Pride of Yirrimburra pt. 3

 Session Notes (04/01/22)

Game: Call of Cthulhu

Scenario: Pride of Yirrimburra

Players: 5

Our third session in Yirrimburra brought the investigators underground.  Our investigators:

Abigail, Jack Ramsey’s nephew and Boundary Rider

Millie, American Geologist

Liam, American Hypnotist (fakes it, is actually a grifter)

Vena, Tasmanian Cleverman

Polly, Aussie Jillaroo

At the behest of town patriarch Fred MacKenzie, the investigators went into the gold mine, after hours, to investigate his suspicions that someone is stealing from the mines.

In previous sessions, they learned that Peter MacGuire (mine foreman) had run into the mine about a month ago claiming to see lights.  He brought his shotgun and was found dead from cave-in the next morning.  Townsfolk are split on the matter: most believe its the ghosts of dead miners, who brought him down there to kill him.  Others think he was getting old and seeing things.  And Fred thinks there were thieves down there.

The players, of course, speculated wildly before donning work overalls, work boots, and helmets with carbide lamps.  Millie took the lead, as the group’s geologist, she was experienced with underground environments.  At the surface, Mick Keelor promised to operate the shaft for them, and warned them about basic mine safety.

They descended.

It was quiet, and then the pumps would come on, drowning out all noise.  Then they’d switch off.  It was cramped and dark.  In short, a very spooky atmosphere.

At the lowest level, they discovered the cave in site, now cleaned up.  There was a small placard placed near where Peter died.  Abby and Polly paid their respects, while Millie examined the rocks.  Vena searched the mine floor and Liam wandered down to the end of the shaft.  They discovered shotgun shells and pellets, indicating Peter had fired at something.  Additionally, they discovered a boot print in a slanted shaft.  They followed it up to discover it lead to the emergency ladders.  They decided that someone familiar with the mines was coming in at night down the emergency ladders, and mining in the closed off sections.  Fred was right!  And Peter had died trying to stop them.

As they looked out on the hills, Millie saw a mysterious light that she had seen earlier in the day, when she was out on the water tower, but it was gone before anyone else had seen it.  They group ended by examining the scrap heap, realizing that it was large and could hide anyone (or anything in it).

Keeper Notes:

This session saw the group much more tightly focused in a single location.  They were on edge the whole time, unsure of whether or not some horrible things would appear or not.  I think the module is really fantastic in this regard.  It is just a mine: dangerous, spooky, but ultimately mundane.

I’m really enjoying this module.  I’m not super excited about the sessions before hand - there isn’t really anything to prep, but playing with the group is really enjoyable and the module has two great mysteries.  In this session they really did the “digging” and found themselves much closer to solving one mystery, but remain deeply suspicious about the other.  Hopefully in the next session I can have them encounter Yurragan, have a deeper conversation with Bill Poul, and maybe they can take a trip out to Traralgon to learn the truth.