The Midnight Hour

The Midnight Hour is a stolen fragment of time: 60 illicit minutes secreted away in an antique pocket watch with a "man in the moon" hunter case. The captured hour is from eleven to midnight, hence the name.

The watch doesn't keep regular time. Instead, when the watch is wound, it uses up the stolen minutes. The user does so by winding the watch, closing it's lid, then re-opening it. Until the lid is closed again, the watch ticks down the captured hour. Though the hour proceeds normally for the possessor the world beyond is at a standstill, frozen in time. Frozen except for one thing: The sky turns to night for the duration of the watch's operation.

If the stories are to be believed, it pays to be cautious and only use a minute or two at the time. Weird things from the Astral Plane seep in between the moments as the Midnight Hour slips by.  They're drawn to the watch like moths to a flame. They have strange names: the Velveteen Horror, the Creeping Doomster, the Loneliness That Grins, Something Ugly, The Hole in the All, the Pain that Remembers, the Silence Between Sobs, She Loves Not--and others, found in obscure texts. No one has ever seen one and been able to describe it beyond vague, fear-informed impressions. Those owners of the watch they get a hold of are never seen again in living human form.

The other caution given regarding the Midnight Hour is that every minute used is an hour taken off the possessor's life. These are not just shaved from one's last days; they are sometimes pivotal moments, perhaps, taken from random points in a person's life. To use the watch is to gamble the time it grants against what might be lost.

The Machineries of Night

In last night's G+ Weird Adventures game, our heroes returned to Zephyrus Aerocraft to find the place had been attacked by more automata. Diabolico, impulsive as ever, drove his car into one of the tarrying constructs, destroying it and catching a second on fire--but also destroying his roadster!

Hazzard told them the cultists and their automata dug up from underneath his lab.  They broke into the geodesic dome structure and stole the heartspring.  They now had all they needed to resurrect the Machineries of Night.

The team was determined to go after them.  Hazzard supplied them each with an experimental electroblaster rifle to destroy automata. They only had 5 charges each. He also gave them a couple of concussive grenades and a grappling hook gun.

Following the tunnel they encountered a few Eisenmensch, which they made short work of.  Finally, they arrive in a large chamber where the automata were dumping the Machineries of Night (brought from Greasy Lake, no doubt) from their holds into a pit. The mysterious Master stood above it with the dodecahedron. More Eisenmensch were on hand, as well. The glittering, minute cogs of the Machineries moved as if stirred by dust devils that began to grow larger.

The gang went on the attack, blasting Eisenmensch and automata with the electroblasters. Not being use to the weapons, they missed as often as they hit and soon they were out of shots.  Still, the Eisenmensch weren't a much for them and were soon down. But the Master remained.

Playing a hunch, Loone confronted the Master about the attempted murder of Carmody, calling the mysterious figure "Olimpia." With face-mask removed, the Master was revealed as Carmody's beautiful automaton. She claimed that Carmody had not been murdered but had surrendered his body willing to gain an immortal artificial body in service of the Machineries of Night. His brain was traumatized by the procedure and he lost his memory.

In the ensuing battle, Boris shot the dodecahedron from her hand and Diabolico managed to turn a botched attack into a chance to grab the device. Olimpia attacked him to retrieve it.  Shots from Boris and Cornelius damaged and distracted her, allowing Diabolico the chance to snatch her energy rod from her.

He used it's disintegration beam to destroy the dodecahedron (greatly wounding himself in the ensuing explosion) while Boris killed Olimpia with another shot.

Battered and weary, the gang turned the technology over to Hazzard. He also promised to take care of Carmody's brain.  Our heroes were left to worry what Hazzard might do with all this, but they didn't have a better option.  And there was the fact he promised to pay them and replace Diabolico's car.

It's a hell of a way to make a living!

Warlord Wednesday: The Secret of the Crystal Skull

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"The Secret of the Crystal Skull"

Warlord #106 (June 1986)

Written by Michael Fleisher; Art by Ron Randall

Synopsis: Morgan and Shakira ride into Shalmandar, the farthest point on the map, closer to their goal of the Greenfire Sea and the wizard Hagar-Zinn.  Morgan hopes Hagar-Zinn can save his daughter from a magical malady of rapid aging.

Shakira seems startled by something: a wanted poster showing a man wearing a collar just like Shakira’s. 

A woman’s cry distracts Morgan from further consideration. He rides in and makes short work of the ruffians attacking her palanquin. The woman is Ladah Panar, member of prominent family, who was traveling into town with quite a bit of gold to give alms to the poor. She recognizes Morgan as the hero of the New Atlantean War and offers our heroes the hospitality of her home.

Ladah Panar’s “house” is practically palatial. She gives our heroes a tour ending up in her husband’s treasure room. Her favorite piece is a large diamond:

Both black diamonds are rumored to the eye sockets of a crystal skull, but no one knows where that might be (That's what we call foreshadowing). 

Morgan asks about the safety of the treasures. Ladah assures him that not only are they behind a thick door, with a small air vent the only other entrance, but disturbance of any object would trigger the sounding of brass bells as an alarm.

That night, when everyone is asleep Shakira turns into cat form, and leaps out a window. A little later, Morgan is awakened by the treasure room bells.  When he arrives at the room, he sees an unusual thief escaping: a black cat!

While Ladah’s guards pursue the cat, Morgan goes to Shakira’s room. He confronts her about theft. She asks if he ever consider that it might be another cat? Then she shuts the door on him.

Meanwhile, Machiste and Mariah have been born by the undead rowers to an island.  They’re greeted by the island’s inhabitants:

Back in Shalmandar, at another mansion, Shakira finds Damon, the man from the wanted poster. He's also the thief who stole the black diamond for Imag Grann. It turns out, they know each other:

Shakira knew that he must have stolen the diamond and came looking for him. She convinces him to take it back to Ladah, hoping to get some reward. Before they can get away, Imag shows up, shoots Damon with a crossbow, and takes the diamond.

Conveniently, Morgan comes riding up. He goes after Imag and finds him in a cellar with the crystal skull in a strange device. Imag knows who Morgan is because he’s psychic and was eavesdropping on him talking to Ladah. He believes the crystal skull and the diamonds are accumulators that transmit psychic energy to whoever’s wearing an associated headdress.

Imag levitates. then flies, then throws Morgan around with telekinesis. He’s able to read Morgan’s mind and knows when Morgan realizes he will have to kill him. Imag takes Morgan’s sword from him with mind-power—but Morgan pulls his gun and shoots Imag between the eyes. Imag could read Morgan’s mind, but Morgan’s mind was quicker.

He returns to Shakira and Damon.. As he carries the wounded Damon, he warns Shakira the thief may not make it. Shakira assures Morgan that she will make sure Damon does.

Things to Notice:

• This is the first time we see a man who can transform into a cat in the saga.
• Morgan (and Fleisher's) musings on Shakira's origins continues.
• Speaking of Damon, he looks a bit like Douglas Fairbanks in Thief of Bagdad (1924).

Where it Comes From:
The crystal skull was inspired by the real world arifacts and some of the paranormal and New Age speculation about them.  Warlord got here before Indiana Jones!

One of Ladah Panar's treasures comes from Dilmun.  Dilmun is a place mentioned by ancient Mesopotamian records. It shows up in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Presumably, there's one in Skartaris, too.

Unmaschal and it's inhabitants were inspired by a couple Clark Ashton Smith stories. "Necromancy in Naat" provides the wizards using undead servants and taking advantage of shipwrecks, while the torture angle comes from "The Isle of Torturers."

Get Yourself Some Knowledge

If you missed out on it before you should really check out Tim Shorts's one-shot adventure Knowledge Illuminates.  It's now available in a 'zine sort of size with new art by Dylan Hartwell.  I got my copy last night and it looks good.  Get yours here.

From Davy Jones' Locker

Besides the riches dredged up from the wrecks at the bottom of Dead Man's Cove, the treasure grotto of the Phantom Diver contains several maritime magic items:

Spyglass: This brass spyglass allows the user to look back into the past as well as into the distance. 1d4 indicates hours, days, months, or years into the past; d20 indicates how many, at GM's discretion.

Diver's Helmet: This antique diver's helmet smells of the briny depths. It allows the wearer to see the shades of things that have died in the area, all the way back to the dawn of life. Spirits appear almost like neon lights, translucent, faintly glowing and colorful.

Whaler's Harpoon: This antique and somewhat rusted tool has a blade strangely unblunted by time. It's a normal weapon against man-sized or smaller creatures but +1 against large adversaries and +2 against anything bigger than that.

Walrus Tusk Scrimshaw: Yellowed tusk engraved with a swirling pattern that perhaps depicts eddies and currents. When held, it allows command of pinnipeds and communication with selkies. Hungry killer whales and sharks, however, will be drawn to anyone holding it.

Hunters

Last week on G+, there was a discussion of Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter that led into discussion of a game in that vein (heh). I got drafted to GM for a small group. After doing some thinking on it this weekend, this is what I've come up with so far:

As the 19th-Century looms, an evil rises in Europe. Monsters that were thought to have been relegated to legend centuries before are reappearing. A brave few take up arms to fight this menace.

Beyond Captain Kronos, you might think of it as Brotherhood of the Wolf meets Vampire Circus.

The Look and Feel: Somewhere around 1800 in the dark heart of Europe, mist-cloaked and shadow-shroud, fixed between medievalism and modernity; where the stark shades of expressionistic Universal Horror landscapes are pierced by the lurid costumes and ample, heaving bosoms of Hammer--and of course, thick, deep red blood; where blades flash with an anachronistic frequency that Zorro would approve of.

Inspirations: (in addition to the above) the Solomon Kane stories, Marvel's historical tales in Dracula Lives and Tomb of Dracula Magazine, I Sell the Dead, Baltimore: Or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, The Vampire Lovers, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Dracula vs. Zorro, just about any Hammer Frankenstein film.

Houses of Horror

Last night I caught up on the first three episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum. This season takes us far from last season's ghost-crowded “Murder House” in present day Los Angeles to an aging asylum run by the Catholic Church in 1964 Massachusetts. The first season was a lurid (at times almost to the point of parody) romp through just about every modern horror trope the creators could pack in--and was utterly entertaining for it. The second season seems to be shaping up in exactly the same way.

Let’s check the list so far: alien abduction, snake-pit asylum, sadistic nun into corporal punishment, even more sadistic mad doctor with a deformed monster, masked serial killer on the loose,and oh yeah, demonic possession. That’s just the first three episodes; hell, that’s actually just the first two.

It occurs to me that this might be a great set-up for a horror rpg campaign. In the Call of Cthulhu mode, a lot of horror rpgs center on going places and investigating things.  What if all the mysteries were in one edifice? One pretty large place could be the nexus for a whole lot of weirdness.  It could be the horror rpg version of the dungeoncrawl. Maybe it would need to be relatively short in the grand scheme of campaigns, but I think it’s an idea worth exploring. Do you dare enter?