The Upton Chronicles #2: That's an Odd-Looking Idol..

The Crew

Terry, Jeff and Greg played the Uptons and their crew.  Ken and I played the forces of evil and chaos.

The Plot

Our heroes, having learned of the nefarious human trafficking and sacrifice enterprise from the freak show's ringleader, race to an abandoned monastery outside of town.  Little did they know that the catacombs beneath the dilapidated ruins would house such horrors.

The Game

Our heroes quickly found the entrance to the catacombs and opened the door.  A blast of stale air, heavy with the scent of cloying incense and the unmistakable coppery odor of blood, greets their nostrils.  

A couple of columns support the ceiling in the small room before them.  Stairs leading up to another level are on the right, while a giant statue of a squatting tentacled creature leers at them with ancient, stony eyes.  Faint chanting can be heard coming from the dark opening at the top of the stairs.

Sir Upton was the first up the stairs.  His practiced eyes scanned the room, taking in everything with scarcely a thought.  

To his left was a huge cistern, replete with ancient Meso-American  glyphs and carvings.  A thick, viscous fluid...blood?...slowly bubbled in the reservoir.  

The chanting was coming from a purple-robed priest, his arms raised in supplication.  Sir Upton realized that the chanting was in ancient Sumerian!  As he looked on in a slight stupor, the ritual was completed and the man fell silent.  Only then did Sir Upton realize that there were others in the room.

Two acolytes rushed forward to meet the intrepid adventurers and the scrum began.

 
A few minutes into the fight, a blubbery creature heaved itself from the pool of ichor and attacked Sal Jackson.  They fought intensely and managed to defeat other simultaneously.  Sal, grievously wounded, sank to the floor and would have slowly bled out if not for the timely ministrations of Professor Edelstein.  Indeed, Edelstein kept both Sal and Fire Marshall O'Leary in the fight (repeatedly in O'Leary's case). 

With the defeat of his summoned creature, the high priest finally succumbed to the blows from multiple attackers.  In a rather funny (irony, not ha ha) twist of fate, Captain Everhardt, firing at the priest, managed to drop the acolyte behind the shifty leader with a head shot.

After the battle was won, the heroes didn't know where to go or what to do.  They'd felled all their foes and the creature now floating in the pool of nastiness wasn't going to give away any secrets.  A thorough search uncovered nothing until Detective Jones and Sid Jackson found a hidden door around the far side of the cistern.

A couple of hallways and ransacked rooms later and a single clue was found.  A torn slip of paper simply had written in a spidery crawl "The Old One will emerge from the gate victorious and devour the world!"  A secret back door was found as well.  How many cultists escaped?

Sir Upton, using his historical knowledge of the area, quickly put two and two together and came up with only one choice: Ctesiphon.  Modeled after the arch found in ancient Mesopotamia, which had once been called Sumer, Upton knew that any evil doings would stem from such a locus of mystical power.  The group made their way to Upton Manor to both drop off the recovering O'Leary and Sal and pick up Jimmy, Airman Jones and Detective Doyle before heading to Ctesiphon.  

Don't miss the exciting conclusion to this tale:  The Old One Returns!

The Upton Chronicles #1: Strange Things are Afoot...

I decided to go back to a project I'd started several years ago, but unfortunately let fall to the wayside.  It has been quite awhile since the Secondhand Lions have played GASLIGHT and it was time to remedy that oversight!

The Gang

Jon Mark, Terry, Bill, Ken, Tim and I rolled off to see who would play on which side.  Jon Mark, Terry and Tim were the forces of 'Good' (that's a relative perspective, isn't it?), while Ken, Bill and I were 'Evil'.

The Plot

1930s, rural America.  A carnival freak show has come to town and set up shop in a remote pasture.  The townsfolk were excited.  It had been quite a long time since a circus, carnival or other oddity stopped at their town and they flocked to the site.  That's when things became weird...

People started disappearing.  Not many, but enough to rouse the suspicion of the local sheriff.  Since the only thing 'out of normal' was the freak show, he and a deputy checked it out.  Hours later, the sheriff found himself back at his desk, but the deputy was missing.  He knew they'd gone to the carnival and had seen firsthand that it was a legitimate show (the fat lady was truly a sight to behold), but he couldn't for the life of him remember driving back to the police station.  That had him worried...

He called an old detective friend of his, Frank Doyle, from 'the city' and asked for him to check it out.  The sheriff also called the land owner the carnival was inhabiting, Sir Reginald Upton, to see if he knew anything and to coordinate with Doyle's investigation.  Sir Upton sent his son, James ("Jimmy" to his friends) and his lifelong ward, Elisa ("Ellie" to most) to aid in the investigation.  They called their friends and colleagues, forming a pseudo-posse.

Our intrepid heroes met outside the show's tent and prepared to find out what strange things were afoot...

The Game

Jimmy and the Jackson twins stepped to the tent's front, where the carnival's barker awaited.  

He welcomed them inside and soon enough the entire party, minus Airman Jones, were enthralled by the wily ministrations of the Puppet Master.  Little did they know, but they were all mesmerized by this heinous villain and would only see what they are supposed to see:  innocent freak show employees!

 

Eventually, the group continued further into the tent.  As they rounded the first corner, the Fat Lady was seen.  To their eyes, she was gnawing on a turkey leg, but that wasn't actually the case!  Jimmy, drunk before he'd even arrived at the tent, noticed the aberration and stumbled dazedly toward the next booth.  It wasn't until Detective Doyle saw the half-gnoshed human arm that weapons were drawn and the fight began!

"Hey Rube!" was cried by the carnies and demented clown enforcers erupted from hidden places in the tent!  Most attacked Jimmy, sensing that he was too drunk to effectively put up a fight.  They were wrong.  He took his lumps, but roared his fury and gave what he got!

Detective Doyle was attacked from behind and fell, but Professor Edelstein "did some doctorin'" and got Doyle on his feet.  Meanwhile, Ellie used her shotgun to good effect and soon dropped Lester the Carney.  Outside the tent, Airman Jones found that his SMG was barely a match for the barker's razor-edged hats.  He was heavily wounded when the rest of the townies came to his rescue and subdued the carnival's ringleader.  

Little did our heroes know, but Jim the Butcher escaped to warn his Masters of the debacle unfolding within the tent.

It was a tough fight, but the 'good guys' eventually won the day.  The creatures were dispatched, while the others were taken into custody.

Under harsh interrogation, the barker spilled the beans.  The carnival of inhuman and human misfits were a front for their 'Masters'.  The carnies supplied bodies, alive and dead alike, to their bosses for unknown reasons.  Only an investigation of where the bodies were taken would uncover more of the truth.

Jimmy, Jones and Doyle would be holed up in a hospital to recover from their wounds, but the rest of the gang was ready to continue the fight!

Next week:  That's an Odd-Looking Idol...