Here you will find bits and pieces – loose ends and darkened corners of the back story to Key City… in chronological order
Small objects can hold immense power.
Take the simple key for example. Such a tiny thing, easily misplaced or hidden.
Jumbled away in old jars or messy drawers. Treated so cavalierly as if the utility was meaningless.
But the LOCKSMITHS KNEW.
They named the parts.
The Bow.
The Blade.
They knew keys could be weapons, tools, magic wands almost.
THEY OPEN DOORS.
Doors that can lead to anywhere. Simple wood panels leading to warm fire lit halls.
Abounding with cheer and libation.
Slick glass entries, designed to draw the unwary consumer with bright new age TECH.
Vast stone PORTALS, thickly carved with eldritch designs.
Are they keeping you out?
Or keeping something in?
An entire city of keys. If you master their power, will you be lost? Or will you find just the right path? What is it even that you search for, my friend?
If I give you such a key, will you take it? Now that you know its power?
The city stands before you glimmering in the dusk. You have only to enter. Go Now.
Before it vanishes, a Brigadoon - only to reappear when the moon and planets realign.
An adventure lies before you. Do not hesitate.
GO NOW!
Key City is a brigadoon – the city appears and disappears at numerous points and at various times – these times are mostly very hard to predict as the city seems to orbit in time/space according to unfathomable and complex rules. There are many doors and gates into and out of Key City as well, that come and go according to time, the position of the stars, the temperature and whether or not you have found a workable key to fit its locks. It has been shown that it appears very strongly every August in North America – no one is sure what tethers it here on this particular date but strange sightings and occurrences are often reported at this time of year. As the villain the Key Mistress discovered, if you can plumb the secrets of the comings and goings of Key City, you can use it to travel across many realities.
The City itself is changeable by the moment. It has denizens who never leave it, who have simply adjusted to a life of constant change and mutable circumstances. Some have been born here, some stumble into Key City as it moves across the cosmos and never leave. The City itself has many neighborhoods which tend to grow up when a major influx of inhabitants flood the City as happens when it stays too long at rest in any particular spot. There is a neighborhood that seems filled with circus folk, and one that is terribly afflicted with tentacles and eldritch horrors. One set of streets seems to have fairy tale creatures in every nook and cranny – but they have adapted strangely to city life so make no assumptions as to their intentions. In the center of the city is a huge square with a clock tower which seems to change in height and composition with the seasons. This heart of the city has a distinctly Victorian flavor. Many of the structures seem to be as much strange mechanisms as they are buildings and there are many large gears that move slowly and with unknown purpose. Steam vents from under the streets and the streetlights are all gas lamps of the old fashioned variety. There is a large stone archway at the foot of the clock tower that seems much older than the buildings surrounding it. It is almost as if sometime in the 1800s a daring scientist or unhinged engineer found a way to harness prehistoric magics and Key City was the result – a city unmoored from space and time.
Most recently Key City was the site of the Hero/Villain War. One Gwen Ross discovered she had a strange affinity for the doors and keys of Key City and embarked on a quest to find the mythical place. Find it she did, but instead of reveling in its wonders, she only thought how it could bring her the power and consequence her life had thus far lacked. She used her powers to call to all the super criminals of the multiverse to come and use Key City as a launching pad for a takeover of all space and time. Unluckily for her, she was thwarted in her plans by researcher and parapsychologist Hunter Thomas. Thomas had been researching Key City for years and followed Gwen through one of its portals. Once there, he realized the city was being overrun and put out his own call for heroes to save the day. At great cost to themselves, the heroes sealed the villains in Key City – combining their powers to cause a great explosion that rendered the great gate useless. In a cascade effect – all the other doors seem to be shut as well. It is unlikely that such a strange and ancient magic should be nullified for long. Currently there is much interest and avid hunting of an artifact that will reverse the effects that have sealed shut the city.
The last few hours of the Hero/Villain war were pandemonium.
The Heroes made a valiant stand in the center of the city guarding the central Door. The Villains closed in from all sides. Rather than sacrifice the many universes that the Key Mistress hoped to gain access to for her fellow criminals through the many portals of Key City, the heroes sacrificed themselves in a giant explosion that sealed the great Door, and, in a chain reaction, most of the other ways and means out of this fabled town.
The Cads, trapped in a world of their own making, turned upon each other, until only the most potent, the most wily survived. They carved the once proud neighborhoods into criminal fiefdoms, and they vie among themselves to be one who finds the artifact, the device, the KEY to re-opening the ways which have slammed shut like so many cell doors
The smoke of war and internecine strife has morphed into fog – fog and rain swept streets. The City always takes on the soul of it latest invaders and its inhabitants can only make the best of it. The Mayor tries to keep the ordinary citizens safe, but you don’t play dirty games without getting some grime under your fingernails. He plays his cards close to his chest, and no one really knows whose pockets he’s in. The Registration Maven is an uncanny ally at his side, keeping tabs on all the players. She might even know where some of the bodies are buried
You have to be careful what streets you walk down these days – you must know the passwords, the secret signs. The gangs shift and change allegiances. The bars never close and the nights seem almost endless. To one side the Cutthroat Coterie – don’t enter their halls unless you are VERY well dressed…or VERY tired of having all your insides on…well, the inside. Beware the laboratories of Dr. Irritation and the Yosarian Mad Scientist (and his clone). They are always on the lookout for test subjects. One neighborhood seems to be filled with nothing but cats. Doesn’t seem scary? Have you met a cat? Be afraid. Be very afraid. The Meowfia MIGHT be a force for good. But it might simply be a force for chaos.
And me? I’m no one now. Just a figure in the shadows, looking out for the little guy. Thrown here by the explosion that took out that dastardly dame, that criminal queen – The Key Mistress. She might be dead and gone, but I’m not counting on it. She is a wily one – and I will keep watch, waiting for the moment when she reveals herself again…guarding the ways- doing good in a bad, bad world until the gates open once more.
THE KING STREET BENEVOLENCE SOCIETY
This crime family came to Key City already experienced in the ways of creating an orderly hierarchy to protect and enhance the lives of its members – they rose to power quickly, efficiently and with little mercy
THE HOOKAMANCERS
– Glamorous and fond of parties, this Family is always ready with a cunning plot or an elaborate heist.
COGSWORKER UNION
Somebody has to keep the mechanisms of a city functioning – this is the Makers Society
COVERT CHICANERY MAKERS
– troublemakers and chaos dealers and rambunctious tricksters unite – These are wizards, magics users or scientists so advanced their iraculous creations seem like a miracle.
THE LEAGUE OF OK ADVENTURERS
Look not everybody is built to be an epic hero. Sometimes you just have to fall out of 2 story window onto an awning, grab the prize and run like hell
THE ASSOCIATION OF VERY UPRIGHT MERCHANTS
No matter how fraught the situation is, people still need the necessities of life – and all the little luxuries that make life as a powerful Crime Lord worth living. The merchants of Key City are no fools, nor will they tolerate any inroads on their merchandise or persons. They quickly banded together to form a Family of mutual protection and continued prosperity and they gladly provide that protection to those in their circle – they seek to reopen the gates to regain access to the bustling commerce of many worlds that they once enjoyed
MEOWFIA
need we really elaborate?
THE SECRET SCAVENGERS
For folks who just want to find an answer to all these mysteries and get the heck OUT of dodge
THE CUTTHROAT COTERIE
Fashion to Die for. They don’t care what it takes to get to the top, as long as they look good doing it
THE INTROVERT ILLUMINATI
Our motto is “Go Away”
Let me set the scene for you. You see a city from above in a bird’s eye view. It spreads out below you in apparently endless neighborhoods. The buildings are a wild amalgamation of old and new, ancient halls and more modern towers jammed cheek by jowl with neon-lit storefronts – all cloaked in a fog of misty rain and darkness. There is a strange static feel to the air, as if time itself is suspended and stretched, reused over and over if you will.
Suddenly, there is a crackling in the clouds that hang low over the rooftops – a gathering of energy – lightning about to strike. Helplessly you are drawn closer into the city, zeroing in on a central square where it seems half the population is gathered around a Victorian clock tower that shimmers with weird lights. Mysterious cogs move slowly in strange mechanisms that surround it. On a hastily constructed dais in the center of this crowded plaza, a dapper, handsome gentleman in a double breasted vest and a finely tied cravat is feeding glowing tubes into a device that glimmers and shakes. In the crowd around the dais are nine distinct mobs, grouped around what are clearly their chosen leaders. There is a feeling of distrust in the air, as each Family glares at the others with hands on their weapons. In the windows above the square there are many figures barely visible behind the shutters and curtains. These quiet, yet menacing silhouettes seem calm, clearly confident they have edge over the masses seething in the courtyard below. From the crowd, a broad shouldered man, wearing of all things, cat ears and sunglasses yells out,
“Hey MAYOR! You better make sure all those power cells with our name on them get used. It would be a CATASTROPHE otherwise.” There are feline yowls and yelps of appreciation from the group around him. Everyone else in the square simply glares and moves in closer. The man on the dais, clearly the mayor, ignores them all and continues to feed cells to the strange device, deferring occasionally to two women, holding a tome that seems to have some sort of record keeping function. The air is electric with power – and with tension. Will it work? The very molecules of air seem to shimmer. SOMETHING is about to happen, the whole city trembles on the brink. The mayor steps back and shrugs – he is out of power cells.
At this moment the alleyways and rainy streets that lead into the central square come alive. Disembodied above, you can clearly see what those crowds, focused forward and intent on the device cannot. Shadows stepping out of doorways and rushing in from all sides. They swarm into the square and force their way onto the dais, wielding fists full of power cells like weapons, knocking aside all who stand in their way. Suddenly the device begins spinning and rises into the air – flashing many colors over the astonished faces that look up in awe. With a crack that is as much felt as heard, the entire metropolis seems to spin. There is a sensation of the earth shifting, as if in a quake, but the buildings stand firm. Everyone present is knocked down – it takes some time to restore order as in the chaos several of the groups seem to think they were under attack and lash out at those around them. The Mayor struggles to his feet and rushes to the large arch at the foot of the clocktower.
“HOLD! IT WORKED! We are free! THE PORTAL IS OPEN!”
Through the archway’s ancient stones can be seen a strange new vista. It is a city, but unlike any seen in recent times. There is a castle up on a central hill, surrounded by grand villas, guild halls and temples. The cobblestone streets seem lined with….taverns? What is happening here? Even as the Mayor frantically works the mechanisms near the portal, hoping for a new and more modern destination, you feel yourself being pulled from your safe haven as a formless observer. You feel your consciousness being yanked into a new form, a new life – how can this be? WHAT will you be? You have only a moment to hope that the fates will favor you – that the dice will roll in your favor – before everything goes black.
The Mayor glanced around town hall’s main conference room and sighed. The once ornately decorated and gilded chamber with its brass gas lights and mahogany table had wavered out of existence and simply refused to return. The room now held several much rougher tables with benches, a roaring fire and most oddly – a well-stocked bar. What was once the hallowed halls of government had become a popular and crowded watering hole. The Registration Maven had recently taken to dispensing drinks, advice and the occasional well-placed smack with the under counter “peacekeeper”. The Mayor despaired of getting her to return to her ledgers even if they managed to navigate their way out of this overly magical environment-but that was a problem for another day. He scowled into his tankard of ale and shoved it aside – he was pretty sure it had been a cup of tea only moments ago. Glancing down the splintered board at what had become his city council – the remaining leaders and dignitaries of Key City, he asked the obvious question,
“Why in the name of all the GODS, are we now stuck in these few realms? We used to range into the past and into the future, touching down where the steam called us, with doors and portals that opened to worlds beyond imagination. WHY do all the doors now open only to this…this…” he gestured hopelessly at the tavern around him “Admittedly charming but undoubtedly slightly…..primitive reality?”
At one end of the table, a very tall man in a top hat – The Chief Engineer and head of the Cogsworker Union shrugged, “Far as I can tell, we got us a case of too much magic.” He happily accepted another tankard of ale from the Registration Maven. “I know those hero types thought they were doing us some good by preventing any of the more criminal elements from opening the gates but they may have overdone it a scooch. Ain’t nobody knows exactly how the engines that power Key City were built but every time they try to shift away-the magic just pulls us right back here…..like magnetism or something. We gotta find some way to break the link or just wait for the magic to wear off some.”
The Mayor pounced on the last sentence, “Wear off? It will wear off? How long? I mean, if we just have to wait it out it might not be so bad. Now that so many of those damn villains and crime lords have managed to get themselves knocked off by bugbears and trolls its been a touch more peaceful, so a few more months in this chronological backwater might be…acceptable”
“Few months?” The Engineer chuckled, “Try more like…a few hundred years. Maybe a thousand? Or more. The half-life on that stuff is WILD.” There were groans from up and down the table and he held up his hand placatingly “Now wait, like I said no one knows how the engines work, but we at the union have been doing some research – these worlds may be backward but there is a whole host of new plants and devices to be experimenting with. We have found a wee mushroom that seems to EAT magic. If we can get enough of them little buggers, we will be free as the birds in the sky.”
“Hmmm, like how MANY mushrooms?” asked Hunter Thomas. He had been instrumental in bringing heroes to Key City during the Hero/Villain war and had been a stalwart figure in the shadows during the “Dark Year”, helping the Infiltrators gather enough power cells to retake the city….and knock it into this new predicament. Despite this, folks seemed to look up to him as a sort of father figure. James, who lead the Meowfia with his wife Kristen, snorted, “Yeah, how many mushrooms, cause we better do a better job at keeping track this time. I mean, I’m all for being a fun guy but….last time too much was clearly an issue.” Kristen nodded, then absently knocked her tankard off the table.
“Dunno. Too few, we go nowhere, too many…who knows? But I tell you what..its going to take a whole lot to have any effect at all.”
“Well a whole lot is going to take a whole lot of concerted effort. We are going to need daring folk, willing to risk it all to find this remedy. We need to reach out to the fine folk of this beleaguered city and guide them to success!” Katheryn was newly come to the councils of the city – but she was a fine orator and captured all eyes as she rose, pounding one fist on the table resolutely. She had recently taken to carrying a large hammer over her shoulder, and every time the Mayor saw her she seemed to have added another piece of armor to her outfit.
“If I may?” one of the Archivists raised a hesitant hand, “Perhaps what were once Families can reforge their bonds and become….One Guild. A Guild of Adventurer’s, if you will. Where fighters can stand side by side with bards and magic users to channel the talents of all to a common good.”
“A fine idea, Archivist, a fine idea. Let’s flesh it out.” The Mayor looked pleased as the entire table settled down to some serious discussion.
In the corner of the room, wrapped in shadows and nursing a whiskey sat an unobtrusive figure – a touch of muttered magic made everyone’s eyes skip right over her. She snorted into her glass. A fine idea indeed. As if that fool Hunter had really managed to outwit and defeat the Key Mistress. Key City was HERS. She passed a hand over her face, she had been feeling so odd lately. As if there was a voice whispering in her head. What had she been thinking? Wait, yes…Key City was hers, it would NEVER leave these realms. NEVER. An odd silver glint passed across her eyes. They’d see. Oh yes. They’d see.
Key City, that magical metropolis, has been set free to wander once again. After disrupting the great and mysterious machines that power it’s peregrinations with too MUCH magic, to escape the stasis that Hero/Villain war inflicted upon the city, the citizens found themselves ensnared once again – this time in lands full of magic and myth. The Guild of Adventurers was formed to find enough magic-eating mushrooms to balance out the power in the arcane mechanisms. A strange and malevolent group of Shadow Agents seemed bent on keeping Key City from regaining it’s freedom, but thankfully “Right” saved the day and the Chief Engineer was able to HEAP mushrooms all around the inner workings and before you could say “Hey, is that a dragon over there?”, the city had shaken itself free and shot off toward a bright future. Where do we find our erstwhile friends now, what new vistas have appeared before them..let us zoom in our crystals to catch a glimpse…
Key City
Town Hall
The Morning After…
The Mayor leaned back in his leather bound armchair, happily sipping a piping hot cup of tea. THIS was more like it. The ornate brass and crystal fitting of the town’s main conference room had reasserted themselves over the tavern that had most recently tried to muscle its way into existence in the very center of Key City. The Mayor had nothing against a flagon or so of ale in it’s place…but that place was NOT in the middle of town hall. The Registration Maven did not agree and seemed to have taken herself off to sulk. The Chief Engineer looked sadly into his own teacup and pushed it aside.
“Well, guess I should be getting back down to the workings. Ain’t no telling what all this mucking about with magic and anti-magic has done to the inner bits….we be traveling without a map nor compass now – all the old patterns and pathways are gone. Who knows where we end up next.”
The Mayor looked up sharply. “Next? What mean you, next?” He jumped to his feet and gestured through a nearby window at the restored City – it’s gateways and doorways alive and functioning – all opening to a fantastic and bright spaceport. High shining spires of gold raised high to a shimmering dome that held a back a vast array of stars. Airships floated serenely at anchor and citizens beautifully dressed and civilized moved through the clean streets, “LOOK at this place! Its beautiful! It is paradise” He looked imploringly at the Engineer, “Couldn’t you just…you know….like – put on the brakes or something?”
“YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?” The Engineer shoved away from the table and stood to his full height, glaring at the Mayor, “After everything, all we bin through to get this city MOVING, you want me to PUT ON THE BRAKES? You can take your tea and SHOVE it if you think I’m going to do that. We will be here as long as we are gonna be here and not a second more.” He stomped to the door, and then turned back, “Although, I don’t really know how long that is gonna be. Like I said, all the patterns and pathways are gone and none of my charts even show this place.” He shook his finger at the mayor, “But I ain’t messing with workings again! No way, no how. If you don’t like it, YOU are welcome to decamp to this, this PARADISE, and never travel no more.” The Engineer snorted, shook his head, then slammed out the door. The air seemed to shiver with the impact and the shadows near the ceiling suddenly seemed to coalesce, as if something had been awakened in them.
The mayor winced as the sound echoed through the chamber “Good gracious, such drama. It was just a thought,” he muttered to himself. He turned back to the window and smiled down at the view, “It really is nice, though. Maybe we will get to rest here, just a bit – with no extraordinary circumstances, or crime bosses, or strange shadowy dark figures trying to do goodness know what. Just….science and art, and some lovely parties perhaps…” He smiled out the window lost in a golden daydream. Behind him a small stream of black goo began to trickle down the wall and across the floor. It found the crack underneath the door and silently spread outward into the city…..