Epilogue and Notes

The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse Epilogue

As they stood before the ruins of the Fitzgerald Manse, three cars pulled up behind them. Walter Dodge stepped out of his car, eyes wide with anger about the valuable piece of property that they had destroyed. Sheriff Whitford and some deputies had also arrived to check out the commotion. After a few moments, the sheriff asked the three investigators to join him at the police station. No, they weren’t under arrest, but their cooperation would do wonders.

After several hours in a cell, the sheriff stepped in and asked them what happened. Chaz proceeded to tell him the truth; about Arthur Curwen’s body, about the tentacles, and about the creature in the cellar. As Chaz started talking about the creature, the sheriff interrupted and said “So a gas explosion destroyed the mansion?” There was an awkward silence until Seamus said that it was a gas explosion that caused the damage. The sheriff wrote that down before stepping out of the cell and telling them that he had to make a phone call.

After several minutes of wondering why the sheriff left them in an unlocked jail cell, they stepped out and headed towards the back door. Seamus’s car was parked there with the keys in the ignition. They all climbed in and drove off into the night.

Notes

Being the very first game I had ever run, I decided to look for something that felt like a good introductory adventure for myself and my players. Having never played a game of Cthulhu before, I didn’t want to throw them into a long campaign, just in case they decided that Cthulhu wasn’t the game for them. I choose the Crack’d and Crook’d Manse because it’s a game that could probably be run in a few hours and because once the investigators get to the house, I don’t have to keep track of NPCs.

I spent a week (over)preparing for the game. I had index cards filled out with pertinent information of NPCs and I printed out the map and cut it up to show room placement. The board game Betrayal at House on the Hill was my inspiration for that.

When the game actually began, I was quite nervous. I didn’t know if I could run a fun game and if I’d start making these horrible mistakes that would ruin EVERTHING. I’m sure I made little mistakes but nothing terrible. As the game progressed, I discovered that I was terrible at giving out room descriptions. As of the end of the game, I still haven’t improved in that. My “boardgame-esque” style of exploring the house was a bit of a nuisance too, so I switched over to a whiteboards. And then combat happened and I felt odd about running it with just vague positioning of the investigators and monsters, so I got a battle mat. The short combat that occurred with the battle mat seemed to flow a bit smoother. I think I’m going to keep the whiteboards when I’m just showing rooms and whatnot but combat is strictly battle mat.

I had planned for the reporter Joe Virelli show up while they stayed at the house, but after almost three full sessions of explorations, I thought it was time to get the action going. Virelli was going to be the creature’s first victim, but when Burney decided to go to the master bedroom by himself, I sprung my trap. It also ended the session on a great cliffhanger, with Burney losing a full 6 points of SAN when he confronted the creature’s pseudopods.

Burney was able to get away that time, so while two of them were in the den, I kept them stuck upstairs by having the Creature surge forward and engulfing the first floor. Chaz saw it that time, but he passed his SAN check and decided to rejoin the group. At which point Burney ran back into the master bedroom by himself. And yes, he was attacked again.

The players had figured out the connection with salt very early on and were able to dispatch the tentacles without taking too much damage. I was happy someone failed their CON x 5 roll so I could describe how the monster was trying to kill them. Should’ve asked for a SAN check then, but c’est la vie. With the master bedroom sealed and salted, there wasn’t much else left to do but to let them escape. And escape they did. Once they got their feet on the ground, the highlight of the session was when John S. decided to look for windows and glimpsed the Creature. Still shocked that he only lost 1 SAN on the D20 roll. I didn’t think about this until later, but I should have made their escape a bit harder. Have a tentacle grab on to their rear bumper or something.

So they made it back to town, and I reminded them of the truck full of salt that had been ordered. They got the truck and drove it to the house. As they were preparing to throw open the wood cellar doors, I was wrestling with the decision of whether or not to have the Creature there. The book suggests that maybe the Creature had cleared out for a bit, but I decided that that would be a rather anticlimactic way to end their first adventure. So there it was and there it died. The sheriff also held the investigators until night so I could segue directly into their next adventure.

Re: the Creature, I misidentified it several times. I kept referring to it as having a pizza dough like color and consistency but after rereading the book, I saw that it was translucent and really slimy.

The players don’t know this, but with the three tentacles they destroyed brought the Creature’s hit points to 50. With a bit more salt they could have killed it without the dump truck.

I think my first adventure in Cthulhu went very well and I’m looking forward to the next mini-adventure I’m going to run. Now I have to change the name of my blog.

He somehow rolled a 1 on a D20.

Last time we left them, Seamus and Burney were ensnared by the slimy tentacles and Chaz had the brilliant idea to pour salt across the opening of the fireplace. As the two struggled to free themselves, the tentacles were taking damage due to the salt. Seamus broke out of the thing's grasp while the other tentacle, finding Burney momentarily weakened, forced itself down his throat and began expanding inside of him, drowning him and trying to crush his organs from the inside out. Chaz tried to bring the THUNDER, but failed miserably.

Eventually Burney was able to free himself, but he had to take time to retch and to get the thing out of him. Burney's into that kind of thing.

The salt took it's toll on the tentacles and they dropped onto the floor in a puddle of ooze. Having created a safe(r) haven for themselves, Seamus attempted to use his knowledge of firearms and mechanical repair to create shotgun shells full of salt. Unfortunately, he was only able to create two salt-filled shells.

Seeing no other option than escape, they fashioned a long rope from the bedsheets in the room, and were able to climb out and into the backyard. At which point Burney started looking around and wondering if there were windows on the ground floor.

Me, as Keeper: Yes, there are windows. ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE WINDOWS?
John S. aka Burney: .....
Me: ROLL FOR SANITY

He rolled, and he failed his Sanity check spectacularly. I believe it was somewhere in the 90s.

Me: You failed? Ok, roll a D20.
Morgan: What? A D20?
Me: Did you see the picture? That thing is messed up!

As John prepared to roll the D20, pure giddiness ran through my body as the anticipation of wreaking mental havoc was building. And then he rolled a 1. My jaw dropped.

Me: You are one lucky bastard. You lose 1 point in SAN.

Seamus wisely decided to look away from the house. But as Burney saw it, it saw Burney and was preparing to attack. The guys ran all the way to the front gate. Seamus shot the lock off the gate and they all piled into his car and drove straight into town.

Remembering that Cornthwaite had ordered a truck full of salt, they went to the Dodge lawyers to see if they could fulfill that order. Walter Dodge was a bit incredulous, but Seamus was able to persuade him to send the order through. Chaz stopped by the Sheriff's office to let them know about Seb Watkin's horse and to ask if there were any other law enforcement groups and if their uniforms were blue. "Nope," the Sheriff replied, "everyone here wears tan, just like me."

Knowing the salt truck would take a few days, they stopped at the library to find information about soldiers in blue uniforms. The librarian, Mrs. Susan Artwell then told them the story of John Fitzgerald, who fought for the Union and was shot in the head during the war. He survived but came back wrong in the head. He then murdered his family before killing himself. Thus began the Fitzgerald Manse curse.

Within a few days the truck arrived, and the three drove it up to Fitzgerald Manse. Seamus stayed up front, just in case, while Burney drove the truck to the entrance of the cellar. Chaz threw open the doors and was greeted by the monstrosity. Before it could react, Chaz took a blurry photo for proof and then opened up the truck, releasing a deluge of salt onto the thing.

The effects of the salt were almost immediate. The thing's death throes began to shake the house at it's very foundation. The walls began to bulge, causing large cracks to appear as windows shat teed and glass flew everywhere. Chaz had a few scrapes as he jumped into the truck with Burney and they sped away. In the end, the house collapsed onto itself, leaving a plume of salt and dust in the air.

This house is clean.

And tomorrow, the effects of them demolishing the house they were told not to demolish.

Burney needs to stop throwing things.

This session ended up being 95% combat and 5% finding a shotgun. I also learned how difficult it can be trying to run a combat on an ungridded map.

This session started off with Burney facing off against a tentacle thing, losing max SAN but failing his idea roll, so all his mind saw was a giant snake. Faced with another tentacle, Burney gave a yell to his companions and opted to throw his lighter onto a table containing piles of salt and gunpowder. Unfortunately he overthrew and was lucky he didn’t set the rug on fire.

Hearing Burney shriek like a girl, Chaz and Seamus rushed up to the master bedroom and were greeted by a pair of tentacles that oozed from the bricks within the fireplace. As I described them, it was as if someone took some dough and rolled it out into a tentacle like shape and was thrashing it about. Seamus took a shot at it and blew out a chunk, but it just seemed to coalesce and took minimum damage. Chaz ran in and flipped over the table containing the salt and was able to damage the tentacles and cause them to retreat.

Having found themselves a bit of a breather, Burney and Seamus went into the next room, the den, where they found a shotgun and gave it to Seamus. Chaz lingered in the upstairs hallway and decided to chance a look downstairs after hearing some odd gurgling sounds. He was greeted with a horror beyond all horrors, a monstrosity that should not have been. But he passed his SAN check and only lost 2 or 3 SAN points.

"Burney's mom wants to know if the boys want some Sunny D."

Of what Chaz could see, this thing had flowed over the entire first floor, blocking any chance of a downstairs escape. Several pseudopods reached up the stairs, trying to grab any thing that came within grasp. Chaz’s logic bade him to rejoin the group in the den and look out the window for a way out. Something was thrashing about outside, but it was difficult to tell what it was.

Remembering how the entrances of the master bedroom were lined with salt, Burney went into the room with the purpose of sealing off the fireplace. Two pseudopods had emerged and were waiting in the room. He jumped in and started throwing salt at the two creatures. Seamus and Chaz soon followed, with Seamus pulling out his pistol and shooting one of the tentacles. Chaz hung back, waiting for an opening to hit an ace. The two things thrashed about with no success.

Burney had a plan. Backing up a few steps, Burney lobbed the container of salt he was holding into the air so Chaz could bring THE THUNDER. Once again, Burney overthrew and hit the wall. Chaz’s THUNDER swished through the air. A tentacle attempted to hit Seamus with no success as the other one stretched itself to reach Chaz and Burney. Another tentacle squirmed out of the fireplace.

With his new-ish double barreled shotgun, Seamus unleashed a barrel onto a tentacle and hit. Burney brandished his axe and put a nice dent into the rug and floor. Chaz threw a handful of salt at the tentacle closest to him, throwing enough at it to make it dissolve into the ground, leaving a trail of slime from Chaz to the fireplace. The two tentacles attacked Burney and Seamus, and both were able to wrap themselves around the investigators.

As they struggled with the tentacles grappling them, they could do nothing but resist the unsavory thing the tentacles were trying to do to them. Seeing his partners in trouble, Chaz ran up to the fireplace and poured salt into the crevices and on to the tentacles, damaging them and effectively sealing the room.

But will his friends break free of the tentacles’ grasp before it kills them?

Never split the party. NEVER

The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse Session 5

This will all be explained to the players after we finish the adventure, but this session had a few red herrings.

Having discovered the message scrawled in the mirror, Burney and Seamus entered the master bedroom to do some more investigating. Burney started poking through Cornthwaite’s bureau but found nothing but clothes. However, upon spotting a gold-plated cigar case, he popped it open and grabbed two cigars for himself and gave one to Seamus. Seamus found an empty salt canister that had fallen under the bed. Salt was becoming a big thing for some reason.

Burney went over to the fireplace and noticed that it was oddly shiny. On a table, nine shotgun shells had been disassembled, and there were piles of shot, gunpowder, and salt. Noticing that the windowsills were lined with salt, Burney took a look out the window.

The raccoon was outside staring at him.

Back in the kitchen, Chaz tried opening one of the doors but found that the knob didn’t turn and would not open. Trying the door next to it, he found himself in the laundry room and poked around. Finding nothing but dirty clothes, Chaz left the room, and as he entered the kitchen, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. A man in a blue uniform carrying a rifle had walked by the kitchen window, and he seemed to be heading in the direction of the shed. Not wanting to face this thing alone, Chaz ran upstairs to gather his party.

After telling the others what just happened, Chaz and Seamus stayed in the master bedroom and looking outside the windows, to see if they could spot whomever it was. Burney opened up the backdoor to track the intruder. He didn’t find a thing. After a bit of discussion, they decided that whomever it was had headed towards the shed, so it was time to check it out.

As they walked towards the shed, they noticed that the skies were starting to darken and thunder could be heard, and they realized that they would most likely have to spend the night. The shed was dark, ominous, and green. Chaz opted to stand watch outside as Seamus and Burney walked in. Tools and trash littered the floor. Noticing a space for an axe on the tool rack, Burney tried to see if the axe he found went there, but it didn’t. And then a hammer flew off a shelf and hit Seamus, knocking him down. Both freaking out, Burney tried to hoist Seamus to his feet, but failed miserably the first time. Still a bit dazed, Seamus struggled to get up, until Burney, using his superhuman stunt man strength, hoisted Seamus right up and the both barreled through the door, narrowly missing Chaz and almost knocking him down.

After some accusations of drinking and the rain started pouring down, Chaz decided if they were going to spend the night, he was going to get his gun. As he walked down the long driveway and the others went back inside, he smacked his head on a tree branch that he swore was not there before. Now muddied and covered in coal dust, Chaz marched on until he reach the front gate. Twice he tried to climb over, and twice he failed. Defeated, Chaz walked back to the mansion like a sad Charlie Brown. At least he still had Cornthwaite’s .45 revolver.

Back inside, the three decided to do a bit more investigating. Chaz found himself dodging a killer coat rack and the other two were in the library. Studying the shelves, they saw that the majority of the books were about exploration and archeology, but there were many gaps in between the books. Remembering the many instances of salt lining the entrances to rooms, Burney decided to run upstairs and grab the salt from the master bedroom. By himself.

After grabbing the salt, Burney turned to leave but heard this wet, sickening, slap hit the floor next to him. Spinning to see what it was, he was greeted by a doughy tentacle squeezing from the bricks in the fireplace, dripping onto the floor, multiple jaws chomping away at the air. Burney’s eyes went wide from the shock.

How will Burney get out of this?

Addendum: I ended the session on a cliffhanger because I thought we were going to be able to play the next day. We could not. Having lost 6 SAN after seeing the tentacle, I was going to start the next session with the player trying to fail an Idea roll. So for fun I had him roll at our lunch table and he failed it. He did enjoy rolling to see what would happen if he did make the idea roll and what type of insanity he would gain. It was the homicidal or suicidal tendency insanity that he rolled.

The Black Beast with Burning Red Eyes and Human Hands

The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse Session 4

Chaz and Burney were only stuck in the secret room for a small bit of time. Chaz was able to find a small trap door in the ceiling. As they pushed it open…

An Irish bootlegger was driving down the road towards the Fitzgerald Manse. Noticing a car parked outside it’s gates, he pulled up and saw that the gate was closed and locked. After jiggling with the locks for a bit but unable to open them, he climbed over the fence, with his guns, and entered onto the grounds. Seamus O’Hearne had returned and he marched straight up to the house. Not seeing his companions anywhere, he made a stop at the study, where he found an open book entitled The Missing People: The Tribe that the Jungle Swallowed. Not one to pass up a good book, Seamus made himself comfortable and decided to skim the book for an hour or so.

Chaz and Burney emerged into the dust filled attic of the mansion. Chaz opened some of the steamer trunks they had found but they were only being used for storage. Seeing a bit of light from the far corner, Burney headed towards it but found another steamer trunk that appeared to have burst open from the inside. He cautiously poked at the trunk with his newly acquired axe, but nothing jumped out and devoured him. Inside were various jungle clothing, a pith helmet, a compass, a .45 revolver, and a machete. Which Burney picked up. Chaz himself picked up the .45 revolver and as he leaned down to pick it up, he noticed that one of the pants pockets had burst open at the seams.

As they exited the attic, they heard some cursing going on downstairs. Figuring it was Seamus, they visited the study, where Seamus gave them the gist of the book he had read. Finding nothing else here, they went next door to the storeroom. Finding it filled with junk, Chaz noticed that the floor in the middle of the room was covered in mold and wet to the touch. Checking the ceiling to see if there was a drip coming from the room above, Chaz barely had any time before he heard the floor begin to crack and crumble beneath him. Plumes of black dust flew into the air as he fell into the coal cellar, blocking out all light from the room. As he sat there in the black, he heard something crawling towards him, it's jaws chomping as it searched for food. Chaz fired blindly into the room, and as the dust cleared and light re-entered the room, he saw that there was nothing in with him. Just a door that wouldn't open.

Burney and Seamus threw a rope down for Chaz to climb out, and then they hightailed it out of there. Jerks. They went into one of the upstairs bedrooms and found tracks in the dusty floor. As they tried to find where the tracks led, they began hearing scratching sounds coming from inside the room. Specifically, under the bed. Seamus drew his rifle as Burney inched over to the bed to give it a quick kick. As he did, a horrific black beast with burning red eyes and hands like a human emerged from under it and backed itself into a corner. Though slightly startled, the two realized that it was a raccoon and Burney opened up a window to shoo it out.

Having climbed out of the coal cellar, Chaz proceeded into the dining room and found that the table had been set for one. On the floor was some broken glass and little black specks. On closer inspection, he saw that it was ground pepper. Through another door, he headed straight into the kitchen. There he found several canisters of dry goods; sugar, coffee, tea, and flour. The salt canister appeared to be missing. As he walked into the pantry, Chaz was hit with a horrific smell of rot. Looking around the kitchen for a broom stick or a mop, he then used it to pop open the ice box. The smell became infinitely worse as he peered into the ice box and saw rotting food and flies and maggots. He quickly shut the box and the pantry door.

Finding nothing but a raccoon in the bedroom, the two upstairs opened a door and found themselves in a luxurious bathroom, complete with a granite counter top, a ivory claw-foot tub, and clean towels. That wouldn't have been all they had seen if they hadn't glanced at the mirror and saw "NaCL" scrawled in the dust. "What's nacl?" Burney said. Seamus gave me a quick bop on the head and told him that NaCL is the chemical formula for salt.

Things are starting to heat up as night is beginning to fall for the three investigators.

DAMMIT CHAZ

The pair decided it was time to bring the investigation to the Fitzgerald Manse, but not before stopping to see Mr. Cornthwaite’s neightbor, Seb Watkins. Seb’s prize horse had gone missing during the evening, and with the home bordering to the Fitzgerald Manse, they thought this was a good place to start.

As they walked up to the house, the man’s dogs started barking and out came Seb Watkins. When asked about Mr. Cornthwaite, Seb said Cornthwaite was a nice enough fellow. They weren’t the best of friends but whenever they ran into each other in town they would say hello. Regarding the missing horse, neither Seb or his dogs heard anything. Last evening the horse was there, the following morning it was gone. When Seb and the police searched for the horse, tey all noticed a heavy dew that last until just before noon.

Chaz went off to search the fields for the horse while Burney stayed behind to ask Seb some follow-ups questions. Nothing new was really learned except that Cornthwaite had moved in about six years ago. After an hour search of the field, Chaz came across large group of crushed bones. With a little bit of fudging, Chaz was able to determine that these bones belong to a horse. But if it was Seb Watkin’s horse, what could have stripped all the meat off of it? It wasn’t natural decomposition because the horse only went missing the night before.

They opted not to tell Mr. Watkins and proceeded to the Fitzgerald Manse.

They hopped back into Burney’s car and approached the house but saw that the gate was closed and locked. Rather than drive back to town or attempt to lockpick it, Burney grabbed his gun and climbed over the fence. Chaz grabbed his tennis racket, the Thunder, and did the same. Since they left the car outside of the grounds, Chaz made sure Burney had his car keys on him.

The garden was overgrown. It was hard to spot, due to the trees blocking much of the sunlight, but they saw a tiny green shed some ways away. The house stood before them. It was in a state of disrepair and did not extend an aura of welcome to any. Many of the windows had been shuttered and there were cobwebs and vines covering the home. Chaz tested the oak door to see if it was locked, and when satisfied that it was, he inserted the key and opened the door.

The inside of the house was in worse condition. Large cracks had appeared in the walls and water damage was visible on each wall. Burney yelled out to see if Mr. Cornthwaite was home, but no one answered. So they split up.

Chaz visited the downstairs study, where he found the book The Missing People: The Tribe that the Jungle Swallowed. It was in poor condition, but still very legible. Chaz opted to leave the book where it was for the moment…

Burney walked upstairs and found himself in the guest bedroom. Nothing really stood out in this room except for the fireplace in the corner. As he fiddled with the fireplace, he triggered some thing and caused the fireplace to swing him into a dark, cramped room. And a dead body fell onto him.

The dead body was nothing but a skeleton with tiny bits of flesh still stuck on. It was missing it’s toes and the fingers from the left hand. Of course, Burney had seen worse and just shrugged it off. Literally. And then he picked up the axe he found in the corner.

Eventually Burney started yelling for Chaz again, but this time he heard the yells. Racing up the stairs and into the bedroom, Chaz listened to Burney’s instructions about the fireplace, causing Chaz to trigger the fireplace and get pushed into the secret room.

And then they realized they were trapped. The dead body did nothing to help Chaz’s mental state, but the sight of the axe Burney was holding did jog a memory about some axe murders that had been committed in the home.

Now the boys are stuck in a cramped secret room with a dead body and no visible means to get out.

Is there an app for that?

I'm currently looking into apps to help me run games. This post-it note one seems rather neat.

A tennis pro, a stunt man, and a bootlegger walk into a bar...

The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse Sessions 1 & 2

The Players:
Chaz Whitherspoon, tennis pro
Burney Johnson, burn victim/stunt man
Seamus O'Hearne, former IRA/current bootlegger

Plans are set into motion when Chaz receives a letter from the Dodge Bros, Attornies at Law from Gamwell. The lawyers are hoping Chaz can help them locate their client, Mr. Arthur Cornthwaite. Somewhat perplexed as to why he received the letter, Chaz gathers his friends Seamus and Burney and they set out for Gamwell.

The trio arrive at Gamwell just before noon and head straight for the Dodge Bros' offices. There they are greeted by one of the brothers, Walter Dodge, a timid mouse of a man. Walter tells them about Mr. Cornthwaite and his disappearance from society. Having been missing for about a month and without telling anyone of his plans, the lawyers want to know that their client is safe. However, if something should to have befallen Mr. Cornthwaite, they would like proof so they can execute Mr. Cornthwaite's final wishes.

Chaz agrees to help out but not before he gets some answers. He wants to know how the lawyers got his name and why they think Arthur Cornthwaite knew him. Walter tells him that while they were trying to find information on Mr. Cornthwaite's whereabouts, they ran across Chaz Whitherspoon's name and Cornthwaite had described him as a man of great honor and discretion.

Chaz still has no idea how Cornthwaite knows him. And he never will. (That's more due to my failing as a first time keeper.)

Walter gives Chaz and Seamus access to Cornthwaite's ledgers and accounts, where they discover that Cornthwaite's finances have lots of zeroes in them. Burney is currently doing donuts in the town square while flipping off all of the townies. Jerk.

As they pored over the books, they discovered that Cornthwaite had planned a large scale expedition to South America in 1923, but oddly enough, Cornthwaite was the only one that had booked passage back home. In the month before his disappearance, Cornthwaite had ordered a large dump truck filled with salt to be delivered to his home. The lawyers were never able to ask their client about this order so it was never filled. Rich people can be eccentric was Walter's explanation.

Walter offered to let the guys stay at the Fitzgerald Manse during their investigation but they were very adamant about not staying there. "Well, if you change your mind, the offer's still standing. I'll call our local boarding house and get you fine gents set up."

With that, they headed out onto a fact-finding mission. First stop was the sheriff's office.

Sheriff Walt Whitby had no time for these jokers, never looking up from the typewriter as he spoke to them. They came in asking all these questions about the "missing" Arthur Cornthwaite. The man's got money and he doesn't need anyone permission to drop everything and go traipsing through some jungle. The whole thing was ridiculous. The team could tell that the sheriff did not like them so they decided to go on their way but not before the sheriff asked them about their whereabouts for the night before. Despite not even being in town, the sheriff insisted that they provide witnesses until Chaz was able to persuade him of their innocence.

The sheriff opened up a bit more after that. He still thought that Cornthwaite was out having fun somewhere. He confessed to stopping by the house and having a little look around, but with no signs of foul play, the sheriff left it at that. Whitby's revulsion towards the Fitzgerald Manse was evident to all present, and when pr eased, he admitted that he thought the Fitzgerald Manse was a blight upon Gamwell and that the whole thing should be torn down. He had some history with the place. With regards to where they were the night before, the sheriff told them that Seb Watkin's prize horse had gone missing during the evening. Neither Seb or his dogs heard anything during the night. The horse just seemed to vanish.

He also told them that some Gamwell citizens thought the Fitzgerald Manse was cursed. Just because a couple of murders happen at a home doesn't mean the place is cursed.

As they exited the sheriff's office, Seamus had to bid his comrades farewell, as a bootlegging emergency had come up and he had to take the nearest train back to New York. At least he left the car.

The trio now turned duo visited the library when they learned that Cornthwaite had donated a sizable amount of books on the subjects of archeology and anthropology to the library and that most of them were in storage. Burney also attempted to woo the attractive librarian, Mrs. Susan Artwell, but not even his fat wallet could sway her from her husband. Burney's face was also a problem.

Done with the library, Burney proposed that they split up. Burney would investigate the missing horse while Chaz talked to the local news rag, the Gamwell Gazette. Did Burney know where Seb Watkins lives? No he didn't, so he popped back into the sheriff's office to ask. Still annoyed, Sheriff Whitby told him that the Watkins household is next to the Fitzgerald Manse, about 40 minutes outside of town. Well shit. A defeated Burney went to rejoin his companion.

The editor of the Gamwell Gazette, Stan Artemis, greeted them as they entered the small and cluttered office. After the two told them why they were in town, Stan tried pumping them for information about the missing millionaire. If Chaz or Burney noticed, they didn't let on. They didn't find out too much information about Cornthwaite, only that he was big into charity events and donating this and that. "You're welcome to talk to the reporter that wrote the article but he's out walked the beat. Deadlines are coming up!" Stan said. When asked if they could find old articles about the Fitzgerald Manse, Stan happily obliged them. Unfortunately neither one of them were making any progress until Burney convinced Stan to help them out a bit.

This led them to an article about the Curwen family murders in May of 1895. Mrs. Gloria Curwen and her three children were found brutally murdered and the father, Arthur Curwen, was missing. It was heavily insinuated that Arthur Curwen was the murderer, but he was never found. After rereading the article, Chaz noticed the name of the deputy that had found the bodies: Deputy Whitby, now the town sheriff.

Now they're wondering if they should ask the sheriff about the Curwens or if they should just press on to the Fitzgerald Manse.

We shall see.

First Game session!

Well, just finished the first session of a Call of Cthulhu game. It was only about 30 minutes long but it was…interesting. I’m fairly certain I made some mistakes, but that’s too be expected.

I’m not sure if it’s exactly what my players expected. Call of Cthulhu has always been about investigation and then fisticuffs, but fisticuffs isn’t always a good thing.

Intro to The Murderer of Thomas Fell

It has been seventeen days since anyone has heard from Thomas Fell. Numerous calls have gone unanswered and his mail continues to pile up. No lights are seen inside after dark.

Another unanswered phone call. Jan Joyce-Cleveland begins to fear the worst. Has he been hurt? Has he run off? What happened to the men hired for the expedition? Worried for Thomas Fell, she places a call to Professor Knox Makepeace.

Thomas wanted Makepeace on the expedition. As they met for lunch to discuss Thomas’s plans, Makepeace was disturbed by Thomas’s behavior. He was overly paranoid. Any slight against him was magnified by ten. He cared for nothing but the expedition. In the end, Thomas stormed off, leaving Makepeace wondering what could have changed him. When Joyce-Cleveland called asking if he had heard from Thomas, he became concerned and contacted a friend of Thomas, Detective Norman Wright.

Years ago, Thomas Fell had helped Detective Wright solve a case involving antique theft. Ever since then, the two have kept in touch, sharing a lunch together now and then and swapping stories. When Professor Makepeace called him and said that Thomas Fell was missing, Detective Wright would use all his resources to make sure his friend was all right. During his inquiries, he somehow drew the attention of Thomas Fell’s sons, Roger and Kenneth Fell.

Roger Fell. The successful doctor. Kenneth Fell. The struggling artist. When they heard that their father was missing, they both volunteered to help search for him. They did not volunteer out of some familial duty; no, they agreed out of guilt. It’s been months since either had spoken to their father. Embarrassment sets in when they are not the first to notice that Thomas Fell is missing.

Calls are placed and plans are made. Now, the five stand outside the house. The five want answers. They want to know what happened to Thomas Fell.

MAKE IT FUN

So next Wednesday, I will be running a Call of Cthulhu game for my co-workers during lunch. The adventure is The Crack’d and Crock’d Manse and it seems to be a fairly good intro adventure for beginners.

I hope I don’t drop the ball, being a first time keeper and all.

My players are:

Morgan as Chas Whitherspoon, tennis pro
John S as Burney Johnson/Jackson, stunt man
John R as Seamus O’Hearne, former IRA solder, current bootlegger

I need to keep my lack of self-esteem towards this sorta thing in check, and go with the flow.

Make it fun!