Locations
Okeeokalee Bay – The Neverglades
The Bay is an area within the Everglades that’s home to hundreds of small islands, thick overgrowth, swamp and bog areas. It’s also home to The Fountain of Youth.
The town uses the gimmick as a tourism draw, even going to far as to build a big prop on one of the islands, but that’s just a decoy. The actual Fount moves around, appearing at different intervals and different times, but the fact that occasionally someone is cured of cancer or wakes up a decade younger, keeps the tourists coming back.
The Fount might also be the reason for all the supernatural activity in the area. Families experience abilities in numbers not seen anywhere else, animals get bigger and smarter…plants get bigger and more dangerous.
Then there’s the matter of the two sentient forces of nature that do battle a handful of times throughout the year…
Elizabeth House
One of the older properties in the bay, the southern mansion is home to Miss Lizzy, and has functions as a home for her and the children she fosters. The home is something of a Stronghold, once rumored to have redirected The Conquistador.
Water Maze
The majority of the bay falls under the water maze. For decades the labyrinthine canals caused dozens or tourists to go missing every year. The disappearances slowed when Freddie Bones opened his tour guide business…
The Lion Queen
A massive old riverboat, the Lion Queen functions as bar, casino, and hub for no shortage of illicit activity. Despite functioning as neutral ground, there have been a disturbingly high number of suicides at The Lion Queen.
Awhatopotamee
This island tends to keep the tourists away, perhaps through a sort of magic of its own. The island is a supernatural graveyard, with creatures from all over travelling there when their time comes.
The Darkening
An island of growth so thick the daylight barely reaches its soil. The island is eerily silent at all times…except for when the Conquistador rises. The Conquistador always rises here, an area thought to be linked to one of the darkest and most dangerous parts of the Nevernever.
Residents
Freddie Bones
Freddie Bones runs the Okeeokalee Fanboat Tours. Freddie lives with his wife and three kids, and is also able to turn into an eighteen foot long alligator. In addition to being the town were-gator, Freddie holds the mantle of Speaker. Freddie is usually able to tell where The Fount will surface, and can communicate with the protector spirit called The Sentinel. Freddie uses his role to steer tourists away from the Fount.
Marian Elizabeth
Miss Lizzy is one of the town elders, though by far the eldest. She is a practitioner of some skill, who’s mansion on Elizabeth Island is said to be a stronghold in and of itself. Miss Lizzy’s specialty was a sort of aquamancy, and has long been thought to be able to see the future to some extent. Marian has operated her home as a boarding house for some time, and has fostered many children over the years including Haplan Mullins and Willow Stevens.
Sheriff Haplan Mullins
Haplan “Happy” Mullins is the new Sheriff of Okeeokalee Bay. She got her job when her predecessor, Chris Johnston, became a vampire. Happy’s father died when she was young, and she never knew her mother, a Nixie of the Summer Court. Happy, now nearing her mid-twenties, knows she’ll have to make her Choice soon, a choice easier said than done.
Willow Stevens
Willow is a ward of Miss Lizzy, and for all intents and purposes, the sister of Sheriff Haplan. Well beyond her years for a ten year old, Willow is prone to getting into trouble in the bay with her friends, Jake Van Horne, and Marie Bones. Growing up in the Bay has meant growing up around strange and fantastic things, and more and more Willow is becoming aware of how ordinary she is, and longs for anything else.
Doug Van Horne
Doug Van Horne works for Freddie Bones at the Fanboat Tours. Like most of the men in his family, Doug is built like a brick wall, and loyal to a fault. He’s been in love with Happy Mullins since junior high. Unlike most of the men in his family, Doug is not actually a criminal, but the relation has put a strain on his friendship with Happy. Many of the families of Okeeokalee Bay have their own unique talents, or supernatural abilities…for the Van Horne’s its an enhanced sense of smell, hearing, and strength.
Chris Johnston
Skeeter Johnston was Sheriff in Okeeokalee Bay until an attack by a Red Court Vampire left him infected. He fought the infection as long as he could, but eventually he slipped. He became a vampire, and had a professional change of heart. Now the former Sherriff is responsible for most of the drug trade in the area, with much of his product being moved by the Van Horne family.
Midnight
Coat Like Midnight is the leader of a pack of panthers that prowls the Bay at night. Midnight is nearly three times the size of a normal panther, and he and his pack have human level intellect. Some thing he’s possessed by a spirit of some kind. He’s rumored to be able to speak, though no one living has ever confirmed this.
The Baroness
The mysterious owner of The Lion Queen. She’s run the river boat bar and casino as a sort of neutral ground for over forty years, though she hasn’t aged a day. People cross the Baroness at their peril.
Swamp Jack
A living legend for so long no one really knows where the legend ends and reality begins…if there’s a difference. Jack has been in the bay longer than any living mortal, and he hasn’t aged a day. Jack is adamantly against the development of the Bay area.
The Sentinel
The Sentinel is the embodiment of the Genius Loci that inhabits the Bay. The Sentinel guards the Fount, making few distinctions between innocent or nefarious travellers who stumble upon it.
The Conquistador
A malevolent being manifested in old rusted armor. The Conquistador rises once or twice a season at night, charging for The Fount. The Conquistador is opposed by the Sentinel. Every time it falls to the Sentinel. Every time, so far…