Meet Our Characters
Silas
When James Mortis found me, I was a broken man. I’d been blown to pieces on the battlefield of the Great War, leaving me disfigured and in perpetual pain. Mortis offered me a job looking after his estate. One late evening, clearing brush, my scythe struck something. That is when I found the well and began refreshing myself with its water daily. I felt renewed as my pain miraculously receded, and the strength of youth returned. The water gave me relief, but it exacted a price. I have not left Mortis Manor for a long time. I have memories that could not be mine. As I understand it, these have been given to me so that I may better serve. Let me introduce you to some of the house’s other inhabitants…
James Mortis
James Mortis arrived in town in the mid-1800s and began building his hillside estate. Mortis Manor grew quickly, always at night, and was soon sprawling over the grounds like an invasive weed. When it was finished, James summoned his young daughters, Rosa and Lily. He had long ago rid himself of Alice, the girls’ mother. He would spend nights away from the house, sometimes roaming the graveyard, sometimes meeting with a man known as “The Doctor.” It was during this early period he rescued me, Silas, from my misery and hired me to care for his estate.
Rosa
When Rosa and her sister arrived at Mortis Manor, they were close – scarcely liking to be apart. But as they grew and were left so often to fend for themselves by their father, a bitter rivalry developed, each vying for a bigger share of James’s sparse attentions. As their fighting escalated over the years, Rosa tried to poison Lily, and in retribution, Lily lured her out to the back acreage and pushed her down the same well I routinely drank from. When Rosa was discovered and pulled out almost a full day later, The Doctor revived her, and she was changed. Her skin had an ever-present greenish hue, and trails of dead and tortured animals littered her wake along the road leading to the manor.
Lily
When Lily began plotting to push Rosa down the well, she thought she’d be rid of her murderous sister forever. Then, she could be the sole child to bathe in her father’s rare affections as the only mistress of Mortis Manor. When Rosa came back, Lily was furious. In a rage, she attempted to burn down the manor with her family inside, but the house would not allow that. Instead, only Lily’s gown went up in flames. Fortunately, or not, both Lily and Rosa survived each other’s acts of retribution.
The Doctor
I do not know his true name, but he arrived at Hillside Sanatorium long ago, a bedraggled, abused little boy with damage done to him from which he would never recover. All empathy and sense of humaneness had been beaten from him. The resident physician treated him the best he could. As time went on, having no family and no place to call home, the boy became his assistant. When the old doctor was found hanged in his living quarters, all assumed it a suicide. But the now teenage boy knew otherwise; the old man had fought him to the last. The tall, lanky young man assumed medical duties and became more and more powerful as he assumed the title, “The Doctor.” Now he could indulge himself fully in all the experiments he’d only dabbled in. Now, he could concoct things from the living.
