Adapting the Conjuring universe

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Nirnel
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Joined: Fri Sep 23, 2016 6:51 am

Adapting the Conjuring universe

Post by Nirnel »

So, I saw the last Conjuring movie last night and, following the ancient Ravenloft tradition of adapting real-world tropes to this world (adding a few twists, of course), I have a few ideas.

The Passinis are a triad (two men and a woman, all in love with each other) who belong to the Order of the Guardians. Their names are Fabio (a Human Paladin with the Oath of the Watchers and a ritual caster; he is a sage who spends a bit too much time among books), Elizabeth (a Half-Elf Bard of the School of Spirits, who is almost constantly gloomy inside but often tries to be cheery outside, usually outdoing it) and, more recently, Julien (a Tiefling Cleric of the Darkonese sect of the Church of Ezra with the Grave Domain; he insists on treating everyone equally no matter their gender, but still has the slightly infuriating habit to ignore non-cis people's preferred pronouns, as he doesn't pay it much attention; he also pays perhaps too much attention to his appearance, due to his habit to hide his small horns and vestigial tail).

Fabio and Elizabeth were a married couple who discovered a sanctuary that completely smothered the powers of cursed items, which they started using as a vault for the most dangerous ones, and they lived in a house built on top of it with their three children. One day they met Julien, who was under the control of a cursed doll and pretended to need their help with a different item. While the three of them worked together, Julien tried to seduce Elizabeth so the couple would turn on each other. When she rejected him (greatly tempted as she was to give in), he tried the same with Fabio, letting her fend on her own. While he was also initially reluctant, Julien made him believe Elizabeth had died and started to slowly seduce the grieving Paladin.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth managed to detect the menace coming from the doll Juliette. Sensing the threat, the doll ordered Julien to murder Fabio and hurry back to protect it. Fortunately, the Tiefling had a strong enough will to stopping himself from dealing a mortal wound, and he also left a few clues on purpose for Fabio to follow. Julien caught Elizabeth and Juliette about to enter the vault and approached her. Rather than surprising and killing her, though, he managed to warn her with a menacing gesture and a fight ensued. They were evenly matched, but Fabio arrived in time and threw Juliette into a cage in the Vault. The doll had enough time to threaten the couple (using Julien as its puppet) that they would suffer greatly if they didn´t let it go.

When Fabio locked the cursed doll in, two things happened at the same time. First, Julien was freed from its spell and, knowing what was happening, ran franctically to the house, followed by Elizabeth. They were barely at the door when they herd the nursemaid's scream. Julien's power was enough to save the middle child, Augusto, but it was too late for the eldest (Vanessa) and the baby (Pietro), who had been sliced almost to pieces. Apparently they had turned on each other and started stabbing savagely. After this moment, the house became a pocket domain in Richemulot with Juliette as its Darklord.

The couple forgave Julien and soon it became obvious that all three of them had developed feelings for each other during the ordeal, so he took their last name and stayed with them. He told his partners the story of Juliette; how he was originally born a girl in a noble Richemuloise family but his father wished for a male child, so he made a deal with some strange entity, sending his daughter's feminity into one of her dolls. This had two side effects: First, while baby girl Juliette became baby boy Julien, he also became a Tiefling. Also, the female essence of Juliette in the doll became a new, intelligent and powerful entity.

While Juliette can't actually move on its own, it could possess other people, especially children. Julien's cousins and the children of the staff started to act in strange ways and horrific things started to happen in the house, to the point that some of the staff disappeared or died. Blaming the obvious scapegoat, the Tiefling child, they disowned him and he was thrown into the streets, being adopted by a cleric of the Darkonese church of Ezra while Juliette ended destroying his family. After their demise, the doll changed hands all around the region provoking one tragedy after the other until an adult Julien went back to investigate what happened to his parents, fell into the doll's clutches and was sent after the Passinis, who Juliette perceived as a threat.

Juliette is now trapped in a cage in the vault of Passini Manor. This cage vrevents it from unleashing its full power, and it would be enough to make it completely powerless had it not become a Darklord. As it is, Juliette has power over other cursed items nearby Passini House (unless either the borders of Richemulot or Passini House are closed) and can direct their curses to better fit its plans. Also, Juliette's power makes the vault very enticing for the Passinis' neighbours and visitors, so it's not rare for some por fool to break and enter. It constantly plots to destroy the Passini family, or to control some girl deeply enough that it can move its conciousness to her body. It can also subtly influence the thoughts of the Passini family, and whenever it closes the border the doors and windows are locked. Juliette can only do so for an hour every day, however, so it only does it when it feels like it counts.

When Juliette's powers are unleashed, its victims are subject to horrific visions and their willpower is constantly eroded up to the point that they can be possessed. She can most easily possess children, especially girls. Julien is especially susceptible to its power, but his strong will makes him only as vulnerable as the average child. Cursed items in its surroundings become much powerful and it can direct their effects. It is also indestructible by normal means, although it fears what would happen if Julien died before it gets a body of its own.

Juliette's curse is that it wants to become a girl, but whenever she tries and possesses one, she is thwarted shortly thereafter. Also, it is always referred as an "it" instead of a "she", except by the people she is possessing if she makes them do so (and so, it refrains from it if it is trying to keep a low profile). Until it gets a body, Juliette can't generally move at all, not even levitating, although it sometimes manages to make a minor movement that might be attributed to the normal shuffling of an inert object. When someone enters the vault, they are normally overwhelmed by terror as soon as they approach its cage.

The Passinis feel Juliette's influence, but they dare not muve away from the house lest other Richemuloise people move in, as is often the case with empty houses). The three grownups share a bedroom, and Augusto sleeps in the room across the hall. The child is a bit resentful towards Julien, who he feels should have saved his sister Vanessa, whom he loved dearly. His memories of him killing her makes him wake screaming more often than not, so they hired a nanny who sleeps in the room communicated with Augusto's. Sophie is a young and idealistic professional, although a little naive. She often stays home alone with Augusto while the triad goes after some new cursed item, and has had a few close calls with intruders and Juliette, but she is still not fully aware of the threat it represents.
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