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Chaosium Digest Volume 29 Number 12
Chaosium Digest Volume 29, Number 12
Date: Sunday, January 16, 2000
Number: 1 of 5
Contents:
* In a Different Light (CTHULHU)
by Dean Englehardt dean@cs.adelaide.edu.au
Editor's Note:
Well, the computers have kept operating, the power remained
on and R'lyeh is still sunken. Though I guess the Templars
still have the full year to complete their Grand Plan so
we'll just have to wait and see on that one. Maybe I should
take my Masonic friend up on his attempts to get me to join
the Lodge and York Rite...
In any case, for this first issue of 2000, I present the
final entry in the Cthulhu Hardcover contest. It's a big 'un
so I'll be sending it in multiple parts. Enjoy! Hopefully,
we'll have the contest winner announcement next issue.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
* Starting the new year on the right head-foot.
Cephalopods Rejoice! The new Call of Cthulhu hardcover
rulebook <cha 2386> has just arrived and will begin shipping
to our steadfast distributors immediately. You favorite game
shops should have the
book available of January 21st. It's strangely fitting that
our first release of 2000 is this long awaited hardcover
rulebook. Chaosium insiders agree that this is a swell omen
and bodes well for the coming year. Several other projects
for 2000 include the Cthulhu for president kit (see below),
some inspirational Miskatonic University releases, an
excellent line up of fiction books, and a possible swarm of
plush Mythos Monsters later in the year. Moral here at
Chaosium is very high and momentum may finally on our side.
Cthulhu F'taghn!
Planning for the Big Cons
It's hard to believe but the first event deadlines for
Origins and GenCon are fast approaching. If you plan on
attending either event, why not run some Chaosium games?
We'll provide prizes for your event so long as we know about
it in advance. You can submit events online and read more
about the conventions at the WOTC/Hasbro website:
http://www.wizards.com/origins/ORG2K/Welcome.asp
Want To see more "X"?
Would you like to see more Chaosium releases? Do you want to
see more books for your favorite game line? Well you, the
individual gamer can make that happen. Go to your local
retail shop, game club, or
convention and run some Chaosium games. Show some new folks
how to play your favorite games. When those new gamers start
buying books on their own, demand for your favorite game
increases at your local shop, with their game distributors,
and finally right here at Ye Old Chaosium. Since we're not
independently wealthy or owned by a mega-entertainment
corporation, and since we rely upon our books to pay the
rent, we (and any other professional game company) can only
afford print what we can profitably sale. You folks are
all-powerful when it comes to deciding what game lines any
given company can support. The adventure games market is a
pretty small pond: go make some waves!
BOOKS OF NOTE from Shannon Appel
* Call of Cthulhu - _The Last Continent: New Tales of
Zothique_ (Shadowlands Press, 440 pgs., $60[!], ISBN
0-9665662-4-6), edited by John Pelan, is a collection of
brand new stories related to Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique.
I haven't read this tome yet, but it has a story by my
favorite writer, Gene Wolfe, as well as items by a few other
luminaries, such as Brian McNaughton, t. Winter-Damon, and
Brian Stableford. The rather hefty price is for the "Limited
Edition", which is signed by all the authors and numbered
(out of 500). There's also a $100 Deluxe edition, which I'd
have to assume is slipcased, but I haven't seen it. Their
website, http://www.bereshith.com/, doesn't list a cheaper
edition, so if you're a CAS fan, you'll probably need to get
this one.
**RECENTLY RELEASED!**
Last Rites four adventures for Call of Cthulhu
2379 $14.95 ISBN 1-56882-137-9
http://www.chaosium.com/cthulhu/2379.shtml
** UPCOMING CHAOSIUM RELEASES**
All books are expected to print in the month listed... But
we all know Chaos Happens.
JANUARY
>Call of Cthulhu RPG (Hardcover)
2386 $37.95 ISBN 1-56882-148-4
Call of Cthulhu Is Shipping Now!
The Great Old Ones ruled the Earth aeons before the
incidental rise of man. They came from the gulfs of space,
waged war upon one another, and then were cast down by even
greater beings. Remains of
their cyclopean cities and forbidden knowledge can still be
found in the remote extremes of our planet. Upon uncharted
islands, within dark ocean depths, under burning desert
sands, locked within polar
ice, miles below the Earth's crust, they lay imprisoned. But
when the Stars are right they will awaken and walk this
earth once more.
Call of Cthulhu is our classic role-playing game of
Lovecraftian horror in which ordinary people are confronted
by the terrifying and alien forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. A
bestseller with over 300,000
copies sold world-wide. Call of Cthulhu has won dozens of
game awards. In 1996 Call of Cthulhu was elected to the
Academy of Adventure Game Designer's Hall of Fame. Call of
Cthulhu is well supported by an ever growing line of high
quality game supplements. No Gaming library is complete
without a copy of this book!
This new hardback edition is completely compatible with all
our previous 5th edition supplements for Call of Cthulhu.
Some sections of the book have been revised and clarified,
and the book includes
some new interior art. This book is a complete role-playing
game in one volume! All you need to Play Call of Cthulhu is
this book, some dice, and your friends.
-----------------------------
"In a Different Light"
Copyright (c) 1993, 1994, 1996 by Dean Engelhardt
"With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the
boundless complex cosmos, yet other beings with a wider,
stronger or different range of senses might not only see
very differently the things we see,
but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy and
life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with
the senses we have."
-- H.P.Lovecraft
This scenario pits the Investigators against a terrible and
sinister plot instigated by a mysterious and possibly
inhuman power. Investigators with some prior experience of
the Cthulhu Mythos will find their knowledge gives them a
slight advantage. Little, however, will prepare them for the
terrible awakenings that soon take place both within
themselves and in a dark and hidden site unknown to man.
The hideous events detailed herein are nominally set in
Arkham and Boston during the Spring of 1928. However, the
Keeper needs to change little to relocate the scenario
elsewhere or to a different year.
Keeper's Information
Half-remembered tales recall that in aeons long ago the
Great Old Ones came down from the heavens to occupy our
planet. These stories tell of hundreds of such creatures
descending upon our globe, each a horribly individual and
unique entity. Yet in the Mythos lore known to modern
humanity, a mere handful of such entities is thought to
exist on the Earth.
Could it be that the reason for this discrepancy lies not in
the disappearance of these deathless things, but in the
narrowness of our perceptual faculties? Could the remainder
of these eldritch things be in some way invisible to our
sensibilities, surviving in imperceptible slumber in
long-forgotten places? This scenario deals with one such
survival.
Beneath a small hill in the gently rolling landscape west of
Arkham lies a shrine that is invisible to all humanity's
senses. Within this place sleeps an antediluvian horror, a
lesser power among the ranks of those who descended with
Cthulhu from the hideously living star Xoth. Being a lesser
entity of its kind, the mystical bonds that prevent its
existence during certain cosmic
phases are weaker. This, coupled with the imminence of the
stellar configuration which will free all members of its
race, means the time is ripe for this being's awakening. For
this to occur, however, the Great Old One must be fed
curious occult sustenance and exposed to the
non-electromagnetic radiation emitted by the star it once
came from.
To arrange such conditions an unknown force has constructed
a deceptive conspiracy. Adopting the form of a dark-skinned
merchant at a Boston bazaar, it began subtly weaving its
strands of deception. As the basis for this evil web it
sensed the ambition of an elderly Engineering Professor it
knew to frequent the place in search of curios. This man,
Professor Graham Duncan of Boston University, soon
stumbled into the merchant's trap.
Chancing upon the bazaar stall, his attention was
particularly drawn to the curiously opalescent electric
lamps on display. His trained eye recognized that these were
unlike any conventional forms of electric lighting. In time
he unearthed the secrets of the lamps, and learned how to
construct them himself.
What he did not discover immediately was the curious effect
the light from these lamps had upon living creatures. For
this light possessed the power to activate long dormant
perceptual faculties within the brain granting a 'second
sight'. The gland that embodies this new sense is the
pineal.
The motivation behind the deception of Graham Duncan lay in
the fact that the fully functioning pineal body contains
many occult substances. Several of these are chemicals
necessary for the awakening of the entity beneath the hill.
The unknown force behind the scheme hoped that Professor
Duncan would spread the curious illumination technology
throughout the world.
This sinister propagation, it hoped, would produce a
sufficiently large 'harvest' of human pineal bodies to
revive many of Cthulhu's brood.
To an extent this evil plot is already reaching some
fruition. Several weeks ago a set of twelve new street
lights were erected on a sleepy street in Arkham's
Southside, the long awaited outcome of decades of calls for
reform. These lamps, however, do not
utilize traditional arc light technology, but instead use a
curious new technique recently 'discovered' and documented
by Professor Graham Duncan. This technology is, of course,
that from the bazaar merchant's lanterns.
Now, three weeks after the installation of the pilot scheme
in Southside, strange things are beginning to happen.
Stories of a wild pack of rabid dogs roaming the
neighborhood are becoming increasingly common. Curiously
mutilated animal corpses have been
discovered nearby. Many of the more sensitive residents have
noted curious short-lived hallucinations. The situation is,
however, about to take a serious turn for the worse.
The Pineal Gland and its Latent Perceptual Function
The pineal is a gland present in the brains of humans and
all other vertebrates. Scholars have recognized its
existence since the time of the Latin physician Galen
(second century AD). Over the centuries they have attributed
this small pine-nut shaped gland with many functions, both
medical and mystical in nature.
Descartes identified it as the organ which received and
'synthesized' perceptual impressions received from the
sensory organs. He also believed the pineal to be the "seat
of the soul."
Less mystically, in 1695 Humphrey Ridley theorized that the
pineal had the function of receiving lympha from the
lymphducts which pass the third ventricle of the brain to
the infundibulum and the pituitary gland. This was the
predominant medical theory until the early twentieth
century.
Mystical significance of the gland also developed from
Descartes' seventeenth century hypotheses. By the 1920's,
Theosophists commonly held that the gland would, in a future
perfection of the human race, accommodate the "seventh
sense." This sense they held to be the power of divine
insight.
Despite a significant research effort this century, medical
science still does not have a good understanding of the
purpose of the pineal gland.
This scenario expands upon the hypothesized semi-mystical
perceptual role of the pineal. It takes as its direct
inspiration Lovecraft's tale "From Beyond." The basic
premise is that the gland is a vestigial sense organ akin to
the visual sense organs, but sensitive
to a radiation altogether outside the understood concepts of
the electromagnetic spectrum.
At some point in distant prehistory, some ancestor of
humanity was endowed with this additional sense through a
fully functional "third eye." Through some consequence of
the grand cosmic cycle, this sense gland slowly atrophied
into the modern pineal body. Given the correct stimulation,
however, these glands still have the potential to mutate
back into the sense organs they once were.
Investigator Information
It is a pleasant Sunday morning in Spring. Gentle sounds of
bird-song drift on a light breeze. The Investigators,
currently between outre assignments, are taking this rare
opportunity to relax from their driven efforts against the
unknowable. While some bolster their spirits with worship,
others merely take the opportunity to bask in the warm
sunlight spilling through the window.
At the regular residence of one of the Investigators (of the
Keeper's choice), this peace is prematurely shattered.
Shortly before midday, the Investigator in question and any
others present at the Investigator's house, find themselves
roused by a clamor outside. The loud and clumsy noises
emerge either from the garden behind the residence (if such
exists), or an alleyway running behind the Investigator's
abode. The noises seem to be of trash cans or
garden tools carelessly being knocked over. As the
Investigators strain to hear more, they additionally detect
faint sounds of a gibbering human voice.
Whether or not the Investigator's choose to investigate
these noises, they shortly afterwards become aware of a
second sound: that of a police officer's whistle.
Investigators curious enough to head out to the rear of the
house (or into the alleyway) quickly catch sight of a tall
thin man. He is dressed in some form of light colored
jacket, doubled over in a corner. He is facing away from the
direction of the Investigator's approach; they can discern
no features of his face.
He stands amid a disorganized collection of upended trash
cans, watering cans and broken earthen pots. The man seems
not to notice the approaching Investigators, instead
occupied with his ceaseless mutterings and whimperings.
As inquisitive Investigators approach, they become aware of
running footfalls nearby adding to the police whistles that
now seem very close. Additionally, sharp eared Investigators
(those who succeed in a Listen roll) begin to make out words
in the stranger's low muttering: Huge ... stars ... living
-.. waiting ... waiting.
Once the Investigators are within 5 feet of the tall and
lanky intruder he suddenly notices them. He spins about to
face directly toward those approaching him. It is only then
that the Investigators will see, to their horror, that where
the man's eyes would normally be exist only empty
blood-caked sockets; his eyes have been completely and
messily gouged out (0/1D2 SAN). The
man's ravaged face bears dozens of tell-tale scratches and
cuts; his sandy hair still contains blood-clotted tangles.
It is now obvious that the canvas jacket he wears is an
unbuckled straitjacket.
An expression of abject fear spreads across his face as he
turns his head to 'stare' directly at the face of each
approaching Investigator in turn. Each feels unnerved by the
way the man's gaze moves directly from one subject to the
next. His perception of their precise location seems too
exact for a blind man.
Before the Investigators have an opportunity to examine this
situation further, three police officers burst onto the
scene. The three force their way past the gathered group of
onlookers and grapple with the eyeless stranger. After a
short scuffle, two officers emerge from the fray with the
blind man forcibly restrained between them. The prisoner
struggles little, instead concentrating
on his now-frenzied low muttering. Any attempts by the
Investigators to intervene in the police apprehension of the
man are not appreciated. At the very least they risk stern
warnings, at the worst
threats of violence if they persist.
As the two police officers drag away the eyeless lunatic,
the third officer, a Sergeant, apologizes to onlookers for
the disturbance, reassuring them that all is now in order.
If questioned about the escapee, the extent of the
Sergeant's knowledge is that the man somehow escaped from an
ambulance carrying him from St. Mary's Hospital to the
Sanitarium.
Any Investigators watching the captive as he is led away by
the police officers notice that the man's eyeless gaze fixes
on some point on a nearby tree. His head turns as he is
dragged away, keeping his stare always towards the same
spot. A moment after the madman is gone, perceptive
Investigators (those who succeed in a Spot Hidden roll)
notice a small butterfly take flight
from the same spot.
Arkham Preliminaries
The blind madman whose recapture the Investigators have
witnessed is a young man by the name of Michael Farr. The
horrible mutilations to his eyes are self inflicted, insane
attempts to blot out the sights of an eldritch horror he
witnessed last night. These unearthly visions were a result
of his latent pineal sense becoming active. Ironically,
although Farr's bloody act robbed him of his normal vision,
his outre second sight still functions. With this sense he
still sees the horrors which drove him insane as well as
shadowy intimations of more conventional living things.
The unnerving mannerisms of the deranged Farr should pique
Investigator curiosity; his actions seem to impute him with
a sense of sight he could not possibly still possess.
Investigators choosing to look into the matter further have
a number of avenues they could consider.
This Morning's Newspaper
Any Investigator who has read the morning paper will recall
a news article which seems related to the Farr incident.
[ Disturbance in Southside
Residents in the Simpson Apartments in Arkham's Southside
were last night awakened by what witnesses describe as
horrid and unholy screeching. The source of these deranged
sounds of screaming was apparently Apartment 5, rented by a
reclusive man in his mid twenties. Once police had been
called, and a locksmith employed to open the fastened door,
a horrible scene was discovered. While the specifics of the
bloody scene are unsuitable for publication in a reputable
newspaper, it is sufficient to say that the man had
apparently lost control of his senses and hideously blinded
and mutilated himself. He was taken into custody to protect
him against further insane actions against his person.]
Visiting the Sanitarium
Investigators may wish to question the insane man about the
events of the previous night. A visit to the Arkham
Sanitarium can facilitate this. Before any visitors are
permitted to see the new patient, however, they must
convince institution head Dr. Hardstrom of the necessity of
their visit. A plausible medical or legal reason (successful
Law, Medicine or Persuade Roll) will gain Investigators
entry. The doctor himself offers no opinion on the patient's
state of mind, pointing out that he has yet to have an
adequate opportunity to observe the man.
The blind Farr is in a small room with barred windows, his
strait jacket now removed. He sits precariously on the
wood-frame bed, staring vacantly at a point on the far wall.
He seems oblivious to the presence of any visitors. If
questioned, he turns to face whoever is speaking and begins
the same incoherent rambling as before. As he speaks, his
eyeless gaze turns away from his questioner's face and
instead focuses on something unseen behind the
Investigator's shoulder. His vacant eye sockets track the
motion of this invisible object.
A successful Psychoanalysis roll brings the young man back
to a semblance of sanity for a moment. Even under this spell
of lucidity, all he will tell inquiring visitors is that the
star, the tentacled star ... it's out there ... it's
coming ... I found it ... will they name it after me? After
this he will collapse into an insane giggling.
Farr's room
The Simpson Apartments are situated in a poor district of
Arkham, huddled between French Hill and South Hill. The
building is on Walnut Street in an area predominately
populated by Italians. Despite a certain degree of squalor,
and the randomly strewn remnants of some recent city
construction, the street has a certain simple beauty. As the
Investigators approach the apartment building they see
smiling Italian children playing marbles and riding Pogo
sticks. All along the street, women cheerily perform
domestic chores, hanging out laundry and beating rugs.
Inside the Simpson Apartments the atmosphere is subdued but
still pleasant. It seems that even the horrible events of
the previous night cannot spoil peoples' enjoyment of so
fine a Spring day. When the Investigators enter the
building, the smell of a zesty Italian dish assails their
noses. The odors waft through the open door to Apartment 1,
the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cilauro.
Although her husband is working, Mrs. Cilauro will agree to
answer any questions. As far as she is concerned I always
knew that Farr man was not right in the head .. He would
stay up until all hours of the night just peering .. peering
out of his window at the stars. Does that sound a normal way
to spend your life? And another thing .. they say that he's
a divorcee .. heavens!
Despite the fact Mrs. Cilauro will happily talk to the
Investigators for several hours more, this is all she knows
of Farr.
In the course of their chat with the rotund Italian woman,
the visitors will notice a tortoise-shell cat saunter
casually in from the stairwell and settle on a lounge chair
next to Mrs. Cilauro. Tsk Tsk Tsk, she says, you shouldn't
be in here, Sammy. You can't fool me .. I know Mr. Sabatino
feeds you good. She smiles, excuses herself from the
Investigators for a moment and fetches the cat a saucer of
milk.
Apartment 5 is on the second floor of the building. When the
Investigators approach, they notice that the door to this
room is ajar. Inside, two men in white overalls clean
splattered blood from the walls of the apartment. The room
reeks of ammonia.
The two workmen are not very talkative, but if pressed one
explicitly recounts a dramatized story of how the insane
Farr was found with eyes gouged out writhing on the floor.
He graphically tells how all four walls of the apartment
were splattered with blood. Any Investigators squirming at
his lurid description will only spur the man on to even
greater heights of morbidity. He
obviously enjoys disgusting the inquisitive visitors. If he
feels that his tale has sufficiently horrified the
inquisitive strangers he will finish with one tasteless tiny
tidbit: you know, we've cleaned through this entire
apartment, and we've found no sign of that madman's eyes.
Maybe what they said is true
after all -- that he ate them himself.
If the Investigators wish to search through Farr's
belongings, no one impedes them. The two cleaners simply
don't care, and the authorities have already made their
searches of the premises. Two articles among the amateur
astronomer's possessions may be of interest: his telescope
and his notebook. Any investigation of Farr's telescope
determines it to be perfectly normal and uninteresting.
Farr's astronomical notebook is a thin blood-splattered
volume. An Astronomy Roll learns that, for the most part its
entries are mundane observations of the moon and various
constellations. The last page, however, is more interesting
to the Investigators.
[clouding over. Better skip looking at Pleiades, go straight
to Saturn rings. I wish those lights would be switched off
-.. can't see a damned thing with all that light streaming
in. Wish to blazes they'd never put them in!
(10:00 pm) Must be getting tired. Just saw strange geometric
hallucination. Take a rest then resume, get some fresh air!
Must be working too hard .. ha ha!
(12:00 am) Still looking at those beautiful rings -- God, I
fall in love every time I see the blasted things! Saw a
shadow of a moon across the rings.
(12:15 am) Another wretched hallucination ... really, what's
wrong with me tonight. Must remember to buy a new brand of
cocoa next time. NOOOOOOOO! After me! Coming ... now.
STOP!! Evil putty jelly ... Close my eyes! Yes! Yellow!
Yellow! But red in the middle! Go AWAY!
<unintelligible scrawl>
There is only one way! NO!! ]
[ Southside Characters
During their questioning, the Investigators will encounter
many residents of Arkham's Southside. The following
individuals are available to the Keeper as sources of
information or frustration. Some characters have specific
roles in the plot as victims or witnesses of the Walnut
Street murders. Others may be used in whatever role the
Keeper sees fit. Bear in mind that the
general attitude of all individuals on or near Walnut Street
changes as events unfold. Early in the scenario the
Southsiders are a smiling and jovial group, happy to talk to
strangers. Later they become sullen and brooding, barely
interested in conversing with anybody.
Georgio Caruso
Stocky and olive-skinned, the 46 year old milk deliverer
Caruso is a powerful looking man. The constant physical
exercise occasioned both by his job and his former hobby
(amateur boxing) has kept him lean and fit. His face,
however, shows his years very heavily. Immediately
noticeable amid his careworn visage are a multiply fractured
nose and many small scars.
Not all these injuries stem from the boxing ring, however.
For many years Caruso was involved with the gang headed by
well-known Southsider Joe Potrello. Several years ago he
renounced this life and
"went straight."
Talking to Georgio, Investigators will discern the Italian's
lack of formal education. He seems to particularly have
difficulty in grasping abstract concepts, a trait that may
prove frustrating to questioners attempting to learn about
the strange visions he witnessed. He is, however, very
enthusiastic and will do almost anything within his
capabilities to help.
Unless the Investigators are very quick in eliminating the
threat to Walnut Street residents, Georgio will become the
first murder victim.
Dominica Cilauro
Short, black-haired and rotund, Mrs. Cilauro is the very
picture of the stereotypical Italian 'mama'. At 58 her face
and hands are beginning to show the accumulated wear of a
lifetime of domestic work. Her spirit, however is bright,
bubbly and above all friendly.
Dominica spends most of her life either collecting rent from
tenants in the Simpson Apartments (which her husband owns),
or cooking. The latter is her great passion -- she prides
herself on being able to cook a better Italian meal than the
chef at nearby Anton's Restaurant. Most people who have been
fortunate enough to sample her food have agreed.
Mrs. Cilauro's attitude and outlook alter drastically as the
scenario progresses. Early meetings with her will show her
to be happy, contented and above all loquacious. Her
favorite topic of discussion is the moral decline of the
young people of today. Her strongest condemnation is
reserved for the rising incidence of divorce in Arkham,
something that her Catholic sensibilities abhor. Later in
the scenario, she becomes morose and fatalistic, barely able
to raise a smile. This dramatic transformation lasts until
the lights on Walnut have been destroyed.
Wojtek Przedworski
At 47, Wojtek's appearance seems more appropriate to a
seventy year old. His face is leathery and wrinkled, his
useless eyes sunken pools amid these fleshy undulations. The
small shock of hair atop his head is pure gray, as is the
raspy stubble he sometimes allows to grace his chin. The
rest of his body seems limp and flabby, the product of a
long and painful life as a cripple.
Blind and crippled from birth, Wojtek's life has little to
give it meaning. His brother Chris sees to all his needs,
giving him little reason to ever leave his house on Walnut
Street. Besides his brother, he has no friends - his is a
world of loneliness.
In the course of events in this scenario, Wojtek will gain a
sight of sorts in time to witness his brother's shadowy
outline being devoured. This occurs as part of the "Bizarre
Night on Walnut Street" (see section below). After watching
this horrible slaying his tender mind will retreat into
temporary insanity.
Chris Przedworski
Like his brother, Chris bears a face scarred by many years
of suffering. His skin is coarse and pockmarked, a product
of countless years of manual labor. The most readily
noticeable feature of his worn and tired countenance is his
bushy moustache, a veritable forest of gray hair. More often
than not it conceals a frown.
At heart Chris Przedworski is a kind and unselfish man,
although he often feels that his nature leads others to take
advantage of him. Additionally he constantly curses the
miserable life that fate has dealt him: for the past forty
years his life has been dominated by the necessity to look
after his younger brother. He feels that in a sense this
part of his life has been stolen from him.
As part of the prescribed events for this scenario, Chris is
destined to become the second victim of the "Walnut Street
Slasher."
Herbert Wade Slocum
Tall and thin, almost to the point of gauntness, Slocum is a
very odd-looking man. His face is sunken and hollow, making
his curiously dreamy blue eyes the immediately obvious
feature. The remainder of his facial features are fine,
almost to the extent of being feminine. He walks with a
stoop, his motions oddly stilted.
By profession, Slocum is a freelance author of pulp fiction.
A few of his short tales have been published in small
magazines. This has served to make Herbert Wade Slocum a
figure of some adulation among the small body of pulp fans
in New England. Since many of his stories have heavy
overtones of the occult, Slocum was invited to join the Eye
of Amara society. He declined,
however, since other than in fiction, the man has no
interest in the supernatural.
During the third night of planned mayhem in Southside,
Herbert Wade Slocum disappears never to be heard from again.
In truth he has become another victim of the alien forces
hunting for pineal food.
Ruth Macintosh
Something of an oddity in the region, Ruth Macintosh is a
well-dressed well-educated wealthy young woman. She dresses
in all the latest fashions (including trousers), wears her
hair bobbed and beneath a stylish cloche hat, and wears
lipstick in public. Other Southsiders view her as a walking
scandal.
As 24 year old only daughter of a wealthy Boston family,
Ruth can have whatever material goods she desires. To her
parents' dismay, Ruth insists on "slumming it" in one of the
poorer districts of Arkham. The reason she chooses such
unusual living arrangements is that she is fascinated with
Herbert Wade Slocum almost to the point of obsession. Her
one desire in the world is to seduce him. Thusfar her
efforts have all been failures.
As part of the events in this scenario, Ruth Macintosh will
witness the disappearance of her idol Slocum. She will be
anxious to report what she saw to anybody who will listen.
However, neither her story nor her character are
particularly credible, hence most will ignore her story.
Joe Sabatino
Weedy and nervous, Sabatino is a man who exudes suspicion.
His face is rat-like and sallow, covered with numerous
odd-looking sores. Additionally the man has an obvious tic
in his right cheek. All these features, along with his
grating nervous laugh, combine to make a man that few could
easily like.
Sabatino works as the janitor at the Arkham Historical
Society, a position he likes because he doesn't often have
to deal with people. He is very much an introverted loner
who finds more solace in his collection of stamps than in
the company of people.
Maria Sapio
Tall, leggy and bottle-blonde, Maria is an attractive 27
year old who prides herself on looking younger. She is
mildly self-conscious about her appearance, frightened that
one day she might lose her beauty. Of particular concern to
her is the large mole on her neck. Her taste in clothes and
jewelry is gaudy but expensive, and is often arranged
carefully to hide her 'Achilles Heel'.
Maria's personality is bright and bubbly, but conceals a
secret. For besides her normal job as a seamstress she has
another profession. From time to time she models in a bikini
for photographers, who in turn sell these pictures to shady
publications. Although Maria never talks about this part of
her life, she is not ashamed of it. Indeed, several of these
photos hang about her apartment.]
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