bookwyrm

Hi Guys,

Sorry about this but I'm going to have to call a halt to this game. My dad's partner has been diagnosed with cancer and we're not sure how much time she has left so I won't really have the time or energy to give to this game for the forseeable future.

It's been great playing with you.

John's confident stance lasts for all of five seconds before his body starts shaking hard. Another five and he's lying on the ground in what appears to be a grand mal seizure.

The immediate entrance to the tunnel is clear of threats and it seems to be relatively straight. You climb up into the hole in the brickwork and follow the ATRV into the darkness. The earthen floor is firm underfoot, the walls are looser, showers of dirt falling from them every time you brush against them. The ceiling is just about high enough to let you pass without having to stoop, but is just as loose as the walls.

The basement is quickly lost behind you as you continue on in the tunnel, the closeness of the heavy earth above you is claustrophobic. The tunnel continues on, the dank air stale in your lungs, the whine of the ATRV's motors leading you forward. After about 300 meters you can start to see a faint light beyond the ATRV's headlight, it looks like the tunnel migfht be opening out.

We have two votes for going forward, any more?

Johnny is right. There is nothing shoring the ceiling of the tunnel up against collapse, although the tunnel itself looks in good condition.

You carefully climb down off the ledge so you can cross to the side opening. Water rises to knee height, makinmg you glad you all brought appropriate clothing. The rails and sleepers make the floor under the water uneven and the noise of the water reverberates in te tunnel no matter how quietly you try to move.

The ramp on the other side is made from spoil from the tunnel, loosely trodden down but muddy from the water tracked over it by those who use it. Moving carefully up it reveals the inside of a water-logged cellar. I here, the water only just clears the ankle, making walking considerably easier. Rotting furniture is stacked against the walls and sodden cardboard boxes contain forgotten junk. The door upstairs is closed but it doesn't look like anyone's made any attempts to get out in that direction.

A large hole punched through the far wall leads into the next cellar, and the next, and the next. All are similar in their abandonment although the contents vary in volume and decrepitude. The smell of decay is stronger here, getting thicker as you follow the ATRVs path.

the last cellar holds less junk than the rest, allowing the ATRV more room to spin and play. Across the room is another hole punched into the wall leading into a dark tunnel. This hole is higher than the waterline, preventing the ATRV from progressing.

Is everyone going through the side passage into the cellars? If so, how are you ordering yourselves?

Surging the ATRV onwards shows te rest of the cellars for the terrace are likewise abandoned, full of junk and waterlogged. In the last cellar the tunnel continues onwards but the hole in the wall is a foot off the water with no way for the ATRV to climb up. The only way to investigate further would be to enter the cellars.

You carefully move closer to the side tunnel until you stand opposite it, the height of the ledge gives you a good view of the opening. As you move up you can see the ATRV struggle to the top of the spoil heap and move into the side tunnel proper. The lights from the small vehicle show the top of the tunnel is high enough to walk upright (more or less) and is wide enough for single file traffic.

Is everone moving up?

Nothing appears threatening in the tunnel, and as you move along the ledge you quickly lose sight of the platform. The air is dank and clammy and the sounds of your movement echo loudly. Slime coats the walls and gleams wetly in the torchlight.

Most of the tunnel is still in good repair, but several times you have to descend to the water to pass places that the ledge has collapsed. The water in the tunnel gets deeper as it slopes gently to pass under the Thames but it never gets more than thigh high when you have to venture down.

You pause as the ARTV picks up the image of a disturbance in the tunnel wall up ahead.

Just as suspected, the water is only 6 inches deep here. Walking in the water would allow you to spread out a bit but would be tiring and with uncertain footing. Walking on the ledge would be easier but you'd have to go single file.

recap

You are searching for the cause of Evan's "affliction".

It seems clear that Evan was involved in something paranormal, and ever since he has been trying to find out what is going on. To this end he has hired Andy, a private investigator, to help him look for clues. Present besides Evan(gelos) Robson (Mort) and Andy Greggor (Psychophipps) are Jonathan Wilkes (Joe Q Public), a semi-professional fencer who does “physical evidence recovery” for Andy and has an interest in the occult; and Jason Compton(Malek77), an Aussie conspiracy nut over here looking for the truth behind crop circles, who Andy uses for surveillance, a task he’s eminently suited for due to the recording studio embedded in his head.

 

So far your investigations have turned up the following:

 

The murderer and/or ‘thing’ that Evan encountered is called Nick Loferski (white, average height, paunchy, blond hair/brown eyes, early forties but looks older, heavy smoker). He was a fairly ordinary guy who upped and disappeared the same day (5th August) that his wife and two kids were brutally slaughtered. He appears to use some sort of acid to attack and dissolve people, usually leaving a burnt area on the floor.

 

You are still unable to identify the Army unit Evan encountered, although it doesn’t seem to be connected to any of the normal regiments, or military intelligence either. It does show up quite often, though, and is a useful way of confirming a sighting of Nick. You do know that it is a standard 11 man squad, lead by a tall, thin, sandy-haired major; one of the NCOs is black; three of the squaddies are Asian (2 Pakistani/Indian, 1 Oriental); on of the other squaddies has a significant scar on the left side of his face. There have been reports of squads that don’t match this one, so there may be more than one squad involved.

 

So far you’ve managed to confirm 3 definite attack locations (3 out of 4 of Army, Nick, burnt floor, missing people) and have 7 strong possible (2 out of 4). These are all between January and March

 

You have also managed to identify 5 probable victims.

- Harry Mayes (a pimp) and Vicky Reese (a prostitute) killed and partially dissolved in an acid bath on 17th November. Both the Press and the Police are treating it as a gangland killing, but there were sightings of an unidentified Army unit poking around shortly after the police left which make you think otherwise.

- An unnamed homeless man found partially dissolved on 5th December. Several other disappearances around the same time may also be due to Nick, although no other bodies have been found.

- Another unnamed man, this was the attack Evan was involved in on 16th December.

- Joe McGill (homeless) found partially dissolved on 12th September. Not reported.

- Barbara Myers, attacked with an acid soaked cloth in Hyde Park on 9th August. Survived but committed suicide one month later. The timing of the attack makes this a possible.

 

 

You currently have two possible leads. You have been told that there is a guy called Robert Davids (aka Bobby Bells, a known alcoholic) who lives in Wandsworth who claims to have seen something kill and “eat” someone. He gives a description that may match Nick, but its not clear where that fits in.

 

There have been several sightings of "your" squad in Croydon in the past week.

you chose to go to Wandsworth, which led you to an abandoned canteen with a dying Bobby and a dead girl who was decidedly lively for a corpse. After Bobby snuffed it you dragged his misbegotten soul back to the world of the living and tortured it into revealing his unfortunate experience in the underground station, which is how you have ended up in the depths of Putney East, standing on an empty platform staring at a darkened tunnel.

Should you venture into the tunnel then there is a ledge along the side that you could walk on in single file, or you could descend into the water (it's not clear how deep this as you can't see the rails but it looks fairly low).

What next, brave adventurers?

Hi guys,

given the rather slow pace at which I'm posting I'm going to have to admit that I can't currently give this game the attention it requires. This is in large part due to me now having girlfriend and I'm currently spending my time shuttling between my house and hers. Things should ease up once I move in but that may take a while yet.

So I'm going to put this game on a 2 month hiatus, and I'll pick up the current thread by 30th October at the latest. I hope that you'll still be interested in carrying on then.

Bookwyrm

The whine of the ATRV bounces back through the tunnel as the light from it's torches is lost round the corner. data sent back shows that the ledge runs out after several hundred metres as the tunnels join up, but continues on the opposite walls.

Old adverts peel slowly off the wall and noise bounces off walls as you reach the bottom, echoing and reverberating from the white glazed tiles that cover the walls. Torch beams pick out the grey concrete of the platform, a moat of darkness between the edges and the far wall where the tracks lie.

Closer to the edge of the platform the torches can pick out the muddy water covering the rails, although it doesn't look that deep.

The steps creak as you put weight on them, but the years have yet to take their toll on the mechanism. As you decend the torches pick out dirt encrusted posters on the wall advertising deodorants and furniture stores. The steps are dry down here but mud encrusted debris shows where past floods have drained. At the bottom tiled walls open out onto the platform.

Peering down past the steps of the escalator, the ATRV can see little in the murky depths of the underground.

Inside abandoned shops gather dust in the gloom, contents long since looted. The floor is wet from the leaking roof and streaked with dirt. Nothing moves and all appears quiet. Further in is the ticket barrier and beyond it, the escalator down.

I'll be away until saturday, but the new topic is up.

The bright sun overhead has long since dried the last of the rain off the streets, leaving the day warm and pleasant. Standing in front of the entrance to the Putney East underground makes you reflect on the parallels with the reasons you're here. The entrance itself, once boarded up but long since reopened by enterprising souls stands dark, shadowed by the angle of the sunlight. There is nothing here to show the horrors Bobby told you about, except maybe for the quietness. No birds sing, no dogs bark, no sign of people on the street, just the wind sweeping litter off the pavement.

Well, unless anyone objects I'm going to take the story up 6 game hours later at the entrance to East Putney underground.

Some useful quotes from the Dark Entries thread that would clear up a few questions.

As a rule of thumb, anything that has physical manifestation can be "killed", the more powerful the entity the more "killing" they take.

So guns do work, if you get to use them.

"Nonono, you're confusing corporeal and non-corporeal now. Corporeal spirits need a body, kick them out and they go back where they came from, non-corporeal spirits either find another body or just hang around causing trouble. An exorcism is just a way of kicking it out of the body, but you have to be a lot more careful with non-corporeals."

"Nono, the body was already dead, that's why when you pushed it out, the body reverted to the rotted state it would have been in had it not been "inhabited". If it was a possession then whatever was there before would have come back. It's less possession, more hermit crab. I imagine they get across here in much the same way we get across there, luck or skill. What stops us crossing is Reality, but that's pretty thin if you know how and where to look."

Ghouls are corporeal spirits working with already dead bodies. Shooting the Ghoul Girl destroyed the ghoul's physical link to Here, sending it back There. You don't know if this stops the body being repossessed in the long term, but it seems to work for the short term.

<panic>

 

Ah! Argh! NOOO!

 

MORE PLANNING!

 

Research!Research!Research!Research!

 

 

ONCE we have a decent map of the area from ordinary sources and REMOTE scouting, AND a decent idea of the Ghoul background from that Library, AND THEN got some decent wards to prevent EyePull (which froze up Jason and knocked Andy around, and is probably enough to excite Clay into misbehaving, leaving, oh, Johnny on his own if he's lucky)...else we're what?

Easy enough to get basic tunnel plans from online sources, but they won't detail any changes since the underground was shut down. You'll have to speak to Johnny about supernatural protections.

Blundering into a supernatural greebly's underground stronghold expecting to fight them with conventional weapons?

 

You've heard 'Don't Bring a Knife to Gunfight' - You're bringing Guns to a Spiritual war!?!

 

Double Tapping the evil little girl thing did what? Got Andy attacked by a cranky spirit and didn't necessarily prevent the body from being possessed and driven around again.

Whatever happened with the exorcism, it wasn't the ghoul.

(All terrain buggy - a drum on either side with a thread means it can traverse land or water with ease and handle accurately, unlike a hovercraft. Good stable camera platform.)

Niiice!

Persistant flooding has led to the closing of the underground for trains. Officially, all the power is turned off, but there are enough people still using the tunnels (ranging for underground markets to secret stashes to platform parties) that lighting is occasionally functional.

If you can let me know when (game time) and where* you want to go delving and I will start the next chapter. Also, let me know (either by posting in the current thread or by PM) what precautions/additional equipment you want to be taking with you.

I'll start a new thread as soon asI hear from everyone, or Friday at the latest.

Bobby mentioned East Putney Station, but it's not the only way down into the tunnels.