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Chaosium Digest Volume 04 Number 03
Chaosium Digest Volume 4, Number 3
Date: Sunday, September 19, 1993
Number: 3 of 3
Contents:
Dolphin Tides (Sandy Antunes) CALL OF CTHULHU
--------------------
From: Alex ANTUNES <alex@astro.isas.ac.jp>
Subject: Dolphin Tides
System: Call of Cthulhu
Dolphin Tides
A short CoC Adventure for any group, any time
copyright (C) 1993 by Sandy Antunes, all rights reserved
This is a short adventure (one day real time) for any sized group of
adventurers, in any century. I have described it for the 1920s, which
has the advantage of Prohibition to aid in introductions. The team
MUST include an archaeologist. This adventure write-up is divided
into five sections: The Player Intro, The Keeper Notes, The Myth of
Croatan, Suggested Progression and Final Storm.
PLAYER INTRO AND ARRIVAL
Miskatonic University has been doing a shoreline dig of some
non-Indian ruins found at Falmouth, Cape Cod. The professor on the
site is Dr. J. Adamiak, and most of the work is being done by graduate
students. Regretfully, Dr. Adamiak's hobby of fishing has led him
astray, and he was found along with the remains of his boat -- well,
half of him was found, clearly the victim of a shark attack. Thus,
the PC archaeologist is being sent out to continue the dig. Since it
is such short notice, Miskatonic suggests he/she consider it a
vacation and invite a few friends, as the senior grad student can
handle most of the actual dig details.
The dig team is, in order of seniority:
Dr. J. Adamiak, deceased (was rather bookish, not very dedicated)
Albert Sherman, ABD (all but degree, a PhD student, from Boston)
Marcia Shapley, a PhD student (from Bostonian)
George Ericson, a Masters candidate (from Maine)
Drew Carson, an undergraduate (from New York)
Lyja Miller, an undergraduate (from Scandinavia)
Walter Witlow, a PhD candidate-- for the past 12 years (from Arkham)!
The team camps out at tents near the site, but have booked a local Inn
(much like a Bed and Breakfast) about a mile away for the visitors.
The team arrives by train, and are met by Albert and Marcia. The
students are friendly and guide them to the Inn, then suggest dinner
at a local restaurant. The crowd at the inn is local. It is mostly
families, although there is one local fisherman sitting at a corner
table clearly drinking alcohol. He is friendly with the staff (he is
useful for information and more. His name is Ty Hunter. He is around
age 40, bald and smiles a lot).
If the team mentions Dr. Adamiak, the students look rather queasy (due
to the fact that they saw his remains), but they clearly agree it was
a shark. (If verified, the local sherrif, fisherfolk, and everyone
agrees it was a shark. It was.) They comment that they (Albert and
Marcia) generally ran the dig, while Dr. Adamiak enjoyed taking out a
boat and fishing all day (which fits his general reputation in the
department as not being very dedicated).
If the team wishes to head to the site that night, Albert will smile
and say "sure, let me just check with Chris." If the team wishes to
go right to their rooms, Albert will say something like "Okay, we'll
see you tomorrow, Chris is looking forward to meeting you." Assuming
the team is curious about 'Chris', the students will comment on how he
washed ashore from a shipwreck two days earlier, and joined the dig to
help out. He has been invaluable since dear Dr. Adamiak died, keeping
the dig team structured and together. He clearly is a take-charge
kind of person, and the grad students follow him.
If anyone bothers to talk to a local at this point, there are two
choices: the owner of the restaurant, a matronly woman named Margo, or
the fisherman Ty Hunter. As Margo is busy with customers, inquisitive
investigators will tend to gravitate towards Ty. If they don't
bother, then just let them go back to the Inn to sleep.
If the investigators insist on going to the dig, Albert will run ahead
to notify Chris while Marcia guides them. If somehow prevented,
Albert will not run ahead, but the team must be forceful (exerting
authority as a professor is very effective). Otherwise, see the Dig
description below.
At this point, the adventurers will generally go around looking for
clues. Remember to keep the NPCs lively. It's a friendly fishing
village.
FOR THE KEEPER
Ty Hunter: Ty is a valuable ally for this, but he should be portrayed
as a friendly local fisherman (who likes to drink). He was the
fisherman that found Dr. Adamiak's body, so it is likely the
investigators will contact him even if they ignore him in the Inn. Ty
likes to use a pipe, but doesn't light it (and doesn't explain why.
The Keeper knows it is because he dislikes fire). He is quite
knowledgeable about the area, and also rather spiritual. Ty lives in
a simple cottage, but spends most of his time on his boat. He goes
out to fish at night three times a week, which makes him enough to
live on (he says he fishes at night with a lantern to attract the
fish, a believable enough way to get LOTS of fish). Actually, Ty is a
dolphin. The dolphins are quite civilized, and his role is to be the
one that walks among mankind, to see how mankind is doing, learn their
ways and help the dolphins decide when man will be civilized enough
for the two civilizations to make contact. Ty will, if the
investigators are friendly enough, talk about the gods of the sea,
which he believes all fisherfolk worship "Cause when the waves whip up
and storms blow in, you have to pray to something that your boat will
make it safely to land." Once the situation peaks, if Ty is still
friendly with the players, he will make comments like "You see,
dolphins are favored by my God, men by yours, but my God rules over
3/4 of the world. Then again, you folks get the sky, so I suppose
it's even." He tends to see the man-god as Zeus and his god as
Neptune, but realizes those are just labels.
Chris (no last name): Chris is the other main character of this plot.
It is important that the initial impressions of him be kept somewhat
neutral. Describe Chris as a talk, dark-haired man who moves
minimally but smoothly, and is very cool and charismatic. He seems to
instantly assess anyone that comes near, is very alert, and tends to
take command of a situation. He seems very capable. Chris is not
very warm, but is a clever conversationalist. He talks nothing of his
past, only that he is a simple fisherman who drifts along the coasts
finding work. However, the students will (privately, if queried) tell
about some of the old fables he told them. The Keeper should play him
as a very suave and charming person, ESPECIALLY to females. Chris is
constantly trying to get them into bed. He never lies, but is
evasive. See also "Croatan", below. Chris' persuasion skill is
extremely high (based on natural charisma and an innate ability to
hypnotise/mesmerize). He also carried an unsheathed fisherman's knife
quite openly on his belt.
The Inn:
The Inn is run by an old woman named Alicia, who babbles constantly
about her wonderful daughter (currently traveling somewhere), and says
nothing of value. The Inn is perhaps a mile from the center of town.
One centerpiece of the place is an elephant gun hanging over the
fireplace. If it is noticed or if anyone asks her what she does for
protection, Alicia talks about what fun her daughter used to have
practicing with it. (She can scrounge up 4 rounds of ammo for it.)
The Dig by Day:
Work at the dig site generally starts around 6am, just after sunrise.
The dig site is actually at the shoreline, about a mile from the Inn.
There are seven tents, but at present the students use one for
equipment and are somewhat paired up. For equipment, they have the
standard stuff expected: pickaxes, snorkels, etc. No diving suit is
present, but you could hire one in town. The dig consists of two
parts: out of water and in water. What seems to be a sort of temple
is being unearthed. All that remains now is the floor and the rubble
from the fallen walls and ceilings, ie nothing that is visible above
ground level. The dating of the ruins is up to the GM. The land part
has been cleared away to reveal a plain floor, and most of the rubble
has been collected and roughly re-shaped nearby to the original shape
of the roof. The workmanship is very solid, but clearly done by a
pre-techno society. (See notes on "Croatan", also). At present, the
procedure from the dig is to walk around the water gathering pieces
carefully to reconstruct the underwater part. A rough idea of the
shape of the original (side view) is:
---------------
| |
| |
|
"door" --------------
______________ |
|_ |
|_ |
|________ <--- approx. 2 yard circular opening
^--- approx position of the waterline
The land section's floor is inscribed with ornate carvings [Keeper's
Choice]. While the students work on the reconstruction, Chris has
been at the in-water part trying to clear the sand from the floor
section to see the patterns inscribed there (if the team helps, these
end up being tridents, fish shapes, and the like- nothing very weird).
Chris is skilled at diving, so he is the only one able to stay down
for enough time (two minutes per dive!) to make any real headway.
What the site really is, is a temple made by local settlers (can be
anything, such as Norse) at this site to a local God. The temple was
made at his command as a place suitable for worship. A single word
was clearly etched on the stone over the entranceway, and Albert will
let slip that it was "Croatan" (see below), and then fall silent at a
warning look from Chris (yes, this is A Clue).
During the Dig, the students will check with Chris for most orders,
even if given by a professor. He is clearly in charge. However,
equally clearly, the group is happy, works well and seems normal.
The Dig By Night:
At night, everyone gathers around the fire, eats and talks. It is
very normal. Late at night, most everyone retires to bed. Lyja goes
to the same tent as Chris (with knowing expressions on the other's
faces!), while Albert and Marcia remain by the fire and chat about the
dig and such. The investigators are made to feel welcome. If the
team stays really late, or wonders why Albert and Marcia are still up,
they will find out Albert is just making sure Marcia is okay until
Lyja and Chris finish. Then Lyja goes to her tent, Albert to his
tent, and Marcia to Chris's tent. None of them seem to see this as
odd.
The Town:
Friendly place. Wing it. Remember the townsfolk (especially the
Sheriff) see the team as Strangers, and are not likely to believe in
weird happenings.
CROATAN
The core of this adventure is the story of Croatan. Somewhere between
9650 BC and 3500 BC, Atlantis sank. Prior to this, they were an
advanced culture with many fine works, ruled by an Emperor and
Empress. The last emperor was named Croatan. The God the Atlantians
worshipped was Neptune. When Croatan's wife was killed in a simple,
common shark attack, Croatan grew angry that the God of the Sea would
allow this. Declaring revenge, he began the systematic slaughter of
dolphins, the most beloved creatures of Neptune. By doing so, he
broke Natural Law, and angered Neptune. Thus, Neptune called a great
storm and sank Atlantis. The few survivors to make it to shore landed
at Crete and eventually founded Greek civilization, losing their
history in the process. Around 386 BC, Plato wrote about Atlantis
(the Greeks were also developers of Natural Law as a theory). But,
moving back to Croatan, he was cursed by Neptune for his crime (since
just destroying his nation wasn't enough), by being turned into a
shark.
Neptune (the planet, discovered in 1846) has a year of 164.8 earth
years, and a day of 15.8 hours (The planet is a symbol of Neptune, in
this game). Part of Croatan's curse is that, if his name is called
with respect due to an emperor, he may go to the caller and assume
human form. But, he can only do this when the planets are aligned,
every 164.8 years. For up to one year from his being called, he can
freely change between shark and human form.
To break the curse, all he must do is repent (and abase himself before
Neptune). However, Croatan's pride is too great, and over the many
thousands of years he has become more shark than man. He lives, like
any shark, only to Eat and to Breed. He kills dolphins for pleasure,
to continue his revenge against Neptune. The idea of repenting (such
as, saving a dolphin in distress) is difficult for him to imagine
without smiling, due to the great hate he still feels for Neptune, and
the great loss he still feels in his heart for his long-dead
wife-and-true-love.
When the students began work on the dig, they found the pieces from
over the door and saw the word Croatan. Speaking it out loud, while
feeling great reverence of the value of the site, was enough to enable
Croatan to resume human form for a bit. He then easily came up and
took the leadership of their group, killing Dr. Adamiak (while in
shark form) to secure his hold. He is breeding with the women to
ensure they become pregnant and keeping the rest around for support
and food. Once the temple excavation is done to his liking and he is
sure that both females are pregnant, he will send one male with each
to guard them, then eat the rest, do a dark mass against Neptune (see
"Final Storm") and return to the sea... at least, that is his plan.
This is similar to what happened when he found the Roanoke colony in
North Carolina, where he did much the same before killing the males at
the end of the year (though one did manage to carve his name in a tree
there, either as worship or warning.)
The ruins are from another, much older group that once worshipped him.
He finds it pleasurable and ironic to excavate his past in this way.
A Note on Sharks: Sharks and dolphins do not get along. Your average
dolphin will be quick food for your average shark. For this reason,
dolphins will attack sharks on sight, especially in packs. In a pack,
dolphins can easily kill a shark. Sharks just consider dolphins one
of many kinds of food, and do not go after them specifically. Thus,
if Chris and Ty ever meet face to face (ie if the Investigators
arrange a meeting), Ty will go berserk and try to kill Chris on sight,
while Chris will simple defend himself calmly (and is diplomatic
enough not to attack back). This is useful for making Ty seem to be
the villain of the game...
SUGGESTED PROGRESSION
Either night one or day one, the team will visit the dig and meet
Chris. Also, they will likely ask around about Dr. Adamiak and meet
Ty. The dig will reveal clues, as will library searches and the like.
Sooner or later, Chris and Ty will meet (if the Investigators do NOT
do anything, well, they won't meet, but this assumes the team figures
out at least part of the picture). At this point, they will both
partially realize what the other is. Chris will realize Ty is a
dolphin-were, while Ty will realize Chris is a Shark, but NOT that he
is from Atlantis or is Croatan. The average dolphin does not know
that tale, though he dolphin high priest might, especially if the
players need clues. Ty will likely fail to kill Chris on his first
attempt, so will plan that night to gather a pack of dolphins and get
him. Ty is sure that they will win, because a pack of dolphins always
defeats a lone shark, that's part of natural law. Chris, however, is
far more cunning and more powerful than Ty knows and will be able to
easily slaughter the bunch. This leads right into the Final Storm.
FINAL STORM
The night of the fight, Chris will leave the campsite around 12pm, or
ten minutes before the investigators arrive (as he does not wish to
see them), whichever comes first. If the investigators (for some
reason) insist on hanging around the site all night, he will have one
or two of the students find a reason to move them away. He will then
eat Drew Carson (if you need to foreshadow this or give more clues,
you can have him eat Walter Witlow a few days earlier just for fun).
The other students just ignore this. His strength now boosted, Chris
will order Albert to guard Marcia and take her to safety, and George
to guard Lyja and do likewise. These pair will then go to sleep, and
around 6am will pack up and head for the mainland. They are in a deep
hypnotic trance, with only two orders: Protect the Women and Go Home
To The City (and they do still have the pickaxes).
That morning, the beach will be strewn with pieces of dead dolphin
from the previous night's combat. Chris is nowhere in sight. A storm
is slowly starting to come up (summoned by Chris's slaughter, and
more). The storm is noticed by the town, "gee, there was no hint of a
storm coming but it looks like it'll be a doozy, probably last at
least half a day!" Naturally, it will last 15.8 hours. After a few
hours, it is near hurricane level and getting worse. Chris is now
sitting nude, cross-legged before the temple ruins. Ty, in dolphin
form, has been wrapped in barbed wire in the undersea part of the
ruins (out of sight, especially with the storm-tossed waves), and is
slowly dying. Chris will stay there while the storm gets worse and
worse, goading Neptune's fury on. Finally the storm will be bad
enough to wipe out the town, Chris will be satisfied and resume shark
form and go away, and that's that. Assuming the investigators haven't
done anything.
A Note about the storm: due to winds and spray, effective gun range is
point-blank only, unless you have something really heavy (like an
elephant gun). Shooting is at 25% skill for the first round, 50% for
the next, 75% for the next, and normal thereafter for that weapon, as
you learn to account for the wind.
The ONLY way to stop the storm is to rescue Ty. If he is rescued, the
storm ends. Otherwise, it wipes out Falmouth. To rescue him, you
must go into the waters. Visibility is nearly nothing, the current
and undertow is vicious, and the winds are strong. To do so will
generally require a roll against strength*5 to keep your feet, and
strength*5 again to advance. It will take three sets of rolls-- the
first part, the steps, then into the totally underwater part. Because
of the barbed wire, freeing Ty is difficult. It will require a
strength*2 roll to do this well. If you fail this roll, you can try
once more. You will succeed, but are guaranteed to cut yourself
heavily on the wire in the attempt. If you choose to do so, you take
4d10 in damage, and if your hit points drop below 0, you will die
before you can make it to shore (but you will have freed Ty!)
Naturally, this is modified for more people or for smart moves like
having someone on shore with a rope and a pickaxes for support
(recommended way to handle this: the person on shore must make a roll
at strength*5 every time you miss a roll, success indicates you keep
your feet and can try again).
Chris in combat: His knife skill is 90%, he has 2 attacks per round,
and there is no penalty for instantly drawing it. He has 35 hit
points (or more or less, as the Keeper wishes) in either shark or
human form, can transform forms in about two minutes and regains half
his hit points upon completing the transformation. Thus, he is VERY
hard to kill. However, if you use hit location, head shot damage is
not recovered from when transforming forms (until many hours later).
In shark form, he will recover from all damage in about 4 hours (if in
the water).
In the aftermath, see if the players remember to deal with the
students who'd gone back to the city, and the possible future heirs of
Atlantis. Note that since Chris WAS human stock, any children would
be pure human, not were. That was a curse, not genetic-- Neptune
isn't crazy, just aloof.
Clearly there are several possible endings, depending on the
investigator's approach. If anyone runs this, I'd appreciate knowing
how things worked out!
EXTRA INFORMATION
When Emma and Garrett ran in this, they made friends with Ty quickly
and (due to a previous adventure) made the Neptune connection quickly.
When it came to the storm, they ran out to the site. Emma, using the
Innkeeper's elephant gun and shooting EXTREMELY well, basically
massacred the Atlantian. He never even made it into the water, though
he did almost finish his transformation into a shark (thus ruining any
future plots I might have written around him-- I'd been sure he could
escape, not counting on repeated successful aimed head shots in a
hurricane!) Garrett then won the toss for entering the water, and
with Emma on shore holding the rope, went in and nearly died freeing
Ty. Ty was a mess but very grateful the next day.
--------------------
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