The Mothman Mystery

The Miskatonic gang looks for a missing person while waiting for their motorhome to be repaired.

Recording of game session (YouTube)

(GM note: I really failed with the pacing on this one. There is such a thing as giving an NPC too much personality.)

Summary

(Spoiler alert: this summary reveals plot details of the Chaosium adventure, The Madman.)

While travelling through the Rocky Mountains in their motorhome, the Miskatonic gang experiences an earthquake. The motorhome's undercarriage is damaged, and they have to stop in the small town of Wallace, Idaho (population 2,206) for repairs.

While in town, they learn that there have been sightings of the Mothman, a creature whose appearance presaged the destruction of the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio.

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, a suspension bridge connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio, collapsed killing 46 people. Spanning the Ohio River, this eyebar-chain bridge, built in 1928, met its fate during rush hour as people were returning home from work and families were going into town to begin their Christmas shopping. What caused this well-traveled bridge to collapse wasn't a mystery; a defect in one of the eye-bar links caused a crack to form which led to the catastrophe. The real mystery was the appearance of a strange visitor sighted several times by the citizens of Point Pleasant during the months leading up to the tragedy. This strange visitor was known as the Mothman.

-- from The Real Story Of The Mothman, by David Ian McKendry

Some townsfolk think the appearance of the Mothman is a portent of a catastrophe (earthquakes have been more common in the past year than anyone can remember), while others think it might be related to the disaster at the Sunshine Mine the year before. In May of 1972, a fire broke out in the Sunshine Mine. 91 workers died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning. It was the worst disaster in Idaho's history, and one of the worst mining disasters in American history. As of the Miskatonic gang's visit to Wallace, the mine has only recently re-opened.

While at the 1313 Club Bar & Grill, the Miskatonic gang meets a pair of moonshiners, Haff Jurgle and Tenny Mope, who claim to have seen the Mothman. Mope did not get a good look at the creature, but Jurgle claims to have shot at it. Since then, he has been plagued with nightmares. He has tried to draw the creature, but everything he draws looks "wrong" to him -- as if something about the creature is impossible to draw correctly. He gives his sketches [1][2] to the Miskatonic gang, vowing not to think about the damned thing any more, then has what appears to be an epileptic fit.

They may also run into Cumbley Gritness, editor of the Shoshone News Press. Cumbley is drinking even heavier than usual because he is worried about Elsie Poletto, a stringer for the newspaper (and notorious women's-libber). He will offer a $500 reward to anyone who can find Elsie, dead or alive. People in town suspect that she got too close to the Mothman, and got what was coming to her.

The local sheriff, Gransh Furting, is treating the disappearance of Poletto as a missing person case. He is uninterested in the fires except as they may relate to Poletto's disappearance. Furting assumes that she fell while searching the mountain for the source of the fires. She has been missing for a week: Furting thinks she's probably dead.

The Miskatonic gang goes on the "Mothman tour", led by Tenny Mope. They visit various places around town where the Mothman has reported to have been sighted. It's a let down.

They go back to the 1313 club, and meet Cumbley Gritness, the editor of the Shoshone News Press, who is lamenting the disappearance of freelance reporter Elsie Poletto. She has been missing for almost a week. She was investigating the strange fires on the mountain, which she thought was somehow connected to Bellista Widefeed, a hermit who lives a couple of miles outside of town.

Still without transportation, they walk up the mountain to Bellista Widefeed's place. She is chopping wood, drinking moonshine, and is relatively friendly. As the sun goes down, Bellista tells them they have to leave, because she has work to do.

The Miskatonic gang leave and go back to town. Later that evening, they see a blue bonfire up on the mountain, a couple of miles past where they think Bellista Widefeed's shack is. They head back up into the mountain, toward the fire. As they get near the fire, the Mothman floats down out of the sky and attacks them with a strange weapon that emits a freezing mist. After a brief battle, the Mothman is disarmed and it attempts to flee. However, the Miskatonic gang manage to combine their efforts and kill it.

Approaching the bonfire, they find seven more of the Mothmen and Bellista Widefeed conducting some kind of occult ritual. They do not want to confront so many of the Mothmen, as they just barely managed to defeat the sentry. They retreat to a safe distance, and confer. Hideyori and Connie rig a simple explosive device from a block of Semtex, approach the bonfire, and toss it into the fire. It explodes.

In the aftermath, they find two dead Mothmen, and the body of Bellista Widefeed. The other five Mothmen are nowhere to be seen. Hideyori thinks they have successfully foiled the ritual, whatever it was.

The next day, they find the body of Elsie Poletto, who appears to have died of exposure and frostbite. They inform Cumbley Gritness, who cries at the news, but they do not accept the reward.

A couple of days later, their motorhome is repaired, and they leave Wallace, Idaho behind.

People

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  Gransh Furting, Shoshone County Sheriff
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  Cumbley Gritness, editor of the Shoshone News Press
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  Haff Jurgle, moonshiner
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  Tenny Mope, moonshiner
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  Elsie Poletto, stringer for the Shoshone News Press
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  Bellista Widefeed, hermit