Kingbeast's Lair

Chapter 7 – The Menace From Sumatra – Session #15

Date At Start Of Game: 1/4/1894

[Author’s Note: This episode is the fifteenth session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be the exact order that they occurred in the session.]

• Burton and Singh wait at Professor Granger’s office while Senemut and Abdul look up Alfred Windebank’s office. After about an hour, as night falls, Granger leaves his office. He locks the door hurriedly then goes to the campus office. At the office Burton and Singh observe Granger meeting with another man. At the end of the conversation the other man seems a bit disappointed. Granger hands the man a letter then leaves. After leaving Granger gets a cab. Singh follows Granger by jumping on the back of the cab. Burton goes into the office with a book and a blank sheet of paper. The man is a campus dean. Barton sets the book and paper on the desk over the letter. After talking to the dean for a minute or so Burton takes his leave. He grabs the book and the letter from Granger in a deft act of slight of hand. The letter is a resignation letter from Granger. According to the letter he is asking for an indefinite leave for a research expedition.
• Abdul and Senemut find that Alfred’s office is in London. They decide to wait until the next morning to visit. While they wait Senemut coughs up blue saliva. Burton joins them.
• Singh tracks Professor Granger to a library where he checks out a book. Singh takes a paper from a note stack then rushes out after him. From the library he goes to the docks. As the darkness and fog are heavy Singh loses Granger in the crowds. Singh then starts asking around for the well dressed Professor. Singh eventually finds a vagrant who says that he saw Granger near a building belonging to the Java Coffee Company. The man also warns Singh to look out for the ?White Slasher?. Supposedly the White Slasher is a woman in white with a knife who has been seen in the area. As Singh sneaks up to the building he hears a woman sobbing. Singh spies a dark haired woman in a solid white dress who looks like Susan Windebank! At this point Singh quickly sends a note to the other PC to have them join him.
• The other PC arrive quickly. Singh and Burton watch the building while Abdul and Senemut speak with Susan. When the two NAGs approach she rushes Senemut in a crazed fashion claiming that he is Granger! Singh subdues her. After sedating her Senemut hypnotizes her and starts asking questions. This allows her to vividly recall events. She backs up Alfred’s diary claiming that Granger made improper advances. See also reveals that she was actually inside the building where she saw a horrific lab and Batak natives.
• With this information the PC decide to search the warehouse especially since they believe a cure to the fungus might be with Granger inside. As the sneak up Burton hears some noises downstairs that sounds like metal instruments hitting a metal tray. After entering the building Singh is heard when he attempts to lock a gate on a freight elevator. As Granger goes out of the door he is wearing a blood stained apron and has a scalpel in his hand. Singh slams him into the door starting a running melee with Batak tribesman! Blowgun and machete wielding men are quickly cut down by Singh as the other PC drag Granger to the main floor of the warehouse. After the initial rush there is a stalemate. This allows the PC to briefly question Granger. He tells that only he has a cure. Eventually the natives rush again. This time they are cut down by gunfire from Abdul, some shots from Burton, and Singh’s deadly knives. After all the natives fall the PC investigate the lab and inner chambers.
• First the PC find a mad scientist’s lab. On an operating table is an eviscerated naked man. Infected organs from the man are being placed in jars with preserving fluid. In a nearby cabinet the PC find many other organs which have been stored. They take one jar which hold a set of pulsating blue lungs. In a nearby boarded up room the PC hear a LOT of rats. In the next room the PC see a horrendous site. The large room is occupied by a towering rate like creature with three glowing blue eyes and tentacles. It is inside of a pentagram which is drawn in the floor. Also on the floor is a pool of blue liquid and blue stones that appear to be extruded from the creature. If the PC blink the creature moves in the circle like it is teleporting from place to place. Singh and Barton see it first. Neither wants to stay in the building after seeing the creature. Senemut is able to stand the site of the creature and records the circle carefully. The book that Professor Granger got the from the library is on tropical diseases. It mentions the fungus and describes that blue stones also found at the site seem to abate its progress. It can be cured by turning the stones into a fine ground paste. In Granger’s notebook the PC find information about the creature. It is called Vibur. It is described as a minion of Y’Golanac. According to the notebook is oozes the goo and stones. When the infestation gets severe enough the afflicted person has horrific hallucinations that seem to feed Vibur allowing it to enter our realm. The PC reason that Granger planned to infect the rats then let them loose on London. The only way to destroy Vibur is to burn it. With that Burton sets up barrels of kerosene to burn the creature and the rats.
• After lighting fire to the Java Coffee Company the PC leave in their wagon with the unconscious form of Professor Granger. As they leave his mouth turns into a razor sharp maw and he utters in a cold voice, ?You may have stopped my creation but our destinies are intertwined??

Date At End Of Game: 1/5/1894

This year did not seem that different from other years but on hindsight it was pretty great as far as RPGs go.

One of the highlights of my “RPG Year 2008” was DunDraCon.? It had actually been a while since I attended a con for the entire run.? In fact I can tell you that it was exactly 6 years since having Joshua.? :D? It was a GREAT con.? I went with Brian Fernandez which was also a blast since he is very flexible and willing to try anything.? The con was full of great seminars like the “Big Hero Announcements”, “Whats New In Gaming”, and the gaming with kids event.? I also played in a fantastic Dark Heresy demo, a wild Pulp Hero session, and lots of Memoir 44 and Battlelore sessions.? It was also a chance to see some friends like Darren Watts, Ken Hite, Ray Greer, Jason Walters, and Steve Long.

The second thing that really stood out for me in 2008 was a sesson of my TIAM campaign based on the Call Of Cthulhu adventure Sacraments Of Evil.? It was two session of gaming that I will not soon forget.? The sessions were filled with tension and drama…homerun sessions.? I have to thank my crack squad of regular players for really pulling it off.? Thanks Geoff, Don, Jim, Tim, and Steve.

Finally I had a great time as a player in Derek Heimforth’s Dark Walkers campaign.? Think MIB meets Hellboy and you have the right idea.? It is really a blast playing anything with Derek, Gary, Tim, and our new heroine Maggie.

Here is to a kick butt 2009 gaming year!? 😀

Chapter 7 – The Menace From Sumatra – Session #14

Date At Start Of Game: 1/4/1894

[Author’s Note: This episode is the fourteenth session. Note that the order of the events in this record may not be the exact order that they occurred in the session.]

• After returning to Oxford and passing through an uneventful holiday season the group enters into the new year. While walking across campus one afternoon the PC see a small group of students protesting a new labor movement. As the PC walk by some constables enter the scene. From a short hallway a man stumbles out. He is dressed in a hat, gloves, dark glasses, and trench coat. He stumbles into the constable who gently pushes the man back. To the surprise of the constable and the PC the man collapses! As he hits the ground his hat and glasses fly off. He starts muttering, ?Save Susan! My Susan!? As the PC approach a wisp of blue smoke emerges from his mouth. His eyes are missing and only a blue goo like substance remains. His skin is aged and he smells like he has been dead for weeks. Tredge searches his pockets while Burton grabs a nearby banner and wraps up the body. Singh chases down a cab which he spies leaving the scene. He marks the cab with a thrown knife then returns to the group.
• In the office the group examines the body and their clues in more detail. The man is dressed in light clothing that has not been changed in some time. It is shredded and very dirty. The trench coat is from a high end clothing store called Rotbridge & Sons. His pockets contain loose change and a slip from the East India Shipping Company. The slip is addressed to a Mr. Alfred Windebank. Senemut and Burton examine the blue goo under a microscope. It is a type of fungus or spore. Senemut feels that it could be contagious. With that the PC leave the body in the care of the constable.
• The PC first decide to visit the East India Shipping Company. At the company Tredge pretends to be Alfred Windebank and picks up 5 crates. The crates contain carefully cataloged botany samples.
• Singh visits the cab company where he eventually tracks down the cab that dropped off Mr Windebank. The cab driver, whose name is Jarvis, distinctly remembers the man and comments that he swayed back and forth in the cab. He picked the man up from the Norris Hotel.
• At the Norris Hotel the PC claim to be friends of Dr Windebank and get access to his hotel room with a well placed bribe. In the room they discover a picture of Alfred and his wife Susan. They also find a strange blue egg shaped stone and a diary from Alfred. The diary mentions dealing with a Dr Granger. According to the diary Dr Granger disappeared one night. He came back several nights later. After returning he dismissed all of the local help and even made some type of advance on Susan. The diary claims that Granger has gone mad.
• The PC quickly discover that Dr Granger is a professor at Oxford. The visit his office but he is not present. They break in and search around. There are many strange texts but a bulk of them are about tropical diseases. While they are searching around Dr Granger shows up! The PC immediately start questioning the startled professor. He denies all claims as that of the madman Alfred Windebank. When shown the diary he consider that proof that the man is not ?altogether right?. Eventually he dismisses the PC telling him that he has important work to do. The PC leave the doctor but decide to start following him?

Date At End Of Game: 1/4/1894