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Welcome to Ansonia

Welcome to Ansonia, a wealthy Connecticut town circa 1928. Note the darkness of the map; the shadows have always held a bit of Ansonia – ever deepening, as impending threat of economic recession looms increasingly closer. The rise of darkness is near and the Mythos stirs…

---

1928, The Ansionia Day, Wednesday, November 14th

Baby Snatchers Still At Large

It was another in an incomprehensible string of heartbreak and loss, when Mrs. Shay Farrel, wife of Farrel Foundries CEO Henri Farrel, found an empty nursery yesterday morning as she went to wake her one year old daughter Ellen.

The window was found left ajar by the kidnapper; while some light footprints in the flowerbed below suggest a culprit of light build, possibly female. A search by local authorities discovered an unusual acid-burned depression in the ground, 130 yards east of the home, in a wooded corner of the estate. The coroner examining the area found no evidence that the baby had been killed by the acid, so hope remains that she will be found and her kidnappers brought to justice.

The strange acid burns are identical (and believed to be directly linked) to those found with the disappearance of three other small children in recent weeks, suggesting that a kidnapping ring or even (as has been voiced by concerned residents) an evil cult may be operating in the area.

---

Points of Historic Interest

1927

• A building in Missolongi Greece is bombarded with stones from the sky for a half an hour.
• Bible Quoting Earle Nelson is hanged at Winnipeg for the international murders of at least 22 landladies.
• Black rain in Ireland.
• Capone crew estimated to reap $60,000,000 from illegal beer and liquor.
• Charles Lindbergh Flies nonstop between New York City and Paris.
• Dempse/Tunney fight broadcast in Chicago, 40 million claimed to listen. Five listeners died of heart failure during the famous 13 second Tunney recovery, another five died during other fight moments.
• Earle Muller successfully uses x-rays to induce mutations in fruit flies.
• Estimated 30,000 speakeasies in New York City.
• Estimated 50,000 deaths resulting from bad booze since prohibition.
• First remote jukebox.
• Iron Lung developed.
• Lemaitre introduces the notion of the expanding universe.
• Pop-up toaster.
• Public opinion polls reveal majority of people in favor of 18th Amendment repeal.
• Sacco and Vanzetti executed.
• The Jazz Singer first feature length film.
• Transatlantic telephone service established between New York and London.
• Unprecedented Vermont floods carry strange bodies past observers (The Whisperer in Darkness).

1928

• Amelia Earhart first woman to fly across the Atlantic.
• Byrd expedition sails to Antarctica.
• Danish training ship Kobenhoven disappears without trace after sailing from Montvideo.
• First television sets $75.
• Geiger counter.
• Herbert Hoover wins Presidential election.
• One divorce in six marriages.
• Publication of An Experiment With Time.
• Teletypes come into use.
• Vitamin C.
• Waterproof cellophane developed.

"Lucky" Luci McKinley

Spitfire Private Eye
Age 33; Gender Female; Height 5’10”; Weight 155

Luci was born and raised in Ansonia Connecticut, the oldest of three girls. She was something of a tomboy from the start, perhaps because her father had really wanted his first child to be a boy. She grew up playing baseball, was the class bully, and a dead-aim with a slingshot. At one point, she decided that ‘Luci’ was too girlish a name and started making everyone call her ‘Lucky.’ The nickname has stuck ever since.

Luci’s father was Chief of Police when Luci graduated High School. He wanted her to pursue law enforcement, as he had, and helped her get into the Hartford Connecticut Regional Police Academy. Though interested in the field, Luci was too willful to finish training at the academy and decided to go it alone as a private investigator.

Since then, she has investigated mostly domestic cases, but has helped to solve a murder or two. One case in particular was so grizzly, that Luci had to ‘bag’ the remains herself, because the coroner couldn’t stop throwing up.

Recently however, Luci has had a run of bad luck. First, when she got the goods on some kidnappers and arranged the bust that freed the hostage, local officers Cray and Smith got all the credit. Her client then refused to pay her fee because “the police department had done all the work.” Only after Luci’s father got involved (he is retired as Police Chief, but still carries a lot of weight) did the department offer a formal apology for its oversight. Luci’s client never did pay her though. A week later Luci’s car broke down less than a mile from her home. Because it was late, she simply left the car and walked the rest of the way. Returning in the morning with the local towing service, she found her car on blocks with all four tires and the battery gone.

Lastly, a recent investigation turned sour when a woman hired Luci to get proof of her abusive husband’s infidelity so she’d have grounds for divorce. While tailing the husband, Luci failed to notice him circle back behind her until she woke up the next morning in the ally with a splitting headache and a Louisville slugger on the ground next to her. If that had not been enough, her client dropped the case, saying that she had made up with her husband and no longer needed Luci’s services.

They say bad luck comes in three’s, so Luci is hoping her bad luck has played out. Even so, that crack to the head has caused Luci to start experiencing infrequent blackouts. The periods range from a few hours to (in one case) two whole days. Luci hopes they will go away soon, but otherwise feels in perfect health.

Family
Luci’s mother and father still live in Ansonia, not too far from Luci’s home. Laura Kennedy (Luci’s first sister) also lives in Ansonia with her wealthy husband Roger Kennedy. Laura is having a baby and is due any day now. Luci’s youngest sister Mary is going to school in Concord New Hampshire.

Resources of Note

• Nice House in a Good Neighborhood
• 1926 Ford Roadster 2 Door Street-Rod
• Smith & Wesson .45 Revolver
• Fashion Savvy & Chic Clothing
• Expensive Wrist Watch
• Leather Driving Gloves
• Gold Cigarette Lighter
• Cigarettes
• Lock Picking Tools
• Handcuffs
• Flashlight
• x6 Binoculars
• Notepad and Pen
• $200

June 26th 1928 (five months earlier)

You have been asked by social services to accompany Arnold Penshaw, an elderly social worker, to the home of the wealthy socialite Mr. Brad Kingsly. Arnold has a court order to remove Mr. Kingsly’s son, two-year old Sonny Kingsly, and bring him back to social services to be put in the custody of his mother, Mrs. Sara Kingsly.

You know they wouldn’t have brought you into this, unless they figured Mr. Kingsly was going to be troublesome. Well, that and the police were unwilling to get involved, due to Mr. Kingsly’s political clout in town. Not like you can trust the local blue-boys to do the right thing anyway, especially ol’ Cray and Smith.

As you rode over in Arnold’s 1925 Dodge 4-door touring sedan, you considered the elderly gentleman in somewhat unkempt aristocratic clothing that you were working with. He was old. Hell, he had to be in his mid to late sixties. You even remember him from your childhood. He had been a well know stage magician back then – pretty damn good too. But something had happened a decade or so back you recall; and he suffered a terrible mental breakdown. They had to lock him up in the loony bin over it. Seems sometime last year though, he suddenly snapped out of it and was released. You can’t help wonder if he still did any magic – he really was that good.

Arnold pulled the car over and checked his gold pocket watch. “Right on time,” he said, tapping the dial before proceeding to open his door to get out.

Stepping out on your side of the car and looking around, you could see that you were in one of Ansonia’s more affluent neighborhoods, surrounded in high-priced homes and overly-tended lawns. Arnold hobbled towards the nearest one, supporting himself on a fine walking cane with silver eagle’s head handle. The two-story home had a privacy fence enclosing a patio and pool in the back, guarded by two Doberman Pinchers (apparently) that you could make out pacing silently back and forth between the slats in the fence. Interesting that they did not bark. They must be well trained animals.

Mr. Kingsly had money and seemed to enjoy showing it – as attested to by a brand new, freshly polished, 1928 silver convertible Bentley that sat in his open garage, a garish symbol of status on display.

Arnold went up the steps to the porch and gave a pleasant sounding rap on the door. There was some movement within the house and the door opened. It was Mr. Kingsly. “Oh, it’s you,” he said flatly. “Come in. We’ll talk in the sitting room.”

You followed Arnold into a fastidiously well-kept home, luxuriously appointed with artistic fervor and the finest of furnishings. It was readily apparent from the décor that Mr. Kingsly has an affinity for both horses and sailing; pursuits common to society’s more privileged.

In the sitting room, a small boy sat silently – almost woefully – in a chair next to a large leather armchair with a built in art-deco ashtray. The boy didn’t stir or say anything as everyone entered, but seemed to look right through you. There was something creepy about the kid’s stare, as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have and it broke him.

“Please, have a seat,” Mr. Kingsly directed, motioning you and Arnold toward a long leather couch across from the large leather armchair. There was a coffee table between the two with a box of fine Cuban cigars and a large glass ashtray on it. “Cigar?” Mr. Kingsly offered Arnold, as he took a seat.

You couldn’t help but notice he hadn’t even acknowledged you yet – let alone offer you a smoke too.

“Oh, delighted, thank you,” Arnold replied – and the two men took a moment to light cigars and take a few puffs. You didn’t much care for cigars anyway, so you quietly took out your cigarettes and lit one up.

It was at that point that Mr. Kingsly suddenly seemed to notice your presence.

“He killed one of my dogs you know,” Mr. Kingsly abruptly stated out of the blue. “I don’t know how he did it, but it’s done. I am a good father, raised with discipline. It will be the same for my own son.”

“One of your dogs?” Arnold began to ask in shock.

“DAMN IT! I’LL RAISE MY SON HOW I SEE FIT!” Mr. Kingsly abruptly shouted - leaping out of his chair and actually hurling it through the window with a loud crash.

You were instantly on your feet, while poor Arnold seemed frozen on the couch in disbelief.

“SHE WON’T TAKE MY SON AWAY FROM ME! SHE WON’T HAVE HIM!” Mr. Kinglsy frothed madly with wild crazy eyes – as a P08 Luger pistol seemed to appear in his hand out of nowhere – pointed at your chest!

“You!” He growled fiercely, his eyes fixated on you. “You won’t take him from me now Sara!”

It was clear from his ravening stare and calling you by his wife’s name that he was going to shoot!

---

A. Leap at the man and try to disarm him. Maybe Arnold can hit him with his cane.
B. It’s you or him! Pull your revolver and let him have it!
C. Try to reason with him, explain that you are not his wife Sara.
D. Go with the delusion, pretend to be Sara and tell him you aren’t going to take Sonny away from him.

Hell yes.

Option D. Just until he lets his guard down.

D.

Clearly, the most unreasonable and least likely to work option is D.

D.

Oh this is cool. 

D

D, because bandwagon.

The only way to work with Crazy in the short-term is to try and misdirect it. D!

D.
It's my favorite letter.

No u

I mean, the guy is crazy but the kid is clearly evil. We don't want him, we don't want none of this, no thanks. Let's just go home.

Option D. Obviously the only thing that would temporarily pacify him. 

<D. Go with the delusion, pretend to be Sara and tell him you aren’t going to take Sonny away from him.>

---

“No darling,” you begin, slowly raising your hands in an attempt to calm the situation. “I would never take Sonny from you! I want him to stay with you. That’s why I’m here, to tell you I’m sorry. We can make up and be a happy family again!”

Mr. Kingsly hesitated. He wasn’t shooting, which was good – but he hadn’t lowered the pistol yet either.

“Wha…what?” Mr. Kingsly stammered in confusion.

Arnold’s voice abruptly interjected – strong and commanding – “Mr. Kinglsy, I want you to close your eyes.”

To your astonishment, Mr. Kingsly actually complied, shutting his eyes and standing there – gun still pointed at you, but otherwise frozen in place. You noticed something strange, now that your focus had been drawn from the luger in Mr. Kingsly’s hand to his closed eyes. There was a flickering movement under his closed lids – like someone in a state of rem.

Arnold then stood out of his seat and walked over to Mr. Kingsly, placing a hand atop Mr. Kingsly’s gun hand. With a single swift motion, Arnold threw Mr. Kingsly’s arm downward and commanded – “SLEEP!”

Mr. Kingsly’s head nodded forward and his shoulders slumped – his arms hanging down limply at his side. The boy Sonny let out a sort of short whine at the display, but didn’t move from his chair or seem otherwise concerned.

Arnold then took the luger out of Mr. Kingsly’s hand and began removing the bullets.

“How?” you asked incredulously.

“Hypnotism,” Arnold replied, “but not from me. I noticed the twitching of his eyes, as if he had gone into a dream state, after mentioning his dogs. I can put a man into that state through hypnosis (it was part of my act once), but I didn’t initiate it in Mr. Kingsly – it was already there, apparently. What I did however, was take advantage of the highly receptive state hypnosis put Mr. Kingsly in.

“If you didn’t hypnotize him, then who did?!?” you asked, not liking the implications.

“Ah, well, it may have just been the stress Mr. Kinglsy was under, due to his current family situation and all. He probably hasn’t been sleeping and that likely just caught up with him all at once.”

You didn’t buy it, but at least the man was no longer threatening to shoot you. “So, what now?” you asked, motioning to Mr. Kinglsy – who for all appearances seemed to be dead-asleep on his feet.

“Right,” Arnold said, ushering Mr. Kinglsy back down in another chair. “Mr. Kingsly,” he then commanded, “You will sleep for two hours; after which you will awake refreshed and in a remarkably good mood. You will decide that it’s best for Sonny be with his mother and will dutifully see to the financial support of the both of them as determined by the court. You will not try to contest the court’s ruling.”

Arnold then dropped the bullets from the luger into his pocket and set the pistol up on a nearby bookshelf. He took the court papers he had brought with him and set them on the coffee table.

“Well,” he continued, turning to you, “I’m going to see if I can gather some effects for the boy, before we leave. You won’t mind sitting with him a moment will you? Oh, and don’t worry about Mr. Kingsly, he’ll stay asleep.”

---

A. Stay with the boy. Maybe you can get him to open up a bit if you talk to him.
B. Have Arnold stay and go gather some of the kid’s clothing yourself.
C. Tell Arnold to forget the clothes and just leave with the boy now.

Gonna go with A on this one.

A. We should get more info about what's going on and the boy could be a good source if he's willing to talk.

Well in that case he's going to be trouble later on anyways. Might as well find out now and plan accordingly. Also maybe he'll like us and won't use his evil powers on us later on.

A. Things always go bad when you look away from them in this sort of story. Better keep an eye on everythign while you investigate.

A.

I don't think pissing off Mr. Magic is good idea since he can apparently hypnotize our ass.

A.

<A. Stay with the boy. Maybe you can get him to open up a bit if you talk to him.>

---

“Sure, no problem,” you replied to Arnold, glancing over to the boy, who just continued to sit there dolefully.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” Arnold said, moving out of the sitting room and up the stairs in the main hall. You could hear his cane hitting the steps each time he used it to support himself on the way up.

“So,” you began, turning to face Sonny and offering a bright smile, “My name is Lucky, what’s your name?”

“Sonny,” the boy answered with the most dead-faced look you had ever seen on a toddler. At least he was talking… sort of.

“We’re going to take you to see your Mommy, would you like that Sonny?”

“I’m thirsty,” he stated simply.

Weird, most kids showed a little more enthusiasm about their own mothers at that age. There was definitely something wrong with the kid.

“Uh, okay,” you agreed, standing and offering your hand to the boy. “Come on, let’s go into the kitchen and see if we can find some juice or milk.

Sonny reached up and took your hand, using it to pull himself up off his chair. He passively allowed you to walk him out of the sitting room and down the main hall into the kitchen.

‘Just keep him away from any large kitchen knives,’ you found yourself thinking, feeling a strange unease around the little boy.

“There,” Sonny said, pointing to the icebox.

You walked over and pulled it open, seeing that it was well stocked. Taking a large cup from off the nearby dishrack, you poured some cold milk out of a tall glass bottle and turned to hand it to the boy.

That’s when you became aware of a certain familiar scent – the metallic tang of blood in the air.

Carefully masking your sudden concern, you passed the cup of milk to Sonny as if nothing was amiss, and gave the place a quick glance around.

There – next of the door leading into the garage was a tied hemp russet-sack, soaked in blood, and leaking all over the floor. The large, misshapen lump, must have been sitting there for a while, judging by the size of the pool.

---

A. Ignore it. Take Sonny back to the sitting room to wait for Arnold.
B. Ask Sonny about the sack on the floor.
C. Go see what is inside the sack.
D. Call for Arnold to come take a look.

I think we found the dog.

Hmm, I'm not sure about this one. I guess B?

If the kid is evil (obviously he is) we shouldn't turn our back on him to mess with untying it, but for now we have to treat him like a kid who seems to be in shock. So we can't just be flopping his murdered dog out onto the floor in front of him. So opening it ourselves is out matter how look at it.

Ignoring it makes no sense.

Probably we should call Arnold, really, but Sonny may say something to give us more of an idea of what's going on here, and we should still be able to check the bag out afterwards.

The rebel in me says C. We've gone too long without taking Sanity Damage!

I'm gonna go with D on this one. Sonny is clearly fucked up and bringing up the sack or messing with it ourselves might cause him to freak out. Ignoring it isn't really an option either and I'd rather have Arnold around if the kid does flip out so he can hypnotize him and put him to sleep or something.

Like I said, that's probably the most sensible option, but I want the juicy information. And Arnold is technically just like five seconds away and within shouting distance if things go wrong.

<D. Call for Arnold to come take a look.>

---

“Okay, let’s head back to wait for Arnold,” you told Sonny, pretending not to have seen the bloody sack. Leading him once again by the hand you entered the sitting room and paced nervously, waiting for Arnold to return. You felt a small wave of relief upon hearing the familiar tap of his cane, as he came back down the stairs.

“All set to go,” Arnold smiled, holding up a small satchel of clothes.

“Oh good, I’ll take Sonny to the car,” you replied, moving up to take the satchel and whispering covertly into Arnold’s ear. “You need to check out something in the kitchen, it may be important to know – but brace yourself, it’s messy.”

“All right,” Arnold replied, waiting for you to take Sonny out of the house before turning to head toward the kitchen.

Arriving at Arnold’s sedan, you opened the door for Sonny to get in the back, then closed the door and walked around to get into the front passenger seat.

You then noticed the small gathering of curious neighbors on the sidewalk pointing and gossiping among themselves, conserving the broken front window and large leather armchair sitting out on the front lawn.

A man approached your window and asked, “Ah, Miss, is everything all right?”

“Yes, don’t worry about it,” you replied sternly; “This is a social services matter. I am not at liberty to discuss it with you, but feel free to take it up with Mr. Kingsly if you like.”

A moment later, Arnold hurried out of the house, his face notably pale.

“Good day,” you said to the man at your window, waving him off.

When Arnold got in the car, you hid the side of your mouth from Sonny and mimed the word “dog?” to him.

“Ah… y, yes,” Arnold coughed, taking a moment to clear his throat. He turned in his seat a moment to give Sonny a sidelong glance – visibly shuddering before turning back around and starting the car.

You didn’t want to press the matter now with Sonny here and figured you’d have time to ask more about what Arnold saw later.

Arnold pulled the car back onto the road and began driving back toward social services.

A few minutes into the drive and you found yourself thinking about what Arnold must have seen in that bloody sack. It must have been the dog that Mr. Kingsly mentioned being killed, but no way a two-year old could kill a healthy Doberman. Maybe Mr. Kingsly killed the dog and was taking it out on his son for some reason.

It was then that a large black dog suddenly bolted out from between two parked cars and into the road up ahead. Arnold didn’t seem to notice and was on a direct course for running the animal straight over!

---

A. Yell “Look Out!” to warn Arnold of the dog in the road.
B. There’s no time, grab the steering wheel, and maneuver around the dog.
C. There’s no time, close your eyes and ready yourself for the gruesome impact.

B 

SAVE THE TURTLES!!!

i mean.... dogs 

my bad

A. This way, it's not my fault!

<A. Yell “Look Out!” to warn Arnold of the dog in the road.>

---

“Look Out!” you yelled, trying to alert Arnold to the large dog in the road. It was enough to startle the old man, but not save the large black beast. The front of the car brutally thudded into the dog before Arnold had even hit the brakes, which locked up, right as the animal went under the tires – effectively smearing the grizzly carcass all over the road.

Once the car had come to stop, Arnold hopped out to assess the damage.

“I never even saw it,” you could hear him saying to himself, as he walked to the back of the car. “Great Scott! It’s like the bloody sack in the kitchen! Oh Lord, poor thing even has a tag…”

“Bad dog. Teh heh heh…” Little Sonny snickered from the back seat with a disturbingly curled grin, as he began to rock back and forth.

It was all you could do to stay seated there in the car with the kid.

A moment later, Arnold returned to the car and got back in. You could see blood on the side of his right shoe. Looking In the side mirror, you saw that Arnold had shoved the remains of the dog over to the side of the road.

“Normally, I would take the time to find and apologize to the owners,” Arnold said, as he resumed driving; “But in this case, I feel it best to deliver this child to his mother as soon as humanly possible.”

“No kidding.” You replied bluntly, lighting up another of your cigarettes. “Smoke?” you offered Arnold.

“Please.”

Once the car had moved on from where the dog had been hit, Sonny settled down and remained quiet for the rest of the drive.

Arriving at social services, Arnold parked the car on the main street, in front of the building. The two of you got out and you opened Sonny’s door for him. The child climbed out, and for the first time since you had met the boy, his face lit up with some life.

“Mama!” He exclaimed happily, hurrying over to a woman walking towards you and Arnold on the sidewalk. Mrs. Kingsly was well dressed, as a woman of her station would be, and accompanied by Mother Carrol – head of the local orphanage.

‘Odd,’ you thought; ‘Surely they do not intend to give the kid up for adoption after all the trouble we just went through to get him back from his father.’

Mrs. Kingsly meanwhile, scooped her son up in her arms with a tearful hug. “Oh thank you! Thank you for rescuing my son to me,” she said to you and Arnold.

She seemed genuine. At least the kid was her problem now, and you could get on to some real cases. The kind of cases that paid better and didn’t involve such freaky weirdness.

“You are quite welcome, our pleasure,” Arnold responded to the woman. You just smiled with a nod.

“There now, you see?” Mrs. Kingsly turned to address the nun, “I told you it would turn out all right.”

Mother Carol held Mrs. Kingsly’s hand a moment. “I do wish you both the best. God be with you. You know how to reach me if there are any further… problems.”

A black limousine then pulled up to the curb and a chauffeur got out to open a door for Mrs. Kingsly and her son. After Mother Carol had watched them get in, and the limo was beginning to drive off, she turned to you and Arnold – “Please forgive me if I sound cryptic, but I simply must see the both of you tonight about a serious matter. We cannot talk about it here. Please, come to my office at the orphanage, tonight at 7:00 pm.”

“Of course,” Arnold agreed.

Something told you this wasn’t going to be next case you were looking for.

---

A. Simply accept and meet up with Arnold at the orphanage later that evening.
B. Remind Mother Carrol that you’re a private eye and don’t normally get involved in church matters.
C. Jokingly ask if this has anything to do with more demon possessed children.

B

If she wants our time she needs to give us a better explanation than that. None of this cryptic stuff, doesn't she realize that just means she'll be found murdered before she can tell us what she knows?

A. A job's a job- Besides,the more secrets we know, the more dirt insight we'll have on the local area. That's real imperative for a person in our line of work.

A. No reason

I feel like C might be a trigger for the Mother to spill some juicy info. 

Egads - an A/B tie! We need a breaker.

B.

I want to see what Mother Carrol says.

<B. Remind Mother Carrol that you’re a private eye and don’t normally get involved in church matters.>

---

“Mother Carol,” you began, trying not to sound too dismissive; “What could the church possibly have need for a private eye? I highly doubt that you’re gona ask me to tail the Bishop and take incriminating photos of his evening interludes.”

“Why, I… hmph!” Mother Carrol stammered, offended at the very suggestion.

“If you have legal matters, then wouldn’t the police be the more appropriate course of action?” You quickly added.

Mother Carrol looked down, took a deep breath, and let the perceived insinuation slide.

“No, not at all actually,” she answered, getting closer and lowering her voice so no one else would overhear. “Something is happening to the children of Ansonia,” she explained with palpable concern. “We are seeing some ‘things’ in the orphanage that lead me to believe there is a terrible force at work. Obviously, I can’t go to the police with nothing but “a bad feeling about it”, so we need someone to investigate a little further first.”

“I’ll certainly help where I can,” Arnold volunteered.

“Thank you Arnold,” Mother Carol continued; “We feel your experience working with families and children in social services may help immeasurably in this matter. As for you Ms. McKinley,” She went on, addressing you once again, “we need an investigator. You are an investigator. Please come by this evening, at least to hear what we’ve been dealing with at the orphanage before deciding.”

“Fair enough,” you replied with a nod.

“Thank you,” Mother Carrol finished, straightening and turning to walk back up the sidewalk.

“Well, I better go finish my paperwork,” Arnold said; “Meet you at the old church then?”

“Yeah, see ya.”

---

(Continued in Next Post)

It was 7:00 pm sharp, as you stopped your street-rod along the curb in front of the Ansonia’s orphanage to park. Arnold had already arrived by that time, and was sitting in his sedan, smoking a cigar as you drove up. He got out of his car as you hopped out of yours and the two of you climbed the stairs of the old rundown church that housed The Holy Family Orphanage and Charity.

The tap of Arnold’s cane on the steps had become a familiar sound to you by this time, but you made a mental note to consider the impact it might have, should the “investigation” actually require stealth at some point.

Opening the heavy oak door that lead in, you and Arnold made your way down a narrow hall and into a small cramped office at the end with a simple brass plaque that read simply: ‘Mother Carrol; Administrator’.

Mother Carol sat down behind a desk covered in a pile of paperwork and files, while old steel cabinets lining the room also overflowed with the stuff.

“Looks like you could use more storage space,” you mentioned nonchalantly.

“You don’t know the half of it,” Mother Carrol replied, motioning for you and Arnold to take seats in front of the desk.

As you and Arnold sat down, the old nun continued; “First of all, I want to thank you for bringing in little Sonny Kingsly this afternoon. I simply don’t know what changed in his father recently. Mrs. Kingsly says he stopped sleeping and became more and more abusive. When she threatened to leave with their son, Mr. Kingsly became violent and forced her out of the house. That’s when she came to us (the church), and social services. I think it’s wonderful of you to have helped return Sonny to his mother.”

“Oh, our pleasure,” Arnold replied politely.

You didn’t feel like going over the same ground again and simply asked – “And the orphans, here, now? That is why we are here; what of them?”

“Oh yes, of course,” Mother Carol replied, pausing a moment as though not sure how to get out what she had to say. After taking a long sip of coffee, she began to explain.

“As I mentioned this afternoon, I believe something is happening that’s affecting the children of this town – or at least the quality of their lives. I can’t sit by and watch as my orphanage fills to bursting. You see – the past year there has been an unusually large number of new orphans. Parents getting killed; some disappearing; some children simply being abandoned on our door.”

“A typical year in Ansonia brings less than a dozen unfortunates to our humble orphanage. This year however, we’ve been literally swamped with children – more than fifty!”

“Fifty orphans in one year?!?” Arnold exclaimed in shock.

“Yes,” Mother Carrol went on, “and another odd thing is that the majority of these children are toddlers of about three years of age. Most of them exhibit social disorders, autism, or violent tendencies, no doubt due to the trauma they’ve suffered losing their families. It’s all so very disturbing.”

“Like Sonny Kingsly?” you asked; “He’s right in that age range and seemed to have a distinct animosity towards dogs. A violent animosity, if his father is to believed.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“But is that it?” you asked; “You want us to investigate why they are behaving badly? Didn’t you just answer your own question? Wouldn’t that simply be the trauma of their loss, and in Sonny’s case, the separation of his parents?”

“No not just that,” Mother Carrol responded; “Don’t you see? It is unheard of for there to be this many orphans in one year. And the fact that almost all of them are toddlers – impossible! Something is going on – something terrible!”

“Ok, I see why you couldn’t take this to the police,” you groaned flatly. “I’m going to need a little more than this (amazing coincidence aside).”

“Please, I beg you to…” Mother Carrol began, but you rolled your hand to encourage her to just get on with it.

“Uh, well,” Mother Carrol said, clearly trying to think of anything more she could add. “Oh yes, I recall now that quite a few of these orphans (most of them in fact) are from wealthy families. That’s something right? The wealthy almost never give their children up for adoption (willingly at least).”

You thought about that for a moment. “Yes, that is unusual. Maybe there is something to this after all. Do you mind if we have a look at your records? I’d like to get a better understanding of everything in play. See if I can find something more that ties all of this together.”

“Certainly,” Mother Carol replied, panning her hand over the copious piles of paperwork cluttering the office and desk. “These are all the files from the last year, since the drastic influx of orphans. There has been so many that our filing system couldn’t keep up.”

You turned to Arnold; “Well Arnold, any idea where to start in all this mess?”

“No not at all,” he replied, standing. “I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee though; this might take a while.”

---

(Continued in Next Post)

After three hours of tediously pouring through the files, you had managed to root the following information out of the records:

In the last year there had been fifty three new orphans brought into the orphanage, most involving children near three years of age.

Eight of those cases would be considered Normal; being illegitimate births from poor girls.

Twenty two cases involved Abandonment – where five couldn’t deal with the child, two wanted a better life for the child, eight were of parents who had suffered mental breakdowns, and seven children who were simply left on the doorstep.

Twelve were labeled Life Disruption cases, by divorce or domestic violence, where the children were pulled out of the home by social services.

Seven were Disappearance cases, where both parents had disappeared.

And four were Parents Killed, where both parents had been killed.

Looking at everything as a whole however, a disturbing trend started to emerge – more than two thirds of the cases involved children born at the Martin Steward Maternity Hospital.

The very hospital where your Sister Laura was due to give birth any day now…

---

A. Rush over to the hospital tonight! You got to warn Laura that something bad is going on there!
B. Head over in the morning, just to check things out.
C. Better gather a little more info first. These wouldn’t be the only records of this in town.

A family over everything else, It would be wise to gather info but there if there is a trend occuring that has to do with abandonments happining at the same hospital your sister is given birth. Thats a little more than just a coincidence. You need to check this out immediatly and warn your sister so nothing bad happens to her.

A. 

Laura ain't giving birth to the Anti-Christ on my watch!

A! Nothing else is really that urgent.

I'm going to cast a futile vote for C, we're going to sound really freakin crazy without more evidence.

The lone voice of reason slowly bleeding out in a cold dark alley surrounded by a pack of bloodthirsty hyenas haha! ;)

(^sort of like the commas in this sentence)

(working on update now)

^v^

Trying to halt the bandwagon just gets you run over, it turns out.

Oh hey, I completely forgot to vote on this! C.
No, not because Mizal chose it. :) We do have pretty much the same reasoning, though. A "Rush over there immediately or someone will die!" thing seems a bit too cliche for BZ. We are the skeptic, we need information. By panicking before we get it, we could miss something crucial, so our arrival at the hospital might be pointless as we wouldn't be able to stop ... whatever this is. Humans are very good at spotting patterns when looking for them, even if they're not true; we could've missed the real one.

Damn. Apologies, I'm dumb and missed BZ's post. Thank you, Chris!
Good thing I'm blind, eh? At least I can say I didn't see it! :)

<A. Rush over to the hospital tonight! You got to warn Laura that something bad is going on there!>

---

“My sister is having a baby at that hospital!” you exclaimed in alarm, jumping up from the desk.

“I’m sorry what?” Arnold asked.

“My sister Laura is there – now – and due any time! We need to get over there right away and make her leave with us! Or… at least warn her of the danger!”

Arnold paused with a concerned look on his face. You could tell it was for you, more than your sister Laura.

“I understand we don’t really have much to convince her with,” you explained, “but she’s my sister, she’ll listen to me.”

“We don’t really even know what’s going on here,” Arnold replied, and then slowly nodded in agreement; “But okay, we can try.”

“Thank you!”

Hurrying out of the orphanage, you stopped abruptly at the top of the stairs.

“Ah nerts!”

“What is it?” Arnold asked as he came up behind you.

Officers Cray and Smith were sitting in their squad-car with their lights on, as Cole Green (the local tow-truck driver), was fixing to chain your ride to his lowered tow-boom!

---

A. March right down there and demand to know what is going on!
B. Ignore them and have Arnold drive you to your sister’s hospital in his car.
C. Try to talk with Cole, he owes you a favor, for not ratting out his moonshine delivery side-job.
D. Threaten Officers Cray and Smith with retribution from your father, if they don’t leave your car and take a hike.

B no time to waste!!

Ok, I see why you couldn’t take this to the police,” you groaned flatly. “I’m going to need a little more than this (amazing coincidence aside).”

Just a little reminder of the person we were so recently, even as it's clear we're going to collectively choose B and rush to the hospital on a single minded mission.

Obviously, I can’t go to the police with nothing but “a bad feeling about it”, so we need someone to investigate a little further first.”

...tfw a nun is more rational than a private eye.

I mean we're headed to the same place for the same reason either way so might as well get there fast. It's too late for not making a big hysterical femoid spectacle of ourselves, might as well just roll with it.

Although I don't doubt Berka might have something up his sleeve, this doesn't feel like the same level of high impact choice of most of the others.

Also after rereading, I'm not sure the tow truck driver just deciding not to tow would go down well with the police.

C. I like favors!

C

Ok, time to vote again, at the correct post this time! Once again, I'm sorry for my stupidity.
C seems like the most likely one to work. If these two policemen are taking our car but not Arnold's, it's likely they already know damn well whose car it is. The trucker's more likely to just be doing the job he was hired for, not aware if it's against the law or not.

I just assumed the car was parked badly. Although I'd not be surprised if there's some conspiracy, if the police call in a tow truck guy then just going in and trying to override them on that while they're sitting right there probably isn't going to work.

I'd have gone for talking to the police if there had been an option besides threatening them.

Looks like C wins this round. Updating shortly...

<C. Try to talk with Cole, he owes you a favor, for not ratting out his moonshine delivery side-job.>

---

“Cole!” you called, hurrying down the steps; “What the heck!?”

Cole looked up from under the front of your car and stood, once he recognized who you were. “Oh hey Lucky,” he replied, looking at you and then turning his head to the two policemen in their car and giving them upturned palms (as if to say ‘what now?’).

“The boys *ahem* requested I tow your car to the shop, because it can’t stay here overnight. Didn’t think you were around.”

‘How late is it?’ you wondered to yourself, looking at your watch. Ten Thirty Two.

“Look, I’m here now,” you said, “So I can move it myself and you don’t need to tow it. Right? …”

“Uh, yeah, I guess not.”

Cole then started pulling the chains out from under your car.

Officer Cray got out of the squad-car and walked up to you with a smug look on his face. Handing you a slip of paper he said, “Afraid I still got to ticket you for parking here after ten pm.”

You took the citation and looked at it. “Fifty cents?” you scoffed, “that’s twice the regular fine and you know it.”

“Mayor just approved the increase,” Officer Cray replied. He then turned to Arnold (who was finally down the stairs and walking toward you). “You’re gona have to move the car Mr. Penshaw,” he directed.

“Right away officer,” Arnold called back with a wave.

“Good night folks,” Officer Cray finished and turned to return to the squad-car.

You knew they were just doing this to be assholes or they’d have fined Arnold too. You had bigger issues to deal with right now however, so you shelved the idea of tearing the ticket up and tossing it that smug bastard’s face, and headed to your vehicle.

“So, what? Should I follow you in my car then?” Arnold asked, as officer Cray and Smith turned off the police lights and pulled back onto the road.

You were just about to reply, when the two officers stopped the squad-car alongside you. Officer Smith rolled his window down.

“Whatever that crazy nun told you, ain’t worth losing your pretty little head over. We like ya Luci. We really do. We’d hate to see something bad happen to you.”

You knew a threat when you heard one. What did these two goons know?

---

A. Tell them the name’s “Lucky” and that you can take care of yourself.
B. Ask them what they know about Mother Carol’s story.
C. Wait for them leave, but then follow them in your car.
D. Wait for them leave, but then follow them in Arnold’s car.
E. Wait for them leave, but then follow them in Cole’s tow-truck (he owes you).
F. Ignore them altogether and head over to Laura’s hospital.

Okay now this is interesting.

I'm just gonna pick A because I like the sass and implied hair flip, plus it doesn't restrict any of our other options.

This more than anything else implies something really is going on, but there's no way trying to inconspicuously follow police officers in either of our already known cars, or a flipping tow truck is going to work.

F

A, because it's the most badass

<A. Tell them the name’s “Lucky” and that you can take care of yourself.>

---

“Name’s ‘Lucky’ and I can take care of myself boys;” you stated with a defiant flip of your hair.

Your implied sass seemed to strike a nerve.

“Best you not go ‘round poking your nose into matters that don’t concern you!” officer Smith retorted in annoyance.

“I’m a Private Eye,” you retorted back; “It’s literally what I get paid for.”

“What you… ‘get paid for’…” officer Smith quoted back with a thoughtful pause. “Huh… how much could the orphanage be paying you? They hardly got enough to keep all them brats clothed and fed.”

“Yeah,” officer Cray chimed in from the driver’s side of the vehicle, “what’s an orphanage need with a Private Eye anyway? This something we need to know about?”

---

A. “For your information, Mother Carrol is not paying me a cent; She was just concerned about the boy we picked up today is all.”
B. “For your information, Mother Carrol is not paying me a cent; But she asked me to look into some odd happenings, possibly affecting some of the children in this town.”
C. “What I get paid is none of your business. Mother Carrol was just concerned about the boy we picked up today is all.”
D. “What I get paid is none of your business. But Mother Carrol did ask me to look into some odd happenings, possibly affecting some of the children in this town.”

D. As much SECRECY as possible. Can't put our cards on the table!

Wouldn't C reveal the least bit of information?

A

A is the most plausible sounding.

<A. “For your information, Mother Carrol is not paying me a cent; She was just concerned about the boy we picked up today is all.”>

---

“For your information, Mother Carrol is not paying me a cent,” you informed the two officers; “She was just concerned about the boy we picked up today is all.”

“Kingsly’s kid eh?” officer Smith asked.

“The same; No thanks to you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I had to get dragged into it, because the department was too afraid to step on some uppity up’s toes.”

“Yeah, well babysittin’ ain’t exactly our thing doll. But I’m sure you did a fine job, harhar!”

You held your tongue, sensing this would be the end of the conversation, while opening your mouth would just fuel more of their chauvinistic crap.

“We’ll see you around,” Officer Cray broke in, as Officer Smith just grinned arrogantly. The squad-car then pulled away and headed up the road.

A single drop of rain splashed the side of your face. Looking up, you could see the night sky, overcast, dark, and brooding. An impressive storm was on the horizon, flashes of lightning illuminating the distant cloudbank. You couldn’t yet hear the thunder, so it was still a ways off – maybe an hour or so at best.

“What’s that all about?” Cole asked, having stowed his chains and gear back in the tow-truck. “Something weird is going on, right? Maybe now you’ll all start taking me serious about my abduction.”

That’s right; Cole had been nearly laughed out of town about a year ago, when he claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Everyone simply dismissed his account as a bad batch of shine.”

“So you’re the UFO guy?” Arnold stepped up to ask.

“And you’re the crazy magician that went bonkers and got tossed in the booby hatch,” Cole shot back defensively.

“No, you misunderstand,” Arnold explained, “I’m not discounting you at all, I’ve… I’ve seen some… unusual things in my day, and am wondering if what you experienced could be related to what we’re currently investigating. You see, I find it most coincidental that your abduction and my – shall we say, miraculous return to sanity, seem to have occurred on the same night.”

Cole’s face showed a mix of shock and relief at perhaps being believed for the first time since his encounter.

“Hold up, Arnold,” you said; “I’m not sure we want to bring too many into this before we have a better idea of what’s going on.”

“I was just thinking,” Arnold explained, “that given the situation with the youngins, and their connection to a certain hospital… Well, that has to mean this has been going on for more than just recently. What if everything is connected somehow?”

---

A. Maybe Arnold is right. Ask Cole to recount his experience to you; then decide.
B. No. You and Arnold are better off handling this yourselves.
C. You don’t have time for any of this (your sister is still in danger). Just tell Cole to follow you and Arnold to your sister’s hospital.
D. You don’t have time for any of this (officer Cray and Smith are getting away and you still want to follow them).

A

Still don't really have much idea at all what's going on here. Anyway, even if he's crazy he might be willing to help us if we humor him.

Possibly we could learn a little more about Arnold this way too.

A

A

A

<A. Maybe Arnold is right. Ask Cole to recount his experience to you; then decide.>

---

“Hmm, it’s worth considering,” you agreed with Arnold. “All of these children were born in the same hospital it’s true, but each more than two years ago. If this has something to do with the hospital, then yes, it has been going on for much longer than we initially thought.”

Turning to Cole, you asked him to refresh your memory. “Be a sport Cloe and remind us of your, uh, alien encounter. Go on now, we’re listening.”

After eyeing you a moment, to make sure you weren’t mocking him, Cole began.

“Well, as you heard, I was out on the family property about a year ago,” he explained, “loading up for a run. It was late at night and dark, when a blinding light and great noise (like the roar of a waterfall) come out of nowhere. Hell, I though it was the police at first, making a raid on the still, and ran off blindly into the woods. But the damned light, it… it, followed me from above. I looked up and saw a silver metallic zeppelin thing floating over the trees.

Then I was literally flung into the air by some unseen force. Right up and into the craft, going straight through the hull as if it hadn’t been there! I must have blacked out’ cause next thing I know is waking up near the still.”

“I occasionally have nightmares about it though, seeing in dreams fat barrel-like alien creatures – being prodded and probed – sometimes going under weird surgery – but above all, unescapable feelings of paralyzing fear and dread.”

“Obviously, I stopped talking about it when no one believed me, but it happened – I swear. Even to this day I have occasional blackouts because of it. Anywhere from a few hours to one losing two whole days. Doctors say it’s from drinking too much moonshine, but I know that ain’t true.”

“Blackouts?!? Two whole days?!?” Arnold gapped, “Me too! Over the past couple of months in fact! What were the two days missing from your memory?”

“From the evening of Wednesday the fifth and Thursday the sixth. And it wasn’t the weekend, so no, I wasn’t drunk!”

“Egads!” Arnold exclaimed; “Same days! I mean that’s the same days for me as well!”

A creepy feeling was beginning to crawl under your skin. You were in the hospital, recovering from the baseball bat attack to your head on Wednesday the fifth, but the next thing you can recall after that is Friday the seventh at your parent’s home. You don’t even remember being checked out of the hospital, but just chalked it off to the head injury at the time. Could there really be more to it than that?

---

A. There must be something to this. Mention your own blackouts and invite Cole to join you and Arnold in your unfolding investigation.
B. Same as above, but also ask Arnold about his mental breakdown (as he opened the door when he mentioned his miraculous recovery a few moments ago).
C. Aliens though?!? Perhaps you and Arnold are better off handling this yourselves (without Cole’s help).

B, no need to rush our sister can wait.

Wow, that's quite a turn about. Previously you were all like "Run! Run! Our sister's in danger!" and now you're slowly starting to realize "Hmm ... maybe we do need a bit more info after all ..."
Anyway, option B. Give me all that sweet, sweet knowledge.

<B. Same as above, but also ask Arnold about his mental breakdown (as he opened the door when he mentioned his miraculous recovery a few moments ago).>

---

“Oh, this is not good,” you added in dismay. “Those dates are lost to me as well. This cannot be a case of mere coincidence.”

“No way!” Cole gasped in disbelief, “You all were abducted by aliens too?!?”

“Uh… no.” you quickly corrected.

“Yeah, don’t think so,” Arnold said, rubbing his head.

“What the hell does it mean then?” Cole asked.

“Well, Arnold and I have discovered a disturbing correlation between a certain hospital and a bunch of two and three year olds here in town. We were headed there, when we ran into you (and the two bastards in blue). I hate to say it, but it might be related. I don’t suppose you want to tag along to find out? ”

“Hell yeah!” Cole agreed. “I’d give anything to set this bullshit behind me. Or at least find some proof that I ain’t crazy as everyone says. So, what we gonna do?”

“Well, my sister happens to be at this hospital and due any time now. We were going to go over there and see if we can convince her to leave.”

“That’s it?”

You began to realize how little you knew about the situation. You knew nothing about the hospital; nothing about the hospital staff; or any of the information on the various cases (or people involved) that the orphanage records showed. Hell, you were a private eye – used to digging up information and dirt from a variety of sources – yet here you had been ready to storm off ill-prepared and do… what?

“I suppose we could snoop around a little, while we’re there, to see what they’re up to,” you offered weakly.

Damn. You really wanted more info to go on, but you also didn’t want to leave your sister in possible danger for any longer than you absolutely had to.

“Yeah, I guess,” Cole agreed unenthusiastically.

“So, um… Arnold,” you said, trying to change the subject; “You mentioned the miraculous return of your sanity. If I might be so bold as to ask: what happened that you lost it in the first place?”

“Oh,” Arnold replied, a bit hesitant. “Uh, right. In my younger days, I was a member of the Yale Brotherhood of Occult Studies. That led into some pretty esoteric experiences throughout my life. Long story short, I was a member of a cult; And the cult decided to summon its god. And… it did not go well.”

Cole just raised an eyebrow, but clearly had no idea what Arnold had just said. “What?”

“Wait, you tried to summon a god? Like with magic spells and such?” you asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Arnold replied, “I may be a stage magician, but there is another form of magic – dark magic. I only mention it, because of what may be happening to the children – to little Sonny Kingsly. I could sense its unholy taint in the Kingsly home and in the orphanage. If someone is using it to affect the children, then what could be waiting for us at the hospital may be more horrifying than your wildest nightmares. You must prepare you minds now for that possibility, or risk them breaking, when the soft veneer of our perceived reality is dashed to pieces before our very eyes.”

Your gut said Arnold was being serious (and actually believed what he was telling you).

---

A. Does this mean Arnold knows dark magic? Can he prove it? Ask him.
B. Rethink heading off to the hospital half-cocked – Best try to gather at least the most basic information about the place first.
C. No, this can’t wait. Go to the hospital now.

A.

B

C

<A. Does this mean Arnold knows dark magic? Can he prove it? Ask him.>

---

“Wait,” you replied thoughtfully; “Does that mean you actually know this dark magic? Can you show us? Prove that it exists?”

Arnold frowned, rubbing his chin a moment. “It’s not like asking you to ‘pick a card – any card’,” Arnold answered; “There is a terrible toll that one pays when performing the dark arts; Loss of sanity being one potential pitfall. I’m not too keen on ending up in the mental hospital again so soon on nothing more than a whim. I will use it however, if I must, but only under the direst of circumstance.”

“So... did you actually do it then?” Cole abruptly asked.

“Excuse me?” Arnold replied; “do what?”

“Summon your god.”

“I… er… yes. We were successful (if you can call ‘half or our numbers going mad on the spot and the other half trampling themselves to death just trying to flee’ a success).”

“Oh wow,” Cole continued, looking up into the air as if trying to imagine such a scene; “That must have been something.”

Arnold, at a loss for words, just looked at Cole with a raised eyebrow.

“What was your god’s name,” Cole continued.

“I won’t speak his name,” Arnold whispered, bowing his head. “I wouldn’t want to draw his attention.”

“Fair enough,” Cole said nodding.

You didn't know what to make of it and Cole seemed too dumb to grasp the implications that this odd conversation glaringly brought up - not least of which was the claim of summoning up heaven knows what.

“Don’t worry about it Arnold,” you said finally, patting him on the shoulder; “we were just curious.”

'Maybe they let Arnold out a little too soon,' you couldn't help thinking to yourself.

---

A. Time to dig up some more information on the hospital.
B. Time to head to the hospital.

B enough crap about the hospital lets get to the juicy part.

I actually wanted to add some reaction choices for the player over the god summoning issue but ran out of steam writting the part last night.

I hope it is clear that Cole is just too dumb to realize any real implications on the matter, which is why he casually accepts it.

As an aside, my biggest challenge is the dialogue. I think it's improved since DMW, but still lacking.

Should I retroactively add achoice above to continue questioning Arnold? Or maybe at least add a thought for Lucky, illistrating her difficulty believing/grappling with Arnold's revelation about his past?

I hate writing dialogue too, so I'd probably have figured out some way for her to just acknowledge it internally for now. It wouldn't be that hard to believe that this just isn't the time to be making it obvious she thinks her allies be crazy or go down the rabbithole with a lot of questions when she's still in a hurry.

But that doesn't mean dropping the subject entirely. Since WE know it's going to turn out to both real and relevant, I'm assuming it'll come up again later and we can get more info out of him.

....of course, we're probably just going to die since we completely flubbed the investigation portion of this and don't even know ourselves why we're charging over to the hospital.

Thanks for the feedback updating now (also putting a line of internal dialog in the end of the last post)...

B. doesn't seem very wise, but WHO HAS TIME FOR WISDOM!? I'm not entirely sure there is a way to prepare for something like this without getting more "hands-on". It'll be easier to look up info on what we see at the hospital than to look up what we've heard on the hospital. I've played enough low-intelligence party leaders to know how to edge my rolls for library use!

I'm gonna go with B cause even if we don't know what's up I don't wanna have to kill my niece/nephew later in the story cause they were born at the Cthulhu hospital.

<B. Time to head to the hospital.>

---

“All right,” you said, taking charge; “Cole, do you mind if I leave my car at your shop?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Good. Arnold, follow us to Cole’s shop. We’ll take your sedan to the hospital, because it’s darker than mine and more apt not to be recognized.”

“Of course,” Arnold replied.

The three of you then drove the vehicles to the edge of town, where Cole had his garage and workshop. Cole pulled the tow-truck into the garage and parked it there, pulling down the garage door, after gathering a crowbar and flashlight. You pulled up and parked on the gravel to the side of the building and got out.

You and Cole then hopped into Arnold’s Sedan and he began driving, following your directions to your sister’s hospital. The night was exceptionally dark, but it hadn’t started raining yet.

About six miles east of Ansonia, was a rather well to do neighborhood. During the day, one would see well-tended estates, set at comfortable distance from one another in the lush rolling hillsides. In the dark of an overcast night however, all you could see was the shadowy black shapes of passing trees to either side of the road and the occasional light from one of the estates.

After driving for a while, Arnold approached the turn off.

The Martin Steward Maternity Hospital was a large two story Victorian mansion with a long, oak-lined, gravel drive that opened through an iron gate and into a large prim lawn – at the end of which, stood the hospital proper. From having been here in the day, once before with your sister, you knew that a carefully manicured garden and a Koi-stocked reflecting pool (with a working marble fountain) was situated out behind the hospital. Not to mention a large veranda, overlooking the garden from the hospital itself.

As Arnold pulled through the gate and onto the gravel drive, you suddenly yelled for him to “Stop!”

“Quick Arnold, douse the lights!” you instructed. Arnold did as you asked.

“What’s up?” Cole enquired from the back seat.

“There!” you explained, pointing toward the front of the building.

Officer Cray and Smiths’ squad-car sat there, parked at the end of the drive. It was too far away at the moment for you to see if the two officers were sitting inside, but the vehicle was not running and no lights were on.

“Good catch,” Arnold said, “I don’t think they spotted us.”

“Yeah, well, what about him?” Cole said, motioning to a small dimly lit room atop the second story (an enclosed third floor landing or such for access to the roof).

Looking, the three of you could see the distinct white-coated silhouette of a doctor – staring dolefully out the third floor windows. He was looking more of less right in your direction, but didn’t seem to actually notice you (or at least react). That could be due to him looking through windows in a lit room out into the dark of night, but the light emanating from the room looked more like that cast by candles, than that of an electric bulb.

It was not nearly as bright in that room as the lights shining out of a few second story windows – though there were no lights on in the first floor, except for the outdoor bulbs illuminating the front and side entrances.

Looking at your watch, you could see that it was 11:15 pm. Well past visiting hours…

---

A. Have Arnold drive up and park alongside the squad-car (it’s a free country after all).
B. Park the car here and sneak in on-foot for a closer look.
C. You know an old logging trail about three hundred yards further up the road. Park there and walk through the woods to the garden out behind the hospital.
D. This is just going to get you arrested for trespassing. Come back in the morning during regular visiting hours.

I'm not good at sneaking around, but my guess is to get out of the noisy car or get is as far away from them as soon as possible and then go to the hospital. So ill going C.

Option C

I'm sure there's no horrible ritual about to take place in the candlelit room with the sentry, no need to hurry.

I'm assuming the deadline is midnight as it often is with spooky things so I'll go for B in case the logging trail takes too long.

<C. You know an old logging trail about three hundred yards further up the road. Park there and walk through the woods to the garden out behind the hospital.>

---

“What the hell are Cray and Smith doing here?” You asked; “It’s awfully suspicious, especially after them confronting us at the orphanage. I never did trust those two. They must be part of what’s going on here.”

“Dirty cops is what they are,” Cole spat.

“My guess would be part of whatever cult has infiltrated the hospital and town,” Arnold offered; “Every cult has its own muscle and men on the ‘inside’ so to speak.”

“I can handle those two - if need be,” you affirmed, patting the grip of your Smith & Wesson .45 revolver.”

“Damn! Now I wish I’d brought my shotgun!” Cole lamented.

“Oh dear,” Arnold gasped at the turn of conversation.

“At any rate,” you concluded, “I know an old logging road up ahead a bit. We can park the car there and walk through the woods to the hospital. Should put us right out behind it, where Cray and Smith won’t see us from their car.”

“Sounds good,” Cole agreed; “Let’s do it.”

Arnold then reversed the car to back out of the gravel drive and onto the main road. Traveling about three hundred yards further on, he saw the logging road, which was nothing more than an overgrown trail of tire ruts.

“Oh dear, I hope we don’t get stuck,” Arnold fretted, pulling his car onto the trail.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cole said, “I got a tow-truck, remember?”

“On the other side of town…” Arnold highlighted with a heavy sigh.

For as bad as the ruts were, Arnold’s sedan handled it like a champ and the car made it down, far enough to be hidden from the road. Arnold parked and everyone got out.

“Dark as shit, ain’t it?” Cole remarked, crowbar and flashlight in hand.

“I believe I have a flashlight in here too,” Arnold said, retrieving one from the glovebox.

You readied your own, and pointed in the direction everyone had to go. “This way, shouldn’t be too far.”

The three of you then hiked into the nearly pitch black woods, you leading the way and orienting yourself by shining your light on a distant tree, walking toward it, and then doing the same again on a subsequent tree, and so forth. That way, you knew you would be headed in basically a straight line and not get turned around in the dark and completely lost.

About halfway through your walk, something abruptly trampled away through the underbrush to your left. Whatever it was, sounded big and heavy, but when everyone froze in their tracks and began casting their lights about to see what was – nothing was there.

“Probably just a stag,” Cole offered. “Plenty of deer in these woods ya know.”

“Yeah, just a deer,” You agreed hopefully.

Continuing on a bit further, you finally spotted a light glinting through the trees up ahead. It was the back of the hospital, where a light was on over the veranda.

“There,” you pointed out. “Let’s snuff the flashlight for now, so we aren’t seen.”

Turning the flashlights off, the three of you made your way to the edge of the woods, where the tree-line opened out into the hospital’s garden. No one seemed about, so you cautiously crept across the garden, past the fountain and koi pond and up the stone retaining wall upon which the veranda was built. From here you could simply head up the steps onto the veranda and try to get in through the back door – or slip around to either side of the building to look for other ways in.

“Hey, check this out,” Arnold whispered, motioning you and Cole over to a bald patch in the grass, between the veranda and a low row of trimmed juniper hedges.

“Look, the hedges are ragged and under-grown here, where they sit on the edge of this bare patch of ground,” Arnold pointed out. “Also, see here in the wall, near the bottom – two bricks are missing from the foundation.”

Looking, you could see a small shaft, a brick high and two bricks wide, dropping into darkness under the veranda itself.

Arnold then took a pinch of dirt and rubbed it between his fingers, before holding it up to his nose for a sniff. “Ah, just as I suspected, the soil here is highly acidic; which would explain the dearth of vegetation.”

“What does it mean?” you asked.

“I’d hate to venture a guess at this point,” Arnold replied, shrugging his shoulders.

---

A. Head up the steps to gain entry to the hospital from the veranda.
B. Look around for other ways in first.
C. Shine a flashlight down the strange shaft in the foundation.

C; let's find out what's going on with this shaft before we make any stupid decisions.

Probably about to take a Sanity hit, but C it is.

<C. Shine a flashlight down the strange shaft in the foundation.>

---

You pointed your flashlight into the shaft to get a better look. Other than the fact that it went in about a foot, and then dropped straight down, there wasn’t much to it (and it didn’t appear to have anything in it). You did note however, that the bricks in the shaft had been pitted and worn – as if by acid.

“Look at this,” you pointed out for Arnold, allowing him to move forward and see for himself.

“Oh yes, I suppose to mean the acid scorching, eh?” Arnold asked.

“Yes,” you replied. “And that means… what? Either they were disposing of acid down the shaft, or the acid came up from the bottom of the shaft?”

“Probably just spilled a bunch on the ground, trying to pour it in,” Cole ventured to guess.

“I do feel something unwholesome about all this,” Arnold mentioned with concern; “Like what I felt at the Kingsly home and orphanage. We should be especially careful.”

You nodded silently in agreement.

---

A. Head up the steps to gain entry to the hospital from the veranda.
B. Look around for other ways in first.

Option B.

<B. Look around for other ways in first.>

---

Taking the time to slip down both sides of the building, you noted a number of additional ways one might be able to get in. There was, of course, the veranda entrance on the backside of the hospital – which you presumed to be the north-most side.

To the east side was a path, leading up a gentle incline to a set of four park benches, before it continued the rest of the way around to the front of the building.

As this side was darker than the others, you risked making your way to the front corner of the building to peek around. There, you could see Officer Cray and Smiths’ squad-car, parked on the gravel in front of the hospital’s main entrance. The two policemen appeared to be sitting in their squad-car, slumped back in their seats – asleep on the job one could confidently guess.

In the light of the main entryway, you could make out a painted sign overhead, reading: ‘Martin Steward Maternity Hospital. Established, 1910.’ Although the building was in good repair, you could tell that it was much older than that. Your hunch was quickly confirmed, as the cornerstone you stood behind was carved with the year ‘1802.’

Making your way back to the veranda, you then took a look around the west side of the building. Here, another path led up an incline toward the front of the hospital – only this way actually had a few potential entry points.

First was a door with a small plaque reading: ‘food service entrance,’ that was in a relatively dark recess of the hospital.

Then there was a steel set of cellar doors (that would lead down into the basement under the hospital), right next to a large cast-iron hatch in the foundation (to facilitate coal delivery straight into the building’s coal bin).

Lastly, was a side door with a light on over it. You knew, from your previous visit, that it opened into a parlor just off the nurses’ station, where visitors had to sign in.

Heading back to Arnold and Cole, you considered your options and made your choice.

---

A. Enter from the veranda.
B. Try the kitchen door.
C. Check out the cellar door and coal chute.
D. Try the side door under the light.
E. With Cray and Smith asleep, you could probably go right in the front doors.

I'll say B. We don't have to climb our way up from the basement but also don't risk running around under bright lights

Also Wildblue, you should get an avatar.

I'll go with Option B as well. We can probably establish whether it will open or not without drawing attention to ourselves, and still have the other options if we need them.

However my question would be if the officers are really JUST "asleep"....

B, lets try something before we commit to sneaking past the police.

<B. Try the kitchen door.>

---

The three of you make your way back to the kitchen door in the darker recesses of the hospital. Trying the latch, you find that it is locked – as you would guess the rest of them are.

“No problem,” Cole offers, brandishing his crowbar.

That’s certain to pop open the door, but it could also make some noise. You carry a handy lock picking kit for just such an occasion, but you have to admit, it’s been a while since you last used it and you may be a little rusty.

---

A. Have Cole pry the door open with his crowbar.
B. Try your luck with the lock picks
C. Move on to another door.

B lets safest quietest option. Cops sleeping is suspect. Using crowbar is suspect. No other way in.

Option B

Still the least risky and no harm if it fails.

<B. Try your luck with the lock picks>

---

“Hold on,” you said, staying Cole’s hand. “Let me try a quieter approach first.”

Cole backed away, allowing you full access to the door, and you proceeded to work the lock with your picks.

After a few moments with no luck, you began to feel frustrated (and a little embarrassed) by the poor showing of your skills.

“Stupid lock,” you growled, working the delicate tools with building force. “Come on!”

“Something wrong?” Cole asked, tapping the crowbar in his hand. “I got a big ‘key’ here, if those dainty bobby pins aren’t enough for the job, hehehe…”

“No. I got it,” you huffed, forcing the lock hard. It abruptly turned with a satisfying click, followed by an odd snapping ping.

Your pick had broken off in the lock – jamming it in the unlocked position.

“Ugh!”

Oh well, you still had two more picks in the kit. You pushed the door opened and mimed ushering Cole and Arnold in.

Upon entering, you could see that the kitchen included lots of counter space, two gas ovens, a massive sink, and racks of cups, trays, and utensils. A wide flight of stone steps descended from the kitchen into the basement below, while a single door led from the kitchen into a large cafeteria. Near the door itself, was an open counter window, through which workers would pass trays of food from one side to the other.

---

A. Search the kitchen.
B. Head out of the kitchen into the cafeteria.
C. Go down the stone steps into the basement.

I don't imagine there's anything in the kitchen immediately useful to us.  All good secrets are in basements.

I vote C.

Also, hi!  I've read everything up till now, and I'm excited to join you all!

Nice to have you aboard! I have been following Tally Ho as well!

Check out Sanitarium in this same forum, for this game's precursor (sort of) ^v^

C. There's something weird going on. And everything strange happens in the basement.

a. Who knows, maybe there's dead babies in the fridge. But, more importantly, we might find a knife. While we do have weapons, having even more of them could come in handy. And, of course, knives are good for sacrifices ... not that we're going to be making any, of course.

A) Search the kitchen.

Knives could be useful.

I'll throw my bid in with A as well though I think at this pace demon baby is inevitable

<A. Search the kitchen.>

---

You decided to take a few moments to look through the kitchen, but doing so revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Still, the hospital was awfully creepy in the dark of night, and you eyed the array of large chef knives on one of the countertops.

A knife would be quieter than your revolver – if it came to that – but then, if you had to use a knife, you might as well use the gun.

Maybe a hefty rolling-pin would make a more appropriate backup weapon? Someone could actually recover from that, should this all turn out to be some kind of big misunderstanding.

Yeah, maybe this is just a big misunderstanding…

---

A. Take the rolling-pin and head down the stairs into the basement.
B. Leave it and head down the stairs into the basement.
C. Take the rolling-pin and go into the cafeteria.
D. Leave it and go into the cafeteria.

C? I want to help the sister who I think might be higher up? It seems like the group mentality is to get to the mystery in the basement first. Which is respectable. I'm also wanting to do that. But I feel like the sister is higher up. 

A, First we got to figure out what's going on and then we march in. We can't try to save my/our/lucky's sister without any information.

Um... Thanks? ^v^

(Somehow the fix introduced double paragraph spacing in a wierd div - but it's good now)

B.

I wanted to go into the basement before, and finding a rolling pin doesn't change things for me.  Plus, I feel like if there's company, we would be expected to head into the cafeteria, and avoid a creepy basement.  I sort of want to be where I'm not expected here.

A. I agree with Gower's reasoning for going into the basement; However, I figure that if we have a chanse of taking a weapon, even a weaker one, we should do so. It can only help us out.

<A. Take the rolling-pin and head down the stairs into the basement.>

---

Taking the roiling-pin, you directed everyone down the stone steps. “Let’s see what they got going on down in the basement.”

“You ain’t gonna hit me with that thing are ya?” Cole asked facetiously.

“That remains to be seen…” you replied with mock solemnity, patting the rolling-pin in one hand.

Descending the steps, the three of you came down into a large pantry, lined with shelves, and neatly stocked with the hospital’s various food stores. Two large electric iceboxes hummed against the south wall, next to a ten-by-ten foot, walk-in, wooden icehouse.

To the east, an old security partition had been closed and locked with a chain and padlock, separating the pantry from the rest of the basement. You could look through the steel partition of course, and saw the hospital’s electrical junction and fuse boxes just on the other side – beyond which, was a strange laboratory of some kind, illuminated by overhead lighting.

A quick search of the pantry did not turn up anything out of the ordinary, though you did find buckets, hammers, and ice picks among the massive blocks of ice stored in the icehouse.

“Hmm, one of these may come in handy,” Cole observed, taking a hammer and hanging it from a belt-loop.

---

A. Head back upstairs into the kitchen.
B. Try to pick the padlock securing the partition.
C. Have Cole break through using his crowbar.

B.  We're here to explore, not to turn back, so A is out.  And picking a lock will be quieter.

Option C. Obviously we need to see what's going on in the laboratory underneath the creepy hospital.

It seems unlikely anyone will hear us down here.

A, Picking the padlock worked the first time. The Cops probably won't hear us down in the basement, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Also, correct me if I'm wrong if the pick doesn't work we can revert to having Cole breakthrough using his crowbar.

I don't think you meant to pick "A," then.

Oh crap I entirely messed up my bad your right Gower I meant to pick B, and what I was saying is that if we can pick B and the lock pick doesn't work will C still be an option.

C. Whats a little noise among friends that lurk in the hidden parts of basements?

b. We just used up a lot of time sneaking around so we wouldn't be noticed. We sure as fuck don't want to get found right after that because someone heard us smashing things. Let's try to get as much information as we can, quietly.

<B. Try to pick the padlock securing the partition.>

---

The padlock went a lot smoother than the kitchen door; and you had it opened in no time. Taking the chain off, you slid the security partition open and walked past the electrical junction point and into the laboratory.

It was a rather odd setup for a maternity hospital. There were three heavy slate-topped lab tables occupying the area, set with a wide array of strange equipment and chemicals that would do any mad scientist proud. Each table had a natural gas burner installed at one end, connected directly to the hospital’s gas lines, running across the ceiling above. A baby scale sat on one table, near a petri dish and microscope.

Large locked metal and glass cabinets, on the east wall, held additional chemicals with standard laboratory equipment and supplies. Along the northeast wall was a medical skeleton (hanging from a stand), and four large breeder tanks filled with colorful tropical fish.

A steel door in the north wall (left of the medical skeleton) had a brass plaque indicating that it opened into a morgue. To the south, a wide passageway left the laboratory, heading into another darkened portion of the basement. At the far end of the passage, on the east side, you could make out the door to a lever-operated elevator.

“Probably best not to touch anything just yet,” you said to the boys; “let’s just see what’s here first and go from there.”

“Yes, good idea,” Arnold agreed. “Why would they need these fish tanks? Very strange.”

“The place gives me the creeps!” Cole said, wandering towards the passage.

Since it didn’t appear that Cole was going to be helping you search, you decided to put him to good use, while he was standing there.

“Cole,” you called to get his attention – “while we search the lab, you listen down the hall. If you hear anything, come get us and we’ll all retreat back into the pantry.

Cole nodded.

“Hey look at this,” Arnold said, pointing to the fish in the tanks. “They all have strange tumorous growths on their heads. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

“Like this one,” you gasped, directing Arnold’s gaze to one of the same fish, lying in the petri dish near the microscope. “It looks like someone has cut the growth out of this one with a scalpel.”

“They may have been mixing it in that elixir,” Arnold replied, stepping toward a pile of chemicals near a beaker full of some dark unknown sludge.

You joined him and read a few of the labels – “Mytocrynic Acid; Methyl Mercury; Succinimide.” Any ideas what these do?”

Arnold rubbed his chin. “It has been a while, since chemistry class. But let’s see… Ah, Mytocrynic Acid is brain fluid from the hippocampus, I believe. Methyl Mercury is highly toxic oxidized mercury. And um… Succinimide… That would be… an anti-seizure medication. I can’t tell you what this nasty brew is, but I strongly advise against giving it a taste.”

Looking at the baby scale, it occurred to you that its very presence suggested that infants were actually brought down to this lab for some reason. Your gut told you that it wasn’t for the standard postnatal examinations.

---

A. Open and examine the locked medical cabinet.
B. Examine the standing medical skeleton.
C. Catch a fish and examine a sample of its tumor under the microscope.
D. Take a sniff of the strange elixir.
E. Check out the steel door to the north.
F. Head south to the end of the passageway near the elevator.
G. Head back upstairs through the pantry.

C, Let's see what these anti-environmentalist fish-killing pieces of crap are up to, but in all seriousness whatever is happening to the fish could correlate to what they are doing to the babies.

A.  I want to see what has to be locked up here, considering this location is already behind the first lock that we bypassed.

A, for Gower's reasoning

Option A

I don't think any of us are biologists so examining the fish themselves seem pointless.

..... REALLY hard to resist picking D for Dumbassery though.

<A. Open and examine the locked medical cabinet.>

---

The simple locks securing the metal and glass cabinets were no match for your picks. Opening them with ease, you rummaged through the chemicals and lab equipment stored within. There didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the various items (aside from their presence in a maternity hospital) – and were about to close the cabinets back up – when you noticed something.

Worn scuffs on the tiled floor to the left of one set of cabinets – suggesting that it had been pushed to the side and back a number of times. Indeed, the cabinet itself was two-and-a-half feet wide and six feet high, with its back tightly against the wall.

‘Just the right size to hide a hidden door…’ you thought to yourself.

“Arnold, come help me push this aside,” you called.

“Of course,” the elderly gentleman replied; coming to your assistance.

Even with both of you leaning all your weight and strength into it, the cabinet failed to budge in the slightest.

“Something is holding it in place,” you said, taking a moment to catch your breath. “There is no way the two of us shouldn’t be able to slide this damn thing over.”

“Maybe there’s a secret catch or something,” Arnold suggested, looking closely at the surrounding wall. “You know, like a stone you have to push?”

Looking over the wall yourself, you didn’t find anything. You then went back into the cabinet to give the back of it a closer inspection. There, on the underside of a lower shelf (hidden from casual view), was a small pull ring on a short length of chain that went through the back of the cabinet.

Giving the ring a tug, you hear a satisfying ‘click’ behind the wall, and found that the cabinet could now be effortlessly slid to one side.

“I say, you were right!” Arnold said, looking into the now revealed opening behind the cabinet.

It was a dark passageway, following along the hospital’s foundation to the north. If you had your bearings correct, that should place the other end under the veranda, near the strange shaft Arnold had discovered in the wall.

---

A. Check out the passageway with Arnold.
B. Call Cole over, so the three of you can go in.
C. Finish up in the laboratory first, then go into the passageway.

C, let's get more knowledge and explore first then go into the mysterious passageway.

c. Yeah, we're on a time limit. But it seems like we've just uncovered a goldmine of info. So let's try looking about some more first.

A.  I'm not convinced that we have the technical knowhow to figure out a lot more specifics here, and I want Cole to keep watching our backs.

C, let's sniff that elixir!

Berka, would you mind tagging me when you update these?

Will do~

(Working on an update now...)

@mizal

<C. Finish up in the laboratory first, then go into the passageway.>

---

“Let’s make sure there’s nothing else in the lab, before we check out another area,” you suggested to Arnold.

“Sure,” he agreed. “To tell the truth, I have a bad feeling about what we might find it there anyway.”

“Oh, we’re going in there,” you stated… “Just not yet.”

Turning your attention back to the strange laboratory, you…

---

A. Examine the standing medical skeleton.
B. Catch a fish and examine a sample of its tumor under the microscope.
C. Take a sniff of the strange elixir.
D. Check out the morgue (steel door to the north).
E. Head south to the end of the passageway, where Cole is standing near the elevator.

D, Lets check out the morgue. Who knows what strange things could be behind that door, and maybe looking at dead bodies can give us a clue about whats going on.

To tell you the truth, I'm a bit nervous about messing with these fish or (obviously) smelling a strange elixir.  But a quick glance at a skeleton seems pretty low-stakes, and maybe we'll learn something.

A.

Option A.
A and B both seem harmless enough. C is definitely a bad idea. Since Gower chose A, I'll put my vote in that as well, so it has a higher chance of winning.

Option A because of Gower's reasoning and because there's obviously something weird about it or the option wouldn't be there!

Also just fyi, tagging doesn't work if you edit a post to add it.

Good to know. Will update tomorrow :)

<A. Examine the standing medical skeleton.>

---

You walked over to the standing medical skeleton. It appeared to be real – the bones bleached and wired together with the name of each piece marked on the surface in black ink.

Somewhere on the floor above, you could hear a telephone ring. It rang three times and then stopped.

Cole hurried back up the hall to the lab.

“Hey,” he called in a hushed tone, “I heard someone moving around upstairs after the phone stopped ringing!”

“Do you think they know we’re down here?” you asked.

“Dunno, what should we do?”

Arnold meanwhile, went over to the opening behind the metal and glass cabinet. He appeared to be drawing shapes in the air with his hand, while staring blankly.

A moment later, he snapped out of it with a start. “No! We need to leave immediately! They have warded this passage and know that we have broken the seal!”

---

A. Ask Arnold what the heck he is talking about.
B. Do as Arnold says and retreat back the way you came.
C. Suggest finding a place to hide and waiting to see what happens.

@mizal and the rest of the gang

I might have to update this weekend, though if you hide (looks like that will win) it's a short "choose where to hide" update. So I might get that tonight...

Ooh, I like this choice.

I'm inclined to pick C.  We've come here for information, and I don't want to retreat back.  At the same time, I don't want to stand here in the open chit-chatting.

In a normal situation, not involving things out of our control option, C would be smartest because sometimes hiding in the shadows and waiting is the best option. But then again, whatever this seal that Arnold is talking about, it's out of our range of knowledge. So its best to let the expert do their job. Arnold is the black magic expert, so were going to have to let go of the driver's seat and trust Arnold's instincts. Whatever black magic stuff he has sensed, it's his specialty, not ours, and listening to the specialist is usually a good idea. Also, since when does breaking a magical seal sound useful to anybody.

A is stupid because, its just wasting time

So I'm going to choose B because Arnold is the expert and whatever is going on its probably best to listen to him.

I'm gonna pick C. I don't trust Arnold's sanity, and I don't trust standing out in the open, either.

Option C, maybe we can finally get some damn answers that don't come a man who was clearly released from the looney bin a bit prematurely.

B, I'd move away from cultists

<C. Suggest finding a place to hide and waiting to see what happens.>

---

“We have to hide!” you said, hoping you could still discover what was going on here at the hospital.

“Where?” Cole asked with mounting panic.

“Might I suggest closing the opening to the secret passage first?” Arnold suggested.

It was a good suggestion, but there might not be enough time…

---

A. Do as Arnold says, because that’s where you’re going to hide – in the Secret Passage.
B. Close the passage and then have everyone duck down behind the heavy slate-topped lab tables.
C. Close the passage and then hide in the Morgue
D. Close the passage and then hide in the Elevator at the end of the hall (assuming it’s on this floor).
E. Close the passage and then hide somewhere in the darkness beyond the end of the hall.
F. Close the passage and then go back to the pantry to hide in the walk-in wooden Icehouse.
G. Forget the passage and hide in the Morgue
H. Forget the passage and hide in the Elevator at the end of the hall (assuming it’s on this floor).
I. Forget the passage and hide somewhere in the darkness beyond the end of the hall.
J. Forget the passage and just go back to the pantry and hide in the walk-in wooden Icehouse.

Damn, tough one. Let's go with A. Hopefully they'll think we're dumb and haven't found it yet.

Oh yeah, @mizal :)

Jesus, that's a lot of choices.

Uh, I'm picking A, and not just because the rest of the list seems like a lot of words to read.

I like A as well.

A

<A. Do as Arnold says, because that’s where you’re going to hide – in the Secret Passage.>

---

“Yes, let’s go,” you instructed; “everybody into the secret passage!”

“Are you quite certain?” Arnold asked aghast.

You could hear footsteps descending stone steps (somewhere in the darkness at the end of the hallway).

“They’re coming,” Cole fretted.

Well, it was too late to change your mind now.

“Come on!” you said, leading the way.

Arnold and Cole followed; and then turned to slide the metal and glass cabinet back into place – closing the passage from the inside.

There was an audible ‘click’ as it latched shut. You were relieved to see that there was a release mechanism on this side as well – meaning you could get out the way you had come in if necessary.

Following the passage along the building’s foundation, you came to an open chamber, directly under the veranda – being roughly the same size and shape.

Looking about with flashlights, the three of you could see a coat rack, with a lab coat hanging from it, immediately to your right; and an old desk with a single chair and a large white leather-bound manuscript upon the surface.

Directly ahead, was a huge floor-to-ceiling aquarium, with a life-sized marble statue inside (depicting a boy and a girl chasing unseen butterflies with nets). The aquarium was currently empty – no fish, no water, but it occupied nearly half of the chamber.

Lastly, beyond the empty aquarium, was a fifteen foot diameter, three foot deep, smooth bowl-shaped depression in the marble floor. Whatever it was, it had to be significantly important, because it was inlaid with spiraling ribbons of pure gold.

“Holy shit,” Cole remarked, walking toward the gold-inlaid depression; “What the hell kind of place is this?”

“For something… a lair,” Arnold muttered forlornly; “For us… perhaps a tomb.”

You took your revolver out just in case.

---

A. Check out the white leather-bound manuscript on the desk.
B. Search the pockets of the lab coat.
C. Take a closer look at the strange aquarium.
D. Inspect the gold-inlaid depression.
E. This place is a deathtrap! Leave immediately!

@mizal

Option B, if it's an option at all there must be something important, and it only takes a second.

I really want to see the book though.

The fancy gold depression is just used for blood sacrifices or something I'm sure.

A.  We may not have much time in here, and I want to see the book more than anything else.

I think this place is obviously a deathtrap, but since where inside the tomb, there is no point in leaving. U'm, this is a tough one. Options A-C all make sense, and honestly, my instinct is to go with C, but I will wait and edit this comment when it's about eight o clock eastern. So I can see what everyone else thinks.

 

 

Okay tie-breaker I gotta go with A, B is quick and efficient and I was leaning towards this one more, but answer choice A is probably the notes of whoever created this deathtrap so that seems pretty important and more logical.

Hmm, need a tiebreaker...

A

<A. Check out the white leather-bound manuscript on the desk.>

---

You went over to the strange white leather-bound manuscript and Arnold followed.

“Books like these can be… dangerous,” he said nervously.

Flipping the cover open, you quickly realized that you couldn’t even read the thing; it appeared to be written in a flowing Latin script.

“Uh… You don’t happen to be able to read this, do you?” You asked Arnold.

Arnold sighed heavily. “Would you believe me if I just said ‘no’?”

“Nope.”

“I thought as much.”

Arnold sat at the desk and began reading the first page to himself, taking a moment to explain, “One never wants to make the mistake of reading these things aloud. It’s a good way to accidently recite an incantation or curse.”

After a minute of reading, Arnold stopped. Beads of sweat had speckled his brow and he looked pale. It couldn’t be good news.

“It appears to be someone’s diary of sorts,” He began; “A ‘Nurse Vance’. She relays how a ‘Doctor Phillips’ was replaced by a…” Arnold gulped hard, and then had to clear his throat to continue, “Shoggoth Lord… that’s not good… then, how Nurse Vance would lure men into the basement to ah… feed the Shoggoth Lord.”

Arnold paused, looking like he was about to throw up.

“It seems, Nurse Vance fell in love with the Shoggoth Lord and they… somehow?... would make love. And it would burn Nurse Vance’s flesh. She says in her diary that they were going to make children together.”

Arnold had only read into the manuscript a few pages. There was at least a hundred more.

“I imagine the rest is similar and probably details their plan to ‘make children together’.”

Arnold flipped through to the last few pages. Those, you could read.

There, under the title of “Our Children’, was a list of names and addresses, written in good old American English – hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of names and addresses.

As the sheer magnitude of the unfolding conspiracy began to sink in, a strange violet light abruptly lit up the empty floor-to-ceiling aquarium.

Cole had pressed a metal plate on the side of the aquarium, which had activated an ultraviolet light projector in the ceiling above. Suddenly, inside the aquarium, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of soft blue motes of light could be seen – literally just floating around within the empty aquarium, like a collection of pet fish might, in a real tank. It completely changed the motif of the boy and a girl statue inside the aquarium; chasing now-seen 'butterflies' with their nets.

Mesmerized, Cole placed his hand against the surface of the glass and a few motes of light drew right up to it – cooing in eerie echoing whispers.

---

A. It’s just a light show, being put on by the projector.
B. BUT THEY JUST RESPONDED TO COLE’S HAND!

@mizal and friends/cronies

B. Last time I checked projectors don't coo. I hesitate to do this one because I don't want her to experience a mental break, but I also want her to not be one of those people who's all "I don't believe in magic" as they cast magic 

B.

<B. BUT THEY JUST RESPONDED TO COLE’S HAND!>

---

It hit you like a ton of bricks – This Was Real!

Were those baby spirits in the aquarium? Someone was collecting them like so much as pet fish? If so, what were all the names and addresses in the manuscript referring to? The soulless shells of the children born at this hospital? But why? What could it mean? Why would anyone want to do something like this? How could God let this happen?

As you tried to process the thoughts flooding into your head, you happened to glance at Arnold’s face. It was stark white – frozen in terror.

You tore yourself away from your thoughts and turned to follow his fixed gaze. There, at the back of the room, behind Cole, on the other side of the large depression in the floor. Something black and tar-like was pouring down the wall! It was flowing out of the two brick-wide shaft you had discovered in the foundation of the veranda above – this chamber being where it dropped down into.

You tried to yell a warning to Cole, whose back was turned to the roiling sludge now pooling in the large depression – but your voice failed to come out! You were paralyzed with mounting panic – primordia terror – the realization that you were the prey – the one at the bottom of the current food chain!

In mere moments, the fifteen foot wide, three foot deep gold-inlaid bowl in the floor had been filled to the brim. The black pitch-like ooze rippled with motion and abruptly sprouted a thrashing array of dark ropy tendrils. You thought you could even see strange goat-iris eyes floating in the mix – rising to the surface to blink a few times, before being washed back over and lost into its amorphous mass.

And the teeth. Oh God, it had teeth! The mind could not quite grasp how it could simultaneously have form, yet be formless!

Your fight or flight reflex then took over, the moment it had surged forward out of the bowl to engulf Cole. The poor redneck never stood a chance; his flesh boiling from his bones at the monster’s corrosive touch – while the ropy black tendrils tore his body to pieces and pulled them back into the clashing jaws.

Cole never even screamed. But you could never forget the sound of his bones snapping and crunching up in the toothy maw of the cyclopean horror, as it consumed the man.

---

A. Fight! Shoot it! Arnold, you too!
B. Flight! Run! Get out of there!
C. Go! But grab the manuscript first!

@mizal
Where are all the former posters, who got us into this mess in the first place LOL!

Every time I notice a new update I post the link in the Discord. They're just too lazy to click it and read a few paragraphs.

I don't understand it either, but this inability to even look at the forum is becoming more and more of a problem. Maybe I should just start removing people from the server until they remember the site exists.

Option C

Might as well try and salvage something out of this.

I'm totally shocked that charging unprepared into this situation while knowing full well there was Lovecraftian shit going on resulted in someone/probably soon to be everyone dying horribly.

C, there is no point shooting at it (doesn't work in the movies) So might as well free and not piss it of. Also plus mizal's reasoning

C. Arnold doesn't look like he's gonna help and we might as well have a list of the demon babies

I know I am outnumbered here, but I would vote B.  At this point, just run. 

I would have thought "Tally Ho" is sufficient proof that people on this website like to crash through stories without regard for consequences:p

C. But damn, we're screwed. So completely screwed.

<C. Go! But grab the manuscript first!>

---

While the chances of making it out of this alive appeared laughably slim, you weren’t about to leave the only thing that might explain what the hell was going on here.

“Arnold!” you yelled, scooping up the manuscript and turning to bolt for the passageway you had come in through.

Arnold started from his horrified stupor and then abruptly leaped back away from you, rather than move to follow.

‘Why is he going that way?’ you asked yourself, thinking you would have had enough time to make a break for it, with the book, as the monster had to come around from the other side of the strange aquarium to get at you.

And come around the aquarium it did! Much faster than you could have imagined! Splitting in a torus around both sides of the aquarium at once, the black oily sludge flowed like an avalanche, merging back together and surging directly at you!

Just as its tremendous bulk was about to come crashing down on you – it stopped. Looming above like a frozen wave, a myriad of those goat-iris eyes appeared on its underside – gazing at you and looking at the manuscript you had clutched to your chest.

It had you trapped though – up against the wall. Wait, no – not entirely trapped – to your left was the opening to the passageway. Why was it waiting? Was it the book? Maybe it didn’t want to damage it in some way? Maybe it meant something to the monster?

The massive black wall of quivering ooze blocked your view of the room completely. You had no idea where or what poor Arnold was doing. You only knew that you had to escape and its hesitation to outright destroy you, like it had Cole, meant you might just have a chance.

If only you could force your body to move! All you had to do was slip sideways around the corner and into the passage – get to the secret door and…

Movement in the surface of the monster abruptly drew your attention. Its eyes recessed back into its dark mass, while a huge set of teeth and fangs slowly rose into view to replace them.

That was the jolt you needed! You made your move and gained access to the passageway. Running with everything you had, you sprinted to the end and pulled the mechanism to throw open the secret door!

Something slammed you back into the far side of the passage – taking your breath away and setting your chest ablaze with pain.

Confused, you glanced back up the passageway – expecting to see the black horror – but it wasn’t there!

‘What the hell?!?’

As you slumped down the wall, leaving a bloody streak behind, you looked out the secret door into the hospital’s laboratory. There, an elderly man dressed like a janitor, held a smoking double-barrel shotgun.

“I got one of ‘em!” he crowed gleefully.

“I suppose you did,” replied a familiar voice. It was Officer Cray. Smith was there too, standing with his service revolver in hand.

You had walked right into both barrels. Your chest was obliterated. It was a miracle you were still even conscious.

Officer Smith came into the passage and crouched down, putting his revolver to your face.

“Told you that you ‘best you not go ‘round poking your nose into matters that didn’t concern you’, Lucy.”

He didn’t seem to know about your own revolver, hidden in-hand under the large blood-splattered manuscript.

“I… told you…” you gasped out, “name’s ‘Lucky’… and… I can take care… of… myself.”

You pulled the trigger.

---

END

Where It All Went Wrong

So yeah, you all got eaten.

The point of failure was rushing into it without doing the research first (wow, who could have foreseen that coming?).

That set up a different sequence of events than if you had waited. As it was, Lucky’s sister was actually having the baby when the group arrived at the hospital. Opening the secret door alerted the Antagonist, who had the Janitor go out and get the two officers to deal with the intruders. The Antagonist, then used magic to slice the baby out of its mother and heal both, so it could come down and play too.

Had you chosen to allude to Officer Cray and Smith that Mother Carol might be paying you, then the two officers would have been awake during the scene – making it even more difficult.

The only way not to have been totally murdered in this case, would have been to go upstairs, be caught by Lucky’s brother-in-law (who was in the father’s waiting room) and then been shamed into leaving, with the option of coming back the next night.

When you take the time to do the research however, it eats a day and you arrive at the hospital after Lucky’s niece has already been born and the events then unfold differently.

Anyway, is there any interest in going back to the critical point and trying again from there? Or should we call this thing?

TPK (mwuhahahahahahaha)

Wow, mizal was right, as usual, who woulda thunk it.

Let's go back. I really want to see how this play's out.

I'd love to see other options! Which critical point do you think you'd redirect us to?

I'd love to see how this could've played out if we took a different path. That's the most thing about CYOAs, after all. Besides, this's just getting interesting, it'd be a damn shame to end it so early.

So, how about we restart and pick C. Better gather a little more info first. These wouldn’t be the only records of this in town.