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Chaosium Digest Volume 30 Number 02
Chaosium Digest Volume 30, Number 2
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2000
Number: 3 of 5
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In a Different Light (pt. 3)
Boston
Investigators keen to learn more about Professor Duncan and
his invention may consider telephoning or telegraphing him
at Boston University. This tactic proves fruitless, however.
Any such attempts are met with a curt reply from the
Department of Engineering secretary to the effect that
Professor Duncan is currently on leave from his position.
Under no circumstances will the brusque secretary agree to
take a message or provide details on how the Professor can
be contacted. Clearly, if the Investigators want to learn
more of Duncan and his work, they must do it in person. This
occasions a brief visit to Boston.
BU Engineering Department
Boston University's small Department of Engineering is
housed in the third story of Science Hall. Visitors to the
department first encounter the departmental secretary who,
if anything, is even more
ornery in person. The man is short and scrawny with facial
features reminiscent of a rodent. As before, this unpleasant
man will blatantly refuse to give out any details of
Professor Duncan's leave or how the
man may be contacted.
However, Investigators who can convince the secretary that
their researches are serious, through a Persuade or Fast
Talk roll, will be permitted to confer with Duncan's
colleagues. The secretary will make it quite plain that he
is doing this as a favor to the Investigators, and that they
should feel honored.
Investigators granted 'permission' to speak with the
academics are directed toward a lunch room down the
corridor, from which sounds of an argument can be heard. As
the visitors enter the room, they see two middle-aged men,
each with a coffee cup in hand, gesticulating wildly at some
formulae written on a blackboard along one wall. The two men
continue their technical argument apparently oblivious to
the presence of the Investigators.
A third, younger man rises from his seat to greet the
visitors. The tall and gangly academic wears wire-rimmed
spectacles and seems more than a little nervous. He
introduces himself as Christopher Langford, a graduate
student. Langford halts the argument between the other two
men and introduces them. They are Professor Bartholomew
Krister, the head of the Engineering Department, and Dr.
Andreas Eckermann a lecturer.
Krister is a short stout man who is almost completely bald
except for the speckled gray goatee which graces his chin.
His face is red and blotchy, a result of his frequent
illegal tippling of fine wine. Eckermann is fair- skinned
and very Germanic in appearance. His blond hair, blue eyes
and good looks have made him a source of some jkattention
among female students on campus.
When queried about the absence of Professor Duncan, Krister
says that the absent academic was granted special leave to
recover from severe stress. This, he says was induced by a
frantic schedule of
research. A Psychology Roll learns that this is not the
complete story. If pressed, Krister admits that he actually
suggested Duncan take an extended leave of absence after
having received several
complaints from other members of the faculty.
Over the past few months, Krister explains, the Professor's
demeanor had altered dramatically, from sociable to more
than slightly paranoid. He refused to let anybody but
Langford, the graduate student
under his supervision, enter the laboratory in which he was
testing his new lamps. He was obsessed with the notion that
other members of the faculty were trying to steal his ideas.
To the best of Krister's
knowledge this wasn't the case.
Eventually Duncan's obsessive behavior became a major source
of irritation and Krister was forced to insist his colleague
take a rest. When forced to leave, Duncan removed all
material from the lab, presumably taking it to his home.
This has left his student Langford in a difficult position,
since he had intended to base his thesis on experiments
performed with Duncan's lights.
If asked, any of the three academics are more than happy to
supply the Investigators with Graham Duncan's residential
address. If asked about the supply of prototypes to Arkham
Edison, Duncan's
colleagues know nothing about it. Indeed it is the first
news they have heard suggesting the new technique has been
applied to any practical purpose.
[ Professor Graham Duncan
Tall and bulky, 66 year old Duncan cuts a figure that is at
once physically imposing and pitiably ill-proportioned.
Where a decade ago his body was fit and well-toned, recent
aging and lifestyle have left
him paunchy and out of shape. Several short-lived attempts
to regain his former fitness have left Duncan with a variety
of muscular injuries. He walks with a slight limp as a
result of the newest of
these.
The Professor's facial features are fine, but remain for the
most part hidden behind the thick horn-rimmed glasses he
must wear. His eyes are small and squinted, his small thatch
of remaining hair
almost white. The broad expanse of his brow is furrowed with
an intricate network of lines and wrinkles.
Graham Duncan was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1862.
Always an intelligent individual, he achieved remarkable
academic success first in his schooling and later at the
University of Edinburgh. He
graduated from the latter institution in 1882 with a degree
in Engineering. Following this, he continued his studies in
Engineering, in 1887 attaining his doctorate. The research
work he reported in his doctoral thesis was generally
regarded as full of promise. In 1888 a revised version of
the manuscript was published in book form.
After Duncan's impressive entry into academia, the remainder
of his career was largely unremarkable. After receiving his
doctorate, he took up a lecturing position at the University
of Glasgow, performing
what little research he could on the side. Following this,
he changed positions often, working in universities in
England, Germany, Switzerland and Australia. Each change of
job was occasioned
by an increase in status.
Eventually, in 1921 he accepted a post as professor in
Boston University's small department of Engineering. This
position allowed him more time to pursue matters of
research, an aspect of his career that had scarcely been
touched upon since his time at Edinburgh. Realizing that he
was rapidly approaching an age where such activities would
be curtailed, he dived into his research with some
vigor. He was determined to discover something that would
immortalize his name, before age claimed him as a victim.
It was this unbridled and desperate ambition that became a
kernel for the hideous events of this scenario. For the
important 'discovery' he made in 1927 was actually a
carefully planned bait laid by
an otherworldly force. His eagerness to adopt this invention
as his own, and the readiness with which he has spread the
dangerous technology, are exactly the characteristics the
unearthly entity hoped
for.
The past months, since the Professor's fateful encounter
with the curious bazaar vendor have seen him steadily
decline into insanity. Since first his mind awoke to visions
of the life existing in and around what man can perceive, he
became increasingly more paranoid. At the same time, each
new coherent vision served to bolster Duncan's conviction
that what he saw was not mere hallucination but a different
aspect of the reality we think we know. Even after some
cursory experimentation, however, he remained unsure.
When Duncan read the article in the Boston Globe describing
Caruso's foul slaying in Arkham, his mind recognized the
horrible truth. The weird sights of a world filled with
jelly creatures and hideously
malign shadows were not just things he had hallucinated. It
was some mode of perception his lamps had preternaturally
granted him, and similarly granted the poor residents of
Arkham.
Part of him felt a deep sense of guilt, another part great
fear that someone would discover how he was responsible for
this man's death. Amid his confusion an inner voice of
reason told him what he must do:
go to Arkham and destroy the lamps before others were placed
in danger. By the time the Investigators visit his home in
Boston, Duncan has already destroyed the lamp prototypes in
his workshop and left for Arkham. In Arkham he chooses to
lay low, renting a cheap basement flat in a tenement on S
French Hill St. under a false name. There, he is almost
impossible to find
Professor Duncan's role in this scenario is a complex one,
played mostly in the background. Despite what Investigators
may think from first impressions, he is by no means the
villain of this piece, rather
he is an unwitting victim of forces unknown. In fact, in his
own twisted and insane way, Duncan is very much an ally: his
motivation is to undo the terrible wrong he has inflicted
upon the world, even as the Investigators ultimately wish
to achieve this noble end. Unlike the Investigators,
however, the Professor is far from resolute in this aim, his
unstable mind fluctuating wildly between anxiety, guilt and
fear. These powerful emotions leave him at times pathetic
and cowardly, and at other times stern and forthright.
Towards the close of this scenario, desperation forces the
unpredictable Duncan to desperate measures. Defying his
terrible paranoia he chooses to confide his fears in souls
he believes work
towards a common goal, the Investigators. See "A Note From A
Cryptic Ally" below for the barely- coherent form this
contact takes. Later again in the scenario, his trust of the
Investigators fails due to
some hint of evil the insane man perceives in something they
say or do (see "Duncan on the Telephone"). This precipitates
an eleventh hour turnabout in Duncan's plans -- now he must
elude the
Investigators, agents who aim to foil his grand plan,
carrying out his drastic action alone.]
Duncan's House
The address the Investigators have for Professor Duncan's
house is in a marginally wealthy suburb not far from the
University. The house itself, like many in the area, is an
immaculately maintained two
story Victorian residence. A pretty yet slightly overrun
garden graces the rear of the grounds. Along one side of the
property runs a driveway and an empty garage with parking
space for a single automobile is also situated in the back
yard.
No manner of knocking upon either front or back door elicits
a response. Both entries are securely locked with expensive
foreign locks, bought during a recent wave of break-ins in
the neighborhood.
Picking these locks is difficult -- would be burglars need
to roll below half their Locksmith skill to gain entry. The
ground floor windows are securely shut and locked in place.
They offer no means of entry short of forcing or breaking
them. Such suspicious activity, however, will almost
certainly cause Duncan's nosy neighbors to telephone the
police. In that instance the local constabulary will arrive
within about 15 minutes.
Inside the house all seems in order. Everything is neatly
packed away, and there is no sign that anybody has been in
the house in the last few days. Two rooms will be of
interest to Investigators: the Study and the Basement
Workshop. The remaining rooms hold no clues, and are in
every way unremarkable.
The Basement Workshop
This place is a mess. Hundreds of shards of broken glass lie
strewn amid overturned stools and benches. Nothing remains
intact or salvageable. A baseball bat lies against a wall,
presumably the
instrument used to wreak much of the destruction upon what
were once Duncan's prototype lamps. Many of the shattered
pieces of glass are still coated with an off-white powder
which feels mildly
abrasive to the touch. This is the secret coating which
gives the lights their special properties. If characters
take samples of this powder and have it analyzed, see the
section titled "The Cave" below for details of their
findings.
The Study
Duncan's study appears the most heavily used room in the
house. Bookcases reaching to the ceiling cover three of the
walls, an open roll-top desk and a window cover the fourth.
A small wooden stepladder for reaching the top shelves of
the bookcases sits in one corner of the room. Atop the desk
sits an ornate looking electrical desk lamp, its power lead
tastefully concealed from view. Next to the
lamp a recent photograph of Professor Duncan stands in a
gaudy frame. The place is tidy: besides a stack of a half
dozen books on the desk, all volumes are neatly placed in
the bookcases.
The books atop the desk are all philosophical treatises on
perception; Descartes, Boyle, Locke and Voltaire are each
represented in the pile. Investigators thumbing through the
worn-looking volumes find
a few places where passages have been underlined. Each
highlighted passage deals with the nature of man's
perceptual faculties, and their interaction with reality.
The three drawers of the professor's desk are locked with
the key nowhere to be found in the house. Investigators
using their Lockpicking skill (or just brute force) have no
difficulty in gaining access to them. For the most part the
drawers contain little of interest, mainly supplies of
stationary. The bottom draw, however, contains a slim diary.
The first entry in the diary bears a date approximately two
years ago. The last is dated two months ago, on the day
Duncan was asked to take a leave of absence from the
University. A description of the diary's contents appears in
a nearby box.
[ Duncan's Diary
(Dated 12 months ago) "Today I saw the most amazing thing. I
was walking through the Bazaar near campus when I came upon
a stall I had never seen there before. Some new trinket shop
I believe.
Anyway, I was just about ready to walk straight past the
place when I spied some curious desk lamps the foreign
gentleman was selling. I'm still not sure how to describe
the qualities of this light, even
though I can see the desk lamp I bought from him as I write.
There's some kind of opalescence about it which I've never
seen from any electric light. Also its brightness and
strength are better than anything
I've seen running on domestic voltage! I took the lamp down
to the workroom and did some experimenting with it. God!
Even with half the normal voltage its light is as clear and
illuminating as a normal desk lamp. How could that be? I
must seek out the foreign gentleman who sold it to me and
find out more."
(The next day) "The dark skinned foreigner claims he makes
the lamps himself! He says he takes normal electric lights
and coats them with some 'secret' powder he alone knows of
and they take on the properties I observed. Sounds like a
bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me. How could some powder coating
improve the efficiency of the lamp? I challenged the
shopkeep to show me this highly improbable process in action
so I could judge the veracity of his claim. Amazingly
enough, he agreed:
the day after tomorrow he's going to show me not only how
the lamps are made, but also his source of this 'miracle'
ingredient. I am, of course, highly skeptical. We shall see
-.."
(Two days later) "It's true! Incredible, but true!
Everything that weird, dark-skinned man said was right. I
saw it with my own eyes -- he took a cheap common desk lamp
of the kind one might buy anywhere,
added the weirdly textured grayish powder and ... presto ...
the light from the thing was at least twice as bright as it
originally was, and considerably more opalescent. My
scientific mind is at a loss to
explain it, but it recognizes how important this phenomenon
could be! And it could be I that introduce it to the
academic world! But I skip ahead of myself ... after the
demonstration I was more than eager to
take the man up on his offer to see the place he knew where
this amazing powder could be found. He told me the place was
a cave in a hill not far from Arkham. I drove, he directed
-.. I could tell some of the directions he was giving were
designed to make it difficult for me to later replicate the
trip, but I think I managed to keep my head straight enough
to keep track of where we went. I shall set down ..."
The next page has been torn from the diary.
The next few months worth of entries are very short. The
entries from just after the professor's "discovery" talk
briefly about research he was carrying out at the
University. He mentions a paper he
had written and sent to a number of academic journals. Later
entries talk about the trips he undertook to give
presentations of his work at a dozen New England
Universities. After these trips, his entries
take on a considerably more paranoid tone.
(Dated 6 months ago) "He's out to steal my ideas, I know it.
That wretched German! Anyway, it's too late ... my paper
will be published soon, and nobody will be able to deny it
was I who revolutionized the
face of Engineering! I received a letter today from Arkham
Edison -- they want to trial my lamps for street lighting.
They want 12, ready within four months. Methinks I will be
busy, but I know I can do it!
But the scum at the Uni who want to steal my glory mustn't
know about this. I can do all the work in my workshop, with
plenty of time to spare!"
Three months of sporadic entries follow, usually single
lines to the effect that work was proceeding well. Starting
about three months ago, several references to
"hallucinations" appear in the journal. A month
later the diary suddenly stops. The last entry reads as
follows.
(Dated 2 months ago) "Krister thinks I need a rest does he?
Ha! Let him think what he wants. This temporary leave of
absence should mean I can finish off the lamps for Arkham
Edison within the week.
And at least with all my equipment here at home, I KNOW
nobody is using it at nights. Let's see Eckermann steal my
work now!" ]
Investigators choosing to search through the several
bookcases in the study find nothing of interest unless they
search the very top shelves. This will occasion the usage of
the step ladder, since these
books are above eye level for even the tallest. On this
shelf sit Duncan's philosophy books.
Scanning the spines of these books and making a Spot Hidden
Roll, Investigators will discover that one volume is fake.
This book contains a cavity in which is sequestered a small
notebook. On the first page of the book is written, in
Duncan's hand, "Researches into a Perceptual Power Beyond
the Five Known Senses." Below this neatly inscribed title is
a date, from approximately six weeks ago.
Only the first three pages of the notebook contain writing,
the vast majority of it remains blank. The text of what the
professor has written is quite jumbled, but the general gist
of his thesis is that somehow he has become possessed of a
new sense. He calls this 'higher sight'. This higher sight
is not hallucination, not some random trick of the mind. He
can, he claims, see a consistent view of an alien
world superimposed over his normal vision whenever a strong
light source is present. He briefly describes this alien
aspect of reality as "full of quivering semi-transparent
things that float like a jellyfish about and through
everything." He also hints at shadowy creatures which
malignantly hover at the edge of his higher vision.
Persistent Investigators who choose to scan through all the
empty pages of the notebook will discover a further secret.
Toward the back of the book two pages have been neatly glued
together about the edges to form a pocket. Holding the pages
up to the light reveals that a folded piece of paper is
hidden within this pocket. The only means of removing this
sheet is by tearing the pages of the book. Investigators
doing this discover that the folded paper is the missing
page from Duncan's diary. It contains the professor's
makeshift map describing the location of the cave to which
the shopkeeper guided him. The map is very crude showing
Arkham, many minor back-roads, a country town called
Sudbury, a deserted village and a hill.
The Bazaar
Investigators intent upon visiting the stall in the bazaar
where Professor Duncan first discovered the weird lamps are
in for a disappointment. Neither the trinket stall described
in the diary, nor the dark skinned vendor are anywhere to be
found. Talking to other shopkeepers in the area reveals that
they are a dim memory in most people's minds, having
suddenly moved on almost a year ago. Nobody admits to having
known or socialized with the foreign shop-owner. Indeed,
nobody can even say that they knew his name.
However, one bazaar vendor by the name of Shepley Herber, a
seller of second hand books, claims to know something of the
dark skinned man. If the Investigators question him (and
incidentally agree to
buy a book or two), red-headed and fast-talking Herber will
relate the following tale.
"Yes, I remember the man you're asking about. Dark skinned
man he was .. like an Arab only his features were finer. And
do you know why I remember him so vividly? Eh? It was
because every time I
cast eyes upon him .. and that were quite often since his
stall was just across there ... every time I saw him I was
convinced that he were someone I'd seen years and years ago.
Course I didn't think much about it at the time ... but
later, not long after he just up and left one night, I were
thinking about him .. and all of a sudden it hit me! That
man looked EXACTLY like someone I seen when I was a child,
over fifty years ago. And he looked exactly the same.
"I remember, it was when I was staying with my uncle away
upstate near Arkham on holiday one Spring in the late
seventies. My uncle lived in a tiny farming town called
Crawford's Rise. Anyhow, this
particular Spring a traveling salesman rolled into town. Now
there were nothing unusual about that, but it were the man
himself what were unusual; he was the spitting image of the
dark skinned man you're asking me about today.
"Course he suffered a fair bit of abuse on account of his
color, but the man never said a word, just got on with the
business of selling his wares. I remember he had a batch of
the prettiest lanterns you ever did see. All ornately inlaid
with gold and silver ... and the light these lanterns gave
off was the softest light I've ever seen. Anyway I recall
these were right popular with the townsfolk who begrudgingly
set aside their dislike of the man's color and bought them
to the very last one. And then as suddenly as the man had
arrived, he left."
If the shopkeeper is questioned further about Crawford's
Rise or his uncle's farm, he will tell the Investigators
that "the Rise" lay about seven miles west of Arkham in a
valley between a couple of
rolling grassy hills. He remembers it as an idyllic place.
Oddly enough a matter of months after his lengthy holiday
stay, his uncle decided to sell the property and move his
family back to Boston. The
bookseller says he never found out why.
[ Who is this Dark Man?
The dark skinned shopkeeper who started the chain of events
that lead up to this scenario, is not encountered as part of
the scenario. By the time the Investigators are interested
in seeking him out, he is well and truly gone without any
hint remaining of how to find him. Thus, no matter how
inventive the Investigators are, they will never solve the
mystery of just who this man truly is. Keepers, however, may
be curious to know just what earthly or unearthly force set
this whole complex sequence of events in motion. Two obvious
possibilities are given below. The imaginative Keeper can
doubtlessly think of
many more.
(1) The Dark Man is Nyarlathotep. Tricking humans into
bringing the race one step closer to extinction seems a
favorite ploy of Nyarlathotep, though no one knows what
manner of amusement he derives
from it.
(2) The Dark Man is an immortal sorcerer intent on bringing
about the expedient revival of the Great Old Ones. Keepers
who prefer a less overt Mythos presence in their campaign
may feel more comfortable if
the progenitor of the intricate scheme to awaken a lesser
Old One, is a human. The sorcerer needs to possess unnatural
longevity, however, unless the Keeper has another
explanation for how the dark man can appear unaged after
fifty years.]
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