Game 08 - The Abbey

[PM]

Intro

You (Carole's character the doctor) receive a large envelope postmarked Northumberland, England from a Father Tomlyn. He was the person corresponding with the watcher (see Lambton Worm).

Enclosed is a letter and photograph and three newspaper cuttings.

The 8"x10" photo show a middle aged man obviously in terror. The shot was taken by accident as the man fell over. The man is partially covered in fog/mist.

The three articles relate a series of fatal attacks/murders in the coastal village of Lynwold. The first happen three weeks ago and the first victim is the man in the photo, architect Geoffery Clay. The third involves the letters writer Father Tomlyn.

The letter is a desperate plea for help from Father Tomlyn who is the only survivor of the attacks so far.

I'll give you the full letter on Saturday.

[slug]

After receiving the letter and photograph the intrepid investigators (Luther Maguire, David Mortenson, Meredith Sinclair and Dave Newell) crossed the pond and arrived in Southampton, train journey up North and arrived in the quaint village of Lynwold in Northumberland.  Acquainted ourselves with the real ale in the pub and tuned into the gossip all around us.

From our receiving the letter from Father Tomlyn another bunch of fatalities had occurred, the bodies were very cold and crushed.  Went to see the good father who was suffering from broken ribs, extreme cold and depression.  His description was that the fog rolled in, heard some weird whistling and some sort of creature grabbed him with tentacles and started to crush him, his friend the retired policeman must have tried to intervene as the creature let go of him and went after the other man who fired several shots from his shotgun.  Retired Policemans body not found.

The first people to die/go missing were an architect (body found from the photograph) and the Lord of the Manor (missing) the police from the nearby town, Morpeth, suspect the missing Lord, chap named Parsons, to be a murderer.

The local bobby (also a victim) ordered the shooting of a sheepdog belonging to a local farmer as causing the deaths at the abbey, no joy there as more fatalities occurred afterwards.

Had a quick recce at the Abbey in Broad Daylight as the pattern of attacks suggested they happened later in the day/nightime.  Found some frost burns to the grass in the location of the attack on Father Tomlyn. Found stone flags where the crypt should be covered over by grass. Back to the pub for steak and kidney pudding.

Up to the Manor House after getting a letter of introduction from Father Tomlyn, the housekeeper let us in and had a good look around, nothing suspicious.  The architect was staying at the manor house and there were plans of the hotel Parsons was proposing to build on the site of the old abbey.

Trip to Morpeth to get a look at records of the abbey and more importantly equip ourselves with 12 gauge shotguns and shells (none of which we have fired before).

On our return an old farmer (old Joe) had a nasty encounter with a big black dog to an area to the North of the Abbey, the big black dog sounds like one from legend (red eyes as big as fists etc).

Returned to Lynwold and do a detailed search of the Abbey Ruins, just after midday noticed the mist was closing in and found some stone stairs leading down, partially hidden by gorse, the stairwell had been cleared in the last month or two.  Lanterns on and shotguns set to twitchy finger mode, we entered into the underground.  On the stairs we discovered the frozen corpse of Father Tomlyns friend (who had died about three weeks ago) still clutching a shotgun shell, we had previously found three spent shells and another couple of unfired rounds during our finger tip search of the area, the shotgun was also found with massive damage to the barrel where it had been gripped by a ferocious force.  Found a room at the bottom of the stairs with a wall fallen down that leads off into limestone caverns.

Entered into the caverns and they were a labyrinth, after some dodgy mapping  and following the old fashioned principle of the left hand rule, we came across a weird statue in a cave.  The cave opened out to the sea and the statue was made from a strange material, it depicted a creature with a tentacle moustache and was draped with fairly fresh seaweed, had a dig around the base of the statue and had a bad feeling about the place carried on searching the rest of the caverns and discovered the partially frozen body of Parsons together with his camera and a another cave that had been sealed with a sort of stone door covered with a (now defunct) Eldar Sign. 

Time to retreat to the pub and do some pondering.  The fog had pretty much closed in when we got to the surface and heard some worrying howls which sounded like from a very large dog.  GULP!  Fingers tightened around triggers and made our way cautiously through the fog.  Could hear some footpads nearby. Stopped, listened, all of a sudden the fog parted in front of us and there was this huge black shaggy dog, eyes like two red furnaces, teeth like something out of Dante, and as large as a pony.  Let fire with shotguns which apart from making it flinch slightly did absolutely nothing, luckily at this point it turned away and trotted off.  We made haste to the pub and finished off their whisky supply.

Trip to the British Museum in London to find records of the area and the Abbey.  Came across some letters form St Augustus of Hippo who visited the area in AD365, the first spoke of a mad monk called Cithanius who was sent back to Rome.  The second letter was to the pope and was along the lines of "something out there returned to these shores and I have attended to it"  Found another tome entitled "Confessions of a mad monk Clithanius" which tells of  the monk reading the Necronomicon and discovering a sea creature who was a mad follower of Cthulhu, also mentions a star stone which we believe to be an Eldar Sign.  Found a spell which could summon (but not bind) the mad follower of Cthulhu)

Back again to Lynwold with a sketchy plan of summoning the creature and somehow banishing or imprisoning it.  Took Father Tomlyn with us to the caves and with the aid of an Eldar Sign on the floor of a corridor summoned the creature, put the earplugs in and stood ready with the guns, a hideous being came down the corridor, eight shots were loosed simultaneously and seven hit, this knocked the creature back a bit and as it couldn't get to us across the Eldar Sign, tried to tear the roof of the tunnel down and commenced a hideous whistling, rapid reloading of guns and another volley of shots caused the creature to dissipate, many congratulations and backslapping were caught short by the sound of approaching footfalls and guttural noises, shotguns back to shoulders and four Deep Ones appeared in the corridor, the shots were not so accurate this time and only took one creature completely out and several injured.  Hand to hand fighting ensued and Luther nearly broke his hands punching the creatures unconscious.  Emerged relatively unscathed and returned to the village.

Realised the black dog was after revenge of the dead policeman who shot the sheepdog, broke into the police station (again) and took the spare coat of the copper, used this a s a lure to draw the Black Dog to the policemans grave where it disappeared.

Alls well that ends well.

Luther Maguire and Friends