[Scenario 1] The Edge of Darkness

[Stirling]

Jasmine Faversham, Miss

Jasmine, continues to hum and chant, trying to block out the gruesome horror of Maggie at the window.

[ken-do-nim]

Jed will shoot through the glass.

Excellent. Jed has rifle +70, meaning he has 25 + 70 = 95. Now, let's assume that Jed lines up his shot from within 9 feet (his dex); that makes it point blank range. 95 becomes double to 190%. I still have to roll in case it malfunctions, plus on a high roll I will check to see if a warding sigil above the window is damaged. Also an impale is 1/5th the success chance; 190/5 = 38%. Also, zombie Maggie will attempt to dodge. She can't dodge a bullet, but she sees you aiming the rifle (rifle fire rate is slow).

Jed attack roll: 07, well done, an impale
Maggie dodge roll: dex of 3 (zombies are slow) , x 2= 6% ... 100, yeah pretty much the opposite of what she wanted. Deer in the headlights.

So since it is an impale, it does double damage. 2d6+4 ordinarily; now it is 4d6+8 ... 18, +8 = 26 damage. Zombie Maggie had just 7 hit points, so your rifle shot at point blank range blows her head clean off.

Jed watches through the shattered window to see if the headless corpse gets up again anyway, and is relieved to see that she does not. For his successful kill, Jed gets 1d6+1 sanity restored. Rolling ... 1+1 = 2 points.

Jed: 19/30 sanity now. He's still feeling pretty insane.

For the moment, all is quiet. What could the Thing In the Attic be up to now?

[MI70]

Jed

Jed will reload and head warily towards the attic door.
With a practiced hand, the veteran hunter pulls back the bolt of his rifle and sends the empty shell pinwheeling to the floor. He immediately rams it forward again to load another cartridge with an audible "snick-snack-click."

As he looks over the smoking rifle barrel, an eerie focused calm passes over his face and he speaks in a deadpan almost Austrian monotone:

"Undead . . .," he says slowly, "now, plain dead."

He glares up at the attic door. "Yer next, creature," he says coldly. "I'll learn you not to mess with decent folk." He looks to the other watchers, his right eyelid ticking slightly. "Who's with me?"

[ken-do-nim]

He glares up at the attic door. "Yer next, creature," he says coldly. "I'll learn you not to mess with decent folk." He looks to the other watchers, his right eyelid ticking slightly. "Who's with me?"

Dr. Pale puts up 7 fingers as he continues to chant and feeds the fire with more of the brown compound, and let's see if you realize what that means. Jed's intelligence is 11, so his IDEA roll is 55%. I could also not multiply by 5 and just roll a 1d20, making it the same as a D&D-style ability check. But I'll get into the CoC spirit and roll percentile dice! Rolling ... 72.

But before Jed can get someone to give him a boost into the attic, the horribly mangled corpse of Red Jake the hobo appears at the shattered window!



Red Jake shoves his arm through the broken glass and fumbles around to get a hold on the bottom of the window so he can raise it up. More sanity fun for everyone! Same 1/1d6 range as before.

Elmer: 39/45 ... 15, made it, now 38/45 and 4 until insanity
Hyacinth: 54/60 ... 89 failed, loses only 1 point and is now 53/60 and 7 until insanity
Aloysius: 22/30 ... 20, made it, down to 21/30 and already bonkers
Jed: 19/30 ... 60, failed, he loses 4 more points now 15/30 and already three sheets to the wind
Dr. Pale: 61/65 ... 58 success, now 60/65 and 9 until insanity
Jasmine: 55/60 ... 48 success, lose 1 point now 54/60 and 8 until insanity
Archie: 32/40 ... 69 failed, he loses 3 points down to 29/40 and goes insane. So sad about Archie.

But I think I can assume that Jed, faced with the new threat, steps into point blank range once more after reloading and fires. This time the zombie can't dodge because it's arms are through what's left of the window glass and it is in the process of raising the window. Jed's shot ... 68, not an impale, but a solid hit. 5 + 2 + 4 = 11 points of damage. In life he had 15, but his zombie only has 10, so down he goes. Jed recovers 6 sanity from the 'kill', bringing him back to 21/30 and his thinking clears.

Dr. Pale puts his hand up again with only 5 fingers. Let's see if Jed understands that now ... 66, nope. But the good Doctor stops chanting for a moment - the other 2 Jasmine and Elmer continue on - and explains, "Just 5 minutes until the ceremony is done!"

Suddenly a wisp of smoke curls down from the ceiling, twisting toward the center of the pentagram on the floor. And then it begins to materialize! What each of you sees depends on your 1/1d8 sanity check!

Elmer: 38/45 ... 97, failed but only loses 2 and is now 36/45 and 2 until insanity
Hyacinth: 53/60 ... 88 failed, loses 5 points and is now 48/60 and 2 until insanity
Aloysius: 21/30 ... 47, failed, loses 6 points and is now 15/30
Jed: 21/30 ... 16, he actually made it, he loses 1 point and is 20/30 but still thinking rationally again
Dr. Pale: 60/65 ... 62 so close! Failed for a 5 point loss, now 55/65 and 4 until insanity
Jasmine: 54/60 ... 63 failed with a whopping 7 point loss, now 47/60, temporarily insane and 1 until indefinite insanity
Archie: 29/40 ... 39 failed, he loses 2 points down to 27/40.

Alright, here's what you each see.

Elmer, Hyacinth, Jed, and Dr. Pale see a partially visible creature that is a horrible twisting mass of talons and maws and long appendages.

Aloysius, Jasmine, and Archie see a compelling and attractive human figure, and when I say compelling I mean you feel you must move forward and embrace this person.

Luckily, Elmer and Dr. Pale are still chanting. Aloysius and Jasmine have stopped. Just minutes to go, but our 3 'charmed' investigators step inside the pentagram!

I'll be back in a little while to conclude the adventure!

[ken-do-nim]

Hyacinth, who is on guard, attempts to stop Jasmine!

Let's see, I don't see a SIZ statistic on Jasmine's unique character sheet, but I do see 5'8". I'll call that a 13.

Hyacinth only has strength 8, so that's going to be tough. Checking the resistance table, that's only a 25% chance to succeed. I could have also arrived at that by 10+8-13=5 on a d20 roll. But sticking to percentile dice ... 93, oh goodness!!!

Hyacinth grapples Jasmine, but rather than slowing her down, Hyacinth is merely dragged into the pentagram as well, where she recoils in horror as her comrades seek an embrace instead. The creature, realizing it only has one chance to snag Hyacinth before she darts out, goes on the attack! Rolling ... 23, a solid hit. Damage is 1d8 for the claw and 1d6 for strength/size = 10 points. That brings Hyacinth down to 1/11 and unconsciousness.

Okay, I need action declarations from everyone else. Does anyone try and stop Aloysius or Archie from entering the pentagram? Elmer could, since Dr. Pale is still chanting, but that would bring the group down to 1 final chanter.

[MI70]

Jed

"Stay away from that thing, ya idgits!" Jed yells, hoping to rouse the charmed while he fires at the monster.
Given his DEX, I assume Jed will go near last and wouldn't be able to stop anyone entering the circle.
In the interest of getting a shot off this round, can he grab his .22 and still fire it this round? (I am assuming that he hasn't cocked his 30.06 yet). If not, he will reload the 30.06 and fire as fast as he can.

[Stirling]

Miss Faversham

Blubbering in tears at the firing of guns and the heavy chanting and the horrors at the glass, she moves towards the arms of the comforting father figure standing in the pentagram, feeling like a little girl running to granddad with a grazed knee after she fell off her little pony.

[Scott308]

Elmer "Big City" Ramsey

The burly ballplayer, knowing he needs to continue to chant, instead reacts on instinct and tries to save his friends. Don't go in there! he shouts as he reaches for Aloysius and Archie, hoping to keep anyone from entering the circle.

[ken-do-nim]

Elmer "Big City" Ramsey

The burly ballplayer, knowing he needs to continue to chant, instead reacts on instinct and tries to save his friends. Don't go in there! he shouts as he reaches for Aloysius and Archie, hoping to keep anyone from entering the circle.

Elmer has strength 14. Archie has size 12 and Aloysius has size 14. So your better chance is with Archie. I'm too lazy to look at the resistance chart, but 10 + 12 - 14 = 8, so you need to roll an 8 or better to stop him on a d20. Rolling ... 1, critical fail! You are dragged into the pentagram as well!

It looks like I have a pretty exciting combat round to roll up soon ...

[geomys]

After all the horrors of the day, Archie is overwhelmed with relief and joy to see the familiar face of Miriam Merriweather. It doesn't occur to him that there is anything odd about her presence here. He strides forward into the mystic circle, sobbing with is arms outstretched. Elmer's sudden grasp cannot stop the determined archaeologist as he drags the man bodily with him to a reunion with his old flame.

[ken-do-nim]

Let's recap the situation.

Elmer - dragged into the pentagram
Hyacinth - unconscious; at 1 hit point
Aloysius - insane, has entered the pentagram to embrace a "friend"
Jed - sanity recovered, is preparing to blow the creature away
Dr. Pale - chanting
Jasmine - has also entered the pentagram to embrace a "father figure"
Archie - has entered the pentagram to embrace "Miriam"

Let's do this!

Jed fires at point blank range, being able to get within 9 feet of the monster without entering the pentagram. Much as the previous shotgun blast did out in the woods, the bullet passes right through the partially creature. IDEA roll: 70 failed! Sorry, you're on your own to figure out how you could make a physical weapon hurt this creature.

Next up is the creature with its 18 dexterity. It opts to chew out Hyacinth's heart. It digs its claws deep into her chest cavity, rips out the still beating heart, and devours it. Everyone within the pentagram is covered with blood, but that does not faze the 3 delusional investigators, who believe they are hugging a dear friend.

Elmer gets to his feet and tries to drag Archie away again. Once again, 8 or better does it: 15, no problem! But now that Archie's out, he tries to use his strength to get out of Elmer's grip. Straight strength vs. strength comparison. 10 + 14 (Elmer's strength) - 12 (Archie's strength) = 12 or higher on a d20 needed. Rolling ... 9, failed. Archie, luckily, is unable to peel himself away from Elmer's grasp.

I'll stop here to see what Jed does next. Jasmine and Aloysius are still within the pentagram! The ceremony has just 2 minutes to go!

[Stirling]

Miss Faversham

"Oh Father, please save me from that madman waving his gun about!" Jasmine goes behind the father figure creature as if shielding herself from the horrors outside the pentagram.

[Scott308]

Elmer "Big City" Ramsey

Elmer will do his best to prevent Archie from getting back inside the pentagram. He will try wrestling him to the ground. Hopefully, at the very worst, that will slow Archie enough that the ceremony can come to completion.

[MI70]

Jed

"Rats! Bullets don't work!" He curses.

Jed had hoped to dissipate the thing, but now moves to save his friends. Given the size/str balance, he will try to pull Jasmine out (the Notes part of her character page has Size 11 v. Al's 14 -Sorry Al).

[geomys]

Archie thrashes about and foams at the mouth, groaning and trying to get back to the circle.

[ken-do-nim]

(Listening to Megalomania by Black Sabbath while I compose this. Sting me!)

Melee rounds in Call of Cthulhu don't have a specific duration, but I'll fall back to the AD&D 1 minute round, so we have 2 rounds to wrap up before the ceremony ends.

- Penultimate round -

Our dexterity 18 Lurker goes first, as always. Having consumed Hyacinth's heart last round, he looks around trying to figure out what to do, knowing his time in these realms is limited. If he could only find a way to get to Dr. Pale ... with 10 magic points left, he spends 5 to animate Hyacinth (generating the acid doesn't seem to require magic points). Hyacinth rises from the ground, her eyes fixed directly on the chanting Doctor. She won't act until next round however.

Sanity checks for everyone at the horror of seeing one of your own turned so quickly into a zombie for the enemy. Usual 1/1d6.

Elmer: 36/45 ... 02, success and is now 35/45 and 1 until insanity
Aloysius: 15/30 ... 89, failed, loses 4 points and is now 11/30
Jed: 20/30 ... 47, failed, he loses 3 points and is 17/30 and barely has a grip on temporary sanity
Dr. Pale: 55/65 ... 37 success, now 54/65 and 3 until insanity. Phew!
Jasmine: 47/60 ... 85 failed but only a 1 point loss, now 46/60 and indefinitely insane
Archie: 27/40 ... 29 so close! He loses 1 point down to 26/40.

Next up Elmer and Archie grapple.
Elmer's grapple roll: 35% ... 31 success.
Archie's counter-grapple roll: 60% ... 89 failed.
Elmer wins, and now has Archie in a hold. Next round, Elmer can go str vs. str to improve to a pin, while Archie can try str vs. str to escape if he hasn't been pinned yet. Depends who goes first.

Jed tries to pull Jasmine out ... strength 10 vs. size 11 is a 45% chance ... 75, Jasmine shrugs him off. Having jumped into the pentagram to get her out, the Lurker grins at Jed.

Jasmine and Aloysius are, however, startled by Hyacinth's rise and pause in their embrace of the monster.

Dr. Pale continues chanting.

1 round left. Action declarations!

[geomys]

Archie struggles to get free.

[MI70]

Jed

Jed will parry the Lurker with his rifle and dodge as he leaps out of the pentagram to put himself outside but between the zombie and Dr. Pale. He tries his best to block the zombie from getting to the doctor so he can finish chanting.
"Doc . . . Elmer . . . Finish it! Keep up the chantin'!"
Jed feels his stomach sink at the sight of the creature's horrible grin, but the grizzled farmer steels himself. Gritting his teeth in a gap-toothed grimace, he spits tobacco juice at what passes for the monster's eye. "Ya ain't gonna be grinnin' so wide when we send yer back ter hell!"

[Scott308]

Elmer "Big City" Ramsey

Elmer will begin chanting again. If possible, he will try to hold onto Archie, but will let him go if it would require him to stop chanting.

[ken-do-nim]

The Final Round

As always, the Lurker goes first. Let's see who it actually attacks, as there are 3 investigators it can go after. Rolling 1-2 Jed 3-4 Aloysius 5-6 Jasmine ... 3. Knowing its time is short, it decides to leave Jed alive, and turns on Aloysius instead. It rips into him with its claws ... 37, hit. Damage: 10 points; Aloysius is down to 2 and unconscious.

Elmer lets Archie go as he heads over to Dr. Pale, to look over his shoulder at the words, which must be read backwards. Together they continue to chant.

Archie heads back into the pentagram while Jed heads out.

The Lurker, realizing that time is so short that if it has the zombie tangle with Jed it simply won't stop the chant in time, opts for one last try at affecting sanity by having the zombie twist its own head off. The bizarre sight calls for one, last sanity check @ 1/1d6.

Elmer: 35/45 ... 77, failed down to 32/45 and he goes insane and stops chanting
Jed: 17/30 ... 92, failed, he loses 2 points and is 15/30 and howls with insanity
Jasmine: 46/60 ... 82 failed with a 3 point loss, now 43/60 and is so overwhelmed she is paralyzed with fright
Archie: 26/40 ... 80 failed down to 22/40. Also paralyzed with fright.

and finally it comes down to ...

Dr. Pale: 54/65 ... 39 success, now 53/65 and still 2 until insanity. He is not stopped. He alone retains his sanity, completes the ritual, and the Lurker is driven wailing from this world, banished to wherever it came from, leaving only the lingering unearthly foulness behind. Hyacinth's corpse drops to the ground immediately.

As you all experience relief, the conscious survivors each regain 1d10+1 sanity:

Elmer: 5 putting him back to 37/45.
Jed: 4 putting him back to 19/30.
Jasmine: 4 putting her back to 47/60
Archie: 11 putting him back to 33/40 and he recovers his composure.
Dr. Pale: 8 putting him back to 61/65 and he actually manages a smile.

Congratulations, you've won the scenario!