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

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

Artsy Fartsy

The sun slowly sets over the metropolis of Paris as you arrive at the home of your friend, a wealthy art-collector, who has invited you to a dinner and the unveiling of a new piece of art that he’s just purchased.

But when you enter the house, the sight of a bloody massacre knocks the wind out of you. It seems that the art-collector, your friend, and his household-staff have mercilessly butchered each other. Soon after, the citizens of Paris are abuzz with fearful gossip and shocking speculations as to what happened.

And when another massacre occurs, one very similar to the first, panic is ripe in Paris.

Possibilities

1 The reason behind the bloody massacres is the artwork that the victims recently acquired. They’re created using a strange material that has a dreadful influence on any sentient being that stays too long a time within its vicinity.

The material is many millennia old and, most strangely, quite alive. Its lifeforce affects sentient beings and makes them feel extremely paranoid and thus quite murderous.

The artist who made the pieces has already fallen to its influence, but many items have already been sold...

2 The reason for the bloody massacres is the artwork that the victims recently acquired. They are a portal to a strange world inhabited by incorporeal and sinister creatures. The artist behind the dastardly creations is quite mad and dabbles in the occult. The artist bound a gateway in some of his art that triggers when the new owner looks too long a time at it. When the gate opened, the incorporeal creatures passed through and possessed the owner and some of his household-staff, making them turn on each other.

The same happened to the victims at the second massacre, who had also bought one of the artist’s chaotic creations.

3 The reason behind the bloody massacres is not the piece of art – It’s the artist.

Paint fumes combined with his rather fragile mind and destroyed his sanity. He began to believe that the buyers of his creations planned to kill him.

So he hunted down and massacred two of the buyers, their family and their household-staff. Then the artist arranged the victims so it appeared that they’ve killed each other. He is now after the others.

© Tim Deer

Suitable for Framing

Danielle Cartwright has recently inherited a portrait from the estate of her grandmother’s brother. Cartwright was not close and thought it rather odd to be remembered by the deceased. The portrait is of a nondescript man and is set in a large, ornate frame. It is dated nearly 70 years ago, but there is no author’s signature. While the painting is no Rembrandt, it is not a bad work of art either.

Pleased with the picture, Cartwright hangs it in an out of the way place in her home. As the days pass, however, she begins to feel uncomfortable and gets the impression that the painting is watching her. As the days pass, this feeling becomes more and more oppressive; the feeling remains even when she is not in the same room at the painting.

Finally, one night, there is a crash in the room where the picture is hanging. Rushing into the room, Cartwright finds the painting undamaged and lying on the floor. The screw holding the hanging wire to the back of the painting has come undone, causing the heavy painting to fall. Cartwright is now convinced that there is something unusual about the painting.

Preliminary research concerning her deceased relative reveals little that might be construed as unusual or occult in nature. However, Cartwright discovers that she was not specifically listed in the inheritance. Instead, its original inheritor passed it off to another family member after only a few days, who then passed it to another, until the painting came to her. The other family members cannot give a clear reason for passing the painting on, other than they did not like it.

Possibilities

1 There is nothing wrong with the painting. The portrait’s eyes have been superbly rendered, and the rest is Cartwright’s imagination. Unfortunately, she is now obsessed with the painting and refuses to believe that it is normal.

2 During Pickman’s early years he was forced to paint over finished works when there was not enough money to purchase more canvas. The portrait is one which was commissioned by Danielle Cartwright’s great-great-great uncle during Pickman’s early period. While the present portrait has no unique qualities of its own, what lies beneath is an original, and truly horrifying, Pickman masterpiece.

Careful examination of the portrait reveals a painting beneath it, and careful restoration reveals the original in its full, cruel and grisly glory.

3 The painting is similar to the portrait in Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray,’ and absorbs any physical damage done to the owner of the painting. As weeks progress, the portrait slowly changes to take on the likeness of the new owner. Once this is completed (in about a year’s time), Cartwright realizes the painting’s true nature. Old age and any damage is reflected in the painting, while Cartwright remains unharmed. The portrait displays injuries very graphically - and seeing it slowly causes Cartwright to lose grip on her sanity. Destroying the portrait returns all damage to Cartwright, probably killing her.

© Bill Dietze

Grim Portrait

Dexter Cauldrose is a mildly talented artist, his technique often crude and composition amateur. Despite this, his portraits are sought after by the fashionable rich. The waiting list is several months long and as a result, Cauldrose has a richer lifestyle than many other, far finer, artists.

He is a success because of his novelty value. Cauldrose specialises is gruesome portraits, revealing his subject in death. Sometimes he portrays his subjects lying in state, but often has them disembowelled and brutally mutilated. In some circles, the more brutal the death, the better.

Then, they begin to die.

Cauldrose is the first to go. His self-portrait showed his body chopped to pieces in a barren room. (It was the reaction to this painting that led him to identify his market.) His body is found in a barren room, chopped and looking exactly as he painted. At first it is taken to be a very sick joke, then others begin to die as well.

Possibilities

1 Cauldrose’s paintings are not so much predicting the future, as creating it. Cauldrose himself was killed by an escaped lunatic. Others will become accident victims, suicides, or mauled by wild animals. Each death is unconnected, except by the extraordinary artwork of Dexter Cauldrose.

The deaths occur at the same rate as the portraits were painted. As the pattern is discerned, worried subjects will be able to determine the time of their demise. There is no way out, except for the destruction of these violent works of art.

2 Before each killing, the subject is approached by a tall black man, elegantly dressed in black. He offers a bargain, a contract. In return for signing a single sheet of paper, covered in indecipherable typescript, the subject will be spared.

At first, the subjects ignore him, only to pay the price. Then, when the first escapes the seemingly inexorable murders, the contract is brought into light. Written in an unknown language, the subject has unwittingly signed away his soul to Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos.

But why does the Outer God want their souls? And when will he collect?

3 The real painter is Cauldrose’s insane brother, working from crude sketches and photographs provided by Dexter. Locked in the attic, he lived for nothing but to paint. Then, his condition worsened, and he turned on his brother, dressing the body to look like his art. Now he is wandering the streets, hunting for other subjects.

© Steve Hatherley

The Tattoo

You don't know how long it has been there, but a friend points it out. In the small of your back, on your left side, near your kidneys. A tattoo of a jewelled spider. It is quite exquisite, quite unusual, oddly evil - and a complete mystery. How on earth did it get there?

The design is surprisingly lifelike - except that you are certain that no spider ever looked quite so malevolent. Tattooists who see it are impressed - the design has a richness of texture and colour that they have never been able to achieve.

Yet the question remains. You have never had a tattoo in your life. So where in hell did this come from?

Possibilities

1  Three weeks later and there's a second tattoo, on the sole of your foot. This time it is a reddish ball, which appears to glow eerily.

Then you begin to feel increasingly tired. You have difficulty waking in the morning, and begin to look drawn and haggard. As the weeks pass you become weaker, and fall prey to the weakest of germs. Coughs and cold cripple you; you are quite sick.

All this time, the spider tattoo never moves, never changes. The same cannot be said for the ball. It swells and grows to the size of a large coin. It becomes oddly translucent, and smaller spidery shapes can be seen inside. It is an egg sac.

Then you wake one morning feeling fresher and brighter than in ages. The sac tattoo has gone, but in its place are dozen of tiny spider tattoos, covering your skin. And three days later they are also gone - as has the larger spider, their mother. They are never seen again.

2  Over a period of time, the tattoo seems to get smaller. In fact, if you measure it, you learn that it is getting smaller. Then one night, it has gone.

Two days later, it reappears - but on a different part of your body. It is bigger, bloated. And again, over a period of several weeks it shrinks, growing smaller until once more it vanishes. Only to reappear.

This cycle is repeated over and over. Each time the tattoo returns, bloated, corpulent and somehow sated. As if it has fed from something. Or someone . . .

3  The tattoo is the mark of the spider-god. Spiders from all around come to be near their god. Your house slowly becomes infested with spiders. They are everywhere, as are their cobwebs. (There is not an insect to be seen, naturally.)

Wherever you goes, spiders are drawn to you. They climb through your clothes, hide in your hair, scamper across your skin.

They simply like being with you, near you.

© Steve Hatherley

The Gibbet Frame

The old gibbet on Gallows Hill in Shropshire had a long and eventful life before executions were moved to the county town of Shrewsbury. Famed executions that met their end on the old gibbet included murderers, arsonists, poachers and even witches. The gibbet’s most famous victim was Salton Paxton, an unchristian person (it is not appropriate to describe him as a gentleman) who incorporated the bones of his victims in the walls of his hall. These were only found after his death, when the hall was being renovated. The hall has since fallen into ruin.

The old gibbet was dismantled, and only the stone blocks that made up the foundation remain, slowly weathering over time.

The timber that made up the gibbet was considered unlucky by the Shropshire residents, and left to rot. However, small pieces of the timber were taken by a witch, Luella Cawford and fashioned into a crude picture frame. Luella was eventually caught, tried and put to death by pressing. After her execution, the magistrates returned to her cottage to dispose of Luella’s possessions. They found the cottage completely bare. No one knows what became of her possessions.

Possibilities

1 Luella cursed her enemies with her gibbet frame. She drew or painted a likeness of the object of her enmity (a person or place) and placed it within the frame. From then on, corruption and foulness would befall the individual or location. If a person, they would suffer terrible accidents, or a wasting disease, or a became the victim of a brutal crime: they rarely lived for long. If Luella was cursing a place, then it suffered from infestations of vermin, vandalism, burglary and worse.

As the curse takes effect, the picture foretells reality. If the picture was of a person and the picture showed a bruise, then that person would soon receive a corresponding bruise.

The frame is now in a property managed by the National Trust. The frame is accurately described as being thought to have once belonged to the noted Shropshire witch Luella Cawford. The picture inside the frame is of a ruined folly in the property’s grounds. It seems that no matter what the Trust do, they cannot preserve the folly.

2 Luella used the gibbet frame to escape her fate. Some time before she was arrested as a witch, Luella poured her essence into the frame. From that time on, Luella’s was able to possess the body of whomever’s portrait the frame contained. Upon leaving the body, the victim had only a hazy memory of what had happened, and was often plagued by nightmares.

It mattered not the accuracy or likeness of the image in the frame. If the portrait was drawn with the intent of being the likeness of somebody, then Luella was able to possess that person. If the frame contained a picture of more than one person, Luella could posses any of them. Photographs, however, do not work.

Over time Luella became quite skilled. She learned to ‘lightly’ possess someone and watch through their eyes and listen through their ears, learning their ways and manners before fully taking over. In this way she saw her enemies act against her, and before she was arrested she took flight in the body of one of the magistrate’s clerks, took her possessions and fled.

With her real body gone, Luella is now a body thief. Her frame is now stuffed with portraits, and when she tires of a person, she simply adds a new portrait to the frame. The gibbet frame is her most important possession.

3 Luella was a kind witch and was commissioned by the local landowner, Sir Arthur Musgrove to protect him and his family from harm. For this she crafted the gibbet frame, and instructed Sir Arthur to place likenesses of those he wanted to protect within the frame.

Luella, however, did her work a little too effectively. The frame protects its wards from ill health and unfortunate accidents, and provides lucky escapes from calamities of all kinds. It effectively grants immortality. One side effect, however, is that the frame’s wards become barren and may bear no children.

Sir Arthur’s family enjoyed good health and vitality for many years, until, for reasons unknown, the picture in the frame was changed. Shortly after, Sir Arthur’s family suffered a run of shocking bad luck, as if their good fortune had run out. They were all dead within the year.

The gibbet frame is now owned by the reclusive Whistler family of north London. Mabel Whistler, on learning of the gibbet frame, understood exactly its powers and dangers, and uses it to protect her family - her sons, daughters and grandchildren. They are all much older than they appear.

© Steve Hatherley