The House of R'yleh: Part 4 - The Art of Negotiation

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 

Surrounded by Ghoulish Minions

The beret wearing creature ordered his minions to surround the friends but, despite their weapons, it was clear that they were going to have to talk their way out of the situation.  The cavern was dimly lit but four fully finished paintings could be seen leaning up against the far wall.  Chester addressed the beret wearing creature as Peters but the creature said this was not his name.  Yoshi put two and two together and realised that this was the macabre artist Thewlis, who had been drummed out of the Chelsea Art club for creating obscene art. 

In broken English Yoshi claimed that they had come from the Chesea Art Club who had had a change in leadership.  The new regime wanted to right a previous wrong and purchase all of the art on display in order to hold a grand exhibition, one of the conditions was the return of Davies and his two students. 

Thewlis was intrigued and pulled his forces back enabling Yoshi and Ginger to cross the cavern and get a better look at the four paintings.  

 

The first was of a grand country house with a rotting corpse in the foreground.  The second was of a strange ruin in the desert.  The third of the interior of a building its walls covered with intricate hieroglyphs. The final painting was of a fantastical island structure jutting out of a stormy sea.  A tiny boat battled the gigantic waves heading towards this island.  In the centre of the painting a great door imprisoned something powerful which wanted to be released.  Observing this final painting Yoshi and Ginger had a visceral out of body experience.  It was as if they were on board the ship heading towards the island.  Looking down at her feet Ginger noticed that they were wet with seawater. 

 

After some discussion Thewlis agreed to the terms on the condition that the friends retrieve an important artifact for him.  He passed them a grubby manuscript whihc detailed the history of something called The Shining Trapezohedron, an artifact which would enable Thewlis to truly convey the majesty of his art to canvas.  Only then would he release his "students".

 

The foursome agreed and, led by one of Thewlis ghoulish servants, they returned to the surface and cold snowy Lambeth.  

Saturday 17th November 1923

The friends reconvened at Victoria Police Station and Ryan went to inform Det. Sgt. Farrell that they had located the missing artists.  Farrell assembled a five man squad of his finest officers.  This came as a dissapointment to the friends who urged him to bolster his ranks.  Another five men were found and they piled into a black mariah and followed the directions to the tenament in Lambeth.

 

Ambushed in the Sewers

When they arrived in the basement they expected to find one of Thewlis's creatures waiting for them but the room was empty.  They decided that Farell would accompany them in a lead group whilst Sgt Forester and the remaining officers would be following behind as backup.  They proceeded to traverse the sewers until they were about 100 yards from the entrance to the excavated side tunnel when they heard gunshots from behind.  They had been ambushed.

 

a half dozen or so of the creatures came at them from both directions cutting them off from the officers behind and a pitch battle ensued.  They overcame their assailants with great difficulty and all were wounded in some way except for Chester.  They ran back through the tunnels to the ladder stopping only briefly to recover the collar numbers of the slain officers they found along the way.  

 

They only found four of them... 

Reaper Bones #41 - Human Fighter, Duke Gerard

You wait months and two Reapers come along in quick succession!

Human Fighter, Duke Gerard - Bobby Jackson (SKU 77063)

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: Part 3 - All Tooled Up

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...

Jessie's Prints - Episode 20 - Cthulhu Characters

This week, I are mostly been answering...  The Call of Cthulhu

Victorian Tough with Dog - Pinshape 48509

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?

Pirate Pugilist - Thingiverse 3981631

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. 

The Colonel - Thingiverse 3107434

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.

Dr. Frankenstein

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.

 

Igor - Thingiverse 3926251

Frankenstein's erstwhile and capable manservant is another of Roman Bezva's creations and of course I had to print him aswell.

Private Investigator - Thingiverse 4231499

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.

Researcher - Thingiverse 4499796

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.

Reaper Bones #40 - Pirate with Treasure

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.

Pirate with Treasure - Julie Guthrie (SKU 30026)

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.