An Amnesia Custom Story
(Currently in early production that began in September 2022 – all content is WIP)
In 1895, a young anthropologist, Peter Blackwood, returns to Oxford University after a period of fieldwork in southern Ceylon. Shortly after resuming his studies, he awakes in the halls of his college library clutching an empty vial of Damascus rose oil and recalling nothing of his travels or of anything else.
Slowly, the player pieces together the story of three doomed young men, meddling with forces they think they understand. Below is an excerpt from the script: a confrontation between the ambitious Henry, fixated with the idea of using the Mahasona as a passage to fame and glory, and Peter and Tristan, whose only concern is banishing the demon as quickly as possible. This will be audio that plays when the player enters the archives in the college library, where the scene played out before Peter drank the rose oil.
Peter: (somewhat relieved but insistent, hurried) Henry, we found it, the passage we need. You have the best Sinhala you need to do the reading.
Henry: (thinking for a moment) Gentlemen, just a moment, the potential for discovery here is unparalleled. Imagine, the three of us, the ones who prove beyond any doubt the existence of a demon. We can make history.
Peter: What are you talking about? History can wait. We need to get rid of this thing before it kills anyone else.
Henry: But think of what we can learn from it. Imagine what we could publish, all the fame and prestige we ever dreamed of. Isn’t that why we’re here?
Tristan: (cutting in) That’s why you’re here, Henry. None of that matters if people die.
Henry: (becoming annoyed) I understand that it’s dange— (sighs) Listen, you two aren’t thinking clearly. This ritual you plan to perform, an ‘exorcism’, it’s every bit as dangerous as what I’m suggesting. Unproven, gathered from books that we know are filled with unreliable accounts. This works for all of us. We need to study this creature, understand its nature, what it’s capable of, and then, when the time is right, we can banish it.
Peter: No. Every second that we stand idle puts more people in danger.
Tristan: (impatiently) How many is too many, Henry? Hmm? Four? Five deaths? (angrily) How many bodies do you need to see piled up in the cloisters before you come to your senses?
Henry: And what happens if you’re wrong? We all die. You have no idea what you’re doing and you’re panicking. For all we know trying to banish it without proper understanding could embolden it, make it aware that we have no power.
Peter: I won’t hear it. The only thing that matters is that we try to get rid of it. Immediately.
Tristan: Haven’t you seen enough? Enough to publish a thousand papers, surely.
Henry: You’re right, I have seen enough. Of you two, certainly.
Tristan: What are you talking about?
Henry: I think you know exactly what I’m talking about. (slowly, mockingly) ‘The stars above Sigiriya’… so careless of you to leave that in your research notes.
Peter: (exasperated, hushed) Henry for God’s sake…
Tristan: You wouldn’t.
Henry: I would, and I will. Now, what’s it going to be? By all means, perform the ritual. Rid us of the great Mahasona. You’ll be heroes. Until you’re sent down, of course. Then disowned, imprisoned.
Fearing discovery after the confrontation, the player discovers a letter from Tristan in Peter’s study:
Tom Colebrooke 