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The Watefront

YOUNG. ECSTATIC. INDUSTRIAL.
Sandy beaches, night clubs, and bars. But also harbors, docks, and cranes. Land of love at first sight and deadly betrayal. Where flocks of locals and tourists drink the night away, and where sailors and fishermen rest their bodies and sorrow.
The Waterfront has many faces: Next to Muscle Beach, it harbors ancient buildings of wood and stone, now used as depots for the diving club, storage rooms, industrial areas or fancy seafood restaurants. Whatever happens on its shorelines is watched by the Eye Island, which thrones at a distance at the center of the Bay.

Faction

Noble Rock

Style: Secretive. Pervasive. Slow.
Want: Find the source of the Weird and commodify it.

Despite its nice, antique logo depicting a flaming stone, Noble Rock is as vile as a non-Weird being can possibly be. The sprawling company invests in just about everything via a nebula of sub-companies and subsidiaries. Despite its diversification, Noble Rock’s core business remains real estate development, and they are responsible for most of the mutations the Lost Bay undergoes. Moving large volumes of concrete, cash, and people is no issue for them. They’ll do anything, are bad at everything, and are oblivious to the consequences of their actions. On underground BBS channels, anon posts claim Noble Rock is the public face of the True Church.

What’s their new project?

Roll 1d6:

1. Renovation of an ancient stone watchtower
2. Extension of the industrial docks
3. Inauguration of a new high-speed road
4. Construction of a brand-new mega-mall
5. Management of a worksite previously plagued by delays
6. Relocation of a landfill

Consequence

Roll 1d6:

1. Potentially lethal water pollution
2. Pest invasion
3. Abnormal levels of Weird (+1 Weird die to all rolls, including saves)
4. Living Saints get sick
5. Attracts Miracles like moths to a flame
6. Deaths of Wildlife hit record levels

Detailed Locations

Glass Creek

Mesmerizing. Hidden. Cruel.

A glimmering gem, raw and beautiful like a dream or a postcard from a distant place. Stuck between a luxury resort and an overcrowded beach, hidden beneath the coastal road, Glass Creek is so close to the heart of the Waterfront, yet remains inaccessible for those who don’t know the secret dirt path that leads the way. Surfers have made it their home, their eyes are as blue and clear as the polished glass debris that form Glass Creek’s sand.

Surfer

Surfers own the creek and seldom leave it. When they stare at the horizon, hypnotized by the swell, or when they run in slow-motion and dive headfirst into wave foam, they are secretly praying to Big Blue, asking it to unleash a Monster Wave. Sometimes, when the ocean is calm and flat for days, they might resort to drowning some unlucky soul who has ventured into the creek or befriended them without considering the consequences.

Surfers are a bit spiritual, very physical, and they love fresh beer and roasted marshmallows. They can also speak to Big Blue and understand the secrets whispered by its waves.

Quirk: Graceful on the sea, clumsy on land.

Mood: Contemplative. “Can you see it? Right below the horizon. It’s coming for us, like a gift. A Monster Wave.”

Gear: Surfboard. Wax. Cool sunglasses. Wooden spear.

Moves:

• Hold breath
• Glide with mesmerizing gracefulness
• Talk to Big Blue

Northern Docks Waiting Room

Stagnant. Crowded. Hopeful.

Passenger sea traffic has been idle for years now. Despite that, the Northern Docks Waiting Room remains as crowded as ever. Most travelers camp here, hoping to embark on the next ferry out of the Bay. Every day, the same ritual repeats: exasperated passengers pester the clerk who, both annoyed by useless questions and overwhelmed by guilt, mutters vague answers about a ferry probably leaving soon, in a matter of days. Those who lose patience leave, making room for new fresh and hopeful travelers, because in the Waiting Room two things never run short: boredom and hope.

A Summon might grant a boat departure. Be careful of who or what embarks, as they might never come back: the existence of the outside world has never been scientifically proved.

Security checkpoint

The lazy and distracted security personnel barely check the X-ray machine at the entrance, unless it rings all its digital bells whenever someone or something weird passes through it.

At the docks

Boat type

1. Towboat
2. Ferry
3. Supply ship
4. Fishing boat
5. Research submarine
6. Sailboat

Boat name

1. Codfather
2. Mega Venus
3. Thief of the Waves
4. Pourquoi Pas?
5. Phantom Shark
6. See You Later

Boat cargo

1. Prisoners from the Eye
2. Cheap toys
3. Tourists who thought they were going somewhere else
4. Random supplies: roll 1 Stuff (p. XX)
5. Nothing, it’s empty
6. Salt water and octopi

Blue Moon

Sweaty. Dizzy. Half-naked.

After the disaster, after the Summer of Blood ruined her business and unbridled faith in music, Mrs. Gentile the owner of the Sunset abandoned her beloved Desert with nothing left but a broken heart. On a rainy day, she took refuge in an abandoned glass and mirror warehouse, perched atop a dizzying cliff, right above Big Blue. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the statue of the Turntablist staring at her from within the warehouse, and the inscription at its feet: “SAVE US”. This was a sign, coming from higher powers. She finally let go of the sob encaged in her lungs, and, despite her profound distrust of salt and iodine, and decided to open a new nightclub here: the Blue Moon, soon to become the Waterfront’s most popular and profitable business.

Every night, until the moon dips below the horizon, the music never stops, and the dance floor is perpetually crowded with sweaty and scantily dressed nightgoers. Walls and pillars covered in mirrors, along with multicolored lighting, make the three dance rooms appear more vast than they truly are. This might explain why dancers often can’t escape the Blue Moon once they enter, and prefer losing themselves to their multiple reflections or those of someone dancing next to them.

The only beings able to come and go as they please are Living Saints, who often enjoy spending nights at the Blue Moon because all creatures are equal in the face of loud music and dance. They love to brush shoulders with those friendly, silly, weak humans and forget their immortal problems for a while. Plus, the cocktails are fantastic, and the moon’s reflection on the ocean is breathtaking.

To exit the Blue Moon, you must succeed at a Weird Save.

• Success: You exit the nightclub.
• Success with Complication: You exit the nightclub but feel a pressing need to go back.
• Failure: Gain +1 Weird and go back to the dance floor.

Who’s getting wild on the dance floor?

1. Fire Demon, Sun of the Son
2. Lucy the Eyeless
3. Hardcore Wanderer
4. Jennifer, Larva Girl
5. The Monitor
6. The Nameless

On a successful Action Roll, you might spot the immortal of your choice in the VIP Lounge (roll only once for the whole party). On a success with complication, the immortal is annoyed at you finding them.

Aqualand

Merry. Relaxed. Splashy.

Many Bayers have unforgettable memories of the Bay’s oldest water park. It’s composed of a singular, extra-long, and twisted slide, erected on the sand of the most popular beach, a hundred steps from the shoreline. The ticket price is reasonable and, upon entrance, visitors are welcomed by Marcellus, the photographer, who has been taking snapshots of everyone to ever set foot into Aqualand. His tiny office has become a de facto visual archive of Bayers’ faces, bearing silent testimony of who is friends with whom.

Aqualand’s relaxed and jolly atmosphere is only disturbed when, at times, one of the sliders doesn’t come out the other end. When this happens, the staff feigns technical issues and closes the park for half a day before panic can spread to the whole beach. Marcellus knows that vanished sliders actually reappear in odd places, and with them, several buckets of water.

If you go down the slide and succeed at an Action Roll with at least one Weird die, you can be instantly transported to the place of your choice within the Waterfront. You need to either know the place or have seen a picture of it.

Marcellus

You won’t see Marcellus wearing the same shirt twice, ever. His collection of shirts, ornate with motifs of luxurious vegetation and sea life, is as vast as his photo archive. Marcellus seldom leaves Aqualand, and sleeps in a small room behind the shop. He’s happy with his quiet life of photographing the park and meeting so many new people everyday. Despite his shop being a bit messy, he’s dedicated to his craft and shows expertise like no other. If you befriend him, he might reveal his outsider origin: what was supposed to be just a summer gig in the Bay became his new life. He knows about the slide’s weird ability.

Quirk: Walks barefoot and always carries an instant camera.

Mood: Friendly. “Welcome, welcome, what’s your name, love?” Click!

Gear: InstaCamera. Oversized swimming trunk. Rainbow mirror sunglasses.

Moves:

• Take a snapshot
• Remind you about that time you visited as a kid and sprained your ankle
• Make you feel at ease

Campaign Seed

Ice Cream Truck

The Problem
Music from an ice truck music is heard at any time, with no sign of the truck. The music is making people increasingly anxious. Some have claimed seeing the truck near the beach or in the harbor, but every time they try to reach it, the truck leaves.

Complications:

1. Everyone who hears the ice cream truck jingle feels compelled to confess all of their sins from the past week.
2. Crowds clog parking lots and roads. They wait for the elusive truck filled with hope.
3. Dawn reveals three Aqualand employees dead with melted ice cream oozing from their mouths. One of them owed you large amounts of money.
4. Large flocks of seagulls land in the district. They seem to be observing humans. Is that the Arcane-Algebra teacher talking to them?
5. Empty ice cream boxes wash ashore each night. Their packaging suggests the brand is half a century old.
6. An inflatable toy boat lands on the Blue Moon’s private beach. It carries two inmates from the Eye. One bears an ice cream cone tattoo beneath their eye: it’s your childhood nemesis.

Miracle: Big Blue

The vast, untamable body of water that borders the Bay to the west. The ocean, one of the oldest living creatures, aches from the wounds inflicted by human activity and dreams of reclaiming the land it lost to them. At times, it tolerates humans who appease it by dropping offerings into its cold waters.

Weakness: Lullabies.

Want: To submerge the Bay or, if it can’t, to submerge you.

Quote: “Shrrrrrsh… Shrrrrrsh…”

Quirk: Rust and salt crust. Burned skin and rotten wood.

Gear: Wandering buoy. Sunken motorcycle. Small rock island.

Moves:

• Drag into dark waters
• Corrode metals and souls
• Mesmerize with its beauty and might
• Inspire drunken songs and poetry
• Throw Monster Waves ashore

Faction Reaction: Noble Rock

While the Waterfront is obsessed with the ice cream jingle, Noble Rock swiftly inaugurates new worksites in immaculate sea havens. No one seems to notice the three floating drilling platforms excavating massive holes off the shoreline. As a result, the ocean quickly becomes brackish, and the impact on wildlife is massive. Big Blue is getting angry.

Encounters

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