September 25, 2020

The Knife Threatens The InvestigatorsThe Knife Threatens The Investigators

The Haunting, Session 02

The Setting

1920s Massachusetts (Boston)

The Investigators

The Scenario

[Warning: Spoilers below!]

As we get to the car, we discover Roscoe has left a note under the wipers saying that his fortune did not look good for today and he would not show up. We continue to the house anyway and approach through the back gate. We attempted to enter through the rear door but were unable to open the door after unlocking it. We go around to the other side of the house and enter through the front door. As we enter, we discover that there are alot of footprints in the dust on the floor.

We agree to split up, with each of us going into separate rooms on the left side of the first floor. Jeremiah enters the first door on the left. It’s filled with rusted junk and boxes and a boarded up cupboard. He forces open the cupboards and discovers three diaries of W. Corbitt, the prior homeowner. They are written mainly in English with some strange foreign phrases. He puts them in his suit pocket and leaves the room. Thomas enters the second room on the left and discovers it is full of old furniture and nothing much else. Carmine enters the third room on the left and discovers it is nothing but the rear entry to the house, with the side door bolted shut. He searches through the room but finds nothing of interest.

As we are searching the rooms, we begin to hear thuds from above us. Jeremiah guards the stairs while Thomas checks the second room on the right and Carmine checks the third room on the right. Carmine opens the door to discover it is locked from the 1st floor down. Carmine goes down the stairs towards the light. He nearly stumbles but manages to make it all the way down the stairs, nearly falling down the stairs in the process. He attempts to turn on the light but nothing happens. Thomas checks the second room on the right, which appears to be a kitchen with closed curtains. He opened the curtains to let in more light only to show small appliances and a pantry, with a doorway leading into a dining room and found some wine. Jeremiah whistles and calls for Thomas to join him to check on Carmine.

He handed his flashlight to Thomas and attempted to go down the stairs. He realizes he isn’t going to be able to make it down the stairs safely and has Thomas go grab some broken furniture from one of the other rooms to help brace the stairs or something. Jeremiah attempts to ride a table top down the stairs to only have what he believes to be the stairs shift to the side causing him to fall off the stairs and take damage. Thomas attempted to make his way downstairs on a leaf of a table only to hit his head against the foundation going down and took a major wound but remained conscious.

Jeremiah and Carmine search the room but find nothing other than what appears to be a small room with scraps of wood nails and a workbench. Thomas manages to find a bloody knife and tries to pick it up. As he reaches for it, it floats into the air and slashes at him while he tries to grab the knife. The party fights? the knife? Thomas pulls out his knife and grabs his table leaf while Carmine successfully shoots the knife. Jeremiah grabs a coat off the table and attempts to grab the knife but fails. Carmine takes off his fedora and manages to snag it in his hat right before it takes a swing at him. Jeremiah offers his coat to wrap around the knife but Carmine declines.

Carmine points to the wood paneling with his dented knife and says he’s heard some noises from that direction while Thomas hangs back by the wall. Carmine approaches the paneling while Jeremiah aims towards the noise to discover there is a crawl space behind the wall and pulls some boards out to discover more of the crawlspace. As we peer inside the crawlspace we see the words, “Chapel of Contemplation.” only to look over and see Carmine covered in a frenzy of rats which swarm over him who falls over screaming and wets himself as he falls unconscious. Jeremiah uses the old coat to help patch up the unconscious Carmine and stabilizes him as Thomas helps with the flashlight. Jeremiah gives his notebook to Thomas after writing “Chapel of Contemplation” in it and crawls down the crawlspace with his pistol out.

Once Jeremiah makes it out of the crawlspace he sees an old wizened body laying on the ground. Jeremiah is taking no chances and unsure if it is alive or dead or even an actual body, he shoots first and asks questions later. While this is happening, Thomas feels a tickle in his mind and the urge to pick up the knife and stab Jeremiah with it. As the body is shot, it rises up and begins to approach Jeremiah. Seeing this, Thomas experiences a temporary bout of madness and becomes claustrophobic and attempts to flee the basement screaming, “It’s the germans! The germans! Let’s get out of here!” As he flees the basement, Thomas drops the flashlight which falls and points directly into the opening of the crawlspace. You can hear Thomas screaming upstairs, “Get up the trench! Get up the trench!”

Jeremiah fires three shots in rapid succession into the body. The body is not slowed down at all as it approaches him. Jeremiah backs up again until his back is to the wall and fires three more shots into the body, emptying his clip. He holsters his gun and runs to the knife after dodging another attack from the body. The knife wrenches itself out of Jeremiah’s hands and floats away and Jeremiah pulls the coat off of Carmine to attempt to grab it again but fails. As this happens, Jeremiah hears in his head, “He’s a criminal, he doesn’t deserve to live!” and then is above Carmine’s body with the knife in hand as he is cutting his throat.

Thomas wakes up in a sparsely furnished room with barred windows. He recognizes that he is in a patient’s room at the sanitorium that he visited the day before but is released shortly thereafter.

The Final Bodycount

Play Report Call of Cthulhu The Haunting


Previous post The Haunting, Session 01 The investigators meet Mr. Steven Knott who sends them to investigate a home he recently purchased, the old Corbitt house. Next post Into The Unknown, Session 01 A crew of Starfinders exploring unknown planets went missing, without a trace, some time ago. Now insignia from those Starfinders has shown up in a pawn shop in Absalom Station. Your crew has been tasked with gathering information on the seller and tracking down the missing Starfinders.