Timelines exist in this world, so what even is canon -Harlan Guthrie
Invictus Call of Cthulhu campaigns are a series of RPGs played prior to the creation of Malevolent, that exist in the same universe, with some on different timelines. Much of the lore that comes up in Malevolent relates to the games.
Campaigns[]
| Season | Episodes | First Air Date | Last Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game One (2015) | 10 | August 15, 2015 | October 21, 2015 |
| GRIMM | 10 | January 4, 2017 | November 7, 2017 |
| Witch's Mark | 3 | May 17, 2017 | June 8, 2017 |
| Game Two (2019) | 10 | January 16, 2019 | April 24, 2019 |
The viewing order in order of chronological release date is as follows: Game One (2015), GRIMM episodes 1-3, Witch's Mark, GRIMM episodes 4-10, and Game Two (2019).
Timelines[]
Not every campaign occurs in the same timeline. There are three distinct timelines: the dead timeline, the Malevolent timeline, and the GRIMM timeline. Each timeline is a branch of the ending of Game One.
The dead timeline is a branch where the player characters failed to stop Shub-Niggurath from rising, and she ends the world. The Malevolent and GRIMM timelines are both offshoots from Game One in which the player characters succeeded in stopping Shub-Niggurath, destroying her, but in different ways. Both of these timelines contain Witch's Mark.
In the Malevolent timeline, when Shub-Niggurath is destroyed, Frank Underhill is trapped in the Dreamlands, and the other characters all die. Following this is the events of Witch's Mark, after which is Malevolent.
In the GRIMM timeline, Shub-Niggurath is destroyed and Frank is still trapped in the Dreamlands, but the remaining characters survive. They go on, able to remember the events of Game One. Following this is Witch's Mark, then Game Two, and then finally GRIMM.
Game One (2015)[]
Frank Underhill, Henry MacFarland, Jarrett Coombs, and Edward Mason are contacted by private investigator Roland Cummings, requesting their help in return for Roland providing each of them with something that they desire. After encountering proof of the otherworldly and executing a would-be ghoul, Roland asks the four men to help him investigate the disappearance of a young girl, and leads them her last known location. When Roland is unexpectedly killed, the remaining investigators take it upon themselves to find Roland's kidnapped daughter and follow in the footsteps of the long-missing Anna Stanczyk, uncovering evidence of sinister forces and cult activity as they do so, even as they grapple with their own personal demons.
As they retrace Anna's flight from her home and her research into the entity haunting her, they learn about the Three Soldiers and the entity that one of their number attempted to summon, and they discover that the cult of Shub-Niggurath still exists and means to finish the ritual started long ago. Thrown into the Dreamlands by the cult leader to prevent them from interfering with the ritual, they are forced to face their own demons in order to escape, while being given the final pieces of the puzzle by spirits inhabiting the Dreamlands with the intent of stopping Shub-Niggurath once and for all.
Cast[]
- Chris Viseau as Henry MacFarland
- Mycl Barber as Jarrett Coombs
- Justin James as Frank Underhill
- Alex Guthrie as Edward Mason
- Harlan Guthrie as the Keeper
GRIMM[]
In 1982, a serial killer is targeting children in the small Massachusetts town of Harper’s Hill. A group of middle school friends running a private investigation operation get pulled into the heart of the mystery when tragedy takes one of their siblings. With some aspects solved and others still unclear, the group moves on and grows apart. In 2017, the death of one of their own bring the remaining members of the Seeing is Believing Agency back to Harper’s Hill to mourn. While there, they learn more about what he had been up to and that the events of 1982 are threatening to start again. Pulled into another world, the kids must solve the mystery and put an end to the evil haunting Harper’s Hill once and for all.
Cast[]
- Harlan Guthrie as the Keeper
- Chris Viseau as Tamarack "Tam" Moonshine
- Mycl Barber as Mattie Michaels
- Justin James as George "Georgie" Whitman
- Jo Fallak as Marie Schultz
Witch's Mark[]
Caine and Strong are hired to locate Senator Andrew Christian's teenage daughter Mary, seemingly snatched from her bedroom. They find strange six-sided symbols drawn on the floor of her room, as well as a pendant and an indecipherable note. Outside, they find a twine noose and go to their underworld contact, Edwin, to uncover the meaning. In return for this information, they agree to find a man named Walter Cropp who owes Edwin money. At Walter Cropp's home, they discover and kill the monster that used to be Walter Cropp. Edwin is disappointed, but reveals that the twine noose is the calling card of the Butcher: a hired killer with no scruples and who uses a garrote to kill. Caine and Strong leave.
Outside Edwin's Bar is a gaunt Mr. Christian and his driver, Max Casey. Mr. Christian reveals that he received a ransom note - a suitcase in exchange for Mary at an Arkham apartment complex. In tears, Mr. Christian explains that he received a tip about a valuable suitcase of unknown contents and made arrangements to retrieve it (by hiring the Butcher to kill the transporter). They deduce the Butcher had been re-hired to kidnap Mary. When Mr. Christian first received the letter, he sent his right-hand man, Mr. Wells, to perform the trade. He did not return.
Strong and Caine go to the apartment building. They smell gas and fail to disarm a bomb. Caine throws it out a window, resulting in its explosion on the street below. While everyone in the building wakes, they rush into the apartment and turn off the gas. Inside is a human-shaped pile of ashes. Near his hand is a briefcase with a hole burned through it. Mr. Wells' corpse is in the bedroom, throat slit. Out the window, Caine spies the corpse of a teenage girl on the basement, bloody and dead.
After receiving a tip from Max Casey, they investigate a closed hospital named St. Augustine to look for information on Mary's mother. They find a cannibalistic woman (who they kill) and an address where Mary's mother may have fled long ago. Before they can follow it, they are kidnapped by the Butcher along with Max Casey.
Strong and Caine are briefly tortured before escaping and fleeing to the address in the woods. A strange fog knocks them out; they wake up in a religious community in the woods. They are attacked and Caine is sacrificed to summon the Black Goat. A shot from the Butcher allows Strong to escape. He finds a homestead; in the basement, Mary cries over the corpse of her mother. Mary reveals that Mr. Christian kidnapped her when she was a young and has abused her all his life.
After learning that Strong was hired by Mr. Christian, Mary kills herself rather than return to him. Enraged, Strong later tracks down and murders Mr. Christian.
Cast[]
- Harlan Guthrie as the Keeper
- Chris Viseau as Theodore "Teddy" Caine
- Mycl Barber as Elijah "Eli" Strong
Game Two[]
A cruise leaves Arkham, Massachusetts in January 1925. Everything is going well until the liner crosses paths with another ship, from which a man brings an unconscious boy aboard in need of aid. Our heroes seek out the reason behind the ensuing chaos, and risk their sanity and lives to save each other and, ultimately, the world.
Cast[]
- Harlan Guthrie as the Keeper
- Justin James as Cedric Benson
- Jo Guthrie as Petra Artemis Saltzman
- Rob Deobald as Jan Katyn