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Chaosium Digest Volume 08 Number 08
Chaosium Digest Volume 8, Number 8
Date: Sunday, November 6, 1994
Number: 3 of 4
Contents:
Porphyry and Asphodel, Part Three (Penelope Love) CALL OF CTHULHU
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From: Penelope Love <bassst@zikzak.apana.org.au>
Subject: Prophyry and Asphodel, Part Three
System: Call of Cthulhu
A BOAT TO ILEK-VAD
Ships from Ilek-Vad are regular and welcome visitors to Thran. A ship
from that city docks within a week of the dreamers' arrival. The
saturnine but capable captain agrees to a return passage for a modest
payment, and gives them a good meal in a sea-side inn whilst haggling
over the exact amount.
A new king rules in Ilek-Vad now, says the captain cautiously,
although he is shy of naming him, and shushes any dreamer who does.
"A dreamer like yourselves," his sailors mutter in response to
successful appeal (especially if this appeal is well-lubricated with
the aforementioned wines of Dylath Leen or better still, of Sarrub).
"He created out of his dreams a city so beautiful that the gods stole
it from him."
It is bad luck to talk of their king, or of the twilight city he
created, for by evil chance the gods might overhear such gossip, and
visit Ilek-Vad to see if he now dwells in another city as wonderful as
the first. These are of course, the meek, mild gods of Earth's
dreamlands, not the Outer Gods, whose soul and messenger is the
crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep. The Outer Gods have no interest in
merely human cities. Sailors and captain agree that their new king is
aloof, but just and fair. The sailors greet display of the folio of
paintings with awe, an emotion echoed by all people of their city.
Ilek-Vad remembers part of its story.
The lady of asphodels is a legend of long ago. On his last pilgrimage
to his jasper temple, built over the rushing Oukranos, King Aubeg
found the entrance to her mountain valley had been barred with a wall
of rock, the flank of the Castle Called Sleep. Aubeg the Bald ruled
centuries before, the sailors explain. But they are positive that the
new King will help in their quest, in honor of the long-gone King
whose advisor she was, and who sincerely and deeply mourned her
strange vanishing.
The Voyage to Ilek-Vad
The voyage is favored by a brisk and high-spirited wind. The ship
sets out of Thran's harbour with the crew in splendid humor. The
sneaky, thieving presence of the Zoogs may mar this. The ship's cat,
initially inclined to resent Megg's trespass, is soon won over in face
of this common threat. Two cats cannot successfully hunt down six
Zoogs in a habitation that offers so many nooks and crannies as even
the best-made ship. If dreamers aid them with lights and company, the
cats are bolder, and perhaps the numbers of Zoogs can be whittled
down, although the Keeper should ensure at least one remains to be
questioned in Ilek-Vad. Dreamers gain 1 SAN point for each Zoog
killed, for the Zoogs have been a persistent nuisance on their
journey.
Dreamers can make experience rolls, as well as hit-point and SAN
increases, as five weeks pass. When they arrive in port, the ship's
cat stands guard on the ship whilst Meggs races off to alert the chief
of the cats of Ilek-Vad to the Zoogs. This chief places guards upon
all ropes and gang-planks coming from the ship, and then consults with
the city's king, politely waiting after until the dreamers have had
their meeting.
The people of Ilek-Vad are a reserved but confident race. Once they
know of the folio of paintings, they make haste to bring the dreamers
before their king.
ILEK-VAD
Ilek-Vad bears more than a passing resemblance to Arkham. The steeply
climbing hills are terraced with gambrel peaked houses in varying
states of pleasing disrepair, whilst mansions of undeniably Georgian
stamp stand proudly rank on rank at the crest of the town, just as
they do on College Hill. Cats potter along the roof-trees, and lend
the pleasure of their graceful forms to both street-scape and hearth.
But Ilek-Vad also boasts a quiet harbour, views of cliff and ocean,
sparkling fountains and splendid promenades, as well as monuments,
towers and halls too fair - and with too many impossible angles
employed in their construction - to be conceived in any but the world
of dream.
The light that gilds Ilek-Vad hints at forgotten things, and tactfully
glosses over those shadows that are too deep to be sane or healthful.
This is particularly true in the cathedral stillness of late
afternoon, and from certain vantage points on high and lonely
terraces. Then it seems that Ilek-Vad broods not merely over the
gulfs of the ocean, but equally over those hoary and immemorial gulfs
whose walls touch on eternity. The sweeping light makes visionaries
feel that they are "not far, from that fixt mass whose sides the ages
are". On these terraces, and at these times, walks in solitude the
city's king.
The New King
Randolph Carter sits on the opal throne of Ilek-Vad now, as is rumored
by faithful friends back in the waking world. His face is sallow,
long and lantern jawed, his eyes by turns somber with phantasy, and
sparkling with enthusiasm at commonplace things. The garments that
clothe his lean body, although of dreamlands manufacture, bear yet a
startling resemblance to those of a Yankee gent.
Randolph Carter appears as an ascetic man in his late forties, without
any impairment of mental or physical activity. He is an occult
scholar of considerable, perhaps matchless, skill. He has a dry and
mischievous sense of humor, and a passionate interest in knowledge,
all knowledge, be it science or fantasy - indeed he tolerates no
distinction between these two equally valid branches of experience. He
hides his enthusiasm from casual visitors behind a detached and ironic
pose. He is a fascinating companion when this shield, born of
diffidence and intolerance of fools, is brought down. Then he
converses learnedly on all topics in the realm of dream and waking.
Just do not tempt him to poesy with the wines of Dylath Leen. He has
tasted them before and, as he says wryly, found the after-taste
'unpalatable'.
Carter led the Dream Quest in search of Unknown Kadath. He saw the
tenebrous chasms of nightmare gape open before and (more disturbingly)
behind his embattled army. He also saw service throughout the Great
War. He knows which horrors he prefers. His friend King Kuranes, who
rules over distant and immortal Celephais where people never age,
scorned the waking world when he had a human body with which to
explore it, and now bitterly regrets the vanished earth. But Randolph
Carter lost his ability to dream at the age of thirty, and spent
twenty, fruitless years unlocking the occult secrets of the waking
world so he could return again. The price of dreams is to live close
to the border of nightmare, but tedium haunts the waking world.
Carter values wonder over 'worship of the real'. "Calm, lasting
beauty, comes only in dream" he observes, contentedly.
Carter takes a gentle pride in his lost, twilight city, and no longer
longs for it as he once did. He did not create Ilek-Vad, but his
presence changes the city by slow degrees towards his ideal. He is
careful to ensure that Ilek-Vad will never be as lovely as his first
city, else he might tempt the gods a second time. This is his second
piece of advice, "Don't trespass on the gods," he says, "For although
you can scorn with impunity the meek, mild gods of Earth's dreamlands,
you never know when the Outer Gods might interfere, through their soul
and messenger, the crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep." Before the gods
human dreamers are powerless, he warns. The only escape if you find
yourself pitted against an outraged god is to flee into the waking
world.
The Gardens and the Banquet
After enjoying the sunset, Randolph Carter leads his new acquaintances
into the gardens of the palace for the evening meal. The gardens form
a fragrant oasis, shadowed by hoary oaks, saplings of poplar, apple
and cinnamon, and bushes of yew cut into cunning topiaries. The
ground is carpeted by fragrant grasses and wild-flowers. Innumerable
stone walks wind through the gardens, as if beckoning dreamers to
explore their delightful prospects, and little stone bridges arch
artfully across a splashing stream. A nightingale's liquid song rises
nightly from the center of the gardens, where is found the tomb of
kings. The door of this tomb is oft found ajar in the morning,
sometimes a mere crack, but sometimes disconcertingly wide, and
footprints of grey dust must be swept from the garden paths. No one
of Ilek-Vad wishes to inquire further into this.
The banquet held to honor the dreamers' arrival is of many courses,
none overly rich or ostentatious, and all presented with attention as
much to appearance as to the palate. Carter eats sparingly, enjoying
the sights and scents of the garden as much as the tastes of the
dishes. A sleek, white, elderly cat by the name of Wasp, the chief of
the cats of Ilek-Vad, attends him. Tame magah birds preen in aviaries
set amid the greenery, and iridescent, carnivorous fish rise in the
stream for scraps. In the varied repast there is only one lack,
strange to a coastal city. "I don't eat sea-food," Randolph Carter
says, shortly, if pressed by impolite inquiry. The meal finishes with
a light and frothy confection that tastes remarkably like chocolate
ice-cream. The attendants then withdraw, and Carter asks after the
reason for the dreamers' visit.
The Quest for the Silver Key
Carter's formidable intellect arrives at the correct conclusion if the
dreamers have not yet guessed the history of the Castle Called Sleep
and the threat that now hovers over it. The key-hole the dreamers
describe to him clinches his supposition. "There can be only one goal
for your quest," he says after considerable thought, "and that is the
Silver Key".
Randolph Carter does not or rather, cannot, keep the Key in his
possession, even though it is his inheritance. It lies hidden in the
gulf between the dreaming and waking worlds. He can help the dreamers
reach it, but is unwilling to personally retrieve it. He has used the
Silver Key already, and feels it is tempting the intervention of the
Outer Gods to use it a second time. He has fallen foul of them once
before (or rather, of their soul and messenger the Crawling Chaos
Nyarlathotep), and blanches yet at the memory. He also has a sneaking
suspicion that the so-called meek and mild gods of Earth's dreamland
plan to steal this second city from him if he but once departs it.
The king owes it to his people to remain.
Carter also has concerns about the shrine. "That is not dead which
can eternal lie," he says, in grim echo of the warning given them in
Thran. He recognizes the god of the shrine from the folio painting.
He explains that Hypnos is neither of the nameless Outer Gods or the
little gods of Earth's Dreamlands, but one of the inexplicable Elder
Gods, long thought to have vanished from the realms of dream. Hypnos
rules over the boundary between waking and sleep, and has a sinister
interest in dreamers. The plight of a dreamer beset with sleeping
sickness must be peculiarly perilous. The god can be harmed only by
people or weapons that exist in the real and waking world
simultaneously, that is only by dreamers. He adds as an afterthought
that Hypnos cannot harm dreamers whose waking self is dead.
He asks Wasp to have Meggs brought before him, and the trio have a
long conversation. Meggs is extremely relieved to finally find
someone who understand him, and has a lot to get off his chest,
starting with the strange metamorphosis of his mistress and ending
with the Zoogs. Carter loves cats, and is prepared to respect Megg's
judgement when Meggs declares his mistress's plight is not entirely
hopeless.
He asks if the dreamers are prepared to pay the cost to grasp the
Silver Key. It is the key to all knowledge and mystery, but should
only be used once by any one person (for the reasons he gives above).
The price of ending the siege on the Castle Called Sleep is to deny
the dreamer's own desires. Also, the key lies hid in the heart of
Hypnos's realm, and the god may make things difficult for the
searchers. If they are unable to grasp the Silver Key then death and
madness would be a blessing. At the very least the seeker must be
'strong of soul', he says, glancing worriedly at the dreamer with the
lowest SAN.
At least one of the dreamers presumably continues to be moved by
humanitarian instinct, and still insists on attempting a rescue.
Randolph Carter finally relents. The gaze he gives this determined
dreamer is admiring. Their courage earns his respect. After this
adventure, he offers to teach this dreamer the language of cats.
Randolph Carter has rooms prepared for them at the palace, and assures
them of his hospitality. Then he leaves them alone in the scented
garden to discuss everything that they have learned.
The Fate of the Zoogs, and Kindred Languages
Randolph Carter modestly admits to speaking the languages of cats,
Zoogs and ghouls. He is angry at the Zoogs attack on Meggs, in clear
violation of the treaty that he was instrumental in creating, but is
also inclined to be amused. No harm has been done, the Zoogs are now
trapped on the ship, and he can direct an army of cats on board as he
wishes.
The following morning, this army of cats drives the Zoogs from their
hiding places. The remaining Zoogs, hating daylight, hating cats, and
unable to swim, are driven forwards to cling to the figure-head.
There they huddle and shiver, huge-eyed, pleading shrilly for mercy in
their own language.
Carter asks the dreamers what they would like to do with the Zoogs.
It is their quest, and he feels that they should have control of the
ultimate fate of these nuisances. If asked, he offers the advice that
the Zoogs should be captured, and returned to the Enchanted Forest as
a gesture of good will. Slaying them will only further exacerbate the
situation. He admits that the difficulties of returning a cage of
malevolently inclined and exceptionally slippery Zoogs are such that
the finding of a zebra placid enough to carry them is only the
beginning. He acts as interpreter, whatever the decision.
Carter is happy to teach a few useful phrases in ghoul and Zoog to the
dreamers. These languages are the same in the worlds of dream and
waking.
The Language of Ghouls, And the Consequences of Learning It
In ghoul, he suggests three handy phrases. As an introduction, "I am a
friend of Randolph Carter, who led an army of ghouls and night-gaunts
in search of Unknown Kadath". He feels this should be in full, as
otherwise the ghouls might fail to be enough impressed. In need of
help; "Take me to the ghoul who was Pickman." Pickman, he explains,
still understands English, and can aid in further translation. If all
else fails, dreamers should try, "I am extremely tough and stringy,
and will give you indigestion." This gives dreamers an effective 5%
in ghoul.
Carter warns that although ghouls are amongst the friendliest of
non-humans once their unsavory habits are set aside, prolonged contact
should be avoided. He has learnt from the fate of his friend Pickman,
and interacts with ghouls only when absolutely necessary.
Dreamers who befriend ghouls in an attempt to learn more of this
language find themselves in a tricky situation. The ghouls take them
to their scabrous bosom, and teach them their tongue at a rate of 5%
per encounter. Once the dreamer knows the language at 50%, they
effectively know the spell, Contact Ghoul. This is not in fact a
spell, but represents intimate knowledge of ghoul psychology and
habits, such that the dreamer knows which grave-yards the ghouls
frequent, which hollow tomb stones to tap (and more importantly, which
not to tap), and where to leave markers of stone and bones, so that
the ghouls know that their friend has been by. Once they reach this
stage, ghouls no longer cost SAN to see.
Ghouls cheerfully dispose of those incriminating corpses that
occasionally come the investigator's way, but their habits gradually
start to rub off on their provider. Their relish is infectious.
Their meals, and potential meals, start to look rather tasty. When
the investigator goes insane, she or he heads unerringly towards the
comfort of the company of these creatures, at first amnesiac of their
experiences with them, but gradually coming to recollect and enjoy
them even after return to relative sanity. If permanently insane the
investigator vanishes "into the fabulous darkness". They degenerate
completely into a ghoul and, unless they keep in touch with their
former comrades, slowly forget their human life. This is not in fact
such a terrible fate, if the alternative ends of an investigator into
such realms are considered.
The Language of Zoogs
In Zoog, Carter suggests, "Put that (baby, weapon, object) down";
"Drop that"; "Don't do that"; "Look out! There's a cat behind you!",
and for extreme situations only, "Desist or I will ritually devour
your mother". This gives the character 5% in Zoog. Talking with
captive Zoogs for the duration of the return voyage raises this skill
to 25% (5% for each week).
The Language of Cats
The language of cats takes several months of dream time, and one night
of waking time, to learn to 50% ability. It afterwards increases only
with experience. It differs in dream lands and the waking world. In
the dream lands, this language acts exactly as any human language, and
cats converse on any topic. In the waking world the investigator is
able to instantly gain the trust and affection of any cat. Cats obey
simple instructions to the best of their ability, and the investigator
is able to gauge the moods of waking cats to a complex level (e.g. is
the cat frightened because of a nearby coyote, or is something
sinister afoot?).
Closing Rewards
As a result of conversation with Randolph Carter, and the insights
outlined above, dreamers gain an automatic 8% Dream Lore, and 4%
Cthulhu Mythos.
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