Marci's Diary - The Monongawho?

Disclaimer: This is a completely fictional account taken from a weekly Cthulhu role-playing game and all the players are based on no actual persons, unless of course, they are.)

The Monongahula

It was early Saturday morning when we were summoned to the offices of Mr. Smith once again, fresh from the thrill of our last adventure. Thunder is still reeking of whatever it is that he reeks of, my eyes are half shut (it's very early and Marci doesn't do well in the mornings) and Emily is awake and full of brainy wonderfulness as usual (how does she do this?) and Mr. Smith is, well, Mr. Smith.

Jack was our spirited maniac and Doc was our stoic physician...without them life will not be the same. But I have to admit, Thunder is not nearly so clumsy as Jack was. And I don't know if Jack had a grandfather who was so wise and so vocal. I had assumed that the three of us would continue to be the crack team of investigators as we had always been.

So when Mr. Smith said we needed to go up to East Buttcrack, PA and check out some strange activity in a cave...I thought, well, at least it's not a basement! But caves are wet and not at all good for the cute Marci hair, as I later discovered.

Mr. Smith unfolded the story like a pair of old corduroys laid out after a spring shower. Two local fishermen were apparently just doing their thing in the Monongahello River when they saw some mysterious people and heard talk of demons and "devil worship" as they called it.

We're on it! I proclaimed...well, perhaps I didn't proclaim it so much as think it...it was pretty early yet.

Our mission: To locate the possible cult and find out who they were, what they were worshipping and report back. What? A fact-finding mission? What kind of hooey is this? What about guns? Knives? Dynomite!

No, Mr. Smith stressed, just do research and get back to him.

Okay.

So off we drive to Shire Oaks, PA to meet up with the "informant," one Bill Buford, resident officer of the law. He seemed friendly enough, considering we must be quite a sight..an Indian, a Clairevoyant and a Newspaper Writer...folks must be used to strange sights in them thar parts.

Mr. Bill was glad to see us and explained that a local girl had gone missing, and what with all the reported weirdness out at the cave, was more than happy to have our help. He gave us the scoop as we listened intently. John and Bob were fishin' and saw a mysterious group of seven people in cloaks carrying torches goin' through the woods, headin' toward a cave that had been used by the Monongabooboo Indians in times past. (As we have our very own Indian on our team I was certain this would be a snap to solve.) Anyway, between the strange blood on the cave walls and the chanting inside, the two intrepid fishermen decided it was too weird for them and went home to call the police.

Now Bill Buford knew Mr. Smith from awhile back, when he took a class taught by Mr. Smith. So when the full story came out, it was Mr. Smith to whom he turned.

Where would we find such fine fishermen, we inquired. The local bar, where else! I guess there's not much to do in that part of the world but drink. So off we went. Of course, Thunder makes friends by drinking with our "witnesses," while I abstain as I wish to remain alert and upright, as is my calling card.

The gist of what happened next is that we all trek out to the cave with John, the only one who would go for any price, to investigate. Sure enough, there were lots of bloody markings, Indian symbols all over the caves, and... backpacks...hmmm. Someone has been camping here!

Thunder wants to wait...but John wants to go back to town. So we take John back, Emily and I do some questioning of the missing girl's father to no avail; and eventually we go back to the cave to look for Thunder, who is still alive! If it would've been Jack, he'd have blown up the cave by now and himself along with it...

The "cult" had apparently gathered for what nefarious purposes we did not know. We sneak into the cave and get right up on them as they perform some kind of ceremony. I have to admit, in their cloaks in the cave with just the flickering torches, they looked pretty darned scary. I wanted to run away. But no, I must be brave. Many thoughts raced through my brain - mostly I wondered if bats were going to get caught in my hair.

Just then a hooded figure comes from a corridor in back of the cave, groaning like...well, a person making growling sounds...

What the heck?

Officer  Buford takes the initiative and calls out to the group of... teenagers? Yep, that's right, it was a group of teens out for a night of murder and mayhem...well, not really. It was more like a role-playing game gone live. The "Monster" turned out to be a local kid too! Luckily, although Thunder got off a couple warning shots, no one was injured. The kids were not happy to see Officer Buford but they didn't put up a fight or anything. And the missing girl? She was their "sacrifice" but apparently forgot to tell her daddy she was going to play with the boys.

And all that blood? Try beef hearts, much like revenge, a dish that is best served cold. In my opinion, served not at all, but that's another story.

So all was well that ended well. We did take the kids' rulebook because Emily noticed that some of the writings in the book were not part of the game. It is good to have someone with brains in the group now.

We got on the horn to Mr. Smith to relay all the info we had gathered after which he offered a job to Billy Buford. Bill said yes, that he had been at this small-town police thing for quite a few years and was ready to try something new..so I guess we're up to a crack team of four again...nighty night dear diary.