End of the World

Every psychiatrist that has interviewed Henry Joseph Rodgers agrees that he is insane. He claims to have witnessed the end of the world. Not in dreams or visions, but that he was actually present when the Great Old Ones came through.

The police arrested Henry when he was found wielding a gun on the steps of a local church. He claimed the pastor was ‘The Black Man’ and would open ‘The Way’ for the return of ‘The Great Old Ones.’ The pastor, Reverend Douglas, declined to press charges, but the local police held Henry on: Disturbing the Peace; Reckless Endangerment; Illegal Possession of a Firearm; and Discharging a Firearm within City Limits.

Henry claims that he and three friends were drawn into the opening of ‘The Way’ as the Great Old Ones were entering. Henry and his friends apparently spent some time in ‘The Void’ before returning to either an alternate dimension, or an earlier point in time of a now slightly altered world.

Henry killed his three friends when it became obvious that they were possessed by ‘Things from Out There.’ As a result of his first interview with the police psychologist, the police found the bodies, and charged Henry with the murders.

Other than well documented psychiatric interviews, there are no records of Henry J. Rodgers . . . He was not born, he did not marry, he never drove a car, he never voted . . . He is a non-entity as far as the government is concerned. And like Henry, the dead friends are similarly non-existent.

Possibilities

1 Henry really is insane. In his paranoid state he falsified his identity: Henry Rodgers is not his real name and does not exist.

‘Henry Rodgers’ may be of use to the investigators: he once was an investigator and may hold information useful for them. Unfortunately, he is quite mad, and quite dangerous.

2 Henry is insane, but he is also for real. Everything happened (or will happen) as he said it did. If the investigators are familiar with his extensive ramblings they may notice similarities - such as a blood moon on the first of the month, a nil-nil superbowl result, and so on.

But when you know the end of the world is nigh, what do you do?

3 Henry is a cult lure, designed by slightly-rational cultists to see who their enemies are. They will wait to see who checks out Henry Rodgers’ story beyond the usual detectives and shrinks. Then, they will kill any investigators they identify.

Of course, this is not all bad news. The investigators may encounter other investigators looking into Rodgers’ story, and perhaps together they may survive the cult’s onslaught.

© M. J. Aylor

The Phennor Fragments

The Phennor Fragments are a set of 53 stone triangles discovered by Professor John Phennor during an archaeological dig in Iraq. The equilateral triangles are about a half inch thick, their sides measuring about three inches. They have etched marking extending to the centre of each edge. Phennor guessed that if the triangles can be assembled correctly, it will be possible to translate the symbols. Other scholars suggest the markings are a map, or even a game. Since the symbols appear to be unknown, translation is an impossible task.

Possibilities

1 The fragments cannot be translated. They are the divination tools of a long-dead Persian sorcerer, and worked much like a set of Tarot cards. Individuals with an aptitude for magic may realise what their purpose is, and how to use them. Intensive study of the triangles results in odd dreams with worrying predictions.

2 47 triangles are missing from the set. When complete they can be arranged into a single large triangle – which shows a map to the Well of Eternal Life. Some of the missing triangles are still at the dig site, others are in the hands of murderous collectors who know what the triangles really represent: immortality.

3 If soaked in a mild acid, the triangles take on a marbled appearance which quickly aids their assembly. Once the 53 triangles are assembled, they emit a bright light, and fuse together in the correct configuration. Then, they start gently throbbing. What is going on?

© Robin Low

The Scarecrow

A small village has recently been the target of a series of murders, all sharing the same modus operandi. The victims are found impaled by a large pitchfork against a convenient wall. The murders have occurred on a weekly basis, always on the same evening; the killer has already struck six times – once during each of the preceding six weeks.

Small patches of straw have been found littered around the dead individual’s room, while witnesses report seeing a scrawny, humanoid figure flee the scene. One witness, Mr Addey, claims that its eyes blazed with a hellish, unearthly light. A few residents believe that Mr Addey was drunk at the time, but the majority accept his tale as the truth. Superstitious residents now speak (in hushed tones) of the “Scarecrow”, a malign entity that, as legend has it, committed similar acts two hundred years ago.

Possibilities

1 The murders are actually being committed by Mr Addey. His victims were all farmers, each possessing a sizable tract of land. With the farmers dead he plans to buy the land from the grieving family (for a fraction of its actual value) and put it to profitable use.

Addey has heard of the “Scarecrow” legend and makes his murders look like the work of the foul creature, knowing that the locals will not pursue their enquires too enthusiastically. Once each week, Mr Addey dons the scarecrow disguise and follows his victim home.

2 Two hundred years ago a sorcerer called Krakenartos lived in a tower located a mile outside of the village. His sleeping chambers and living quarters were within the tower, while his laboratory, study and library were situated beneath it.

Krakenartos, although a kindly individual, became concerned when a mob of townsfolk attempted to enter his abode. From that fateful day, he began to appreciate his own mortality and created a guardian for his tower. Krakenartos animated a scarecrow, since its function was also to deter pests. The “scarecrow” was a powerful construct; its strength many times that of a man. The creature was capable of fending off the primitive attempts of the townsfolk to breach Krakenartos’ home. Any who crossed the threshold were ruthlessly hunted - even beyond the confines of the tower - and killed.

The townsfolk shunned the tower, and Krakenartos continued his studies undisturbed. Two hundred years passed and the tower fell into ruin, sealing the subterranean complex. Krakenartos is long dead, but his creature lives on.

Recently several townsfolk uncovered the entrance and explored Krakenartos’ sanctuary. They kept their discovery to themselves. After such a long period of inactivity the creature was slow to respond and by the time it had fully awakened its prey had left.

Since then it has eliminated six of the trespassers. After each attack it withdraws to regain sufficient energy for its next assault.

3 Two months ago one of the villagers, Paul Townsend, inherited a substantial sum of money and the diary of a distant relative – a seventeenth century sorcerer. The tome, as well as being an account of his life, details various blasphemous rituals.

Mr Townsend gathered together a group of his seven closest friends and randomly selected a ritual to try. It was the Call Azathoth spell. Fortunately (for them) they failed to summon the deity, but a link was established to the court of Azathoth. A single Lesser Other God was wrenched from its master’s side and deposited upon the Earth. Unable to return to Azathoth’s court; it possessed the nearest unresisting humanoid form – a scarecrow. It knows that it is bound to the planet for only as long as its summoners live. After the ceremony it killed the first of the group but had insufficient energy to attack another.

When the group heard of their comrade’s death, they assumed Azathoth (whom they believe to be a demon) was responsible. The following week they attempted to Dismiss Azathoth. This failed as Azathoth was not around to be dismissed, but the released energies were absorbed by the Lesser Other God who then killed another.

So the cycle continues: each week the group try to dismiss Azathoth but instead rejuvenate it.

© Hadley Connor

Drinking in the Blues

A black musician arrives in town with a guitar and a suitcase done up with string. His name is Simon Turner and he plays sweet music for anyone who asks him to, be it for a couple of dollars in a smoke-filled speakeasy, or for a meal and a bed for the night, or even for nothing but a few kids loitering on a streetcorner. The gentle guitar notes trickle like gold into the ears of Simon’s audience, and his mellow bass voice soothes all troubles.

An investigator encounters Simon accidentally, bumping into him in the street or hearing him playing in a rented room in a flophouse, where the music drifts down to the listener as he walks home at night. The investigator is enchanted, longing to hear it again. However, no matter how much she tries to meet Simon, she misses him every time, by only a few minutes.

After staying for a few days, Simon moves on, but in the weeks that follow, the town’s attitudes start to mellow. Racists and bigots become less ardent, and life becomes just that little bit easier for blacks in the town. While not a complete turn around, things have improved, and Simon Turner has left his mark.

Possibilities

1 Simon Turner is an ordinary, if incredibly gifted, man. His music is beautiful, but not Mythos inspired. Not all strange events relate to madness and tentacled monstrosities.

2 Simon is one of the less malevolent avatars of Nyarlathotep. His music is the music of gods and demons, an ambrosia for the ears, a melody divine. And, like his music, his favour is heaven sent. Anyone actively antagonising the black community without fair reason disappears with a slither of tentacles and a strange piping at night.

3 Simon is an Outer God named Yd’gh’tjetye, the same who lured Erich Zann to music and to madness. This inhuman musician seeks an audience. The mellowing is a side effect of listening to such unearthly music.

P.S. Please use this Tale of Terror as an excuse to play some really fine music.

© Eamon Honan

The Weeping Madonna

The statue of the Madonna has started weeping blood at the Church of St Mary. The church is a local landmark, brooding on the hill as it does. Made of a dark stone turned darker by pollution it has a strangely intimidating quality about it. Inside, the beautiful stained-glass images provide a stark contrast to the grey stone and dull brown woodwork. The Madonna itself is a vibrantly coloured statue with rich gilt detail rumoured to have been smuggled in from Hungary in the last century.

Possibilities

1 Local occultists have magically placed a body inside the statue as a kind of sick joke. The spell keeps the body fresh, but the wounds inflicted upon it during the ritual killing continue to leak blood into the remains of the cavity inside the statue. The blood level has reached the only apertures in the statue and so the statue cries blood.

2 The statue is a medieval artefact, originally made in the shape of a tall man with the face of a squid, created by heretical wizard Jan Zykar from the town of Stregoicavar. Just before the Muslim destruction of the town in 1526 Zykar left the town and took his statue with him. Zykar remodelled the exterior of the statue prior to reaching Budapest. There he died in 1576 in unknown circumstances. The Madonna was transferred to The Church of Our Lady in Budapest where it remained until 1856 when it was sold to the present church owners by an unscrupulous and thoroughly scared priest whose research into the history of the church had revealed his imminent doom.

Every 70 years it requires a sacrifice. Its method of obtaining the sacrifice is to magically drain blood from its owner; the priest of the church. The priest gets weaker and weaker until he dies. However, Zykar’s remodelling resulted in a deficiency in the statue’s ability to drain blood and some appears around the Madonna’s eyes. Any detailed examination of the statue reveals the remodelling work that hides the original horror beneath the mask.

3 The statue itself is not weeping blood. The blood that appears on the face of the statue has been dripping from a dead body up in the rafters of the church. If investigations do not reveal this to be the case then after a couple more days the blood stops. The next ‘miracle’ is a smell of rotting that permeates the church.

Eventually somebody realises the true cause and the corpse is discovered. The body is that of a local dignitary thought to have been on business abroad. His wrists are cut.

© Ric Norton

Cop Killers

Four police officers died one night in the small, rural town of Cadillac, Michigan. According to the police department, two officers on patrol drove out to check on a disturbance call. The disturbance turned out to be a group of rowdy teenagers who shot and killed both police officers. The second car arrived soon after, but they too were killed by the teenagers. A third car was unable to locate the murderers.

The bodies of the four dead police officers were immediately examined by the coroner, who declared the cause of death as gunshot wounds. The officers were cremated, the funeral taking place two days later. The group of teenagers has yet to be found, and they have not struck again. No one witnessed the shootings, and the police do not know who phoned in the original disturbance report.

One of the four widows, Jake Dean’s wife, Heather, doesn’t believe the official story. She has hired the investigators to discover what the police are hiding. The only information that Heather can provide is that she was given a call about midnight and told that her husband was dead. Then, she was pressured into cremating him.

Possibilities

1 That night, Spencer Monson’s dog woke him up. The dog was barking quite loudly at a figure in the darkness. Spencer, a 70-year old senile widower, called the police, went back to sleep, and forgot all about the incident.

The first patrol car arrived and quickly found the figure – it was a werewolf! The policemen opened fire, but it killed them both. It killed the next two officers as well. The policemen in the third car were finally able to kill the weakened creature. To prevent hysteria, the deaths were blamed on a group of rowdy teenagers with guns and the werewolf’s body cremated.

Currently, the police are searching for the origin of the werewolf. Within the next week they will find out that four werewolves have been living in the woods around the city for the past several years. Only recently, since construction has begun invading their sacred lands, have they become hostile.

2 The police chief belongs to an in-the-closet cult consisting of several high-ranking city officials. Recently, one of the cult members was arrested on murder charges. The chief caused these charges to be immediately dropped. Since then, the chief has ended a number of other investigations. Jake Dean and three other officers had become suspicious of the chief and started snooping around.

Soon after the snooping had begun the police chief figured out what was going on and killed the officers by summoning a gug. He then invented the story of the armed teenagers to cover up the truth. The coroner, also a cult member, backed up the story by saying the officers died of gunshot wounds.

Fortunately, one of the officers kept a journal. This journal includes the officers suspicions as well as a list of the investigations the chief ended. Unfortunately, the journal appears to be missing.

3 The four murders were committed by a gang of nine teenagers. The police department has leads which leads to the murderers’ arrest within a few days. What the officers don’t know is that the gang leader was being controlled by a malicious member of the Great Race of Yith, which constructed a deadly weapon.

The weapon stopped the heartbeats of the officers, but the gang leader then shot them so the police department would have a murder weapon. Afterwards, the Great Race member returned to his native body. When the police arrest the gang leader he will have no idea what happened. The other members of the gang describe the alien weapon, which no one can locate.

© Vince Vatter

City Fear

The papers are full of horrific stories. Children’s bodies, mutilated then burnt alive, have been found across the city. The police are baffled and the public is restless. The media outcry is vociferous, and the police department chief’s job is on the line. In an attempt to show some activity the police have taken to arresting the criminal community at random. But still the murders go on . . .

Possibilities

1 The murderer is a frenzied cultist, one of the Cult of the Flaming Brand. The children are components for a great spell: a spell to summon Fthaggua. One more death and Fthaggua appears. As the city burns the remaining members of the Cult of the Flaming Brand greet the Great Old One and are swallowed by the fiery inferno, never to be seen again.

2 The murderer, Frank Potter, is mad. As a former member he also has valuable information on the activities of a dangerous cult, information that the investigators need to destroy it. Unfortunately, the city’s criminal community, sick of police harassment, have done some investigating of their own and have captured Potter. They intend to carry out their own form of justice, and yes, they do have a death penalty.

3 The murders are being carried out by a religious fundamentalist group who believe they are destroying the anti-Christ and his minions. If they are not stopped the murders become more and more outlandish as their ambitions and bloodthirst rises.

© Simon Taylor