🚪 THE WAKE

You wake on cold metal. Not in a bed—on a cargo slab, surrounded by flickering green light and the faint hum of sorrowful jazz crackling from overhead pipes.

You sit up. You’re in the Ghostship Groggy.

How you got here? Reality fractured. Your world started dying.

No explosions. No giant monsters. No trumpets of doom.

Just… people gave up. Bureaucracy choked spirit. Joy turned gray.

Reality Pirates infiltrated quietly—rewriting meaning, stealing spark.

You were one of the few who noticed. So they tried to erase you.

But instead… you arrived here.

A clunky wall projector sputters to life.

A flickering holo-recording plays. A man with slicked hair, five o’clock shadow, and a voice like New Jersey asphalt looks right at you.

🎥 “Yo. You got this message? That means the Reality Pirates got their greasy fingers on your timeline. That also probably means I’m dead—either they got me, or I drank bad coffee and croaked. Either way, fuck ’em. I never liked those smug timeline-ticklers.”

“Any who welcome to the floating shit show of a Ghostship circling the drain, in extra dimensional space! My name’s Frankie, I used to run this ship. I was fighting them bastards—Reality Pirates. Essentially narcissists with divine complexes. Wanted to make ‘perfect’ worlds with no weirdos. Can you imagine that? No weirdos!”

“I hid tools on this ship. Tools that can help you take back your world. Armor. Totems. Weirdness made divine. But they ain’t free. The Ghosts here, they test ya! You gotta earn what you take.”

“So survive. Prove you can handle the sacred strange. Steal the Eldritch armor. Burn through the soul-crushing red tape. Wreck their idea of perfection. Make your own.”

The light cuts. The jazz stops.

A steel door creaks open behind you.

Welcome to Room One.

🍲 ROOM ONE: The Galley of Grudgewater Grease

(Subdeck B12 – Pirate Kitchen of the Ghostship Groggy)

You step into a heat-hazed kitchen stinking of scorched grog, scorched protein paste, and broken dreams.

Steam hisses from broken pressure cookers. Hanging meats labeled with strange names spin on rusted hooks.

One of the labels says your name.

Suddenly, the sink boils over in a greasy explosion of spectral steam and shrieking rage. A monstrosity emerges:

👻 “I WASHED FOR A THOUSAND YEARS—AND NOBODY CARED. WHO LEFT THE BLOODY CASSEROLE DISH WITH CHEESE BAKED ON THE SIDES?!”

👻 Bubo the Furious Dishwasher

Once known as Brother Bubo, a monk-cook from a forgotten frequency, he believed dishwashing was a sacred rite. But when the crew abandoned him, leaving behind mountains of dirty dishes and forgotten offerings, something in him boiled—then broke.

Now he is the sink. His body is a grotesque fusion of:

Cookware crusted into armor Dish racks twisted into ribs Soap-foam organs Tentacles of burned noodles and blackwater chains

His head is a scorched kettle, cracked open to reveal a steaming skull. One eye is a stove dial glowing red-hot, the other a twitching spray nozzle. His voice bubbles up in rage-foam:

“I WASHED FOR A THOUSAND YEARS—AND STILL YOU LEFT THE GRAVY PAN!”

Every scream births soap bubbles filled with text:

“You should’ve rinsed”

“Scrape your plate”

“I DIED FOR SOUP”

His weakness? Being unseen. Forgotten. Unthanked.

His strength? Infinite kitchen rage.

🩸 Your Two Sacred Tasks:

1. Choose One Sacred Item (Totem of a Bloody True Oath)

Pick the item in the room that speaks to your soul. This will be your personal totem of transformation.

🥄 Bent Silver Serving Spoon – warped but loyal 🔥 Eternal Burner Plate – still cooking your past 🧽 Holy Sponge of Scrub’n’Suffering – humble and holy 🍖 Fossilized Rib of the Star-Beast – ancient mystery 🥫 Sealed Tin Labeled “Moments” – it may contain a memory that isn’t yours… yet

Describe why this item reflects your truth.

2. Choose a Weapon from the Kitchen to Defeat Bubo

Pick one mundane item and describe how you imaginatively defeat the ghost with it.

🪒 Rusty Can Opener 🪵 Rolling Pin of Entwood 🌿 Rotten Herb Bundle 🍲 Stewpot Lid Shield 🥄 The Spoon’s Twin (if chosen above)

⚔️ Describe how you think you could use this item to defeat Bubo.

Your creativity is your weapon.

📧 How to Proceed:

Send one email with your answers to the Captain.

Include:

Your chosen sacred item and your explanation Your ghost weapon and how you used it to defeat Bubo

✉️ Send to: [eldergrogh@gmail.com]

Subject Line: Room One Submission – Galley of Grudgewater Grease

If your submission is judged worthy, you’ll be sent a secret link to:

🧊 ROOM TWO: The Cryo-Locker Cathedral

A frozen archive of crew confessions, sealed in cold regret. A place where ghosts sing lullabies of the unlived life.