The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse 07: ‘Spores’

*“In which the investigators attempt to survive and keep their heads, if not their other appendages. ‘Almost nobody dances sober, unless they happen to be insane.’ - H.P. Lovecraft.”*

## Spores

### Players

Joseph Chance as Rose Damien
Danann McAleer as Sebastian Palmer
Dan Wheeler as Dr. Bergmann

### Podcast Link

The Crack’d and Crook’d Manse 07 (Finale)

After an exciting finish to the previous episode, the finale starts in the middle of the action. The trio try desperately to find a way out of the manse and its grounds, facing a multitude of obstacles along the way.

## Synopsis (Spoiler Warning)

### Intro

This episodes opens on Arthur Curwen, rather than Cornthwaite; clearly mad, he is laughing and muttering to himself after having killed his family (“imposters,” as he believes) while somewhere in the bowels of the house, and accidentally seals himself away. “Previously on” tells the story from the start using audio clips from the previous episodes.

### Scene 1: Attack

The story starts back in the action, just after Sebastian’s car has been thrown through the front door. Rose and Dr. Bergmann think this may be an opportunity to light the house on fire (with apologies to Sebastian).

> I believe there is a demon in this house. And it is set upon killing us, or indeed enslaving our souls for a purpose far beyond my ken.
>
> Rose Damien

They attempt to help the young man as they search for the best way out, which still seems to be the back door even though they can hear crashing sounds from that direction. While Rose grabs a makeshift weapon and Dr. Bergmann grabs a quick handful of salt from the floor, Sebastian drags Joe with him, feeding him some mescaline in an attempt to ease his pain. Pseudopods reach out from the trapdoors at the cellar, down through the chimney, and through corridors, trying to surround the investigators. Dr. Bergmann tries to take a few shots at the pseudopods, jamming his gun in the process and getting grappled by several appendages.

### Scene 2: A Desperate Defense

Sebastian successfully moves through the mud and over various obstacles, dragging Joe behind him while wielding a steak knife. Rose lays down her salt in a line at the door before trying to follow her companions. Headed to the right side of the house, she sees eyes, mouths, tendrils, and strange flowers along the surface of a translucent mass pressed up against the windows. Dr. Bergmann manages to free himself from the pseudopods and throws his lamp at it; the fire is effective, managing to pull away the pseudopods chasing Sebastian, but the thing is able to put the flames out with its moist limbs. It comes directly at the doctor, showing him its vast scale, half-dissolved animal bodies and the semi-digested corpse of Arthur Cornthwaite. This causes a massive sanity loss and break with reality for Dr. Bergmann, who sees a red mist of anger descend on him: he wants to kill. He fires his gun impotently at the monster, but it is jammed; spotting the axe, he picks it up instead and heads down toward the cellar.

> I’ll get you all. I’ll chop you all up into little bits and feed you to the monster.
>
> Dr. Bergmann

He finds some odd items in the cellar: bales of magazines and animal bones, all crushed and flattened, and a chest that has been burst from the inside with some additional items inside, including a journal and a couple of weapons. Seeing the mass coming toward him again, he tries and fails to light the coal pile on fire. He attempts to perform some psychoanalysis on himself, but fails once again, so he chops off a portion of his left hand to find the concentrating power of pain to successfully ward off the madness for a moment. He uses the last of the salt in his gun to blast into the side of the monster.

Meanwhile, Rose sees Sebastian and Joe on the other side of the house; they meet at the fountain and immediately have to dodge out of the way of the car being thrown once more in their direction, killing Joe and nearly killing Sebastian, now trapped under the car. Rose comes to his rescue once more, with yet another successful first aid. She drags him away from the car, and Sebastian happens to see the crushed face of Joe beside him, unfortunately understanding exactly what has happened to both of them and going unconscious once more.

### Scene 3: Escape

Using his successful blast of salt to his advantage, Dr. Bergmann escapes via the rope up through the collapsed floor, wrapping his injured hand in his cravat. Running through the front door, he sees the wreck of the car and Rose dragging Sebastian’s unconscious body.

> They told us not to break a window…
>
> Dr. Bergmann

A miracle waits for them: Joe Varelli’s car is in the driveway, although they don’t have the keys. Dr. Bergmann thinks the best course of action is to feed Sebastian some of his drugs, and when that doesn’t work, he (unsuccessfully) opens up his veins to add it directly to his bloodstream, nearly killing Palmer again. Rose once again rides to the rescue, lifting up the car to grab Joe’s keys; she can’t help but look behind her, only to see Joe’s body being consumed by the monster, a sight she thankfully does not understand. She dances back to the car and faints. Dr. Bergmann does some successful first aid for once, saving Sebastian’s life; he and Rose come to as Dr. Bergmann drives them back through the rain. Rose, thoroughly stressed, steals Dr. Bergmann’s treasured possession, a well-worn chess piece. Dr. Bergmann still has the scroll, and he is excited about the potential for a new published paper. Sebastian just wants a strong cup of tea.

### Epilogue

Sebastian goes to the Dodge Brothers and tells them to certify the truckload of salt (“and double it!”) to dump into the cellar. Dr. Bergmann notifies them of Cornthwaite’s deceased status — no additional payment needed. Rose has gifted her cane to Sebastian as he heals from his broken leg, and decides to trade the chess piece she stole from Dr. Bergmann for the journal he found in the cellar.

They later read in the paper that the Fitzgerald Manse collapsed suddenly — subsidence, they said — just after the delivery of two tons of salt. When Rose goes to read the journal, she finds his account of an attempt to find the missing expedition of Augustus Larkin, deep in South America, when he found a strange domed temple instead. There is a strange mold on the back of the journal…

## Important NPCs

* Arthur Curwen (deceased)
* Arthur Cornthwaite (deceased)
* Joe Varelli (deceased)

## Places

* Fitzgerald Manse (kitchen)
* Fitzgerald Manse (cellar)
* Fitzgerald Manse grounds

## Quotes

DOM: ”Something is coming down [the chimney].”
DANANN: “Santa?”
DOM: “It ain’t Santa.”

DOM: ”Finally [Dr. Bergmann’s] sanity score is going to reflect [Dan’s] roleplaying style.”

JOSEPH: ”I’ve got a fucking bannister pole… against a shoggoth. We’ve fucked this, haven’t we?”

DR. BERGMANN (DAN): ”There is no Dr. Bergmann. Johannes is not here anymore. Only Wolfgang.”

DANANN: ”CAPITALISM!”

## Trivia

* Joseph is momentarily a little salty about how fast Rose is allowed to move, forgetting the difference between Dexterity and Movement Rate. (“Clumsy? I will kill you the next time I see you for that.”)
* Dr. Bergmann’s failed Sanity roll results in a loss of 10 SAN.
* Danann comments that the chest in the cellar probably has a tag that reads “Ibis Reading Hotel,” another reference to the (unreleased at the time) scenario Spilsbury 9485.