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The Dark in the Light
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ACT I : perditus tempus |
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4 years ago. Rupert After returning from the war Rupert enrolled in university to study parapsychology. One night he was studying late. Standing on the steps of the Miskatonic University, it was dark and the rain was heavy. A lone figure could be seen standing in the rain. A Woman. A nun. She approached slowly. She was old. She smiled. "It's true you know. All of it. Heaven. Angels. Demons. But they lied. They lied to us all. I have spend my life serving a lie." She produces a long black feather and passes it to Rupert. "Take this. Keep it with you. It will protect you." then before Rupert could react she pulls a revolver, puts it to her own head and pulls the trigger. The single shot kills her, collapsing to the ground, the blood running away with the rain. Harold A train journey to Ipswich, a regular journey to assist the museum there. On the return journey he is sat in a carriage with an elderly lady who sits quietly knitting. It's dark outside, the rain so heavy Harold fears it could break the window. Unexpectedly the train begins to slow and stop, but not at a station, just near a field of long grass. The elderly woman starts muttering "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..." A small light appears in the field. And Harold believes he sees the train conductor leave the train. More lights start to appear across the field. They start to move, quickly converging near the conductor. Then they disappear. A train door can be heard slamming shut and the train continues it's journey. Douglas Douglas awakes. He looks about and does not recognise the room. A large room, like an abandoned warehouse. Paned windows have been smashed. To his side is a small table with a glass and jug of water. Beside that a simple chair with what appears to be his clothes. As he begins to move he feels a pain in his chest and abdomen. Pulling back the blanket he sees a huge scar running the length of his body. He stumbles to his feet and gets dressed. Leaving the building he finds himself in an abandoned area of the docks along the River Thames in London, England. In the following months and years the he never found out how he got to England. Scotland Yard never found any reason or the culprits. Doctors have extensively examined him, and he appears no reason for the surgery can be found. |
The present. Friday 9th March, 1923. Douglas is driving to Arkham for a meeting with William Romani of the Society for the Exploration of the Unexplained (SEU) as well as a work appointment at Arkham Mistatonic University. Unbeknownst to Douglas, two others are also travelling to the meeting at the SEU, Rupert Starling and Harold Braithwaite, though they are travelling by train. Due to unforeseen events Douglas is late. It is past 8pm and is dark with heavy rain. The headlights of his car hardly illuminate the road, and his screen wipers and useless in moving the barrage of rain hitting his windscreen. The conditions are making driving treacherous, but Douglas is a good driver and is taking care. He makes out a huge gnarled tree looming over the road like some demented figure, and by now Douglas has realised he must have taken a wrong turn, but continues his journey in the hope of finding rest.
Suddenly there is a figure standing in the middle of the road,
Douglas skilfully brakes hard, and even in the muddy conditions
manages to stop the car before any collision. But upon looking out
of the windscreen there is no one there. Puzzled Douglas relaxes
only for a huge bloated face to appear pressed up against the driver
side window. Douglas, slightly panicked did not wait to see who it
was and slammed his foot down hard on the accelerator and
disappeared into the rainy night. |
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| Part 2 | ||
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The group of investigators stand
in the rain outside the hotel is the strange valley of Valley Creek.
The buildings show the decay of being under water for 60 years, but
the lake could not possibly have subsided. They are accompanied by
Anna, a panicked woman looking for her child, Billy. A tall man holding an old lantern has appeared from the hotel, a half breed Deep One! He trudges off down the street pausing only to bid the investigators follow. The follow carefully at range and are led through a small passage where still the buildings look decayed, doors and windows rotten and falling off. They are led beyond the village to the small river than runs through the valley. The large man points to a small house across the river. Then he turns and leaves. Rupert tests the depth of the water, then reluctantly begins to wade through. Anna goes with him. The water is extremely but only comes to their waste at it's deepest. Once across they approach the small building, with Harold and Douglas following. Harold, who far from gain on his feet stumbles and falls under the water, Douglas is able to pull him up, just as he spots two more Deep Ones emerging from the woodland behind the building. Douglas calls out just as Rupert opens the door. It is a small one room building with a rotted table with rusted kettle, and soaked and mouldy bed at the far side. Billy stands in the middle of the room. Hearing Douglas shout out Rupert picks up the child and grabs Anna and runs back to wards the river. The party run towards the village when the one holding the lantern appears, blocking their path. Was it a trap? Douglas prepares the Molotov cocktail he had readied, then the party suddenly realise they are surrounded. Douglas hurls the explosive at a group of the creatures to his right just as the one with the lantern moves aside to let them pass. The group runs! 
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A commotion can be heard behind
them, Harold looks back to see the group setting upon the one who
had helped them, with one creature wielding a mighty mallet which it
brings down crushing their allies head! (SANITY Check for seeing
that) Back to where Douglas had parked his car and the car useless. It too now looks as if it has been under water for many years; sunken into the ground and badly rusted. "The Train," says Rupert. And sure enough, the whistle of the train can be heard. The groups makes haste and manage to board the train just as it departs... The investigators wake. They are each in their own room, in a comfy bed in a well decorated room. Looking out of the window they recognise the street in Arkham, and Douglas's car is parked outside. They each dress and leave their rooms, meeting the hallway where a gentleman greets them. He introduces himself as Wentworth, the butler, and advises breakfast will be served in fifteen minutes. Downstairs is a large dining room across from a large study which is decorated with an eclectic assortment of artefacts from around the world. And there sits Professor William Romani. He introduces himself and welcomes them to The Society for the Exploration of the Unexplained. Over breakfast the professors hears the tale of the investigators previous evening, with them confused and wondering what had happened to Anna and Billy. The professor, William, picks an old photo off the mantelpiece, it is Anna. "This is my mother," he says. "I believe I owe you a great debt of gratitude for rescuing us all those years ago." He tells of a theory that they had encountered phenomenon known as Lost Time. When a large scale traumatic event has caused a psychic surge making time past, present and future merge as one. He cannot provide true answers, but says it is something he has researched for many years without still fully understanding it. Valley Creek was a small Italian settlement. 60 years ago the town was flooded in a freak storm which caused a natural damn. To this day Valley creek is now a large lake. The half-breed Deep Ones were the result of the trauma. They were the villagers. This tragic event is what triggered the psychic event causing the Lost Time phenomena. Anna and Billy were saved, hence they were not subjected to the curse.
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