An Automatically Sent Email About a Basement

Hey guys –

Hope all is well with you in these crazy times.

You haven’t heard from me for a while. I’ve had a bit of a problem lately and I’ve been trying to handle it myself without bothering anyone else. Especially you guys, since you did kind of warn me off but in my typical way I didn’t listen and got myself in deeper.

For that reason you’re the last people I want to admit this to. Or call on for a favor. But at the same time you’re the only ones I can think of who maybe understand what’s up with all this and maybe can work out what to do about it.

You might remember, from the last time we talked—that time you mentioned the play called The King in Yellow and told me you wish you hadn’t read it, and made me promise I would never read it, because I’m exactly the kind of person who would absolutely read it if you told me not to—in that same conversation I mentioned that my grandmother had hired me to act as caretaker for those industrial properties she owns down near the waterfront. They’re slated for redevelopment, and all I had to do was keep squatters and vandals out until the demolition date.

Well you can see where this is going. By a weird coincidence someone just happened to leave a copy of the play behind on the subway. On the seat right next to me. What could I do with temptation dropped practically into my lap like that?

Even though the dialogue was kinda over my head I did read the whole thing. To be honest I liked the gnarliest bits the best.

Shortly after that is when the furnace in the basement to the main building turned into a giant skull. The rest of the room turned pretty creepy too, but it was the furnace that talked. Initially I refused its demands but it said it was a living god so before I knew it I found myself finding food for it.

First off, I absolutely refused its requests to lure repairmen or vandals into the basement for its sustenance. Instead it had to make do with live animals. It wanted me to go to pet stores or animal shelters but I got as far as looking into the eyes of some super cute puppies before declaring that a non-starter. What I did do though was set out feed to lure pigeons and rats. The raccoons it figured out how to attract on its own, I swear. And although there may be other bones lying around the basement when you get there, I hundred per cent had nothing to do with that.

Anyhow my fear is that one day it will try to get me when I go down there. So I set this email to send automatically, and if I don’t catch it and manually advance the send date every day, that means something has happened to me and you are receiving this message.

I hope when you come to investigate you find me imprisoned or something and not just my skeleton lying around. Also ideally you will get this before the demolition company starts work. I think the skull somehow intends to go into hibernation or slip into its home dimension Carcosa, during the building phase. When condo owners are in and settled it will remanifest and start feeding, or turning them into an army of the enthralled or what have you.

So again, I am so very sorry about this. You will find the keys in an Air BNB style lockbox near the door to the basement. The PIN code is 54565.

Good luck and like I said I hope you find me.

All the best, Matthew

The Yellow King Roleplaying Game takes you on a brain-bending spiral through multiple selves and timelines, pitting characters against the reality-altering horror of The King in Yellow. When read, this suppressed play invites madness, and remolds our world into a colony of the alien planet Carcosa. Four core books, served up together in a beautiful slipcase, confront layers with an epic journey into horror in four alternate-reality settings: Belle Epoque Paris, The Wars, Aftermath, and This Is Normal Now. Purchase The Yellow King Roleplaying Game in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.