Tuesday 3 August 2021

Quill: Shadow & Ink scenario - City on Canvas

 

This is a free scenario for Quill: Shadow and Ink.


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You are living in the heart of Paris in 1889. Recently you have moved into a commune where you've become good friends with a group of like-minded painters, sculptors and poets. Every week you correspond with your old friend, Pierre Duchamp, who is a confidante.

One day one of your new found friends, a painter called Marie, shows you her new piece in secret. It's a photo-realistic image of a world beyond our own, beyond anything. A city of yellowing towers reaches like crooked fingers towards a black sky. Marie told you that ever since moving into the commune she had been dreaming about this city, each night revealing itself bit by bit. A mix of awe and revulsion washed over you before you gave your leave. 

The next day you dared to look upon the painting again. This time a figure was standing at its gates, one you swore you hadn't seen before. The same day the sculptor Jean had vanished without a trace. As days went by you checked on the painting and more figures began to appear, all the while members of the commune were vanishing. Now Marie is nowhere to be found.

You are writing to Pierre to try to explain what is happening, and hopefully get your friend to pay a visit to stop this madness once and for all.


Rules of Correspondence

- The Artist gains a +1 to language tests when describing the painting 


Ink Pot 

Picture/ Watercolour

Stars/ Hyades 

Room/ Chamber 

Looked/ Scoured 

Scene/ Cyclopean vista 

Lovely/ Elegant

Wood/ Timber 

Secret/ Clandestine 

Bony/ Osseous 

Torch/ Flambeau 


Consequences 

Fewer than 5 points 

You receive a teasing response from Pierre who asks if you have been on the green fairy (so what if you have?). Your friend doesn't have time to travel across the channel to see you. Soon you begin to dream of the city in the painting, the black stars and a gaunt figure in flowing tattered robes. A week later you awake in a sweat. Only, it's not a sweat. Your skin is like oil, leaking off your body and staining your bedclothes. You feel the need to see the painting. No, to be one with the painting. You reach inside the canvas, your body flowing away from you, becoming part of the painting. You stand before the gates of the city surrounded by the smiling faces of your commune friends. Marie approaches you, but she answers to Cassilda now.

6-8 points 

Duchamp responds with a half-mocking letter, but admits it has been too long since you last saw each other so agrees to visit. Between his arrival you begin to dream about the city, the black stars and the gaunt figure wrapped in a flowing tattered robe. You decide you can no longer sleep, staying awake for nights on end until your friend arrives. Seeing you in a state of exhaustion he grows increasingly concerned. You show him the painting, but his response is indifference. He says that because you're sleep deprived your mind is playing tricks on you. He has you drink a concoction that puts you right to sleep. When you awake, Duchamp is nowhere to be seen. You creep into the room with the painting and scream when you see a new addition to the canvas.

9+ points

Knowing you to be a rational person, Duchamp is clearly intrigued by your story. He decides to visit and help you investigate these strange events. Between his arrival you begin to dream about the city, the black stars and the gaunt figure wrapped in a flowing tattered robe. You decide you can no longer sleep, staying awake for nights on end until your friend arrives. Seeing that you're in despair, Duchamp reviews the painting, scraping the paint with a knife. He tells you he would like to destroy it, whether it is haunted or not - it's clearly having an adverse effect on your psyche. Thanks night the painting is burned and the ashes scattered into a field. Miraculously the dreams subside and your nights become peaceful once more.























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