With the end of our 1920's campaign in sight, my friends and I began musing what should come next. The guys loved the investigative if sometimes gonzo monster of the week themed scenarios of the 20's games I created. But we decided the next games should be a little more of the horror investigative and just a little less pulp weirdness, also perhaps a little more focused as to what was stalking them. So we decided to run the next "season" of our games with new characters and more focused themes. Here is the initial write up and rundown of the first session...
Title: The Birmingham Housing Fire
Inspiration/Themes: Marble Hornets, Being pulled into danger, Dark Vistas.
Story/Setup: May 6th, 1945: A fire has broken out on Birmingham St., Etobicoke, mere blocks away from the shores of Lake Ontario. 3 houses have so far been affected by the flames, each a 2 story century home being utilized for low-income families and others alike. The first house fire was reported at 5:46 am. The fire spread to the neighboring 2 homes before firefighting crews were mobilized to the sight. Police have been utilized as a perimeter line for the gathering passerby’s and onlookers even this late in the morning...
Setting: 1945: the closing end of the second World War, while hell begins it’s cool down across the sea, something unseen to the public eye is boiling up from darker places. Only a few are aware of it’s presence and the danger it holds, even fewer are pulled into action away from their own inner demons to deal with the machinations of outer gods.
Players:
Call of Cthulhu - The Player Characters can be any citizen of Toronto or passing traveller pulled into the madness. A down on his luck veteran, a courageous or hardened firefighter/rescue official, a homeless vagabond looking for a place to stay for the night, anyone at the wrong place at the wrong time. As long as they are willing (or in some cases, have no choice but) to pursue the mystery and danger that is bubbling up from unknown vistas.
Cast:
Chris - GM
Aaron - Everett O’Sullivan, a war veteran who has returned home with a bummed leg and head full of nightmares.
Nathan - Seth Cross, a young buck who works as a fire fighter with a courageous heart.
Session Recap:
- Seth, while aiding his teammates in controlling the inferno, spotted a figure in the window of the main burning home. Breaking through the front door and rushing to the living room revealed a very macabre metallic statue of a corpse in a running posture away from the dining room. The dining room looked as though it had collapsed into the basement. Thinking the statue at first to be a survivor he attempted to heft it up, however the statue proved to be solid enough that all Seth managed to do was toppled it to the floor, breaking it apart. With no survivors in sight, Seth escaped the blaze and continued to aid his fellow fighters of fire.
- Everett, watching his Ma’s home go up, realized his trunk filled with war gear (including 6 frag grenade and his handy firearms) were in a home soon to be engulfed in flames. Utilizing the morning darkness he manage to get to the backdoor but was heard by a police officer as he entered his doomed domicile. Quickly as possible with his bummed leg he reached his room and began strenuously dragging his trunk down the stairwell where the cop was waiting trying to get him out. Some brief exposition as to the contents of the trunk led to a rather humourous evacuation scene (under any other circumstance) with the cop aiding Everett to move the trunk out of harms way. He proceeded after to sit in the street atop his trunk beyond the perimeter line with his grieving Ma as the fire continued to burn. Not fully aware something may have been watching in the darkness nearby.
- Eventually Everett walked up to the fire captain to volunteer some help, leading him to gather up the forming crowd rather curtly as a bucket brigade to help stall the fire.
- Dawn came and went, the homes now no-more than burned out skeletons of brick and charred material. During the investigation to ensure the prevention of a second blaze, Seth with his fellow team-mates discover massive four clawed foot print (Like those of an owl, except 2-3 feet across) sporadically placed in the backyard of the properties. These foot prints, along with odd lash marks across different surfaces on the property, show signs of extreme burning and freezing and withering. Within the home reveals that the shattered statue in the living room remains with it’s oddly charred metallic material. Seth covertly grabs a broken “hand” lying on the ground out of curiosity and conceals it.
- A discovery was made in the basement: Ice had formed in puddles despite the temperatures that would have occurred in the inferno that morning and early summer weather. Also, a human figure made of the same metallic material appeared splattered in an imprint in the wall with a sledgehammer on the ground and a large crevice broken in through the wall. This revealed a large circular chamber of 5 feet down in the earth. In the center of the chamber sat an oddly crafted earthen jar, broken by evident falling rocks. A Professor Juan Carter from the Museum was brought into recover this.
- Everett got his Ma setup in a quaint home in Markham with some of his remaining cash, then proceeded to track down a decent apartment for himself. He found one in the neighborhood of the Firehall, “Humble Towers”. Coincidentally his neighbor was the Firefighter Seth Cross. The two now occupied the apartments of the 7th floor.
- Some days passed and Seth began having odd nightmares of the inferno and a man running from the dining room, screams reverberating almost like an echo. In a flash of red the man became the statue and was frozen forever, the screams continue until Seth awoke in a cold sweat.
- Power and light were starting to flickering around the two, even as they began to form an acquaintance with cigars and brandy as Everett set up his new pad.
-Both Seth and Everett headed to the Museum in the days that followed the fire. Seth to Prof. Carter’s office to inquire about the fire and strangeness surrounding the artifact, the dreams becoming more invasive into his daily life. Everett to begin his new job as a security guard, which he had successfully obtained from an ex-cop in the interview process.
- Seth talked to Carter but didn’t get much more than some hints about the oddness of the artifact recovered and the strange composition of the “statues”. Sand found in the Jar didn’t match anything on record in composition and the filings of the material that made up the metallic statue suggested the minerals were an odd combination of lead, iron and human tissue. It also seemed like Carter might be holding back something regarding the symbols on the jar.
- Everett headed down to accompany another guard (Tom) with some mundane checkups of the storage rooms. The hallway down to the rooms had heavy light flickering and electrical issues. Going into the room revealed the lights not working almost at all. With flashlight in hand, he soon discovered the headless body of Tom, and a strange buzzing/bubbling sound floating around like an insect in the air. He fled the scene and warned the head security office. Not before locking both hall doors on the way up due to a freakish buzzing bubbling that was trailing him.
- Seth, upon finishing his conversation with Juan, joined up coincidentally with a distressed Everett and the other authorities that had been called and were accompanying him to the body. The body showed signs similar to things from the fire. While authorities examined the body, Seth and Everett heard a thumping sound near the back of the room. Beyond a shelving unit, the head of Tom was floating in the corner and bumping into the wall. Losing his nerve, Everett pulled his gun and began unloading on the head. it exploded into a similar metallic splash on the wall from the impression previously discovered, revealing a blackened tentacled THING that hurt like staring at the sun to look at. It turned to show a bloody eye, and Everett continued to fire. The bullets didn’t effect the creature and it simply left through the wall, leaving a similar blackening burned frost ring.
- The duo were escorted to the police station after a small panicked scuffle in the storage room. They are questioned for hours before being released.
- Returning home that evening with an oddly behaving person seen on the way, Everett went to finish a second bottle of Brandy.
- They both saw the strangeness, now they want some answers themselves...
