The Workshop

[Krat05]

There is reportedly a small collection of buildings out in the wilderness somewhere occupied by a family that appear to be human, at first glance.
Most people are persuaded to move along. Hunters are offered power to use in the vigil, for a price. The family can “sell” hunters Endowments, specifically the Endowment of deceased Compacts & Conspiracies. And what is the price? Well, that depends on exactly what Endowment you’re buying. To clarify this we will be using the Conspiracies the Cainite Heresy, the Army of Light, the Ebony Fangs, & Llannerch Athrawon as examples with the assumption that each of them is dead.

The Cainite Heresy, the Rites of Denial: buy each of the Rites of Denial by itself. Example costs: kill a vampire/ghoul/draugr/dhampir; turn a dhampir against vampires; “free” a blood doll(s) from being used as a blood doll(s).

The Army of Light, Lumina: buy each of the Lumina separately. Example costs: kill a vampire; assist a harmless witch in their day-to-day life; actively defend the Bahá’í Faith.

The Ebony Fangs, Laws of Irkalla: buy each dot of the Laws of Irkalla by itself. Example costs: make contact with Ereshkigal; exorcise a ghost; create a ghost; bring a permanent end to a vampire, one of the Bound, a geist, a mummy, or one of the reanimated; force mortality onto an immortal.

Llannerch Athrawon, Lightweaving: buy each Lightweaving separately. Example costs: aid a Hero; impede a Hero; kill a Begotten; replace a region’s Apex.

***
Okay, I think that’s gotten across the basic feel I was going for. Yes, I was loosely inspired by the Workshop featured in Bloodborne.

[KaiserAfini]

I heard the original builders were exiled for heinous crimes. Sometimes in moonless nights, a vessel can take you to their domain. A taxi, a horse chariot, a bullet train, always one manned by a ghost. They ferry one across a misty path, drawing them past an Avernian Gate into a Domain of the Great Below.

Here they toil in a great castle. A few pledge themselves to the vampiric gentry that claimed this land, venturing forth to the surface to seek a bloody harvest. Others remain as ghosts, bound to service in death to vampiric masters, with the same zeal as when they were enthralled in life. They say the most senior staff bear masks, masquerade props of gruesome visage, and that they sometimes venture forth to bring new ghostly servants to the fief.

The last few mortal members retain the barest scrap of sanity, curbing the madness with ghost eating rituals. Extending their lives unnaturally and claiming the power of death to become the eternal warders of the vampiric elders, a line of defense for the surface world.

No one knows who rules that Domain, what they hoped to accomplish or if they continue to exist, but their Old Laws hold strong and the Castle calls forth horrors from its depths to enforce them.

So take heed, young hunters, use the Workshop at your leisure. But beware an invitation bearing its crest, for madness shall surely visit you once you arrive at the end of that twisted old road.