That's right, they had me, and now that they had me I was gonna get the crash course in going insane.
--For those who don't know. Call of Cthulhu is a gaming system where you can pretty much count on a total party wipe by the end of each session. The entire party might not all be dead, but between death, insanity and demonic possession, your entire party WILL be out of commission--
So my partner and I begin the game driving into town. We were passing through with a prisoner that we were transferring cross country. Don't ask me why we were doing it in a car. It was supposed to be some big secret. But we were stopping for the night in this quaint, and by quaint I mean tiny, little town in Arizona. We put the criminal in the local lock up at the Sheriff's office/clinic and then hit the local diner for dinner. During the meal, the Sheriff bursts in and asks us for help with a domestic disturbance, he thought that it was connected to a string of disappearances. Well, although it was not in our jurisdiction, they were helping us out by detaining our transfer, so we decided to throw them a bone. So we are following the Sheriff's cruiser down the road toward the house. When we arrive it was a scene of absolute carnage. Blood and gore everywhere, it looked like at least 2 people had been killed, and maybe more just judging from all the blood. All of a sudden the Sheriff's deputy yells out that he found a kid locked in the basement. As my partner and myself made our way back downstairs, we found a guy making a break for one of the cars in the driveway, covered in blood. I burst out the door yelling for my partner to follow me. We hit the front yard just as he was recklessly backing out of the driveway. I pulled my service piece and took a few potshots at the tires, but while shooting I was already moving towards our car. I was across the hood and in the driver's seat as my partner was throwing himself in on the other side, and as the passenger door slammed shut I was slinging the car into drive and spewing gravel as we took of after him. It was rough driving after him down the old country roads, and if it wasn't for some amazing driving rolls we probably would have flipped the car. As it was my partner was hanging half out the window trying to line up a shot. We were coming up to a T-intersection, and he yelled for me to to swing the car so he could get a shot through the drivers window. I gunned it and as the assailant made the turn we took the inside track, my partner took the shot as soon as we turned and the driver's window came into his line of sight. A double tap and it was over, as the driver put the car into a ditch. Not a moment too soon either, as I was driving in opposite traffic and had to make one last drive check to avoid the oncoming semi that was bearing down on us. Pulling off to the side of the road, we made our way back to the assailants car. He was most definately dead. As we were pulling him out of the car, we heard a noise from the trunk. We opened it to find a small boy who was bound and gagged, by seemed no worse for the wear from the car going into the ditch. As we got him out of the trunk and untied him he screamed as he saw the man on the ground. Well we brought the body, and the boy back into town, where we found out that the kid in the basement was the sister of the boy that we found in the car, and both of them were the children of the man we had shot in the car, and the women who was found in the house. With all of the blood on him, and with a blood-stained murder weapon having been next to him on the passenger seat, it was a pretty open and shut case. Well we bring the body to the clinic/sherif's office to be put on ice until the county coroner could get there and pronounce, then we got cleaned up, filed the neccessary papers, and then went back over to the diner for some coffee. Little did we know that our night was just starting...
... After getting our coffee the Sheriff came in and joined us, we all got some food, and we talked about what all was going on. We all agreed that it was really weird, and that we should probably grab the EMT that lived in town, and see if she would be willing to do an autopsy. Sure, it wasn't by the book, but we needed answers, there were 4 other missing people to worry about. Myself and my partner went down to get the body out of the freezer and onto the table while the Sheriff waited for the EMT to show up. As we walked down the back steps of the clinic/Sheriff's office towards the "morgue"/lab, we heard crashing noises coming from inside. Both drawing weapons we advanced to the door. I went to open it, my partner ready to enter first. As I put my hand on the door however, it swung open, with enough force to send me crashing back into the wall. My partner stepped up and fired 3 times before i heard a meaty thump, and then a scream. Coming back to my senses after momentarily being stunned, I saw my partner bleeding from a neck wound, and a terrible humanoid creature standing above him. My gun having been knocked out of my hand, but my partner's life being in danger i did the only thing I could, and before it noticed me I swung my double-balled fists into the side of its head. Completely unaware it seemed momentarily stunned itself, giving me time to grab my partner's fallen weapon. At point blank range I unloaded the rest of the clip into the creature's back, center mass. It stumbled forward, and I thought that it would land on my partner, but instead it stumbled into a run, faster certainly then any Olympic sprinter could have ever hoped for, and it was all I could do to reload and spray another clip towards it as it made its way out into the desert night. Forgoing the chase to aid my wounded partner. We called in a med-evac, and had him stabilized by the time it arrived an hour later. I would have gone with him, but I still had a job to do, remembering that, I went to go check on our prisoner. With everything else that had been going on, and with her being behind bars she was the least of our worries, but when I walked back into the holding area, she was gone, and the cell she had been in was sporting a rather large hole in it's back wall. Knowing that she couldn't have done it without help, I was about to go get the Sheriff and organize a manhunt before she got too far away. As I was walking back out into the office proper however I heard a scream. The EMT, the Sheriff, my prisoner and the 2 children were all in the office, and there was some sort of silvery orb trying to get through the doorway. Pulling my piece, I immediately went about trying to stop its advance, and the Sheriff, finally getting over the initial shock, added a deep thump of a shotgun to the tirade. We yelled for the kids to get back in the hall behind us. The EMT and the Sheriff's Deputy, both having found weapons, added to the mass of fire that we were directing at the orb, but it was seemingly having no effect. It was as the orb crossed the threshold that the boy screamed in the hall behind us. I turned and being the closest one ran into the hall. I saw the boy screaming, and now the sister as well as hands and arms were stretching out towards him from the window of the clinic door. Grabbing the boy and starting him toward the door and yelled for the others. "Sheriff, get everyone out the back and into the ambulance, you can drive into Tucson and bring back reinforcements." One by one the EMT, the Sheriff, My prisoner and the Deputy made it down the hall and out the door, the Sheriff having been wounded had given the shotgun to the EMT, who was holding the door and waiting for me. "Agent Smith we have to go" she yelled as the orb began making its way down the hall. I was about to turn and run when the door to the clinic burst open, and the woman and the man from earlier shambled out. They were to close to the door, and if someone didn't do something they would get to the ambulance before it could get away. I yelled for the EMT to run as I pulled my partner's piece and started firing both guns down the hall. It seemed to be working momentarily, and the shamblers appearance had seemed to halt the orb as well. It was at that point that my partner's weapon misfired and pretty much exploded in my hand. As the fire momentarily stopped the two shamblers closed on me, and while I was stunned I was NOT moving back towards the door. The EMT tried to be a hero, she had waited for me instead of running and as soon as I went down she tried firing the shotgun down the hall. But being unfamiliar with the weapon it was no good, and after the first stray shot the weapon jammed before she could rack another cartridge into the chamber. The shotgun blast having brought my awareness back to the forefront I yelled again for her to run as I started firing from the ground trying to get up. It was no good as the first shambler fell on top of me even as I put 3 rounds in its chest. I heard the door slam, and I knew the EMT was gone, now I was just fighting for my life, knowing that the others would get away gave me a sense of accomplishment, and joy, but it was overpowered by the fact that......I WANTED TO LIVE. Fighting off the shambler as best I could, he continued to trying to tear at my eyes and neck. Finally getting my gun against the side of his head I pulled the trigger and watched as the brain splattered against the wall. As I tried to heave him off of me and run though the second shambler fell onto me as well. Having a bit of an advantage as the body of the first shambler partially blocked me from the second, a fought and clawed and finally got my gun up under the second shamblers throat, crowing in victory, a pulled the trigger, and as I heard the first dry click of the hammer striking nothing but an empty firing chamber, I felt the shambler's claws tear into my throat, and then I felt nothing at all.......
Picture by
Ralphy-Leone, Deviant Art
Yes, for those of you who read my 1st Tale, it is sadly my trope that I am the schmuck that dies so that the rest of the party may live. Unlike Shadowrun however, this has far more significance in Call of Cthulhu because if anyone gets away in Call of Cthulhu it is basically considered a win. This session however was fraught with argument as we argued with the GM that my pistol should not have been out of ammo. The players and I were making the argument that an FBI agent would have the maximum number of bullets in a weapon. A full magazine and one in the chamber. She made the excuse that because I never claimed that I was loading my weapon that way, that it doesn't matter what an agent would "usually" do. Well as usually happens with arguing with the GM, the GM won the argument. However it did teach all of the players. myself included. Always be specific when the GM/DM asks you a question. Even something as simple as how you are loading a weapon.
