The group entered the second floor of the home in an attempt to determine what had created the loud crash. Jimmy had returned from his business and rejoined the group. Harvey stayed outside the home and kept watch.
After an hour of scouring the second floor, little was learned as to what could be causing noise. Though it was obvious an old cast iron bed frame must have been the culprit, how it rose and fell was a mystery. No one was in the home and there was no way a person could have entered the upstairs and left without detection.
Entering the basement a loose step caused Benjamin to fall a second time. Within the basement the group found loose boards, screws, nails, old papers, and other refuse scattered across the floor along with an empty garbage can and a bent lid. The coal storage chute was empty, the chute door nailed shut.
The basement walls were masonry, save the far wall which was made of wood. This piqued the group's interest and Eddie began to pry boards apart. As he began, the group heard the noise from the cast iron bedframe once again, this time banging over and over again. John and Jimmy left the other two men in the basement to investigate.
When they entered the room the noise suddenly stopped. Jimmy heard a rattling at the window, as if someone were trying to open it. As he flung the drapes away from the window the iron bed frame slid (on its own) across the floor. It slammed in to Jimmy and would have knocked him out the window if not for John's quick reflexes. Ben and Eddie hearing the commotion ran upstairs, but as they reached the bedroom door it slammed shut on them and became impossible to open.
A pool of blood formed on the carpet under John's feet. After several minutes of tangling with the bed, things subsided as quickly as they began. The door suddenly opened and the two men who had been trapped in the room were left with an incredulous story they did not entirely understand themselves.
Not finding a source of the blood on the ceiling below, the group decided it was time to retreat from the house and research the books which they had in their possession for some clue as to what was going on in the house.
At the library, Eddie found a book about Louisiana voodoo cults that used child sacrifice in an attempt to prolong their lives. Jimmy studied the Corbitt journal and was aghast at the detailed accounts of child sacrifice. Corbitt was preparing himself for some 'transformation' through detailed rituals. Though the book was filled with the ravings of an apparent madman, one thing was clear: Corbitt had created a room to await his transformation and the arrival of "He Who Waits in the Dark." A transformation process he learned from an entity he only described as 'From Beyond'. Benjamin studied the Latin tome and found references to several rituals used to contact 'demons' and 'angels' -- the same rituals which Corbitt had attempted with the help from the Chapel of Contemplation and Reverend Michael Turner.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wacky Internet
Currently my Internet is still down as of this post. Very annoying. Coordinating with Time/Warner hasn't been fun either. I fully expect it to be back up by this Friday the 25th. If it is not I will send out an email on Thurday afternoon.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
1920 Gear
For a visual reference and aid in picturing the times:
Jimmy's Car is a Studebaker Touring 'Big-Six' (because it can hold up to six full grown men, albeit tightly)
Ad for the Big Six
Jimmy's Green Machine
A 1920 C battery flashlight (Thomas Edison invented the alkaline in 1901)
A brass gas blowtorch
Jimmy's Car is a Studebaker Touring 'Big-Six' (because it can hold up to six full grown men, albeit tightly)
Ad for the Big Six
Jimmy's Green Machine
A 1920 C battery flashlight (Thomas Edison invented the alkaline in 1901)
A brass gas blowtorch
Monday, June 23, 2008
The Yellow Sign
Here is the yellow sign, found painted on the crumbling wall of the old Chapel of Contemplation. Currently the group does not have a photo or drawing of this sign.
Jimmy's Trunk : A Gear List
I assumed Jimmy had some basic equipment in his trunk, based on his career. The following was already in Jimmy's trunk:
In addition, the group purchased the following items:
- A crowbar
- A tire iron
- Three 10' sections of thin rope
- A baseball bat
- A flashlight
In addition, the group purchased the following items:
- A sledgehammer
- An axe
- Boltcutters
- A gas blowtorch
- 50' of sturdy climbing rope
- Two extra flashlights
- 20 yards of gauss that can be held over the nose and mouth
Session 3 Summary
The group met on Friday morning and continued a debate that had become a theme for them: whether to investigate the house directly or continue their line of tangent inquiries. Once again the group decided that too much knowledge was never enough when dealing with something as strange as a haunting. With this in mind they headed to the Police Station to see if they could dig anything up on the 1912 raid of the Chapel of Contemplation.
Soon after arriving, Jimmy was called away on business. The others in the group spoke with an officer who had been at the scene. He showed them a mug shot of Rev. Michael Thomas, a man who didn't look a day over 50. The group deduced that either the man was of extreme good health, or there must have been a second Michael Thomas. The group also learned that the good Reverend left behind a mummified corpse when he passed away, most likely due to the extremely hot summer and poor conditions of his cell. No autopsy was performed.
The officer also informed them of a recent report of vandalism at the old church. The intrepid investigators decided that they had delayed visiting the old church for too long. A short drive to Copp Hill Terrace revealed a weedy and rubble strewn site where the old church once stood. On a crumbled wall the group found a yellow sign painted on it, one which had obviously been placed there recently. Comparing notes later, each investigator confirmed the same occurrence: looking at the sign for too long caused a throbbing sensation, like a buzzing headache. (will supply pic when I'm home)
Before they could discuss this, the floor collapsed underneath them, causing young Ben to fall and sprain his leg. This discomfort gave way to pure curiosity as he found himself in the church's untouched basement. Church records lined the walls, two skeletons in burnt silken robes lay in a corner... but the jewel of the find was an old Latin Tome chained to a desk. Unable to remove it from its binding, the group left Harvey behind to guard while they went to a hardware store. (will supply list of gear purchased when I review the logs at home) Returning with a gas torch they quickly broke the chain and retrieved the book. Ben noted it would take him some hours to skim the text but that its roughly translated title was "Secrets of the Worm."
Without delay they proceeded to the Macario home and found it to be a decaying and foreboding hunk of stone abutted by office buildings. Inside the group found a living room filled with catholic iconography, a kitchen with rotting food set out on a table, an empty coat room, and two storage rooms filled with refuse. In the last storage room they pried open a locked cupboard and found Walter Corbitt's four volume diary. Filled with the ravings of a madman, it appeared to recount his quest for ... something. Finishing with the line "It is ready, I shall prepare myself to meet He Who Waits in the Dark."
As the group contemplated their findings, they heard a loud thud from upstairs as if something heavy had hit the ground...
Soon after arriving, Jimmy was called away on business. The others in the group spoke with an officer who had been at the scene. He showed them a mug shot of Rev. Michael Thomas, a man who didn't look a day over 50. The group deduced that either the man was of extreme good health, or there must have been a second Michael Thomas. The group also learned that the good Reverend left behind a mummified corpse when he passed away, most likely due to the extremely hot summer and poor conditions of his cell. No autopsy was performed.
The officer also informed them of a recent report of vandalism at the old church. The intrepid investigators decided that they had delayed visiting the old church for too long. A short drive to Copp Hill Terrace revealed a weedy and rubble strewn site where the old church once stood. On a crumbled wall the group found a yellow sign painted on it, one which had obviously been placed there recently. Comparing notes later, each investigator confirmed the same occurrence: looking at the sign for too long caused a throbbing sensation, like a buzzing headache. (will supply pic when I'm home)
Before they could discuss this, the floor collapsed underneath them, causing young Ben to fall and sprain his leg. This discomfort gave way to pure curiosity as he found himself in the church's untouched basement. Church records lined the walls, two skeletons in burnt silken robes lay in a corner... but the jewel of the find was an old Latin Tome chained to a desk. Unable to remove it from its binding, the group left Harvey behind to guard while they went to a hardware store. (will supply list of gear purchased when I review the logs at home) Returning with a gas torch they quickly broke the chain and retrieved the book. Ben noted it would take him some hours to skim the text but that its roughly translated title was "Secrets of the Worm."
Without delay they proceeded to the Macario home and found it to be a decaying and foreboding hunk of stone abutted by office buildings. Inside the group found a living room filled with catholic iconography, a kitchen with rotting food set out on a table, an empty coat room, and two storage rooms filled with refuse. In the last storage room they pried open a locked cupboard and found Walter Corbitt's four volume diary. Filled with the ravings of a madman, it appeared to recount his quest for ... something. Finishing with the line "It is ready, I shall prepare myself to meet He Who Waits in the Dark."
As the group contemplated their findings, they heard a loud thud from upstairs as if something heavy had hit the ground...
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Combat
I figure it is time to cover combat and how it works. Keep in mind, this is a game originally written in 1983 (or about there) so the combat is reflective of that time in gaming, and of the Horror genre.
Combat happens in rounds. The order of attack is as follows (assuming no one is surprised):
Each subcategory goes in order of Dexterity from highest to lowest. So someone with 18 Dex acts before a character with10 Dex.
1st - All firearms that are readied and aimed fire.
2nd - All skills and casting
3rd - All hand-to-hand actions, firearms that needed to be drawn (or rifles shouldered), and those who are firing for the second time in a round (some guns can fire up to three times a round)
4th - Guns that fire a third time
Knockout attacks can be made with Fist, Headbutt, Grapple, or blunt objects.
Parry - Hand-to-hand attacks can be parried. Long swords, like foils and rapiers can parry and attack in the same round. Fist and Kick can count as an attack and a parry. Shotguns and rifles can parry or attack in a round, but not both. Guns used this way take damage from a parry and can be destroyed.
You cannot parry against a weapon without a weapon. But you can grapple, and then in the next action, disarm the opponent.
Impales - Like the DnD critical, when you impale someone you do more damage. Only pointy weapons and bullets can impale. If you roll less than 20% of your skill in a weapon, you achieve an impale. Impales with knives mean the item is stuck in the defender and must be pulled out next round - this requires a successful combat skill roll.
Grapple - When you grapple with someone you roll your grapple skill against the target's grapple, if you succeed, you may then do one of several things in the next round.
Damage - For our game, you fall unconscious at Zero, you die at -5. You bleed 1 pt per round starting at Zero.
First Aid and Medicine skills - can head 1d3 on each wound. So if you are hit twice, you can have first aid done twice on you.
If you are treated by someone with the Medicine skill, you gain 2d3 per week.
Combat happens in rounds. The order of attack is as follows (assuming no one is surprised):
Each subcategory goes in order of Dexterity from highest to lowest. So someone with 18 Dex acts before a character with10 Dex.
1st - All firearms that are readied and aimed fire.
2nd - All skills and casting
3rd - All hand-to-hand actions, firearms that needed to be drawn (or rifles shouldered), and those who are firing for the second time in a round (some guns can fire up to three times a round)
4th - Guns that fire a third time
Knockout attacks can be made with Fist, Headbutt, Grapple, or blunt objects.
Parry - Hand-to-hand attacks can be parried. Long swords, like foils and rapiers can parry and attack in the same round. Fist and Kick can count as an attack and a parry. Shotguns and rifles can parry or attack in a round, but not both. Guns used this way take damage from a parry and can be destroyed.
You cannot parry against a weapon without a weapon. But you can grapple, and then in the next action, disarm the opponent.
Impales - Like the DnD critical, when you impale someone you do more damage. Only pointy weapons and bullets can impale. If you roll less than 20% of your skill in a weapon, you achieve an impale. Impales with knives mean the item is stuck in the defender and must be pulled out next round - this requires a successful combat skill roll.
Grapple - When you grapple with someone you roll your grapple skill against the target's grapple, if you succeed, you may then do one of several things in the next round.
- Knock the target down (automatic success)
- immobilize the target (Str vs Str and then indefinitely immobile)
- Disarm the target with a second grapple roll
- Damage the target with 1d6 on a second grapple roll
Damage - For our game, you fall unconscious at Zero, you die at -5. You bleed 1 pt per round starting at Zero.
First Aid and Medicine skills - can head 1d3 on each wound. So if you are hit twice, you can have first aid done twice on you.
If you are treated by someone with the Medicine skill, you gain 2d3 per week.
A. Edward "Eddie" Chamberlain
Name: A. Edward "Eddie" Chamberlain
Home: London, England
Education: Private Secondary School, 2 years at Oxford studying Archaeology (did not finish).
Second son of a shrewd and monied international banking executive and a beautiful (and one time wild) Irish rose, Eddie has fallen out of favor with his family. His older - if less talented - brother (Philip) dutifully followed his father's footsteps into the banking industry. Eddie, already studying archeology against his father (Philip Sr.), but with the support of his mother (Virginia, Philip's second wife), was engaged to the French daughter (Colette) of his father's business partner (Henri Michaud), when the Great War began. Despite the promise of a relatively safe position in the Quartermaster General's office bought with his father's influence, Eddie refused to enlist in the Royal Army and thereby brought (perceived) dishonor to his father and future father-in-law. Eddie's university funds were discontinued and his wedding canceled. Adding insult to injury, Eddie's younger brother (William) secretly enlisted though he was not old enough to do so and was later killed at Verdun. Virginia's reaction to the loss of her second child (Philip was born of Philip Sr.'s first wife) was to shut herself off from the rest of the world, including Eddie.
Eddie spent much of his youth up through his university years getting into, and then talking himself out of, trouble. Studies came naturally, and he spent a lot of free time going places and doing things a respectable young man has no business doing: scamming other boys out of their lunch money and allowances, shooting dice, sneaking into the girls' private academy, talking a couple professor's wives out of their clothes, making friends with the young women at a local house of ill repute... simply never letting his background or education or the expectations of his father impede him from getting the most out of life. When everything came crashing down after William's death, Eddie sunk into despair, spending more and more of his time getting into trouble and hanging out with folks from the seedier side of the tracks. A few brushes with the law and a near escape only won with the quickness of his tongue, shook him out of his funk and he began taking stock of his life, separating friends from ne'er-do-wells. This turned out to be less a move back towards respectablity and more a move towards being a smarter, better, con artist, surrouding himself with people he could trust. It was at this time that Rupert Murdoch, his father's accountant, offered to help fascilitate a move to the United States where more legitimate (and for Eddie, more illigitimate) opportunities were available.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Session 2 Summary
This week the group met in its full form and the five headed to Roxbury Sanitarium to speak with the Macarios. What they found was a facility that had seen better days and a staff that cared little for the patients. Mr. Vittorio Macario was beyond help, blathering incoherently about burning eyes and telling something that they had 'gotten out.' Mrs. Macario was not much more help, stating only that evil lived in the house. Out of respect for Mrs. Macario the group ceased their line of questioning. Jimmy rummaged in the psychologist's office only to find that the two had been diagnosed with a "nervous breakdown brought about by poverty and the Great War."
Their next stop was the General Engineer's office in downtown Boston who quickly pointed them to the library across the street for any public records. There they found that the house had been built in 1835 by Rutherford Rawlings and quickly sold to a Mr. Walter Corbitt (Rev. Michael Thomas as witness). They also found evidence that the neighbor was quite unhappy with the new resident, bringing two lawsuits against him and attempting to block his will to be buried in the home's basement. (Rev Michael Thomas was the executor of the will.)
The group called it a night, despite Ben's desire to enter the home immediately. The next day the group headed to the Hall of Records to determine if any resolution had been found to either case. Both were thrown out of court and the name Michael Thomas came up again, this time in reference to the Chapel of Contemplation and our Lord Granter of Secrets. The church had closed in 1912, but there was an address - 333 Copp St.
Having charmed the clerk there, Eddie got a tip to try the central police station, advice which the group quickly complied with. There they found the police report of the 1912 incident at the church. Police investigating missing children in the neighborhood were met with gun fire. The church burned down - 3 police officers and 17 cultists died. The other 54 were arrested, among them Rev Michael Thomas.
The group deduced that Michael Thomas could have no less than 100 years old at this time. Court Records stated he died in prison.
Library - Deed Transfer
Library - Article 1
Library - Article 2
Police Report
Their next stop was the General Engineer's office in downtown Boston who quickly pointed them to the library across the street for any public records. There they found that the house had been built in 1835 by Rutherford Rawlings and quickly sold to a Mr. Walter Corbitt (Rev. Michael Thomas as witness). They also found evidence that the neighbor was quite unhappy with the new resident, bringing two lawsuits against him and attempting to block his will to be buried in the home's basement. (Rev Michael Thomas was the executor of the will.)
The group called it a night, despite Ben's desire to enter the home immediately. The next day the group headed to the Hall of Records to determine if any resolution had been found to either case. Both were thrown out of court and the name Michael Thomas came up again, this time in reference to the Chapel of Contemplation and our Lord Granter of Secrets. The church had closed in 1912, but there was an address - 333 Copp St.
Having charmed the clerk there, Eddie got a tip to try the central police station, advice which the group quickly complied with. There they found the police report of the 1912 incident at the church. Police investigating missing children in the neighborhood were met with gun fire. The church burned down - 3 police officers and 17 cultists died. The other 54 were arrested, among them Rev Michael Thomas.
The group deduced that Michael Thomas could have no less than 100 years old at this time. Court Records stated he died in prison.
Library - Deed Transfer
Library - Article 1
Library - Article 2
Police Report
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