An Introduction to Corbin Cove

A while ago, I mentioned a small, strange mountain town known as Silver Ridge that started out as a poem I needed to write for a college course. Silver Ridge took on a life of its own and, while it was slightly strange, it was mostly normal especially when one compares it to something like Welcome to Night Vale or Twin Peaks.

When I first began listening to Welcome to Night Vale, I fell in love with the setting, the strangeness, and Cecil Baldwin's voice. I enjoyed hearing the casual way the strange events of the friendly desert community of Night Vale were narrated and treated as normal. I discovered Twin Peaks while I was still watching the cartoon series Gravity Falls, both of which are also about small strange towns in the Pacific Northwest. I enjoyed the strangeness of these two towns and the plot that was being revealed in breadcrumbs through each episode. 

Throughout watching and listening to these shows, I felt inspired to write about a strange small town of my own. This led to the creation of the town of Corbin Cove, a much weirder cousin to Silver Ridge. Corbin Cove, unlike Silver Ridge which was set in the mountains of the southeastern United States, was a coastal town in the northeast and was far stranger than Silver Ridge. Silver Ridge, despite the small traces of strangeness here and there, was at its heart a normal little town. I suppose you could say it was more Twin Peaks while Corbin Cove is more Welcome to Night Vale in regards to how strange everything is. 

Since I shared some information about Silver Ridge, I decided it would only be fair to share a little about Corbin Cove. Corbin Cove is going to be another of the projects I'll share information about in between stories from The Agency. The Corbin Cove posts will feature a little about the strangeness of a specific location, some of the organizations found there like HOAs, and, perhaps, a story. 

Corbin Cove is a friendly coastal community where the sand is warm, the water is shimmering, and the eyes of thousands of ravens watch the residents as they pretend not to notice. With portals to Hell that open randomly in the town hall and one restaurant, a gas station with mischievous pumps that enjoy tripping people, water that boils at high tide and brings strangers at low tide, and a whole host of demons (both normal and elder) calling the town home, Corbin Cove is certainly an interesting place to live. That's not even touching on the weirdness that gets treated as normal such as pterosaurs more prevalent than seagulls, a Ferris Wheel where people disappear at the top only five percent of the time, and sprites being a nuisance in the summer months, and more generally weird things such as the cult that lives just outside of town.

Until next time, check out Welcome to Night Vale and stay weird.

Location 059MV part 4

 So, in this excerpt from "Location 059MV" the water park opens and the strangeness expands to encompass it as well. Change into your bathing suits and check the slides for knives. Dive in and enjoy.

Location 059MV

Testimony 2008-05-25

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Taylor Matthews regarding the grand opening of Location 059MV-UR recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Matthews: Wouldn’t it just be quicker to say Underwater Realm?

Arch. Fuller: It’s procedure and helps with filing.

Matthews: Whatever. Just seems like it takes longer, but whatever. Anyway, me and Frankie Gardner—her real name’s Francine, but no one calls her that, she’s such a tomboy—went to the park because we’d heard about the new addition and been waiting for it to open for months. Besides, it’s hot and it’s not like we had anything better to do. And we wanted to show off our new swimsuits. Or at least, I wanted us to show off our new swimsuits. It had taken me weeks to convince her to wear a bikini and the way she looked made me look better.

            The lines were ungodly. I mean, I guess that’s understandable since it’s so new and the closest water park with the best prices. And, seriously, there’s this one slide that sends you through a tunnel where you can see fish, sharks, and rays which is hella cool. So we were waiting in line for Plunge, it’s a body slide where you stand on a trapdoor and it drops you into the slide.

            It took at least an hour, but finally we were at the top and ready to go down the slide. Frankie went down first, against my wishes, but there was a cute lifeguard up there so I didn’t mind too much. When it was my turn, I got in the tube, crossed my arms and waited for the countdown. It was basically a six second ride after an hour of waiting. I got to the bottom and then realized the water was red. I thought that was kind of gross. Then I realized that my back hurt, my legs hurt, and my new swimsuit was sliced in the back. The lifeguard at the bottom—not a cute one, by the way—called for a medic when Frankie screamed that I was bleeding. I hadn’t even noticed at first, but once she drew attention the pain got worse.

            The doctors say I’ll need stitches because of how bad some of the wounds were. Now I’m going to have scars and my swimsuit is ruined. At least the owner of Midnight Village is paying my medical bills and for a new swimsuit. And he’s giving me a lot of money not to go public about their negligence. So all in all, it’s a win for me.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. While I am tempted to just dismiss this as nails or other sharp objects left in the slide during construction, I will not do so as I know better. When dealing with Location 059MV, there is no such thing as simple human error without an entity taking advantage of it or encouraging it. Thus, it would seem that by expanding Location 059MV has acquired a new entity. We need more information on this new entity which means that we need to wait for the entity to strike again, or talk to Shaw, much to my displeasure. Hopefully, it will not come to that.

Testimony 2009-04-02

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Keira Wyatt regarding her experience in Location 059MV, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Wyatt: I know this seems unbelievable and you’re just going to think it’s nothing but a practical joke because that’s what the police thought. That’s what the owner of the park said, but he’s lying. It isn’t a joke. That’s kind of a shitty joke, too, and not even funny. I know Kyle—Kyle Murphy, my boyfriend—is a bit of a practical joker, but this isn’t something he’d do. He’d do something like throwing a candy bar in the water or planting a cockroach on my shoulder. He wouldn’t just disappear like this.

            We went to the park because we had nothing better to do. He’d been pulling his usual stupid pranks earlier before we left for the park and on the way there, but promised no tricks once we got there. We went into the park and spent the majority of the day just wandering around, munching on snacks, riding rides. You know, normal things. We went into the Vault, but got separated at some point. No big deal, we’d just meet up outside. This isn’t the first time this has happened so I didn’t mind. I got out and waited on the bench by the Vault. That’s where we always met up whenever we got separated.

            I waited there for over an hour. There was no reason it would take him that long. I stood up to stretch my legs and I watched the exit to the Vault. Some guy in a skull-headed jester costume came out. I ignored him as did everyone else. Seemed a bit creepy for Midnight Village, but whatever. Maybe he’s a character that works this one attraction and also in Terror Land since the Vault’s so close to the edge of both parks. Didn’t think they had any characters aside the bunny-girls that hand out mooncakes over in Lunafair, but hey, maybe it’s something they’ve added this year.

            I waited for ten more minutes, then got a little worried and went to the person at the entrance of the Vault. I asked if there was some reason why the guy I came with hadn’t gotten out yet. She didn’t know who I was talking about. She said I came by myself. I’ll admit, I made a bit of a scene. She called security and they escorted me to the office. They showed me video of the park entrance. I was alone. They showed video of my at the snack shacks, alone. Rides, alone. The Vault, alone. I couldn’t believe it. I know Kyle was with me, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in any of the video of the park.

            I asked to see video feed of the parking lot. I know he drove, I know he parked the car, I gave them the exact section and parking space number. I knew that if I could just see the video of the parking lot, it would confirm that I’m not crazy. They showed the car parking and me getting out of the passenger side, then coming inside. It never showed Kyle. I pointed out how weird it was that the driver didn’t get out, but they dismissed me. Said that it was kind of close on the driver’s side, maybe I climbed out the passenger side.

While they were looking away from the camera, I saw the skull-headed jester wave to the camera from inside the Vault where I’d last seen Kyle. By the time they looked back, the jester was gone and there was nothing for them to see. I was escorted from the park and banned for a year. I know I’m not crazy. Kyle went missing in that park and I’m going to get to the bottom of it. I’m going to find him and expose the park for whatever shady things their up to.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. Given that this happened on April first, I am inclined to dismiss it as practical jokes. However, the presence of the skull-headed jester would imply this as something connected to Location 059MV. Ms. Wyatt has also threatened to expose the park and this is a record should anything happen, either to her or Location 059MV, as a result of her determination.

 Testimony 2011-08-16-A

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Abigail Griffith regarding her experiences in Location 059MV and the disappearance of her twin Amy Griffith, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Griffith: I don’t know what happened. We’ve been going to the park since Dad died. The owner lets us in for free. We love the park. Anyway, we were in Midnight Village riding the Star Wheel and talking about where to next. I got off the Star Wheel and she was gone. I don’t know where she went. I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find her. I asked security, but they looked at the tapes and said that I’d been there alone the whole time.

            I must have looked for hours. I don’t know, I guess I was so desperate I was willing to try anything, so I got on the Comet. At the end of the ride, I looked to my right and there she was. I love the park and we’ll probably still go back, but damn, that was spooky. I wonder where she went while we were separated and why the security tapes said I came alone.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. It would seem that Location 059MV isn’t done with the Griffith family and has found a way of getting to the children that Mr. Griffith was so determined to protect even after all this time. It is rather strange, though, that riding the Comet helped reunite the siblings. Potentially, anyway. I am not entirely sure of what is going on here. I wonder which entity was involved in this.

Testimony 2011-08-16-B

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Amy Griffith regarding her experiences in Location 059MV and the disappearance of her twin Abigail Griffith, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Griffith: I don’t know what happened. We’ve been going to the park since Dad died. The owner lets us in for free. We love the park. Anyway, we were in Midnight Village riding the Comet and talking about where to next. I got off the Comet and she was gone. I don’t know where she could have gone. I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find her. I asked security, but they looked at the tapes and said that I’d been there alone the whole time.

I must have looked for hours. I don’t know, I guess I was so desperate I was willing to try anything, so I got on the Star Wheel. At the end of the ride, I looked to my left and there she was. I love the park and we’ll probably still go back, but damn, that was spooky. I wonder where she went while we were separated and why the security tapes said I came alone.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. It would seem that Location 059MV isn’t done with the Griffith family and has found a way of getting to the children that Mr. Griffith was so determined to protect even after all this time. It is rather strange, though, that riding the Star Wheel helped reunite the siblings. Potentially, anyway. I am not entirely sure of what is going on here. I wonder which entity was involved in this.

The next post will be another excerpt from one of the longer stories in The Agency. Maybe it will be another one from "Location 059MV" or it might be from one of the others. Either way, it will definitely be worth the read.

Science Fiction Idea: Characters

Today, I decided to share a little about some characters that can be found in the science fiction idea which, as I said the last time I wrote about it, has evolved into a series of stand-alone novels that are all set in the same universe but might fit into different genres. The characters will be different between the novels, but some may show up as side characters or cameos in other novels. I don't have a lot of characters planned out yet, but I do have a few that I'm willing to share a little about. 

First up, we've got Vrix. He's an Amphayan and father of six. The host who incubated those six is Taryn Toombs, a human from Earth. These two are a happy couple living on the Amphayan homeworld. Vrix primarily works construction, building the sprawling treehouses that the Amphayans call home, while Taryn spends his time caring for their children. Vrix also has a brother, Thrin. Thrin is the main reason Vrix still goes to Earth and attacks Lunulata ships even though he has a good family and every reason to stay on his own planet. After all, just the two of them survived from their clutch of six so Vrix is a little protective of his reckless brother. He's hoping that the human they just rescued from Earth, Nathan MacKinnon, will help mellow out his brother. It would let him spend more time getting to know Nathan's dad, Wally, who used to fish in the polluted waters of Earth and now works to fix things on the Amphayan homeworld. 

Next, we've got a character known as Orchid. Orchid is a human from the space habitat Avalon, which is primarily inhabited by the ultra-rich and the synths who perform all the tasks the humans don't want to. Orchid left the space habitat and moved to another planet where he works as a stripper. According to him, the reason he left was sheer boredom. He was bored with all his wants and needs being satisfied, and he wanted to experience a life that had a bit of a challenge to it. Whether this was the real reason or not remains to be seen. 

The second group of characters is part of the crew of a salvage vessel known as the Philotes. First up for the crew, we've got the captain, Grey Dawson. Grey was born and raised in the colony of Zion and has no desire to ever set foot back there. He considers his crew his family and his ship his home. Next, we've got the youngest of the salvaging crew who is just twenty and being given only missions that are reasonably safe, Reg Turner. Reg comes from the colony of Gaia, where her very large family (twelve siblings and her parents) still live. She's very family focused and eager to prove herself to the older members of the crew. Two of the heavy-lifters for the crew are Brodie Hall and Frank Jones, both from the colony Elyse. Brodie is a quiet-natured person who only speaks when necessary whereas Frank is more inclined to talk. Frank is also more of an older brother to Reg. The first nonhuman on the Philotes is the head of security, Crix, an Amphayan. He doesn't talk much about his life back on his home planet, possibly due to the plague that has been effecting the Naem'i for the past few decades. Though no one will mention it around him, the rumor mill suspects that he lost his family because of the plague. In the security department under Crix are River Green and Steff Baxter, two more humans from colonies. River is from the colony Aeon while Steff is from the colony Aura. River receives a fair bit of teasing regarding his name, mostly from Steff, and Steff is the one voted most likely to die in a horror movie for being too curious. They're the best shots in the security department. In charge of the medical bay is another nonhuman crewmate, Ferephise, a male Xethalian. Ferephise left his homeworld due to a lack of desire to have children. In all honesty, he's scared of children. Small, needy lifeforms that depend on him scare him like nothing else so he opted to join a crew where having children around wasn't practical or safe. Another of the nonhuman crew is Azorhi, a Culicivoran female. She was living in a derelict ferry that they were planning on scrapping and didn't take kindly to the invasion of her home. After a misunderstanding, she was invited to join the crew and now lives and works in engineering Bay 3. The final member of the Philotes crew is chief engineer, Sean Watson, a human from Earth who put himself through engineering school by working with scrap. He doesn't know how his parents are or if he has any siblings, though given the state of Earth, it's unlikely his parents are still around. 

These are just a few of the characters from the science fiction idea. They're not all from the same book, but they all share the universe. I'll post more characters as they're created and named, and possibly share more about these characters or the novels they'll be present in. Admittedly, I do have a couple characters that I didn't mention due to the fact that the characters do not have names yet even though they do have plots centered around them. Once they get names and a little more information about them, I'll be sure to share. 

Location 059MV part 3

 I promised there would be another part of "Location 059MV" posted and I delivered. We get to see even more of the strangeness that happens around the Midnight Village amusement park. As I've said before, this is one of my favorite entries in The Agency and I enjoy posting excerpts of it. So, grab some cotton candy and make sure you're buckled in.

Location 059MV

Testimony 2004-01-05

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Zachary Forbes regarding the incidents surrounding the death of Darwin Washington at Location 059MV, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Forbes: He wanted to set a record. Longest time on a carousel. And he wanted to do it at the park on the Zodiac. We got there early and talked to the owner himself. The owner said he liked the idea and that it would give the park good publicity, maybe even make the Zodiac a more popular ride. I guess kids these days aren’t really excited by carousels like they used to be. Whatever. He agreed and gave Darwin a pass to ride the Zodiac without getting off, but said that the ride would stop as normal to let people on and off. The owner said we could just set a record for longest time on a carousel instead of longest time riding a carousel nonstop. Darwin didn’t care.

            I was filming as everyone began boarding. He picked the horse. That was his zodiac sign and he was a bit of a traditionalist, believing that horses were the best carousel animal. He took his spot and the ride began. By the second time I saw him, he looked in pain. The third time, he yelled out that the horse bit him. By the fourth time, he was screaming for the ride to be stopped, begging for help. By the fifth time when the ride was stopping, he was slumped over with his hand in the horse’s mouth. The operator called for the owner and their medics. The owner and medics arrived, removed him from the ride, and checked his pulse. He was dead.

            When they removed him from the ride, his hand came out of the horse’s mouth. When it did, a snake came out of the horse’s mouth. The owner called security and they caught the snake. I thought it was kind of funny, really. The security guards that caught the snake were both women and they weren’t dressed the way the other security guards were. I don’t know how to explain it, but there was something different about their uniforms. Whatever. That’s not important. Darwin died on that ride and the owner had two snake charmers on standby? Is that a normal thing?

            Anyway, the Zodiac shut down for a couple hours while they checked the other animals. No more snakes. The ride reopened and there was a long line. I’ve never seen so many people lined up to ride a carousel. Guess death’s a big seller.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. Toxicology reports revealed that Mr. Washington died after receiving a bite from an Agkistrodon piscivorus, otherwise known as a cottonmouth, which was discovered to have been inside the carousel horse’s mouth, likely sheltering there to escape the cold, and retrieved by support team Lambda members Sara Cole and Poppy Wilson. I am curious about how the owner relates to all the entities. Has he made a deal with one or all of them? The Executioner has said before that he has an arrangement with the owner and the owner seems to defer to the Executioner’s whims. Hopefully, we’ll gain more information about this without having to result to talking to Shaw again.

Testimony 2005-07-10

Arch. Fuller: Statement of Jaycee Lyons regarding being trapped at Location 059MV with her friends Laney Watts, Mckayla Clarke, Henry Brown, and Tommy Porter, recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Lyons: Our parents all work for the same company and the company paid for them to go to Midnight Village with their kids. We were all excited and couldn’t wait to ride all the rides. Our parents kept us in Midnight Village and Lunafair—Lunafair! Like we’re babies. I mean, we’re all ten or eleven. We’re old enough to go to Terror Land and ride those rides. Henry’s been tall enough to beat the height restrictions for months. And our parents didn’t want us to go there. “It’s too scary and sinful, it’s not Christian.” Ugh. We just wanted to do something fun, but instead we were stuck in the two most boring places in the whole park.

             We got off the Pendulum and began trying to figure out what to do next. Our parents wouldn’t even let us go in the Vault, though I can actually kinda understand that one. It even says on the entrance that it’s for fifteen and up and we’re not old enough yet. So we were arguing about what to do next, then we realized that we couldn’t find our parents. I figured that they had just missed us getting off the ride or maybe we’d walked past them while we were arguing. But we didn’t see them anywhere and I couldn’t get service on my phone. I can’t make any calls except to 911 and my parents, but still, I have a phone and I’m the only one in the group with one because I’m the most mature.

            I couldn’t even dial 911. The phone just wouldn’t turn on and I know I charged it. I keep it charged all the time because Mom freaks out if I don’t and has threatened me with taking my phone away if it dies. I couldn’t call anyone or anything. I tried talking to a person, but they just brushed me off, didn’t even acknowledge me. The others tried and no one saw us, no one heard us, no one acknowledged us. At first, we were excited. This meant we could do whatever we wanted and no one could stop us.

            We tried to leave Midnight Village and go to Terror Land, but when we walked through the archway, we were walking back into Midnight Village. We tried that several times, but every time we just ended up back in Midnight Village. We even tried to go to Lunafair, but we couldn’t. We ended up right back in Midnight Village. Well, that was a little disappointing, but still we figured we could have fun here and there were snacks we could get.

            We rode every ride there at least six times, had every flavor of ice cream, Dippin’ Dots, and soda, and sampled every snack they had available from burgers to their potato tornadoes. It was a blast. No one saw us, no one said anything. We could do whatever we wanted. We didn’t try to go in the Vault, though Tommy suggested it. We all voted and decided it sounded boring and not as fun as unlimited rides on the coasters.

            Eventually, though, we got bored, but we still couldn’t talk to anyone. It started getting dark and we wanted to go home. We wanted to go home and eat real food and sleep in our own beds and we couldn’t call anyone or talk to anyone or anything. Laney started crying. She was scared because she wanted to go home and see her bunny, Hopper. Her parents got her one for her birthday because she’d gotten straight-As and she wanted to see Hopper and was worried that we’d never leave and she’d never see him again and he’d never know what happened or why she wasn’t there anymore. We all wanted to go home, but it was dark and we couldn’t find our parents and we were starting to see weird things, shadows and shapes stalking us.

            We walked around the park a little more, trying to talk to someone. Trying to find someone that could see us. We kept seeing the shadows moving and following us, stalking us. We were being hunted by something, a lot of somethings, and we didn’t like it. We just wanted someone to see us, someone to hear us, and rescue us. I don’t know which one of us started running, but one of us did and then we were all running, faster and faster, through so many crowds. Their faces blurred together, they looked like faceless cutouts of people, stand-ins. Props. Everything and everyone looked fake except the shadows that had broken away from whatever they were supposed to be with and begun chasing us. The shadows started chasing us and there was laughter, like demented clown laughter. Like from a haunted house.

            Suddenly, everything went too bright and then it was the middle of the day again, we’d just gotten off the Pendulum and our parents were there. They asked us what we wanted to do next and we all said we just wanted to go home. Laney was still crying and said she just wanted to see Hopper. I’m pretty sure we all hugged our parents like they’d vanish if we didn’t after we saw them again. They couldn’t understand what was wrong and we tried to explain, but I know we didn’t make any sense. We kept talking about getting to run around the park and no one saw us or anything. They said we’d just gotten off the ride, but I know that’s not true.

            We were all freaking out so our parents took us home. I know the others talked about making appointments with doctors and my parents planned to make me one as well. As we were walking out of Midnight Village, I looked back and I saw a guy dressed in weird clothes. Like, an old-fashioned court jester outfit, except instead of the traditional colors, the outfit was black, gray, and dark blue, covered in dried blood. I screamed when I saw the face. It was a skull and it was laughing, the same laughter from when we were being chased.

            My parents said I’m not going back to Midnight Village and my therapist says that’s a good idea. I don’t want to go back anyway. I never want to go back there. None of my other friends do either, but they didn’t see the figure I did. No one saw it, but me, and I never want to see it again. I still have nightmares about it.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. At least she’s a well-behaved child. Definitely an improvement over Shaw’s personality and attitude. It is strange that they were isolated while in Location 059MV and they could see everyone else, but no one could see them or interact with them. This is the first instance we’ve heard of something like that, and I have a feeling it won’t be the last. The skull-headed jester is another new figure we’ve not heard about before. I wonder how many other entities inhabit Location 059MV that we don’t know about.

Testimony 2006-11-03

Arch. Fuller: Statement of ride mechanic Jack Wilkins regarding the crash of The Comet roller coaster recorded direct from subject by Archivist Kris Fuller.

Wilkins: I don’t know what happened. I’d checked the ride earlier that day, checked the carts. I checked everything. Well, not the wheels, but that’s because my partner—Bruce Lowe—checked them the day before. We only work in Midnight Village, not the rest of the park. He checked them yesterday, so I didn’t check them today. Maybe if I had, this wouldn’t have happened, but I swear, I checked that part of the track. That track was fine. I know it was. The wheel assembly was probably fine, too, and only broke like that because some jackass smuggled on a video camera. People do that all the time and then drop it. That shit kills people. But the track was fine.

            It’s not like this is all my fault, even if it wasn’t fine. The Comet wasn’t supposed to be operated during high winds or temperatures that low. It was in the forties that day and they were still operating. The winds were too high for it to be operated, but it was. That wasn’t my call to make, so that isn’t on me. The kid operating the ride didn’t hit the emergency stop button quick enough or verify that the other cart was clear before sending the other one down the track.

            It all boils down to carelessness. Should I have checked the wheels? Yeah. But I know the track was fine. The operators should’ve cleared the track and hit the emergency stop button quicker. They should’ve made sure no one had any items they weren’t supposed to. Hell, they shouldn’t have been operating that ride that day anyway. But they were and because of that there’s six people dead.

            It would’ve been eight, but this one person started freaking out and screaming about the coaster going to crash so they let him and his boyfriend off the ride before it even left the station. No idea what he was on, but apparently he saw a skull-headed figure on the track in front of the coaster and had seen the crash happen. I don’t believe in premonitions or omens. All I know is there’s six people dead and two walked away from that ride because one freaked out. Nothing supernatural, just carelessness.

Arch. Fuller: Statement ends. It seems like a bunch of little things added up to create a problem. Poor maintenance on this particular wheel assembly of this particular cart, poor track maintenance on that section, delay of response from the employees, people smuggling items onto the coaster which they lose, the high winds, and cold temperature that day. On their own, each of these could be a problem, a minor inconvenience, but combined, it created this tragedy. The question then becomes, is it because of simple human error or were one or more of the entities involved? We do not have the answer at this time. And what about the vision one of the riders had?

 

The July 22nd post will be yet another part of "Location 059MV" and will hopefully be the part where the water park section opens. 

The Story Engine Deck

 I know that I said I would answer questions in this post, but I'm so excited by this that I just had to switch things up.

The Story Engine Deck (available for purchase here) is an amazing tool for writers, teachers, and dungeon masters. It helps create writing prompts, spark ideas, create Dungeons & Dragons campaign ideas, character ideas, magical items, character relations, and even settings, all of which can help defeat writer's block. The creator is also working on a new deck, The Deck of Worlds, which is focused on world-building locations and can be learned about here.

They also have a book, The Story Engine Deck Anthology, which contains postcard-sized short stories that were inspired by the deck. Some of these stories are written by the creator of the deck himself, Peter Chiykowski, but there are other authors, including one written by Jonathan Sims of The Magnus Archives fame. You can also hear the stories narrated by Jonathan Sims, Lydia Nicholas (of Rusty Quill Gaming), and the voice of Night Vale himself, Cecil Baldwin (from, of course, Welcome to Night Vale) here.

Naturally, I couldn't help but buy this. So, in this post, I'm going to draw cards from the deck (or one of the expansion decks or booster decks) and share a picture of the cards below, then below that, write whatever the cards have inspired or talk about some of the different ways the cards could be interpreted to change around the prompt. 

The picture above is the Everything Bundle with the anthology. 

So, here are the cards I drew and the prompt that was generated. 

The prompt reads as follows: A strange millionaire wants to enact a secret plan revolving around a harvest in a remote field but they will develop a dangerous addiction. 

All the cards except the purple Engine card came from the horror expansion, as you can see from the little skull icon in the corners of the cards. All cards from expansions and boosters have a little icon on them to represent which pack they came from. 

Initially, I laid down the Agent card so that the character would be a cannibal, but then, when I got the Conflict card of "but it will cause a dangerous addiction," I switched it to a millionaire as a story idea began forming. Perhaps the dangerous addiction that is caused is an addiction to human meat.

Originally, the prompt was more streamlined: A strange millionaire wants to enact a secret plan revolving around a harvest but they will develop a dangerous addiction. 

I read through the 8 page guidebook that came with the main deck and tucked another Anchor card under "a harvest" after I drew the green Aspect card that had "remote" on it. This gave me an idea for the location. 

The "strange" Aspect was drawn and I decided to apply it to the millionaire. Now, "strange" is open-ended and could mean a variety of different things. Maybe this millionaire looks or talks strangely. Maybe he's got some unusual mannerisms that are dismissed as an eccentricity due to his wealth. 

Next up is the secret plan he's going to enact in the remote field during the harvest. What's the plan? How does it connect to the dangerous addiction? Does it happen every harvest or just this one specifically? This led to me doing a little research about harvests and traditional names for full moons, which is how I learned that October's Hunter's Moon is the Harvest Moon every three years. 

Below is just something quick I wrote to accompany this prompt. 

Every three years in October, he comes to our community. 

Dressed in city finery, he's out of place and yet, belongs here completely. He stays with a different family every visit and this year, he has chosen my family. 

He tells us the harvest this year will be a good one. As I look out over our barren fields, I think he's a fool. Nothing grows in the field and the very little we managed to grow in our gardens is barely enough to support us through the winter.

Of course, the harvest is a good one when you're harvesting blood.

So, there you have it. Breaking writer's block with The Story Engine Deck is fun, simple as that. I cannot recommend this enough. Not only is the deck useful for a variety of different creative needs, the artwork on the cards and the boxes they come in is amazing. If you're able to, this is worth the money.