The Death Orb
The Fresno house fills with heat and light. Saul tuns into the attic and joins Val and Dale (and the raccoon, held by Val and wearing Val’s hat over its eyes) in the protective circle. Dale completes the spell and the temperature inside the circle drops dramatically. Dale also drops dramatically, into a fetal position.
Ada flees from the orb in a blind panic, running into the basement and escaping down the shaft to the tunnels beneath Port Harbor. As she flees, the orb grows hotter, brighter, and larger. Those that remain feel it siphoning away their life force.
In a desperate attempt to stop the orb, Martin grabs the basin of dirty dishwater from the sink and throws it. Upon impact, the water causes the orb to shoot out bolts of electricity and shrink in size. For a moment, it also dims.
Oh, Right. This Thing!
Dr. Miller realizes that this thing is a lesser servitor of Hylmunder and is made almost entirely of electrical energy. He urges the others to keep throwing water on it. Dr. Miller then grabs the coffee carafe off the kitchen counter, only to discover that no one refilled it after dinner. He grouses about this as he runs to the sink.
He, Martin, and Father Wilk (who has found a large crystal punch bowl), form a kind of bucket brigade at the sink, hastily filling their containers and water at the creature.
Father Wilk even goes so far as to bless the water in his punchbowl before dumping it on top of the orb. This anointing causes an explosion of electrical energy that shatters the punchbowl and hurls Father Wilk a fair distance down the hallway. Fortunately, he is otherwise unharmed.
The orb fades away to nothing, leaving the investigators to contemplate the slightly charred and soaked foyer.
Ada
Ada reaches the bottom of the ladder before realizing that she doesn’t know where she’s going and doesn’t have any way of illuminating the cavern around her.
She takes a moment to collect herself, but as she does, she hears someone chuckling in the darkness nearby. This inspires her to ascend the shaft at great speed, slam shut the metal trap door on top, and drag a crate full of bricks over the door for good measure.
Ada joins the other investigators upstairs. Dr. Miller is in the process of calling those who hid in the attic cowardly. Saul agrees with this and feels no shame about doing so. Dale, once he hears a description of the mysterious glowing orb, seems suddenly relaxed and relieved. He sags into the couch, somewhat more blissful than the experience warrants.
Still terrified, Ada yells that there is something in the tunnels beneath the house. The investigators have difficulty coming to a consensus. Some want to go into the tunnels and explore right now, while others want to get some rest. Martin promises to stand vigil, gun at the ready, should the others decide to sleep.
Eventually, the investigators agree that other than the crude map drawn by Nicholas Fresno, they don’t know anything about the tunnels. They decide to a little tidying up before visiting the Port Harbor Library.
Dale takes this opportunity to run to a nearby store and buy several garden hoses. He hooks two of them together, attaches them to the outside faucet, and runs it through one of the first-floor windows. Just in case.
Fresno's Letter and Tunnel Map
The Port Harbor Public Library
The library is still open. Dr. Miller shows Fresno’s map to one of the librarians and asks if she knows who might have drawn it. The librarian has no idea but does tell Dr. Miller that the local expert on the Port Harbor tunnels is Professor Craegen, curator of the Old Port Harbor Seaport and Whaling Museum. Dr. Miller gets the professor’s contact information and uses one of the library’s phone booths to make a call.
Meanwhile, Father Wilk and Ada find information on the tunnels and how they feature in Port Harbor’s history.
- Port Harbor was originally three settlements: the location known as “the Old Port”, the downtown area, and the area around the Thornhill Estate. They gradually grew together over the decades and centuries.
- The Old Port was known for whaling, but also for its foundry.
- The Thornhills made their money from a controlling interest in the foundry and in the local bauxite mining industry that was active through the mid-1800s.
- There are some natural caves and tunnels on the western shores of Port Harbor, due to its higher elevation. These caves were expanded by pilot bores and mine shafts. Most of these have been closed over due to safety concerns.
- A news article from the previous year describes a local farmer being startled by the sudden appearance of John “Leatherman” Hobbes, who emerged from a cave that the farmer did not know was on his property.
- Professor Craegan seems to have a particular interest in the Port Harbor caves and has even put together an exhibit at his museum.
Dr. Miller calls Professor Craegen’s house and speaks to the professor’s manservant, Rolfe. Rolfe explains that the professor will be out until late, but that he will be happy to take a message. Dr. Miller leaves his contact information.
The Old Port Harbor Museum
Dr. Miller insists on visiting the museum immediately. Several of the others, particularly Ada, say that the museum is probably closed, and that it would be weird for seven people to visit it at night. Dr. Miller is not dissuaded by this. Dale offers to pick the lock on the museum door if it is closed for the night. Ada feels a headache coming on.
The investigators visit the museum, only to find that it is indeed closed for the day. After searching around the perimeter, Dale finds a window that offers a reasonably good view of the professor’s tunnel exhibit. With a bit of careful positioning and a good deal of squinting, the investigators learn the following:
- Some caves on the shores of the Abbanaset River were used for smuggling and as stops on the Underground Railroad. Erosion and other issues with the shoreline have sealed the holes, and no one seems to know the location or condition of the caves.
- A cavern called “Candle Cave”, which is decorated with hundreds of
candles, was a favorite hangout spot for miners back in the day. It is likely located somewhere beneath Altergarten (the district where the Fresno House is).
- Sieben Haus, a local landmark, is reputedly built over one of the pilot holes.
Several of the investigators notice a gaunt figure in a dark, concealing garment, is watching them from behind the pumps of a nearby gas station. Dr. Miller, Dale, and Father Wilk run over to intercept the figure, but they disappear without a trace. The trio call out to the figure and receive no response.
They rejoin the others just as a police car pulls into the museum parking lot. The two policemen in the car ask the investigators what they’re doing loitering in front of the museum at night. They harass the investigators, but eventually let them go.
The Tunnels
The investigators return to the Fresno House and continue bickering about what to do about the tunnels. This comes to a head when Martin stomps down into the basement, moves the crate of bricks, throws open the trap door, and all but orders the others to go down and have a look.
In the stunned silence that follows, Father Wilk is certain that he hears someone calling faintly for help.
This galvanizes most of the investigators to get down into the tunnels. Ada hands out flashlights and everyone but Val and Saul descend. They reach a small, natural cavern at the base of the ladder and spot two tunnels heading off at roughly a 90-degree angle to one another. Father Wilk calls out and receives a reply from the righthand tunnel.
As the investigators travel down the tunnel, they notice it is dangerously unstable in places. They soon come to an area where the ceiling ahead of them has collapsed, imprisoning and half-burying an older gentleman with an impressive, fluffy white beard.
This man, it turns out, is none other than Professor Eric Craegen.
The
It seems that the professor was out exploring the Port Harbor tunnels when the floor gave way. He fell, became trapped, and feared that he had reached the end of his road, both metaphorically and literally. He is extremely grateful to the investigators for coming to his rescue.
The players quickly unearth Professor Craegen and offer to escort him back to the Fresno House. The professor accepts and is astonished that there was another tunnel beneath the tunnels he was exploring. “And it leads to the Fresno House! Extraordinary!”
The professor proves to be very amiable and chatty, if a bit eccentric. Dr. Miller notes his almost blithe recovery from his predicament and begins to worry that the professor is a dangerous, insane maniac. He is also concerned by a discrepancy between something the professor told him and what Rolfe, the manservant, told him over the phone. Dr. Miller warns Martin, who vows to stick by Professor Craegen, just in case.
The investigators return to the cave beneath the Fresno House and ascend to the basement. Father Wilk goes first, followed by Dale, Professor Craegen, Martin, Dr. Miller, and Ada.
The moment the professor reaches the basement, Father Wilk grabs him by the lapels, shoves him against a wall, and demands to know the truth. Professor Craegen is quite taken aback and tries to reason with Father Wilk as the rest of the investigators climb up after them.
Again, Ada
Val hears the commotion above and, fearing the worst, makes ready to climb up to the basement to intervene. She shines her flashlight around as a final precaution and happens to see a four-toed, clawed footprint near the bottom of the ladder.
Ada earns an Olympic medal in ladder climbing, interrupting Father Wilk’s interrogation of Professor Craegen by shouting, “There is a two-legged, humanoid, clawed…THING…roaming around the tunnels!”
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