A squat stone edifice, pillars like bony forearms holding up a roof of black slate tiles. Above the heavy iron doors a simple etching, half worn by the elements. A robed skeleton holding clutching an hourglass and scales.
This is the Undying Bank.
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| This but scarier |
An ancient institute, its founders a hazy memory. It has no living employees. Not anymore. The bank's accounting is impeccable, and it guards the assets of many wealthy bastiards.
Two odd factors make the bank stand out however.
First, the Undying Bank is not scrupulous with its loans. There is only one collateral and condition it requires. You must put up a body. It needn't be yours but if you cannot provide it might be yours.
Secondly, its employees are all skeletons.
No one is quite sure how the skeletal clerks are created or animated but several dubiously legal expeditions have been mounted into the labyrinth of empty offices, hallways, and vaults that lie within the bank in attempts to find out. None have succeed. Few have returned.
For now the residents of Bastion have accepted the bank as, more or less, normal. But it is still unsettling for many.
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Skeleton Clerk
4hp, Str 13, Choking Grasp (d6), Slashing & Piercing is Impaired
A human skeleton with a a strange, typewriter contraption wedded to its chest and stranger mechanical contraptions within its ribcage and skull. To communicate, it types out a message which is displayed upon an extruded piece of paper.
- Will accost and forcibly remove or kill anyone not in the entrance hall or accompanied by a clerk
- Mechanically follow preordained routines
- Communicates with its fellows through unknown but quick and far reaching means
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The Expeditioneers
The current expedition into the bank is lead by the enterprising Professor Emily Scribble of the borough university. Her entourage consists of assorted credit hungry students, down on their luck faculty, odd job porters, and a one Mr. Stew, sole survivor of the previous expedition, who mostly spends his time miserably prophesying doom.
They have set up base camp in several disused offices along the upper story and sneak supplies in thorugh a skylight.
As of yet they have only explored some of the already mapped upper levels but Prof. Scribble is eagerly making plans for further excursion.
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Professor Emily Scribble
3hp, Journals & Notebooks, Surprisingly Sharp Pencils (d6)
Wears a waistcoat bedecked in bulging pockets.
- Very enthusiastic but capable of bouts of intense seriousness
- Talks your ear off about her theories
- Keeps a journal full of documents from previous expeditions
Mr. Stew
5hp, Dex 13, Cha 7, Hidden Pistol (d6)
Ragged, torn up suit, nervously grips his flatcap.
- Really, really, does not want to be here
- Forced to guide the Professor or stay destitute
- Jumpy and pessimistic
Assorted Entourage
3hp, Miscellaneous Implements (d6)
The clothes that suit them.
- Some are enthusiastic, others... less so
- All are desperately hoping for credit, wealth, or fame
- Prone to panic and clumsiness
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What dangers lurk in the dusty offices and halls of this place? We'll find out whenever I post part two this!
The bank would probably be well suited to a Stygian Library style depth crawl. I like it.
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