Chaosium Digest Volume 29, Number 8 Date: Friday, December 31, 1999 Number: 2 of 5 A NIGHT AT THE GALLERY Ricardo J. Méndez Castro rmendez@sheertalent.com http://www.sheertalent.com/rmendez/ (There's an RTF version of this scenario at http://www.sheertalent.com/rmendez/scenarios/gallery.zip which includes the telegram handout) INTRODUCTION ============ This scenario was originally created to introduce new investigators (and players) on a run of Pagan Publishing's Walker in the Wastes campaign, during a short stretch of time that the main group was going to spend on Washington. Since by this moment in the campaign (after Alaska) my players are already paranoid, I needed a plausible way to introduce new Investigators without the Old Crew going Gun Ho! on them. The result was this short piece. It is mainly unrelated to the main campaign, so you should be able to introduce it on your 1920 CoC campaign or play it as a one-shot affair. If you wish to run it outside of Walker in the Wastes, just ignore any reference to Barrow or his expeditions. If you plan to run it with Walker make sure that the fake Lang arrives at the hotel before Barrow and the rest of the team, so that there isn't anyone who can identify him. I also took the opportunity to slowly start to introduce Phillip Challis' _The Stage_ to my CoC campaigns, to give the players a chance to start accepting into their CoC realities something else than their usual share of cults and their long dead gods. Since The Stage is freely available I won't detail it here. The connections with it can be safely ignored, but given its quality keepers are recommended to look it up. It's available from http://www.mimgames.com/Stage/ VANILLA LEGAL INFORMATION ========================= This adventure is copyright 1999 by Ricardo J. Méndez Castro. It may be freely distributed for personal use provided that it is not modified and no fee above the normal cost of distribution is charged for it. Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium Inc.'s registered trademark for their game of horror and wonder in the worlds of HP Lovecraft. For more information, contact Chaosium Inc., 950-A 56th St, Oakland, CA 94608 -- or call us at 510-547-7681. Walker in the Wastes is copyright (c) 1994 John H. Crowe III. The Stage is copyright (c) 1998 by Phillip Challis. A NIGHT AT THE GALLERY, pt. 1 ====================== OPENING MOVES ------------- The adventure starts on Washington when the investigators are invited to an inauguration of an exposition at the Griefswald Gallery, owned by Mr. Ingmar Andersson. One of the investigators is assumed to be of wealthy station and to have been in Washington for a couple of weeks now. He will receive a call at his hotel from a friend of the family; an antiques dealer specializing in odd books called Enzo Lutz. Enzo has to leave the country to make an acquisition in Austria and needs the investigator to hold a book for him. The book is a rare tome and the individual who acquired it is coming from New York to pick it up on the days Enzo will be out of the country. Enzo will leave the name of the investigator to the gentleman, who should be pass by the hotel in a couple of days. Since Enzo has an engagement at the inauguration at the Griefswald Gallery, he asks the investigator to meet him there and bring company so that he can be safe on the way back. The event is by invitation only, of course, and Enzo will have two invitations delivered to the investigators' hotel. The gallery is on the center of the city and there are two guards armed with shotguns at the door. The great event is a show of paintings following the romantic style, apparently the owner's favorite. Several of the works are from his personal collection and all are originals, which explains the heavily armed security. Among the works displayed there are a couple by Francisco de Goya (_El sueño de la razón produce monstruos_ and several of the series _Los caprichos_) and several by German painter Caspar David Friedrich, including the crucifixion scene The cross in the mountains. The feelings of despair and impotence that flow from Friedrich's work are strong enough to move even people that have seen it in the past, and it should affect any investigator with some knowledge of art. Such investigator should be able to value the complete show in the vicinity of a million dollars. A short time after entering Lutz spots them and goes over to welcome them. He then shows them around the gallery, explaining the work of Goya and Friedrich to the investigators if they aren't knowledgeable in art. When he finally gets a chance he works his way to Mr. Andersson's side, who is chatting with two gentlemen. One of them is a young man on his thirties called Robert Beryl, who assists Andersson in organizing his social events. Aside from MacMahon and Lindblom guarding the door, Beryl is the only other of Andersson's assistants present at the party. The other gentleman is a stern-looking priest on his forties who is quite knowledgeable of art and will be introduced to them as Father Anthony Block. Andersson is an old acquaintance of Lutz, since they both deal in antiques in a way. Lutz has told him about the book and the arrangement with the investigator in question some time ago and Andersson is keeping it on his safe until the investigators arrive. When the Lutz finally gives the book to the investigator, Andersson and Beryl will serve as witnesses. The book is a copy of _Massa Di Requiem Per Shuggay_, an opera libretto and score in Italian by Benvento Chieti Bordighera, 1768. San 1d3/1d6, Cthulhu Mythos +4, no spells. It is given to the investigator in a beautifully worked leather document folder with the opera name inscribed on it. Lang paid for it $40,000, a fact that Lutz won't reveal. If pressed, he will state that the book is worth over thirty thousand dollars and that secrecy duty to his client forbids him to say more. KEEPER'S BACKGROUND ------------------- The players ----------- Ingmar Andersson was among the hundreds of thousands of Swedish who immigrated to the United States around 1870, due to a serious scarcity of jobs that plagued Sweden at the time. His name then was Ingmar Ekerot, son of a fisherman who disappeared during a storm and a mother who had died when he was a child. He was a bright but lazy young man who once in New York quickly turned to crime, robbing indiscriminately and stabbing those who resisted. It was during one of his rampages that he stabbed Richard Fowler, a Matar host. The Matar quickly let go of Fowler's body and as a sort of punishment took over Ingmar's younger body, who wasn't able to resist the mental attack. It then dominated Fowler as it had dominated Fowler's assistants and became Fowler's protégé. Ekerot inherited all of Fowler's assets when he killed himself in the New Year party of 1900. Ingmar took over running Fowler's bank operations, surprising everyone with the performance of such a young man with no formal education at all. By 1920 the Matar who used his body had the nagging certainty that he was being observed so it decided to sell the bank, change his appearance and disappear. He resurfaced during 1923 in Washington, posing as a German art collector named Ingmar Andersson and has lived there ever since, furthering his own ends as usual. Father Anthony Block is a member of an organization called the Knights of Saint Jerome (see appendix #3). He started keeping tabs on Ekerot when a Prime Locus controlled by the Juvat was assassinated in New York with the trail leading to Ekerot. He believes him to be a rogue member of the Juvat and watched him closely ever since but lost him after the bank was sold. It took him six years to find him again and even now he isn't sure if he is the same man that he had been investigating. Nevertheless, he has befriended Andersson with the excuse of being an art lover and regularly meets with him to discuss about paintings and play chess. Block is dying with a cancer that is slowly eating him and has decided to spend his last years thwarting Andersson's controlling moves. This cancer and his approaching end have made him re-think his spiritual values and he now believes that the good he will be able to do in this life will outweigh the possibility of going to hell, even if to accomplish that good he must step over the boundaries set by his religion. Unbeknownst to him, part of this new philosophy stems from his constant contact with a Matar, who have the uncontrollable ability to lower the mental balance of those individuals near them. Because of that decision he has disregarded several direct instructions by the Order to leave Andersson alone until his motives can be understood and is currently considered a rogue member of the order himself. Andersson knows him only as a priest with a good taste for art and wine and has ignored him so far, considering him unworthy of dominating and useless as a tool. The pieces ---------- A Mr. Donald Lang visited Enzo Lutz in his antique store several months ago and gave him a list of very rare books to look for and sizable advance payments for his efforts. Since then Lutz has been tracking them down and just a couple of days ago managed to find one of them. Experienced players will expect Lutz to die either before they get there or shortly after. None of this will happen; he is truly going out on a business trip. He knows little about the buyer, only that he is quite secretive and apparently in no lack of monetary means. Donald Lang is just a wealthy man who lately has taken on the habit of collecting rare books. Unfortunately for him his search for books is quite indiscriminate and appears to be based only on age and rarity and not on content, so it has unknowingly put him on the trail of several mythos tomes. Lang is also one of those wealthy persons that fund Barrow's expeditions (sometimes secretly) and will serve to introduce the new characters to the group. Mr. Lang is of a secretive nature when running his affairs, something that may spark the investigators' curiosity. That secrecy has roots only on his eccentric nature. Lang knows of Barrow's presence in Washington, since his departure from Alaska was somewhat publicized by the newspapers after they left, and plans to pay a visit to know how the expedition is going. Mr. Lang is also a strong believer in the existence of the supernatural in everyday life, which is the reason why he continues to fund Barrow's expeditions. If Barrow has died by this point in the campaign, Lang will want to meet with the survivors of the expedition. Paul Livingstone is Andersson's assistant in matters of acquisitions. He is currently forty-six years old, but the strain of unsuccessfully fighting against Andersson's mental control has aged him well beyond his years. Anyone looking at him would say that he is around his sixties. He has a passing resemblance to Mr. Lang but none of his vivacity and personality. Andersson likes to toy with his subjects and sometimes intentionally lets them escape his control for a while. Those are times that Livingstone can't stand and he has slowly succumbed to a morphine addiction to relieve the stress and escape. Several times he has played with the idea of giving himself an overdose and be done with it, but he doesn't seem to be able to find the nerve to do it. Alec Jason is the accountant for Mr. Andersson. He was dominated several years ago but couldn't stand being in touch with his basest instincts and has a serious dislike of physical contact with any person, maybe fearing that it will trigger some sort of violent or inappropriate response from him. Now the only thing keeping him from a nervous breakdown is Andersson's mind control. Of all those in Andersson's staff Robert Beryl is the one that has responded better to his domination, possibly because he was privately already a violent man who spend a sizeable chunk of his income paying off the prostitutes he liked to beat up. While in the surface he is calm and collected, Beryl is bad enough that Andersson has considered using him to do his dirty work instead of using MacMahon and Lindblom. A previous employer and acquaintance of Nils Lindblom, who thought that they could get along well since they were both from the same country, recommended him to Andersson. He idolizes Andersson and would probably follow him even if he didn't control his every action. Fred MacMahon thought for a while to employ himself on the private investigator business but unfortunately he didn't have the brains. He started working for Andersson only two years ago and Andersson is already considering having him commit suicide. THE GAME ======== The Matar's gambit ------------------ Donald Lang is one of those persons that are called prime locus in The Stage: persons who don't follow the same preset trails as everyone else and have the possibility of shaping the future through their actions. Andersson put his eye on him when he still lived in New York but hasn't been able to find a way to keep him near for enough time to subdue him. When Lutz told him about Lang acquiring a book from him and picking it up in Washington, Lang saw an opportunity he couldn't let go. The day after the inauguration Andersson will send Livingstone to pose as Mr. Lang and pick up the book, which is likely to be staying at the hotel's safe. He will then have Livingstone disappear with the book and when it is finally established that it was his acquisition assistant who took it Lang is likely to come to him. Andersson plans to kidnap Lang for a few days so that he can dominate him at his leisure. When the fake Lang arrives at the hotel the day manager for the Seattle Hilton will oversee the delivery and Livingstone will sign any receipt that is given to him. If requested to present any identification, Livingstone will produce several fake cards of membership to historic societies. If pressed, he will flash a counterfeit passport that Andersson had made about a week ago when he learned of Lang coming to town. A couple of hours later the real Donald Lang will arrive at the hotel, show his passport and demand the book to be delivered to him. He will be quite upset that the book was delivered to somebody else but won't blame the investigators if they thought to request the passport from the impostor (do remember that there was a witness of the exchange). If they did, he'll offer them a $10,000 reward for the book. If they didn't, the investigators will then have to scramble around to recover it. Lang will wish to call the police to inform them of the theft and it will take some serious convincing from the investigators if for any reason they wish to avoid that. Later that same day, Lang will have an interview with the survivors from the Barrow expedition to Alaska and will drop a comment about the theft of the tome. After discovering in Alaska that they'll have to start globe trotting, they'll surely like the possibility of having a man of monetary means on their side. Preliminary investigations -------------------------- There are several things that the investigators may wish to check out. + Black market of rare items Nothing is to be gained investigating on this direction, since Livingstone isn't putting the book up for sale. Give the investigators a couple of shots at it if they request it, and if they roll a critical group Luck roll (or a group Luck if a character has connections to the underground as a part of their background) someone will put them in touch with Thomas McGregor, a collector art items of dubious legality who will be able to identify the man as Livingstone. However, he won't know why Livingstone would steal a rare book and will state that he believes Andersson to be clean on the stolen items department. After all, if he didn't do his acquisitions using regular channels he wouldn't be able to put them in display. McGregor will refuse to give the investigators any leads in the underworld of stolen items, since doing so would endanger his ability to acquire paintings and other items in the future. Due to his own personal wealth, bribery will just serve to offend him. + The fake passport Since Andersson didn't have the time to commission the fake passport out of Washington, said underworld contacts may put the Investigators in a position to learn about who paid for it. That will lead them to a slim and nervous man known only as "Skinny Jack", a forger of trade. Coaxing any information out of him will be hard unless force or large amounts of cash are used, but in any of those cases he will say that a young man paid in cash and picked up the document himself. He didn't give a name and none was requested. That young man was Robert Beryl, and you can see his description in Appendix #1. + The man's identity There are several ways for the investigators to establish Livingstone's identity. For example, if a group luck roll succeeds, a high-ranking hotel employee may remember Livingstone from a past encounter. Spreading Livingstone's description around is another sure way to get them to the man, but that will take at least a couple of days and the scenario is geared towards a speedier completion. Andersson's ----------- Once the man's identity has been established the first likely stop is Andersson's office. The gallery will be closed for the day, since Andersson doesn't wish to use the security needed on hours where nobody is likely to come by, but he may be contacted at his luxurious office on top of the gallery and will receive them if they show up after 10 in the morning. Andersson will show surprise at the theft and deny any involvement with it, refusing to believe that Livingstone could have been involved in such a scheme. Privately, he's already wondering why he lost contact with Livingstone. He will also personally offer his help to Mr. Lang if he is present and call him to his hotel if he isn't. Lang will be pleased at having the help of such a distinguished citizen and will surely accept Andersson's invitation for lunch at his mansion when it presents itself. Investigating Livingstone's house --------------------------------- If the Investigators don't take any steps towards searching Livingstone's house, Lang will notify the police and they will pay him a visit. If they do decide the check out Livingstone's house nobody will answer the door. If they decide to break in (a likely possibility) there is a front door and a back door. The back door leads directly into the kitchen, and any investigator succeeding in a Spot Hidden roll will notice that the refrigerator door is slightly ajar. Checking the fridge will reveal several bottles of morphine, although it may take a Medicine or Pharmacy roll to recognize them as such. Livingstone lies in his room in the second floor, dead in the bed. A needle protrudes from his arm and the glass syringe lies in the floor amidst several empty bottles. Some blood has dripped from the needle and formed a small puddle in the floor. His rolled up sleeve will reveal the expected needle marks all over his arm. The leather pouch that the tome came in lies empty in the floor. Knight takes pawn ----------------- At around the same time the book changed hands, Father Block comes to the Seattle Hilton to wait for Lang's arrival (since they are both old acquaintances). He watches the exchange from the door and recognizes Livingstone, who he sees carrying the tome outside. Having heard about Lang's coming for the book, he will put two and two together and conclude that Andersson is indeed a Juvat who plans to use the tome as leverage on Lang. His Matar-induced disappearance of the boundaries between right and wrong impulses him to go to Livingstone's house to recover the book by whatever means necessary. Breaking in, Block finds Livingstone out on a morphine trip and the book beside the bed. Without knowing that Livingstone is just a puppet and considering that it is better to remove a Juvat from the face of the Earth, Block looks through the house and after finding Livingstone's stash of morphine in the refrigerator goes up again and gives him an overdose. He then takes the book with him to the parochial house, changes his clothes and takes a taxi to a train station and send Lang a telegram from there. The telegram itself is unsigned, but Block will sign the registry under the name "Abraham Isaacs". A copy for your players is on Appendix 2. STAY AWAY FROM ANDERSSON STOP HE MEANS TO MANIPULATE YOU STOP BOOK IS SAFE AND WILL BE DELIVERED TO YOU IN NEW YORK STOP His original intention is to send the book via a courier to Lang's offices in New York, but curiosity gets him before he does it so he leafs through the libretto and ends up reading it through the night. The tome perturbs him but he recognizes it as something his order would be interested in. However, the man who cold bloodedly overdosed somebody the day before won't wish to steal a valuable book and he will decide to take a step forward and contact Lang, even if it will put him at suspicion from both the theft and Livingstone's overdose. He is counting on his occupation to get Lang to trust him and keep away from Andersson, but he doesn't know how Lang will react to the offer of buying the book. Further moves ------------- + The telegram It is quite possible that the investigators will believe the telegram to be a ruse to have Lang return to New York so that the trail cools down, so they will surely investigate it. The telegram was received at a local office of the World Wide Telegraph, and the clerk reminds it clearly because he was surprised that it had come from Washington itself. If any theft is mentioned and the proper Credit Rating passed, the young man will give them the name of the office that sent it where they will be able to find out about Isaacs. + Isaacs Of course, yet another possibility is that the telegram is legitimate and somebody took the book from Livingstone to help Lang. In this case, does Lang know anybody by the name Abraham Isaacs? He most surely doesn't, but a successful History check will remind the investigator that in the Bible, Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac because his god demanded it. Lang may remember a priest by the name of Block who he met in New York, since Lang usually helped the church with donations. Lang believes that the priest got transferred somewhere, but he doesn't quite know if it was to Washington. The Matar's den --------------- Maybe the police find Livingstone's dead body and call Andersson or maybe he tires of waiting for Livingstone to come out of his trip, but sooner or later Andersson is going to find out about Livingstone's death and the book's second disappearance. When this happens he will be mad and will start pushing his pieces around to watch Lang and those that hang around him. It is quite possible that he will send Robert Beryl or Alec Jason to query Lang about the progress with the investigation. When he finds out that the tome is still missing he'll realize that not all is lost, since he doesn't actually need to hold the book for the gambit to work, and will invite Lang to a personal meeting at lunch time in his mansion. His new plan is to hold Lang hostage for the few days he needs to make a domination without transferring his conscience to Lang's body. As a good host, Andersson will send MacMahon and Lindblom to pick up Lang and bring him to the house, which is on large property in the outskirts of Washington. If Lang wishes to bring company with him (the investigators) they will allow only for two more persons, since those are all who fit in the car. Andersson's house is a large three-story building surrounded by about 100 meters of land and trees on every side. About six guards check on the grounds at night, due to the huge value of the paintings stored in the mansion. Andersson will be all nice and pleasant at lunch, chatting about any topic that they fill comfortable with and sharing several glasses of what the guests prefer. Alas, the food will be drugged and the characters taken to rooms on the third floor where the windows have been bricked to avoid escape. Andersson will then have one of his assistants call the hotel and notify them that Lang is going to be his guest for a couple of days. Afterwards he will patiently sit in the next room to Lang to slowly scramble his mind and influence his thoughts. If any of the investigators refuses to eat and doesn't fall asleep things could get hairy. After all Andersson is only interested in dominating Lang, and after the domination Lang will surely assert that the investigators who get killed had left after lunch. (CONTINUED) -- To unsubscribe from the chaos-digest ML, send an "unsubscribe" command to chaos-digest-request@chaosium.com. Chaosium Inc., Call of Cthulhu, and Nephilim are Registered Trademarks of Chaosium Inc. Elric! and Pendragon are Trademarks of Chaosium Inc. All articles remain copyright their original authors unless otherwise noted.