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Chaosium Digest Volume 29 Number 06
Chaosium Digest Volume 29, Number 6
Date: Wednesday, December 15, 1999
Number: 4 of 4
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Cat Song, by Andy Clements
Introduction:
The police department of [town in which the players live]
has once more been puzzled by odd murders. Again, the
trade-mark sign of bones found, seemingly having had the
meat gnawed from them by small animals. This time, two
bodies have been found in the woods near the house of an old
widow, in a similar state of fleshlessness. Weirder still,
the nights of [town] have been filled with an eerie song,
which though beautiful to hear, is also strangely
unsettling.
Keeper Information: The old widow is not a sinister agent
of the Mythos, nor a priestess of Bast. She is completely
innocent of the deaths. However, she does own an inordinate
number of cats. About twenty, give or take a few. The two
bodies belong to a couple of vagrants who decided to burgle
the old lady, having noticed she lives an easy ten minutes
outside town, and therefore more isolated than most. Bast,
in the true Christmas spirit [go with me on this one. It is
a seasonal adventure after all...] sent her children after
the vagrants who had broken in. The old lady didn't even
know she'd been burgled until the police came to ask her
about the bodies near her home, which had been carrying a
few of her belongings. The eerie songs in the night is the
collective sound of [town's] cats all getting up on the roof
and meowing in time, preparing for the coming of Bast.
Everytime the players go to sleep, describe the eerie-ness
of the song. If anyone in the group owns a cat, it will
join in the song, which will require of its owner a SAN
check, for 0/1 SAN loss. By the way, not all the adventure
info is in this section...I've left a little twist at the
end, which I'll explain then... Keepers should get the joy
of some surprise, just like the players... : )
The Adventure:
If the players are quick, they might arrive at the old
lady's house while the police are still there, on a final
sweep to see if any other clues can be found. This is more
a forlorn hope of the police than anything else, since
(especially if this is Arkham) they are used to weird
unexplainable stuff happening. If any of the players turns
up and introduces themselves as a professor 'interested in
this sort of thing', the police will sigh in relief and turn
over any useful facts they can think of. Professors who
solve weird crimes are also a matter of deja vu for them.
The bodies will already have been taken away, but some good
role-playing, plus a few fast talk/ persuade rolls should
let the characters see some autopsy results. If any of the
characters have taken part in previous adventures involving
cats (i.e., Cat's Cradle, or Cats Eyes (or both)), then they
will experience a horrible sense of familiarity, which will
require a sanity check for a loss of 0/1. (It's more a
vague dread than anything else). However, at least this
will probably tell them what they should be looking out for.
If the players have not taken part in the other Cat
adventures, they may well find it useful to examine occult
books down at the library, especially Egyptian ones (where
Bast had the greatest hold...). The books may add up to 3%
to the character's Occult ratings, if they take a few hours
to study the books thoroughly. They will also learn that
Bast was rumored to send her children to kill those who
mistreated cats. If the players did not take part in
previous cat adventures, they may also find memoirs of NPCs
who did, stating that some people may also send these cats
for their own purposes. [this will probably mislead the
players somewhat...].
If the players manage to persuade the police-woman leading
the investigation (a Semitic woman named Ashari Elisha - her
grandparents emigrated to the USA from Egypt) to show them
the items found on the bodies, (this would take a *lot* of
role-playing. Ashari is not at all comfortable about
letting civilians run around police investigations, despite
what her colleagues advise) they will be shown the rags that
were once clothes, and some golden jewelry, which the widow
had been given by her husband when he came back from Egypt
(he was posted there in the second world war) - but unless
one of the characters has a reason to be familiar with the
culture of Egypt, they are unlikely to realize the origin of
the jewelry.
If the players talk with the old widow, she will seem
slightly senile, although a nice enough person. She has a
tendency to call male characters Harry, and, if there are
any females in the party, will probably randomly match up
people and say 'you'd make a nice couple'. If there is a
gay character in the party, or a lesbian, she will probably
match one of them up with a member of the opposite sex, and
completely miss any hints people try to drop. This is
entirely for comic effect...if this would annoy your
players, don't bother. Another comic device will be the
twenty odd cats milling around. The widow will enlist a
random party member to help her feed the cats, ask another
to help with the kitty litter... Players will have to clear
cat fur off anything they want to sit on or examine, and at
one point or another, a cat or two will recline upon the
players. Players mistreating the cats will get no help from
the widow, and will result in the entire party being asked
to leave.
While the players are talking to the old lady [who will
insist on making tea for the players, regardless of whether
or not they want it. Biscuits will be offered slightly less
forcefully], a letter will pop through the letter slot. The
old lady will ask one of the characters to get the letter
for her, her legs are not what they were. As the old lady
reads the letter, a look of absolute horror will cross her
face. If the players ask what is wrong, the widow will show
them a letter from [town]'s council, saying that the police
noticed that her house looked unsafe, and that they
recommended that she move to an apartment in [town] while
the council examines the house, to judge how safe it is.
The old lady hasn't left the house for years, not since her
husband died, and is completely against the idea. At this
stage of the adventure, the players can go two ways:
1) Persuade the lady to leave the house for her own good -
it might be dangerous to stay.
2) Defend the widow's right to stay in her house, and
investigate why on earth the council is so anxious to
examine the house, when ordinarily they would put the widow
on a five month waiting list.
Because this is Cthulhu, naturally there is a sinister
reason.
A bit more Keeper Information: Someone has read the police
reports, noticed certain [cat like] designs in the jewelry,
and decided to organize a search of the house, to see if
anything else belonging to the worshippers of Bast resides
in the house.
If the players decide to help the widow (which they
should...try to appeal to their better nature), they might
want to investigate the origin of the council letter. If
they want to do this, they will need to organize several
meetings with council members, most of whom know nothing
about the letter. One of the members of the council is an
Egyptian middle-aged woman, who refuses to speak to the
players. If the players dig a bit more, (i.e., break into
the town hall at night and look through relevant records),
they will find a letter signed by her, asking an unnamed
member of the police force to request a safety inspection.
The reasons are left very vague, players will have to fill
this in using their imagination.
Other players who have relevant skills, may want to launch
their own study of safety of the house. In which case, they
should hire a construction worker to examine the structure
etc. This will cost [$, £, or whatever the local currency
is] 300, and will take a week. The old lady can pay for
about 200 of this. The worker will say the house looks
safe, but he can't look at the cellar because there's a big
padlock on a locked oak door...not easy to open. The widow
will express puzzlement, and finally [after a few cups of
tea] remember that her husband had the key, but she doesn't
know where he kept it. A few good rolls on Spot Hidden, and
four hours of searching, will finally find it taped to the
back of an old oil painting.
At about this time, there will be a knocking on the door.
[Keepers should try to get characters to investigate the
origins of the safety letter before they examine the safety
of the house]. It's the police, lead by Ashari (there are
ten officers in total), saying that they are responding to
an emergency call. Specifically, someone called 911 and
said that the widow and anyone with her was in grave danger.
When the players open the door, gunshots will erupt from the
woods, and two of the officers will be gunned down. The
others will either take shelter behind bins outside (three
of the survivors), the others (five of the survivors) will
pile inside the house and slam the door shut as soon as they
can. Gun shots will echo from outside, from both the police
and the surprise attackers. The widow will panic for a few
moments, and then (if the adventure takes place in America)
go hunt for the shot gun in the cupboard. (two shots only).
Outside there is a hideous screaming sound, coming from the
police officers. If the players want to know what happened,
they can look outside. : ) [If they do look, they will
probably be shot, but not before they see the mangled
remains of at least one officer, requiring a SAN check for a
loss of 1/1d4.].
The assailants outside will start trying to smash down the
door, so now would be a good time to see what is down in
that cellar. The old lady will have come back by now with a
shotgun, but it'll be clear to anyone with a brain that the
old woman is the last person who can be trusted with a gun.
Down in the cellar is a large and battered chest, covered in
strange Hieroglyphics, which translate roughly to: 'Hail
all, mother of [battered and scraped beyond recognition],
Hail all Bast'
The padlock on it is severely rusted, and can be easily
smashed off. Inside can be found a strange book,
accompanied by a letter from the widow's husband. It will
reveal that while in Egypt, he came across a dying priestess
of Bast, who entrusted him with the book, for there were
those who would use its knowledge to serve 'Ni-har-yo-tep'
[one word, but that's how it is pronounced], for it teaches
of strange gates which can reach into the past, when the
stars were different. The letter further says that the
priestess wished the book to be passed to her descendent one
day, who would use the book to repel these servants. The
book is written in Egyptian. Anyone with an ounce of
intelligence will hand the book over to Ashari, the only
Egyptian around. If the players are hesitant, now is a good
time for the front door to be smashed down, accompanied by
unholy howls of triumph [SAN check, 1/1d6].
When the book is passed to Ashari [if the players don't hand
over the book, everyone will die], the cat song will become
once more clear to the players. As Ashari opens the book,
the mysterious assailants will start to smash down the heavy
oak door. [I do hope the players remembered to bolt it.].
Be sure that the players never see the
assailants...otherwise part of the potential fear will be
lost.
As the door is burst open, and *something* dark stands
screaming in the doorway (fortunately the lights upstairs in
the house have been smashed, or the electricity has failed),
Ashari begins to chant loudly in Egyptian [that's what it
sounds like anyway]. The cat song now seems to echo out from
the [vast] shadows of the cellar. A loud purring seems to
reverberate from out the room. At this point, gunshots flash
from around the thin in the door, for the 'human' servitors
of Nyharyotep have arrived, seeking the book. Now the
players have a few rounds of trying to provide cover for
Ashari. Firing at
the doorway should force the cultists to stay away, out of
self-preservation. The thing, undaunted, will start to move
down the steps, but it will content itself with killing a
few policemen. Malevolent Keepers may force players to come
up with a distraction to prevent the thing killing everyone
(I won't stat the creature, as I'm sure most Keepers will
happily select their' preferred denizen of the cold
universe). The old lady will try to do her bit with the
shotgun, but she will generally miss (10% in shotgun), and
will have to see a doctor for recoil-bruises (she doesn't
really know how to hold a shotgun), and she only has two
rounds.
About three or four rounds of combat will allow Ashari to
finish her spell. Hundreds and hundreds of cats (from all
over the world...) will pour from the shadows, and run up
the stairs. Screams will come from the doorway, from all too
human throats, accompanied by futile gun-shots. Ashari will
then face the thing and in the darkness she will seem to
grow taller (anyone shining a torch on her will see a
manifestation of Bast), and a spear will appear in her hand.
Ashari [or more correctly, Bast], will run the creature
through, and there will be a blinding flash. Electricity
will be restored, allowing the players to take in the scene.
Ashari will be lying on the floor, in her natural form, a
spear in her hand. On the end of this spear, is a blackened
skeleton of something grotesquely evil (SAN check, 1/1d6),
and there will be three more officers lying on the floor,
either strangled by the thing, or shot by the cultists. (1/
4 SAN loss). Anyone checking Ashari's pulse will see that
she is still alive, although she has a hideous scar across
her right cheek, in the shape of a paw.
The old widow will be looking for her glasses, which are
lying smashed by the hideous creature. This would be a good
time for a kindly player to usher her somewhere clean, tidy,
and SANE.
Anyone going upstairs will see a huge pile of cats (all
healthy and fine, thank you) perched on the cultists (about
six of them), fighting for position, their heads bowed
towards the bodies. As players walk past, a few will lift
their heads to reveal red-stained muzzles. (SAN loss 1/1d6).
It will take any survivors a few days to heal in the
hospital, and Ashari won't be up for a few weeks. Even
than, she won't say much, except that her great-grandmother
explained a lot of things to her. Players should draw their
own conclusions. Ashari adds that she's taking a holiday to
Egypt this year, to visit the house of some relatives, and
that she's re-considering her career in the police.
The widow will suffer from amnesia, and not remember
anything of the horrific night. She'll keep asking players
and NPCs if she will be allowed to stay in her house, and
will want re-assurance from everyone present, including
people she has never met before.
[note to Keepers: Despite this being Call of Cthulhu, you
should try to make this hospital scene as happy (if in a
melancholy way) as possible, with hope for the future]
Players going home will all find a small box wrapped in
Christmas wrapping paper, depicting cats playing with balls
of wool amongst x-mas presents. The card on the box is
marked 'from an old friend', and inside each box is a small
gold figurine of a cat, with obsidian eyes. (Apparently
Bast has a sense of humor, because each has a small black
sticker on the bottom saying 'made in Taiwan').
That night, the cat song re-appears for the last time, but
it sounds awfully like 'we wish you a merry Christmas.
Players who made it through to the end of the adventure
recover 1d10 sanity (and get a very fetching statue).
Those who decided to persuade the widow to move into a town
apartment won't lose all of the sanity that resulted from
the general mayhem, but will deeply regret it when the
cultists get their hands on the book in the cellar...
(although to be honest, they won't regret it as much as
everyone else within a three mile radius.)
Hope you enjoy this adventure of semi-festive cheer [at the
end of the adventure anyway...].
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