The House of R'yleh is a Call of Cthulhu adventure set in London
in late November 1923. The Games Master is Mark and play takes place at
Dragons Keep Roleplay Club in South East London every Friday night.
Cast
- Yoshi "Kanagawa" Yamamoto - A disgraced former Sumo wrestler turned journalist - Tony
- Chester "Pretty Boy" Lyle - A bareknuckle boxer - Sam
- Ryan Wurmshurst - A retired policeman turned private sleuth - Steve
- Thelma "Ginger" Purdey - A recently graduated botanist and girl about town - Matt
In the Lambeth Slums
The misshapen creature watches the foursome as it climbs out of the well. Still shaking from the shock of it's appearance they come to the realisation that this is no man. Wurmshurst draws his revolver and begins to approach the creature from their vantage point at the top of the stairs. Yoshi's deep voice booms "Inugami" as he thunders down the stairs clattering into Ryan and knocking the gun from his hand. Ginger runs for the kitchen to find a weapon.
The creature seems unphased by this and cautiously approaches sniffing the air. Chester shouts at the creature to stay back as Yoshi tries to grapple it. Ginger grabs a heavy poker and has a few practice swings before running back to the cellar stairs.
The creature lunges at Yoshi but is momentarily distracted by Ryan and the big man from Japan locks the beast in a bear hug, pinning his long skinny arms to his sides Yorikiri style. Chester lands at the bottom of the stairs and slams a right hook into the creature knocking a tooth out and dark brown blood splatters over Yoshi's face and shirt. Yoshi slams the beast against the brick wall. Ginger grabs Draper and threatens him with the poker, he complies and she drags him down the stairs. Ryan realises he has brought a gun to a fist fight so puts it away and joins in the melee.
The creature attempts to bite Yoshi but the ex sumo is having none of it, with a twist of his body he drops his knee and flips the beast over his shoulder and down onto the ground. The momentum forces Yoshi to fall onto the beast with a sickening crunch. Uwatenage. The creature convulses and dies.
Draper breaks down and confesses that Peters made him do it. He lured the two girls and Davies here with false promises and Peters took them away. Yoshi instinctively heads to the well but Chester protests.
"I aint goin dawn there without me sword mate. Don't be a fool we've got to get tooled up."
Ginger agrees and leads Draper back up the stairs after Chester. Left on their own Ryan and Yoshi decide to stash the body in an upstairs pantry cupboard and then follow after the others.
Mrs Miggins House for Single Gentlemen
Back in his room Chester grabs his katana and Yoshi's Webley & Scott .32 pocket pistol and stuffs them into his training bag. Mrs Miggins stops him on the stairs and asks where Mr Yamamoto is. He explains that he and Yoshi have had a disagreement and the lummox is cooling off.
"Big fight tommorrow night Mrs Miggins. Gotta do some last minute training. That pikey feenian won't know what hit him, wish me luck"
he shouts back as he closes the front door.
Ginger and Draper are waiting for him outside. He looks down at the poker. "that thing's gonna be no use to you where we're goin'. Can you shoot?" Ginger says "I've won a few goldfish at the fair" Don't worry, I know a man. A cab skids to a halt beside them, inside are Yoshi and Ryan. Chester tells the driver "Take us to the Bull and Hide mate and don't spare the 'orses"
Seeing a Man about a Dog
Chester and Ryan walk into the Bull and Hide in Whitehapel. A den of iniquity full of dockers, roustabouts and old Tom's. Chester spots his mark sitting at the bar and buys him a pint of Old Peculiar. After a brief discussion the man agress and he sends a runner to fetch another man with the goods. Twenty minutes later a rough looking fellow sits at the stool on the other side of Chester and slides a hastily wrapped bundle of cloth across the bar. Chester slips the man 25 knicker.
As a fresh flurry of snow floats on the cold late afternoon breeze, Yoshi, Ginger and Mr Draper are huddled in the cab waiting. On the floor lies Chester's training bag, Yoshi slips out the handle of the Katana he gifted to him and checks that Chester is keeping the blade oiled. The exquisitely made hamon pattern is briefly visible as he thumbs the blade from its lacquered scabard with a satisfying click. "Good" he mutters to himself.
When Chester and Ryan return they head to Lambeth with a brief stop off at a small hardware shop to buy supplies.
Into the Sewers
Draper leaves the intrepid monster hunters back to the tenament in Lambeth but protests and will not go into the well. He is clearly scared and would be more a liability than an asset. They let him go knowing that he will return to his house and the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. One by one they climb down into the well and the darkness swallows them.
Chester picks up the bag of art materials which lies at the foot of the ladder. Yoshi, armed with a torch and a handgun, takes point and they begin to traverse the dry tunnel following a set of the the creatures hoof prints. As they travel the sound of flowing water gets louder.
Entering the sewers proper they try to avoid slipping on the slick wet bricks of the walkway, Yoshi and Ryan unfortunately get showered in what can only be described as a Water Closet outflow. The tunnels emerge into a large cistern with many pipes and tunnels flowing into it. Yoshi finds a discarded tube of paint near the mouth of the only exit and the team continue.
Chester and Yoshi slip and fall into the main sewer and as they struggle to climb out something long brushes against their bodies. Further down this tunnel they come to a section of wall which has been ripped away. Discarded bricks lie piled at the entrance to a long dirt tunnel which stretched off into the darkness. Among the dirt lies a discarded Chelsea Art Club lapel pin.
They continue into this tunnel which winds its way along in pitch blackness. Yoshi spots that several human remains lie in various states of decay embedded in the walls of the tunnel intertwined with tree roots and fragments of rotten wood. Ahead they can hear voices and the sounds of screeching metal on metal like trainwheels on rails.
Eventually the tunnel opens into a large cavern. In the dim light Yoshi can make out two women and a man who appear to be sitting in front of easels painting. Between them stands another Inugami (a dog demon) wearing a béret who appears to be giving them artistic direction. Yoshi instinctively shoots the Inugami. The mussle flash momentarily illuminating the cavern revealing about twenty other Inugami lining the walls of the cavern.
It is only then that the gang get their first glimpse of what the artist prisoners appear to be painting. In the centre of the cavern stands a wooden scaffold and suspended from ropes and hooks hangs the decomposing body of a women wearing a tattered and mouldy blue dress. What is left of her body throbs and pulsates as maggots crawl in and on the surface of her rotten skin. Looking at the remains of her face the friends recoil in horror as they recognise what was once Josephine Brydon...
