The voice on the phone said, "I understand that you are a friend of my son, James. He has gone missing. I require your assistance in bringing him home again...”
A university student has gone missing. Can his friends find out what has happened to James Frazer in 1920s Massachusetts?
At 30 SAN, if Lawrence wasn't already a hollow shell of a man, his brother's death makes him into one; he is an outside observer of his own life, watching himself speak, act, and go through the motions of his existence. It is the final confirmation that he can't keep going on like this, and to either tie up loose ends and try to put himself back together from what little he has left, or die trying.
"My name is William Preston," he says, and gives the address of the house next door. "Two of your officers need help there, if it's not already too late. They came to find a friend of mine, Detective Alex Reynolds. We had been in the tunnels under the house, and there are some dangerous animals down there. I barely managed to get away with my life!"
The voice on the phone had a new urgency about it. ”Wait there, Mr Preston! We’ll have officers with you as soon we can!” As William replaced the receiver in the cradle, he could hear the officer shouting instructions.
”Is there anything we can do?” asked the neighbour, who had been standing by as William had used the telephone.
Alex started making his way towards the exit, gun in hand. There was no further sign of any of the ape creatures, who had disappeared off into the cavern somewhere.
Lose one point of SAN for witnessing Jerry’s fate.
Screaming inwardly in terror, Ivy could hear Alex as he walked away. What made it worse was the animalistic groan behind her! She sensed movement - the creature that killed Jerry wasn’t dead after all!
One way or another, we’re approaching the end of this scenario so you shouldn’t be out of the game too long.
"Let's wait on the porch next door for the police to arrive," says William. "I've left my equipment there. I don't like the idea of going back down there, but I'll have to guide the officers when they arrive. I've been down there before. I wouldn't ask you to go down there with us, though."
”If there are people in trouble, then we need to help,” said the neighbour firmly. He looked over at his son, ”Jim, fetch your flashlight.”
He turned back to William. ”Are you going to lead the way?”
As Alex turned around to see if Ivy was following him, he saw the ghastly creature dragging itself to its knees. It lurched forward to take a bite out of her leg but missed by mere fractions of an inch!
Ivy could feel the hot breath of the creature on her leg as it lifted itself of the floor and tried to bite her. As a result of the damage it had taken, its aim was off, but only just! She felt the silk in her stockings give way as the creature only just missed sinking its teeth into her leg!
Can I have a SAN check please? Ivy knows that she has just avoided almost certain death by mere fractions of an inch.
Alex's eyes go wide as he realizes the creature is not dead and very nearly takes a bite out of Ivy. He raises his gun and shoots it, hoping to put it down for good.
”Err, no,” replied the neighbour. ”You’ll have to forgive me but I don’t believe that firearms are the answer. We’re happy to come along and help you, but we won’t carry a gun,” he said firmly.
Alex saw his shot blow a hole in the creature’s shoulder, throwing out blood and bone onto the floor. Unable to support its own weight, it collapsed and rolled to one side, where it lay panting heavily. Its foot scraped against the floor spasmodically but there was no energy or purchase in its efforts.
Ivy flinched as two gunshots rang out from behind her! The first shot blew a hole in the creature’s shoulder and the joint collapsed, sending the creature tumbling off to on side. It flailed weekly, trying to reach out for her but it no longer had any strength, and she felt its talons weakly scratching at her shoe unable to get any purchase…
"That's all right," says William. "I didn't use them myself down there, but I'll carry them all the same." He leads the way back to the other house's porch.
Not wanting to take any chances this time, Alex gets as close as he can to the creature and puts another bullet in it to make sure it's really going to stay down this time.
1d100 75
1d10
Then he turns to Ivy. "We need to go, Ms. Ripley. If I hadn't turned around when I had.." He pauses, not even wanting to imagine what would have happened.
