Cast:
Jim Culver, the Musician (Eliza)
Kate Winthrop, the Scientist (Rich)Jim Culver, the Musician (Eliza)
Jenny Barnes, the Dilletante (Matt)
Amanda Sharpe, the Student (Nicole)
Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist (Neal)
Diane Stanley, the Redeemed Cultist (Sarah)
Stirrings and eldritch beasts emerging from a gate opened at the Unnameable brought to light the fact that Tsathoggua, Bringer of Malaise, was stirring in his slumber. He would soon wake unless six investigators brought peace to Arkham. However, this would prove to be a nigh impossible task. Throughout the fated fortnight, the skies underwent strange, mystical, and harrowing changes and many beasts wandered the city streets. The stars became aligned in such a fashion that gave unavoidable anxiety and unrest to all who consulted them. As day broke, clouds turned into heavy rains, bolstering the paranoia of the local authorities who actually managed to mistakenly imprison the musician that dared inquire about the goings-on. The rain gave way to a raging tempest, which quickly settled into calmer conditions. Monsters roaming throughout northern Arkham took this as a cue to move quickly into more strategic positions in the city. Federal agents in southern Arkham kept the peace by retaining control over uptown and the outskirts. However, as daybreak again overcast the sky with ominous crimson, the nearby town of Dunwich started seeing trouble of its own.
Jenny determined that after succumbing to hubris one too many times, felt that dabbling in the arcane arts would guarantee her further survival. Rushing headlong into danger to vanquish roaming beasts proved far more difficult than expected, and her bravery was rewarded with painful head injuries. With her trust fund burning a hole in her pocket, she ventured to the Magick Shoppe, and making neither heads nor tails of what the store had to offer, she met with the local psychologist in the French Hill District, who, after having perused an ancient Tome, found R'lyeh calling to her and deduced that Jenny's spell would allow her to answer that call.
Carolyn braved the jagged walls of the Other World, feeling that a woman scorned with a 12-gauge double barrel is no-one with whom to be trifled. However, upon emerging, she soon found that shells and buckshot were no match for the undead and the incorporeal. She awoke later at St. Mary's, dazed and haunted by helplessness, but her resolve never wavered. Something was coming, and it needed to be stopped by any means necessary.
Jim, after trudging through the City of the Great Race and narrowly avoiding near-annihilation and the hands of fate and otherworldly beasts, emerged without his beloved trumpet, but unharmed. The gate that stood before him could now be closed, but having never done such a thing before, he almost acquiesced to defeat and frustration before finally having an epiphany that broke through his wavering sanity. His efforts were not in vain, but soon after pursuing the rumors in Dunwich, he found more trouble than he expected.
The phenomena in the sky did not go unnoticed by Kate, who felt that forensic investigation was warranted. What she got instead were foul beasts, but a book she had found mysteriously in her possession offered incredible assistance that broke all the laws of science that she had come to accept. She scoured the woods, lugging her flux capacitor everywhere she went, and at one point it violently shook, only stopping to emit a pop, sparks, and smoke. After a few quick repairs, she left the woods in search of more wandering beasts to fell. Otherworldly events unfolded, but it was a good time for science.
Amanda, after hearing news of scholars in Arkham being local heroes, decided that, despite having neither money nor a clue, she had the heart of a warrior and the mind of a scholar herself. If something was happening in Arkham, she needed to be a part of the cure. She was not prepared for what fate had in store. Finding a gate leading to an outer world, she bravely stepped through and soon found that she was in another time. She witnessed her entire future pass in front of her eyes, but emerged with a second lifetime of memories. Perhaps, truly, what did not kill her would make her stronger, or so she thought. The city became darker. Residents were filled with dread. Amanda became impatient.
Diane, though she wanted no part of the corrupt rituals at the Silver Twilight Lodge, had no motivation other than fear. The abrupt and ethereal changes in the weather were no help, either. When a gate opened in Rivertown, she decided that investigating was far better than staying in Arkham. She knew little, though, of the horrors that lay beyond in the abyss. She emerged, quickly closed the gate from which she emerged, and vowed never to return. This vow was short-lived, as she soon found herself sucked into an outer world against her will. Her sanity was slowly being eaten away, so after emerging yet again into the relative safety of Arkham, she sought refuge in the Asylum where a neurologist took a keen liking to her, and she willingly submitted to thought and brain experiments to dampen the guilt, dread, and mania from her head.
The effort of the investigations in Arkham, most unfortunately, were all for naught. Time passed too quickly, and with the staff of many locales too overcome by sickness to provide a useful refuge, Tsathoggua finally awoke from rest to wreak havoc upon Arkham and the world.
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