The Z to A Guide to TUT
Found on the cheaper package holidays to Tahiti. Due to a lack of
fresh bodies, they are a composite reminiscent of Frankenstein - the head,
arms etc belonging to different corpses. They stored their 'lives' in
green cherries around their necks and ceased to be animate when we 'took
the sailors cherries.'
Benny's brother and police informant on Allerton. Christian helped
the party to escape from Allerton's Boston house after giving us a copy of
a map found in Allerton's private rooms.
After the wand re-entered Allerton's possession, Christian was
caught spying and fearing for his life staged a brake-in to take the
wand. Christian was stopped by Allerton, who proceeded to torture him
until the police arrived on the scene ("I was defending myself and he
fell into the fire"). Christian later died from his wounds after
corroborating Allerton's account of what happened in a police statement -
in private telling us a different story.
An ex-servant (slave) of Allerton's who originally stole the wand
and escaped. He moved in with John at Eynsham and was hounded by cultists,
pretending to be KKK members. He sent the wand to Tahiti and was
apparently murdered shortly afterwards.
Benny's brother, Christian, was also a slave of Allerton's.
An experienced traveller of the dark path we met on a strange planet
(or perhaps a familiar planet in a strange time?) He was trapped after
losing his router. Warwick was one of the original American settlers in
the mid 18th century, but is now at least 150 years old due to time travel
(although not aged.)
He had apparently met prof. Hargreaves a hundred years in his
personal past, but our near future, in desperate circumstances. Apparently
all the party had gone insane and imprisoned while trying to stop the
'great resurrection.' A great 'war of nations' raged during this. Perhaps
this is a reference to WWII, but this seems a bit far in the future - the
professor would be pushing seventy.
Warwick showed a certain lack of morality in mugging a Brent-onian
and depriving him of his clothes. We doubt that he has connections with
Allerton, but anything could happen.
A stick, about a foot long possessing some incredibly weird powers.
As with the mask, a far more comprehensive account of our encounter with
it can be read in the campaign write-ups. The wand was in the possession
of Allerton, stolen by Benny when he first escaped and hidden in John's
house. When Allerton's cultists came looking for it, Benny sent the wand
to Tahiti before he died (presumed murdered, but with little physical
evidence to back this up.) Allerton intercepted the package and the wand
was again stolen, this time by Benny's brother, Christian - a police
informer on Allerton, after he was uncovered.
Christian died a bloody death by Allerton's hand, but was wand was
taken to a secret location by accomplices, who where discovered in bizarre
circumstances attributed to the wand. It is currently in possession of the
investigators.
Bloody dangerous things that should never see day light. All of
them have sinister origins and a deplorable musty smell hanging around
them. Tome contain material which leave most investigators several sanity
points shorter then before. Sample tomes include the 'Necronomicon' and
'Lieber Ritualis.'
Our mysterious benefactor, now probably dead. He was initially
approached by Allerton about the mask, which lead him to start his own
investigations and getting Arnold Witticker to work towards it. He
therefore put us on the trail and has given us aid, but several questions
remain unanswered such as: How did he know we didn't perish when the ship
to Tahiti disappeared (reported in the paper) and also that we'd reappear
in America rather than Tahiti?
To his credit, Tattler left several helpful items, including a tome
and some much needed cash to help finance our investigations, after his
dead - presumed murdered at Allerton's order.
Home of Benny's family and were he attempted to send the mask. The
package was somehow intercepted en-route by Allerton. The investigators
never actually made it to Tahiti, getting caught up in the dark path instead.
Tattler's and then our faithful shofer, perhaps a bit annoyed at
us continually getting blood all over his nice clean car, but otherwise a
nice guy. Sadly no longer with us, going 'missing' (dead) after waiting
with the car on a trip to some caves near Boston.
Inhabitants of the tunnels under Eanston port. Humanoid with fish
like heads, squat but extremely powerful. Slimy, fishy things is,
of course, the correct rendition of deep-ones.
Known for going all oily as we enter the dark path and generally
giving us a quick clue as to whether we're close to our own bit of the
universe or not. The sky also contains stars, we dread the answer when we
ask "Do the stars look right?"
The king of tools, Jeremiah Hawthorn always carries one around in
his pocket (he put it in there during an early adventure and forgot to
take it out) The screw driver in question has a black handle and a
removable shaft with Phillips on one end a standard bit on the other.
A strange sphere taken from the first ship we 'travelled' on. It
helps navigate along the dark path but is relatively useless in the
ordinary 3 dimensions (from experience trying to navigate a boat using it.)
Warwick used to have one, but lost it on a strange planet we briefly
visited - we guessed towards the end of time when most of the stars had
extinguished.
An event sometime in our near future, hinted at in what we know of
the mask ritual and what Warwick told us. Apparently the world will break
out in war and we'll all go temporally insane. Lovely.
The rectory in Eynsham was the one time base for the investigators
and also the scene of Arnold Witticker's "suicide". Its has a secret
alcove in the study and now apparently a portal into the dark path in the
master bedroom - presumably not formed properly since we couldn't
actually exit the dark path through it.
Puchaka is word for fish amongst the natives of an island we were
ship wrecked upon during our first voyage. The native had some grudge
again large metal puchaka, or nuclear war-heads as we call them and took
this anger out, with a large club, on the nearest specimen - which
happened to have crashed on their island towards the end of WWII. The
resulting explosion probably wiped out their sterile civilisation and
gave the prof. some nice melenoma's to go with his instant tan.
The island was also the location of a gateway to the dark path.
Largely corrupt, being in the pay of Allerton. A small group of
officers exist, who despair at Allerton's control and attempt to gather
evidence against him - evidence which tends to disappear or get shot in
custody.
Inspector Faraday is our contact amongst this element, so his life
expectancy is that of a hedgehog in the fast lane of the M1.
A well respected university of old (for America) foundation, most
noted (from a Cthulhu point of view) for its large collection of mythos
tomes, currently under viewing restrictions by order of Dr. Henry Armitage.
A ritual mask found at an American-Indian grave site by Stanley
Wingate. It was only big enough to fit on a child and the workmanship was
strange for America, the symbols etc apparently African in origin. The
mask has many strange properties, including giving a strange sensation to
those who touch it and under some circumstances changes form and has
addition powers - read the write-ups for session(s) 14 for more details.
Wingate tried to cover up the masks discovery and hid the mask,
eventually being buried with it at Brent.
A little gift from Tattler - a mythos tome containing 'a curse to
all land dwellers.' Written in 13th century Bohemia and currently being
deciphered by Jeremiah.
A very dangerous place to be, since its full of books and some are
bound to induce sanity loss or at the very least lead to events that will.
Old libraries, containing even older books are the worst (take the
Miskatonic UL for instance.) And have you seen the way librarians look at
people, their eyes following them round the room - the stare saying 'we
know more than you. ' You see librarians like books, especially old musty
tomes - what more evidence do you need of cult involvement.
A friend of Benny's who sheltered him after he escaped from
Allerton. He owned a house in Eynsham and eventually summoned up 'the
devil' after Benny died (probably murdered) being hounded by cultists,
disguised as KKK thugs. John later died after giving us a strange book and
clues which led us to the wand.
The characters we play, investigating mystery outlined in the
campaign write-ups. The current party of investigators compromises:
Dr. Jarvis Jones - Doctorate of History and an English gentleman.
Prof. William Hargreaves - Visiting professor of Archaeology at
Miskatonic Uni. and holds the Rider Professorship in the subject at
Cambridge University, England.
John Aintree - A (stereo) typical American private eye.
Rev. Michael Peters - Roman Catholic priest and until recently
replaced, rector at Eynsham village. Father Michael currently lies in a
coma after a nasty accident in Africa.
Jeremiah Hawthorn - Bookish antique shop owner (shop now ashes) and
more than a little antiquarian.
The second most useful survival device, next to the swiss-army
knife. It has a myriad of uses, including a rather original way of
purifying salt water... The less said the better, although I'm sure we
could be tempted to right an essay on it.
A quiet village near Arkham and the Rev's parish. Used for a while
as the investigators base until after one spell in the asylum too many
meant that Rev Peters was removed from his post and the rectory. Allerton
was probably behind this, as a portal to the Dark-Path has appeared in the
rectory's master bedroom.
Eynsham was also the place were John lived and sought the party's
help after being hounded by the 'KKK' (actually cultists, after a wand
which John's friend, Benny Winton stole from Allerton.) This prompted a
absolute massacre of cultists by the PC's and then police by the cultists
which strangely didn't get reported despite around 10 casualties - the
long arm of Allerton pervading our every action.
A coastal fishing town inhabited by slightly disfigured people,
they are excellent fishermen - according to one wit 'No wonder their so
successful (at fishing) when they look just like the catch.' (bulging eyes
and slight malformation of the skeleton.)
Eanston is also the site of a strange church, built in a completely
different fashion to the other churches of the same period and oddly
proportioned even for the era it was trying to imitate. The alter is made
of the same wood as the book-mark the party found and the crypt is perhaps
stranger. The entire underneath of the town is riddled with massive
caverns leading out to sea, the church crypt been coated in an unknown
greyish black rock with green veins, which match perfectly across the joins.
These caverns are swarming with slimy, fishy beings (humanoid with
fish shaped heads, squat and reeking of rotting sea life.)
Warwick's name for a region of space unconnected with time, where
people can travel as ethereal 'spirits' in space and time. Accessible by
portals dotted about. Portals currently known included:
Brent church tower.
Eynsham rectory master bedroom.
Possibly Allerton's rooms in Boston.
A cavern under Eanston between the church and hotel there.
A small island, destroyed c. 1946 by a nuclear blast.
Some planet in the far future.
Term coined by August Derleth to cover the myth cycle created
mainly by Howard Philip Lovecraft. It takes its name from the god-like
entity Cthulhu (Cuth-oo-loo is one pronunciation) who is the most
worshipped of the 'great old ones' on Earth. It must be stressed that there
is no concept of morality attached to the GOO's - morals are a human
invention to stop us comprehending the soul-less abyss that is the
universe. Such labels should as good and evil should not be attached to
them, although from our subjective (temporary and flawed) view-point we
would label them evil.
Cthulhu is current 'sleeping' beneath the waves in his temple at
R'lyeh, trapped when the continent containing his city subsided a long
time ago. He will be back 'When the stars are right.'
Worn around the neck by crew-members on our first voyage abroad,
zombie sailors should be enough to put anyone off foreign holidays. The
cherries apparently stored the life force of these zombies and the soon
split into their component bits after having their cherry taken.
Given experience of sailors in our groups one-offs, taking sailors
cherries may have a far more sinister double meaning...
A set of caves in Africa, which contain painting telling of a
ritual involving the mask and wand. It tells about a great resurrection.
Unfortunately, as of this date, we haven't arrived at them yet so I can't
be more specific.
A small village a day's journey from Arkham and resting(?) place of
Stanley Wingate - discoverer of the Chieftain's mask.
The town's folk are extremely apathetic, due to the mask's close
presence we theorised on historical evidence. Although they didn't regain
any signs of independence after it was taken away. (The mask been hidden
in Wingate's grave until we decided to dig it up.)
Brent church is also the location of a portal into the Dark Path.
Brent is apparently very important in the campaign, so I guess we
still haven't finished with it.
The nearest city to Arkham and base of Allerton. The investigators
seem to spend far too long getting shot at and recovering from bullet
wounds inside the city limits and were last seen buying copious amounts
of shotguns, crow-bars and other small necessities.
Allerton's house is in Boston.
Not your average book mark, but made of a strange wood which none
of the party recognise: pale, almost white. It was found in the Rev's
secret cubby-hole along with Arnold's body. Since the book obviously
didn't match the bookmark, we've theorised that the book belonging to it
is in fact the very book which drove Arnold insane; no probably in the
hands of Allerton.
The alter in the queer coastal town of Eanston is also made of the
same wood.
The local newspaper, an on going campaign joke due to the amount of
news we get about Allerton's movements from it.
A town in New England and setting for many of HPL's stories, a
witch-haunted place of many centuries, were black mass is still celebrated
on Walpurgis night. Most of the investigators came from around the Arkham
area and all have lived in the locality for many years. The town and
surrounding villages was the setting for many of our earlier
investigations, although the campaign has now moved to a more
international flavour.
Arkham is also the location of the Miskatonic University, with its
enviable collection of mythos tomes and other forbidden books.
Boston cloth exporter and nasty bastard. Up to and probably beyond
his elbows in eldritch ichor. Known to keep illegal immigrants as slave
labour in his factories and as domestic staff; although most of the
police department is in his pay, so I don't think this'll be appearing
before a court.
Both Christian and Benny Winton were slaves at his house and
provided us with plenty of information about his goings on - apparently
he has private apartments which even his bodyguards aren't allowed to enter.
Allerton is probably the campaign's arch villain, otherwise known
to us as _Mr_ Big Cheese, or Mr Cheese for short.
Finish reading tome
Wednesday, 08-Nov-2000 21:19:34 GMT