[UA] Something Nasty Under the Stairs

[john nixon]

Hey somebody reads some of the stuff I write!  Cool.

PeterAmthor
peteramthor.darkgod.net

*bamf*


> So, most all of the images and ideas that follow are other peoples'.  Most
> were culled from the Kult-L list, and the hospital rooms were described by
> PeterAmthor.
>
> Just a creepy little horror film segment that, I'd like to imagine, one
> could insert at random into a campaign.
>
> gaston
>
> Something Nasty Under the Stairs
>
> Setting: A Hospital/Psychiatric Ward - cracked tile, dripping and rusty
> water, exposed pipes, flickering fluorescents. Empty wards. It's
> underground. Beneath the subways. Accessible by steam tunnels, by sewers,
> and by long and locked elevator shafts in buildigs undisclosed.
>
> Scenes:
> 1. Set up - get the PCs there, get them lost. (Hooks: Ad in paper offering
> guided tours of NYC's catacombs by the kind of extreme tour group that
> bungee jumps off the brooklyn bridge, A PC's little sister ran away to New
> York and he found out she's squatting in the basement of a hospital,
Druggie
> PCs are trying to pull a midnight cowboy - doesn't matter. Bring them down
> there alone. In the Setup, they meet each other one by one and two by
two.)
>
> 2. Hospital Beyond Hope - Wandering around the empty halls. Fluttering
> visions of orderlies dissapear around corners. The hallway is a cluttered
> mess. Medicine and cleaning carts are turned over and their contents
> scattered about the floor.
> Some of the ceiling tile have fallen and only about half of the lights
work,
> some of them are hanging by the wires and sway giving a sensation of
> perpetual motion. Other various debris lays in piles here and there,
> clothing, a mattress or two, etc. There are doors to rooms all along the
> hallway some are opened, other closed, some are missing doors altogether.
> One major thing that stands out is the scrawlings along the walls on both
> sides of the Hallway, with a tribal type design it is made using what
> appears to by a mix of crayons, blood and marker.
>
> Description
> The Scrawlings: Stretching along the entire length of the hallway walls on
> both sides is a intricate design. It first looks like something a child
> would do, but there is a pattern evident. Looking like a cross between
> tribal designs used by african natives and egyptian hieroglyphs it fills
the
> middle section of the wall completely. The media used in one section
appears
> to be crayons, another section looks like dried blood and right beside it
is
> a section done in black marker. This gives you the feeling that it was not
> all done at the same time.
> The rooms along this area are of varying states of disorder and chaos,
some
> are even in perfect order (these are usually ones with the door closed).
Its
> up to the individual GM to decide how much gore or dark imagery they want
to
> throw in here. Below are a few ideas and suggestions, although some like
to
> heep on the blood and death others like to give the feeling of the surreal
> and unknown.
>
> - The room is layered in dust and cobwebs. The light from the ceiling is
> barely showing through enough for anyone to see by. On the bed is the
dried
> remains of the rooms occupant, long white hair and typical hospital gowns
> give the idea that it was once an older female. Underneath her folded arms
> is a copy of the Bible and a small cross. The tiles crack underneath the
> characters feet and every sound seems to create an subtle echo.
>
> - The room is completely empty save for a mirror above where the sink used
> to be. There is no dirt or dust buildup anywhere in the room. Once someone
> enters the room they can here a faint childlike voice saying "Help me...
> please.. will someone help me. I'm lost." The sound is coming from the
> mirror. In the reflection on the mirror the room is entirely furnished and
> the person looking into it does not cast an image into it. Standing on the
> bed is a young dark headed girl clutching a teddy bear and crying. Every
now
> and then she will repeat her message for help. Viewing this is usually a
> call for an Unnatural, or Self, check. Trying to move the mirror will
cause
> the image to vanish and the mirror will then function normally.
> Breaking it causes a loud ear aching noise and the glass shards will turn
> first a rusty, blooded brown, and then black. However you can still hear
the
> girl calling for help.
>
> - Several carts of life support machines and IV units clutter the room,
most
> of them with blood stains and dysfunctional controls. Amid the heap on a
bed
> is a lone elderly man connected to them all by tubes, wires and hoses. The
> bed sheets are soaked with crusted blood and bodily fluids. As the
> characters get closer his eyes will turn and focus on them. He reaches to
> his mouth with one tired shaking hand, pulling on the tubes connected to
it.
> He reaches to pull the oxygen mask down from his mouth. When he has it out
> of his way he speaks in a slow dry tired voice "please... help me...." his
> eyes begin to well up tears "kill me... stop my suffering... please...
> before they get back..."
>
> - The room is brightly lit with everything in pristine order. The bed is
> made perfectly, the floors are clean, there is absolutely no collection of
> dust or dirt of any sort. It seems as if the room has been maintained in
> pristine condition all this time.
>
> - All the contents, the bed, chairs, IV racks, everything have been piled
> into the center of the floor. All along the walls are the same scrawlings
> seen in the hallway. Again they seem to have been made with whatever was
> handy. A light draft of cold air can be felt by anyone standing still in
> here.
>
> - The corpe of a blonde boy is strapped, naked, to a steel operating
table.
> Thick white bands cover his ankles, his genitals, his nipples, and his
eyes.
> There is a... creature standing on his chest, in the process of eating his
> lips. The boy's teeth and tongue have already been consumed. When the PCs
> enter, the creature looks at them, hisses, and darts away into a crack in
> the wall.  Creature: A squirrel or rat with talons, a lizard's head, black
> lusterless eyes, and a long tail.
>
> The nurses stations
> There are several along this floor. Some have a security station in them
> with television screens showing various sections of the floor. The only
> problem is the screens are showing a normally operating hospital floor.
> Nurses, patients, doctors and visitors all going about normal everyday
> business. Everything looking like its supposed to. The computers at these
> stations no longer function properly and display a hazy green blur and are
> off an older model than those found at most modern facilities (Roll vs
> computers to determine that they are a mid 80's model). Paperwork lies in
> piles, equipment seems to be moved into corners to keep it out of the way.
>
> 3. Cops. It's silent in the hospital. Then, finally, voices. Noise. The
> police are in the cafeteria. They've got it cordoned off. If people sneak
> up, they overhear that the police have an escaped lunatic in the kitchen
of
> the cafeteria.
>
> 4. The chase. At the end of the hallway, the PCs see an orderly crouched
> over a homeless man who's sitting with one leg broken. The Orderly runs.
The
> man stands up, his leg twisted around, and begins to cough. His throat
> swells. A snake slithers out of his mouth and drops to the ground,
> approaching the PCs. Legs appear, and fur - it becomes one of Those
> Creatures.  The man collapses into a hollow sack of skin.  More snakes
begin
> to appear, from the walls and the ceiling. Lots more. All sound is gone -
> the PCs can't hear their own heartbeats. If they scream, their voices are
> mute. The light goes out.  I imagine they run. Flashlights are visible
from
> the cafeteria. The PCs enter. They see the kitchen door as the only other
> exit. The cops are confused. Then the flashlights die and the cops begin
to
> scream. There are sounds of feeding.  One cop screams into his radio
> something garbled, but orders the tunnels flooded.  The sounds stop. The
> kitchen is pitch black. It's wet and cold with condensed steam.
>
> 5. What you're standing in. The lights flicker back on. The kitchen is
> coated in blood. The Police are slaughtered - mangled bits and torn
uniforms
> and equipment are strewn everywhere. When the PCs leave, the way out...
> isn't. The hallway keeps going. Turning. The numbers don't make sense.
>
> 6. The big fight scene. There is a snuffling sound following the PCs. It's
> getting louder. It's a big... thing. Horse Sized. Like a baby elephant
with
> rhino armor, a trunk, too many tusks sticking out every which way, big
> claws, and a mouth that looks like a shark's. This time, the PCs get to
> fight if they want. And, once it's dead, the numbers begin to make sense.
> They're on the right path.
>
> 7. ...and your little dog toto, too. Walking backwards, the boy comes
around
> a corner ahead of the PCs. He turns to look at them. His mouth is sewn
shut.
> He's speaking with a sock puppet. "It wants your voices." Something like
> that. The boy then shimmers, and explodes - inside the hollow sack of his
> skin is a nest of snakes. The snakes turn into thingums, and give chase
> again.
>
> 8.  When the PCs then escape, racing out ahead of the floodwaters, it is
to
> return to a world that's two days later than the one they left.
>
>
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