(Light hearted and strongly character based roleplaying game running
in Edinburgh on Thursdays 8-11pm. Five female players and two male. Mail
Nicky for details)
More on the background of the characters can be found at
A Cuthulu
Chapbook
There's also an on-line game of
De
Profundis based in modern day Edinburgh
Character Profiles
Chapters 1 to 15
Ch16 - A less than respectable party, Ch17
- Murder, Moths and Literature, Ch18 - Picturesque
Ruins, Ch19 - 'Rule Britannia' versus 'The
King in Yellow', Ch20 - A Trip to Fantari Island,
Ch21 - A picnic by the sea, Ch22 -
Siren Songs, Ch23 - A Fishy Business,
Ch24- Sweet Dreams, Ch25 - The
Harlot Appears, Ch26 - A Hundred and One Uses of a
Dreaming Skill, Ch27 - Adventures in a Convent,
Ch28 - Sr Campilioni Endangers his Immortal Soul,
Ch 29 - Mr Wells-Coleman Saves the Day - reluctantly
Chapters 30 to 41
Chapters 42 to 50
Chapters 51 to present
A less than respectable gentleman, Anthony Carmichael by name, held a
masked fancy dress party at his home outside Edinburgh to launch his new
play at Halloween 1921.
In view of the fact that his last play was called "Sodom", and
the gentleman's reputation was somewhat tarnished by rumours of, among
other things, satanic orgies, the respectable
Major James Carson
was inclined to decline the invitation to attend. His wife,
Drusilla was in
complete agreement about missing the party, until she discovered that her
niece Jasmine
had also received an invitation to it.
The Carsons were naturally very concerned as to why an innocent young girl
such as Jasmine might be invited to Mr Carmichael's party and resolved to
attend so as to keep an eye on events. The costumes they chose were
Britannia and Nelson.
Other guests included the Scotsman's occult correspondent,
Brenton McAllister
(dressed as a pirate) and his colleague
Father Clark Ashton
(dressed as a priest, although this wasn't really fancy dress since he
dresses as a priest the rest of the time too) as well as Jasmine's friend
the debutante Susan de Lisle (dressed as a vampire's victim) and her
escort Thomas Herbert
Wells-Coleman (dressed as a vampire).
Jasmine herself chose a rather fetching dryad costume. Her escort, Edward
Chitterling-Bream was dressed in matching green.
A painter by the name of
Giuseppe Campilioni
(dressed in romantic troubadour attire) was seeking out commissions from
the rich and well connected guests, and several press photographers were
in evidence in the house and outside it.
The Carsons spent some time talking to Mr McAllister and Father Ashton,
while also trying to keep an eye on Jasmine.
Jasmine herself was occupied with trying to avoid both her dear Auntie
Dru and her date, Edward.
Mr Wells-Coleman was looking for Mr McAllister in order to ask him
whether any of the occult subjects he wrote about in his newspaper column
were in any way real. Jasmine advised him to read McAllister's more
sensational articles, which were published under an alias in some less
weighty journals than the Scotsman.
Mr Thomas Herbert Wells-Coleman : [introducing himself] I
suffered greatly as child due to illness it was only my parents good
standing (filthy rich) that allowed the required care to keep me alive. I
still suffer from a serious cough and therefore had no part in the war.
I have been highly educated, but had little time (or ability) for sports,
apart from fencing. Due to numerous stays in hospital, I have read many
books and have a keen interest in fine art. I have of course had a
comfortable life, enjoying parties and trips abroad. This however has not
endeared me with my father, who believes it's time I settled down and
found a wife.
I have found myself becoming increasingly bored with parties and such, but
have no intention of 'finding a wife'. I recently read some old stories of
the occult, then happened across Mr McCalisters articles. I decided that
there must be more to these stories and have set out to discover what.
As Mr Carmichael's party continued Father Ashton noticed a shadowy
figure in tattered black robes moving through the ballroom. Drusilla and
the Major joined him in a search of the house, although Drusilla was at
least partially distracted by looking for Jasmine at the same time.
It would be so easy for an innocent young girl to be led astray at such an
event....
Jasmine, meanwhile, had invited Mr Wells-Coleman to discuss Brenton's
newspaper reports in the privacy of an alcove on the terrace. He seemed
fascinated.
At eleven o'clock Mr Carmichael announced that the guests should hide
inside the house. Those who were found were to pay a forfeit, while the
rest would meet back in the ballroom for dinner later. The shadowy figure
crossed the ballroom while he was talking. Servants brought candelabras in
to the ballroom and the lights were turned out. Drusilla made sure Jasmine
was safely in her company due to the dangers of being alone in the dark in
mixed company. The Major, Brenton, Wells-Coleman, Fr Ashton and Giuseppe
accompanied the ladies.
Wells-Coleman hid in a dumb waiter. The others first attempted to find a
door to the kitchens and hid in a pantry until two searchers went past.
They then backtracked in the direction from which the searchers had come
and hid in a linen cupboard near to the dumb waiter. Other searchers went
past, saying that the upper storeys had been checked and that this floor
was next.
The group then sneaked up a flight of stairs and found a room in which
they intended to hide. It was quarter past eleven.
Drusilla opened the curtains so as to get some moonlight to see by, but
found the Scotsman's theatre critic (who had written some unfavorable
reviews of Mr Carmichael's last play) hanging in the window.
Jasmine was deeply distressed. Drusilla was startled but retained most of
her composure. Wells-Coleman said "Darn". Fr Ashton was
initially rather concerned by Drusilla fetching a large pair of scissors,
until she explained that they were for cutting the body down. At this
point the Major stepped in and insisted that he and Fr Ashton would deal
with the body and Drusilla should comfort Jasmine. The body was placed on
the sofa with a convenient tablecloth over it and the priest said a few
prayers over it.
Wells-Coleman, meanwhile, decided to go downstairs to find a telephone
and call the police, however, in the hallway he found Miss Jessica
Barnsfield, a young lady he had enjoyed talking to earlier in the evening.
She didn't respond to his greeting, and on closer inspection he found that
she was somewhat deceased due to having a cut throat and being
disemboweled. He said "Darn" again.
Drusilla prevented Jasmine from looking at the body.
Fr Ashton was called on to say a few words in memory of the deceased.
In another room were the remains of an Italian opera singer who had
apparently been thrown through a window from the outside. Fr Ashton didn't
stop to say a full prayer - contenting himself with making the sign of the
cross quickly and muttering "Rest in Peace" hurriedly as
everyone ran downstairs.
In the main hallway, Mr Carmichael was shepherding a large group of guests
into the ballroom.
Wells-Coleman shouted that there were dead bodies upstairs and demanded to
use the telephone. Carmichael appeared shaken by the news, and he led
Wells-Coleman to his study. The phone line was dead. Carmichael took a
revolver from his desk drawer and headed upstairs.
Meanwhile Jasmine had got the front door open but when Wells-Coleman ran
down the steps, intending to tell his driver to go and fetch the police he
suddenly found himself running up the steps at the back of the terrace and
back into the house.
The panic this caused was largely overtaken by hearing the sound of two
shots from the second floor. Our heroes and heroines set off in pursuit -
Jasmine did so rather reluctantly.
In the upstairs hall there were two more bodies, cause of death believed
to be gunshot wounds. Spooky wind effects, noises, a moth with a four foot
wingspan, smells etc. conspired to confuse everyone and what had been the
opening onto the main staircase turned into a door leading to the library.
In fact all doors from the corridor now appeared to lead to the library.
It was still quarter past eleven.
Fr Ashton led the way down to the library. A breeze and an unpleasant
smell were emerging from a little book containing a play called "The
King in Yellow" with margin notes indicating that Carmichael intended
to stage it. Drusilla and Wells-Coleman read the play. Jasmine and Father
Ashton read press reviews of Carmichael's work.
Time moved on slowly and the clock read half past eleven by the time
everyone had finished reading. Suddenly the room began to spin. Jasmine
grabbed the nearest man, who happened to be the priest. The Carson's
linked hands. Wells-Coleman said "Darn". All to no avail, since
everyone blacked out.
Our heroes and heroines awoke to find themselves in an ancient ruined
stone courtyard surrounded by tall buildings with windows buy no doors.
All sorts of strange things were going on - the floor appeared to spin
when anyone approached a fountain in the centre of the courtyard, although
rocks thrown at the fountain acted normally.
Signor Campilioni made a run for the bowl of the fountain, but nothing
happened except that he got very, very dizzy and had to be rescued.
Outside the courtyard there was a cliff above a lake and the sky was very
strange. Brenton used astronomy to deduce that the group were several
light-years from Earth. Drusilla was sceptical said she'd never heard of
years being used to measure distance before. Jasmine asked why the stars
were black instead of white, and Brenton really didn't want to think about
that. Drusilla said "Oh, my goodness!" and clung to the Major
for support. Signor Campilioni suffered from an attack of nerves, ran back
into the fountain bowl and had to be rescued again. Jasmine clutched at Mr
Wells-Coleman for support.
The ragged figure from the party was seen capering on the beach by the
lake a few hundred feet below our heroines and heroes. Jasmine was
outraged at the prospect of laddering yet another pair of stockings by
scrambling down the cliff, so she, Wells-Coleman and Campilioni remained
on the cliff top while the others climbed down.
Fr Ashton missed his footing and fell most of the way, thereby arriving
ahead of the others, who were subjected to an attack by some flying
clamshells during their descent.
The ragged figure kept ahead, just out of shouting range, and led the way
to a mysterious deserted city further along the lake shore. The street
layout seemed to be variable and changed whenever they went into any
buildings or parks. Eventually Signor Campilioni worked out a way of
navigating towards a tall tower from which a blue light could be seen.
After some stumbling through a ruined city which Drusilla was irritated
to hear was both non-Euclidean and light-years away from Earth (neither of
which she approved of) our heroines and heroes arrived at the door of a
mysterious room at the top of a tower.
They entered the room and found it to be full of yellow mist. There was a
faint sound of ticking and the door disappeared.
Susan de Lisle (who Mr Wells-Coleman was escorting to the party) got
quite upset, but Auntie Dru assured her that there was bound to be a
perfectly rational explanation, and that the British thing to do was to
stop worrying and to keep her chin up. Neither Jasmine nor Susan were
particularly inspired by this advice and both clung to Mr Wells-Coleman to
steady their nerves.
Further into the huge hall, which was far too big to fit into the tower,
the group found Mr Carmichael's library clock, showing the time as almost
midnight. Everyone's watches confirmed this time.
Jasmine wanted to smash the clock, but her aunt was deeply shocked at the
suggestion since the clock was, after all, someone else's property.
Stopping the pendulum failed to stop the ticking, as did opening the clock
face and turning the hands back.
Further on still was a large stepped pyramid with a throne on top.
Giuseppe, Brenton and the Carsons went up to investigate. The Major poked
at the mysterious figure in yellow rags with the scabbard of his sword and
Drusilla spoke to it loudly and slowly, but it didn't react. However, when
Giuseppe removed its mask it stood up and attacked him with tentacles from
its face.
Giuseppe fled.
The hall, meanwhile, had turned into the outside of the tower and
Wells-Coleman, the Count and the young ladies found themselves climbing
the stairs to reach the pyramid on top of the tower. Susan was distressed
to find that she couldn't see. The others then noticed the ragged figure
in black following them up the stairs. Jasmine didn't think it likely that
he meant to offer assistance in their plight.
From a swirling yellow mist beside the tower it was possible to hear the
sounds of applause and a play being performed.
The Major heroically stood between his wife and the ragged yellow figure
with the unfortunate complexion problem. As the figure gazed into the
Major's eyes he (the Major, obviously, not The King in Yellow) froze in
horror. Drusilla tried to protect her husband from hypnosis by covering
his eyes and then pulled him away by the arm.
Unfortunately she tripped up and the two Carsons fell down the pyramid,
off the tower and into the yellow mist. They did not noticeably fall to
their deaths, but simply vanished.
Jasmine then decided that looked like the escape route, pushed Susan off
the tower and jumped after her. Giuseppe fell from the tower while running
away and the rest of the gentlemen decided to follow.
After a short period of unconsciousness the group found themselves back
in the library at Mr Carmichael's residence.
The young ladies were quite distressed by events and Mr Wells-Coleman
offered to escort them home while the others went to stop the play.
Regrettably, the staircase out of the house still appeared to be out of
order, so everyone ended up in the ballroom watching Mr Carmichael's new
play "The King in Yellow".
Members of the audience appeared to be very unhappy and some were
inflicting injuries on themselves and others.
Drusilla's first idea was to drag Mr Carmichael from the stage and shout
at him. That failed to stop him acting, so Giuseppe put a handkerchief in
Carmichael's mouth, but the words still continued...
The Major then suggested a rousing chorus of patriotic songs to stir the
audience from their trance, so our heroines and heroes lined up on the
front of the stage and attempted to lead the audience in such classic
numbers as "God Save the King", "Rule Britannia" and "Jerusalem".
Everyone but the Major failed their 'Sing' rolls, and gradually the
audience became sufficiently uncomfortable with witnessing the murder of
these innocent tunes to leave the hall, thereby depriving the real King in
Yellow of his chance to appear on stage.
He was not pleased.
The following day Jasmine went for a rest at a discrete home for the rich
but bewildered (paid for by her Uncle Jamie). The others accepted the
Count's kind offer of a holiday on his island off the coast of Sicily to
help them recover from the shock.
Jasmine was deeply distressed by the goings on in the
ballroom, not only by the sight of people gouging their own eyes out etc.,
but by the disturbing alien voice that seemed to be accompanying all the
actors in the play. She ended up kneeling on the floor with her hands over
her ears and her eyes shut, sobbing 'Make it stop, make it stop'.
Funnily enough, her heroic companions rousing chorus of patriotic songs
did little to comfort her and she began beating the floor and screaming
'Shut up!'. This may just have been due to the assault on her musical
sensibilities, or her weakened nerves may have made her temporarily
vulnerable to certain unhealthy influences.
From the end of the whole messy affair until she was bundled into a car
to go home she will have attached herself limpet like to Wells-Coleman and
cried on his shoulder. I sincerely hope he was still wearing his vampire's
cape, because Jasmine will most definitely have been wearing mascara, and
if she's crying on his shirt, it is unlikely to ever be the same again.
Wells-Coleman, who she probably addresses as Thomas actually, will be
implored to come and visit her when she goes for a rest, or at least write
to her, as will the Count, and possibly Brenton if she finds herself
talking to him at any stage - it wouldn't occur to her to seek him out
with any such request.
Whenever Thomas peels Jasmine off and makes his escape she will cling to
the next interesting male, or in the absence of those Auntie Dru - yes
Jasmine is in a very bad way indeed. She will spend the remainder of that
night curled up in the foetal position hugging a pillow, and will be
grateful to be admitted to the nice home 'for a rest' as soon as possible.
Drusilla will mix a nice sleeping draught for her poor distressed
niece when they return to the Carson residence.
In February 1922 Mrs
Gertrude McAllister gave birth to a healthy 9lb son. Brenton got a
payrise, but decided not to buy a new motorcycle with it, due to his new
family responsibilities. The baby was christened Matthew, and Major and Dr
Carson acted as godparents. There was much shopping for baby gifts and the
Major took Brenton for drinks at the Club.
In April our heroes, heroines, the infant McAllister and his nanny took a
train from Edinburgh down into Europe. The ladies shopped for holiday
clothes in Paris, while Brenton shopped for occult books.
They then proceeded by train to Marseilles where they were met by a steam
yacht belonging to Count Fantari.
On arrival at Fantari Island they found an idyllic little village,
wonderful scenery, good prospects for hunting and rumours concerning sea
devils, French submarines and the disappearance of the crews of several
local fishing boats.
Brenton conducted some investigations into the disappearances of the
local fishermen on the island.
Our heroines and heroes then decided to take a picnic and go to
investigate the haunted coast and the trails through the mountains. They
also did a bit of shooting practice on the beach. Gertrude and the Major
proved to be very good shots, Brenton and Drusilla did less well.
Thorough investigations of a suspicious looking cave showed it to be full
of sand, seashells, rocks and water. No eight foot tall amphibians at
all...
If an exploration along the rest of the coast is similarly unsuccessful
Drusilla fears that the next step in the holiday might be a fishing trip.
While the others were away picnicking on the shore Mr Wells-Coleman had
a close look at the mosaic in the Count's cellar and noticed some ladies
depicted on the shore of Fantari Island. The ladies appeared to be wearing
no clothes, and when the sailors landed on the island they were apparently
lured into what Drusilla will only describe as "activities"...
Sirens were the obvious explanation for these pictures.
The following day the Count took his yacht along the haunted North West
coast so that our heroes and heroines could look for caves. They spotted a
promising one and were rowed ashore to look for clues. Mr McAllister
remembered the stuff about sirens and suggested that everyone block their
ears with wax. He and the Major did so. Drusilla blocked one ear and had a
wax plug ready for the second. Mr Wells-Coleman stated his intention to
stick his fingers in his ears if necessary.
Some investigating later the group found human footprints in sand deep in
the cave. Just then some singing started.
Drusilla applied the second ear plug and Wells-Coleman stuck his fingers
in his ears and began to sing loudly himself so as to drown out the noise.
They then retreated from the cave intending to fetch heavier weaponry.
The two sailors who were rowing the small boat out from the yacht
unfortunately heard the singing and leapt off their boat to swim towards
the source - a giant fish some way off shore. Our heroes and heroines were
attempting to follow and shoot the fish when they were distracted by Mr
Wells-Coleman losing his grip on his ears and hearing the singing
properly. He immediately tried to reach it. Drusilla and the Major
wrestled him to the ground and put wax in his ears while Brenton watched
the cave mouth for hostile creatures. Wells-Coleman was still determined
to reach the source of the singing and eventually Brenton had to punch him
to knock him out.
By the time this dispute was resolved the sailors and the fish had
vanished and the singing had stopped.
Drusilla, meanwhile, had swum out to the abandoned boat and managed to
tow it ashore. Attempts at rowing followed, and eventually everyone
(except the two unfortunate sailors) made it back to the yacht.
Wells-Coleman was locked in a cabin.
Back at the village there was much upset and confusion because another
fishing boat had been found empty and there were rumours that the Curse of
One-Eyed Maria had come true and that everyone was doomed.
Jasmine [still on her 'rest cure' and in no fit state to comment
even if she did know what was going on] would be highly disapproving
of naked sirens luring rich young men into 'activities' - especially if
they ate them afterwards, that's just being plain selfish. Fortunately
Jasmine has no idea that her friends and family are once again facing
certain death - or seduction.
Her room is nice, now that they've taken down those horrid yellow
curtains. The nice male nurse took them down for her when he heard her
screaming at them, where is he . . . she wants to see him again . . . him
or any of the others . . .
Our heroes and heroines planned to discuss the details of their assault
on the Sirens in the cave after dinner with the Count, it being bad
manners to ruin people's digestion with distressing topics during a meal.
Unfortunately dinner was interrupted by the arrival of a fisherwoman
called Helena who had survived an attack by the Sirens and had floated to
shore on some debris. Her account raised the intriguing possibility that
women might be immune to the effects of the Siren's song, although they
certainly were not immune to physical attacks by the mysterious fishy
creatures which destroyed boats. Helena was both distressed and injured by
what had happened.
The plan was to have a couple of the Count's men on the tops of the
cliffs armed with rifles and earplugs and ready to shoot anything scaly
which appeared on the beach or at sea. Maria, the formidable mother of a
missing fisherwoman was to go with them and had instructions to hit them
with something heavy if they removed their earplugs.
The Count was to lead the main attack force - the Major, Drusilla,
Brenton, Mr Wells-Coleman and Sr Campilioni - into the caves with
earplugs, pistols, shotguns, and a small barrel of gunpowder. Various
options for setting off the gunpowder without killing the party were
discussed, but no foolproof method was agreed upon.
Drusilla wrote a letter to Stephen informing him of events so far, and
instructed Nanny on the correct technique for loading a revolver.
Gertrude decided that her place was beside her infant son, so she borrowed
a shotgun to keep in the nursery.
Everyone set out as planned the following morning and Mr Wells-Coleman
rushed into the cave, followed by everyone else. In the small chamber they
had previously reached they briefly saw an old man playing a flute and
then the lights went out.
Mr Wells-Coleman took the opportunity to remove his earplugs and find his
way to what appeared to him to be a stunningly beautiful and very naked
young woman who was calling to him from the far side of the chamber.
Brenton and Drusilla grappled with the flute player and when the music
stopped the lights came back on. Drusilla smashed the flute while Brenton
did some punching.
The Major shot at one of the fishy creatures on the far side of the
chamber and they fled, accompanied by Mr Wells-Coleman. The Count, the
Major, Sr Campilioni and Drusilla set off in pursuit. Drusilla dropped a
handkerchief where the tunnel forked to help Brenton to follow their
trail.
Mr Wells-Coleman meanwhile, had followed the stunningly beautiful and
very naked young woman to some sort of scientific laboratory where she
invited him to wait in a small chamber with bars on the windows. He was
happy to do so.
The Count, the Major, Sr Campilioni and Drusilla arrived a few minutes
later and began shooting fishy creatures. Mr Wells-Coleman was initially
keen to escape from his cell in order to help the object of his desires,
but when she was killed the enchantment wore off and he suddenly found her
to be much less appealing than he had previously supposed. He was
violently ill.
Many of the other male prisoners were similarly disillusioned.
All the missing villagers were found alive and more-or-less unharmed.
Their stories indicated that there were more of the Sirens around than had
been killed in the laboratory so a strategic retreat was made.
Maria was reunited with her daughter Rosa, Helena was reunited with her
husband Roberto and there were many other touching reunions.
The following day our heroes and heroines returned with more ammunition,
intending to finish the job, but found that the laboratory had been
dismantled and the Sirens appeared to have left.
Drusilla wrote up a copy of the instructions for dealing with Sirens and
deposited it in the Count's library, in case they should ever return.
The rest of the holiday was considerably more relaxing.
One night in June 1922 Drusilla and the Major were woken in the middle
of the night by a noise outside their window. They armed themselves
appropriately and pulled back the curtain to reveal a ship floating in
mid-air outside. The ship's captain explained that he was seeking help to
rid his home city of "The Harlot" who was abducting and
murdering young men.
After some consultation and dressing the Carsons climbed aboard the ship
to find Giuseppe, Thomas and Jasmine also arriving there having had
similar discussions apparently at the same time.
Some bizarre transport later they arrived at a city in the Dreamlands and
met the city council in secret. The council provided them with funds but
said that any open opposition to the harlot would cause the city to be
struck with a plague. The Harlot appears to be able to hypnotise young men
into leaving town with her. She can also inflict diseases on people who
argue with her and some of them die. A rescue party which headed for her
cave disappeared and mutilated bodies are occasionally found.
All the group's firearms had mysteriously converted to swords and bows
and everyone's clothing had become light and colourful.
The party found suitable lodgings. Drusilla and Jasmine went shopping for
tweed. They didn't find any, but Drusilla did pick up a morningstar. After
two days of practice she was reasonably good at not hitting herself when
swinging it. They also checked out the local gossip, with specific
reference to the Harlot.
Meanwhile the gentlemen were checking out the seedier areas of the town.
They found a dockside pub which offered gambling, dancing girls and other
entertainments. Thomas left the others for a while and conducted some
investigations of his own in the company of a young lady.
The Major and Giuseppe discussed morals. The Major stated that Drusilla,
being a virtuous lady, would not approve of the pub, or the dancing girls.
That being said however, he (the Major) considered that unvirtuous women
also had their advantages, being more sociable in general.
Giuseppe then commented that Jasmine was rumoured to be rather sociable
herself. This nearly started a fight.
They did eventually remember to ask a few questions about the Harlot and
her activities.
In the evening the party went to stake out a dockside pub to see if the
Harlot appeared.
Thomas, being the only attractive young man in the party decided to stay
at the hotel, and suggested that perhaps Jasmine should stay with him
rather than mix with the low company in the pub. Auntie Dru felt that
without a chaperone such an arrangement would not be appropriate. Others
were secretly impressed with the evident improvement in Thomas's stamina
since arriving in the Dreamlands.
The Harlot failed to appear that evening.
The next day was spent in practicing with the various new weapons the
group had at their disposal.
No plan has yet been formulated.
Neither attacking the Harlot directly nor tracking her to her mountain
lair seem to be particularly wise. Drusilla attempted to disbelieve
aspects of the Dreamlands and succeeded in levitating a knife into the
wall, but her efforts weren't consistently effective so it seemed that
attempting to believe that the Harlot was doomed probably wouldn't work
either.
Jasmine: was hoping to stay in the nice safe sanatorium a
little longer . . . [about the Harlot] Hiss. Sounds like a nasty
piece of work. Not that I was planning to openly oppose her of course. -
Um can you die of diseases if you're only dreaming. [about shopping]
I'm beginning to like this place . . .
[about Thomas's activities] Is this wise? I don't think its safe
for Thomas to go off with young ladies he doesn't know. Any one of them
could be this 'harlot' in disguise. [about Giuseppe's remarks]
That would have started a fight had Jasmine been there to hear the
comment.
[about Thomas asking her to stay at the hotel] How considerate!
Will forgive him for disappearing off with another young lady earlier.
Purrrrrrrrr . . . [about Auntie Dru's insistence on chaperones]
*sigh*
Auntie Dru and Jasmine accompanied the gentlemen to some more dockside
taverns. The Major carefully steered the group away from places where they
might be recognised from previous visits. Jasmine rather enjoyed the
attention. Drusilla was rather startled to find that such places existed
and subsequently decided to conduct some investigations in the more
salubrious areas of town.
Jasmine managed to escape from the chaperoning for the afternoon and went
for a little stroll on her own.
Thomas attempted a Dreaming Roll to improve his health. It made him very
tired for about a day, but then he felt a lot better.
The Harlot's ship was seen approaching the town so our heroes and
heroines went down to investigate it. The crew appeared to be a little out
of touch with reality and were dressed as bishops and cardinals of the
Catholic Church. There were no clues on the boat itself.
The Harlot eventually returned with a young man in tow.
Thomas went to speak to her (with Jasmine hovering very close) and was
offered a ride on the boat. He declined the offer.
Auntie Dru tried to sink the boat with a Dreaming Roll in an attempt to
rescue the young man but ended up unconscious instead. The Major insisted
on rushing back to the hotel.
Jasmine, Giuseppe and Thomas sat and drank wine in the lounge while the
Major fussed over Drusilla.
Jasmine was rather annoyed that the gentlemen discussed the Harlot's
charms at some length while appearing to be blind to her own charms.
She attempted to chat Thomas up, but his recent memory of Drusilla
throwing knives rather put him off making any advances on her niece, even
if she (Drusilla) was unconscious at the time. He also said that since
this was a dream he wasn't sure if he'd remember what he'd done when he
woke up. He declined to comment on whether this would be a good thing or
not.
Mindful of Thomas's success at repairing his fragile health using
Dreaming various other members of the group made preparations for their
trek up the Harlot's mountain.
Drusilla suggested that everyone try to improve their various weapons
skills by and act of will. Nobody managed to achieve any increase in
skills, however.
Jasmine succeeded in a dream roll which left her tired but looking more
lovely than ever. Auntie Dru has noticed the change in her niece's
appearance and is trying to be understanding about it (even though she
personally feels that perhaps an increase in skill with the bow and arrow
would have been more appropriate) - these things are so important to young
girls, after all...
The party got a boat along with a group of lava gatherers headed for the
mountain. On the way they passed a haunted ruined city, apparently cursed
as a result of having had a vampire queen. Jasmine wondered if there could
be any connection with the Harlot, who was also rumoured to be somewhat
vampiric.
Some way up the mountain the party were passed by a phoenix flying
downhill. Drusilla made a sketch of it, but it was too far away to talk
to, unfortunately.
Somewhat further up the mountain Drusilla, Thomas and Giuseppe all
suffered minor falls while climbing. This prompted the Major to suggest
that everyone should be roped together for the remainder of the climb.
Jasmine asked Thomas to tie her up. Speculations brought on by this
incident led the Major to wonder if a dreaming roll might succeed in
persuading his own lovely bride to be a little more wide ranging in her
tastes. But, sadly, he failed the roll....
Black shapes flying around the peak of the mountain turned out to be
bizarre, semi-human creatures. Jasmine was fairly upset by the sight of
them. She was considerably more distressed when Auntie Dru had hysterics
about them, since Auntie Dru having hysterics was, in Jasmine's
experience, substantially less common than hideous unearthly monsters
appearing.
At the top of the mountain was a kind of plateau reached via an elevator.
The Major bravely climbed the cliffs and lowered the elevator using a
winch, then hauled the others up to the plateau.
There was a large black brick building on the top of the plateau with an
inscription over the door in Italian. Thomas climbed on the Major's
shoulders to clear ivy away from the inscription and it turned out to say
"Convent of St Francis".
Our heroines and heroes crept in to the gloomy, dusty building to
investigate.......
Inside the mysterious convent were various horrors - a library where the
books dripped blood or attacked with tentacles, a dining room set for the
Last Supper, a room with a maggoty corpse sewn from parts of several
different people, a courtyard full of aggressively carnivorous plants, a
temple to a dark mother goddess, harpies flying around the roof, a
laboratory of sorts, a bedroom which has not been cleaned recently, and a
collection room with what can only be described (in Drusilla's presence at
least) as Objects, pickled in jars and pressed between the pages of books.
The Major got slightly mauled by the plants, Thomas felt unwell after
viewing the collection, Giuseppe was attacked by a book and Jasmine was
generally unhappy about all the danger and hardship she was experiencing.
Drusilla was generally in favour of setting fire to things, but, with the
exception of the plants in the courtyard, this strategy was not very
effective.
The Harlot emerged from the cellar, leading a young man by the hand. Our
heroes and heroines took the opportunity to explore the cellar and release
several prisoners who were in various stages of insanity and mutilation.
Beyond the cellar were the catacombs, which were very big and easy to get
lost in.
Returning to the main house, our heroines and heroes headed for the
bedroom. The Harlot and her young man were occupied on the bed, and around
them were various nuns and cardinals offering towels, wine, fruit, etc.
Drusilla advised Jasmine to avert her eyes and then attempted to talk to a
nun, but got no response.
Drusilla tried to grab the Harlot while her niece and husband attempted to
hit her with wine trays, all unsuccessfully. Giuseppe stabbed the Harlot,
who promptly attacked him. Meanwhile Jasmine tried to rescue the young man
from his terrible fate, but, despite her efforts, he managed to find
himself another terrible fate by attacking Auntie Dru who immediately
conducted an experiment to see what effect a sharply applied knee could
have on a gentleman with no trousers on.
Mr Wells-Coleman wrestled with the Harlot and various other people stabbed
her, rendering her unconscious.
The party were leaving, carrying one unconscious Harlot and assisting one
young man who was having difficulty in walking, when they had a little
trouble with the winch for the elevator. In the confusion, the Harlot
mysteriously vanished.
A further search of the convent revealed nothing useful, until a
mysterious old priest materialised and said "Giuseppe, where does she
sleep?" before vanishing in a mysterious manner.
This was clearly A Clue and there was some puzzlement and discussion over
it.
Eventually it was agreed that the Harlot slept in the waking world and
that she appeared in the Dreamlands via the catacombs.
A use of Dreaming skill allowed our heroines and heroes to follow a trail
through the catacombs to the Convent of St Francis in Glasgow with which
Drusilla and the Major were familiar.
The party appeared as ghosts there and spent some time walking through
walls and failing to communicate with people before getting bored with the
whole thing. They waited until after everyone was asleep and lurked in the
corridor outside the nuns' rooms until eventually an elderly and obese
figure went past them. Thomas checked which cell she had come from, then
everyone followed her down into the catacombs again.
The elderly and obese figure disappeared into the temple to the Dark
Mother goddess. Drusilla tried to set fire to the heathen temple using a
fire arrow from her cross bow. While waiting to see who emerged from the
temple Drusilla overheard Sr Campilioni making a remark about Jasmine's
reputation - the chilly stare she directed at him was probably made more
considerably more effective by the fact that she hadn't put down her
crossbow before turning around.
Eventually a huge hideous creature with tentacles and similar, believed
to be the Dark Mother goddess herself, appeared from the temple and
attacked our heroes and heroines. Thomas ran away. Jasmine suffered from a
delusion that her clothes had turned to snakeskin and attempted to rip
them off. Drusilla dragged her niece to safety and then returned to try
and rescue Sr Campilioni from the monster, but he had already vanished.
Drusilla decided that she had a duty to get Jasmine safely back to town
and that the gentlemen, wherever they were, would have to look after
themselves.
On returning to the town the ladies noticed that a plague had broken out
and decided to give up on attacking the Harlot directly. They managed to
get a lift back to the waking world.
The Major was missing when Drusilla got home. She heard a noise
downstairs and took his shotgun to investigate. The Major was in the
kitchen having a cocoa to get over a nightmare he'd been suffering from
and was rather startled to see his wife armed with a shotgun. He was
surprised but pleased when she threw herself into his arms crying "James!
You're not dead!"
It turned out that all the gentlemen had vague memories of hideous
nightmares, but only Drusilla and the distraught Jasmine could actually
recall what had happened in the Dreamlands.
A daytime visit to the convent on the pretext of seeing whether it would
be a suitable spiritual retreat for Jasmine allowed Sr Campilioni to check
the nuns' files while Drusilla and Jasmine chatted to the prime suspect,
the plump and kindly Sister Evangeline.
On the following Friday the Major called at the church and persuaded the
priest to come and minister to Jasmine who was in some need of spiritual
guidance. In his absence Sr Campilioni (the only member of the group who
had any idea about the rites of the Catholic Church) found some spare
robes and listened to the confessions of the nuns. Sister Evangeline said
that she was still troubled by her terrible dreams and also recollected
the tragic loss of her fiance many years before.
That night Sr Campilioni broke into the nunnery while the Major drove the
getaway car. He looked at the love letters which Sister Evangeline kept in
her room and also checked out the convent cellar, which did not appear to
include catacombs.
Our heroes and heroines have no idea how to stop the kindly Sister
Evangeline from wreaking havoc in the Dreamlands since she seems genuinely
unaware of the effect of her dreams and even Sr Campilioni isn't prepared
to contemplate killing her as a means of solving the problem.
Further research into the Dreamlands leads to the legend of the "Weeping
Fisherman" who lives in a city far away from that being terrorised by
The Harlot. Our heroes and heroines resolved to try and find him, but only
Mr Wells-Coleman succeeded in his Dreaming skill roll.
All alone in a strange city of white towers, Mr Wells-Coleman's first
priority was to try and meet the King's daughter whose beauty was
legendary. His various efforts failed, so, to pass the time, he took up
residence in a tavern where The Weeping Fisherman was known to visit. He
persuaded the Weeping Fisherman to accompany him on a long and perilous
journey to the Harlot's territory. There they waited on the dockside and
eventually The Harlot's ship appeared.
She clearly recognised the Fisherman but didn't initially appear to be
delighted by his presence. After a certain amount of terrifying shrieking
and alarming magical transformations, however, the lovers were reunited
and all was well.
Back in the Real World the kindly Sister Evangeline died peacefully in
her sleep.
Some weeks later the Major was shocked but delighted when Drusilla
announced that she was pregnant. She declared her intention to retire from
dangerous adventures and concentrate on interviewing Nannies and
decorating a nursery.
Links :
Character Profiles
A Cthulu
Chapbook
Tales of
Plush Cthulhu
Cthulhu Versus the
Dread Smiley Face
De
Profundis - Edinburgh