Adventure Gamers - Forums

>n

Back Hall
A short hallway, connecting rooms to the east, west and south.

>e

Gallery
A long, oak-paneled room, with doorways to the south and west. Paintings line the walls, mounted beneath small, shaded lamps that would illuminate the canvasses nicely if only the electricity were working. Still, even in the shadowed gloom you can see that all were done by the same artist.

>x lamps
The lamps are made of polished brass, with frosted green shades—like an old-fashioned desk lamp, only mounted on the wall.

>x paintings
All of them are bizarre, and most of them border on the grotesque. Alien landscapes peopled by writhing, malformed creatures; ancient temples built in strange, eye-bending architectures; monstrous beasts crawling through shadows that cannot quite conceal their disturbingly human shapes—these seem to make up the bulk of the paintings’ subject matter. And yet, despite the fantastical nature of the images painted, the style is neither abstract nor surreal. In fact, the level of detail approaches the photorealistic. Excruciating attention has been paid to light, shadows, and textures; even the alien creatures are depicted with gruesome anatomical accuracy. It is as though the artist had worked from actual, living models rather than from what must have been a thoroughly deranged imagination, and the overall effect is rather chilling.

One scene in particular catches your eye.

>x scene
A strange scene, showing only a clergyman staring down into the pages of a large, black-bound book. The point of view is that of someone standing beneath the pulpit, looking up—so that the text of the book is hidden from the viewer, while the preacher’s face is clearly visible.

He seems to be caught in a paroxysm of terror: his face livid; his lips stretched back in a gruesome rictus; his eyes bulging wide and shot red with blood. The cords in his neck are rigid and taut, as though he were straining to tear his gaze from the page, and yet he still grips the edges of the pulpit with whitened knuckles.

You shake yourself suddenly, and realize you’ve been staring intently at the painting for minutes on end. You step back and rub your tired eyes. When you look again, however, the picture you were just examining is no longer in front of you. None of the other paintings have moved as far as you can tell, but that particular scene seems to have disappeared without leaving so much as a blank space on the wall.

Spooky! Wouldn’t be surprised if the book he was reading from is the tome we have tucked away in our trenchcoat.

>move paintings (any hidden safes?)
>x wall
>x paintings (any more info on the missing painting? Probably not)
>s

>move paintings
The paintings are all firmly affixed to the wall.

>x wall
You needn’t worry about that.

>x paintings
All of them are bizarre, and most of them border on the grotesque. Alien landscapes peopled by writhing, malformed creatures; ancient temples built in strange, eye-bending architectures; monstrous beasts crawling through shadows that cannot quite conceal their disturbingly human shapes—these seem to make up the bulk of the paintings’ subject matter. And yet, despite the fantastical nature of the images painted, the style is neither abstract nor surreal. In fact, the level of detail approaches the photorealistic. Excruciating attention has been paid to light, shadows, and textures; even the alien creatures are depicted with gruesome anatomical accuracy. It is as though the artist had worked from actual, living models rather than from what must have been a thoroughly deranged imagination, and the overall effect is rather chilling.

>s

Sitting Room
The east wall is occupied by a beautiful antique sofa, and a large, hand-woven rug covers the hardwood floor. The huge marble fireplace in the north wall helps complete the impression of comfort and warmth, and for a moment or two you can almost think of this place as somewhere you could live, as opposed to merely somewhere others have died. The foyer lies west, and a doorway to the left of the fireplace leads north.

Your brief sense of comfort quickly drains away, however, as you become aware of the icy and maniacal stare emanating from the great portrait hanging over the mantelpiece. Under the malefic gaze of those red-rimmed eyes, the most comforting thought you can muster is that of immediate flight.

On the sofa is a family album.

>x sofa
It’s a 19th century William IV-style sofa with wide, flaring armrests and beautifully scrolled mahogany woodwork. The upholstery is a soft, faded wine color.

>x album
It’s a slim, hardbound volume in dark leather, unadorned except for name “Verlac” embossed on the front. Glancing at the title page, you notice two details: one, the book was self-published; and two, it was published in 1944. So it’s a good bet that Edward Verlac and his family aren’t mentioned here.

>x rug
The rug has a rustic, quilt-like pattern to it, and it covers all but the outer edges of the hardwood floor.

>x fireplace
The fireplace is carved from beautiful, dark-veined marble, a strange shade that is not quite a deep, forest green and not quite a murky, dusky red.

>x portrait
The man in the portrait is the apotheosis of everything cruel and inhuman that you have ever laid eyes on. His archaic Puritan dress would indicate that he must have lived a very long time ago; perhaps he was the founder of the Verlac family in this region. If so, it’s no wonder they all wound up murdered or mad: the red-rimmed eyes glaring down from his gaunt and haggard face seem to blaze with a terrible insanity. There is nothing regal, fatherly or dignified about this portrait. It is the essence of raving, gibbering evil captured on canvas.

A subtle movement from the portrait makes you turn. For a moment, it seems like the eyes are looking directly at you, but it’s only a trick of the light.

>x eyes
They are the eyes from your dream, without question.

>get album
Taken.

>open it
The book contains portraits and brief biographies (although, strangely, no birth or death dates) on some two hundred members of the Verlac clan, from the central family figures to the distant second cousins. If you want to read about someone in here, you’ll have to look them up by name.

>look under rug
You lift one corner of the rug and look underneath. Nothing but dust and floorboards.

>take portrait
That’s fixed in place.

>look in fireplace
You find nothing of interest.

>w

Foyer

>w

Dining Room
Much of the elegance has faded from this room. The huge dining table running the length of it is covered with a thick gray film of dust, and the china cupboard standing against the far wall is draped in shadow. Doorways to the north and east offer little relief from the gloom. For what must be the hundredth time, you wish you could open the windows in this place.

>x table
It’s a finely built table, a valued antique like much of the furniture in this house. It will need to be oiled after so many months of neglect, though.

>x cupboard
It’s a free-standing cabinet about as tall as you are, crafted of cherrywood. The double paneled doors are closed.

>l under table
You find nothing of interest.

>open cupboard
The cupboard is empty; the china must have been auctioned off, in the confusion before Michael was contacted, perhaps. Down at the bottom of the cupboard is a velvet lining, where the silverware would usually be kept.

Finally caught up. Phew.

The atmosphere is thick in this game, and the writing definitely has that Lovecraft vibe. Ominous stuff.
Writing like that makes nightmare sequences very effective.

Karlok - 29 September 2016 04:00 PM

>pray
Your prayers are not answered.

I love this response. It’s simple but feels like “abandon all hope”.


So basically, the part of town we already explored has a map that’s larger than the entirety of Spider and Web, the house has a similar-sized map, and there are parts of the town we haven’t been to that sound to have at least another same-sized map. Not to mention additional smaller maps once we’ll enter other buildings.
Just how big is this game???
And this was the designer’s first game? Ambitious fella, no?

Karlok - 30 September 2016 12:22 PM

Darkness
It is pitch dark, and you can’t see a thing.

“You are about to be eaten by Cthulhu.”

Karlok - 30 September 2016 08:36 PM

>x box

Will we
> play station
at one point later?

Luna Sevithiainen - 01 October 2016 03:20 PM

Spooky! Wouldn’t be surprised if the book he was reading from is the tome we have tucked away in our trenchcoat.

My thoughts exactly!



Have we actually read that typewritten notice yet? Or is it the one about the electricity not working?


> x lining



As an aside, I can’t believe we didn’t investigate those scratches any further…

After exploring the cupboard, I’d very much like to

> go to children’s bedroom
> x scratches
> push bed
> x scratches

TimovieMan - 01 October 2016 07:02 PM

Writing like that makes nightmare sequences very effective.

Keep the nightmares in mind, they contain useful clues. 

So basically, the part of town we already explored has a map that’s larger than the entirety of Spider and Web, the house has a similar-sized map, and there are parts of the town we haven’t been to that sound to have at least another same-sized map. Not to mention additional smaller maps once we’ll enter other buildings.
Just how big is this game???

We’ll do most of the exploring in Day Two, get a lot of info and solve a few puzzles. There will be more “action” in Day Three and Day Four. I was really scared at one point.

But I’m beginning to realize that Anchorhead may be too big for a CP. I’ll host it as long as people are interested.

Have we actually read that typewritten notice yet? Or is it the one about the electricity not working?

Yes. 

> x lining
The lining is soft, dusky burgundy. One corner in back is pulled up a bit and slightly torn.

Children’s Bedroom

>x scratches
It looks as though the bed has been pulled away from the wall and then pushed back again, probably several times.

>push bed
Bracing yourself, you push the bed away from the wall, revealing a ragged hole in the wood paneling.

>x hole
It’s about six inches wide, and looks like it was made by by someone breaking in the wall with a hammer and pulling chunks of paneling out with their bare hands.

Darn, two things at once…

Children’s bedroom:

> look in hole
> reach in hole



Dining room cupboard:

> pull lining
> x lining