TEXT:  
   
  The SHADOW IN THE TREE 
   
  an adventure for the Call of Cthulhu 
  d20 system 
  by Jonathan stout 
   
  part II in the cthulhu Hardboiled campaign 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
  1
  DISCLAIMER 
  The majority of the graphics contained in this adventure were taken off of various sites 
  throughout the Internet. It’d probably take me days to track down all of the places I’ve 
  taken stuff from, so let me just say that I do not own nor do I claim to own any of the 
  pictures or graphics in this text. 
   
   
  TABLE OF CONTENTS 
  GM Information… 2 
  Background… 2 
  Hitting A New Low… 2  
  Must’ve Run Out Of Bananas… 3 
   
  Q&A Session: Benjamin Wilson… 3 
   
  The Professor’s Cage… 4 
   
  Q&A Session: Tom Beckett… 5 
   
  Searching the park… 6 
   
  Examining the files… 6 
   
  Speaking to the night watchman… 6 
   
  Examining the briefcase… 6 
  Legwork… 7 
  Maison D’Ashton… 8 
   
  Q&A Session: Mary Ashton Villepin… 8 
   
  The journal… 10 
  Damned Dirty Ape… 11 
   
  Searching the grounds… 11 
   
  The Professor attacks… 11 
   
  Aftermath… 12 
  Experience And Sanity Awards… 12 
  Appendix A: NPC Statistics… 12 
  Appendix B: Maps and Pictures… 14 
  Appendix C: View From The Backstage (GM Only)… 18 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
  2
  GM INFORMATION 
  This adventure has been designed as the second mission in a campaign centering on an 
  private investigations firm known as Hemingway Investigations. It is intended for a 
  group of 1st-level investigators. It is set in January of 1928, in and around the city of Los 
  Angeles, California. 
   
  BACKGROUND 
  In the last adventure, the investigators were hired to work for a small private 
  investigation firm called Hemingway Investigations. Their section chief is a short, 
  overweight man named Ernie Zulli with a penchant for sarcasm and cigars. In this 
  adventure, the investigators are hired to track down an ape that recently went missing 
  from the Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles. Griffith Park, by the way, is a large urban 
  park, apparently LA’s answer to New York’s Central Park.  
   
  Hitting a new low 
  Hemingway Investigations Offices, 9:15 am 
  Monday, January 16th, 1928 
   
   
  “So,” says Ernie abruptly, “how’d you like to go chasing a monkey?” 
   
  There’s an awkward pause as you turn that last sentence over in your head. 
   
  You’re sitting, by the way, in your usual table in the back room of Hemingway 
  Investigations. It’s been about a week since you finished up your first case; you’ve spent 
  it lying low, just like Ernie told you to. In all that time, you haven’t seen so much as a 
  black hat, let alone have someone shooting at you. All in all, you’ve come to believe the 
  coast is clear, and what with your landlady starting to look testy, maybe it’s time to take 
  another shot at this private investigator thing.  
   
  Anyway, you have to admit, that was the last thing you expected Ernie to say. 
   
  He takes another puff off of his cigar and continues. “I just got a call from the zoo 
  down in Griffith Park this morning. Turns out one of their exhibits disappeared from its 
  cage last night. They’ve got the police keeping an eye out for it, but they could use 
  someone actively looking for the thing.” He blows a smoke ring across the table. “By the 
  way, the LAPD is no longer on site. I checked. 
   
  “Anyway, I don’t have any more details than that. You’ll have to go down to the 
  zoo and talk to the director – ” He glances down at a note in front of him. “The director, 
  Benjamin Wilson. He’s the client.” 
   
  He looks across the table. “Case is relatively low profile. If you want to test the 
  waters, this is the best way to do it. Don’t think I gotta tell you to watch out for black 
  hats. 
   
  “Anyway, get going. They’ll be expecting you sometime before noon.” 
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
  3
  must’ve Run out of bananas 
  Griffith Park Zoo, 11:34 am 
   
   
  You pull into the parking lot of the Griffith Park Zoo just around 11:30. You 
  might’ve strolled through here at some point. It’s a dingy little affair, basically a 
  collection of cages strapped together with wood and plaster. There’s also a small 
  administrative building which apparently doubles as kitchen and dung storage from the 
  way the dumpster behind it smells. That’s where you’re shown into when you present 
  your card to the guy at the ticket booth.  
   
  You end up in a small office. A short, professional-looking fellow stands up from 
  behind the desk as you enters and offers his hand. “Good morning, gentlemen. My 
  name’s Benjamin Wilson, and I’m the director of this zoo. How can I help you?” 
   
  Q&A Session: Benjamin Wilson 
  Do you care to describe the crime? 
   
  “Certainly. Sometime early this morning, our night watchman discovered one of 
  our exhibits was missing. A large male ape with grayish hair; we call him the Professor. 
  Essentially, the watchman found the door to the cage open at about six-thirty; he called 
  me first, and then the police. We haven’t seen any sign of the animal since.” 
   
  May we talk to the night watchman? 
   
  “I already sent him home. With the note, by the way, that Jacob has worked for us 
  for several years, and I would consider him above suspicion of any sort.” 
   
  Describe the Professor further. 
   
  “Well, let’s see. As I said, a large male ape, grayish fir. He has a very 
  distinguished look about him; that’s why we called him the Professor, you see. He 
  reminded me of one of my biology teachers in college. Anyway, he’s long-haired, 
  especially around the chin. Weighs about three hundred and twenty-five pounds. Exactly 
  five feet tall – when he stands up to his full height, of course. Very sedate personality.” 
   
  What is the Professor like personality-wise? 
   
  “Very sedate personality, as I recall.  
   
  What species is he? 
   
  “Well… the truth of the matter is, we’re not quite sure. We thought initially that 
  he was just a very large orangutan. Then we had him in for a physical examination two or 
  three months ago. It turned out his skeleton was much too large for him to be an 
  orangutan – the skull especially was more like a gorilla’s than anything else. But gorillas 
  tend to be short-haired, at least as far as we know. In any case, we called in an expert 
  from the university – a Dr. Neil Chalker. He’s been doing research on the Professor ever 
  since.” 
   
  Where did the zoo get the Professor from? 
  
   
  4
   
  “I’m afraid that’s before my time. I’ve only been here as a director since last year. 
  I do know that the Professor wasn’t raised within the zoo. I think I heard something about 
  him coming from a private collection.” 
   
  Do you know anyone who’d know? 
   
  “Dr. Chalker might. I know he was going through the files a while ago. Let’s see, 
  who else… well, there’s Jack Mosley, but I’m afraid he’s off visiting relatives in Houston 
  this week… I’m sorry. The only thing I can think of is to check the files yourselves. You 
  certainly can if you wish to.” 
   
  What exactly do you want us to do? 
   
  “Essentially, I want you to track down the Professor for us, wherever he might be. 
  Trapping him would be ideal, but all that’s really necessary is for you to find his location. 
  After that, just call the police, and they’ll send over an animal control team.” 
   
  Do you believe the Professor has been stolen? 
   
  “Well… to be honest, I hadn’t even considered the possibility. It’s possible, I 
  suppose, but I don’t know what exactly you’d do with him once you’ve got him. He’s too 
  old to be trained for anything, and he isn’t particularly valuable, as far as I know. So… 
  well… I don’t know.” 
   
  Anyone else we should talk to? 
   
  “There’s Tom Beckett – he fed the Professor this week while Jack’s been away. 
  I’ve sent the night watchman home, but I can provide you with his number if you want to 
  talk to him. And Dr. Chalker, of course. That’s all I can think of.” 
   
  Can we see the Professor’s cage? 
   
  “Certainly. Take a left once you’re out of the building. The cage is marked with 
  his name; you can’t miss it.” 
   
   
  The Professor’s Cage 
  Wilson was wrong – it’s very easy to miss the cage. You spot it after doubling back; it’s a 
  small cage, maybe five feet by five feet at best. There are bars on the three sides facing 
  the path; behind that, there’s a plaster wall painted with what looks like a ten-year-old’s 
  conception of the wilds of Africa. The floor of the cage is concrete, and covered with 
  dirty straw and bits of torn-up newspaper. There’s a door built into the back-wall left 
  open. On the front bars of the cage, a faded and weathered cardboard sign reads simply, 
  in barely visible letters, “The Professor. Ape.” 
   
  Description of the door: 
  The door is solid steel, as far as you can tell. The hinges are set inside of the cage, so that 
  the door swings inward. You notice that only the outside of the door has a handle, 
  complimented by a sturdy-looking lock.  
   
  
   
  5
  Spot, DC 15: Though the lock looks like it could take a fair amount of damage, it actually 
  looks pretty simple as locks go. More to the point, it’s definitely been picked. 
   
  Inside of the cage: 
  The stench of the cage hits you as you walk in. You have a feeling that no one’s changed 
  the straw within the cage recently; you do your best to watch your step. 
   
  Search, DC 15: As far as you can tell, the newspaper was intended to be used as bedding. 
  Most of it is torn up; however, looking over the pile of straw and paper before you, you 
  notice something odd. Lying near the door where you stand, you pick up a piece of 
  newspaper that looks like it was carefully torn out – at least initially. The piece consists 
  of an article and a photograph; half of the photograph has been half-hazardly torn out. 
  Odd. 
   
  Article description: 
  As said, the piece of newspaper consists of a photograph and an article. Half of the 
  photograph has been torn off. What remains shows half of a toddler, a boy maybe a year 
  old or so, and a short, severe-looking young woman in her late twenties. 
   
  The article reads as follows: 
  PULP WRITER MOVES TO LOS ANGELES 
  News from the literary world: best-selling pulp author Alexander Villepin, formally a 
  resident of France, recently moved into the area. Villepin, 32, best known for his hit 
  gangster book The Dead Only Speak Twice, has signed a contract to write a romance 
  picture for Warner Brothers. “I am very excited and pleased by this possibility,” the 
  author told this paper yesterday. “I think the pictures are the way of the future. Also, I am 
  pleased to move here to Los Angeles, as my wife grew up here, and it is truly a beautiful 
  place.” Villepin, his wife, Mary, and his one-year-old son Michael, portrayed above, 
  make their home up in the Santa Monica Mountains. 
   
  Q&A Session: Tom Beckett 
  Tom Beckett doesn’t have anything to add other than what Wilson’s already said. He has 
  only been an employee of the zoo for about six or seven months now. All he can really 
  add is information about the Professor’s recent behavior. 
   
  What else can you tell us about the Professor? 
  Well, I can tell you one thing… now, I’ve been watching him all week, what with Jack 
  gone, and most of the time he ain’t no problem at all. Just stick the food in, that’s the end 
  of that. But last night when I went to give him dinner… whoo. Looked upset when I first 
  saw him. Soon as he caught sight of me, he just went nuts, you know? Jumped around the 
  cage, thrashed the bars, screamed and stuff… I ended up not feeding him, is what it came 
  down to. I didn’t want to get three feet inside that thing. Couldn’t even slip the steak 
  through the bars. 
   
   
   
  
   
  6
  Searching the park 
  Griffith Park in Los Angeles, by the way, is a large urban park. It’s logical that the 
  investigators might want to take a look around, at least in the area around the park. This 
  will require a Search check: 
   
  [DC 14] You start out by looking around the parking lot, if only because you left your gin 
  bottle in the car. Glancing around, you notice something in a clump of bushes off to the 
  side. You reach in and, after a couple of tries, pull something out. It’s a thin cheap leather 
  briefcase, battered and scratched by the bushes. It’s marked with the initials N.C. on the 
  handle. 
   
  [DC 17] You reluctantly walk to check the area behind the office. The stench coming 
  from the dumpster only gets worst as you get closer to it. But you know, duty calls… and 
  that’s probably a good thing. You notice something small caught underneath the closed 
  dumpster door – specifically, a pinkie.  
   
  Opening the dumpster will reveal the corpse of Dr. Chalker. He is – was – a thin, 
  average-looking man in his mid-forties, dressed in a decent suit. His neck has been 
  clearly broken, and his skull has been bashed in at the back of the head. There are marks 
  and claw scratches across his face and throat. 
   
  Examining the files 
  Examining the files in the office will prove fruitless; Dr. Chalker has the Professor’s file 
  in his briefcase. If asked about the lack of documentation, Wilson will recall that Chalker 
  asked if he could go through the records. 
   
  Speaking to the night watchman 
  Calling or going to the home of the night watchman will introduce the investigators to a 
  black man in his late 40’s by the name of Jacob Mosley. Mosley will be completely honest 
  with the investigators, and won’t have much in the way of information to contribute: he 
  primarily spends his time on the job watching the gate into the zoo. He walks through the 
  zoo itself twice, the first at midnight and the second at 6 am. The night the Professor 
  disappeared, Mosley saw the ape in his cage during his midnight round and discovered it 
  empty on his second trip at 6. He then immediately called Wilson at home and then the 
  police. 
   
  All in all, the only real information he can contribute is that Dr. Chalker was in 
  the zoo last night at around midnight or so. When Mosley last saw him around midnight, 
  Chalker was going through files in the administrative building. 
   
  Examining the briefcase 
  This is indeed the briefcase of Dr. Neil Chalker. A Search check is required to look 
  through the files: 
   
  [DC 5] The briefcase is filled with papers. You’re betting that this is the briefcase of Dr. 
  Neil Chalker, being that his name is scrawled neatly in the upper margin of every page. 
  
   
  7
  [DC 10] You come across a scribbled note early on in the file: “Skeletal anatomy 
  consistent w/ gorilla. But skull size suggests larger brain; also noting some intelligence 
  more consistent with chimpanzee. New species?” The last sentence is underlined twice 
  and backed up with three exclamation points. 
  [DC 12] One thing sticks out as you flip through the papers: a police report from April 7, 
  1925. The report details the capture of a “large, grey animal, apparently a monkey or an 
  ape” in the Santa Monica Mountains area. Initially responding to reports and complaints 
  from residents, the police managed to find and trap the ape while it was sleeping in a tool 
  shed. Animal control experts from the Griffith Park Zoo were asked to assist in the 
  keeping and sedation of the ape while the department searched for “the possible owner 
  and/or origin of the animal.” An attached memo notes that the ape has been transported to 
  the zoo for keeping while awaiting word from the owner. 
   
  Oh, by the way… both reports are by one Officer Szepasszony. 
  [DC 15] Another note, around the area of the police file: “Have found possible lead to 
  origin: one E. Ashton. Well known in scientific community, adventurer and animal 
  trainer; known to live in SM Mountains. Prof his property? Knows origin?” Then there’s 
  another note scribbled underneath that, in a different shade of pen: “Ashton dead. Killed 
  in car accident two-three years ago. Pity.” 
   
  And that’s all that really can be done at the zoo itself. If confronted with Chalker’s body, 
  Wilson will admit that the Professor may be a danger. He will agree to allow the 
  investigators to kill the Professor if necessary, if only to avoid the lawsuits. 
  Where from here? 
   
   
  LEGWORK 
  Research check on E. Ashton: 
  [DC 10] In a phone book dated five years ago, you find a listing for Ashton, Ezekial. The 
  address is, as far as you can tell, in a relatively undeveloped portion of the Santa Monica 
  Mountains. 
  [DC 14] The city census for the year 1924 lists one Ezekial Ashton as a householder, 
  owning a decently-sized chunk of land in the Santa Monica Mountains. His wife is listed 
  as deceased; he lived with one daughter. 
  [DC 17] You stumble across an old copy of the Los Angeles Times, dated Sunday, April 
  5, 1925. The obituary section has a listing for one Ashton. The text reads as follows: 
  “Lieutenant Ezekial Ashton, retired, age 48, served our British allies in Asia during the 
  great war. Was killed this last Friday when he stepped out in front of a moving car near 
  his home. Known to be a great adventurer, explorer and amateur man of science. Spent 
  years exploring the wilds of South America and the Orient, from which he brought back 
  many specimens invaluable to the study of biology. In his later years, served as a trainer 
  of animals for the stage and moving pictures. He is survived by his daughter, Mary. 
  Funeral arrangements to be announced.” 
   
  Research check on Alexander Villepin and family: 
  [DC 5] Villepin is unlisted in this year’s phone book. 
  
   
  8
  [DC 10] But he wasn’t last year. He is listed as living in a relatively underdeveloped area 
  of the Santa Monica Mountains.  
  Yes, the address is the same of that as Ezekial Ashton’s from years before. 
  [DC 15] Checking through the records at City Hall, you come across a marriage 
  certificate for Alexander Villepin, a French national, and wife Mary Ashton Villepin. It is 
  dated Sunday, March 29, 1925. 
   
   
  MAISON d’ashton 
  By the time they’ve finished the research and get up into the Santa Monica Mountains it 
  should be about 6 o’clock in the evening. Searching for the former address of Ezekial 
  Ashton, the players will find themselves at a relatively isolated Victorian farmhouse, built 
  around the 1890’s or so. Knocking on the door, they will find themselves invited in by 
  Mary Ashton Villepin, a young woman in her late twenties, her husband Alexander, and 
  their one-and-a-half-year-old son Michael (who is, in his own way, a terror beyond that 
  which the investigators might have ever encountered, especially right before bedtime). 
   
  Once the dust settles, the investigators will have a chance to talk to the couple. As 
  Alexander’s (spoken) English is still hard to make out, he will probably go upstairs to 
  take care of Michael while Mary speaks to the investigators. 
   
  Q&A Mary Ashton Villepin 
  Was your father Ezekial Ashton? 
  “That’s correct.” 
   
  This was his house, correct? 
  “That’s right.” 
   
  Do you have a picture of him? 
  “Yes.” Give them the picture. 
   
  Tell us about him. 
  “I’m afraid that, when all is said, I never knew my 
  father very well. He loved hunting, you see, loved it 
  more than anything, and he had the money to travel 
  abroad. So he was frequently gone for months, and 
  when he left he would usually leave me with my 
  aunt in San Francisco – my mother died when I was 
  very young, you see. When he was home, he was 
  very strict with me. That is all I can really say about 
  him.” 
   
  Describe his activities abroad. 
  “He didn’t tell me very much about them, I’m afraid. I understand that he tended to go 
  into Asia a great deal – China, some of the southern islands and colonies. I think he went 
  into South America through Mexico once. In any case, like I said, he would come and go. 
  He’d come back after a few months, usually with some new creature or another, and 
  
   
  9
  spent a few weeks training it. Then he’d leave again, and it would be the same thing all 
  over again.” 
   
  Describe his animal training activities. 
  “My father liked to bring back living creatures from overseas. He’d put them out in the 
  barn – we used to have a barn out where the garden is now, you see. It isn’t there 
  anymore; the wood was rotted through, so Alex and I tore it down when we moved back 
  in. In any case, he would put the animals out in the barn and spent weeks training them to 
  do tricks. He really was brilliant at it – this one time, I think he had this sort of cute little 
  creature. I think it was a monkey of some sort – it was about the size of a squirrel. 
  Anyway, he could make it actually sit down at this old typewriter he had and type out 
  letters. Oh, don’t take me wrong, it didn’t actually know what it was doing, of course; my 
  father would call out a letter, and it would hit the key. All the letters of the alphabet. It 
  could even do margins properly. It was amazing. 
   
  “In any case, my father would have one or two animals at a time in his barn. He’d 
  spend a number of weeks training them, and then sell them to circuses and zoos and 
  things – also to some of the motion picture companies, I think. He made a rather good 
  sum of money at it.” 
   
  Do you know if your father ever captured or trained an ape? 
  “I’m sorry, I honestly don’t know. My father absolutely forbid me from going into the 
  barn. I suppose some of the animals he had must have been dangerous… I know he had 
  snakes and things like that… I recall him have a monkey at one point. But it had a tail 
  and was about the size of a squirrel. Much too small to be an ape.” 
   
  May we see the barn? 
  “I’m afraid that Alex and I had it torn down when we moved back in. The wood was too 
  rotten. It was where my garden is now, if you’re interested.” 
   
  Tell us about your father’s death. 
  “Well… it’s a long story, I’m afraid. A number of years ago – five, I think – I went 
  abroad to Paris to go to school. I met Alex while I was there, and we decided to get 
  married. So once I was finished with school, we came home to talk to my father about it. 
   
  “My father… didn’t react well, I’m afraid. I don’t think he liked Alex at all from 
  the start. He absolutely forbid me to marry him. He became… very angry with me. Alex 
  didn’t like that. So we left. We then decided that we had waited for too long; we were 
  married at a small church downtown, and then we went to stay with my aunt up north. 
   
  “Later that week, I received a telegram for my father. He had apparently heard 
  about my wedding to Alex, and said he was willing to accept it now that it was fact. He 
  wished to make amends for his behavior, and he invited us for dinner that Saturday. Alex 
  convinced me to take the chance, and so we went back to Los Angeles. 
   
  “But he didn’t pick us up from the train station. We waited for hours, but 
  eventually it was getting dark, so we called for a taxi. When we got to the front door of 
  the house, the door was hanging open, and my father wasn’t inside. We looked for him 
  over the grounds, but he wasn’t there – the barn was empty. And the library was a mess – 
  books and furniture thrown around, papers anywhere. We were starting to clean it up 
  
   
  10
  when the police called. They told me that my father had died the morning before – he had 
  hit by a car that morning down on the road. It was all very strange.” 
   
  How was it strange? 
  “Well… I’m not sure. Just the small details, I suppose. It was just the library that was a 
  mess – the rest of the house was fine. My father’s journal was sitting out – half the pages 
  were torn out of it. But he had always treated it with extreme amounts of care… he never 
  let me even touch it when I was growing up. He’d always store it in the safe in his room. 
  But there it was. And then there was the picture…” 
   
  The picture? 
  “When Alex and I first came to see my father, I left some of my luggage behind. There 
  was a framed photo of Alex in one of my bags – I had brought it with me from Paris. But 
  when we first came into the library, it was sitting in the middle of the floor, just like that. 
  It was very odd. 
   
  “In any case. The police eventually decided 
  that the house had been broken into while my father 
  was at home; he had run out to get help, and was hit 
  by the car. But there wasn’t anything missing from 
  the house that I could tell… and my father kept a 
  hunting rifle on the wall in the library. It was the only 
  thing in the room that hadn’t been touched. 
   
  “I inherited my father’s money after that. Alex 
  and I went and lived in Boston for the last few years. 
  We moved back here a few months ago when he 
  made the motion picture deal. And that was the end of 
  that.” 
   
  May we see your father’s journal? 
  “I can’t see why not.” 
  She will go upstairs and retrieve the journal from the 
  library. 
   
  the journal 
  Mary will return with a large hardcover journal, 
  folio-sized, which is quite worst for wear. Nearly half 
  of the pages have been torn out; the first page denotes 
  the book as being “the Journal and Property of Mr. 
  E. Ashton.”  
   
  This book counts as a magical tome, but the 
  players won’t be able to find that out until they’ve 
  had time to study it later. For the time being, the only 
  information that might matter to them is a number of 
  words scribbled on the back cover: “MARY wrong 
  JOURNAL OF EZEKIAL 
  ASHTON 
  In English, author Ezekial 
  Ashton, explorer, c. 1910’s. 
  This handwritten diary has 
  had many pages torn out, but 
  part of it seems to detail the 
  interrogation of a person 
  referred to as “the old man” 
  by a group of soldiers, 
  including Ashton. The “old 
  man,” apparently under 
  extreme physical torture, talks 
  a great deal about several 
  hunting rituals of his people. 
  Thanks to the damage to the 
  book, the only really coherent 
  account is of a strange and 
  somewhat disturbing 
  technique called “spirit-
  calling.”  
  Examination period: 1 week 
  (DC 20).  
  Contains 1 spell, “Spirit-
  calling” (dominate animal). 
  Sanity loss: 1 initial and 1d3 
  upon completion. 
  Cthulhu Mythos +1 rank. 
  
   
  11
  wrong wrong KILL THE BASTARD the stars were wrong the horrible ocean the tower 
  God MARY MARY MARY help me KILL THE BASTARD MARY MARY KILL HIM 
  MARY.”  
   
   
  DAMNED DIRTY APE 
  searching the grounds 
  There are two possibilities at this juncture: one is that the players will get the point and 
  arrange themselves to protect the Villepins . The other is that they will (as my players 
  did) decide to check the grounds of the house for the Professor. In which case they will 
  discover something rather interesting.   
   
  Any character with the feat Track can, with a Wilderness Lore (DC 14) check, 
  find a series of tracks through Mary’s garden in the back lawn that they will recognize as 
  being the Professor’s (having most likely seen his tracks or footprints in his cage). The 
  tracks lead away from the backyard out into a forest roughly five hundred feet from the 
  back of the Ashton household. Following the tracks into the woods, the investigators can 
  follow a clear trail another two hundred feet. There, the trail goes around a large tree… 
  and around… and around… and around… and around.  
   
  No, the Professor is not in the tree. It is then that you can have the tracker make a 
  Wilderness Lore (DC 16) check to realize the truth: the Professor started out by walking 
  backwards around the tree – and went around the tree several times, apparently 
  practicing the motion. From that point, he’s been walking backwards the entire time. The 
  players had it all wrong – the Professor is still at the Ashton household! 
   
  Which would be an excellent time to have a scream break out from the house. 
   
  the professor attacks 
   
  The Professor has been, in fact, hiding on the roof of the house. Sometime after 
  sunrise, it will attack the Villepins. At that time, Alex will be in the second floor library, 
  Michael will be asleep in room O, and Mary will tidying up somewhere on the first floor. 
  The Professor’s primary targets will be Michael and Alex; it will probably go after 
  Michael first, breaking in through the window in that room. Under no circumstances will 
  it hurt or pursue Mary. 
   
  The presence of the investigators will complicate things. The Professor may 
  initially attack, then pull back and attempt to use one of its spells. One excellent 
  possibility would be to use its suggestion power to convince one of the players that 
  another player is in fact the ape itself (in other words, one player looks up and sees the 
  Professor standing right there next to him; pulled this on one of the players on my game. 
  Fortunately for the unlucky guy next to him, he missed). Once this has occurred, the 
  Professor will immediately attack to take advantage of the players’ confusion. 
   
  In any case, when the players kill the Professor, he will immediately turn back 
  into his true shape. I would describe the actual transition in terms of shadows falling 
  away from the corpse, or perhaps a simple and momentary blur in the players’ visions. 
  However it happens, the body will adruptly turn into that of a man. If they got the photo 
  from Mary, the players will recognize the corpse as being none other than Ezekiel 
  Ashton. SAN check 1/1d10. 
   
  
   
  12
  the aftermath 
  Depending on what happens, the players may either be free and clear or in deep trouble. 
  At the least, they will have to deal with a human-shaped corpse rather than an ape-
  shaped one. If they call Ernie on it, he will recommend that they bury the body and tell 
  Wilson that they had to kill the Professor in order to save the Ashtons and afterwards 
  disposed of the body. 
   
  The worst-case scenario is that both Alex and Michael are killed by the ape 
  before the investigators have a chance to intervene. If Mary sees their bodies, she will 
  immediately go insane and become catatonic. The investigators will have to somehow 
  deal with her and reporting this to the LAPD. Ernie will suggest that the investigators 
  bring Mary to Lubomir’s while they try and figure out what to do. 
   
  Whatever happens, Ernie will inevitably tell the investigators in frustration: 
  “Can’t anything normal happen to you people?” 
   
   
  Experience and sanity awards 
  typical story goals: 
  - 
  Stop the Professor from hurting Alex or Michael 
  - 
  Find Ashton’s Journal 
  - 
  Kill the Professor 
  - 
  Entire group survives (optional) 
   
  bonus sanity rewards: 
  Saving both Alex and Michael: d4 Sanity 
   
  paycheck: 
  As this adventure should only take about one day, the players will get $12 for their 
  troubles. 
   
   
  APPENDIX A: 
  NPC STatistics 
   
  EZEKIAL ASHTON 
  Large Ape 
  HD: 4d8+8 (26 hp) 
  Initiative: +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) 
  Speed: 30 ft., climb 30 ft. 
  AC: 14 (+2 Dex, -1 size, +3 natural) 
  Attacks: 2 claws +8 melee, bite +3 melee, Winchester M1894 Rifle +5 ranged 
  Damage: Claw 1d6+5, bite 1d6+2, rifle 2d10 (crit x3, rng 200 ft) 
  Face/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5 ft. 
  Special Attacks: Spells 
  Special Qualities: Scent 
  Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +2 
  
   
  13
  Abilities: Str 21, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 14 
  Skills: Animal Empathy +8, Climb +11, Drive +4, Escape Artist +6, Handle Animal +10, 
  Hide +8, Jump +11, Listen +6, Move Silently +8, Open Lock +5, Ride +9, Spot +6. 
  Feats: Improved Initiative, Stealthy, Weapon proficiency (rifle) 
  Spells: Dominate animal, hide from the eye, locate creature, suggestion. 
  Note: consider Ashton to be telepathic in terms of the spell suggestion. 
   
  MARY ASHTON 
  1st level Artist (Defense Option) 
  HD: 1d6 (6 hp) 
  Initiative: +2 (Dex) 
  AC: 12 (+2 Dex) 
  Attacks: Melee -1, Webley Mark I Revolver +2 
  ranged 
  Damage: Unarmed 1d3, Revolver 2d8 (crit x3) 
  Saves: Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +3 
  Abilities: Str 8, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 12, 
  Cha 13 
  Skills: Animal Empathy +4, Craft (sculpture) +9, 
  Diplomacy +4, Drive +5, Forgery +5, Gather 
  Information +4, Handle Animal +4, Hide +5, 
  Knowledge (art) +6, Move Silently +6, Sense 
  Motive +4, Speak Other Language (French) +6 
  Feats: Weapon Proficiency (pistol), Skill 
  Emphasis (Craft [sculpture]) 
  SAN: 59 
   
   
  ALEX VILLEPIN 
  1st level Writer (Defense Option) 
  HD: 1d6+1 (7 hp) 
  Initiative +1 (Dex) 
  AC: 11 (Dex) 
  Attacks: Unarmed +1 melee 
  Damage: Unarmed 1d3 subdual 
  Saves: Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +3 
  Abilities: Str 12, Dex 13, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 15 
  Skills: Bluff +5, Craft (writing) +7, Diplomacy +7, Drive+4, 
  Gather Information +7, Innuendo +4, Intimidate +5, 
  Knowledge (philosophy) +4, Listen +4, Performance (reading) 
  +5, Research +4, Sense Motive +4. 
  Feats: Skill emphasis (craft [writing]), Trustworthy  
  SAN: 60 
   
  MICHAEL VILLEPIN 
  Assume 4 hp and a speed of 10 ft. (being a toddler). Otherwise no stats necessary. 
  
   
  14
  APPENDIX B 
  MAPS AND PICTURES 
   
   
  Newspaper Article From Cage 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Photo of Ezekial Ashton 
  
   
  15
   
  The Ashton Household, overall picture 
   
   Mary Ashton 
   
   Alexander Villepin 
  
   
  16
   
  Layout of the Ashton Household. Player’s copy. 
   
  
   
  17
   
  Ashton Household. GM map. 
  
   
  18
  APPENDIX C: 
  View from the backstage 
  Note: this section contains long-term campaign 
  information and is for the GM’s eyes only. 
   
  Right now, I’m sure you’re asking yourself one question: what the hell happened? 
  I don’t suppose you’ve read the original Lovecraft story “The Call of Cthulhu”? 
  Dealing with the events that occur when Cthulhu briefly awakes on April 2, 1925? 
  According to the story and Cthulhu lore, the awakening sends psychic shockwaves across 
  the world. Artists have strange and unnatural dreams, psychics committed suicide and 
  strange religious activity reached a peak. 
  Now. What do you think happened to anyone unlucky enough to be using magic 
  on that day? 
  Such was the fate of Ezekial Ashton. In his travels across the world, he happened 
  to learn the occult hunting secrets of a tribe of hunter-gatherers native to a South Asian 
  island, which he recorded in his journal. These, needless to say, contributed in a large 
  part to his extraordinary abilities with animals.  
  After his daughter eloped with Villepin, Ashton was resolved to recover his 
  daughter. He needed to do so in a way that would not be his fault. He decided to train a 
  rhesus monkey to bite Alex and contaminate him with a deadly but slow-acting poison 
  Ashton had discovered on his travels. The poison affected humans, but not the monkey, so 
  Ashton could later blame it on a disease.  
  On the day of April 2, Ashton was training the monkey in his study, using a 
  picture of Alex he recovered from Mary’s bags as a focus. Having only a few days until 
  Alex and Mary returned to his house, he used the contents of his journal. Unfortunately, 
  the occult shockwaves from the awakening of Cthulhu both reversed Ashton’s spells upon 
  him and then some. Both Ashton and his subject were transformed, essentially 
  exchanging shapes partway; Ashton did not entirely turn into a monkey, but ended up as 
  a large ape (a compromise, perhaps, between his genetic structure and that of the 
  monkey’s), and the monkey looking like Ashton, though with several key physiological 
  differences. Ashton was immediately driven mad by the transformation, and his own 
  programming was reversed upon his own mind: the command to kill Alexander Villepin 
  and defend Mary was burned into his mind. Fortunately, neither were present at the 
  moment, so Ashton destroyed his own library and escaped into the hills, where he 
  eventually captured by the police and brought to the Griffith Park Zoo. The monkey in 
  Ashton’s form wandered out onto the road and was hit by an oncoming car.  
  You know the story from there on out. Ashton languished in the zoo, his madness 
  manifesting itself in a near-catatonic state. He happened to find the article about Alex in 
  the newspaper used for his bedding, and immediately his programming set in. He used 
  his suggestion power on Dr. Chalker, got him to open the door to the cage, then killed 
  him and hid the body. He then used the spell locate creature to track down Mary, arriving 
  at his old house the night after his escape.  
  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the whole story. Any questions? 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Call of Cthulhu (CoC) (BRP) [multi]/Call of Cthulhu (d20)/CoC d20 - Shadow in the Tree.pdf