The Curse Of Drumer

6 6 6 as is the number for the devil

Fighting all four Champion Fire Demons at once was a bit rough. Perhaps the Hreinleika's effects aren't properly calculated: only 2 stamina was coming off for each hit, and their skill stayed the same.

there is a secret behind the Hreinleika axe that can be learned from a certain source. If you want to know where, let me know and I'll put the answer in the spoiler box. Otherwise the divine axe merely wounds them normally whereas ordinary weapons are ineffectual!

Nel, a district nurse as described in 'House of Hell' entry 209 (with illustration). I'm certain I got her name from FF archives although perhaps it's made-up, I can't remember now.

I believe your trip into Maddesby's house is just a series of 6 tests; including 4 skill, 1 stamina and 1 luck

I believe your trip into Maddesby's house is just a series of 6 tests; including 4 skill, 1 stamina and 1 luck

where you quickly leap at a cultist guard from the shadows, beat down and break his neck, then drag the body away and exchange clothing before his companion returns, mimic dead guy's voice and convince the companion to give you his gun while you clandestinely remove ammunition from it, then knock the companion out.

Interactions with the police are nonsensical. Priest's notes are triumphantly presented as "hard evidence", yet in no court of law would those scribbles count as anything of a sort. All they seem to contain is a secondhand claim to "hearing moans and screams" from Drumer's mansion on moonlit nights, and an admission to robbing from a museum. It's mystifying why the cultist detective is so stumped by them and settles for calling them a forgery, rather than dismissing it all as vague nonsense from a delusional, thieving clergyman?

For that matter, why wouldn't the detective press a point that if your story is true, you have just admitted that you only drove into town to attend a meeting for unlawful purposes, and to carrying lockpicks and what are likely unregistered firearms, and you should all be arrested just for that?

Or, if he wanted to go further, you have personally admitted to shooting several people, one of your friends admitted to fatally riding over two more, and you had beaten/stabbed another man to death mere hours ago on your way to the scene? Satanism was not illegal even in the 1980s (even protected under freedom of religion, for that matter); murder was and is, and there's zero proof any of it was in self-defence, adhered to reasonable force standards, etc. If the Detective arrests all of them for that (and accuses the Inspector of sympathizing with vigilantism if he tries to intervene), then sure, the investigation would also discover the torture chamber and all the remains in the ruins sooner or later, but if the ritual is literally imminent, then so what? The cult would have already won by then, and any time the police spend in the ruins pulls them away from looking in the direction of the castle.

And if you attempt to infiltrate the building, your supposedly experienced crim apparently doesn't even bother to wear a mask beforehand, as seen at 332. Likewise, you knock out two forensics, then automatically accept a ride from the police (!), and they somehow do not find their colleagues, decide that those weird men are prime suspects and contact the team in the very car you are in?

There should have probably been no reason for the police to be there at all. We are told that even a small silver crucifix is "repellent to their kind". Maddesby had MONTHS to search for Hreinleika: couldn't he have bothered to deck out his dwelling with way more crucifixes in all that time and protect the place? Likewise, there should have been enough time to fit Ettingley Hall with crucifixes and holy water all over the place, so it sounds like that poltergeist is their own fault.

Then again, the same people couldn't figure out not to meet their informer in a dark, large, abandoned building, rather than on the outside in the sunlight, and they failed to see a hundred people coming and going from a castle for who knows who long, so that's in character.

1
A sight now seen through more cautious eyes than this morning Terry's words continue to tumble around in your troubled mind. (comma?)

16
raises his havoc staff on high (what is that supposed to mean?! Is that meant to be more understandable if you read the canon book?)

38
stabs at you with his own torch. (?)

39
from a hollowed out section.

69
as sharp pointed teeth

95
Do not take to that sacrificial altar! + "Oh, thank God!" cries her friend. + Yet the arms do not release, only tighten. (their arms?) + could we have run to?" the first woman frowns + "Stay with us!" they both intone.

(I'll also say that this ref is remarkably sparse on detail, telling us little about the room and nothing about their appearance, age, clothing, etc.)

97
The once beautiful carpets

98
a pump action shotgun + sixteen twelve gauge shells

104
"Bonnie thing to have, Rich" (punctuation around it.)

108
a large leather bound notebook

120
and it'll too late

125
"Where is that wretched thing?" growls the torturer.

133
Those devil worshipping fanatics + he continues "you could say

135
"What have you lot been up to?" asks an aghast Sid.

140
"You poor fool!" he sneers at your drawn blade.

156
lying spreadeagled

159
"No!" it snarls.

179
It must be work related

182
"Show some respect!" growls an annoyed Richard.

196
"Home sweet home!" announces Richard . "Such as it is."

210
"The prisoner!" she gasps.

218
-the four 'chosen ones'

219
At first, you hope its Maddesby + "and drop your weapons. " + well placed to remove it

220
Spreadeagled upon

232
filled with the mouldering bones (?) + The ice cold touch

250
skull-face!" he laughs

256
Now that's quite something! you whistle.

265
, stood in the middle of the room next (to?) a brazier

289
"Have we done well, master?" fawns one.

290
on an alter (?) (and the other instances of the word as well.)

313
in locating hand-and foot-holds.

319
A rope nearby is pulled and the whole slab creaks aside. (pulled by whom?)

330
Despite your being more acclimatized + of an eight foot humanoid! (?)

333
signifies the acolytes entry

"Quick!" you lift

338
You lie in wait, listening the acolytes' idle chatter, (to?) + press the now empty gun + "What the-?" + Nicely done! you grin.

348
"Aye!" seconds Jimmy. + I'm sworn to uphold the law -as such, + dangerous men running amuck (?)

350
Mesmerized by these fantastic monsters, they clasp together (you watch as?) + quickly increasing intensity... (in?)

352
And that's all they are, guv!" snarls a younger man + I'll swear to the Lord above, on the bible (inconsistent capitalization?)

365
"Good show, old boy!" jubilates Richard.

368
cabalistic symbols + whatever that might be -as Scott and Jimmy.

378
"The castle is invaded!" it booms.

400
This is where it all started -but

405
"GET HIM!" he shouts whilst fleeing.

444
behind ghost stories and wives tales

496
Add 2 to your FEAR score rest and zeal of hope now flowing through your veins, (?)

1. The backgrounds to both Scott and Jimmy are not so plot important. TCOD is not about their entire life stories. 2. We do learn - confirmed later on during the dialogue with High Priest Isaacson - that they are petty criminals who were poking around in the ruins of a once old, possibly wealthy estate. Word of the great fire got around and somehow reached their ears. Again, it should be enough that they just happened to be in the area at the right time, or heard about it on or in the local news. Both saw the opportunity to hunt for antiques, had already made a start but shifting the heavy door required extra tools and expertise. Both men knew the player was the man for the job. However, by the time he does arrive, both Scott and Jimmy have incurred the wrath of the Brotherhood and been captured. 3. The player character has arranged to meet the friends at the ruins. Why is that idiotic? For the time being, he is unaware of the demonic dangers - as were his friends before being captured. Perhaps they didn't know the full truth of their plight? That they were simply at the mercy of a mad cult with no real power? Who can say? Even the author themself doesn't ponder over every little detail. However, one clue is: how does Jimmy react to the animated zombies and skeletons? Has he (and Scott) seen similar things already? 4. Although the Hero - himself a criminal - 'blurts' out the planned meeting location, then why should it matter? How would the locals know he is of criminal background? Strange as it sounds, he could simply be a tourist keen on exploring the ruins, a contractor hired to assess the damaged site for clearance, or even a photographer going after that special atmospheric location. And even if they suspect he's up to no good, then how are they going to respond to a possible threat to the Drumer estate? Indeed, why should they care about the preservation of Drumer's valuables when obviously they care more for the life and soul of a human being who so far has done them no harm? Saying it out loud shocks them, yet the player character is straight up being honest; attempting to hide the truth or simply shrug and stay silent can backfire with an adverse effect. Furthermore, he is a stranger to those parts, and needs directions. It is also equally possible that they suspect he is a friend of Drumer's, come to visit, but again: saying it out loud at least calms their suspicions. Even if the player was followed by some of the curious locals, what are they going to find? The player cursing and shouting as he makes his way down into the old cellar; hardly very inconspicuous. The meeting wasn't secret because, if anybody had followed them, they would have been chatting in a wide open space, or even the confines of the landrover. If the conversation was overheard, then it would be about looting the ruined house of Drumer, and nothing whatsoever regarding demonic worship or raising Drumer himself. Again, Terry might have followed the player from the Goat and Knife there and then - but then that wouldn't have made exciting material. Besides which, Terry (having already warned the player character who was too stubborn to listen) meanwhile went to Richard for his help in rescuing the Hero and Jimmy, by which time during the graveyard scene.

That is, the ability to accurately judge what a person would see and know at any given point, and make your own decisions based on that. I think this goes to the root of where I find issue with the scene.

1) As a reader, the main thing I know at the outset is that the player character obviously has to get to where he shouldn't for one reason or another - else there's not much of a story, but those reasons can still be good or bad, and it's up to the writing of the scene to make the difference. Here, your character effectively insults well-intentioned villagers there and in ref 1, which instantly creates a negative impression. In horror movies, characters who behave like that usually get themselves killed soon after.

If I am to believe that him driving to that ruin after everyone tells him not to go is worthwhile then yes, giving us a single reason to care about Scott and Jimmy from the outset, to know why it's worth risking life over them, is not a bad idea. As a writer, you might care about them as your creations by default, but I, a reader, do not.

2) Here is the really big inconsistency between player character's knowledge and behaviour.

"Indeed, why should they care about the preservation of Drumer's valuables when obviously they care more for the life and soul of a human being who so far has done them no harm? "

This is the thing. He has NO way to know what any of the patrons "obviously" care about until AFTER he had already revealed where he's going to them. As an out-of-towner, for all that he knows, people in the tavern could well be fans of the "late" Earl and NOT take kindly to him messing about there. (In fact, with how large the cult apparently is, it seems all-but-inevitable that cult members would have visited the place before, probably repeatedly (its name making itself appear Satanism-friendly would have only helped to make that a near-certainty), and the odds that at least one patron present at that time would have been a cultist actually don't seem all that low? Sure, Sid would not have taken kindly once he understood, but the corollary is that the cult could have then identified him as a target a lot earlier?)

Really, looting of recently abandoned estates tends to be frowned upon A LOT - you probably know that plenty of people think using lethal force on anyone looting someone else's property in the wake of a natural disaster is outright commendable. Plus, locals could also suspect them of other undesirable things, like drug smuggling. So, it really doesn't matter if he has no idea about the cult - it only takes ONE patron to call the police and say, "Hey, there are some suspicious blokes from out of town meeting up at the burned-down ruins, mind checking in on that place?" to TOTALLY ruin whatever all three were going for and potentially land all of them in jail as soon as the guns and the lockpicks are found. It may not be a VERY likely risk, but it is still an ENORMOUS downside with basically no upside.