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Chaosium Digest Volume 26 Number 04
Chaosium Digest Volume 26, Number 4
Date: Sunday, July 5, 1998
Number: 1 of 1
Contents:
I Want You to Kill the Ice Cream Man (Mike LaBrossiere) CTHULHU NOW
Editor's Note:
This time a short 1990s adventure for Call of Cthulhu.
Shannon
RECENT RELEASES:
* Call of Cthulhu - _Call of Cthulhu, Revised Edition_ (Chaosium, 288
pg., $29.95) by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis, et al. At last, the
Stars are Right for this new edition of Call of Cthulhu! It started
shipping from Chaosium a week and a half ago, and should begin
appearing in stores toward the end of this week. Take a look at
Chaosium's web page for full info:
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/
(FRENCH) MAGAZINE SIGHTINGS:
* Call of Cthulhu - "Le royaume du Pretre Jean", an eight page
scenario set in Ethiopia, Casus Belli HS 22 [July, 1998]
--------------------
From: "Mike LaBossiere" <Ontologist@aol.com>
Subject: I Want You to Kill the Ice Cream Man
System: Cthulhu Now
"I Want You to Kill the Ice Cream Man"
By Michael C. LaBossiere
Ontologist@aol.com
Call of Cthulhu
LEGAL INFORMATION
This adventure is copyright 1998 by Dr. Michael C. LaBossiere. It may
be freely distributed for personal use provided that it is not
modified and no fee above the normal cost of distribution is charged
for it. Visit my web site at http://user.aol.com/ontologist/index.html.
Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium Inc's registered trademark for their game
of horror and wonder in the worlds of HP Lovecraft. For more
information, contact Chaosium Inc., 950-A 56th St, Oakland, CA 94608
-- or call us at 510-547-7681. Visit Chaosium's web page at
http://www.sirius.com/~chaosium/chaosium.html.
INTRODUCTION
This adventure must take place in the summer in a place where there
are ice cream trucks. Virtually any American town or city will do. The
adventure is set in the 1990s, but could be modified to fit in other
time periods. While most ice cream trucks bring joy to thousands of
children, one brings horrible death to them and grief to their
parents. It is up to the investigators to find and kill a hideous
creatur. A creature that dresses in the flesh of dead ice cream men. A
creature that feeds on children. A creature that must be stopped.
This adventure is fairly short, but might be a bit disturbing to some
people.
GETTING THE INVESTIGATOR'S INVOLVED
On a pleasant summer evening, some of the investigators will be
enjoying a meal at a small restaurant. They will be seated in the
outdoors section. One of the investigators will notice that a man
keeps going past the restaurant and returning, all the while casting
furtive glances at the investigators. The man is dressed in a suit
that was once obviously very nice and expensive, but is now tattered,
worn, and stained. The same is true of his shoes and brief case.
Finally, the man will appear to steel himself and will go up to the
investigators and sit down.
He will say the following: "Most of what I say will seem mad. But I am
not mad. Please listen to me. If you don't believe me, I'll just get
up and leave. I won't try to hurt you or anyone else."
If the investigators tell him to leave, he will do so. A few minutes
later, the investigators will see two police officers chase after him
and take him away. They will latter learn he has been charged with
shooting an ice cream man. He will admit his guilt, rant about the
monster, and be institutionalized. Eventually, he will commit
suicide.
If the investigators are willing to listen, he will tell the following
story: "Four years ago I was a successful researcher for a law firm. I
was divorced, but I had joint custody of my son and he was spending
the summer with me. That summer seemed so great... I bought him ice
cream... I bought him ice cream from the truck... One night, something
woke me up and, for some reason, I felt the need to check on David. He
was gone, so I went looking for him. I happened to look out the window
and I saw him walking down the sidewalk toward the ice cream
truck... I ran out of the house, yelling to him. He seemed to be ins
some sort of trance and just kept on walking towards the truck. I saw
the ice cream man get out of the truck. He looked like a young man,
blonde and smiling... but there was something wrong... a smell... or
something. I ran to grab David... when I reached him, I felt the ice
cream man's hands fall on my shoulders, pulling me up... I looked
straight into his dead black eyes... then nothing. I woke up the next
morning, laying on my bedroom floor, wondering what had happened. I
almost forgot... I didn't remember what happened that night, not until
after the therapy. I went to check on my son, but he was gone. My wife
thought I had taken him somewhere and the police got involved. That's
when I had the therapy... that's when I remembered."
If the investigators still seem willing to listen, he will continue:
"I don't have much time, so here are the important things. After I
remembered, I went looking for the ice cream man. He was gone without
a trace. So I went looking for him and his truck. I searched and
searched, finding traces. All my research is here, in this brief
case. I don't have much time... they'll be here soon... but I learned
that he goes to a town and sells his truck. Then he steals the buyer's
body and starts selling ice cream. Then he starts taking children. Not
many... just one or two a month... not enough to attract attention. I
researched everything carefully... I was in research you know... I
have photos from the towns, missing child reports, eyewitness reports,
and statistics. I showed it all to the police but they couldn't see
it. They were polite and were interested, but I made the mistake of
saying that it was one person in every case... then I said something
about a monster... sometimes I say things I shouldn't..."
He will look around and see two police officers walking across the
street. He will look nervous and slide his brief case under the
table. He will then say:
"Here they come... it is time to pay for my mistake. I tracked it to
this town but I acted too soon. I went up to the ice cream man and
shot him. He just dropped to his knees, blood staining the white... a
look of dumb shock on his face... not the monster at all... you have
to stop him. I want you to kill the Ice Cream Man..."
The man, Larry Helmsworth, will get up and run toward the police,
yelling, "Here I am!" The police will grab him and take him away. What
the players do next is up to them.
KEEPER'S BACKGROUND
The creature Helmsworth is talking about really does exist. Four
years ago it came to his town and took his son, along with some other
children. It has been preying on children, in one guise or another,
for untold centuries.
While the creature has used many disguises in the past, it currently
is posing as an ice cream man. To disguise its true appearance, the
creature steals the skin of a person and wears it like a suit. The
creature has been operating in the following manner: it will drive the
truck to a town and put it up for sale. After it sells the truck to a
suitable person, it will wait for the new owner to get all the
licenses and such for the truck to operate. After the person
establishes a route, the creature will kill him, skin him, and then
wear the skin as a disguise. The creature will then select a few
suitable victims and sell them some "special" treats. After the
creature has fed on at least two victims, it will decide to move on
(also, its disguise will be getting a bit decayed by that point). It
will drive to another town and start the process all over again.
Helmsworth managed to find the creature and track it to the current
town. Three days ago he shot the person driving the truck.
Unfortunately, the person driving the truck was not the creature, but
the person intended to be the creature's next victim. Horrified, but
knowing only he knew the truth, Helmsworth fled the scene and went
looking for help. Because of his skill in research and his obsession
with the creature, he was able to learn a great deal about the unusual
aspects of the world, including the identity of at least one of the
investigators. Thinking he might be able to convince the investigator,
Helmsworth found out where he was and went there with his evidence.
Helmsworth knew the police were after him, but he figured he would
have just enough time to talk to the investigators.
While Helmsworth is talking to the investigators, the creature will be
waiting to get its truck back. It will tell the police that it had not
been fully paid for yet (which is true). Three days after the
shooting, the creature will have its truck back and be back in
business.
INVESTIGATION
There is a variety of information the investigators might be able to acquire.
Helmsworth's Brief Case
Most of the investigation has been done for the investigators by
Helmsworth. His briefcase contains many photos: of the truck, of
different drivers, and of children buying ice cream from the
truck. For many of the photos of the children, he has a corresponding
"missing child" picture. He also has a list of children who went
missing in each town when the ice cream truck was there. Finally, he
has a list of ice cream truck owners/operators who went missing in the
same towns.
If the investigators check the information themselves, it will all
check out. All the people who are listed as missing are really
missing. If the investigators know about missing person statistics (or
talk to someone who does) and check the information, they will learn
that the places listed in Helmsworth's data do not have missing rates
that differ significantly from those of similar places. If the
investigators take the time to do some research on the matter or hire
or ask an expert, they will learn that all of Helmsworth's data could
be explained entirely in terms of chance. In other words, if a person
just went around taking photos and making lists of missing people in
various places, the results could be similar. Because of this, and the
fact that Helmsworth seemed a bit unstable, the police do not accept
his story.
If the investigators decide to try to dig deeper, they will not be
able to turn up any new information. No one else suspects that some
creature is involved and people with missing children will become
outraged if someone comes to them talking about monsters. If the
investigators are too persistent in investigating the matter, the
police might connect them with Helmsworth and bring them in for
questioning.
The Victim
If the investigators check on the person who was killed, they will be
able to learn that he was Jeffrey Kelly. According to the newspapers,
Kelly had no immediate family in the area (which is why the creature
picked him) and it was his first day selling ice cream. Part of the
story is as follows:
Senseless Killing
The merry bells of a ice cream truck bring joy to the hearts of the
children, but today one set of bells fell silent. Jeffrey Kelly set
out this morning in his ice cream truck to begin what he hoped would
be a fun and profitable career. Sadly, tragedy struck. As Jeffrey
was handing out frozen treats to the eager children, an unidentified
man leaped out of a car and ran up to Mr. Kelly. According to
eyewitnesses, the man calmly fired three shots from a small pistol
into Mr. Kelly, then said "I got it wrong" and fled the scene on
foot. Police are still looking for the gunman.
If the investigators decide to dig deeper and get access to some
official sources of information, they might be able to learn that
Kelly bought his truck from a Mr. Hugh Jones. If they check up on
Mr. Jones, they will find the address given for Jones actually is the
residence of an older couple, who have nothing to do with the
creature. They might also learn that Hugh Jones reclaimed his truck
after he was able to prove that Kelly had only made one payment on the
vehicle.
Helmsworth
If the investigators try to contact Helmsworth, they will learn that
he is in police custody and will be undergoing psychiatric
evaluation. An investigator with legal or psychiatric credentials
might be able to talk to him. Helmsworth will, unfortunately, have
little else to add. He is consumed with guilt and is just waiting to
die so he can "join his son in heaven..."
The Ice Cream Truck
The investigators will probably want to investigate the truck. As
mentioned above, the truck was turned over to a Hugh Jones. After
getting his truck back, the creature had to take another victim to
replace its decaying skin. It then sold the truck to another
person. The person will take only a few days to get the truck going,
since he already owns a small ice cream truck business. If the
investigators ask about the truck, he will say it was sold to him by a
Mr. Morton Downer and will have the paperwork to prove it. The address
given by "Downer" is, of course, someone else's address. The driver of
the truck will be a new hire, a young man named Martin Ray. Ray is a
high school graduate who likes kids and is trying to earn some money
for school. A few days after Ray gets his route established, the
creature will ambush him, kill him, and take his skin. Unlike his
other victims, Ray has family in the area. Naturally, the creature
will avoid the family and Ray's friends. If the investigators contact
Ray's family, they might be able to learn when Ray has been replaced
by the change in "his" behavior.
If the investigators check out the truck itself, they will find it is
fairly normal, except that it has a very large freezer with padding on
the bottom (large enough to hold an adult human), and it has an odd
device. The device looks like a large metal vat with a mixer and
cooling tubes around it. The padded freezer is where the creature
normally sleeps and cools its skin during the day. The vat is used to
completely grind and liquify its victims for eating. The new owner
will assume that the padded freezer is to keep delicate treats from
being damaged and that the mixer is for making ice cream (it works
fine as an ice cream maker).
ACTION
The action begins when the investigators go after the creature. Since
so many different things could happen, only a general set of
guidelines and hints can be provided.
If the investigators talk to the creature while it is working, it will
seem to be a normal person (the creature has lots of experience). If
it become suspicious of the investigators, it will take action against
them. It will offer them some of its "special" treats (treats it has
infected with parasites and chemicals) and plan to attack them at
night. If they seem too dangerous, it will either plan a subtle attack
or leave the area and take a new identity. If the investigators follow
the truck during the day, nothing unusual will happen. They will just
see "Ray" driving around selling ice cream. If they follow Ray home,
they will see him go into his apartment for the night, at least until
it decides to take a victim.
If the investigators check out Ray's apartment, they will see that
there is dust everywhere and there is food rotting in the fridge.
There is a large freezer in the middle of the main room. "Ray" sleeps
in the freezer at night to help keep its skin from decaying as
quickly. If the investigators bring this to the attention of the
police, the police will point out that having a freezer is not a
crime.
If the investigators try to attack the creature during the day or when
it is in Ray's apartment, it will call for the police and try to act
like a normal person, hoping the police will deal with the
situation. If the investigators are able to expose it, it will try to
escape.
If the investigators follow "Ray" long enough, they will see it leave
the apartment at night and go get the truck from the business. "Ray"
will then drive to one of the neighborhoods along "his" route and park
the truck. A few minutes later, a child will come out of the house,
looking pale and dazed. If the investigators do not intervene, the
creature will take the child into the truck, put him into the vat,
"vomit" into the vat and drive away to someplace quiet and
isolated. It will then wait for the parasites and chemicals to start
dissolving the body of the victim. Then it will turn on the mixer and
feed. If the investigators attack it, its main goal will be to try to
escape.
CONCLUSION
The adventure comes to an end when the investigators defeat the
creature, are themselves defeated, or they give up.
If the investigators defeat the creature, they should receive a 1D6
Sanity Point award for making the world a safer place. If they are
able to provide the police with enough evidence, they might be able to
help Helmsworth. Knowing the creature has been destroyed might help
Helmsworth recover. If the investigators actually save a child from
the creature, the parents and the community will be grateful. The body
of the creature would create quite a stir in the medical and
scientific communities. Naturally, they will regard it as a mutant of
some kind.
If the investigators are not able to stop the creature or they give
up, it will take 2-3 victims and then move on to a new place. If the
investigators know that the creature exists, they should lose 1D3
Sanity Points.
THE ICE CREAM MAN
The creature is a one of a kind thing that was born to a woman
centuries ago. At first, it grew up like a normal child, then its
outer layer of skin began sloughing off, its eyes turned dull black,
its teeth fell out, its lips enlarged until its mouth became like a
sucker, and it underwent other changes. Among these changes was the
loss of its gender and the alteration of its digestive system. It
found it could only feed on human flesh that had been treated with its
own hideous vomit. Over the years, it learned that its vomit contained
parasites and chemicals that would weaken the will of a victim,
enabling it to call the victim to it. The creature found that children
were least resistant to its call and it decided to prey on them. It
also learned that its skinless body could support, briefly, the stolen
skin of another. It used this ability to disguise its true nature so
it could more easily find victims.
Its latest disguise is that of an ice cream man. For the creature,
this is an ideal disguise. It can select its victims without creating
any suspicion. The freezer in the ice cream truck keeps its stolen
skin from rotting so quickly. Finally, it can use the ice cream to
introduce certain parasites and chemicals into its chosen victim.
As mentioned above, the creature can wear the skin of a human being,
provided the person is within two SIZ points of the creature. The skin
will last up to a month, provided it is kept cold to retard the
process of decay. The skin will give off an odor of decay, which the
creature disguises with deodorants and cologne.
The creature can also produce parasites and chemicals. When the
creature selects a victim, it introduces the parasites and chemicals
into the treat. Over the course of the day, the parasites reproduce
and infect the victim's brain. The creature can then send a mental
call to the victim. If the call succeeds, the victim will come to the
creature and be unable to offer any resistance. In game terms, the
parasites lower the victim's POW 1-6 points for the purposes of
resisting the creature. The chemicals and the parasites also make the
victim weaker, inflicting 1D3 points of damage. The creature matches
its POW with the victim and, if successful, the victim comes to the
creature and is unable to resist. The victim can try to resist every
fifteen minutes. The call uses up one magic point when used and then
one point every fifteen minutes it is maintained. The parasites are
not known to modern science, but can be treated with antibiotics if
the victim survives.
In addition to its ability to call victims, the creature can also
attempt to mentally dominate others and erase their memories. The
attempt to dominate others costs the creature 3 magic points and
requires that it matches its POW against the victim. If the creature
is successful, the victim will be unable to move for five minutes,
unless attacked or otherwise forcefully accosted. Once the victim is
unable to move, the creature can expend 3 more magic points and
attempt to overcome the victim's POW. If successful, the creature can
order the person to go to sleep and forget everything that has
happened. The creature can erase an hour of memory for every three
magic points it expends.
In combat, the creature can strike with its fists and use human
weapons. It generally does not go armed, though. If it is not worried
about revealing its true nature, it can also shoot forth its vomit up
to ten feet. The vomit it expels is acidic and inflicts 1D6 points of
damage, then 1D3 and then 1 point before losing potency (if it is not
diluted or washed off first). The creature can make six such attacks
in one day.
The creature prefers to avoid combat. If confronted, its main goal
will be to escape rather than fight. It is an intelligent,
experienced, and subtle creature, so it will act accordingly. Its main
weakness is that it can only feed on human flesh. It needs to consume
a number of victims eavery thirty days whose combined Sizes at least
equal its Size. Otherwise it loses one hit point every two days for
each SIZ point it is short. As long as it is fed, it has amazing
healing abilities, healing one point of damage each round. The
creature is also effectively immortal: as long as it can feed it will
not die of "natural" causes.
STR 17 CON 16 SIZ 14 INT 13 POW 15
DEX 14 APP (as per victim) EDU 21
Move 8
HP 15
DB +1D4
Weapons: Fist 75% 1D3+1D4
Vomit Spray 65% 1D6/1D3/1
Important Skills: Bargain 65%, Biology 25%, Chemistry 25%, Conceal
65%, Drive Auto 60%, Fast Talk 65%, Hide 75%, History 65%, Jump 55%,
Listen 65%, Locksmith 21%, Persuade 65%, Sneak 65%, Spot Hidden 70%
Sanity Loss: 1/1D6 to see the creature in its natural form.
HANDOUTS
Hand Out #1
Senseless Killing
The merry bells of a ice cream truck bring joy to the hearts of the
children, but today one set of bells fell silent. Jeffrey Kelly set
out this morning in his ice cream truck to begin what he hoped would
be a fun and profitable career. Sadly, tragedy struck. As Jeffrey was
handing out frozen treats to the eager children, an unidentified man
leaped out of a car and ran up to Mr. Kelly. According to
eyewitnesses, the man calmly fired three shots from a small pistol
into Mr. Kelly, then said "I got it wrong" and fled the scene on
foot. Police are still looking for the gunman.
--
