CALL OF CTHULHU
MISSING PERSONS
HIRED
The characters are each contacted by a certified letter from a MR. JOHN LUPINE STOCKWELL. read the following aloud to the players,
"Dear sirs,
it has come to my attention that you have certain tallents and experiences with which you could use to help me. My son, David, has been kidnaped by someone with the ability to do the imposible. I am willing to pay you each a $10,000.00 retainer fee for showing up and another $20,000.00 for your help in finding my son. Enclosed is a first class ticket to the east coast where my private plane will pick you up and bring you to Lupine. Once you have arrived, I will fill you in on the rest of the details.
Sincerely,
David Lupine Stockwell"
ARIVAL
Upon arrival, the characters are met by a MR. CH'ING SHI as they exit the aircraft. The local time is roughly 10 pm at night. Mr.Shi steps up and introduces himself to the characters. "I am MR. CH'ING SHI. You have been called here by MR. Stockwell. He will try to convince you that I have taken his son for some vile purpose. I can assure you that I am not what he believes me to be. Please feel free to contact me anytime you have any questions. Now I believe you have a limo waiting to take you to your employer. Have a good evening and enjoy your stay."
At this point he hands the characters each a card with his phone number on it and then walks off into the shadows where he can not be seen by the characters. once out of sight, he turns into a bat and flys away.
The limo takes the characters to to Mr. Stockwell's residence where a butler takes them to their rooms for the night while refusing to answer any questions pertaining to the case, his boss, or Mr. Shi.
SCREAMS IN THE NIGHT
Once the characters are settled into their rooms they should all hear a woman screaming followed by the sound of ripping flesh and a loud howl. Anyone checking around for the source will find the mutilated and half eaten remains of some young woman. All seeing this must make a sanity check=1/1D4+1
a Careful spot check (DC20) will reveal bloody pawprints of some huge animal leading through the garden and vanishing at the wall. A group of house staff will quickly clean up the mutilated remains of the young woman shortly after the characters arrive. They will merely blame the incident on a large wolf and refuse to comment on how a wolf could somehow get over a 40 foot wall.
MR. STOCKWELL
When the characters awaken the next morning, they will be led down to the main dining room to enjoy a breakfast with Mr Stockwell. Mr. Stockwell refuses to comment on the events of the night or on the case until after everyone has finished eating breakfast. Once the staff has cleared away the breakfast dishes he will inform the characters that he has some things they should know about the case.
1. the abductor left no fingerprints anywhere
2. all the alarms on all the doors were somehow disarmed and crushed without triggering them
3. all the cameras were also crushed without making a sound while they were running
4. videotape reveals nothing out of the ordinary until the cameras went offline
5. The only room touched was his son's room on the second floor
6. the abductor left no footprints anywhere in the house or the courtyard
7. the only clue found was a mysterious amulet shaped like a monster's head. (cthulhu)
8. Mr. Ch'ing Shi reported an amulet of the exact same design as missing the very next day
9. the only person capable of doing this is a demon or possibly wizard of some kind
10. Mr. stockwell believes Mr. Ch'ing Shi is a demon of some type
Mr. Stockwell has the amulet in his vault in a sealed plastic bag at the moment. There are no prints on it.
INVESTIGATIONS
when the characters investigate Mr. stockwell they find the following bits of info.
DC20: his assets exceed $100,000,000.00
DC22: his son is adopted and is currently 10 years old
DC25: Mr. stockwel appears to have owned the property for 105 years
DC27: A copy of a birth certificate lists Mr. Stockwell as having been born in the year 1804
DC30: Mr. Stockwell was accused of witchcraft in 1830 by a man named Ch'ing Shi. no evidence was found and charges were dropped.
anyone investigating MR. Ch'ing Shi will find out the following info
DC20: he has no criminal record
DC24: was supposedly hung for devil worship in 1710
DC25: was suspected of tripple homicide in 1802. no proof found.
DC27: suspected of murder again in 1879. No proof found
DC30: he bought his current property in 1907 according to old records
STRANGE DEVELOPMENTS
The next day, 3 dead bodies found in donut shop trash dumpster
all 3 were drained of all their blood with no marks left on the bodies
Mr. Ch'ing Shi claims he was out of town on a buisiness meeting
Mr. Stockwell claims he was at home as his staff can attest to
anyone in town questioned will be reluctant to talk about the two men. getting any info out of anyone is a DC25
some believe them both to be demons, vampires, werewolves or some other type of dark creature summoned up from the ruined temple in thehills outside of town.
no further information can be found until roughly a week after the characters have been in Lupine.
On the seventh day of the investigation the head buttler summons the characters to the main library. Once there he speaks to all of the characters.
"I am sorry to bring you all here under such unpleasant circumstances. I have located the holding place of master Stockwell's son and believe I may know what they are up to. He is to be sacrificed tonight after the sun goes down in the old temple ruins. I have found out that they intend to try to contact and possibly summon up some dark and foul creature. I found some notes in this ancient journal and was able to decipher a little of it. The journal speaks of a ritual of some type when the planets and stars are in place to bring forth something horribly unspeakable. Please go and stop this madness before it is too late. I have to return to my duties now before I am missed."
At this point the buttler walks off to return to his work. The ancient journal is written in an old and outdated english. Reading it will take three hours and cost 1 point of sanity as well as adding 1 to the reader's cthulhu mythos score. The book contains the following spells in it, CALL DEITY, CONTACT DEITY, CREATE GATE.
If Mr. Stockwell is told of this he insists upon joining the characters to recover his son. If he is not informed, he shows up in time for the final battle against his rival at the temple.
FINAL SHOWDOWN
As the characters aproach the temple they are attacked by ten large wolves. HD:2D10+6 (20) INIT:+3 SPEED:60 feet AC:15 AT:bite+5 melee D:1D8+2 SPECIAL:15% chance of lycanthrope FORT:+6(15) REF:+6(15) WILL:+2(11)
upon clearing away all of the normal wolves there is a 15% chance that one of the wolves will be a werewolf under the control of Mr. Ch'ing Shi. If so it will attempt to kill all the party or to drag Mr. stockwell out if he is with the party. If mr. stockwell is with the party, then there will be a 90% chance of at least one were-wolf being present with the wolves. This creature will somehow manage to drag Mr. Stockwell out of the vehicle and into the underbrush where the characters can not follow.
Upon arriving at the temple they are greeted by another small pack of 5 wolves. same stats as above but with no lycanthrope. once these have been dealt with then the characters are free to enter the ruined temple
level one
1. main hall. 10 feet wide, 400 feet long. the double doors are each engraved with an elder symbol. the doors at the ends of the other two smaller hallways each have the same symbols on them.
2. this ruined hallway leads to area 4.
3. this ruined hallway is blocked with debris and origionally led to area 4 as well.
4.This huge room is littered with debris from a long since colpased stone roof and broken stone pillars. when the enter here they are attacked once more by another pack of 6 wolves with the same statistics as above. hidden among the debris strewn area is a set of stairs leading down to the lower level.
level two
1. this large room is full of the skeletal remains of humans. there are however no skulls present. blood stains cover the floor and walls of this place. all seeing this must make a sanity check=0/1
as the characters aproach room two, they can hear chanting in some unknown language. hanging on the wall from a large hook sticking out through the chest is the recently decapitated corpse of a young boy. those seeing this must make a sanity check=0/1.
2. upon entering this room the characters will first see a huge black marble statue depicting great cthulhu. A - H. each of these rooms contains the skeletal remains of a victim with the top of their heads cut off. the walls are spattered with dried blood.
strapped to the altar is David with Mr. Ch'ing Shi standing over him holding a black dagger and chanting something as he repeatedly slashes runes into the boy's body. those seeing this must make a snity check=0/1. a fraction of a second after they enter the room Mr. Stockwell comes running in covered in blood and charges Ch'ing Shi. As he does so he begins to change to a half wolf half man form. as he changes, the characters should make a sanity check upon seeing this=1/1D4+1 the two will fight constantly changing forms as the interupted ceremony causes the temple to begin caving in. sanity check=0/2. the characters have two rounds to free david and get him to safety. the temple colapses and then slowly implodes into a dimensional vortex a round after the characters leave. those seeing this must make a snity check=1/1D6.
CONCLUSION
The characters get paid the full amount regardless of the outcome at the temple. should they have rescued David, he has no memory of the temple. The head buttler will get the characters a bonus of $10,000.00 for saving the boy. He will inform them that David Lupine Stockwell and Mr. Ch'ing Shi both perished in the colapse of the ruined old temple. all that is left is a crater where the temple was at.
THE CURSED TOWN
ARRESTED
The characters are on their way home from their last investigation and end up taking a wrong turn. The wrong turn results in their being pulled over by a sherif from a local small town. The sherif is bored and decides to search the vehicle the characters are in for anything he can possibly find. If anyone has any illegal items he confiscates the items and charges the characters with possesion of illegal goods and any other things he can think of. The characters are arrested and charged with numerous charges depending on what was found. The sheriff will put them in the local jail and tell them that the next judge will be through in about six weeks. No one is allowed to make a single call from any phone in town. anyone with a cell phone will find that there is no signal available.
A NIGHT IN JAIL
Once the sheriff has colected everything from the characters he puts it all in a box on his desk and locks the characters up in a small cell in the next room. the sheriff will log in all their belongings except for their money and credit cards which he will pocket for himself. During the night, an eerie blue light can be seen from under the door leading out of the holding area. This light comes in under the door about two hours after sundown and fades again an hour before sunrise. Anyone making a listen check will hear strange chanting if they succeed at the check. DC21. the chanting sounds like it is coming from outside the jail. it will fade in abut ten minutes and no longer be audible untill an hour before sunrise for another ten minutes.
RELEASED
The characters are released the next morning due to a lack of evidence. It seems that during the night someone broke in and stole all of the evidence that was to be used against the characters.
They are told to stay in town for the next few days until the mess is cleared up. If the deputy is questioned, he only tells they are released due to lack of evidence. If asked further, where the sherif can not hear, he reveals that the evidence was taken under unusual circumstances. The fingerprints left behind match those of one of the characters. He also warns them not to trust sheriff Dean Davis at all.
If asked about the chanting, they are told it is some kind of odd cult that passes by the jail twice daily. they are thought to be harmless by everyone except the sheriff who hates them.
RESEARCH & DISCOVERIES
The only place that has any records on the sheriff that is publicly available is the local library The library is run by a Mrs. Annita Johnson. she is 62 years old, 5' 4" tall, brownish-grey hair, green eyes, and weighs roughly 140. she walks with a cane due to an accident a few years ago. The only available information is on the library computer which has all sorts of news paper articles and magazine articles about the town. The library does not have internet access and has only one public use computer available.
Room one on the library map is the main room where most the books are housed. Room two is the ghost room with the rare manuscript called "ritual of placement". This book contains spells for creating gates through time and space.
The following information can be found in the terminal on the sheriff
DC15: has been serving as sheriff for ten years
DC17: investigated nine years ago for possible theft. no proof found. charges dropped.
DC19: rival oponent for the office of sheriff vanished five years ago under mysterious circumstances
DC20: Sheriff suspended pending investigation into a murder at the jail four years ago. charges dropped when witnessess vanished.
DC22: D.A. killed in gunfight with sheriff three years ago when caught stealing evidence. sheriff cleared of all wrongdoing.
DC23:Local woman injured in accident when hit by sheriffs car due to brake failure. woman comatose six months. no memories of the accident or two weeks prior to it. Woman's name withheld.
DC24: rare occult book found in jail during remodeling 25 years ago and donated to library. Computer shows it as a book called "ritual of placement" and that it is checked in and on the shelves in the occult lore section.
Reading the book will take five hours and cost 2 sanity points, and add 1 to the cthulhu mythos rating. the book contains the following spells. create time gate, and contact deity (yogsototh)
Should the chracters look into the occult lore, they will easily see a sign directing them to a small back room full of occult lore books. all of these books are new age occult and useless except for a book called "ritual of placement". See above for details on book.
Once the characters exit the room with the book, the room vanishes. attempting to check the book out causes the librarian to ask the characters where they got the book from. If told, she tells the characters that the room burned down 20 years ago and was never rebuilt. sanity check 0/1D2
anyone investigating the cult finds the following information
DC15: the cult is called the order of stability
DC17:cult founded 30 years ago by a MR. John Ramstein
DC19:One of the members kicked out of the cult after a mysterious fire that burned down part of the library 20 years ago.
DC20:three members of the cult killed in the fire. bodies found horibly mutilated and burned severely.
DC21:a rare book was stolen from the cult after the fire by someone. kicked out member suspected.
DC22:book stolen by the title of "ritual of ascencion and infinity"
DC23:book suposedly contains spells to make the caster a god
DC24:kicked out member was Dean Davis
The characters can make an apointment to see Mr. Ramstein easily. He has no other apointments the rest of the day and will see the characters.
A PROPOSAL
As the characters prepare to enter the office of Mr. Ramstein, the sheriff shows up and threatens to arrest them on charges of conspiracy to comit arson, murder, and the theft of evidence from an impound yard. He offers to drop all charges, return everything and let the characters go if they will simply plant a small listening device in the office of Mr. John Ramstein so that he can get some idea of what crime the man is planning to commit and how he intends to cover the crime up.
If the characters agree, he gives them a small device he claims is a bug but is in reality a small explosive device with enough power to destroy the office and kill anyone in it. The sheriff will wait ten minutes and then detonate the device.
If the characters refuse to plant the device for him he pulls a gun on the characters and tells them they are under arrest. It is at this point that Mr. Ramstein comes down to see what the disturmance is. He threatens the sheriff with violating the characters civil rights, police brutality, false arrest and false imprisonment of the characters. The sheriff lets them go but manages to slip the device into the pocket of one of the characters before leaving.
MR. JOHN RAMSTEIN
When the characters go inside the building they immediately set off an alarm. The alarm is hooked to a very well concealed explosives detecting device hidden in each external doorway of the building. At this point, the characters have two rounds to find the device and get rid of it before the sheriff detonates it. finding where he put the device is a DC12 task. once found, it can be disposed of quickly by whatever means the characters desire. If they fail to find the device, the bomb goes off killing everyone within 7 feet of it. the sheriff will then ransack the office and find another hidden copy of the book he wanted. two nights later he kills the remainder of the cult in a ritual sacrifice and becomes transformed into an outer god.
If the device is is disposed of somehow, then Mr. Ramstein must be reassured that the characters had nothing to do with the device. if they tell him what the sheriff was trying to get them to do, then the DC is lowered 5 points. persuasion DC:18 (13). If they are believed, he agrees to talk to them, but not at his offices. He insted offers to meet the characters at an old church on the outskirts of town where he can explain things better to the characters. He also warns them to try to lay low and avoid the sheriff. The meeting is set for 10 PM.
THE MEETING
THe time for the meeting arrives and the characters will arrive only to find that the church is the scene of a massive slaughter. upon opening the doors of the church the characters find the remains of the cult members all dismembered and thrown about the place. sanity check: 1/1D4. A search of the room reveals the following things.
DC13: the leader of the cult is not present
DC15: bloody footprints lead out through the back door
DC17: a strange symbol engraved on all the doors and windows is scratched almost beyond recognition
a few minute after the characters arrive they hear sirens come from ooutside as the sheriff's deputies arrive due to an anonymous phone call. The characters should be allowed to sneak out the backdoor a few moments before the law comes in the place. The bloody footprints lead to the sheriffs department. following the tracks is a DC:18 task.
SHERIFF'S OFFICE
When the characters arrive here they will find the front glass door is shattered and a blood trail leads into the now darkened sherrifs office. All the lights have been busted out and destroyed office furniture is all over the area.
1. the entryway door is smashed with bloody footprints leading into the darkened remains of the office.
2. this rea was origionally used for day to day work and processing of those coming in and out of the jail. it is littered now with busted up furniture and spent bullet and shotgun casings.
3.storage room. in this room are the mangled remains of two sheriffs deputies who have had their chests blown open by a shotgun. all the furnishings within this room are shattered and littered with bullets. the door to the room has been ripped half off its hinges.
4.this room has the door completely destroyed and left in splinters. the shattered remains of two more deputies can be found as well in this room. each one has had his heart ripped out by something. sanity check=0/1 A secret trap door in the far corner of the room in the floor leads down to a long unused and forgotten catacombs. finding this trapdoor is a DC21 task.
5.this hallway leads to the two large holding cells that are now empty.
6.this room is used as a holding cell for prisoners and is empty.
7.the door to this cell is ripped off its hinges from the inside. there is no signs of any other activity in here.
LEVEL TWO
1.a set of stone stairs leading upwards 50 feet to the floor hatch in room four are the only thing here. the door leading out of this room is shut but not locked.
SECRET DOOR:finding the secret door is a DC20 task
2.blocked passage way full of stone and other debris.
3.this oddly shaped room contains an altar and an area of the stone floor with an elder symbol inscribed in the stone on the floor. When the characters arrive they find the sherrif has Mr. Ramstein chained naked to the altar with onscure symbols painted in blood all over his body. The sheriff is garded by a a pair of animated corpses who happen to be dead remains of his deputies he sacrificed earlier. pg.158. each one is wearing body armor of some type which thus raises their AC by 5 points. since they are still very fresh, they also do an extra 1D3 points damage per attack and have an addtional +1 to hit. once the characters have finished off the corpses, the sheriff leans over and cuts the throat of MR. Ramstein. This triggers a spell which causes all within the room except for the sheriff to make a fortitude check DC26. those who fail become violently ill and dis oriented for 2-10 rounds. all the characters are sure the room is constantly changing shape and form as well as gravity level. sanity check=0/1 Those making their save do not become ill, but are distracted and disoriented enough to not be able to reach the sherrif in time to stop him from opening the gateway at the end of the room beyond the altar. As the first monsterous creature begins to come through the portal, the thing is met with a shotgun blast that blows it apart. sanity check=1/1D3 The sherrif is next to meet a blast from the shotgun as the double of one of the characters comes into the room. sanity check=1/1D3 duble for the character whos double it is. The double pulls out a small stone with an elder symbol engraved on it while chanting a counterspell. the stone allows the man to keep the portal from fully opening for another round while the characters try to recover. he yells at the characters to get out and run for the surface as he fires off another round while charging the portal with an elder symbol in hand. The last the characters see of this person is when he dives into the portal to destroy it. sanity check=1D4/2D8. the whole place begins to cave in at this pint and the pc's have four rounds to reach the surface before it vanishes. along with anyone trapped in the catacombs when they go.
as the characters come running out of the office they are all blinded by a bright blue flash of light and knocked out cold.
WRAP UP
when the characters awaken, they find themselves laying in a dirt field full of weeds and other various debris. the belongings of the characters are all returned and in their car which they are found laying next to. they are awakened by a friendly highway patrol officer who asks if they are allright. he asks why they are laying in the dirt next to their car. if the characters try to explain he does not believe them. he tells them that the town they speak of vanished mysteriously in 1953. inside the car is a journal left behind by the double of the character. in his log the characters find out that where he came from, the sheriff succeeded and the world was overun by the monsters. He came back through a one way gate to stop this from happening and to thus save the future. sanity check=0/1.
TALES FROM THE DEPTHS OF LIMBO
DARK THOUGHTS OF PAIN AND SUFFERING
GAMES PLAYED IN LIMBO
FONTS USED IN LIMBO
