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[Call of Cthulhu - IC] Whispers in the Darkness
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Suddenly he heard a terrific crash outside.
Nathan walked toward the door with a sigh. "Looks like this place is deserted. Let's go see what those fools are up to."
Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before
Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
Javier scours the sides of the shed, but doesn't find anything else particularly interesting. Mostly just moldering piles of boxes and rusted tools.
Guy looks at the object, a tall oval mirror lined with bronze sitting atop two ornate clawed feet. The frame of the mirror is made of intricately detailed metal tendrils that snake away from the glass. At the top and bottom are two fantastic fanged jaws, and inscribed at their corners is an inscription "опасность". The mirror itself is a dull black, and does not seem to make any reflection. Despite the state of the rest of the shed, the object is impeccably clean.
Guy knocked carefully on the "glass", just to see what the surface felt like.
Before leaving the cabin, von Todt notices a lone board beside the filthy mattress that stands out as far newer and cleaner than the others. With a little bit of kicking, the board comes up, revealing another cache. Inside, he pulls out a fraying hardbacked portfolio and a yellowed, crumbling scroll wrapped in a dark grey ribbon of some coarse material. The bit of the scroll you can see seems to be covered in some sort of Asiatic symbols. The two of you tuck your material into a satchel and step out into the yard. Javier is visible through a gap in the collapsed structure, looking into the interior of the shed.
[El Skid]
For just a moment, it is just you and the dark glass. The shed drops away, and there is only the great black disc, leaning over you. You see yourself in the glass, and watch your reflection walk away laughing to the point of tears. The reflection walks into the distance, where you just manage to make out the hazy form of a vast eye, hued in that same impossible green-orange, and hear the first syllable, "Sza," of some awful phrase.
Then you snap back, stooping a bit, with your hand still raised, gazing at the flat black surface of the mirror. Though you're still sweating as heavily as you have been all day, you feel chilled.
[Peff]
You watch as Guy leans over to tap on the mirror thing. There's a dull soft knocking sound, and he sits transfixed for a long time. Ford and von Todt come out of the cabin and cross the yard to stand beside you before the glassy-eyed stare drops from Guy's face.
"That was uh,,,, bizarre." said Guy, struggling to remember one of his memorized French words. "Monsieur Ford, could you please take a look at zis surface and give it a knock? I have an experiment I wish to attempt."
Todt takes the portfolio out of the bag and starts reading.
"You want me to touch that thing? I'm not sure what the point is, its just a fancy mirror. I'm surprised no one has stolen it yet, given the condition of the house."
He moves in closer and and looks the mirror over. "Are you expecting more zombies or vampires or mythical deities to appear when I touch this?" He chuckles to himself, "Well, here goes nothing..."
Ford places his right hand on the mirror.
Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before
Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
For just a moment, it is just you and the dark glass. The shed drops away, and there is only the great black disc, leaning over you. You see yourself in the glass, and watch as your reflection begins to scream, its face melting away, just as you recall from the hallway at the university. From the ashes an arm reaches out, crusted with some sort of hardened ooze and dotted with long strands of curled hair. The arm continues to stretch, bending at the joint, then bending again, and again, and again until it resembles some sort of horrible impossible fleshy child's scrawling. A grainy whisper sounds in the darkness, spraying the pile of ash violently. "Qu'them-" and then you're back in the dingy shed, and every hair on your body is standing at attention.
[Captain Marcus]
You crack the portfolio, which appears to be a collection of photographs. The top one is a much better quality image of the old man, Gammell. Slipping past it, you see him, younger and far more vibrant, in front of a very handsome Victorian mansion. He stands with a wry grin on his face, surrounded by a number of other excited looking people in ornamental robes of some sort. The photo appears quite faded, with a small penned note on the back "1963". Next is an old and battered recreation of the familiar image from Guy's book, with Gammell looking haggard and intense in sweat stained and tattered colonial jungle dress in some Asian ruin.
The next photo is badly yellowed and aged nearly to the point of disintegration Only the plastic sleeve has held it together from the effects of time. Gammell is proudly holding an old style bolt action rifle in one hand, with a braided haired scalp in the other. The burnt remains of an American Indian community are behind him. Next (the photos do not appear to be ordered in any particular way) Gammell is standing in front of an ornate Middle Eastern building identified as the Cairo Museum of Antiquities. He is holding some sort of idol in his hands, and behind him a tank is driving through the street, draped with uniformed British soldiers. There must be over a hundred photos in the book, and as you flip through images that stretch back to the invention of photography you see only one constant. The youthful face of Jedediah Gammell and his dark sneering eyes.
[Peff]
Just as you grew used to the uncommonly silent outdoors, you hear the loud snap of a large tree branch breaking, a skitter of rolling dirt and stones, and a kind of hissing gasp. The sound came from around the back corner of the house.
And with that he stepped out of the shed and turned to look toward the back of the house.
"Quiet, all of you!" he whispers harshly. Ford takes out his gun again and approaches the source of the noise.
Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before
Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
Your eyes finally follow the length of chain up the small rise: attached to the chain by a collar at the neck, a blued skin corpse-thing shuffles towards you, emitting a dusty keening screech. The skin of the corpse-thing is leathery and rigid, stretched over bones that have pierced through in some places. The bones that you can see appear to be tinged themselves with some color your eyes refuse to register, only filling you with some sick feeling. As the half-man speaks its phrase, the thing begins to stumble towards you, swiping its long, curved, and cracking nails as it moves.
Javier side steps and draws up his rifle. His blood pumping and head reeling, he fires without scoping in on the target.
The creature doesn't slow, or even seem to register the damage, as a purple viscous fluid seeps from the wound. It continues to heave its way towards Guy, and rakes a clawed and putrid hand across his arm, cutting him deeply. It begins to emit a low ululating wail, like glass scraping against steel.
Von Todt decides to deal with the midget that seems to be directing the creature, and puts a round in its gut. Given the course of events thus far, he's gratified to see that the man bleeds normal blood. The small man looks badly injured, and glares at you with a hateful expression.
Shouting "Zombie!" Javier takes aim and fires a bullet straight through the thing's skull. The back of its skull explodes, spraying the hill behind it in more of the dark fluid. In spite of everything Javier learned from movies, the thing does not die, and continues to wail and slash at Guy.
The small man drops the chain and holds the hand with the flute up towards von Todt. "ຄວນສະຖິດ" he says, as smoke begins to curl from his hand and his eyes go wild. He flicks his long and wicked knife at the doctor and it buries itself into his thigh.
Aiming his massive handgun, he shoots the evil little man again.
"Gehen in die Hölle, Teufel," Todt growls.
When the round hits, the things sways more erratically, then begins to crumple. It's left arm separates from the shoulder near the rifle wound, and another spatter of purple marks the dirt behind it, and a thin spray of blue dust puffs from its nostrils as it falls.
Von Todt's .45 round strikes home, a bullet designed to put down just this type of troublesome oriental warrior. The round smacks into the small man's palm and vanishes in a puff of copper smoke, without any noticeable effect on the man. Seeing his creature collapse, he begins to back away towards the treeline, his hand still smoking slightly as he brings the flute to his lips.
As he clumsily swung the rusty hammer, he wished he had his sword, which was of course back at home. Of course, he hadn't known he'd be needing it, but in the current situation he longed for its comforting weight in his hands.
Geth, roll 1d100 for hammering flute dude (TN 25)
von Todt is able to see the mishap in time, and takes a step to the side. Again he places a round right into the small man's face. As before, von Todt's aim is true, and the round fizzles into smoke, but this time the smoking effect from his palm evaporates and a hideously voluminous jet of blood sprays from the dwarf's nostrils. His hand is still up when Javier's rifle round hits him in the forearm. There's an awful crunching sound as the bone is splintered apart. The slivers of bone pock the crazed hateful face like bits of shrapnel. The effect is so horrifically mesmerizing that you hardly notice the sucking chest wound that has formed in the small man's chest, a few inches above the man's gut wound.
Crippled and soaked in dark blood, the half-sized man gasps out a brief sound into the raised flute before collapsing to the ground. The flute emits some...it could not truly be considered a sound...not-sound, and the group all feel a dark haze slide across their eyes. Then it is quiet, the only noise is the familiar ringing of your ears that follows every gunfight.
Ford takes a long breath, and looks around the forest for a long moment with a glazed expression on his face. He nods slowly as he looks down at the pistol in his hand. Dropping to his knees, Ford pulls a roll of cloth from his pocket, rolls it out on the ground, and begins to break open the revolver and clean it with a brush and oil that had been wrapped in the cloth. He is muttering to himself.
Chest puffed out and rifle slung over his shoulder, Javier turns on his heel and starts back toward the Jeep.
Todt then glances down and notices that there is a knife sticking out of his thigh. He starts, and winces in pain.
Hobbling, he follows his medical colleague and yells after him, "Javier! I'm hurt too."
He then treats Guy's lacerations with more antiseptic liquid and more bandages. He (and Todt) will still have to go to a proper hospital to ensure the wounds don't get infected, but it's better than nothing.
After giving people time to scramble back, Guy takes the hammer and with all his considerable strength strikes the mirror...
As Javier and Kristofer sit discussing the convict and dead man, Guy delivers a massive blow to the black mirror. The glass doesn't so much shatter, as it oozes off of the frame. There is a sound, a deep ommming moan that rapidly rises to a shriek, like a far off voice is screaming from a torn and bloody throat through layers of chalked bone and thick slime molds.
Todt, Cubilla and Ford all feel the onset of a nasty headache. Laperdue falls over, unconscious in the onyx sludge that has sloughed off the mirror frame.
"Nein! Guy!" He runs over and pulls him out of the sludge.