Heartbreak Hotel

The human heart can only take so much pain. But everything's that broken can be put back together.

The life of a Walker isn't easy. Every journey into the unknown means dangers to both body and soul, learning things Man Was Not Meant To Know, losing limbs or companions. Others see the life they had in the Prime slip away, as the demands of the magical world wash away all chances of a normal existence. Sooner or later, everyone needs a place to lay their trouble to rest, and the Heartbreak Hotel is it for weary walkers and heartbroken wizards. Run by former walker Lily Logan and her familiar Thumble, it is a place of sanctuary and rest - for some who can go on no longer, final rest.

Checking In

Welcome to the Heartbreak Hotel. Leave your troubles at the door and come on in.

— Lily Logan

Located in the Shadowed Noway, overlooking the Geirangerfjord, the Heartbreak Hotel is a structure with no mirror in Prime. It's a two-story building made from the mountain stone around it, with a towering central hub and two its two wings extending into each side of the mountain. A giant tree sprouts from the main building, its root crawling over the hotel in a protective embrace - that's Thumble, Lily's unusual familiar.

Magic was certainly used to forge the hotel, but whatever Pacts Lily made to make it happen and the price she paid for them is something she remains tight-lipped about.

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Outside the hotel, the garden grounds overlook the waters below, with staircases carved into the mountainside go both up and down. The path down snakes its scenic way to a small dock by the water, home to a couple of both and at least one hotel patron trying their luck at fishing in the Shadowed waters.

Here and there along the fjord, signs warn of trolls lurking in caverns.

The broad stairway up is only a dozen or so meters, leading to the large, circular 'party house', where the rowdier guests can blow off some steam without disturbing the rest. Elsewhere on the mountain, small paths lead to the Shadowed equivalent volcanic hot springs.

Three Gates lead their direct position in Prime, allowing patrons to go on excursions back into reality and staff to resupply.

The well-kept grounds house several gardens and a greenhouse, a small pool, and a balcony for outdoor dining, snoozing, or just watching the stars. A small zen garden is the most recent addition, tucked away into the far corner next to the mountain walls.
The hotel itself has two wings; the regular wing, for patrons who stay for a spell and go once they feel better, and the retirement wing. Not everyone who comes to the Heartbreak Hotel finds they have the strength to leave. The old, the maimed, the burnt-out find the Hotel a place not to heal, but to live out their remaining years in relative peace. For those beyond even that, there's the Sunset Lodge.

The Sunset Lodge

I couldn't sleep.

— Last notes of a Sunset Lodge patron

Known to only a few and offered to only those too broken to ever recover, the Sunset Lodge allows for a gentle end to the nightmares. Hidden behind the hotel, a series of warded tunnels leads to a vast ever-sunlight cavern, covered in flowers and butterflies. Here, troubled souls can lay down among the soft grass and simply drift away. Those who fall asleep in the Sunset Lodge never awaken, but peacefully pass away over the course of a week, without pain or deprivation. Once they have died, Thumble's roots slowly envelop and consume their corpse - the spirit's price for its pact of service.

Once or twice, someone has been removed by others from this final rest. Those questioned say they dreamed of the best times of their past, and a voice calling them to rest.
Most are very keen to return.

Every day, Lily fights her own urge to go lay down in the dreaming-grass and let someone else care for the suffering. So far, she has resisted.

To Mend A Broken Heart

There's a point for all of us where say, 'enough is enough'.

— Lily Logan

Staying at the Heartbreak Hotel is a mix of therapy and healing. Between Lily, Thumble, and the handful of staff who's stuck with her through the years, they cover a wide range of magical and practical skills. If still stumped, there's an extensive network of ex-patron willing to chip in, either directly or by recommending someone who can.

For especially troubled cases, Lily has a small amount of Mind-Shadowed Lotus - but those who take its inner journey are forever barred from returning to the hotel by the god-thing within the lotus.

Patrons pay for the stay threefold. The first is upkeep around the place, tending the gardens, or keeping the mountains nice and clean of any garbage left by tourists on either side of the Shadow. If they've got the skill for it, patrons can paint, cook, or do anything else that fits their temperament.

These chores are a part of the process, something to keep the hands and mind busy, and lets a soul feel useful.

It isn't a hard requirement. Some people aren't suited, or capable, of it, and other ways to keep them occupied are found.

by Unsplash (Jaroslav Devia)

Second, patrons pay a tithe of magical power, to whatever extent they can. Not only does it fuel the wards that keep the hotel safe from whatever trouble brews in the world or pay for the half-dozen pacts Lily has bound, but also limits the damage of any outbursts by patrons. The tithe is paid through a pact with Thumble, who grows the collected magic into rich, vibrant fruits later collected by staff. Those too burnt out from their pain to contribute are exempt.
Last of all, patrons are expected to look out for each other. There's always some danger or another threatening reality, from the moon to strange occult conspiracies. If it ever comes knocking on the hotel doors, it's all hands on deck.

Every so often, some smartass thinks he can waltz in and take over the place or otherwise harass the locals. These people quickly find out that patrons, both current and former, have become very protective of the Heartbreak Hotel and its mistress.

by Unsplash (Jaroslav Devia)

Walkers

Those who walk between worlds, explorers of secrets, the meddling teenagers of the supernatural world, Walkers is really a term for anyone who makes a regular habit of hopping between realities. Most spellcasters travel - maintaining a life both in the real world and the magic-rich Shadows, but usually favor one or the other. Others pick a favorite and settle down, doing their best to keep their head down.
But some just can't help themselves from poking around where they shouldn't.

Pacts

Pacts are contracts signed with entities of power, usually from the Beyond, where a Magi makes a promise in exchange for some boon. These range from small and fleeting, such as safe passage through a part of the Beyond or the Key to a particular Gate, all the way to immortality and forbidden, blasphemous powers. The price paid rises accordingly, and only fools make such promises lightly.
Whatever pacts made the Heartbreak Hotel happen can't have been cheap.

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Familiars

A common pact to make is for a Familiar - spirits housed in stolen flesh. Anchored in a corpse prepared for it to inhabit, spirits that would normally struggle to remain in the Prime has a sanctuary. From there, they can serve the Magi who bound it.
As far as Thumble goes, he's an unusual case - not many Familiars consent to being bound into a tree, and the rite to do so is equally rare.

Beyond

Some think there's another reason for the hotel's location than just the scenic view and nice hot springs. Somewhere, behind an anonymous looking door or in some janitor's closet, there is a gate that leads straight into the Beyond.
The Beyond is a realm of monsters and magic, of wonder and horror, far from the mortal world. Here, spirits, gods, and demons dwell among impossible, myth-shrouded lands. Getting there is difficult, and getting out can be even worse.
Only Lily knows what the Key is. It has allowed the hotel to tap into the energies of the Beyond and find pacts, but every so often, some horror sneaks in and needs to be whacked down.

Meet The Crew

Besides Lily and Thumble, there are about half another magi there who work with her. Some are former Walkers like Lily, tired of the life, while others are former patrons who found new purpose in providing the same healing that they received.

Lily Logan

by Unsplash (Terricks Noah)

Once a Walker and still a powerful Magi, it wasn't Lily's own fate that made her call it quits. She watched so many bright minds go out forever, lost to despair or ruined by ambition. After one too many deaths, the last being of her long-time partner to suicide, she decided to start the Heartbreak Hotel as a place of healing.
Not that Lily hasn't had a few close calls herself. Two fingers on her left hand are missing, and bite marks have left scars that wrap around her neck like a scarf and left her voice a whisper.
Lily is an expert Scribblomancer, able to turn ink into spells of protection or destruction.

Wallace Dunn

A former patron of the hotel, Wallace was part of a sanctioned expedition through the Gates of Tomorrow. They were supposed to find out what was really going on with the moon, but out of the six that went, only Wallace and another returned. Scarred in both body and soul after the madness they encountered on that doomed quest, Wallace was never the same.
After years, he gradually transitioned from trouble soul to a permanent part of the hotel. Though he never removes his mask, his calm presence and quiet power reassure the hotel's patrons. A former rabble-rouser and anarchanist, he leaves the heavy therapy to others, focusing more on security.

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Adelynn

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One of the healers and therapists of the Hotel, Adelynn is one of the Veiled Ones. Forgotten by the world and every mortal who ever knew her, she drifted in her own misery until Lily gave her a call. Someone had recommended her for a particularly tricky hex, and with nothing else to do, she went.
Years later, and Adelynn is still there, though she's always itching to go. She's an alchemist, a healer, and a licensed psychotherapist, making her a valuable part of the staff - prone to bouts of despair for her lost mortal life. Her work keeps her even, and every time she's left the hotel, she always comes back.

This place helps us heal, just as much as the patients. We've all got our wounds, but we've all got each other, too.

— Lily Logan

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