Campaign Trailer: SUNSET EMPIRE (Season 3)

I forgot about this one. This is a teaser I wrote for the impending third "season" of SUNSET EMPIRE, my Victorian monster hunting game. At the end of Season Two, London was utterly lost to the forces of the ancient vampire warlord Mithras, who somehow covered The Smoke in a gigantic bubble of perpetual darkness. The vampire legions swarmed the streets and lay siege to the Tower of London, the headquarters of the Royal Magisterial Corps -- the Empire's defenders from supernatural attack. One team member was unexpectedly killed just moments before the attack, and the leader of the Corps -- Sir William Gull -- was severely wounded before he could be spirited away by Our Heroes. Now England faces her Darkest Hour...

OVER BLACK

GULL (voice-over)

I’ve… made mistakes. Terrible mistakes.

EXT. LONDON / AERIAL SHOT – DAY

We see a shot looking down at London from above. We can see a shadowy dome covers most of the sprawling city. The ice-choked Thames winds along, disappearing into one side of the dome and emerging from the other. Snow is falling heavily, and as the camera ZOOMS IN we

DISSOLVE TO

EXT. LONDON STREETS / TOWER HAMLETS – NIGHT

Beneath the shadowy dome, the streets of London are bathed in perpetual darkness. Gas lights flicker in the streets, and VAMPIRES with shining red eyes stalk through the gloom. We see doors marked with BLOODY HANDPRINTS and BODIES lying in the gutters.

GULL (v/o, cont’d)

London has paid the price for my hubris.

The camera turns and we see the darkened walls of the TOWER OF LONDON, a great dark bulk looming over Tower Hamlets.

EXT. TOWER WALL – NIGHT

From the tower wall, we see the dimly-lit streets below. Snow swirls through the gloom. The camera pulls back from the view of Tower Hamlets below to reveal a SHADOWY FIGURE at the edge of frame, standing on the wall surveying his kingdom. It is MITHRAS, looking every inch the conqueror.

GULL (v/o, cont’d)

Our enemies have seized the Tower, our armory, our archives, and killed many good men in the bargain.

A wind kicks up, sending swirling snow into the air, and causing Mithras’s heavy cape to flap around him like dark wings.

GULL (v/o, cont’d)

This is our darkest hour.

FADEOUT, with the sound of gusting wind.

THE END OF EMPIRE

EXT. HMS TORCH – DAY

We see a small military steamship, HMS Torch, chugging along the Thames outside the shadowy dome. The river is nearly choked with broken-up ice and floating debris. A SOLDIER walks the deck carrying a long pole with a hook on the end.

SOLDIER

Hold up, we’ve got more of ‘em.

As the soldier stands at the railing, the camera TILTS DOWN and we can see that there are BODIES floating down the Thames with the ice and debris. The soldier begins using his hook to drag them closer, so they might be brought aboard.

SOLDIER (cont’d)

Bloody vampires…

As he snags the collar of a female corpse floating atop a large piece of wood – possibly a floating desk – we see MOVEMENT. The “corpse” suddenly reaches out and grabs the hook. She looks up – it is LUCY PELHAM, The Slayer. Her clothes are torn and her skin is nearly blue from the cold, but she is very much alive.

SOLDIER (cont’d, frantic)

Sweet Jaysus. ALL STOP! Bloody hell, we got a live ‘un!

EXT. WHITE TOWER – NGHT

We see a man walking across the snow-covered courtyard of the Tower of London toward the White Tower. He is clutching his arms tightly against himself, shivering, but he LEAVES NO FOOTPRINTS behind him. His voice echoes out across the courtyard, where there is no other living thing moving.

MAN (calling)

Hello? Hello, is anyone there?

We see a SHADOWY FIGURE step into the frame in the foreground.

FIGURE

Doctor Gladwell, I presume.

The man turns. It is indeed BERNARD GLADWELL.

BERNARD

You…!

INT. RUINED PUB – NIGHT

MUDLARK has BLACK PETER spread out on his back on top of the bar. He holds a knife to the evil faerie gangster’s throat.

MUDLARK

We have a contract, my ducky, and you’re going to do exactly what I tell you.

BLACK PETER (pathetic)

You can’t… they’ll tear me apart.

MUDLARK

Will they, now? Then you have a decision to make. Torn apart by the Unseelies later…

MUDLARK presses the knife to his throat. A trickle of black blood seeps from a cut in Black Peter’s neck. He recoils.

MUDLARK (cont’d)

…or we can just get down to business right now. What do you say?

THEIR FINEST HOUR

INT. TENT – DAY

We see MATTHIAS VON HESS standing next to the flickering ASTRAL FORM of GULL in a makeshift “war room”. There are elaborate maps and charts set up around the room.

GULL

Von Hess, you can’t be serious. An attack would be suicide. Mithras has destroyed the Corps, sabotaged our capacity for large-scale spellcasting, and he has the largest army of vampires ever assembled…

The camera zooms in on him as Matthias smiles.

MATTHIAS

An army? Well, mein herr, this is your lucky day. I also happen to have an army.

QUICK CUT TO

dozens of WEREWOLF KNIGHTS all transforming and rushing at the camera.

 

EXT. PALACE OF WESTMINSTER – NIGHT

The camera pans across the roof of the burning Palace of Westminster. MITHRAS is there, standing on the edge of the roof. His red cloak snaps in the breeze. LUCY approaches – she is carrying a sword, and it gleams in the firelight. MITHRAS smiles. He raises his own broadsword in salute.

MITHRAS

Miss Pelham. At last.

CUT TO BLACK.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

MAY 2013