What lurks below

During a visit to a local bookstore, the characters find an independently published manuscript written by a prominent “beat” author. It describes a set of tunnels beneath Hartford, Connecticut where the store is located. The author found the tunnels during his wanderings across the country, during which he was periodically homeless, and briefly describes how hoboes were afraid of them due to rumors that these were haunted.

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The basement has been renovated to contain shelf space. Alert characters might see eyes peering through a breach in a boarded wall in the basement, which separates an unused portion of it from the rest of the floor.

Further research indicates there are unused portions of the sewer system that are separated from the current sewer system and are not up to code. There are also disused canals beneath certain city streets that are adjunct to the tunnels. Characters exploring them discover that the canals and tunnels do connect, but represent only a portion of the underground site described by the author.

Possibilities

1 Certain tunnels were dug upwards into the other tunnels by Ghouls. One of the canal tunnels connects to a breach in a basement at the store.

2 The author did not accurately describe the tunnels. A vampire living there used psychic powers to read his mind and discovered he was a prominent author. It meddled with his mind and sent him away. This creature preys on small groups of isolated curiosity seekers, vagrants and others who will not be missed. It uses its powers to simulate a haunting, has found an outlet in the tunnels near the store and can read minds with some effort.

3 The tunnels were covertly expanded and used for illegal activities such as bootlegging. There are a few dead bodies and evidence of other dark secrets there that at least a few prominent people in the state with ties to organized crime would prefer were never discovered. A community of vagrants resides there. The “thing” in the basement is merely a homeless person residing in the tunnels who could provide clues if the characters meet him.

© Brian Woodman