The Horror at Hickory Park

I broke one of my own rules: I ran a Call of Cthulhu game set in the modern era, instead of using the 1920s or the Victoria era. In this game, the characters graduated from high school in 1995. That summer, on the Fourth of July, they went camping in Hickory Park with their friend Kim. Kim died on that trip, and her death was ruled an accidental drowning.

Although the players didn't know this about the other players' characters, each character had a memory of being the one who killed Kim. 

The present year is 2005, ten years after the tragedy. Each of the characters received a blackmail letter threatening to expose their secrets if they didn't bring $10,000 to the park on the anniversary of Kim's death. 

Characters

Dan, NYSEG accountant

Mickey, comic shop owner

Jason, journalist

Ruth Ann, yoga instructor and art therapist

Events

The group arrived at Hickory Park in two vehicles: Mickey's Ford Transit van and Ruth Ann's 70s AMC Hornet with a deer painted on the hood. At the gates of the park, they spoke to a park ranger whose nametag disconcertingly read "Kim." Kim explained that there would be fireworks later that night, a family friendly movie at the park's drive-in theater, and that they had accommodated the group's request for a campsite at a remove from the other campers. The booking had been apparently made over the phone by Jason, though he denied making it.

As they set up their tents at the campsite, Mickey was blasting a cd of Led Zeppelin's 4 on his boombox--until it started playing Nirvana's "Come As You Are," their friend Kim's favorite song. They stopped the cd player, started it again, but could not get it to play "Come As You Are" again; the song simply wasn't on the cd.

The group left their campsite to see what was going on at the beach. The beach was full of families, teenagers, and middle-aged people looking to cut loose on the holiday; they passed folks stacking firewood in the firepit for a party on the beach later. They decided to rent a canoe from the pier, where old men were fishing, and row around the river to see what was what. However, before they all set off in a canoe, Jason said he left something at camp. He told the rest of the group he would catch up to them later.

While canoeing on the river, the rest of the group saw workers setting up fireworks on Hiawatha Island. Sharp-eyed Dan also spotted a river cave on the isle, so they rowed for it and dragged their canoe up the rocky beach. They discovered a few strange things inside the cave, such as a shrine to their friend Kim (complete with framed yearbook photo), a mural depicting six people wearing furs and metal masks about to sacrifice a young woman lying in the snow (the young woman had an uncanny resemblance to Kim), and a tin mask and hand-crafted knife (that bore a resemblance to those in the mural).

Meanwhile, back at the camp, Jason searched everyone's tents and found their stashed weapons and hidden cash. The jig was up--he rightly assumed that every member of the group was being blackmailed, even if they had denied it earlier. 

When he made his way to the island in his own canoe, he caught up with the group just as they were examining a strange white globe hanging from the ceiling of a cavern by what looked to be a rope of flesh. The globe was covered with a lattice of some sort, and the chamber itself was frosted over despite the fact that it was a hot summer day. As they began to leave the chamber, they heard an unearthly howl. Ruth Ann panicked at the sound, drew her gun, and shot the orb.

When it exploded, it generated enough force to propel the group against the walls of the cave at speed. They all lost consciousness.

As they awoke, they realized that the world was not as they had left it. Hiawatha Island was piled high with snow and the Susquehanna was partially iced over. The gray clouds above threatened snow. They dug their canoes out of the snow and made their way back to the campground, but when they reached the beach they saw that all the celebrants who had been alive when they set out were now frozen-solid corpses. The cars in the parking lot were also mangled beyond repair.

They quickly made their way to their campsite, but trudging through the snow made them realize that they would soon need cold-weather gear if they wanted to survive the unnatural winter that had descended around them. They found their campsite destroyed as if an explosion had centered on it--the trees around it were bent backwards, their tents were shredded, their belongings scattered, and all the cash they had brought was strewn about.

Desperate for warmer clothing, they headed over to the camp's general store. The door was open, though they did knock over a bucket full of water and a mop as they entered. They found cold-weather parkas and boots lined up in the back of the shop--almost as if someone was expecting a sudden, violent turn in the weather. Within the shop they also found a dead man, his body evidencing multiple recent stab wounds. 

The movement of someone crossing the window caught their eye and they moved to lock the front door. Whoever it was pleaded with them to open the door to save them from the cold, but when they risked a look out a window they saw that the would-be intruder was clad in furs and was wearing a tin mask. They quietly exited out the back instead.

As they plodded near the playground, on their way to the house on the hill, they saw that there were children playing on the swings and teeter-totters. The kids were also clad in furs, and some of the group caught a snippet of their singsong: "Wind walker, wind walker, wendigo! Wind walker, wind walker, where'd Kim go?"

They entered the house through its unlocked back door. Inside, they could hear a rhythmic rocking sound coming from the stairs leading to the second story. The group paused too long in the hallway, riven by indecision; they heard a window shatter in a nearby room and the sound of something large trying to push its way into the house. The group opened the door of the room to see what they were up against: the creature was four-armed, covered in shaggy fur, and its monstrous head devolved into a giant curling horn.

Mickey and Dan both made a break for it, running back outside. Unfortunately, the creature easily caught up to them and messily dismembered them.

Back in the house, Ruth Ann and Jason ascended to the second floor. Unfortunately, they never made it to the origin of the rhythmic sound they heard; the monster squeezed up the stairs and into the second-floor hallway, effectively cutting off their escape route. Ruth Ann unloaded her pistol at it, but to no avail. The monster killed her first. Jason tried to ready a can of bug spray and a lighter to use as a makeshift flamethrower, but--the eldritch horror tore through him as well.

The last image we imagine in this scenario was the can of bug spray rolling down the stairs.

The headline in the Press & Sun Bulletin the next day reported that many died during the "freak storm" that darkened the Fourth of July, but no one would ever truly understand--the Horror at Hickory Park.

Comments are Back on the Menu, Boys

I've turned comments back on for this blog. I turned them off years ago because keeping up with spam comments started to feel like a part-time job. 

But they're back on now, because I've heard the filter is much better, so you can yell at me about my posts, agree rabidly as your vie to join my cult of personality, or just say, "hey, what's good. homie?"

Unless, of course, the filter is still crap. In that case, I'll turn comments off again or something.

Smoke City

Bad Books for Bad People, Episode 85: Smoke City

Keith Rosson’s 2019 novel Smoke City is a supernatural character study that somehow makes the road trip adventure shared by a loose-cannon pop artist, a reluctant immortal, and a would-be ghost hunter into something much more poignant that one might expect. Jack and Kate hitch a ride with this motley crew and learn whether or not the real treasure is, in fact, the friends we make along the way.

Why does absolutely everyone in LA have a doorman? What is it that makes a dive bar truly magical? Is it ever wise to start a fight with a headbutt? All these questions and more will be explored in this episode of Bad Books for Bad People.

Almost Dying on the Moon

The second, and final, Krevborna game taking place on the Shadow Moon.

Characters

Willard Corn, strange old man in search of his missing dog

Heck, revenant who punches things to death

Garazi, young witch with a bird familiar

Panthalassa, a necromancer out for vengeance against a death cult

Daytona, dhampir cowboy along for the ride

Events

When we last left our "heroes," Panthalassa ran in to grab a skull mask off a table in a mess hall just as a dragon swooped down from a hole in the ceiling; everyone else was gathered by the doorway. Panthalassa took a mauling from the dragon, but made it to the door with the mask. 

The group slammed the door shut. Willard and Daytona ran down the hall, but everyone else stood by the door arguing which way they should flee--which gave the dragon the opportunity to breath fire and nail the characters who weren't already in motion. The door was blown off its hinges and the hallway filled with fire.

That got the rest of them moving. 

Now that most of them were injured, they decided to hole up in the empty cells in the subterranean floor to rest and recuperate. The time passed without them being detected, but they did begin to recall strange snippets of the woman who sent them here in the first place. 

Panthalassa summoned a cat and used it to explore the fissures running through the broken walls in the complex. Through the cat, they located a cache of stowed-away food and a room where the remaining Fraternitie du Cadavre cultists huddled in darkness. The last mask they needed was with the cultists. 

The group was detected as they approached the cultists. The cultists ran deeper into the tunnels, but the characters followed them. They ran into a chamber where the living avatar of the Nightmother stood; her six hands each held a blade, her monstrous tongue lolled from her mouth. Her mere presence caused fear in the majority of the party; thus debilitated, they had a difficult time fighting the pagan goddess's avatar, but eventually they prevailed--mostly due to Willard's efforts.

Unfortunately, while they were battling the Nightmother, the spectral necromancer Valton Blakely oozed into the room in shadow form and joined the fray. He wore a twisted crown and bore a greatsword blazing with black fire. Luckily, they heard the barking of a dog--Willard's legendary three-legged dog burst from a tunnel and tore a chunk out of Valton. 

Valton proved to be an even more powerful foe than the Nightmother. Since many of the characters (including Panthalassa's summoned raptors) were all bunched together, he was able to hit them all with a big swing, Dark Souls-boss swing of his blackflame sword. Interestingly, they didn't scatter after the first time that happened--so they all took another full swing of massive damage from the necromancer's sword. 

It was a very near thing; even Heck, the party's strongest member, was in danger of meeting death again. They did, at last, kill Valton, but they were always on the brink of losing one or two of their own.

They slaughtered the remaining cultists without mercy and took the final mask as their prize. They then hid out in the room with the cached food to heal up again. Backtracking to the room where they had fought the vlaak Lord Doctors, they realized that they had never looted the bodies there. In that room, they found the key to the vlaak craft, which Yarsi helpfully knew how to operate. 

Once everyone was aboard and strapped in, Yarsi fired up the ship and brought them back to Hemlock Hollow. Willard bid the rest of the group farewell; his next destination was the stars where, with Yarsi and his dog at his side, we would seek more vlaak to kill. 

The rest of the group brought the skull masks back to the Usher house. Inside, they found the sorceress Cassie Mabcrowe and her friends Brigid and Anastasia waiting for them. Nightsong was there too; she was yelling at Cassie for using "her team" for this mission. Cassie explained that she had sealed away their memories to prevent their plan from falling into the wrong hands if it was discovered--which was only partially true, but no one pressed her on that. 

They did, however, insist on watching her perform the ritual that would put Madeline Usher back to "sleep." Wisely, they wanted to make sure Cassie was as good as her word. She was telling the truth--this time, at least. The world is now safe again from Madeline, the Curse of the Ushers.

But how does the party feel about being used by Cassie and, more importantly, what can they do about it? Perhaps that will be filed away, as the next item that appears to be on their agenda is to confront the witchfinders responsible for Heck's death.

Brigid Fane and Bram van Gheist

Two NPCs in Krevborna who couldn't be more different: Brigid Fane, a rage-filled barbarian who approaches all challenges with murder in her eyes and a sword eager in her hands, and Bram van Gheist, a cowardly scholar who has the knowledge necessary to push back the tide of evil, but who is weak of body and resolve.

Brigid Fane

Brigid Fane is a barbarous woman hailing from the tribal lands within the Silent Forest. She was captured by slavers and sold into service at Winterholt in Sibersk, where she fought as a gladiator until her escape during a revolt in the fighting pits. She frequently travels with Cassie Mabcrowe and Anastasia Elanova, serving as their swornsword. Also known as the Red Fury due to her fearsome and unstoppable berserker rage, her skill with a greatsword is terrifying to behold, as is the sound of her savage war cry. 

    • Appearance: Brigid is a hulking woman with bulging muscles and a messy crop of red hair.

    • Personality: Brigid is loud, boastful, and generally jovial.

    • Motive: She is a simple creature who loves fighting, fucking, and drinking.

    • Flaw: Brigid believes that violence solves most problems.

Bram van Gheist

Bram van Gheist is the foremost scholar of the occult currently active in Krevborna, even though he was dismissed from his post at Creedhall University. Too physically infirm to fight against supernatural evil directly, he is overeager to share his accumulation of lore with those who battle against darkness.

    • Appearance: Bram van Gheist is an elderly gentleman with wizened features and a shock of white hair.

    • Personality: There is something undeniably impish about van Gheist’s behavior despite his academic demeanor, and he often laughs at inappropriate times.

    • Motive: He wishes to aid those able of making war against demons, the Unseelie fey, and the undead.

    • Flaw: Deep in his heart, Bram van Gheist knows himself to be a coward who uses others as proxies to fight evil.

Walking on the Moon

We've returned to finish the Shadow Moon adventure in my Krevborna campaign. 

Characters

Willard Corn, strange old man in search of his missing dog

Heck, revenant who punches things to death

Garazi, young witch with a bird familiar

Panthalassa, a necromancer out for vengeance against a death cult

Daytona, dhampir cowboy along for the ride

Khamaat, mysterious pyromaniac mummy 

Events

The session opened with the characters gathered at the mouth of a cave on the forbidden Shadow Moon. They had just traversed a portal in the dungeons below Geldingstone to arrive here. Now, as they gazed on the alien lunar landscape, they saw that the surface of the moon was so black it would have been indistinguishable from the sky were it not for the stars. 

In the distance, they could see a Vlaak fortress surrounded by a tall fortified wall. Between the fortress and the cave was a field of black boulders. They spotted a dragon flying above them in the sky. 

The group wisely decided to use the boulders as cover to zig-zag to the gate at the wall. The were successful at avoiding the dragon's attention. However, as they approached the wall they saw that there were six gibbets on poles erected before it; each gibbet held a Fraternitie du Cadavre cultist. Panthalassa cast her burrow spell so she and Heck could move beneath the ground and come up on the other side of the wall to remove the bar that kept the gate closed. 

The first chamber they entered was a Vlaak barracks. Twelve Vlaak soldiers and two officers were sat at tables playing an esoteric game involving polyhedral dice, books, and miscellaneous papers. Khamaat was able to incinerate a bunch of them before they could even rise from their table. The rest put up more of a fight and were able to deal out a few wounds to the party. 

Two of the soldiers ran into another room. Heck and Daytona followed and found that they had removed some strange metal rods from a glass case, presumably to activate the two skull-headed iron golems standing in the room. Daytona and Heck killed them before they were able to do whatever it was they were doing.

Back in the main melee, the party turned the tide. One soldier struggled to unentangle himself from Garazi's magical chains, and it turned out he'd rather die by his own hand than face the dreaded Willard Corn. He turned his psychic blade on himself and chose death over Corn.

Beyond the automaton room, they found a door of flowing shadow. Khamaat tried tapping it with one of the metal rods, but the rod immediately disintegrated. The murals in this room told an interesting story: they depicted Vlaak in ceremonial armor and neck ruffs presenting chained humans to a throned Vlaak queen. 

In an armory chamber, the group found suits of Vlaak armor, psychic blades, a diorama depicting miniature Vlaak figures fighting eldritch abominations, and a fissure in the wall leading to a narrow tunnel. They followed the fissure tunnel and ended up in what appeared to be a small cell with an observation window set into its iron door. Luckily, the cell was unlocked so they could enter the hallway beyond.

In the hallway, they saw that there were two more cells. One held a human-looking man who had something horrific crawling under his skin. The sign under the observation window to his cell read: "CORN HYBRID #8729, NON-VIABLE." The second cell contained a teenage girl who appeared to be a hybrid of Vlaak and human. The sign beneath her observation window read "CORN HYBRID #7639 !DANGEROUS DO NOT RELEASE!" She clearly recognized Willard and made a three-fingers-down gesture that he recognized as a way to symbolize his missing three-legged dog. 

Panthalassa picked the lock to the girl's cell, and she was very relieved to be released from captivity. They quickly discovered that the girl did not speak Krevbornski; she only knew the language of the Vlaak. Willard could read Vlaak, so they began to write messages to each other to communicate. The hybrid girl's name was Yarsi and there were two important things to know about her: she loves dogs and hates the Vlaak. She joined the party from there on out.

In another room the group caught five scarlet-robed Vlaak Lord Doctors in the act of experimenting on a live human subject with their alien surgical instruments. With the doctors were three hovering automatons bristling with hypodermic needles and bone saws. Yarsi immediately proved her worth by psychically bursting the head of a Lord Doctor. The rest of the enemies were dealt with handily. 

Once their foes were disposed of, Heck took the opportunity to eat one of the Vlaak's brains and the human's brain to gain some insight into what was going on within the fortress. The human was one of the Fraternitie cultists, but unlike his fellows, who were rotting in a cave somewhere, he had escaped the Vlaak's initial massacre. As for the Vlaak, when they returned to their fortress and found it overrun with human cultists, they began to systematically hunt them down. There were still a bunch hiding in the complex, somewhere. 

They also found one of the Usher masks on the person of a dead cultist floating in a tube of yellow liquid. One mask recovered; two to go.

As they explored further, they found a chamber down a spiral ramp that was open to the air. Below the skyward opening sat an alien craft that vaguely resembled a fish made of metal and glass. Yarsi explained that they would need a key to operate it. There was another fissure in this room, and from it issued the sound of a dog barking. Willard wanted to go in to find his dog, but the passage was too narrow to admit him. Garazi send her bird familiar into the crevice and it ended up in the chamber Heck had seen in his vision after eating the cultist's brain--the chamber was piled with bodies. Unfortunately, the familiar's exploration was cut short when she was slain by the burning sword of an immense, shadowy figure wearing a twisted crown.

The group then decided that walking around without disguises was dangerous, so they outfitted themselves in Vlaak armor. This proved helpful when they blundered into a Vlaak mess hall. Thinking on his feet, Willard pointed and yelled "Willard Corn," which tricked the Vlaak into running out of the room in search of the hated and feared Willard Corn. The soldiers left behind one of the skull masks on the long dining table. Panthalassa ran in to get it--and just then the dragon swooped down into the room from an aperture in the ceiling. 

We'll find out what happens next time!

Sonja Barbarez

Veil’s most powerful villain is Sonja Barbarez, a demoness who gathers an army at Hell’s behest. My thought with Sonja Barbarez was that the setting needed a) a major villain who is a demon and b) a major villain who is militaristic and warlike. The notion of a monstrous army sweeping out of the north, which is where Veil is located on the map, is a classic campaign framework--and Sonja Barbarez and her Storm of Malebolge will get you there if you'd like that to be the flavor of your Krevborna campaign.

Sonja Barbarez

Sonja Barbarez is a diabolic soldier serving the demon known as Legion. She has come to Veil to recruit warriors to her army, the Storm of Malebolge, a force capable of subjugating the land and unitinge it under Legion’s banner. Sonja keeps a close eye on Veil’s gangs and the most violent members of its outcast population, always looking for promising conscripts. To Sonja, “promising” means a combination of discipline, sadism, and brutality. 

Sonja has taken the ruins of a former army barracks in Veil as the Storm of Malebolge’s headquarters. Once their numbers are sufficient, they will seize Veil as their own and begin to build larger battalions—ranks Sonja hopes to swell with summoned devils and other enslaved monstrosities who will march in Legion’s name.

    • Appearance: Broad-shouldered and imposing, Sonja is demon wearing the guise of an amazonian warrior woman only a fool would trifle with. 

    • Personality: She is a conqueror who brooks no dissent, which is why her fastness is surrounded by a forest of impaled corpses.

    • Motive: She wishes to see all of Krevborna annexed by the tide of her diabolic army.

    • Flaw: Sonja would rather die in battle rather than retreat.