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.