Languages: English · Deutsch · Italiano · Español
Pulp Cthulhu · The Long Winter · November 2026 · Week 1 · Mara & Chibi
Some Things Are Safer Frozen
February 1935. Arkham, Massachusetts.
Mara had decided that winter was a nuisance.
It made her fingers cold, her nose run and grown-ups unnecessarily concerned about everything.
Chibi had a different complaint.
CHIBI: “Winter is a terrible waste of water.”
MARA: “What?”
He pointed towards the frozen Miskatonic River.
CHIBI: “Look at it. All that water, and now it just sits there.”
MARA: “It’s ice.”
CHIBI: “Exactly. Completely useless for swimming.”
They were delivering woollen socks to Mr Jonah Reed, who managed the old icehouse beside the river.
Mrs Pike had accompanied them, partly to carry bread and partly because she didn’t entirely trust Chibi near frozen water.
An entirely reasonable precaution.
CHIBI: “We could walk across.”
MARA: “Mrs Pike said not to.”
CHIBI: “But it looks solid.”
Mrs Pike stopped beside them.
MRS PIKE: “So does the snow covering a hole.”
She pointed towards the old mill downstream.
MRS PIKE: “The water keeps moving beneath the ice. Near the mill, the current makes it especially dangerous.”
CHIBI: “But you can’t see that.”
MRS PIKE: “Exactly.”
Chibi frowned.
CHIBI: “That’s cheating.”
MRS PIKE: “Nature doesn’t promise to play fairly.”
The icehouse stood beyond the mill: a large wooden building insulated with sawdust, where blocks of winter ice were stored for use during warmer months.
Chibi considered this extraordinary.
CHIBI: “So they keep winter in a cupboard until summer?”
MARA: “It’s an icehouse.”
CHIBI: “That’s what I said.”
But something was wrong.
The outer door stood partly open. Mr Reed’s cap lay in the snow.
Then came three knocks.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A weak voice called from inside.
MR REED: “Help!”
Mr Reed had fallen while moving ice. His clothing was wet, his leg injured, and the freezing door had trapped him inside.
Mrs Pike tried to open it.
MRS PIKE: “Children, go to the mill. Find Mr Haskell and tell him we need help. Quickly!”
They ran along the road, carefully avoiding the river.
Soon, the mill workers arrived with tools and lanterns.
They opened the door and carried Mr Reed to shelter.
He was confused, shivering and dangerously cold.
MARA: “Why couldn’t he just get up?”
MRS PIKE: “Because the cold can make your body stop working properly. Even your thinking changes.”
CHIBI: “So winter makes people stupid?”
MRS PIKE: “It can impair their judgment.”
Mara glanced at Chibi.
MARA: “That explains quite a lot.”
CHIBI: “I heard that.”
Then the knocking returned.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.
Both children turned towards the icehouse.
Mr Reed was already outside.
The workers were beside him.
Nobody remained inside.
Another three knocks followed.
Then a voice.
VOICE: “Hello?”
Chibi stepped towards the doorway.
Mara seized his sleeve.
MARA: “Don’t.”
CHIBI: “But somebody might need help.”
MARA: “Then we’ll tell the grown-ups.”
The voice came again.
VOICE: “Mara?”
Both children froze.
Then it spoke once more.
In Chibi’s voice.
Exactly Chibi’s voice.
VOICE: “That’s cheating.”
For once, Chibi had absolutely nothing to say.
Mr Haskell returned to check the building.
Near the back wall, beneath layers of sawdust, he discovered an old wooden crate.
Its label read:
MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY — DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY
POLAR SURVEY MATERIAL — 1931
A warning had been written beneath it.
KEEP FROZEN.
Inside, surrounded by packing material, lay a block of clear ice.
Something dark was embedded within it.
It resembled a piece of black glass, except for the tiny, overlapping patterns on its surface.
CHIBI: “Is it an egg?”
MARA: “It’s probably a rock.”
CHIBI: “Rocks don’t usually come with instructions to keep them frozen.”
Mr Haskell closed the crate and arranged for the university to collect it.
The children were told not to touch anything.
For once, neither complained.
Several days later, Professor Arthur Merrick arrived from Miskatonic University.
MARA: “Why does the thing have to stay frozen?”
MERRICK: “We want to preserve it in the condition in which it was found.”
CHIBI: “What happens if it gets warm?”
MERRICK: “We don’t know.”
Mara studied him.
MARA: “Then perhaps you shouldn’t warm it.”
The professor smiled faintly.
MERRICK: “Perhaps you’re right.”
They told him about the knocking and the voices.
He listened carefully.
He asked several questions.
Then he left with the specimen.
Winter continued.
The river remained frozen.
Mr Reed recovered.
And Pickles, his missing terrier, finally returned after spending two days with a farmer who had been feeding him sausages.
Chibi thought the dog showed excellent judgment.
Then, in March, a letter arrived from Professor Merrick.
Mrs Pike read it aloud.
The specimen was being examined at the university.
Its origin remained uncertain.
But the professor had one question.
Did the children hear three knocks, followed by four, then three?
Mara looked at Chibi.
MARA: “That’s exactly what we heard.”
Mrs Pike continued reading.
One of our laboratory assistants has reported the same sequence. The specimen was secured inside its container at the time.
There was a long silence.
CHIBI: “Did it talk?”
Mrs Pike shook her head.
MRS PIKE: “He doesn’t say.”
Mara took the letter.
At the bottom was one final sentence.
Please reassure the children that no one has been seen inside the specimen chamber.
She read it twice.
MARA: “That’s a very strange thing to reassure somebody about.”
Chibi looked towards the window.
Outside, the winter sun shone on the snow.
Water was beginning to drip from the gutters.
Spring was coming.
CHIBI: “Mara?”
MARA: “What?”
CHIBI: “What if it’s alive?”
She thought about the voice in the icehouse.
MARA: “Then I hope the professor knows what he’s doing.”
CHIBI: “And what if he doesn’t?”
Mara looked at the melting snow.
MARA: “Then I hope it likes the cold.”
THE MYTHVEIL QUESTION
CHIBI: “Why would anybody want to keep something frozen?”
MARA: “To stop it from changing.”
CHIBI: “Or to stop it from waking up?”
Mara was quiet.
CHIBI: “Would you open the box?”
MARA: “Not until I knew what was inside.”
CHIBI: “But how can you know without opening it?”
And that was the difficult question.
ENTER THE LONG WINTER
Winter hides dangers beneath familiar surfaces. But in Pulp Cthulhu, even the things preserved by ice may have secrets of their own.
The Miskatonic Files · StartPlaying
Shadows of Atlantis · StartPlaying
Mythveil Chronicles — Real TTRPG. Real story. Real choices. Real consequences.