That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange æons even Death may die.
–Abdul Alhazred
It was getting dark.She had gone hiking in the woods on the west side of town,and lost track of time. The woods were beautiful this time of year after all. She had taken care to avoid any of the major roads, as well as the mansions. Nothing good ever came of crossing paths with the upper class spooks that lived in this area. They didn't seem to other people very much. As a whole almost. Not all of them, but a fair few of the folks in the rich neighbourhood were just seriously introverted.
They were weird, sure but if you stayed out of their way, they generally left you alone.
But the sun was setting now, and it was time to get home before the woods started to look unfamiliar in the ethereal moonlight. She began making her way back the way she came.
—sshhhffff—
She stopped, turning around as she heard the noise. It was a sound she was slightly familiar with but couldn't identify offhand. She kept walking. The sun continued to set behind her, but it was already dark in the forest, the sun too low in the sky to penetrate the trees.
The noise came again, and again she stopped snd looked around. She decided to pick up the pace, just in case she was being followed by someone. Or maybe an animal. She really didn't want to have a run-in with a bear. Not that whatever this was sounded large enough to be one.
Behind her, the sun had set completely, but she could see the road ahead of her. And for the third time she heard the noise, and finally realized what it was: it was the sound of dirt being displaced. Sort of like what a spade sounded like while digging a hole, but without the faint metallic ring. She smiled to herself, a faint sense of satisfaction coming to her from solving this small mystery.
And then the noise came again, right at her feet.
In front of her, poking its head out of the hole it had made was… something… some sort of mole? No, the head was too large, and was closer to a rat, or a dog, though it did have a few eerily human-like features. It stated up at her, tilting its head to the side, almost curiously, a low growl coming from the back of its throat.
"This is certainly…weird," she mumbled to herself, making to step around the creature and make her way to the street, only for s hand to land on her shoulder and stop her, she jumped before realizing it was just another person—wait… no, the grip was the same, but why did the fingers feel so… she looked down at her shoulder.
That was not a human hand.
She turned, her head to look behind her to see another creature, much like the one poking its head out of the ground. But it was now very obvious to her that it wasn't a mole. It wasn't a rat, or a dog either, and it most certainly wasn't a human, despite bearing qualities of all four. It stood upright on its hind legs, a full head taller than her, it's lips peeled back to expose black gums and a mouth full of sharp teeth. She trembled.
"P-please…l-let me go," she whispered, not sure whether the thing would even understands her. Whether it did or not, it had a response: It opened its mouth wide, showing her all of its viciously sharp teeth, and hissed at her, the oddly guttural noise coming from the back of its throat. She didn't scream. Screaming would frighten it and then she'd be in even more danger. Then another clawed appendage grabbed her leg, and she realized she had forgotten all about the first thing. The two things had her flanked… and then she heard the rustling in the bushes. She wasn't just flanked and trapped, she realized; she was surrounded. They were pack hunters, and they had cornered her.
"Oh god…"
God didn't care.
The next moment, the first thing snapped her ankle, and the second dislocated her shoulder, and then she screamed. Not letting go of their prey, they cried out into the night, and more creatures began stalking out of the forest. Two began digging a hole in the ground, and she realized what was going to happen.
"Oh god, no…" she whimpered, through her pain, "please no, not like this!"
The second creature looked down at her, and did something that disturbed her even more than the knowledge of what was about to become of her. She couldn't be certain with its inhuman features, but she could have sworn that she saw the corners of its mouth twitch upward ever so slightly. It was enjoying this. It reached around and grasped her other arm.
And ripped it off at the shoulder
She howled in equal parts terror and agony, going through an entire range of emotions that came with the knowledge of imminent death, and the creature's grin widened, even as it shoved her disembodied hand into its mouth and began tearing it away with its sharp teeth.
She cried for help, praying that someone, anyone, would hear her. Hell, she'd take a bear!
No one heard her. And God continued to ignore her.
Perhaps there was someone listening, and they just decided not to bother.
Or worse, they knew precisely what was happening, had the means to stop it, but were letting it happen anyway.
Somehow, she knew that it was the latter of the three possibilities.
The creatures, finishing their hole, dragged their screaming prey into their tunnels beneath the forest.
Jennifer Waites never showed up for work the following morning.
She was probably just coming down with something. It was flu season after all.
* * * * *
In a dark cellar beneath a house, not so far away from the tunnels in which a young woman was being devoured, another young woman lay on her side, curled up into a ball.
Why was this happening to her? Why was this happening at all?!
All she had wanted to do was work with animals, and study their behaviour. She was already working on a thesis. Or had been until this happened…
The door at the top of the stairs flew open.
"Eat," ordered her captor.
In front of her was something that might have been part of a large fish. It was raw, just like everything else she had been given in the past month ever since she was locked in this dank basement. She ate it anyway. She would rather get sick than die of starvation, even if the thought of her own death brought her a miserable sense of satisfaction. After all, her captors needed her alive for whatever they had planned for her, otherwise they wouldn't be feeding her anything. Or filling that demeaning dog dish with water from the hose. She expected that this was meant to be ironic, but it just made her hate her captors that much more.
She swore, she would get out.
There was just one problem. The stairs only had a top and bottom. The rest had been destroyed.
Escape wasn't improbable. Unless she sprouted wings, it was impossible. The weird scratching noises she sometimes heard at night (or at least she assumed it was night) didn't give her any peace of mind either.
Regardless of that matter, no matter how deep her convictions…
She was never getting out…
----------
September 9th, 1951...
The university town of Pinegrove has had its share of oddities in recent years. What with the as of yet unexplained death of Alexander Alton two years ago, and the disappearance of second year student Mariette Hunter.
Students report seeing shadowy figures walking around at night, but nothing is ever found when police investigate. And then there are the cult rumors about the old families who live in the large suburban estates around the outer reaches of town.
But nothing could ever be proven. It was well past time someone stepped up to learn the truth, but despite the many inquisitive minds studying at Pinegrove, no one seemed to have any intention of seeking it out. So it was when a group of students began snooping about in the darker places in their locale. They had often felt that strange occurrences were drawn to this city, but with another more recent death, they finally decided that something had to be done.
They had no idea what kind of forces they had decided to meddle with.
Premise:You are a student at Pinegrove University, a school known for its extensive resources in the fields of history and anthropology, though it is by no means deficient when it comes to the arts and innovation. You've been suspicious about the strange happenings about town in recent years for some time, and now, one of these bizarre happenings has hit too close to home: A friend of yours, Elizabeth, "Liz" Edwards, has disappeared, having gone missing around the same time as a disturbing incident took place. Her parents say they haven’t heard from her, and no one has spoken to her since three days ago.
This thing has finally set itself on your doorstep, and as no one else seems to be taking the initiative, you decided that you'll have to look for answers yourself.
…If only you actually had even the vaguest experience in being a detective…
This quaint university town hides many secrets that will come to light if you only seek them out. However, are you prepared for the dire consequences of doing so? Are you even aware that there will be any? You aren't even detectives after all. Just a bunch of kids looking to find their missing friend.
Objective:To find Elizabeth Edwards, and then to learn the truth behind the weird things that seem to flock to this place. However, you may be faced with far more…shall we say…immediate…objectives, before you can even begin to do any such thing. Whether that means escaping a dangerous location, or stopping a murder in progress, depends on the situation. And is it really murder… if the aggressor is almost certainly not human?
The haunt begins now. And far more than you know rides on your success.
Good luck. You'll need it.
…But it won't save you.
Welcome to Eldritch Whispers, set in the world of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos! Herein you will find horrors beyond imagining, and mad ideas that will haunt your dreams for years to come. Or did you come here because you wish to encounter such things in the tragically foolish belief that you possess the psychological fortitude required to survive the trials that you'll face? That said, you should be warned that by submitting a character for this RP, you may be condemning them to a fate that makes a gruesome death look like a picnic in Avalon.
I suppose you probably came here already knowing that…
A few notes before we continue:
This RP was originally posted on an anime fansite, and indeed I am an anime fan. This RP was created with such people in mind, and as such, the NPCs I will show you have anime faceclaims. Just be warned. Also some of the NPCs have suspicious names, and those are all intentional. Factors such as the passage of time and changes in identity will be in play here.
Though this is closer to a typical forum RP than it is to CoC, it is not a standard Play by Post RP. It is a rather cutthroat system based on the one used by the RPers on another site. It is unforgiving, and as is only suitable, the GM plays a role very similar to that of a Keeper in a CoC or Arkham Horror game, but be aware that the mechanics of those games are not actually present in this setup.
And while he is not completely heartless, characters aregoing to die in this game. It’s your job to try and prevent him from killing you.
The Rulebook
Contains the above, the character creation guide, a link to an example character sheet, and a list of some but far from all of the NPC's you will be encountering. Incidentally, it looks like a disaster on a phone, as a friend alerted me to, so I'll be preparing a mobile-comparable version at my next opportunity.
The Mobile Compatible Rulebook
Welcome to the game then.
I will be accepting applicants until the end of the month.
IMPORTANT: Do not post your character sheets in the thread however! Any character profiles should be sent directly to me, preferably in the form of a Google Doc. But there are various reasons that you must avoid showing your character sheet to other players.
Incidentally, I'm not able to edit the docs at the present time, and there is an IRC channel listed in there. It's for a different website, and though you might find me on it, it is still a private chatroom for people on that site. I would recommend staying away from that one. It's a scary place.
