The Upton Chronicles #3: The Old One Returns!

The Crew

Ken and I played the cultists/Old One.  Greg, Jon Mark and Terry played the heroes.

The Plot

Our heroic adventurers, fresh from the fight at the cultist temple, deposited the injured Fire Marshall O'Leary and Sal back at Upton Manor and scooped up Jimmy, Airman Jones and Detective Doyle.  On the way to Ctesiphon, Doyle radioed in some police officer support for back-up.  Would they be in time to stop the cult from raising an Old One from another dimension?

The Game

Ctesiphon

Surrounded by pine woods, Ctesiphon sat atop a rise in the landscape.  The cultists began their ritual as soon as the gibbous moon was seen in the heavens.

The scrub cultists attacked our heroes on sight.  The adage "Never bring a knife to a gun fight" held true, as they were blasted from all sides.

The cultist guards, smarter than their neophyte brethren, stayed atop the rise, forcing the good guys to come to them.

 Matron Mother, on the other hand, decided to be a stall tactic, forcing the heroes to account for her before rushing up the incline to the summit.  She died, but her efforts weren't in vain.

Eventually, our heroes made their way to the top of the plateau.  They were met by quite the spectacle.  The head cultist, aware of the urgency to complete the summoning ritual, continued to babble in Sumerian while his guards and a lesser demon occupied the 'good guys'.

Finally, success!  The Old One was summoned!  To the lead cultist's surprise, the creature didn't go after our heroes...it tried to eat him!  His sanity finally snapped, the leader leapt off the edge of the plateau to his death.

What ensued was a mixture of both comedy and horror....if gallows humor can be considered comedy.  Poor aim, primarily by Airman Jones, took out most of the remaining police officers.  Without their fire support, our adventurers were forced to engage in melee combat with the Old One.  This proved to be a fatal decision.

 In the end, our heroes fell.  The cult, also obliterated, did not even get the chance to gloat in their success.  The Old One, now left to its own devices, scoured the countryside looking for food.  It was up to a grieving Sir Upton, with the aid of numerous others, to get rid of the menace.  Indeed, they found that while they couldn't kill the beast, they were able to herd it back to Ctesiphon.  It begrudgingly was driven back through the gate and disappeared.

The Old One roamed the countryside, looking for sustenance...

That ended this cycle of the Upton Chronicles.  This three-part arc ended in tragedy, but be rest assured this is not the last time you'll see these characters in action.

Thanks to all who played and helped us hammer out how to correctly use these rules for evenings of fun and daring-do.  

Also, thanks for reading!