Alistair Drake, known as “Al” to his friends, is an Emergency Department physician at Newcrown Medical Center in Quelmar's Call of Cthulhu campaign Trial of Dreams. Recently divorced, the 30-year-old juggles the stress of working 80-hour weeks with helping his ex-wife raise their son Brian. His life--along with the lives of at least four others--was recently complicated by the death of their mutual friend Mark and the resulting appearance of a young child who haunts the dreams of all five individuals. They all have reluctantly agreed to a weekly “playdate" with the strange child in their dreams to keep the peace. The child, named Kenzie, included the stipulation they must exit the dream before “she” arrives—a much taller, and far more malicious entity with claws.
Current events revealed that Kenzie has been in a coma for a little over a year at a nearby hospital. Further investigation has revealed a second victim by the name Eugene Bigsby. Speaking to their sibling, the group came to understand Eugene had also fallen into a coma some time before Kenzie, and is seemingly trapped in a room full of spiders next to the room where Kenzie is located in the dreamscape. Al’s companion Elandra attempted to communicate this to Kenzie, including the fact the child is in a coma, but Kenzie didn’t appear to understand.
In the waking world the party investigated a park Eugene once frequented often, where Al’s acquaintance Harold struck up a conversation with an ice cream truck vendor who provided him with a flyer for the “Midsommar Madness” festival. The group’s resident spiritual guru, Penelope, recognized some of the symbols on the flyer as belonging to a dark, chaotic subculture that holds the belief “life is suffering”.
When presented with their findings, the group's museum curator Elondra realized the story behind the symbols is even darker: a cult by the name Misfortune and Company is attached to them, following an ancient god that represents chaos. In their eyes, wherever suffering manifests, it will affect people indiscriminately. Elondra further stated this belief in the old god generally holds true only for the cult itself, while those in the surrounding subculture are only there for the subversive nature of the art.
Al and resident magician Ba'el tried to enter the "playdate" dream together, but failed. In the meantime, Al used the hospital's databanks to see if any other coma patients have turned up in the past couple of years that might coincide with the timing of Kenzie and Eugene's events. To his surprise and horror, over 60 people in the area have fallen victim to a coma in the past two years--far above the national average. As he learned this, the computer screen gradually flickered and glitched until only static remained, slightly shredding Al's sanity.
Investigation is ongoing.
