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Lycan 01
2008-10-21, 01:09 AM
I've decided to keep a diary of my new CoC campaign. I know a lot you enjoy my stories, and I figured this would be a way of entertaining people and showing you what I am capable of making up on my own.

For simplicity sake, I will be leaving out the majority of rolls and mechanics, although certain tweaks and what-not will be pointed out, though not in the body of the entry in order to preserve the "story" effect. (For example, I let a 1 on a Dodge roll also cover a Throw roll involved in the action, and Voorish Sign allowed a cultist to circumvent a small requirement for a spell he needed to do)

Anyway, lets get some background set up.

My group is... interesting. Depending on the day, we have an average of 5 players, though on a good day we have 7. Amazingly, I've managed to piece together ways for some characters to be absent every other session... Anyway, lets get a summary done...

Setting: Arkham, 1920's.

Characters:

Author - Jasper, a paranoid author who now teaches Latin at Miskatonic U (Hurray for character developement! He's survived MONTHS of my sessions!)

Entertainer - Jasper's fiance, the daughter of a local mob boss, and a singer at a popular Speakeasy

Private Eye - Nathan, a grizzled detective who founded a Paranormal Detective Agency with Jasper (Again, hurray for character developement!)


The rest did not make it to the starting session, but here they are anyway...

Winston - a big game hunter who works as a bodyguard for the other PCs (I forgot his occupation, par se...)

Cop - A woman who dresses as a man in order to be a cop - she hopes to one day prove that women are equal to men, at least in law enforcement

Criminal - A carjacker, who serves as the Alt for the Cop. (Both played by my GF, who hasn't decided who she wants to lose to my campaign. :smalltongue:)

There are two other players, but they'll be missing the next few sessions, it seems... Ergo, their characters are not important at the moment. XD


THE STORY THUS FAR

The campaign is starting in early December of 1923. Jasper and Nathan recently stole the Necrinomicon from Miskatonic Univeristy (the story is elsewhere here on the site), only to have it stolen from them by the Cthulhu Cult. They've spent the last few weeks since then studying other tomes they stole, and preparing for whatever is to come - they expect something big.

A few things to know about my players:
-We've only lost 2 characters thus far: Bushido Joe (Samurai - blown in half with a shotgun by his friend when he had a PTSD episode) and Barsidious White (he deepthroated a stalagtite... oddly enough, he killed Bushido Joe, and the stalagtite thing was the fault of Joe's Player's new PC, Winston. Confused yet?)
-They've pissed of Nyalathotep several times. (He finally screwed with Jasper and Nathan in a dream once, and showed them who was boss. Again, the story is on this site)
-Innsmouth is off limits. (Jasper's player Kept once, and he took us there for a session. My PC got lucky with a shotgun he found, and ended up blasting his way through several encounters, which were intended to kill us, out of desperation. Needless to say, going back is a bad idea...)
-New York City is off limits, too. (I moved Dead Man Stomp there, unaware that that session would end with a body count of 23 innocent people... I have banned them from ever going back, due to the ungodly number of warrants for their arrest there.)
-Guns are always present, if possible... or at least, handguns are. (I warn them not to use guns too much, but do they listen? Noooooo... Although, they DO make things easier for them sometimes... Other times, they utterly screw themselves over. Case in point: Dead Man Stomp)
-Magic is catching on. (Three of my players know magic - not much, but it helps... And they're smart about it, too. I guess that makes my job easier... but harder, if they actually start to succeed at stuff...)


Anyway, if you have any questions or comments, go ahead and speak up. The first session was Saturday, but I'm too tired to write it all up. A summary, though, will suffice for now.

Jasper, Nathan, and Jasper's fiance had a dying man stagger into their office with directions to his house. They went there, and got jumped by cultists. Several amazing rolls and bizarre/awesome/hilarious/horrifying moments later, there are about 18 spent bullet casings, 2 dead cultists, and a dead star vampire strewn about the house. Also, the building is on fire. They escape, and read the note the guy wanted them to find, and freak. Apparently, the stars are right, and the leaders of the Cthulhu cult are preparing to do the unthinkable: RELEASE CTHULHU!! Dun dun dun... They quickly boarded a ship to London, and set off to crash the Cultists's party...

I find it funny that they forgot to at least inform the other PCs of their plans before leaving to go save the world. Now I have to work with plot holes! XD

Calinero
2008-10-21, 05:55 AM
Heh....I find it's easier to occasionally just pretend my players did something that makes sense to anyone with a normal IQ, even if they forgot to do it for some reason.

BobVosh
2008-10-21, 06:02 AM
Heh....I find it's easier to occasionally just pretend my players did something that makes sense to anyone with a normal IQ, even if they forgot to do it for some reason.

That is good for most things, but this fits the whole "horror" theme: so terrified about Big C coming out for some tea they rush off to prevent it, not even waiting to tell McFriends.

Oh and how dare you tease us Lycan, I was expection a fairly long write up on the session :P

Hiisi
2008-10-21, 09:54 AM
The world is doomed STOP Come to London fast

PS Please don't call the asylum

Telegrams rule.

Calinero
2008-10-21, 02:08 PM
Hopefully they will learn from this experience. Both to keep other party members informed and not to screw around with the Necronomicron.

I am also looking forward to the first in depth story from this campaign! I plan on starting a similar diary as soon as my campaign gets going.

Lycan 01
2008-10-21, 03:59 PM
Jasper, his fiance, and Nathan were chilling out in their office on Sunday morning, early December of 1923, when suddenly the door opened, and a vagrant stumbled in. The man was drenched in blood, and it was revealed that while one hand clutched a scrap of paper, the other was striving to hold his innards into his gouged belly. The man gasped: "You... have to stop them. You're the only ones... Stop them!" before he a coughing fit resulted in his guts falling out. He collapsed to the ground, dead.

The PCs were unaffected. Having seen and done worse, such a sight wasn't all that horrifying anymore. Taking the paper from his quickly-chilling fingers, they discovered that it read: "16 East Washington Street. Desk Drawer. They are watching."

The fiance quickly found East Washington Street on the map of Arkham, and one quick car trip later the three were walking up to a 2-story white house on a quiet residential street. Without checking around the house, Jasper knocked on the door - it creeked open, as it had not even been shut properly. Drawing his weapon, he stepped inside, only to be tackled by a man robed in black. The man grabbed at the handgun, but Jasper managed to rip it free from the man's grasp. Pushing the man back, Jasper leveled his gun with the man's head and shouted: "WHO ARE YOU?!"

The man simply screamed: "CTHULHU FHTAGN!!" before lunging forward and grabbing Jasper by the shoulders. The man attempted to bite his jugular vein, but Jasper jerked his head to the side just in time to avoid the man's teeth. A gunshot rang out, and the man's eyes went wide as a bullet ripped through his heart and tore out of his back. He stared at Jasper, and slowly slid down his front, leaving a blood trail on the teacher's shirt. As the group stared at the man's corpse and the growing puddle of blood beneath it, a sudden thought crossed Nathan's mind.

"I want to take his robes!" Nathan grinned, sipping away at the bottle of Vodka he'd brought along. He quickly stripped the man of his dark attire, and ran out to the car to put his new robe in the trunk. Meanwhile, Jasper and his fiance overheard the unmistakable sound of Latin being chanted upstairs. Jasper, being a Latin teacher, began to listen in and translate what he heard. And he didn't like what the person upstairs was saying.

"I beseech thee, Mighty Azothoth, give aid to my cause! Nyalathotep, Emissary of the Gods, cloak me in thine protection! Yog-Sothoth, help me in my time of need!" the voice cried out. Jasper paled, and instantly began to forumlate a plan with his fiance and Nathan upon his return.

The three slowly made their way upstairs, and down a short hallway. Jasper entered the door at the end, gun drawn. He found himself standing across from another man robed in black - this man also wore a twisted grin... and his hands were on fire. With a wicked laugh, the man thrust his flaming hands forward, hoping to immolate the poor teacher. However, all he succeeded at was creating a flash of light, as the flames quickly died down before they could reach their target.

(Homebrew spell: Fireball. 10% chance of cast per MP put into it. Sets target on fire.)

Jasper opened fire. However, the flash of light slightly blinded him, so the shot went wild. Nathan panicked, and hurled his vodka bottle. The containter missed, bounced off the desk, and rolled across the floor over to the window beside the cultist. The fiance, however, fired her revolver with perfect precision. The bullet impacted the man's forehead, and his head cocked back from the impact of the projectile. He then leaned his head back down, and flashed an insane grin as the bullet fell away from his face. The Investigators had failed to notice his flesh glittering with an unearthly glow - he was using Flesh Ward.

Having been shot, the cultist decided it was time to fight fire with a meteor, so to speak. He lifted his hands to the sky, and began to make strange gestures as he began to scream in Latin yet again. "Traveller of the stars, drainer of lives, I call unto thee to aid my cause!" Jasper translated. A few seconds later, all the windows in the room exploded into showers of glass, and a whirlwind ripped through the room. The cultist grinned, and Nathan noticed a distortion in the air in front of the window to the direct left of the cultist. He panicked, and fired his revolver twice. Both shots missed. Jasper and his fiance heard strange clicking and growling noises coming from the window, so they fired as well. One of their bullets struck something, because a hideous shriek filled the room.

Jasper suddenly heard and felt a blade-like object slice through the air in front of him, just barely missing his face. Staggering backwards, he fired point blank into whatever was in front of him. Another shriek filled the room - there was something unearthly standing right in front of him, and he couldn't see the darn thing.

The next few minutes were a jumble of gunshots, insane laughter, and uncanny dodge rolls. The cultist simply sat on the desk, enjoying the show, and ignoring the stray bullets impacting his protective shield. But then, two things occured that changed the situation entirely.

Jasper felt something grab onto him, and he suddenly found himself being constricted by tentacle-like limbs all over his body. He then found himself suddenly feeling weak, and realized that whatever was holding him was starting to drain him of his blood. And then, as his blood began to course through its veins, the creature became visible.

Apparently, the sight of a Star Vampire wasn't too much of a shock to the Investigators - they all shrugged it off, and kept on fighting against the thing, which was essentially a floating blob of tentacles and claw-covered hands. Jasper fired a point blank .45 round through the creature, and it's grip began to loosen. He managed to pull himself free, and quickly staggered back away from the beast. His fiance began firing at the beast as well, and managed to land a hit or two.

Nathan, on the other hand, decided to do something crazy. He dove across the room, rolled across the floor, and grabbed his fallen vodka bottle. He hurled it at the distracted cultist's head with one hand, and fired his revolver at the bottle with the other. The bullet missed - the bottle didn't. The thick glass container bounced off the man's face, and flew over the man's head. Seizing his chance, Nathan fired a second shot. Despite all odds, the bullet shattered the container, and luck was on his side. The high proof liquor exploded into flames, and the burning liquid splashed down the cultist's body and seeped into his robes.

(1 on a dodge roll, no throw roll needed due to this and a distance of 10 feet, two handgun rolls, and a Luck roll, plus a little help from the Rule of Cool)

The burning cultist lept to his feet, and let out a horrified scream. He began to flail his arms in terror as the flames ate through his protective spell. Everyone ignored him, of course. They knew he was no longer a problem, so they decided to focus their fire on the Star Vampire. Jasper jerked backwards just in time to avoid the creature's grasp yet again as everyone fire at the beast, and although most of their shots missed, they did manage to blow off one of his claw-covered arms. The cultist ran screaming towards the window, but tripped as he attempted to leap out of it. He fell onto the window sill, and sat there kicking his legs in an attempt to push his flaming person out the window to freedom. The scent of burning flesh told that his Flesh Ward spell was no more...

Nathan just sat there, casually reloading as he watched the man's feet kick insanely beside him. Jasper's fiance began to reload as well, but she only reloaded 3 bullets, saving herself enough time to actually fire off a shot. Jasper himself ran over to a wall, and lured the Star Vampire after him. He got off one shot, and then ducked aside, enjoying the sight of it running into the wall.

Nathan then noticed that the curtains were on fire, just as the cultist managed to push himself out the window. A sudden scream and a loud thud told that he didn't land as well as he'd hoped... Jasper's fiance, realizing that now was her chance, ran over to the desk and began to look through the drawer for whatever they were supposed to find. Jasper himself, having only one bullet left, decided to use it in hope that he wouldn't need to reload.

Lo and behold, the impact of the bullet did a lot of damage. More than intend, actually. The wallpaper behind the Star Vampire suddenly obtained a purple and black splatter pattern, and the creature found itself with a baseball sized exit wound. With one last sputtering shriek, it sank to the floor, twitched, and then ceased to move.

The Investigators looked back and forth at each other... and then realized that the room was on fire. They all ran screaming from the room, and out the front door, noticing the charred remains of the cultist sprawled out in the front yard. They hopped in their car, and quickly drove away, avoiding the attention of several police cars and fire trucks that they passed by.

Upon returning to their office, they buried the dead guy in their back yard, since he had no ID, and they didn't want to deal with the cops. It was then at this point that Jasper's fiance held up a letter she'd found...

In essence, the letter explained who the leaders of the Cthulhu Cult in Arkham were, and that they were currently in Boston. They intended to take the Necrinomicon to London, where the headquarters of the Cult was located. Afterwards... there would be no stopping the rise of Cthulhu, as the stars were already right, and the stage was set.

The three of them promptly packed their things, and headed for Boston the next day... forgetting to tell their friends and comrades against evil what was actually going on. They asked around in Boston, and heard that strange lights and sounds had been reported at a hotel near the docks the night before. The three of them decided to board the only ship leaving that day, hoping that the cultists would be onboard, and that perhaps they could stop them mid-voyage.

However, it was only after the ship was setting sail that they realized that they had not only forgotten to inform the others of what was occuring... but that the ship's passenger manifest lacked the names of the 5 cultists they were seeking. So they sent a telegraph message to the others, and decided to read up on some Tomes they've been working on...


They are now on a 5 day voyage to London, and they will have to wait a day or two after arriving for the others to get there - and the cultists are already there, thanks to the spell Create Gate.




So yes. Quite an interesting first session, I think. Yeah, I know, Star Vampires are supposed to be more resiliant to bullets, but I wrote the session for 5 players, not 3. I had to cut them a break... :smallamused:

So what do you guys think? :smallbiggrin:

DeathBD
2008-10-21, 04:00 PM
I'm glad this is up too. I haven't quite figured out why I like reading stories about the sessions I'm apart of. It could be that you make them really entertaining even though I know what happened, Lycan. Or it's narcissism. Who knows? It's a mystery.


Hopefully they will learn from this experience. Both to keep other party members informed and not to screw around with the Necronomicron.

Hate to say it, but the Necronomicon is what keeps me going. :smallbiggrin: We started out playing DnD before Call of Cthulhu, and my character's motivation for everything was a certain artifact that had been taken from him. Two sessions later: We discover Call of Cthulhu, and I discover that I wasted thirty dollars on a book that I'll probably never use again.

Calinero
2008-10-21, 05:22 PM
Oooh, fighting a star vampire. Very nice. I don't think I've ever been in a game that resulted in a building catching on fire....hopefully, that will change pretty soon. I just need to find some more arsonists to play with. Heh.

Gotta say, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the cultists and Cthulhu. Don't think I've ever seen a game where he was successfully summoned...

Oracle_Hunter
2008-10-21, 09:09 PM
I have enjoyed these posts and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter :smallbiggrin:

Lycan 01
2008-10-21, 10:23 PM
I just posted my only experience of actually playing in the "Your Most Memorable Encounters" thread. If you haven't read of the exploits of Father Gregory, I suggest you do so now.


Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to pull of the next session. Some of my players can't make it again, and the only place we can play at is a friend's house, and my GF can't play there even if adults are present, since her parents are very strict. :smallfrown:

Doomsy
2008-10-22, 04:13 AM
Oooh, fighting a star vampire. Very nice. I don't think I've ever been in a game that resulted in a building catching on fire....hopefully, that will change pretty soon. I just need to find some more arsonists to play with. Heh.

Gotta say, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with the cultists and Cthulhu. Don't think I've ever seen a game where he was successfully summoned...

I have had campaigns where 'burn it down' was such a commonly used option I had to make stone the primary building material.

It only slowed them down a little. Oh, and then there was the time they set ruins on fire. And then a river.

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 02:47 PM
I'm actually banking on my my group burning down/destroying/blowing up most of the settings of this campaign. I would prefer if they didn't, but I've decided to start planning "WTF?!" plans, in case they pull something crazy, like feeding a vampire blood laced with Holy Water, or shooting a Shoggoth with a bullet engraved with Elder Signs.

They've already asked me about the last one, actually... :smalleek:



Also, I think I may make a back-up campaign, for days when only 3-4 players can make it. I might take a leaf from Stoker's book, if you catch my drift. :smallamused: The 1890's get no love, anyway...

Starbuck_II
2008-10-22, 03:41 PM
So yes. Quite an interesting first session, I think. Yeah, I know, Star Vampires are supposed to be more resiliant to bullets, but I wrote the session for 5 players, not 3. I had to cut them a break... :smallamused:

So what do you guys think? :smallbiggrin:

I thought that was pretty awesome... didn't you say they have spells as well?
Did they (the party) just like guns better or were the spells they knew more utility than combat?

If the place didn't burn down they could have took stuff and hocked it at a pawn shop (or look for further clues).

cloneof
2008-10-22, 03:56 PM
Sounds like an awesome session and actually made me think about buying this game. At first wich soundet like a boring horror game turns out to be an awesome RPG game with the hands of players like you Lycan 01.

Nahal
2008-10-22, 04:14 PM
Stuff like this kinda makes me wish I'd checked out CoC. As it is I'm involved in a Demon campaign which is fun but not so much with the insanity (god bless immunity to mind control).

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 04:17 PM
Jasper and Nathan know a bunch, but they aren't all that powerful, compared to other spells. "Attract Fish, Healing, Summon Shark, Elder Sign," and one or two others.

The best spell they know is "Summon Dimensional Shambler," but Jasper forgot his copper dagger at the office, which is what you use to summon the DS.

Its really cool, too. You see, the book only says: "A pure metal dagger is needed to summon the Dimensional Shambler."

I made up the whole freaking ritual, and even mechanics for what happens if you fail.

Success:

The player lifts the dagger into the air, and begins to chant in Latin. Then, with a fierce thrust, he stabs the dagger into nothing. He then slides the dagger down, cutting a gash in space and time itself. Through the rift in reality steps the Dimensional Shambler, which then follows the casters orders until they are complete or it is dismissed.

Failure:

Heh. Heh heh. Reaaaaaally bad things... Depending on how bad you failed it, one of the following can happen:
-The knife doesn't cut into anything, and the ritual fails.
-The Shambler is mindless, and attacks you upon being summoned
-The Shambler appears without the ritual, but it appears exactly where you're standing. Any matter in its way ceases to exist - you must do a d100 roll to see what percentage of your is destroyed. 1 = you lose a pinky 20 = you lose a limb 90 = only a foot is left 100 = you blink from existance


If you pull a 100 on the Summoning roll itself, you simply switch places with a Dimensional Shambler. Your character dissappears... possibly forever. Anyone who does return will just randomly appear one day with jumbled stats, wonky skills, and a permanent loss of several d20s worth of sanity.

I am quite the evil Keeper, aren't I? :smallamused:



Edit: Permantent? XD

Kantur
2008-10-22, 05:32 PM
or shooting a Shoggoth with a bullet engraved with Elder Signs.

They've already asked me about the last one, actually... :smalleek:




If my book says the same as yours, let them. If they're willing to sacrifice 2 POW to activate a single previously drawn Elder Sign, I'd be more than happy to let them have that single round do full damage....

If they were drawing it on the gun, I'd only have it apply for pistol whipping/hitting them with the rifle butt, etc or possibly allow it to act as a protection from mythos things targeting the gun...

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 05:38 PM
I have it tweaked a bit. I think a permanent loss of 2 POW is just... stupid.

I just let them do it, and then I say how many MP they lose. A bullet would be 1 or 2, depending on the size of the bullet. A medallion would be 4. A sword would be 6 or 7. A chest or door would be about 10. And so on, and so forth.

There are other... catches... of course. But I am not at liberty to discuss them as of yet. :smallwink:


And the effects vary. The bullet might be an auto-crit, it might just do minimum damage to a usually immune creature, or it might instantly make it explode from the inside out.

In essence, Elder Signed bullets are DM Fiats in a can. Or clip, I suppose I should say... :smallbiggrin:

Brauron
2008-10-22, 07:00 PM
Hehe, the version of Elder Sign I gave a powergaming player was pretty mean...he'd done everything he could to max out his POW as much as possible, and with it his Sanity.

So the version of Elder Sign I let him find gave him a choice. He could sacrifice 2 POW to power the Sign...or 1 point of SIZ in the form of a literal pound of flesh.

This was found while he was trying to fight off possession by Y'golonac, and when good ol' Y'golonac manifested as a lamprey-like mouth in the palm of his hand, urging him to commit horrific acts of violence and sexual depravity...well, he found his pound of flesh.

This character was retired soon thereafter.

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 07:16 PM
Horrible. Also horrible is the fact that Jasper and Nathan almost read that book. :smallamused:

I suppose that is why Jasper put an Elder Sign on his book trunk - in order to cancel out any more curses that might be on his new Tomes. That, and because he thinks it will keep Cthulhu cultists from opening. Which, I suppose it might... Or so I told him when he asked. :smallamused:

Cuddly
2008-10-22, 07:30 PM
I'm not really a fan of your treatment of the Crawling Chaos, to be honest.

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 07:35 PM
You mean Nyalathotep? How so?

Too humanized? To merciful? Too... obvious? Pray tell, what sort of objections might you have? :smallsmile:

Cuddly
2008-10-22, 07:41 PM
Too DMPC.

Don't get me wrong, you look to be an excellent Keeper, and nyalarthotep is probably the most interesting character in the mythos. It's just too... yeah, as you said, obvious.

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 08:02 PM
My excuses for using the Crawling Chaos, and the way I played him, are quite within the realm of reason, IMO.


I used Nyalathotep as punishment because he was the only diety I could find that would leave them primarily intact.

Plus, the trumpet was a gift to Leeroy Turner from him, in hopes of ensaring Leeroy's soul so he could play music for Azathoth for all eternity, according to the rulebook's guidelines for the campaign. If they had the trumpet, Nyarlathotep would have to get it back somehow. He couldn't just leave it with them...


Plus, Walter Corbitt, a Lich my group killed in their first scenario, was a member of a cult of Nyalathotep, if I interpretted the rulebook correctly. Since they blew the man's balls off before they decapitated him, I'm pretty sure Nyarlathotep would be kinda miffed that they utterly screwed over one of his best followers.


So, Nyarlathotep had at least 2 valid reasons to go raise Kain with my group. Also taking into account his description in the rulebook (It says he prefers causing madness over destruction), I found that his actions were well within the realms of believability.

You may present counter-points, if you wish. I quite enjoy this constructive criticism. :smallsmile:


Also worth noting, Father Gregory is my DMPC. But I will admit, Nyarlathotep does serve as one of my several DM Fiat mechanics, if only in very special circumstances. :smallamused:

Doomsy
2008-10-22, 09:18 PM
My excuses for using the Crawling Chaos, and the way I played him, are quite within the realm of reason, IMO.


I used Nyalathotep as punishment because he was the only diety I could find that would leave them primarily intact.

Plus, the trumpet was a gift to Leeroy Turner from him, in hopes of ensaring Leeroy's soul so he could play music for Azathoth for all eternity, according to the rulebook's guidelines for the campaign. If they had the trumpet, Nyarlathotep would have to get it back somehow. He couldn't just leave it with them...


Plus, Walter Corbitt, a Lich my group killed in their first scenario, was a member of a cult of Nyalathotep, if I interpretted the rulebook correctly. Since they blew the man's balls off before they decapitated him, I'm pretty sure Nyarlathotep would be kinda miffed that they utterly screwed over one of his best followers.


So, Nyarlathotep had at least 2 valid reasons to go raise Kain with my group. Also taking into account his description in the rulebook (It says he prefers causing madness over destruction), I found that his actions were well within the realms of believability.

You may present counter-points, if you wish. I quite enjoy this constructive criticism. :smallsmile:


Also worth noting, Father Gregory is my DMPC. But I will admit, Nyarlathotep does serve as one of my several DM Fiat mechanics, if only in very special circumstances. :smallamused:

Honestly, I think using Narly for that kind of thing is a bit below his status. The only time your group should ever see Narly and know it is him is when they are utterly screwed. When he is planting the seeds of madness he uses many, many disguises. Old Ones really should not be used just as PC one-two stop being smarmy. You have things like Dimensional Shamblers, spellcasting cultists, or heck, anything.

This is CoC and your PCs are incredibly squishy. If you want to just wreck someone for a bit, have a Shan dive head first into their skull and make their mind a prison cell and them on the bottom. If you want to be a real bastard about it, Yithian brain switch. A pair of Dimensional Shamblers or just one could have possibly smashed the door in, grabbed the horn, and just disappeared. A cultist of Narly might randomly cast Shrivel on their masculine attributes in the street - that is an actual attack used by a certain cult in Delta Green, by the way. There are just more stylish ways to do things then have an Old One pop in and tell them to stop being a-holes.

Given Narly and his ways he would be more likely to pretend to be their friend and either give them shiny new toys of madness (think the Lament Configuration) or pass them along clues and adventure hooks that lead them right into Hell, possibly literally. Narly has a sense of humor and style.

Lycan 01
2008-10-22, 09:36 PM
Given Narly and his ways he would be more likely to pretend to be their friend and either give them shiny new toys of madness (think the Lament Configuration) or pass them along clues and adventure hooks that lead them right into Hell, possibly literally. Narly has a sense of humor and style.

Tried that. They screwed up the plot right before they would have met the NPC who was secretly Nyarlathotep, and who would have given them disturbing albiet helpful information behind the scenario...


Meh. Oh well. If I screwed up, I screwed up. No fixing it now... Narly probably won't show up again any time soon, anyway. Unless, of course, they do something really stupid. IE: Set the earth world on fire, or something.

Calinero
2008-10-22, 10:04 PM
IE: Set the earth world on fire, or something.

Well, if I've heard correctly, they already have set a river on fire. Rivers are not supposed to be flammable. Only a matter of time before they burn down a city.

How did they set a river on fire, anyway? Don't think I've heard that story...

The Glyphstone
2008-10-22, 10:09 PM
Isn't there a river in Ohio or something that's so polluted it catches fire occasionally?

Doomsy
2008-10-22, 11:32 PM
Well, if I've heard correctly, they already have set a river on fire. Rivers are not supposed to be flammable. Only a matter of time before they burn down a city.

How did they set a river on fire, anyway? Don't think I've heard that story...

That was my group of merry arsonists. It was pretty polluted to begin with before they dumped what I think was some type of kerosene or maybe gasoline from an industrial storage tank into it then lit it on fire. They were trying to flush out what they thought was a shoggoth based on clues they had misinterpreted fairly badly. They got the idea because part of their investigation was at a waterfront facility and well, burnable/explosive chemicals and PCs, plus the adrenaline from a small glimpse-only encounter with a blob-like monster.