Chaosium Digest Volume 20, Number 12 Date: Sunday, August 3, 1997 Number: 2 of 2 Contents: The Return to the Past (Robert Koper) CALL OF CTHULHU -------------------- From: "Robert Koper" Subject: The Return to the Past System: Call of Cthulhu The Return To The Past A CoC Adventure Copyright 1997 by Rob Koper This is a continuation of the campaign began in "A Hole In Time" (see V20.1 of the Digest). It assumes that some of the characters from the first adventure survived. It also assumes that some or one of the characters went insane, or lost a significant amount of sanity. Another point which figures into this scenario is that getting out of the well without disturbing the Tentacled Horror was nearly impossible. Even if none of these are true, this adventure will be useful, with some minor alterations. The first question is: Did "The Professor" from the first adventure live? If he didn't, then another scholarly type will need to be substituted for him. A reasonably curious, sane, and academic character will be needed to start the adventure. It would be better if this scholar had some previous connection to the other survivors, but not critical. The second question is: Who is going to be The Victim who begins the adventure? Choose someone who was fully immersed in the well, or someone who lost a lot of sanity. This character has been affected by the environment of the caves and the well, and begins this part of the scenario in an asylum in the home country of the characters. Time has passed since the first part of this campaign (A Hole In Time) happened. Aprroximately 5-10 years have gone by. One of the reasons that the original was run in WWI, was so that this part would be set in 1925 (the nominal CoC setting). It could be the early 80's (for Vietnam), or the mid 50's (for WWII). Whatever the time frame, the Victim has been diagnosed with Shellshock (WWI or WWII) or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Vietnam). He is convinced that he sleepwalks constantly, has strange urges to hurt people, is convinced that everyone stares at him like he is monstrous, and generally is overwrought about his physical appearance. There are three possible answers to what is happening: 1) Because of his exposure to the waters of life and the proximity to the Old One, he is slowly turning into a Deep One, as has happened to so many others. He will begin to develop gills behind his ears, and his skin will gain a bluish cast to it. Other than this (which will cost 1d6 SAN for him, 1/1d2 for others to see), it will take some 20 years for other symptoms to appear. 2) He is infected with the cells of the Old One, as above, and this results in a psychic connection with it. He begins to speak in Tongues (actually the ancient language of the Elder Things), and feels a pull towards the well. Before long, the character will feel bloated and languid. Small creatures, half human, half Thing are growing parasitically inside his body. In five years or so, he will swell up over a course of days and burst open. 2-5 of these small creatures will issue forth (1d6/2d6 SAN to see). They are easily killed, and a scholarly investigation of them could make for another interesting adventure. 3) It is completly in his mind. The character is not infected, nor is he being mentally controlled. He is reacting normally to an abnormal set of circumstances. He has however, been "altered" by his brush with the pool. In all of the above cases, the character in question has been gifted by the Waters of Life. Wounds take half as long to heal; and he is considered having a 20 CON for purposes of shock, poisoning, or disease. The character, for whatever reason, is obsessed with getting out of the asylum. He becomes fanatically strong if threatened at any point in the scenario with imprisonment, sedation, or confinement (he gains a STR of 20 for 2-12 rounds). After the character first realizes this transformation, he will lose 1 SAN everytime these abilities maifest themselves. This will continue until he dies or goes insane--there is no cure. An investigator who has gone insane will become the opponent of the other characters. However, he may act in their interest inadvertently later, as the scenario changes. LET THE GAMES BEGIN The "action" begins with a letter writing session. This can take place between sessions, to avoid boring your other players to tears. Have the Victim write the first note concerning his delusions and fears to the Professor. Then the Professor replies, probably wanting to know more. Let the two of them write to one another as much as is need. No visits are allowed for safety reasons. The Victim is being treated in a humane, if condescending, fashion. No others can have correspondence with the Victim. Now would be a good time for other investigators to come in. Perhaps they are friends or relatives of the victim from before the War. They haven't been allowed to see him. Maybe they are colleagues of the Professor's. Whatever the case may be, have the Professor write them an appropriate letter, describining the ailment. Now they are added to the story, and should begin correspondence. Be sure to play the part of the asylum staff, and censor anything that would "upset" the patient. Also make sure to add notes on outgoing letters, assuring the Professor that these are delusional rantings, and that the Victim is being given the most considerate and modern care available. No sketches of the asylum itself, or discussions of how he is to escape, please. Also, the investigators would do well to keep any blatant references to the Mythos to themselves, as that would arouse the suspicions of the staff. They might stop the correspondence altogether, if they see these letters as being detrimental to the patient's health. During this session, it would do well to sit between the Victim and the Professor as they pass notes. Also, to simulate the distance, have no talking between them. As for the others, they can write, and after the second letter between them, they can talk as if on a phone, two at a time. IRON BARS DO NOT A PRISON MAKE After the correspondence has gone on for a year or so (at a rate of two letters a month), or one week after the staff discontinued the letters, the Victim breaks out. Inform him that he doesn't know what came over him. It is all fairly dim in his memory. Attendents were coming to sedate him, and he knew it. He found a barred window, and knocked out the panes and tore the bars out. He stumbled out into the rainy night (the rain felt GOOD) and now he is stumbling along a road, trying to get to the return address on one of his letters he received. The other investigators hear of his escape second hand, possibly from one of the staff calling to warn the characters that the Victim may be coming to them, and to call if he gets there. DO YOU HAVE A ROOM TO LET? The Victim now informs the Keeper to which investigator he will run. This is another opportunity to introduce a new investigator as a concerned passerby or a Medical Dcotor who have taken the poor man in. The Victim arrives, disheveled, with only the clothes on his back and the collected correspondence. The Victim will seek to soak in salt water as soon as possible (for one of the reasons described above). This alarming action, as well as the assertion that he must journey back to the caves in the first scenario should give the other characters ample worry about the Victim's state of mind. At this point, the party can have one of three hair raising encounters: 1) The Asylum sends a team of orderlies to collect the stray patient. It seems that the doctor seeing the Victim has done some outside reading on his condition. As well as having a low sanity and a current Cthulu Mythos of 15%, the good doctor is fascinated by the Victim's recuperative powers. He has told the orderlies not to let anyone stand in their way. STR DEX POW Dam Bon HP Attacks Orderly #1 13 11 10 +0 13 Large Club (55%) Orderly #2 11 15 12 +0 13 Flicknife (60%;1d4+1) Orderly #3 16 09 10 +1d6 16 Fist (70%) Grapple (70%) Orderly #4 10 15 15 +0 12 .38 Rev (40%) 2) The Police are called by a nervous neighbor who has seen the Victim. A suitable Persuasion or Fast Talk and showing of the proper credentials might convince them to go away. Otherwise, they will search the premises for the Victim, or any signs of foul play. STR DEX POW DamBon HP Attacks Officer #1 14 11 10 +1d4 10 [ All Have Officer #2 11 10 09 +1d4 11 a Large Club (65%) Officer #3 13 13 13 +0 10 and a Pistol as per Officer #4 10 15 14 +0 09 the era (50%) ] 3) The village from the first part of this scenario (A Hole In Time) has sent some of its more spry members to reclaim the Victim for their own reasons. They are fanatical and violent (use the stats of the orderlies). They will masquerade as something else (maybe Hospital Orderlies), and attemt to drag the victim off to their waiting truck or lorry. YOU'RE PROBABLY WONDERING WHY I ASKED YOU ALL HERE.... After the Victim staggers into the home of the person he decided to go to, all of the investigators gather to decide what to do next (or not...you may have to deal with some characters joining later). They must decide if they are indeed going to follow the request of the Victim, and how they are going to go about it. This depends on exactly they left the Well and the Tunnel Complex years before: 1) If they barely escaped with their lives, they will certainly be hesitant about going back. Make certain they know in advance that the Victim is going, with or without them. The next section will deal with another reason for the characters to revisit the site. Some may still have lingering phobias about those particular caves. Preparations to destroy the Well, the Old One, and the Tunnels may be in order. Remind the characters of the lingering animosity of the local inhabitants toward the former combatants. This would especially be true of Vietnam. 2) If the characters dealt with the affair in a more scholarly fashion, then inform the investigators (mostly the Professor) of the local authorities' growing distaste for PCs poking about. They give rise to tales of the region being haunted or cursed. People are moving away at a time when there are so few around anyway. Besides, between them and "Those damned Germans/Vietnamese" (see next section) it feels like the war never ended. 3) If the characters blew the Heck out of everything (not so far-fetched an idea as it sounds), then they will have to make arrangements for an excavation/dig. Military characters will realize how dangerously lethal this can be, with 1 in 10 artillery rounds in WW1 being a dud, hidden ammo stores waiting to be crushed in an excavation of a Nazi bunker, or booby traps laid around the former sapper tunnels in Vietnam. The investigators will find to their surprise, however, that someone else has started to excavate the site already. In any case, have all characters roll 1/2 their normal History roll to have read about the recent dig in the old site. The process is slow and deliberate, being funded by a private financier. ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF... The characters now get to meet what will turn out to be their greatest adversary. He will arrive whenever there is a lull in the action, or shortly after he is contacted about the current dig. When he first meets the characters, he will be nonchalant and cordial... that is unless he sees the Victim or the characters mention the Victim's condition, or their encounter with the Old One. He will credit scattered accounts of the character's journey into the tunnels as what prompted him to dig at the site. He claims that the dig has been uneventful, and that the tunnels begin farther underground than he imagined. If it is suggested that he cease digging, he will refuse, saying that he has spent too much money to not have satisfaction. He will permit the characters to accompany him on his next visit to the site in a few weeks. If he sees the Victim, he will start a friendly but intense set of badgering interrogatives. "How are you feeling?" "Do you sleep well?" "Do you sleep on the bed or the floor?" "Why do you feel the need to return to the tunnels?" These questions will continue until it becomes apparent that he is making the subject angry or upsetting his hosts. If the War was WW1 or WW2, the financier's name is Hans Von Greeber, a wealthy Municher (strange in the depressed post war economy). If asked, he will simply explain that he inherited his money, but not (he adds dryly) his intellect. If the war was Vietnam, his name is Xian Lo Minh, a Chinese-descended resident of Hong Kong who deals in rare artifacts and curios. In either case, he will explain that his dig is personal, not business-oriented. Hans Von Greeber or Xian Lo Minh STR:13 DEX:14 INT:17 Idea:85% CON:15 APP:11 POW:20 Luck:100% SIZ:13 SAN:00 EDU:19 Know:95% HP:14 DamBon:+1d4 MP:20 Age: 31 (Really 50) APPEARANCE: He is the epitome of a well dressed (slightly conservative) older gentleman of his time. He is never without his walking cane. His manners are impeccable, and he can be both graceful and charming if need be. If any female investigators get interested, though, they may well be disappointed. The Doctor's tastes are somewhat strange--he likes little boys. He is also a complete sadist. WEAPONS: (While seeming like he would have nothing to do with anything other than a foil or dueling pistol, that cane the financier carries is no sword cane, but a vicious mythos artifact. It fills those struck with feelings of guilt, inadequacy and depression.) Cane: 55% On a succesful hit, it does 1d6+DB, and draws one point of POW from the target into itself. Feeling this for the first time causes a 1/1d3 sanity check. Seeing someone beat into submission like this cost 0/1 SAN. The adventure begins with 2d4 POW stored in the cane. Greeber/Xian can expend these POW in place of MP for spells. This is similar to the spell Enchant Cane. SPELLS: Cloud Memory, Contact Yog-Sothoth, Create Mist of Releh, Dominate (which he loves to use), Enthrall Victim (see dominate), Implant Fear (for use against those who have especially annoyed him), Send Dreams, Shrivelling, Voorish Sign. SKILLS: Archaeology (60%), Astronomy (30%), Chemistry/Alchemy (25%), Credit Rating (50%), Geology (15%), History (55%), Law (10%), Library Use (65%), Martial Arts (Xian Only 45%), Medicine (45%), Natural History (70%), Occult(70%), Chinese/German (95%), Persuade (00%), Pharmacy (65%), Psychology (75%), Psychoanalysis (50%), Spot Hidden (60%) PERSONALITY: Play him as an innocent obstacle at first. A little bumbling, and completely obstinate and unstoppable, he will become more domineering when at the site. He wields his precious cane like a true Freudian phallic symbol, waving it about and emphasizing points by rapping it on the table or tapping it on the floor. Keep in mind his peculiar mindset. He thinks he is superior to the characters, and will seek to keep control of the situation, no matter what. If the characters want to do something other that dig at the site, he parts company with them cheerfully. He is constantly alert for those who wish to analyze him or figure him out. Anyone who wants to use Psychology to find out who he really is will fail. If the character passed you a note, tuck it in your pocket. If he asks you out loud, then roll the dice behind the screen and say, "I'll tell you later, privately." Then forget about it. Subtract 1d6 magic points from Xian/Greeber for staring at the character and Clouding His Memory. As you may already have guessed, he is an accomplished sorcerer. His one problem though, is that he has a fixation with living forever. The character's recent invasion of the sanctuary of Alacus Magnus/Son Xiung brought his attention to the villagers that he had heard of before, and their strange longevity. He has now initiated an attempt to uncover the secrets of the ancient loremasters for himself. He knows other sorcerers, although he will not call on their aid during the adventure under any circumstances. He is jealously guarding his new find. He knows Klaus Hunderprest from Vienna (Cthulu Casebook), and Omar Shakti (Masks of Nyarlathotep). He may even have vivid descriptions of one or more veteran investigators. AND NOW THE BONUS ROUND... Some characters may have done some of their own research into either Alacus Magnus or Son Xiung. They will find precious little except mention of their subsequent execution for excessive cruelty to their soldiers or treason. There is also mention of an item called the "Sun Disk", or the "Light Disk". No other mention of this item is made, other than it was always with the ancient sorcerer. In actuality, the Disk is called "The Disk of Enlightenment", and is buried with the sorcerer in the very first chamber of the tunnels. It is 10.5" across, made of a strange bronze or copper material (Copper >From Above), with inscriptions 1/8" high scrolling inwards on its surface. These writings are similar to those on the walls, and detail the spells Steal Life (Intx5) and Eibon's Wheel of Mist (Intx5, the symbol is on the back). The sorcerer became somewhat remorseful of the grisly experiment she conducted here, which drew the Ghouls to the foul temple like flies to a rotting carcass. It was the Ghouls which brought down the wrath of the local governors. Rather than face the prospect of final death, Xiung/Alacus drank a poison that would leave him physically unharmed, and buried himself in his precious soil. His calculations were inexact, and so he died slowly, over hundreds of years, howling and crying. The temple became so feared that the local soldiery were instructed to bury the temple under a mountain of soil, and the mention of the temple was fastidiously censored from every work that could be located, to prevent the exhumation of the "howling temple". A WARM WELCOME.... If they don't decide to strike out on their own, the characters should end up at the dig with the financier. He is nearly done excavating the (trench system/bunker/sniper tunnels), and about to reveal the temple proper below. When the investigators move down into the newly excavated tunnels, they will again encounter the terrors they thought they left behind years before. Unless the characters were farsighted enough to remove the bodies of the military escorts which died early in "A Hole in Time", then the bodies will still be down in the temple when they return. Some may note that bodies floating in water should have decayed long ago. They should have, except that this is Aqua Vitae (of sorts). They are now walking corpses, that seek only to destroy the living out of spite. The exact number appearing should equal the number of guides sent with the characters in "A Hole in Time". Walking Dead (Zombies) #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 STR: 16 13 20 15 10 12 21 CON: 20 18 19 20 21 24 17 SIZ: 10 11 07* 16 13 09** 12 POW: 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 DEX: 11 10 11 15@ 08 13 13 HP: 15 15 13 18 17 17 15 Dam/Bon: +1d4 +o +1d4 +1d4 +0 +0 +1d6 Weapons: Large Club (Gun Butt 25%, 1d8+DB) @: Uses Bayonet as spear (30%, 1d8+1d4--20% of contracting tetanus) Armor:One point max. from impaling weapons, half from all others. *: Consists of only the upper torso, Mv:3. **: Has no right arm, has a 15% to hit. SAN: It normally costs 1/1d8 SAN to see a zombie, but if any of the characters knew the first names of any of the escorts, then add 2 to the loss. YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED SOME CHANGES I'VE MADE.... Still in the first chamber, the characters will notice that the floor, although damp, is not covered in water as it was the first time they came here. The lowest part of the room surrounds the Stone Bench mentioned in the "A HOLIER PLACE YOU WILL NEVER FIND..." section of "A Hole in Time". The bench is really a slab weighing half a ton covering the exact spot of Alacus/Xiung's burial. It was placed there as a measure to silence the wailing sound issuing from the temple. Now visible underneath the block is a smaller slab, 4 feet square with pictograms/writing identifying it as a burial marker for the sorcerer. It is fragmented by the weight of the second block. Removing the pieces takes only a few minutes, revealing a sealed lead coffin buried upright in the soggy soil. The coffin weighs nearly a ton because of its contents and structure. Those pulling it up will swoon at the fumes coming from the object itself. Characters must roll (Con x3) or less to avoid tossing their cookies (Losing 1 HP in the process). The fumes are from (CS concentrations/Diesel Fuel/Phosgene Gas) that have collected in the coffin. Breaking the seal of the coffin proves to be a two hour task. When the lid is lifted, the body inside sits bolt upright! It opens its melting mouth and screams one last time as it (bursts into diesel flames/dissolves in a cloud of Phosgene mist/crackles and smokes from the CS gas). It flails around, and if any PC was unlucky to have been near the coffin, he has a 10% chance of being struck by a smoking appendage for 1d6 points of damage. All those in the room are then subjected to the POT:11 fumes, which take an hour to filter up and out of the cave. This series of events cost the characters 1/1d4 SAN, or 1d2/1d6 if they were attacked by the flailing corpse. Inside of the coffin are the Disk of Enlightenment and the sorcerer's sword (which is treated as a Enchanted Lance). Both need to be cleaned before they can be handled. These are the objects of Xian/Greeber's quest (along with the writings on the walls). He will stop at nothing to have them. If the writings have been defaced, and the characters have photos or copies, he will seek them out. THE SPACES IN BETWEEN.... Greeber/Xian also wants travel past the well to see the writings on the arcade walls (if they indeed exist), or find the Ghoul tunnels which may lead to the Dreamlands (both possibilities from "THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL" section of "A Hole in Time"). The problem here lies in that the tunnel between the well and the tomb is collapsed, whether by the actions of the characters, or some later happenstance. In any case, the party (and Greeber/Xian) will have to find a way in. Three possibilities exist: 1) The well was cemented up by the authorities (possibly as the characters requested), and now seems unreachable. The concrete will have to be cracked open by heavy machinery, which will take Greeber/Xian weeks or months to procure and transport. The creature beneath is very much alive and unharmed by the ordeal of darkness, but since the well was blocked up, the villagers had to move. 2) The well seems closed as in #1 above, but there is a secret entrance from a basement or trapdoor in on of the villager's houses. It is a damp passageway twisting in a wide spiral down to the now closed cave. Whether they were or not in the initial scenario, the villagers are now cultists. They all have high CON stats generated by rolling 2d6+6, but are otherwise the same as cultists worldwide. Their leader has 30% Cthulu Mythos knowledge, and knows the spells Curse of the Stone and Contact Deep Ones. There should be 20-35 practicing members to the cult. They will be resistant to Greeber at first, but over a course of a few weeks, he will have the Cult Leader under his power. 3) The well has been reopened, and the villagers have gone down to investigate since the PC's encounter so many years ago. They drink from the well daily, and have come to worship the Thing That Waits Below. The villagers have become cultists as in #2, but will prove more resistant to the living Sorcerer's efforts. BUT WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? Now the characters have some clearly defined objectives. They must close the well for good, which will prove difficult. Any thing they try to seal up or destroy the well will generate a legend that will attract other cultists. They will find help in one of three ways: 1) The Cultists and Greeber/Xian do not see eye to eye on the situation. The sorcerer will attempt to use the party to lure the cultists' leader out so he can destroy him and take control of the well. The cultists will prevail for sheer weight of numbers, however, and Greeber/Xian will meet an untimely end in the well itself. 2) An unknown benefactor gifts one of the investigators with a handful (6) of largish coins. Each has an elder sign on it and some writing on the back. In an accompanying note, or a cryptic speech as he hands them to the character, the benefactor says "Make a Wish." If tossed into the well, the coins act as a seal, forcing the creature even deeper into the underwater caves where it lives, thus making the well impotent. Greeber/Xian will be furious, and a final confrontation will take place. 3) Greeber/Xian, prior to the PCs finding him out, will say that the cultists around the village must be destroyed. He will offer his assistance in this matter, having hired 6 local mercenaries for muscle. Mercenaries #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 STR 11 12 14 11 15 11 DEX 11 12 10 09 11 14 CON 11 12 15 17 13 11 SIZ 10 16 12 10 10 09 SAN 50 65 45 40 60 60 HP 11 14 14 14 12 10 DamBon +0 +1d4 +1d4 +0 +1d4 +0 WEAPONS: As appropriate to the era. Pistol/Rifle/Assault Rifle (40%; varies) Club or Bayonet (30%; 1d8+ DB) 4) A fourth option (I don't recommend it except for veteran investigators...) is to offer no help at all. The main point is, the party should get help with one of the three main threats (Xian/Greeber, the local cultists, or the Thing), but no more. "BUT THE REWARDS...", YOU SAY! Investigators get 1d10 SAN back for permanently(?) dealing with the Thing that Waits Below. They also get 1d8 for dealing with Greeber if they found out about his cruel nature first. Any character lucky enough to beat him with his own cane get s another 1d6 back for poetic justice. If the character does not immediately dispose of the cane however, he loses this bonus. Using the cane on other humans is SAN robbing also. Defeating the cultists regains the investigators another 1d8 SAN. The adventurers have prevailed over a force that has revealed to them that the evil is not an ancient one, not just waiting below, but is active and working in the light of day to bring the world before the Great Old Ones. Characters should now have a mission to stop these men at all costs. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as we did creating it. --