GM: Sam Tillis
Players: Adrienne Mueller, Dylan Arena, James Lawton, Sean Nittner, Sarah Terman, Matthew Fisher
System: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition
WHAT. THE. FUCK. Okay, Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis, how did you ever expect anyone to escape (let alone prevail against) the Black Wind? Like, I’ve heard of some many other groups playing this campaign and I’m just floored that more of them did just end right here.
Spoilers. We made it. Most of us did. But my goodness I still don’t really know how. Amazing session, but one I had not so much nightmares as just very strange dreams about afterwards.
Recap
We summarized the activities of last session started making plan for getting to Mt. Satima before the ritual. Sam reminded us that we had 3.5 very important items: Nodin’s Bone Spear, Sword of Dreaming, Bundari’s wisk, and Catherine’s Yith Artifact Mark 2.
Three days till doom
We had experienced time in hundreds of different ways with such vagaries that only a yith could understand. Through devices, heartbeats, days, dreams, and more. But now time was measured in conventional manner, following the position of the moon. It told us we had precious time left.
Mechanically, Sam divided the days into three hours watches represented to tokens that were white (daytime), black (night), and red (dusk and dawn). We started two tokens into the 21st and the ritual would be performed on the 23rd, presumably at midnight.
Weather: Scorching Hot (fun times).
Despite our guide Wachiru’s advice to travel by foot along the east side the mountain and set out immediately, we elected to take tomorrows train, get off slightly closer, and hike in from there. That gave us a day to wrap up our affairs in Nairobi and suited Lady Morseley’s tastes.
Colby and Jimmy
Jimmy was awake now, if not lucid. He would need a lot more care, but at least he could say a few words to Colby before we picked him up in the hospital (Colby that is, Jimmy wasn’t going anywhere).
“It doesn’t look good my friend. I feel bad. I want to keep driving for you. I want to keep helping, but I don’t think I can.”
“Your job right now is to recover. I’ve played rugby with people who get injured and try to come back onto the field too so, only to get injured again. Right now you just need to rest.”
“I’m worried about you. You’re going to some place dangerous and I can’t help.”
Colby comforted him “There’s no roads where we’re going. We’ll be okay for a little while without you.”
“And if you’re not, how long should I wait?”
Colby assured him we’d leave word with Johnstone Kenyatta, and that he’d check up on him as well.
Support for the Kikuyu
Catherine picked up her dress at the tailors and at her request, the tailor had added green and black to the red she provided in the style of the Pan-African flag that had just been created in 1921 by Marcus Garvey. Was she as silly white lady wearing a flag she did not understand? Absolutely. Was she also trying to show her support for Kikuyan independence and the right to self-rule. Yes, that as s well.
His Kings Royal Lions
Knowing that Catherine was under investigation for the fires, it seemed prudent that she not walk right into the lion’s den (pun very much intended) to recruit the riflemen, so Evangeline went in her stead. She talked with Captain Cleveland (knowing Montgomery had a nasty disposition) to request his aid. “The people who left this town earlier, the Hungarians, the Americans, and others. They are part of a treasonous plot against the crown. You must help me defeat them!”
Cleveland laughed “You want me to shoot the tourists?” The bantered back and forth for some time before Evangeline could get him to take her seriously. “Fine, if this really is that dire, you should talk to the undersecretary.”
“We both know that he will not help. He has abandoned his people!” Those were fighting words! She showed him the photos Francois took of the people in Mombasa, the same that were seen departing from Hampton House. It was not that she incited bravery or pride in him, but doubt. A lingering fear that maybe she was telling the truth, and if so, inaction could look bad for him.
“Fine. Fine. Fine. We can spare a dozen rifleman. But please understand this is merely a scouting expedition. They are going to find out if you are telling the truth. And if you’re not, I shall be writing letters myself!”
[We made a luck roll and failed, which meant Sgt. Bumption would be coming along. It’s nice to have him there, but also Catherine really didn’t want him to die.]
Finding a Nail in a Haystack
Catherine and Colby avoided patrols and stealthily made their way to the Loyal Defender public house where we predictably found “Nails” Nelson. After a few drinks were proffered he told us what he found. Taan Kaur left her home tea warehouse last night with several men wearing red bandanas. He did not see where they came from however (he had watched for several hours and they didn’t enter). She left a lit candle behind, which is strange given all the fires that have happened of late.
We decided to investigate immediately. Colby pounded the remaining beer, encouraged Nails to finish off the one he was drinking and said “Let’s go.”
As we walked Colby confirmed that Nails was also up “doing” as well as “observing” so we stopped at Nelson’s lodgings so he could pick up a few “supplied”. He first grabbed some knives, and then after some back and forth, a shotgun.
Lincoln Library
Amos and Iris would be amiss if they didn’t explore every library in our path. They paid a nominal fee and were admitted to the house that held books. It was not anywhere near the scale of grand libraries they had visited before, but it did have back issues of the Nairobi star, local maps, and legends. [Extreme success on library use]. The focused their research on traveling through the mountains on the way to Mt. Satima. They found records of folks who approached, but none who returned. In partcular the challenges documented first by maps and then by legends were:
- Steep cliff along the west
- The Black Wind howls from Mt. Satima and brings ill fortune with it, turning brother against brother.
- There are no villages nearby, the locals know the stay away.
- The local wildlife is verdant. Leopards, snakes, moneys, and other threats.
Taan Kaur’s Teahouse
Colby, Catherine, and Nails made their way into the India district of town. The buildings were made of clapboard frames and tin roofs assembled from flattened cans. The teahouse had a padlock on a front door and another entrance from the ally. Colby looked in and saw the candle flame flickering inside. Catherine, with Colby and Nails providing cover, picked the lock, but not without making sufficient noise to alert the guardian inside [Failed the roll, but opened the lock just the same. Nothing could go wrong].
We entered the small shop and saw it stuffed with boxes of tea, a small counter for sales, a ledger (which we regrettably did not pickup), a hallway to the back, but no flame, and no pails of sand to put out fires. Colby pointed out the absence of the firefighting tools and told Nails that if there was a fire he should run. Nails had no issue at all with this imperative.
We followed the hallway, opened the door to the outside (so we could escape from it more easily if needed) and then opened the door at the end of the hallway. Behind it was blinding light. An orange creature (the previous flame creatures we saw were blue and red) burst from the door and immediately began to set the building on fire.
Nails ran out, just as he was instructed to do.
Colby went into the room (a bedroom) and gathered blanked to douse the flames.
Catherine, who had her Ythian artifact ready tried to consume the fire, but it moved too fast. “Colby it got past me.” The both coughed on the smoke they were inhaling [3 HP, which would later be very relevant to Catherine with her 9 total hit points].
The flame made it to the front of the building where tea all erupted like an inferno. This building would quickly be burned to the ground.
Colby spotted a trap door in the bedroom so they both ran down the steps beneath it to avoid the fires and hopefully find a way out. Below we found:
- A pillar with manacles, that looked like it was used for torture, sacrifice, or both.
- A 4′ tall stone statue of a four-armed, three-tenacled creature we would later realize was the called the Small Crawler.
- Behind the pillar, an archway in the wall made of symbols that tried to defy perception. Much like that we found in Cairo.
- An alter with an image it of the small crawler as well
- A cabinet that contained:
- A meat cleaver with a handle made of twisted wood, also inscribed with the image of the Small Cralwer
- A yellow silk robe with a detailed print of the Small Crawler on the back.
- 12 incense cones
- A mason jar with dark liquid and some lump of vegetable matter resting at the bottom.
Colby bundled the items from the cabinet into the bedding he had gathered. Catherine inspected the archway, and might have tried to open it, but the orange flame appeared above. This time moving slowly, cautiously towards us. Catherine had her device ready and this time the creature could not evade it. The device siphoned away the flames until there was only a nine-legged entity left behind, which could not exist in this reality without the fire, and so it expired.
Afraid the building would collapse on us, we fled and choked on more smoke on the way out. [2 HP, but Colby was able to help Catherine with first aid, by offering water to sooth her burning throat].
Reuniting
When we had gathered again, Amos exampled the artifacts we discovered, identified that the seven limed creature was the Small Crawler and was likely one of the faces of Nyarlathotep that was predominantly found in India, and more importantly that it was distinct from the fiery creatures, which were most likely the servitors from another god bound by some item into service. On load if you will.
“Tonight is the time of greatness, when our lord sends us his chosen seed! Tonight comes the dread child and its terror to confirm us! Nyar shthan, Nyar gashanna! Nyar shthan, Nyar gashanna!”
We hired a car and drove to Endicott’s Lodge with the sun setting behind us.
Endicott’s Lodge
It was dark by the time we arrived and when Silent Joe saw us outside the gate, he wasn’t particularly quick to let us in. We asked him if he could help us, but he only shrugged, continuing to feign muteness.
Colonel Endicott was dressed in his night clothes, a bit drunk, and quite surprised to see us. “You… returned? People so rarely return.”
Catherine greeted him jovially and asked to about the nighttime hunts that had gone awry.
“People sometimes go to the viewing platform at night. They make their way into the darkness, but the don’t return.”
We assured him that we were going to find whatever was out there and stop it. As part of our preparations Francois too a few practice throws with the spear and it was comical how poorly they went. Missing a tree, flipping end over end, or merely not having the strength needed. Endicott pulled Catherine close and asked “Does he intend to use that?”
She could only say that he had something to prove and that it was important for him to use the spear as a rite of passage. Catherine however did not want to go out in the night with the others. Her cough was wretched and she needed to recuperate. [Hahahahahahahah… keep reading]. She would stay with Endicott and keep him company while they found whatever was out there.
Sipping Brandy
As the other drove out into the night, Catherine and Henry Endicott sipped brandy together. He thanked her and her friends for coming here. She told him “We have two purposes. For Francois to prove himself and to help you. We know that the Carlyle’s lied to you. They could not help you, and even if they could, the never indented to.”
“It’s true that they couldn’t, but also….the could?”
“You really believe that the could have brought your family back?”
The Huters
The braver souls drove out in an open truck with Colby at the wheel. The rest were int he back with their guns ready. The arrived at the viewing platform, some 20′ in the air but Colby noticed the ground was roiled and upturned all around it.
They elected to stay in the truck and wait for whatever it was that was coming for them while still maintaining the chance to get away!
At the Lodge
Without explaining the old man asked “Do you think that she’ll be there?” He seemed to be speaking of his wife, but she could not be sure.
Catherine increasingly felt like Endicott was leaving out very important information that could be of great importance to her friends. “What happened on that night Henry? I is very important that I know.”
“That night! That night. They used me as practice. They said that they could bring her back. But what they brought was something else…”
Silence
The land became silent too quickly. The ground beneath them was still and then it was not. Clattering, chittering creatures emerged from the ground. Their bodies made of shadow and dust and animal bones, but their shapes, those of people. The charged towards the investigators.
Too far to attempt using his spear, Francois shot one right in the nexus of its existence and it shattered into bits and bones. Colby let loose with his tommy gun but the bullets could not find their mark. Amos and Evangeline fired their weapons and damaged but did not destroy two of the shambling creatures as they charged towards the truck. Evangeline managed to hold her ground and was not thrown out of the truck by Mrs. Caruthers. “I like this gun!”
In the distance Catherine heard the rapport of gun firing and with greater urgency pressed Endicott to tell her more. He heard the gunshots to and recollected “They wanted power over life and death. Penhew and Huston that is. Carlyle was out of his mind, only keeping it together because he was attended by that foul creature Brady. They performed their ritual and cast their spell from the viewing platform. They just wanted to test their knowledge of ancient magics. They did not care if it worked. The dead rose from the ground and they laughed!”
Catherine’s eyes widened. “Tell me Henry, how did they survive the creatures themselves?”
He laughed again.
Moving
Meanwhile, Colby set the tommy gun down the bench seat and started driving away, heading for the hole that Francois had opened.
Francois took another shot and missed. Amos struck the same creature with his rifle but it seemed to shift as the bullet passed through it. Except for Francois’ expert shot the first time, a single bullet was not well suited to harm these creatures. He reached for his shotgun. Evangeline fired her shotgun and destroyed one of the creatures while Anaïs and Winston reloaded Mrs. Caruthers.
Nine more of them erupted from all over. Colby ran over one on accident and the trucks gas tank was ruptured. They were now leaking gas!
Catherine pressed again “How did they protect themselves.”
“Oh, they made some hand gestures and ushered them forth to their enemies.”
“Henry, you must show me the gestures.”
“You expect me to remember somethign from five years ago on the worst night of my life?”
“In order to protect my friends, you must!”
A fire lit inside him and he grabbed Caterhine “Come, we must go help them!”
Silent Joe gave her a look that indicated she was very foolish to follow Endicott but she would not be dissuaded. She asked if Silent Joe would aid them, but he began packing his bags. He would look for employment elsewhere.
Understanding
Francois took a moment to study the creatures. He knew stories of sorcerers raising the dead. This looked like a failed attempt at that. These were revenants. Botched attempts at life. The ones destroyed would only rise again the following night.
Amos and Evangeline blasted away with their shotguns blowing the closest ones to bits and chunks. Seeing them up close, Evangeline was shaken, but that only drove her to more violence “Colby, why are you slowing down. We need them to get closer!” This yelling was was quite unbecoming of a lady!
Endicott was driving out there at full speed with Catarrhine at his side. “That’s her. I see her. I must go to her.” He looked fatalistic.
“No Henry. It’s not yours to choose your time.”
“Do you believe that? Do you truly believe?”
Catherine thought for a moment. “Yes. Henry, I do. I do!” [I wrote “It’s not yours to choose your time” under my Ideology and Beliefs.
Moved to some degree of self preservation, Endicott pulled his truck in front of the escaping vehicle Colby was driving and jumped out. He tried to remember the gestures that the Penhew and Huston had made but he could not. The Revenants advanced!
More shots fired. More revenants destroyed, but still more coming. Francois hurled his spear but it did not find it’s mark.
The Past is the Present
Catherine scooted over to to the drivers seat in the truck and reached out to touch Endicott’s shoulder. She closed her eyes and looked back through time, looked back five years ago to see Penhew and Huston drunk in the lookout. Penhew looks alive and vigorous, enthralled by their endeavors. Huston is weary, concerned. The spell failed and broken creatures rose from the ground, but the wards they used held them at bay.
As she saw this vision so did Endicott and he performed the gestures as he had seen them years ago. The revenants stopped the charge and stood unmoving, like soldiers at attention.
Francois recovered his spear and thrust it through the one that Endicott believed was his wife Sarah. [Success on a Power roll]. The bones and dust fell to the dust, but the spirit was freed. Francois knew this creature would not rise again. He also knew the consecration of his spear was complete.
He tested the theory and unlike the previous throws that were wobbly and uncertain, now the spear flew true and perfectly struck another.
Endicott had fallen the the ground crying. We eased him back into the truck and Catherine told him “She has been set free” but he could not be eased by her words, at least not in this moment.
Francois destroyed the remaining revenants and felt all their spirits set free. Should we come in a future night, we could release those that remain.
Disturbed
Evangeline wasn’t the only one unsettled by the experience. Anaïs asked Evangeline after the fact “Ma’am, what was that?” but she was brushed by Evangeline “Try not to think of it.”
Francois, who spoke to her in French (much the the annoyance of Evangeline who could not understand them) asked her kindly “Do you really want to know?”
“On the train…those were not just fires. What we just saw, what were they?”
“People who died and could not be received by the grace of God.”
“After what I have seen, I fear I will not find his grace either.”
“It is horrible to know of such things, but now that we know we have a choice to make and I have chosen to fight.”
“Has my lady also made this choice?”
“I do not believe she fully understands what we face.”
“I hope that she never does.” Anaïs was calmed but still so scared.
Evangeline did not like being on the outside of this conversation. We all suspected she was as upset by people forming relationships she does not approve as she is by the world ending.
That night Catherine tucked Endicott into bed and sat with him for a time. In the background we saw Silent Joe unpacking his bags. He would stay a while longer.
Thunder Storms
In the morning the sky split open like a torn canvas as thunder and rain pounded down on us. We met at the train station with our many companions:
- Sgt. Bumption and 11 more of the Kings Royal Lions Rifleman Brigade. Bumption was the only member who was white, the rest were all African locals. Bumption proudly informed Catherine that he volunteered and though she was sad that he would be risking his life and his mind on this expedition, told him she felt safer in his company. He beamed with foolish pride.
- Nail Nelson, quite surprised that Colby and Catherine were still alive.
- Wachiru, our guide sent by Johnstone Kenyatta, was not at all pleased by our increased numbers. They would be hard to keep under control, hard to keep quiet, and hard to keep safe. He agreed to come just the same, someone needed to keep us all alive.
We boarded the train and after a discussion between the conductor and Evangeline (with Bumption at her side), the train made plans to make a brief stop at the tip of Lake Eleminia.
Vignettes on the Train
Catherine and Bumption spoke where they could be seen. Despite Evangeline resting, Catherine was wary of appearing to consort in private with the sergeant. He heard about the fires and was concerned. Even more so now that he heard her coughing from the smoke. Her person of interest status would look even more dubious now.
Catarrhine told him the fire was a trap, set by Taan Kaur (thankfully he didn’t press on the details). “We are going after her and her compatriots.” Bumption said he was ready to arrest any that violated the law. “Unfortunately these people have power beyond us and beyond the law. Your riflemen may have to earn their names.”
Nails and Colby also had a check in to see if we were still on good terms. Colby assured Nails that he did exactly the right thing, but that it was no ordinary fire that erupted and to be prepared for things that cannot be harmed by bullets.
Nails wanted to know why then, were we bringing a regiment of riflemen? “Because there are some things we’ll face that can be hurt by bullets, and they will be more targets for the horrors we face.” Nails didn’t really understand much of Colby’s explanations, but he did understand that last part clearly.
Evangeline asked Wachiru what his concerns were. “They will be hard to conceal.”
Evangeline said she would keep them in order and they would listen to him.
“Do you believe the Black Wind can be shot?”
“I don’t know, but those who call up it can!”
Amos and Wachiru discussed routs and dangers. They comapred maps and discussed staying safe at night. There will be no villages to stop in (no one is foolish enough to live near Mt. Satima) so we’ll either have to keep trekking through the night or camping exposed. Both bad options.
Amos tried to use Bundari’s Whisk to detect evil. It led him like a dowsing rod. Since his library was not present, the only thing it found on the train was Catherine’s device. She got very defensive very quickly “Oh yes, what does the whisk say about my invention? Does it say that it evil? Does the whisk feel concerned? Does the whisk need to be comforted or consoled?” She was not her best self in that moment.
Colby and Nails continued to strategize about combat effectiveness. “We can hurt the things that can be hurt by bullets, but Amos, Francois, and Catherine have weapons to they can use the things that cannot be harmed in normal ways. It is our job to protect them and support them so they can do what is needed.”
Amos and Francois spoke of the spear. Francois wanted to convey something to Amos but did not have the words “I want to describe what the connection to Nodins is like, but this may make it more real” and he handed Amos the spear. Just then thunder peeled outside.
Amos reminded him of the ritual of sacrifice they would need to do to get further aid from the Lord of the Abyss. Francois did not want to think about it. “That would take two hours to perform, two hours we almost certainly do not have right now.”
Seeing that Francois was upset Colby offered this cosolation. “In farming, when an animal if harvested and changed from a living creature to meat, it can be awful, but it can also been seen as a necessary mechanism. Not pleasant, but bearable.”
Francois however was not sure “But for this ritual to be performed what is needed is not a killing, but a murder. I believe I need to intend to sacrifice someone to appease the god.
Colby nodded and shared a quote “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”
Hypatia Masters
Before the train arrived, Catherine gathered everyone to discuss the matter of Hypatia Masters. She learned that Old Bundari said must kill the thing growing inside her, but Catherine could not abide her murder if she was a victim.
“She may have been coerced into this. If so she is as much a victim as any of the others killed by the cult. We may not have a choice in the matter when we arrive, but when we do, I would ask that we try to save her if we can.”
Colby confirmed that she harbors some alien parasite an that she is not the target.
Francois asked if Catherine thought we should do surgery to extract the creature, and she looked to Iris, who said she could try.
Amos brought up that if this thing has been growing in her for five years, there may not be any of “her” left to help.
Francois lamented that he has also been thinking about making the choice to take a life intentionally and it does not sit well with him either.
Travel in Foot
As we disembarked [hex 4.4] the rain was pouring down on us all. We looked like quite the motely crew.
- Evangeline traveled on mule, guided by Nails.
- The riflemen, besides Bumption, all gave Evangeline a wide berth, but the followed her command when she told them to do everything Wachiru says.
- Amos talked to the rifleman to warn them about fighting the worshipers of the Black Wind. “We know what the Black Wind is, and we smart enough to be afraid of it.”
- When they had gotten along a bit, Catherine asked Wachiru about Johnstone Kenyatta and how she could help him and his movement. “He is a good man. Raised by missionaries, he has lived in both worlds and can operate in both of them. He wants Kenya to be free. But this is not the time to talk of matters of state. This is the time to watch out for the dangers around us. When we return, you can be of use.”
Travel during the day [to hex 5.4] was uneventful. We decided to push on into the mountains [6.4] as the sun set and into darkness. It was hard going but worth it. We found a huge diversity of flora and fauna, and if the literal world ending wasn’t upon us, Iris probably would have been very distracted by it all.
Just before the sun set, it pushed through the clouds a final time to reveal a wonder of nature: a beautiful lake with flamingos [rolled a natural wonder and we all got either +1 Luck or +1 Sanity].
In the middle of the night one of the rifleman came to Amos and pointed out a firelight [Hex 7.3] which was strange given all the rain. He reassured Amos that they knew what they were facing.
That night our dreams felt like they were being probed by some outside force. In all likelyhood M’weru but we could not know for sure.
Day of the Ritual
The next day greeted us with heavy rain [yay for getting all the extreme whether conditions on the chart]. We made it further up the mountain [hex 7.3] and found where the fire was, but saw no signs of the travelers who lit it.
Iris heard a sound of someone crying in the distance. An adult human voice wimpering.
Expecting a trap, Colby and two of the riflemen moved carefully to inspect. They found a man bound to a tree. His arm was horribly swollen. In Kikuyu the riflemen translated what the man was saying “He’s insane! He’s insane.” The found out he was a guide who had been working for an American. Last night the man tied him to a tree and “summoned” a snake that bit him (why his arm was in such bad shape). The the continued on without him, somehow know the way from here.
Colby looked up to see a gun sticking out of a tree. A shot was fired but missed. In the blink of an eye both rifleman shot up into the tree and one landed what should be a lethal blow. A small man fell out of a tree and Colby gave chase.
The man wore a red bandana, had swirling tattoos, but was scrawny and did not look like he should be moving so well after such a grievous blow. Colby recognized him as one of the men from Francois’ pictures.
The man turned and gave Colby a command to drop his weapons and surrender. Colby did no such thing [Yay, power roll!] and instead tackled the man.
The man laughed and said “It doesn’t matter if you kill me.” The timing was apropos because at that moment the rest of us burst through the bushes, Francois through his spear and did just that!
Iris inspected the tied up porter and determined he was bitten by an Eastern Green Mamba. He either needed to be in a hospital (which was not going to happen) or to lose the arm. Evangeline supplied laudanum, Amos cast Earthly Serenity, Catherine held the arm, and Colby cut it off with the cleaver. Quickly Iris stitched him together so he did not bleed out.
But this point one of the riflemen was looking rather green, so we left him behind to take care of the porter until we could return and go with them all back to Nairobi.
When we came back to the American we could see the tattoos gently writhing on his body. Francois thrust the spear into them. It took both a moment and an eternity. A single spear thrust that was also a spiritual battle fought between god through the proxy of mankind and sanctified instruments. In this moment, Nodins prevailed. The mans body burst into a cold flame and the was gone, nothing but ash left behind.
Recolecting
After all of this Amos approached Evangeline. “Lady Morsely, two nights ago, I was impressed by your reaction to the creatures we faced. The were unlike anything we had ever seen but you didn’t flinch.”
“I was not impressed with my behavior. I lost my temper, which I regret.” She seemed, possibly for the first time, unsure of herself.
“Sometimes it is best not to try and understand the things we face, but only to annihilate them.”
She found no fault in the last part of that statement.
Bolstered, Evangeline went on to prepare Winston and Anaïs for more violence. Winston responded like a man who had served the war would. Anaïs responded like someone who had not would. She told Francois she wasn’t sure if she could do this and he reminded her that we must “fight these things, lest we succumb them.”
Lost
Horrifically we lost the trail and didn’t realize it till we spotted the cliffs [6.3]. There as no way to make it to the mountain on time at our current pace. We spoke to Wachiru and agreed that we would drop all of our supplies. Our tents, our climbing gear, our rations, our water, everything except what we could carry upon ourselves without slowing us down and we would have to sprint to make it.
It was a push but all of us managed to carry on. All of us except the 10 remaining riflemen. Amos was able to help one by casting Earthly Serenity on him, and Evangeline barked orders enough that anther picked up his pace, but that was as many as we could get to make it to the top. Catherine felt the time slip away from hours and minutes into heartbeats. She sense that she knew just how many remained before it was too late. She also mentally mapped the movement of the moon in her mind to know exactly where it was [extreme success on cryptography]. She was aligned in syzygy: the mountain, Catherine, the moon.
Valley of Death
Panting, out of breath and exhausted we finally summited the mount and found a valley that was dead of all trees, dead of all animals. And yet, in this moment, filled with life. Hundreds, no thousands of cultists, all with Bloody Tongue bandanas, inverted anchs, or other signs of cult allegiance. Mostly undressed, many chanting or dancing. Among them were various guides, porters, and other hired help, tied up and terrified at the horrors they were witnessing, more afraid of what was to come.
The cultists carried torches which somehow still stayed lit despite the heavy rain. The were all looking up a precipice 100 feet above where M’weru stood in full regalia leading them in chant. This was far, far more than we could have ever expected. We could not kill or stop these people, but maybe we could still get past them to disrupt the ritual. We had to try.
I just had this dress made
We thought about trying to sneak past them but realized that as long as we looked anything like them, we could walk through unmolested. We had a perfect source of blood red fabric, Catherine’s new dress. We cut it up into many pieces so we could all make headbands and fit in (all 14 of us). We were all covered in mud, wet, and carrying deadly weapons. Many of the cultists were naked or nearly so, so Catherine’s undergarments fit right in.
As we traveled among them, Colby pretended to menace some of the captives with his knife but instead was setting them free. Only a few of them would make it, but that was more than none.
M’weru’s chants continued “Tonight is the time of greatness, when our lord sends us his chosen seed! Tonight comes the dread child and its terror to confirm us! Nyar shthan, Nyar gashanna! Nyar shthan, Nyar gashanna!”
As we got closer we could feel the energy building up. We started a fire among some of the supplies but it only added to their fervor. Some were trying to climb up the cliff wall an fell off to their death. Some were clawing at their faces. They were closer and closer to ecstasy and all regard for their lives was diminishing by the second.
At the front of the crowd we saw a woman with a glowing red fire floating beside her. She wore a ring that glowed the same color. That must the be item that binds the power of flames! We believed she was Taan Kaur. She was focusing on the ring to control the flames. Making gestures to stoke the fires and keep the torches lit.
The mass of humanity was approaching the peak of ecstasy.
Three Teams
Colby divided us into teams.
- A Team: Evangeline, Winston, Anaïs, Colby, and Iris would go up the left path to the top.
- B Team: Nails, Bumption and his remaining riflemen, Wachiru to take the right path the top.
- C Team: Amos, Francois, and Catherine to stay at the base and kill Taan Kaur.
The A-Team began their ascent and on their way found Laszlo and Zussana. The recognized us and Colby could not abide by that. He gave Winston his bowie knife, drew Taun Kaur’s butcher knife and they attacked. Even Iris and Anaïs helped with a dagger and sowing needle. Zussana fell quickly, but Laszlo fought back, smashing Colby into the rock face. Eventually however, he was overcome, dropped the ground, and murdered.
The B-Team proceeded on their route uneventfully.
The C-Team approached Taan Kaur. She was fully focused on controlling the flame so they were able to approach her without notice. Catherine watched the pattern of her arm movements and waited till she found the pattern where her arm would be at the perfect angle, then closed her eyes and swung the Sword of Dreaming with all her physical and magical might [Charged with magic points, she did 9 damage a called shot to the arm]. She severed Taan Kaur’s arm and all the lights went out except the creature and her ring.
Francois through Nodin’s spear through the creature, then Amos picked it up from the other side and threw it again, destroying the red ball of fire.
Taun Kaur turned on Francois, who had attacked the creature of flame and set her wrath upon him. He felt himself bursting into flames, but resisted her magic [very important power roll].
Catherine swung the sword again but Taun dodged her blow. She did not, however dodge the point blank shot from Amos’ shotgun.
Cultists were alarmed by the gunshot and the light going out, but M’weru’s chants led them to continue. The darkness would not stop them.
Catherine took the ring from her finger, and as the looked up thunder struck again.
The Bloody Tongue
M’weru called lightning down, thunder crashed, and atop the precipice, the most fearsome aspect of Nyarlathotep appeared, the Bloody Tongue!
[Catherine, Amos, and Francois all thankfully made their sanity checks, this was the next VERY important roll of the game. Because of it they lost 1d10 sanity, instead of 1d100. WHAAAAA?!?!?]
Stone stairs suddenly descended from the precipice and cultists began charging up to it to the Bloody Tongue, which thrashed and devoured them, killing them and tossing them down to their deaths, and yet the kept surging to the temple behind him.
The C-Team pushed their way against the crowd [2 precious HP for Catherine, down to 4] and made it up the path so they could avoid the terrible horror.
Temple of the Bloody Tongue
All three groups convened at the back of the temple to see an orgy of death and chanting inside.
[See all those glass beads? Those were just a FEW of the cultists]. The temple was full of ecstatic cultists, viper pits, flames, and on blue platform the horribly distended figure of what remained of Hypatia Masters and the yellow eyed creature that was nearly ready to erupt from her.
These horrors took their toll. Anaïs was terrified but stayed by Evangeline’s side. Bumption could not carry on, he was paralyzed by the experience. Catherine brushed his sweaty brow and told him he was brave to come this far and to rest. Colby felt defeated, helpless, but he carried on. Catherine gave him the yith artifact so he would have a weapon he could use, hoping it would make him feel powerful again. Nails was down to carrying two knives and was out for blood.
Unrelenting
This could have been, maybe should have been the time we all fled and were grateful to be alive and sane, but we weren’t going to let this horror enter our world.
Iris and Evangeline both found vantage points where they could get a clear shot on Hypatia and where protected by Winston, Wachiru, and the remaining riflemen.
Colby and Nails moved towards M’weru who seemed to be gliding through the throng of cultists, delighted by the chaos and suffering.
Francois, Amos, and Catherine moved together. Francois with the Spear of Nodins, Amos with the Sword of Dreaming, and Catherine with the Ring of Taan Kaur.
Then we began our attack
- Evangeline and Iris shot and landed deadly blow at the creature, which erupted from the living corpse of Hypatia. A horrible, many armed, many legged, many eyed creature. The Spawn of Nyarlathotep!
- Catherine recalled the motions Taan Kaur used and summoned all the flames in to converge on the beast.
- Colby tried to use the Yithian artifact but it simply would not function in his hands. Nails, disappointed, still ran to M’weru but his knives could not penetrate her magical protections.
- More shots files and the creature was slain!
- Francois through the spear into M’weru’s side and Amos swung the Sword of Dreaming but she evaded the blow.
However, after their surprise, M’weru and her culstits had their vengence.
- Cultists swarmed Iris and Evangeline killing all of their protectors, the riflemen, Wachiru, and Winston. When the surged again the would have overtaken both of them, but Catherine was able to draw the flames back to protect Iris. Sadly she could not do the same for Evangeline. [Mechanically I was down to 2 MP and 4 HP and using it would cost 1d6 MP for each of them. God this was a hard decision to make, but Adrienne being ready for Evangeline’s death did ameliorate the sadness].
- M’weru summoned snakes to feast on all those attached the Spear which she had pulled out and held aloft. One would have surely slain Catherine [Down to 2 HP after using the ring again, her eyes the color of smoke] but Amos stepped in the way to take the blow [8 HP, yep, that would have killed her].
In her final words Evangeline cursed Nyarlathotep and his thousand faces, and she cursed M’weru, which somehow caused the high priestess to falter for a moment. That was perhaps what saved all of our lives.
Fleeing for our lives
The ritual was disrupted, the spawn was slain, but we had no chance of defeating M’weru and her thousands of fanatical cultists. Catherine pried the ring from her finger (it did not want to come off) and showed the Francois the gestures to command it. He sheathed us all in flames and we ran from the temple, down the path, and away from the cultists.
Most of us made it but not all. We lost
- Wachiru, defending Iris
- Winston, defending Evangeline
- Two of the King’s Lions, protecting Iris
- Lady Evangeline Morsely, slain by cultists, cursing her enemies in her last breath.
Wow
As I said at the start, I have no idea how we were supposed to prevail in this encounter. In the past we’ve faced a single sorcerer (Misr House doesn’t count as two because we killed Gavigan in a single shot before he could do anything), possibly a servitor (Cairo was TERRIFYING), and as many as 50 cultists. This encountered included
- A fire creature
- Two sorcerers
- The Spawn of Nyarlathotep
- THOUSANDS of cultists
- THE BLOODY TONGUE
I…I…just don’t know what we were supposed to do. Some thoughts. If we had traveled by more conventional paths we probably would have learned about the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of cultists had passed through (though if they came through a gate, maybe we wouldn’t). If we had gotten their earlier we might have done it before Taan Kaur arrived, and certainly before the Bloody Tongue. But also, had we arrived earlier, the people there would have not been nearly so distracted. If the King’s Lions hadn’t failed their constitution check and we had more of them to protect us Evangeline might have made it. Maybe.
There’s a thousand what if…and Catherine could probably agonize over all of them by contacting the Yith…but this was the story we told. I’m glad that Adrienne was okay with Evangeline dying. She did so like her son did, a hero.
More thoughts
This was an incredible game. It was so terrifying (at multiple points) and I left with my mind spinning. I had strange dreams that night.
I think Sam did a spectacular job of conveying that the spawn was not in any sense a “child” and though I’m still not a fan of the adventure’s use of Hypatia as a “vessel” it was very clear that was remained as no longer her and that she, like so many others, had already perished long ago. I’m glad we had the conversation out of character and in character and happy with the actions we took in that terrible moment.
Apart from the BIG moments, this game also had a lot of small moments that really mattered. I loved that we were able to help Endicott some. I know he’s not whole, but hopefully he can finally put his wife and son to rest. I also loved the moments between Francois and Anaïs that really showed the human side of what we were all going through. It was lovely.
Catherine is concerned about Colby. She’s seen him like this before (after the encounter with M’Dari in New York) and hopes that he can regain his confidence.
What next
There’s some things we need to do or at least want to do
- Immediate: Administer first aid and medicine to Amos. He was just bit so the antivenom Iris has should have much greater effect.
- Immediate: Get away from cultists. Regroup with the riflemen and the guide we left behind and home that one-armed (but alive) he can lead us down the mountain.
- Immediate or Short term: Introduce Charles Morsely (Adreinne’s new character), a big game hunter in Africa to the group.
- Short term: Recover the Spear of Nodins and if possible slay M’weru. Catherine is connected to the spear so hopefully she can use precognition to find out where it will be. A truly diabolical thought she has had is that if she can find a moment when M’weru is Dreaming they could ask Old Bundari to occupy her while we visit her in the waking world, take the spear, and her head with it.
- Short term: Free the spirits of the remaining revenants at Endicott’s lodge. And if possible break the curse. Help Henry.
- Short term: Hold a funeral for Evangeline and the other companions we lost.
- Middle term: Help Bumption and the remaining riflemen make sense of what they say and hope that serious governmental action can be taken against the cult (assuming they haven’t all bamf’d away through gates).
- Middle term: Check on Jimmy to make sure he’s getting the care needed, and determine if we can safely move him.
- Middle term: Tell Johnstone Kenyata of Wachiru’s death and see if we can help him or the Kikuyu Central Association.
- Middle term: Get a new new dress for Catherine.
More, yeah, probably, but that seems like that’s a good place to start.
