MoN 039: Out & About in Lesser Dale

The next morning, Saturday the 21st, most of the group rose early to explore the village. Sadly, however, Dr George had been struck down by what everyone but him called a hangover. Thus, George took no part in the weekend’s doings as languished in bed “resting”.

The four “tourists” wandered the village and got a feel for the place. They visited the church and spoke with the vicar, Jeremy Stratton. The old, hunchbacked man piqued the group’s interest when he muttered something in ancient Greek. The vicar knew a bit about the local history, and the group chatted with him until lunchtime. He had aroused their suspicions, however, and so Ikil and Dudley planned to break into the vicarage during the Sunday service to see if they could find anything incriminating.

After a leisurely lunch at the Laughing Horse, the tourists again wandered the village visiting the local shop and making essential purchases for walking in the hills.

That evening, the pub was again busy. Constable Hubert Tumwell made an appearance, and several of the group plied the rotund policeman with drinks while they pumped him for information. It transpired that while he had shot a wild dog, he hadn’t actually seen it die—it had, apparently, crawled off into the hills to die.

Charles also made the acquaintance of Lawrence Vane and got on quite well with the young, dapper aristocrat. Lawrence promised to try to arrange an introduction to his father, Lord Arthur Vane, for Charles

What’s in the Vicar’s Study?

With George still laid low with “tiredness”, the four able-bodied investigators split up. Jacob attended the church service to keep an eye on the vicar, while Charles went for a picnic in the hills with Jeffrey. The antique dealer had a theory that the howling ascribed to the hound was, in fact, the sound of trains passing through the nearby Cowburn tunnel.

Thus, while Jacob endured an interminable church service and Charles dined al fresco Dudley and Ikil broke into the vicarage. Their search quickly focused on the study and the great mass of papers therein. They found a Greek-to-English translation book, an old journal frustratingly written in Greek, a piece of paper with the word “Vane” written on it and a partial translation of the old journal which mentioned the apparent curse, the Mark of the Beast, that had hung over the Vane family since Evangeline Vane had bore witness against several local witches in 1608.

With this information gathered, the pair retreated to the pub where they met their friends who straggled in one after another during the afternoon. They had much to ponder and little time to ponder it—the full moon was but a few weeks hence!

This post is a session summary for my weekly 7th edition Call of Cthulhu Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign.

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