|
|
code dgiccs001 - Womb
Cylindercode dgiccs002 - Cloud-Seed
Flarecode dgiccs003 - Hemato-Vision
Gogglescode dgiccs004 - The Cylinder (connected :
a
Discussion)code dgiccs005 - The Cinese Box
code
dgiccs-bk001 - The Despicable
Questcode
dgiccs-bk002 - The
Blightcode dgiccs-bk003 - The Unravelling of Raymond Hart or:
the Despicable
Questcode
dgiccs-bk004 -
Untitledcode dgiccs-bk005 - The Visions of Ede the
Piouscode
dgiccs-bk006 - Pnomus Infested Webster Dictionary of American
Englishcode dgiccs-bk007 - Tales from the Land Under the
Seacode
dgiccs-bk008 - Formerly Unknown Translation of the
Necronomiconcode dgiccs-bk009 - The End
Ritecode
dgiccs-bk010 - Unknown German Agent Diary, Winter
1941code
dgiccs-bk011 - The Wyrm's Mysteries
code dgiccs-fl001 - He Without a
Namecode
dgiccs-fl002 - Behold the Dark
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 19:44:18 -0700
From: Stephen Parks
< KEEPER'S EYES ONLY >
If you are:
a) younger than me
b) in a gaming community where it is illegal to
possess this kind of information
or
c) not a person who enjoys pretending
to be a law-enforcement officer
read no further.
Womb-cylinders
"While you quickly scan for an escape route, one of the creatures reveals a strange fat cylinder. The creature twists off one end of the cylinder exposing a set of dark pustulated lips within. As you try to dive out of the way, a huge glob of slime suddenly bursts forth from that awful pair of lips. The glob hits you straight on and you find yourself engulfed by the sticky slime and pinned against a wall. You struggle vainly to escape and just as the slime invades your nose and your mouth and you begin to pass out, you see a dark form swim past, inside the ooze."
Built by the Mi-Go with the benefit of some knowledge bestowed unto them by Shub-Niggurath, the womb-cylinder is the birth chamber of a nasty burrowing parasite. The resourceful Mi-Go used this cylinder, its occupant and the ooze in which the occupant resides as a heavy-duty weapon for defending themselves against flying Mythos enemies. Now that humans have developed such military devices as full-automatic weapons, helicopters and planes, the Mi-Go occasionally employ this weapon against people, when the shit hits the fan.
Possibilities:
a) increased nastiness: the ooze is acidic, is toxic, is flammable, ignites on contact with air, or is protomatter
b) decreased lethality: the cylinder only fires if it detects movement against its field of vision. Of course, standing perfectly still when surrounded by the horrors of the Mythos is pretty tough. Someone might be able to make it discharge before it gets pointed at them though, by tossing something through its field of vision.
Cloud-Seed flares
"The operatives encounter a group of Greys in an open field. Before the operatives get a chance to react, one of the Greys points a slick metallic pistol-shaped object at the sky above. The tool makes a sudden scraping noise and a strange twinkling mote of light soars up into the clouds above the operatives' heads. The operatives hear a deep rumble and then orange rain begins to fall."
Possibilities: (You could even colour-code the rain for different effects.)
a) the rain is a very strong hallucinogen, the investigators are soon flat on the ground having some very bad trips. Suggestions for hallucinations: they see it rain airplane fuselage and human body parts or more surreally, they see it rain disembowelled cats and disembowelled dogs
b) the rain is a strong sleep-inducing drug
c) the rain is human blood, pure and simple, the Greys use it to distract and intimidate; Sanity rolls everyone.
d) the rain is acidic, flammable, toxic, protomatter, etc. (but I like this artefact because it can be disturbing, while non-lethal)
The Mi-Go sometimes equip their little puppet-minions with cloud-seed flares so that they can deal with unexpected encounters of the human kind. The flares themselves are based on some highly advanced and unstable synthesised biochemical catalysts.
Hemato-Vision goggles
Last seen on some NRO DELTA or BLUE FLY operatives, these goggles are one of the tidbits of technology the Mi-Go have been using as a carrot for MJ-12. The goggles themselves are multi-faceted and vaguely organic in design, giving the wearer an odd insect-like appearance. For the wearer of these goggles, all human blood glows a surreal purple. This glow can be detected whether the blood is currently in a person's veins, or 20 years old and caked into the carpet, or sloshing around in a critter's belly. The goggles are useful for hunting people or people-eaters and as a very quick-and-dirty forensic tool.
Notes: Apply Sanity rolls as much as you like for finding blood where it should not be and simply for prolonged use of these creepy things. Also, you might want to make these goggles secretly feed upon the wearer, gradually rendering them anaemic.
Although they are currently unable to explain the workings of the goggles, project PLUTO scientists are convinced that the answer lies within the Cookbook. They are mistaken.
Passing this information along to A Cell. The following is a selection of recent Mythos Tomes. The reader is referred to the following source material: Resume With Monsters, Miskatonic University, and The Unspeakable Oath #14/15.
*****
A novel of horror and fantasy by Philip Kenan printed by Bantam Spectra Books in 1995. This massive text is over 2000 pages in length. A tale of a professor from Miskatonic University and the quest he and his companions undertake, with leads them around the globe and in the Dreamlands. Kenan is a deeply devoted fan of the works of H. P. Lovecraft, and The Despicable Quest touches every invention of Lovecraft and many of his followers.
Language: English
SAN Loss: 1/1d4
Cthulhu Mythos: +1%
Dream Lore:
+4%
Spells: None
Study Time: 50 weeks
Resume With Monsters, pg. 467
*****
Wingate House was the first publisher to publish Philip Kenan's Despicable Quest. In 1989, The Blight the first of a five book series was printed. Wingate House made the 2000 plus Despicable Quest into a series of five 400 plus page books. Unfortunately, poor promotion led to a lack of sales, and the series was cancelled. The sole published volume, The Blight, can still occasionally be found in the horror or fantasy sections of used bookstores.
Language: English
SAN Loss: 0/1d2
Dream Lore: +1%
Spells:
None
Study Time: 10 weeks
Resume With Monsters, pg. 314
*****
The Unravelling of Raymond Hart: or The Despicable Quest
This is the author's original manuscript and notes to The Despicable Quest. Philip Kenan wrote his magnum opus pretty much continuously from 1968 to 1995. Now the novel has been published and the author's manuscript remains with Kenan, even though he no longer expands on it. This is a unique document, a few pages short of 3000. Kenan keeps it in his study, tied up with twine, in a cardboard box. In the box, there are also two notebooks of story notes and sketches, several motivational pamphlets, and a large number of scribbled-on napkins, scraps of paper, and old Post-It Notes.
Language: English
SAN Loss: 2/1d6
Cthulhu Mythos: +2%
Dream Lore:
+6%
Spells: None
Study Time: 78 weeks
Resume With Monsters, pg. 94
*****
Written and filmed in 1917 by writer/director Ralph W. Routhgate, this film shows the story of a nameless swashbuckler, who rescues a damsel from a cult. In the film, it is strongly implied that the cultists worship Hastur. The film is darker and moodier than most silent films. Also, the film's end is quite tradegic.
Additionally, in two frames, one may see the lower left third of a Yellow Sign, lending the film a subliminal air of horror. Running time is 34 minutes. Only eight copies of this film still exist, sealed in film reel cans in movie studio vaults and private collections.
Language: English
Cthulhu Mythos: +1%
SAN Loss: 1/1d2
Spell
Multiplier: x1
Spells: None. The spell multiplier is due to the dramatised and stylised presentation of the spells Call Hastur and Unspeakable Promise. Astute investigators may be able to use the depictions in this film to recognise the actual spells.
Study Time: 2 weeks.
*****
Written and filmed in 1918 by writer/director Ralph W. Routhgate, this film focuses upon a group of friends who experience strange dreams and then are drawn into the lost city of Carocsa. In the film, several items are worth noting. Notable are the gargoyle-like creatures which hover over the dreaming characters, the strange and swirling dancers seen in the dreams and later in Carcosa, and the representation of the Lake of Hali in miniture using dry ice. The film is even darker and moodier than He Without Name. The film ends with murder and suicide, and the one surviving character residing in a madhouse.
Like the earlier film, in two frames a portion of a Yellow Sign is seen, in this case the lower left two-thirds. The film is highly disturbing, haunting dreams for quite some time after viewing. Running time is 57 minutes. Three copies of this film still remain, as the studio burned most of them after the 1919 tradegy at the filming of The Lord of the Yellow Sign.
Two of these copies are kept in the Smithsonian storage archives. The remaining copy is property of Sam M. Brianson, a wealthy executive at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.
Language: English
Cthulhu Mythos: +3%
SAN Loss: 1d2/1d4
Spell
Multiplier: None.
Spells: None.
Study Time: 3 weeks.
*****
A rather plain book, fairly small, published by Derby & Son of Arkham, Mass., and written by Prof. Felix Aubrey of Miskatonic University, this volume is a fictional work. Compiling the New England surrounding ghouls, it compiles these and a selection of relevant short stories, and extrapolates the anatomy of the ghoul to a good level of accuracy.
Possessing this book when encountering ghouls, leads to the possibility that the ghouls will take grave offend (50% chance). Should this occur, the ghouls will retaliate by murdering at least one of the offender's loved ones.
Language: English
Cthulhu Mythos: +1%
SAN Loss: 0/1d2
Spell
Multiplier: x1
Spells: Contact Ghoul
Study Time: 6 weeks.
Miskatonic University, pg. 326.
*****
Date: Mon, 4 May 1998 19:50:09 -0400 (EDT)
From:
"Andrew D. Gable"
Here's a news report I pulled off the Parascope website (www.parascope.com), from their conspiracy section. Remind anyone of the beginning of a certain X-Files episode?
- ----------
MILITARY TO INSPECT "MYSTERY CANISTER" FOUND AT NEW ORLEANS AIRPORT
May 27, 1997
The Army Chemical Biological Defence Command will inspect a foot-long pressurised stainless steel canister seized on May 22 by security personnel at New Orleans International Airport.
An unidentified man attempted to pass the "mystery canister" through the X-ray machine on his way to the airport concourse, according to a Reuter report. Security officers asked the man to open the container, but he refused, saying that "it would release a noxious odor." When officers questioned him, the man fled the scene, according to airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc.
The Army's Technical Escort Detachment at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, dispatched a three-man team to transport the canister to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for analysis. Police have not released a description of the man who tried to sneak the canister into the airport concourse.
- ----------
STORY NOTES: In my campaign, I made the cylinder a container of shoggoth DNA being delivered to MJ-12's genetic base in Montana. The messenger was a Karotechia agent who had been stationed at Point 103.
I think this story is very interesting as a scenario idea. They took the cylinder to Aberdeen Proving Grounds -- remember there were "bigfoot" sightings there and there were also rumours of illegal genetic research being conducted here back in '74 (IIRC).
<< being delivered to MJ-12's genetic base in Montana. The messenger was a Karotechia agent who had been stationed at Point 103. >>
Yesterday I saw a Learning Channel UFO special in which they discussed Nazi scientists who brought super-high tech secrets over to the Allies and the Soviet Union after WWII, and this got me thinking: what if there's more to the Karotechia than we've already read about? It might be an interesting angle to explore the "resuscitation" of Karotechia scientist who had some kind of dealings with the Greys and sold his knowledge to the highest bidder... perhaps DG rooted out his secrets and squelched them, but now there's a risk that he'll be resuscitated by the K. so that they can try to get in on the game that MJ-12 is already playing. Hmmmmm....
Date: 2 Oct 1998 09:10:20 BST
From: "Jacob Busby
Bsc."
The following item has recently been received from a DG friendly working in the Vatican.
The Visions of Ede the Pious
----------------------------
Appearance: The visions appear as a leather bound sixteenth century Bible Various sections have been annotated with spidery-writing, certain verses (particular those from the latter part of the Book of Daniel) have been underlined as significant. In the latter section of the book several loose pages have been added, describing a variety of unnatural phenomena and "visions" from Ede the Pious, an Italian monk who details seem to have been lost to the annals of History. Amongst these occurences Ede describes rituals of banishment and protection, given to him by the Lord to fight the Evil One. Much of this is Christian doctorine, although it is impossible to tell where the liturgy ends up and the ritual begins.
Keeper Information (Spoilers below)
-----------------------------------
San Loss: d2/d4
Contents: The Visions contains the following spells. "Protection and sanctification from the Evil One" (Elder Sign), "Saving grace of our Lord" (Heal) and "Detection of the unholy for purification" (A Mythos spell which allows the user to make a POW*3 roll to detect the presence of low power Mythos creatures - limitations are left to the individual Keeper)
Skill gain: Cthulhu Mythos +1% Theology +2%
Notes: The nature of the book means that all spells cast take three times as long to cast and require a successful Theology roll to work. The notes surmise that God has granted man power (through the work of the Holy Ghost) to drive out Satan and his spawn. This is a tome of hope, not despair, thus the low SAN loss. However this has the "drawback" that spells must be cast in faith. In games terms the Keeper may treat the caster as he if he had +/-5 POW for purposes of spell casting depending upon his faith and convictions.
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 1998 11:57:35 -0500
From: Graeme
Price
So looks like the ranting madman (personally I prefer the term "deranged nutcase") is right... which means that Pnomus has been at play again. I am forwarding the recommendation to cell A that Webster's Dictionary now be reclassified as a dangerous occult tome and all copies be immediately palced into secure storage
Curator's Note: for more information on the Pnomus, its activities
and dangers, agents are referred to the report printed in the
"Delta Green: Alien Intelligence" collection.
Agents are
also invited not to use this wvolume to spell-check their reports.
Pnomus Infested Webster's Dictionary of American English
In game terms:
- reading this tome from cover to cover will invoke a mandatory 1d6/1d10 San loss
- study time.. oh, 12 weeks or so
- spells include "induce headache" and "information overload", bonus
- skills: +2 points American English (conversely -1d4 British English) and a free bonus skill "boring conversation" (treat as the opposite of "fast talk") at 30%).
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 13:59:54 +0100
From: Davide
Mana
Just got this from an attic-clearance sale, yesterday, for 5000 Lire (the price of a Big Mac):
"Tales from the Land Under the Sea", by Amos Brooks-Marsh
Illustrations
by E. Gertrude Thomson
London, 1901
According to my researches, a cheap, cut reprint by Chancelor Press (in the omnibus "Uncollected Fairy Tales, 1987) is curently out of print.
Description: a large format, hardbound collection of second-rate fairy tales (15 in all, plus Foreword and Illustrator's Note), often blatant rewrites of well-known standards by unknown New England writer. Some items are noteworthy nonetheless:
Shore Song - The Fisher Prince woos a Mortal Woman with his song and carries her away to the underwater city of Au-iole. [the dark side of the Little Mermaid. The description of the song might give the creeps to a marine biologist]
Riding the Storm Out - prose poem describing the frolics of the mermen during a seastorm and their joining in a merry dance with the sailors from a sinking ship
Fishy - Ugly-duckling variation with a kid persecuted by his school-pals as he looks like a fish, finally turning into a powerful Merman Prince and enjoys his freedom. [incredibly dark piece, even by fairy-tale standards. Repressed sexuality imagery well hidden but still discernible in the text]
Gala Night for the Sea Lord - prose poem describing the entertainment held for King Dagon by the Sea People [some critics point out the similarity between some scenes in this lenghty piece and the underwater scenes in Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"(1971)]
When the Sea Went Away - story-within-a-story structure. Old Grandpa Marsh tells the kids of what happened when the Sea disappeared, replaced by a desert of salt, and the Sea People was saved by King Dagon and his Bride [elements, including some of the fauna depicted in two highly detailed drawings, seem to place these events in the Upper Teriary]
Five Songs - gallant Sea Prince has to learn the titular five songs to
regain his rightful position in the city of Gloo. In his quest he is helped
by Ecco the Dolphin. [includes simplified version of
*Contact Deep
One
*Create Mist of R'lyeh
The other three "songs" have no apparent Mythos meaning]
The Dreamer - prose poem describing the busy Sea People taking care of the Dreamer (a sort of giant Santa Claus figure) in his sunken house [includes a basic, stripped-down version of Contact Cthulhu]
The 65 Thomson drawings (as stated in the Illustrator's Note) were executed many years before actual publication, and under the author's strict supervision.
Reading Informations
Reading Time - 15 stories, 3 evenings per story = 45 days
San Loss - Original 1901 Ed. - d2/d12
- Chancellor Press Ed - 0/1d6
Spell Multiplier adult x1/ pre-teen kid x3
A Note on Spells - the simplified spells present in the book seem to work better with pre-teen subjects.
From: "Martin Andersson"
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1998 17:59:33 +0100
ADDENDUM [to "History of the Necronomicon"]
Sam J. Lundwall
. . .
A translation into German from the Latin text of Olaus was made by Thephrastus Paracelsus and published in Basel shortly before Paracelsus's death in 1541. One copy was part of the loot taken in Prague in 1648 by Swedish troops; it was brought to Stockholm by Axel Oxenstierna. According to contemporary book catalogues, the book was incorporated with the library at the Castle of Stockholm, where it, however, was destroyed in the fire of 1697.
It is possible that the only known Swedish translation of the Necronomicon, printed in Finland in 1723 by an unknown publisher, was made from the Prague copy. [One copy] . . . was owned by Ulrik Philipson Lundwall, assistant vicar of the parish of Roslagsbro, who along with his older brother Johan was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment in 1818. Their crime is unknown, but it was related to the book or its use. According to the family legend, Ulrik died in 1828 [sic], the day before he was to be released after having served his sentence. Of the fate of Johan Philipson Lundwall, nothing is known. According to the same family legend, this copy of the book was originally owned by Gabriel Oxenstierna; from his collection of books at the manor of Wärnberg it came into the possession of Johan Philipson Lundwall. This Swedish edition is a small, slim volume, size 93x148 millimetres, bound in curiously smooth, brown leather without text on the spine. The body consists of 92 pages printed with a beautiful black-letter typeface, with the title page printed in red and black. Large portions of the text are unreadable due to dark brown stains and scratch marks, as well as some water damage. The final chapters are missing. The book lay for some hundred years in a shed in Röksta, Roslagen, before it was found by Johan Philipson Lundwall's relative, the farm labourer Hjalmar Wilhelm Lundwall.
Source:
Lovecraft, H. P. _Necronomicon:_De_döda_namnens_bok_. Ed. & trans. Sam J. Lundwall. Stockholm: Sam J. Lundwall Fakta & Fantasi, 1995.
p. 12-13.
My comments:
Paracelsus: Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493-1541), known as Paracelsus; Swiss alchemist, physician, and philosopher. Probably a very likely translator for the Blasphemous Bestseller. Prague 1648: Swedish troops commanded by Count Hans Christoffer von Königsmarck attacked the city (or a part of it) on July 16, 1648, and looted it. The funny thing is that there actually *was* a famous book in the loot: the Devil's Bible (well, it's famous enough to get its own entry in most Swedish encyclopedias anyway :-)).
Axel Oxenstierna: Count Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1654) was Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 onwards.
Fire of 1697: The Castle of Stockholm burned to the ground on May 7, 1697. A summoning of Cthugha that went wrong?
1828: Obviously a misprint for 1838.
Gabriel Oxenstierna: Must be the same as Count Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna (1750-1818), great-great-grandson of Axel's first cousin.
93x148 millimetres, 92 pages: A d**n small book, compared to the Latin edition in Miskatonic's library (folio-size, 802 pages, if I remember correctly). But according to something I read (possibly "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"?), the Big N is actually divided into several parts or "books". Presumably these books were published in separate volumes in the Swedish edition; this theory is supported by the "title page" reproduced in the cited anthology, where it says "Part One".
From: "Stabernide -"
Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 03:44:42 PST
by: unknown
language: see below
+16 Cthulu mythos; -1D10+10 San; x5 spell multiplier
Study time: 3 weeks
Publishing history: none
Spells: Call Azathoth; Create temporal gate; (see below for Notes on spells)
This wretched and filthy text is allegedly written in the year 2015, by a person whose identity is never revealed. The author claims to belong to a secret society of mages he refers to only as `the Fades', who, following the Endtimes, engineer the mass `suicide' of the human race to spare them from the ravages of the Great Old Ones. The book is written in no recognised language, but rather a curious mish-mash of European dialects - similar to Esperanto. Any skilled linguist will be able to decipher it within a few days.
The book is part journal, part grimoire. It refers to obliquely how the Fades go about their despicable task, and recounts their rejection of any sane kind of morality in order to do it. Even more sickening are the author's descriptions of the things the Fades had to do in order to survive in the Endtimes long enough to complete their plans. To this end, the book is also a `survival guide' to the Endtimes, and may be useful to those travelling to places like Carcosa, that are already subject to the dominance of the Great Old Ones.
The author is clearly insane - even withstanding the supposed date of the book's completion and his other wild claims; he accepts the Fades' nihilism, but at the same time is tortured at having to do so. The book ends after the mass death of humankind, with the author standing on an atoll of human flesh, looking across an ocean of blood towards risen R'lyeh, and realising he has become `as the Great old ones'.
The only known copy of this book resides in the Vatican's `forbidden library', after it was recovered from Abyssinia by an Italian soldier in 1937. Vatican scholars have been unable to ascertain it's origins or establish whether or not it is a fraud. As a consequence, it was buried in their vaults and forgotten. However; the author claims the Fades had been established for hundreds of years before the Endtimes; hiding in the recesses of human society - planning and organising for their inevitable destiny. Assuming the author's claims are true, it is not known if the Fades are aware of the books presence in this time.
Note on spells:
It's intended that this book contains some really nasty magic - extremely powerful but sanity blasting spells that would annihilate most present day casters. Spells like `Astral fire' and `Control Psychoplasm'. However, given that these are all so dangerous I'll leave it to individual keepers to decide whether or not they allow players to understand the stranger, deadlier spells.
The Fades' genocide spell however, does involve calling forth Azathoth, hence the appearance of that `familiar' spell in the listing. There should also be a number of time travel related spells - including `Create temporal gate' a variation on the traditional Create Gate spell.
From: Davide Mana
Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 10:06:18 +0100
Greetings,
I'm passing this along for dissemination, while I finish the detailing of the items themselves before stocking the whole lot in Containment for future reference.
The following came through an old friend, currently serving as Amnesty observer in the Kerman-Shiraz sector of the Caucasus, who knows about my "academical interest" in Great Game activities in the area. It was apparently offered for sale by a local "supporter of the free enterprise" in exchange for the equivalent of four british pounds, together with a 1937 edition of the "Handbook of Wehrmacht Engineer in the Field" that my friend decided to keep for himself.
--------------------------------
Description:
Item 1 - a faded green envelope, found within the diary.
The envelope carries the mark of the Berlin Oriental Affairs division. The papers (seven typed pages) inside the envelope are signed by Von Hardenberg and dated Berghof, May 14th 1941. The gist of the document:
a - considering the particular character of Curds, aryans oppressed by arab-semitic elements and British imperialists, the Reich decides to extend its area of influence to the Curdish Tribes of Turkey, Iraq and Iran, and of the Sovietic regions, as to say to a territory ranging from the Leninakan at the north downt to Falha in the south, and from Marash in the west to Hamadan in the east.
b - the Reich government decides to
. place in said territories, with the help of special agents, the nazist-socialist ideology;
. direct the Curds towards revolution against their British or Arab oppressors;
. create an advanced beach-head that the Wehrmacht will be able to use after the Transcaucasian offensive.
c - with this aimms in mind, the aforementioned agents in place are ordered to
. contact the most influential tribal chieftains, beginning with those that already are noted for their anti-British or anti-Arab attitude
. recruit units, small abut fierce, of volunteers that will be charged with subversive activities and the destruction of Economic or Military Targets that the agents will deem interesting. Said units will have the maximum free-hand in this sector;
. eliminate British agents or officers, both regular or undercover, that acting upon the separatist feelings of the Curds are trying to attract them in their area of influence.
[Note: the fact that the agent did not destroy his orders after reading them is the first hint at the fact that we are dealing with a rank amateur. Further evidence in this sense surfaces throughout the main text of the diary]
Item 2 - A small (15x10 cm) hardbound diary, with a piece of string tied around it to keep it closed. The writing is small and cramped, in pale blue ink, making reading hard on the yellowed crumbling paper. Entries are not regular, and cover the period between September 23rd and November 8th 1941. Much of the text consists of lenghty, self-indulgent rants that carry no actual information on the area or the mission, but give ample insight on the character we are dealing with: he is clearly an amateur, selected for his knowledge of both the area and the local languages, and not for his (inexistent) field experience.
[Note: the man is extremely liberal with the names of his superiors, contacts and connections, writing them in full in his diary - cause enough to label him as a blunderer. Anyway, this works for us: I'm trying to follow up on two characters that seem to carry some import in the big picture
. Moghul Kahn - the local contact and guide of the writer
. an Italian named Valdesi, apparently some kind of contact or connection in the Near-East/North Africa sector
Of course, the latter will be much easier to track down.]
The self-congratulatory description of his assassination of a British agent on the night of October 17th 1941 is a further proof of the above-mentioned amateurish attitude of the agent: the man was killed in a (relatively) crowded place, some unidentified locals being paid afterwards to dispose of the corpse; no attempt was apparently made to recover any kind of information about the British activities, rank, mission, contacts or background.
[Note: the dead Brit's initials were H.L.B., as the unnamed German agent apparently took the man's trunk as a form of spoils of war. Further investigations on this line should be carried out through British Intelligence contacts, _when feasible_]
Entries following the 20th of October are much more interesting. These describe the agent's meeting - through his local contact - with a small tribe (?) of mountain men that he hopes to indoctrinate and use as pawns in his activities in the area.
Here some inconsistencies arise.
The mountain men act like they never saw a westerner before, and yet are armed with a mixed supply of relatively modern firearms, and are more than willing to attack the targets that the agent points out, being "electrified by the promise of raiding and massacre".
The mountain men seem to be more at ease at night, and the agent is particularly repelled by their women, that apparently tease him during his stay with the tribe.
"The women stalk me, with their smell of goat, the red whisps of henneed hair, like black witches, too curious, the strident voices, pityless and irritating".
A lot of goat-centered imagery is used in these entries. Also, it is hinted by internal references that these men and women are not Curds - or at least do not belong to the primary Curdish stock.
It must be noted that the agent admits at being taken with a fever in this period - a fact that might explain the further deterioration of his prose and the many inconsistencies this section of his report.
The fever is responsible for the fact that the agent seems to be only able to sleep during the day - tormented by strange nightmares - while his nights are spent in a general feel of uneasiness caused by his hosts and their culinary tastes.
After a successful hit against a bridge (night of the 25th of October), and a dutiful report sent back to Berlin, the thing folds with a rapidity and a definitiveness that is almost unbelievable.
On the fifth of November - only nine days after the posting of the report! - the agent is called back, with a letter ordering him to interrupt all current operations.
The following pages describe the man packing, the angry reaction of his allies - that already enjoyed "the foretaste of the chaos to come" - and a short time spent in a snowbound village. No other data are available, and I am rather dubious about the fact that the agent actually made it home - considering where his papers were found.
Item 3 - a cheap yellow paper envelope carrying the seal of the SS High Command, found within the diary. The envelope contains a single sheet of paper and a receipt.
In a few dry sentences the letter, signed by Dr. Teudt and dated Wevelsburg, November 2nd 1941, orders to
. interrupt all operations
. fall back in an Eastern Turkey town waiting for further orders
. pay off his men, keeping them in stand-by as a new agent will be sent to replace him briefly
No comments or observations on theprevious reports are included.
The receipt is for 5000 pounds, shelled out by the SS coffers to pay the men.
--------------------------------
And this is it.
The diary is unpleasant reading to say the least - the endless bragging of the writer counterpoints a fat slice of aryan supremacist rants of which the guy himself apparently was not aware (as he claims to despise the nazi structure and ideals).
I come to think the cold blade of a knife across his throat was too merciful an end for such a character.
Be seeing you, gentlemen.
---------------------
Suggested) Reading stats for the diary are as follows:
Unknown German Agent Diary
Language: German
Reading time: 2 full days
Sanity loss: none if
the reader is not aware of the Mythos. 1 Point loss if the reader knows
about it.
Mythos: +1%
Keeper option: reading the diary might grant checks in R/W German, History and/or Psychology
From: Chris D. Nichols
A small (2" l/1" w/3" h) bottle made of lacquered bone with a lozenge-shaped plug. The front and back of the bottle each bear an inked carving of two figures standing in a lush garden.
One side shows a of a voluptously beautiful oriental woman in flowing robes.
Her face is obscured by the black fan she carries, leaving only her eyes visible. To her right, a monk kneels, his belly slashed open and his guts falling in coils about him. The monk dips a brush into the pool of his blood, continuing to write on a scroll even as he is dying. Between the woman and the monk lays a bloody sickle.
The reverse shows an oriental woman of cold regal beauty with doll-like features and delicate hands with fingers that are oddly long and pointed. She wears a robe that is unbelted and almost, but not quite, reveals her charms. Kneeling before her is a man. Little can be told about him, as he is naked and mutilated, his eyes, tongue, heart, and genitals removed. The man offers up these tokens on a cushion to the woman. The man's fingers are torn to the bone and his arms are bloody to the elbows, indicating that the man mutilated himself with his bare hands.
A successful Cthulhu Mythos skill roll may reveal that the bottle depicts the Goddess of the Black Fan (also known as the Bloated Woman), an avatar of Nyarlathotep. Another Cthulhu Mythos roll reveals that the opposing face depicts Madam Yi, an avatar of the Great Old One Yidhra. Both are believed to operate in China.
If the bottle is opened, the next time the person who opened it sleeps, they will suffer a nightmare dream sending from either the Bloated Woman or Madam Yi (Keeper's choice). The dream sending involves the dreamer worshipping one of the pair and indulging in the wanton and degenerate pleasures of the dream sender's embrace. On awakening, the victim loses the appropriate amount of SAN of the entity they saw (1d8/1d20 for the Bloated Woman, or 1/1d8 for Madam Yi). The dreams corrupt the victim, resulting in a compulsion to travel to China and seek out the source of the dreams.
Naturally, anyone reduced to 0 SAN by the bottle's dreams becomes a worshipper of the appropriate entity. Note that the bottle may send only one dream each time it is opened, and that every subsequent dream requires a separate opening.
The bottle is breifly mentioned in the books 'The Goddess of the Black Fan' and 'The Tale of Priest Kwan.' In each book, the story is told of a worshipper of the Bloated Woman who cut off his own legs, and carved the bottle from his own femur, inking the carvings with his own blood, as an offering to his goddess.
From: Jimmie Joe Mariello, forwarded by Davide Mana
This just came in, and not a sec too soon.
Go and talk about sincronicity.
I'm forwarding the whole to the list - it's quicker.
My comments at the bottom.
--------------------------------------------
Howdy, Davide!
This city's really magic - or maybe it's just that weird McDonalds Happy Meal I had.
BTW - when I come back remind me to show you the Golem action figures set that came with the 'burgers. The Rabbi Loewe figure's an absolute must-see. Anyway, the strangest things happen in Prague, granted.
The bad news first: still no luck in tracing the whereabouts of your friend Aristide Massacesi. The "David Hills" monicker raises a few eyebrows in porn circles, but the Artist Formerly Known as Joe D'Amato made himself scarce ever since Paul Verhoeven supposedly contacted him for a twelve hours mini-series from Heinlein's "Job", or some other such crap. Or so the local rumour mill goes.
The good news is, while I was getting back to my hotel, I stumbled on a small flea market where I uncovered something that will make you and your e-mail pals happily chattering for a few weeks.
And it will look good in your collection, too!
So, get a load of this:
The book's a largish octavo, with a thick, dark brown leather cover, a bit worse for use and water damaged.
The title page reads
Being the onlie and faithfull Traslation of Ludwigg Prine his Booke, by Eduard Kelly, Bohemian Knight
There's a longish dedication after that, to King Rudolph the Second, faced by an Arcimboldo-like printing that's rather faded but still impressive.
After that's a number of pages, many sticking to each other and stained a very unpleasant rust colour. This looks like the first volume of a set of three, as there's an "I" Roman numeral impressed on the frontspiece.
I checked inside and there's an awful lot of tables and stuff about the angel Uriel.
I guess you'll pass quite a few evenings listening to your canto-pop tapes and deciphering the thing.
So, I picked it up for a few good old Stateside-made green bills, and I'll bring it along as soon as we meet.
With my compliments and all that sort of stuff.
Sincerely yours,
Jimmie Joe Mariello, Free Enterpreneur.
-----------------------------------------------
[me again]
Jimmie's post included a lenghtier description of his find, from which I deduced the following
Tome Stats:
. Author - Edward Kelly
. Date Published - surely after 1588 (the year in which kelly extorted a Bohemian knighthood claiming noble Irish ancestry)
. Format - three octavo volumes
. Contents - about 10% of Prinn's words diluted in a 90% of highly convincing but totally bogus "ermathic teachings". All the original illustrations have been preserved, but are presented in the text in a casual order.
. Reading Time - two full months for the complete set.
Reading Stats
Anyone with a working knowledge of Ludwig Prinn's original can easily see through kelly's mise-en-scene. On the other hand, Kelly probably compiled the hoax to try and regain some credit with the Prague court, and therefore employed all the tricks in the book to emulate the actual thing.
So, unless a Mythos check succeeds, investigators are likely to take the whole opus at face value.
Sanity Drain: 1d4/1d6 (the pictures are still there)
Mythos Rating: 1%
Other checks - a character reading the whole set of three volumes gains a check on Occult and one on Ermethic Magick/Crowleyan Crap (keeper's choice).
Spells: make up the impressive sounding thrash you think would best suit your campaign. None works (thankfully).
Back to the Ice Cave through Decontamination
