The Child Thief

The Child Thief
A Peter Pan inspired Threat for The Between
Direct the following verse to a hunter with a curse (or anyone of your choice):
A young girl has tumbled out of your wardrobe, jumping at shadows and missing her voice.
You took her to Scotland Yard and, unaged and unmarred, she appears to be Agatha
Haddow, a textile heiress last seen decades ago. When asked where she’s been all this
time, she mouths a classic fairy-tale rhyme:
“Come fair, sweet Starry Night Prince

Of children you care to convince
By granting our wishes
And stealing our kisses
To stay in your shade, ever since
You shed your skin in a bet

In a bid to always forget
Now you can play
Hide and seek as a Fae
Tears pose your only real threat”
As the story is told, the Starry Night Prince is an old shade who grants wishes to youth who
are bold, have prayed for his kiss, and have sayed: “I promise to come to the Fae where,
young, I will forever stay”. But he is real, and Hargrave House has faced this ordeal.
This month two situations bear signs of his visitations. Abebi D’Byrd, 8, converged with a
mirror and never emerged; Mary St. Church, 3, was swallowed by a birch tree. It’s rare for
the fairy to tarry, but each occured at The Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury.
Now please say:

What prints at each scene
Evince ‘twas the Prince
Been the one to whisk them away?
The Prince is playing hide and seek. Where is he hiding? (Complexity 4)

Resolve the Threat by ensnaring the spirit in a nimbus of light, burning him away for now.
How did Agatha Haddow escape the Fae Realm? (Complexity 6)

Resolve the Threat by reversing the process and bringing the children back home.
The Prince is afraid of tears. What memory is he avoiding? (Complexity: 8)

Resolve the Threat by confronting him with the memory, making him cry for mercy, and
granting it in exchange for 1 wish. (Agree on this as a group, so it doesn’t break your story.)
The Starry Night Prince
The following can be freely shared with the hunters. The Starry Night Prince is a
mischievous spirit who once lived in London. Previous research uncovered his dead name:
Elyas Peter Smith; his grave is marked 1643 and rests in Broadgate Cemetery. He won a bet
with a Fae creature so that he could play forever, “never needing to cry or die”. However,
though he is related to the Fae, when Hargrave House attempted to use his name to banish
him before, it had no effect. He steals children away to serve as pawns in inscrutable
wargames on the “Other Side'' and returns to London occasionally to resupply and to toy
with people. He is highly dangerous, with access to supernatural powers like shadow magic.
Quote: “Would you like to play a game?”
If Hargrave House Ignores the Prince...

More children at The Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury will go missing. His interests will turn
to youth who are more of a challenge to persuade, less desperate. The police will begin to
panic as he takes aim at the aristocracy. He will frame Hargrave House as the culprit,
leaving possessions from hunters’ Personal Quarters at the sites of disappearances.
Moments
● A sudden eclipse swallows the sun.
● A deck of cards falls from the table; all come up Jokers.
● Your shadow peels away from you and waves goodbye.
● Phantom lips emerge in the fog of the glass, opening and screaming.
● A shadow play in which the Wolf eats Red-Riding Hood and she doesn’t survive.
● You find yourself dangling from the minute-hand of the Great Clock Tower at the
Palace of Westminster (Big Ben), with a clear view of the stars over London.
Dangers
Shadow Magic
Though not bloodthirsty, if challenged the Starry Night Prince pays no mind for morality more
than fundamental rules of fairness. As a shade, he usually exists in two-dimension in our
world, but he emerges fully in very dark settings. He can perform great feats of shadow
magic, including (but not limited to): using shadows as puppet strings, teleporting bodies
through inky portals to unwelcoming environments, drowning victims in pools of darkness,
permanently sucking the light from the eye, and the ability to steal your voice with a kiss.
Stepping Foot in the Fae Realm

The following can be freely shared with the hunters. The Fae… changes people. Just by
entering and leaving, folk change. The Fae is a mournful place. It commemorates the world it
has witnessed through the eye of the moon; old magics, customs, and civilizations come to
rest here, but in their languishing are twisted. The Fae is a wild place. Coincidence is
common here and its environs alter rapidly as our anxieties and dreams come, literally, to
life: face-stealers, nightmares, feral children, and embodied memories can all be
encountered. The Realm shows hospitality only to those who are invited; interlopers are
handled harshly. Like in fairy-tales, players are welcome to negotiate to survive.
Locations
The Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury, An Orphanage

Boys and girls in near perfect uniform, surviving under the martial law of the Head Mistress.
A small prank is pulled behind her back as she turns her attention towards you.
Paint the Scene: How do we know as we look around that despite their harsh
circumstances, children still get up to mischief here and even find moments for real joy?
The Brunswick Textile Mill, Ancoats

Loud and clamoring. The building is as intricate as an automaton, smelling of iron and brass.
A sneeze is muffled as cotton wafts in the air. Black and blue dyes stain workers’ fingers.
Paint the Scene: The Factory Act of 1833 limited the hours that children between 9 and 13
could work. Yet many still do so here. How do we know that their dreams in life have been
deadened by doldrum at the machines?
The Grave of Elyas Peter Smith, Broadgate Cemetery

The epitaph reads: “‘A law eternal does decree, That all things born, Should mortal be.’”
Direct to a hunter with the Moss-Covered Gate marked: You are thrust into a vision of the
past, of the Starry Night Prince’s funeral. As you look around at the attendees, what do you
see that lets us know that the Prince was once a perfectly normal child?
The Fae Realm
Special Rule: Before a scene is set in the Fae Realm, as a group, choose 1 rule that must
be followed out of character while we enter the space.
We cannot see. Paint the Scene: What is more vivid here than anything in London?
We cannot speak. (Literally) Paint the Scene: Draw 1 horror we confront here.
We cannot roll dice1. Paint the Scene: What rules of reality cease to respond here?
Something Else
Clean pristine air, tasting of petrichor—as if it rained just before we arrived. Soft earth.
Everything in dazzling shadow and light. If a hunter has the Most-Beloved condition, they
will be given an Amber Apricot. Special Rule: If they eat it they are bound to the Fae Realm.
They may add it to their Personal Quarters.
Upon leaving the Fae Realm, each player who has entered poses one appropriate question
below to the right and one to the left:
● What about you has changed that only I know?

● What about me has changed that only you know?
● What about you will never change?
● What about me will never change?
1
If you choose the rule “We cannot roll dice,” discuss how you will handle conflict (Pick One: To use a
Move, it is an automatic hit, but you must take a Condition each time; Conflict is handled via
rock-paper-scissors; To overcome obstacles, you must give possessions from your Personal
Quarters; To make progress you must make binding promises; Something Else).
Side Characters
Elena Small, A Headmistress

Hulking and robust. Carries a well-used ruler at all times. Makes a strong, fortifying, coffee.
Quote: “These citizens aren’t raising themselves. Someone must do it. Do it right, I shall.”
Agatha Haddow, 9, A Child Who Came Home

Voice was stolen by the Starry Night Prince. In between fits of panic, she blankly stares at
the ground. Direct to the player with the highest Sensitivity (or choose, in case of a tie):
Paint the Scene: When you engage her with a game, the fog lifts somewhat from her state
of shock. How do you notice this?
Elijah Haddow, 43, Textile Magnate and Little Brother of Agatha Haddow
Satin gloves and half-boots with thick heels that accentuate his height. Like a spider.
Quote: “When my sister came home, I was surprised. But industry must carry on and so
must we. Boarding school will fix her up right; that is where she was before she left us.”
Various Children at the Orphanage

All tricksters of the utmost caliber, these pests vex the minds of caretakers and guests alike.
But they just want the space to be children—to be who they are. Some names, if needed:
Alma, Anna, Anton, Felix, Florence, Genevieve, Gus, Herman, Hiram, Jasper, Marion,
Marshall, Mathilda, Myra, Ollie, Oscar, Russell, Sadie, Silas, Virgil, Vincent, Winifred
Clues
● The absence of light.
● A blood-crusted sword
● A child walking upside down.
● Laughter from an unusual place.
● Wet footprints in an unusual place.
● A billiard ball rolling down a flight of stairs: ⬤
● All of your shadows angle toward the moon.
● Shadows unfit for the bodies that produce them.
● Shadows in the shape of a tea set, steam still rising.
● The tune “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, hummed backwards.
● An unusually slow grandfather clock, precisely 9 minutes late.
● A flower that has been deprived of light, discolored yet still blooming.
● A game of chess in which there are only pawns and bishops on the board.
● An old jade plant whose roots have cracked through the pot that contains it.
● Thomas Crofton Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland.
● A Queen chess piece, snapped in half. This counts as a Mastermind Clue as well.
● A copy of the Swiss Family Robinson by Johann D. Wyss, published 1812. Synopsis:
A family is stranded on an island and must learn to cope with their surroundings.
● The Light Princess by George MacDonald, published 1864. Synopsis: A princess is
afflicted by weightlessness, unable to descend to earth until she feels grounded.
● An unusual offering at the base of the Virgin Mary (Pick one: a wailing newborn, a
long jump-rope, a basket with a rotted pear inside, a bowl of ice cream).
● Whortleberry Pudding with an unusual ingredient (Pick one: childrens’ tears,
cardamom, lamb’s tongue, an arrow head, something from your Personal Quarters,).
Rewards
● A candle whose onyx flame shuns all light. Add it to your Personal Quarters.
● The Physical Training of Children by Pye Henry Chavasse (1871). Add it to your
Personal Quarters.
● A pair of weighted six-sided dice. Add it to your Personal Quarters.
● A New Feature for Hargrave House, The Game Room:

What do you play here with your fellow hunters? Pick one: Billiards/Jigsaw
Puzzles/Chess/Shogi/Go/Something Else. Add a game piece to your Personal
Quarters. What games are played here when everyone has left the room?
● You adopt one of the children you met at the orphanage. Who? When you retire your
playbook, another hunter may take this Reward in turn by taking on your charge.
Add one of the following Dawn Questions to your list:

“Did you play a game with your child and lose?”
“Did you teach your child an important lesson in responsibility?”
“Did you read a story to your child and wish them sweet dreams?”
Take the following Custom Move, Unconditional: Rolls associated with any
action in which you defend your child from the harshness of the world are
taken with Advantage. When you do so, take the Guardian Condition.
● A memento from the investigation; ask another hunter what it is and then add it to
your Personal Quarters.

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The Child Thief

A Peter Pan inspired Threat for The Between

“Come fair, sweet Starry Night Prince

You shed your skin in a bet

Now please say:

The Prince is playing hide and seek. Where is he hiding? (Complexity 4)

How did Agatha Haddow escape the Fae Realm? (Complexity 6)

The Prince is afraid of tears. What memory is he avoiding? (Complexity: 8)

Quote: “Would you like to play a game?”

If Hargrave House Ignores the Prince...

Stepping Foot in the Fae Realm

The Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury, An Orphanage

The Brunswick Textile Mill, Ancoats

The Grave of Elyas Peter Smith, Broadgate Cemetery

The Fae Realm

● What about you has changed that only I know?

Elena Small, A Headmistress

Agatha Haddow, 9, A Child Who Came Home

Various Children at the Orphanage

● A pair of weighted six-sided dice. Add it to your Personal Quarters.

● A New Feature for Hargrave House, The Game Room:

Add one of the following Dawn Questions to your list:

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