Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

[Rage]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

John

 

Arrived in the hotel just a few days ago. Although he gives his name as John Smith he is quite obviously of Middle Eastern extraction, a heavily set man in his late middle age, with closely cropped dark hair. Thick stubble shows he is capable of growing a good beard but it looks recently shaved. He is currently more or less confined to a wheelchair, wearing a surgical neck brace, and is attended to every other day by a pair of unapproachable Americans who deflect any and all questions about the new guest other than to say he suffered a spinal injury and is recuperating.

 

John is obviously reluctant to talk to members of the hotel staff and pretty much abuses them until they leave his room on the odd occasion that there has been a need to take something to him when his carers aren't present.

Ahh, that is just so aweome! Sick and awesome.

["V"]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Ahh' date=' that is just so aweome! Sick and awesome.[/quote']

 

[Gorillagrod]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Everyone's Grandpa

One of the guests is a healthy looking man in his seventies. He waits casually in the lobby, cutting pieces off of an apple with a pocket knife.

 

Any person who talks to him gets the distinct impression that he's taller than they are-regardless of height. He'll offer the person a piece of his apple. Should they accept and eat it, he then tells the person a story about their childhood that only a close relative would know.

[Susano]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Everyone's Grandpa

One of the guests is a healthy looking man in his seventies. He waits casually in the lobby, cutting pieces off of an apple with a pocket knife.

 

Any person who talks to him gets the distinct impression that he's taller than they are-regardless of height. He'll offer the person a piece of his apple. Should they accept and eat it, he then tells the person a story about their childhood that only a close relative would know.

 

No one ever sees him finish the apple.

[Korvar]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

An old man sits outside (if the hotel has an outside dining area, he's there), feeding the pigeons. He's dressed very simply, in out-of fashion clothes, has a long white beard and an eyepatch. When walking about, he has a military bearing, an air of command; when he speaks, it's with an accent somewhere between Germanic and Scandinavian.

 

Unfortunately, he seems to be somewhat senile; he rarely seems to remember much, including his own name. He will sometimes start story fragments, then lose his way. He might mistake people for others, and generally will forget the last time they spoke to him.

 

On occasions, he is sharp however; this is always when he is outside feeding the birds. There is usually an assortment of different birds, including a couple of ravens that are often seen around the hotel, watching for scraps.

 

If you speak to him then, sometimes he will speak of things that happened in the hotel that nobody could have seen - not unless they were watching through the window, anyway.

[Basil]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Crank --- Jacob is called that, not because he's fixated on a bizarre idea (or more than one), but because of what he carries around.

 

It's a metal bar with two 90º bends located so one can... Well, it's a crank. He's never seen without it; either in hand or tucked through his belt if he needs both hands free. If you ask him about it, he'll say:

 

"Well ya see, I once owned a Model T Ford." He chuckles. "No, I'm not *that* old. It was a restoration project. I just about finished it. One day I was polishing the starting crank," he hefts the crank, "and my car was stolen. I just know I'm gonna get my car back some day. Until then, I keep this as a kind of reminder. A keep-sake, you could say."

 

Seems like just a slightly odd fellow, a bit focused on getting back a valuable antique.

 

However! If your character asks (in a politely friendly way) for details, or has a contact in the police department, he'll get the full story. Jacob was living in the rooms over the detached garage of a suburban house (the owner of the house needed a little extra money, and was willing to park his car in the driveway, so he could rent out the rooms & garage). The garage was solidly built. It was locked, it was the middle of the day, and Jacob was upstairs. The house was at the end of the cul-de-sac, with the lots on each side, and behind, vacant. There is no question that the car went into the garage (in front of witnesses), that no-one was seen approaching the house, and that the car was not in the garage an hour later. To this day the police are baffled, and two PIs gave up on the case, having no idea how it happened.

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

An old man sits outside (if the hotel has an outside dining area, he's there), feeding the pigeons. He's dressed very simply, in out-of fashion clothes, has a long white beard and an eyepatch. When walking about, he has a military bearing, an air of command; when he speaks, it's with an accent somewhere between Germanic and Scandinavian.

 

Unfortunately, he seems to be somewhat senile; he rarely seems to remember much, including his own name. He will sometimes start story fragments, then lose his way. He might mistake people for others, and generally will forget the last time they spoke to him.

 

On occasions, he is sharp however; this is always when he is outside feeding the birds. There is usually an assortment of different birds, including a couple of ravens that are often seen around the hotel, watching for scraps.

 

If you speak to him then, sometimes he will speak of things that happened in the hotel that nobody could have seen - not unless they were watching through the window, anyway.

 

 

ODIN!!

 

 

Major Tom

[Korvar]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

It was a tad unsubtle, wasn't it

[Guest Major Tom]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

About the only way that it could've been more unsubtle would've been for Thor

to give a Gibbs-slap upside our heads with Mjolnir.

 

 

Major Tom

[Amber Nytstar]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Couple

 

A handsome middle aged man checks into the hotel with what seems to be an excessive amount of luggage. He nevers asks for a room on the first couple of floors, usually asks for a suite, and insists that whatever room he gets has a balcony. While the bellhops walk towards the elevators with the luggage carts, a stunning young woman with a fur coat hanging over her shoulders walks towards the man who checked in from that direction and asks him for 'their' room number. Anyone who stares at the woman for any length of time starts to notice a few things about her that are off, such as:

- Her thigh high boots have a point for the longest toe in the exact centre of the boot instead of along the inner side.

- Her left eye is one solid colour with a pupil and if she gets really agitated the eye starts to glow.

- The skin around that left eye isn't quite the same shade as the rest of her face and, if one takes a closer look, there's a pale scar line going from ear to scalp around the oddly coloured skin.

- If she appears to wearing headphones, there's no cord for a device to plug into nor is there any controls on the headphone themselves.

It becomes quite obvious that the man and the woman are a couple, and that he doesn't notice her little oddities. Yet even though they've supposedly arrived together, no one seems to remember seeing her enter the building through a door.

During the couple's stay at the hotel other oddities crop up like:

- The woman seems to be able to leave and enter the couple's room and the hotel unseen.

- muddy footprints are often found on the balcony railing, that seemed to be made by a very large 5-toed bird's foot.

- The man and the woman always seems to know where the other is and if the they need help, even if neither one can see or hear the other.

- A couple times the man has accidentally crushed or bent something that no ordinary human could.

- The couple always pays cash for their purchases yet it seems as if they have an endless supply.

-While the woman has a very well shaped body, she's never seen without something covering her back and legs.

If someone starts investigating they may find out the following things before spooking the couple.

1. They used two different and very generic names on the register.

2. The female looks like the missing member of a very wealthy family that was horribly massacred while abroad.

3. The man has absolutely no records attached to his name, face, or prints whatsoever.

4. All of the woman's boots have a central point in the toe and an examination of the inside will reveal that the front portion of her foot is just three long toes, while the heel has two sections to it (or if it's a high heel, is either missing the spike or hollowed inside for two more toe-like appendages.)

If the couple gets spooked by the investigation, the female will vanish that night and the man will check out the next day and disappear. Otherwise they will check out of the hotel together and simply move on.

[Basil]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Happy Grandpa: An old fellow, portly but reasonably health. Always eager to show anyone pictures of his grandchildren. Has 3" x 5" glossy paper; typical photograph-looking stuff. All the "photos" are blank, white rectangles. He'll point to places on them, talking about what this or that grandkid is doing, what various things in the background/to the side are, etc. Weirdest part is, if Grandpa is talking to anyone except the PCs, the person talked to acts like they see whatever Grandpa sees. Are they humoring the old man, or are the "photos" blank only for the PCs?

 

The Crone: An extremely ugly old woman. Judging by her movements, she's probably nearly blind (though most likely not *utterly* blind). Sometimes, when a new man (i.e., male human) moves into the hotel, for the first week or two, he acts as if the crone is the most stunningly gorgeous young woman he's ever seen. The effect (if that's what's going on) wears off in about 7-10 days, with the young man, if asked, proclaiming he doesn't remember any gorgeous young woman, and saying he's been aware of The Crone's appearance right from the beginning. The Crone herself acts blase about both the young man's original ardor (if he expresses it) and his later distaste.

 

The Hobbit Hater: Elderly fellow with a strong British accent; if a PC is knowledgable about various British accents, this fellow's is definitely "Oxbridge." Vague, even a bit evasive about his background, he does reveal he was "a professor at (mumble mumble) College"; whether Cambridge of Oxford he's reluctant to say, and will say whichever he feels like at that moment. He's generally quiet, reserved, and polite. However, if the subject of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarilion, or any of the related works comes up, he becomes excited, contemptuous, poison-tongued, and will slash the work under discussion with -- at first! -- a nasty wit. If the conversation continues, however, he will rapidly use language that would make a Marine Corp drill instructor blench.

The oddest thing is that, though he usually looks like an archetypal "English Professor," when he gets really angry (which only happens when the aforementioned works are talked about), he starts more and more to look like JRR Tolkien!

[Korvar]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Other Couple

 

Everyone knows they the perfect couple - the cutest, most wonderful couple in the world. Made for each other. Never seen two people so much in love. You can see it in their eyes.

 

However, if you think about it, you've never actually seen them together...

[1EyedJack]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

A hansome stranger with a shaggy looking dog. The man seems a little odd, he is always talking to the dog and asking people what they want.

[Sikkukkut]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

I love this thread, this is some serious idea catnip. Having dug my posting account out of mothballs, some humble additions.

 

Motherly Love

 

A woman in her late twenties or early thirties, no longer in the bloom of girlhood but fit, comfortable with herself and damned attractive - the sort of person the media like to call a “yummy mummy”. She’s friendly and will make conversation. Perhaps a little wary of revealing too much about herself, but only the way you’d expect of someone talking to a relative stranger in a hotel. She’s doing some sort of postgraduate study and has a part-time job to pay for it: if she’s a resident she can be seen in the hotel cafe with her books, or perhaps she actually works at the hotel, perhaps as a clerk or a cleaner, and the management turns a blind eye to her using a corner table at the restaurant as her office for a few hours a week. Her child is about eighteen months old, and will often be in the hotel with her, cost and rarity of childcare places being what they are.

 

The weird aspect of these two is subtle and may take the PCs a while to spot. They interact with others as a perfectly normal mother and child, but when they think they’re not being watched they look at each other with a poisonous mixture of anger and loathing. It’s a startling enough expression to see on the face of a mother with her infant, but to see the baby’s face wearing such a hateful, and very adult, expression is thoroughly unnerving. Their private body language is more like that of a long-married couple who’ve fallen savagely out of love, right down to the hurried adopting of a superficial “not in front of these people” act if someone interrupts them. There’s never any violence going on, nor neglect, just this obvious mutual hate, so strong it’s a wonder the air between them doesn’t start crackling.

 

Is the kid actually its mother’s familiar? Or perhaps a useless familiar from a misfired spell that she’s nevertheless now unable to get rid of? How about her abusive father/ex-husband, transformed or reincarnated now and still with some kind of power over her? Maybe they’re not related at all and she’s been assigned as the kid’s guardian. Maybe an aspect of herself has become split off, one that she doesn’t want to reintegrate with but can’t dispose of. Or maybe any or all of these relationships apply, but with the roles of child and mother reversed.

 

Alex the Websurfer

 

Somewhere in the hotel foyer is a public internet computer, the kind where you buy time in increments and your session counts down from your logon. If the hotel is a fairly slick sort of place then it’s a flashy kiosk with a card reader and a proper booth; if the hotel is a run-down flophouse then it’s an ancient “beige box” machine, at least ten years old and probably fourth or fifth-hand, with rattling fans and a grubby, smeared CRT monitor (but the staff are still very proud of it: they’re providing their guests with internet, just like a modern hotel!).

 

Alex the Websurfer is an unremarkable man, anywhere between twenty-five and forty. He has a job, or at least errands that take up most of his day, so he’s usually on his way in or out when the PCs meet him. He’s clean, dresses neatly (chinos, collared shirt, polished shoes, clean-shaven, nothing odd) and has no obvious weird traits, although he’s not really interested in conversing with anyone.

 

What he does do is buy ten minutes on the internet machine every morning before he goes out, and every evening before he retires to his room. He seems to be checking email accounts and a roster of forums and blog sites, although he’s scrupulous about not letting people read the screen over his shoulder: if someone tries he’ll minimise his browser, turn in his chair and glare at them until they go away. Every so often, though, he’ll leave in a state of some agitation or anger and forget to log off, and sharp PCs can get a glimpse of what he’s been doing.

 

Things they could see on the screen include:

 

- a glitzy commercial website that seems to be devoted to one of the other guests;

- a blog apparently filled with hysterical, homicidal or bizarrely sexual rantings... which seems to be written by one of the PCs;

- a discussion forum about the hotel, with sub-boards for each guest including the PCs and much conversation (as well as threads with titles like “didja hear the news about the messed-up guy in 604?” or “Poll: which guests will be first when the fun starts on Saturday?”);

- a cascade of rather disturbing instant messages (“Alex? R U there?” “I can still hear it Alex plz plz help” “Alex where R U gon I cant d” or perhaps “Your too late man, theyre all gonna suffer” followed by “WHO R U & WHY R U READIN ALEXS MSGS?” “STOP READIN ALEXS MSGS [PC name] U BASTARD, U’LL PAY 4 THIS”);

- Googled floor plans of the building the PCs have just returned from; or

- a MMORPG that seems to be set in a virtual version of the hotel, with all the other guests as NPCs.

 

No matter what’s on the screen, Alex never leaves much time on his prepaid session and so there’ll only be time to get a tantalising glimpse of any of this before the computer automatically logs off. Buying a token for more session time is easy, but it never happens quickly enough to let the PCs extend one of Alex’s sessions. Logging back onto the machine won’t help: there’s nothing cached or available for the PCs to retrace his surfing history, and the staff can’t help. (“I wouldn’t know anything about that, sir, we bought the system as is. Even if I could get a record of where he’d been, I don’t think I could really share it with you, sir, just on principle.”) If Alex himself is challenged he’ll be appropriately angry about having his web usage spied on and be more careful about walking away from the machine from then on.

 

Pattern Man

 

Early middle aged, dressed rather scruffily but normally (ie no obscene stink, no unnaturally identical or weirdly super-clean clothes, just a normal sort of wardrobe cycle). Glasses, a PDA and a couple of small notebooks and scribble pads. He’s often got a tape measure, a spirit level, plumbline or other sorts of measuring and surveying tools, some of which are rather odd.

 

He’s found all around the hotel at odd hours, making notes. He’ll record what rooms guests are in, what people ate or drank in the bars and cafes, the distances between bits of furniture or the dimensions of doorways. The PCs may well first notice him when he goes out to the car park on their arrival and makes measurements of their cars, where they’re parked, distances and angles from the car to various points on the hotel and so on. He’ll then strike up a conversation and try and work out their room, their height and weight and other odd facts about them.

 

He always seems distracted but is always pleasant and apologetic for his behaviour. (“Hi, me again, look, I know I’m being a pain, I’m so sorry, but if it’s not too much trouble, could you just, um maybe tell me, do you happen to have more copper coins in your pocket at the moment, or other metals? Oh, and, um, last question for now I promise, but do you happen to know if your father was born in November?”) He has the demeanour of someone who hates having to cause inconvenience but is constantly forced to by his job. If the PCs are friendly to him he may occasionally ask them to do something like sit at a certain table in the restaurant, or stand with him in the foyer doorway for three minutes. He badgers the staff with similar requests, up to and including asking them to move guests around or evict them. They brush him off.

 

My initial idea was that he’s a moderately powerful numerologist/geomancer, who’s obsessed with the idea of working a spell which requires exact patterns of numbers, substances, energies, alingnments with the stars and seasons and so on. This may be an attempt to harvest the weirdness chart of the hotel, or perhaps is the cause of it if the spell is still taking effect. Thing is, his spell is so detailed that he can never get all the alignments right, and he’s not effective enough with people, magically or otherwise, to organise them to be, so he remains here, stuck in a constant low-level haze of frustration.

 

Other possibilities: an accident or experiment that has massively boosted his intellect and/or mind powers has also knocked him off the rails and given him this obsession, Beautiful Mind style. Or he could have slipped here from a parallel version of the hotel and trying to make sense of his surroundings by obsessively trying to work out what all the differences are.

 

Minor weird stuff

 

When the PCs are outside one evening, one of them notices that every single window of the hotel is lit and contains the silhouette of a person standing motionless, staring out at them. Perhaps all identical silhouettes, or all different, perhaps not all entirely... right. As soon as the PC’s attention flicks away and back, it’s gone.

 

A row of rooms on one floor have their doors open as housekeeping goes around with their cart. Walking down the room looking idly into the rooms and out their windows, the PC realises that the view out of one window was wrong somehow. The city skyline has totally different buildings, or the time of day was wrong, or the hills were a different shape. The view from all the other windows is fine, and that door is shut fast when the PC doubles back to it.

 

Whenever a PC goes to turn off the television in their room, the people on screen stop what they’re doing and give an indignant how-dare-you glare out of the screen and at the PC in the last second before the picture goes black.

 

If the PCs' windows overlook any kind of thoroughfare, then every person who walks by will at least glance up directly at the window while the PC is there looking out. Some people might wave, some even stop and regard the PC for a while. If the PC goes out ont the street and checks his own window there's no evidence of anything that might be attracting this attention, but as soon as s/he stands at the window again, here come the glances and stares.

 

Oh, and the Peter thing was fantastic .

[AlHazred]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

In honor of Halloween, I resurrect my bastard child and encourage others to add to its magnificent horror. Rise, creature! Rise!

 

"It's alive! Alive!"

 

--------------------------

 

The Window

 

This PC's room has the standard wall o' windows on one side. It's discolored in spots, apparently by long exposure to the elements. In particular, the area right over the heater is especially blotchy. If anyone takes the trouble to work at it with a wet cloth or something, the blotches remain -- they seem to be on the surface between the two panes.

 

At night, the PC in the room (or the one closest to the window, if it's a double) wakes for no apparent reason. Opening her eyes, she sees the moonlight through the window. It's a clear night, and the moon looks enormous, its blue glow illuminating what is apparently some individual looking in through the window at the PCs. The moon clearly lights up a wide, staring face with a somewhat evil leer.

 

Closer investigation shows that this is just the discoloration in the window, catching the light of the moon just right. From a standing angle, the face can't even be seen properly. Only if the PC puts her face at just the right height (bed-height) does the illusion become apparent.

 

With some relief, the PC goes back to bed. As she's dozing off, she glances back at the "face." The face winks at her, grins, and disappears.

[Basil]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The pizza shop around the corner: Everybody in the hotel starts to rave about this terrific pizza shop that just opened up, right around the corner. Somehow, though, no matter how explicit the directions, the PCs can never find it.

 

Unless one of the PCs is by him/herself, and not looking for it. Then he/she will stumble upon it by accident. And never be able to find it again (unless alone and not looking).

[AlHazred]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Phone Booth Across The Parking Lot

 

The hotel sits in a large parking area, like an island in a lake of asphalt. Looking outside at night, the PCs get a sense of isolation; despite the fact that the hotel sits on major roadways, the parking lot sea distances the lights and sounds of the world.

 

Across the parking lot, in a pool of light, sits a small island of three public phones. The one on the right is missing the receiver, its cable dangling, wires exposed. The one in the middle is covered in graffiti. Occasionally, someone is seen trying to use the one on the left.

 

The PC's even tried to use it once. The writing on the buttons was chipped and faded into illegibility, and might not even have been English originally. And all she got from the receiver was clicks and whistles, and (when she pushed the buttons) unearthly tones in a register just this side of audibility.

 

-------------------------

 

The shower didn't work. Sure, water came out, but she still doesn't feel clean. She'd thought it was bad enough in Boston, but what that monster threatened to dd to that little girl was a horror beyond imagination. All she was looking for now was some peace.

 

Looking out the window tonight, the moon looks blood red. Across the parking lot, something's changed with the phones. There's something dripping from the dangling cable of the one on the right; a pool of some dark-colored liquid has formed beneath it. The graffiti looks clearer now, and it's not in English (or whatever) -- it looks like runes or arcane glyphs or something else equally terrible, signs written out for horrors beyond reality to focus on.

 

But the worst one is the stranger on the left. Covered in a large trenchcoat, with a hat draping his features in shadow, he seems to be looking right at the PC. He sways, as if in time to some music only he can hear. As the PC looks, she realizes he looks massive, dwarfing the phone booth beside him. Or is he growing? His coat flutters but there's no wind. Or are those leathery wings? And the eyes (coming ever closer) -- why do his eyes burn red, red like the fires that threatened to consume that little girl at the end, her screams echoing, echoing down the depths of her scarred soul...

[Blue Jogger]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Noisy Couple next door

 

Late one night, one of the PCs hears a strange noise. Instead of some horrific sound (as one might expect in this hotel), it is obviously the sounds of bedsqueaking and the correspondingly happy grunts and moans. Other PCs will hear something if they strain their hearing, but will sound more like the wind or perhaps creaking wood.

 

Pounding on the wall and/or yelling will not cause them to stop, but if too loud will cause the hotel staff to knock on the PC's door to "check if anything is wrong".

 

The other side of the wall is... a hallway. Perhaps, it is actually the room above or the room below... or maybe the sound is coming through the old vent on the wall.

 

The noise is surprisingly regular, happening almost every night somewhere around 11, lasting for a few minutes (maybe up to an half-an-hour).

 

When the PC has gotten completely used to this sound... It changes.

 

Now, the couple are heard to be arguing, shouting, noises of furniture being thrown. One of them is crying for help and to please stop and explaining that their arm is broken or that there is "blood everywhere".

 

Then silence, punctated with, "Oh god. (name), are you okay? (name) Somebody help me, he's/she's dead."

 

A little longer silence.

 

Then the sound of bedsqueeking will start up again. Of course, only one of the voices will be heard from that moment on.

[csyphrett]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Magic Bullet

Once a day, things on a straight line shatter. Holes appear in the walls. Trajectory rods point along the same path from one side of the hotel to the other. Sometimes shells can be found at the end of the flight path. Obviously someone is shooting at the hotel, and using different ammo each time.

 

The problem is how to stop a sniper that seems to be using musket balls, rifle bullets, laser beams.

CES

[UpChuck]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

The Skittish/Paranoid Kid

 

This boy of about 14 or 15 years old is friendly enough but always looks around nervously. When you talk to him he will allways look over your shoulder nervously as if expecting something to happen or as if looking at something or someone. Sometimes he will look to the sides but never over his own shoulder. You never see exactly what it is he is looking at or looking for.

 

 

The Unfriendly Maid

 

The maid that you see everywhere, possibly Hispanic (seems to be left out on this forum and you see a lot of Hispanic ladies working as maids in hotels...I work at a Marriott and see them), is always giving you one of 'Those Looks' like you don't belong. When you speak to her she simply turns away and continues on down the hallway.

[UpChuck]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

BTW, this is a great thread. This would be great if set in an older hotel with a 1920's thru 1940's flair.

[AlHazred]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

I like how we've been getting a lot of creative posts that could be set in a wide variety of times and places.

[UpChuck]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Feels like a great movie setting, lol.

 

And here I deliver my first helping of Rep...

Great thread. Great posts by other members as well.

[Susano]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

Feels like a great movie setting, lol.

 

And here I deliver my first helping of Rep...

Great thread. Great posts by other members as well.

 

I hate to break it to you, but until you log 50 posts, you don't have any rep. Sorry.

[AlHazred]

Re: Help Me Populate A Creepy Hotel

 

It's okay. I value the feedback!