Thursday, April 19, 2012

Taking a Bite Out of Hoborxen


After a week haitus, Creskin and Boris were back in action in the City, with Don Diabolico down due to illness. The boys met with John Vandemaur's widow, Viviane.  She pinned her husband's death on Indrid Bliss (the very much living man our heroes had freed from Vandemaur's coffin), a thaumaturgist with whom he had gone into business to exploit the incursions of the alien city onto Hoborxen.  She said they had used the abandoned Tekeli-li Club as a base of operations, and our heroes ought to start looking for John there.

She tied it up all nice with a bow, and offered to pay 50 bucks a day, plus expenses.  The only problem was, her story didn't ring completely true.  No one was sure what the truth was, though--and their greedy, anyway--so they played along. 

They searched Vandemaur's study and found a note written in the margin of an old occult book: "Incursions from Elsewhere" - Montagu Ware? Nobody knew what it meant, but they thought the Thaumaturgical Society library might be a good place to try and find out--only it was closed for the day.  So it was off the Hoborxen.  Creskin also asked if they could borrow a sphere of alien glass with a glow inside that came from the alien city hat Vandemaur had been using as a paperweight.

The gang crossed the Eldritch River and entered Hoborxen at night.  The club wasn't hard to find, but strange, ash-gray, fairy creatures, peculiar to the alien city replacing parts of Hoborxen, immediately started to make a nuisance of themselves. The boys got into the club, and found omnious stains on the floor and an old ritual circle. 

Then a gargoyle came crashing through a boarded up window.  Discretion being the better part of valor, our heroes hid from it--and they might've escaped notice, if the the foul-mouthed fairy-things hadn't flown in the busted window and started harassing them.  The gargoyle made it clear that he had orders to kill them, but the glass sphere somehow kept him at bay.  He flew off in a snit, leaving the boys to continue their search and do battle with the fairies.


With only four present, the diminutive things were more a nuisance than a harzard, but Creskin and Boris had a devil of a time hitting them.  Finally, Creskin grabbed one flying up in his face--and tried to bite it's head off!  The head proved resistant to removal, but the thing died, leaving a horrible taste in Creskin's mouth.

A fairy-on-gargoyle pile-on outside eventually drew them away and our heroes made it to the last room in the building.  There they found a gruesome sight--and a nauseating smell: A flayed man, dissected and pinned like a frog in a biology class.  Never one to leave anything they can carry away, the boys gathered up the various bits, wrapped them in a few table clothes, and threw them in the trunk of their rental car.

Then, it was back across the Eldritch River through the Corund Tunnel--still confused as hell about just what was going on.

8 comments:

Jim Shelley said...

That sounds like a fun session! Good thing they had the sphere with them!

The Angry Lurker said...

Very good read Trey!

Gothridge Manor said...

It was very good we had the sphere. Our last encounter with a gargoyle did not go so well. They are shotgun resistant and don't find Boris amusing.

Bill said...

The bit with the gargoyle reminds me of that '90s HBO movie "Cast a Deadly Spell." If memory serves, Harry Lovecraft (Fred Ward) temporarily disables the gargoyle trying to kill him with a kick to the groin.

Pat said...

Just look at those crusty little gray guys! How could you NOT want to take a bite?

As for our utter confusion, what we lack in competence, we make up for with aggression, greed, and contempt for the law.

Trey said...

Thanks guys.

@Bill - It's been so long since I saw Cast A Deadly Spell, but I recall enjoying it.

@Pat - I say those are exactly the competencies that have been required for this endeavor.

garrisonjames said...

Great stuff! Love the 'Club Tekeli-Li' logo at the top.

Trey said...

Thanks, Jim. I had to search a bit for a suitable vitage matchbook penguin.