TEXT: THE RED TOWER
  A “No Security” 1930’s Horror Scenario
  Caleb Stokes
  Written by
  Ean Moody
  Art by
  A Hebanon Games Product
  
  THE RED TOWER
  INTRODUCTION
  The Red Tower is a complex supernatural mystery set 
  in the Chicago meatpacking district during the tumul-
  tuous months after the fall of Al Capone. Four-to-six 
  players play members of various urban factions that 
  discover a monstrous threat worming its way through 
  city’s heart. Thematically, the adventure confronts the 
  characters’ prejudices involving politics and class with 
  a terror antithetical to life itself. It can be completed in 
  one or two sessions, depending on the level of detail 
  employed by the GM and the style of play.
  This adventure starts with an overall description of 
  the setting and plot for the GM’s use. Information the 
  players can reveal through roleplaying can be found in 
  the gameplay section.
   
   
  1931: Chicago, IL
  Two years into the recession and it seems not even 
  illicit economies can survive. Al Capone has been 
  arrested, and the big fish is dragging huge sections of 
  his underworld infrastructure down with him. Nitti 
  is attempting to solidify power with the remaining 
  members of the family, but in the tense months follow-
  ing Capone’s indictment, a new successor is far from 
  certain. 
  With every lowlife in town desperate to clamor higher 
  up the pecking order, the politics of the city are fol-
  lowing suit. The mob’s decapitation took a number of 
  corrupt officials down as well, and power vacuums in 
  the bureaucracy have civil servants on both the state 
  and federal levels trying to become the next Eliot Ness. 
  The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Investigation is 
  cleaning out the last of Capone’s operation, hoping to 
  squeeze one last big bust out of the Capone ledgers. 
   INTRODUCTION
  1
  
  The FDA, galvanized by recent scandals involving 
  unregulated remedies, has reorganized and is attempt-
  ing to boost its PR by re-slaying its first dragon: the 
  Chicago Meatpacking Industry. Finally, with the police 
  officials on Capone’s payroll out of the job, there’s 
  finally room for a good cop to advance in the depart-
  ment.
  The regular folks—all they ever do is suffer. The bread-
  lines are longer than ever. That recovery they keep 
  talking about is nowhere in sight. The immigrants keep 
  coming, and the locals keep fleecing them until they 
  get conned in turn. Where everyone else sees nothing 
  but misery and doom, the socialists see an opportuni-
  ty. The soil of Chicago’s slums is ripe for revolution; it 
  needs only those willing to fertilize it. And for some, 
  the Reds are actually starting to make some sense. 
  They’re certainly getting all the right people angry.
  Yet beneath the city in turmoil, something very old 
  lurks. Something worse. Waiting. Eating. A few of 
  Chicago’s unluckiest are about to discover just how 
  much harder times can get.
  GM INFORMATION
  The Wayward Son
  Andrew Chambliss, heir to an American food process-
  ing empire and a fortune in French agricultural hold-
  ings, wanted nothing to do with the family business. 
  It’s not that he found it distasteful; frankly, the hulla-
  baloo about “worker exploitation” fell as dead to his 
  ears as the braying of the cattle in his father’s yards. Put 
  simply, the whole business was beneath him. His was 
  an intellect molded by the finest tutors money could 
  buy and forged in the most exclusive European univer-
  sities. His destiny lay in academia, much to his father’s 
  obvious disappointment.
  In the late 1900’s, when one of father’s business ac-
  quaintances managed to buy the ruins of a lost civili-
  zation from the South Americans for pennies on the 
  acre, Andrew practically packed his bags overnight. He 
  finally had his chance to distinguish himself as a man 
  of science, and his father would be rid of his insuffer-
  able embarrassment of a son for a time. Who knew? 
  Father Chambliss wondered if the harsh jungle expedi-
  tion might not finally exorcise the boy’s bookish nature 
  and return him ready to take over the family business.
  The Well of Souls
  The guides had been lowering the last of his team into 
  the sacrificial well when the rope snapped. One of the 
  men died instantly, but the other screamed for what 
  seemed like hours in the shadowy dark of the stone pit, 
  both legs shattered. Andrew tried his best to ignore the 
  cries as the indigenous dealt with their own. He busied 
  himself with the strange passages shooting off in every 
  direction. Why fashion tunnels in the bowels of the 
  earth for a mound of festering sacrifices? He ordered 
  the servants still on the surface back to camp for more 
  line; there were plenty of passages and enough lamps 
  to keep them occupied exploring until the other half of 
  expedition returned.
   
   
   
   
  Important Dates for the Setting
  1894: Edward Herbert Thompson purchases the 
  Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza for American Explora-
  tion.
  1906: Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle scandalizes 
  Roosevelt into food regulation.
  1930: The Communist Party of the USA begins ac-
  tively recruiting from the downtrodden of the Great 
  Depression.
  1930: The Food, Drug, and Insecticide Organization 
  shortens name to FDA.
  1930-31: Muckracking journalists begin advocating 
  for “prescription-only” drugs and consumer product 
  oversight
  1931: Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion 
  and sentenced to 11 years.
  1932: Frank Nitti begins to solidify his control over 
  the Chicago crime families.
  1919-1933: The Volestead Act, prohibiting the sale 
  of alcohol, is in effect.
  No Security 
  2
  
  A Forgotten Hell
  They knew something was wrong when they returned 
  to camp to find the dead Indian’s body missing. Sus-
  picions of some sort of prank vanished as they heard 
  the screams of the injured man echoing in the distant 
  tunnels.
  They began picking them off one by one, skeletal 
  figures scarcely distinguishable from the mounds of 
  human bones that clogged the stone arteries running 
  underneath the jungle. They were starved, dessicated 
  things, older than the very dirt which caked them. 
  Long eons had passed since they’d eaten anything 
  beyond the odd fallen animal. The ecstatic hoots of 
  their feasts echoed through the passages as the ex-
  pedition would inevitably leave another one of their 
  number behind, fleeing deeper into the nightmare.
  After a few hours, only Chambliss and his appointed 
  manservant, Borkowski, survived. The big Pole had 
  slain one of the things with a shovel and now wore 
  its corpse as some sort of misguided camouflage or 
  trophy. Though equally lost to madness, the young heir 
  retreated to his mind, using the only remaining lamp 
  to study the odd carvings that seemed to dully glow on 
  the walls. They were in a form of pictograph similar to 
  something he’d been forced to transcribe for a profes-
  sor in graduate school. They beckoned the pair to some 
  center, and Andrew followed, rushing towards his 
  death with an ecstatic joy never before imagined in his 
  dull days of parlor talk.
  Ascending the Throne
  Borkowski fought like one of them now, his mind 
  completely gone and replaced with the same sickening 
  animal guile and bloodied teeth as the things hunting 
  them through the bone-clogged caves. Each monster 
  seemed fatter now, somehow sleeker and faster with 
  the greases of their companions. The pair of men made 
  their last stand in the ruins themselves, completely en-
  closed within the lightless pyramid they had ascended 
  into. The inky insides seemed to teem with membra-
  nous, alien life. Translucent sacs spewed forth inexpli-
  cable artifacts, foul odors, and whispers.
  As Borkowski clubbed one to death with a stone, 
  Andrew spent what were surely his last moments 
  frantically reading the pictographs his flame had illu-
  minated. He screamed a dead language in the throes 
  of maddening terror, failing to be distracted from his 
  fugue even as the creature screamed the lost tongue 
  back to him. He remained undeterred even as his voice 
  reached inhuman volumes, shaking the very stones 
  of the ruin apart. As the roof collapsed and tropical 
  sunlight flooded the cursed chamber, a shriek as old as 
  millennia tore through the air and was gone.
  The creatures retreated away from the two battered 
  men, heads bowed. Whatever presence had lived in—
  become—the ruin, the piercing rays of light had given 
  it a death delayed to the tune of centuries. As Borkow-
  ski gibbered softly to himself and cradled his many 
  wounds, Andrew Chambliss laughed. He’d killed a god 
  and would now take its place.
  Homecoming
  The two survivors from the doomed expedition to 
  South America sparked a brief wildfire of specula-
  tion amongst Chicago’s upper classes. The city’s upper 
  crust wanted to hear tales of mysterious savages and 
  El Dorado. When Chambliss and his famed manser-
  vant never manifested at the auspicious parties held 
  in honor of their return, fame quickly curdled into 
  infamy.
  When Cotton Chambliss died suddenly of a mysteri-
  ous illness, public opinion all but doomed the Cham-
  bliss fortune at the hands of its eccentric heir. However, 
  Andrew wasted no time consolidating his company. 
  His lay-off of workers proved to be prodigious, even 
  by Chicago meat-baron standards. His new, indus-
  trialized production model was rumored to be state-
  of-the-art, so much so that all construction work and 
  modifications done to the packing plant were carried 
  out at night and under strict guard. The company even 
  ceased trade on the markets, presumably restructuring 
  for a big debut. All of Chicago’s upper-crust held its 
  breath in anticipation.
  And kept holding it. For years. For decades. People 
  scoffed. They pretended they knew it would turn out 
  like this all the time. They moved on. They forgot. They 
  died.
   GM INFORMATION
  3
  
  But Chambliss Meatpacking Plant remains, proudly 
  sticking out of the city like an inoperable tumor. 
  Obvious, yet unnoticeable, it remains operational in 
  ways beyond human understanding, and the mad 
  heir resides over a kingdom altogether more con-
  cerned with slaughter than all its competition com-
  bined.
  The Business Model
  Borkowski and his mad progeny maintain the 
  remainders of Chambliss Meatpacking, buying 
  diseased and lame cattle with the liquidated fortune 
  and what little they can scam from the locals. When 
  the herds arrive, they’re funneled straight from 
  the stockcars into the Cattle Tunnels, supposedly 
  heading towards the factory for processing.
  But there is no slaughterhouse at the Chambliss 
  Meatpacking anymore, or at least not in the tradi-
  tional sense. Like the temple the doomed expedition 
  made it’s final stand in, the red brick of the plant 
  has been completely sealed to contain the malignant 
  spirit of Andrew Chambliss, elevated by dark magic 
  into an incorporeal god. The tunnels beneath the 
  factory were what Chambliss spent huge swaths of 
  his fortune improving before entering his un-death. 
  They sprawl in a seemingly endless tangle of light-
  less, confusing passages through which terrified steer 
  stampede endlessly, starving and terrified. 
  When the animals are exhausted by frothing terror 
  or trampled, then the Cham-Vi Juntan creep in. The 
  pestilent creatures feed on the near dead, growing 
  fat off a wealth of meat their forebears in the sacrificial 
  well could never dream off. Meanwhile, the horror and 
  pain felt in the animal’s death throes echo through the 
  labyrinth towards Chambliss’s gigantic mausoleum, 
  sustaining the immortality of the presence trapped 
  there with pure blood and death.
  In short, Chambliss Meatpacking is no longer a busi-
  ness so much as an ecosystem. An insane cult of 
  brainwashed immigrants buys and feeds cattle into 
  the tunnels. Once there, the maze of passages secretly 
  infesting the city choke, cripple, and kill the panicked 
  steer. Their mass deaths feed the dark energy required 
  by Chambliss’s new existence.
  Finally, the Cham-Vi Juntan feast and live amongst de-
  cade-old piles of  rotten meat and offal, drunk off the 
  parasitic bounty of their new master…and protecting 
  him from any human unlucky enough to fall into his 
  diseased, stone veins.
  NPC List
  Clyde Hannity – leader of the local meatpacker’s union
  Franklin Pearson – Editor-in-chief of The Worker and 
  socialist
  Eddy Chapa – missing journalist for The Worker
  Special Agent Alexander Whittemer –in charge of 
  Capone case follow-up
  Dr. Philbert Cannes – chief chemist in charge of FDA 
  inspection
  Paulie “Roach” Alegretti – missing mobster and 
  former Capone associate
  Guissippi “The Hen” Gallo – upstart mobster looking 
  to rise
  Cyryl Borkowski– patriarch and head of the Borkowski 
  lending scheme
  Henryk Borkowski – giant foreman of the Chambliss 
  stockyard crew
  Jacek Borkowski –boy that runs messages from Cham-
  bliss Meatpacking to the tunnels in the Paulie’s Pool-
  room
  Isabella Borkowski – girl that runs messages from Pau-
  lie’s Poolroom to the Stockyards
  Lydia Carmody – current resident of the former Cham-
  bliss estate
  Andrew Chambliss – reclusive heir and owner of the 
  Chambliss meatpacking factory
  Cham-Vi Juntan – nightmare creatures feasting within 
  the cattle tunnels
  No Security 
  4
  
  The Monsters: Andrew Chambliss
  What Andrew Chambliss discovered in the jungle was 
  a form of death magic that attracted the same ghoulish 
  beasts who came to wipe out his companions. He mas-
  tered it. He studied it until it dominated his thoughts. 
  Then he used it to launch himself into godhood.
  Andrew’s “business plan” was one of self-destruc-
  tion. He sold off and reduced the family’s holdings to 
  a minimum, selling literally everything not directly 
  useful to the meatpacking business. The goal was to 
  provide the Chambliss meatpacking plant with an 
  operating fund that would last as long as possible. 
  Borkowski, the other mad survivor of the doomed 
  expedition, would run the day-to-day necessities, his 
  mind long ago too damaged to resist his master’s new 
  powers. The Pole’s descendants, brainwashed into their 
  father’s mad religion, continue to fund and operate the 
  Chambliss factory’s secret operation
  In 1907, when arrangements were made, Chambliss 
  had himself sealed inside the red brick building that 
  once housed his father’s business. The factory had long 
  hollowed out a series of tunnels beneath the site for 
  the transfer of cattle, and these Andrew prepared using 
  the dark rituals he learned. The tunnels became his 
  new circulatory system, the bricks and mortar his new 
  flesh. Slowly, Andrew Chambliss killed himself using 
  the secret arts, his soul expanding to fill the perverted 
  cathedral he’d built to his new immortality.
  Over the decades, the Borkowski family has fed 
  countless scores of sick, terrified animals into the 
  tunnels, leaving them to starve and perish in agony. 
  The siphoned life energy from living things now feeds 
  whatever Chambliss has become, fueling the buildings 
  impenetrable glamour, his eyeless perception, and the 
  invisible knives he uses to slaughter those who betray 
  his cult.
  But it isn’t only abstract death that feeds Chambliss’s 
  testament to madness. The creatures from beneath the 
  jungle eventually sensed the power of their new death 
  god, and they have come to feast on his leftovers.
  The Monsters: Cham-VI Juntan
  Not much is known about the carrion beasts that haunt 
  Chambliss’s stock tunnels; they are so reclusive and 
  deadly as to have avoided even the attention of myth. 
  Though equipped with powerful jaws and claws fitting 
  that of wild animals, the creatures express enough in-
  telligence to avoid detection, strategize, and, of course, 
  find more food sources. It is unsure if the beasts are 
  immortal, if they turn other creatures into themselves, 
  or if they propagate throughout the centuries with 
  inbreeding.  Whatever the case, they can always be 
  found where the death magic Chambliss discovered 
  in the jungle is practiced. The constant, steady supply 
  of rotting meat necessary to maintain the spell insures 
  their symbiosis, and they act as a de facto immune 
  system for whatever dark soul dares to launch itself to 
  godhood.
  The deadly expedition in South America ran into eons-
  starved, desiccated versions of these creatures. Even 
  having long ago eaten the last bones of the ancient 
  sacrifices, the skeletal creatures could revive them-
  selves long enough to kill. Only Chambliss’s quick 
  study of the forbidden magic contained in the carvings 
  saved him, or perhaps the creatures merely recognized 
  another monster…one capable of providing the pre-
  cious meat.
  Upon completion of the deadly rites, the Cham-Vi 
  Juntan migrated to their new master, trickling north-
  ward along the dark pathways humanity rather not see. 
  In Chambliss’s new sanctum, they could feast endlessly. 
  By ’31, the creatures have grown fat off years of rancid 
  cow flesh. They are now bloated and covered in foul 
  excretions of all sorts, even going so far as to take on 
  characteristics of the dead cows. The food has revived 
  them of their senses enough to reveal the dark whis-
  perings of their new master.  
  However, despite their ability to follow basic orders, 
  they remain territorial, predatory beasts.  They are no 
  less quick and deadly for their new size. They won’t 
  hesitate to kill intruders and add more flesh to the 
  piles. While unprepared for the threat of modern fire-
  arms, the Cham-Vi Juntan are armed with their very 
  food source; they hide amongst the piles of festering 
  dead and wield discarded horns and ribs like knives.
   GM INFORMATION
  5
  
  GAMEPLAY INFORMA-
  TION
  Character Selection
  Ultimately, the only responsibility a player’s characters 
  has is to be fun to play as and fun to play with. What-
  ever concept a group agrees will serve that purpose 
  should work fine. However, it should be noted that this 
  scenario makes two assumptions: horror games are 
  more fun for players when the characters are scared, 
  and characters get scared when their mundane reality 
  gets upset. If characters are to fit in with the setting of 
  1931 Chicago, they might consider joining with one 
  of the four factions already tied into the plot: socialist, 
  blue collar, government, and criminal. Here are some 
  suggested character concepts that work well with this 
  adventure.
  •	 Reporters for The Worker sent to track down 
  their missing co-worker, Eddy Chapa
  •	 Pro-union thugs tasked with putting enough of 
  a scare into the socialist to stop their inflamma-
  tory rhetoric
  •	 Bureau of Investigation Agents (early FBI) can-
  vassing the Meatpacking District for associates 
  of Capone mentioned in his ledger
  •	 FDA chemists and investigators cooperating 
  with the Treasury Department to leverage 
  slaughterhouse owners
  •	 Chicago cops seeking to assist/disrupt the 
  federal investigations
  •	 Soldiers in Guissipi Gallo’s crew out looking for 
  the missing capo, Paulie Alegretti
  •	 Mobsters in the employ for Frank Nitti sent to 
  take down Gallo’s upstart crew
  •	 Members of a protection racket hired to break 
  up the socialist, pro-union rallies taking place 
  in the district
  No Security 
  6
  
  Plot Hooks
  The question implicit in The Red Tower is “how hor-
  rific do things get before people abandon petty differ-
  ences and band together for survival?” Since all the 
  factions described in the scenario are at odds, it may 
  seem difficult to get players together and involved in 
  the same plot. Below are some tips for GM on how to 
  get even the most confrontational PC’s headed in the 
  right direction.
  Socialist: Eddy Chapa, one of The Worker’s best 
  muckrackers, has gone missing in the midst of under-
  cover investigation. It’s possible that he has just fallen 
  out of contact in order to maintain his cover, but Eddy 
  is the papers most dedicated writer, even garnering 
  some mainstream re-prints. Employees of the paper 
  are dispatched to try and find him. 
  Blue-Collar: For those players wishing to play the ev-
  eryman, one of the major set-pieces in the scenario is a 
  Consumer Rights Rally. Blue-collar workers with leftist 
  political leanings attend to support the cause. An-
  ti-progressive hardliners fearing what the Communists 
  might do to their beloved Union would just as likely be 
  in attendance, jeering at the speakers.
  Government: Bureau of Investigation agents (precur-
  sors to the FBI) are in the area rounding up the small 
  fish left behind in Capone’s ledger. The meatpacking 
  district paid the boss a lot of protection money, and the 
  feds will be canvassing the slaughterhouses for persons 
  of interest to question. The newly reorganized FDA is 
  assisting, pressuring the owners with surprise inspec-
  tions and trying to establish a reputation. These teams 
  could work together as a single unit or separately. Both 
  will be interested in attending the consumer rights 
  rally. After all, between the product complaints and the 
  slaughterhouse owners seeking to break the demon-
  stration, it proves to be a target-rich environment.
  Criminal: Guissipi Gallo is raving for the blood of 
  Paulie Alegritti; the mobster went missing weeks ago 
  and is suspected of turning rat. Though a small timer, 
  “The Hen” Gallo seems to have got it in his head that 
  he’s taking over Chicago. He won’t accept such dis-
  respect so early in his reign. He dispatches half his 
  crew to find Alegritti while the rest of his boys 
  throw in with the established Union leaders; the Reds 
  are stirring up trouble and need to be knocked down a 
  peg before the dues start drying up.
  Each faction has a number of places where it makes 
  sense for their characters to start investigating The GM 
  can start the game with each player receiving orders 
  from the respective NPC’s located there. Conversely, if 
  it seems like it will be exceptionally difficult to get the 
  PC’s interacting, the game could start in media res at 
  the Consumer Rights Rally (location 0), an event in 
  which the whole neighborhood will have a stake.
  SPELLS
  NPC’s in The Red Tower utilize dark magic. Some of 
  these spells are available to PC’s that sufficiently under-
  stand their instructions. For casting these rites, GM’s 
  are encouraged to utilize whatever magic mechanics 
  their system favors, or they might treat casting the 
  spell as a simple skill check. Regardless of how it is put 
  into practice in the system, here are the effects of the 
  available spells found in The Red Tower.
  Perceptive Glamour
  This spell is only available to the powerful sorcerer 
  Andrew Chambliss and only in use on the Chambliss 
  Meatpacking Plant. In short, the massive red brick 
  building dominating the middle of the district is seen 
  but not noticed. No one knows anything about it, few 
  have any desire to learn more, and fewer still are able 
  to learn more. All paths of traffic bend away from the 
  building and no one thinks to questions it. Onlookers 
  that manage to notice the building constantly have the 
  perception of being at “the back” and are almost always 
  content with the assumption that there must be an 
  entrance “on the other side.”
   SPELLS
  7
  
  Sharp Breeze
  As it is fueled by powerful death magic and requires a 
  totem of the victim, this spell can only be preformed 
  on members of the Borkowski family. In a sign of 
  loyalty, all Borkowski children give their baby teeth to 
  their dark master. These teeth are stored by Chambliss 
  in his sickening inner chamber, providing a magical 
  link to his servants. His consciousness sees their every 
  action, and if displeased, may take retribution.
  To an onlooker, the traitorous Borkowki will seem to 
  freeze and go silent. Then, with a violent spasm, the 
  victim will levitate a few inches off the ground before 
  beginning to bleed from a number of mysterious cuts. 
  Despite the assistance of any bystanders, those caught 
  in the spell are slashed hundreds time by some invis-
  ible blade, unable to even scream as their vital blood 
  vessels are sliced open. The victim bleeds out for a few 
  short moments before collapsing into a pool of his or 
  her own blood, dead as they hit the ground. Need-
  less to say, witnessing this kind of attack is extremely 
  stressful.
  Summon Cham-Vi Juntan 
  This spell is used by the child messengers of the Bor-
  kowski’s to contact the devilish creatures living un-
  derneath the city. The spell is very simple and can be 
  learned from a set of notes the children have set in 
  their shoebox (clue 7.e) at Paulie’s Poolroom (loca-
  tion 7). Those casting the spell must be underground, 
  chant a few simple phrases, and cut their left hand, 
  letting the blood seep into the dirt. This wound causes 
  minor damage and gets aggravated, no matter how 
  small or what was used to make the cut. Shortly after 
  the spell’s completion, a Cham-Vi Juntan will arrive. 
  However, the creatures are not stupid. Unless the 
  summoner has orders from Chambliss or dead meat 
  as an offering, the would-be magician will only end up 
  getting attacked.
  Banishment
  This spell can be learned in the course of play (Clue 
  11.a). If used inside The Red Tower (location 13), 
  it can destroy the immortal presence of Andrew 
  Chambliss once and for all. The ritual is complex and 
  requires a number of props in addition to complex 
  chanting. Players wishing to attempt the spell will 
  need to collect a chicken foot, salt, candles, and spe-
  cific blends of incense before the ritual can be done. 
  The rite takes a number of uninterrupted minutes to 
  complete. Once finished, an earthly scream announces 
  the spirit’s demise as the tomb—in this case, Chambliss 
  Meatpacking Plant—is torn asunder by unseen forces.
  Becoming the Godhead
  This spell can also be learned in the course of play 
  (Clue 9.a). Though similar to banishment in that it 
  destroys Andrew Chambliss if performed in his sanc-
  tuary (location 13), the spell is simpler and more 
  dangerous. The ritual only requires concentrated 
  chanting for a number of moments. However, com-
  pleting the rite essentially recreates the cause of Cham-
  bliss’s own madness. Characters casting this spell will 
  become unrepentantly evil and insane, determined to 
  build themselves a temple so that they might be im-
  mortalized with death magic and rotting flesh. 
  No Security 
  8
  
  Location and Clues Flowchart
  Some clues in The Red Tower only provide players with information or a scary moment, but others can lead characters to 
  another location. This chart color codes each location to the clues found there and points to where each can lead. Use this 
  page as a playmat to keep track of where players stand in the story.
   Location and Clues Flowchart
  9
  
  LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  0. CONSUMER RIGHTS RALLY
  The Rally is being held on the loading docks of an 
  abandoned warehouse. The crumbling brick and 
  boarded-up windows have been covered with posters 
  for Socialist party candidates in the next election. 
  Volunteers man the front gates passing out soup and 
  sandwiches to men on the way home from their shifts 
  in the slaughterhouses (come for the food; stay for 
  the revolution). A full day’s ticket of speakers is lined 
  up, would-be insurrectionists headlining for a gallery 
  of atrocities: girls blinded by a line of mascara, boys 
  poisoned by lead toys, widows of husbands killed by 
  snake-oil remedies. Depending on the speaker, the 
  crowd wavers between scornful indifference and righ-
  teous indignation.
  0.a. Clue: Socialist Questioning
  Members of the socialist party ask anyone who will 
  listen about the whereabouts of Eddy Chapa. The 
  famed muckraker has been missing for weeks in 
  pursuit of what he called “the next Jungle,” an ambi-
  tious undercover operation meant to expose further 
  corruption in the city’s livestock industry. Workers in 
  the stockyards will merely be asked if they’ve seen a 
  man fitting his description. Criminal and Government 
  agents may well be accused of murdering or arresting 
  him. Regardless, PC’s will be aware of Eddy Chapa’s 
  disappearance as a possible line of inquiry.
  0.b. Clue: Government Questioning
  FDA and Bureau agents will be casually mingling with 
  the crowd, trying to find the whereabouts of certain 
  persons listed in Capone’s ledgers as working in the 
  Meatpacking District. Paulie “Roach” Alegretti is 
  chief among their concerns, and agents will ask all the 
  blue-collar attendees where they work and with whom. 
  The largely-immigrant population remains extremely 
  distrustful of the feds, but they’ll at least reveal where 
  they are employed. Nobody seems to have seen the 
  man they are most interested in: Paulie “The Roach” 
  Alegretti,
  With the proper skill, PC’s working for the govern-
  ment may notice that no one at the Rally works for the 
  large red factory in the East. Faded letters painted on 
  the brick declare it the Chambliss Meatpacking Plant 
  (Location 1, p.10). Nobody seems to work there 
  or knows anyone who works there, though some of the 
  Polish immigrants mention the name “Borkowski” in 
  broken English before spitting in the dirt.
  0.c. Clue: Criminal Agitators
  Clyde Hannity, head of the predominantly white Meat-
  packers Union, dislikes the Socialist agenda intensely. 
  The party makes the same promises of worker’s rights 
  as his organization without charging a dime in dues, 
  and they even let Blacks join their ranks. Hannity 
  has used his mob ties to call in a group of agitators to 
  harass and intimidate speakers at the Rally. 
  Perceptive characters notice that these cat-callers are 
  unusually well-dressed to be stockyard men. Their con-
  stant jeers and cries of “We’ve already got us a Union, 
  ya Bolshevik sissy!” are enough to arouse suspicion of 
  the local Union HQ. 
  Any mention of Franco “Roach” Alegretti overheard by 
  these men is likely to arouse their interest. They might 
  very well tail the person in question to see if they know 
  where the mobster is hiding.
  1. CHAMBLISS MEATPACKING
  Chambliss Meatpacking looms huge over the factories 
  and stockyards of the district. Though not the biggest 
  building in the area, it seems to be visible from nearly 
  anywhere in the neighborhood. But visibility isn’t the 
  same as actually being seen. Those staring up at the 
  massive edifice often find the sun forcing them to look 
  for the shade, or a sudden gust of wind blowing grit 
  into their eyes. The few determined enough to stare at 
  the red brick building find it even more infuriating to 
  get to. All roads seem to cut away from it, and every 
  side seems closed off with litter, fences and under-
  brush. PC’s always seem to be on the backside of the 
  building, the entrance apparently hundreds of yards 
  away across a dizzying tangle of side streets. In fact, 
  characters trying to find a way into the building should 
  find the act disconcerting and stressful. As if in a 
  bad dream, no amount of speed or navigation 
  No Security 
  10
  
  gets them any closer to their destination. This is the 
  effect of the Perceptive Glamour Chambliss has cast on 
  the building (see SPELLS, p.7).
  1.a. Clue: No Doors/ No Windows
  Characters that circumnavigate the entire facility will 
  find that there are, in fact, no entrances to the building. 
  Every door, window, and loading dock has been sealed 
  off in brick…for many decades judging by the color 
  of the mortar. This is a stressful realization; it makes 
  no sense for even an abandoned building to be sealed 
  so completely. The only entrance to the place must be 
  underground, and this realization effectively breaks the 
  Perceptive Glamour (see SPELLS, p.7)
  1.b. Clue: Follow Jacek Borkowski
  Jacek Borkowski loiters around the outside of the 
  building, closer to the fence than anyone else. Jacek 
  is a young boy covered in filth and tattered clothes. 
  He’s often throwing rocks at stray dogs or just deject-
  edly kicking at the dust in vacant lots. He’s impossibly 
  laconic, meeting every question posed to him with 
  silence or a lie.
  Perceptive investigators notice Jacek slip away down a 
  hidden path in the underbrush and through the barbed 
  wire fence guarding the building. Those stealthy 
  enough to follow unseen can witness a strange ritual. 
  Jacek runs to the westernmost corner of the building 
  and places both hands and head against the lodestone, 
  as if the normally spastic young boy has been put in 
  time out. Then, after a number of minutes, he backs 
  away from the wall just as a brick—falling seemingly 
  from nowhere—smacks against the mud where he 
  once stood. The boy then grabs the brick and runs off.
  Characters shadowing Jacek will find he leads them to 
  Paulie’s Poolroom (Location 7, p.14)
   
  1.c. Clue: The Brick
  The brick that fell from the roof is covered on all sides 
  by strange script. It is scrawled in a gummy, black 
  material. Each character is remarkably ornate picto-
  graph, depicting something that can only be described 
  as abstract. Though there is no way to make out what 
  the script says, an academic character or someone 
  sufficiently invested in research can discover 
  some of the characters have Mayan overtones.
  2. THE WORKER OFFICES (Socialist HQ)
  The “Offices” of The Worker are really just a series of 
  three low-rent apartments with holes knocked through 
  the shared walls. Franklin Pearson lives and works 
  there. His commitment to the socialist cause is total; 
  he feels that the Depression has placed the American 
  public mere weeks away from revolution and is deter-
  mined to get the scoop when it happens. This delusion 
  feeds into another: the idea that The Worker has any 
  kind of serious readership that would give a damn 
  about the disappearance of Eddy Chapa. Still, Eddy 
  was a friend and a pretty good reporter. His co-work-
  ers want to make sure he is okay, and Franklin wants 
  everybody searching for him after helping out at the 
  Consumer Rights Rally.
  2.a. Clue: Eddy Chapa’s Address Book 
  Eddy’s desk contains his address book. Besides his own 
  apartment, none of the addresses are labeled. Players 
  find it open on the last page; the freshness of the ink 
  seems to indicate these are his latest entries. Relevant 
  addresses the investigators can glean from the book are 
  as follows.
  •	 Eddy’s own apartment (Location 3, p.11)
  •	 A house outside of town (Location 9, p.17)
  •	 A house located in the Meatpacking District’s 
  slums (Location 11, p.18)
  •	 The Municipal Building (Location 5, p.12)
  3. EDDY CHAPA’S APARTMENT
  Eddy Chapa rented out a room in slum house on the 
  outskirts of the Stockyards. When players arrive, they 
  can see that the door is just barely on its hinges after 
  being kicked in. Eddy’s downtrodden neighbors have 
  little to say about the break-in, but they are equally 
  unlikely to complain if anyone enters to investigate.
  3.a. Clue: Ransacked belongings
  Eddy’s meager possessions have been destroyed. The 
  mattress lies gutted, the furniture reduced to kindling, 
  and all the books shredded. Muddy boot prints dot the 
  floor, and big holes in the wall denote the rage of the 
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  11
  
  intruders. Characters with any kind of forensic skills 
  can notice that the damage was done with some sort of 
  large hammer rather than hands and feet.
  3.b. Clue: Hidden Notes
  Those perceptive or clever enough might notice that 
  there is no bathroom in Eddy’s two tiny rooms. Down 
  the hall sits the community restroom used by all the 
  renters, and a quick search reveals a folder hidden 
  behind the toilet. Inside are Eddy’s notes on his inves-
  tigation.
  •	 A series of call numbers at the local library 
  (Location 8, p.16)
  •	 A brochure written in Polish and English, 
  advertising cheap property rental. It includes a 
  mailing address (Location 10, p.17)
  •	 A number of interview transcripts and transla-
  tions detailing how immigrant workers in the 
  meatpacking district were scammed of all their 
  possessions in a predatory lending scheme led 
  by Henryk Borkowski. When rent would shoot 
  up without warning, each family was greeted 
  by a charity organization called Chambliss 
  Charities. The charity, owned by the Chambliss 
  Meatpacking Plant, was just another loan in 
  disguise.  Eventually, the poor families would 
  have all their property seized and were left to 
  starve in the streets. Notes made in Chapa’s 
  home remind him to research the Chambliss 
  holdings at the Municipal Building (Location 
  5, p.12)
  4. UNION HEADQUARDERS (Blue-Collar 
  HQ)
  Clyde Hannity is the “elected” leader of the Meatpack-
  er’s Local 215. He can often be found in the Headquar-
  ters building, which is really more of a clubhouse than 
  a functioning union office. The members of the 215 are 
  uniformly white, and nearly all are mid-level man-
  agement in the slaughterhouses and railyards. These 
  foremen have grown fat off years of corruption, deep in 
  the pockets of both the owners and the mob. They long 
  ago sole their manipulative power over an uneducated, 
  poverty-stricken workforce to the highest bidders.
  Clyde Hannity likes the status quo and fears the change 
  promised by the Socialists. With the hard times seem-
  ingly without end, too many of his work crews are 
  mumbling about fair wages and human rights. He 
  intends to call in services for all those years of protec-
  tion money he’s paid up on. Clyde can be found in the 
  Union Hall, organizing agitators to heckle at the rally 
  and drinking illegal hooch with a group of bruisers 
  ready to break up the gathering the second they feel it 
  gets “out of hand.”
  4.a. Clue: Due Records
  Anyone with access to the Union’s back office can 
  sneak a look at the organization’s records. The Local 
  215 has a well-documented presence in the city, and it 
  appears as if every cannery, slaughterhouse, cattle yard, 
  and rail station has members in the Union…everyone 
  except Chambliss Meatpacking.
  4.b. Clue: Brute Squad Truck
  Out back is a big flatbed, waiting in case the boys 
  need to get over to the rally and bust it up. In addi-
  tion to bats and other improvised weapons, the cab is 
  filled with copies of The Worker, an issue featuring a 
  cover story by Eddy Chapa. There are also a number 
  of socialist armbands and crude imitations of protest 
  signs. It appears the brute squad intends to discredit 
  the group as dangerous anarchists after their drunken 
  attack on the rally.
  4.c. Clue: Complaints about the Borokowski 
  lending scheme
  The message board in the Hall is overflowing with 
  push-pinned notes long ignored. Those that actually 
  take time to read the messages will find that a number 
  of pleas in half-understood English beg for help with 
  the “Borkowskis” and something called Chambliss 
  Charities. One particular note even claims to know 
  where these thieves live  
  (Location 11, p.18).
  No Security 
  12
  
  5. MUNICIPAL BUILDING (Government 
  HQ)
  Located downtown, this recently refurbished office 
  building is a far cry from the dirt streets and stench 
  of the Meatpacking District. The Great Depression 
  seems very far away from the marble floor and art 
  deco design of the lobby. In temporary offices upstairs, 
  Special Agent Alexander Whittemer and Dr. Phil-
  bert Cannes are spearheading investigations in the 
  area. 
  Agent Whittemer is directing his agents to look for a 
  capo named Paulie “Roach” Alegritti. The capo went 
  missing before he could be swept up in the arrests, and 
  without his testimony it will be impossible to prosecute 
  the otherwise “legitimate” businessmen listed in the 
  ledger. Wittemer suggests checking out the socialist 
  Rally to see if the mobster has laid low with a job in the 
  factories.
  Dr. Cannes is assisting Whittemer reluctantly; he hates 
  burdening his inspection crews with useless G-men. 
  But the FDA provides a way into to every warehouse, 
  stockyard, and factory in the District that might be 
  hiding Alegretti. Dr. Cannes will feel better about the 
  deception if his teams can uncover some big code vio-
  lations to feed to the press. The good doctor wants the 
  newly reorganized FDA to get some good press, and he 
  can think of no better way than to renew the outrage 
  the founded the department: health violations in the 
  notoriously corrupt Chicago Meatpacking DIstrict. He 
  urges his chemists to find any infraction they can to 
  offer the press and suggests attending the Consumer 
  Rights Rally as a motivational exercise.
  5.a. Clue: Capone’s Records
  Capone’s records list Alegritti as the chokepoint for 
  most protection money being funneled out of the 
  Meatpacking District. The only money “the Roach” 
  received that didn’t funnel back to the big boss was the 
  capo’s cut. Part of this cut went to something called 
  “P.P’s Room.” Asking around could reveal this to be 
  Paulie’s Poolroom (Location 7, p.14).
  One other mobster was gathering money in the area 
  (Guissipi “the Hen” Gallo) but it appears he was 
  fairly small time. There is no information in the 
  ledger than hints at his wherebouts, but leaning on the 
  right gangster might reveal his shop on the Boardwalk  
  (Location 6, p.14)
  Finally, it appears every business operating in the 
  district was paying money to Capone. The only dis-
  crepancy is a blotted out name in the ledger with no 
  financial annotations next to it. The only legible part 
  are “—ss” sticking out from the scratched out word. A 
  cross-reference of buildings in the area can reveal that 
  Chambliss Meatpacking Plant is all that fits  
  (Location 1, p.10)
  5.b. Clue: Chambliss’s Meatpacking Records
  Investigators with the wherewithal to check the city tax 
  records will find that, alarmingly, Chambliss Meat-
  packing has not paid income tax since 1907. There are 
  other tax records, paid on time and as early as possible 
  every year, but the company claims not to have done 
  anything except spend money for nearly two decades. 
  Even that spending is odd, as records claim only two 
  expenditures: something called Chambliss Charities 
  (Location 11, p.18), and the purchase of livestock.
  Any characters that discover this information will be 
  perplexed by the sheer enormity of the oversight. The 
  absence of an audit all these years is, quite simply, 
  magical.
  5.c. Borkowski’s Property
  Cross-referencing the address listed for Chambliss 
  Charities reveals a house listed to one Cyryl Borkow-
  ski. Cyryl also owns the deeds on a number of resi-
  dential properties scattered throughout the district. 
  Curiously, none of these houses are claimed as rental 
  properties, but no attempt has ever been made to sell 
  them either.
  5.d. Clue: Bill of Sale for Chambliss Estate
  Looking up the Chambliss name in property records 
  will show that in 1906 the family sold off a number of 
  diversified business interests, keeping only the meat-
  packing plant. The last thing to be sold was a large res-
  idential property located outside the city, sold to one 
  Sachs Carmody. The file containing the Bill of Sale is 
  filed under “Chambliss Estate.” It appears as if Andrew 
  Chambliss hasn’t lived in his ancestral home for almost 
  two decades (Location 9, p.17).
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  13
  
  5.e. Clue: FDA Inspection Records
  Calling the headquarters in Washington can reveal 
  a startling truth: Chambliss Meatpacking has never 
  been inspected. Ever. Since the inception of the agency, 
  the facilities haven’t been checked for health, labor, 
  or building codes. Chambliss Meatpacking isn’t even 
  listed as a product provider in any of the FDA files.
  Discovering this information can be stressful for any 
  researcher. How can a gigantic building, in plain sight 
  of everyone for miles around, never have received a 
  single bit of scrutiny for all those years?
  6. BOARDWALK (Criminal HQ)
  Guissippi “The Hen” Gallo was always a small-time 
  hood. His participation in the operations running in 
  the Meatpacking District had more to do with geogra-
  phy than any degree of skill. Paulie “Roach” Alegretti 
  was spread too thin by how much ground his goons 
  had to cover making collections, so Gallo got to pick 
  up the scraps. In the golden days, Gallo kept his mouth 
  shut and paid his dues, infuriated by his subservience 
  but not quite dumb enough to think he could survive 
  doing something about it.
  With Capone gone, Gallo’s inferiority complex has 
  become a full-blown delusion of grandeur. He’s fooled 
  himself into thinking the other capos are going to look 
  to him for leadership, and he’s got enough manpower 
  to make a nuisance. From his hideout from the back of 
  a shooting gallery game booth, The Hen tries to solidi-
  fy his power. First order of business: he’s convinced the 
  rest of the family that the missing capo, Paulie Alegret-
  ti, has turned into a witness for the prosecution. He’s 
  sent a few members of the gang out to find the missing 
  mobster while he stays behind to tend to business.
  6.a. Clue: Orders to meet Clyde Hannity
  The leader of the local Meatpacker’s Union paid pro-
  tection money to Alegretti in the old days. With the 
  Capone case upsetting things, Gallo has snatched the 
  contract from underneath his old mentor. The Hen is 
  ordering all his underlings to report to Clyde Hannity 
  at the Consumer Rights Rally (Location 0). While 
  they’re breaking up the red protest, they’re to look for 
  any signs of Alegretti at the rally.
  6.b. Clue: Marda Alegretti
  Marda, Alegretti’s beleaguered wife, is being held 
  captive by Gallo. While not restrained, the poor 
  woman looks pretty bad; deep bags hang under her 
  eyes, her hair is frazzled, and she’s never out of some 
  gangster’s sight.  She’s as furious with Gallo as she is 
  scared. She insists she doesn’t know anything about 
  Alegretti’s whereabouts. He never involved her in his 
  affairs, and their marriage was a sham. She insists he 
  stayed out all hours of the night and day, even after the 
  Capone heat forced him to shut down his poolroom. 
  A crafty character might infer from this that Paulie’s 
  Poolroom isn’t as closed as it seems  
  (Location 7, p.14).
  7. PAULIE’S POOLROOM
  Paulie “Roach” Alegretti laundered his money 
  through a low-rent basement poolroom located along 
  one of the main thoroughfares between the stockyards 
  and the meatpacker neighborhoods. For a number of 
  years, he used the operation to provide working men 
  bathtub whiskey and illegal gambling. As it was listed 
  on the Capone ledgers, the business was closed soon 
  after the arrests began. Law enforcement assumed the 
  mobsters had skipped town…incorrectly.
  Jacek Borkowski can be followed to this location, or 
  he might pop in at the GM’s discretion. Ever since 
  the mobsters’ demise, the mad Poles have been using 
  the location to communicate with their underground 
  counter-parts: the Cham-Vi Juntan. In return, the mad 
  ghouls ferry their master’s business orders to the Bor-
  kowski’s via the child messengers
  7.a. Clue: False Panel
  It’s not hard to pry open the boards blocking the pool-
  room’s door, but all characters find is a large basement 
  with outlines on the floor where the three billiards 
  tables would have stood. Perceptive characters notice 
  that these outlines don’t make much sense; the place 
  could have easily fit more tables if it would have ar-
  ranged them differently. Careful investigation reveals 
  the space remained open for the false panel leading to 
  the speakeasy in back. 
  No Security 
  14
  
  7.b. Clue: Speakeasy Massacre
  The Speakeasy was never much: a long hallway, a 
  blacked-out basement window, three small rooms 
  for drinking and gambling. The fourth room, which 
  originally housed the boiler for the now-abandoned 
  building upstairs, was converted into a dance floor. 
  That is, until Capone went down. Alegretti apparently 
  saw the opportunity to fill the gap in the market and 
  turned the closed poolroom into a distillery. In the 
  weeks since the mobster’s disappearance, the distillery 
  has leaked, leaving an inch of stagnant booze rotting 
  the dance floor. Investigators are immediately met with 
  the stench of yeast, mildewed hops, and something far 
  worse. 
  In the hallway, bloody handprints and drag marks 
  coat the wallpaper, trailing in the first room on the 
  left. Inside, a dead mobster is collapsed in the corner 
  behind an overturned poker table. He’s been dead 
  for weeks. One had holds a nearly spent Thompson 
  machine gun; the other clutches the grey intestines 
  loosed from a savage, animal gash across his belly. 
  Those brave enough to rifle through a dead man’s 
  pockets find the ID of Paulie Alegretti
  7.c. Clue: Footstep in Dust
  Alegretti appears to have died almost a month ago. 
  Aside from his bloodstains, it appears that the speak-
  easy has been abandoned since then. At the end of the 
  hall, there are two sets of footprints in the accumulated 
  dust. Both enter through the basement window and 
  are child-sized. One pair leads into the last room (the 
  same one the blood trail originates from), whereas the 
  other stops at a small shoebox. The pair leading into 
  the room is Jacek’s route to the underground from the 
  Chambliss Meatpacking Plant; the shoebox footprints 
  are Isabella’s tracks from the shoebox to the Stockyards 
  (Location 10, p.17).
  7.d. Clue: Tunnel Breakthrough
  The last room in the hallway has had the floor torn up 
  and replaced with a ladder leading into a dirt tunnel. 
  Characters with criminal backgrounds will understand 
  that these escape tunnels are standard practice for 
  urban bootlegging operations.  
   
   
  However, the passage intersects with a much larger 
  tunnel after a short distance. This is where Alegretti 
  broke into The Cattle Tunnels and met his doom (Lo-
  cation 11, p.18)
  Characters with a light source notice huge, inhuman 
  footprints in the dirt.
  7.e. Clue: Shoebox of Spell Notes (Summon 
  Cham-Vi Juntan) and Receipts
  In the shoebox located in the corner of the hallway, 
  there are two sets of the documents. The first, written 
  on ancient paper and with a crude understanding of 
  phonetics, relay the instructions for Summoning a 
  member of the Cham-Vi Juntan. Characters that pass 
  a test for understanding the instruction can perform 
  the spell if they are willing to pay the cost in their own 
  blood (see SPELLS, p.7). However, characters 
  unprepared for the sight of the ghastly creature and 
  without anything to offer (dead meat or the brick from 
  Clue 1.c, p.11) will soon find themselves in con-
  flict with the creature.
  The box also contains hundreds of haphazardly orga-
  nized receipts. All the slips come from the Stockyards 
  and date back decades. It appears that Chambliss 
  Meatpacking has been buying cattle all this time. 
  Financially adept or otherwise academically inclined 
  characters notice that the receipts make little sense 
  from a business standpoint. The amount of cattle pur-
  chased and the haphazard intervals could not sustain 
  a major meatpacking business. However, there is far 
  more cattle purchased than could ever be justified for 
  personal or family consumtion. The grade of the meat 
  is also rock-bottom; many of the animals were sold at a 
  discount on account of being diseased or lame.
  7.f. Clue: Following Jacek Borkowski
  If Jacek was followed from Chambliss Meatpacking 
  (Location 1, p.10) and stealthy characters con-
  tinue to make their checks, investigators can witness 
  Jacek’s job for the Borkowski family. After entering 
  the abandoned poolroom through the basement 
  window, Jacek goes into the tunnel entrance. Once he 
  climbs down the ladder, the boy performs the ritual to 
  summon the Cham-Vi Juntan (see SPELLS, p.7).
   
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  15
  
  The creature’s arrival is announced only by its labored 
  breathing. It will stick to the shadows. Jacek puts 
  down the brick (Clue 1.c, p.11) and sees it quickly 
  snatched away by a bloated, clawed hand. The hand 
  then inches from the shadows, placing a scrap of crude 
  leather with “50 head. Two weeks,” scrawled in some 
  disgusting ink. Jacek, who is obviously shaken despite 
  the routine of the experience, hurriedly deposits the 
  scrap of leather on the shoebox before scrambling back 
  to his post by Chambliss Meatpacking.
  7.g Clue: Following Isabella Borkowski
  If players hide themselves and stake out the ruined 
  speakeasy, they can glimpse the other Borkowski 
  child at work. Isabella Borkowski will eventually slip 
  in through the basement window, deposit the latest 
  receipt into the shoebox, and leave with the scrap of 
  leather on top. Following the little girl leads back to the 
  Stockyards (Location 10, p.17). 
  7.h. Clue: Interrogating Either Child
  If either child is approached or detects a tail, they will 
  do absolutely everything in their power to get away. 
  Characters that catch one of the Borkowski children 
  can question them effectively, provided they have the 
  skill. Both kids will be very reluctant to reveal any 
  information about the family, but fear of their captors 
  can loosen their tongues about the lending scheme, the 
  creatures underneath their feet, and why they love (or 
  have been brainwashed to think they do) Mr. Cham-
  bliss so much. Still, both children will be absolutely 
  terrified and nearly panicked at the thought of retalia-
  tion from “the boss,” especially if questioned near the 
  tunnel entrance.
  At the game master’s discretion, Chambliss should cast 
  Sharp Breeze (see SPELLS, p.7) on his traitorous 
  subjects. Seeing the Borkowski child levitated and bled 
  out by invisible blades should shatter the minds of all 
  but the most hardy characters.
  8. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
  Though containing no vital NPC’s, no one should ever 
  neglect the power of research. There are a number 
  of useful clues that can be gleaned from researching 
  Chambliss at the local library. Note that investigators 
  already in possession of clue 3.b. “Hidden Notes”, 
  p.12 need not make any checks to discover the 
  following information.
  8.a. Clue: Chambliss Expedition Records
  Notes from the university and newspaper reports can 
  piece together some of what happened on the Cham-
  bliss expedition in 1905. Andrew, against the wishes 
  of his father, continued his anthropological studies 
  by mounting a study of ruins located on the South 
  American land purchased by a family friend. There are 
  accounts of the expedition reporting back for resupply 
  once. They reported nothing but the most predict-
  able finds. A few weeks later, over half the expedition 
  members were dead after a disastrous descent into 
  a sacrificial well. The only survivors that saw what 
  happened were Andrew Chambliss and his hired 
  man, Cyryl Borkowski. They reported that they nearly 
  twenty men died in a “climbing accident.”
  8.b. Clue: Chambliss Newspaper Clippings
  Clippings compiled and organized by Eddy Chapa 
  detail Andrew Chambliss’s decline upon his return 
  to Chicago. A number of news stories mention the 
  “mysterious, laconic” new demeanor of the handsome 
  young heir upon his return. Others discuss his father’s 
  suddenly ailing health and the family’s sudden seclu-
  sion. The majority of the articles are from the business 
  section and concern the company’s mass sell-off of 
  infrastructure and extensive, secretive construction 
  projects. Shortly after the last editorial theorizing as to 
  how the meatpackers might be restructuring, all news 
  about the family falls silent.
  8.c. Clue: Sister Novak
  Characters looking into the above clues will be asked 
  by librarians if they should call for Sister Novak. The 
  clerks recognize the information Eddy Chapa had 
  been looking over and assume that any investigators 
  pouring over the same text must also work for his 
  paper. Eddy was using the services of Sister Novak to 
  translate the Slavic languages spoken by many of his 
  interview subjects.
  Sister Novak volunteers at the library on a regular basis 
  and can easily be found during operation hours. 
  She’ll happily talk about what she discussed with 
  No Security 
  16
  
  Mr. Chapa and his interview subjects; she is concerned 
  for everyone’s well-being. Sister Novak can reveal the 
  entire predatory lending scheme run by Cyryl Bor-
  kowski (Clue 3.b, p.12). Sufficiently persuasive 
  characters can convince the Sister to reveal something 
  she left out of her translation to the reporter. A few 
  of the victims had figured out where the Borkowski 
  family lived (Location 11, p.18) but did not wish 
  it revealed because of superstitious fears that the family 
  would “curse” them.
  9. THE FORMER CHAMBLISS ESTATE
  Lydia Carmody is an upper-crust widow living in 
  the mansion outside of town formerly owned by the 
  Chambliss family. Her husband, Sachs Carmody, 
  bought the home for their family at a substantial 
  discount in 1906. Sachs has been dead for a number 
  of years and Lydia will be thrilled to have to have 
  company, even the suspicious, investigative type. 
  However, Lydia is an old-money snob with easily of-
  fended sensibilities. Characters in her home would be 
  wise to indulge in small talk and behave if they don’t 
  want her calling the police.
  9.a. Clue: Hidden Attic
  Lydia will reveal what little she can remember about 
  the previous occupants. Though her husband had all 
  the dealings with the family, she recalls how the house 
  was laid out when she first bought it and can lead 
  characters to Andrew Chambliss’s old rooms. Percep-
  tive players can notice that the copper ceiling is oddly 
  shaped in one corner of the room, thus discovering the 
  hidden attic in the mansion.
  9.b. Clue: Death Magic (Become the God-
  head)
  Above Andrew’s rooms hides the stiflingly hot, dark 
  attic where he performed his dark magic upon return-
  ing from South America. The rafters are uniformly 
  carved with insane, indecipherable symbols, and odd 
  figurations map themselves to the floor in dull blue 
  paint. Dusty tomes and unreadable scribbling lay 
  scattered about, organized into nests by decades worth 
  of squirrels and other vermin. Oddly though, all the 
  animals are dead. Every pigeon, squirrel, rat, moth, 
  and roach lies dead and mummified, curled in 
  concentric patterns around the only untouched man-
  uscript in the place. Seeing this strange sight damages 
  the calm of all but the hardiest souls.
  The spell requires no more than a simple chant, repeat-
  ed a number of times. However, its effect is the same 
  as when Chambliss first uttered the words in the ruins 
  of the temple. Any character casting the spell in the 
  presence of the Cham-Vi Juntan will become their new 
  master, taking Chambliss’s place and losing their mind 
  in the process (see SPELLS, p.7)
  10. THE STOCKYARDS
  The Stockyards are rented out by every major slaugh-
  terhouse and meatpacking operation in the city. Cattle 
  are unloaded from the rail yards, then organized into 
  the proper corral before heading to their final destina-
  tion. Finding the area of the massive complex dedicat-
  ed to Chambliss will be difficult without at least some 
  prior knowledge.
  The Borkowski’s operate near the edge of the yards, 
  an inopportune placement for getting their cattle to 
  processing. Surprisingly, they have a cattle tunnel: a 
  specially constructed underground chute that funnels 
  animals towards their killing floor in the district. 
  Henryk Borkowski can be found directing the work 
  of the male family members around the cattle tunnel. 
  He’s a gigantic, middle-aged man with an inscrutable 
  expression. He constantly carries a bloody sledge-
  hammer he uses to euthanize cattle too sick to walk…
  among other things.
  10.a. Clue: Borkowski Behavior
  In addition to being related, the work crew at the 
  Chambliss yard act very strangely. Socially attuned 
  characters can notice that it’s more than the fact many 
  of them don’t speak the language: the men seem in-
  stantly suspicious of any passerby, they’re unnecessar-
  ily cruel to the animals, and each seems communicate 
  almost entirely in subtle gestures and looks. Some of 
  the work crew are far too old to be working, and others 
  are unusually young. A few have twitches or mumble 
  inaudibly to themselves. All is not right with the Bor-
  kowski’s
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  17
  
  10.b. Clue: Sick Cattle
  The cattle being taken from the trains by the Cham-
  bliss crew are barely alive. The majority of the animals 
  are undersized, stringy, and starved. A few hobble 
  forward on three legs or bleed from open wounds. No 
  food inspector or farmer would ever deem these dis-
  eased creatures fit for consumption, and no owner in 
  his right mind would ever invest in such sickly meat.
  10.c. Clue: Tunnel Entrance
  The entrance to the Cattle Tunnel is unusually secure: 
  the doors are heavily reinforced and festooned with 
  locks. It would be foolish to leave an entrance into a 
  major factory unguarded, but these doors appear to 
  keep things inside.
  The Borkowskis, especially the imposing Henryk, will 
  discourage any investigators from investigating the op-
  eration. However, any players that overpower, sneak, or 
  rush into the open chute will quickly find themselves 
  locked inside (Location 12, p.19). The laughs of 
  the Borkowski’s will be the only explanation as to why.
   
  11. THE BORKOWSKI HOUSE
  The Borkowski House looks no different than the tene-
  ment properties they rent to Irish, Russian, and Polish 
  immigrants come to work in the Meatpacking District. 
  It is perhaps even less well-maintained, with tiling 
  falling off the roof and an unkempt lawn. The houses 
  nondescript appearance might be why the family 
  so easily scams the poor workers with their lending 
  scheme; by all outward appearance, they are merely 
  another family struggling to get by.
  A collection of wives and daughters maintain the 
  homestead while the men work in the Stockyards. 
  The undisputed master of the house is ancient Cyryl 
  Borkowski, who rules the home from his bed on 
  the second floor. Cyryl will order the family to deny 
  entry to any and all visitors. All attempts to gain entry 
  will be met with force.  Fanatical older women attack 
  intruders with knives if they dare enter uninvited. If an 
  incursion comes at night, any able-bodied Borkowski 
  men join in on the attack.
  11.a. Clue: Cyryl’s Room and Spellbook 
  (Banishment)
  Cyryl Borkowski, no longer the mountainous man that 
  fought off horrors in the jungle, rots bed-ridden in an 
  upstairs room. The second he sees anyone that is not of 
  his family open the door to his room, he will open fire 
  with the revolver kept on his night stand. The first five 
  bullets are for any fool standing in the doorframe; the 
  last is for himself.
  If Cyryl’s suicide isn’t enough to induce terror in the 
  players, his notes might do the job. In a journal behind 
  Cyryl’s pillow, the mad man documented the past two 
  decades in a pidgin of Polish and English. Characters 
  capable of reading the documents can get an outline 
  of the terrors Cyryl fought in the South American 
  tunnels.  They can read descriptions of his constant 
  nightmares from those days, his fears that the monsters 
  would devour the world. Eventually, they can discov-
  er that Chambliss earned Cyryl’s life-long loyalty by 
  promising to keep the monsters contained, locked into 
  slavery so long as Cyryl followed his orders. Finally, 
  characters with enough time can suffer through 
  reading about the years of indoctrination, depravity, 
  and murder Borkowski subjected his family to in order 
  to create Chambliss’s mad cult.
  However, it appears that the former servant did not 
  completely trust his dark master. On the last page, 
  Cyryl relays instructions for a spell to banish Cham-
  bliss, to be used if he ever fell under the influence of 
  the beasts (see SPELLS, p.7). Oddly enough, the 
  spell’s instructions are written in multiple languages, 
  as if Cyryl were very concerned for the document’s 
  readability upon his death.
   
  11.b. Clue: Tunnel Entrance
  An entrance to the tunnel system beneath the city can 
  be found in the house’s basement. The path was dug by 
  the family themselves and is extremely claustrophobic, 
  but it will eventually lead characters to the system of 
  cattle tunnels.
  11.c. Clue: Eddy Chapa’s Body
  Eddy Chapa has been beaten to death with sledge-
  hammers and festers in the Borkowski’s basement 
  next to a number of other corpses. It seems that 
  No Security 
  18
  
  Chapa was killed for his investigations, but the other 
  bodies are harder to identify. Characters with the 
  right social connections or familiar with Sister Novak 
  (clue 8.c.) can identify a few victims of the Borkows-
  ki lending scheme that wouldn’t let it go. The corpses 
  appear to be arranged next to the tunnel entrance like 
  some sort of psychotic offering.
  11.d. Clue: Financial Records
  A thorough search of the house reveals years upon 
  years of financial records. Cyryl and his spawn have 
  kept the Chambliss Meatpacking Company existing 
  on paper for years. They also own the rental properties 
  and the Chambliss Charities front organization that 
  tightened the financial noose around their victims. 
  Passable accountants realize that the money accrued in 
  the lending scheme was meant to off-set the dwindling 
  money left behind by the Chambliss sell-off. Disturb-
  ingly, nearly every penny went towards the “operation” 
  or purchasing more cattle; the Borkowski’s spent their 
  entire lives in abject poverty.
  12. THE CATTLE TUNNELS
  Taken by itself, the near total darkness of the cattle 
  tunnels would be enough to drive a man mad. But the 
  few glimmers of light provided make things so much 
  worse.
  Intersections seem to split into infinite, identical 
  options. Echoes confuse the ears at the same time a 
  choking stink fills the air. Man-made corridors can 
  expand into awe-inspiring caverns before suddenly 
  dwindling down to narrow slits in the earth. Entire 
  passages are clogged to the ceiling with the rotten, 
  poisonous remains of dead cattle, buzzing with flies. 
  Others only rattle with a carpet of bones.
  Every passage pulses with eerie blue light radiating off 
  the grotesque symbols painted on the walls. Though 
  each design seems to point towards some central 
  location, using them to navigate the labyrinth is infuri-
  atingly difficult.
  Navigating the Tunnels
  Travelling through The Cattle Tunnels should be like 
  navigating a nightmare. Each tunnel courses with 
  the magical energy of a million sacrifices and hidden 
  threats. Getting through will not be easy.
  When players move through the tunnels, the GM 
  should conduct the game in turns and tell everyone 
  how many successful “movement tokens” are required 
  before reaching the center hinted at by the glowing 
  blue runes (Location 13, p.19). At the end of each 
  turn, the GM should consult the following table, either 
  picking what comes next or rolling a d10 at random. 
  At this point, there are a number of options. Things 
  could be as simple as making the characters roll some 
  sort of Navigation skill for each turn and providing 
  tokens for success. For a longer game, GM’s might only 
  allow players to move towards the center on repeated 
  numbers. For example, the second time a 2 is rolled 
  would count for a movement token. To really challenge 
  the group, require that players roll all their successful 
  turns in a row, starting over each time the group is led 
  astray.
  Regardless of how the threats are arranged, any con-
  frontations with the Cham-Vi Juntan should be as psy-
  chologically damaging as they are deadly. GM’s should 
  adjust other threats and impediments according to 
  how challenging they wish the game to be.
   
  13. THE RED TOWER
  Characters that reach the center of the maze will be 
  alarmed to find an oddly beautiful sight: a massive, cir-
  cular basin with an ornately carved dome up top. Here, 
  all the runes scrawled in blue phosphorescent paint 
  converge, meeting in a nexus of four blood stained 
  pillars with chains attached. The chains themselves 
  hum with the same eerie azure glow as they dangle 
  from a hole some twenty feet upwards.
  If the characters have somehow avoided contact with 
  the Cham-Vi Juntan, they will not be able to continue 
  to do so. The creatures will defend this inner sanctum 
  to the death, and desperate adventures must choose 
  between fighting their way back into the tunnels or 
  attempting to climb the chains to safety.
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  19
  
  Those that flee upwards won’t be pursued, but they will 
  finally find themselves inside the Chambliss Meat-
  packing Plant. The once busy killing floor and cannery 
  has been completely cleared out; even players with 
  access to a light source will find inky darkness cloying 
  to them in the cavernous space. The interior has been 
  converted into some sickening cross between a tomb 
  and womb. Sickly, grey flesh clings to every surface 
  with an almost fungal consistency, black veins languid-
  ly pumping some viscous fluid into strange organs. 
  Pustules of flesh pop open with a fetid hiss when 
  characters go past, offering up strange artifacts that are 
  simultaneously alive and rotting: ashen lumps in the 
  shape of faces, miniature caskets made of bone, perfect 
  heart-shaped lockets that bleed pitch when opened. 
  Whispers fill the darkness, and characters constantly 
  feel something skittering across their skin.
  Staying sane inside Chambliss’s living monument is a 
  moment-by-moment struggle. Retreat is not an option; 
  Cham-Vi Juntan guard the only exit. At this point, 
  players must either defeat Chambliss, become him, 
  go incurably mad, or face the ravenous hunger of the 
  creatures below.
  d10 Random Encounters
  1: The tunnel is completely empty and without threat. 
  Gain a token.
  2: Strange sounds (chittering, a baby crying, wet slaps, 
  etc) lead characters astray, losing a token.
  3. Characters come across a tunnel clogged with mounds 
  of dead cows. If they do not cross, they lose a successful 
  token. If they do climb over the piles, they are attacked by 
  a Cham-Vi Juntan hidden amongst the carcasses. Those 
  that survive or escape gain a token.
  4. Characters discover the remains of a man who appears 
  to have been eaten alive. While horrifying to behold, his 
  hand encloses a useful item. Gain a token.
  5. A series of dizzying intersections bewilders the travel-
  ers. Players must either all lose a successful turn or make 
  a skill check. Anyone failing the check becomes separated 
  from the party. No tokens can be gained, even for suc-
  cessful checks.
  6. Characters come across a tunnel clogged with mounds 
  of dead cows. If they do not cross, they lose a token. If 
  they do climb over the piles, they find that the stacked 
  corpses nearly reach the ceiling. Characters must make a 
  check to squirm through before succumbing to disgust, 
  wretched stench or clouds of flies. Failed checks result in 
  items lost in haste, damage, panic, or suffocation.
  7. The tunnel is carpeted in skeletons. Falling could cause 
  severe puncture wounds. The clatter of the dry bones 
  accompanying every footstep is maddeningly loud. While 
  it may or may not attract unwanted attention, the noise is 
  enough to damage any character’s composure.
  8. Stampede! Driven mad by starvation, thirst, and 
  terror, a herd of cows barrel down the tunnel in a pan-
  icked sprint. Characters should make checks to sense the 
  danger and flee from it. Those caught in the stampede 
  suffer severe damage. Everyone loses a token.
  9. This tunnel goes so deep it touches on the water table. 
  An underwater river is eroding the floor into precari-
  ous ledges. Traversing the area is extremely dangerous. 
  If players turn back, they will lose a token. Those that 
  risk the crossing can gain two tokens at once, but failed 
  checks send characters into the current to be swept away 
  and drowned. 
  10. Characters come across a massive antechamber 
  where the dozens of Cham-Vi Juntan are feasting. It is a 
  challenge just to remain sane after seeing such a horrific, 
  disgusting sight, and now players must decide what to 
  do about it. Going back costs a token, whereas forging 
  ahead can earn three tokens. Getting through the feasting 
  ground requires a number of checks in order to avoid 
  detection. Those discovered by the Cham-Vi Juntan 
  must either try to lose them in the tunnels or engage in a 
  nearly hopeless combat with the monsters
  No Security 
  20
  
  ENDGAME
  There are few “victory” scenarios in The Red Tower; 
  the game is meant to present groups with a confusing 
  web of human intrigue that leads them into an incom-
  prehensible terror. However, there are a few ways to 
  survive the ordeal and defeat the monsters festering 
  underneath Chicago.
  Characters that found the Banishment spell located 
  in Cyryl Borkowski’s room (Clue 11.a, p.18) may 
  use the spell to destroy Chambliss’s presence once 
  inside the Meatpacking Plant. The ritual will take 
  time, and players not involved with the casting will 
  likely have to defend a final onslaught of the Cham-Vi 
  Juntan as they scramble up the chains to defend their 
  god. If successful, the spell causes horrific gales to tear 
  through the interior of the plant, winds so strong they 
  punch holes through the bricks and start a collapse. 
  The Cham-Vi Juntan will flee in terror, and any surviv-
  ing characters must make checks to escape collapsing 
  chunks of the ceiling and walls. 
  Similarly, characters that have discovered the Become 
  the Godhead spell in Chambliss’s old home (clue 9.b) 
  can save themselves from the dark magic and night-
  mare creatures by doing what Andrew Chambliss did 
  in 1906: taking over. Again, any characters not in-
  volved in the casting will have to defend against a final 
  attack from the Cham-Vi Juntan. If the caster is suc-
  cessful, Andrew Chambliss’s ghostly presence quietly 
  dissipates and the Cham-Vi Juntan stop their assault, 
  bowing to the caster before slinking into the darkness. 
  Physical death can be avoided by this route, but the 
  person in charge of the spell will have become incur-
  ably insane, obsessed with killing themselves to erect a 
  new temple of flesh elsewhere. In a sense, this solution 
  merely defers the hellish ecosystem of the Cham-Vi 
  Juntan to another time and place.
  Finally, characters always have the option of blowing 
  the damn place up. Whether breached from the inside 
  with explosives or from outside with heavy machinery, 
  Chambliss’s ghost can’t survive the cleansing presence 
  of sunlight. Destroying the Meatpacking Plant will end 
  the dark god, but how the Cham-Vi Juntan will react 
  to this brute victory is uncertain. It is up to the GM 
  whether they quietly slink back into the shadows or go 
  on a kill-crazy rampage through the city streets.
  If all the characters flee or die, the status quo will 
  continue in Chicago until the Borkowski’s money dries 
  up. With the cattle unavailable, who knows what new 
  depravities Chambliss and his minions will concoct to 
  feed their insatiable hunger for death?
   ENDGAME
  21
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Any (Any System Generic)/No Security - The Red Tower [OEF][2013].pdf