Call of Cthulhu - Session three Summary

Due to some distractions - Fallout 2, this is later than I intended.

(summary of previous sessions - session one, session two)

Continuing Wednesday 27th April 1921

Jimmy, Adam, Rosalind and Archie get ready and then head over to the Bremers for dinner. It's a fairly sombre affair.
Meanwhile at the Library, doc's research into bears finds that while black bears used to be common in Iowa, there'd been no sightings for over 40 years. Grizzly bears were found further west. Once the library closed, doc and Mick headed back to Jenny's house.

Adam, Jimmy and Geno (passed out on the couch) stay at Jenny's place over night while the rest of the group head over the the hotel that Mrs Lebrun had booked for them.



Thursday 28th April 1921
Those staying at the hotel have a brief discussion as to what to do next and decide going out to Oak Valley is the best course of action. Rosalind asks the hotel kitchen to prepare a picnic lunch of sandwiches and the like for the group. They then head over to Jenny's residence to pick up the other three. In the touring car with Archie driving is Rosalind, doc and Ralphey, while Nick drives the others in the Central door car.

The touring car, being open top takes the lead, but doc immediately gets them to drive in the wrong  direction. The other vehicle honks them, turning off to the right direction. Eventually they arrive in Oak Valley.

Oak Valley is about 15 miles NW of Ames. While the main road between Ames and Oak Valley is labled a highway, it's single laned with dirt sides and lots of pot holes. The town itself only consists of around 4 dozen houses, most of which are strung out along the town's main street. Majority of the houses are typical small structures, what you would see in many tiny midwesten towns. The area around it is a mix of farms and woodland.

The group stops at the two story general store "Harv's General Store" and talk to Harv, a slightly overweight man in his forties.

• He recalls seeing the priest and Jenny when they visited. 
• In regards to Garber's body - while bears haven't been spotted in years, what else could it be
• Riker found the body, his place is up a dirt track straight north of the store
• Garber was a drunk so likely dreamed the whole thing 
• Rosalind while seeing no sign of firearms amongst all the goods does spot what she thinks may be a concealed door on one of the walls

They then drive up the dirt track to Riker's place. The find a run down farm, weeds growing in the crop field, scrawny chickens free, picking at the yard, a half collapsed bar, broken windows repaired with rags and cardboard.
They manage to rouse Riker. He has the look of an alcoholic about him. It takes a lot of convincing(due to several really bad dice rolling) to get him to show them where he found the body. Archie finally manages to convince him by saying about how Adam and Jimmy's sister is missing. Geno stays with the cars.

He leads them to the site, next to the Smith Creek.

• The big bites torn out of Garber were bigger than any animal in these parts could cause. 
• Had seen tracks - those of large hoofprints ranging from dinner plate to nearly four feet across, since washed away in the rains. Did not tell the police about the tracks
• Followed the tracks east for about 1/2 mile before he lost the trail
• Was with Garber the night Garber saw the "devil-worshipping Cult"
• The people in the clearing were talking about the spreading of the worship of someone they called "He Who Walks Behind the Rows"
• Recognised the Simons and several other people.

At the urging of the investigators, Riker leads them towards the clearing, several miles away, SE of where they are.

About 50m from the clearing he stops and tells them it's ahead. The area around is densely forested. Rosalind waits there, holding Ralphy while everyone else moves forward to the edge of the clearing.

• Archie notices there has not been any sign of animal tracks for a while. In fact the area is quiet, no insects, no birds. The only sound is the wind blowing through the trees and the noise the investigators are making
• In the clearing is a huge old twisted tree, sickly grey, that seems to squat over an alter. the limbs of the tree sway menacingly, perhaps not caused by the wind or is that just a trick of the shadows.
• over to the right near the edge of the forest, several of them spot a large area of whiteness.

Doc, Nick and Jimmy start heading towards the tree, Nick holding onto Jimmy to stop him running over to the tree and alter. Archie and Adam head over to the white area, which as they get closer they are able to perceive is a pile of bones extending back into the forest. Rosalind, Riker and Ralphy move up to the edge of the clearing.

• Archie and Adam are able to make out human bones in amongst the piles of animal bones. They both vocalise their horror. Rosalind and Jimmy head over to them.
• Doc and Nick get to the alter and see it is brown stain caked. Being a doctor and a butcher they both recognise it to be dried blood.
• Adam and Archie also see human tracks as well as large hoofprints around the bones.
• There are no sign of clothes amongst the bones.
• Nick pulls out a knife and starts to scrap away some of the caked blood at the edge of the alter to see if there is any writing.

East of those are the bone pile, SE of those at the alter, several of the group hear the sound of something moving through the forest, something large. Attracting the attention of others over there they can see the trees moving as something large is pushing through the forest towards them. The stench  of graves left open for several days washes over the party. Archie and Rosalind run into the forest near them, angling towards they way the came in. Rosalind looses hold of Ralphy's lead as it gets tangled up in some trees. Archie manages to grab him and holds onto the whimpering struggling dog. Doc heads towards the path as well, while Nick runs directly north to the nearest forest edge. Adam and Jimmy start backing towards the way they came in, watching the movement through the forest and then witnessing the large creature as it breaks through the tree line. They turn and run.

The creature in the woods

Doc, one of the first to reach the edge of the clearing, stops and turns to look at what is making all the ruckus. Witnessing the creature, his brain can't cope, causing him to collapse to the ground curled up in a foetal position. Luckily for the doc, Adam manages to pick him up as he and Jimmy get to where he is. Everyone runs for their lives away from the clearing.

After a couple of minutes, Rosalind staggering from being out of breath, stops. The rest of the group stop. behind them they can still hear the creature chasing them. Jimmy puts his arm around Rosalind, helping her along as he would with a wounded soldier. The group realise that Nick is not with them. Jimmy wants to go back as Nick didn't leave him behind in the war. Adam convinces him they must go on and Nick will be fine. After several more minutes of running and staggering through the forest they get to the creek. Jimmy and Adam thing the creature is still behind them The others don't. They cross the stream and are unsure of where they are. In the distance they can make out a farm house and head towards it. There is no sign of the creature.

Doc realises that his Doctors bag was left back at the clearing. It contains enough information for people (the cultists) to identify him and where his practice is. He does not handle this well.

The party (minus Nick) get pointed towards the main road and they start making their way back to the riker place and their vehicles.

Nick meanwhile has gotten himself lost in the woods. He eventually manages to make his way out and with the help of a couple of farmers is dropped off at the general store. Harv comments on the state of his clothing, having been damaged and muddied from running though the forest. Nick tells him that something had chased them and he did not think it was a bear as he's hunted bears before. Nick gets the feeling from Harv's reaction that he may know something about this....


Note to self - try and summarise these better so they are shorter and don't take a few hours to write. Not really a summary currently.