With all players back for the game, Down Darker Trails: Bag of Nails campaign continued its narrative. The Investigators continued to pursue clues into Arlene’s estranged family in the hopes of discovering what really became of her identical cousin.
Scenario: Sunday Shadows
The player characters were left with few direct leads following Issues 11 & 12: School Spirit. This was intentional; there was a mystery regarding the Hunnell family and their secrecy was a shell that would not open easily. It would be up to the the players to route clues and, so long as it was a reasonable action, knowledge would be rewarded. Once again, I had no exact plans only my notes and knowledge of the Dean and Mary Hunnell—what they were doing and what powers they had at their disposal.
Session Recap
Keeper’s Note: I lost track of my in-game calendar and, while running, the players and I worked on the pretense that the current month was October. As this was a fairly trivial detail to the actual session, I’ve since corrected the players to the correct in-game date and included the date in the recap below.
The Investigators woke to a fresh spring air on Sunday, May 30th, 1869. With scant leads and only a sense that there was something nefarious to do with Arlene Hunnell’s estranged aunt and uncle, they decided to approach the best source of gossip on a Sunday morning: church parishioners. Red Dove stayed at the hotel, feeling she wouldn’t be welcome and Corwin decided to use the Sunday to get a little extra shut-eye. The remaining four sat in the back rows as services began at St. Peter’s Episcopalian Church in Salem, Massachusetts. Eying the crowd, they were able to spot Lars in the front row, sitting with Mary Hunnell. Her husband, Dean, did not appear to be present.
While the other three Investigators present at the church decided against participating in Sunday Communion, Ellis’s two encounters with death had left him feeling a bit more religious than before. Since his first death and revival, any alcohol had tasted foul and acidic. He was surprised to discover that the communion wine, the symbolic blood of Christ, tasted surprisingly good, far better than one would expect from a simple wine. As none of the others partook, the gambler was left unsure if this was an effect of his own resurrection or if it simply was a high quality wine.
As services ended, the Investigators decided to remain in their seats, watching the people leave and seeing if they could subtly provoke a reaction from Mary Hunnell. As her eyes passed over Arlene, they filled with a combination of surprise and sheer hatred. Beyond that glance, Mary retained full composure and quickly exited the church with her escort. Her look had not gone unnoticed by the characters, though the possible meanings behind it were very open to interpretation. The four returned to the hotel to impart what they had seen to Red Dove and Corwin.
With so much of the city’s business and buildings closed in honor of Sunday, research options were slim. Thankfully, the Salem Social Library was still open for the day and Arlene’s press credentials allowed the Investigators easy access. Here, they were able to uncover a bit more information about the Hunnells and, more significantly, the home in which they lived. Also, Corwin was engrossed in a children’s book about dragons (thanks to a botched Library Use roll).
What was now the Hunnell House was originally built sixty years prior under the architectural guidance and ownership of Zachary Kaur. Kaur would later be arrested and hung for the murder of at least five women with other murders suspected. The following owner was a man named Martin Jacobson, who was gunned down by the police following a violent rampage in the streets. The Hunnells acquired the house only one year later and had been living there in relative seclusion and extreme privacy for twenty odd years.
As there were no public records of the house itself, the Investigators decided to surreptitiously question the local constabulary. Ellis went to a bar near the police station and charmed his way into hearing tales from some of the officers during a friendly hand of poker—making sure to lose to them just enough to keep them in the game and “pay” for the information. One of the older detectives, Franklin Richards, had been a junior officer following the death of Mr. Jacobson and had been part of the investigations of the house—a house that had basements three levels deep! The accidental revelation provoked a strange fear over the officers and Ellis was perceptive enough to change the topic of conversation. Clearly, something about either the house, the Hunnells, or both was keeping the police tight-lipped.
With no more knowledge to be gleaned from the police, the Investigators set up another meeting with Lars at the hotel bar after his “work hours.” Arlene remained upstairs and out of view while Corwin and Levi sat in relative earshot. Red Dove sat by the door, waiting for a cue to follow Lars following his meeting with Ellis and Dr. Hiram Blake. Lars’s fear revealed more than his actual words; it was if he wanted to say more to the gambler and doctor but could not bring himself to say anything. Rather than attempting to break the butler, they clapped him on the shoulder and thanked him for his time.
Red Dove carefully followed Lars, while Corwin followed the Native American as back-up. The lieutenant’s feet were not nearly as light as the scout’s but Lars was in such a hurry to get home that he was still unnoticed. Corwin spotted a shadowy figure carrying a torch. The figure was setting fire to a house and suddenly there were a lot of things to do. Corwin chased down the figure while Red Dove continued her stealthy pursuit of Lars.
From the bar, the other Investigators heard Corwin’s shouts of “fire!” Hiram went upstairs to ensure Arlene remained safe while Ellis and Levi joined the fire brigade.
Corwin cornered the shadowy figure and realized that “shadowy figure” was a truly apt description. It was some sort of a living shadow, black and mostly featureless. But solid enough that a blow to the head was able to incapacitate the creature. He carefully carried the gooey-like humanoid back to the hotel.
Levi and Ellis helped put out the fire—which didn’t take long, as the alarm was sounded quickly by Corwin—and discovered that the burning home belonged to Detective Richards who lamented that he let his tongue wag about the house. As that was happening, Hiram and Arlene found themselves fending off another shadow creature which had climbed through the second floor window of Arlene’s room. Though they were not expert marksmen, they were able to dispatch the being before it did any harm.
While the shadow creatures had no exact looks, they appeared to be male and female shaped. And all signs and lore pointed to them being summoned from the very shadows of Dean and Mary Hunnell, using pieces of their souls to create these beings. If the shadows could not reconnect to their keepers in 12 hours, those pieces of the summoners’ souls would be lost forever. The shadow beings were solid enough that they could be locked in Arlene’s wardrobe.
Following this direct attack, it was time for the Investigators to go on the offense. They decided to take the fight to the Hunnell house, though they knew not what might wait them inside.
Keeper’s Thoughts
Being outdoorsy and more action-oriented, there wasn’t much to keep Levi or Red Dove occupied as characters. There’s often a tricky balance with a more investigative type of game like Call of Cthulhu, especially when characters can come from very diverse backgrounds. I don’t want sessions to feel too much like combat-based RPGs, but am making sure I provide some additional encounters and obstacles in the upcoming scenario to help give all players something to do.
I’ve intentionally not been giving Rewards and Retributions the last few sessions as I wanted the characters to complete the narrative arc. While the potential problem of what to do with the ghost of Paulo Riva is still unresolved, the next session should tie up the ends of the Hunnell family of Salem. With any luck on my part, more sanity will be lost next session than gained in rewards. Insert evil Keeper laughter.
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