(Curse of Nevoz) #5 - Werewolf of London Drugs

October '94 - Medicine Hat College, Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
It's Halloween weekend for all in Medicine Hat. Heck, there's been worse snowstorms during the holiday, so the concepts grainy dusting that kept falling from the sky was more a pleasant reminder than a constant nuisance.

It's nothing compared to the Halloween blizzard of '91

Bob Krebs: A college student in his fourth Sophomore year, Bob's a Liberal Arts major at Medicine Hat College with a minor in Art History Appreciation (he's failed the same class so many times, they gave him a minor in it). He enjoys listening to lumberjack grunge music, wearing lots of red flannel, looking for "the mara-who-juana" and hanging with his friends.  Bob had started dating Jewel, but a relationship built upon the terror of watching random people getting devoured by an invisible entity was never meant to last.  They broke up last semester, but Jewel's still  cool enough to hang with the crew from time to time, or when she's not invited to the hottest costume contest on campus. 

Alan Jonas: A Senior at Medicine Hat College, studying Geography. He was an academic drop-out at the Royal Military College of Canada, known for academic guffaws and short, violent outbursts.  Nowadays, he's relaxed a bit and can be found chilling with his friend, Bob

The Halloween weekend was the first respite for the true horror which had been the NHL lockout. Still Bob and Alan were wandering the streets of Medicine Hat

"Have you guys heard of NASCAR?"

"Hell, no!"

"Going around in a circle, in a car, like a speed skater!"

"That's just a waste of gas, and that's too expensive per liter. Wait, they're going around in a circle like Rattlesnake Stadium?"

"There's a guy named Dick Trickle"

"You're making this up!"

"Time to visit that new internet cafe for high-speed searching."

They wandered into the alley to go in through the back door, but they ran into Fred Mertz, taking a swig from his flask.

"Want some?"

"So long as it's Canadian Club. At this point I'd drink turpentine..."

"I drank far worse in the Army, back in the States."

"The States, what are you doing here?"

"Studying Theatre."

And then a scream tore through the air. The trio tried to follow the screams until they go to the back of one of the chain drug stores off of 13th Ave SE. There was quite a lot fresh blood next to the dumpster.

Bob immediately poked his finger into the pool of blood, "It's definitely fresh... and warm."

Fred peered into the dumpster and immediately wished he hadn't. A mangled, torn-apart body was covered in blood atop the trash.

The sounds of other concerned Albertans investigating the scream were getting closer, and Bob has being pressured by the other two to wipe off the obvious blood covering his hand.

The first concerned person was their classmate with a stiff-upper lip, Paul Rochon.

"Hey, what's with all the screaming? Has somebody already called the Medicine Hat Police Services?"

"No man, we were investigating the screams and found this," Fred said, pointing into the drug store dumpster.

"Good.... Lord.... you guys didn't touch anything, did ya?"

"Never even crossed our minds...."

While Paul banged on the back door of the pharmacy to get a phone to call the Police Service, The others decided to follow the trail of blood droplets layered on the snow, heading out to Southview Dr SE.

The blood trail seemed to vaporized on the freshly swept sidewalks in front of the nearby Chinese restaurant. The Chinese place did have an outside display full of menus that had been ripped off the wall, the menus blowing around in the wind. Blood drops were definitely on some of the menus.

The blood drops picked up another the restaurant, and ducked down another alley. The trail lead them back to the spot where Bob and Alan initially met Fred.

"Hey, Bob," Alan whispered, "You don't think Fred is the crazy murderer, do you?"

"Probably Paul..."

Paul was back outside, with of the Medicine Hat Police Service's finest, staring into the dumpster.

"Yep.... that's a mess..."

The trio were quickly interviewed by the police. The police were a bit more worried that the guys were in the back alleys of Medicine Hat for illicit drug use and deviant behavior.

The coroner was delayed, due to an extended line at Tim Horton's but once he arrived, the crime scene was officially blocked off. The victim was identified as Victoria Rowell, a student at Medicine Hat.

After that crime scene, Fred had a hankering for Chinese, so they just walked around the corner.

Fred ordered some beef and broccoli, asked about the broken display, and asked about the screaming. They had not heard anything outside of college students, "You know, hockey sweaters, mullets, and bad goatees."

Everyone got a free egg roll to munch on and they thanked the owner, Lee.

Chowing down on their grub, more police service cars come over, but the crowd soon dissipated.

Coming into the restaurant was Shaw-TV reporter/meteorologist Casey Sprouse.

She ordered her usual with Lee, and asked the guys if they had witnessed anything. 

They struck up a conversation about Doug Flutie, curling, and Quebecois Pez dispensers, until Casey dropped a bombshell.

"That's like the third horrendous attack in two weeks."

She explained that stormy weather in the Spring moved the popular Mayfair in October. Police Services claimed it was an dual accident, with couple falling directly on a spiked wrought-iron fence.

The second "accident" was on Kent St. A woman running her own private animal rescue in her house appeared to have fallen into wet dog food, then tripped into a pen of pupplies, who allegedly ripped her apart.

"I don't know how they're going to label this dumpster incident an accident as well."

Fred managed to connive a map from Casey, and marked the two locations of those accidents, plus that night's attack. They set up a straight line.

Incidents were occurring more frequently.... next attack was tomorrow... on campus. Bob wanted to set up a trap. Alan decided it was best to break into the campus clock tower and scan the grounds for signs of wrongdoing. With a nearly full moon, breaking into the clock tower was perilous, but easier than procuring binoculars. They ventured to the bird watchers club, to no avail. The Canadian Geese Lover's Club (aka the Geese Lovers) were off campus, heck even the pervy voyeurs on campus wouldn't open any doors.

They ended up with a heavy drinking game with the Vietnamese students of the Astronomy department. It may have involved a loaded revolver and a stack of Good Housekeeping Canada magazines, but thanks to Fred's ability to hold his liquor, acquired a pair on binoculars around 3am.

"And this is why we haven't had the same advancements as NASA."

They returned to the clock tower, and thanks to Alan's ability in scrimshaw, he picked the lock.

The rest of the night was an annoyingly chilly night, just below 0 degrees, with a light breeze that affected Alan's bladder. With a bathroom too far, he decided to whip it out out the window, and pee down onto the snow below.

Disaster averted, a few drunk students were stumbling back to campus when two slipped on the recently frozen puddle. Both hit their heads on the sidewalk and were knocked unconscious. Their drunken buddies scattered in fear. Fred led a conscious decision to return to their dorms and call in an anonymous tip to Medicine Hat Campus Safety.

The next morning, the crew reunited for a late breakfast in the cafeteria. In one of the corners of the caf was a large, projection-screen TVs. Oddly, a crowd was around it, watching the Mayor do an impromptu Saturday morning press conference.

The press conference was for the announcement of the new Medicine Hat Safety Week, the result of too many accidents in the last two weeks.

"There was a horrible accident on campus where one student drank too much Molson,  fell, struck his head, and is currently fighting for his life in the ICU. We have received reports that his friend and drinking buddy, Derrick McTavish is missing from the same night's escapades. Anyone with information should contact Medicine Hat Police Services."

It was the Halloween weekend, so the group put up on their costumes.

Bob, dressed as Earl Ross, Canada's greatest NASCAR driver.

Fred dressed as Charlie Chaplin, while Alan designed a costume to be NAFTA.

Using the map they got from Casey Sprouse, they roughly measured an area on the far side of campus where the next attack might occur.

Things seemed relatively calm until they took a corner and ran into the flashing light the Medicine Hat Police Services in front of a three story neighborhood corner building. The red-and-white maple-leaf adorned police tape marked off a crime scene.

"If we lick the police tape, does it taste like maple syrup?"

"Yes, anyhoo...."

They encountered reporter Casey Sprouse, yet again. After admiring their costumes, she questioned the coincidence of them appearing again.

"You're not looking for a little old lady are you?"

"Is she missing?"

"Oh no, they found bits and pieces of her on every floor. They used her cardigan to identify her. "

"Any damage to the building?"

"Nothing obvious, the only odd clue they found were the back pocket on an American-made pair of Dockers. Somebody must of snagged a nail running out of here. It happened late-late last night."

Fred was pretty smug, "Should we let the cops know we figured out a pattern?"

Rather, they ignored the cops, and let the reporter see the pattern of the incidents. The next incident would happen later that day, a few blocks further from campus.

They passed the off-campus student housing, the gentrified area, and finally reached the neighborhood of the next alleged attacks.

Blue Clam, a Halloween celebration at the local gay bar. Casey had grabbed a makeshift costume, Fred tried to start singing showtunes. The results were mixed, at best.

"This why Chaplin was in silent movies."

Alan spent most of his time explaining the ramifications of NAFTA, "Lumber and Dairy, my friends."

Bob simply put on a mustache with NASCAR outfit.

The Halloween theme for the night was vampires, so every manifestation of the creature, from Nosferatu to Anne Rice were there. The costume contest culminates with two non-vampire finalists, one as Queen Elizabeth II and one as Freddy Mercury (who shares the same fake moustache brand as Bob). Their vampire escorts to the stage got into a bit of a tiff.

Outside of a good ol' fashioned hair-pulling spat, it was an enjoyable evening, but no one saw a furry-clawed hand grab a server and drag them into a never-used cleaning closet.

The group walked back to campus under the auspices of the a waning moon. Back to class.

Across the street at the other gay bar, Trader Vic's sat a properly coiffed individual, drinking a Pina Colada. His hair was perfect.

Keeper Notes: I've been holding this particular scenario, or at least the concept, for quite some time. It wasn't until the Canadian College Cthulhu game began that I discovered a prominent chain of drug stores was named London Drugs. Technically I could have implicated a pharmacist there, but my group always has different ideas, and for what amounted to a Halloween playtest of a concept, I think things went beautifully wrong.

I only required two sanity rolls, once for the contents of the dumpster, and another for some blood splatter that went the wrong way. With Canadian Cthulhu, it's more moving along with the concepts and losing your mind and getting eaten (okay, that's some of the time).

And, of course, the lyrics:

"Werewolves Of London"

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook's
Going to get a big dish of beef chow mein
Werewolves of London

If you hear him howling around your kitchen door
Better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again
Werewolves of London

He's the hairy handed gent who ran amuck in Kent
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair
Better stay away from him
He'll rip your lungs out, Jim
I'd like to meet his tailor
Werewolves of London

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the Queen
Doing the werewolves of London
I saw Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen
Doing the werewolves of London
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's
His hair was perfect
Werewolves of London again
Draw blood