You wait months and two Reapers come along in quick succession!
This is a great mini because it is so purposeful. Every fantasy game you've ever played has this type of veteran fighter as an NPC. They're usually the one giving the orders and putting your neck on the line!
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.
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.
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"
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.
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.
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...
This week, I are mostly been answering... The Call of Cthulhu
I know our current Call of Cthulhu game is set in 1923 but who can pass up on the opportunity to print out a tough guy villain and his dog?
Sam is playing an east end ruffian called Chester "Pretty Boy" Lyle. A bareknuckle boxer Chester bears the scars of hundreds of bouts in some of the seediest dives that London's docklands have to offer.
Usually found sleeping in his easy chair in The Garrick Club, Colonel St.John Smythe saw plenty of action in his youth fighting for Queen and Country across most of Africa. He now earns a well deserved retirement and occassionally tells of his exploits across the dark continent to anyone who will listen.
Victor Frankenstein needs no introduction and wasn't intentionally looking to build up a collection of classic horror minis, but when I found this one I just had to download it. From sculptor Roman Bevza, I just love the pose and especially the action of pulling on of the rubber gloves.
Frankenstein's erstwhile and capable manservant is another of Roman Bezva's creations and of course I had to print him aswell.
Steve is playing a retired policeman turned private investigator by the name of Ryan Wurmshurst. No case is too small and his rates are very reasonable.
Every Cthulhu game needs a character with excellent research capabilities who can answer the call for "Library Use". At the moment this is the stand-in for Thelma "Ginger" Purdey, our courageous girl about town. I am currently on the hunt for a more appropriate miniature.
It Seems like forever since I painted a Reaper mini (Dec 2021 to be exact). I've had this one trapped shipwrecked in the painting queue for quite a while.
Another simple and evocative sculpt from Julie Guthrie makes you wonder what this guy's backstory is. What's in the treasure chest? How good is he with that cutlass? That knife looks like it's got it's own story.
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.
At the Chelsea Art Club, the mystery deepens, more names are added to the list of the missing but the chums still don't have any solid leads to follow.
Chester decides to break into the concierge's office and try to get addresses for Davies, Draper and Thewlis. He narrowly avoids being caught by Percival the concierge. Ginger decides that what they really need to know is what the papers said about the whole affair. She takes a cab to the British Library in Kings Cross, arriving just before closing time.
The friends meet at their favourite spot, Jenny's Tea Rooms in the Strand. Armed with Draper's address, Yoshi, Ginger and Chester head to Kensington leaving Ryan to see if his police contacts can tell him more about the case.
A large detached house which appears to have fallen on hard times. The rose beds have been untended for some time and the windows are dirty and curtains closed. Chester knocks oin the door and is suprised when a man fitting Mr. Draper's description opens the door. Clearly a lover of the demon drink, Draper seems distracted and apologises for not paying his club dues on time. They sit him down in the drawing room and after a little questioning manage to extract some useful information.
Draper was given the locket by a man called Peters who uses him as a go-between. Whatever money he gets he uses to buy art supplies for Peters. Draper struggles to describe Peters and Yoshi detects that there is definitely something Draper is witholding either out of fear or some other psychological reason. They convince Draper to take them to Peters. Draper insists that they will need to take Peters a gift of some brushes or paints.
Ryan's investigations begin at the World's End Public House on Victoria Street, an old haunt and a regular watering hole for the constabulary's finest. He is immediately recognised by one of his former colleagues, Constable Tim Barley. Ryan is not shy in asking about the Chelsea School of Art missing persons case and Barkley complains that they don't have the manpower to do a search of the riverside, they are effectively just waiting for a body or three to wash up on the banks of the Thames.
Barkley mentions that these are strange times, in fact he had a chap come into the station the other day. He claimed that someone had dug up his dead mother, stolen her locket and sold it to a pawnbroker on the Fulham Road. He didn't know what to make of it, but the man seemed a little out of sorts.
Ryan leaves the pub and as he ruminates on the case he realises he is near to his informant and sometime errand boy Jim. Jim is a greasy looking young ruffian and is more than happy to help Ryan out for a few shillings. Ryan tells Jim to go to Stokes Pawnshop and see if he has a silver charm bracelet with butterfly charms on it.
Freshly furnished with art supplies the friends and Draper take a cab to Lambeth. The dereliction and squalor of the tightly packed ramshackled tenament buildings an anathema even to Yoshi and Chester whose rented rooms in the East End were still classified as comfortable.
The cab sped off as soon as the four alighted. Draper led them through narrow alleys and passageways to a boarded up half ruined building. Opening the door with a key he led them inside the dark confines through corridors and down stairs until they entered a basement room with what looked to be a well.
Leaving the art supplies against the low wall of the well, Draper was keen to leave. Chester and Yoshi shone their lantern into the well. Something caught Yoshi's eye, a glistening in the light. They climbed down into the well for a closer look. The bottom of the well clearly entered into the subterranean warren of the London sewer system. The ground at the bottom of the iron rung ladder was dry, poking out of the earth was a silver butterfly which matched the description of the charm bracelet worn by one of the missing girls from the art school. As Yoshi turned the charm over in his big hands he could hear the sounds of someone sloshing through the water from down the tunnel. Chester and Yoshi scampered up the ladder and the group cowered in an adjacent room leaving one of the lanterns on the floor next to the well.
As they watched a long withered hand and arm reached out from the well grasping at the bag with the art supplies. This horrifically contorted creature, they presumed was Mr Peters...
