Book Four: New Orleans - The Big Uneasy

[SocraticLawyer]

Ignatius Skinner, BOI agent
Skinner turns to his fellow agent. Finish sweeping the building with the other agents. I'll check this room and meet you back at the entrance. Whatever you do, be careful!

Skinner is upset at the death of another good agent. But the boobytrap in this room at least proves that they're onto something. Whatever is in this room, it was important enough for the cult to be willing to kill to protect it.

Skinner checks the room, careful not to touch anything directly if he can help it. He pokes around at a distance first, using a billy club or ruler or something, hoping to set off any additional traps. When he is confident that nothing else will try to kill him, he begins rooting through the office for any material relevant to the cult.

[Grognardsw]

As Agent Skinner searches the office for traps, the younger Agent Smith says: "Do you think, sir, that Agent Long here was killed by someone who went through the trap door that Long is lying on?"

Frank and Marius walk into the room, having been drawn by the gunshot and having seen Agent Skinner enter the office.

[SocraticLawyer]

Ignatius Skinner, BOI agent
Skinner says something unmentionable in Creole.

Pushing aside the body of Agent Long, he opens the trap door. To one of the other BOI agents (NOT Agent Smith), he says, Stay here and go through everything in this room. Impound anything of evidentiary value. Then find out what those wops in the front know. The rest of you, with me.

He follows the killer through the trapdoor.

[DadsAngry]

Marius:

Marius trains his shotgun at the trap door as Agent Skinner opens it up.

The rest of you, with me.

Marius looks at Dr. Morgan with a worrying look that means us as well.

[Mant72]

Dr. Francis Morgan:

Frank returns Marius’ look, and thinks back on horrors seen not so long ago, “Remember what we encountered in the basement of the Shunned House. We need to act with extreme caution.”

The professor takes a deep breath and prepares to descend.

[Grognardsw]

Agent Skinner, Marius, and Frank are joined by Agent Callahan toting his trusty Uncle Tom. They proceed single file down rickety narrow wooden stairs about 20’, surprisingly deep for a basement in a city that rarely has basements. A single hanging light bulb throws shadows against the wall. The air is heavy with wet muskiness. Condensation clings to the crude mortared stone walls. Centipedes scatter. The stairs end at an open threshold that is curtained with a red cloth that is open a quarter way. The door frame is covered with carved words in the cult Xaqloui language. The investigators wish Reginald was alive to translate. (Those with Cthulhu Mythos skill may make attempt.)

The space beyond the curtain is dark. Agent Skinner turns on his flashlight and the men continue into a short 15’ hallway. A vile putrescence assaults their noses (roll 3d6 Con. check or vomit.) The hallway opens into a 10’x15’ room whose walls writhe. For they are covered in human body parts, predominantly heads and hands and flower-patterned torso skins nailed to the walls! (San check. Yes=1d4 loss, No=1d8). Blood drips from many; some are still moving. Oh the clutching hideous damnable hands and heads nailed to the walls, clawing at the sanity of the men who stand transfixed in front of the nightmare of gore!

Crouching in a corner with its back to the investigators is something not quite human and not quite beast. The men hear the crunching of bone from what must be something the horror is eating. There is a doorway out of the room across the way.

The creature turns about at the noise of the men...

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(San. check. Yes=1d6 loss, No=1d10)

Actions!

[DadsAngry]

Cthulhu Mythos (Sheet hasn't been updated in years. I'm sure he has acquired some.)
Cthulhu Mythos (?) [1d100] = 4

Con check - Keeps his breakfast down
Con Check 12 [3d6] = 10

San Check - Seen this before but always disturbing
San check (75%) [1d100] = 22
San loss [1d4] = 4

San Check - Shotgun held steady
San. check (71) [1d100] = 30
San loss [1d6] = 6
Idea (55) [1d100] = 93
What a strange dog.

Shotgun — Bam!
Shotgun (60) [1d100] = 11
12-gauge Shotgun (2B) Damage 10 yard=[4d6] = 18 — 20 yards=[2d6] = 8 — 50 yards=[1d6] = 5

[SocraticLawyer]

Ignatius Skinner, BOI agent
Skinner can hardly believe his senses. He's seen some strange voodoo stuff in his time, but this is beyond anything he has known before.

He is utterly perplexed by the strange writing. 0 Cthulhu Mythos.

The seasoned lawman manages, barely, to keep from vomiting when he sees smells the awful hallway. Con check to avoid vomiting (12) [3d6] = 9

Skinner feels a small part of what he knew about the universe slip away as he beholds the body parts.
Sanity check (47) [1d100] = 63
Sanity loss [1d8] = 8

Likewise, when Skinner sees the unholy creature, his mind bends at right angles to reality.
Sanity check (39) [1d100] = 49
Sanity loss [1d10] = 7

Mustering what sanity still remains, Skinner fires off his pistol at the strange creature.
Handgun (75) [1d100] = 45

Can Skinner fire off more than one shot per round? Also, what is the damage roll for a handgun?

[Grognardsw]

These are intra-round notes only which impact actions and round resolution, which I'd do after all PC rolls.

Agent Callahan vomit? [3d6] = 12 Made it.

Agent Callahan San checks [1d100] = 5, [1d100] = 22

Steely-eyed and iron-willed Agent Callahan (whose grandson will one day be a certain San Francisco police officer) made both his San checks, though still looses Agent Callahan San loss [1d4] = 1, [1d6] = 6

Only Marius (and Agent Callahan) specified in-post his gun was out and ready. Guns at ready go first over Initiative Dex.

However, given you are pursuing a suspected killer, there is a good chance weapons would be out so Agent Skinner and Frank can have a 60% chance of such (roll 1-60 on percentile). Otherwise, you'll draw and fire in Initiative order.

Yes, a revolver can fire twice but the second shot is at end of round.

Skinner is temporarily insane, having lost 15 in one encounter. Roll percentile for type of insanity:

1-50 run hysterically to sunlight and your mommy
51-70 gobsmacked incredulity, unable to do anything
71-75 kneel down and offer up a limb to your master
76-94 rabid beserking shoot up, aimed at monster then the walls
95-100 put gun in mouth and pull trigger

In the case of an unfortunate or deadly result, you're welcome to take Agent Callahan. Skinner would return to sanity if he survives.

[SocraticLawyer]

Skinner gun ready? (60) [1d100] = 8

Skinner temporary insanity result [1d100] = 92

Second gunshot (75) [1d100] = 87

[Mant72]

Francis Morgan:

Frank squints at the strange writing etched in the doorframe. The unnatural lettering makes his eyes strain, and he has no clue what it might mean. Cthulhu Mythos (02): [1d100] = 95

The putrid smell hits Frank like a fist to the stomach as the professor doubles over and vomits. Constitution Check (9): [3d6] = 10

The horrors on the walls are too much to bear; Frank loses his hold on the frayed threads of reality. Sanity Check (65); Current sanity (49): [1d100] = 60 Sanity Loss: [1d8] = 4

Pistol Ready (60): [1d100] = 52

Frank tries to focus and fires wildly.

Frank’s Handgun skill is listed as (20%):50%. I’m sure he probably only has a 20% chance of success. Pistol Fire (20): [1d100] = 66

[Grognardsw]

“That’s it - passing though to new realities!” Marius just figures out a nagging part of the Xaqloui runes on the doorframe as he beholds the terribly mishapen...dog? chewing on a human arm.

It was a few words he recognized from the book, that had been the same that Reginald wrote on the ground during his alleged ‘detect gates’ spell that Marius was witness too several months ago.

The hunter had spent some time reading the Pnakotic Manuscripts on a Providence-to-Arkham train journey before deciding it was not good for his mental health.

The horror in the cellar leaps at the investigators, eyes ablaze, fanged maw slobering, bloody six-inch talons arcing down upon the men!

Agent Skinner’s eyes widen in shock and he screams in disbelief. He instinctively shoots his revolver and the bullet pierces the creature’s left arm.

Marius, trembling yet determined to kill his prey, unloads his shotgun as the monstrosity leaps among them. It’s right shoulder is blown apart!

Frank coughs up vomit and shakily fires his pistol. The shot is wild and hits the ceiling.

Agent Callahan opens fire with the Thompson sub-machine gun. The rattling noise deafens the men. The gun spurts leaded death, tearing into the creature again and again and again. Blood sprays from sudden holes; an eye is shot out. The monster staggers, spasms, is thrown back in a frenzied paroxysm of pain!

The abomination lies dead, its body torn asunder by the dozen bullets from Agent Callahan’s sub-machine gun, Marius’ shotgun and Skinner’s pistol. Callahan spits on the creature.

“Ahhh!” Wild-eyed Agent Skinner keeps firing his gun into the dead monster then turns it to the writhing walls and shoots until his pistol is empty.

Agent Callahan slaps Skinner in the face. ”Get a grip, man!”

Agent Skinner’s colleagues calm the BOI agent. He stops hyperventilating and then points his flashlight down the shadowed hallway. The mortared field stones walls are wet; the hardened soil floor is muddy in spots from a skim of water. The hallway extends 15’ and opens into a room.

The investigators suddenly see a dark form flit by their line of sight in that room ahead. Marius, with the eye of a hunter, thinks the person was naked.

Callahan’s Tommy Gun [1d100] = 98, damage [10d10+20] = 54+20 = 74. Point blank doubles Callahan’s 50 skill. He hits, but was 1 away from a jam or gun explosion.

Frank san check for monster:
FrankSanity Check for; Current sanity (49): [1d100] = 33. Made it, so only loses 4:

FrankSan lose for monster [1d6] = 4

Frank now has 41 Sanity. He was 2 points from temporary insanity in that encounter.

[SocraticLawyer]

Ignatius Skinner, BOI agent
Callahan's slap brings Skinner back to reality. He nods at his colleague in thanks, making a mental note to talk to Callahan about what just happened before writing up their reports.

But first, duty calls.

Doctor Morgan, it looks like we've hit paydirt here.
Quickly, round up the other agents from upstairs, and meet us down here. Keep your guns ready!

To Agent Callahan and Marius, he says, Let's go. Reinforcements are on the way.

He reloads his pistol as they continue into the room. He makes sure Agent Callahan reloads as well.

[DadsAngry]

Marius:

Holding fast he has one more shot in his double-barrel shotgun. He calls out to the figure. "I see you. Come out into the light or my friends and I are going to open up on you like your dog."

[Mant72]

Dr. Francis Morgan:

“Wh...what is that thing?” Frank sputters as he stares at the abomination that lies in a pile of gore on the floor. Unable to take his eyes off of The Thing, Frank nods in agreement to Agent Skinner’s directions and rushes upstairs to gather the other agents.

For a brief moment, Frank entertains the idea of remaining above ground. With a shaky hand, he reloads his pistol and returns to the others.

[Grognardsw]

Frank turns around to go back up the stairs and get more BOI agents. He goes down the short 10’ hallway and is shocked to find there is no curtained, rune-covered doorway through which are the stairs. It ends in a solid wall of aged mortar! (San. check, yes=0, no=1d2)

Frank feels the warm pulse of the trapezohedron crystal in his jacket. Something is making it do that. The professor has a flashback to the Mt. Latmos caves.

Marius calls out his warning as gun ammunition is reloaded.

There is no answer, but the investigators hear a strange noise from that room - a whipping air sound that ends in a sucking smack. There is a sudden spark of luminescence at the same time. Then darkness and silence.

Agent Skinner cautiously leads the way down the corridor to the room. They stop 5’ away. The flashlight reveals an empty room, though angles of sight are limited.

Following Marius’ idea, Agent Callahan steps forward and sprays the room with Uncle Tommy.

The room is indeed empty except for a mural on the west wall, in front of which on the floor is a pattern of runes. The mural is an elaborate doorway etched with Xaqloui. Within the portal is moving, swirling colors out of space!

There are scuff marks on the floor leading to the mural. Did Carcosa go through what must be a “gate?” Too much has happened for Marius and Frank to think it is anything else.

Indeed, did they unknowingly walk through such a gate when they passed the threshold of the curtained, rune-covered doorway into this “basement?” And that there may be, Frank realizes with a sinking feeling, no exit except that which yawns before them?

[SocraticLawyer]

Ignatius Skinner, BOI agent
Skinner is again shocked at what he sees. His sense of reality has shifted so much in the last few minutes, however, that he barely notices.

What kind of sick voodoo is this...? he asks, to no one in particular. Without taking his eyes off the shifting colors of the mural, he asks the other investigators, Do you know anything about this? What happened to Carcosa? He was in here, dammit. Did he go .... through .... that thing??

[DadsAngry]

Marius:

"Enough of this!" Marius runs into the swirling twists of color. As he does he lets out a cry "Vengo per te Carcosa! Sto per finire questo."

[Mant72]

Dr. Francis Morgan:

Frank stares in disbelief and bangs his fists against the mortared wall before him. “This is impossible! HAHAHAH!” he laughs maniacally and presses his forehead against the stone. His knees buckle, and he slides to the floor.

Sanity Check (65); Current Sanity (41): [1d100] = 85

Sanity Loss: [1d2] = 1

He hears Marius cry out and turns to watch with horror as the Italian plunges through the swirling mists.

[Grognardsw]

Marius' answer to Agent Skinner's question is to leap into the misty portal.

Behind him, Skinner hears Frank yell in anguished surprise. He glances back to see the Miskatonic University anthropology professor come back into the room with a dejected look. He reveals they are trapped.

"We're already in the deep end," says Agent Callahan. "Let's keep going."

Cocking the Thompson sub-machine gun, Callahan steps through the threshold to beyond.

Agent Skinner and Frank are left alone in the room.