Doctor Amanda Kessel is a pleasant, soft-featured woman in her mid forties, with shoulder-length red hair. She’s dressed casually, in jeans and a loose sweater. She reminds you of somebody else’s mom.
When enter her office, she rises from her chair to shake your hand.
“Welcome.” She says, gesturing to the couch. “Please, make yourself comfortable. You can sit, or lie back, as you prefer.”
You’re ${character.name}, a cop in the ${Name of your city?} PD’s Crypto Squad. C-Squad is the elite unit that takes on the bizarre cases, the ones no one would believe. But all the weirdness can take a toll on anyone. That’s where Doctor Kessel comes in, along with a couple of others like her on constant rotation. She’s a a licensed psychiatrist and parapsychologist, specializing in police work, with the same unorthodox training as the C-Squad itself. So you can tell her anything you see on the job, and if she still thinks you’re crazy, she’s probably right.
You settle back on the couch.
“How are you feeling?” Doctor Kessel asks.
You take a few moments, deciding how much you want to tell her. “I could be worse, Doc.”
She makes a show of checking her notes.
“Your file says you had close contact with a class four elder manifestation.” She says.
You laugh. “If you mean the dark thing with the tentacles, in that warehouse up on Derleth Street? Yeah, it got pretty close.”
That’s an understatement. You can still feel the chill where the abomination’s tendrils brushed against you. And that shrill, gibberiing voice, the way it seemed to echo inside your mind…
Doctor Kessel is looking at you intently. “Are you feeling any lingering effects? Don’t try to be the tough cop. You can tell me anything here, in confidence.”
You sigh. “Maybe. I don’t know. Kind of a…cold sensation, like just under my skin. Maybe just nerves, you know.”
The doctor writes something in her notebook. She stays silent for several moments, thinking. Then, she gives a smile that’s probably supposed to be reassuring.
“With your permission, I’d like to put you under a light hypnotic trance.” She says. “I’d like to explore your experience with you, perhaps in greater detail than your conscious mind would allow.”
“Okay, Doc.” You say.
She walks over to the couch, and kneels beside you. “I want you to close your eyes, and focus on the sound of my voice. I’m going to count slowly backwards from twenty. Count with me, in your mind. When we reach zero, you will enter a state of hypnosis, and you will be open to my suggestions. Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen.”
As the doctor counts, you focus on her words, and try to relax.
“Twelve. Eleven. Ten. Nine.”
You feel your consciousness start to drift.
“Four. Three. Two. One. Zero.”
You let yourself fall under Doctor Kessel’s trance.
“I’d like you to go back.” The doctor’s voice says. “Go back with me to the warehouse on Derleth Street.”
And you do. You find yourself standing in the darkened warehouse. Your department-issue Glock is in one hand, a flashlight in the other. And then you see it. The dark, shadowy Thing, writhing and gibbering as it advances toward you. You fire, again and again, but the bullets smack into the beast’s soggy flesh with no effect. You turn to run.
Doctor Kessel’s voice echoes in your mind. “Don’t be afraid. It can’t harm you.”