Pity the poor player. Having spent many hours preparing for their character, searching for a costume, researching their role and then parting with their hard earned cash, they shortly find themselves lying lifeless on the floor, the victim of one of the many nasties The Dark Door likes to conjure up. The kill rate on Dark Door games is somewhat legendary with most player characters having the life expectancy of a May Fly.

It is not all doom and gloom though, no, some player characters do go on to live relatively long lives. To celebrate these select few The Dark Door has commissioned this figurine of Great Cthulhu. To win it all you need to do is survive three games...it's as easy as that!

To prove it is possible The Dark Door pays tribute to the three (count them) current holders of the trophy;

Cpl Ernest "Corky" Copperthwaite

The first character to have the audacity to survive three games was Corky Copperthwaite. He first appeared in Mr Dudley Disappears as the retainer of Captain Poolcroft, legendary flying ace of The Great War. Having served under Captain Poolcroft during the war as his mechanic and Bat Man, Corky remained in Poolcroft's service accompanying him on his many post-war adventures. Corky was a man of humble means having grown up in the slums of London and spending his pre-war days as a petty thief, though his skills in this regard were to prove invaluable in his later adventures, where he would often be found picking locks and disarming booby traps. Despite being in service, he was none-the-less a free spirit and seemed to do very much as he pleased, often ignoring the instructions of his employer.

After scraping through the terror that was Mr Dudley Disappears he went on to appear in The Monks Trod and then The Feast of St Valentine - to the amazement of many who had never before seen a character survive two games, let alone three. It was in the later that his employer was killed and so Corky retired from his battle with The Great Old Ones and currently keeps bees in Sussex. Ernest, we salute you.

Note: In The Memoirs of Martin Levine, rumour had it that Corky was amongst the signatories in the mysterious book held by Mr Takrayn.

Most likely to say;

"The benefits of Royal Jelly cannot be praised enough, I can also offer you a selection of genuine bees wax candles"

Least Likely to say;

"My unswerving sense of honour and duty means I follow my superiors orders without question"

 Detective Sergeant Spencer of The Yard

Detective Spencer, bearing a passing resemblance to 1970's children's TV favourite Mr Ben, put in his first appearance on The Hindhead Covenant. Having arrived to investigate the murder of Richard Underwood, this earnest and practical minded officer of the law had stumbled upon somewhat more than he could possibly have bargained for. His subsequent reports to his superiors led not to a quiet desk job until retirement, as one might perhaps have expected, but instead led them to set up a special department within Scotland Yard to investigate crimes with a less than natural cause. It was on this basis that Spencer was assigned to investigate the mysterious goings on at the Beaverbrook estate in The Legacy Of Nannerth Ganol, a tale of blackmail and treachery which very nearly saw the end of him. It was during this game that he was to first meet Daniel Rotherstone whom he was to start a friendship with, a partnership which some might suggest somewhat compromised his role as a member of His Majesties constabulary!

A fateful flight to Budapest in the company of Mr Rotherstone led to his third Dark Door appearance in The Faithful. Stranded in the mountains of Rumania after a plane crash, Spencer and his co-survivors had to fight against the undead that dwelt there, but again luck was on his side. Detective Spencer's fourth and final outing was at Blackwater whereby during his investigations into a mysterious stone circle he finally met his death.

Most Likely to say;

"Now let us first consider the facts"

Least Likely to say;

"I'm sure if you were to see me right, we could soon forget this matter ever happened, if you get my drift"

Daniel Rutherstone

Daniel Rutherstone, collector of rare books and Freemason, put in his first appearance at The Legacy of Nannerth Ganol where he was to meet with Detective Sergeant Spencer. Rutherstone was to show himself to be a man of somewhat dubious morality - using the unfortunate Josephine Farrau as a human shield when confronted by a demon is just one example - along with his self seeking approach and tendency to hoard spells and rituals to the detriment of other players. Nonetheless it was an approach that worked for him and was to see him, and Detective Spencer, as the only survivors of this game.

Delving deeper into the Eldritch arts revealed to him in The Legacy of Nannerth Ganol, Rutherstone briefly acquired himself an apprentice in the shape of Miss Tamarind Walton who accompanied him in The Faithful, his vanity no doubt fuelling a desire to find an heir for his legacy. Miss Walton however was not as fortunate as Rutherstone and perished, while her master lived to fight another day.

Rutherstone's last appearance to date was in Blackwater. As usual he continued to taunt the referee with his knowledge and power, fuelled by his ever growing collection of spells and rituals, ("Don't worry about translating that ritual, I'm sure I already have a spell that will do the trick..."), though such knowledge comes at a price and he was rapidly losing his grip on his sanity. Nonetheless he went on to defeat the odds and survive his third game. We are reassured that he now intends to retire.

Most likely to say;

"Let me have a look at that mysterious manuscript briefly, I'll give it straight back, honest"

Least Likely to say;

"It is clear that if we are to defeat this evil, then we are going to have to selflessly sacrifice our own lives for the sake of mankind"

The current roster of surviving character is listed below, though they have some way to go yet before they earn their trophies:

Chester “Chopper” Harris - (The Whisperer in the Void) Having starched his collar and donned his “Sunday Best”, “Chopper” Harris attended his employer’s social function a little uneasy in the presence of so many of his social betters. He was therefore much relived when the forces of darkness unleashed their fury and he was able to get back to some good old fashioned axe swinging. His survival goes to show that it when the going gets tough you need more then good breeding and table manners.

Simone MacKnight - (The Whisperer in the Void) A journalist and photographer, Miss MacKnight had certainly stumbled across the scoop of a lifetime when she attended what she had expected to be yet another dull society party. Dimensional travel, Serpent Men, and space travel, it was all there. If only she can get someone to believe her and publish her story, she may yet be able to escape from the fringes of regional journalism and secure herself that prized job on a national paper.

Conrad Brooks (The Whisperer in the Void) Hollywood Movie star Conrad Brooks was dragged across the Atlantic by his “wife”, actress Lily Dove, to attend a social gathering in some small island called England. What the gathering lacked for in Hollywood glamour, however, it certainly made up for in excitement; its just a shame Conrad failed to live up to any of his action man movie roles. The horrific events of that weekend are currently the least of his worries however; his career having now hit a particular low point due to legal difficulties following his encounter with an undercover police officer in a public lavatory.

Lily Dove - (The Whisperer in the Void) Trapped in a loveless sham marriage to Conrad Brooks, movie star Lily Dove sought a brief respite from the Hollywood crowd to return to her country of birth to attend a party thrown by an old school friend. Her well practised roles as a maiden in peril soon came to good use as she found herself besieged by Serpent Men, possessed Nazi’s, and plague carrying mutants, and very nearly being left behind in an alternative universe! Her survival just goes to show that being a coward does have its benefits.

William Winters - (The Whisperer in the Void) War hero William Winters followed medical advice to ease himself back into society and overcome his “Shell Shock” to attend what he had expected to be a pleasant sojourn in the country. The horrors of trench warfare soon paled against the horrors of inter-dimensional travel, and at least he is no longer troubled by nightmares of endless artillery barrages, since these have been replaced by nightmares of flesh eating plague victims and Serpent Men.

Ailse Haff - (The Whisperer in the Void) The Austrian Nurse of war hero William Winters, it was at her suggestion that they attended the country gathering, and this proved to be one piece of medical advice to much. Still her German language skills came in handy when fighting possessed, brain stealing, Hastur worshiping Nazis from another dimension; and you can’t say that happens everyday!