Call of Cthulhu - Curse of the Cthonians.pdf - ENG_1920s - Dihercen

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CONTENTS

PARK CARNtVAl [David A. Harqravd ••.••.•••••••••.••• 2

THE CURSE OF CHAUGNAR FAUGN [8m ••••••••• 21

'mOTH'S DAGGER [Wiman Hamblinl ••••••.••••••••••. 51

THE CITY WITHOUT A NAME [WilHam Hamblin} .•••••.•... 67

THE KABBAlISTIC SCU::NCE OF GEMATRIA [William Hflfrb!inJ .86

!pretiaf ffluptratioflS

Lisa A. free

Edltrng. TYPflffittfn(!

Sandy Petersen

COlier Palming

Tom Sullivan

Layout. Production. Maps

Sherman Kahn

Copy fleading

lynn Willis

CALL

''liii0_ ADVENTURE

Howard Phillips Lovooraft

1890·1937

CURSE OF THE CHTHON!ANS, Fout Odysseys into Deadly Intrigu<1 is CQJ1yrfghtC79lJ4lJy Chaasium Inc. Ai! rights reserwtd. Thenamatt of

public personalltics may be refcl'roti to, but allY I'csembl;trlcft of a scenario character W pel1U:)Ils lilting or dead is strictII' colncfdentJif. except in

this publicario(l and associatJid advl'1Hitil'JlI, ell iflllsftlltiot1t for CURSE' OF TrIg CHTHONIANS Nmoin the property of (he "Hites, who other-

wi$'e reserve aJf rights. T/lls adventure pllck is best uwd with 11>11 TW"piaying gamf! CALL OF CTHUlHU, mtai/able sePiJirately. For,g free

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23D6)

CHAOSIUM PUBLICATION

Um:xp/alned murders and disappearances at a seemingly innocent amusement area

just north or Providence, Rhode Is/and, Jure the Investigators into a

deadly confrontation with worshipers of the dread Burrowers Beneath.

Da,-id A. Hargrave

It is the Roaring Twenties, The decade will be marked

forever in the annals t,f death and by

such events as the dash of rival in the St V:den«

tine's Massacre. The decade disaster befalling

millions of Americans as a great Stock Market Crash

wipe-d out

This Information is best derived before most of the lC·

tunl play begins. It shOUld tantalize the investigators to

the point where are eager to get into the heart of the

matter and find grim truths. The manner in which the in-

vestigators gain this initial in formation matters little- the

only important is that they do It.

It may be effective fot the keeper to read the incidents

aloud to the

about everyone who had money 10 stocks.

bonds, or banks.

But stilI, in the hot lazy

to set a mo()u and give information

there were those

who cared little for the rest

It is summer ... a

time for dreams.

Just outside the city of Providence, Rhode Is!and, hard

the Swam POint Cemetery, and not many mHes from

the Butler Insane Asylum, sprawls the gaudy neon·iit

lJa'~m(ms of the North Star Amusement Arcade and Plea·

sure Pier, fronting the Seekonk River.

Here young swains take their ladies em hot summer

and children of all ages froih:: the humid summl:;(

away.

Though a hit run down llwlmd the and its gay

facade cracked and peeling, tile carnival is stili enjoyed by

the of Providence.

People disappear from time to time, but i! 111 always

(sometimes correctly) aHrIbuted to the river's tricks. But·

ler Insane Asylum is packed with gibbering and ranting

people to which no one listens.

During this sun·bedazzled month of .May several star·

tling things will happen. These incidents are the "trigger"

to get the group of to become involved.

One of ,hese OCCUITallCeS is so bizarre that it will briefly

make the papers in such large cities as. New York and

San francisco.

PRELUDES

The following incidents arc arranged in dmmologicai

for the investigators to together. The third

incident is published in the national papers, and will

probably he the key which will first interest the investi-

gators. Information on the other incidents can be round

either through lookinll through back editions of various

newspapers. especially The Pro"t'idence Journal·Bulletin,

or by interviewing the reporters that wrote up the events

all they happened.

Tlilt Firs,ltU::idt:mt-May 12th, 192-. it was a balmy clear

night, the moon a brilliant ornament in the starry and

Kent Howard was in love. The object of his .affectlons,

Pringle, was in a playful mood that eventide. Leav-

brightly-lit carnival grounds, the couple decided to

the SWiftly-flowing rlver. Hand 1n hand thy

moved ever further from the and noIse till. im·

patient and giddy, Kent attempted to sweep his lady !"ve

into his arms and kis# her,

Laughing fnadly, Lucy hmke free fwm her wuuld-be

lover's embrace and raced off, held high, cal!.ing over

he; shoulder. "If you can catch me, YOU can kiss me!" Af-

ter a brief, frustrated Kent sprang after the

vanishing pink-and·whlle figure. Pushing through

1I gap in the vine-covered but tumble-down stone wall be-

fore her, Lucy never noticed ihe had entered the ceme·

tery grounds.

Shortly thereafter. carnival-goers screamed and faifl(ed

when a bloody and raving apparition stumbled into (he

multi~oJored lights. One arm tom off, halT a dirty white

(previously dark brown), covered by hundreds of gashes

and gouges, streaming blood, Kent Howard returned to

civilization.

Kent survived his ghastly wounds. but was completely

mad, babbling about horrors from the grave, He now

resides in a smaU padded cell in the Butler asylum.

Of Lucy there has been nt) sign nor trace, save for a

bloody shoe fotlnd near ;:m uvenumed gmvcstoflt',

Old timers muttered about wolves Qr bears coming

from the piney woods, but local law enforcement agen-

cies scoffed at this and marked it down as "probable

murder by person Of persons unknown."

-2-

The Se/:mu} Incident-May 14th, 192-. Little Freddie

Pendergast. f 2 years old, was expected at 6:00 pm for

supper, but didn't show up. By 7:00 pm his irate mother

was on her way down to "that damned hurdy-gun:1y

to fetch her son.

Yet when she arrived, she simply could not find him.

She looked high and low, with no Freddie visible. She en.

listed the help of the park security officer, hut success

eluded them. Still 110 Freddie. Alarmed now. and belated-

ly thinkIng of the messy incident neaT the cemetery two

days before, Mrs. Pendergast went to the

The police put her in touch with the sheriff's

as the park was outside their jurisdiction. and the

WOIHllfl demanded that something be done. After several

hours of investigation on the part of both police ;:md

sherifrs it was ascertained. that Freddie and his two

best friends. the twins A:1vin and the same

age as Freddie, had all gone to the carnival around 4:0Q

Frm:i1:Iie left the twins for one last ride, und the lust

taW of him was when he rode the little mechunical

car into the "Tul1¥lel of Terrors," his fayonte ride at the

an1Usement park. never saw him come aliI. The law

enforcement people wrote it off as a runaway. or

an accidental drowning.

The newspapers report. without comment, that Oftlccr

Reynolds has becn dismissed for drinking, and that the

police department gives little credence to his report of

seeing the missing Pendergast child.

The FQlJrt/t ltu:idenl- This incident will occur the night

prior to the investigaton;' arrival (regardless as to when

this is), The whole town will be abuzz with one version or

another of what happened, The Incident would pot nor-

mnliy have evinced such interest, but coming closely on

the heels of the othet weird happenings, it has set folk to

talking. The will be able to get one or an·

other garbled version ofthe follmving story from anyone in

town. After listening to enough versions, they should be

uble to piece together the actual occurrence.

It seems that Abner Weems, a weIl·known and

ly tolerated lush. was drinking down by the river that

propped up against the stone waH surrounding the

cemctary. He was halfway hiS masDlljarofboot-

leg applejack and having a old time the

lights of the amusement Then he heard voices

inside the cemetary. Abner thought went on ill

"German Of Roosian. or some such." Intrigued, und his

fuddled brain awash WidI theories of foreign spies, he

crawled to the break in the waH. where he could dimly see

the interior o( the eelm~tery.

At !Ina he could see bUI directly he discerned

what looked like two one standing in il hole or

and one above The one in the hole passed

to his friend, who pi1$d them into a Abner

wat~hed for five Of ten minutes before he lost interest and

W$llt back to ~hls spot to finish drinking. Shortly

sitting in the shadows of the

vine-coated wall: Abner saw the two COHle the

cafl'ying thei, bundies, They went down to the

and tossed what they 11'ld been toting into the water.

Abner,

The Third lncident-Mny 23n:l, 192-.

titHe Freddie disappeared an

t.he Providence Police WliS imieS'l12"tiJ1H

vandals in the public grounds dump) out

near the railroad tracks just west of Swan Point Cemetery.

The

nm get lhe

from his

tale as told in

His report

onCe

tried to rise and see

what in the

was going on.

the applejack had

worked its famous magic, and his

were inoperable.

his whole head seemed full

warm tami. With

t.hat hlst thought.l1e

Into slumber and remainedl»

a drunken

sun on his face

awoke him.

Groaning and up, Abner wobbled down to

the river's edge to cool water onto his face. Whilst

dning so, he saw something trampled into the n:rud. "'nen

he picked it up, he recognized it as a pink sweater, badly

torn find heavily stained .vith what could have been blood.

}\bner have been an alcoholic. but .he wus not a coun·

try!()ol, could put two and two lQgether. He look the

sweater and his hlle down 10 the

The local lawmen knew .4bnfr well and only arrested

him for vagrancy on cold nights; allowing him a warm

night's sleep in a cozy jail cell. Still. they never put faith

in anything he, or any other Doozelmunu, said, However.

they cnu!d not ignure the piece of bloody evidence he had

brought. A quick call and a short trip later, the sweater

was tearfully identified by Mrs. Pringle as having belonged

to her missing daughter, Lucy.

With that. and with the tale of the mysterious pair. the

official line became "two murderers and probable kidnap·

ers at laf!!e near Providence. Everyone should keep alert,

remain cairn, and never travel alone after dark:'

The Fifth lnc:itfent- This incident should happen the first

night after the arrival of the adventurers; heforc they have

a chance to do anything except piece together Ihe earlier

four incidents.

At 1;00 am one Jordan McIntyre, an attendant at But·

let Insane Asylum, was on his way home down Swan

Point Lane, which parallels the cemetery. Jordan was no

small man,. over six feet tall and weighing 200 pounds.

He wa.s an ex-Marine who had fought in the Great War.

Exactly what happened that night will probably never be

known with certainty, hut 11 general picture can he put

together.

Someone attacked him near the south gate of the

cemetery. and he apparently put up 11 fight using his yard-

oaken walking stick. This shatterlld

dried mucus, was dlscovllred on the

road alongside his size twelve

Police Chief: Elmer "Bulldog" Walker

A 25-year veteran of the Providence Police Force, middle·

aged Chief Walker is a methodical and slow illdividual. His

tenacity has earned him his nickname-few criminals have

managed to keep out of the law's clutches once "Bulldo~"

is pcrsonaJ1y on their trai.1. His gQld wirc,rlmmed glasses,

rumpled dress, and bemused expression hide the fact that

he has one of the ten-best forensic minds on the East

Coast. He has taken four leaves of absence in his career to

attend the latest criminology courses at various universi·

ties. He has failed to catch criminals before. but mlyer

through one of his own mistakes.

He is [Jot sure what is exactly happening, but he ha, a

m?'rsonal stake in the investigation. Over the iast 22 ye~rs

ha.s been a cycle of summer murders and

persons, all of which h.ave gone unsolved as far as he is

concerned. Many a bum and crazy has been tried and con-

victed of these crimes, but Chief Walker knows that those

cases were circumstantial at best, and pure "witch-hunts"

at W(Jrst.

He has kept voluminous files, all marked "Unsolved"

and each yeat he comes a bit closer to the truth. 1f

pre'>sed, he will reveal that the only connections in all

these crimes have been the locations, In those crimes

where a locale was known at all, it has always been in or

around the cemetery, burning ground, or amuse·

ment park. All but the dump ate out of his jurisdiction.

If further pressed, he will note that he ha.s had SUs-

picions about the amusement park from time to time, {jut

nothing concrete has ever turned up. Still, it was set up

just a year or so before the disappearances

He always carries II sh.ort·barrelled .3& revolver if; a

shoulder holster and is profident in its Use. He thinks the.

County Sheriff is a blind fool, and that his teclmlqm~s

went out with Wyatt Earp.

Elmer ''Btdldog'' Walker

STR 12

by the milk wagon

driver about 5:00 am the next

McIntyre's feet

were still within his shoes.

The wrought hcm cemetery gates were all covered with

!ayers of dried, grey-green mucus, as well as with copious

amounts of dried blood and shredded masses of Jordan's

""""~"5 JUd flesh. This circumstantial evidence suggests

that something had pulled fl,e hapless man through the

iron bars

about four inches

but his feet

had gotten stuck. The power nf whatever

done this

simply kept tearing the feet right off.

Further will continue.

The could allow the adventurers to be the ini-

tial discoverers of Jordan's pitiful remains, ifa much more

fearsome game is desired.

lOCAL iNDIVIDUALS

County Sheriff:

This bluff and fiC,H!)! always has a smile and a

handshltke for all. His twinkling hlue white hair, and

rotund phsyique hide that he i~ a

hard-bitten law officer of nearly 40 years experience, m·

eluding a couple of years as a fown in a rough-

and·tumble Alaskan gold milling: camp in late 1890's.

He al.ways a Colt A5 revolver under his suitcoat and

a two-shot, .32 derringer in a hidden ankle holster, hidden

by his pant leg. He also carries 1.1 lead-filled leather black·

in his reaf pants pocket (also under his coat). He dis-

in supernatural, but knows that men

can and do commit tile most heinous and incredible of

crimes. He knows that the recent problems are caused

a "couple of ollt-of-towners, probably

POW I?

Hit Pts 13

SKILLS: Accounting 7&%, Debate 17%, Fa.st Talk

Forensics 90%, Law 95%, Psychology 71%, Spot Hid-

den 92%

WEAPON: snub-nose .38

CON 13

SIZ 13

INT 18

EDU19

APP 10

SAN 80

DEX 1}

ID8+2 damage

Ex~police officer Andy Reynolds

He is an athletic man some 32 years old. He is a veteran of

the Army Artillery Corps (serving in France in the Grmit

War) and has been on the Providence Police Force ever

since 1919, when the Army released him. He was awarded

the Providence Badge of Valour two years ago for ;11S

heroic actions in saving two young children from a blazing

home. The City Council flred him, not Chief Walker, and

he is bitter about it.

He can be located at Mother Matheson '5 Boarding

House (he is unmarried), and is, at first, reluctant to talk

about his firing or the incident that caused it. However,

due to his disgust at his poor treatment, if investigators

are properly sympathetic (though not morose), he will lell

his questioners everytlling he knows, a.s he understands it.

Unbelievable as his story was, there were parts he l~ft

out of the offidal tale-he's not sure, even now, if they

really happened. First, he heard faint but unmistakable

or other

such trash,"

John J. Josephson

STR 13

l'(JW 10

Hit Pts 16

SKILLS: Drive Auto First Aid 80%, Forensics 50%,

Hide 40'};, Law 65%, Listen 75%, Mechanlcal Repair 50'}t"

Psychology 54%, Spot Hidden 76%, Sneak 66%, Throw

81%, Track 70%

WEAPONS: .45 revolver 80%, IDIO+2 damage

32 derringer 80',ii" I D8 damage

Blackjack 78%, 106+1D6 damage (match damage done 'Is.

victim's hit points .. if victim is overcome, he is knocked

Ollt for 2D6 minutes)

Fist 90,}1< 103+1D6 damage

CON 16

SIZ 15

lNT 15

EDU 12

DEX 14

APP B

SA1'J 66

-4-

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