Suffering Artist

Gaspar Brent, a successful local artist has been horribly mutilated and now lives mindlessly in a catatonic state. Upon the completion of his last work, a painting of an unusually strange series of lines and angles, Brent was “attacked” by an unseen assailant. Should he ever recover, Gaspar Brent will never paint again - the “mutilator” hacked both of his hands off at the wrist. The hands were nowhere to be found. The painting is missing as well.

Possibilities

1 Gaspar Brent was kept awake for weeks before the completion of his final work. Plagued by nightmares, the only thing that gave him rest was his painting. The nightmares were sent by a Dr. Nathan Hargreaves, a devoted priest of Hastur who needed the painting as a votive focus for an evocation of one of the Unspeakable One’s avatars. He removed the artist’s hands in an elaborate ritual of torture that was used to guarantee that he would never produce another painting like it.

2 Gaspar Brent knew the angles of the painting were unlike any others in the history of art. A morphine addict, Gaspar Brent was given to “dreams” and “visions” on a constant basis. It was from these that the inspiration for his most recent painting came. Unknowingly, Brent worked at the ancient diagram until one evening, in the midst of an inspired state, his hands pushed through the canvas into an extra-dimensional space where he felt a horrible and dreadful gnashing of fangs upon his wrists. When he withdrew them, the Hound of Tindalos that he had evoked, held tight to its prey. Upon seeing the beast, Brent went insane, buckling under the actuality of what he had done. Biting through, the Hound retracted back into the painting, taking the artist’s hands and sanity with it. Before Brent’s maddened eyes, the painting then crumbled to dust.

3 Gaspar Brent is not as well off as he used to be. Having spent his last cent on luxuries beyond his means, he borrowed money from a local mob family and has no means of paying it back. After repeated threats, Gaspar Brent went to the Don to beg for mercy and a means by which he could return the favor. After sending his thugs to demolish Brent’s studio and take anything of value (including the painting), Don Carriagi had Brent beaten within an inch of his life and his hands hacked off at the wrist. After his stumps were bound with filthy wads of gauze and twine, Brent was left on his doorstep, terrorized to the core.

© G Holochwost

Cold Logic

Miskatonic University professor of Higher-Dimensional Mathematics, Dr Simeon Rasen, disappears in mysterious circumstances just after submitting for review the research paper that he proclaimed would take his career, and the entire science of mathematics, to a whole new level.

Then, the people reviewing the paper begin to disappear as well...

Possibilities

1 The paper proposes the existence of “angular space” alongside the curved space that we inhabit, and describes how it might be proven. Angular space is indeed real and is home to the nightmarish Hounds of Tindalos. Rasen’s exploration of angular space lured the Hounds to him, and they killed him effortlessly. The same fate awaits anyone who tries to continue his work or attempts to verify the ideas in his research paper.

2 Rasen’s work caused him to suffer from insane episodes, during which he was able to construct part of the mathematical formula that would allow him to summon the Elder God Daoloth, the render of the veils. Once recovered, he was unable to remember the periods of insanity, but he discovered the formula scrawled across the walls of his home. He based his research paper on this, but after submitting it for review he declined into insanity again, and realised he needed the formula in the paper to continue his search for Daoloth. He has since been trying to track down the original version of his paper so that he might complete the unfinished formula and summon the Elder God. All who stand in his way must die.

3 Years ago, Rasen was possessed by a Yithian. Eventually, the creature learned all that it could from Rasen and departed peacefully, and Rasen’s spirit was brought back to his normal body with all memories erased. However, with his formidable strength of mind he overcame the influence of the Tabula Rasa device and recalled many aspects of the science of the Yithians. He incorporated their brilliant mathematical concepts into his new paper before submitting it for review. Only later did he recall the final details that allowed him to create a gate to the Yithian city. From there he has uncovered more of the work of the Yithians and is a master of travelling across limitless space and even time. He has begun to contact his former associates and offered them the opportunity to accompany him to distant worlds. Those who refuse he is forced to kill rather than risk them revealing his secrets to the world.

© Thomas Parfrey

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

Captive Audience

One of the investigators finds an anonymous package on their doorstep. Inside is a framed painting. There are clues to its origin on the object, e.g. the artist’s initials (K.M.) and the date it was painted, and the investigators soon learn the truth - everyone who has previously possessed the painting has died within a week of first seeing it.

Possibilities

1 The painting appears to be modern art, with many bizarre intersecting lines and angles. However, it is in fact very old indeed, having been painted by Keziah Mason, the witch mentioned in The Dreams in the Witch House. The painting is a one-way window 700,000,000 years into the past - it allows the Hounds of Tindalos to observe whoever looks into it. One or more of the Tindalos will be arriving in seven days, and the investigators had better act soon.

2 The painting is of a hideous old man (or woman, if appropriate), decrepit and ugly. As the investigators search for clues to its origin, they notice that the figure in the picture is becoming younger - and beginning to resemble the investigator that first received the painting!

The painting is stealing life from the investigator, and they soon experience rapid ageing. If they cannot find a way to stop the process they will soon wither and die. They cannot simply destroy the painting, as it now contains part of their soul - damage inflicted on the painting is also inflicted on the investigator - and so they must find a way to dispel the curse.

3 The painting is desired by a ruthless art collector, who will stop at nothing to get it. The investigators will soon be targeted by thugs and assassins in his employ. This also happened to the last few people to own the painting, resulting in their rapid demise.

© James David Beard

In the Watches of the Night

The local museum was recently preparing to open a new display about a prominent local family. Edward Eastman, the only son of a wealthy father, had donated many interesting family heirlooms to the museum.

The Eastman family has been in the community for generations, and Thomas Eastman, Edward’s great-great-great-grandfather, was one of the founders of the town. The heirlooms donated included several paintings, some furniture, some letters, and assorted antiques. The most interesting piece was a large, old-fashioned silver pocket watch, with a stylized dragon engraved on the lid, which had belonged to Thomas Eastman.

Image credit

Unfortunately, two days before the museum was scheduled to open, the museum was broken into, and many of the Eastman heirlooms were taken, including the pocket watch. The assistant curator, who had been working late that night, was brutally killed. And to make the case even more complicated, Edward Eastman has vanished.

Possibilities

1 Edward Eastman had a tendency to gamble, and his debts quickly outgrew his abilities to pay them. He didn’t donate his family heirlooms to the museum; he sold them and used the cash to pay off some of his debt. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and the people he owed got impatient and threatened him.

Edward quietly left town before the break-in, hoping to put some distance between himself and the loan sharks. The break-in at the museum was a straight robbery; other valuable pieces were also taken. The assistant curator happened to walk in at the wrong moment.

2 Thomas Eastman was a sorcerer of no small skill. He was also a thoroughly unpleasant person, and was forced to disappear for a good long time, leaving many of his possessions behind. Chief among these was his pocket watch, which he had designed himself. It was something like a magical battery, supplying him with any needed magical energy. Thomas had put himself into a type of stasis, concealed in the basement of his mansion.

Five generations later, Edward Eastman was doing some remodeling, and accidentally woke Thomas up. Thomas killed Edward and started setting about locating his missing belongings. He broke into the museum to recover them, killing the assistant curator when she got in his way. In a few days, the badly mauled body of Edward Eastman will turn up near his house.

3 Edward Eastman had an interest in the occult, which was bolstered by some of the things he read in Thomas’s papers. However, some of his experiments in sorcery attracted the notice of one of the Hounds of Tindalos. Edward managed to seal the Hound into a non-dimensional space, using Thomas’s watch as a focus. Unfortunately, Edward was an amateur sorcerer at best, and the Hound quickly broke through the seal, destroying the watch and several other items. It happened upon the assistant curator, and tore her apart. Then it hunted Edward down and exacted a horrific revenge.

© Megan McKnight

The Winged Cat

Peter McIntyre, a young academic studying the history of witchcraft, visits his fiancée one night and never returns. Until this point, it seemed that everything was going his way – his recently established contracting business was a success and his fiancée, Amanda, is beautiful and adoring. He had made no preparations for departure and had mentioned nothing amiss to his friends. A winged black cat appears at his house and mews to be let in.

Possibilities

1 McIntyre has become involved in a cult of Tsathoggua. His business is really a cover to launder ill-gotten wealth from his occult dabbling, and his fiancé is the victim of a love spell. His recent activities, however, brought him to the attention of the Hounds of Tindalos. They tracked him through time and space and found him just as he arrived home after visiting Amanda but, through a quick deal with Tsathoggua, he escaped to a parallel dimension. His familiar, a black cat, went with him, but was replaced with its counterpart from the dimension to which he escaped.

2 Amanda is not as young as young as she appears, or as innocent. She is in fact a witch over ninety years old, maintaining her youthful appearance by sacrificing virgin youths (such as Peter) to the Old Ones. The sacrificial spell involves considerable preparation of the victim, which explains why she has become so closely associated with him. The cat is a fey creature, attracted by the stench of magic in the wake of the spell.

3 Amanda has recently returned from a holiday in the Middle East and brought back a souvenir as a token of her love. Knowing Peter’s fascination with things ancient and occult, Amanda chose a small stone statuette said to have been taken from an ancient tomb. The statuette is a figure of the cat goddess, Bast.  Amanda cannot read Arabic, but Peter can, and on his way home, read aloud the inscription in the base of the carving. This activated an ancient curse, which transformed him into a winged cat.

© Barbara Robson

The Attic Window

On the top floor of that long-abandoned house with the shady history is a coffin-shaped window. The house has an ill reputation; its last owner supposedly practised black magic and was murdered in the room behind that curious window 30 years ago. The murder was never solved.

The window itself is supposed to be haunted. It is whispered that the dead owner is sometimes seen in it, and strange lights shine from it by night.

An urban legend says that if you look through the window from the inside, the world outside would look strange and wrong.

Breaking into the house and looking through the window has now become a teenage rite-of-passage. But be careful, for you can go mad if you are unlucky...

Possibilities

1 The windows glass has a strange, but unmagical, ability to store images (and to a degree, sound). The images are replayed from time to time, sometimes long after they were imprinted. Some images are repeated time after time, others appear only once. (This is how the long-dead owner is seen.) If you look through the window from the inside, you can might see the street as seen long ago.

And at some point, if you are looking in from the outside, you will eventually see the murder.

2 The window is not made of glass, but from an unknown material made by a pre-human civilisation. It stores images over a nearly infinite time. Under normal circumstances, it looks like a normal window – but things can look wrong (as latent images beneath the surface merge with the normal view).

Looked through in certain angles and light it shows aeon-old images of the laboratory that created it.

The former owner found the glass and learned much forbidden knowledge by looking through it. Unfortunately, he attracted the attention of one of the hounds of Tindalos...

3 The former owner dabbled in black magic and as a side effect trapped a weak astral entity in the glass. The entity is bored, and hates humans. It has learnt how to alter and corrupt the view through its glass prison and uses this ability to confuse and scare humans.

© Stefan Jonsson

A Death in the Family

For one of the characters, Florence Hasket is a name tinted with emotion. Their families were very close and the two of them grew up together. They were almost brother and sister. Marriage was on the cards. Then, something happened. Florence met, fell in love with, and married, a soldier. She kept in contact, but eventually the letters stopped altogether. She has not written in years.

But a letter, even one concerning such sad news, is a welcome sight. Her father, Simon Hasket, has died and she invites the investigator to the funeral. It will be an opportunity to meet friends and relatives, and to talk to Florence.

The funeral is a quiet affair, marred by only one incident. An elderly gentleman approaches Florence’s brother and draws him aside. They talk earnestly before the man stalks off. At the entrance to the churchyard he turns and shouts “I know how he died! It’ll get you all!” Then he climbs into his car and leaves.

Two years ago, Professor Hasket returned from an archaeological visit to Venezuela. His studies have been erratic since then. He became increasingly preoccupied with a number of obscure legends and myths.

His death was particularly bizarre. He was found terribly mutilated in bed, in his room. The corpse was such a mess that it was barely identifiable, as if it had been put through a meat grinder.

Possibilities

1 On the trip to Venezuela, Hasket found some notes taken from the Necronomicon. From these he pieced together enough information to talk to some sort of ‘strange being.’ He tried this and inadvertently contacted one of the Hounds of Tindalos.

Belatedly realising his terrible mistake, he visited Professor Michaelson and together they tried to stop the Hound. They failed, but in the process Hasket had a dream - the Hound was talking to him! His attempts to foil the Hound had cost it dearly in time, it would pay the professor back by taking his family as well.

The Hound has taken Hasket. It will return for Florence and her brother one day soon.

2 Professor Michaelson accompanied Hasket to Venezuela and tried in vain to dissuade Hasket from taking sacred Indian relics from the ancient temple. The Indians, upon discovering their loss, cursed Hasket and his family. Finally their vengeance has arrived. Only by returning the relics will the curse be lifted.

3 The two men have pieced together from the fragments of an ancient Venezuelan inscription a spell for calling Nyarlathotep. Unfortunately, Hasket had a mild heart attack during the spell, ruining it. Nyarlathotep was angered by this and, once Hasket had recovered, disembowelled him. The knowledge is driving Michaelson mad.

© Ian Bond