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Assignment #701:

The Beast in the Binding


The Beast in the Binding

An Assignment for Candela Obscura

Content warning: Body horror

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Premise
Threats

Dramatis Personae

Exploration
Exploration I: The Bungalow

Exploration II: The Speakeasy

Exploration III: The Morgue

Escalation
Escalation I: The Enforcers

Escalation II: The Mark

Escalation III: The Climax

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Premise Hooks

Professor Touring of Briarbank College had been tasked Read this section to the players as the hook for this
with the study of an ancient, pre-war tome. Badly in debt, he adventure:
instead attempted to create counterfeits of the tome to sell
to the highest bidder. The secret behind the tome: it
contains the bound spirit of a terrible, primordial evil, which The silence is a living thing in the halls of the Social
is eager to break its binding. Sciences wing of Briarbank College. After dark, all but
the most diligent students have gone to their dorms or
alight in the bustling city. In a small, wood-paneled office,
Threats lamplight is burning.

The Enforcers (body):


Professor Touring was a popular man in the Scarlet A middle-aged man is gripping the edge of his mahogany
Speakeasies of Newfaire. He owes a tidy sum to various
desk, papers scattered around haphazardly. His
criminal elements. Their enforcers are looking to collect.
trembling gaze rises to the mirror on the wall. His
The Returned (brain): reflection, unsteady and sweating, meets his eyes. His
Professor Touring, like any creature consumed by The reflection, and something else in the darkness.
Beast in the Binding, has returned as a deathless husk. He
feeds on those unfortunate enough to cross his path.
The thing is a subtle glow at first, rising from embers to
The Beast (bleed): flame. “Impossible,” the man mutters, frozen as if in a
The Beast in the Binding is a creature originally created to
guard arcane sanctuaries. Unkept and tainted by corruptive trance. The heat rises, casting a mirage in the dim
magick, The Beast was captured by an Ascendancy gaslight of the office. With a scream, the man’s scalp
inquisitor some 400 years before the war. The Beast now begins to steam, and then burn away.
stirs in its prison as the bindings fade.

dramatis personae The thing in the mirror watches from darkness as the
man ignites.
The Chief Librarian:
Dr. Artemis Huxley (they/them)
Feel free to use one of these hooks to further customize the
The Graduate Assistant: assignment to your Circle of investigators.
Isabella Vargas (she/her)
Academic Interest:
The Ex As a colleague or student of Professor Touring, you have a
Ashley Versasine (she/her) keen interest in the tome he was studying: An Account of
the Exorcism of the Magus Obediah Whately, a pre-modern
The Morgue Apprentice: first-hand account of the capture and interrogation of a
Ida Lee (she/her) notorious alleged wizard. The investigation represents an
opportunity to gain the knowledge you desire.

A Friend in Need:
You haven’t heard from your friend Ashley Versasine in a
while, and she is normally the life of the party in the city’s
Bohemian speakeasies. When you hear that her beau has
been found dead, you jump into the investigation to help.
Understanding this chain of events will surely bring your
friend peace.

The Collector’s Connection:


Artefact collectors pay top dollar for genuine vestiges of
Newfaire’s magickal past. You’ve learned through your
sources that the tome being studied at the College is just
such a specimen, and it has recently gone missing. You
hope to acquire the tome to sell to the highest bidder.

Dr. Artemis Huxley, the Chief Librarian As always, customize these assignment hooks to make a
compelling investigation that suits your Circle!

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Beast, and intermittently reintroduce signs that The Beast is

Arrival hunting them throughout the investigation.

If the players choose to investigate the chalk outline, they


find that the carpet has been significantly singed near where
the crown of the professor’s head would have been. The
Read this section to the players: carpet stinks of burned hair in the same place.

You’re called in by Candela Obscura to investigate the If the players opt to question Dr. Artemis Huxley, they find
disappearance of a rare tome on the campus of that the head librarian is eccentric on the surface, but that
belies a seriousness of purpose required of a professional
Briarbank College. Professor Touring in the History who guards dangerous relics in the library’s Lower Stack
Department had possession of the tome until his untimely vaults. Play the character how you think the players will like,
death two nights ago. As the professor’s office is fairly but that eccentricity might play out as sitting on the floor
radiating with bleed, the Head Librarian has sent word to barefooted or having all manner of medieval weaponry on
your circle’s Lightkeeper for a team of investigators. the walls of their office.

Dr. Huxley knows that the official cause of death is listed as


You begin on the campus of Briarbank College, in the cerebral hemorrhage, but that the true cause of death is not
Social Sciences wing. You know that the Head Librarian known. They also know that Dr. Touring had a reputation as
should have more information, as should Professor a lady’s man. Further, they can fill in the players on Dr.
Touring’s general reputation as a competent, younger
Touring’s office and potentially his graduate assistant. scholar into late medieval literature.

Reveal: Professor Touring frequented a speakeasy known If the players opt to question Dr. Touring’s graduate
for its hallucinogenic scarlet cocktails - a place known as assistant, Isabella Vargas, they will find that she is a
The Black Cat Club. serious-minded and even severe student of history working
to make her career in academia. The players can find her in
the very tight quarters of the Graduate Students’ Office. This
Professor Touring’s office is a comfortable, if cramped, windowless room is packed with students, and so she might
wood paneled office in the stately Social Sciences wing of suggest they carry out their conversation on the quad. She
Briarbank College. It is furnished with a long hardwood desk is shaken, as she is the one who discovered the body.
covered in ungraded undergraduate assignments, a full
waste bin, a lounger, and a somewhat distorted wall mirror.
There is also a chalk outline on the floor where the Isabella does not know what to make of the Doctor’s corpse
professor was found. - the body was terribly scorched, with the scalp almost
entirely burned away. She recommends that the Circle see
for themselves by visiting the Morgue, located nearby in the
If the players choose to investigate the desk drawers, on a basement of the Physical Sciences Building.
successful test they discover a secret compartment at the
back of the bottom drawer. The compartment contains a
mostly empty bottle with a few drops of reddish liquor, two
glasses, one of which has lipstick marks. The compartment
also contains an empty withdrawal envelope from a local
bank for roughly one month of salary. Whatever the
professor was up to, it was thirsty work that required large
amounts of cash.

If the players choose to investigate the waste bin, they find


various papers as well as an empty matchbox from The
Black Cat Club. If the players ask around, they can find the
location of this speakeasy that specializes in the mildly
hallucinogenic scarlet cocktails.

If the players choose to investigate the mirror, they find that


the mirror casts a reflection with a funhouse-like effect. It
has been distorted by extreme heat, and is tainted with
bleed. If a player either touches the mirror or attempts to
interact with it as a Medium or Weird, The Beast in the
Bindings takes notice and enters the scene.

If the mirror is activated in this way, The Beast will enter a


battle of wills with the unlucky player, attempting to force Isabella Vargas, the Graduate Assistant
them to maintain eye contact and burn out their mind with
the mad visions of a creature locked up for centuries.
Repeat the contest until the player wins the test, is Isabella knows that Dr. Touring has a reputation as a
incapacitated, or is rescued by another player. Be sure to womanizer, and is resentful of any implication that might
assign either bleed, mind, or body damage for each lost roll. have for her own advancement on the Doctor’s projects.
If a player takes any damage, consider them marked by The She will angrily recall that Dr Touring invited her to a

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speakeasy once - although she forgets the name of it, she
remembers the location if prompted. She is further aware Once the players indicate that they are ready to leave the
that Dr. Touring often takes work to his house on campus. location, that is an ideal time to introduce a
counterbalancing force, such as the OUP officials or
criminal enforcers looking to learn what the Circle’s

Exploration I: The
investigators have found.

At your option, you can have one of the tome pages be truly

Bungalow from the tome, rather than a counterfeit. Upon reading the
true tome’s writing, the reader is marked by The Beast in
the Binding, and begins to develop the symptoms described
in the climax section.

Read this section to the players:


Exploration II:
The Speakeasy
Upon entering the bungalow, you see the remnants of a
life in motion. On the front room sofa, a suitcase is
partially packed. Postal envelopes lie in a pile underneath
the mail slot in the wall. Papers jut under the closed door
of a wooden bureau in the far corner. An iron poker lies
haphazardly across the floor in front of the fireplace.
Reveal: Ashley Versasine, the departed professor’s lover,
has an idea of where the tome is. She is willing to share
Whoever left this place looks like they left in a hurry. these details for a price. She also knows that he was badly
in debt due to his addiction to scarlet cocktails.

Reveal: Professor Touring was badly in debt, and planning Read this section to the players:
to leave town with a female companion.

Through a well-guarded back door of the laundry on 6th


Exploring the faculty bungalow should begin as a
Street in the Soffits, a roaring party is in progress. Jazz
straightforward collection of clues. The purpose of this
location is to communicate to the investigators that not all is music plays, revelers dance, and a long and elegant bar
as it seems with Professor Touring. serves cocktails tinged the pinkish hues of scarlet
moonshine. The room is loud, a thin sheen of cigarette
If the players choose to investigate the briefcase, they find a smoke and laundry steam clouds the air, and anything
bottle of scarlet moonshine, a hastily packed assortment of feels possible.
suits and dresses, and two railway tickets for the distant
coastal town of Seasway. The railway tickets were dated for
yesterday. The minor hallucinogenic effects of the scarlet
moonshine let those in the city show their true and
If the players decide to investigate the postal envelopes, uninhibited selves, if only in private, and if only for a little
they find unpaid utility bills dating back several months, as while.
well as increasingly dire collection notices from money
lenders. All of the mail is unopened.
The Speakeasy is a location to offer spotlight on more
If the players choose to investigate the wooden bureau, sociable members of your Circle. Try to evoke a scene of a
they first need to open it. It is locked, and the keys are party run out-of-control.
among those on the keyring on Professor Touring’s person
in the morgue. Upon unlocking the bureau, the players have
the ability to search through the papers, and on a The main character in this scene is Ashley Versasine, who
successful check, find a single page that appears to be from was Professor Touring’s lover. Prior to the professor’s
the tome. The ink on the page is smeared, and it is difficult death, Ashley had planned to escape with him and lie low,
to read, but it appears to be a celestial diagram with avoiding the criminal element’s attention over his bad debts
annotations in antiquated script. incurred while binging at the city’s various scarlet
speakeasies.

If the players choose to investigate the fireplace, they find


the remnants of burned papers. One holds a snippet of Ashley is a stunning individual, with model-like looks and a
antiquated text written on fresh paper. very fashionable wardrobe. On closer inspection, her
necklace, bracelets, and jeweled fascinator are costume
jewelry. Ashley is a sharp observer and a good judge of
The text reads: character, two necessary skills for her survival in Newfaire.
“The Beaste brands its Quarrie with its Master’s marque. Depending on the time of day, her appearance changes. At
Once so marqued, the Quarrie can but wait to be dragged night, she will be in the trance of scarlet moonshine, with
unto perdition.” dilated pupils and a slightly absentminded air. During the

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day, she will look like she has been recently crying and be
more acutely observational. Exploration III:
The Morgue

Reveal: Professor Touring’s body is animated by dark


magick, caused by The Beast in the Binding.

Read this section to the players:

The college morgue is down a chilly, damp hallway in the


Science Wing’s basement. A foreboding energy seems to
crackle in the cold air. Brightly lit with recently installed
electric lamps, the morgue itself is a clean and small
medical facility with an embalming table, two small office
desks in the corners, and 6 stainless steel body drawers
in the far wall.

Ashley Versasine, the Ex


The embalming table appears recently used.
If the players opt to question Ashley, she knows that
Professor Touring was addicted to scarlet moonshine and
badly in debt with gangsters because of it. She further The purpose of this scene is to pivot the story into the
knows that he had plans to counterfeit the tome to cover his supernatural and amp up the horror tones.
debts. She heard but does not believe that he intended to
sell the counterfeit while returning the true tome - after all, This room is staffed by a graduate assistant, Ida Lee, who is
she is no fool. She has heard but does not believe that studying at one of the desks with a half-eaten sandwich. Ida
Professor Touring is dead. Most importantly, she knows that is, for lack of a better word, a little weird. She is open and
the true tome is being rebound by a bookbinder in friendly, answering the Circle’s questions while picking at
Hallowharbor. her meal. She makes macabre jokes and seems generally
comfortable in the presence of death - maybe too
During this questioning, Ashley will be working the Circle for comfortable!
information. First and foremost, she wants definitive proof
that her lover is dead. This may naturally lead to Ashley Ida knows that the professor did not die of a cerebral
accompanying the Circle to The Morgue, which is a hemorrhage in any traditional sense. She knows the
convenient way to elevate the horror of that scene. condition of the body, as she could not resist sneaking a
peak. She further knows the location of his belongings,
Once the Circle has exchanged information with Ashley and which she will offer up to the Circle if they are polite or
decided on their next course of action, you have a great humorous, and the belongings contain a valuable clue.
opportunity to introduce a counterparty force, such as Among the mundane pocket litter of a working professor,
criminal enforcers looking to capture Ashley and roughly there is also a receipt for a book rebinding with an address
question the Circle. A chaotic escape scene through the on it for a book bindery in Hallowharbor.
throngs of revelers and the dangers of the laundry will raise
the tempo as we approach the climax. Through the course of the conversation, a loud metallic
banging sound is heard. Ida shrugs it off as something in
the pipes, but an astute observer in your Circle may
correctly identify it as coming from one of the stainless steel
cold lockers on the far wall, where corpses are normally
kept.

If the players opt to investigate the body drawers, they find


that the only occupied drawer holds the remains of
Professor Touring. His head is badly burned, with the scalp
gone and the contents of the skull largely boiled away. On
closer inspection, the palm of his right hand is branded with
a subtly glowing flame-red insignia. An astute member of
your Circle may realize the design as a portion of the
celestial diagram found in The Bungalow. Any interaction
with the body should prompt a test to avoid taking a bleed
mark, as the body is badly tainted with magick energies.

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the tome for further study. Secondly, they want to collect
When the Circle have concluded their investigation of the and destroy any evidence of magickal phenomena.
body, or at any narratively convenient moment, Professor
Touring’s body surges to life and shambles toward any living Utilize these counterparty forces to raise the tension and
creatures in the room. The husk will prefer any target that quicken the pace of the investigation. They also create
the Professor knew in life. convenient foils to demonstrate the danger of The Beast in
the Binding.
To destroy the animated husk, severing the right hand or
damaging the diagram branded into it is the most immediate

Escalation II: The


solution. Simply damaging the body until it can no longer
move would also suffice. Feel free to remind your Circle that
discretion is the better part of valor - running in terror is an

Mark
excellent way to wrap up this scene! If the husk is not
destroyed, it shambles to the places that the Professor
knew in life, with a preternatural ability to avoid detection by
the authorities.

If no member of the Circle is already marked by The Beast The Beast in the Binding corrupts everything that it touches,
in the Binding, touching the Professor’s remains is an and that corruption lingers. If your investigators or an NPC
opportunity to mark an individual as we head towards the touch an object tainted by The Beast, they are considered
climax. marked if they fail their associated test to avoid
contamination. Commonly encountered objects would be a
page of the true tome, a reflective surface where The Beast

Escalation I: The
has recently manifested, or the husk of a corpse killed by
The Beast.

Enforcers While precautions like usage of Bleed Containment Vials


can lower the risk of being marked, they cannot remove the
risk entirely. Any test to avoid being marked should be taken
with an additional regular dice if sensible precautions were
taken.
At various moments during this investigation, you may find
an opportunity to introduce an outside force to confound or The Beast’s mark manifests slowly over a period of time.
threaten your Circle. This section details potential That time is at your discretion, but 1-2 days is a good
adversaries for your Circle. starting point for an investigation of this length. The mark
itself starts as a faint, glowing brand that itches slightly.
Reveal: Professor Touring is a wanted man - both criminal Over time, the mark develops into a brightly glowing raised
elements and now the OUP are eager to discover his design, in the shape of a carefully plotted celestial diagram.
whereabouts. It can be located anywhere on the body, but the palm of the
right hand or on the chest over the heart are the most
common.
The Lamplighters are a criminal gang based out of Red
Lamp, one of the city’s seedier districts. Professor Touring
owes a substantial amount of money, roughly six months As the Beast’s mark progresses, the Beast is able to more
salary, to various scarlet speakeasies protected by The easily appear and is stronger when it does. Where the first
Lamplighters. As such, the organization has sent out two few hours may have distressing glowing eyes appearing in
enforcers to locate the Professor and collect payment. the reflections of shop windows, the final encounters will be
Those enforcers are Hank Mulligan (he/him) and Drew a fully formed corporeal monster capable of chasing and
Mallone (she/her). potentially killing the marked character.

The criminal enforcers have two goals while interacting with The mark can be removed by successfully binding The
the party, and they are not adverse to using violence or Beast in a ritual, surgically removing the mark, or
intimidation to reach those goals. Firstly, they want to unleashing The Beast by destroying the true tome. Beware
confirm that Professor Touring is dead, as debtors fake their that the last outcome may result in thorny problems for the
deaths fairly frequently in Newfaire. Secondly, they want to investigators later on!
collect the amount of money owed, or something of
equivalent value.

The Office of Unexplained Phenomena is a branch of The


Periphery charged with investigating and suppressing
magickal phenomena. Agents of the OUP have been sent
out to collect the tome for further analysis. Those agents are
Gerhardt Tottenham (he/him) and Lucretia Blaise (she/her).

The OUP agents have two goals while interacting with the
party, and they can wield considerable institutional power to
achieve those goals. Firstly, they want to locate and control

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The Beast in the Binding
Climax: The The Beast in the Binding itself is a primordial force of
ancient magick, bound in the tome some 400 years ago.

Unbinding Long centuries of imprisonment have warped The Beast,


causing its form to become misshapen. The exact shape
that The Beast takes is up to you, as you can choose an
archetypical horror that will mesh well with your players.

Reveal: The true tome is being used as a model for a


The Beast may appear as a giant rat composed of inky,
cunning counterfeit. The bookbinder has died, having been
ever-moving tendrils, drooling over the investigators.
marked days ago, but maybe the Circle can finish their
Slavering shadows has a nice ring to it! Alternatively, The
work?
Beast could be thousands of grasping humanoid arms
composed of perfect darkness. The eyes can belong to a
The book bindery is an understated shop located down a central maw in the abyss. Your creativity is the only limit for
dead end alley. The only signage is painted on bricks next how terrifying The Beast can be!
to the locked door. Upon entering, the Circle is met with the
smell of old parchment and the faint smell of burnt hair. The
first floor of the shop is unoccupied, except for several
stands holding old tomes and for a cat that is lazily guarding
the premise from mice.

The basement of the shop is the book binder’s residence. It


appears like a normal apartment has been disrupted in a fit
of violence. A set of tables and chairs has been
haphazardly pushed against the walls, along with a balled
up rug. There are several reflective surfaces in the room,
including a window that opens to the back alley, and a full
length mirror that has been shattered.

A circle has been drawn on the floor in salt, with a single


claw mark disrupting the circle. A design has been partially
drawn out within the circle with ink, the inkpot knocked over
and spilled. An astute investigator will recognize the design
as a protective ward, the same design as was discovered in
The Bungalow.

The corpse of the book binder lies in the center of the circle,
in much the same condition as Professor Touring. Their
A version of The Beast in the Binding
right hand has been badly burned, preventing their corpse
from returning as a husk.
As a central character in the story, you will want to introduce
The Beast in the Binding as early as possible. The Beast
The true tome sits next to the corpse, its pages bound in a
can appear on any reflective surface, although it prefers
new covering. Depending on how your Circle has fared thus
mirrors, wet ink, and blood. The Beast can also manifest
far, The Beast in the Binding is beginning to break free from
from the true tome’s pages, as the magickal wards have
the tome.
weakened with time.

There are several likely scenarios that may occur from here:
Once the Beast in the Binding has appeared, it may attempt
to raise the stakes, have The Beast hound the investigators
to mesmerize a character, like it did with Professor Touring
each time they attempt an action. Try to instill a feeling of
in the introduction. This mesmerism results in the character
limited time and high stakes!
suffering a similarly lethal fate if it is not interrupted. The
character can rescue themselves by passing a related test
Likely scenarios include the characters attempting to finish to break free, although they should suffer a mark of multiple
the protective ward. The Beast might try to knock something types for each test that they fail. The narrative stakes
into the salt circle to disrupt their efforts. The characters should be raised with each successive failure - for instance
might also try to bind The Beast using their own occult by the temperature of their eyes rising or by their scalp
skills. The Beast might attempt to mesmerize any starting to steam. Alternatively, another character can
characters leading such an action. Finally, the characters attempt to rescue them, although this is also a hazardous
might try to destroy the book. This is easy, and The Beast activity, as they may become marked themselves!
welcomes such strategies. If The Beast is freed, it does not
intentionally harm the investigators, although it may
inadvertently trample them while heading towards the exit.
In such a scenario, any marked character is not destroyed
by The Beast, but it is up to you whether or not their mark
ever fades.

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Epilogue

Now is your chance to wrap up the assignment and


describe what happens in the world once the player
characters are gone. Remember that you have full narrative
agency during the hook and the epilogue, so you can
explore the story in ways that you cannot just by following
the player characters.

Epilogue Questions:
1. Did they unbind The Beast in the Binding, or
were they able to successfully contain the thing?
2. Did they help anyone during the course of their
investigation?
3. Did they bond with any NPCs, and if they did,
what became of them?
4. Did they form any alliances or enmities with the
criminal elements, government agents, or
supernatural forces chasing them?
5. Did they return the tome to the Chief Librarian
for safekeeping?

Credits
All artwork was generated using AI, like ArtFlow.

Thank you to u/YaAlex for creating the basis for our


Assignment design template, available here!

Thank you for playing this game - I do this for fun, and it
brings me joy to be a part of your storytelling world!

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