Part 4: A Different Light (Behind the Screen and Conclusion)

FROM THE BEGINNING: https://rigglew4.blogspot.com/2019/12/part-1-in-different-light-by-dean.html

Wednesday, 19 April: Already noon having wasted 2 hours searching for Arthur’s ivory-handled knife. They follow the mud-walled footprints along the path. Soon the desolate remains of what must be Crawford Rise before them even though the prints stop short and angle north, northwest. “Let’s explore the town first.” Six log cabins, the first proving looters have already visited the town. Yet Carol continues to search as the others checkout the storied bonfire. An 8 ft ring of burnt wood and the remains of what must have been those ‘Devil Lanterns.’ Fused glass with now blacken rough coating. And a few flecks of the familiar white powder found in Duncan’s basement.

And that’s when Carol’s scream draws Arthur and Jonah toward her cabin. The quick flash of something small rushing across the steps. The ear-shattering blast of the elephant gun. The 3-inch hole in the porch lined with tuffs of hair and fur; the only remains of a field mouse. Carol non-apologetic, “I still remember those tentacles on Walnut street.” It’s time to find the cave mentioned in Jed’s accounting and in the Indian lore uncovered at the Boston library.

Jonah scans the hill with binoculars, “There’s the cave entrance.” A short climb up the 40ft tall rise, pausing to check for scat and tracks, “Don’t want to stumble upon a hibernating bear.” Flashlights in hand, they enter. A natural tunnel gradually descends till opening unto a large cavern. No stalagmites or stalactites to suggest formed by water; probably an eon-old lava bubble. A good 70 ft across. The floor covered in the familiar white-powder. “Reminds me of bat guano.” Jonah sticks his finger in to check the depth (almost 2 inches) [more exposure as his skin absorbs the powder]. Jonah circles left, Arthur right, Carol down the middle. Covering their noses with kerchiefs.

Jonah and Arthur already complaining of returned headaches when Carol lets out an “Umph. What the…?! I’ve bumped into something blocking my path.” Arthur hurries toward her, almost 10 ft away, when he too bumps into something that knocks him on his ass, causing the powder to rise in a cloud. With his gun extended, he feels around the invisible obstruction till he’s beside Carol. Meanwhile, Jonah continues clockwise till he runs into an invisible wall. He feels along it as he shuffles right toward the center of the cavern and toward the others. He soon feels descending stairs. He pulls himself up then slowly scoots down the stairs on his butt, feeling his way along with his feet. The adrenaline of their find masking their throbbing headaches.

Until Jonah’s foot meets the same invisible spongy barrier. Already insane, he fails his Sanity check and faints. Slowly awaking to Arthur describing to Carol the sea of jellyfish he sees all around them. “It must be the powder causing my visions; can’t you see them too? No? Well let’s climb these stairs Jonah found.” Arthur finds a bare spot of earth at his feet and scoops a handful of dirt. Carol follows suit. They cautiously climb, sprinkling dirt to outline the stairs. A fright in her voice, “I’m beginning to see the jellyfish!”

Almost 20 ft above the cavern floor when Arthur finds the stair landing as outlined by the dirt. No more stairs. But something else revealed. The dirt on surfaces that seem to undulate. He pokes his gun barrel forward to test the surface. The texture of live worms crawl over his hand on the trigger. Jonah climbs past Carol to check upon Arthur’s find. Yet once again, upon feeling the obstruction for himself, he faints. His dropped flashlight bouncing off the stairs falling into the powder layer on the cave floor. Jonah’s slumped body half off the dais landing. And that’s when Carol’s vision begins to see a cloudy grey blob/bubble near the base of the stairs, “Oh my God, that’s what we must have bumped into!” [Carol has a 90 POW compared to Arthur’s 65 and Jonah’s 40. Thus, she is first to reach ‘Exposure Points’ needed to see the Renders and Dissolvers.]

Arthur has had enough, “BLAM!” The elephant gun blasts a divot in the far cave wall before him. The white cloud of the gun exhaust billows forth outlining more of the invisible monstrous form before him. “Let’s get the hell out of here! Oh shit, I see the grey cloud too. I even see something with tentacled arms. THAT must be what attacked Caruso.” Carol rushes down the stairs focused on the dirt path as she heads toward the cavern entrance. As Arthur carries Jonah down and towards her, she readies a Molotov bomb hastily made out of her medical supplies. Jonah wakes on Arthur’s shoulder; he raises his head to look into the cave they exit. And he too begins to see the grey bubble and faints once more. This time short-lived amnesia, forgetting everything since arriving at Crawford Rise.

[Although a lower POW 40, Jonah has been exposed more as he first inhaled the powder in Duncan’s basement, then tested the depth of the powder in the cave, absorbing the substance. Both Jonah and Arthur visited Walnut street at night with the lights on. Carol was not present at that time.]

As Arthur scurries up and out the tunnel with Jonah still on his back, Carol lights and tosses her bomb…fumble. Trying to arch her throw to range further into the cave, the bottle burst on the lip of the tunnel over her. She’s showed in flaming alcohol. Luckily her dressy hat takes the brunt of the damage, burning through to leave a bald spot atop her head. She exits finding Arthur piling brush into the mouth of the cave. Jonah awakes and joins in, “Good idea, smoke out any bears before we enter.” A quizzical look from Carol, “I ain’t going back in there!” Carol pours her last bottle of medicinal alcohol on the green brush and then stoops to light the branches.

Pause to make sure it catches. And that’s when she notices something strange; string handing down from the tunnel mouth. She follows the string finding a brown-paper cylinder. Realization it’s a stick of dynamite and fuse string. “RUN!” [Duncan has already planted sticks of dynamite around the cave entrance in hopes of catching The Sleeper when it rises.]

Running up the trail toward the brook, they pause to listen for an explosion that never happens. [Failed Group Luck] But they do hear Jed Ashcroft approaching, “I heard gun fire. What are you doing out here? Are you working with that crazed Duncan?!” A confusing conversation as Arthur tries to Charm Jed while Carol distracts with Intimidate. But they eventually learn Jed has found Jamison’s notebook and the spell needed to thwart the coming events, “A Steal Perception spell. Group chanting to power the spell that let’s me deny whatever lives in that cave the visage it needs to then rampage the land as it’s done over the centuries. Jamison’s spell attempt failed because his fellow-chanters broke rank and scattered. I don’t know when the event will occur; I’ve been on the lookout for Duncan who seems to know best. But no telling what that crazed man is up to.” Before departing, Arthur enlist Jed to look for his knife, “It’ll be worth you time. A lifetime supply of beans?”

It’s 2:30pm when they return to Arkham. Carol shops for a new hat before they drive past Walnut street. Stopping to find city maintenance replacing 2 of the 3 shot-out lights. Arthur grumbling, “Damn it. I was hoping we could shoot out all the lights. Guess we’ll have to wait till later.” And that’s when a maintenance man calls out, “Anyone here named Cottar? Phone call in that booth.” Arthur gets out to answer, finding a crazed voice on the other end, “Where have you been?! I’ve been trying to reach your team all morning. It must be tonight. Meet me at the Municipal Works Warehouse tonight at 7pm.” Arthur responding, “You must be Duncan. Jed told us you’re crazy.” Duncan hushing him, “Don’t use names. I told you they are listening. Spies everywhere. They’ll try to stop us.” And that’s when Carol gets on the line, “Listen you crazy bastard, I want answers.” A pause, then, “Damn it. Spies like I warned! Click.” The phone dead.

“Now what? I think we go there and capture him. Find out what he really knows. Then swing by Walnut street to shoot out all the lights before we go any further.” They arrive at the warehouse district around 6:20, parking in front of the middle of 3 warehouses. 7pm. 7:05, 7:10. Jonah gets out to walk the area as Carol and Arthur wait in the car. The sound of an engine starting draws Jonah toward a closed bay door at the further warehouse. The sound of an engine revving gives forewarning, but Jonah can’t jump fast enough. A truck smashes through the door knocking Jonah on his ass. Looking up in time to recognize one Graham Duncan behind the wheel, wearing his Great-War helmet strapped tight.

Surprised, Carol starts the car and drives toward Jonah. Thinking she’ll drive by, Jonah jumps for the open rear window so they can quickly catchup. [Failed DEX] But Carol stops. Jonah slams into the door frame. Lost seconds shaking off the cobwebs before he can climb in, “After him.” They Know (pass) where he’s going but a failed Drive, then failed Navigate mean they miss the chance to overtake him. At least Luck (pass) that police have not responded to calls of reckless driving as Carol almost hits a pedestrian crossing the street.

They arrive on the outskirts of Sudbury finding the truck abandoned. Arthur goes for Jed as the others follow the now familiar trail towards the hill. Where under the full moon, they see the silhouette of Duncan at the cave opening. The flick of a lighter, then sparks and hiss announcing he’s lit the fuse! They dive for cover as Duncan runs down the hill. “KA-BLEWIE.” Pebbles and large chucks of rock rain down. A cloud envelopes the hill. Almost a minute before the cloud dissipates enough to reveal Duncan half buried on the remaining hill side. The hillside covered in the white-powder. Instead of collapsing the cave, he’s expanded the opening. Arthur arrives with Jed and a dozen villagers. And that’s when the trio (with activated gland) see a Render emerge from the hill and descend on Duncan. The villagers can only hear the screams of the man as his head disappears in a greyish cloud. His screams silenced. Half of them run away.

Jed insisting, “We must tie ourselves together so no one else can run away. For what we are about to face…I’ve never seen it. My brother did! I didn’t put that in the article the library posted; otherwise, I would have been institutionalized! We must climb close to the opening. The web the spell creates only spans maybe 20-40 yards.” Arthur protests, The hell you think I’m going near that cave again!” But when Carol walks along with Jed, he soon joins in. With rope tied around their waists, 6 villagers along with Jed and the investigators join in a rhythmic chant, “M’buchthu yltol th’nalek-Xoth, Eibon p’gothoth N’kai chgollng ftagn.” Tense minutes till a fine net of translucent energy stretches from Jed’s fingertips, spanning out over the cave opening. Enveloping something, considering the domed shape it forms. Panic at what that implies causes the web to dissipate, as most lose focus on the chant. They start again. Minutes before the web stretches out again.

Almost an hour till Carol squeals as she closes her eyes, hoping to shutout the new vision. Except her pineal gland is a new eye, ever seeing the smoky black form of the “Mercifully Unseen One”. Except she can see it! Along with Arthur and Jonah. Fortune the villagers and Jed have not been exposed to the powder before now; they cannot see anything. Yet. Not so for the trio. Insanity inflicting Carol with Psychosomatic deafness. Jonah collapses in faint [Keith is adept at rolling 6s]. Arthur is in all-out flee mode. Yet despite the temporary loss of these chanters, the web remains over its target. Arthur frantically hacks at the rope with a knife, slashing with the blunt side. Eventually cutting free to run away. Returning almost a half-hour later.

By now even the villagers have gained sight of The Sleeper. And other forms that swarm around it. Threatening look but not attacking. Poor Jed suffering the visage he’s stolen from the entity. An alien landscape. Yet the energy net remains. Almost 2 hours before the bulge of the energy net slowly collapses as the The Sleeper slowly lumbers back into the hole. A time for cheering but all exhausted from their constant chanting. Jed approaching Arthur, “By the way, I found this knife. You owe me beans.” Arthur conceding, “I’ll get them. Right after I return to Walnut and shoot out those damn lights.”

KEEPER’S COMMENT: My mistake was reading the Renders and Dissolvers as incorporeal and thus immune to physical attack, and assuming the same for The Sleeper. Thus, I couldn’t see how any PC could do harm as suggested in the potential conclusion, “or physical damage to force the awakened thing back into its cave shrine.”

When Arthur blasted with his elephant gun, he should have done damage. Drawing the Renders (speed 10) and Dissolvers (speed 8) forward to protect their master. What I saw as a Total-Party-Kill. But Keith (playing Jonah) suggested this:

ALTERNATE ENDING: Arthur has had enough and pulls the elephant-gun trigger, “BLAM!” An ear-shattering wail erupts from whatever he hit. Jonah’s limp body pushed over the edge of the narrow stairs as the thing stirs. What Arthur and Carol can now see as, “An enormous knot of writhing hairy worms. A hundred tentacles, each coated with countless smaller red hair-like tendrils, comprise the thing’s body.” RUN!!

Carol bounds down the stairs as a Render approaches to protect its master. A now corporeal tentacle swipes at her. Luck on her part that she missed a step (failed DEX) and stumbles down the stairs; the tentacle swiping over her tumbling body. Arthur jumping off the stairs after Jonah, digging him out of the white-powder layer. Jonah awaking in time to see everything, “WHAT THE HELL?!” Arthur fumbling to reload his gun, drops the slug in the powder. “Forget it; get the hell out of here!” Jonah swatting with his cricket bat at tentacles lashing out at him as he ducks and weaves his way to the tunnel opening. Arthur grazed by a Dissolver as he pushes by. Enough contact that what he can assume acid burn blisters his left arm.

Jonah exits the tunnel, spotting Carol already halfway down the hill. Carol yelling, “Run before it explodes.” Jonah confused till he hears the hissing over his shoulder and spots the fuse stretching to the stick of dynamite, “When did you…” No time to converse as he knows time is burning away. Arthur right behind him. Jonah screaming, “Don’t ask. Just run. AS FAST AS YOU CAN!” Carol at the treeline, Jonah at the base of the hill, Arthur halfway down when a thunderous explosion erupts. Arthur lost in a billowing cloud of dirt and dust, pummeled by the shower of rocks and pebbles. His left arm broken as he was thrown off the hill. Miraculously still holding his elephant-gun in his right hand.

Long minutes till they regroup. Carol insisting, “Let me tend your wounds.” Arthur growling, “Not before I get back to town and shoot out those damn lights!” Jonah suggesting, “More running and less talk. Those things could be coming for us any minute!”

BEHIND THE SCENES

It began with Michael Farr staring thru his telescope into the sky, night after night, under the new street lights. Exposure to the contaminating light magnified by the telescope lens. Activation of his pineal gland which bestowed a 6^th sense. Him now able to see the invisible living star Xoth crawling along thru space. And see its minions on earth. Intelligent servitor Renders harvesting activate pineal glands to feed its master, The Sleeper (a lesser Great Old One) under the hill. Enough nourishment for it to slowly crawl out of the cave on the one-night Xoth will make its closest approach to Earth. Bathe under the electromagnetic radiation of Xoth to activate its own destructive rampage against humanity. A cycle repeated over the centuries, beginning with the local native American tribes that inhabited the area.

An aviator of Nyarlathotep more than willing to trick man into creating ‘Devil Lanterns’ coated with the white-powdery secretion of The Sleeper which will activate their pineal glands. The same aviator who tricked Duncan into “discovering” his new lights installed on Arkham’s Walnut Street. First Farr gaining “new sight” and scratching his eyes out. Him being harvested days after his interment in the asylum; his death going un-reported. Then the milkman Caruso making night deliveries becoming the 2^nd harvest. Others following; those with higher POW becoming activated sooner under the lights. Duncan too late realizing his mistake. Trying to shoot the lights out; protecting his activated gland by wearing his Great-War helmet. Crazed, insane. Thinking if he dynamite the hill, he can destroy whatever lurks within.