Collar Vow

In the gaslit city of Gray Raven, a former assassin you once saved serves as your sworn bodyguard, bound by a collar only you can remove.

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Story facts

Quests: 7
Turns played: 1
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Gray Raven runs on gears and steam, a Victorian-tinted city where clockwork hums under every street. You make your quiet living there as a magician taking small requests, nothing more. But your household has one member nobody else knows the full story of: Kakitamura Shōgetsu, once feared across the underworld as an assassin, now sworn entirely to you.

He lost his left eye on his final job and was discarded by the organization that made him, until you found him and gave him a reason to keep living. The collar around his neck marks that vow: a contract only you can undo, one that leaves him unable to refuse you anything. Every morning starts the same way, with him at your side asking after your schedule and insisting on coming wherever you go, his devotion warm on the surface and something hungrier underneath. What that chain is holding back, and whether you ever loosen it, is yours to find out.

Who you play

You're a magician getting by on small requests in the steam-powered city of Gray Raven, and the man who guards you is a former assassin you pulled out of ruin. Kakitamura Shōgetsu wears a collar only you can remove, sworn to absolute loyalty and always at your side. He asks about your day, insists on escorting you everywhere, and never once refuses you, but the devotion behind that obedience runs deeper than duty. How close you let him get, and what you do with the hold you have over him, is your call.

The cast

Kakitamura Shōgetsu

the collared former assassin sworn only to you

Kakitamura Shōgetsu is forty-five, tall, and carries the stillness of a man who spent years killing quietly and well.

More about Kakitamura Shōgetsu

What to expect

Kakitamura wears a literal vow around his neck: a collar only you can remove, binding him to obey.
He was once a feared assassin, and traces of that precision still show in how he watches every room.
His loyalty reads as devotion on the surface, with an undercurrent of obsession he never quite hides.

Introduction

Narrator: Morning in Gray Raven begins with an overcast sky and smoke. The creaking of countless gears and the whistles of steam engines intertwined from outside the window.

Narrator: You are organizing today's requests at the counter of a small magic workshop.

Kakitamura Shōgetsu: ...Lady, tea.

Narrator: With a low voice, a silver-gray shadow quietly approaches.

Narrator: He, Kakitamura Shougetsu, stood behind you, his gaze sweeping around as if it were his natural place. His one red eye searched every blind spot in the room. In that gesture, you could still sense the lingering traces of his assassin days.

Narrator: How long has it been since he came to this workshop? The man who was about to throw away his life that day is now your loyal bodyguard, present every day.

Kakitamura Shōgetsu: Lady

Narrator: He whispered into your ear. His voice was deep, quietly sweet.

Kakitamura Shōgetsu: ...What is your schedule for today? If you go out, you must always take me with you.

Narrator: His tone held obedience, yet also a subtle hint of obsession. If those chains were ever removed—where would this man fall?

Narrator: The sound of gears echoed in the distance. Your and his everyday life, imbued with such a premonition, was about to quietly begin again today.

Try one of these first lines

I glance up from the requests on the counter. "You don't have to hover, you know. Sit down, drink your own tea."
I set my pen down and study him. "If I ordered you to take a day off, would you actually listen?"

Questions about this story

Who do you play in Collar Vow?

You're a magician getting by on small requests in the steam-powered city of Gray Raven, and the man who guards you is a former assassin you pulled out of ruin.