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Goatwood Compendium

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Premise


Hi! And Welcome to Goatwood! My name is William Drake, and I'm the town's mayor! It's a pleasant day when new people arrive, specially when so much people have suffered in the Great War, and the Depression.
Oh...you've heard something about the story of this town? Be careful, our benevolent Earl Melvin Philip Tolbert-Feller does not like the malicious slander of people! He's such a fine man, and he's got quite an impressive library! A man of wealth and taste like no other!
Well, um, yes. We lost half of the town during the Black Saturday a while ago... I tell you, those forest fires can char you to the bone! Witches coven? Nonsense! That was just slander! We had some old midwives that maaaybe they went too high on drugs on ages past, and maaaybe they had a run in with the Inquisition!
Oh, the massacre of the Druid forest? Yes, it happened in the woods over there, back in the Roman Era! The graves still remain to this day. Take a picture of them!
Well, I can't say this is the best place of the world, mind. But we're giving our estate for free to gather all those wandering lost souls, so you can't exactly complain can you? I look forward to see you contributing to the community.
Just a heads up, don't trust anything that drunk priest says. He's a good man, but sometimes he's... a little unnerving!

It was never a good decade to begin with. The year is 1931. The exhausted Old World is barely keeping together, as the scars of the Great War are taking its toll on society. Here and there, more and more people are getting desperate. The New World is also reeling back, as the world market has plummetted into reccession as well. You have nowhere to go, and you've done things you regret. And just like that, a letter appeared in your mailbox. With beatiful penmanship, the Earl of Goatwood has offered you a place to live and to start anew, to be forgotten and in peace. Apparently, Goatwood needs more inhabitants in order to function properly. You have no idea how such an individual reached you, but you had little to lose, so you signed up.
After a travel which seemed an eternity, you reached the backward town of Goatwood, in England. And you were promptly greeted by the Mayor. Despite his thuggish, animalistic face, unibrow, mutton chops and hairy hands, he's an spirited man. He assures things will go well from now on.
And yet, you can feel there's something else. Clawing at the back of your mind. Goatwood... is not what it seems to be.

  • About guns and combat ability: It's a postwar setting so guns aren't going to be that scarce... but Goatwood would have little in the way of reloading. So...if you are bringing a gun think well when to shoot, chances are you might not be able to reload anytime soon. And of course, some of the things that lurk in Goatwood will laugh at your Kung-Fu. Needless to say, while I won't disapprove combat focused characters, they have a tendence to go in blazes of glory and not survive...and I would prefer more down-to-earth people that struggle to survive in unlikely circumstances.
  • About the esoteric, Witchcraft and Magic: Magic is frowned upon even in Goatwood, and it's dark, nasty and full of dangers. We're not talking about kids with wands flying on brooms nor the lvl 5 Fireball spell... we're talking of nasty curses, eyes melting and chandelliers murdering people kind of magic. A notable exception is exorcists.
  • About Local people: Goatwood residents know a couple of terrible secrets, and revealing these secrets to people who are just newcomers will have you killed on the spot.
  • About Lovecraft: Also, there will be no references to Elder Ones (other than in context ones related to Lovecraft fictional works) whatsoever.
  • About WWII:There isn't going to be WWII themes (because it's rather early, mind) either.

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Locations



  • The Goatwood: The old forest that gives its namesake to the town, it is comprised of many ancient trees, and rather thick and shady. It's fairly easy to get lost in it, due to its narrow roads and relative lack of landmarks. However, in recent times, the forest is all but in name in the eastern and southern sides, due to disturbances. The forest is at its thickest in the west, where the Cairn of the Druids is located, and fairly thick in the northern hill where the Earl's manor resides.
  • The Manor: The Earl's residence, in a secluded hill north of the main town. The manor in itself is fairly recent, of Neo-Gothic making. Two things stand out above the rest, however. The cellar of the manor is actually built on a much older roman mine and few people know how deep those go. And the Earl has replaced the front gate of the outer manor wall with a reproduction of Rodin's masterpiece The Gates of Hell.
  • The Cairns of the Druids: In the western part of the Goatwood, after following a sinous path, the forest opens itself to a rather impressive grove. In the middle of it, six man-sized cairns of stones mark the final resting place of the old druidic circle, slaughtered by the romans centuries ago. The cairn is considered a mystical place, and folks claim the most impressive forest animals can be found around there.
  • The Farmlands: The farmlands is the southern part of the Goatwood, connecting the old town with the outer rim of the forest. Due to extensive human use, there's barely any tree left standing, most of the land converted to farms or dwellings beyond the Old Town. The main road to Goatwood is here. It also contains...
  • The Hallowed Grounds: The name that both the church and the graveyard besides it receive. Located between the Old town and the farmlands, it is here that people are buried and masses are celebrated.
  • The Ash Swamp: Initially the eastern part of the Goatwood, the terrain collapsed due to the extensive damage it suffered during the wildfire of the Black Saturday, becoming a foul-smelling swamp full of dead trees. Its only interest seem to serve as dumping ground for dead cattle, and that it contains the Pit.
  • The Pit: An impressive naturally excavated cavern on the eastern rim of the Ash Swamp resembling a giant beast's maw, it contains hot springs in the interior, but also dangerous levels of sulphur. The cavern itself refutes all attempts to be explored, and people are not advised to go there, as the toxic fumes have killed people.
  • The Old Town: The core of the town per se. Many buildings are crammed around a tiny plaza which contains the Town Hall, the Drunk Fairy tavern, the smithy, and general stores. A lot of the old timers live here aswell, but newcomers are often allocated in the Farmlands instead.
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Legends



  • The Ghost Druids: It is said, that in the Cairns of the Druids, the six spirits that reside there could never find peace after being brutally slaughtered by the Romans. In some nights, it is said that their ghosts come out, and keep relentlessly tending the forest and expelling outsiders.
  • The Two Covens: It is said that in Goatwood, two covens of witches resided. The Coven of the Sun, a relic of old pagans who refused to put down their beliefs, and the Coven of the Moon, composed of people who were seduced by the Adversary. It is said that the great fire known as the Black Saturday was their doing.
  • The Serpent: It is said that deep down in the Ash swamp, a terrible dragon nests at the Pit, and it is this monstrous wyrm the one who causes people to disappear in there. Some folk tales state that it is also the one behind the Black Saturday, instead of witches.
  • The Two wolves: It is said that two beasts of great mettle inhabit the woods. A wolf whose skin is of the color of winter, cunning like no other, and that takes pleasure in stranding humans in the forest. Opposing him, is a wolf whose heart is as black as its fur, who takes delight in eating humans whenever it can.
  • The Traveler: It is said, that often, a traveller can be seen in the middle of the night. And no matter how amicable, you should never answer to him. For if you do, life will escape from you slowly and surely, and eventually you will die.
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NPCS


  • Mayor William Drake: William Drake is a recent addition to the town of Goatwood, after his predecessor perished to the flames of the Black Saturday. Despite being practically a newcomer, he's made a niche on the town already with his easygoing, friendly attitude and magnetic demeanor. Despite having rather crude features, like a thuggish build, dark hair in the palms, pointy canines, dark mutton chops in the face, and a somewhat sickly pale skin color he's a womanizer through and through. He's meticulous to the point of obsession and does not like bright sunny days.
  • The Earl : Despite being the actual lord of Goatwood, the Earl is rarely seen in public save for special events, spending most of the time checking his southern properties. The earl is the exemplification of a British gentleman, both in dressing taste and in demeanor. He has very piercing green eyes, and neatly trimmed black hair, which add to his considerable appeal and charisma. He usually speaks in a deep, soothing and calm voice.
  • Belle and Barney: Belle is the Earl's head maid, and also the one who holds the title of most beatiful woman in all of Goatwood. Having a curvy, supple body, enticing full lips and fiery red hair with haunting green eyes, Belle has half the town smitten with her. It doesn't help that she rarely speaks, and rumours say she's the Earl's lover. Belle can be seen fairly frequently, managing the Earl's state in the lord's absence. Her sibling, Barney, is also a handsome green-eyed redhead who acts as a chauffeaur for the Earl. As such, he's much more rarely seen in town.
  • Doctor Otto von Pritt: A prussian doctor which escaped Germany during the great deppression, Otto is a bitter ,shrivelled old man with white hair that spends all of his free time badmouthing anyone else in town. Although no one doubts his skill as medic, his double work as coroner seems to give an eerie aura about him.
  • Eir Löfgren : Old Eir is perhaps one of the strangest inhabitants of Goatwood. A midwife skilled in herbal remedies, no one knows how this sweet albeit ugly, porty and elder woman reached Goatwood in first place all the whay from Denmark decades ago. Eir is modest, welcoming ... and loves to mess with people's prejudices. Eir is also known for not being to be able to lie too well. Her most shocking fact is that she had a daughter out of wedlock with a fellow Goatwood denizen, Angus Mac Fergus. She also runs the tavern with her daughter, Freyja.
  • Angus Mac Fergus: This grizzled old scotsman with graying hair is practically a living prop in the tavern, drinking vast amounts of alcohol that could kill other people. When he's not busy cursing and drowning his sorrows, or badmouthing Albert Hills, he's the man to go in all forest related issues. No one knows the forests, plants and animals that surround Goatwood like him. Well maybe Albert Hills, but don't tell him to the face. He's also tasked with keeping the Cairns of the druids.
  • Freyja: The lovechild of Eir and Angus, Freyja is a teenager lively girl that honors her namesake with a beauty that could rival Belle. With blue, inquisitive eyes and golden blond hair that cascades up to her waist, a few of the younger people are trying to court her... and then meeting an angry Angus.
  • Snorri Stenberg: A short, very muscular middle aged man with balding gray hair and an epic beard that would put Blackbeard to shame, Snorri is the town's blacksmith and jeweller, and quite skilled at it. It's said that Snorri holds the keys to Eir's past since he came to town at the same time as her, but the blacksmith does not talk usually, just using grunts to get by. Despite that, he's actually good friends with Angus and his usual drinking partner.
  • Chief Albert Hills: The current police chief, appointed after his predecessor died, he is the Mayor's right hand man in more matters than the law. Albert Hills is a rather stiff twit, obsessed with maintaining his clothes clean and showing off his wealth. Despite his outward wasteful attitude, Albert Hills is more than just pretty clothes, having served as sniper and marksman during WWI on the trenches, and he has a love for hunting. So much in fact he has come at odds with Angus for unnecessarily slaughtering the wildlife with his rifle just for fun.
  • Pate: Pate's the town's most infamous rascal. An orphan after the Black Saturday, this brown haired, freckled young man is the source of half the town's hijinks. He thinks he's a clever rogue or something, longing to steal a kiss from Belle or Freyja, but he usually ends up receiving Angus boot in his rear, or being dragged by the ear by Chief Hills.
  • Father(?) Paolo Renzi: Paolo Renzi is the catholic priest of the town... somewhat. But he's doing a terrible job at it. Usually drinking his ass off with Eir,Angus and Snorri, two pagans and a wayward scotsman he longs to convert with his preaching (more like drunken rambling), or tailing Belle in order to clear out the rumours about her promiscuity with the Earl (and hoping for a date). Needless to say, he's pretty lively for a 70-year old,and is still quite fit.
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