Call of Cthulhu - MSG Steve

The three of us stayed under the boxes for a short while before we were all surprised to hear the voice of Doctor Ivy coming from around the corner. After a brief discussion we extricated ourselves and went to see if it really was the Doctor. It was him but he looked a bit worse for there were bruises and cuts all over his face and neck. He apparently did not know about them until we pointed them out to him and so we discussed this a bit. As an hour had passed we went to meet the others in the group. We were unable to see Chuck or Nathaniel right away so Frank went up to get Zane only to meet him on the stairs where he also looked a bit worse as there was a cut on his arm.

He claimed something about being thrown off a roof by a gargoyle, a most concerning event. The four of us then proceeded to investigate the rooms on this floor to see where Chuck and Nathaniel had gone off to. I investigated what turned out to be a dining room first and discovered that there were two of the eight candles that on the table that absolutely refused to light despite my best efforts. My sense of decorum is highly offended. I followed Frank into another room and then went to open the door to the last room.

I was quite surprised when I opened the door to find Chuck in a slightly decomposed state and looking very green. Almost like a zombie one might say. I decapitated him in response to his threatening stance and closed the door quite quickly after that. I am not impressed with this place at the moment. There followed a rather heated discussion about the subject of someone dying in this experiment and calling the police and what was happening. Most of us agreed to continue just out of curiosity, not because Frank was asking us to.

Zane then informed us of someone vaulting over the back fence and running into the mausoleum in the backyard. I decided I would head out there then when we were interrupted by the awakening of Nathaniel who had been in a coma of some sort. The presence of Frank seemed to perturb him and it became clear as to why when he said that Frank had killed Chuck. That is a rather concerning accusation given his disappearance earlier in the evening. I am not certain about it.

The police were called and then we set out to investigate the manor some more. Zane, Frank, and I went outside to go investigate the fence jumper when we discovered someone else entering the manor grounds, a detective of some kind. He handed us some information about a pair of likely murders that had happened in the manor a while back and then the four of us went off to investigate the other fence jumper. In the mausoleum we found two obituaries, a chessboard, and as I went to the other door in the mausoleum I found myself looking at the fence jumper through a slot in the door. We are near the end of this I think.

Call of Cthulhu - MSG Steve

We started to proceed into the basement when out of nowhere it seemed as if the house itself did not want us present and dropped a chandelier on top of four of us. Fortunately, all of managed to dodge the falling object except for Zane who took a scratch to the arm. Frank stopped Odd and I at the stop of the stairs and told us that there would be another participant in the study waiting for us downstairs, a homeless man of the name of Tim. We then proceeded downstairs with Frank in the lead and met Tim. After a series of brief introductions the three of us started to explore.

What first caught our eye was the series of box and crates next to the east wall. I perused the boxes and discovered them to be full of various clothing articles. As I had matches I took a man’s shirt and a pair of socks from the boxes. Odd opened up the crates and found nothing in them. At the end of the line was a trunk made of metal but it was locked. Attempts to open it have not succeeded. The rooms were next and there were three of them.

The first one I examined had laundry machines in it on the far wall along with a shower. Odd explored further as there was little light in there and he had a flashlight. He found a bench with a pair of overalls and muddy boots. He also noted rats to be present in the shower drain. The second room was full of cardboard boxes and it is where disaster struck us. Odd retrieved a picture from the room, ostensibly of me and my deceased parents. While he was doing so Frank had moved into the room as well. When Odd walked out of the room to show the picture to me the door slammed behind him. My attempt to kick it down after we found it to locked was met with little resistance however it seemed to not be the same door anymore.

My foot went right through it and then got stuck or absorbed or something. As the three of us tried to wrench myself free, I felt someone take my boot and sock off and start to tickle me! We also heard the giggling of a little girl through the door. We quickly got my foot back and then tried the door again. This time it opened and we found that Frank was missing. We quickly decided to check the third room of the floor but found nothing of use as it turned out to be a broom closet with some metallic structure in it.

As Doctor Ivy had disappeared when the door had closed on him in the room full of cardboard boxes I determined that if we all went in there and closed door perhaps something would happen to assist us in finding him. The three of us did so but nothing happened so we decided to investigate the room more. On our trip to the other side of the room a bunch of boxes fell on us, a rather fortunate event for later, as when we reached the other side of the room we turned to discover that the door we had closed was now open. I told everyone to hide and we all went underneath the boxes that had fallen down. I heard the laughter of the little girl once again coming from the hallway then and now I am most uncertain as to what to do. I can only hope all the others are alright.

Call of Cthulhu - MSG Steve

We made our way back to the cabins and on the way spotted two wolves on the cliffside, apparently waiting for us to ascend. After a bit of a debate we did just that and quickly went to the lodge that the couple had been inhabiting. After a cursory glance over of the place we had a dresser placed in front of the only door and waited to see what would happen. Before long we heard the scratching of the wolves trying to get in and so the ranger went to the back of the cabin after a scuffle with Chuck, who got shot due to that. The ranger did his job adequately for the first time and shot two of the three wolves that had been hounding us.

I took care of the third wolf with the knife I had picked up earlier but alas, there were further casualties. The lady of the couple was mauled and another civilian who appeared to come from nowhere died at the hands of the wolf that I killed. The police arrived then and took out another wolf with their car along with a portion of the cabin we were in. An ambulance soon followed and those injured were evacuated. Zane, Odd, and I spent the night with the ranger before going to town the next day. After a week of rest for Chuck and Nathaniel we went to pick them up from the hospital. Nathaniel had recovered but as Chuck had been shot in the stomach he was still a bit out of it and likely will be for a while. (That idiot.)

We were picking the pair up when a researcher approached Nathaniel with a proposition about a psychology experiment and handed him a flyer. We proceeded to rent a car and then went to the grocery store to buy a map. After that, we went to the location to scout it out. When we arrived Odd hopped out and took a picture of the place, an event most unfortunate. It sparked a serious debate in the group as only Odd and Nathaniel could not see the manor in the picture that the rest of us could see. It was much the same in other pictures that Odd took later.

An investigation around town yielded few results beyond the apparent owners of the property where the manor was being convinced that their old farmhouse was still there. While Odd and I discovered this apparently the researcher from yesterday, a Frank Ivy, found the rest of the group at the motel and talked to only Nathaniel about something. Apparently he can be trusted because of whatever was said. I find it doubtful but I have no reason to object.

The five of us drove out to the manor once more and waited for Frank to show up. When he did we proceeded into the manor and he talked to us there. We have split into three groups now to see how the manor affects us all as part of his psychology experiment. I am with Frank and Odd in the basement, while Chuck and Nathaniel are on the first floor and Zane is on the top floor of this manor. I am most curious as to what happens now and whether or not we will survive the two hours we have to be here.

Call of Cthulhu - MSG Steve

These past few hours have been very very confusing to me. I was out on leave at a local coffee shop, enjoying some alone time by myself when out of nowhere I found that the walls of the building had been consumed by an inky black substance. Another patron of the store was also stuck in the black substance as he tried to leave the building and hysterics were present in the barista and another patron.

To my embarrassment, I was not able to determine any way out until two of the other patrons in the same predicament as me attempted to tunnel through the floor. I assisted them, creating a hole in the ground but it only lead to more of the black substance. The barista jumped into the hole at the insistence of another patron, a writer I think, and was never seen again as the black substance swallowed the five of us left in the building. I take pride in being the last to go.

The five of us then found ourselves stuck in a void of some kind with a worm approaching to undoubtedly eat us. Before it could do so however, something struck it down with lightning and we found ourselves transported once more.

This time the five of us woke up next to a river in a canyon, with one of the group in serious hysterics. The writer stayed with him while the rest of us went off to follow the river. Coming to a fork in the river, the three of us split up to explore each pathway. I took the professor of history that had found his way into this situation and as we returned to the fork in the river I heard a scream and wolfs howling. The professor and I quickly met up with the other fellow who had come with us but had nothing to report. As the woman was now likely dead and the person in hysterics useless to any cause, the professor and I resolved to press on whilst the other fellow decided to go back.

Needless to say, our decision proved to be superb. After a bit more walking we found our way to a camp in the local area and discovered we were in the Grand Canyon area. After a discussion with the local park ranger, I convinced him and two other campers to accompany myself and the professor back down into the canyon to see if our friends still lived. Sadly, we found the corpse of the women but were able to retrieve the one in hysterics and the fellow who had gone back to find them.

The wolves are howling in the distance again. It would not normally concern me but something about these howls is more offsetting than normal.

Dreamscape #1

This dream started out of nowhere with Robert Baratheon, Ned Stark, and Tony Stark, for whatever reason, being present on a Star Destroyer from Star Wars. They were just standing around and then Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared and then something happened that lead to the three of them hijacking a stealth bomber from the Star Destroyer. Obi-Wan was left behind and then the three of them went down to this desert planet. Robert and Ned piloted the bomber while Tony talked to people on the star destroyer about bets and red paint so that they wouldn’t destroy the bomber.

After landing on a desert planet about a hundred meters from a city the three of them came out of the stealth bomber disguised as superheroes for some reason. The only one I remember is Tony being dressed in something that was a really bright blue and had a cape. Tony remarked at this point that he loved America because of something he saw at the entrance of the city. The three of them moved around for a bit then Ned heard someone mention something about slaves and went off and bought about four hundred slaves. He proceeded to walk them out of the city, freed them, and told them all to go to Winterfell. One of the newly freed slaves then told them to go to a person.

Shortly after that, it was Bryce Blankenfeld, Jin Light, someone I couldn’t remember, and myself at some kind of party at which we had to do pushups in a very odd position while being hit with a cane across the chest when we came up. After we had all done ten pushups we were all given a sword by a guy who had about five hundred pounds of muscle and then everyone in the building talked about how the house always wins.

Pathfinder - Lanius

I was out hunting today when I came across a sight most odd. Several other people had struck down my prey before I could and were enjoying the catfish. A pack of semi intelligent locals appeared then, drawn to the scent of the kill and the elf was struck by one of their paralyzing spears. The dwarf in the group tossed this elf to the locals and the locals carried him off. The elf returned later, a bit annoyed, so all was well. I enjoyed a bit of the catfish that the group had killed as they told me their story.

It would appear that there are people inhabiting the elven city to the south once more, a lovely story if there ever was one and these people were on their way to conduct a ritual. I decided to join them and enjoyed a bit of an adventure with them on the way. There were two goblins with the group, one to conduct the ritual, the other to be the sacrifice for the ritual. Like most sacrifices that I have seen he was not happy about this but there was little he could do for he was missing quite a bit of his body.

There was a small side adventure when the two goblins got kidnapped but we easily retrieved them and then we went to the plane where the God of the Hunt resided. There were tracks of quite some size going one way so we went the other way and came across another party of explorers. It quickly came apparent that it would be in our best interests to work together and so we all set off to find this beast whose tracks we had seen earlier. The beast was quite intimidating and we lost all of the other party in the process but we ended up killing it. The dwarf scored a particularly great blow against it and the beast chased around the elf a lot.

We came back from the plane of the hunt only to find that the goblin shaman was dead and went in pursuit of the perpetrator. The four of us quickly came to a cave and after a compulsion place upon the entrance went into effect the other three ran away while I proved to be the only one able to resist it. Before fleeing however, the dwarf threw in an explosive and the hag living inside was not happy about this. She set snakes of some sort after the three fleeing but not I for I had hidden myself well after seeing what the dwarf was doing. They mostly got away, with only the dwarf being forced to take measures. He cut off his leg to escape the vines and then made quite a masterful peg leg to replace it. He states that he has plans to replace it with a axe.

I took a bit of time exploring the city then when we got back and have also been informed that a campaign will be happening into the hinterlands against the orcs. This is exciting news. I’ve always wished to do something about those orcs and now there is an imperial campaign that I can ride along with. It will be interesting to see how far we can get. Probably not very far with just these goblins but maybe there will be others along for the campaign. I have not been told much right now.

Book Review: The 100 Year Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared

This book follows two storylines and does it masterfully. The first story that the book follows is, as the title suggests, about a one hundred year old man who climbed out of his window and the resulting adventure. The second story of the book is the story of the his life and as the title says, once again, it has been a long one.

After escaping from the old person’s home that Allan was placed in because he blew up his house, he finds himself on a whirlwind adventure through the country of his birth, Sweden, due to his accidental theft of a briefcase holding fifty million in Swedish currency from a gang. Numerous adventures follow as the gang tries to catch up with Allan to get their money back. An odd array of characters are utilised for this story, as Allan’s current adventure gets wildly misconstrued by the police, wipes out a gang, helps others meet people they love, and heals bad family relationships.

The second story present in the book is split up into multiple parts and it starts with Allan’s childhood in Sweden. It is here that he picks up his skills with explosives as a young child while working for a local factory and it is this skill set that is the impetus for much of the story. It is this very skill set which is why he is asked to travel to his first destination in this story that is very similar to Forrest Gump. (Even the author agrees it is like Forrest Gump but instead he is an explosives expert and has no mental problems.) His story takes him all the way to Spain, the United States, China, the Himalayas, Iran, back to Sweden, the USSR, North Korea, Bali, France, the USSR again, and then back to Sweden which leads to the events of the first story.

Being a bit of a history freak I enjoyed the second story far more due to the amount of humor that was present in that story. Numerous important historical figures from the prior century are present in this tale and they are all used masterfully, in a very similar fashion to the ones in Forrest Gump, another great tale by the way.

If you have the time read this book.