The Doctor is Out – Modern Horror hook

The adventure begins when the heroes meet Joe Malory. All the heroes encountered supernatural phenomenon in the past and were approached by Malory who asked for their help in investigating such things in the future. As this will be their first adventure, he’s going to start them out with something small, a simple ghost sighting. There is a house in St. Louis rumored to be haunted by an elderly ghost since 1978. The organization has tried to investigate a number of times, but been turned away on each occasion. Simon Cherrof, the last owner, died recently and left the house to his niece Nancy Griffin. She agreed to allow Malory to send someone to investigate.

When the heroes arrive, they discover that Nancy has changed her mind. The young pregnant widow refuses to allow them in and seems semi-hysterical. She refuses to talk, claiming that she must go to work at a nearby small cafe.  The heroes should get a bad feeling about the neighborhood and note a number of dead squirrels in the neighborhood. Several of the dead squirrels have knife wounds.

Behind the scenes, there is even more going on. The house is haunted by the ghost of Dr. Robert Tremaine. He was a doctor in St. Louis in 1978 who performed a number of twisted experiments on homeless patients in an effort to prolong life. While most of his experiments were performed at the hospital, many believed he had another lab at his house, but it was never found. Eventually, he was caught, imprisoned and then executed for his crimes. At his trial, he claimed to have overcome death itself. It was true that his evil did not die with him and his spirit still lives within his old home in a secret lab he built in the basement. He longs to continue experimenting on living beings but he is completely insubstantial and cannot leave the house, so he is forced to rely upon others. The ghost possesses a number of powers he’s gathered over the years and uses them to tempt and corrupt those who live in the house. He is currently preying upon Nancy.He began by appearing to the young woman as a floating apparition until she grew accustomed to his appearance. Then he animated a dead squirrel and pantomimed being helpful to Nancy. He then used his ability to write messages in blood to offer to return her husband Troy to her. The young woman, pregnant with her dead husband’s son, finally agreed. He gave her his old pocket watch and a set of instructions. She reluctantly took part in Tremaine’s dark rituals, which involved killing squirrels to reanimate other animals. Once she’d grown accustomed to the gory work, Tremaine gave his next instructions. She had to dig up Simon Cherrof’s body and bring his heart back to Tremaine who caused it to vanish. Then she had to dig up her husband. Tremaine can now animate Nancy’s husband at will, but it is controlled by Tremaine rather than Nancy’s husband.

The body is kept in the attic and is dressed in the suit in which it was buried. Tremaine’s pocket watch is within its breast pocket. One limitation of the animation is that the body remains a decaying corpse. However, Tremaine cloaks the body in an illusion, so it appears to still be in perfect shape. The drawback is that his illusion only affects three senses at a time. So, he can make the body look, sound and smell as if he still lived, but it remains a decaying body to the touch. Otherwise, Tremaine usually allows it to retain its gruesome appearance and keeps the lights out.

If the heroes investigate the house, they can discover a secret room in the basement without much trouble. It is concealed behind a series of shelves which pull open.  The room beyond the shelves is set up as a lab, though dust lies heavily upon the counters and racks of equipment.  The only two clean spots in the entire room are a blood-stained operating table in the center of the room and a shelf of four jars holding human hearts. These are the hearts of the owner’s he has corrupted and each one grants him an additional supernatural power. They also hold the key to destroying him. If the jars and his watch are all smashed, the ghost is expelled from our world forever.

The ghost has several powers and limitations. He can write words in blood on physical objects, he can make electronically devices short circuit or behave strangely, he can animate the dead and he can create an illusion that a body is not decaying (though it only affects three senses at a time). He has used these abilities to permanently animated the body of Nancy Griffin’s husband and a dozen squirrels. Half the squirrels live in the attic and the rest are in the lab. They will attack the heroes should they venture into either location, though they are more effective as a scare tactic since they are only as physically capable as a cat. Troy Griffin’s body is far more dangerous. The ritual that animates him does not increase his toughness, but the creature will continue attacking regardless of damage done to it. If cut into pieces, each piece will continue moving under its own power and only Tremaine’s death or the complete destruction of the body will destroy it. Tremaine’s further limitations are that he cannot become corporeal himself and may only use his powers within the secret lab in the basement or the within 10’ of his pocket watch.

Additional research will reveal that all eight of the house owner’s since Tremaine have either gone insane or abruptly left the house after seeing his spirit. Those who have gone insane conducted their own twisted experiments, often murdering people until they are eventually caught. Simon Cherrof was suspected of such crimes, but died before he could be convicted. The bodies of all these killers were desecrated after their deaths and their hearts removed. The neighborhood is known for regular outbreaks of pests, including rats, cockroaches and now squirrels.  These are common signs of supernatural occurrences.

Ghosts such as Tremaine are usually bound either by their own great evil or a task which must be completed.  In either case, there is almost always a tangible object which serves as a focus to allow them to maintain their existence in our world.  Destroy that object and the spirit will be banished.