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Nefarious Plots
Best-selling Necktie
Rob Northrup
Philosophy major Andrew Cyrus Galbraith penned a runaway best-seller that made him internationally
known. Too bad he's not around to enjoy it.
An earlier collection of his essays had already garnered critical acclaim for his striking new perspectives
on old philosophical problems. However, Galbraith's latest paper asked whether life had any meaning,
and if not, then should you continue to live? His powerful thirty-page answer was no, life has no
meaning outside of what we project on it, and no, we should not live through this absurdity. It was the
most intelligent, convincing, solid argument ever written in favor of suicide. Simply titled "You Should
Do It," the paper also served as his own suicide note. Andrew tightened his necktie, secured the thick
end of it to the cross-braces on his dorm window, and flung himself out.
His death was a minor news story the next day. It only drew world-wide attention two days later, after
someone circulated the paper on the internet, and thousands of readers began to agree with Galbraith's
tightly reasoned arguments, and began taking their own lives...
Possibilities
1)
The paper is cursed. Galbraith undertook the Unspeakable Oath to accomplish this. Weak-willed
people can be susceptible to suicide attempts if they read it. The curse can be cancelled, making all
copies powerless, but only by seeking out Galbraith's ghost and allowing it to rest in peace by
completing "unfinished business". Whatever that may be.
2)
The paper isn't really very convincing. It's actually a signal for members of a particular cult to start
sacrificing themselves en masse around the world, or killing a lot of people in ways that look like
suicide. The cult is using the sacrifices to summon something powerful - but what?
3)
Galbraith's paper really is that convincing. Shortly before the paper is published, a psychic has a
vision of thousands of readers inspired to kill themselves if the paper becomes widely read. It can only
be a matter of time before a priest of Nyarlathotep or other fiend publishes it on the Internet.
-=-
Mistaken Identity
Paul Comeau
One of the investigators has been kidnapped and replaced with an exact duplicate. No one else is aware
of the switch (or even suspects anything) until the character starts displaying knowledge of certain
disciplines that they would never have normally learned.
Possibilities
1)
The investigator has been replaced by an entity that has absorbed their thoughts and memories. It
appears identical, and possesses identical memories to the original, but it also posesses its own
knowledge and this comes out at random times. The original investigator is now dead.
2)
A government agency is replacing random individuals and replacing them with identical clones. The
originals are held in facilities where they are used in grisly research, and the clones are sent out into the
world so that their interactions with normal humans can be monitored. In order to get the clones to
function, their DNA has been mixed with that from a creature from beyond that was captured by the
military. The creature can communicate telepathically with the clones and is using them to secure its
freedom.
3)
The investigator has always been an imposter. This imposter has been with the party for a long time -
and he doesn't even realize that he is not the original! He might be a clone, a conjured copy, or some
other replicant, but he is not who he believes he is.
-=-
Music From The Stars
Paul Comeau
A group of radio astronomers working in a secluded desert observatory have died. Investigation suggests
that they all killed each other in a kind of frenzied bloodlust. Detailed investigation reveals that the
astronomers were picking up a strange signal from a distant star - a strange kind of music with high
pitched wails and deep groaning moans.
Possibilities
1)
The song is the Song of Shoggoth and is transmitted from a star in a far distant galaxy. The song is a
prayer that causes madness in weak-willed humans. Cults in certain areas of South America have
duplicated the song in their own way over the years but none of them has ever brought the madness that
the true Song of Shoggoth brings upon those who hear it.
2)
The astronomers picked up a communication from another galaxy that is being sent by a highly
advanced civilization as a message of peace. However, the message is too complex for human minds to
comprehend and those that try are stricken with madness.
3)
The music is made by the mi-go as they travel across the vastness of space. It is filled with subliminal
signals that are meant to convey an attitude of peace and solitude, but human minds cannot process the
complexness of the music and they go insane from listening to it for too long.
-=-
Who is the Murderer?
Graham Theobalds
One of the investigators is contacted by Miss Sarah Spencer. She is convinced that someone is going to
murder her but does not know who or why. She needs help and is willing to pay. Two days ago she
received a letter with a local postmark. The letter was typed on a typewriter with a missing 'e'.
D_ar Miss Sarah,
Your lif_ n_ars its _nd.
My wrath is compl_t_.
D_ath is yours.
S__ local pr_ss for d_tails.
She was going to leave it at that but yesterday found a message in the personal column in the newspaper.
Dear Miss Sarah. Only two days left.
There is another message today.
Dear Miss Sarah. One day left. Vengeance will be mine.
She has left her job and has booked into a hotel.
The messages were telephoned to the paper and paid for by a man giving his name as Robert Cook.
Tomorrow's note in the paper is to read: Rest, dear. Breathe your last.
Possibilities
1)
Miss Spencer is dangerously schizophrenic and quite insane. She is usually Miss Spencer, but at
times of stress becomes Robert Cook. Cook is gradually exerting more control and believes that by
killing Miss Spencer he will be completely free. He will, but not the way he thinks.
One room in Miss Spencer's fastidiously neat house is messy and unkempt. This is Cook's, and pride of
place is an antique typewriter with a missing 'e'.
2)
The letter was written by Miss Jane Marsh, jealous ex-lover of Robert Cook. Miss Spencer is now
seeing Cook, and Miss Marsh has sworn to kill her and frame him. She knows where Miss Spencer is
staying and has posted an invitation to Cook to visit her there. There he will find the mutilated body of
Miss Spencer just as the police arrive.
3)
Miss Spencer is a Deep One before the 'change' and is luring the investigators to their death. They
have been getting too close. The clifftop hotel she says that she is staying in is old and dilapidated and
smells of fish.
-=-
Scarlet Fever
Steve Hatherley
It is a rather peculiar disease, liquefying flesh into a thick red jelly, leaving only bones and skin
untouched. Bodily functions continue unimpaired until the end. It is so rare that it does not yet have a
name, let alone a cure.
Victims are often completely unaware that they carry the disease. Realisation sinks in only when cut:
instead of blood, jelly wells out of the wound. Their skin does not heal, and if left unbandaged shrinks
and wrinkles as the victim's liquefied flesh oozes out.
Possibilities
1)
The disease is caused by a Lloigor. The Lloigor, Clerghh, is able to possess human victims in the
course of its evil design. It is so successful at possession, that it has not had to materialise into its
reptilian form for many years now.
The unfortunate human is unaware of the possession, which lasts for a maximum of six months. After
that the disease, a by- product of the process, causes the human body to fail irretrievably. Clerghh moves
on.
2)
A vampire is afoot, feeding on predigested human flesh. It has two forms; the first a tall and
handsome human, the other a multi- legged maggot-thing with a stabbing proboscis.
The vampire-thing needs to inject its prey with digestive juices some months before feeding. It makes
two visits, injecting juices at first and then returning once its victim is ripe.
3)
The victims are always men. A cult dedicated to Nyarlathotep offers girls in frenzied ceremonies.
Those he rejects are torn apart by the cult, those he fancies (and Nyarlathotep has taste) he proposes to.
If a girl accepts, she becomes his bride and resides in the Daemon Sultan's court for the rest of eternity.
Those that refuse are set free and cursed. Every man they encounter for anything longer than a moment
will die, afflicted with a terrible disease. At midnight on the night of each full moon Nyarlathotep
returns to ask for for her hand. If she accepts, the Outer God takes her to Azathoth's court for the
wedding and matrimonial bliss. If she declines, more men are consigned to a grisly fate.
Eventually Nyarlathotep becomes bored with his bride, and it is time to choose another.
-=-
The Ripper
Steve Hatherley
RIPPER NOTES STOLEN
Last night the only copies of the diaries of Doctor Gideon Black were stolen from Oxford University
Library. Dr Black was widely believed to be the legendary killer 'Jack the Ripper' when his diaries were
found after his death.
The handwritten journals detail many unnecessary experiments that Dr Black performed. The Doctor
was a surgeon at St Mary's Hospital in Oxford but was living in London during the time that the Ripper
was abroad. During this time he performed much surgery that was considered additional to
requirements.
Dr Black's diaries have been examined and it is now believed that he was not the legendary London
killer.
The Oxford Police are currently looking for a foreign gentleman in his sixties who was enquiring about
the diaries just before they were taken.
The last person to see the notes was one of the students at the university. He can be contacted and may
let investigators see his notes. Although the diary and "Jack's" handwriting has been compared before,
the student has studied them both and concludes that they may have been written with the same hand.
Possibilities
1)
Dr Black was Jack the Ripper, and has been Re-animated. He has stolen his own notes and intends to
continue his research. A week later the first of a series of ripper murders scorches headlines.
2)
The notes are an elaborate fake. They were written by a number of medical doctors to shock one of
their fellows. Several 'in-jokes' can be found amongst the document, if searched for properly.
3)
Dr Black was not the Ripper, but was engaged in similar studies. Although not of the mythos, he had
connections. The diaries point to where Dr Black purchased some of his bodies upon which he worked -
and notes the poor, almost gnawed, condition of some of them.
-=-
An Outbreak of Cancer
Steve Hatherley
DISEASE STUMPS WELSH DOCTOR
Doctor Robert Jones yesterday admitted failure in treating the baffling disease which is affecting the
villagers of Hodgeston, Pembrokeshire in South Wales. Doctor Jones describes the disease's first
symptoms as a number of cancerous growths protruding from the skin. These can be of many different
forms and gradually grow worse and worse until the patient is covered with the unsightly marks, and
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