History AudioPlay / SecretRooms

* {{Diary}}: James manages to save one of Professor Krieger's many journals from Briar Hill, and when he eventually has it translated out of German it provides insight into [[spoiler: the origin of the Wendigo plague.]]

* MixedAncestry: Mary Sampson, the sheriff of New Athens is the daughter of a black slave and a white slaveowner.

* AnachronismStew: A strange case with Malloy, who tells the group about sightings of TheMothman and TheFlatwoods Monster (The Green Monster), with the problem steming from the fact that the story is set in the 1880s while the first sightings of either cryptid did not occur until the mid-20th century. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This may be a subtle way, combined with his speech about legendary creatures "waking up", that there is more to Malloy than meets the eye.]]

* AnachronismStew: A strange case with Malloy, who tells the group about sightings of TheMothman and the Green Monster/Flatwood Monster, with the problem steming from the fact that the story is set in the 1880s while the first sightings of either cryptid did not occur until the mid-20th century. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This may be a subtle way, combined with his speech about legendary creatures "waking up", that there is more to Malloy than meets the eye.]]

* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: On their way to Clearwater, the group encounters an old man named Malloy, who tells them about real life cryptids like TheMothman and the Flatwoods Monster.

** After James first sees the Weirwood library, Lucy says that [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast he can have it]] before joking that she actually doesn't have the authority to do that.

* AnachronismStew: A strange case with Malloy, who tells the group about sightings of TheMothman and the Green Monster/Flatwood Monster, with the problem steming from the fact that the story is set in the 1880s while the first sightings of either cryptid did not occur until the mid-20th century. [[TropesAreTools This may be a subtle way, combined with his speech about legendary creatures "waking up", that there is more to Malloy than meets the eye.]]

Sharp-eyed doctor James Penrose and foul-mouthed boxer Abigail Grey are new recruits to the Cartographer Scouts, agents of the reunified US government. They set off across West Virginia, a dangerous wilderness now home to the savage victims of the wendigo outbreak.

* AnArmAndALeg: Katherine's husband Preston lost a leg and a few fingers in the Civil War.

* TheApprentice: James was this to Doctor Potts.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler: Abigail briefly considers using her pistol to kill herself instead of being infected by the wendigo. Luckily, TheCavalry arrives before she makes her decision.]]
* {{Bookworm}}: James loves to read books.
* BrainyBrunette: James Penrose is one of the smartest people in the series and a brunette.

* TheCavalry: [[spoiler: Right when things look their bleakest for James and Abigail, Annie returns with soldiers from Elkview and dispatches the wendigo.]]

* ClosedCircle: Abigail and James end up trapped in Briar Hill, with night falling and wendigo closing in as Annie takes their only remaining horse to get reinforcements.

** Lucy explains that the boy she loved from her hometown was conscripted to fight the wendigo.
* ContrivedCoincidence: [[spoiler: On their way back from New Athens, James, Abigail and Annie just happen to find a hidden mansion where the people ultimately responsible for the wendigo outbreak are living.]]
* CrowdPanic: James and his parents run into a crowd refugees fleeing the east coast of the United States while trying to return to London. Things take a turn for the worse when one of the refugees turns into a wendigo, leading to a panic that separates James from his parents, and to him almost being trampled to death.
* [[SonofAWhore Daughter Of A Whore]]: Abigail is a rare female example of this trope, with the added baggage that some people use to expect her to follow in her mother's footsteps.

** [[spoiler: Lucy ends up turning into a wendigo after running away from Weirwood, forcing Katherine to put her down when she returns.]]

* {{Diary}}: James manages to save one of Professor Krieger's many journals from Briar Hill, and when he eventually has it translated out of German it provides insight into [[spoiler: the origin of the wendigo plague.]]

* FieryRedhead: Abigail is a redhead and can often be aggressive.

* HappilyMarried: Annie and Frank.

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Abigail attempts to lock James in Charolette's room while she distracts the wendigo invaiding Briar Hill, but he refuses to go along with it.]]
* HerrDoktor: Professor Johann Krieger, the owner of Briar Hill.
* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: In our timeline, Annie and Frank only ever used their shooting skills as performers. Here they are elite government agents.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Annie Oakley returns from ''AudioPlay/TheCartographersHandbook'', joined this time by her husband, Frank Butler.
* HistoryRepeats: Twice in the story we see the people of the same small West Virginian town have a meeting to discuss whether or not to abandon the town due to a looming threat. The first time, the people of Clearwater are discussing the threat of the wendigo. The second time, the people of New Athens are discussing the coming of the RSA.

* HouseFire: [[spoiler: During the climax, the wendigo accidentally set fire to Briar Hill, burning the building down and taking most of Krieger's journals with it.]]
* HowDoIShotWeb: [[spoiler: Abigail and James know they are capable of using their MagicEyes to open portals, but have no idea how to do so.]]
* HyperAwareness: James has this, able to notice small but important details that others miss.
* IdenticalGrandson: Upon meeting her, Katherine comments that Abigail looks like her mother did at her age.

* IronLady: Katherine, while not cold, it tough and no nonsense in her running of Weirwood.
* ISeeDeadPeople: Abigail is the only one who can see Charolette's ghost.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Abigail comments that one of the other Clearwater girls is good at telling stories that mix dramatic characters, historical events and creatures drawn from folklore and mythology, a good summation of what the New Century stories themselves are about.

* LoveDodecahedron: James is attracted to both Abigail and Lucy, who in turn are attracted to him while also being attracted to one another. Then it's revieled that Lucy is also in love with a young man who she made a ChildhoodMarriagePromise with before he was conscripted to fight the wendigo.
* MagicalEyes:
** [[spoiler: Greta's eyes resemble the night sky, and apparently give her the power to open portals to other dimensions.]]
** [[spoiler: Charolette possessed these too while alive.]]
** [[spoiler: At the end of the story, Abigail and James end up sharing a pair between them.]]

** James does this to Annie's horse after it is mauled by wendigo.

* TheNoseKnows: James has an exceptional sense of smell, able to deduce that Frank has peppermint candy on him by catching its scent on Frank's copy of ''The Cartographer's Handbook.''
* OffingTheOffspring: Tommy Sweeney's father was forced to kill him after he turned into a wendigo.

* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: One of the more common alternate names for the wendigo is goblins.

* ThePollyanna:
** Despite all the problems in the world, Lucy remains optimistic and encourages others to do the same.
** Annie is also described as being extremly chipper and optimistic.
* {{Polyamory}}: Abigail and James discover evidence that hints at Charolette not having been Greta's sister, but another woman in a relationship with both of them.

* PowerIncontinence: [[spoiler: Krieger's journals reveal that Charolette had little control over her powers, and is responsible for accidentally opening the portals that let the wendigo into the world.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The wendigo plague was caused by Charolette accidentally opening portals to other worlds around the globe.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler: When wendigo descend on Briar Hill, Krieger and Greta elect to simply open a portal to another dimension and leave, abandoning James and Abigail.]]
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: [[spoiler: What Charolette's ultimate fate appears to be, as Abigail and James find her desicated corpse in a hidden room in Briar Hill.]]

* SirSwearsalot: Carl, who is somewhat affectionately nicknamed "Fuck you".
* TheSocialDarwinist: James' father, Vincent, has a very low view of the poor and believes he is better than most other men.

* ThinkingUpPortals: [[spoiler: It's revealed Greta can create portals to alternate universes.]]

* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: [[spoiler: Abigail almost gets both her and James killed when she kicks in the door to Krieger's hidden room, alerting the prowling wendigo to their precense. It's enough to make her think about her impulsive actions throughout the story.]]
* TragicKeepsake: Abigail's father gives her his hat before she departs to Weirwood Manor.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: [[spoiler: James is shocked to find out that wendigo can breed and form social groups, showing that they are not entirely the verminous monsters he was led to believe they were.]]

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: James is more mature that most people his age and is described as having eyes that look like they belong to an older person.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: It's mentioned that gold and paper money are practically worthless now, and the truly wealthy are people who can produce large amounts of bartable goods, like food or zinc for telegraph wires.
* YouCantGoHomeAgain: After years of wondering and worrying, once Abigail makes it make to Clearwater, she finds that it has been resettled with no clue as to what became of the original residents, including her parents.

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

America has survived a war of independence, a civil war and a plague that has transformed its people into feral predators. Now humanity needs to pull together or face extinction.

* ActualPacifist: James, having taken the Hippocratic Oath, refuses to do permanent harm to anyone.

* TheApprentice: James becomes this to Doctor Potts.

* TheCavalry: [[spoiler: Right when things look their bleakest for James and Abigail, Annie returns with soldiers from Elkview and dispatch the wendigo.]]

* ChekovsGunman: Carl is a minor character met early on in the story [[spoiler: who ends up saving James and Abigail's lives at the end.]]

* {{Conscription}}: Abigail's father Hector was conscripted into the Confederate Army during the Civil War, though he admits he would have fought for them under his own volition.

* [[SonofAWhore Daughter Of A Whore]]: Abigail is a rare female example of this trope, with the added baggage that some people used to expect her to follow in her mother's footsteps.

** [[spoiler: Lucy ends up turning into a wendigo after running away from Weirwood, forcing Katherine to put her down.]]

* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Abigail attempts to do lock James in Charolette's room while she distracts the wendigo invaiding Briar Hill, but he refuses to go along with it.]]

* HyperAwarness: James has this, able to notice small but important details that others miss.
* IdenticalGrandson: Upon meeting her, Katherine comments that Abigail looks like her mother at her age.

* IronLady: Katherine, while not cold, it tough and nononsense in her running of Weirwood.

** [[spoiler: While Abigail is the only one who can [[ISeeDeadPeople hear Charolette]], she still has trouble communicating with ghost, as Charolette only speaks German.]]

* LoveDodecahedron: James is attracted to both Abigail and Lucy, who in turn are attracted to him while also being attracted to one another. Then it's revieled that Lucy is also in love with a young man who she mad a ChildhoodMarriagePromise with before he was conscripted to fight the wendigo.

* MushroomSamba: James believes that all the strange things he and Abigail are witnessing at Briar Hill is due to the strange fruit they ate.

* TheNoseKnows: James has an exceptional sense of smell, able to deduce that Frank has peppermint candy on him by catching its scent on Frank's copy of the Cartographer's Handbook.
* OffingTheOffspring: Tommy Sweeney's father was forced to kill him after he turned into a Wendigo.

* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: One of the more common alternate names for the Wendigo is Goblins.

* PhotographicMemory: James has this, allowing him to, among other things, memorize the entire Cartographer's Handbook in half an hour.

* Polyamory: Abigail and James discover evidence that hints at Charolette not having been Greta's sister, but another woman in a relationship with both of them.

* PropagandaPiece: [[spoiler: James says that ''AudioPlay/TheCartographersHandbook'' comes dangerously close to this by the hiding the fact that the wendigo can breed and form social groups in order to paint a black and white picture of them for the populace.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The wendigo plague was caused by Charolette accidentally opening portals to other worlds around the world.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoilers: When wendigo descend on Briar Hill, Krieger and Greta elect to simply open a portal to another dimension and leave, abandoning James and Abigail.]]

* SecretTest: After being questioned if he is related to a famous poisoner, Dr. Potts pours an unknown liquid for Abigail, James and Lucy to drink. [[spoiler: It turns out to be sarsaparilla.]]

* ThousandYardStare: After returning home from the war, it's mentioned Katherine's huasband Preston would occassionally stare at the window at nothing in particular.

* ChekovsGunman: Carl is

* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler: Malloy mentions a white tiger being spotted in the area, serving as foreshadowing the next story in the series, AudioPlay/TigersEye.]]

* MercyKill: James does this to Annie's horse after it is mauled by wendigo.

* MagicalEyes: [[spoiler: Greta's eyes resemble the night sky, and apparently give her the power to open portals to other dimensions.]]

* EarlyBirdCameo: As a child, James briefly encounters a StreetUrchin who is implied to be [[spoiler: [[AudioPlay/ThePrincessThieves Katy Ladden before she became Princess Gwendoline.]]]]

* WorthlessYellowRocks: It's mentioned that gold and paper money are practically worthless now, and the truly wealthy are people who can produce large amounts of bartable goods, like food or zinc for telegraph wires.

* HalfBreedDiscrimination: The sheriff of New Athens is derogatorally refered to as an "uppity mulatto" by the mayor.

* MixedAncestry: The sheriff of New Athens is implied to be of mixed black and white heritage.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: James is more mature that most people his age and is described as having eyes that look like they belong to an older person.

* ThePollyanna: Despite all the problems in the world, Lucy remains optimistic and encourages others to do the same.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: James is more mature that most people his age and is described as having eyes that look like they belong to an older person.
* WholeEpisodeFlashback: Multiple episodes come from enteries in James and Abigail's journals from their early days at Weirwood.

* SwitchingPOV: The story switches between James' and Abigail's perspectives.

* LoveTriangle: James likes both Abigail and Lucy, who both like him back.

* WiseBeyondTheirYears: James is more mature that most people his age and is described as having eyes that look like they belong to an older person.