, furniture - like a bomb went off inside of him. Maybe a hand and leg extend out from behind the desk so it’s known there is a body. 

Focus: The bloody nameplate on his desk

Mood: This was a violent and unnatural death - and whoever did it is still out there.

Item Description: There are crime scenes and then there are massacres, Whoever wanted Mr. Beaufort dead wasn’t concerned about clean up. Once your stomach has had time to settle, you’ll take a closer look. 

Setting: Underground Tunnels, Prohibition Resort

Action: Large tunnels, enough for someone to walk through, damp and dark with a weird mud covering the floor. Industrial-like with pipes and some steam. A single beam from a flashlight into the void. 

Focus: The creepy dark of the tunnels

Mood: Dark secrets lying beneath the resort. 

Item Description: The underbelly of the city hides more than just secret passages and boarded up tunnels. It seems to disappear when you look too closely and when you turn your back, it’s almost as if it’s looking at you. 

Setting: Prohibition Resort

Action: A typical janitor’s cart complete with chemical sprays, mop, and bucket - but the wheels of the cart have the same strange mud on them from the tunnels. 

Focus: The cart

Mood: Suspicion. 

Item Description: The Janitor is someone who keeps eyes on everything and would be the best to know if anything is out-of-place. It looks like she might even have a deeper understanding of the tunnel system. 

Setting: Prohibition Resort Streets

Action: Out in the open streets, the lights of the marquees and design of the buildings in the background. Other costumed vacationers running away as one man is being ripped open from the inside. A bug-like creature with praying mantis forearms and large mandibles emerges from the person’s body like a cracking egg. 

Focus: The emerging hatchling

Mood: Abject terror.

Item Description: You can kill this hatchling and you can kill the hosts before it happens to them - but how long until it happens to you?

Setting: Prohibition Train

Action: A pile of smashed vials containing a bright blue liquid. Only one vial  remains intact. Two hands reach for it - one feminine and one Henry’s. 

Focus: The surviving vial. 

Mood: Moral dilemma - will you be selfish or selfless?

Item Description: Only one vial contains the cure that will kill the parasite within. Taking it would ensure your survival, but you would risk the life of the scientist who could make more. 

Setting: Prohibition Train

Action: The Ticketmaster, but turned into a large insect creature, barely contained within the train car. Sharp mandibles, multiple eyes, wings, bloated and full of eggs - the Queen of the parasites. 

Focus: The parasite Queen

Mood: End game - it’s kill or be killed. 

Item Description: So this must be what it feels like to be an ant underneath a boot.