Haha, I assumed that everything automatically gave me a sanity loss and it was just a matter of time until it all went south. Although this system isn't much of a deviation from that...
"Let's get out of here" says Jimmy, already halfway down the stairs.
"Jisandra, where do you need? Library, University, what?"
0
Options
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Chet shakes his head, blowing air from between pursed lips, then takes a nip of something from a flask. The color begins to come back to his cheeks and he picks up the tire iron. "Medicinal," he says to no one in particular.
Hustling down the stairs two at a time, he seems eager for the comparative normalcy of Jimmy's plan. "I'll drive you guys wherever you need to go! Library, sure, whatever! Maybe pick up a, a gun or something too, eh?"
You descend the stairs as a group, passing the basement door and then almost sprinting out of the house. Once out in the sunlight the things you've seen take on a strange, almost dreamlike quality. Did you really see blood dripping from the walls and see objects fling themselves across the room? One look at your companions tells you that they're thinking the same thing. Your avenues of inquiry seem plain.
1. The previous tenants, driven insane, are confined to a sanitorium. They may know something.
2. The house itself seems to have a history of strange occurrences. Looking into it's past may be
fruitful. Perhaps a library, or the records of a local paper, would be useful.
The alternative is to come back at night with a can of gasoline and a match. Right now, that doesn't seem like an entirely outlandish idea, even if it means you don't get paid by Davenport.
Some of you may have a gun stashed away at home. If you think it's reasonable for your character to have one I probably won't disagree.
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
As the house fades behind the group, Jisandra says, "Let's take a look at some public records first. I know we're all in disbelief about what we saw, but if this house has a history, it will have made the papers." She fishes around in her bag until, pulls out her cigarettes and offers them to the group before lighting her own. "Let's begin at the library."
If anyone feels like they won't be of use in the library for whatever reason, there's no reason not to split up and pursue other avenues of investigation.
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Chet gratefully takes one of Jisandra's proffered cigarettes, jamming it into his mouth and lighting it with a heavy, somewhat ostentatious monogrammed brass lighter. The cherry sizzles as he inhales greedily. "Tell you what, lady," Chet says, some of his old swagger coming back. "I don't really have a head for libraries. Maybe I can drop you off there and then head out to the booby hatch to talk to the Macarios. I'm not sure what I think of this funny business, but they might know something."
George isn't looking at anything in particular. "I think the Macarios may know more than I had earlier presumed. Chet's got the right idea; I don't think we'll find any answers in a library."
"and the morning stars I have seen
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
0
Options
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
Jisandra finishes her cigarette. "I can handle the library myself. If nothing else, it will give me some quiet to examine the contents of those journals more closely. Let's discuss what we learn over dinner."
0
Options
BobCescaIs a girlBirmingham, UKRegistered Userregular
Ida walks up carrying a couple of gas lamps. "um, I found these, but they're mostly empty. Anything happen while I was gone?"
please post about your chosen avenue of investigation.
Ida and Jisandra head off to the Arkham town library, while George, Jimmy and Chet jump into Chet's car to head out to the Arkham Sanitorium. Once away from the house the town seems brighter and warmer, and the events there in the early part of the afternoon recede as time passes until they seem almost dreamlike.
At the library the prim looking lady on the desk gives Ida a warm smile of recognition and a somewhat less sure look at Jisandra. Nevertheless, she directs you to the section of the library reserved for the town records. Dust lies heavy atop the shelves, and the further into the stacks you go the dustier it gets.
Each of you make a library use roll to measure how successful your searching among the records is. Each roll indicates four hours of searching.
Arkham Sanitorium lies in the centre of a neat, well kept lawn, surrounded by high walls. One gate provides eny into the grounds, and a stocky man in white overalls stops you as you pull up in the car. His eyes seem slightly off kilter, and you're not sure who he's looking at when he asks you your business. You mention the and he grunts in acknowledgement, waving you in after ordering you to stop by reception first.
You park outside the main building, a low, brick affair with grilled windows and a sturdy door. The door opens as you approach and another orderly descends the two steps to the door carrying what look to be bloody sheets. He sees you, nods, and passes by, heading towards a small building with steam issuing in billows from an open door. The laundry room, perhaps?
You pass through the door and explain your situation to the receptionist, an unhelpful woman with a deep frown. As you talk to her, moans and incoherent shouting echo down through the corridors to reach your ears. Rattling noises, as of bars being shaken back and forth, provide a shrill undercurrent. The receptionist tells you to wait in the room opposite, a dull boxlike affair with rude wooden benches. The non stop screams and delirious moaning from within the Sanitorium turn the minutes into what seems like hours.
Eventually, a small man, dressed in a white coat, black pants and a most incongruous bright yellow shirt enters the room. Watery eyes seep and boil behind thick glasses, and a thin, wispy beard hides his mouth. "I am Doctor Ransom," says the man. "I understand you're here to visit the Macarios. A most unusual pair, I must say. Might I ask the reason for your visit?"
Ida's experience in navigating university libraries stands her in excellent stead, and after diligent cross-checking she is certain she knows the origin of the house. In 1835 a prosperous merchant, whose name on the deed is an unreadable smudge, built the house. Soon after, he fell ill, and sold it to one Mr Walter Corbitt, esquire, who moved in immediately.
Further investigation may bring to light other developments regarding the house, but the librarian finds you in the stacks and tells you it is time to leave, though of course, she says, you are welcome to return tomorrow.
Jisandra may roll once to see what she found out before closing time.
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Chet fixes Doctor Ransom with his most sober, serious Man Talk expression, the one he reserves for tightwad husbands who are pretty sure they don't need some noisy contraption to do their wife's job for her. "Doctor. My, uh, colleague and I have been retained by the owner of the Macarinos' former home to clear up some unwholesome rumors about the place. We'd appreciate anything you can do to help."
George defers to Chet and the shrink as they speak, feeling rather out of his element amongst well-spoken authority figures. He looks around to see if any nearby orderlies are free.
"and the morning stars I have seen
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
The Doctor regards your odd group with interest, and eagerly agrees to your questioning the Macarios. He warns you that the husband is almost catatonic, though the wife has lucid periods that he claims are "most interesting". He leads through the muted cries for help, mother and figments of diseased minds to a cell at the end of what feels like the longest corridor you have ever walked down. He slides the metal plate placed at eye level in the door open and motions for you to look through it. Inside, a man sits in a corner of a padded cell. He wears a straitjacket, rocks back and forth and moans softly to himself. You think you can hear him say "the eyes" over and over again to himself. A thick stream of drool hangs from his lips.
"Oh dear. Nothing from Mr Macario today, I fear. Let's try his wife." He crosses the corridor and opens the plate on the facing door. He turns with a smile and unlocks the door with a key he draws from his pocket. He leads you into the room and into the company of a small, hunched figure with lank hair and an expression as timid as a beaten child. "Mrs Macario, I've bought you some guests." The Doctor motions for you to sit down on the floor of the cell to talk to the woman.
George notices a dumpy looking woman of colour filling a laundry basket further down the corridor who looks a likely prospect for gossip.
Jimmy slowly eases himself onto the floor, and sits cross-legged across from Mrs Macario, keeping out of arms reach.
Carefully watching the face hidden behind the greasy strands of hair, he leans forward and says softly: "Mrs Macario? My name's Jimmy. My friends and I would like to talk to you for a little while."
"We've been to the house, Mrs Macario, and seen some terrible things. We know that something happened there to you and your husband, and we're trying to understand what. Is there anything you can tell us?"
The woman shivers as you mention the house, and draws away from you. Her hands play at a fraying cord of the plain white hospital shift she wears and she cannot seem to meet your eyes. After what seems like a long time, she begins, falteringly, to speak.
"It started almost as soon as we moved in. The children woke us up in the night screaming, terrified of something that seemed to stand over them at night. It had red eyes, they said. We just thought it was nightmares, till we started seeing the same thing."
"And then the noises started. A horrible banging sound that seemed to come from the spare room. And Antonio started to talk to someone we couldn't see. Even in his sleep sometimes, he'd struggle and toss and turn and seem to almost fight something in his sleep. And then the night he went mad with the knife. I woke to find him standing over me with a knife, but he seemed terrified. He was sweating and cursing someone I couldn't see. He stared at me as if I were a stranger. He raised the knife as if to strike but then drove it into his own arm. He fled, screaming, into the street and stayed there, sobbing, until the police came."
She pauses again. "I left the children with my sister, and intended to stay in the house only until Antonio was better, but then I started hearing the voice in my head at night. It kept telling me to pick up the knife, pick up the knife, pick up the knife. One morning I woke to find a knife on my bedside table I swear to the Virgin I did not place there." She clutches at her head and starts to cry.
The doctor motions you out of the door, locking it behind you as you leave. "I fear you will get no more from her."
Talking to the cleaning lady in the corridor, George learns little except what Mr Macario says in his sleep. Every night, she says, Macario screams "No", as if refusing something. Once, she confides in a whisper, she swears she heard him beg someone called Walter to leave him alone.
Jisandra finds records of legal action taken against the owner and occupant of the house, Walter Corbitt, by his neighbours. They apparently petitioned to force him to leave the area in 1852 "in consequence of his spurious (sic) habits and inauspicious demeanor."
The library is closing, but you can search again tomorrow.
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
Jisandra mutters a curse under her breath, files that information away, and leaves the library. She's got enough information to know she'll be up most the night pouring over those journals. She stands outside and smokes until Chet returns.
George asks Chet and Jimmy, "Did we figure out where we'll meet up with the book-snoopers? This is starting to sound like a good old fashioned ghost story, only come alive."
"and the morning stars I have seen
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
edited June 2012
Chet lets Jimmy take over the driving duties and sits in the passenger seat, quietly sipping from his flask. His brow has been permanently furrowed since leaving the sanitarium, and his usual enthusiasm seems completely drained away, replaced by something else - some queer mixture of curiosity and dread. As they pull over to the library, he hops out onto the grass, stumbles, regains his balance, and strides over to Jisandra and Ida, smoothing his jacket with both hands.
"You found something," he says. His tone is flat, and not really a question.
Jimmy doesn't say anything on the drive to the library. His mind keeps returning to the look in Mrs Macario's eyes as she described her husband plunging a knife into his own arm. He wants to chalk it up to a battered wife losing it and sticking a shiv in her husband, but the blood seeping from the door in the upstairs of the house hovers in the back of his mind.
0
Options
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
"Not much. Apparently, one of the previous tenants, the very same who filled those journals in the desk, was involved in some legal trouble. I can't say much more than that until I have a chance to read the books myself. You hungry?"
0
Options
BobCescaIs a girlBirmingham, UKRegistered Userregular
Ida looks at the state of Chet with some concern. "Um, yes, we didn't find as much as I had hoped. The house was built in 1835, though I was unable to read by whom. He sold it to Mr. Corbitt when he fell ill. I could probably find out more if I return tomorrow, if you feel this is a worthwhile avenue to explore. Did you find out anything of import at the Sanitorium?"
It occurs to several of you, as you mull over the days events, that if this sort of thing has occurred on a regular basis it must have made the newspapers. For those who haven't already planned a second visit to the library perhaps a visit to the offices of the Arkham Enquirer might prove interesting?
When you guys are all done catching up just say that you head home, and to your own home, unless you say otherwise. Once the majority have done so we'll assume you've all hit the hay for the night.
Jisandra spends the evening poring over the diaries of Walter Corbitt, anxious to learn what she can. She is unable to decipher the whole set, as the writing and phrasing make progress slow, but she finds many references to a congregation that apparently gathered at the Chapel of Sacred Contemplation, wherever that was. Further reading may shed light on this location, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. References to the Shambler suggest that it is not the cause of the events you witnessed in the house.
You each retire to your lodgings, whether permanent or rented, luxurious or dirt cheap. Your sleep is fitful, and not eased by the lighted candle or lamp you leave, for the first time since you were a child, on your bedside table. You dream, but your memories of the dream are fragmentary. You remember a deep, sonorous noise that sounded like a great bell tolling in the distance, and a certain knowledge that something was approaching you from behind as you stood, unable to turn, in a room with no windows. As a dusty hand laid itself on your shoulder you woke, soaked in sweat with a frightened oath on your lips.
You find yourself unable to return to sleep, and dress, ready to meet the others.
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
As the group gathers the next morning, Chet is immaculately dressed but the hollows of his eyes - and an acrid odor on his breath - speak to his unease. "I'd like to visit the newspaper," he says quietly. "Maybe they know something about this Corbitt - or that damn house."
Jimmy rises from sleep, and walks to the washroom with deliberate steps. Methodically, he washes and shaves, watching his own face in the mirror as if it were unfamiliar.
Before leaving the house, he takes a pistol from a box tucked beneath the bed, and tucks a short blackjack into the sleeve of his jacket. It occurs to him that neither is much use against flying furniture or blood seeping from walls, but the weight of the weapons offers a comforting familiarity against the events of the previous day.
Meeting the rest of the group, he doesn't feel the need for greetings, but nods in acquiescence at Chet's suggestion, and comments: "You look rough this morning."
0
Options
BobCescaIs a girlBirmingham, UKRegistered Userregular
"I think I'd like to go back to the library again, if you are looking at the newspaper archives" Ida softly says looking around the group.
0
Options
JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Chet's eyes are watery and unfocused. He replies to Jimmy's assessment of his condition with a soft grunt. "Uh. Didn't sleep so hot last night."
I will assume Jisandra will join Ida at the library, and George will go with Chet and Jimmy to the newspaper offices. @Greeper is basically MIA at this point.
Ida and Jisandra can make their library use rolls again.
The offices of the Arkham Enquirer are located in a large, brick building in the very centre of the town. The whole place bustles with energy and industrious work. Shouts of "Copy!" carry across the floor, and the click clack of typewriters provides a constant hum. As you enter the offices an attractive and assured receptionist looks up from behind her desk and gives you a professional smile. "Can I help you gentlemen?"
If someone wants to try and sweet talk her, go ahead and make the roll. Or propose another method of trying to get access to the newspaper records. If your reason is good enough you might not need to roll.
The receptionist smiles and leans forward, whispering in a confidential manner. "Well, it's kinda unusual, but I guess you look like the kind of guy that can be trusted. Up the stairs to your right, second door on the left. If anyone asks, tell 'em Doreen said it was ok."
The filing office is a large, dusty room filled with filing cabinet after filing cabinet. Inside each are years worth of newspaper clippings. Stifling a sigh, the three of you set about searching for mentions of the old Corbitt House.
You find three stories in all, not counting one about the Macarios, which contains no more information than you already possess. In 1918 a feature story that was never published states that a family in 1880 moved into the house but fled after a series of violent accidents left the parents dead and three children crippled. The house long stood vacant after this. It seems the suggestions of unnatural causes meant the editor spiked the story.
In 1909 another family moved in, but all fell prey to the same illness almost immediately. In 1914 the oldest brother went mad, killing himself with a knife. The family soon moved out.
In 1917 third family rented the house, but again, left immediately after many fell ill.
You find no other mentions of the house.
Make an idea check, anyone at the newspaper offices.
Ida discovers that Corbitt won the lawsuit brought against him. His obituary in 1866 states that he was living in the same house at the time of his death. It also states that a second lawsuit had been brought against him to prevent Corbitt from being buried in his basement, as provided by his will.
Posts
Anyway I lost that roll
1d100 → [68] = (68)
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
"Jisandra, where do you need? Library, University, what?"
Hustling down the stairs two at a time, he seems eager for the comparative normalcy of Jimmy's plan. "I'll drive you guys wherever you need to go! Library, sure, whatever! Maybe pick up a, a gun or something too, eh?"
1. The previous tenants, driven insane, are confined to a sanitorium. They may know something.
2. The house itself seems to have a history of strange occurrences. Looking into it's past may be
fruitful. Perhaps a library, or the records of a local paper, would be useful.
The alternative is to come back at night with a can of gasoline and a match. Right now, that doesn't seem like an entirely outlandish idea, even if it means you don't get paid by Davenport.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
"I'm not much for libraries either. I'll go with Chet. We need to stop off though, I have a couple of ... things to collect."
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
Ida and Jisandra head off to the Arkham town library, while George, Jimmy and Chet jump into Chet's car to head out to the Arkham Sanitorium. Once away from the house the town seems brighter and warmer, and the events there in the early part of the afternoon recede as time passes until they seem almost dreamlike.
At the library the prim looking lady on the desk gives Ida a warm smile of recognition and a somewhat less sure look at Jisandra. Nevertheless, she directs you to the section of the library reserved for the town records. Dust lies heavy atop the shelves, and the further into the stacks you go the dustier it gets.
Arkham Sanitorium lies in the centre of a neat, well kept lawn, surrounded by high walls. One gate provides eny into the grounds, and a stocky man in white overalls stops you as you pull up in the car. His eyes seem slightly off kilter, and you're not sure who he's looking at when he asks you your business. You mention the and he grunts in acknowledgement, waving you in after ordering you to stop by reception first.
You park outside the main building, a low, brick affair with grilled windows and a sturdy door. The door opens as you approach and another orderly descends the two steps to the door carrying what look to be bloody sheets. He sees you, nods, and passes by, heading towards a small building with steam issuing in billows from an open door. The laundry room, perhaps?
You pass through the door and explain your situation to the receptionist, an unhelpful woman with a deep frown. As you talk to her, moans and incoherent shouting echo down through the corridors to reach your ears. Rattling noises, as of bars being shaken back and forth, provide a shrill undercurrent. The receptionist tells you to wait in the room opposite, a dull boxlike affair with rude wooden benches. The non stop screams and delirious moaning from within the Sanitorium turn the minutes into what seems like hours.
Eventually, a small man, dressed in a white coat, black pants and a most incongruous bright yellow shirt enters the room. Watery eyes seep and boil behind thick glasses, and a thin, wispy beard hides his mouth. "I am Doctor Ransom," says the man. "I understand you're here to visit the Macarios. A most unusual pair, I must say. Might I ask the reason for your visit?"
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Library use (1d100=61)
Further investigation may bring to light other developments regarding the house, but the librarian finds you in the stacks and tells you it is time to leave, though of course, she says, you are welcome to return tomorrow.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
"Oh dear. Nothing from Mr Macario today, I fear. Let's try his wife." He crosses the corridor and opens the plate on the facing door. He turns with a smile and unlocks the door with a key he draws from his pocket. He leads you into the room and into the company of a small, hunched figure with lank hair and an expression as timid as a beaten child. "Mrs Macario, I've bought you some guests." The Doctor motions for you to sit down on the floor of the cell to talk to the woman.
George notices a dumpy looking woman of colour filling a laundry basket further down the corridor who looks a likely prospect for gossip.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Carefully watching the face hidden behind the greasy strands of hair, he leans forward and says softly: "Mrs Macario? My name's Jimmy. My friends and I would like to talk to you for a little while."
"We've been to the house, Mrs Macario, and seen some terrible things. We know that something happened there to you and your husband, and we're trying to understand what. Is there anything you can tell us?"
"It started almost as soon as we moved in. The children woke us up in the night screaming, terrified of something that seemed to stand over them at night. It had red eyes, they said. We just thought it was nightmares, till we started seeing the same thing."
"And then the noises started. A horrible banging sound that seemed to come from the spare room. And Antonio started to talk to someone we couldn't see. Even in his sleep sometimes, he'd struggle and toss and turn and seem to almost fight something in his sleep. And then the night he went mad with the knife. I woke to find him standing over me with a knife, but he seemed terrified. He was sweating and cursing someone I couldn't see. He stared at me as if I were a stranger. He raised the knife as if to strike but then drove it into his own arm. He fled, screaming, into the street and stayed there, sobbing, until the police came."
She pauses again. "I left the children with my sister, and intended to stay in the house only until Antonio was better, but then I started hearing the voice in my head at night. It kept telling me to pick up the knife, pick up the knife, pick up the knife. One morning I woke to find a knife on my bedside table I swear to the Virgin I did not place there." She clutches at her head and starts to cry.
The doctor motions you out of the door, locking it behind you as you leave. "I fear you will get no more from her."
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
The library is closing, but you can search again tomorrow.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
"You found something," he says. His tone is flat, and not really a question.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
You each retire to your lodgings, whether permanent or rented, luxurious or dirt cheap. Your sleep is fitful, and not eased by the lighted candle or lamp you leave, for the first time since you were a child, on your bedside table. You dream, but your memories of the dream are fragmentary. You remember a deep, sonorous noise that sounded like a great bell tolling in the distance, and a certain knowledge that something was approaching you from behind as you stood, unable to turn, in a room with no windows. As a dusty hand laid itself on your shoulder you woke, soaked in sweat with a frightened oath on your lips.
You find yourself unable to return to sleep, and dress, ready to meet the others.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Before leaving the house, he takes a pistol from a box tucked beneath the bed, and tucks a short blackjack into the sleeve of his jacket. It occurs to him that neither is much use against flying furniture or blood seeping from walls, but the weight of the weapons offers a comforting familiarity against the events of the previous day.
Meeting the rest of the group, he doesn't feel the need for greetings, but nods in acquiescence at Chet's suggestion, and comments: "You look rough this morning."
Ida and Jisandra can make their library use rolls again.
The offices of the Arkham Enquirer are located in a large, brick building in the very centre of the town. The whole place bustles with energy and industrious work. Shouts of "Copy!" carry across the floor, and the click clack of typewriters provides a constant hum. As you enter the offices an attractive and assured receptionist looks up from behind her desk and gives you a professional smile. "Can I help you gentlemen?"
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
"My associates and I have been retained as confidential agents, looking into an unpleasant matter ..."
Get in.
The filing office is a large, dusty room filled with filing cabinet after filing cabinet. Inside each are years worth of newspaper clippings. Stifling a sigh, the three of you set about searching for mentions of the old Corbitt House.
You find three stories in all, not counting one about the Macarios, which contains no more information than you already possess. In 1918 a feature story that was never published states that a family in 1880 moved into the house but fled after a series of violent accidents left the parents dead and three children crippled. The house long stood vacant after this. It seems the suggestions of unnatural causes meant the editor spiked the story.
In 1909 another family moved in, but all fell prey to the same illness almost immediately. In 1914 the oldest brother went mad, killing himself with a knife. The family soon moved out.
In 1917 third family rented the house, but again, left immediately after many fell ill.
You find no other mentions of the house.
@Eddy.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3