"Rats in the Cellars" is a 1920s-era prequel to the main events of Armand Rosamilia's Keyport Cthulhu story cycle.
Synopsis[]
A man travelling across country finds himself in the backwards coastal town of Keyport, New Jersey. There, he discovers his family heritage and witnesses his strangely-deformed grandfather as he sacrifices himself to a monstrous creature dwelling below the streets.
Cut to several years later, and the man's firstborn child is born with several strange abnormalities. He realises that he has not escaped his family curse, and wonders what he is to do about it.
Characters[]
- Jeffry Ruggerio, an Italian-born Englishman travelling south.
- Mister Peabody, Jeffry's grandfather and a famed airship designer.
- Dylan Murphy, an antecedant of the Dylan Murphy featured in the main plot of Keyport Cthulhu.
- Douglas Grandon, a tailor and member of the Esoteric Order of Dagon.
- Toland, Peabody's manservant.
Publication History[]
"Rats in the Cellars" was first published in the collection Keyport Cthulhu in November 2013.
Trivia[]
- Although advertised as a steampunk story, aside from a few offhand references to a burgeoning dirigible industry the tale contains no steampunk elements.