Norm's intro to the story and the cast of characters:
The first CoC campaign will be set in the modern times, with the first module centering in the nation's capital of Washington D.C. The investigators will be drawn together to investigate a string of murders that have been occurring near K street along the the downtown district. One of the most recent murders involves the death of a cousin of one of the investigators.
Over the first few sessions the group will be brought together under the guidance of one Glassford Earlington, an eccentric but wealthy man with strong political ties throughout the world, though no one has figured out how Earlington is so well connected.
I have drawn up five pre-gens for the game (excluding Earlington, who will hopefully be played by a reoccurring guest to Abhorrent Thursdays). The characters are briefly outlined below.
P.S. Vowles: A journalist for the Washington Post investigating the murders.
Ian Forster: Professor of Anthropology at Miskatonic University, and a friend to Earlington. His cousin Kathy is the latest victim.
Brian Willmont: A private investigator hired by Earlington to look into the murders in D.C.
Michael "Monk" Enfield: An ex-con hired by Earlington to perform assorted "dirty" jobs. Known as Monk for his quiet, insightful nature, Michael has been sent by Glassford to ensure the press (Vowles) doesn't get too close to the truth about the murders while helping the other investigators stay alive.
Quincy Hawkins-Coans: An artist whose star is rising, Quincy is known as QH Coans by most of the world. He specializes in sculptures of fantastically exotic designs (inspired by nightmares).
Matthew: A master's candidate at MU studying musical theory. He is also quite a computer wiz.
Gaming Table Report - March 22nd 2007
The action so far:
Professor Ian (a visiting professor at Miskatonic U) received a disturbing phone call from his Aunt Anna. It seems her niece (his cousin) Kathy Hammond was killed the night before (a Monday night in late March) in D.C. and someone needed to go and identify her body. Her parents (Colin and Edith) live in D.C. but for some reason they couldn't do this task. Since the Hammonds were the odd sheep of the family and Aunt Anna was obviously upset, Ian didn't press the issue.
The professor and two of his students/drinking buddies (QH Coans and Matthew) traveled to Washington DC to identify the body of the professor’s young cousin who was murdered the night before. At a stop along the way the professor saw a young girl who looked like Kathy the last time he had seen her (she is 14 now, but was 7 or 8 the last time he saw her). Since Ian had brought along some family albums and had just been looking at old family photos the resemblance didn't really seem like any more than a coincidence. He did think it a tad odd that after seeing the girl board the train he didn't see her in the car. Oh well, maybe her parents took her through the heavy train doors into another car. QH heard an odd voice in his headset when he put them back on and immediately assumed it was Matthew hacking into his laptop and playing tricks on him. After a fairly uneventful train ride they arrived in D.C. around 5pm.
That evening Ian went to the police station and met Sgt. McIntire. He id'd the body and then headed back to the hotel. There he borrowed on of his students laptops to dig into things a little himself. Between his existing family knowledge, talking to the Sgt and his internet search the professor knows the following:
1) It seems Kathy had turned to prostitution.
2) Her parents couldn't be found and there was mail piling up at their house.
3) Her parents own an adult book store in a seedy part of town (14th and R)
4) They live (lived?) upstairs.
5) A call to the book store went unanswered.
6) Aunt Anna hasn't talked to Kathy's parents in years.
7) Traces of heroin were found in Kathy's blood.
Meanwhile that same day, P.S. Vowles was assigned by his boss to investigate the latest prostitute slaying in Washington DC. On his way to the park where she was killed P.S. noticed a small white worm crawling on his arm which he promptly killed with his car's cigarette lighter. After a stop to treat his burn, some investigating on P.S.'s part revealed that the case was being handled by a Sgt. Ted Macintire a semi-corrupt cop. During the course of his discussions with other people at the paper he works for, discussions w/ the gardener at the park Kathy's body was found at and discussions w/ Sgt Mcintire, Mr. Vowles also discovered:
1) Kathy was a prostitute and possible drug user
2) She was killed, drained of blood, dismembered and dumped in multiple trash bags in park garbage cans.
3) 3-5 other women have been killed and dumped in D.C. in the proceeding months.
4) Sgt McIntire was not involved in the other cases.
5) The women seemed to have been bitten by larger than human teeth.
Elsewhere the same day, Michael was contacted by his often employer, Glassford Earlington. Michael has been paid very well by Mr. Earlington in the past to do various tasks and to not ask questions. While Michael's build made him an ideal enforcer (he's built like a linebacker) Mr. Earlington entrusted other tasks to him as well. This day he was asked by Mr. Earlington to pick up Brian, a P.I. and escort him to D.C. were Brian was to investigate a series of murders and dismemberments of women. Michael picked up Brian and the two headed south to DC.
Along the way, while Brian was reviewing the information Mr. Earlington had sent him on the cases, Michael saw a young girl (roughly 8 years old) standing in the middle of the highway! After a few moments of indecision, he slammed on the brakes and almost caused an accident. Getting out to examine the dead girl, he found he hadn't hit her (despite braking so hard his Escalade ended up sideways) and that she was no longer anywhere to be found.
That evening in DC the two decided to head to a nightclub where Brian knew Kathy's boyfriend's band was playing.
While Michael isn't privy to much information on the case (he is exceptionally good at not asking questions) Brian has case files on each of the murders. It is believed that he knows everything the others know about this case and even more than them about the previous cases.
Gaming Table Report - April 26th 2007
Before heading to the night club Brian and Michael decided to stake out the book store where Kathy’s parents lived. Soon after beginning their state out however, the two decided it would be much better to break into the store than observe who goes in and out. Just as they entered the store, Michael received a call from Russel Smith warning him that PS Vowles was snooping around on the case and that he should ‘persuade’ him to find another story.
Meanwhile P.S. was picking up and chatting up prostitutes. Well, more precisely, Honey Suckle a friend of Kathy’s. He discovered the following:
· Kathy was an unhappy child and a run away.
· The night of her death she was arguing with a thin weaselly man around 10:30.
· Honey Suckle saw this same man driving a green sedan around 2am that same night
· Kathy sometimes squatted in a deserted building
· She had a boyfriend, named Spider who was in a punk band
Across town, Professor Ian, QH and Matthew were riding the elevator up from the hotel bar when it got stuck between floors. The emergency phone rang and the demonic voice on the other end screamed profanities at QH and Matthew. Then Ian’s cell phone rang and a young girl’s voice pleaded with him to help her. The voice claimed to be Kathy. QH climbed out of the elevator to the next floor where he encountered a young girl who had obviously been badly mangled and although standing in the hallway was quite dead. Just then the elevator began moving again and when the doors opened the girl was gone. Ian, having just been begged to rescue his dead niece, promptly returned to his room and went to bed.
After talking with Honey Suckle (and the police who thought he was soliciting) PS pondered his next move. As he pulled his car out of its parking space, a large Escalade, with Michael at the wheel boxed him in. Michael invited PS into his car for a ‘chat’ and offered to hire PS if he would write his story exclusively for Michael’s boss and never publish it. PS agreed and while discussing terms w/ Michael, received a call from Sgt. McIntire alerting him to Professor Ian’s presence in D.C.
The three headed over to Professor Ian’s hotel and woke him up. At first, Ian mistook the three for the men who killed his niece. Just as Michael was calming the situation and clearing up Ian’s suspicions, Brian inexplicitly pulled his sidearm and pressed it to Ian’s head. At Ian’s urging, Michael ordered Brian and PS out of the room. On their way down the hall, rather than keep a low profile, the two barged their way into QH and Matthew’s room. There was a confrontation that involved the police being called (can’t anyone keep their mouths shut and guns holstered?). Ian told Michael they would meet again the following morning at the book store. Michael retrieved PS and Brian and escaped the hotel while Ian, QH and Matthew spent the next two hours talking with the DC police.
Before heading to bed, Michael, PS and Brian visited the nightclub where Spider was performing. PS met both a drug dealer and a junkie in the club while Michael snuck back stage, rifled through spider’s stuff and read his diary.
Gaming Table Report – May 24th 2007
One, two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went Snicker-snack!
May’s game began with P.S., Michael and Brian all still at the club. P.S. introduced himself to a junkie he had observed in the club and enticed the teen outside with a suggestion of drugs (some would say with some other suggestions as well!). Outside P.S. questioned him and finding he knew nothing, the still inebriated P.S. threw the junkie into a dumpster.
Meanwhile, Michael waited at the bar for the band to finish and then tried to question them. His odd demeanor, bravado and round-a-bout questions got him tossed from the bar. He headed around behind the bar and slashed the tires on the band’s van. When the band came out he threatened them with a gun, winging one of the band members when that member mouthed off. Spyder spilled everything he knew at this point:
- Kathy’s dad abused her.
- Kathy often slept at Spyder’s or an abandoned building.
- The police don’t often patrol this end of town and/or don’t respond to gunshots in these parts! (ok Spyder didn’t say this, just inference from the lack of police response to Michael shooting up the band.)
The next day the entire group (sans Brian who seemed to have wandered off at the club) headed over to the house/store of Kathy’s parents. They broke in via the back door (it was left unlocked since the previous night’s foray by Brian and Michael) and the group examined the building. The following was learned/observer:
· The Hammons are pigs - the house is dirty, cluttered and unkempt.
· Entering from the back alley door, downstairs consisted of a main hallway with stairs heading up, a kitchen to the left and a living room to the right. The store was directly ahead through locked double doors but was not entered by the party.
· Upstairs contained another hallway with the stairs leading down. All windows were covered with thick light-blocking curtains. Clock-wise from the top left (in the order explored) were Kathy’s room, across the hall was a dirty bathroom (top right), the parent’s room (bottom right) and an odd room with mystical symbols and such (bottom right). More details on these below.
· The freezer in the kitchen was unplugged and defrosted
· There was a postal receipt from a Bookshop in Savern Valley England (McGlougchlin’s Book and Antiquities in Glaustershire)
· There is heroin in their medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
· The sheets on Kathy’s bed were soaked in blood.
· Hidden under the mattress on the parent’s bed were all sorts of disturbing photos detailing their abuse. Some showed strange misshapen (enlarged?) humans in a dungeon like room.
· Across the room from the Hammond’s bedroom was an odd dungeon like room. This room had chains and torture implements as well as symbols on the floor.
· On a lectern in the “summoning” room was a book – The 12th Revelation of Glaaki that some of the group perused. The last line of the book suggests reading it summons something evil.
After exploring the six rooms listed above and spending extra time in the “summoning” room, there was a loud disturbance in the hallway. Professor Ian rushed out to find his aunt and uncle dead in the middle of the hall! His aunt lie decapitated in front of him, her head no where to be seen. Sunlight revealed as well the corpse of his uncle with two deep gashes in his chest. “My god,” thought Ian, “Kathy’s killer has struck again!” “And this time he has hacked apart my Aunt and Uncle!” Ian then began to notice a psychotic laughter somewhere behind him and saw blood splattered all over his clothes and arms. Arms, which he realized with horror and disgust, that were still holding a bloodied ax!
[Editor’s note: Above is what the remnants of Ian’s shattered mind can remember of the encounter with Edith and Colin.]
Here’s what really transpired: The group heard the back door open downstairs and rushed into the hall to see Colin and Edith climbing the stairs. P.S. and Michael opened fire on the two. Edith collapsed wounded and Colin began a hideous transformation into some horrid beast (I believe the term “Great Old One” was bandied about.) Professor Ian, incensed by the evidence of child abuse snatched up an ax he found in the summoning room and charged into the hall.