The Mine

I have been somewhat remiss in reporting on our Realms of Cthulhu campaign. Part of this is because things have been developing a little… sloooooooooowwwwwly… I’m going to try and make the future games a bit more episodic – that come to a resolution in one evening – and a little more two-fisted pulpy!

Anyway here’s what were were doing the previous month…

December 1920, England

SITUATION

Since our last episode Dr. Wraight has continued working at the university with Miss Trebeau as her assistant. Lacking fieldwork for them, Dr. Wraight has found custodial work for Messrs Cranston and Malaker around the campus.

Freiherr von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg has taken an apartment in Cambridge and spends his time between there and his home in Germany, studying in various libraries.

Our adventure begins when Cranston receives an urgent telegram…

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Freiherr und Ritter Jochimm von und zu Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg – Retired German Army Officer - (Christian)
Ag d10, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d6,
Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5, Sanity 6, Corruption 0
Skills: Fighting d6, Shooting d10, Notice d6, Stealth d6, Intimidate d6, Persuade d6, Drivingd4, Streetwise, d6, Survival d4, Stealth d4
Edges: Well Adjusted, Rich, Trademark Weapon (Luger)
Hindrances: Vow (major), Quirk (?), Vengeful, Lame
Gear: Fine Clothes, Luger (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1), Knife (Str+d4), Sword Cane(Str+d6)

Tom Cranston – labourer – (John)
Ag d8, Sm d4, Sp d6, St d10, Vg d10,
Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 8
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Notice d6, Stealth d4, Riding d4, Throwing d4, Knowledge ( Farmin’) d10, healing d4, Repair d4, Survival d4,
Edges: Quick, Brawny, Fast Hearler
Hindrances: Illiterate, Loyal, Quirk (Depressed – over the loss of his wife), Heroic
Gear: Work Clothes, Shovel (Str+d6, -1 to hit), Lee Enfield Rifle (Range: 24/48/96, ROF 1, Damage: 2d8, AP: 2)

Sgt. Shivanshu Malaker – Gurkha (Darrin)
Ag d8, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d10,
Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 8, Sanity 6, Corruption 0
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Notice d8, Stealth d6, Intimidate d8, Climbing d8, Swimming d4, Survival d10, Tracking d8
Edges: Brawny, Woodsman, Alertness, First Strike
Hindrances: Heroic, Code of Honour
Gear: Rifle (Range: 24/48/96, ROF1, Damage: 2d8, AP: 2), Kukri (Str+d6)

Laurel Trebeau
Ag d6, Sm d10, Sp d8, St d4, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 6
Skills: Fighting d4, Shooting d6, Notice d6, Stealth d4, Investigation d10, Riding d4, Healing d8, Knowledge (Psychology) d8, Taunt d6, Swimming d4, Streetwise d4
Edges: Alertness, Psychotherapist
Hindrances: Quirk (wears glasses, but doesn’t really need them…), Loyal

Dr. Emma Wraight – Cultural Anthropologist and Archaeologist (Amanda)
Ag d6, Sm d10, Sp d8, St d6, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 4, Toughness 5, Sanity 6, Corruption 0
Skills: Fighting d4, Shooting d4, Notice d10, Stealth d4, Knowledge: Anthropology d8, Knowledge; Archaeology d8, Investigation d4, Survival 4d, Tracking d4, Swimming d4, healing d4
Edges: Scholar, Linguist, Alertness
Hindrances: Curious, Phobia (Major – Snakes)
Gear: Clothes, Anti-Snake Boots (Armour +2), Webley (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1), Knife (Str+d4),

Feldwebel Shultz – NPC – aide/driver for Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg
Ag d8, Sm d6, Sp d8, St d8, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 6 (7), Toughness 6, Sanity 5, Corruption 1
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Notice d8, Stealth d6, Intimidate d8, Throwing d6, Knowledge: Mythos d4
Edges: Command
Hindrances: Mean
Gear: Uniform, Webbing, Backpack, Blanket, Rations, Rifle (Range: 24/48/96, ROF1, Damage: 2d8, AP: 2), Bayonet (Str+d6, Parry +1, Reach 1)

Herman Lucas
Ag d6, Sm d10, Sp d6, St d6, Vg d8,
Pace 6, Parry 5, Toughness 5, Sanity 3, Corruption 2
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Notice d8, Stealth d6, Knowledge: Mining d10, Knowledge: metallurgy: d10, Throwing d6, Knowledge: Mythos d6
Luger (Range: 12/24/48, ROF 1, Damage: 2d6, AP: 1),


THE GAME

A very brief version of the events…

Episode One

Tom Cranston receives a telegram in early December – which Professor Wraight reads to him – explaining that his father-in-law is missing in a mine collapse. Tom and Shivanshu travel to Newcastle to see what’s going on. Upon their arrival they find a massive effort underway to try and recover the missing miners. Tom and Shivanshu offer their services digging.

They spend their days digging and nights at Tom’s mother-in-law’s. While digging and at the pub they hear some strange rumours about the crew that was caught in the collapse. They apparently made some sort of discovery in another shaft, which has since been closed, and were paid a great deal of money each to not mention what they found to anyone. Also others that were working elsewhere in the mine described a long steady rumbling and shaking of the rock – very unlike a sudden explosion, which is what the mine claims happened.

Shivanshu sends a telegram to the rest of the group explaining the situation and acking them to come to Newcastle at their earliest possible convenience. This is a week or so after their arrival.

Tom and Shivanshu also discovered there was one member of the crew that made the discovery who did not show up for work on the night of the collapse. They discovered he was hiding at his cousins (by following his mum one day) and found out that they had discovered a perfectly round, smooth sided tunnel in the rock. They called on one of the engineers, who seemed very excited about the discovery and paid them all £100 to tell no one about it and the shaft was closed – the engineer citing that it was unstable and prone to collapse.

The engineer is question, it was later discovered was Herman Lucas – an engineer of Polish descent, who was recently hired.

Wraight, Trebeau and von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg make some preliminary investigations and then von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg tries to get an in at the mine by presenting himself as a potential investor (his father having owned mines in Silesia, he is able to present himself as somewhat knowledgable in the area…).

All missing miners were eventually recovered and all were dead. None were burned, as one might expect from an explosion.

This Episode was cut rather short when Christian received a phone call from his wife

Episode Two

The missing Miner was murdered along with his cousin.

von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg discovered there had been a Herman Lucas at one of his fathers mines that was closed and sold in a hurry after some sort of “incident”. Lucas had, however, been declared missing, presumed dead…

Wraight, Trebeau and von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg had meeting with the owner and managers and had a tour of the mine.

The whole group snuck into the mine and checked out the strange tunnel and found some markings in chalk around the entrance to the tunnel.

Lucas felt the heat getting a bit close and scarpered. It had been over TWO WEEKS since players arrived in town…. I couldn’t wait around forever for them to take some action…

Episode Three

This was a short one and a bit of a gimme…

Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg was started from his sleep by what he thought might have been a gunshot! He felt wetness on his face and smelt cordite in the air. He was startled by another two shots in his room and something heavy falling on top of him!

As it all turned out Otto Shultz, his sergeant in East Africa, had come to England. He was concerned for Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg safety and arrived not a moment too late! Having arrived late into the evening he let himself into Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg’s flat and went to sleep in a chair. He was woken by Herman Lucas breaking in through a window. Lucas found his way into Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg’s room and produced a revolver. At this point otto, who had stealthfully followed him into the bedroon shot Lucas in the back (the first shot that woke Von Höllenstadt-Fürchtberg). When Lucas spun around to see his assailant Otto finished him off with a double tap to the head and chest.

While waiting for the police to arrive they searched lucas and found a hotel room key and a receipt. After the police left they gathered Wraight and Trebeau and went to the hotel to see what was there. They found a packed suitcase and took it back to Wraight’s place. In it they found a number of notebooks (all in Polish) and a medieval tome (in latin) called “Wyrms of the Earth”.

That’s about it…

Wraight read the tome and became the first in the group to gain some knowledge of the MYTHOS!!!

Coming Soon to Savage Timmy’s Playhouse:

A report of last night’s Realms of Cthulhu game…?