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Chaosium Digest Volume 12 Number 09
Chaosium Digest Volume 12, Number 9
Date: Sunday, January 7, 1996
Number: 2 of 2
Contents:
Prophecy, Part 2 (Simon Lee) CALL OF CTHULHU
--------------------
From: simon.lee@digitec.co.za (SIMON LEE)
Subject: Prophecy, Part 2
System: Cthulhu By Gaslight
Part 4: Opening Night (cont.)
The events of the performance, in order, are:
A. A successful Listen roll by either Halloway or Scarsdale detects a
disturbance near a back entrance to the theatre. If either turns to
look, he will see Oscar Wilde entering the theatre and standing
against a back wall.
B. The characters in the audience notice that all extraneous noises,
even the casual ones associated with large crowds, have disappeared.
Only the play can be heard.
C. If Rose Vanburgh makes a successful Spot Hidden roll, she will see
Ogilvie in the wings near the front of the stage. He has a knife in
his hands and seems to be watching the audience intently.
Note: from this point on the performance begins to develop its own,
hellbent momentum. If any of the performers wish to act out of
character they have to make the required POW x 1 roll to do so (see
above). Characters in the audience are only constrained from action by
their sense of decorum.
D. Characters in the audience who make a successful Listen roll hear a
fluttering somewhere in the auditorium (loose papers perhaps?). They
also feel cool, musty air washing over them.
E. Characters on stage can make an Idea roll (INT x 5). If they
succeed, they realise that the blood seeping from the body of the
young Syrian is very real. His body also seems very dead. They must
immediately make a Sanity roll or lose 1/1d6 sanity points.
F. Characters in the audience begin to notice an unpleasant odour of
cloying sweetness. They hear more rustling near the back of the
theatre. If they turn to look, they see, only for a moment, a pale,
cadaverous form staring back at them out of the shadows. Sanity roll
or lose 1d3 sanity points.
G. Characters in the audience hear more movement near the back of the
theatre; suddenly there is a indrawn exclamation and a sound like the
snapping of bone. Small droplets of moisture land on the characters'
faces. If they smell or taste it, they realise it is blood (lose
1/1d6 sanity).
H. Characters on stage may make a Spot Hidden roll. If they succeed,
they see Ogilvie holding the knife aloft and chanting something under
his breath. (He is summoning a dimensional shambler into the cistern.
For the purposes of this scenario the spell costs him 5 magic points
and is successful.
I. As the executioner enters the cistern the dimensional shambler
attacks and dismembers both him and the unfortunate Miles Jamieson who
is playing Jokanaan. Characters on stage can hear strangled screams
and the rending of flesh. Characters in the audience can hear the
same with a successful Listen roll. Anyone who hears this loses 1/1d3
sanity points.
J. The dimensional shambler emerges from the cistern, bearing the
grotesquely mutilated head of Miles Jamieson on a silver platter. The
shambler presents the head to Rose Vanburgh and then disappears. Poor
Rose loses 1d6/2d6 sanity points. Screams can be heard from the front
of the audience (and the back, where the Avatar of Hastur is
gratefully gorging itself on sacrifices).
K. The lights on stage begin to flicker and then die. A thick
atmosphere of dread and death falls on the theatre. Members of the
audience run screaming in all directions. The King in Yellow can be
seen gliding between the terror-stricken people. Blood slickens the
theatre floor.
L. Ogilvie can clearly be seen completing his incantation and smearing
blood on his sacrificial knife.
M. The actors playing the soldiers, maddened by terror, crush Rose
Vanburgh beneath their shields and then flee from the theatre. The
King in Yellow finishes feeding and, pleased with Ogilvie's efforts,
transports him (and itself) to another dimension. The characters are
left among the dead, the dying and the insane. The curtains close on
the first and last production of Salome.
Obviously the characters will want to interrupt events before they
reach this advanced stage. Most likely this will involve the
characters in the audience attempting to disrupt the performance
and/or trying to dispel the King in Yellow. Ogilvie will actively try
to prevent interruptions of the play and will target meddling
characters with a Song of Hastur spell. Bringing the play to a halt
before its apocalyptic conclusion is one way of dispelling the King in
Yellow. The other is to overpower or kill Ogilvie himself. Either of
these actions will break the tenuous link that allows the King in
Yellow to remain in this dimension, and the Avatar will return to its
own plane in a shower of bloody fragments. Attacking the Avatar itself
is an exercise in futility, but foolhardy characters should be allowed
to sacrifice themselves in this way if they so wish.
Mr. Wilde has the last word
If the Keeper would like Oscar Wilde to play a more proactive role as
the performance progresses, the following is suggested:
At some point between Event F and Event G, Wilde begins to move
through the audience towards the stage (Spot Hidden rolls from
characters in the audience to notice this). He is carrying a slim
leather-bound notebook with him: observant characters may recognise
this as Ogilvie's copy of the King in Yellow. As he moves down the
aisles, Wilde tears pages from the book and throws them into the
audience. He also mouths a string of curses and other denigrations
regarding the book, the play and the director. Characters are left
with no doubt that he is insane. When he reaches the base of the stage
he hurls what is left of the book at the performers. Besides enraging
Ogilvie, this action has the fortunate consequence of granting the
performers a POW x 3 roll to break free of their rehearsed lines.
Ogilvie immediately attacks Wilde with a Song of Hastur spell, which
should provide the characters with some leeway in which to act
courageously.
Part 5: Finale
The aftermath of the performance depends on whether Ogilvie is
thwarted or not. If he manages his translocation, characters will be
left to drag the dead from the theatre and the stage. Life, it seems,
is ephemeral before the power of art. If the worst of the apocalypse
is avoided, the characters nevertheless have much to do with healing
the injured and providing solace to the insane.
After the events of April Oscar Wilde retires from public life for the
next five years. Bosie ends his friendship with Oscar, only to return
four years later and accuse Oscar of sodomy. Oscar Wilde is convicted
and spends two years in prison. The Times does not review Salome in
its morning edition.
STATISTICS:
1. Investigators:
(Due to space considerations, only the background information for each
investigator is provided. The Keeper should assign statistics and
skills as appropriate.)
1.1 Walter Halloway
You are a respected Oxford Don, recently elevated to the chair of
Slade Professor in the Department of Classical Studies. Your personal
interests include the Greek tragedians, the Latin poets and (though
you do not often admit it) the work of William Blake. Perhaps it was
your Blakean sympathies that attracted you to Oscar Wilde. You can
clearly remember his first week at Oxford, as he strutted around the
hallowed grounds dressed like a foppish Renaissance pirate. His
clothing may have been extravagant, but his critical sense, you later
discovered, was as good as any you had ever encountered. You spent
many profitable hours discussing drama, poetry and artistic theory
with young Mr Wilde. You have followed his subsequent career with
interest (if not always with approval) and you look forward to viewing
his new play. Trust Oscar to choose a topic guaranteed to enrage the
conservative sensibility!
1.2 Rose Vanburgh
You have had your education in the most difficult of schools: the
London theatre. There was never really any doubt that you would follow
the trade of actress. It has sometimes been glamourous and rewarding,
but it has always been difficult and demanding. You spent four years
in the less respected London theatres before your big break came when
you were cast in a Bernard Shaw play on the West End. Since then you
have been approached to appear in several contemporary pieces, but
perhaps none as challenging as Salome. The play itself is brilliant, a
perfect blend of ancient history and modern overabundance. You are
convinced that playing the title role will make you the most
sought-after actress in England. The rest of the cast is as good as
one could hope for and the director, Jonathan Ogilvie, is highly
regarded in theatre and literary circles. Assistance of this kind
makes it that much easier to achieve your ambitions.
1.3 Arthur Scarsdale
The son of a wealthy landowner, you have never wanted for anything in
your life. In fact, you take many things for granted. But is privilege
not, after all, the right of the British aristocracy? Is it not the
aristocracy who defend the Empire and its civilized principles? You
never much liked Oscar Wilde as a person, but he was a good drinking
companion and he introduced you to some interesting people in the
literary circles. In fact, your current opium supplier is a man you
met at one of Oscar's parties. You don't regard yourself as addicted
to the stuff, but you do like to smoke it fairly often. It calms the
nerves and sharpens the intellect. Oscar's new play is apparently
causing quite a stink among the intelligentsia of London. Some say it
is bound to be brilliant, others dismiss it as nothing better than
pornography. You're keen to attend the opening night: it will provide
you with a conversation piece for many gatherings to come.
1.4 Hugh Vincent
You have had a long and distinguished career in the British theatre.
You have seen it grow from humble beginnings, fraught with suspicion
and persecution, to the powerful institution it is today. You welcome
the introduction of new talent such as Oscar Wilde and Bernard Shaw,
but at the same time you are nostalgic for the great plays of old:
Shakespeare, Sophocles, the Medieval Mysteries. You suspect that
although the theatre may go from strength to strength, the classic
productions will always be overshadowed by gaudier, more modern
pieces. Despite your classical bias, Wilde's Salome has won your
grudging admiration. The man has chosen a topic that few would dare to
consider and from it he has crafted a masterpiece. You suspect,
however, that the writing has taken a lot out of Mr Wilde. At the few
rehearsals he did attend he seemed listless and weak, a man old before
his time.
2. The Characters
2.1 Oscar Wilde, playwright
STR: 12
DEX: 10
INT: 18
CON: 9
APP: 9
POW: 16
SIZ: 15
EDU: 23
Hits: 12
Sanity: 37
Art: 85%
Credit Rating 61%
Cthulhu Mythos: 8%
Dodge: 27%
Fast Talk: 91%
History: 67%
Library Use: 90%
Natural History: 44%
Occult: 39%
Persuade: 87%
Psychology: 55%
Spot Hidden: 42%
Other skills at 35%
Oscar Wilde is a large, shabbily-dressed dilettante with features that
are best described as "homely". Despite his appearance he is a superb
and celebrated speaker, much in demand in London social circles. His
recent experience with the King in Yellow and Salome has left him
visibly drained of vitality. He shambles from place to place, and can
hardly manage more than a whisper when spoken to.
2.2 The King in Yellow, Avatar of Hastur the Unspeakable
[No statistics required]
The King in Yellow is human-seeming, clad in tattered yellow rags and
wearing the Pallid Mask. The rags are extensions of the entity's
flesh, and the Mask covers horrible pseudopods which can attach to a
target and drain POW. The King can cause paroxysms of fear by gazing
at a target. The target must make a POW x2 roll or lose 1d6 sanity
points per round. Further information concerning the Avatar is
provided in the main text, and in the 5th edition Call of Cthulhu
rulesbook, pages 111-112.
2.3 Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie), young aristocrat and companion to Oscar
Wilde
STR: 9
DEX: 15
INT: 14
CON: 10
APP: 15
POW: 11
SIZ: 10
EDU: 19
Hits: 10
Sanity: 64
Art: 41%
Credit Rating 72%
Dodge: 38%
Fast Talk: 54%
History: 34%
Library Use: 50%
Natural History: 39%
Occult: 10%
Persuade: 44%
Psychology: 37%
Spot Hidden: 40%
Know London: 65%
Drive Carriage: 50%
Lord Alfred Douglas is a sallow but good-looking Englishman in his
early twenties. He is obviously a recent product of the better public
schools, and still dresses in the Eton "boater hat" fashion. His
manners and accent are impeccable, although he does drink a little too
much when under stress.
2.4 Jonathan Ogilvie, Avant-garde director and servant of the King in
Yellow
STR: 10
DEX: 15
INT: 17
CON: 12
APP: 14
POW: 18
SIZ: 11
EDU: 21
Hits: 12
Sanity: 0
Art: 80%
Credit Rating 55%
Cthulhu Mythos: 31%
Dodge: 44%
Fast Talk: 78%
History: 42%
Natural History: 22%
Occult: 56%
Persuade: 63%
Psychology: 40%
Sing: 60%
Spot Hidden: 70%
Throw: 38%
Knife: 56%
Handgun: 35%
Other skills at 35%
Spells: Summon/Bind Dimensional Shambler, Dominate, Song of Hastur
Jonathan Ogilvie's appearance is anything but conventional, but even
his extraordinary looks do little to betray his inner depravity. He is
hopelessly insane and will use any means available to achieve his
ends.
2.5 The Thing in the Cistern: A Dimensional Shambler
STR: 19
DEX: 10
INT: 7
CON: 17
APP: 1
POW: 10
SIZ: 19
Hits: 18
Damage Bonus +1d6
Claw 35% (1d8+1d6), two attacks per round.
Sanity loss to see a dimensional shambler: 0/1d10
"... a gigantic, blasphemous form of a thing not wholly ape and not
wholly insect. Its hide hangs loosely upon its frame, and its
dead-eyed rudiment of a head sways drunkenly from side to side. Its
forepaws are extended, with talons spread wide ..."
Jonathan Ogilvie conjures the shambler into the cistern to ensure that
his second and third sacrifices (Miles Jamieson and the executioner)
are suitably despatched to glorify the King in Yellow. The shambler
then takes the place of the executioner in Salome (see main text).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SALOME
A Tragedy in One Act
Translated from the French of Oscar Wilde by Lord Alfred Douglas
The persons of the play:
Herod Antipas, Tetrach of Judea
Jokanaan, the Prophet
Herodias, Wife of the Tetrach
Salome, daughter of Herodias
The Young Syrian, Captain of the Guard
The Page of Herodias
Namaan, the Executioner
Soldiers and Slaves
SCENE: A great terrace in the Palace of Herod, set above the
banqueting-hall. Some soldiers are leaning on the balcony. To the
right is a gigantic staircase, to the left, at the back, on old
cistern surrounded by a wall of green bronze. Moonlight.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: How Beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight!
THE PAGE OF HERODIAS: Look at the moon! How strange the moon seems!
She is like a woman rising from a tomb She is like a dead woman. You
would fancy she was looking for dead things.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: She is like a woman who is dead. She moves very
slowly ... How beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight!
THE PAGE OF HERODIAS: You are always looking at her. You look at her
too much. It is dangerous to look at people in that fashion. Something
terrible may happen.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN: After me shall come another mightier than I.
When he cometh, the solitary places shall be glad. They shall blossom
like the lily. The eyes of the blind shall see the day, the ears of
the deaf shall be opened.
FIRST SOLDIER: Make him silent. He is always saying ridiculous things.
[EVENT A]
SECOND SOLDIER: No, no. He is a holy man. He is very gentle, too.
FIRST SOLDIER: Who is he?
SECOND SOLDIER: A prophet.
FIRST SOLDIER: What is his name?
SECOND SOLDIER: Jokanaan.
[Enter Salome]
SALOME: I will not stay. I cannot stay. Why does the Tetrach look at
me all the while with his mole's eyes under his shaking eyelids? It is
strange that the husband of my mother looks at me like that. I know
not what it means. In truth, yes I know it.
[Enter A Slave]
SLAVE: Princess, the Tetrach prays you to return to the feast.
SALOME: I will not go back.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN: Rejoice not thou, land of Palestine, because
the rod of him who smote you is broken. For the seed of the serpent
shall come forth from a basilisk, and that which is born shall devour
the birds.
[EVENT B]
SALOME: Who was that who cried out?
SECOND SOLDIER: The Prophet, Princess.
SALOME: This prophet, is he an old man?
SECOND SOLDIER: No Princess, he is quite a young man.
SALOME: What a strange voice! I will speak with him.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: I fear it is impossible Princess. The Tetrach does
not want anyone to speak to him.
SALOME: I will speak with him. Bring forth the Prophet.
SOLDIERS: We dare not, Princess.
SALOME: [looking at the Young Syrian] You will do this for me, will
you not Narraboth? You know that you will do this thing for me. And
to-morrow when I pass in my litter by the bridge of the idol-buyers, I
will look at you through the muslin veils. I will look at you,
Narraboth, it may be that I will smile at you.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: Let the Prophet come forth ... The Princess Salome
desires to see him!
THE PAGE OF HERODIAS: Oh! How strange the moon looks. You would
think it was the hand of a dead woman who is seeking to cover herself
with a shroud.
[EVENT C]
[The prophet comes out of the cistern. Salome looks at him and steps
slowly back]
SALOME: How wasted he is! He is like a thin ivory statue. He is like
an image of silver. I am sure he is chaste as the moon is. His flesh
must be cool like ivory. I would look closer at him.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: Do not stay here, Princess. I pray you do not stay
here.
JOKANAAN: Who is this woman who is looking at me? I would not have her
look at me. Wherefore doth she look at me with her golden eyes, under
her gilded eyelids? I know not who she is. I do not wish to know who
she is.
SALOME: I am Salome, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judea.
JOKANAAN: Back! Daughter of Babylon!
SALOME: Speak again, Jokanaan. Thy voice is wine to me.
JOKANAAN: Get thee behind me! I hear in this place the beating of the
wings of death!
[EVENT D]
SALOME: Jokanaan, I am amorous of thy body! Thy body is white like the
snows that lie on the mountains, like the snows that lie on the
mountains of Judea and come down into the valleys. Thy mouth is like a
band of scarlet on a tower of ivory. Thy mouth is redder than the feet
of the doves who haunt the temples and are fed by priests. There is
nothing in the world so red as thy mouth ... Let me kiss thy mouth.
JOKANAAN: Never, daughter of Sodom! Touch me not.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: Princess, do not speak such words to him!
SALOME: I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan.
THE YOUNG SYRIAN: Princess, do not speak such things. I cannot suffer
them ... Princess, Princess ... Ah!
[The Young Syrian kills himself and falls between Salome and Jokanaan.
Jokanaan turns and goes down into the cistern]
[EVENT E]
SALOME: I will kiss thy mouth Jokanaan. I will kiss thy mouth.
[Enter Herod, Herodias and all the Court]
HEROD: Where is Salome? Where is the Princess? Why did she not return
to the banquet as I commanded her? There she is!
HERODIAS: You must not look at her. You are always looking at her.
HEROD: The moon has a strange look to-night. She is like a mad woman,
a mad woman who is seeking everywhere for lovers. She is naked, too.
The clouds are seeking to clothe her nakedness, but she will not let
them. She shows herself naked in the sky ... Pour forth my wine.
Salome, come drink a little wine with me.
SALOME: I am not thirsty, Tetrach.
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN: Lo! The time is come! That which I foretold has
come to pass.
HERODIAS: Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man
is forever vomiting insults.
HEROD: Do you not see your daughter, how pale she is?
HERODIAS: What is it to you if she is pale or not?
HEROD: Never have I seen her so pale.
HERODIAS: You must not look at her.
[EVENT F]
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN: In that day the sun shall become black like the
sackcloth of hair, and the moon shall be like blood, and the stars of
the heavens shall fall upon the earth!
HEROD: Dance for me, Salome.
SALOME: I do not desire to dance, Tetrach.
HEROD: Salome, daughter of Herodias, dance for me.
HERODIAS: Do not dance, my daughter.
HEROD: Dance for me, I beseech you. If you dance for me you may ask of
me what you will, and I will give it to you, even unto half the
kingdom.
SALOME: Will you indeed give me whatsoever I ask, Tetrach?
HEROD: Everything, even half the kingdom.
SALOME: You swear it, Tetrach?
HEROD: I swear it, Salome.
HERODIAS: My daughter, do not dance!
HEROD: Ah! Look at the moon, she has become red as blood. The prophet
prophesisied truly. Did he not prophesy that the moon would become red
as blood?
THE VOICE OF JOKANAAN: Who is this who cometh from Edom, who shineth
in the beauty of his garments, who walketh mighty in his greatness?
Why is thy raiment stained with scarlet?
[EVENT G]
HERODIAS: Let us go within. The voice of that man maddens me.
HEROD: I will not go in until she has danced. Salome, dance for me.
SALOME: I am ready Tetrach.
[Salome dances the dance of the seven veils]
HEROD: Ah! Wonderful! Wonderful! Come near, Salome, come near that I
may give you your reward. What wouldst thou have?
SALOME: I would that they presently bring me in a silver charger...
HEROD: [laughing] In a silver charger? Surely yes, in a silver
charger. She is charming, is she not? What would you have in a silver
charger?
SALOME: The head of Jokanaan.
HERODIAS: Ah! That is well said, my daughter.
HEROD: No, no Salome. Do not ask me that.
SALOME: You have sworn, Herod. Do not forget that you have sworn an
oath.
HEROD: I know it. But I pray you, Salome, ask of me something else.
Ask of me half of my kingdom, and I will give it to you. But do not
ask of me what you have asked.
SALOME: I ask of you the head of Jokanaan.
HEROD: You are not listening. You are not listening. Suffer me to
speak Salome. Listen. I have jewels hidden in this place - jewels that
even your mother has not seen...
SALOME: The head of Jokanaan.
HEROD: Let her be given what she asks! Of truth she is her mother's
child.
[EVENT H]
[The Executioner enters the cistern]
SALOME: [she leans over the cistern and listens] There is no sound. I
hear nothing. Why does he not cry out, this man? If a man sought to
kill me, I would cry out ... I would struggle. No, I hear nothing.
There is a silence, a terrible silence.
[EVENT I]
[EVENT J]
[The Executioner comes forth from the cistern, bearing on a silver
shield the head of Jokanaan. Salome seizes it. Herod hides his face
with his cloak. Herodias smiles and begins to fan herself]
SALOME: Ah! Thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan.
Well, I will kiss it now. I will bite it with my teeth as one bites a
ripe fruit. But wherefore does thou not look at me, Jokanaan? Thine
eyes that were so terrible, so full of scorn, are shut now. Ah!
Wherefore didst thou not look at me, Jokanaan? If thou hadst seen me
thou would have loved me. I saw thee Jokanaan, and I loved thee. I
love thee only ... I am athirst for thy beauty; I am hungry for thy
body. I was chaste, and thou didst fill my veins with fire.
HEROD: She is monstrous, thy daughter. In truth, what she has done is
a great crime.
HERODIAS: I approve of what my daughter has done. And I will stay here
now.
HEROD: [rising] I will not stay here. Surely some terrible thing will
befall. Put out the torches. I will not look at things, I will not
suffer things to look at me. Put out the torches! Hide the moon! Let
us hide ourselves in our palace. I begin to be afraid.
[EVENT K]
[The slaves put out the torches. A great black cloud crosses the moon
and conceals it completely. The stage becomes very dark. The Tetrach
begins to climb the staircase]
THE VOICE OF SALOME: [EVENT L] Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan.
There was a bitter taste on my mouth. Was it the taste of blood? But
perchance it was the taste of love? They say that love hath a bitter
taste ... But what of that? I have kissed thy mouth, Jokanaan.
[A moonbeam falls on Salome, covering her with light]
HEROD: [turning round and seeing Salome] Kill that woman!
[EVENT M]
[The soldiers rush forward and crush beneath their shields Salome,
daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judea]
FINIS
Sources:
Salome from THE COMPLETE OSCAR WILDE.
Text abridged for this scenario by Simon Lee
Biographical information from OSCAR WILDE, by Richard Ellmann
--------------------
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