The Secret of Black Rock

a scenario for Call of Cthulhu by Christian Conkle
e-mail: conkle@mecha.com
http://www.mecha.com/~conkle
(Time= August, 1922. Place= Arkham, Massachussetts.)

Scenario: The Investigators are notified by the Post Office that a package has arrived for them. The package is the living head of a Brother of the Yellow Sign who was sent as a warning and as a telepathic spy. After delivering his message of warning, he mutates into a spider-legged horror and attacks them all. The package is postmarked Bitter Creek, Oklahoma, leading the investigators to a group of cultists with ties to Yig, Hastur, and the mysterious land of Kn'Yan!

Event 1: The Package. The Investigators receive a note from the Post Office informing them of a package that was too large to deliver. It is postmarked Bitter Creek, Oklahoma and is about the size of a bowling ball and weighs about 15 pounds. Once opened, the investigators are suprised to see a human head! (0/1d3 San) After a moment, the head's eyes open and it begins to speak! (0/1d6 San)

"Beware, Students of Darkness! Death is a merciful fate for what awaits you should you continue your studies into the shadow world. Invisible eyes are upon you even now! Those-who-are-without are waiting to devour you body and soul! Be warned! Turn Back! That is not dead which can eternal lie- for o'er strange eons even death may die! Ia! Ia! Hastur! Hastur! Hastur! Ia! Ia! Yig! Yig! Yig!" He proceeds to sprout spidery legs and fangs and attacks all of the investigators!

Head of Hastur

description: a Human head with spidery legs and fangs
Str= 5, Con=6, Siz=3, Int=14, Pow=18, Dex=17, App=2, Edu=16, Mov=16, HP=4
Bite at 60% for 1d10-1d6 Damage and has 1 pt. Armor skin.

The battle should be under chairs and tables and behind doors as it hides and leaps out to attack.

Should the investigators wish to determine the source of this threat, they will find the address to Bitter Creek on the package. (you may, as a Keeper, wish to make them roll some Library Use skills or Geography skills to find the small town which is on few maps. A successful Geography or Geology roll may remind the investigator that there is an unusual geological formation near there called Black Rock, Archeaology or Anthropology will reveal that Black Rock was the site of ancient Indian worship, a successful Occult roll will reveal that Black Rock is a mystic place and a source of magical power. Do whatever it takes to get the name of Black Rock to the players.)

Event 2: The Journey. The weather is blistering! All trip, it's been unbearably hot. They investigators can take a train to Oklahoma City but they'll have to auto to Bitter Creek, a perilous journey over the parched plains on a lonely dirt road. Within 100 miles of Bitter Creek, the car begins to overheat (every 10 miles there is a 1 in 10 chance of the car dying, requiring a Mechanical Repair roll to get it going again, however, there is a 2 in 10 chance every 5 miles of another problem). If the car dies beyone repair, the investigators must walk the remaining distance (and use survival skills if necessary).

Bitter Creek is a veritable ghost town that boomed during the land rush of the 1880's and 90's. Now the population has dwindled to about 70, but still large enough to keep the general store and filling station open, along with a Post Office and an old run-down hotel. The town is near a reservation so there are plenty of Indians milling about.

Any inqueries into Black Rock among the townsfolk will elicit several responses:

General Store Owner, Jim Wilson- "I knows where Black Rock is, Injuns says it's haunted. Never been there myself."
Hotel Owner, Kristina Jenkins- "My daddy took me there as a little girl. I thought it was creepy. Never went back. Couldn't find it anymore anyways."
Postman, Joe Troche- "I believe there's an old store near Black Rock that also once served as a Masonic lodge. It's supposed to service the reservation, but most Indians don't go there."
Indian Shaman, Tom Lights-the-Fire- "Black Rock is home to many spirits. It is said, that many seasons ago, the Earth Spirits who live ain Black Rock came to the people of the Bahota tribe. The spirits taught the Bahota to speak to serpents, and to other spirits. The Bahota used their spirit friends to kill their enemies, and bring prosperity to their tribe. The spirits, however, were not without their own motives. the Earth Spirits used the Bahota to fight their own enemies, the Sky-Devils.
"The Sky-Devils lived far to the east, over the Great River and in the Highlands, the wall-that-hides-the-sun. The tribes of that land worshipped the Sky-Devils and did their bidding. The Earth Spirits made the Bahota the enemies of those tribes, leading great war parties to the rising sun to fight those tribes. The Bahota would kill those tribes, but the Sky-Devils were clever, they would go to other tribes. The Bahota were eventually all killed, leaving no one to work for the Earth Spirits. That is why no one goes near Black Rock. the Earth Spirits need allies to fight the Sky-Devils, and no one easily says no to the forked tongue of serpents. No ones to be like the Bahota. If you don't believe my story, ask the Bahota, they will tell you..."

If the car was abandoned, the investigators can catch a ride from Wilson, who is a mmechanic, back to the car so he can fix it. That could take 1 to 6 hours, or they can purchase horses:

$600 for an adequate horse.
$300 for an old horse.
$150 for a mule.
$50 for a burro.
or rent them for $2 a day leaving the car as collateral.

They can also try to get a ride from Wilson, who owns the only automobile in town, to the Black Rock General Store. He is reluctant to leave his ffilling station, however, and will leave as soon as they are there.

The investigators should take lots of water as it is 110 degrees outside. If they don't, then they will dehydrate (losing 1d4 hit points per day).

Event 3: Black Rock General Store. The Black Rock General Store is a decrepit old building with a filling station and a masonic lodge. There are three indians loitering out in front of the building. They look suspiciously at any strangers. Inside, the old wooden store smells of rotting food and stale bread. The shelves are, for the most part, bare. Indian curiousities lie scattered behind the front counter. A guant old man with deep, sunken eyes seems to observe the investigators for a moment. He is a dusty old Okie with a bald leathery head and face.

"Kin I help ya'll?" will be his eventual greeting, other than that, the ancient jerky of a man is very reticent with his dialogue. He will, of course, sell anything he has that the investigator's need. He knows little of Black Rock (a Psychology roll will reveal he is lying, but if prodded he will respond with a "Ya'll better git, now.").

The Indians in front of the store will tell the investigators of a group of outcasts that dwell in the shadow of the rock, which is 10 miles away. The investigators may attempt to trek the way themselves (making navigation rolls) or hire one of the Indians as a guide. One will reluctantly go if paid enough.

Event 4: Black Rock. Black Rock is a large geologic formation formed from an upheaval of black granite. It rises nearly 300 feet from the surrounding plain. A stark monolith in a bleak location.

The area surrounding Black Rock is an archaeological treasure trove. There are arrowheads, pottery shards, bones, small figurines of serpents, but no living people.

It is getting late and the Indian says it would be a good idea to set up camp and investigate in the morning, they should camp a distance away as the Indian guide, if any, will be wary of being so close to the monolith. If the investigators insist on turning back, their car should break down again, or their horses are frightened by a strange sound. (the characters SHOULD spend the night near Black Rock).

That night, a strange sound echoes around Black Rock, the same sound that frightened off the horses, perhaps. There is no apparent source for the sound other than the wind. The investigators should realize this and settle back down.

Sometime in the middle of the night, all of the investigators fall alseep, even ones on watch. One should awaken to find about a dozen or so Indians standing around the capsite. They are painted in strange and archaic glyphs representing serpents and Earth Spirits. They all have old rifles, but are otherwise naked. The other investigators awaken to find the same thing.

Once all of the investigators are awake, the Indians pick them up by the arms and carry them off into the darkness...

After a short trip in total darkness, the group rounds a pile of rocks and enter what appears to be a large cave illuminated by a large lamb emitting an eerie bluish white glow. The investigators don't remember entering a cave nor were there any such caves evident on Black Rock, yet the stone here is the same black granite as that of the hoary stone sentinel. The walls of the cave are covered in the same glyphs and paintings that adorn the Indians.

Near the lamp is a short, pale man in a U.S. Army uniform. He speaks to the Indians in an unknown language. The Indians put the investigators in a corner of the cave and rub some kind of dye on the faces. The dye is an anaesthetic that numb them. The investigators flop to the ground.

The Indians then bring in someone else from around the corner, Doreen McCulloch, and elderly woman who seems frightened and confused (see Hunter Out of Time, for more on her). The man in the army uniform directs the Indians to take her over to the column on the other side of the cave and tie her up..

Doreen is tied to the column as the man approaches her. He speaks in a different yet equally alien tongue (if the players have played The Hunter Out of Time, they may make an Idea roll to recall this as the language the possessed character was gibbering after the Tindalos experiment). McCulloch looks suprised then angry. She shouts back in the same language very angrily.

The army man responds sternly yet calmly (Psychology rolls discern this dialogue as an interrogation). He moves over to some rockes to retrieve something and returns with a gruesome instrument used mainly by morticians to perform autopsies. He approaches Doreen, whose expression has turned from anger to terror. She looks at the investigators and shouts, in English:

"Never tell them what you know! Your deaths will save your world! Keep your secret from damning the universe! he is not of your world! Gauss was misguided, by this one is EVIL!"

At that the army man grabs her by her mouth and begins to gut her. His hand muffles her cries of pain as she struggles vainly against her incalculable agony. Her viscera slides through the clean cut and dangles around her legs and feet. Blood splatters the ground around the column like rain off a gutter. The army man takes the sharp end of the instrument and draws it across her forhead. He peels her brow down over her violently rolling eyes. He motions for the Indian with the anaesthetic to apply some to her face. She slumps in her ropes and he removes his hand. He questions her again, she is whimpering but is no longer in agony (0/1D8 San)

The Army man speaks to her again, this time in an undiscernably accented English. "The effect of the clay is temporary. The Pain shall return. Now, we have shown mercy by not killing the interlopers. We only wish the information you guard. Tell us, and these blunderers will be spared your agony. Tell us, and we will ease the pain. This pitiable shell is fragile, isn't it? Cooperate with us and you may someday return to your sturdy body. Imagine what that insect of a mine is doing in your brain. You must miss it horribly. Now, please, I don't enjoy doing this. We only want you to answer our questions. Speak to us, or we shall have to kill you and scrounge the minds of these pitiful sheep for what scraps of usless knowledge they possess."

Dorreen replies spitefully, "QUONTAS MI-GO LLAGYAS QUYTON! MI-GO FARENDI! SETH-APAS! BURUNDI! AKIN BALACHANDRAN HAFIZ MI-GO!" She then tries to swallow her tongue (Con vs. Army man's Str as he tries to dig her tongue back out) Eventually, after some struggling, she either suffocates or the army man cuts her throat in frustration.

He turns to the investigators and says, "Well, I'm sorry. That pathetic Yithian was characteristically reticent. I'm afraid I'm going to have to glean what pitiful scraps of knowledge I can scrape from your twisted misguided little minds. Now please, hold still, this shouldn't hurt for long..."

The investigators should be nervous (have them make Luck checks) The army man moves closer, picking an investigator at random (largest luck failure) to begin with. The Indians pick the investigator up and tie them to the column from where Doreen has just been removed.

The army man stands still, then begins to concentrate. The investigator beng interrogated is suddenly the host of two minds in the same brain (0/1d4 San). The pain is intense (Con roll x2 to remain conscious). After heis done, he instructs the Indians to remove the investigator and replace them with another. Before he can begin on the second, an explosion sends rocks and dust flying from the entrance. The Mi-Go (the Sky-Devils) are attacking.

"Pnglui! Pthagn! Dorzai!" Shouts the army man, "You surface-dwelling Devils, you have led them to us! Now you will see! Now you will see who is the TRUE evil! It was not us who sent you the package, it was THEM! They wanted you to find us, to lead them to us! You FOOLS!"

A Mi-Go enters, brandishing a driftwood-shaped metal weapon (0/1d6 San). It uses it on an Indian, projecting a beam of heat, incinerating the native. Other Indians open fire with their rifles and a battle ensues.

(3 Mi-Go vs. 7 Indians armed with Rifles)

During the battle, the investigators regain mobility and may pick up the dropped rifles of fallen Indians to fight whatever side they pick. The Mi-Go shouldn't be much of a problem however. If they side with the Indians and kill the Mi-Go then they gain the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign as potential allies and may even be asked to join. If they help the Mi-Go destroy the cult, the Army man will de-materialize with Doreen and travel through solid rock back to Kn'Yan. If there are any surviving Mi-go, they will ignore the investigators and leave when their job is done. If the investigators do nothing, then the winning side will attack them.

Once the battle is over, the investigators will find that they were mysteriously inside of Black Rock and that the Mi-Go apparently blasted their way inside through solid rock. The Indians apparently had the ability to PASS THROUGH SOLID STONE!

If they pick a side and survive, they receive +1d6 San.
If they don't pick a side and survive, they recive +1d10 San.
Continued in Mystery From the Depths!