Lost at Sea

The disappearence of Andrew Grayson, the wealthy young Canadian businessman, devastated his friends and family. Grayson was enjoying a Pacific cruise with his family on board the S.S. Arcadia. One evening, he told his wife he was going to take a stroll on deck, but he never returned. The alarm was raised, but Grayson was never found, and was eventually presumed dead, lost overboard.

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Possibilities

1 Grayson did fall overboard, and he was washed up on an island. He spent several days surviving off the land before falling foul of the Dzygan. The Dzygan is a flesh-eating monstrosity that was imprisoned on the island centuries ago. It obtains the memories of anything it devours, and can imitate them almost perfectly. With a human form and memories, it can now escape the island.

2 This is not the first disappearance aboard the Arcadia, but the cruise line have managed to cover them up until now. The ship’s captain and a number of the crew are worshippers of Dagon. They sacrifice passengers in return for wealth and fair sailing. Unfortunately for them, this high-profile death has roused suspicions.

3 Grayson, bored of his wealth and his family, turned to ever more exotic experiences to sate his remarkable brain. Eventually he fell in with Angelo Botticelli, an ageing sorcerer who offered him unlimited power in return for sacrificing all his worldly ties. Grayson faked his own death and has become Botticelli’s apprentice. However, a prominent and wealthy businessman like Andrew Grayson can’t easily go unnoticed, and reported sightings of him in Fiji are proving hard to ignore.

© Rob Illing

Kindergarten Kult

All is not well at the Arkham Day-Care Center. The children who attend seem to have fun at the Centre, but recently they complained of nightmares. The nightmares vary, but they all seem to be about Mrs Mollse, the Center’s nurse.

Possibilities

1 Mrs Mollse is a member of the Arkham Witch-Cult. She has recently been given a mind-control spell by the Outer God Yitllicn, the Alterer of Thoughts. She is using it on the children under her care. Whilst under the spell’s influence, they think all is normal, not knowing that they are carrying out unspeakable tasks in the name of Yitllicn. However, when they sleep, the memories of what really happened seep through.

2     About a month ago, Cthulhu visited Mrs Mollse in her dreams, "requesting" that she become one of her priests. Foolishly, Mrs Mollse refused. The Dreamer in R’lyeh is now trying to incriminate Mrs Mollse in a child-abuse case (deep ones are really carrying out the abuse).

3     The nightmares are of Mrs Mollse being torn up by awful dog-like beasts (experienced investigators will realize that these are the Hounds of Tindalos). Before she came to the Center, Mrs Mollse was a New Age Traveller. Experimenting with a certain drug, she encountered the Hounds. She fled the New Age camp and became a kindergarten nurse, which she thought would be enough to give the Hounds the slip. The Hounds have not caught up with her yet, as she went quite far in time. The dreams are warnings sent by arrival species of angular time.

© Arthur Boff