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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 3:41 am
Lan River Valley: A Changed Town The story so far:
No one is sure what brought about the change. Some attribute it to the mining deep below the surface of the town. Some attribute it to the desecration of some graves in the local cemetary. Some say it was simply just the time.
All anyone is sure of is that Lan River Valley, or plain River Valley to the residents, suffered a tremendous, a near cataclysmic explosion that wiped out thirty-three people as well as the town hall in which they worked.
If only that had been all.
Over the following three days three of the town's landmarks began to exhibit signs of strange happenings. The Library, the Hotel, and the Hospital one by one succumbed to what the locals begrudgingly had to accept as mystical forces. Theories were raised, explanations were found, but none sufficed.
Life in the town became difficult. The three affected buildings were much loved by the residents of Lan River Valley, and the hotel and hospital were most important; the hospital for obvious reasons, and the hotel because it provided much of the small town's monetary influx.
The hotel was closed after the first death, a horrific end for a visitor to the town. The body was never found, but the walls were daubed with her blood and, disturbingly, some slivers of flesh.
The hospital was largely safe, but an increase in reported sightings of strange manifestations would soon brand it a place to fear.
The library was possibly the most dangerous locale in the town now, as it was still open and the apparitions within truly terrifying in some cases.
After a prolonged meeting at the ruins of the town hall, many of the adult residents decided that it was time to seek out a help that couldn't be offered by ordinary emergency services or law enforcement agencies. The residents would have to try to find people with certain abilities, certain traits not evident in the ordinary man or woman.
As luck would have it, the town already had one such person in the form of Guineas Reward. This young man, fairly well known in the town but seldom sociable, was to be the first of the recruits able to handle the forces at work in Lan River Valley.
The search turned outwards from the small town, branching out across the world with the aid of such things as the internet and telephones. Still though, the search had to remain at a certain level of discretion, the residents of the town would seem mad, otherwise.
Now it was up to the remaining persons to travel to the town and offer their help...
A summary of the expectations for this roleplay:
Lan River Valley is a modern-day roleplay with heavy fantasy elements. Fantasy/magic is not my strong point, so yes, there will probably be gaping holes in the magic and whatnot used in the roleplay. Technology is my forte, but I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a roleplay such as this.
On that note, I will explain just where I got the idea (or indeed, ideas) for Lan River Valley.
First of all was the rather excellent song 'Karma Hotel' by The Spooks. This tells the story of a hotel possessed of certain spirits, and where strange happenings are an every day thing.
Second of all was Kingdom Hospital, written by Stephen King and adapted into two hit TV series by both American and Danish television studio companies. It tells the story of a hospital in which increasibly disturbing supernatural events lead to a shocking conclusion and, ultimately, a sharp twist in the tale.
Ah yes, unfortunately the entire roleplay is by no means my idea. The library, however, is entirely my own creation (or rather the events within. I did not create the concept of libraries. Darn disclaimers). I got the idea for a library possessed by the contents of its books from being in the library in my own town. I mused on the thought of the horror section being filled with manifestations of vampires, werewolves, and other monsters, and of the sci-fi and fantasy section similarly being plagued.
My town's library, however, is far too light and airy for such thoughts to last long. This is the reason that Lan River Valley's library is so stereotypically old, dark, and claustrophobic.
But I'm getting ahead of myself! "We don't even know about the three locales in Lan River Valley yet!" I hear you cry. Well do not fear, the following post tells you all you need to know about them.
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 3:42 am
Lan River Valley: The Warped Trio The Library:
Ground Floor
First Floor
One of the oldest buildings in the town, the library has four floors, only two of which are for public access. Situated to the north of the town, the library has a set of wide stone steps leading up to it's wooden double door entrance. Immediately to the left inside is a desk for checking books either in or out. Beyond this, at the rear of the floor, is the stair and elevator access to the upper floors (to access the second and third floors a staff key is required).
The library contains literally hundreds of books, despite belonging to such a small town. The bookshelves tower above the windows leaving little to no light in places, and lending to a claustrophobic effect if one spends too long among its aisles, which are of course cramped.
The library is arguably the most dangerous locale in Lan River Valley now. Each genre manifests its contents into corporeal tangible forms. The absolute most lethal sections of the library are as follows (please use the maps to understand what I am poor at describing).
Note: Although genre manifestations have been witnessed to cross-over to different aisles, they do not often last long.
Horror: Located on the ground floor, this section spans three bookshelves to the far right at the rear of the building. Manifestations here are always dangerous. Approach with caution.
Crime Thrillers: The Crime Thriller section is to be found on the two front bookshelves to the far right of the ground floor. Home to manifestations of rapists, murderers and every kind of criminal in the spectrum.
Sci-fi: Located on the two bookshelves preceding the furthest back horror bookshelf and against the rear wall, the sci-fi section is plagued by various alien creatures toting some fairly nasty weaponry. Manifestations they may be, but the laws oh physics needn't be obeyed by these tangible avatars of forces unknown.
Mythology: Lan River Valley, being an old town, contains a great many books to do with various world regions' mythologies. Greek, European, Russian, Oriental; it's all here, and it all bites. Creatures to beware include the basilisk, chimera, the cockatrice and of course, dragons.
Fantasy: Following hot on the heels of Mythology, this section contains largely the same beasts, though manifests such creatures as Elves, Dwarves and other such humanoid life-forms. Quite why the subtle variation between Fantasy and Mythological manifestations exists is unknown.
Astrophysics: Possibly the only section to be completely blocked off, astrophysics is home to a permanent blackhole which, while being powerless outside of the astrophysics aisle, has intense gravity inside of the boundaries of the two halves of two bookshelves it consists of.
History: The most fascinating of the sections, when not spewing out impossibly sized armies (just how do they fit in to just two aisles?), is the history section, which allows one to meet famed people of our world's past. Their knowledge is extremely accurate for mere manifestations... Granted, this doesn't seem so dangerous, but not everyone in times past was so sweet as Florence Nightingale.
Supernatural: The supernatural section is, mostly, harmless. Ghosts carry books around to file them in the wrong order, poltergeists just throw them around but apart from these manifestations the section is largely safe. What one has to look out for is the psychic manifestations, which directly affect a person within the aisle. Precognitive abilities thrust minds into possible futures while the body remains catatonic, vulnerable. Telekinetic abilities threaten those around you. Only those composed of sound and strong minds may enter this section bravely.
The Hospital:
Located in the South-West of Lan River Valley, the hospital is on the town's largest road, which can in turn be reached by a multitude of branching roads criss-crossing the town.
When recent events began the hospital was the last to be effected, or perhaps it just took longer for people to notice. Perhaps people were too busy trying to convinve themselves that what they saw and heard were merely hallucinations, caused by stress, worry, or fatigue.
In time it became clear that no such fortune smiled upon the hospital. Voices can now be heard all over the building, from sobbing children to outraged, hate-filled screams. Apparitions are less commonly glanced, visible only to those with the Sight, or other similar and innate abilities passed down unknown by blood.
The more regular apparitions take the form of a young girl, guarded by what appears to be a very large Anteater...
And is there a more shadowy figure stalking these hallways?
The Hotel:
The Lan River Hotel was once a manor house dating from the British Colonial era. Though one a grand and lavishly decorated building, it was toned down for its conversion. The entrance hall-c**-foyer is a wide space in the middle of the ground floor with marble flooring, wood panel walling and a time-tattered red carpet. Several large but almost worthless paintings adorn the walls, and the reception desk is a long oak expanse to the left.
It has just seven floors holding five rooms each, save for the ground floor which has a small library, a dining room with adjoining kitchen, a recreational room with a lovely view over the town, and two modestly sized function rooms in the North wing. The sixth floor has, instead of five rooms, two large penthouse style apartments. The fourth, fifth, and sixth floors were added only in the last few decades.
The Hotel is closed to business, though it's manager is very anxious to open it up again.
The Hotel's manifestations are as diverse, vivid and dangerous as those of the library, but much more random. Each room has changed from the original similar design, to become attuned to a different individual theme. While the themes on each floor loosely correlate, each room still has it's own unique dangers and must be approached with no expectations.
Described below is the general 'theme' of each floor. Individual rooms will be touched upon either in NPC back-story, or in actual roleplay.
Note: Only the rooms are affected, the corridors appear as normal. Each room's internal dimensions are also thrown completely off-tilt. They are generally all larger than the entire manor estate, grounds and all. No manifested objects can exist outside of the rooms, it would seem.
First Floor: Taking rooms 1-5 is a largely jungle theme.
Second Floor: The second floor is pervaded by a space theme.
Third Floor: On the third floor is a desert theme.
Fourth Floor: The fourth floor rooms have been taken over by a mountain theme.
Fifth Floor: A deep sea theme rather precariously exists at the doors of fifth floor rooms.
Sixth Floor: The penthouse apartments on the sixth floor have, apparently, become a mock-up of Hell. What this implies is unknown.
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