A character receives, quite unexpectedly, an invitation to a soirée at the home of one of their old school-friends. The individual, one Humphrey Anderson-Boyd, is known as an international traveller and has something of a reputation as a dilettante and playboy. He is wealthy, handsome, elegant, and an eminently eligible bachelor. The society journals are quick to match him with any woman in whose company he is seen. His parties are said to be wild and debauched.
Humphrey lives in a large and airy house designed by a radical modern architect and located on the fringes of the fashionable city suburbs. The interior is exquisitely furnished and the grand windows overlook the extensive wooded and landscaped grounds. By day the dramatic skies and excellent views make it an idyllic spot, but at night it can feel very lonely and isolated. The house has been designed to be self-sufficient and has its own generator located in the cellars.
Jones, the cadaverous butler, is the only westerner in the domestic staff. The others are all dark skinned, slightly built Orientals who actively shun contact with the guests. They seem under the sway of the cook, an ancient and grossly fat woman who seems to do little except sit in a rocking chair and give orders. All of the Orientals carry slender knives and have a dragon tattoo on their necks. Jones is able to communicate in their tongue and appears to inspire either respect or fear.
Humphrey retains a number of gamekeepers and groundsmen, local men who maintain the gardens, keep down the wildlife, and patrol the grounds against poachers and trespassers. They consider Humphrey and his staff to be ‘queer folk’, but their wages are rather good, they receive a rather generous holiday allowance and Christmas bonus, and as such they are loyal and tight-lipped. The gamekeepers have well trained dogs and carry shotguns, and will see off anyone who tries anything funny. They and their dogs shun the woods, however.
Humphrey’s little bash, which includes among its guest-list writers, musicians, judges, a gangster, and at least one starlet of the silver screen, begins rather more formally than one might expect. The gramophone music is dull and repetitive and the conversation is terrible: this is hardly going to make the best shindig list of ‘Gentleman’ magazine. That is, until Jones fetches the “special” drink. The liquid is contained in a large bronze bowl worked with Chinese characters and intricate skull-and-claw designs, and appears to be luminous green in the dim light. The other guests have no qualms about drinking.
Possibilities
1 The characters have received an invite to the wrong party - the one they were supposed to attend isn’t until next week. The “special” drink is a powerful aphrodisiac made by the cook: it causes the drinker to lose all of their inhibitions - the affair becomes an orgiastic sex romp. If the characters have drunk the potion they will, in all probability, become willing participants in the carnal activities, though they probably won’t remember much of what went on. A number of prostitutes (both male and female) have been hired to ‘start things going’. Anyone with professional employment or a position of trust would be very badly affected if their participation in such activities became public knowledge.
2 The “special” drink is a potion that causes the drinker to fall into a waking trance. Humphrey is a newly created undead, Jones is his sire and mentor, and the Orientals are trusted henchmen. When everyone has succumbed to the effects of the potion Humphrey and Jones move among the guests and tap just a little blood from each, drinking enough during the course of the evening to satisfy their unholy needs. Both are immune to most forms of damage (although fire, electricity, and enchanted weapons work) and are exceedingly violent if they are interrupted: they are lethally fast and highly skilled creatures. Those who have drunk the potion remember little of the evening, but uniformly recall having had an excellent time.
3 Humphrey and Jones, both permanently insane, are the leaders of a small cult that worships Shub Niggurath. The “special” drink is a potion, made by the cook, with two main effects. First, it allows the cultists access to the guests’ psychic energy. Second, it induces a dream-like state that cushions their minds against the horrors they witness (they recall a wild party but can’t remember any details). Humphrey and Jones begin a ceremony that involves everyone performing complex chanting and dancing. At the penultimate moment a sacrifice is brought forth (a suitable victim has been secured and is being held in the cellars until required), and ultimately one or more Dark Young of Shub Niggurath are summoned. The horrifying entities consume the sacrifice (and anyone who hasn’t drunk the potion) then vanish into the wooded grounds.
© Adie Stewart
