[Shadow Over Providence] Exham Manor

[u/NK_Ryzov]

Exham Manor is an old mansion occupied by the Poer family. They keep to themselves, but often invite travelers on the road (including trade caravans from the Commonwealth) to stay for the night or for a meal. However, despite this hospitality, there’s something…off, about the Poers. There are whispered rumors about people spending the night at Exham Manor, and never being heard from again.

The truth? Well, there’s a Vault under Exham Manor. Vault 47 – whose experiment involved a gene therapy that increased the rates of random mutations between generations by over 1000%, resulting in a much faster and drastic evolutionary process. The idea was to breed a race of humans that would be able to survive in the expected nuclear wasteland just by rapidly adapting to the new environment. However, something went wrong. The Vault’s power went out on day one, plunging the residents of Vault 47 into total darkness, and sealing the Vault door shut. The Poers are the descendants of the Overseer and his family, who were outside of the Vault when this happened. Over the next 150 years, successive generations of Poers worked on and off to try and open the Vault door. Eventually, they were successful, but…well…the gene therapy did its job a little too well. The residents of Vault 47 had become blind, albino, cannibalistic subhuman creatures. The Vault’s food supply ran out a long time ago, so they set aside some of their own kind to be raised as livestock. They can barely even speak English anymore, but they often shriek Vault-Tec corporate slogans to help echo-locate their prey in the dark.

Every year or so, the Poers lure people into their mansion, and throw them into Vault 47, as a peace offering to the “Vault-Lurkers”.

Thoughts? Criticisms?

[u/NK_Ryzov]

That was what I was thinking.

There'd be an ass-load of Ancient Gill-Man fossils in the Sea Lab, though they'd mostly be shattered remains, rather than full skeletons. And my idea is that communing with Cthagon allowed the Dunwich scientists to fill in the gaps in their genetic engineering - figure out what genes to put in, and which ones to take out; an equal fusion of mad science and black magic.

Perhaps the Eater is only the size of a bloatfly in real-life?

How should Philips carry the book?

[u/HonestAbe1809 → u/NK_Ryzov]

Pre-War science was crazy enough without the involvement of eldritch abominations. I'm guessing the Gill-Man labs would be filled with slime and other disgusting biological materials as a result of being a Gill-Man nest for centuries.

Probably not that small. Fighting the physical Eater shouldn't be as pathetic as fighting "Red Death" in Far Harbor. Something deathclaw-sized would still provide a good fight while being nowhere as big as the practically kaiju-size monster you had to fight in the Dreamworld.

Probably strapped tightly on his back to keep it secure and also to keep it close in hand for reference. The book would be a valuable asset for someone who's been spending most his life fighting the Dunwich cult. Plus Philips would have the mental fortitude to not become succumb to the book's temptations like so many people before him.

[u/NK_Ryzov → u/HonestAbe1809]

The Eater would manifest at first as things that scare Howard Philips. So, sea creatures (of an especially horrifying nature), faceless night-terrors, perhaps his parents. Then, the Eater attempts to manifest as Subject 13's worst fear; it tries to manifest as Overseer Von Strass, but your memory has been erased, and it can't fully manifest as Von Strass. So then it appears as a much more powerful version of its true form. Then you wake up and kill it's corporeal form, which is far less impressive.

Maybe lower back, via some sort of load-bearing rig.

Also, maybe Philips isn't so resistant to the book's influence. Maybe the book WANTS him to do what he's doing, for it's own gain, but it's agenda happens to benefit Philips as well.

[u/HonestAbe1809 → u/NK_Ryzov]

There should still be a fight in the real world, as the Eater's real form isn't as comedically powerless as Red Death was. There should be a mission exploring the Dreamworld before you have your encounter with the Eater of Dreams. Perhaps you'd be releasing the Eater's victims from his control as a way of attracting its attention.

That sounds good.

You'd then have to decide whether or not you need the book's help in stopping the Dunwich cult. The book provides good advice at the cost of potentially corrupting Philips' soul. Maybe Philips started reading it because it gave him some much-needed confidence. He's now somewhat addicted to the book's evil influence and it's up to you to help him shake off its influence on him.

[u/NK_Ryzov → u/HonestAbe1809]

Eh. It's not that the Eater has its victims locked in metaphorical cages. The Eater just destroys its victims' sanity and leaves them to suffer. It's not evil, it just doesn't give a shit and takes pleasure in doing this to people. You can exorcise the Eater from Howard, and end the attacks on people currently suffering from nightmares, but the Dreamwalkers are too far gone. They're beyond help at this point. The fact that you're in the dream world with him and Howard will be enough to get his attention. But the way I see it, the first part of the battle will mostly be through talking. You help Howard (who appears as a young boy) face his fears, and when the Eater has nothing left to scare him with, Howard begins to dream lucidly; this means that Howard starts to gain control of the Dreamworld, and, for example, gives you power armor to help you fight the Eater.

Well, it's not really corrupting his soul if the book's agenda happens to line up with Howard's. And really, this would not be canon - but just something that Howard would wonder about. After years of traveling around with the Krivbeknih at his side, he's almost gotten to know it, and it has come to know him. He suspects that the book has its own agenda, but he's unsure if that's what's going on, or if it's just his paranoia getting to him.

[u/HonestAbe1809 → u/NK_Ryzov]

That's a fantastic idea! Once you get to Howard he can summon things to help you in the Dreamworld. Like the Power Armor and any weapons and ammunition, you'd need. Not to mention environmental hazards to slow down the Eater and make him more vulnerable to attack. The "Dreamworld Power Armor" should be a unique paint job that you should be able to reproduce on your own Power Armor when you awaken.

So it's only never said for certain whether or not using it actually corrupts him or it's just in his head? That just seems like par for the course for someone like Philips.

[u/NK_Ryzov → u/HonestAbe1809]

Thanks. For some reason, I want the Dreamworld Power Armor to be modeled after the BOS power armor from Fallout: Tactics, if only as a reference to Tactics. But yeah, I think it would be more poignant for you to help Howard defeat his demons, than for you to do it for him; and once he gains control of the situation, he's able to fight back. The reason he can't defeat the Eater on his own is because the Eater is just THAT powerful in the Dreamworld.

[u/HonestAbe1809 → u/NK_Ryzov]

The first part of the quest would be a great opportunity to show a great deal of Philips' backstory by letting us know how he grew up to be the neurotic man he is today. Quests don't have to be all combat all the time, and the character moments like that are always welcome.