The Perth Halcyon Hotel is a location or bad place for hunters to explore.
Overview[]
The Perth Halcyon Hotel is a Victorian-style inn tucked away in the mountains. It's a seven-story monstrosity with two wings, 96 rooms, and a staff in the dozens. Rooms feature brass fixtures, wrought-iron screens in front of dark stone fireplaces, and king-sized beds. These days, however, the money isn't coming in like it used to, and the old building is falling into disrepair. Pipes rattle and leak, floorboards groan underfoot, and the elevator (once a major attraction) has been put out of commission.
And yet, the hotel turns decent business. It may not fill all rooms at all times, but it's not vacant, either. That may change in the coming weeks and months, though, because strange things have begun to happen. Guests look in mirrors and see faces looking back that aren't their own. Patrons and staff alike hear their names called, and turn to find no one or nothing but a fleeting shadow. People have terrible dreams of being tortured, burned and flayed. Many guests have cut their visits short, deciding that the hotel's grand old charm and close proximity to the ski slopes and river just doesn't compensate for the discomfort of staying there.
To make matters worse, one of the hotel's long-time visitors, a wealthy venture capitalist named Edgar Gilroy, killed himself there. Gilroy, a seemingly successful and happy man, smashed a mirror with his bare hands and cut his own throat with one of the shards. Another guest - who actually lives in the top-most suite - hasn't come out of her room in weeks. Lydia Jewel James answers questions through the door at night, but says nothing else and won't leave her room. She's been an eccentric antiquation throughout her almost-10-year stay, but she's never been this strange.
The last and most recent problem has been severely damaging to business. The hotel night manager, Vishram Patel, ran screaming through the halls one night, pounding on people's doors and pleading with them to leave. He got to three floors before the police were called, but Patel was nowhere to be found by the time they arrived. Several patrons fled the hotel that very night, and news of the scene couldn't be kept from the newspapers.
History[]
The hotel was opened in 1872 as a small inn between bigger and better places. By the early 1900s, however, several mines opened nearby (primarily coal), and miner barons invested in what was then called the Perth Hotel ("Halcyon" was added to the name in the 1950s).
Over time, the hotel grew, with additions to accommodate the needs of new guests and the desires of investors. When the coalmines began losing money in the mid-20th century, the hotel sought new investors, but was unable to find any. Its guest list dwindled as its coffers emptied, and the business came close to going under.
It found new life in the early '70s when the hotel was purchased by an "anonymous" art-gallery owner. Not long afterward, the area grew into a popular vacation spot in both summer and winter, and soon the hotel was back on top as a topnotch luxury resort.
About 10 years ago, reclusive antiquities dealer Lydia Jewel James arrived and more or less purchased the upper-most suite, claiming to be a friend of the hotel's owner. Since she knew his name and other pertinent details, it seemed fair to give her the suite and designate another room as the hotel's "master suite." James was an unconventional guest, never calling for room service, and rarely coming out of her room, except for moonlit walks. And yet, she was charming to the staff and made sure to donate reasonably large sums in her name and the name of the owner, which was all in an effort to keep the hotel running smoothly. Recently, she has acted strangely amid other odd events, locking herself away more than usual. And all the while, more and more rooms go empty every night....
The Truth[]
The Perth Halcyon Hotel is a vampire's haven, but also suits the concept of the "Hellmouth" as proposed earlier in this chapter (page 112).
The vampire is the peculiar Lydia Jewel James. An art dealer and antiquarian of some repute, she exists in and does business out of the hotel. In her time there, she's managed to make blood slaves of at least 15 members of the staff, including the aforementioned Vishram Patel.
About a month and a half ago, a book came into James' possession. It was an ancient text, dating back to the early 1600s, if not earlier. She believed she had found a copy of the Grimoirum Venum, or the "True Grimoire," an ancient text containing many secrets regarding alchemy, the occult and demonology. She also believed that added to the book years later were pages from the Heptameron, a volume reputed to be the recorded lifeline of the ancient King Solomon, an infamous conjurer (and obviously a Hebrew king). James, unwilling to resist her nagging curiosity, performed some of the rituals, with unfortunate results.
A rite freed 12 demonic spirits, invisible imps that the text identified as dyubbuk. These spirits are now at large in the hotel, intruding upon guests' dreams and distorting perceptions during waking hours. These apparitions feed off the misery they cause, and seek to bring each victim's personal suffering to a phantasmagoric climax - such as the one perpetrated against Edgar Gilroy. The dyubbuk also had their hooks in the mind of Vishram Patel, who went mad and escaped the hotel before anything more could be done to him (or before he could be coerced to do anything else).
The devious spirits cannot leave the grounds of the Parth Halcyon. They therefore look for ways to widen the gateway through which they escaped, to allow more of their malevolent brethren into the world. Their goal is to make the hotel a nightmarish breeding ground for their kind, with the human clientele serving as food and fodder.
As for James, she's trapped in her room by three of the dyubbak that wear down her already eroded mind. Indeed, all of the infernal spirits grow in power as they cause further suffering.
References[]
- HTR: Hunter: Urban Legends, p. 121-123