This is a write up for the first session in a very short Call of Cthulhu adventure I'm running. It is part of a series I set out originally to complete of one scenario for each year in World War Two. Like many creative endeavours, this is taking longer than expected! The scenarios share a loose sub-plot, elements of which players may be aware of. Only two of the current players have played in the previous scenarios, namely Horror in the Hebrides and The Sleepers of Ephesus.
Monsoon Season is the third story, and occurs in the late summer of 1941 in Malaya. The characters are assembling for a weekend party at a rubber plantation on the coast of Perak. Tensions are running high in Asia. While there is already an ongoing war in China, Japanese forces have recently occupied the French colony in IndoChina. British, Australian and Indian troops are arriving in Malaya. There is a smell of war in the air. Will the Japanese dare to attack Malaya?
The main protagonists of this story are as follows:
Mortimer King: the manager of the Sungei Merah plantation, now in his mid-60s and nearing retirement, played by Manoj
Henning Vermuelen: the South African foreman of the plantation, responsible for its day to day management, played by Ben
Elliot Parsons: the nephew of Mortimer King, employed as a clerk in a trading company in Singapore, recently engaged to Agnes Lloyd, played by Stefan
Agnes Lloyd: a Welsh/Yorkshire nurse working at the military hospital in Singapore, played by Kelvin
The story starts with Agnes and Elliot motoring up the west coast of Malaya, heading for the plantation at Sungei Merah to celebrate their recent engagement with Elliot's Uncle Morty. As they approach the bridge across the mangrove swamp that lies between the island on which the plantation is situated and the Perak mainland, the monsoon breaks with full force on western Malaya.
Driving through the rain, the couple cross the bridge and head down the tarmac road through the jungle in the torrential downpour. Agnes makes a Spot Hidden roll and sees what she correctly (EDU check) identifies as a small party of Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle. She reports this to Elliot who decides to keep on driving through the rubber trees to the plantation.
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| Unexpected visitors |
Upon arriving at Sungei Merah, they meet Mortimer and his foreman Henning. The two take the report of Japanese soldiers seriously. They have recently been armed with rifles by the local authorities and are already nervy. On the plantation they have just one Sikh security guard. Uttamveer Singh, two Tamil rubber workers and two Chinese cooks. Mortimer decides to call the police in nearby Temerlok, but finds that the phone is dead and the power lines seem to have been cut.
In the distance, what could be the sound of thunder, could also be the sound of the two bridges across the swampy inlet being blown. Or it could just be thunder. The rain is pounding down now, after all.
Mortimer gives the cooks the chance to make a run for it, if they want to. Both decide that discretion is the better part of valour, and flee from the plantation bungalow. Singh arrives and reports that the two Tamil workers are missing, and did not turn up for their usual evening meal with him at their quarters.
The sun is going down, and Henning decides to head over to the neighbouring Guthrie Corporation plantation, also on the island, which is occupied by another rubber planter, Archibald Torrington. He heads off down the trail between the two plantations, through the jungle, keeping his kerosene lamp carefully shuttered.
Elliot decides to try to fix some food in the bungalow kitchen, finding that the cooks have done most of the work already. He notices some odd red leaves among the vegetables, which he samples while finishing off the cooking.
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| Elliot Parsons - British clerk |
Vermuelen reaches the Guthrie bungalow safely, but just as he does so, spots a figure staggering towards the plantation in the rain. This turns out to be a European, who Henning recognises as Peter Tait, an Australian who works on a third plantation on the island, formerly owned by a German company, but since the war started in Europe, managed by a Swiss botanist called Gunther Teller.
Tait seems disoriented and does not appear to recognise Henning. The burly South African knocks on the door of Torrington's bungalow and briefs him on the sighting of the Japanese. Archibald agrees to return to the Sungei Merah plantation, and the two men assist Tait through the jungle back to safety.
Back at the main bungalow, Agnes checks on Tait, who does not appear to be injured. He is running a fever however and babbling about experiments at the German plantation, calling Teller a genius who is going to save the world and banish hunger. Mortimer explains that the German plantation was abandoned when the war in Europe began and the Germans were repatriated. Teller has been in residence for just under a year.
Henning and Singh decide to patrol around the building as it is now dark and visibility is poor. All the kerosene lamps in the bungalow are switched off, and a few lamps instead are lit and placed in Henning's bungalow as a diversion. Henning notices odd red plants growing all over the vegetable garden at the back of the house, which he does not recognise.
Henning then spots strange movement in the banana plantation behind the bungalow, as if something might be hiding in there. He fires a warning shot, then advances in among the banana leaves, at which point one of the plants tries to seize him. Henning rolls well on his opposed STR check and his SAN, and seeks to escape from the banana trees, but the long grass between the plants comes alive and also seeks to trap him. The tough South African succeeds in escaping, but then finds Singh is missing. Footprints in the mud show he has ventured into the banana grove as well. Calls for him go unanswered.
Henning returns to the house and a brief discussion occurs, during which the red plants are also considered. The group decides to wait it out.
An hour passes and they spot a figure furtively entering Henning's bungalow. Mortimer and Henning decide to investigate, and discover the wet but otherwise unharmed Gunther Teller quietly smoking a cigarette in Henning's favourite rattan armchair. He does not seem concerned about news of Japanese soldiers on the island, but does claim that they have come for his 'experiments'. He explains that he has been researching new forms of high yielding food crops rather than producing rubber. The trio return to the bungalow. Outside the monsoon rain continues relentlessly. The jungle is quiet, and for the moment, motionless.
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