City of Mist - Demons in Cross End.pdf

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A DETECTIVE ROLE-PLAYING GAME IN A CITY
OF ORDINARY PEOPLE AND LEGENDARY POWERS
In the heart of the crime-ridden slum
of Cross End, a crumbling old church
becomes the epicenter of a battle
between two ancient Mythoi. The
waning Holy Faith, once the revered
protector of order and sanctity, is
using the last of its power to try and
stave off the Stag Head, a deity of
uninhibited animal urges. The crew
is drawn into this bloody struggle
while investigating local crimes, and
eventually must choose a side and
make an unspeakable sacrifice.
Distributed by
Writing, Game Design and Production: Amít Moshe
Editing and Additional Writing: Eran Aviram
Assistant Producer: Omer Shapira
Artwork: Marcin Soboń
Graphic Design: Manuel Serra
Proofreading: Marshall Oppel
© 2019 Son of Oak Game Studio / Amít Moshe
FIND OUT MORE AT
WWW.CITYOFMIST.CO
PRONOUN USE
Where the third person is required, this book refers
to characters as ‘she’, players as ‘he’, and the MC
as ‘she’ as well. This is an arbitrary division for
the sake of readability and balance in the use of
pronouns; characters, players, and MCs may be of
any or no gender.
CONTENT WARNING
This game contains mild language as well as
strong themes of violence, crime, and immorality.
Parental guidance is advised.
BACKGROUND
Centuries ago, with the arrival of the
first settlers to the City, the church of
Santa Teresa of Ávila was constructed
over a site sacred to the indigenous
tribes in order to reform them and
prevent their wild practices from
affecting the City.
In actuality, it was the Mythos of the Holy Faith that
arrived in the City with full force, trying to secure and
control the sacred site – actually an Enclave, a loca-
tion-based rift, for the Stag Head Mythos (see sidebar).
The Holy Faith had its followers construct the church
in order to protect this location in the years to come.
As the years went by, however, the power of the Holy
Faith waned, the City grew, and a neighborhood was
constructed around the site which later became a slum
known as
Cross End,
after the church and the district’s
relatively remote location. With every passing year the
church fell further into disrepair until it became little
more than a ruin. The church falling apart was in fact
the physical manifestation of the Faith’s weakening
presence. While the church remains a safe place, the
influence of the Stag Head has permeated throughout
Cross End, turning it into a literal concrete jungle.
THE STAG HEAD
Bacchus. Pan. The Green Man. Dionysus. The
Horned God. Many names were given to the Stag
Head over the years: some acknowledging the
different aspects of this Mythos, others confusing
it with other Mythoi. Whatever the name given to it,
it has always been clear that the Stag Head is not
exactly looking to tell a story about firm boundaries
and self-discipline.
Manifestations of the Stag Head always promote
revelry, ecstasy, and abandon. They invite you to
throw the burden of cultural restraints off your
shoulders and give in to the intoxicating freedom of
not caring anymore. Everyone has that feeling in the
pit of their stomach, the feeling that they are playing
a role and holding their breath. The Stag Head calls
you to let go and unleash the most raw version
of yourself into the world: only through complete
release can you truly experience the meaning of
being alive.
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CITY OF MIST − DEMOnS In CrOSS EnD
nowadays, only one custodian remains to protect the
church, an angelic young gunslinger called
Christi-
na
(Avenging Angel), deadly as she is dedicated. On
the other side of the ring, the Stag Head’s growing
influence has been manifested through a street gang
known as
the Beasts.
While the Beasts still can’t enter
the church, due to its mystical wards, they have been
picking it apart stone by stone and spray-painting psy-
chedelic graffiti of animal forms on its remaining walls,
gradually wearing down its protection.
Both parties are aware of the fact that on the eve
of Halloween, when the veil between the worlds is
thinnest, the Stag Head will make its attempt to break
loose of its centuries-old prison and manifest in the
City once again. Therefore, Christina has been working
tirelessly to restore the church’s power. To do so, she
requires the heart of a true believer, to be sacrificed at
the altar before the clock strikes midnight on All Hal-
lows’ Eve. She has been hunting for it on the streets of
Cross End for the past week, masking her killings as the
work of the Beasts. Furthermore, aware of the Beast’s
plans to acquire the schematics of the church so they
could bring it down altogether, she commissioned a
mercenary called
Proximo
(Will-o’-the-Wisp) to steal
the schematics from an art gallery in the Old Quarter
and bring them to her for safekeeping.
HISTORY & CULTURE IN CITY OF MIST
As described in the Demo Game rulebook, the City
of Mist may or may not be a real city in our modern
world. However, to keep the game focused on the
cinematics rather than on worldbuilding, you can as-
sume that the City of Mist at the very least
appears
to be a modern city in our world. This way, historical
and cultural references are still relevant even if the
City has no definite location on the planet.
If you choose to place your City of Mist at a specific
point on the globe, you should adjust the details of
this case to match the historical and cultural con-
text of your chosen location.
THE HEART OF A TRUE BELIEVER
The question ‘What
makes a true believer?’
is the
mystery at the center of this case. Does being a true
believer mean you are a follower of the Holy Faith?
Does it mean being a good person – and if so, good
in what way? Does it mean having hope? This is not
a question for the MC to answer before the game,
but for everyone to answer together as the game
unfolds.
While it is not advised that the MC spell out this
question for the players (a mystery should be, well,
mysterious), you can use it to build up suspense.
When one of the players rolls 7-9 on the
Investigate
move, you may choose the option to ask a count-
er-question. Describing the character’s feeling of be-
ing watched, either by some higher force or perhaps
by something in the Beasts’ strange graffiti, you can
ask that player a simple question: “Are you a true
believer?”. There is no need to identify the source of
the question; it goes out from the MC to the player,
not necessarily from an NPC to the PC. However, it
refers to the player’s character.
Knowing which character is a true believer, or at
least considers herself to be one, could set up the
scene for the grand finale. You can assume that
Christina or the Beasts (or both) are given this infor-
mation about the PC through their Mythoi.
THE MURDERS IN CROSS END
To save the City (as she sees it), Christina needs to sim-
ply place the heart of a true believer on the church’s
altar before midnight on All Hallows’ Eve. As she found
out in recent days, that is more easily said than done.
The main problem is, it’s not quite clear what consti-
tutes ‘a true believer’ (see sidebar). Christina tracked
down and murdered three different people whom she
identified as possible ‘true believers’, one on each of
the previous three nights. She did so with a heavy
heart, but knowing the danger of the Stag Head break-
ing loose, she felt she had no other choice.
All three hearts did not yield the result Christina hoped
for when placed on the altar, and the guilt for the lives
she has taken for naught now hangs over her young
shoulders.
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CITY OF MIST − DEMOnS In CrOSS EnD
THE ICEBERG
Depth 0
The Iceberg diagram represents the locations in the case
and their possible connections.
Hooks
Depth 1
in
MurdersEnd
ross
C
'Ananda' Art
Gallery
Depth 2
sts
The Bea
n
De
Church of
Santa Teresa
de Ávila
's
Proximo Loft
nverted
Co
Depth 3
l
t on Al
Midnighws' Eve
Hallo
DEPTH 0:
THE HOOK
MURDERS AND THEFTS
‘ANANDA’ ART GALLERY
Tucked away in a typical paved side street in the Old
Quarter, the Ananda art gallery resides on the second
floor of an old two-story house. The crew will be ush-
ered in by a nervous but rather striking middle-aged
man in a dark purple designer suit, sporting a heavy
French accent: Michel Ahmagi.
The gallery is a mess: the robust door leading to a
staircase going up to the roof was ripped off its hinges
by a blast, and there are signs of another explosion in
the middle of one of the showrooms. However, even a
quick glance can reveal that the job was rather surgical
and that nothing was harmed beyond what was neces-
sary for the job.
DEPTH 1:
The crew may become involved in the investigation in
the following ways:
• Michel Ahmagi,
owner of the Ananda art gallery,
approaches the crew and asks to hire them to retrieve
the stolen church schematics. Calling his old univer-
sity chum Declan L’Estrange (or any other connec-
tion in the crew), Michel would report that a trained
professional broke into his gallery the previous night
and stole several items. Since one of the items was
on loan from the City municipality (the schematics),
he is reluctant to call the police and is willing to pay
a considerable sum to have the item returned to him,
no questions asked.
• The crew may hear or read about the
barbaric, pos-
sibly ritualistic murders in Cross End.
As scattered
reports of gruesome murders in Cross End reach the
media, any crew member can bump into a small and
very much downplayed newspaper article on the
matter. Characters with contacts on the streets, like
Excalibur, Salamander, or Post-Mortem, may even
get a call from someone related to the victims or a
concerned leader of the community.
WHAT HAPPENED HERE
Proximo (rift of Will-o’-the-Wisp) is an expert saboteur
with the ability to make himself appear to be a short
distance away from his actual location. It was easy for
him to reach the roof via the fire escape stairs, blow up
the roof security door with an extra potent charge, run
down the staircase, then blow up the second security
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CITY OF MIST − DEMOnS In CrOSS EnD

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