Welcome to Oakhaven, a city that feels like a fading Polaroid: once vibrant, now yellowed, brittle, and curling at the edges.
In the world of Wretched Darkness, Oakhaven is a "pressure cooker" setting—isolated enough that no one hears the screams, but crowded enough that you’re never truly alone.
The Setting: Oakhaven, Pennsylvania
Population: 48,500
Primary Industry: Steel (Defunct), Logistics, and Medical Research
Atmosphere: Perpetual overcast, the smell of ozone and wet rust, and a local government that is "aggressively polite" about the rising disappearance rate.
The Layout: Four Quarters of Dread
| District | Vibe | The "Wretched" Secret |
| The Girders | Rusting skeletons of steel mills and cramped row houses. | Something in the old blast furnaces requires a "heat" that coal can't provide. |
| Blackwood Heights | Victorian mansions and gated communities on the hill. | The elite have traded their lineage for longevity; the basements are deeper than the houses are tall. |
| The Lows | Rain-slicked neon, cheap motels, and the city’s drainage hub. | The "Drip-Men"—hollowed-out addicts controlled by a sentient fungal mold in the sewers. |
| Saint Jude’s District | Massive gothic hospital complex and university. | The morgue has a higher "output" than "input." |
Key Factions
1. The Silver Tally (The Law)
On the surface, they are the Oakhaven Police Department. In reality, they are a cult of "Order" who believe that a few dozen disappearances a month are a fair price to pay to keep the Greater Entities from noticing the city. They don't solve crimes; they scrub crime scenes.
2. The Hollow-Point Syndicate
A criminal enterprise run by "The Butcher," a man who hasn't aged since 1974. They deal in specialized contraband: ritual components, "Dream-Dust" (ground-up memories), and protection from the things that crawl in the Girders.
3. The Curators
A loose network of librarians, occultists, and terrified citizens hiding in the basement of the Oakhaven Public Library. They are likely the PCs' only allies, providing lore at the cost of the PCs' dwindling Sanity.
The Core Mystery: The Whispering Signal
For the last six months, every digital screen in Oakhaven—from smartphones to billboards—occasionally flickers with a specific shade of "impossible" violet.
The Horror: Those who see the color begin to sleepwalk.
The Goal: They are all walking toward the Oakhaven Reservoir, carrying "offerings" (teeth, pets, or family heirlooms).
The Truth: An entity from the Void is using the city’s aging electrical grid as a nervous system to manifest a physical body.
Local Legends (Hooks)
The 3:03 AM Radio: If you tune your car radio to 91.3 FM at exactly 3:03 AM, you don't hear music; you hear your own voice describing exactly how you are going to die.
The Man in the Yellow Slicker: He stands outside houses where someone is about to vanish. He has no face, only a vertical zipper where his features should be.
The "Good Meat" Deli: A butcher shop in The Girders that never runs out of stock, despite no delivery trucks ever arriving.
Environmental Effects for Your Sessions
To capture the Wretched Darkness feel, use these "City Traits":
The Fog of Apathy: NPCs have a -2 penalty to notice supernatural events unless they are directly harmed. They simply choose not to see it.
Failing Infrastructure: Lights flicker during combat. Phones lose signal when a supernatural entity is within 50 feet.
To kick off your Wretched Darkness campaign, we need to immediately establish that the city’s normalcy is a thin, rotting veil.
The following encounter, "The Lavender Hour," is designed to bring your players together through a shared, inexplicable trauma.
The Setup: Midnight at the 'Rusty Nail' Diner
The players are all at a 24-hour diner in The Lows. It’s raining—a greasy, chemical rain.
The Atmosphere: The jukebox is playing a distorted country track. The only other patrons are a tired trucker and a waitress named Barb who has been "quitting" for twelve years.
The Catalyst: At exactly 12:12 AM, every electronic device in the diner (the TV over the bar, the digital register, and the players' phones) emits a low-frequency hum.
Phase 1: The Violet Flicker
The screens don't go black; they turn a deep, vibrating Violet.
The Mechanic: Have everyone roll a Willpower or Sanity check (depending on your specific Wretched Darkness house rules).
Success: They feel a sharp, metallic tang in their mouths and a sense of impending doom.
Failure: They are momentarily stunned, seeing "after-images" of a tall, thin figure standing behind them in the reflection of the diner windows.
Phase 2: The Sleepwalkers
The trucker and Barb the waitress don't scream. Their eyes go glassy. In perfect unison, they stand up, leave their half-eaten food, and walk toward the door. Outside, the street is eerily silent, but figures are emerging from the row houses—dozens of people, all walking with a stiff, rhythmic gait toward the Oakhaven Reservoir.
Phase 3: The "Quality Control"
A black Oakhaven Police cruiser (The Silver Tally) pulls into the diner lot. Two officers get out. They aren't helping the "sleepwalkers"—they are carrying heavy-duty cattle prods and plastic zip-ties.
One officer looks into the diner and sees the players standing there, still conscious. He keys his radio:
"Unit 4 to Central. We have 'Static.' Four individuals in the Lows diner are resisting the signal. Moving to decommission."
The Encounter: Combat/Escape
The players are now trapped between the Silver Tally officers (who want to "scrub" them) and the Sleepwalkers (who will mindlessly trample anyone in their path).
| Enemy | Stats / Behavior |
| Silver Tally Officers (2) | Armed with batons and heavy pistols. They move with clinical, terrifying efficiency. They don't talk; they just breathe heavily through their masks. |
| The Sleepwalker Mob | Not aggressive, but a "Hazard." Every turn, the players must stay clear of the crowd or be dragged along 20ft toward the Reservoir (Strength check to break free). |
The Twist
As the fight escalates, one of the sleepwalkers—a young girl—stops. Her jaw unhinges further than humanly possible, and the Violet Light pours out of her mouth like smoke. She points a trembling finger at one of the players and whispers:
"The Master is hungry for the parts that still remember."
The Aftermath
The officers will retreat if they take significant damage, melting back into the rain. The "Lavender Hour" ends as abruptly as it began; the screens return to normal, and the sleepwalkers collapse in the street, waking up seconds later with no memory of the last ten minutes.
The hook is set: The players are now "Static"—people who can see the truth in a city designed to keep them blind.
the inevitable fallout of "The Lavender Hour." Here is the profile for the city’s corrupted enforcers and the one place your players might actually be safe (for now).
The Enemy: Silver Tally "Peacekeepers"
The Silver Tally aren't just corrupt cops; they are surgically and psychologically "tuned" to the city's frequency. They wear heavy, oversized raincoats and riot helmets with darkened visors to hide the fact that their pupils are permanently dilated into vertical slits.
Stat Block Guidelines:
Attributes: High Physicality and Resolve; low Empathy.
Special Ability: "The Hum": Once per encounter, an officer can tap their radio, emitting a burst of localized static. Any PC within 10 feet must succeed on a Resolve/Sanity check or suffer a -2 penalty to all actions for 1 round due to a splitting migraine.
Gear: * Heavy Duty Sidearm: High damage, but they prefer not to use it to avoid drawing attention.
Shock Baton: Deals stun damage and can paralyze a limb on a critical hit.
The "Scrubber" Kit: A small aerosol spray that dissolves organic matter (blood, hair, etc.) in seconds.
Tactics: They don't fight fair. If they realize the PCs are "Static" (immune to the signal), they will call for backup and try to pin the players down until a "Specialist" arrives.
The Sanctuary: The "Blind Spot" (Under the Public Library)
After the diner incident, the players need a place where the Silver Tally can’t find them. Following a series of cryptic symbols scratched into the brickwork of the Saint Jude’s District, they find The Blind Spot.
The Location
Hidden behind a false wall in the Oakhaven Public Library’s deepest archive (the "Oversized Map Room"), this is a bunker lined with lead, salt, and discarded mirrors.
Why it’s Safe
The room was built by a former city architect who realized that certain geometric angles "deflect" the Violet Signal. Inside, the hum in your ears finally stops. It is the only place in Oakhaven where you can get a truly dreamless sleep.
The Resident: "The Curator"
The players are met by Arthur Penhaligon, a man who looks like he’s made of parchment and nicotine.
His Role: He provides the "Curators" faction benefits. He can translate occult texts and identify strange artifacts the players find.
The Cost: Arthur doesn't want money. He wants "The Unseen." To stay in the sanctuary, players must bring him evidence of the city’s rot—photos, recordings, or physical samples from the Girders or the Reservoir.
The Next Step: Campaign Clues
In the corner of the sanctuary, Arthur has a massive corkboard with strings connecting various points on the Oakhaven map. Three items are circled in red:
The Vanishing Bus: A city bus (Route 9) disappeared into a tunnel three nights ago. The tunnel is empty, but the security cameras show the bus simply dissolving into static.
The Blood-Iron Shortage: The steel mills in The Girders are operating at 200% capacity at night, but no steel is being shipped out of the city.
The Patient in Room 402: A man at Saint Jude’s Hospital woke up from a 10-year coma speaking a language that makes people's ears bleed.
Since you’re diving into all three, Oakhaven is about to become a very busy, very lethal place for your players. Here is the breakdown for each "Thread of Rot" so you can weave them into a sandbox-style investigation.
1. The Vanishing Bus (The Ghost in the Machine)
Location: The 4th Street Underpass (The Lows) The Hook: Route 9 is the "Worker’s Express." When it vanished, 22 people went with it. The city officially claimed it was a "sinkhole," but the asphalt is perfectly intact.
The Scene: The tunnel is freezing cold, even in summer. If players use a flashlight, they notice the shadows on the wall don’t match the objects casting them.
The Discovery: Scraping the walls reveals Ectoplasmic Residue. If a player touches it, they see a 5-second psychic flashback: the bus didn't crash; the passengers simply began to unravel like pulled sweaters until only the empty seats remained.
The Clue: A single metallic token left on the ground. It’s a "Transit Pass" for a station that doesn't exist on any map: "Oakhaven Below."
2. The Blood-Iron Shortage (The Industrial Horror)
Location: Blast Furnace #7 (The Girders) The Hook: Smoke billows from the stacks 24/7, but the local economy is dead. The "Steel" being produced isn't for construction—it's for containment.
The Scene: The Girders are patrolled by "Hollow-Point" Syndicate thugs working alongside Silver Tally officers—an unholy alliance of crime and law.
The Discovery: Breaking into the shipping yard reveals crates labeled "Medical Waste." Inside aren't bandages, but iron ingots infused with human bone ash. This "Blood-Iron" is the only material capable of holding the Violet Signal in a physical shape.
The Clue: A shipping manifest. The "Steel" is being sent to two places: the Reservoir Dam and the basements of Blackwood Heights.
3. The Patient in Room 402 (The Psychic Breach)
Location: Saint Jude’s Hospital (Psychiatric Wing) The Hook: Elias Thorne woke up after a decade. He hasn't eaten or slept since. He spends 24 hours a day screaming in a language that causes glass to crack and electronic monitors to fry.
The Scene: The hallway leading to Room 402 is lined with nurses wearing heavy, sound-dampening earmuffs. They look terrified.
The Discovery: If the players can get Elias to stop screaming (or use a ritual to communicate), he tells them he wasn't "asleep." He was a "Human Antenna." His consciousness was floating in the Void, and he saw what is coming to Oakhaven.
The Clue: Elias grabs a player's arm. His touch is blistering hot. He whispers: "The Reservoir isn't holding water anymore. It's an egg. And the shell is starting to thin."
The Connection: How It All Fits Together
The players now have the three pillars of the conspiracy:
The Bus: People are being "harvested" to provide the raw soul-energy.
The Steel: The harvest is processed in the mills to build a "vessel."
The Patient: The vessel is being prepared for the Entity currently trapped beneath the Reservoir.
Managing the Campaign Pulse
As the players investigate these leads, use the "Wretched Countdown":
Level 1: Distant violet flickers.
Level 2: NPCs start losing their hair and fingernails (early radiation-like sickness from the Signal).
Level 3: The sky over Oakhaven stays violet even during the day.
In Wretched Darkness, travel is never just a transition—it is a test of resources and Sanity. This D100 Oakhaven Encounter Table is designed to scale from "Unsettling" to "Lethal."
Oakhaven D100 Travel Encounters
| D100 | Encounter | Effect/Description |
| 01-10 | The Echo Rain | The rain turns a thick, oily black. It doesn't wash off. PCs hear their own thoughts echoed back to them from the gutters. |
| 11-15 | Silver Tally Checkpoint | A "random" sobriety test. They are actually checking eyes for the Violet Flicker. If the PCs look nervous, they are detained. |
| 16-20 | The Static Dog | A stray dog follows the party. It looks normal, but in photos or mirrors, it is a mass of white noise and teeth. |
| 21-25 | The "Free" Payphone | A payphone rings as they pass. If answered, a voice describes the PC's most shameful memory in excruciating detail. Sanity Check. |
| 26-30 | Syndicate Shakedown | 1d4+1 Hollow-Point thugs are "taxing" the street. They want 50% of the PCs' cash or one "favor" (a dangerous delivery). |
| 31-35 | The Street Preacher | A man with eyes sewn shut screaming that the "Great Architect" is coming. He can smell the "Static" on the players. |
| 36-40 | The Vanishing Alley | The PCs turn a corner and find themselves back where they started 10 minutes ago. The city is shifting its geometry. |
| 41-45 | A Lavender Leak | A burst pipe in the street sprays violet gas. Anyone inhaling it must roll to avoid a Vision of the Reservoir. |
| 46-50 | The Billboard | A digital billboard glitches. For a split second, it shows the PCs' current location with a red "X" over their heads. |
| 51-55 | The Drip-Man | A lone, shivering figure in a raincoat. If helped, they dissolve into a puddle of sentient black mold that tries to latch onto a PC. |
| 56-60 | Lost Child | A child is crying for their mother. The "mother" is a 7-foot tall shadow standing 100 yards away, unmoving. |
| 61-65 | The Blackout | Every light in a 3-block radius goes out for 1d10 minutes. Something begins clicking in the darkness. |
| 66-70 | The Scrubber Squad | The PCs find the Silver Tally cleaning up a "mess"—a pile of clothes with no bodies inside. The cops don't want witnesses. |
| 71-75 | The Memory Thief | An old woman offers to tell the PCs' fortunes. If they agree, she literally "steals" a minor skill (-1 to a random stat) for 24 hours. |
| 71-80 | Wrong Turn | The PCs accidentally enter The Girders. The air is 110°F and smells like burning hair. |
| 81-85 | The Funeral Procession | 20 people in grey suits carrying an empty, glass coffin. They stop and stare at the PCs in perfect silence until they pass. |
| 86-90 | The Signal Surge | All electronics in the PCs' possession explode or melt. If they have no electronics, they take 1d6 psychic damage. |
| 91-95 | The Man in the Yellow Slicker | He is standing on a rooftop, watching them. If they look away and back, he is 10 feet closer. Repeat until they flee. |
| 96-99 | Void Breach | A literal hole opens in the sidewalk. Looking in reveals the stars—but the stars are blinking. |
| 100 | The Gaze of the Entity | The sky turns Violet for one second. Every PC must roll a Hard Willpower/Sanity check or gain a permanent "Mark of the Void." |
How to Use This Table
Safe Districts (Blackwood): Roll 1d100 once per hour of travel.
Dangerous Districts (The Lows/Girders): Roll 1d100 every 20 minutes.
The "Wretched" Rule: If you roll the same number twice in one session, the second encounter is twice as powerful and knows the PCs' names.
In the heart of The Girders, inside the soot-blackened cathedral of Blast Furnace #7, sits the man responsible for Oakhaven’s "Blood-Iron." He is known to his subordinates as Foreman Vane, but his true nature is far more industrial and grotesque.
The Boss: Overseer Silas Vane
Vane is a man who has literally become one with the means of production. He is nearly seven feet tall, but his height is artificial—his legs have been replaced from the knee down with heavy, piston-driven iron struts that hiss steam with every step.
Appearance: He wears a scorched leather welder’s apron over a bare, barrel-chested torso that is covered in "burn-tattoos"—ritualistic symbols branded into his skin. His left arm is encased in a massive, steam-powered gauntlet used for handling white-hot ingots. He never removes his welding mask; the tinted glass glowers with a permanent, internal Violet ember.
The Transformation: Vane doesn't breathe air; he inhales coal smoke and exhales grey ash. He represents the "Industrial Horror" of Wretched Darkness—the idea that humans are just fuel for a larger, cosmic machine.
Vane’s "Wretched" Mechanics
| Feature | Description |
| Heat Aura | Standing within 10ft of Vane causes 1d4 fire damage per turn as his body radiates the heat of the furnace. |
| The Iron Grip | If Vane hits with his gauntlet, he can choose to grapple. The target must make a Hard Strength Check or be held against his searing chest plate. |
| Whistle Command | Vane can blow a shrill steam whistle embedded in his throat, summoning 1d4 Scrap-Hulks (shambling mounds of animated metal) to the fight. |
The Boss Room: The Pouring Floor
The encounter with Vane takes place on a narrow steel catwalk suspended over a vat of molten Blood-Iron.
The Hazard: Every two rounds, the "bucket" tips, splashing molten metal onto random sections of the floor.
The Dialogue: Vane speaks in a voice like grinding stones: "Oakhaven was built on steel, little sparks. But steel is weak. It breaks. We are forging something now that will never break. We are forging a cage for a God."
The Secret Weakness
Vane is tethered to the mill's main boiler by a thick, insulated umbilical cord that provides his power. If the PCs can lure him far enough away or sever the line, his piston legs lock up, and his Heat Aura fades, making him vulnerable to standard weapons.
The Loot (The "Wretched" Reward)
If the PCs defeat Vane, they find a Vial of Primordial Slag hanging around his neck.
Effect: If smeared on a weapon, that weapon can now physically strike "Static" or incorporeal ghosts for the remainder of the session. However, the user takes a permanent -1 penalty to Sanity as the item whispers Vane’s dying screams.
To keep the encounter with Foreman Vane frantic and claustrophobic, use these Scrap-Hulks. They aren't living creatures; they are the "rejects" of the Blood-Iron process—clumps of rusted rebar, gears, and slag animated by the Violet Signal.
Enemy: Scrap-Hulk
Large Construct, Mindless
| Attribute | Value |
| Durability | High (Thick iron hides) |
| Mobility | Low (Lumbering, loud clanking) |
| Awareness | Low (Blind; they sense vibrations in the metal floor) |
Traits
Magnetized Mass: Projectiles made of lead or iron (standard bullets) have a -2 penalty to hit because the Hulk's internal magnetic core pulls the shots toward its non-vital outer shell.
Construct Nature: Immune to poison, fear, bleeding, or psychic attacks. They do not have "Sanity" to drain.
Molten Leaks: When a Scrap-Hulk is reduced to half its health, it begins leaking molten slag. Anyone attacking it in melee range takes minor fire damage from the spray.
Actions / Attacks
Industrial Slam: A massive fist of fused gears. Deals heavy blunt trauma. If the target is hit, they must make a Balance/Agility check or be knocked prone on the vibrating catwalk.
Shrapnel Burst (Recharge 5-6): The Hulk violently ejects rusted nails and metal shards in a 10ft radius.
Integrate: If a Scrap-Hulk is near a pile of metal debris, it can spend a turn "healing" itself by pulling the scrap into its body.
Combat Strategy: The Girders
When running this fight alongside Foreman Vane, use the Scrap-Hulks as line-blockers. They are designed to stand in the way while Vane uses his "Whistle Command" to reposition or vent steam.
GM Tip: Remind the players that the floor is metal. If they have any electrical attacks or items, they can electrocute the entire catwalk, dealing damage to the Hulks (and themselves) but potentially short-circuiting Vane's piston legs.
The Aftermath: A Decision to Make
Once the scrap is settled and Vane is defeated, the players find the Master Control Switch for the furnace.
Option A: Shut it Down. This stops the production of Blood-Iron but causes a massive pressure explosion that will alert the Silver Tally to their exact location immediately.
Option B: Sabotage it. The furnace stays running but begins producing "Brittle Iron." This will weaken the "Entity's Cage" later in the campaign, but the PCs must succeed on a Hard Technical/Sabotage roll to avoid being caught in the act by Syndicate reinforcements.
If Foreman Vane represents the Industrial Horror of Oakhaven, the man running Saint Jude’s Psychiatric Wing represents its Clinical, Cold Horror.
The Villain: Dr. Aris Thorne (No Relation)
Dr. Thorne is the Chief of Medicine at Saint Jude’s. He is a man of severe angles, wearing a lab coat so white it seems to glow under the fluorescent lights. He doesn't believe he is evil; he believes he is a pioneer of the New Evolution.
Appearance: Dr. Thorne is impeccably groomed, but his skin has a translucent, waxy quality—like a cadaver preserved in formaldehyde. He wears spectacles with lenses made of "Violet-Quart," which allow him to see the "Static" or soul-residue of his patients.
The Transformation: Thorne has "perfected" his own brain. He has performed self-surgery, inserting silver needles into his prefrontal cortex to dampen his ability to feel empathy or fear. This makes him a psychic void; he is completely immune to any Sanity-draining effects the players might use.
Dr. Thorne’s "Wretched" Mechanics
| Feature | Description |
| Surgical Precision | Thorne uses a vibrating, high-frequency scalpel. He doesn't aim for "HP"; he aims for tendons. A hit can cause a Permanent -1 penalty to Agility until treated. |
| Chemical Restraint | Thorne carries a pneumatic injector. On a successful melee touch, he can inject a PC with a paralytic that forces a Hard Stamina Check or the PC falls unconscious. |
| The Hive Mind | Thorne is never truly alone. He is telepathically linked to his "Orderlies"—lobotomized patients who act as his meat-shields. |
The Doctor’s Philosophy
Thorne doesn't want to kill the players; he wants to study them. He is fascinated by the fact that they are "Static" (immune to the Lavender Signal).
"You are fascinating anomalies," he whispers while prepping a syringe. "The Signal usually dissolves the ego, but yours... yours has calcified. I wonder how much pressure it takes to make a diamond crack?"
The Room: The Observation Theatre
The encounter takes place in a circular operating theatre. Elias Thorne (the patient) is strapped to a chair in the center, hooked up to a machine that is literally draining the Violet Light from his eyes and bottling it into canisters for Dr. Thorne’s research.
The Secret Weakness: The Sensory Overload
Because Thorne has surgically removed his ability to feel, his remaining senses are hyper-compensated.
The Strategy: If the players can trigger a "Sanity Blast" or use high-frequency sound (like the steam whistle from Vane’s mill), Thorne’s nervous system will experience a Sensory Feedback Loop. He will be paralyzed by the sheer volume of "feeling" flooding back into his numbed brain.
The Loot: Thorne’s Case Files
If the players defeat or drive off the Doctor, they find his private journal. It contains:
The Patient List: A list of every "Static" individual in Oakhaven. Several names are crossed out; others have "Harvested" written next to them.
The Formula: Instructions on how to create "Blue-Heaven," a drug that grants temporary immunity to the Violet Signal but causes horrific hallucinations.
The Layout: Saint Jude’s Ward 4
The wing is shaped like a circular wheel, with the Observation Theatre at the center.
- 1. The Outer Ring: The Decompression Zone This is where the public and standard staff are allowed. It feels like a normal, if slightly sterile, hospital.
The Records Room: Contains mundane files that hide the true nature
of Ward 4.
- 2. The Inner Ring: The Patient Suites This is where "The Orderlies" (Thorne's lobotomized meat-shields) patrol. The air here is thick with
The Dispensary: Where Dr. Thorne keeps his chemical restraints
and the "Blue-Heaven" prototypes.
- 3. The Hub: The Observation Theatre The center of the wheel and
tubes that pulse with violet light.
The Acoustic Seal: The room is soundproofed with lead-lined walls
to prevent the "screams" from reaching the rest of the hospital.
Dr. Thorne's personal sanctum. This is a tiered, surgical auditorium.
the scent of bleach and copper.
Navigating the Wing
Environmental Hazard: The Flickering Lights. Every 1d6 rounds, the lights flicker. During the flicker, "Static" entities from the Void become visible and can briefly interact with the physical world.
Security Feature: The Silent Alarm. If a PC is spotted by an Orderly, they won't yell; they will simply press a button on their wrist, causing the wing to enter lockdown with heavy steel shutters.
While Oakhaven doesn't exist in our world, its eerie atmosphere is mirrored in the historic gothic architecture found in several Pennsylvania institutions.
It is the first hospital founded in the United States and features a famous historic surgical amphitheater.
The original Pine Building is a prime example of the federal and colonial architectural styles
In Dr. Thorne’s wing, the "staff" are no longer human. They are husks of former patients whose higher brain functions have been "pruned" to make room for a direct telepathic link to the Doctor. They move with a synchronized, mechanical gait that is deeply unsettling.
Enemy: The Scrubbed Orderly
Medium Humanoid, Mindless
| Attribute | Value |
| Durability | Moderate (They ignore pain entirely) |
| Mobility | Average (Stiff but relentless) |
| Awareness | Shared (If one sees you, they all know where you are) |
Traits
Neural Suppression: Because their frontal lobes have been removed, they are immune to Fear, Intimidation, and Psychic damage. They have no "Sanity" to lose because they have no "Self" left.
Pain Anesthesia: They do not suffer penalties from wounds. An Orderly will continue to move toward a target even with broken limbs or lethal gunshot wounds, only stopping when their structural integrity (HP) reaches zero.
The Hive-Pulse: As long as Dr. Thorne is conscious and within the Psychiatric Wing, the Orderlies receive a +2 bonus to Hit as he micro-manages their movements.
Actions / Attacks
Grapple & Sedate: The Orderly attempts to pin a PC. If successful, they use a pneumatic syringe in the following turn.
Pneumatic Syringe: A melee touch attack. Deals minor piercing damage but injects a Type-V Paralytic. The victim must succeed on a Hard Stamina Check or suffer a cumulative -1 penalty to Agility and Strength every round for 1 minute.
Defensive Wall: If two or more Orderlies are adjacent, they can interlock arms, creating a physical barrier that provides Full Cover to Dr. Thorne or any VIP standing behind them.
The Horror of the Orderlies
To lean into the "Wretched" atmosphere, describe their lack of self-preservation:
They don't duck for cover.
They don't blink.
If a PC kills one, the others don't react with anger; they simply step over the body without looking down, their eyes fixed on the players with a vacant, milky stare.
The "Unscrubbed" Glitch
Once per encounter, if a PC deals a critical hit to an Orderly’s head, the "surgical dampener" might fail for a second. The Orderly will stop, look at their hands, and whisper a single word—usually a name or a plea—before the Violet Signal reasserts control and they return to their mindless state.
Sanity Note: Witnessing this "glitch" forces a Minor Sanity Check, as the players realize there is still a tiny, trapped spark of humanity suffering inside the meat-puppet.
Transitioning to the Final Act
Once the players deal with the Orderlies and Dr. Thorne, they will likely have the coordinates or the "key" needed to enter the final investigation site.
The Oakhaven Reservoir awaits. This is where the "Whispering Signal" is strongest and where the physical heart of the city's corruption lies.Deep beneath the Oakhaven Reservoir, where the massive concrete intake tunnels draw water from the depths, lives something the Silver Tally calls "The Sieve." It is not a natural creature, nor is it a ghost. It is a Void-Parasite that has woven itself into the city’s plumbing—a biological filter designed to catch "impurities" (like the players) before they can reach the heart of the Signal.
The Gatekeeper: The Sieve
Appearance: The Sieve looks like a mass of translucent, gelatinous nerves and muscle that has grown over the turbine fans of the intake tunnel. It resembles a giant, pulsating jellyfish made of liquid glass, but with thousands of human-like fingers dangling from its underside like cilia.
The Face: At the center of the mass is a cluster of stolen faces—literally the skin of previous victims stretched over a bony, coral-like growth. They do not speak; they only gasp in sync with the flow of the water.
The Scale: It fills the entire diameter of the tunnel (approx. 20 feet wide), making it impossible to pass without going through it.
The Sieve’s "Wretched" Mechanics
| Feature | Description |
| Drowning Field | The air within 30ft of The Sieve is super-saturated with moisture. PCs must make a Stamina check every 3 rounds or start "drowning" on dry land (taking 1d6 damage). |
| The Memory Filter | As the finger-cilia touch a PC, they don't just scratch; they "read." The Sieve drains 1d4 points of a random Skill as it "eats" the PC's experience. |
| Turbine Spin | The Sieve can briefly pulse the turbine it lives on. Everyone in the tunnel must make an Agility check or be sucked toward the blades (Heavy Physical Damage). |
The Encounter: The Pressure Chamber
The fight takes place in a flooded maintenance tunnel. The water is waist-deep, freezing, and smells like ancient copper.
Environmental Hazard: The Suction. Every time the Sieve takes damage, it thrashes, creating a whirlpool effect. Characters must spend their movement just to stay standing.
The "Whisper-Grip": The Sieve can extend a "tendril of thought." A PC must make a Willpower/Sanity check or be convinced that the Sieve is a loved one reaching out for help from underwater.
The Secret Weakness: The Frequency of Rust
The Sieve is biologically tuned to the Violet Signal. However, it is physically anchored to the rusting iron of the 1920s-era turbines.
The Strategy: If the players use "Blood-Iron" (from the Steel Mills) or high-alkaline chemicals, they can cause a "rejection" response. The Sieve’s translucent flesh will begin to calcify and shatter like glass, allowing the players to smash through its core.
The Gatekeeper’s Loot: The "Echo-Lung"
If the Sieve is killed, its central "heart"—a glowing, violet-hued pearl—remains.
Effect: A player who carries this can breathe underwater for 10 minutes at a time, but they can only speak in the voices of the people the Sieve has eaten. Every time they use it, they must roll a Minor Sanity Check as they feel the dead souls trying to crawl out of their throat.
The Final Threshold
Beyond the Sieve lies the Great Intake Chamber, where the water opens up into a massive underground lake. In the center of this lake, under a ceiling of hanging violet crystals, the players see the final ritual.
The "High Priest" of Oakhaven is the ultimate subversion of the city's decay. While the rest of the town is rotting, rusting, or bleeding, he is terrifyingly perfect.
The Villain: Mayor Thomas Sterling
The city has known him for thirty years as the "Eternal Mayor"—the man who kept the mills running (barely) and the streets paved (mostly). In reality, Thomas Sterling is the Primary Anchor for the Violet Signal. He isn't a victim of the Entity; he is its business manager.
Appearance: Unlike the grotesque Foreman Vane or the waxy Dr. Thorne, Sterling is a vision of 1950s Americana. He wears a pristine, tailored grey suit that never seems to get wet, even at the water's edge. His hair is perfectly silver, and his smile is blindingly white.
The Horror: If you look at him through a mirror or a camera lens, he isn't there. You only see a pillar of violet static in the shape of a man. He has traded his physical presence for a "placeholder" made of pure Signal.
Mayor Sterling’s "Wretched" Mechanics
| Feature | Description |
| The Gilded Tongue | Sterling doesn't need to strike. He speaks. A target must make a Hard Resolve Check or be forced to drop their weapon, convinced that fighting Sterling is "impolite" or "illegal." |
| Refractive Armor | Attacks against Sterling have a 50% chance to pass right through him. He isn't "dodging"—he just isn't fully in this dimension. |
| The Voter Block | Sterling can summon 1d6 "Loyal Citizens" from the dark water. They are the people from the Vanishing Bus, now grey-skinned and dressed in Sunday best, who will die to protect him. |
The Ritual: The "Great Inauguration"
Sterling stands on a pier made of Blood-Iron ingots. He isn't chanting in Latin or some ancient tongue; he is reading a City Council Meeting Agenda.
As he reads, the words warp. "Item four: The zoning of the soul," he proclaims, and the Reservoir behind him begins to boil. The Violet Signal isn't just a color anymore; it’s a physical weight that makes the PCs' noses bleed.
The Secret Weakness: The "Audit"
Sterling's power comes from his Contract. He is legally and metaphysically bound to Oakhaven.
The Strategy: If the players have collected evidence from the three investigation sites (the Manifest from the Mills, the Case Files from the Hospital, and the Transit Token from the Bus), they can "Contest his Authority."
The Effect: Presenting this evidence forces Sterling to manifest fully in the physical world to defend his "record." He loses his Refractive Armor and becomes a mortal man—elderly, frail, and terrified—for 1d4 rounds.
The Loot: The Key to the City
If Sterling is defeated, he dissolves into a pile of fine, violet ash. Resting in the ash is a heavy, ornate brass key.
The Key of Oakhaven: This key can unlock any door within the city limits. However, every time it is used, a random person in the city vanishes to "pay the toll."
The Final Choice
As Sterling falls, the Reservoir erupts. The Entity—the thing the Blood-Iron was meant to cage—is rising. It is a tower of geometry and light that defies human optics.When the Reservoir finally purges its water and the Entity (known in the scrolls as The Frequency of Finality) stands tall, the game shifts. This isn't a standard combat; it is a Metaphysical Siege. The Entity is too large and too "unreal" to be killed by mere bullets. The players must dismantle its connection to our reality.
The Boss: The Frequency of Finality
Appearance: A 50-foot tall fractal pillar of violet light and jagged, non-Euclidean obsidian. It doesn't move so much as it "occurs" in different places. It emits a sound like a thousand glass harmonicas shattering at once.
Mechanic 1: The Sanity Tax (Environmental)
At the start of every round, the "Volume" of the Entity increases.
The Static Blur: Every player must make a Sanity/Resolve Check.
Failure: Their vision blurs into violet static. They suffer a -2 penalty to hit because they can no longer tell where the Entity begins and where the air ends.
Mechanic 2: The Three Anchors
The Entity is "tethered" to Oakhaven by three glowing filaments of light rooted in the pier. The players cannot damage the Entity until these are severed.
The Anchor of Flesh: Severed by physical damage (connected to the Steel Mills).
The Anchor of Mind: Severed by psychic resistance or using Dr. Thorne’s Blue-Heaven drug (connected to the Hospital).
The Anchor of Time: Severed by using the Transit Token from the Bus or a "Paradox" action (connected to the Vanishing Bus).
Mechanic 3: Reality Glitches (The D10 Event Table)
On the Entity’s turn, roll 1d10 to see how it warps the battlefield:
| Roll | Event | Effect |
| 1-3 | Rewind | The last PC to act must repeat their turn exactly, but takes 1d6 psychic damage. |
| 4-6 | Gravity Flux | The Reservoir floor becomes the ceiling. PCs fall 50ft unless they pass an Agility Check to grab a Blood-Iron pipe. |
| 7-8 | Biological Mirror | A PC looks at their ally, but sees a Silver Tally Officer. They must pass a Wisdom/Awareness Check or accidentally attack their friend. |
| 9-10 | The Void Breath | A blast of pure violet light. Deals massive damage, but any PC hit gains a "Vision" that reveals the Entity's True Core. |
The Final Strike: The "Static" Resonance
Once the Anchors are down, the Entity becomes vulnerable for one round.
The Harmony: If the players can sync their actions (all attacking at the same initiative), they create a "Counter-Frequency."
The Result: The Entity doesn't die—it implodes. It draws all the Violet Signal in Oakhaven back into itself, acting like a cosmic vacuum cleaner.
The Sacrifice (The Wretched Darkness Choice)
To close the rift permanently, the Entity requires a Linchpin.
The Choice: One person must stay behind at the bottom of the Reservoir to "hold the door shut" while the vacuum completes.
The Heroic Path: A player stays. They are not killed, but they become the "New Mayor"—a silent guardian of the Void, forever erased from the memories of the citizens of Oakhaven.
The Ruthless Path: The players throw a major NPC (like Arthur the Curator or a surviving Silver Tally officer) into the rift. The rift closes, but the players gain a permanent "Stain of the Void," ensuring that wherever they go next, the darkness will eventually follow them.
The Epilogue: The Morning After
If the players succeed, they wake up on the muddy banks of the Reservoir. The sun is rising. For the first time in years, the sky is Blue, not overcast.
The City's Reaction:
People wake up in their beds with no memory of the last six months.
The Steel Mills are cold.
The Hospital wing is empty.
The players are the only ones who remember. They are heroes in a city that thinks they are vagrants.In Wretched Darkness, surviving a campaign is a feat in itself. The rewards shouldn't just be "gold and XP"—they should be tokens of the players' harrowing transition from ordinary citizens to survivors of the Void.
Here is the Oakhaven Survivor’s Kit, categorized by the type of impact it has on the ongoing story.
1. The "Static" Condition (Permanent Trait)
Having stood at the epicenter of the Frequency of Finality, the characters are no longer fully "in tune" with the world.
The Benefit: The players are now permanently immune to low-level mind control, supernatural fear, or "signal-based" brainwashing. They can see through illusions that baffle normal humans.
The Burden: Animals (dogs, cats, horses) are visibly uneasy around them. Dogs growl, and birds go silent when they enter a room. They have a -2 penalty to any social rolls involving animals.
2. Unique Artifacts (The Loot)
If the players searched the remains of the pier or the Mayor’s office before the reset, they might possess one of these:
Item Type Effect The Violet Lens Tool A shard of the Entity’s core set into a monocle. It allows the user to see "Emotional Residue" (ghosts of strong feelings) left in a room. Sterling’s Fountain Pen Relic Any contract signed with this pen is magically binding. If the signer breaks the deal, they suffer a sudden, unexplained stroke. The Route 9 Compass Utility A pocket compass that doesn't point North. It points toward the nearest "Thin Spot" where the walls between worlds are weak. "Blue-Heaven" Satchel Consumable A pack of 6 injectors from Dr. Thorne’s lab. Grants +5 to all Physical rolls for 10 minutes, followed by a Hard Sanity Check. 3. Faction Renown & Influence
The world has forgotten the horror, but certain underground groups have not.
The Curators' Legacy: If Arthur Penhaligon survived, he grants the players "Lifetime Archive Access." They can call him from any city to research obscure occult lore. He becomes their "Man in the Chair."
The Syndicate’s Debt: If the players didn't completely destroy the Hollow-Point Syndicate, the "Butcher" sends a messenger. He knows something happened at the Reservoir. He offers the players a "Safe House" in any major East Coast city—no questions asked.
4. Experience & Character Development
Hardened Sanity: Each survivor increases their maximum Sanity/Resolve cap by +5, representing their mental "calluses."
The "Mark of Oakhaven": A physical scar, birthmark, or streak of white hair that glows faintly violet when the supernatural is near. This acts as a Danger Sense (the GM gives a subtle hint before an ambush).
The "Wretched" Epilogue Table
Have each player roll 1d10 to see how the Oakhaven incident changed their personal life during the "One Year Later" time skip:
The Sleepless: You haven't slept more than 2 hours a night since the Reservoir. You gain +2 to Awareness but take a permanent -1 to Stamina.
The Collector: You have become obsessed with shortwave radio, listening for the "Violet Signal" in other cities.
The Prophet: You occasionally speak in the "Language of the Void" in your sleep. Your spouse/partner has left you out of fear.
The Shadow-Stalked: Your own shadow occasionally moves a second slower than you do.
The Purist: You can no longer stand the sight of electronic screens. You live a completely analog life.
The Magnetic: You find that small metal objects (paperclips, keys) occasionally drift toward you when you are angry.
The Ghost-Touched: You can hear the final thoughts of anyone you touch who has died within the last hour.
The Architect: You find yourself drawing maps of Oakhaven from memory, but the streets are arranged in a pattern that looks like a giant circuit board.
The Guardian: You feel a physical ache when you leave the city limits of Oakhaven. The city is a part of you now.
The Blessed: You feel an inexplicable sense of peace. You are ready for whatever comes next.
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