Darth Wiki / Cardians Rural

They say home is where the heart is...

Welcome to Carlsville.

The small town of Carlsville in the state of Wisconsin seems ordinary enough on the surface: a quiet rural neighbourhood, and a happy community. However, this is only the surface layer to Carlsville, for not only do the little town and its surrounding areas play host to a variety of creatures of the night, but it also contains the headquarters of the Rural division of The Cardians Syndicate, who protect the innocent everyday human from the horrors that walk among them, no matter the cost or the method.

A town-wide curfew is in effect, due to what wanders the town at night. The townspeople are forbidden from going to the cornfields on the border of Carlsville, and the abandoned orphanage too. This charade has been kept up by the Cardians for some time, with a great deal of success.

But a new problem has arisen: random people have begun appearing in the town from across the United States, as if seamlessly pulled through space, after their own encounters with the supernatural. The worst part is, the Cardians seem to have no idea what is causing this.

After ending up in Carlsville and saved by the Cardians in varying circumstances, six people find themselves roped into helping the syndicate, their former lives more or less forever and irrevocably changed.

What lies in store for the six? Only time will tell...

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Player Characters

The primary group of characters, and the protagonists of Cardians: Rural. They are the ones who interact with Carlsville, and whose missions as part of the Cardians Syndicate form the plot.

General Tropes

• Action Survivor: As a result of their first interactions with Cardians and the supernatural. As they spend longer in Cardians, and their abilities and physical fitness grow, to any they happen to meet that doesn't know otherwise, they simply appear to be Cardians operatives.
• Anti-Hero Team: Some are less flawed, or at least more morally idealistic and grounded than others, and some of their flaws range from troubling to horrifying, but they are nonetheless a cohesive unit when a crisis hits. See Classical Anti-Hero below.
• Classical Anti-Hero: All of them very much have flaws and vices, but are all still very much on the side of trying to do the right thing. Most of the time.
  • Tomoe is a socially-distant former child soldier who's spent the last few years of his life drifting, so lacks basic general knowledge and social skills, and not only has serious self-esteem and confidence as a result of his former life, he is also dangerously lacking in intelligence and common sense while suffering from undiagnosed P.T.S.D. In later episodes, he develops schizophrenia after killing the mimic babies.
  • Henderson is a wallflower with self-esteem issues suffering in silence from a mid-life crisis who, despite his maturity, bottles up all of his feelings until they explode and become unreasonable. And that's saying nothing of his Dark Secret... whatever it may be.
  • Lemons is a sociopathic cannibal as a result of childhood neglect and trauma, who readily manipulates anyone and everyone around him to get what he wants.
  • Natalie has dangerously inconsistent forgetfulness that has gone so far as to cost someone their life in the past, and despite how sensible, perceptive and responsible she is (or tries to be), her impulsiveness and fiery temperament (particularly in the face of something she believes to be wrong) can needlessly escalate the most minor of conflicts.
  • Sal is a recklessly impulsive conspiracy theorist with unchecked anger issues. Until Season 2, when his memories are altered by the deal he makes in the Hedge to get himself some armour and punch-knives and subsequently loses his more eccentric tendencies and rage, gaining a new prideful cynicism. He becomes ready to believe the worst in anyone and loses faith in his team's (and Cardians' as a whole) ability to do any sort of good for a while.
  • Theo is idealistic to a fault, and sees the good in anyone he likes or cares about, even if they have done terrible things and are actively taking part in those terrible things.
  • River is a haughty Insufferable Genius who isolates herself out of a mix of misanthropy and a severe drive to pursue scientific knowledge (the latter of which she will do to the detriment of herself and others), with limited social skills and even less empathy as a result, alongside being reckless with the usage of her sniper rifle.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Zig-zagged. While their respective dire circumstances and the crises they've dealt with have brought them together as a team, whether or not they are friends depends on the individual character.
• Fish out of Water: Each one of them previously had fairly normal lives, until a supernatural encounter, after which they mysteriously found themselves in Carlsville, Wisconsin, without warning. Except for Tomoe, who wandered into Carlsville purely by chance while drifting.
• Jade-Coloured Glasses: They're slowly beginning to don them, if they haven't already, over the course of the campaign.
• Muggles: Each of them began as one of these, before the true nature of the world they lived in revealed itself to them one fateful day. Even now, however, none of them have any unusual, supernatural or paranormal abilities or qualities; in spite of what they've gone through, they are still relatively normal humans. Except Lemons, whose cannibalism prevents him from ever being fully normal.
• Muggles Do It Better: They encounter various seemingly inexplicable phenomena, using only the normal everyday things around them, and if they don't come out on top, they at least survive.
• No One Gets Left Behind: Most of them did their best to ensure that all six made it out of the dangerous woods they found themselves in after dark, safe and sound.
• Team Dad: A lot of the six have fairly parental qualities, and oversee one another in different ways. So much so that it's become a joke among their controlling Players to compare and contrast how "Dad" all the main characters are.
  • Team Mom: ...save for Natalie Cole, who is female, and is therefore compared on her "Mom-ness". Though sometimes she's just classed as a dad anyway.
• True Companions: Zig-zagged, as with Fire-Forged Friends, depending on which of the Player Characters are being focused on. Natalie and Theo are extremely close and loyal to one another, with Nat even outright saying that Theo is her best friend. Henderson, meanwhile, cannot stand Lemons because of the latter's cannibalism and his disrespect and disregard towards the boundaries the former sets. Lemons is in turn annoyed with Henderson for the choices he makes regarding his son. Nonetheless, there is a sense of loyalty, or least obligation, to one another.

Tomoe Yakasuki

♣ | 27 | Japanese-American

"Let me tell you a thing or two about revenge..."

Kidnapped by the mercenary group Bloodmoon at age 6, Tomoe found himself pulled into the world of murder-for-hire, and forced to adapt. Nine years ago, the Bloodmoon camp was destroyed and everyone in the team, including Tomoe's mentor, killed, save for Tomoe himself. Ever since, he has wandered the earth, searching for whoever might be responsible for the massacre of his team. Until he walks into Carlsville, Wisconsin, and encounters another drifter, who turns out to be a vampire. Tomoe is bitten, and some of his blood is drank, later that night, and after a run-in with the Rural division's Ace of Clubs, finds himself pulled into working for the organisation too.

• Cold-Blooded Torture: Has FOUR points in Intimidation, and his speciality is "Torture/Veiled Threats".
• Cold Sniper: Back in his Bloodmoon days. Whether or not he is still this remains to be seen.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Just read his above character summary.
• Death Seeker: Has shades of this, due to his past. Upon finding out he was bitten by a vampire and fed from, he called for Hellings to kill him. In most situations, he'll take the more reckless option, so long as it means neutralising whatever threat faces the group.
  • This has come back to bite Tomoe hard, especially after the most recent mission, where he jumped into a burning room to take down an injured demon trying to escape... while he himself was injured.
• Facial Markings: Has tattoos across his eyes.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: His main weapons are a pair of brass knuckles.
• He's Back!: Much of his character arc has resulted in this, over the course of many missions, but cemented in the Season 1 Finale, when he argued the value of his current morality and standards, and the man he had become in the face of everyone discovering his past as a torturer.
• Hired Guns: Worked as part of Bloodmoon, which is a group of these, more or less.
  • Private Military Contractors: The members of Bloodmoon were these, at best.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He is well-trained as a sniper.
  • Sniper Rifle: His previous weapon of choice. In Season 2, it becomes no longer "previous" when he takes Vokil's gun.
• Lineage Come From The Father: His combat skills and emotional instability, as well as proficiency with axes seems innocuous at first, until it's discovered his father is his experienced, emotionally unstable, axe-wielding boss.
• Long-Lost Relative: Both of his parents, who Tomoe doesn't entirely remember. As of Season 2, Tomoe has learned that his mother is a woman named Seiji Yakasuki, and his father is his direct Ace, Matthew Hellings, Sr.
• Luke, You Are My Father: How Tomoe informs his birth father and boss about the true nature of their relationship.
• Mercy Kill: Asked the Ace of Clubs, Matthew Hellings, to kill him after he discovered he'd been bitten by a vampire. Hellings refused, deciding to recruit Tomoe into Cardians instead.
• Perpetual Frowner: See The Stoic.
• Put on a Bus: Once it’s Infinity’s new host and he almost dies, he’s put into a medically induced coma to stifle Infinity’s potential influence.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted, and eventually double-subverted: when investigating the disappearance of Timothy Lanes, Tomoe looked into disembodied humming coming from a lookout point in the fort the team had found and was told to leave by a disembodied voice when the sun was setting, and after the team had found Timothy's body. He did so eventually, but not before he tried to punch the source of the voice, and with some additional pleading and convincing from both Henderson and Sal.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Due to his past career as an assassin, he's been through a lot.
• The Atoner: See These Hands Have Killed below.
• The Stoic: Doesn't really show all that much emotion, outside of scowling. As of Season 3, he's grown increasingly distant. He does have his moments where the facade not only cracks but breaks. With Natalie, when they're alone, he behaves more or less like a normal person.
• These Hands Have Killed: As part of his backstory, Tomoe was more or less forced to kill someone to earn his keep, and seeks redemption for this.
• Walking the Earth: Prior to his time in Carlsville, he was doing this.
• When He Smiles: It's quite cute, according to Natalie's inner thoughts, anyway.

Richard Henderson

♠ | 43 | Caucasian-American

"I can do, uhhh... taxes?"

A salary man and loving father, Richard Henderson found his peaceful life shattered after a camping trip resulted in his eldest son and wife going missing, and he and his youngest son attacked by mimics. With some help from a member of the Cardians, the remaining Hendersons escaped with their lives. Now, he works for the syndicate, while balancing time to look after his son and look into the disappearances of his wife and eldest son.

• After-Action Healing Drama: After their encounter with the mimics, Henderson had to rush his son Hawthorn to a nearby hospital due to severe injuries.
• Believes His Own Lies: Mimics only copy the voices of their victims, but that won't stop Henderson from looking for Rowan, whose voice was distinctly heard from the mimics several times.
• Car Fu: When faced with an assault by mimcs on himself and his son inside an RV, Henderson eventually opts to take the wheel. He backs over several mimics, causing delightful popping noises.
• Dark Secret: The only flaw listed on Henderson's character sheet.
  • The secret itself turns out to be uncovered by Jason of all people in Season 3, and even then he only discovers part of it, which is as follows: Richard has never loved Julia. From high school into college and beyond into marriage, and the birth of two kids, the relationship has been completely one-sided, and he has been caught between how stifling the relationship is for him, and how awful he would feel if he left her. Word of God is that, furthermore, the reason that this is the case is that Henderson is secretly gay, and only pursued a relationship with Julia as an experiment and attempt to fit in.
• Give Him a Normal Life: Henderson is extremely wary of the syndicate's involvement in his son's recovery and life, and is determined not to let his son fall into the supernatural world.
• Good Parents: Henderson and his wife Julia. Until Julia’s corruption by Finnegan.
• Happily Married: Or at least he was, until his wife and son disappeared in a dark and mysterious forest full of murderous mimics. Now the future is unclear, as far as that goes.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Despite fervently pursuing theater for the first part of his life, Henderson has a single dot in presence, no dots in perform, and a trait that actively makes it harder for him to be noticed.
  • However, there are some fringe benefits that may end up being more helpful in the long run as a hunter.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Was steadily growing dissatisfied with his normal, boring family life, as part of something of a mid-life crisis.
• Kill It with Fire: Ordered Natalie to throw their remaining gasoline into the room they had just fought Dagmar in as a last-ditch effort to burn the demon alive. It didn't go well...
• Last-Name Basis: Most people just call him "Henderson".
• Nice Guy: The most morally centred of the group, and one of the nicest, without any ulterior motives.
• Nuclear Family: A wife, two kids, and a nice house were a part of Henderson's life. Not anymore, though!
• Papa Wolf: Henderson is fiercely protective of his family, particularly in mortal danger. He channelled this trait well when he and his son Hawthorn encountered some murderous mimics.
• Team Dad: In a literal sense, in that he is an actual father, and in the sense that he is one of the more level-headed and grounded among the group.
• The Generic Guy: Due to having only one point in his Presence stat, and being a suit-wearing salaryman.
• The Leader: Seems to be turning into this, due to being the smartest of the team, and the most proactive in terms of planning.
• The Smart Guy: Has the highest number of points in Mental stats, and before his time with the Cardians, he was an accountant.

Guy Lemons

♥ | 35 | Caucasian-American

"Hey there."

Having grown up in an unstable home environment, with little food available to him, Guy Lemons was drawn to how dead things worked... and tasted. He became a medical examiner, working with health authorities and the police alike, depending on the nature of the body. One fateful night, however, a wendigo attacked him in his home, but he successfully escaped... by somehow suddenly driving into a state several hundred miles away with no similar way back. He now works under the Cardians in Carlsville, who recruited him after they discovered what had happened.

• Autopsy Snack Time: A much more questionable and horrific example, but Lemons will cut off small sections of his "patients" to... sample.
  • Though, as a more realistic example, he does chew gum while working.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lemons, more often than not, doesn't care about those around him all that much, and merely adopts the persona of a friendly man to make interaction easier. Should the time call for it, he'll do anything to save his own skin.
  • Becoming the Mask: After continuous interactions with characters such as Theo, Lemons has begun incorporating features of the facade he puts up of a "good neighbour" that helps him interact with the world, into his personality. See Character Development below.
• Car Fu: Lemons floored it when the wendigo chasing him appeared in front of his car, and successfully ran over it. Unfortunately, one of the wendigo's horns made it through to Lemons.
• Character Development: Over time, it's becoming more ambiguous as to how much of Lemons' outward friendly persona is fake, at least to lemons' knowledge. His feelings towards Theo, and his friendship with Chaney, seem to be the biggest influences, as well as invoking actual genuine feelings of compassion and friendship.
• Color-Coded Characters: Lemons usually wears at least one item clothing containing some shade of purple.
• Creepy Mortician: Considering he's a cannibal and a medical examiner, it's hard not to see him as this. Of course, no one knows he's a cannibal but Lemons himself, but regardless, if you cross him, or he just fails to comfort you, well... see the Lack of Empathy entry below.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He grew up with an addict mother, and would often go without eating. This pushed him to indulge in consuming roadkill and other such things, which would lead to his cannibalism.
• Dark Secret: See below. And above. And most of the material to do with Lemons, really.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Begins to develop these over the course of Season 2 due to him being infected with a wendigo curse.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Invokes this as his public facade, but deep down, this trope is ultimately subverted.
  • Although this may not necessarily be the complete case: see Character Development above.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Lemons is secretly a cannibal, who takes samples of bodies at the morgue where he works.
• Incompatible Orientation: Liz has a crush on him, and Lemons cannot reciprocate. Doesn't mean he won't initially lead her on with a date, though.
• Lack of Empathy: Has 0 points in this skill, which meant that when he attempted to comfort a shocked intern, he ended up frightening him so badly with a smile the intern wet himself. This also stems from him possibly being a sociopath.
  • Since then, a lot of his attempts to show empathy haven't ended well.
• Last-Name Basis: Understandable when your first name is Guy.
• Manipulative Bastard: Lemons knows how to get people to do what he wants, through as his sheet describes, "subtle-yet-malicious manipulation".
  "High school was a social game, and he was a master player."
• Nice Guy: Seems to project this as his default state. However, it is more than likely a means to make social interaction easier.
• Partial Transformation: As a result of the wendigo curse deepening and spreading throughout him, Lemons looks visibly gaunt, has gained height, and his eyes can glow in the dark.
• Smile Tropes: Has several smiles he uses for various contexts.
  • Psychotic Smirk
  • Slasher Smile: See Lack of Empathy.
  • Stepford Smiler: Downplayed, and a more occasional example saved for stressful occasions.
• Straight Gay: Definitely. He is attracted to Theo, Bo and Hellings, but he possesses no stereotypical outward characteristics of a Camp Gay, apart from being VERY well-dressed and fashionable. Even that, however, is more neutral in terms of application to sexuality.
• The Charmer: One of his default methods of dealing with people.
• The Coroner: Prior to joining the Cardians, Lemons was a medical examiner.
• The Corruption: The wendigo curse, from Season 1 onwards.
• The Face: As a Heart, and an experienced social manipulator, Lemons easily fills this role out of the six. When encountering a new person, it's usually Lemons at the front of the group, and the first to engage them in conversation.
• The Gadfly: If the results of you being annoyed are amusing enough to Lemons, chances are he's going to try and do it again.
• The Social Expert: Is very quick to zero in on people's strengths and weaknesses. You can be sure he'll be making mental notes about how you work should you cross paths with him, and how to take advantage of this to further his own goals.

Natalie Cole

♦ | 23 | Caucasian-American

"You were right: we can't save everyone. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try."

A young med student currently on compassionate leave from her studies, after a botched surgical close-up resulted in the death of the patient, Natalie worked in a bar six nights a week to sustain herself, and to save money to get a good lawyer after the now-dead patient's family decided to sue her. An encounter with a seemingly abandoned baby in her university library and her subsequent rescue by the Cardians, however, has meant that for the moment, all that must be put on hold.

• Anger Born of Worry: Towards Theo in the Season 2 Finale, after he went off on his own to confront Bo aka Fustrarime, and he was discovered suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite.
• Buffy Speak: Prone to this, especially when describing supernatural creatures and phenomena that she isn't fully educated on.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Desperately wants to help as many people as she can, and always makes an effort to try, even if it isn't possible. Even if it isn't necessarily deserved or practical. But she still believes her efforts to be worth it, so long as there's a chance if it means that someone can be saved; to not attempt to guarantees condemning them. See her above character quote.
• Deadpan Snarker: A fair bit, to the point where what she thought would be her last words were used snarking at the creatures trying to eat her.
• Death Glare: Gives one on several occasions to those who anger her, both enemy and Cardian alike.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Her snark and sass being a key component of her personality, Natalie isn't one to be afraid of figures with any kind of power that's greater than hers. Dagmar, Finnegan, Vayne, and Fustrarime have received unashamed tongue-lashings.
• Dual Wielding: Has both a machete and a cold-iron knife, which she can wield at the same time thanks to her Two Weapons fighting style.
• Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Her dealings with the Cardians can be traced back to when she decided to take a baby to Child Services on her only day off in the week, and when she should have been studying.
• Extra-Dimensional Shortcut: Seemingly completely by chance, Natalie stumbled out of her apartment while escaping the mandrakes after her, and ended up in a version of her street with twisted branches and thorns overrunning everything. After she was finally caught, she was found and rescued by Bo. This version of her street was later revealed to be the Hedge, and Natalie had stumbled through a moving portal to it that the Cardians had been monitoring.
  • Revealed to have been invoked by the mandrakes and Vokil, as part of their gathering/hunting methods.
• Face Death with Dignity: After some bargaining with the mandrakes trying to eat her, after it was clear there was no other way out, Natalie accepted her fate, managing to get out a sad, angry and yet snarky remark at them.
• "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: What she thought would be her last words:
  Mandrake: We need... life.
  Natalie: And you just had to take mine, you fucking pricks...
• Fatal Flaw: Natalie has two: her forgetfulness, and from Season 2 onwards, her temper.
• Forgetful Jones: Downplayed, but one of her two Flaws is nonetheless her forgetfulness.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Her Vice is Envy. Until Season 2, when it changed to Wrath.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Played with. What hair she has is blonde (be it dyed or undyed), and she's very compassionate and kind. She tries to uphold a moral standard, but there are times, as with any character in Hunter: The Vigil, when she slips.
  • Foil: In this sense, both her and Lemons.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Downplayed, but nonetheless a significant problem for her. If she feels something is wrong, she won't back down easily if at all, even against better judgement.
• Heroic BSoD: Underwent something akin to one after making it back to the house from being chased by creatures, while having the body of a dead child stuffed in the car's trunk. As time goes on, and increasingly horrific things occurred, she began having more of these, and has now had them less and less, as she adjusts to the horror she encounters.
• Heroic Safe Mode: Manifested fully in the Season 1 Finale during the fight against Vayne-Possessed!Aubry, where her rage spilled over and she become downright murderous as the mage increasingly hurt the other division members. Once [[spoiler:they won, her other emotions returned, and she could barely speak, instead pushing medical aid on those who needed it, worrying Sal in particular. This has increasingly become Natalie's default in extreme crisis or combat: much of her snark and sass stops, and she becomes laser-focused on staying alive and keeping those around her alive too.
• Hot-Blooded: Lively, sharp-tongued, and very expressive emotionally.
• Kill It W Ith Fire: Enacts this at Henderson's direction against Dagmar, but is horrified by the results of how uncontrolled the incident was. This is why when she rummages through the main house's workshed for materials to work on weapon crafts and discovers basic plans for flamethrowing, she works on them further, making actual blueprints for a flamethrower, and then builds it. Said flamethrower comes in repeatedly handy, and results in further instances of this trope.
• Machete Mayhem: Partway through Season 1, she picks one up.
• Mama Bear: At one point, when the baby she was taking care of seemed to be under threat from two creepy stalkers, Natalie was more than ready to fight them if it came to it, armed only with a pocket knife.
• My Greatest Failure: Considers her causing the death of a surgery patient to be this. Gains a second in Season 2 after her actions on the "longest night".
• My God, What Have I Done?: Her backstory holds an example of this, and has several throughout the campaign.
• Nice Girl: Dislikes conflict, polite, and ready to lend emotional support to those around her. It was this niceness that, ironically enough, ended up severely injuring her (to the point of her almost being eaten alive [[spoiler:or so she thought), and her subsequent conscription into the Cardians.]]
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: All Natalie wanted to do was drop off a seemingly abandoned baby at Child Services out of the goodness of her heart. This baby turned out to be the spawner of flesh-eating mandrakes of some kind, that tried to eat her. She survived her encounter with them, but her legs were left injured as a result.
• Oh, Crap!: Voiced several exclamations to this effect during her escapade prior to arriving in Carlsville. And has made plenty since.
• Precision F-Strike: Is prone to making these, especially when angered or stressed.
• Rousing Speech: Gave one to Sal, Tomoe, Lemons, Aubry and Chaney to stop their arguing and finger-pointing after Lemons voiced his anger over an infection possibly contracted by half the team that they didn't know about until too late. It, combined with her honesty over snooping in the Cardians' personal files, results in her promotion to a 3 of Diamonds.
• Sarcasm Failure: A very dark example. After she, Theo and Aubry discovered Sal and the horrifically butchered remains of Dagmar, she could only sputter in horror and disgust. When she finally asked about it, it was simply an "...Um?!"
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When her apartment was overrun by "root babies", she didn't even make an attempt to fight them, and just ran away as fast as she could. Even before the situation worsened, she made plans to get out of the place.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: When angry or stressed out. Can still curse plenty when neither of these things, however.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Because of her hairstyle and good looks, Nat has the 1-dot variant of the Striking Looks feat, meaning she's both very attractive and physically memorable. The downsides of this are that potential witnesses to Cardian activity and monsters/threats that escape are more likely to remember her, and, as shown in her tutorial, she's prone to harassment and stalking from creeps that find her attractive. At the time, she brushes it off, as her concern was on the safety of the baby she was looking after and the potential threat the guy following her posed to the infant. She remarks later in the campaign about the regularity of the harassment she suffered beforehand, and how for that one time she was able to temporarily forget that the creep was after her.
• Team Mom: Regularly reins in the more unruly of the Player Characters, should they squabble or make an ass of themselves. She also managed to coax Tomoe out of his shell, at least a little, encouraging him to try talking to the others.
• Technical Pacifist: Despite starting off not being too physically capable, especially in combat, and being more inclined to be merciful or talk things out with more sentient or reasonable supernaturals, she has made it known that the mimics despite possibly being either mutated humans or created from humans deserve, if not need, to die. She would happily burn their den to the ground on the outskirts of town to the ground if it meant people were made safer. Furthermore, her current array of weapons and her willingness to use them in crisis means that she's willing to engage in combat, but would prefer not to.
• 10-Minute Retirement: In Season 2, during the aftermath of the "longest night". See Unfit for Greatness.
• The Heart: Assumed this role temporarily after Lemons' public confrontation of Aubry resulted in further arguments and upset in the Cardians.
• The Medic: She has a degree in Anatomy, was training to become a doctor before she came to Carlsville, and has a great talent for tending to the injuries of others.
• The Smurfette Principle: Is the only female Player Character out of the current group of six.
• Too Clever by Half: An increasingly common failing of hers, and she knows it.
• Took a Level in Cynic: Seems to have undergone this after all the Player Characters' missions while in Carlsville. It has gotten to the point where she believes that no mission will be simple or easy, and that in order to succeed or find what they're looking for, the Player Characters will have to go through horrible and harmful surprises.
  Natalie: We're gonna probably have to go through the trapdoor, because knowing our luck, that's where Omega will be, behind a fire, and, like, clouds of anthrax or some shit.
  Theo: ...Oh my God Nat.
  Natalie: You know there will be, though.
  Theo: Uh— Don't say it! ...Cause then it might happen...
  Natalie: ...I don't want it to happen!
• Unfit for Greatness: Deconstructed in Season 2 on the "longest night":
  • Natalie (after some manipulation by Finnegan) tries to persuade the team not to check in on Liz at the mansion, because she believes that the ghost of her mother will be enough to keep her safe, and that closing the Hedge portal will ensure her safety more effectively. Arguments ensue, Natalie is called out multiple times on not only her decision making, but also her temper during the operation, and recognises that she's screwed up royally in a way that almost cost her someone she cared deeply for. She finishes the night having torn up her 5 of Diamonds card, believing she is no longer fit for the position and the trust and responsibility that comes with it, and going to Aisha to request a demotion. She turns Nat down, because she knows how capable and smart Nat is and has proven to be, and wants to see her succeed and rise through ranks organically, citing the fact that Nat could summarily recognise and analyse her failings as additional evidence. Spurred on by this, Nat resolves to continue, and do better.
• Unstoppable Rage: In the Season 1 Finale, against Vayne.
• Walking Armory: After she gets a cold-iron knife in Season 2, on top of her machete and a homemade flamethrower. [[spoiler:Especially so when she adds a handgun later, bringing her array of carried weapons to four, and five if you count her original pocket knife.
• Women Are Wiser: With 3 or 4 out of 5 dots in both Intelligence and Wisdom, and a former Virtue of Prudence, Nat can be reliably counted on to make sensible and informed decisions, more so than the other male Player Characters. Except for Henderson. Usually.
  • Plus, she's clever enough to work out certain aspects of the town's supernatural threats, such as the true identity of the Matriarch being Jessica Hauler, and a good chunk of the history between Vayne, Finnegan and Infinity, most of which she worked out with intuition from only disparately connected evidence. To top it all off, she also confirms how to weaken Infinity's hold over her host and cut off her ability to perceive beyond the mines: by putting them into a medically-induced coma.

Salvator "Sal" Santos

♣ | 26 | Hispanic-American

"It's because I'm brown, isn't it?"

After growing up believing his father to be a heroic soldier against the monsters that lurk in the darkness of the world (despite evidence to suggest he was merely a common criminal), Sal came to subscribe to more or less every supernatural-related belief you could think of. Working as a fry cook at a local fast food outlet, and researching the paranormal in his spare time, he thinks himself ready to face the terrors that lurk in the night, which is put to the test, when he and a friend join up with a ghost hunting crew to investigate a house in their area. Then everything starts going wrong, people start dying, and Sal finds himself in the care of the Cardians.

• Agent Mulder: The hard part is finding some sort of conspiracy or paranormal phenomenon that he doesn't believe in.
• Alliterative Name: "Salvator Santos".
• Bandage Mummy: As a result of his tutorial, he has a full-body cast on while he recovers from his encounter in the orphanage with the creature that had been attacking the ghost hunters.
• Big Damn Heroes: Seems to be fond of pulling this on others. The first was when he selflessly provided a distraction for the Matriarch so that it would leave his friend Dragoon alone. The second was in the first mission when the group he was with came under attack, and he jumped straight into the fight.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: In the Season 1 Finale, when Vayne used Aubry's powers to take over his mind.
• Character Development: Seems to be slowly becoming more serious and grounded, as the team's missions give increasingly dire results. At least, it started this way. Now, he's growing more ready to take outrageous and outlandish actions. He also seems to be becoming increasingly unhinged, as encounters with supernaturals rack up and he's allowed to kill them.
  • Taken a step further in Season 2, when he sells his memories related to Finnegan in the Hedge for some cold-iron equipment. This backfires massively, as the resulting memory wipe leaves Sal with limited memories of his time with the team, particularly regarding the fight with Vayne, with Sal believing that those involved killed Aubry and made him help them. This gets rectified somewhat, but Sal is left much more cynical, even-tempered, and prideful.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Somewhat, due to his firm belief in conspiracies and other such things. He also seems to be displaying more of this as time passes, from as tame as noisily playing his guitar when told to stop, to peeing on the bed of a custodial cell out of spite.
• Conspiracy Theorist: And HOW. The extent of his affirmation in believing in the supernatural, illogical and absurd means that...
  • Conspiracy Kitchen Sink: ...he believes the world he lives in to be this.
    • Funny thing is, he isn't far off, due to the true nature of the world.
• Creepy Souvenir: Attempted to take one off Dagmar, but was stopped by Aubry, the ace of spades requiring all body parts burned. Was eventually successful in getting a dead mimic head and attaching it to his guitar.
• Draw Aggro: The crux of his plan in Season 2's "longest night" against the Hedge Beasts involves him doing this, while the other Cardians target the horde attacking him to more efficiently kill them. It works, and their population is severely decreased as a result.
• Deadpan Snarker: With the girl who seemed to have saved him and his friend.
• Fantastic Racism: Believes any supernatural entity he encounters to be either disgusting, a threat, or both, and something that must be destroyed.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Due to his high Strength, and weapon choice of sap gloves, Sal usually engages in combat by punching the antagonist.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Natch, with his Vice being Wrath. Until Season 2, when his Vice became Pride, and he mellowed somewhat after unintentionally selling a lot of his memories.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Was prepared to undertake one of these to save his friend, Dragoonslayer 505. The creature he sacrificed himself to didn't end up killing him, however; it merely severely injured him.
• Hidden Depths: Comforted a shocked Arthur after a toothed crow mimicked the crying of his missing team-mate. This was the first public example of a softer and more considerate side to Sal.
• Hot-Blooded: Quick to anger, and both loud and eccentric. Until Season 2.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Usually has a pet cat either with him (kept in his coat pocket) or belonging to him. He had to buy another, though, as his previous cat was lost back in the original house he was investigating with the ghost hunting team. Regardless, whatever pet he owns, he loves it completely and unconditionally.
• Knight in Sour Armour: As time goes on, Sal's eccentricities slowly fall away, and he becomes noticeably more cynical about the division's chances and purpose. That doesn't mean he won't still help people where he can.
• Meaningful Name: Whatever female cat he seems to own, Sal calls the animal "Bastet", after the Egyptian cat-headed goddess of protection. He believes Bastet to be a deterrent against dark forces. In addition, the names "Salvator" and "Santos" mean "savior" and "saints" respectively, and Sal considers himself as a hero for all mankind against the forces of darkness. At least, he does before the results of his memory sale in Season 2.
  • Pet's Homage Name: Given Sal's beliefs, it's not surprising he names his pets in this way.
• Out of Focus: In Season 3, due to Sal's Player stepping away from the campaign.
• Put on a Bus: See above. The in-universe explanation is that he's working more closely with Yao and the yakuza Clubs.
• Supreme Chef: Can become this, oddly enough, due to his previous job as a fry cook, especially when teamed with Theo.
• The Big Guy: Is physically the largest of the group, and one of the physically strongest, to boot.
• Took a Level in Cynic: After the fallout from his memory sale is addressed, he comes to regard both his team and himself in low regard, clashing with more idealistic members of the team concerning their potential to do good.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Due to his physical strength and fighting style, if there is some form of obstacle in Sal's way, he'll usually try to punch it out of his way. Sometimes, when he's angry, he'll attempt to punch the source of his anger, too.

Theodore "Theo" Warden

♦ | 21 physically; actually roughly 90 | Caucasian-American

"Neat!"

A young baker with a happy soul and a cheery disposition, Theo previously lived with his best friend, Able Makani, and several others in a large apartment. One night, he had a lucid dream about a strange world of mirrors. Things got weirder from there, culminating in Theo having to escape from a mirror world after a doppelganger somehow swapped places with him. He now works for the syndicate after his life was turned upside down.

• All-Loving Hero: You'll have to work pretty damn hard to make him even stop liking you, much less dislike you.
• The Ageless: As a result of becoming a changeling after living out the remainder of his human life in Fustrarime's realm.
• Bag of Holding: His messenger bag. It holds so much excess stuff, it's even listed on his equipment list as being called this.
• Back from the Dead: After dying in Fustrarime's realm, the Fae saves his life by making him a changeling, and allows him to return to Carlsville, with the option of coming back to him at any time.
• Break the Cutie: The result of his introduction session certainly qualifies as this.
  • As if that wasn't bad enough, almost every mission has tested Theo psychologically in some way. The incident with Dagmar, especially the aftermath with Sal, severely shook him. It doesn't seem to be taking its toll, however, for now at least...
• Emotion Eater: As part of his new changeling biology, he can do this do to replenish his Glamour.
• Food Porn: Can make several dishes worthy of his on a good day, due to his talent and skill.
• Forced to Watch: Theo was powerless to help as he watched his mirror-world doppelganger attack Able, his best friend. We never see exactly what happened to him, but it's implied that the doppelganger killed him. Until we find out that Able was kept alive as part of the doppelganger's plan to take over Theo's life.
• Happily Married: To Bo/Fustrarime, because of their relationship and Theo's lifetime spent in Fustrarime's realm.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Makes a deal with Fustrarime at the climax of Season 2 to spend the rest of his life in the Fae's realm in exchange for the safety and return of his fellow division members and the kidnapped people to Carlsville, along with the Fae vowing never to interfere with the town again.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Resolutely tries to stand up for Bo, even after he is revealed to be a dangerous True Fae, and the one behind both the Hedge portal and the gargoyles. He even tries repeatedly to help Lemons and Arthur, even after the full damaging extent of their past actions and behaviour is revealed.
• Keet: He cooks, he usually has a smile on his face, and he does his best to lighten the spirits of the others.
• Loved by All: It's hard not to like Theo. Even someone like Able Makani enjoys his company. It's this quality that allows him to get close enough to Fustrarime to warn him of the division's arrival, and to make the deal to save everyone, precisely because the Fae cares about him that much.
• Mirror Universe: Where his doppelganger came from, and also the place Theo may have been dreaming about for those two lucid dreams he had.
• Mayfly–December Romance: His relationship with Bo, aka Fustrarime, is revealed to be this once it becomes clear who and what Bo really is. Zigzagged, however, once Theo comes back as a changeling, beings that are technically immortal.
• Nice Guy: Does his damndest to be kind, polite and helpful to whoever he meets.
• Nightmare Sequence: The second of the dreams Theo had involved a creature within a reflection stalking and attacking him.
• Older Than They Look: He is now chronologically in his late eighties or early nineties, but because of his new changeling biology, he has his young body back. This means that the others have trouble grappling with the fact that Theo has lived for between 80 and 90 years, because not only does he look no different outwardly from when they last met, he also returned to Carlsville roughly two weeks after saying goodbye. Theo himself has undergone a minor attitude change because of this: older and more authoritative characters no longer intimidate him, as he knows that he is not only older than them but that he has areas of experience and expertise that they lack.
• Straight Gay: There isn't all that much stereotypical flamboyance or femininity to Theo, so far as has been seen.
• Stunned Silence: Theo found himself at a loss for words after the fight with Dagmar, and Sal's subsequent dealings.
• Supreme Chef: He previously worked as a baker, and would usually have a hand in making meals for his apartment.
• Team Chef: Both at his apartment, and now in the Cardians. The other Player Characters' first encounter with him was with him in the kitchen, making cookies for them all.
• The Baby of the Bunch: The youngest of the Player Characters, at 21, and physically the smallest.
  • As of the end of Season 2 and the start of Season 3, this is no longer the case, with Theo being somewhere in his eighties or nineties upon his human death and return to Carlsville.
• The Cutie: Theo's main traits are that he's short, unshakably optimistic, and incredibly nice and likeable.
• The Empath: He has FOUR points in Empathy.
• The Heart: Of his flatmates and circle of friends.
• The Pollyanna: See above. He has an unflinching optimism and happy disposition.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Sees the best in everyone, and tries his best to bring it out and befriend them. This doesn't mean that it doesn't come back to bite him at a few key points.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: The shadow reflection monster in his dreams that attacked him slashed at Theo twice, causing injury both times, When Theo awoke, he did so injured in the same way as he was in the dream.

Spoiler Character: River Hathaway

♠ | 42 | Human | Caucasian-British

"Humans are temporary; results last forever."

Introduced partway through Season 2, River Hathaway is a seven-foot-tall biological scientific researcher with a penchant for self-sufficiency and hunting. In her former life, she was the secluded heiress of the Hathaway fortune, living alone in the Canadian wilderness studying the local wildlife, using her own private laboratory. Her hope was to discover something that would make her famous, or ensure that her name endured in the scientific community, following a few years of suffering from breast cancer in her twenties; she is conscious of her own mortality. A change came in the form of a Hedge portal, which, unknown to River, appeared close to her home, and pixies began to infest trees and wildlife. Add to this a mysterious rich explorer, revealed to be a high-ranking member of the elite Cardians division Dead Man's Hand, increase the hallucinogenic influence of the pixies, and you have a recipe for a life that will never be the same again.

• Badass Bookworm: Not only is she a highly mentally adept scientist, but she is also highly capable with her sniper rifle and combines it well with bear-traps.
• Blue Blood: Her family is quite notable back in the U.K. as being very rich and somewhat high-society.
• Canine Companion: In the form of Romulus.
• Character Development: River's initially cold demeanour gives way over time to a desire to protect her team, if only because their work allows her unique research to continue. She also comes to acknowledge that her team are by and large decent enough people, however, and has even resolved to not only give Omega the proper education and stimuli that a young boy deserves, but also to help Lallo get better mentally.
• Cold Sniper: Use of her sniper rifle? Check. Cool demeanour? Check. Logical and largely detached mentality? Check.
• Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: Had she not been so eager to study wildlife alone in the forests of Canada, perhaps much of what happened to draw her into the Cardians life would have been avoided.
• Deadpan Snarker: Regularly, and with much emphasis on deadpan and snark.
• For Science!: One of her driving motivations for doing most things. Especially the inquiry into, and the study of, Lemons' cannibalism.
• Heroes Love Dogs: As evinced by her love and bond with her own dog, Romulus.
• Hidden Depths: Her nature as a cancer survivor is a closely kept secret, and her relationship with Romulus and animals, in general, is markedly more understanding and compassionate than with humans.
• Ice Queen: Lacking in outward emotion, tall, aloof and female.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: The longer she spends in Carlsville, the more River interacts with people. She even takes Omega under her tutelage and resolves to help Lallo with his mental state, after feeling sorry for both of them due to their respective poor circumstances.
• Innocently Insensitive: One of the many ways River can annoy people through her snarky sense of humour: she makes a joke that, due to lack of information, is more cutting than intended. See Kick The Dog below.
• Insufferable Genius: Played with. River is aware of how smart she is, prioritises intelligence as a quality in people above others, and won't respect you in any real way unless you demonstrate some. Plus, she tends to think of herself as the smartest person in the room. However, she doesn't flaunt how smart she is and rub it in the faces of others.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: Her desire to succeed and publish great and influential findings, her natural intelligence, and her distaste for socialising combined to push her to live alone, away from society.
• I Work Alone: Again, played with. She keeps her own work to herself but does work with others when the situation calls for it, particularly in gathering resources, information and test samples for her research.
• Jerkass: Her antisocial tendencies mean that people dislike her more often than not.
  • Jerkass Woobie: She is a cancer survivor, is aware of the fact that it could return and kill her, and part of her jerkiness stems from her fight against her own mortality; the incapability of others wastes time in this regard.
• Kick the Dog: Can easily insult or offend others in a significant way due to her demeanour and manner of speaking. Look no further than when she made a snarky comment about the Player Characters inquiring about the date outside the Hedge, after Henderson had expressed surprise and sadness over realising what the real world date had been:
  River: What, did someone miss someone's birthday?
  Beat
  Henderson: ...Yes. *leaves the gathering due to his distress*
• Lack of Empathy: She was never the most empathetic of people, but her time spent alone in the wilderness hasn't exactly improved this.
• Nominal Hero: Plays her part so that her research and projects can be furthered, not so that the town of Carlsville can be saved or some wider good can be achieved; all she cares about is how Cardians and the Carlsville situation benefit her.
• No Social Skills: River dislikes socialising, preferring to keep contact with others to a minimum, and her time in Canada has further detached her from other people. As a result, she tends to rub people the wrong way very easily.
• Pet the Dog: Despite her standoffishness, she can have moments of niceness, usually literally involving her dog.
• {{Pride:}} Her Vice, and a key ruling aspect of her attitude and decision-making. As a specific example, after the incident in her Tutorial, she refused to apologise for shooting the other Player Characters while under the influence of the pixies. She would eventually apologise, but not even directly to the characters she shot.
• Science Hero: Both on the side of the Cardians, and a bonafide scientist to boot.
• Sniper Rifle: Her weapon of choice, to where she is rarely seen without it. She even uses it, or rather the scope, as a makeshift monocular.
• Statuesque Stunner: Clocks in at just over 7 feet tall, and has enough physical attractiveness and wiles to make Matthew Hellings, Sr. blush.
• Surrounded by Idiots: A non-evil, and more socially-based example. Frequently believes this, due to her intelligence, and a judgmental streak towards others.
• The Proud Elite: A female example, but one that could nonetheless be a codifier for how well this trope is fulfilled.
• The Team Benefactor: Looks set to become this due to her wealth. She's already made a start on it by getting some human meat for Lemons to help keep him alive under the wendigo curse.
• Women Are Wiser: Second probably only to Aubry or Aisha in terms of smarts, making her in some respects smarter than Henderson.

Aces

The four people of highest authority in the Rural division of the Cardians. Each is the overall boss of their respective suits: Hearts, Diamonds, Spades and Clubs.

Aubry Lafleur

♠ | 38 | Human | Unknown

"We aren't in this business to be polite."

The elder twin of Chaney, and the Ace of Spades for the Rural division. She also seems to be one of the people in charge of the entire division, alongside Hellings. Not all that much is known about her, due to two total interactions with her by Player Characters.

• Beneath the Mask: When severe incidents occur that affect Aubry personally, as well as those close to her, there are cracks in her stoic facade.
• Good Is Not Nice: As a cornerstone of the Cardians, she made this clear to the Player Characters when Natalie asked why she hadn't been more open with them. See the above quote.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Melancholic.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her outward stoic appearance, there are some things that affect her with varying levels of depth.
  • She genuinely loves and cares for her sister, and any who cause her harm earn her ire.
  • She joined in on the group hug given to Theo upon him founding out about the fallout of his home situation, concerning his doppelganger.
• Ice Queen: Invoked.
• Improbable Age: Aubry is not only incredibly mature but also the ultimate leader of the division. She's also achieved the highest rank in a suit associated with knowledge, education, and intelligence.
  • However, clues indicate that this may be a case of her being older than she looks.
    • It has been confirmed, by Aubry herself to Sal, that she and Chaney suffer from a growth hormone disorder.
• Little Miss Badass: An implied example, but the fact that a young girl managed to become the head of a division of a criminal organisation that fights monsters means that she must have earned it.
• Out-Gambitted: After the Player Characters kill her while Vayne is possessing her, it's revealed that Vayne tried to possess Chany mid-fight, but failed; Vayne managed to remove memories about Bo and his true nature that would haven proven vital to understanding his situation and what to do about it. Further more, through the spirit stones Aubry left for the team discovered in Season 3, she explains to Sal and Theo and Vayne had baited them all, including her, away from bloodsoil, allowing it to further develop.
• Pet the Dog: Has this moment whenever she promotes someone. It first happened with Lemons, Henderson and Theo after they discovered the origin of the toothed crow, and then with Natalie after both her defusing of an increasingly venomous and quickly spreading argument among the Cardians and her public admission to snooping through confidential Cardians files.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Chaney's Red.
• Taking You with Me: Her endgame plan against Vayne. See below.
• Thanatos Gambit: Because of the spirit of Vayne only being able to possess her descendants, to try and defeat her once and for all, Aubry drew the spirit to her to get possessed, so that if she is killed, Vayne's spirit would die too.
• The Spock: As one should expect from the Ace of Spades, Aubry is highly methodical in her tactics and delegation of tasks, but the cold, surgical manner in which she does so, with particular regards to information, has rubbed more than one Cardian raw.
• The Stoic: Much more reserved and lacking in outward emotion than any of the Aces, and especially so compared to the other Cardians within the division.
• Tranquil Fury: Due to her lack of outward emotional range, this was the result when Lemons questioned her leadership publicly and attempted to outright shame her in front of as many people as possible for leaving them in the dark a lot of the time, which partially resulted in the Player Characters possibly being infected by a deadly disease.
  • In a later session, Aubry further displayed her capacity for this by calmly telling Sal to leave the room after he threw some books at Chaney, one of which hit hard enough to bruise and draw blood.
• Women Are Wiser: Easily the most intelligent of any of the Cardians, which isn't surprising given her Suit and her position. This is zig-zagged however, as her priorities are largely town-focused, meaning that sometimes other problems are either ignored or left to someone else (potentially less capable) to make the key decisions.

Matthew Hellings, Sr.

♣ | 46 | Human | Unknown

"...Count the scars on your allies and tell me they weren't worth a hand..."

The Rural division's Ace of Clubs, Hellings is a gruff, no-nonsense man, who knows how to get the job done. He also seems to be one of the more senior of the Aces, alongside Aubry.

• Badass Longcoat: A distinctive part of his uniform when in the field.
• Consummate Professional: Considers his orders, and by extension the orders of Aces, absolute, with a clear code of conduct in his practices and his demeanour within the Cardians.
• Not So Above It All: As of the mansion roleplay session, he joined in on the game of "Two Truths and a Lie" that Lemons proposed to everyone, much to everyone's surprise. He would even smirk deviously when his lies were successful. He also joined in on giving Theo a comforting group hug after he heard about his home situation and decided what to do about it.
• Death Glare: Has a very effective one, as the Player Characters found out after they returned after curfew had been imposed, and in the Finale after mass disobedience.
• Fantastic Racism: Shares Sal's belief that all supernatural entities are monstrosities that should be killed.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: After the first Player Character mission, and Tomoe volunteering himself to take the blame for the insubordination and resulting casualties, Hellings had a one-on-one talk with him about his actions and their consequences; four days of house arrest for Tomoe, under the watch of Henderson and Natalie. Hellings also made it clear that physical harm would likely be the next step if Tomoe repeated his actions.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Choleric.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Has a pair of brass knuckles to use, and as the Ace of Clubs, resorts to them if without his axe or a gun, as Henderson found out in Part 1 of the Season 1 Finale.
• Kicked Upstairs: His anger issues and unwavering code on the killing of any even thought to be a supernatural landed him in a transferal to becoming an Ace for the Carlsville division from his previous placement, according to Arthur. A replacement Ace of Clubs was sorely needed after Roderick Lafleur's death, and Hellings fit the bill, so Aubry accepted the transfer.
• Last-Name Basis: Everyone calls him "Hellings", by default.
• Professional Killer: Was this, both before and after he joined his previous Cardians division. In his old division, he was a hitman.
• Rage Breaking Point: Hit this after Chaney, then Julia, then Lemons, then Theo and Henderson, then Natalie and Arthur with a disobedient Tomoe, all ran off into the unnatural darkness separately, with the latter groups disobeying orders to either remain in the house or prevent others from leaving. He then proceeded to toss around the furniture in the main house room in his anger.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: This is to be expected, due to Hellings being the overall boss of the combat-oriented section of the division. It largely stands true, as well, as Hellings is the most capable member of the whole division in any combat situation.
• Straight Man: One of the more serious and professional Cardians members. Provides a good juxtaposition when others share a room with him, even including Tomoe.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He certainly fits the bill, to the point where Lemons is attracted to him.
• That Is An Order: Says something along the line of this in particularly serious situations when he's in command; doubly so if he's angry.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Has something of an anger management problem, that gets worse the more angry he gets. His anger is very much the volcanic kind: destructive, loud, and violent, as Lemons found out. [[Theo and Henderson, particularly the latter, experienced what happens when you piss him off enough in Part 1 of the Season 1 Finale.]]

Bailey "Bo" Oberpriller / Fustrarime

♦ | ?? | Human (secretly True Fae) | Unknown

"...Uh, uhm..."

Rural's Ace of Diamonds, Bo has a good heart and a distinctive stutter. It was later revealed by Aubry that Bo guards a portal to the Hedge in Carlsville, and that it is located somewhere in the town's cornfields.Bo's past is something of a mystery, as he can only remember smatterings, and has difficulty expressing the memories he does have. In addition, Aubry keeps him at arm's length and Chaney outright dislikes him for some unknown reason, involving an accident a few years ago.

It is eventually revealed that Bo isn't actually even human. He is a True Fae, with the real name of Fustrarime, and is the one responsible for the Hedge portal and the gargoyles/night-crawlers, along with Omega's transformation and Roderick Lafleur's death, and the deaths of much of the old Carlsville division who went with him.

• An Ice Person: In his true form, his mere touch is extremely cold, and sustained contact with him results in frostbite and hypothermia, as Theo found out. Furthermore, he can to some extent generate cold and ice, to the point that he can create snow and snowstorms.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Once he gets his memories back, and before his imprisonment, due to him being a True Fae, who are largely ruled by impulses and rules, and the contracts and deals made in accordance with these.
  • In terms of more specific examples, it's implied that his whole reason for opening the Hedge portal to his realm and abducting the townsfolk is because he wanted to see what would happen to them, both within his realm and after coming into contact with him. Because of this, he sees the attempts by Cardians to stop him as unwarranted aggression.
• Deal with the Devil: Because he's a Fae, he is predisposed to make deals and keep his word on them. He has made one with Omega and then makes one with his boyfriend Theo in exchange for his remaining years of life to save the division, those he's abducted, and the rest of Carlsville.
• Dramatic Stutter: One of his trademark features. Except it isn't quite a stutter, and is him shivering due to how cold he is, being from a pocket realm of ice and cold.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: Considering his true form an abilities, natch. Except that he isn't really evil, he's more curious and vengeful.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic.
• Hates Being Touched: Even a simple pat on the shoulder or a handshake unnerves, and scares, him.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Given this by Aubry after discovering her brother and his team dead at the Fae's hands, as part of her Plan B to staunch the damage his actions and influence have been doing.
• No Social Skills: Seems to be a mild example of this: he spends most of his time alone, doesn't say all that much (nor does he wish to) if he meets other people, is put on edge simply by being around others, and if you're too loud or exuberant with him, he'll flat-out try to escape your presence.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Played with, following his disappearance into the Hedge. It's revealed he had begun having dreams about another life he led, except they were memories returning to him.
  • This serves as the precursor to the fact that not only was he actually a Fae all along, but that he was implanted with false memories to keep him that way.
• Shrinking Violet: Is very shy, and doesn't do all that well in social interaction. Which is why it helps that he works alone, and separately from the other Cardians.
• Signature Headgear: Has a wide-brimmed hat. This is his main physical identifying feature.
  • Eye-Obscuring Hat: A side effect of the wideness of his hat's brim, and possibly its size too.
• Sinister Scythe: Subverted: though Bo isn't an evil man by any stretch of the imagination, the first time Natalie saw him, he was wielding this, and not saying a word.
  • During the first investigation the Player Characters took part in, it was revealed through the missing child's drawing that the child in question, Timothy Lanes, had found the cornfields where Bo patrolled, due to it possibly containing the Hedge portal. Timothy also came across Bo, and was scared by him, so drew him the same way he would a monster.
• The Heavy: Is the being responsible for the Hedge portal and the gargoyle presence, as well the consequences of the portal being open, such as the Hedge beasts. By association, he is therefore also to some degree culpable for every tragedy and incident involving the portal and the things that come through it.
• The Quiet One: He doesn't often say that much, beyond absolute necessity.

Chaney Lafleur

♥ | 38 | Human | Unknown

Despite being a young girl within the division, Chaney is the Rural Ace of Hearts and the younger twin of Aubry. The Player Characters don't really know all that much about her, but she seems to know a lot about the rules of the syndicate, and is a capable strategist with a mischievous spirit. She has a penchant for refusing to be straight when questioned about mostly anything, especially when it's important, or using social interaction purely as a means for having fun.

• Berserk Button: As Aubry found out, bringing up her brother without proper due, respect, or for a purpose she dislikes.
• Cheerful Child: Does everything with a smile on her face. This unnerved Sal, as she kept up her cheerful demeanour in the house Sal was trapped in.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Sanguine.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her impish and playful demeanour, there's a lot more to Chaney than she lets on. These depths gets explored over the course of Season 2, as she's forced to step into a de-facto leadership position after Aubry's death and Hellings's incapacitation, while still grieving for the loss of her twin sister and only remaining family member.
• Improbable Age: Like her sister, Cheney being a high ranking officer in the division is at odds with her apparent age. Unlike her sister, she seems to actually have a childlike maturity or mindset.
  • And again, like her sister, she may very well be older than she looks.
    • It is now known to all that she and her sister suffer from a growth hormone disorder.
• It Amused Me: A much less villainous, but perhaps still morally ambiguous example, though still frustrating to the characters this trait of Chaney's surfaces towards. She is largely interested by whether or not something will prove to be "fun", unless it's absolutely do-or-die important, and then the Player Characters are unsure if this can be relied on. Sal, in particular, fell afoul of this when he met her in the Martiarch's house. She helped him in the end, but only after she giggled at his begging and pleading.
• Little Miss Badass: A presumed example: she is a young girl, and is part of the Cardians despite her age. She also wandered into a "haunted house" of sorts, and calmly helped Sal find his friend, and then presumably fought, or at least dealt with, the monster that attacked them, ''and'' pulled the two out of the house. She may have had help doing the latter, but still.
• Little Miss Snarker: Regularly and without exception displays this quality among the others, particularly if something, or someone, bores her.
• Mathematician's Answer: Very fond of giving these. She doesn't like to give straight answers if she can help it, either, as, to her, it's "no fun" to just tell people what they want to know.
• Naughty Is Good: Enjoys being obtuse with the people beneath her, and only really telling them what they absolutely need to know. For anything else, you need to ask her very specific questions if you don't want a half-truth or a roundabout answer.
• No Name Given: Eventually subverted: Sal never found out her name, or who she was in relation to the Cardians, nor did she tell him. However, due to Natalie playing a guessing game with Chaney, and a timely encounter with Lemons shortly afterwards, Natalie was eventually able to figure out the Ace's name, and relay it to the others. Even then, however, she wouldn't tell Natalie her name outright, even when she was directly asked.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In more serious moments, Chaney will fall silent, and her usual perky self will melt away.
  • She even reacted with shock and stunned silence when Lemons verbally assaulted Aubry after they had returned from Jerediah's house and being possibly infected with Bloodsoil.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Aubry's Blue.
• Reluctant Ruler: In Season 2, after Aubry's death, she becomes Head Ace by default, particularly because the former second-in-command is bed-ridden. She cites the fact that she's always played Number Two to Aubry and has always been comfortable doing that, and specialises in that as a result rather than be a more active overall leader.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: After an argument with Aubry concerning Aubry's priorities, during which Aubry name-dropped their dead brother, Chaney has left to the cornfields to fill in for Bo, while he recovers from his impalement.
• The Gadfly: Has shades of this, due to her taking delight in annoying those around her by never fully explaining herself, unless such a thing is earned in her eyes.

Other Carlsville Cardians

There aren't many other members of the Rural division, but there are some nonetheless. So far, they have been ranked much higher than the Player Characters.

Carly Patchworth

♣ | 28 | Human | Unknown

A Jack of Clubs in the Rural division, Carly is one of the more sensible and professional, yet friendly and amiable with the Player Characters. She is noted for how she provides useful advice to them as far as living with being a Cardian, and how to go about business in the organisation.

• Action Girl: As a Club, and a Jack of Clubs at that, she is more than capable in a fight. In Henderson's introduction session, she successfully cut a path through a group of mimics to Henderson's RV, armed with a shotgun and a flashlight.
• Dual Wielding: Her signature weapons of choice are two pistols.
• Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: A more ambiguous example: she was battling the mimics on her own before she found the Hendersons, and it's unclear whether or not she deliberately tried to saved them by fighting her way to their RV, or simply used the RV as a convenient spot to reach to escape the mimics. Either way, she undertook great risk to herself to do something that resulted in coming to the Hendersons' aid.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Because of the below trope, this came into play when she was speaking with Theo mid-confrontation, albeit more in the present tense, i.e.: along the lines of "I'm doing what I have to do."
• Just Following Orders: She follows orders absolutely, and only goes against previous orders on newer orders of someone of equal or higher rank, to the point where she had to threaten Theo and Henderson with violence unless they returned to the house.
• Nice Girl: A genuinely kind, compassionate and supportive member of the Cardians, especially towards the beleaguered Player Characters.
• Scars Are Forever: If the scar on her left cheek is anything to go by.
• The Reliable One: If either Hellings or Aubry need something done, they will usually turn to her, from armed backup to scouting, and the Player Characters often find themselves turning to her for advice, due to how experienced and approachable she is. Amidst the dangerous job of being a Cardian, and how prone the Carlsville division is to mishaps, be they within or outside of control, she isn't a Jack in Cardians hierarchy for nothing.

Arthur St. Bellings

♠ | 31 | Human | Caucasian-American

"Fuck off."

The medical chief of Rural, and a Ten of Spades. At least, he WAS, but he has been discreetly demoted to a Nine of Spades after a mistake of his resulted in half the Player Characters coming into contact with a deadly disease.

• Big Brother Instinct: Towards his younger sister, Elizibeth.
• Deadpan Snarker: And HOW. No one below him in rank is safe. The only reason he doesn't do it to his superiors is because he isn't allowed. Doesn't stop him griping behind their backs sometimes, however.
  Sal: Hey doc!
  Arthur: (Beat) Why.
• Hidden Depths: He may seem like a bit of an insensitive arrogant dick, but he wasn't always like that, according to Chaney, and to pass him off as that would be "selling him short". Also, when Natalie made a point to publicly thank Arthur for his medical assistance in front of the other Player Characters, he was genuinely taken aback by her compliment and gratitude.
  • Death Seeker: Has shades of this, judging by a talk he had with Sal. He regards being part of the Cardians as having death as the sole escape route, and hates having to watch team-mates suffer and/or die while he continues on.
• Hypocrite: On one mission, when he and Natalie made a discovery, he told her to keep it a secret from everyone and wait until he told the Aces about it, saying that she should trust him. He never intended to tell the Aces.
  • The most recent example of this was when some of the Cardians had left the house for varying reasons. Separately. In the middle of the night. One of whom was Henderson's recently rediscovered wife. After telling Henderson not to go out after her because going out would be dangerous, he then tried to go outside himself for as yet unknown reasons. Only Tomoe stopped him, due to guarding the door on Hellings' orders.
    • Mind you, if he did die while outside, he may not mind. See under Hidden Depths.
• Insufferable Genius: Knows he's smart and how capable he is, and doesn't tend to let you forget it, as Lemons found out.
• Speech Impediment: Arthur lisps his "s"s.
• The Coroner: He has this as his standard day to day job in Carlsville, due to working at the town's morgue.
• The Medic: Largely fills this role at the Rural HQ.
  • Combat Medic: Has shades of this, however, due to a shotgun being his weapon of choice.

Spoiler Character

See Dragoonslayer 505.

Spoiler Character

See Julia Henderson.

Cardians from Out of Town

As of Season 2, the Player C Haracters have met Cardians from beyond their own division, as well as members of Dead Man's Hand, the elite black ops operatives and highest-ranking members below the global Cardians boss. Some of them even end up joining the Carlsville division, albeit on a temporary basis, to help deal with the myriad calamities that the division is too either understaffed or underequipped to properly deal with.

Spoiler Character: Aisha Hellings

♠ | 46 | Human | Middle Eastern-English

Matthew Hellings Sr.'s wife, and a member of the high-ranking Dead Man's Hand section of the Cardians, Aisha was first met by River, before the Player Characters ran into the two during their excursion into the Hedge. A confident and calm lady who knows how to take charge, Aisha assumes temporary command over the division upon discovering all that had happened to it, until a new Ace of Spades can be found.

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Aisha, while nurturing towards the division, is ultimately professionally detached from the Carlsville division. While during work, it isn't even clear she loves Hellings, let alone is married to him.
• Dual Wielding: Revealed her combat style as using a pair of knives in the fight with the mandrakes to save Carly.
• Good Is Not Soft: Her default demeanour is courteous and polite, but very much isn't afraid to step on however many toes she has to in order to see things through to the end.
• Happily Married: Played with: she has stated that they are on some sort of break, but are still married nonetheless. Her reaction upon seeing her husband's current state does indicate that she has some degree of feelings towards him.
• Lady of War: As revealed in the mandrake fight.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: And how! As an example, only Aisha could make someone uncomfortable by undermining their decision in a moral dilemma, and then continue to do so despite that person's protests, but then ten seconds later present it as a genuine interest in seeing the person made fully aware of the circumstances of their decision, to make the best possible one for them.
  • For context, this happened with Natalie in the Goblin Market.
• Pinned to the Wall: Performed this on Sal with her knives, during River's tutorial.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Welcomes criticism of her methods and thinking, and will happily lay any concerns therein to rest personally. Even if she doesn't wholly agree with your thinking, she will nonetheless provide you with the assistance and time needed to not only state your case but to demonstrate its validity. Should it come to it that she does something you dislike as her subordinate, she will make her reasoning as clear as she can while not talking down to you in any way.
• Unscrupulous Hero: With being a D.M.H. member, with expertise in hunting down defectors from Cardians, this comes as no surprise.

Caleb Bowerbell

A Jack of Spades in the Boston division, met in Season 2 after the team come out of the Hedge after rescuing Carly.

• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Has risen to the rank of Jack in the Spade suit, despite being visibly eccentric. His eccentricity forms part of his skillset, hoowever, as his plans and tactics include off-the-wall elements that no-one would normally expect or plan for, making them all the more effective.
• Catchphrase: "It's semantics!"

Candy Jones

The Boston division's Ace of Hearts, introduced in Season 2. She meets with Theo, and an accompanying Natalie, to discuss the full extent of what happened with the doppelganger and Theo's friend Able, and how the division resolved the matter.

• The Face: She is the person who meets with Theo and Natalie to discuss exactly what happened with the doppelganger and Able, and how the division handled it.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Gladly meets with Theo to discuss what has happened, as well as hear out whatever requests he may have regarding the well-being of both his family and Able.

Daichi Yao

Dead Man's Hand member and former high-ranking yakuza, Yao is both stoic and a consummate professional. He is brought in after his colleague Aisha requests the presence of another D.M.H. member in Carlsville.

• Good Is Not Soft: As with his fellow D.M.H. members, Yao will do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of the division and those that Cardians protect, up to and including hunting down anyone who defects.
• The Stoic: Doesn't show emotion easily by any stretch, and maintains a distance between himself and others.
• Unscrupulous Hero: Readily employs former yakuza, as well as being ready to hunt down anyone who runs away from Cardians at a moment's notice.

Danny Lovely

A King of Diamonds from the Milwaukee division. Recruited by Aisha after "the longest night" to bolster the Carlsvillle division's numbers, fill the void in Diamond leadership left by Bo, and diversify its skillset.

• Cool Big Sis: To the rest of the Carlsville division.
• Guns Akimbo: She's a firearms specialist and a highly adept combatant. She hasn't accompanied the team into any combat situations yet, but apparently when she does, she brings many a gun with her.
• Official Couple: With Natalie in Season 3, albeit one that she makes clear is likely to be temporary.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Lallo.

Lallo Bright

A Jack of Clubs in a Hedge-centric Special Operations role. Recruited by Aisha from the Hedge to bolster the Carlsville division's numbers.

• Ambiguous Disorder: Played very straight. Lallo is all but confirmed outright to at least have P.T.S.D., and seems to exhibit symptoms for other neurodivergent conditions and mental illnesses.
• Cool Mask: His gas mask, which he wears while on the job.
• Dual Wielding: His flamethrowers.
• Playing with Fire: His preferred method of combat is dual-wielding flamethrowers.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Danny.
• S Hell Shocked Veteran: His experiences both in initially encountering the supernatural and time spent in the Hedge have taken a severe toll on Lallo's mental state.

Previous Cardians

Past members of the Carlsville division, these characters are either dead or missing; such is the only real way out of the Cardian life.

Sara Yang

♦ | ?? | Human | Japanese-American

The previous ten of diamonds in the Carlsville division. Known to be good friends with Jerediah and Bo, Sara took to documenting her life and experiences in Carlsville on a camera that was later discovered by the current members.

About a year ago she, along with Jerediah, mysteriously went missing

• Her body was later discovered in Jerediah's basement crushed by rocks. It was severely decayed and the time of death nor cause could be determined.

Jerediah Hernandez

Face cast as Sr Cheeto

♥ | ?? | Human | Hispanic-Mexican

The division's previous ten of hearts: Jerediah was known to have been a cinematographer in his life before Cardians and brought that talent with him to encourage Sara to take pictures and document her life while in the group. From pictures taken, Jerediah was shown to be generally amiable and excitable. His personal file notes that he and Arthur St. Bellings had trouble working together.

A year ago when he and his close friend, Sara, mysteriously went missing when exploring the mines below Carlsville.

• His body was later found in the basement of his home completely decayed and afflicted with the disease of unknown origin: bloodsoil. Currently, the means of his untimely demise are unknown.

Roderick Lafleur

♣ | ?? | Human | Caucasian-American

The previous Ace of Clubs before Matthew Hellings, Sr., and the brother of Aubry and Chaney.

Marissa "Mary" St. Bellings

The mother of Arthur and Liz, and a Jack of Hearts.

Jessica Hauler

The Ace of Spades before Aubry, last manager of the town orphanage before its closure, and maternal figure to the current generation of Lafleurs.

Nighttime Creatures of Carlsville

The various forms of (usually) hostile life that surfaces in Carlsville when the sun goes down. They are the reason the town has a curfew, and the reason for the Cardians Rural division being based in the town.

In General

• Dark Is Evil: In a variety of ways, with almost any of these.

Categories 1 - 3

• Evil Is Not Well-Lit: They tend to be active during the night, and the darkness. The wisps, in particular, actually cannot move about without darkness and shadow.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: They usually have these, as a characteristic of being lower in Category.

Category 1: Whisps

Small shadow creatures. They inflict damage on people without them exhibiting any external signs of injury.

Category 2: Mimics

Of the same shadow creature family to Whisps, but much larger and more insidious. They mimic the last words of their victims, and use this to draw others closer, so they may be preyed upon also.

• Face Stealer: Sort of: mimics only steal the voices of their victims.
• The Darkness Gazes Back: During Henderson's tutorial a short stop off the marked trail resulted in him gathering the attention of many mimics' eyes in the darkness.
• Voice Changeling: Their main ability and primary method of catching further prey is to mimic the last things said by their victims.
• Was Once a Man: They were originally created as a by-product of Finnegan's research into a bloodsoil cure, mutating from standard people.

Category 3: Gargoyles

These creatures of darkness latch onto "hosts" caught outside in the night, and give them a sort of "protection". They should never be seen, however, as if they are, they kill the witness, including their "host".

Category 4: Hedge Monsters

These beings are not native to Carlsville, due to being from the Hedge, but can cross over into human territory from time to time.

The Mandrakes

First encountered by Natalie, this variant of the mythological creature feed on humans by partially crossing over into the human world from the Hedge in order to find suitable prey.

• And I Must Scream: Imagine being trapped inside a tree that forcefully and painfully bonds with your body and flesh, and having had a creature forced into your body through your mouth. Then your body changes further and becomes the tree itself, while you are encased, unable to see, move and likely even speak. Then the creature matures inside you only to burst out later, with you having served as a part of their life cycle; such is the fate of the female mandrake captives. Oh, and it's implied that they are kept alive by their new tree-fae biology, as they become fae-kind and therefore unable to die by ageing, and potentially reused as incubators. Makes Franchise/Alien look tame by comparison, because at least there, the victims are allowed to die.
• Body Horror: Those trees the group encountered both on the way to rescue Carly and within the glade she was being held were actually all of their captive incubators.
• Creepy Child: A resulting example for those who experience them firsthand, as they seem to initially take the form of a human baby.
• Fate Worse than Death: Natalie explicitly brands the fate she and Carly avoided as this. See And I Must Scream above.
• I'm a Humanitarian: They feed on humans, alive or dead.
• Kill It with Fire: They don't like the hot stuff, due to being plant creatures. Nat invokes this as a threat in the group's rescue of Carly, and then enacts it once she's safe and the group is clear.
• Orifice Invasion: Attempted this on a captured Carly, to the horror and curiosity as to why of the P.C.s. Then they found out why...
• Tentacle Rope: A plant-based variation of this, they ensnare their prey with tree roots that also pierce the skin.
• Weak to Fire: Natch, due to being plant creatures.
• Zerg Rush: One of their main strategies of hunting and defence, they rush their target in large groups, trying to ensnare them in piercing tangling roots

Hedge Beasts

Animalistic predators confined to the town's cornfield, their activity is monitored by Bo. They are extremely hostile and very quick, and seem to hunt and kill for no other reason than the fun of it.

• Always Chaotic Evil: They don't even kill to eat. They do it because they can and they want to, or are at least driven to.
• It Can Think: Their hunting tactics usually involve the use of pairs, with them baiting their prey with the movements of one and letting another come in and make the attack.

Category 5: Anomalies

Any other supernatural entity or threat encountered in Carlsville that does not fit into the previous categories.

Natalie the Vampire

A vampire targeted by the Cardians for preying on drifters around Carlsville, Natalie selected Tomoe as her latest victim when he wandered into her territory. She was found and killed by Matthew Hellings, Sr. later that night, after she'd bitten and drank from an unwitting Tomoe.

• Our Vampires Are Different: Natalie seemed able to walk about during the day, wearing normal clothes, unharmed. She also had a rather unique and ingenious method of finding victims: selecting a drifter, bringing them into town, buying them food, and finding them a place to sleep for the night, This would mean that their blood would have higher contents of nutrients, and would be more likely to be good to drink.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Despite being something of an antagonist, not much was learnt about her before her death at the hands of Hellings.

The "Matriarch"/"Mommy"/The "Mistress"

A creature that lurks within the abandoned orphanage in Carlsville. In the past, she was Jessica Hauler, the previous Ace of Spades and the head of the town orphanage, which subsequently made her a mother figure to Aubry and Chaney, along with their brother.

• Eldritch Location: According to Chaney, the orphanage in which the Matriarch resides is very easy to enter, but very difficult to leave.
• [[spoiler:Evil Orphanage Lady: The evil part is debatable, however, as she doesn't have much of a mind left to classify into any part of traditional morality.
• The Faceless: "Her" face has yet to actually be seen, if she even has one.
• The Unreveal: "She" is never actually properly seen, even when Sal and Chaney directly encounter "her".
  • Later, Natalie presented the theory to Aubry that she was the previous Ace of Spades and the head of the town orphanage, Jessica Hauler. Aubry neither confirmed nor denied it. [[This turned out to be correct, as revealed by Chaney during the Season 1 Finale.]]

The Unknown Clock Creature / Omega / "Ω" / Omega Brittle

A mysterious creature with a clock for a face, and with seemingly clockwork parts, new to the awareness of even the senior Cardians, that causes those close to it to "jump ahead" in time.

• Actual Pacifist: Does not attack anyone, even when they are trying to harm or kill it.
• No Name Given: At first, until Natalie asked it directly. Since then, his first and last name are known: Omega Brittle.
• Nonverbal Miscommunication:
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Very much so, particularly after the group's first meeting with him.
• Time Master: To those who encounter it, they experience time normally, but their surroundings always move ahead faster in time.
  • Power Incontinence: Seems to have no control over this, or rather, has it happen automatically.
    • Blessed with Suck: Results in this, especially for the people of Carlsville, who have a curfew, but who, after encountering the creature, may find themselves suddenly in night time, in a town where creatures of darkness try to kill you.
• Was Once a Man: Well, 'boy', anyway.

Significant Antagonists

The creatures that hold the most sway over the events and circumstances surrounding Carlsville. Not only have their actions helped set much of the plot of Cardians: Rural in motion, they also pose the biggest threats to normal life in Carlsville through their plans, and provide the more significant enemies and confrontations for the Carlsville division.

The Wendigo / Finnegan / Samuel T. Finnegan

First encountered when he suddenly attacked Lemons in the early hours of A.M., and Lemons was forced to flee from his house, this wendigo apparently followed him to Carlsville... until it became clear that the town was his home.As more of the town's history and mysteries became uncovered, it grew apparent that the wendigo, going by "Finnegan", and a figure named "S.T.F." or "Samuel T. Finnegan" were related. Between Seasons 1 and 2, it was revealed that they were one and the same.

• Abhorrent Admirer: Revealed by Vayne, of all people, to be this towards Natalie, who isn't happy about it.
• Batman Gambit: Pulls one on Natalie in Season 2 to get her to sway the team away from helping Liz when the gargoyles and Hedge-beasts start to become more active. It succeeds at first, until tensions boil over and Nat is persuaded otherwise.
• Deal with the Devil: How he first gains influence over you, should you be chosen. He targets desperate, lost people, and presents them with an out by eating somebody, usually a person they're accompanied by, in exchange for loyalty and servitude.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Starts off as this for Lemons, before becoming this for the rest of the division by the end of Season 1.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Disturbingly enough, Lemons finds him attractive. In large part because of his voice, but still.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is something of a gravelly bass. Heard best when he hums.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Wendigos are monsters twisted and deformed from cannibals, and they don't just attack anyone. In all likelihood, it was after Lemons due to his own cannibalistic nature.
• Manipulative Bastard: Lemons (and later Julia) realises this about him far too late to be in any position to really hold him back from demanding increasingly extreme things. Should you prove vulnerable enough for him to use, it all starts with the initial consumption of human flesh that Finnegan presents to you for you to survive. From there, because you are now infected with either the wendigo curse itself or an offshoot of it, he continues to present himself as a stable source of human meat, while increasing his demands of what you need to do to get it.
  • Even if you aren't in his thrall, he will still try to twist information into a way that gets you to do something he wants, as Natalie found out the hard way.
• More than Mind Control: How he gains and exerts influence over those who could be useful in his plans.
• Power-Upgrading Deformation: Like all wendigos, Finnegan has great strength, speed, stamina, and a healing factor, among other abilities, but all at the cost of not only being bound to consume human flesh, but also looking like a starved, upright, unkempt deer-man.
• The Charmer: A villainous example, especially when dealing with those he wants to control. Or finds attractive. Or both.
• The Chessmaster: Not only does he have plans, but he also has multiple components to them.
• The Corrupter: Highly adept in this, as he nurtures cannibals and cannibalism, and the desires to perform the act. Also serves as a physical example as well as a mental one, as his wendigo curse spreads to those he targets and who eat from him, transforming them into either another wendigo, or something else predatory.
• The Unfettered: Will stop at nothing to finally destroy Infinity and bloodsoil. His proxy war with her, involving the corruption of countless people and the ruination of their lives, as well as the murders and torturings at his hands to either deal with opposition or to further analyse the disease, doesn't really faze him as being something evil or immoral.
• Villainous Crush: On Natalie.
• Wendigo: Well, duh.
• Worthy Opponent: Seems to consider Natalie to be this, especially after she figured out secrets in both his past and present dealings, and the fact that she managed to scare him on the "longest night", when he came to take Lemons for a feeding.
  • Confirmed by implication in Season 3, when he is finally caught by the P.C.s and about to be killed. They ask for information on how to defeat Infinity, and after some persuading, he finally tells them about his secret lab and instructs them to kill her. Except that last instruction is directed towards Natalie, with both parties locking eyes, meaning he expects her to be the one to finish off what's left of his step-daughter.

Vayne Lafleur

The ancestor of the Lafleur twins, as well as their late brother Rodrick, and a powerful mage.

• Casting a Shadow: She is the one behind the wisps and the dangerous night time that brings them, alongside the increasing darkness once November hits.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The Big Bad of Season 1, and the Final Boss encounter of the season.
• Domestic Abuse: Though they started off happy, Finnegan would get violent when angry.
• Happily Married: To her husband Samuel T. Finnegan. For a while, at least.
• Love Makes You Evil: Her devotion to Infinity is an important element in what kickstarts the series of events that lead to the current predicaments that the Cardians must deal with; predicaments that she is fine with so long as Infinity survives. No matter who has to suffer or die for this to happen.
• Mama Bear: She fiercely loved her children whom she had adopted, the Brittles. So much so that she desperately invoked Abyssal power in order to save Infinity's life from bloodsoil, fusing her daughter's soul and consciousness with the disease, and giving her new powers alongside this.
  • In Season 3, she was revealed to be so protective of them that she is quite happy to see countless innocent people beyond Carlsville get infected and die from bloodsoil if it meant Infinity would live.
• Mind Manipulation: Gains this ability once she possesses Aubry's body and combines their powers. Uses it well in the Season 1 Finale, when she mind-controls Sal, who severely injures Theo and almost kills Tomoe.
• Moral Myopia: She wanted to make sure her daughter stayed alive, even if multiple innocent people had to be tortured and die in awful ways as a result. Trying to stop her involves condemning her child to death, which is unthinkable and wrong to her. This is to say nothing of the fact that, because of how Vayne enacted her morals and plans, she has condemned innocent children to potential death by bloodsoil. Also, because of Infinity's link to the disease, stopping bloodsoil now means killing Infinity, which, again, Vayne cannot allow.
• My Greatest Failure: Although she may not have many regrets, she does have one: she strongly regrets not being able to care for Omega due to how obsessive she became over Infinity.
• Tautological Templar: She cannot see that what she has done to contribute to Carlsville being in the state it's is wrong, and this goes double for her actions concerning her daughter. She doesn't care that Infinity has killed so many people, either directly or indirectly, because she sees her actions as her simply trying to keep her daughter alive, or her daughter just trying to survive.
• The Chessmaster: Vayne is very clever, shown in how thoroughly Aubry had planned to deal with her. And even then, Vayne tried to subvert Aubry's plans by exiting Aubry's body to possess Chaney, causing the Ace of Hearts to lose some of her memories in the process.
• The Unfettered: Discovered to have been this all along early in Season 3, regarding protecting and nurturing the spread of Infinity in her new bloodsoil-bound existence.
• Unfinished Business: Her spirit lingers within Carlsville, and has likely done so ever since her death hundreds of years ago. Her Mage abilities and her calling of Abyssal power in life are the reason behind the unnatural night time and the whisps as part of her plan to bridge Carlsville with higher planes, destroying it in the process.
  • At least until Season 3, when it was discovered that her actual goal has been to keep Infinity alive and safe.
• Xanatos Gambit: Her entire plans were revealed as this early in Season 3. Either Carlsville is connected on a damaging level to higher planes or she is killed before this can be completed. Either way, and more importantly to Vayne, her daughter Infinity continues to live and spread through bloodsoil, through diversion of resources elsewhere or through the properties of said higher planes. Alongside this, should opposition to the plan survive, they run the risk of either being killed by Finnegan or Infinity, once they're confronted.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Revealed to be quite good at this too, when she tries to transfer her mind in Chaney's body mid-Season 1 Finale.
  • And again, in Season 3, when she realises that Natalie knows enough about Infinity to potentially stand a chance against her, she pulls Theo into their dream connection by taking advantage of his changeling nature with her mage powers, turning Theo into both a living shield and a psychological weapon against Natalie to oppose her plans and torment her.
  • She may have even played a hand in Tomoe becoming Infinity's new host, as Tomoe was lured to the mines because of Vayne speaking to Tomoe. How much of this is a remnant of her spirit and how much is Tomoe's schizophrenia is unknown.

The Entity Responsible for the Hedge Portal (Spoiler Character) / Fustrarime

See Bailey "Bo" Oberpriller

Bloodsoil / Infinity Brittle

A virulent and vaguely supernatural disease that originally came from deep in Carlsville's mines, bloodsoil is an infection that transfers through ingestion of infected blood, by direct contact with its soil-based source, or by sustained unfiltered inhalation of the fumes within the Carlsville mines. Once contracted, it doesn't show up under normal examinations, and victims typically are asymptomatic until late stages of the disease, when they begin to slowly bleed from orifices uncontrollably. First comes the nosebleeds, then bleeding from the mouth, eyes, and ears, as the disease slowly destroys and liquefies the victim's organs, until finally, the victim bleeds out, their body now an internal mess. There is no known cure, and treatment is superficial at best; long-term survival rate is 0%. The Cardians must contend with and contain it as they try to protect the town, and explore the mysteries behind Carlsville's supernatural nature.

It is slowly discovered over the course of the campaign (and by Natalie in Season 1) that the disease is controlled in part by what remains of Infinity Brittle. The adopted daughter of Vayne Lafleur and the brother of Omega, Infinity was a good, sweet girl, until she played too long in the Carlsville mines and contracted the bloodsoil disease. In a desperate bid to save her, Vayne cast a powerful spell deep within the mines. She believed she had failed, and in so doing had allowed her daughter to die... until it was discovered that she'd survived, having had her soul and life-force bound to bloodsoil.

• Body Horror: It slowly liquefies your internal organs, before you die painfully and bleeding.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Part of how Infinity controls her hosts, along with...
  • Break Them by Talking: ...this little gem. Alongside...
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: ...physically harming whoever her host happens to be.
• Gone Horribly Right: Vayne's spell to save Infinity's life. She wanted to save her daughter, not turn her into a sentient parasitic disease. But Vayne then resolved to protect Infinity no matter what.
• It Can Think: The disease itself seems to have something of an intelligence to it: it doesn't show up under close examination unless screening is thorough and the examiner is paying close attention, almost like it's purposefully hiding and knows it's being watched or looked for. Which makes sense, given that it is driven in part by Infinity's will to survive.
• More than Mind Control: Part of how Infinity manipulates her hosts into destroying those who know of her existence, or those likely to enter the mines.
• Plaguemaster: Infinity herself, now that she's part of the disease.
• Squick: The state it leaves its victims in is not for the faint of heart.
• Tears of Blood: One of its eventual symptoms.
• The Plague: Of Carlsville specifically.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The miners that dug too deep for too long within Carlsville's depths had no idea they would uncover something as awful and as deadly as bloodsoil. As well as many of its hosts that were manipulated by Infinity into returning to infectious sites, including Arthur St. Bellings. And Tomoe.

External Antagonists and Creatures

The monsters, creatures and other threats encountered by the Player Characters outside of Carlsville, that don't fall into the category system.

Theo's Doppelganger

A doppelganger from a supernatural mirror world, this creature took the physical form of Theo, with the plans of taking over his life. As a result of Theo trying to thwart him/it, he/it trapped Theo in the mirror world, and attacked Theo's friend Able to silence him. Able's fate at the hands of the doppelganger remains unknown, as does the ultimate fate of this creature.

• The Bad Guy Wins: For the moment, the real Theo is more or less stranded in Carlsville, with the doppelganger having taken his place and taken over his life, exactly as he/it planned.
• Evil Doppelgänger: Of Theo, since he/it seems to have taken over Theo's life, with his/its plan involving trapping Theo outside of his own reality, and presumably killing anyone who threatens to spoil this.
• Mirror Universe: Where he/it comes from.
• Nothing Is Scarier: It remains unknown why exactly he/it wanted to replace Theo, and/or what is gained by doing so. And, after she snooped through the Cardians' confidential files, Natalie relayed to Theo that his home situation was marked "URGENT" in large, bold letters. Whatever this means for the doppelganger, Able and Theo's family cannot be good.

Dagmar Andromalius

An incubus/succubus of unknown gender, Dagmar was encountered by the Player Characters in a bar they were visiting for a celebration, after a string of mission successes and discovering that they weren't infected with the deadly bloodsoil disease. They weren't aware of Dagmar's true nature at first, but Sal seemed to catch on sooner than the others after interacting with them, and he would return again throughout the night. He was eventually fought, at the orders of Hellings, after discovering the truth about Dagmar, and ultimately killed by Sal, separately and after the fight.

• Ambiguous Gender: Dagmar's most distinctive feature.
  • Everybody Wants the Hermaphrodite: Has a reputation for causing this, as a result.
  • Pronoun Trouble: Caused this for the Player Characters, who all came to individual conclusions.
  • The Unreveal: Their true gender, if they even had one, was never discovered or revealed.
• Back from the Dead: In Season 2, because part of his body wasn't burned; the part that Bastet, Sal's cat had eaten. He then used this to possess Bastet and reform his body.
• Dead Guy on Display: Sal had some arts and crafts fun frolicking in the body parts he created after killing Dagmar creating a display of his victory. His teammates were less amused and more horrified.
• Decapitation Required: Various occult checks confirmed this and/or burning were the only sure-fire ways to kill a succubus/incubus.
  • Eventually died a Rasputinian Death. Despite having been chopped with an axe, nearly decapitated, a noose on FIRE tightened into their neck wound, bashed, and nearly having a leg cut off, Dagmar managed to survive and get away, only to be finally tracked down and killed by a tenacious Sal.
• Healing Factor: A attribute supposedly shared with most demons and only tempered by fire, requiring the convoluted killing techniques.
  • From a Single Cell: The extent of this healing factor, provided the cells aren't then burned. As Sal found out in Season 2.
• Not Even Human: Despite not actually being a threat to the characters or having killed anyone the fact that Dagmar revealed themselves to be a soul eating succubus/incubus, eventually pushed the characters to kill them anyways.
• One-Winged Angel: After allowing the Player Characters three chances to not harm them, Dagmar ultimately transformed into his true demonic form to fight the group.
• Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous: See above for the list of reasons why Dagmar could possibly be a Trope Codifier for this.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Initially pulled this after the detectives looking for him made their presence known. They would try this again, when they began to truly lose their fight with the Player Characters, and escaped from the fight, crawling their way back to a possible gateway back to his own realm. Sal finally stopped them by killing them.

Player-Character-Related Non-Player Characters

N.P.C.s related either by blood or figuratively to the Player Characters, they represent the aspects of their lives outside of and before Cardians.

Bloodmoon

The mercenary group that kidnapped Tomoe as a child and raised him into an operative. It was functionally wiped out approximately nine years prior, but its impact on Tomoe remains.

• Cold-Blooded Torture: One of their more notable tactics for getting information.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Not even Bloodmoon, a group notorious for torturing captives and using them as targets to test new operatives' killing intents, could stomach the impulsiveness and derangement of Vokil Devahdy.
• Token Evil Teammate: Vokil.

Tomoe's Father (Spoiler Character)

See Matthew Hellings, Sr. under Cardians

Hawthorn Henderson

"You won't disappear too... Will you?"

Richard Henderson's youngest son. After a camping trip went wrong,

• After-Action Healing Drama: Was on the receiving end of this after escaping the mimics. He was rushed to the hospital by his father.
• Cheerful Child: Prior to the campsite incident, he was very much this. How of this has been retained is unknown, as of yet.
• Missing Mom: His mother never came back from trying to find his older brother in the woods.
• Put on a Bus: Due to his injuries, Henderson took him to a nearby hospital, where he is currently in intensive care. He has remained there ever since, it seems.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to his brother Rowan's blue.
• The Cutie: He's sweet and happy, most of the time. How he is after his mother and brother's disappearances, relocation to Wisconsin, and a fair few injuries along the way, remains to be seen.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Pre-Cardians, both Hawthorn and Rowan experienced this a little with their father's dedication to his work. Now however, Henderson's the only parent Hawthorn has, and Henderson's time to spend with Hawthorn is very limited due to Cardians-imposed restrictions.

Rowan Henderson

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Richard Henderson's eldest son, a quiet boy in his early teens.

• Dead All Along: Has been dead since the tutorial, as he was killed by the mimics. This is finally revealed in Season 3, when Rowan's spirit visits his father in a dream influenced by Aubry's magic stones.
• Put on a Bus: Hasn't been seen since Henderson's tutorial, although...
  • The Bus Came Back: One of the mimics is implied to be him, having been turned into one of them.
    • Dead All Along: See first spoilered trope.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to his brother Hawthorn's red.
• The Quiet One: A boy of few words, as part of his teen attitude.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Only really got to show a snippet of his personality before going missing in a mimic-infested forest in Henderson's tutorial.

Julia Henderson

Richard Henderson's wife, and the mother of Rowan and Hawthorn. On a family camping trip, Rowan went missing, and the Hendersons went looking for him. She hasn't been since going to find a park ranger in the Carlsville campsite.

On a Clubs solo suit mission, Sal finds her driver's licence in the mimic den, meaning that she is somewhere near there.Eventually, Chaney leads a mission against Hellings' orders to find her, and sheis discovered, alive and (mostly) well.Shortly after this, after a body was discovered in the H.Q. house's basement, she takes advantage of being left unattended and walked out to join Finnegan the wendigo, to look after the mimics. For much of the rest of the campaign, she remains in this position, resorting to murder, scavenging and cannibalism to survive.

• Ambiguous Disorder: Played for Drama, as it becomes more so the case the deeper she falls into Finnegan's influence as the mimics' new caretaker/"mother": her labelling them as her children and bonding to the creatures accordingly is clearly some degree of trauma response and coping mechanism, and clearly the symptom of a serious neurodivergence, likely some degree of P.T.S.D. What exact condition she's suffering as a result of her mental trauma, however, remains unclear.
• Becoming the Mask: Because of her arrangements with Finnegan, she now cannot survive on anything but human flesh, and has begun to think of all of the mimics as her children. To compound this further, as of Season 3, she has begun physically transforming into a mimic-like creature herself: her hair has begun falling out, and she cannot speak in her regular voice without difficulty, as her default speaking voice is now that of the last person she has killed and eaten.
• Dead All Along: What her husband Richard fears her to be. She ends being found alive; it's the poor park ranger who also went missing along with her that's been dead this whole time, having been eaten by her, and killed by either her or Finnegan.
• Happily Married: To Richard Henderson. Although her new circumstances are definitely straining things, to where Henderson isn't sure she can even be saved any more.
• Heel Realization: Played with. [[spolier:Due to her state at Finnegan's hands, it's unclear exactly how much humanity is left in her, but what little there is knows what she's doing is wrong, but can't bring herself to stop it. To what extent this feeling has spread or diminished within her is unknown, as well as if the feeling still remains or not.]]
• I Did What I Had to Do: This is how she views everything she's done upon arriving to Carlsville that's heinous or immoral or downright horrifying, from the murder and consumption of the park ranger to her raising and tending to the mimics: it's all to look after what she believes to be her missing son Hawthorn in the body of a mimic, along with the rest of the creatures as her new "children" as her instability grows.
• I'm a Humanitarian: As a result of her desperation to survive in the mimic caves, and further manipulations by Finnegan. It is unclear how many people she has not only eaten but killed in order to eat, but the answer is more than Henderson would like.
• Mama Bear: More than prepared to trek through unfamiliar woods to find her missing son. Eventually, this drove her to stay in the mimic caves, according to her, because she kept hearing Rowan calling for his dad. This is in spite of the fact that the cave is filled with monsters, and she was separated completely from her family. Little did she know mimics were in the cave, and they make the last sound made by their victims...
• Moral Myopia: As her actions become increasingly erratic and murderous, and she descends towards monster-hood, she remains fiercely protective of all the mimics, and will kill or try to harm anyone who harms them. This is, of course, difficult when you consider mimics are savage human-eating predators. She also justifies her own murders as her simply trying to survive, and any killing of the mimics as murder, when all mimic killings are done so that either those they're attacking or the town, in general, can survive.
• Not Brainwashed: This very much becomes the case once she returns, in terms of her situation with Finnegan, the mimic, and the mimic she believes is her son.
• Put on a Bus: Hasn't been seen since Henderson's tutorial. It is unclear what happened to her if anything happened at all. She is more than likely somewhere in the Carlsville woods, due to the anomaly that moved the Hendersons from their campsite to the one in Carlsville.
  • The Bus Came Back: After Sal found her driver's licence in the mimic cave, Chaney led an expedition to find her. Eventually, after trawling through the cave, they found her alive.
    • She was then inducted into the Cardians, as the Player Characters and Jason had been, as a 2 of Spades.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Left the Cardians house in the middle of the house being seemingly surrounded by whisps, as part of the steadily increasing artificial night. And then, the others found a dead body...
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Deconstructed by the efforts made to find her.

Meredith Lemons

Guy Lemons' mother; a former addict. She is currently making attempts to get back in contact with her son, who wants none of it.

• Abusive Parents: She put all the money into her addiction, leaving Lemons to find food for himself.
• Addled Addict: Before she got clean.
• Drugs Are Bad: Her addiction was the main instigator behind her neglect of Lemons, and why he hates her. She is currently clean, however.
• Parental Neglect: Her crippling drug addiction ultimately caused this, meaning that many a day, a young Guy Lemons would have nothing to eat, driving him to extremes to fend for himself, and being the impetus of his eventual cannibalism.
• The Atoner: Wants to get back on good terms with her son despite what she's done, having gone through rehab and gotten clean of any previous habits.
• The Voice: She has only ever appeared through voicemails left on Lemons' phone. And as afar as he's concerned, it's going to stay that way.

Bradley & Jennifer Cole

Natalie's parents in Chicago. Bradley, her father, is introduced in Natalie's Tutorial, while Jennifer, her mother, remains unheard of. Until Season 2, when Natalie gets her phone back from the mandrake grove.

• Good Parents: Have very much been these to Natalie. Even after her malpractice incident and the aftermath, which would put a strain on any parent-child relationship, they try to be helpful if she asks advice. Best shown when Nat asks her dad how to look after the baby she ends up with during her Tutorial.
• The Voice: Both have thus far never actually physically appeared during sessions, and have instead only been interacted with by either phone call or voicemail.

Dragoonslayer 505 / Jason Colt

"I'm glad to hear that than nothing at all..."

♥ | 25 | Mixed race | Unknown

A supernatural blogger and online friend of Salvator, he accompanied Sal into a suspected haunted house, along with a ghost hunting crew. Then people started dying. He was to be another victim of the creature that stalked the Carlsville house he and Sal inexplicably ended up in, until Sal and Chaney's intervention. His name, after some snooping in Hellings' files by Natalie and Sal, has been revealed to be Jason Colt.After waking up, it has been discovered that, because of how long Jason was exposed to the whisps, he has been rendered blind and paraplegic.

After these events, Jason has become a Heart in the Cardians Division, as well as a useful database for occult knowledge.

• Ambiguously Brown: Until he told Sal, no one knew what race or ethnicity he was. He turns out to be Afro-Native.
• Blind Black Guy: Well, half-black.
• Blind Mistake: Jason keeps bumping into things when he tries to crawl around on his own.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Seemingly fitting into this with Sal after finally waking up and talking with one another.
• No Name Given: Sal completely failed to ask him his actual name while they were together. Eventually subverted.
• Only Known By His Nickname: He was known only by his username, as Sal didn't actually ask him his name, for a good while.
• Put on a Bus: At the end of Sal's introductory session, he was found to be unconscious in a critical condition. He has remained this way since.
  • The Bus Came Back: As of the suit-based missions, he has finally woken up, and has also been inducted into the Cardians as a 2 of Hearts.
• Wheelchair Woobie: Initially when the Player Characters found out, but downplayed more and more over time. While everyone does feel sorry for Jason and his new physical state, he's largely seemed to brush it off, and brings quite a few smiles to the group, as well as some casual friendship.

Able Makani

Theo's best friend, and one of his roommates, Able is a student studying Computer Science, and has a reputation for being an asshole.

• Deadpan Snarker: Very sarcastic, to the point where its one of the first things one notices about him.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Theo, from Able's side. Theo, of course, is gay, but that doesn't stop him considering Able his best friend, to the point where they live together in Boston.
• Jerkass: And HOW. Most people can't stand him, to the opoint where many wonder how he can be friends with Theo.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Is ultimately a case of this, however (with an extreme emphasis on the "Jerk" part). He helped find support for Theo in the L.G.B.T.Q.A.+. community, as Theo was coming to terms with his sexuality.
    • In addition, when Theo was trapped in the mirror world, he enlisted Able's help, who responded immediately, eager to help his friend.
• Killed Offscreen: He was last seen being attacked by Theo's doppelganger... until the attack moved out of view. The doppelganger was victorious in its attack, but still, his body has yet to be found.
• Never Found the Body: See above.

Spoiler Character: Romulus

River's pet husky, he has followed his owner into the life of Cardians.

• Canine Companion: To River.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Again, to River. They've been together for years prior to River joining Cardians throughout her research time in the remote Canadian forests, and have hunted, tracked and lived together as part of this. No matter who Romulus shares time with, River is ultimately his master and the one he usually obeys first.
• Morality Pet: Serves as this to River to keep her grounded.
• Team Pet: He ends up essentially becoming this to everyone in the Carlsville division, and is openly happy and affectionate with anyone.

Spoiler Character: Lester Hathaway

River's father and primary benefactor, and owner of the extensive Hathaway estate, Lester is a shrewd businessman with exacting standards on those who work for and around him, as well as his family.

• Helicopter Parents: He comes all the way from England to Carlsville (in Wisconsin) because River didn't call him at a scheduled date and time. Granted, this was because a Hedge portal had absorbed the voicemail he sent with said date and time, but he didn't know that, nor did River until it was too late.
• Incoming Ham: He's largely heard before he's seen. For Hellings and Yao, this was the way they first encountered him.
• Jerkass: He's uncompromisingly acerbic and insensitive, more so than his daughter. The normally professional (in business matters, at least) Matthew Hellings, Sr., and the usually unexpressive Daichi Yao find themselves challenged by him, are at something of a loss as to how to deal with him effectively, and both express relief once he leaves. They even promote Henderson for being able to get through to Lester and concoct a story that someone like him would believe.
• Large Ham: Equal parts loud and obnoxious; both unashamedly so.
• No Indoor Voice: Talks as loud as he wants, regardless of the demeanour or volume of those around him.
• The Dreaded: River is afraid of him, and is outwardly expressive of that fear. Best seen towards the end of Season 2, where the team get back the voice messages and texts and missed call alerts that got absorbed by the Hedge portal before they reached them. One message was from Lester, instructing River to call him at a specific time and date, which had long since passed; River was noticeably scared.
• The Proud Elite: River clearly inherited this habit from her father, who sees it as more than a mentality borne of some degree of fact.

Citizens of Carlsville

The generic everyday people of the town of Carlsville, Wisconsin. They all largely live normal lives, unaware of the dangerous nature of the town they live in.

In General

• Close-Knit Community: Everyone in Carlsville knows everyone else, due to its small size and population.
• Give Him a Normal Life: The Cardians are very much against the people of Carlsville stumbling upon the horrors that plague the town, and seek to protect them.
• Locked Out of the Loop: The town as a whole don't know about the supernatural presences within the town, and the Cardians are trying to keep it that way.
• Muggles: They're all normal people, with normal jobs and lives.

Noteworthy Citizens

Elizabeth "Liz" St. Bellings

Arthur's younger sister, Liz knows nothing of her brother's dealings with the Cardians, simply knowing him as the town's coroner and mortician, and works as a waitress/barmaid at Carlsville's local bar.

• Even the Girls Want Her: Natalie forms a major crush on her, because, among many reasons, of how genuinely kind she is, as well as her smile.
• Give Her A Normal Life: Arthur in particular, alongside the Player Characters, seeks to keep her ignorant of and separate from the Cardians' activities. Her safety and continued life unaware of the dark truths of Carlsville are some of his driving motives. Revealed to be the only thing stopping him from ritually separating himself from Infinity, lest Liz be made to forcibly inherit Infinity's essence and the bloodsoil that comes with it.
• Killed Off for Real: By a Finnegan-influenced Lemons in Season 3.
• Nice Girl: A genuinely amiable and bubbly young lady. She is good company, and very accommodating and friendly. Serves as a huge contrast to Arthur, to the point where you would wonder how they were so different despite their relationship, if you weren't aware of Arthur's Cardians dealings.
• Sacrificial Lion: A sweet and friendly young woman, whose only sin was being born into the St. Bellings family, a lineage cursed to inherit the core intelligence of a sentient disease. In order for Finnegan's plan to destroy said intelligence and the disease to progress, she had to be killed, which he managed to accomplish, with a little unintentional help from and manipulation of Lemons.

Rhys Albrekt

The town's dentist, with a distinct glass eye that moves independently of the other.

• Creepy Good: Despite being a dentist with a strange smile and noticeable glass eye, Rhys is a generally friendly and accommodating person.

Gloria Webler

Carlsville's gossip merchant, who frequently finds herself interacting with an information-fishing Lemons.

• Dead All Along: Revealed to have been killed by Arthur in Season 2; the mysterious unexplained stain on the floor of the H.Q. entrance was the scene of the crime.
• Gossipy Hens: Well, "hen".

Wez Brine

Owner of the town's wineshop and father of the shy but good-hearted Chris. He is largely a background character for the first two seasons but becomes more prominent in Season 3 when he begins to investigate the town's supernatural phenomena, and the Cardians, himself.

• Badass Normal: Willing to socially stand his ground against a team of highly capable monster hunters, and also wield his extensive social influence over the town should the Cardians interfere in the townspeople's lives in manners he deems unacceptable.

---

Awesome

Season 1

• The Season Finale. All of it. An arc of such epic proportions and depth that it had to be spread across a record of four sessions, with an additional session to set the scene in context. Highlights of said Season Finale include:
  • Henderson and Sal reaching their personal limits with Hellings: Henderson tackles him to the ground, and Sal repeatedly punches him in the side of the head, fracturing the man's skull. If Carly and Theo hadn't have stopped them, they would have killed the Ace.
  • The fight with Vayne Lafleur, while possessing Aubry's body. But for details...
    • It kicks off with everyone calling her out for everything that she's done, and getting the reasons why from her. She doesn't necessarily take it in, but the fact that they are able to face her down and verbally rip into her is a feat all its own.
    • Henderson, of all people, afraid for both his team and his wife, pulling off both a Pre-Asskicking One-Liner and a determined warning to Vayne possessing Aubry's body that even if the group doesn't survive the night, neither will she, at least. What makes this statement by Henderson even better, aside from his utter conviction? The other Player Characters absolutely stand by him, as do the Non-Player-Characters present; they are all prepared to die so that Vayne will finally die and the town will be free of its dangerous night-time.
  Aubry-Possessed!Vayne: You won't survive this.
  Henderson: ...D-doesn't matter, as long as you don't either.
  • Sal pulling a successful distraction, so that Henderson can tackle her, in the most Sal way possible: he begins to serenade her with his guitar, before trying to hit her with it!
    • Despite having his mind and body taken over by a powerful witch, empowered by her possession of another Mage, Sal breaks free of the magical mental hold she has over him.
    • Natalie, not satisfied with trying to burn Aubry-Possessed!Vayne's face to try and stop her from saying spells, cleaves into her with a machete, almost taking her head off in a rage over all that the witch has done, is doing and is trying to do.
    • Arthur and Carly holding off the whisps, without the help from the Player Characters, who are too busy dealing with the threat at hand. They're buying the Player Characters time to kill Vayne, and ensuring that they aren't attacked by anything else. And Carly and Arthur succeed.

Season-Bridging Roleplays

Season 2

• The fact that Hellings, having been left permanently scarred and physically impaired since the events of Season 1, managed to fight off an attacking Gargoyle. Granted, if the Player Characters hadn't arrived in time, he would've died from his injuries, but the fact that he managed to put up a fight at all, never mind fend off the Gargoyle, is a testament to how strong Matthew Hellings Sr. is. There's a reason he's the Ace of Clubs.
• The reveal upon the P.C.s entering the Hedge for one mission that there are multiple G.M.s in the call, and they have been assigned Players to run solo sessions with, separately from the rest of the team.
  G.M. Cino-checker: Alright. G.M.s? Take your Players.
  • As part of the same session as this, the subsequent revelation that the session is a small, but nonetheless significant, crossover with Cardians: Atlantis.
• With a few bear traps and a sniper rifle, River Hathaway, the newest Player Character, in her Tutorial session no less, manages to bring the group the closest they've been to death against an enemy since the fight with Vayne in Season 1.
• Towards the end of the season, the team are venturing through the Hedge, being chased by The Hook, a highly dangerous fae that gets more powerful the more afraid you are in its vicinity. Lemons singlehandedly steps up to ward it off by countering this aura with an intimidation roll of his own... and succeeds! Aisha rightly gives him a double promotion in rank on the spot.

Season 3

• Upon going through the lighthouse searching for missing people, the P.C.s find a series of stones kept in a box in Aubry's room. Their purpose is unclear, until characters take a stone each and go to sleep, whereupon they are visited by the spirit of someone who they've been thinking about who is dead. As part of this, Theo (and Sal, through Lorable's influence on him) communes with Aubry, and she not only reveals much more of the big picture of what is happening in the town, including parts of the secrets that Arthur and Natalie have been dealing with, but also that the stones were part of her backup plan in case there was more to Vayne's plans. Which there were.
  • As a further part of this, Natalie communes with Vayne of all people. What follows is barbed but mutually respectful (in a way) conversation, from which Natalie gets more information about how to stop Finnegan and Infinity, and Vayne pulls in Theo to thwart Nat's plans to keep Infinity a continued secret to lessen the potential damage of her influence.
• After being caught by Finnegan and Julia at the St. Bellings manor and Arthur is captured, Lemons is made to fight Julia, as part of Finnegan's plans. He refuses to fight altogether, and instead reminds her of the family she has left and the life she left behind, momentarily loosening Finnegan's influence over her and sparing both their lives for the moment.
• The raiding of Finnegan's hideout:
  • With Lallo's help, the remaining Player Characters successfully kill waves of several mimics, one after the other. The combined sniping skills of River and Tomoe, as well as Henderson's grappling, score the team several multi-kills and gnarly mimic deaths.
  • Lemons once again manages to avoid fighting Julia altogether and trips her into the hole in the floor of the shack they're in, using her wild charges and momentum against her. In the process, he carries out a critically injured Arthur, while severely injured himself.
  • The entire team band together to finish off Finnegan once and for all:
    • First, after Henderson is grabbed through the hole by Finnegan, River shoots the wendigo's hand with a well-placed sniper round, allowing Henderson to counter-grapple him and hold him in place.
    • He then calls for Tomoe to dump the canister of flammable liquid the team brought over Finnegan and Lallo sets it alight.
    • An incoming Natalie and Theo head downstairs to retrieve the unconscious Julia, only to be blocked by the flames. After thinking up possible usages of Theo's changeling power to reach through the room's mirror or using their environment to create an improvised protective blanket for someone to rush in, Henderson's player suggests Theo using his power to reach through the pool of blood around Julia and Finnegan. Unfortunately, for either Natalie or Theo to know this would involve meta-gaming. It's then that the players remember that Natalie has the Feat Common Sense, which lets her player ask the G.M. any question, and the G.M. must answer it, albeit as vaguely as she wishes. This is used to ask the G.M. for Natalie to access the information she needs to know to suggest the idea, and Theo is able to accordingly reach through the blood and pull Julia away to safety.
    • Realising his potential defeat and death is near, Finnegan tries to persuade the team to keep him alive so he can tell them how to kill Infinity. Henderson has none of it.
  Finnegan: You can't let me die here! If I die, this town dies!
  Henderson: Fuck you, we'll stop ''her'' too!
  Finnegan: YOU DON'T KNOW HOW!
  Henderson: Maybe you should better tell us real fast then!

  • After Natalie fails her persuasion roll to try and get Finnegan to spill the beans on how to harm or kill Infinity before they kill him, Henderson is able to more blatantly hone in on Finnegan's motives of wanting to destroy Infinity at all costs. Upon this, Finnegan finally relents and gives them the location of his laboratory.
  • After this, the final blow is dealt by Natalie, who puts a bullet between his eyes, avenging Liz, as well as the hundreds if not thousands of others who suffered and died at Finnegan's hands.
  Natalie: This is for Liz, you fucking asshole!

  • Worth further noting is the fact that throughout this, Henderson keeps Finnegan, a large wendigo with significant strength and stat advantage, successfully grappled and held in place, while the fire burns ''both of them,'' and Finnegan is ''still dealing damage.'' That's right: [[Determinator Richard Henderson]] out-grappled a wendigo while on fire!

---

Funny

• Due to repeated failures in Academics rolls, Tomoe appears, at least in universe, to be very book-dumb. Even the Players hypothesize that Tomoe is actually illiterate, as to explain why he keeps failing to read books.
• An example that combines more of the Player input would be when Henderson's Player and the G.M., who was at the time playing Aubry, accidentally started speaking over one another, while the characters were in the middle of a small dispute. This translated out to a line that was both funny and a mass Oh, Crap! for the Players, particularly from Henderson's:
  Aubry: ...Are you interrupting me?
• After being detained by two private detectives for his proximity to a newly-discovered dead body, Sal decided he did not like them... so out of spite, he peed on the bunk in the cell!
• This zinger from Nat, in the mall encounter with Dagmar:
  Dagmar: You're not very quiet.
  Nat: Well neither is your make-up, but who's counting?
• This gem from part one of the finale, when Chaney reveals that she'd visited and covered for the Matriarch, her and Aubry's horrifically mutated adoptive mother out of fear that the team would hurt or kill her:
  Sal: Your mom is a fucking blender.
• The Running Gag of Chaney stealing or borrowing or using people's phones for the sole purpose of playing Bejeweled. She has the high score on everybody's phone.

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Nightmare Fuel

In General

• Think about this: you could be living your life without incident, and then all of a sudden, something inexplicable happens, and you find yourself thrust into a life-threatening situation involving that inexplicable thing in some way, which is revealed to be something supernatural. This not only happened to the Player Characters, but several other characters in the campaign, and it's all but stated that this is an all-too-common occurrence around the world. The only reasons that the supernatural isn't more widely known about? Either groups dedicated to containing it intervene first, or the incident is too isolated from society, or the person affected doesn't live or return to society to tell the tale. This sort of thing can happen to anyone at any time without warning.
  • Imagine you then find yourself rescued by and then working for a group of criminals that not only frequently risk life and limb battling monsters, but also engaging in illegal or heinous activities for the purposes of upholding that same vigil and organisation, while also not able to leave once you officially join until retirement or death, and unable to tell 'anyone' outside of your new circle about any of this. No wonder they have a high likelihood of at best developing some degree of either mental disorder or coldness towards people, and at worst becoming a murderous psychopath known as a "Slasher".

Town-Based Horrors

• The whisps. They exist in any patch of shadow or darkness either outside or connected to the outside night time without a light to interrupt it, and are extremely hostile. Once you enter that darkness, you become a target, and susceptible to grievous injury... except that the wound left by them is exclusively internal, meaning it's difficult to treat and heal without specialised care. Sustained exposure to them can cause permanent maiming or organ damage, as seen with Jason Colt (who was left both completely blind 'and' paraplegic), and can even kill the hapless individual.
• The mimics.
• The gargoyles.
• The Hedge beasts.
• Bloodsoil.

Hedge-Based Horrors

Generally

• Firstly, there's the Hedge itself: a shifting, chaotic mess of lands that only keeps certainty of locations based on where portals, set up by either changelings or more powerful fae, are situated. Everything else is a disordered mish-mash of different biomes, climates, and physical properties, with some parts of the Hedge being stacked on top of each other; burst through the ground of one part of the Hedge and you'll likely end up beneath it within a different part with its own sky. Not even the flow of time is consistent in the Hedge: sometimes you can spend less than an hour in there and three weeks have passed outside, sometimes [[Year Inside Hour Outsidethe inverse is true, and very occasionally neither will be, with time flowing normally relative to you, with little rhyme or reason as to which you'll be stuck with. The only sort of consistency from this is that people that enter within a short enough timespan of one another at the same entry point have the same relative experience of time.
• Secondly, there's the various fae that inhabit it: each one belongs to a largely unique species and sub-species, with biology that ranges from unnerving to horrifying; each holds varying degrees of hospitality and hostility. This results in a massively unpredictable ecosphere that could host you for dinner just as soon as have you for it. If they don't decide to prolong your death first. And that's if they decide to kill you, because...
• Thirdly, there are the various kinds of fae and True Fae that deal in taking humans for their own purposes, whether its for food, sport, various kinds of "fun", or servitude. Not even death is guaranteed with these creatures, as they are likely to render their hapless victims into twisted shells of their former selves, mentally compromised in some way at the very least, if not outright broken. The majority of these creatures that were once human become referred to as fae themselves, with those taken and "remade" by the Fae becoming changelings.
• Finally, there is the much more summative horror of the Hedge, and what lies within and beyond it: you could end up in there at any time for any reason without any control or intention to do so on your part, much less a reason for it beyond sheer random chance. Whether it's accidentally stumbling into a changeling door or a roaming Hedge portal, or being taken by those within the Hedge that deal in human abduction, people regularly go missing due to the Hedge's influence; some are never seen again; others return all the worse for it.

The Mandrakes

The Goblin Markets

• Humans can very easily become prey themselves in the Hedge, and the markets are no exception to this: snatchers wait to lure the unsuspecting away to be sold as their wares, and humans are openly on sale in many a market.
  • Speaking of which, those that trade in humans don't tend to mind or care who buys them, from creatures wanting labour or food to Fae wanting new changelings for their court or new "playthings", with all the terrible possibilities that come with such a label. One regular benefactor of those that sell humans is a being called Dominicus the Skin-Collector. Not only does no-one and nothing he buys come out of his care alive, but you can very much assume how he got his name.

Other

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Cardians: Rural contains examples of:

• Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: The Role Plays that take place in between actual sessions qualify as this, due to their focus on simple character interaction.
• After-Action Healing Drama: There've been quite a few of these so far, be it after Sal's tutorial session, or the first mission...
• After Action Patch Up: ...but for often that not, post-mission healing will go down this route.
• A Lighter Shade of Grey: Compared with other Cardians divisions, the intentions of the Rural division are much more noble, in that they only seek to protect the people of Carlsville from the supernatural creatures that plague the town. Other divisions will dabble in outright criminal activity as part of their operations, as is usually the norm for the Cardians Syndicate, but Rural has yet to do so, outside of anything related to hunting monsters or gaining intel.
  • This actually makes a lot of sense, as this division doesn't seem to have as much of a budget as other divisions, and its parameters are limited to one small town, and just into its outskirts. Therefore, there's no real necessity for any further illicit activity, and when combined with the fact that the division is quite small in roster size even with the Player Characters, it's no wonder the division is so much more focused on monster hunting.
• And This Is for...: A particularly tragic one in Season 3, when Natalie shoots and kills Finnegan for his own murder of Liz.
  Natalie: This is for Liz, you fucking asshole.
• A World Half Full: Ultimately, this can be considered the overall aim of the Carlsville division (at least as far as the town is concerned): to protect the people while behind the scenes from various supernatural threats.
  • Because of this, the Carlsville division is perhaps one of the most compassionate and empathetic to the needs of those within its jurisdiction. When Dead Man's Hand members Aisha Hellings and Daichi Yao come to town to assist in dealing with the growth and severity of the threats that the short-handed and inexperienced division has to deal with, they are notably more detached than the division is, Yao especially.
  • Black-and-Grey Morality: The nature of the setting does still fall under this, however, as while the threats the Carlsville division face can be malicious towards humans in intent, the division is still ultimately part of a criminal organization.
• Bathroom Search Excuse: Used by Natalie in Season 1 on the team's first case, when they visit the house of the missing child, in order to snoop around a little.
• Better as Friends: In Season 3, Danny reveals this to be the case between her and Lallo: they previously hooked up and tried dating, but it didn't work.
• Big Damn Heroes: A few moments of this have cropped up throughout the campaign.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: In Season 3, in the climactic showdown between the team and Finnegan, Henderson successfully counter-grapples the wendigo to hold him in place as he burns, to not only anchor him to the spot, but also to ensure that he cannot foil the others' efforts to retrieve an injured Julia. As a result, Henderson catches fire too, and has to recover from second and third-degree burns.
• But Thou Must!: The Player Characters have to remain in Carlsville, unless allowed otherwise. Justified, as to desert would mean treason against the Cardians, which comes with its own dire consequences...
  • Subverted and then double-subverted, however, as once the circumstances of how some of the team of Player Characters got drawn to Carlsville, they are more properly given a choice as to whether or not they will stay in Cardians. This offer gets further extended in Carlsville to all future people who may stumble upon the truth, which ends up including detectives Reyfield and Barrenschmit, Liz, and the gargoyle abductees.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Done by both Cardian and villainous N.P.C.s alike. First, Aisha sparing Sal after he admits to almost killing Matthew. Then, both played straight and invoked by Finnegan on two separate occasions; the former with Arthur because of his bloodsoil knowledge; the latter when he is cornered and threatened with death by the P.C.s and Lallo.
• Close-Knit Community: Everyone knows mostly everyone within Carlsville, particularly the children, and they all seem fairly amicable with one another.
  • This is largely due to its size, with it being a fairly small township. This is quite accurate, as Carlsville is in actuality a ''very'' small town, bordering on a village.
• Cold Iron: The weakness of the Hedge Beasts, the gargoyles, and all fae within and beyond the Hedge. A major plot point of Season 2 is the Player Characters lacking any kind of cold iron equipment, trying to find implements made of the metal in order to use them against the hostile Hedge creatures.
• Crapsack World: This is hardly surprising, given the nature of the setting, but the supernatural threats extend beyond Carlsville. Part of what was so threatening and frightening about the predicaments of the Player Characters is that whatever happened to them did so in their hometowns, or in places that would traditionally be considered "safe".
• Creepy Changing Painting: In the Diamonds' solo suit mission, Theo and Natalie found one very old painting of Vayne Lafleur, and Omega and Infinity Brittle which altered the faces of the subjects when viewed through the camera of Theo's phone.
  • To elaborate, concerning what happened to the faces of each subject: Vayne's eyes looked as if they were poked out of the canvas while crying blood, Omega's face was missing entirely, as if also cut out of the canvas, and the canvas scratches through Infinity's face seemed to be bleeding too.
• Crossover: In Season 2, with Cardians: Atlantis.
• Dark Is Evil: Played utterly straight. The monsters and evil in Carlsville only come out at night and can be diverted by simple porch-lights or well-aimed flashlights.
• Darkness Equals Death: See above trope. There's actually a town-wide curfew for exactly this reason.
• Death by Origin Story: Tomoe is particularly guilty of being involved in this, having a backstory before the game even starts that kills off several of his friends, but Henderson and Sal's introduction sessions both involved killing off N.P.C.s of varying importance.
• Developing Doomed Characters: This certainly applies to characters that die in the Character Tutorials, be it Henderson's eldest son, or the paranormal investigation team that Sal and his friend Dragoon accompany into the house.
• Dirty Business: One of the more common instances, given both the nature of Cardians life and duties and the naturally good dispositions of characters such as Henderson, Natalie and Theo. Not even N.P.C.s are immune to it though, with Carly being the most notable: she shot Henderson and threatened to shoot and kill both him and Sal if they didn't stop attacking Hellings in the Season 1 Finale, but was clearly upset and guilt-ridden about it.
• Dysfunction Junction: Everyone in the Cardians Rural division has at some point, either before or during the time working for the organization, encountered or been a part of at least one traumatic event.
  • There Are No Therapists: And yet, no one seems to want to seek out help for what's happened.
    • But when you think about it, they couldn't really tell anyone, considering the supernatural and/or criminal/illegal nature of their trauma. It would either seriously put doctor-patient confidentiality to the test, or dismissed as hallucination.
    • As of the end of Season 2 and the start of Season 3, this has been deconstructed, to where multiple people both within and outside of the division acknowledge the lack of therapy or general mental health care and the general worsening of everyone's mental health. Aisha takes it for the problem that it is and calls in an ex-Ace of Hearts who is a licensed therapist and psychologist to help the division, which finally causes the trope to be subverted.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: The realm of snow and ice in the Hedge that the team finds, as not only do its natural geography and weather prove to be obstacles, it ends up being revealed as the home of Bo, who is actually a True Fae with powers over ice and cold, and the origin world of the gargoyles.
  • Best demonstrated when the Player Characters and the two members of the Atlantis division they encounter end up swimming through a borderline freezing lake, and also when Theo tries to meet with Bo for the second time, and he ends up almost dead from frostbite and hypothermia from extended physical touch due to Bo'scold powers.
• Fate Worse than Death: What actually happened to the women that the mandrakes abducted: they got embedded into Hedge trees, their biology being rewritten and becoming living trees that incubate and forcibly give birth to mandrakes after the initial stage of their life cycle, unable to move or break out of their new prison/existence because their bodies have been broken down and merged with the trees that encase them. It is unclear how conscious or cognisant they remained, especially over time, but any possible answer is awful. They are nonetheless very much alive, and because they have been changed by their time in the Hedge so much, it is likely that they will be unable to die of natural causes. It is this reason that once the truth was realised, River euthanized them (but not without it taking a toll on her) and, combined with her escape and Carly's rescue from this fate, Natalie burned down the grove.
  • This trope can also be applied, although more generally, to anyone abducted by fae and kept alive: your biology is rewritten to varying degrees, and your mind bent and twisted to where you are but a shadow of your former self.
• Fish out of Water: Prior to their time in Carlsville, the six main Player Characters lived fairly ordinary lives, devoid of the supernatural and mortal danger that comes with being part of the Cardians. Now, they must adapt to their new homes and lives.
• Foil: There are quite a few throughout the campaign, but the main ones concern the Big Bads:
  • Lemons and River to Finnegan.
  • Natalie and the Lafleur twins to Vayne.
  • Theo to Fustrarime.
• Four Is Death: There are four significant threats to the town of Carlsville: the unnatural darkness, the Hedge portal and the beasts that came through it, the bloodsoil disease, and the machinations of Finnegan the wendigo. Correspondingly, there are four significant threats behind them: Vayne Lafleur, Fustrarime aka Bo, Infinity Brittle (to an extent), and Finnegan.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Bloodsoil and by extension, Infinity. Throughout everything that happens, it is always there in the background as a very real potential threat. The possibility of encountering it is fairly contextual, as it's limited to a certain location until it's discovered that Arthur is its central host, but its influence can be felt many phenomena and increasing information about the mysteries behind the supernatural goings-on in Carlsville.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: The friendship between Sal and Dragoon is equal parts close and wholesome.
• Hunter of Monsters: Everyone within the organisation qualifies as this, with shades of Occult Detectives, even if they are a small division of a mafia crime syndicate.
• I Knew It!: Natalie's player (and by eventual extension, Natalie herself) put together the theory that the Matriarch was Jessica Hauler, which was confirmed by Chaney in Part 1 of the Season 1 Finale. You can hear him celebrating in the background audio, and the scene is put on pause while the others congratulate him.
• It's Personal: The death of Elizibeth St. Bellings caused this in Lemons, Natalie, and Arthur. A still openly weeping Natalie even vowed to kill Finnegan for it. And she does.
• Ironic Nursery Tune: One was used by the G.M. as background music for the fight against some Hedge creatures in the cornfield.

"Go tell Aunt Rhody
Go tell Aunt Rhody
Go tell Aunt Rhody
That everybody's dead"

• Jade-Coloured Glasses: Everyone in the division either already wears them, or slowly dons them over the course of the campaign.
• Just Friends: For a long time, this is the case between Nat and Liz, even as Nat tries her best to either woo Liz or find out if they have compatible sexualities; we still don't know if Liz is either into women or into Nat in that way. Nat eventually comes to terms with the fact that, despite her feelings for Liz, after the "longest night", she has left Liz down too often, and needs to work on herself first. Once Danny comes into the picture, Nat finds herself flirting with her new superior, who in turn propositions her. Nat decides to use this to start a romantic relationship, coming to the conclusion that such a thing wouldn't be possible with Liz due to the difficulties of Cardian life.
• Love Dodecahedron: The sheer mix of attractions and feelings between many of the characters results in this, particularly when a character has feelings for multiple others.
• Magical Land: The Hedge: a partially sentient mish-mash of forest, wood, and plant-based landscapes and environments that stretch in both directions in an infinite loop. And are also stacked on top of each other.
• Meaningful Funeral: At the end of Season 1, and before Season 2, for Aubry Lafleur.
• Myth Arc: Three, one for each season, revolving around the central mysteries of the town that rise and fall in relevancy depending on the mission and the immediacy of the danger they present:
  • The mysteries behind the Player Characters' entrances into Carlsville and the unnatural night time and the whisps that come with it are linked. The latter is due to the influence of the spirit of Vayne Lafleur, a powerful mage with shadow magic and the ancestor of Aubry and Chaney. The former was part of Aubry's plan to take down Vayne without inflicting trauma upon those close to her.
  • The incursion of the gargoyles and the return of their master: the Fae Fustrarime, aka Bo, who was Fustrarime with altered memories and trapped in a human form.
  • The rising threat of bloodsoil, and how it's being met by both Cardians and Finnegan.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: The small town of Carlsville seems fairly ordinary to its citizens, aside from the curfew. This is despite the fact that several supernatural monsters, beings and happenings centre around the place.
  • Weirdness Magnet: The town does seem to have an abnormally large number of said happenings, despite its size. It even contains a portal to the Hedge.
• Ominous Music Box Tune: One of the many atmospheric audio tracks used by the G.M. in the game.
• Pet the Dog: The Aces perform this whenever the Player Characters do well, be it in the form of increased freedom, information, or promotion in rank.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: By the very nature of it being a tabletop R.P.G. campaign. Most notably, the departure of Sal's player from the group causing Sal to be moved away from the main group of P.C.s.
• Room Shuffle: One of these occurred in the most recent session involving the Player Characters and Hellings hiding Bo from Elizabeth.
  • To clarify, Bo had been severely injured and was being treated by the others, who were holed up in Liz's mansion for the night. Liz, being a non-Cardian, needed to be kept ignorant of this, so the group had to hastily organise getting the still unconscious Bo out of the house and any residual blood cleaned up.
• Rule of Three: There are three seasons to Cardians Rural, and each one deals with generally the same base story:
  • The ragtag division tries to overcome the supernatural threats facing the small town of Carlsville, while trying to not only keep things secret from the civilians they look after, but also stay sane and alive and as a team. Through doing so, they uncover further secrets and truths about the town and its history, which usually relates heavily to one or more of their team members. When revealed, even if the problems that are raised as a result are overcome, the division is changed, and won't be the same as it once was, and the season concludes with the whole team being affected in a variety of ways.
• Scars Are Forever: Every major injury received by the Player Characters leaves scars. As of certain missions, this now includes burns, in the cases of Tomoe and Sal.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pulled in the finale by two separate groups of the Cardians themselves, for different reasons.
• Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: The Player Characters' first mission was to look into the disappearance of a young boy. After about a day of investigating, they found his body.
• Shoot the Dog: The result of their first mission, after they discovered that the missing boy they were searching for was already dead.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: All the characters can be placed on the scale at varying points. The Player Characters (aside from Tomoe) started off towards Idealism, but are slowly sliding into Cynicism as time passes, and the missions take their toll.
• Small Steps Hero: Henderson, Natalie, and Theo: all at different points; all in different ways.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: In Season 2, Natalie stalls Finnegan in the process of taking Lemons away, with weapons drawn and an intimidating stance & glare. It worked for a time, until Finnegan tried to break away and Lemons assisted him with a counter-intimidation on Natalie, succeeding only after one of his Feats forced a reroll. Nonetheless, because of Natalie's efforts, River was able to join the fray and shoot Finnegan in the eye, allowing them to briefly track the wendigo's movements.
• Tears of Blood: One of the major and most noticeable late-stage symptoms of bloodsoil.
• The Bait: Sal's plan to deal with the Hedge Beasts that are roaming around the Carlsville woods and gardens in Season 2 revolves around him being this.
• The Masquerade: By default, by Carlsville being the setting of a Hunter: The Vigil campaign.
• The Reveal: Due to the incomplete nature of the information regarding the Player Characters and their predicaments, many of these occur within the campaign:
  • In Season 1:
    • The clock creature was once a human boy, and the adoptive child of Vayne Lafleur, Aubry and Chaney's ancestor.
    • Julia Henderson, Richard Henderson's wife, was found alive and well.
    • The subsequent a few sessions later that she is under the influence of the wendigo, who is manipulating her for his won ends, using her son Rowan as leverage.
    • From Chaney, in the Season 1 Finale: Aubry has been gone to draw the spirit of Vayne to her, so that Vayne will possess her, and so that Vayne can be killed, at the cost of Aubry's life.
    • Also from the same Finale, Chaney is a Mage, as is Aubry.
  • In Season 2:
    • Lemons goes public with his cannibalism, due to his deteriorating health from the influence of the wendigo.
    • There is a seventh Player Character, who is introduced partway through the team's first Hedge excursion.
    • After the fight in the lighthouse at the end of Season 1, Bo begins to have dreams about another life revolving around the snowy and icy forest he saw. This culminates in the team uncovering that Bo is actually a True Fae, specifically the one behind both the Hedge portal in the cornfield and the gargoyles and their abducting habits, with false memories implanted by Aubry to stop his influence after he killed Roderick and his squad.
  • In Season 3:
    • Rowan Henderson, Richard Henderson's son, has been dead since Henderson's tutorial.
    • More of the missing people are discovered: some are found dead, 'Dolly' is infected with bloodsoil, but most are alive.
    • Lemons killed C.C., and did so in order to protect Liz from Finnegan.
    • After waking up from his dream, involving CC, Lemons discovered that he'd been manipulated by Finnegan into killing Liz.
    • The full extent of the threat of bloodsoil: it's a disease with a sentient core mind, that of Infinity Brittle, who had been passed down the St. Bellings family line for generations. Furthermore, if you know about her existence, you are susceptible to be hurt or influenced by her. Natalie has known about it since Season 1, but due to this effect of Infinity's power, was unwilling to tell anyone else, and has fought to keep it secret.
• The Smurfette Principle: Natalie is the only female Player Character out of six, though this is subverted somewhat by the inclusion of quite a few female N.P.C.s., including two of the four Aces, and one of the other Cardians.
  • Downplayed in Season 2 with the introduction of the seventh P.C., River, and further female N.P.C.s.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Multiple times during the campaign, from multiple different people.
• To Absent Friends: Chaney and Natalie have an interaction akin to this in the wake of the death of Chaney's twin sister Aubry, where they reflect on her true feelings about the Player Characters that she by and large took with her to the grave.
• Unreplaced Departed: In the wake of Sal moving from the main group of Player Characters, due to Sal's player stepping down.
• Unscrupulous Hero: Aubry in spades, but especially once the full scope of her actions and plans are revealed. And in Season 2, Aisha and Yao, as part of Dead Man's Hand.
• Villain Respect: Natalie earns this from both Finnegan and Vayne:
  • The first she earns due to her figuring out that not only was Finnegan was lying to her in the second dream and was actually the real wendigo communicating with her, as well as repeatedly demonstrating her smarts in that talk when figuring out who the wendigo wasm but for being utterly unafraid of him and outright antagonising him whenever they meet. At one point, she successfully intimidates him into staying put after he abducts Lemons. It doesn't last, as Lemons helps break free and they both escape, but for a moment, a human armed with only two knives frightens a full-grown centuries-old wendigo into doing what she wants.
  • The second she earns because of her having figured out the most about how Infinity works as well as her origins, alongside the fact that Natalie makes it clear that she wants Infinity laid to rest for the sake of the innocent girl she once was, even promising Vayne to give her daughter her favourite flowers before the end.
• Waking Up Elsewhere: After Nat was fully ensnared and encased by mandrake roots, she initially woke up to Bo freeing her from the roots in the middle of the town cornfield. Later, a different example happens to Henderson and Lemons. See You Wake Up in a Room below.
• Wendigo: The antagonist of Lemons' introduction session.
• Wham Episode: Several:
  • The mission to definitively find out whether Julia Henderson is, or was, within the mimic cave, and if she is alive or not. She was found alive and well.
  • The last episode before the Finale of Season 1, in which night time arrives the soonest and darkest it has ever been, a dead body is found in the H.Q. basement, Julia leaves the house while unsupervised, and a frantic Arthur tries to leave also to potentially stop what's happening (while holding Tomoe at gunpoint).
  • The Season 2 Finale, in which Theo sacrifices himself to ensure the return of the Player Characters, Omega, and Fustrarime's abductees to Carlsville, done without a fight and further bloodshed.
  • The two-parter on the dreams in Season 3: the team are visited by individual spirits of various dead people, and information on both Finnegan and bloodsoil is revealed, as well as the fact that Rowan has been dead since Henderson's tutorial. The most significant incident, however, comes in Lemons' dream, which reveals that Lemons killed C.C. Under Finnegan's manipulations, he 'kills' her again in the dream to get rid of her... only for him to wake up and find that he's mortally wounded Liz, who dies shortly after despite attempts at first aid from Lemons and Arthur. Using this, Arthur conducts a ritual to rid himself of Infinity, and the two flee Henderson's basement, fighting off a thwarting attempt from Caleb.
• Wham Line: In Part One of the Season One Finale, there were a few: "Theo is gonna grab Henderson's arm and pull him to the door... aaaaand go." "Roll Drive, minus 2." Upon the reveal that Henderson was about to hit Chaney with the R.V..
  • In Part Two of the Finale, from Inksword, Henderson's Player: "Hellings' Defence is 3, right? [...] You're fuckin' on the ground with Henderson, Hellings!"
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: In at least two instances thus far, the Player Characters, and their more senior fellow Cardians, have come across a monster that did not seek to attack them, and they have been split as to whether to kill them outright, capture them, or just let them go.
  • The first was with Omega, where Sal wanted to kill it by punching it to death, and the others had to dissuade him from doing so, with Lemons' skilled manipulation and persuasion coming to the rescue. This was after Natalie and Theo had proven that Omega was sentient, understood English, and, with help from Henderson, made the case that the creature was simply scared, and didn't want to attack.
    • Omega was then later revealed to in fact have mutated from a young human boy, further blurring the line between innocent and monster.
  • The second was with Dagmar Andromalius, an incubus that sought no quarrel with the group, and who Sal also wanted to kill outright. For Dagmar, even the Aces were split as to what to do. Aubry advised the group to leave Dagmar be, as they were not in Carlsville, and were thus outside the division's jurisdiction, but ultimately left the decision as to what to do in their hands. On the other hand, after calling him for additional advice, Hellings voiced aggressively that Dagmar must be killed, as an order. Even then, the group, including the Jack of Clubs Carly, weren't all on board with this; Natalie walked out of the room at one point, after initially refusing to take part.
    • It was this decision by the group to engage Dagmar, at the order of Hellings, that ultimately resulted in Henderson and Tomoe being hospitalised, and the shopping mall in the neighbouring town to Carlsville burning down.
  • The hardest case yet, Bo, the beloved but mysterious Ace of Diamonds, is accused by the ghost of possibly a former Cardians member of being not human, or at the very least not like a normal human, and a danger to others.
• Who Will Bell the Cat?: After their first mission more or less succeeded, in that they found the body of the missing child they were looking for, the Player Characters realized upon reaching the house of the child's parents that someone would have to break the news to them. Prior to this, as well, none of them really wanted to even knock on the door. Eventually, Natalie did so, as well as calling the child's father on the phone to tell him what had happened, and Lemons was the one to lead the conversation with the increasingly distraught mother about it. Which he did quite tactfully, considering it's Lemons.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Natalie pulled this on Arthur after the events surrounding the cemetery and the discovery of the hole at Vayne Lafleur's grave, and how both handled them.
  • Natalie herself also had this pulled on her by Aisha, after the former's actions during the "longest night" in Season 2.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: In regards to Finnegan's plan, one of the most important parts of it was the fate of Liz, who needed to die before Arthur to prevent the spread of the main bloodsoil parasite entity, and who the division, therefore, needed to protect. This was successfully achieved at last in Season 3, kickstarting the next stage of the plan: Infinity and therefore bloodsoil can now be killed without risk of her finding a new host, so Arthur is abducted to be interrogated on what he knows before he is to be killed.
• You Wake Up in a Room: In a mission that combined efforts of both Spades and Hearts, Lemons and Henderson, after going to sleep in the house their mission concerned, find themselves in a different, much larger house that turned out to be the St Bellings mansion.
  • Also happened to Tomoe and Natalie in a dream that may not have been a dream, where they woke up in an alternate version of the Cradians house, and then in a wood cabin belonging to Samuel T. Finnegan.
    • At the start of Season 2, Bo had a similar dream/experience while in his coma/sleep.