Cthulhu Now
Write-ups
1990s Cthulhu Now Campaign
Scenario Name: Horror On Superior
Scenario Written By: Allan Goodall
Run Date: 30
December 1994 - 31 December 1994
Keeper: Allan Goodall
Write-up Written By: Lorna Toolis
Characters: Larry Cocker, Leann
Goodall, Rick Johnston, Sherry Moore, Kate O'Donnell,
Liza Ordubegian, Michael Skeet, Martin Sloan, Chris
Smith, Lorna Toolis
28
August 1994
Tip of the Day - Did you know that you can hurt
yourself running with scissors?
It appears that we have all decided to go to the World
Science Fiction Convention in Winnipeg, together, in two
vans. We have CB radios, flashlights, first aid kits,
cell phones, and cooler packs with lots of food in the
vans.
By 5:00 A.M. the lightning storm is impressive. We get to
Tobermory at 6:30, only to have the ferry staff tell us
that the 7:00 A.M. ferry has been cancelled. We go for
breakfast while we wait. Martin buys saltine crackers for
the gulls, while Liza buys a maps of the wrecks.
Eventually we arrive at Sault Ste. Marie for the first
night. We share two rooms.
The next moring we eat and drive North. The terrain
becomes hilly and full of lakes. We see a road sign
promising Indian Pictographs after about two and a half
hours, but before we can get there the sun disappears,
and Steven Spielberg-style storm clouds are piling up.
Extremely heavy wind and rain cause us to pull over to
the side of the road.
This storm seems to have rolled in remarkably quickly
from the Northeast. The highway, which was under
construction is turning into glue. We notify the OPP, who
tell us that there are flash flood warnings and that we
should take the nearby paved road that leads to Wataka.
We head for Wataka, just as Leann's migraine starts to
shut her down.
Arriving at scenic Wataka, we see that the motel has a
vacancy sign on. We head over to the diner for lunch. The
waitress, Holly, in a pink uniform, exchanges witty badinage
with us.
Just as we are finishing our meals, a seventeen years old
boy comes in. He says, "Are we still on..."
before noticing us. He stops abruptly and then goes over
and whispers to the two old men on the other side of the
diner. They look at him reproachfully and he looks
embarassed. We can hear something about
"Tonight". The kid leaves. It is now around
1:30 P.M.
The wind is still gusting and the temperature is dropping
rapidly. We decide to rent motel rooms. The motel is a
dump, but the roof doesn't appear to be leaking.
Liza and Lorna go in to book rooms. The desk clerk is on
the phone: Liza overhears her saying something about
"oh, we have the stone in..." before she sees
us and hangs up. The desk clerk is seriously reluctant to
take our money, saying everything has been booked by a
local wedding party. Liza points out that if they aren't
here they won't be coming, but the clerk isn't convinced.
When Lorna suggests that we will just have to park by the
motel and sleep in the vans, she reluctantly frees up two
rooms for us.
After dinner, we rest in the motel rooms. Kate goes for a
walk after 10:00 P.M. when the storm stops, as do Mike
and Chris. Chris thinks he hears thunder. Those people
who are awake watch Northern Exposure. Then we sleep.
The next morning the sun shines, the birds sing, it's a
good day to be alive. Mike tells us that the diner is
closed, even though it is already 7:30 A.M. We decide to
head out to Wawa.
About five km. outside the town we round a bend in the
road. An OPP cruiser is lying across the road, with
flares set on each side of the road. Just beyond it, a
huge rock blacks the entire road. It looks as if some
huge force has pushed the rock across the road. The trees
on either side of the road are down as well. It is not
possible to drive around the boulder.
The officer gets out of the vehicle and tells us that
Wawa will send heavy equipment, eventually. Larry asks if
there are any other roads out of Wataka, but there
aren't.
Liza says the rock is native to the area, but impossibly
large for a flash flood to have moved it. The marks
indicate that the rock was dragged from a hillside to the
middle of the road.
Larry, after peering at the rock in a careful way,
motions Liza over. Eventually, a small huddle: Liza,
Larry, Leann and Chris tell us that there are no marks of
chains, heavy equipment or anything else that they can
see.
Larry thinks he saw someone moving further down the road,
around the edge of the boulder.
We drive back to town for breakfast. Holly, the waitress,
is upset, because Rene, the short order cook has not come
in. While we eat, a middle-aged woman comes in and asks
where Constable Williams is? We tell her about the
boulder and all. She tells us that her husband didn't
come home last night. She mentions that the Reverend
isn't in the church, Rachel Martin isn't at the motel,
etc. Mike asks about the seventeen year old, Mark
Gautier. He isn't around either and neither are the two
senior citizens we met in the diner yesterday.
We talk up to Rene's house. He doesn't answer our knock.
A pick-up truck pulls up in front of the diner from the
direction of the highway. Mr. Mark LaBrie, the big runny
cheese himself, is friendly and as disgusted as we are at
being stuck here. He makes his living as a guide for
hunters hereabouts. The OPP cruiser returns and officer
Williams takes a statement.
Over the next half hour other people drift in, but about
thirty people seem to be missing. Mike notices that Holly
seems really worried and is kind of pale.
It turns out that there was prayer vigil last night, she
tells us: the missing people are all Elders in the Church
except for the boy. The vigil was out in the woods
somewhere. Mike, whose family is seriously Anglican,
tells us this is really strange.
We go to the church. The caretaker, Bill, reluctantly
lets us into the office. The office is large, with
book-lined walls and a pc on the desk. Larry by-passes
the reverend's password protect and Chris finds a file
PRAY01.DOC. It gives obscure directions for some sort of
ritual beginning at the time the moon rises above the
horizon, about 10:28 P.M. tonight.
Lorna finds a copy of The Eltdown Shards,
previously thought to be apocryphal. Kate finds a copy of
Native Artisans of North America.
We are invited to join the search for the missing people,
but the townfolk are so obviously reluctant to have us
participate that they are relieved, rather than offended,
when we decline.
The Eltdown Shards tell us about something
called The Moon Lens (Ref: Ramsey Campbell) which, if
properly positioned, will allow the return of the Keeper
of the Lens. The light must fall upon a large burial
mound at anytime other than the new moon. The Keep of the
Lens is an obscure reference. In Ludwig Prinn's De
Vermiis Mysteriis, the reference was used in conjunction
with the Dark Mother, Shub-Niggurath.
Native Artisans tells us about some local Indian
pictographs, one of which seems to be an Elder Sign. The
pictographs tell about a shaman hero who drove a Wendigo
into a cave with the aid of a large gem. The cave was
then sealed behind the Wendigo and the gem was
transported by canoe far to the south. There is no
mention of where the gem originated nor where it was
taken.
The Constable is consulting Marc LaBrie on where to start
the search: LaBrie is pointing off to the Northeast. We
ask the constable where the Indian Pictographs are. She
seems a trifle taken aback, but tells us to go South to
the shoreline, "Go down to the dock, hang a left and
keep on going." So, we head out along the shore.
After a two km. walk, we get to the top of the hill where
the pictographs are. They are on the cliff face; in order
for someone to look at them, we will have to lower
someone down. As we didn't bring any rope, we buckle
belts together, and with Martin acting as anchor we lower
Kate down.
When she tries to return, suddenly one of the belts comes
loose and Kate falls into the water. We notice that she
fell out and away from the cliff, as if something had
pushed her.
The greatest danger lies in the temperature of the water.
Larry tries for a controlled fall, while Liza and Mike
run down the path. Chris and Martin hurl themselves over
the edge. Lorna lies flat and looks for Kate, while Rick
starts collecting dry clothing.
Liza dives into the lake and starts heading for where she
thinks Kate might be.
Martin and Chris fall in the water; Martin bounces off of
the cliff face on his way down.
Larry grabs Martin and starts to haul him toward shore.
Martin sees Kate surface and breath, then go under again
just before he passes out.
Larry passes Martin to Mike and Rick on the shore and
starts to head back for Kate, but in the meanwhile Liza
has retrieved her, unconscious; together they pass her up
to the shore crew. Liza performs artificial respiration
until Kate regains consciousness.
The wet people and the dry people exchange clothing, the
better to avoid hypothermia. We start to move back to the
town as quickly as possible, Martin and Kate are being
helped along.
Kate has a piece of paper in her hand. In old English it
gives instructions for making something that Lorna thinks
sounds a lot like an Elder Sign.
Kate starts to explain, "Something pushed me!
Something undid the belt buckle! I went down and I was on
an island. There was this great big shaman trying to put
a spear through me! Fortunately, there was an Englishman,
the father of the missing local minister, and he stopped
him. The Shaman stays there to protect the pictographs
and make sure that everyone respects the Elder Sign! They
are bound there, on that island. He says his son has
another book, The Zanthu Tablets that say what
to do!"
Once back in the town, we return to the church and push
are the swimmers into hot showers. We realize that the
entire town has been deserted. We try the CB radio, the
cell phone, everything: all we get on the radio is
static, the cell phone says "no service".
Suddenly, four monsters are running toward us. They look
like ambulatory piles of compost, except for the
eyestalks, which look like bunches of grapes. Also they
have six legs and move rather too quickly for comfort.
Two of them pursue a rock Liza throws to distract them,
but the other two go for Liza. She drops and rolls under
the van and then continues under the second van.
We all pile into the nearest van. Then Michael drives
over the monster trying to get at Liza. Two of the
monsters are now on top of the van Mike is driving, so he
accelerates and then stops suddenly. Then he drives over
the monster that slid off in front of the van. The
monsters both get up after being run over, but they looks
distinctly crinkled.Two of the monsters run away and
perch on nearby porches, watching us. Sherry and Kate
call them Chiaraptors, which sticks.
We split the group more evenly in the vans. The van Liza
is driving heads for the general store, while the van
Michael is driving heads for the repair/supply building
by the dock.
Lorna goes in to search for flammable materials and is
grabbed by a fifth Chiaraptor. They thrash about for a
bit, as she is trying to stab it with a pair of scissors,
until the rest of the group in the van realize that she
is in trouble. Kate attacks it with fire suppresant which
seems to do real damage, while Martin pounds it with a
tire iron and Sherry tries to get enough of a grip to use
the hacksaw.
Meanwhile, Larry has gone into the back of the general
store and broken the glass to get at the shotguns. He has
a shotgun in hand, but no ammo when another Chiaraptor
grapples him. Chris comes running with the local
equivalent of Agent Orange and slimes it. It escapes
through the back window.
Back by the docks, the Chiaraptor gives up on Lorna and
grabs Martin, but Kate gets it again with the foam and it
escapes through a window as well. We pick up a small gas
torch and anything else that looks useful, then head up
to the general store to join with the others. We do first
aid on Lorna and Larry there. Martin and Leann gather up
everything that squirts.
The McGyver School of Weapons
We put Killex in the windshield wiper reservoirs and
Chris makes homemade napalm. We get to the OPP detachment
about 4:00 P.M.
Liza checks the OPP maps and finds a promising mound
about two km. due East of the pictographs, which is about
four km. from here. She checks air photos and finds a
clearing. She thinks there is a footpath leading to the
clearing.
While she is doing this the other van pushes off and
searches the manse, the little house near the church.
Kate finds The Zanthu Tablets. Lorna finds a VCR
tape with a news story describing a break-in an a
Brantford area museum. The only item stolen was a
milky-white jem presumed cut by Indian artisans.
Lorna reads The Zanthu Tablets. She finds a
spell pertaining to the fluidity of stone. Allegedly
handed down from the artisans of Mu, it was used to weld
stone. The Moon Lens isn't mentioned at all. We take this
book with us too, as it seems likely this will come in
handy.
This has taken a while, and the other van has joined us
at the church. The Chiaraptors are still watching, from a
respectful distance. It is 6:00 P.M. and the spell from
the intial document would need to be said at 11:18 P.M.
tonight. The group eats and prepares, while Lorna makes
an Elder Sign for Liza.
We set out shortly after 7:00 P.M. Liza leads, then:
Larry, Lorna, Leann, Mike, Martin, Sherry, Rick, Chris,
and Kate.
A plant thing lunges at Kate. It misses, she screams, it
runs into the surrounding bush. She fires at its
retreating tendrils but can't be sure that she sees it.
We all listen. Michael hears another one coming our way.
Larry and Mike fire at it. They are both aiming for the
eyestalks - its may need a white cane hereafter.
A little further up the trail, Larry sees a human behind
a bush: a man in his 40s, in a camaflouge outfit,
carrying a rifle. Mike sneaks up behind the man and tells
him to drop his weapon, which the man does. Then a
Chisraptor leaps over the hunter, grabbing at Mike. Lorna
and Liza spray it with Killex; Larry's rifle slug goes
clear through it. It grabs for Mike a second time: this
time it succeeds in grappling him, just before it
expires. The man is running. Larry yells a warning,
"Halt!" and then fires. He misses.
Someone shoots Kate in the arm. Larry shoots back, this
time someone drops. Mike shoots at the hunter still
running, who falls to the ground. We all try to hide,
with varying degrees of success.
We hear people coming toward us from the direction of the
clearing. Six men in camoflouge with rifles are
approaching. Five drop to one knee in response to a hand
signal - Larry shoots the person giving the hand signal,
blowing the back of his head off.
We exchange fire, while Chris grabs Kate. Martin kills
someone who sounded a lot like Homer Simpson (?). More
people seem to be coming toward us. Our position is
untenetable. We fire again. Sherry shoots someone and is
totally grossed out. She gives the shotgun to someone
else. Michael blows someone's arm off. Return fire gives
Mike and scalp-wound and blows a hole in Martin's arm. We
pause for a hasty first-aid session.
Larry sneaks through the dug-in enemy positions. The rest
of us try to loop down South and around the hunters.
Chris and Rick accompany Sherry, Kate and Martin, making
a noisy retreat, attracting light fire. They go toward
the village for twenty-five minutes and then loop North
around the the cultists, heading for the clearing.
The woods haven't seen this much activity since the elks'
mating season. While we lurk, we consider a vast range of
possibilities, including the idea that the townfolk are
on our side, and the opposition nobbled them before they
could melt the cave shut permanently.
Liza guides us to the clearing at about 10:00 P.M. Leann
spots Larry hiding on the hillside. He is in a perfect
position to shoot the large milky-white gem standing on a
stone pillar in the centre of the clearing.
A cultist goes over to the mound and makes a large X,
just in case we weren't sure that these were the right
cultists and this was the right clearing.
There are two hills, one of either side of the mound. In
the clearing in front of the mound, OPP Constable
Williams is having an animated discussion with the
friendly local guide, Mark LaBrie. Another cultist is
making minute measurements and putting shimms under the
large milky-white stone. About a dozen cultists are
moving around, checking braziers, lighting torches, etc.
Off to one side is a large boulder with funny line on it
- Leann identifies it as a Gate. Two armed cultists guard
it. LaBrie walks into the boulder and doesn't come out
the other side. Leann says, "Oh, good, a Gate!"
Lorna is having a little bit of trouble with fiction
becoming reality. We are at long range for shotguns, but
have a good angle.
The gimp brigade arrive on top of one of the two hills
beside the mound.
About 10:15 P.M. LaBrie starts intoning and gesturing,
mumbling something about Shub-Niggurath. He almost dies
early, as we are none of us sure if he is practicing or
what. He stops abruptly and we notice something big
approaching.
It would appear to be a Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath. A
big Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath. About this time, Rick
loses his fragile hold upon reality. Lorna never had much
of one, so she isn't as disturbed.
Two more Dark Young arrive, one of the top of the other
hill and one for the top of the mound. This puts the
duck-blind brigade in an unfortunate position, to say the
least. Very few people have sat in the shade of a Dark
Young and survived to talk about it. They are extremely
quiet.
We all get tenser as time passes. The cultists are
warming up about 11:13, when Larry decides to err on the
side of safety. The milky-white gem explodes into shards,
and before Marc LaBrie has a chance to close his mouth,
Larry's second shot takes him through the chest.
Constable Williams also develops a sucking chest wound.
The Dark Young start to move. The Dark Young on top of
the mound moves towards the two cultists guarding the
Gate. It eats them.
As the Dark Young they are crouching under moves, Chris
and Martin break East, Rick and Sherry run back toward
the village, away from the clearing.
Kate runs toward the cultists in the centre of the
clearing. She is trying to decoy the Dark Young toward
the cultists, correctly assuming that LaBrie worked the
summon/bind spell and that with his death their bindings
are no longer in effect.
Mike tosses two jerrycans of gasoline onto the branches
of the nearest Dark Young. Kate breaks away from the
clearing at the last possible moment, nearly getting shot
again. Mike throws a torch at the Dark Young. Woof! It
looks impressive, but it doesn't really slow the Dark
Young down. The Dark Young begin to pick off the
cultists. Munchies.
Meanwhile, Larry has worked his way down to the Gate and
leaps inside. He returns, hastily, just as Lorna is about
to follow him. He needs defoliant: a Chiaraptor chased
him back, but he saw the villagers, being held captive by
vines and big, tree-like things.
Chris leads through the Gate, followed by Liza, Lorna and
Leann. Chris sprays the Chiaraptor. Leann notices that
the grossly distended yellow sun ought to be frying
anyone on a planet this close to the that large a sun.
She is a little out of it for a while. Chris is too busy
to notice.
We start to spray the vines with Killex and free the
villagers. Suddenly we can hear big footsteps approaching
in the distance and everyone picks the pace up. Larry is
flinging the villagers back through the Gate and we all
leap through so fast we hardly have time to lose any
sanity. But we do.
We all head back to town. We can hear the Dark Young
receeding into the woods, no doubt heading for Ignace. We
don't have any trouble with the Chiaraptors. Liza says
they probably aren't active after dark. "It's a
chlorophyll thing," says Sherry, understandingly.
We meet with the villagers in the town church. They like
us and are prepared to try and help us sort out our
problems with the van rental agency.
The Reverend starts to explain, but we have figured most
of it out anyhow. "Your Dad says Hi," Kate
tells him brightly. He looks a little taken aback.
The Reverend had made an Elder Sign and he was going to
use The Zanthu Tablets spell to melt it into the
rock over top of the cave. We will get together at
moonrise tomorrow night and make sure that he gets it
done. Lorna returns his books.
The cultists were using military jamming gear, which
explains why we couldn't get hold of Wawa.
From here, it's on to a thoroughly mediocre
WorldCon...