Of Gods and Monsters Series 1 in Dark Monsterverse | World Anvil
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Of Gods and Monsters Series 1

  Episode One   Second of August 1900 Toronto, Sam Frobisher of the North Western Mounted Police is ordered to assist Monarch agents Amos Shane and John Smith (Myeengun) in their search for the missing Detective Kenneth Collins who disappeared when investigating the strange occurrences surrounding the elusive Dr Septimus Pretorius. Discovering discarded notes in Collin's boarding house, the party splits in order to investigate the Edison company and railway station, revealing the detectives interest in a shipment of materials to the isolated mining town of Ville Francoise. The trio head to the town and find it to be in a state of unrest, plagued by abductions, murders and sightings of a huge figure known as the Lurker. One report of a man seeing the ghostly visage of his wife in the woods leads the investigators to the burnt out Rathbone house where they discover Doctor Pretorius's Laboratory and the maimed Frankenstein Monster. Conversing with the Monster they learn that Pretorius created him a Bride which rejected him and in his rage he disfigured her before casting her into the world to be hated and feared as he had been. Tired of existence the monster begs for death after receiving their word that they would hunt down the Bride and is shot by Amos Shane after destroying the remnants of Pretorius's laboratory. Whilst returning to Ville Francoise the demon which hunts Shane due to his encounter with the demonic sorcerer Mocata, materialises and forces him to flee into the night and over a cliff.  
  Episode Two   Shane is discovered on the shores of the lake which broke his fall by two trappers and is rushed to Ville Francoise for medical attention. Here he is reunited with Frobisher and Smith who finds discarded and torn cloth in the woods near where a circus had encamped. Informed that the Bride may have travelled with the Carnival, Frobisher used his police contacts to track down the carnival as Shane detailed having been cursed by a Devil Worshiping cult and was saved by a member of Monarch from the demon they conjured to kill him. Learning that the Carnival was in Winnipeg, the investigators followed and began a discrete search of the circus as Frobisher went to inform the local police of a potential kidnapping. Shane questions a medium but is informed about his demon which she can see lurking in the shadows and how it was summoned by those who had broken from the Order of the Dragon. The Medium is possessed by the demon and attempts to kill Shane but is stopped by the intervention of Frobisher and two police officers. Mr Whale the ringmaster of the carnival hypnotises the medium and casts out the demon before reluctantly giving permission to Frobisher to search the carnival but reminding him to abide by the privacy of his performers as they had no warrant. Smith acquired a totem from some Native American performers after having an existential crisis from seeing the demon and wishing to reconnect with his heritage. Whilst making their inquiries, Frobisher and Shane hear cries for help coming from inside a padlocked caravan and release Marcel Shirburton from inside. Smith encounters the Bride who acts like a five year old as Marcel begins to transform into a werewolf.  
  Episode Three   The werewolf kills the two constables and the carnival worker attempting to prevent Marcel's release from his prison. Frobisher and Shane are forced to flee the scene and seek out Mr Whale to try and contain the situation. The werewolf attacks Smith but he is defended by the Bride and the two monsters fight until Whale arrives. Working together the investigators and Whale manage to lure the beast into the caravan with Frobisher using himself as live bait in the Werewolf's cage. Shane then negotiates with Whale to release the Bride into his custody. The next morning Frobisher arrests Shirburton and after a brief confrontation with the carnival workers over the responsibility of the attack, has him charged with the murder of the two officers. Shane telegrams Monarch and meets with three other Monarch agents, Abraham Van Hellsing, Dr John Seward and Alistair Munro to aid in transporting the Bride and investigating Shirburton. The trial of Shirburton sees him institutionalised at an asylum as Shane, Smith and Van Hellsing leave with the Bride. Frobisher and Munro accompany Seward to the asylum where Shirburton is stabbed to death by vengeful constables, biting one of them in the process. Frobisher prepares to leave but is drawn back by his curiosity to the supernatural ailment of Shirburton and the request of Munro. Bridie demonstrates her childish naivety by endangering herself on the roof of the train, forcing a continual watch over her and the development of her taste for liquor from Shane. Seward, Frobisher and Munro keep a close watch on the bitten constable when he is imprisoned. Smith saw both Shane and Van Hellsing onto their ship, staying in order to reconnect with his heritage by studying the Totem.  
  Episode Four   Frobisher and Munro continued to research any folklore on men becoming animals as Van Hellsing, Amos and the Bride arrived in Britain. At Monarch headquarters in London Amos met with old friend Lindsey Burke and was introduced to the heads of Monarch, Lord Arthur Holmwood and Sir Joseph Whemple. These Amos and Van Hellsing convinced to allow the Bride to be raised as though she were a child. Lindsey set about gathering information to combat Shane's demon and recruited Bernard Adams Smith, a curator at the British Museum to aid him. Munro and Frobisher returned to the prison to meet with Seward where the constable transforms in his cell and began to break free. Utilising knowledge of silvers effects on Vampires, the trio use silver to kill the beast. Munro asked Frobisher to join Monarch but the Mountie declined. Lindsey and Bernard met with the wealthy heiress Rosalie Anne Smithson in order to acquire a rare book from her. Scenting adventure, Rosalie complied on the unshakable condition she was involved and so became a member of Monarch after offering her monetary assets to aid with the organisation. The trio go to Monarch's Carfax facility where Lindsey compares Rosalie's text with other occult volumes from Count Dracula's castle. Satisfied that it is genuine he and Bernard concoct a plan to capture the demon. Amos having spent time managing the Bride with Van Hellsing, now named Bridie, begins to see signs of the demons re-emergence. Smith ventures into the wilderness where he utilises the Totem for guidance to an aged Shaman in the forest.  
  Episode Five   Lindsey and Bernard present their plan to the heads of Monarch to seal away the demon within the stone circle of Stonehenge. With a number of armed guards and materials for laying down the protective and sealing circles, a large party lead by Arthur Holmwood prepare for the battle against the demon. Lindsey teaches Amos the last two lines of the Sussama ritual which may save his soul if it is in peril and Rosalie sneaks her occult volume to the ritual site. When the sun goes down the demon manifests and is successfully trapped within the circle but escapes when a miscalculation is made when attempting to banish it. This results in a massacre of Holmwood's men as Rosalie attempts to banish the creature herself. She is saved by Lindsey who attempts to recount the Sussama ritual but is gravely injured by the demon and left in a catatonic state. Amos lures the demon back into the circle and Bernard successfully banishes the monster although he witnesses the world through the portal of which the demon is banished and is greatly shaken. Lindsey and Bernard are taken to Seward's new asylum as Rosalie is sent back to Texas to try and bring individuals into the Monarch fold. Van Hellsing hypnotises Lindsey and learns that he is trapped in another dimension between life and death. Before they can learn more, Lindsey begins screaming at something trying to get him and needs to be restrained. Later Amos see's a ghostly form of Lindsey which directs him to La Grange Texas and the Satanic sorcerer named Mocata who has cursed him.  
  Episode Six   Sir Joseph denies permission for Amos's expedition to La Grange due to the high loss of life at Stonehenge and flimsy evidence for heading there. With the aid of Holmwood, Amos breaks Bernard out of Seward's Asylum and heads to Texas with the promise of aid if Holmwood could convince Whemple. Bernard is told the story of how Lindsey and Amos had previously faced the cult but had chosen to save human sacrifices rather then destroy all the cult members. In the chaos a book was recovered by escaping cultists. After which Amos was attacked by the demon and scarred, Lindsey was maimed also when his cross melted in his hand when driving the monster back. Arriving in Houston, Amos and Bernard were met by Rosalie, Munro and Seward who had been contacted by Holmwood as well as mercenaries who had been hired by Rosalie at Munro's request. Gaining the use of a private train and a side rail further up the track where the mercenaries could be on standby to be summoned into La Grange by telegram as the rest of the investigators entered the town. Rosalie goes to send a telegram to Holmwood to inform them of their arrival. The telegram operator does not send the telegram and sends the message to the Cult who are made aware of the investigators presence. The leader of the Cult, Mocata begins to enact a ritual once he receives this information and believes that this will lead them back to the stolen book despite the protests of the Deputy Sheriff that he will recover it soon.  
  Episode Seven   The next morning Rosalie complains of not sleeping well at breakfast as Munro presents the morning paper and it's story of multiple inmates dying at the asylum on a weekly basis. Seward goes to investigate the asylum utilising his credentials to enter and speak to Dr Bernstein. Inside he finds the asylum to be overcrowded and understaffed with many of the patients having to be restrained to prevent them wandering off in a zombified state. Hypnotising one of the patients to try and gain answers, Seward learns that the man is named Woodstock but he expires after a violent fit as Seward attempts to question him about the days leading up to his incarceration. Bernstein informs Seward that the man was delusional as Woodstock is alive and well prompting Seward to request an immediate autopsy. Reluctantly Bernstein agrees and the pair discover a burn on the mans brain in the shape of a handprint. Realising the danger, Seward quickly rushes to leave the asylum but is assaulted and drugged in the grounds before being carried away by two attendants. In a drugged haze Seward realises he is bound in a straightjacket and has visitations by Lucy and Quincy, who died as a result of Count Dracula, who mock and torment him. He screams aloud when Quincy seizes him and along with a masked man drag him kicking and screaming from his cell as he continues to hallucinate demonic forms in the darkness. Mocata sits within a ritual circle in deep concentration surrounded by other chanting cultists.  
  Episode Eight   Rosalie has a restless night as she suffers visitations of a shifting form which coaxes information about Monarch and the investigators from her in her dreams. Bernard proposes that a look through the town archives might allow them to spot more clues as to what was occurring in the town and so Rosalie and Munro accompany him. Munro focuses upon maps of the town layout as Rosalie and Bernard search through the newspaper records finding that a surge of social unrest had occurred in La Grange but had been ended by the election of a new Mayor. One outlier of this had been the murder of a prominent businessman whose estate was being looked over by Munro due to it's size and relative isolation. Outside, Rosalie and Bernard encountered Woodstock, an old business associate of Rosalie's father and are invited to lunch as Munro enquired as to the loan of the maps. Whilst Bernard and Rosalie meet with Woodstock and discuss potential business whilst attempting to discretely question him about unusual occurrences in the town, Munro heads to the dead man's estate and finds it to be a desecrated place with occult ritual sites present. Some of the conversation with Woodstock made Bernard wary of him but they still leave with the promise of aid if they so needed it. Going to the estate to meet with Munro it was soon revealed that they were followed by two cultists and a gunfight ensued in which Bernard is injured. Rosalie is then possessed by Mocata which Bernard avoids by crawling onto a portable protective circle he drew on a sheet of paper. Munro exorcises the demon with his crucifix and his unshakable faith leaving a cross burn on Rosalie's face.  
  Episode Nine   Amos begins to investigate La Grange by listening out for unusual occurrences and urban legends. This leads him to an antique shop whose owner is said to posses very strange artefacts. Inside Amos hears the shifting of something heavy in the back room before the deputy sheriff enters the shop and calls for the owner. Hidden behind the stacked shelves, Amos overhears the deputy threaten the man and realises he is a cult member attempting to find a missing item. Amos escapes from the shop as the owner is arrested and heads to the asylum to warn Seward. He learns from Bernstein that Seward had left, however Amos had already checked the hotel and so covered his tracks saying that the place had been recommended for psychiatric rest by Seward. As such Amos is checked in after describing his demon manifestation to the doctor. As one of the few unbound patients, Amos questioned other inmates and learned that Seward had been taken to high security in a straightjacket. That night Amos attempted to escape from his cell by picking the lock without success when the guard caught him. However the head of the mercenaries, Roland, knocked the man unconscious and let Shane out of his cell telling him they needed to get out of there now. The pair located Seward and rescued him but Seward's drug addled mind caused him to scream and alert the guards. The two asylum cultists attempted to stop them but Roland and Shane held them at gunpoint as they forced their exit and fled into the night with the raving Seward.  
  Episode Ten   Munro helped Bernard and Rosalie back into town and sought medical attention for Bernard. Rosalie and Bernard were left at the train station as Munro went to telegram for the mercenaries and then went to locate Amos and Seward, learning of their location at the hotel. Whilst keeping an eye out for the mercenaries, Bernard and Rosalie are approached by the deputy and two other cultists who apprehend Rosalie and go to throw Bernard into the path of an approaching train. By keeping hold of his crutch, Bernard manages to trip one of the men as Rosalie rushes headfirst into another. The two men fall into the path of the train as the deputy seizes hold of Rosalie again. Bernard uses the confusion to flee the scene as Rosalie is taken to jail. Reuniting with Munro, the pair make their way up the tracks to meet with the mercenaries encountering a disused train shed. Inside they discover a telegraph which Munro fixes and uses to summon the mercenaries. In Jail, Rosalie encounters the beaten and bloody Antique dealer who is suspicious of Rosalie's concern and hysterically yells that the book is far from her reach. Woodstock arrives and offers aid to Rosalie who says that once her father hears of this, she will be out in no time. Woodstock tells her that is her choice and leaves after placing his card on the floor in front of the cell. The antique dealer is terrified of the card and frantically tells Rosalie about the conditions of demon summoning. Munro and Bernard meet with the mercenaries who have received no word aside from the last telegram from the group. This informs them that the telegraph operator is in league with the cult. Munro sets out with most of the mercenaries to break Rosalie out of jail as Roland goes to collect Amos and Seward from the asylum. Within the jail cell, the sun sets and a low mist begins to form within the room where Rosalie and the Antiquarian are trapped.  
  Episode Eleven   The demonic spirit which rose from Woodstock's card drew out the antiquarians soul before Munro and the Mercenaries rescued Rosalie. Despite dispelling it with Munro's cross, two of the mercenaries were similarly attacked which prompted the others to threaten leaving once they regrouped. Amos manages to convince most of them to remain when he returns with Roland and Seward, along with Rosalie's promise of more money. He, Roland and Rosalie head to the Antique shop as Amos is certain the missing book is still hidden there and they find the undisturbed hidden entrance to a secret cellar in the ransacked shop. Within they discover the partly translated tome within a locked safe with a sealing symbol upon it. Roland manages to unlock the safe but is attacked by the book and is wounded on his face. Mocata is alerted to the books presence and begins a ritual as the book is taken to Bernard to be analysed. Bernard reads the book inside of a circle of protection but is possessed through the book by the spirit of Mocata who manifests inside the circle. He attempts to reason with the group to leave him be but shows his true colours when Amos calls his bluff and Munro frees Bernard with Holy Water. This also releases Mocata but scalds his physical body so he steals Woodstock's. Bernard's mind is broken by the encounter but he mumbles about the Golden Demise claiming their souls on the Sabbath. With the knowledge of the telegram operators allegiance, Munro and Amos decide to have him trailed in order to find and kill Mocata as Rosalie attempts to seal the book with the circle of protection that Bernard used, very much aware that the Sabbath begins tomorrow at Midnight.  
  Episode Twelve   Leaving Bernard, Rosalie and Seward with the train; the remainder of the party set up a cordon around La Grange using Munro's maps and concealing themselves along the roads out of the town. They also leave a lookout on the telegram office in the form of two mercenaries who stayed with the train during Rosalie's rescue. However the deputy finds the train and boards it with his men forcing Rosalie to take the book and attempt to ride to safety as Seward and Bernard hide. Her attempt to escape is unsuccessful as her horse is shot out from under her and she is taken with the book back to Mocata who thanks Rosalie for returning the key to victory to him. Seward makes sure Amos, Munro and the mercenaries are informed of Rosalie and the book's disappearance but decide that their best course of action is to follow their previous plan. As the sun sets Mocata summons his cultists including the telegram operator who passes by Amos's stakeout location. Sending the mercenaries who were following him to gather the rest of their forces for an assault, Amos continues trailing the operator as they and other cultists make their way to Mocata's house. Rosalie is tied to a stake in the cavern below the house with other sacrifices as Amos sneaks into the grounds whilst the last of the cultists enter. Mocata begins his ritual, utilising the book as the mercenaries arrive. They find that a barrier is preventing them entering which Amos destroys with Dynamite he took from the mercenary supplies by blowing up a totem. A shootout occurs between the cult and the investigators as Mocata attempts to summon the Golden Demise. Roland, Amos and Munro break into the cavern where Munro and the deputy kill each other as Amos shoots Mocata. The dying sorcerer laughs that their demise is coming as the occult symbols glow with Golden light. In desperation, Amos repeats the last lines of the Sussama ritual which causes the house to explode, killing the cultists and mercenaries on the upper floors and revealing the cavern to the night sky. Amos Shane has vanished, leaving the symbol of Mosura in the place of the Demise's own as the few survivors crawl out of the wreckage. Far to the North Smith discovers symbols similar to those engraved on the totem etched into the trees as a distant storm rumbles.

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