A strange artifact that appears to have a will of its own. Leads you toward Runes and Bone Charms, whispering secrets along the way.
Secrets
People
Anton Sokolov
Returning Home, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Loyalists
The city owes much to this great mind. Let him drink and find company where he can.
Anton Sokolov. He knew me once. And did much to set me on my path.
Yes, Sokolov's a foreigner - with the looks and manner of a Tyvian Swineherd. But he is also a great genius.
What the aristocracy will pay for a portrait painted by Anton Sokolov! If only they knew how much he detests them!
Not all his knowledge was gleaned from Academy books, some is gained from the maid-servants he beds.
Assassin
Returning Home, House of Pleasure, and The Flooded District
When Daud commands them, they obey.
Such power. If only it could be harnessed for something other than death.
Daud's men. Secrets so well kept - even I cannot discern the truth.
They are sick with treachery. From within - and from without.
He has taken a life - but I can't be sure of anything else.
Some mystery fuels their steps.
They are assassins, that much I know.
They are like puppets. They do not act of their own will.
He is loyal to Daud, yes, but there is something else. Something - no, I cannot see.
One of Daud's assassins. They are everywhere, and nowhere.
There is something about this one. A memory? From before?
Death. I feel only death from this one.
It is as if there is a cloak around him, and I cannot see through it.
I do feel something, but it's distant, like a memory.
It is the same with all of Daud's men. They exist in the place of fog.
A haze surrounds them - I cannot see through it.
Blake, Engineer, Looter, Mad Survivor, Maintenance Engineer, Plague Survivor, Plague Victim, Propaganda Officer, Survivor, and Wallace
Returning Home, Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Flooded District
He is tired.
It is in the common man that the Abbey finds its most faithful.
Some men can still find work along the waterfront.
A man is only as common as his dreams.
He spies on his neighbors and reports to the Overseers.
He always eats very well, even as his wife and child grow thin.
He steals from his business partner. A little every day.
He didn't tend to that cut, and now it festers.
All that he had was lost in the flood.
He used to admire the Overseers. Now he fears them.
That work was the best he could do. And still they weren't satisfied.
Only after a long day of work will he return to his home and family.
Daud, Killer of the Empress
Returning Home and The Flooded District
Why have you brought me here? Am I meant to forgive this man for what he did?
No! There is no turning back from the path he has chosen!
Paid assassin. Daud. The last thing the… Empress felt was his blade.
His hands do violence. But there is a different dream in his heart.
In the schoolyard, the other children would marvel at his quick hands. One day, a man came for young Daud, and led him away.
Doorman, General Tobias, High Overseer Martin, and Watch Officer
Returning Home, Dishonored, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, The Flooded District, The Loyalists, and The Light at the End
If they find out what he's done, he'll be executed.
These are the sons of rich and powerful families.
Discipline, pride, and courage. A dangerous combination.
They act quickly, harshly. And without mercy.
Careful. The Officers of the City Watch are well trained.
They've been known to mock their victims before striking.
An Officer of the City Watch.
He will follow his orders to the end.
See how proudly the Officers hold themselves.
They are loyal to the Lord Regent.
Careful. This is no dim-witted Sergeant of the Watch!
Few can best their swordsmanship.
He has a pistol and has used it on children before!
They are the Lord Regent's most trusted men.
They are chosen for their advanced skills.
His entire family was taken by the plague. It is just him now.
He murdered a nobleman, then framed a friend for the deed.
Madness runs in his family. And he is the worst of them all.
When his cousin refused his advances, he sent a Watch patrol to beat her to death.
He has ambitions well past the City Watch.
Not once has he lost a sword fight.
He received a letter from his sister. He can never go home, the plague is there.
No one ever mentioned the missing boys. He feels confident he's gotten away with it.
Twice today he has coughed up blood. He's told no one.
He is worried. It's been four days since he's had word from her.
What he ate last night isn't settling well with his stomach.
He is only two merits away from another medal. He hopes to earn them today.
His visits his father in the asylum, though the man no longer remembers him.
He thinks exercise and discipline will keep the plague away.
Arrogant. Corrupt. And fiercely loyal to the Lord Regent.
Geoff Curnow
Returning Home and High Overseer Campbell
His grandfather came from Serkonos. They never let him forget it.
His first lover was a soldier from Tyvia. He killed to keep the secret.
Curnow's loyalty to the Lord Regent is feigned. It is a dangerous game he plays.
He is swept up in events too large for him to comprehend.
The Guard Captain is Curnow. There was once a large family. Now it is only him - and a niece, Callista.
High Overseer Campbell
Returning Home, Dishonored, and High Overseer Campbell
He uses his position of power for personal gain and the pursuit of pleasure.
Campbell breaks all Seven Strictures each day. It's his own little joke.
He angers easily, and takes revenge without mercy.
The High Overseer - Thaddeus Campbell.
Don't let the talk of faith fool you. Campbell is vain, lustful, decadent - and completely corrupt.
Lady Emily
Returning Home, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Light at the End
She was bribed with sweet biscuits and ox milk, calmed with stories of magic and seafaring. All to keep her sane in a time of turmoil.
She clings to her childhood things, but they bring her only brief comfort.
Poor Emily! Her childhood is lost! She has become a pawn in the games of men!
She hides her fears. She seeks someone to trust.
She sees more than she is telling. Young Lady Emily.
Lydia and Maid
Returning Home, Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, and Return to the Tower
The house help is treated poorly. But there are worse ways to earn a coin.
There is not a day that goes by she does not consider taking her own life.
For all the hard work, there is little reward for her.
Do not pity the servant. There is pride in the job well done.
Work is never done for the lowly servant.
The pain in her back is constant. Nothing helps.
Her servant wages will not be enough to fix her father's debts.
If she lives until tomorrow, her day off, she will be mauled by Weepers and left for dead.
The other servants don't like her.
Spymaster Burrows and The Lord Regent
Returning Home, Dishonored, and Return to the Tower
Disease and death and murder, that is what Hiram Burrows - the Lord Regent - has brought us.
How I misplaced my trust! Now that I see so well, I know how truly blind I was.
He is driven by obsession, like a madness. Order, he must have all things, in order.
It was he who brought the rats, the rats brought the plague. There is no man more accursed.
This is him, the Lord Regent. Before that the Royal Spymaster. And before that still, Hiram Burrows. What secrets he knows!
Admiral Havelock
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Light at the End
There was a younger brother. An artist: sensitive, soft. Taken at nine by a fever. Havelock loved him truly.
Admiral Havelock has seen more corpses than all the rest put together.
He has killed whales and men for profit - and pleasure.
Look at him. Admiral Havelock grows restless on land.
He has the bloodlust. He tried to seize control of the military after the Empress... after she? The Empress was murdered.
Blake's Sister, Cecelia, Elsa, Plague Survivor, Plague Victim, Survivor, and Test Subject 312
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, The Flooded District, and The Loyalists
The common folk, simple-minded, selfish. But they can be kind.
She can hold her drink as well as any man.
There is nothing common about the work she does every day.
The fabric of the city is made of stuff such as she.
She hides her hands. They are raw and scarred from the washing.
She is a seamstress in a shop frequented by the wealthy.
All she wants is to lay herself down in the middle of Framling Street, and await death.
She starves so that her children can have bread.
She has only one dress, and wears it to tatters.
If only she had a coin for every time she stubbed her toe.
Now the littlest one is sick.
The common woman. She fears the Abbey and the plague.
City Watch Guard
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, and Return to the Tower
Each time he kills he sees her face. He can never undo what he did.
Unless he dies tonight, he will kill twice more before ending his own life.
He seems fine now. But soon the symptoms will start to show.
This one has kept a lock of hair from everyone he's ever killed.
The need for drink outweighs all else for this one.
He misses the days he spent at sea.
He taught himself how to read.
He has a woman friend, as brutish and ugly as he. But they are kind to each other.
The floods took is home and family.
There are few men who can drink as heartily as this one.
This one thinks only of whores.
He was raised in the orphanage. There was only bread and river crab.
His father beat him. Now it is his turn to beat his son.
His mother fed him whiskey to stop his tears.
When not at his post, he searches for his sister, missing a week now.
He was born in the Month of Earth, and never knew his father.
He eats rat to keep up his strength.
The officers of the Watch made him cut his hair.
He stinks of river mud and beer.
Always he has such hunger in his belly.
He has already spilled much blood today.
Miserable work. But still preferable to prison.
If there were work on the ships, there would be fewer men volunteering for the City Watch.
Beneath that uniform is a brute.
Few live after crossing the City Watch.
What a disgusting brute!
Few dare a confrontation with the Watch.
Best to avoid the City Watch, when possible.
Careful, he is armed.
He follows orders.
He's not fast, but his sword has taken many lives.
Only fools and weepers openly confront the Watch.
He is a clumsy fool, but still, take care.
Beware that sword!
What he lacks under the helmet, he makes up for with that sword.
He has no more brains than a bluejawed hagfish.
So vulgar!
Strong of body, but not of the mind.
See how thick he is about the neck and shoulders.
He wears the uniform of the City Watch.
Lord Pendleton
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Light at the End
Pendleton ships come back from the Pandyssian continent crowded with poor frightened captives.
For one so steeped in courtly manners, his thoughts do linger long on revenge and murder.
The younger Pendleton. Jealous little Treavor. Always in the shadow.
He is prone to skin infections. His eyes are sensitive to the light.
To think, Lord Pendleton is the son of nobility.
Piero Joplin
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Loyalists
He has spied upon Callista as she bathes. More than once.
He is Piero Joplin. Even now he visualizes the next invention - astonishing. I wish you could see it too.
Poor Piero. His elixirs have cured so much for so many. But they cannot cure his brain fevers.
The youngest ever to pass through the Academy of Natural Sciences. Sokolov will never forgive him that!
Each and every night the black-eyed Outsider visits upon Piero's dreams.
Samuel Beechworth
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, The Loyalists, and The Light at the End
Samuel was once eager to hear Havelock's stories of the sea. But perhaps the Admiral is not what he expected.
The boatman has a good heart. And respects you.
Samuel is a simple man, but he knows the River Wrenhaven and all its tributaries, down to the smallest inlet.
He has many scars. Some from the phlegm of the river krusts, some from the nameless monsters of the deeper ocean.
Samuel Beechworth went to sea to forget a hopeless love. He succeeded.
Survivor and Torturer
Dishonored and Return to the Tower
His temper as a child was vile. They would find the family pets dead.
He was born into wealth on Endoria Street, and grew large and strong. But his brain shrunk and shriveled, like bad fruit.
Morris has heard the final pleas and guilt-ridden confessions of a hundred condemned men. But he felt nothing.
The family feared diluting their blood with outsiders, so cousin married cousin. For generations.
Morris Sullivan. Executioner and torturer.
Thug
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, and The Flooded District
Violence. Desperation. Depravity.
His mother's dying words to him were: Give us a whiskey, darling.
He murders for coin.
He is a cutthroat and thug. He answers to a man named Slackjaw.
A predator. He's part of a gang.
He is from the Bottle Street Gang.
One of Slackjaw's men.
A street thug. A knife for hire.
His father was one of the first to die of the plague.
This one cooks rats over a trash fire when he can't find anyone to rob.
He is paid in whiskey and sleeps on the floor of the distillery.
His mother still walks the streets of this district.
He looked after his brother the best he could. But the boy died of thick lung at the age of six.
A mud lark until 12, sifting through the filth until he could use a knife.
He feeds a stray dog every night. He named her Billy.
A brutal thief.
Watch Lower Guard
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, The Royal Physician, Return to the Tower, and The Loyalists
His sword is in poor condition, but it will still cut.
His mother never cared for him the way she cared for the bottle.
They sometimes work for coin, but are often paid by the bottle.
Without that torn uniform, he would have nothing.
He is unfit for any vocation. That's why he's in the low guard.
The Lower Guard find their recruits in prison cells.
He is like a feral dog. Hungry, mean, and mangy.
The Lower Guard: Drunkards and thieves in shoddy uniform.
The pain in his head drives him to do unspeakable things.
He once killed a man just for a change of boots.
He was in prison, but they needed more men for the guard.
This one's thoughts are indistinguishable from those of an Overseer's hound.
He's bathed but four times in all his life. The times he's fallen drunk into the Wrenhaven waters.
The orders confuse him, so he follows what the others do.
Once he found a turtle by the Rudshore Waterfront. He fed it lettuce leaves and horse flies.
Filthy, cowardly. You smell the Lower Guard before you see them.
Callista Curnow
High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, and The Loyalists
She dreams of freedom, and the decks of whaling ships fast after the beasts of sea! But alas, she is a woman.
Such sadness.
She and her uncle - the last of the Curnow family.
She is Callista Curnow. She has learned to defend herself in this treacherous city.
Granny Rags
High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, and The Flooded District
She has given herself fully to the Outsider.
In her mind's eye she is fancy trimmed in velvet, fresh and young, on her way to an evening of romance.
Careful. She treads with purpose. And is not as frail as she seems.
The children sometimes circle Granny Rags, following along and taunting.
Long ago Granny Rags danced at court. Men begged to marry her.
Griff
High Overseer Campbell and House of Pleasure
An honest man - no. But his heart is not as black as some.
In troubled times, fortune often favors those such as he.
Griff offers as close to a fair deal as one can find in the Isles.
Yes. He knows who you are. But he will pretend he does not.
He was in prison for five years, then changed his name to Griff. No one suspects.
Martin and Overseer Martin
High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, and Return to the Tower
He always had his sights set on the Abbey's highest office.
Do not be deceived by his talk of Strictures. Martin's crimes weigh heavy on his spirit.
He has been a soldier, a highway robber and a man of faith.
He wonders which is more powerful - the knife or the tongue.
There are few brave enough to laugh in the Outsider's face. But Teague Martin is one.
Overseer
High Overseer Campbell, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, The Flooded District, and The Light at the End
Wherever the Overseers go, common folk tremble, and brother accuses brother.
They are experts at extracting confessions, even from the innocent.
They never rest - their grim task is fueled by devotion to the Abbey of the Everyman.
His Wolfhound was injured when they came upon a den of rats. The beast may not recover.
Should Overseers Come to Call, Know your Strictures, One and All.
Some Overseers sleep alongside their hounds in the kennels. Some let the beasts into their bunks.
Overseers. How grimly they set about their tasks, rooting out the influence of the Outsider, whom they hate more than they love men and women.
They are from the Abbey of Everyman. They hunt for heretics.
Woe to those found guilty of using witchcraft.
Few of the Overseers are happy about being joined with the men of the Lord Regent's City Watch.
They blame the plague on the misdeeds of the people. They hunt for any signs of wrongdoing!
The Overseers employ many mysteries to find those they call Heretics.
Even now he whispers the prayer against witchcraft. Can you hear it?
He punishes himself cruelly if he does not extract at least one confession every month.
He has no care if the ones he kills are heretics or innocents.
They made him watch when they tortured his parents for their worship of the Outsider.
He wonders when he will be able to return to the Abbey.
He recites the Seven Strictures. But he is thinking about blood ox steak.
He was asked to perform a wedding. So few lately. It lifted his heavy heart.
He doubts his abilities. The curse was not broken. If anything the woman's warts seemed worse than ever.
He fears the influence of the Outsider.
He is confused by recent events. There is no one he can trust.
He feels poorly, and suspects a witch's curse.
The Overseers are devout, but fanatically so.
Wolfhound
High Overseer Campbell, The Royal Physician, Return to the Tower, and The Flooded District
They are as cruel as their masters, but with considerably sharper teeth.
They can sniff out those who are fearful, sick or wounded.
They have no fear. It has been bred out of them.
Magnificent beasts. They know only cruelty and hunger.
They have excellent hearing.
The Wolfhounds are not pets. They are one of the Overseer's most lethal weapons.
Wolfhounds. Massive beasts.
The Overseers bring their hounds to sniff out wrongdoers.
He will protect his master.
This Wolfhound has killed many.
There is a children's rhyme: Do not weep or make a sound, for that will bring the 'seer's hound.
At night, it dreams of chasing rats.
He is a biter, this one.
This beast is a clever one.
This one is no more than a pup. He'll grow into those paws.
This one has acquired a taste for blood.
Aristocrat, Art Dealer Bunting, Lord Brisby, Lord Shaw, Party Guest, Plague Survivor, Plague Victim, Pratchett, and Ramsey
House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, and The Flooded District
He first saw her when he was nine. She'd somehow got her foot stuck in the wheel.
He is very rich and powerful.
The job of an aristocrat is to stay an aristocrat.
His family controls a large estate with many servants.
He plots to take the whole inheritance for himself.
He is low born. He has killed more than once to keep it a secret.
Soon the money will run out. And when it does, things will not go well for him.
He enjoys tormenting the help.
He might wear the blue jacket tomorrow. The grey doesn't bring out his eyes.
They never shine up his shoes as much as he likes.
He really did care for her once.
He is wealthy and wears fine clothing, but underneath, all men look the same.
Courtesan
It wasn't her fault. There was struggle for the pistol.
Few enter this line of work by choice.
A courtesan knows many secrets, and how to keep them.
They know how to dress to capture the attention of men.
She has kept a ragdoll from her childhood and hides it under her bed.
When she was ten her mother traded her for a bottle of wine.
She is a plague carrier. Infectious, but not ill. And she knows it.
On the first day of the Month of Rain, she means to throw herself from the roof.
The streetwalkers. Only the rats spread the plague faster.
Custis Pendleton
He has one of the keenest minds for business in all of Gristol.
Custis is considered the smartest and the cruelest of the Pendleton brothers.
His attachment to his twin brother Morgan is not wholesome.
He was raised to believe the world is but a toy for him to play with.
His blood founded this city but now Custis Pendleton lives only to plunder it.
Griff and Weeper
House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, and The Flooded District
The sickness attacks the breathing, eyes, and ears. And lays waste to the brain.
He is very ill, but be warned - he still has much strength.
The Weepers. They live in constant misery, until death finally releases them.
There is nothing you can do for him, but keep your distance.
The sick spread more than disease - they spread panic.
Weepers may look helpless, but they are not!
Whoever they were before, now they are victims of the contagion. Weepers.
They suffer from the plague.
Was he a nobleman or commoner? Whatever he was, that life is over now.
He watched his wife and daughter die of it. Now the plague takes him.
There is nothing left of the man he used to be.
He was a harpooner on a great ship. But then he began to fall ill.
He pleaded with her to leave. Begged her not to help him. But now she is sick too.
He was fond of taking in stray animals. But that was before.
Look at him! Yet he believes this malady will pass and he will soon be well.
He hopes his wife is suffering somewhere, just as much as him.
Madam Prudence
The Golden Cat was here long before she came to run it. But the curtains were her idea.
She holds her head high now, but once she worked the streets and wore naught but filth.
She learned long ago not to grow fond of any of the girls.
The plague is the least of her worries.
She throws the dead girls in the river.
Morgan Pendleton
He takes cruel pleasure in others' discomfort.
Morgan Pendleton. How greedily he clings to what is left of the family fortune.
Born joined at the hand to his twin during the Month of Darkness. A knife severed their physical bond, but not the bond that runs deeper.
The women of the Golden Cat have become accustomed to Morgan's unusual requests.
He works men to death. He need only put pen to paper. Lord Morgan Pendleton.
Slackjaw
House of Pleasure and The Flooded District
If ever in doubt, which is often, he uses the knife.
Slackjaw. Whores raised him. He'll never know his father was a prince.
He deals in flesh, weapons, strong drink. They've always called him Slackjaw.
He and his thugs started in Treavers Alley. Now his influence is felt over the entire Island of Gristol.
He knows the streets of Dunwall, especially its dark alleys, as well as any man.
Weeper
House of Pleasure, Lady Boyle's Last Party, and The Flooded District
They are called Weepers. They can languish like this for many weeks.
Hear her terrible moans! The disease is both painful and disfiguring.
Have pity for those afflicted. But a warning - pity them from afar.
You cannot help her. The finest elixirs in Dunwall cannot help her now.
This weeper got the disease from attending to her sick children.
She intends to spread the plague to others, if she gets the opportunity.
Soon this weeper will be too ill to eat or drink. She will not suffer much longer.
She does not remember her former life. All she has now is this.
She still has some awareness - and strength. Do not provoke her.
The Overseer told her it was her own misdeeds that brought the plague to her.
She bought the finest elixirs. Perhaps she did not take them in time.
They sheltered her for a time, but when the blood came from her eyes, they sent her out. Called her a weeper.
Lady Boyle
When her family held a dinner for Sokolov, Esma sat with him. They spoke of many mysteries, and the messages that can be read in the stars.
In her thoughts now - the tawdry events of last night, and a rival she schemes against.
When there are teeth marks on her skin, she is careful to dress away from servant's prying eyes.
That is Esma Boyle. She drinks to forget herself.
A servant from Morley once stirred her so deeply, she had him killed the next day.
There was trouble when her daughter was born. Then the doctors told her there would be no more children.
The youngest of the Boyle women. She suffers from reckless frivolity, followed by long bouts of melancholy.
The society of Dunwall know better than to make an enemy of Waverly Boyle.
A favorite game of hers is to befriend a young socialite, and then see her ruined within a year.
Waverly Boyle. She acts as if too good for her many suitors, but the servant boys know her well enough.
When she's alone, Lydia plays the harpsichord; she is one of the finest musicians in the city.
Of all the Boyle women, Lydia has the most to keep secret.
Neither a talker nor a great beauty, she has cultivated other qualities to survive nobility.
Her servants never last long. And no one dares question her about their whereabouts.
She worries about rumors. She keeps a close eye on the servants.
Mattie, Miss White, and Party Guest
She had to dismiss the maid-servant who saw the Mark of the Outsider, branded on her back.
She does not wield a sword or pistol. Gossip is her weapon.
Aristocrats believe they deserve their wealth and finery.
Her life would be considered decadent by most.
She beats her servants.
Only she knows what really happened the day her invalid mother died.
She loves counting the money in front of the help.
Her dearest friend died in childbirth in the Month of High Cold.
She has no idea what she should wear to the dinner tomorrow.
Her new shoes are of a nice fashion, but they strangle her toes.
She has no intention of returning the necklace she borrowed from Lady Oswald.
The rich still cling to the belief that the plague will only sicken the poor.
Tallboy
Lady Boyle's Last Party, Return to the Tower, The Flooded District, and The Loyalists
What kind of leader would use such against their own people?
He believes the machine he walks on makes him invincible.
They use their height to advantage.
Most of the City Watchmen call them Tallboys.
Keep clear of its legs.
It has other surprises in store - not just height.
They walk about the plague, above the rats, above the flooded streets.
Somewhere atop that contraption - there is a man.
Places
Dishonored and The Flooded District
Someday this place will devour all the lights in the sky.
This is the place from which those who dabble in the black arts draw their power. And this place is their doom.
All of time is meaningless here. Neither seconds nor centuries.
The one who walks here is all things. Cradle songs of comfort and bones gnawed by teeth.
This place is the end of all things. And the beginning.
Dishonored, High Overseer Campbell, House of Pleasure, The Royal Physician, Lady Boyle's Last Party, and Return to the Tower
They top off the wine with river water. But eventually someone swoons, then fresh bottles are fetched from the cellars.
Fortunes have been won here, and lives have been lost.
Such laughter! And they are singing the old songs, linking arms. But that was from a happier time.
Deals are made here, sometimes under the influence of wine. And sometimes the influence is the point of a knife.
Before the sun rises they toss any casualties into the river. Men or hound - they all go in.
Somewhere in the basements below, hound kills hound, and money changes hands.
The old man claimed a dark corner and drank himself into oblivion. The hounds were the first to find him.
They stood in a circle around the candles, and cut their hands to form their alliance. The blood hissed as it touched the flames.
The conspirators have found a safe home here. They take great care that they are not followed.
The ale here is sweetened with honey to hide the taste of river brine.
The sober speak in whispers. The drunk bellow.
Their fate rests on your effort. On the strength of your hands, and of your heart.
High Overseer Campbell
Such corruption! Such hypocrisy. Make me look on it no more!
Where have the Overseers gone? They wade through chest high waters with their hounds.
Somewhere near a man has just taken his last breath. His eyes are still open!
Misery. Everywhere.
Once they are brought here they never leave. The Overseers always find the guilt they seek.
High Overseer Campbell and House of Pleasure
The brothels sprang up around the distilleries. They are inseparable.
There is a strong drink made here. I tried it once. Distilled from River Krusts by the taste of it.
House of Pleasure
The Golden Cat entertains important clients tonight. The Madame is worried. She must not disappoint.
They thought they would be working in a factory. By the time they arrive it's much too late.
The plague swept through here. There are rooms they have yet to clean.
The girls do not like this new Madame. She is not kind. Not at all like the old one.
They ship them in from farming villages, bastard daughters and extra mouths that can't be fed.
The Royal Physician
Sokolov sees the Captain at the Helm, and the Tusked Leviathan. What do you see in the stars?
Many seek the Bridge for solace. Ruined men, abandoned women, and plague victims have all leapt from here.
The crushed minerals, the farm animals, the vials of liquid mysteries - all these and more are necessary for his experiments.
The air is heavy and stale. Some acrid powders still linger in it.
I smell bones in the pylons, blood beneath the stone blocks. Men died building this structure.
Lady Boyle's Last Party
Don't be fooled if you hear laughter, or happen upon a smile. There is no lightness or merriment here.
This was once the house of a High Overseer. Lydia Boyle took special care to desecrate each and every room.
Old friends are cut from the guest list at the merest rumor of plague.
Tonight the nobles try to conceal their indiscretions behind masks and costumes.
The other families dare not make a move without first approval from the three Ladies Boyle.
Return to the Tower
If the plague were to take the entire city, or flames consume it, Dunwall Tower would be the last to fall.
The Lord Regent resides here. As do those who await their turn with the executioner. Though their apartments differ.
He walks the floor, careful to touch each stone only once, counting. He cannot purge his mind of the thoughts.
We have both been here before.
Dunwall Tower is not so tall that it can rise above the stench of death.
The Flooded District
They bring the bodies here. With rough hands. Rough hands and cages. Some of them are still breathing. The water is so cold and it is the last thing they feel.
Even the terrible floods were not enough to wash away the sorrows of Dunwall.
When the sea wall broke, many strange things were drowned and forgotten.
These waters are greedy. They will never give back what they have taken.
They butchered the deep ones here, breathing in the rich stink of their enchanted flesh.
The Flooded District and The Loyalists
You are like the rivermen. They spread their nets wide, and pull up all manner of things. The sweet, the deadly, the poisonous, all together in one catch.
Callista tried to protect her, but they pulled the child from her arms. Oh, the curses she spat at them!
Emily banged her head in the confusion. They dragged her crying into the waiting boat. She called your name.
Your usefulness is spent. They long for news of your death!
They left in great haste. Scattering like insects, eager to bore into the nests you made for them.
The Light at the End
The Admiral had to carry the struggling child. His shirt soaked with sweat. She bit his hand.
See how they turn on each other - Martin, Pendleton. Or is it Admiral Havelock with the cup of treachery?
It is madness! They thrash like whales stung by harpoons.
The Outsider watches all of this, the blood, the struggle, from the center of the Void.
The lighthouse beacon will continue long, for many tomorrows. A reminder of what has happened to Dunwall.
Creatures
Rats
Another rat! The sound of those tiny claws tapping and scraping fill me with dread.
They eat their weak and wounded.
They spread filth and misery throughout the city.
So many of them now. It was not always like this.
Where there are rats, there are Weepers. At least, that is what they say.
The Rats. They are part of a misshapen plan. Gone so horribly wrong.
The pests find their way into every home, no matter how fortified or stately.
They are vermin. They carry the plague.
They live in crowded dens below the streets. Squirming, with hundreds to a nest.
The floods sent them running throughout Dunwall.
A rat! How bold they grow!
It feeds on victims of the plague - and spreads the contagion further.
River Krust
The old rivermen say this of the Krust - the more vile the spit, the more value the pit.
Only the very rich can afford a necklace of river pearls.
They send orphan boys into the water to find the pearls hidden in the Krusts. The pearls last forever, not so the poor boys.
Nothing else will grow if there are River Krusts nearby.
Beware the River Krust.
When they grow in great numbers, the fish won't come.
Some say they feed on tears. And they have grown so very large of late.
In the old days the rivermen scraped away the Krusts, so gentlemen and ladies could stroll by the river un-accosted by their foulness.
Anywhere
I can feel a great age ending.
Listen - I can hear their every thought.
They are burning the whales.
The doom of Pandyssia has come to the city.
The river rushed in when the barrier broke. A whole district went dark.
I will be glad to rest.
At the Academy, they cut the flesh of the dead, and trap the lightning from the sky.
Why am I so cold?
The great ships have stopped bringing their hauls.
What have they done to me?
My father had golden hair, my mother hair like ash.
I am not alive - nor have I received the gift of death.
This city is built on the bones of the great ones.
When the last leviathan is gone darkness will fall.
The Abbey is dark - its doors are locked, and no more the great sermons. The Overseers have taken to the streets.
Can you hear them too? Crying out in the dark?
The thinkers of the city - they devise new ways to tame the elements.
Not so long ago Dunwall was a proud city.
Is it the Month of Harvest? Time has lost all meaning.
How can it be that I know such things?
Never spoken
Callista. Yes, she is caretaker to the child.
Lawyers do not spread the plague, but they do grow rich in its wake.
He knows all three Boyle women. Intimately.
His name is Shaw. A man of papers, loyal to the Lord Regent.
He provides all manner of illegal services to the wealthy.
He suffers from ulcers and nervous twitches. Also palpitations.
Lord Shaw. Kin to the Empress, her uncle's grandson. He hides his royal blood.
In the eager scramble for power after the Empress died, Lord Brisby was there to assist.
He prepared his rich old aunt's death certificate while she watched. She begged for her life.
How he cringes and babbles like a fool when the Lord Regent is in attendance.
They pay Lord Brisby to twist their lies into truth.
They always knew there would be some loose ends to tidy up. And tongues to silence.
Martin brought with him scrolls of blasphemy recovered from the Flooded District. The lights burned day and night in his room.
The City buckles beneath the weight of the dead and dying.
When Overseer Martin returned - his accusers fled, recanted or were imprisoned. Hardened men cried for death.
Everything has changed. Now what will you do?
