Episode 4: The House That
Was Not
1974.
A team of parapsychological investigators enter Belmont Hall, aka “the most
haunted house in England”, to unearth its secrets and solve its mysteries. They
are soon joined by two strange interlopers, the enigmatic “George Saint-Germain”
and his “assistant” Lady Penelope Ashworth), who seem to have an agenda of
their own… And then all Hell breaks
loose!
As
can be gathered from the above blurb, episode 4 was created as a homage to
Richard Matheson’s awesome Hell House
novel – but I borrowed the central idea (a monstrous, extra-dimensional entity
disguised as a haunted house to lure and devour psychically-gifted
individuals…) from The Haunting of Hex
House, the second story of 2000 AD’s
excellent The Alienist comic book horror/SF series, set in the Edwardian era (and not to be confused with the book and TV
series of the same name).
Actual
play was just fantastic. The pacing,
the dialogue, Sylvie’s decisions… everything just flowed perfectly, with an
ideal mix of quick-thinking, tough choices and improvised embellishments. A
very memorable episode – which also had a very memorable epilogue. King Fenn’s
psyche is now fully restored – but the special, unique link which tied his
destiny to Penelope’s own fate is now unraveled. A page has been turned – and new
adventures await – with the Count of Saint-Germain as Penelope’s travelling
companion !
Next stop: Atlantis!
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