TEXT: The Unbound Book
  Call of Cthulhu Adventures in the 
  Roaring Twenties
  “Cthulhu Reach” by Iain K. Peake
  
  Pages from an
  Unbound Book
  Welcome to the first of what I hope will be many issues of The Unbound 
  Book. A year in the making, this magazine is the result of many peoples 
  undying efforts and long tired nights. The result, I believe, has brought, 
  YOU, a slection of adventures for, the most interesting roleplaying 
  game on the market today. 
  This magazine will try and break new ground in the style of Call of 
  Cthulhu adventuring, as well as stomping once again over the ideas 
  and inspirations that make this game so great.
  The Unbound Book came into existence one dark autumn night, after 
  a friend of mine had run one of the most frightening and compelling 
  horror adventures I had ever taken part in (this adventure - The Rise 
  of Xnaaki appears as the first of our scenarios). Inspired, I wondered if 
  anybody else would be keen to read and play this adventure and after 
  a number of conversations with may different Cthulhu authorities the 
  rest, as one might say, is history.
  Issue Zero is a sample, testing in the waters of  adventure writing. If 
  this does well we hope to produce irregular issues (once every three or 
  four months) filled with your adventures.
  The Unbound Book is going to rely on submissions from its readers to 
  survive. If you have an adventure or an idea for a scenario set in the 
  1920s why not drop us a line. 
  Thanks for reading and we hope you enjoy, 
  Marcus D. Bone
  In this issue of The Unbound Book:
  Set in a small town north of Arkham, The Rise of Xnaaki pits the 
  characters against an ancient evil dwelling in Steeplin Lake. An 
  introductionary adventure into the world of Call of Cthulhu, it 
  introduces the players to the horror that is the Great Old Ones.
  Kingsport, City in the Mists. With an injured friend babbling of 
  demons and a town beset by creatures beyond His Wildest Dreams, 
  the investigators must find out what is happening to this quaint sea 
  side town before it too late.
  A fire, a death and a... werewolf? Can a murder be justified?  Or will 
  one man’s quest for revenge lead to his own demise? The investigators 
  are about to find out, when What Goes Around…
  The Unbound Book
  Pages...
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  ii
  The Unbound Book - Issue 0 August 
  2002.
  The Unbound Book is an irregular magazine 
  producing free adventures for Chaosium’s Call 
  of Cthulhu roleplaying game in the Roaring 
  Twenties.
  Published by: Unbound Publishing
  Editor: Marcus D. Bone
  Copy editors: Rebecca Scott & Peter Bone
  Writers: Mark Chiddicks, Michael Wood and 
  Marcus D. Bone
  Magazine Layout & Design: Marcus D. Bone
  Cover Art: ‘Cthulhu Rising’ by Iain K. Peake
  Interior Art: Alan M. Clark, Dan Dionne, 
  Emma Bone & Marcus D. Bone
  Magazine Template Art: Eyal Feingersch
  Play-testers: Mark Chiddicks, Colin D’Souza, 
  Marcus Gustafson, Darryn Mercer, Stephen Moir, 
  Rob Riely,  Scott Wood, Michael Wood.
  Special Thanks: Must go to the wives and 
  partners of all those involved in publishing this 
  magazine, especially my wife Emma, who didn’t 
  complain once about the amount of time I spent 
  on my computer.
  To Chaz and Jan Engan (I spelt it right this 
  time!- I hope), for writing the epic Beyond the 
  Mountains of Madness and for answering all my 
  questions.
  To Woody, for running Rise, which in turn 
  inspired this magazine.
  To D-man, who, at a moments notice, wrote code 
  and suggested solutions for the web site.
  To Dan, Alan and Iain for allowing us to use their 
  fantastic art. Also to Eyal for creating the coolest 
  border art ever (and waiting a year to see it in all 
  its glory!)
  To Gary Sumpter for the words of encourage-
  ment.
  And finally to Charlie, Lynn, Dustin and the rest 
  of the crew of Chaosium for, firstly, allowing 
  us the chance to publish this magazine and 
  secondly, for keeping Call of Cthulhu alive.
  Oh I almost forgot, thanks also to YOU for 
  reading this magazine, we hope you enjoy it as 
  much as we do!
  ‘Wolf’ © 2002 Dan Dionne
  Note on Language
  It is important to note that all grammar and language used in this 
  magazine is New Zealand English. 
  The reason for this is simple, all those involved in creating The 
  Unbound Book are New Zealand based. In future issues the 
  language style of each adventure will be based on the authors 
  country of origin. We do hope our foreign readers forgive any odd 
  use of language.
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Contents
  iii
  Contents Page
  Cover Art - “Cthulhu Reach” by Iain K. Peake..............................................................Cover
  Pages from an Unbound Book.......................................................................................ii
  Contents..............................................................................................................................iii
  Adventure - “Rise of Xnaaki” by Michael Wood................................................................1
   
  Map - Train Carriages............................................................................................................................5
   
  Map - Dupont Estate..............................................................................................................................8
   
  Map - Steeplin Lake...............................................................................................................................13
  Adventure - “His Wildest Dreams” by Marc Chiddicks...................................................17
   
  Map - Central Hill, Kingsport 1925......................................................................................................28
  Adventure - “What Goes Around...” by Marcus D. Bone.................................................29
  Player Handouts .............................................................................................................40
   
  Rise 1 - Booth Business Card
   
  Around 2 - Page from a journal
   
  Around 3 - The Trinket text 
   
  Around 6 - Burton Loveletter.........................................................................................................40
   
  Around 1 - The letter of travel arrangements
   
  Around 4 - Translated Journal.......................................................................................................41
   
  Around 5 - Darkness of the North.................................................................................................42
  “Was in der Tat innerhalb des ungebundenen Buches liegt?”
  - What indeed lies inside The Unbound Book?
  Resources
  Due to size constraints The Unbound Book is unable to hold all extras we would like to bring our readers. But 
  don’t fret, on our website www.unboundbook.org,we have placed all those documents we weren’t able to fit in 
  this issue. These include:
  d20 Conversion Notes - All the statistics and rules required for running all the adventures in this 
  issue using the d20 system, including NPC stats, difficulties levels, experience rewards and much 
  more.
  Steeplin County - Maps and further information about Steeplin County, to help flesh out this new 
  and exciting location. Includes players versions of all the maps.
  Guide to Kingsport - The Kingsport book was published by Chaosium in the early 90s and is 
  no longer in print. This resource gives those Keepers who are new to this setting maps and further 
  information about the City of Mists.
  Call of Cthulhu is copyright ©1981, 1983, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001 by Chaosium Inc.; all rights reserved.
  Call of Cthulhu© is the registered trademark of Chaosium Inc.
  Chaosium Inc. 900 Murmansk Street, Suite 5, Oakland CA, 94607-5018, U.S.A.
  
  This adventure is based in Lovecraft country during the summer 
  of 1920. The Investigators actions will initially focus on Arkham 
  before moving north to the (non-Lovecraft) town of Steeplin.
  The first act is rather linear and unless the Players go out of 
  their way they can let the story unfold around them. At the 
  conclusion of this first act the Players become isolated by the 
  death of their employer, allowing for more creative role-playing 
  during the second act.
  Explaining to the players that the initial flow of the scenario is 
  notably linear may help events unfold more smoothly, assisting in 
  the long-term outcome of the game.
  Authors Note
  Those familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos will realise that Xnaaki 
  (pronounced Zen-a-Key) is in fact a unique Great Old One. Based 
  on Ramsey Campbell’s ‘Glaaki’, (details of which are in the Call 
  of Cthulhu rule book), it too uses Servants to achieve its goals. 
  Xnaaki and Glaaki may or may not be of the same origin, perhaps 
  having come into existence in a similar time and space. 
  The motivations for creating a unique Great Old One are three 
  fold; first, Glaaki is located in the Severn Valley, while many 
  campaigns are set in Lovecraft country (although there is no 
  reason why, with a little work, this adventure could not be moved 
  to another location); second, some players may have read ‘The 
  Inhabitant of the Lake’ (Ramsey Campbell’s fantastic Glaaki 
  story); and finally as an example of how it is possible to use 
  traditional Mythos entities in new ways. 
  Some background information, which is provided later in the 
  adventure, describes Xnaaki’s appearance and capabilities, while 
  through out the scenario a great deal of background is given to the 
  Xnaaki cult.
  Introduction
  The Investigators are called upon individually, during the 
  business hours of Friday the 20th of August, 1920. The visitor is 
  one Miles Booth, the butler of Henry DuPont. 
  The following is a narrative overview of what Booth has to say to 
  the Investigators.
  The man introduces himself as Mr Booth. He is well dressed, full 
  figured, short and almost totally bald. He speaks with a faint 
  English accent.
  He is pleasant enough and it is obvious he wishes to speak with 
  the character in private. Once alone he advises that a friend/
  acquaintance of the investigator has given him their name.
  He gives them little chance for questions, apologizes for the 
  abruptness and explains that he has very limited time. His 
  employer (whom he leaves nameless) requires some assistance 
  with a task that will encompass tomorrow and possibly Sunday 
  as well. This assistance is simple; his employer has just arrived 
  in town and has several business appointments to complete over 
  the weekend. As such, he will be unable to attend an extremely 
  1
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  ‘Helltrack’ ‘© 2002 Alan M. Clark
  The Rise 
  of Xnaaki
  By Michael Wood
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  2
  important auction and requires others to purchase 
  an item on his behalf. The auction could be a time 
  consuming affair, which Booth’s employer does not 
  wish to concern himself with. Booth also explains that 
  the auction is of a high profile, and there is a need for 
  anonymity.
  If the characters agree, Booth continues.
  Booth guarantees a fee of $150, $30 of which he 
  hands each of them immediately. He also gives each 
  a business card, (see Rise Handout 1) and asks that 
  they are at the address on the card by 9am tomorrow. 
  Then, as suddenly as he appeared, Booth leaves.
  If the characters check the address it turns out to be 
  one of a set of three plush apartments, which are only 
  a year old. On the outside there is no clue as to their 
  ownership, the windows are closed and the curtains 
  drawn. Ringing the bell draws no response and a 
  forced entry would NOT be advisable (if the characters 
  do decide to break into any of the apartments they will 
  quickly be apprehended by the police).
  Defining ownership of the apartment is difficult, 
  especially seeing that the Town Records Office is 
  probably closed by the time the characters decide to 
  investigate. If they do have access to any real estate 
  information, the owners turn out to be “Arkham Art 
  Specialists”, which lists a Graeme Wilson as company 
  director (a Head Office is also listed in New York). 
  Although the players will have no way of learning more 
  information, the company is actually a cover used by 
  their would-be employer, Henry DuPont, and the New 
  York address is nothing more than a mail forwarding 
  service.
  If the characters decide to investigate the auction, 
  some general details are available at the University. 
  A list of lots has been published, most of which is 
  rather uninteresting art and foreign artefacts (nothing 
  of particular interest stands out). However it also 
  states that all items can be viewed between 9 and 12 
  tomorrow morning.
  DuPont’s Apartment
  The following is a narrative overview of the arrival of 
  the Investigators at the address on the business card 
  the next morning. 
  The apartments on Walnut Street are modern 
  additions to this quiet back street. All three apartments 
  share a secure lobby and are all of a similar design - 
  the street frontage is new and attractive but nothing 
  particularly excessive. The communal lobby has slate 
  floors, mailbox access, a side table, coat stand and a 
  rather bland painting, while the apartment doors are 
  solid oak, with simple gold numbering.
  The characters are not kept waiting long after ringing 
  the bell, with Booth answering the door and ushering 
  them inside. From the main hall stairs can be seen 
  leading to the second floor, while behind Booth an open 
  door leads to a dining room and a small kitchen.
  Booth leads them to a study and offers each a seat 
  amongst a variety of comfortable leather chairs 
  and couches. The manservant remains standing and 
  introduces those who are yet to be acquainted. After 
  all the introductions are completed he excuses himself, 
  leaving the room to give the characters a moment to 
  talk amongst themselves.
  Booth soon returns with a tray of hot coffee, placing 
  it on a sideboard before offering each character a 
  drink.
  At 9:15 exactly another man enters the room, ending 
  the polite, but awkward pleasantness. Younger than 
  Booth, he is a stark pale figure with his slim frame 
  dressed in a fine suit. Although his spectacles add a 
  few years, most would hazard a guess that he is still 
  in his late twenties. 
  With a surprisingly pleasant smile and quiet voice he 
  begins.
  “Good morning and may I introduce myself... My 
  name is Henry DuPont, owner of the Steeplin County 
  Mill.”
  He pauses for a moment. “As Miles here has already 
  stated, I wish to employ you to purchase an item 
  rather precious to me.”
  DuPont then explains the task at hand.
  The group is to attend an auction being held by a group 
  of foreign art collectors at the Miskatonic University 
  Exhibit Museum. The majority of the works to be 
  sold are of little value and interest to him, however 
  he does require one item, the final auction piece, lot 
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  number 27. This is an 18-inch statue made from finely 
  crafted stone and inlayed metal. About 100 years old, 
  it is worth approximately $1500 and depicts Fredric 
  DuPont, Henry’s great grandfather. The statue is of 
  obvious historical importance to the DuPont family 
  and Henry is determined to purchase it.
  Unfortunately neither Booth nor himself can attend 
  the auction as it is necessary that they are not 
  observed in Arkham. He explains that there is nothing 
  sinister about this situation, simply that other parties 
  must believe that both Henry and Booth are still at 
  their estate in Steeplin county (a small area to the 
  north-west of Arkham).
  The other party Henry refers to will also have an 
  agent at the auction who may bid for the statue. 
  However Henry is aware that this person will have 
  only $2000 available, so he will ensure that the 
  Investigators have $3000. 
  As such the terms of employment are quite simple, 
  the characters will out-bid this other agent (and any 
  others) for the statue, while Booth and Henry return 
  home unnoticed. The Investigators are then required 
  to travel to Steeplin Valley by train (an eight hour 
  trip) and from there on to the DuPont homestead to 
  return the statue (and any remaining auction funds). 
  As the clock nears 11.30, Henry wraps up the 
  conversation by shaking each Investigator with one 
  hand and passes an envelope to them in the other, 
  stating that upon the return of the statue they will 
  each receive a similar amount. He then abruptly exits 
  and leaves Booth to answer any questions the party 
  may have.
  In the envelope is a train ticket to Steeplin County, 
  $60 cash and the address of the DuPont estate. An 
  additional envelope is handed to one of the characters. 
  This contains the $3000 dollars, in $100 dollar bills, 
  to be used at the auction.
  Booth is pleasant enough, but cannot divulge much 
  more in the way of information, other than advising 
  the characters that the auction begins at 12 sharp. 
  A successful Persuade or Fasttalk roll however will 
  have Booth disclose some or all of the following.
  The Statue’s Origins. Supposedly destroyed in a 
  fire more nearly a century ago, Mr DuPont has only 
  recently become aware that the statue was actually 
  stolen and the fire used to cover up the theft. A discreet 
  investigation has already confirmed that the current 
  owner is not the thief.
  The Cloak and Dagger routine. The original 
  thieves of the statue are long gone, however Henry 
  is worried about his company’s board of directors. 
  The DuPont’s have owned and run the State’s most 
  successful lumber mill for more than a century, but 
  with the recent passing of Henry’s father, he believes 
  certain members of the company’s board will soon 
  try and take over the business. He has kept up the 
  guise of illness for several months now, which has 
  allowed them to leave their home under the notion of 
  attending specialists, while they have worked to secure 
  the Mill (he is in town ostensibly to finalise details with 
  Arkham lawyers). The timing is critical as within the 
  week Henry will move against the board and reclaim 
  the company. The auction of the statue is perhaps not 
  a coincidence as Henry knows an agent from the board 
  will be present at the auction. He cannot, however, 
  afford to let his deception slip at this crucial time and, 
  as the Investigators have no connection to DuPont, are 
  therefore perfect to acquire the statue on his behalf.
  The Auction
  The following should be made aware to the characters 
  as they enter the auction.
  The auction begins at twelve o’clock on the dot and 
  at least one character needs to be registered to bid 
  in by 11:45.
  It is to be held in a small room on the first floor 
  of the University Exhibit Museum, which itself is 
  located on the corner opposite the Liberal Arts 
  Building in West College Street.
  About 25 people are present at the auction, most 
  in small groups of two or three. These are typically 
  scholars or art dealers interested in various items 
  for a multitude of reasons.
  Several auction staff are present to sign one of 
  the characters in as a bidder (they allow only one 
  person from each group to bid during the auction) 
  and record the details of the groups bond (the cash 
  the party has on hand).
  If the characters arrive before 11:45 they will have 
  time to view the statue, which sits in a dusty display 
  case at one end of the auction room.
  The effigy of Fredric DuPont is carved from a very dark 
  stone and inlaid with a silvery metal. He has a sombre 
  expression and carries a heavy tome under his left arm 
  (a symbol on its cover is obscured). The other hand 
  holds a large axe, the head of which rests beside his 
  right leg. His left leg is raised, resting on a fallen tree 
  – one you assume from the pose he has just chopped it 
  down. Very faint symbols can be seen around the base 
  of the statue, although through the murky display case 
  few other details can be made out.
  If the case is removed, or once the players have 
  purchased the statue, the following additional 
  description can be given. (Skill rolls may be necessary 
  to make out some of the more interesting details).
  The inlaid metal is silver with platinum bands 
  worked into the surface of the base. 
  The stone is not identifiable, a type of marble or 
  obsidian perhaps? Regardless it is a heavy and solid 
  peice of worked rock. 
  3
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  4
  Small pale gems, sapphires, have been inlaid as 
  eyes. The quality of the statue’s craftsmanship is 
  good even if Fredric’s features are not very detailed,  
  suggesting prehaps that the statue was scupted 
  quickly.
  It weighs about 25-30lbs and is base heavy with a 
  particularly solid feel. One would hazard a guess 
  that if it were dropped it would chip rather than 
  break or shatter.
  There are four rows of symbols repeated around 
  the base of the statue, each row pressed directly 
  into a one inch platinum band.
  After detailed examination it is revealed that there 
  are in fact eight different symbols depicted, each 
  of which is repeated many times on the four rows. 
  Each symbol is about 1⁄2 an inch in size, and of 
  similar looking shaped beetles or bugs (whether 
  these are real insects or not cannot be discovered 
  without weeks of research), but they do seem as if 
  added for artistic rather than representative value.
  The artisan mark on the bottom of the statue is, 
  surprisingly, of an Arkham jeweller.
  The auction starts quickly, and the first 20 items are 
  bid on and sold after about an hour and a half. At this 
  point the following should be read aloud:
  As a successful bidder moves up to claim item 20, 
  an older aristocratic type women near you shrieks in 
  terror.
  This woman has discovered her miniature poodle is 
  now little more than a carcass on a leash. Screaming 
  she scrambles to the end of the row, jerking the leash 
  which is still wrapped around her wrist, resulting in 
  the bloody dog body flying up and onto the people 
  behind her. Viewing this ghastly scene the characters 
  should make Sanity Checks losing 0/1 points.
  The death of the dog is the result of a spell cast by 
  the leader of the rival party DuPont spoke about, 
  Sheriff Wayne Coleburne. It is his plan to minimise 
  the number of people present at the auction when the 
  statue is finally offered.
  The disruption takes about 20 minutes to clean up 
  and as result of the mess only 6 other bidders remain 
  in the auction room. These are; a group of 3 men who 
  talk amongst themselves in hushed tones, a man and 
  woman who seem to be having some kind of argument, 
  and a man who sits alone near the back of the room.
  The single man is Sheriff Coleburne.
  SHERIFF 
  WAYNE 
  COLEBURNE, 
  Steeplin 
  Sheriff and Head Disciple of the Cult of Xnaaki, 
  Age 38
  STR  
  16 
  EDU 
  14 
  Know 70%
  CON 
  14 
  POW 
  17 
  Luck   85%
  SIZ 
  18 
  INT 
  16 
  Idea    70%
  DEX 
  11 
  APP 
  12 
  HP     16
  SAN 
  35
  Damage Bonus: +1d4
  Weapons: Fist, 60%, damage 1d3+db
  Flash Pouch, 45%, damage 1+1d6 rounds 
  of blindness
  .32 Revolver, 40%, damage 1d8
  Skills: Accounting 20%, Bargain 40%, Cthulhu 
  Mythos 20%, Credit Rating 20% (80% in 
  Steeplin County), Fast Talk 60%, Law 85%, 
  Library Use 20%, Listen 70%, Occult 50%, 
  Xnaaki Spells
  During this adventure someof the adversaries have 
  access to spells granted to them through their connection 
  to Xnaaki. 
  Copy Image: This spell requires the target is alive 
  (minimum 1 Hit Point) and restrained for the duration of 
  a short ritual (10 minutes). It costs 1d6 Magic Points and 
  1d8 sanity, as well as 1d4 Hit Points at the conclusion 
  of the spell. The caster and target cannot be of different 
  races nor more than 4 points different in Size.
  Once successfully completed the caster takes on the facial 
  appearance of the target. The caster can retain the image 
  for 2d3 hours and then must make a successful Luck roll 
  for every hour there after to maintain the target’s image. 
  The caster must remain conscious to continue the spell, 
  which will also fail if the caster takes more than 5 Hit 
  points damage in one hit. Once the spell fails the caster’s 
  appearance returns to normal and both the caster and 
  target take 1d4 damage.
  Xnaaki Blindness Spell: The Blindness spell requires 
  a Resistance Roll by the target, matching their POW 
  versus the caster’s POW (plus any additional magic 
  points expended). The base cost for casting the spell 
  is 2 Magic Points (and 1d6 Sanity), with an additional 
  point for each additional target (plus any additional 
  points added to the casters POW total for the resistance 
  check).
  Targets who fail their Resistance Roll, receive damage as 
  per  the percentage they failed by. 
  Failure of <10% = Blinded for 1d3 Combat rounds
  Failure by 11 – 20% = 1d2 Damage + Blinded for 1d6 
  Combat rounds 
  Failure by 21 – 40% = 1d3 Damage + Blinded for 2d6 
  Combat rounds
  Failure > 41% = 1d3+1 Damage + Blinded for 3d6 
  Combat rounds
  This Blindness is more than simply a lack of vision, rather 
  the targets are also subject to seeing horrible visions of 
  Xnaaki. Additionally for every two rounds blinded (and 
  conscious) the target loses one point of Sanity (to a 
  maximum of 5). In addition each time a target fails a 
  Resistance Roll they receive 1 point of Cthulhu Mythos 
  skill from the visions they receive as a result.
  If a target is blinded for more than 10 combat rounds 
  they are knocked unconscious for 1d3 hours.
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Persuade 70%, Pistol 40%, Psychology 60%, 
  Spot Hidden 70%, Fist 50%, Throw 45%.
  Spells:Xnaaki Blindness, see the Xnaaki Spells  
  sidebar.
  Enthrall Victim, as per the Call of Cthulhu 
  rules.
  Mind Blast, as per the Call of Cthulhu rules.
  Possessions: .32 pistol with 8 rounds of ammunition, 
  2 Flash Pouches, Sheriffs Badge and 
  Handcuffs.
  He is a large man, big enough to stand out in a crowd, 
  with a strong, physically fit appearance. He wears tidy 
  clothes, complimented with a heavy leather jacket. 
  Beside him lays a small leather briefcase. 
  Characters rolling a successful Idea Roll will note that 
  he has not bid on any other items at the auction.
  The bidding for the last few items proceeds without 
  further delay and at last the final item, the statue 
  comes up for offer.
  Only the Investigators and Sheriff Coleburne bid on 
  the statue, which has an opening price of one thousand 
  dollars. The Sheriff will bid in amounts of $100 up to 
  his limit of two thousand, which will mean, of course, 
  that the characters will eventually out bid him. At the 
  end of proceedings he is naturally unhappy at being 
  unable to out bid the Investigators and storms out of 
  the auction room.
  If the characters decide to follow the Sheriff (they 
  will need to leave at least one person behind to sign 
  and pay for the statue), he is observed leaving the 
  University grounds by car. He does not pay any 
  attention to the Investigators unless stopped, at which 
  he will avoid any question and try to leave as soon as 
  possible. 
  Once Coleburne leaves the auction he travels to the 
  Arkham Post Office to place a telephone call to his 
  Deputy, who is located the train station on the lookout 
  for Booth and DuPont. During this conversation the 
  Sheriff advises his Deputy to follow the characters, 
  surmising that they are heading to Steeplin and 
  DuPont’s estate. He then returns to his car and heads 
  back to Steeplin County himself.
  The Train Trip
  At the conclusion of the auction the Investigators will 
  no doubt head to the train station and board the next 
  train to Steeplin County. The train they catch is a four-
  carriage steam locamotive, with 2 passenger carriages, 
  a dining car (situated between the two passenger cars) 
  and a luggage car (at the rear). The train is fairly quiet, 
  with very few passengers on board, and as such, the 
  characters will have little trouble in acquiring a cabin 
  in either of the carriages.
  As the train leaves Arkham, heading north, the scenery 
  quickly turns to gentle hills that, while nice to look at 
  are of no real interest to the group. For a period of the 
  trip there is steady rain, but this passes by the time the 
  train arrives at Newburyport. Here people get on and 
  off, before the train pulls out of the station and heads 
  northwest towards Steeplin and beyond.
  At all times during the trip the dining carriage has 
  between six and a dozen people seated in the lounge 
  areas, although while dinner is being served (between 
  5:30pm and 7:00pm) there is a constant flow of  people 
  to and from the tables.
  At some point after 7.00pm Booth contacts the 
  characters by walking past their table (or seats) and 
  dropping a note. Without a word he continues on 
  towards the back of the train. 
  The note reads “Meet in the luggage carriage in 5 
  minutes…trust no one but DuPont”
  It is dusk as the characters enter the luggage car. Here 
  they findBooth at thefar end of the carriage struggling 
  with another man. The large freight doors are open 
  on one side of the car and before the characters can 
  intervene Booth is thrown out of the carriage into the 
  murky sunset.
  This man is the Sheriff’s Deputy, Carl Grietski, who is 
  after the statue. He will use his pistol to try and get it 
  from the Investigators, or if they have hidden it, will 
  take one of them hostage to guide him to it. If Carl is 
  confronted he will use his flash pouch and attempt to 
  recover the statue while the party is blinded.
  5
  Map of the Luggage Carriage
  Sliding Cargo Doors
  <- To the front of the train
  <-
  Luggage Racks
  <-
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  6
  If he does acquire the statue, the train will conveniently 
  stop and he will head for a road. In this case the 
  Investigators will have to pursue him on foot. 
  This confrontation is intended to help build the 
  mysterious nature of the scenario - not kill the 
  characters.  Carl is little more than a bumbling idiot, 
  although an armed one. Only foolishly gung-ho or 
  particularly unlucky Investigators should be seriously 
  injured during this encounter.
  DEPUTY CARL GRIETSKI, Bumbling Disciple 
  of Xnaaki, Age 28
  STR 
  15 
  EDU 
  11 
  Know 55%
  CON 
  14 
  POW 
  8 
  Luck   40%
  SIZ 
  13 
  INT 
  8 
  Idea    40%
  DEX 
  16 
  APP 
  13 
  HP        14
  SAN 
  35
  Damage Bonus: +1d4
  Weapons: Fist, 50%, damage 1d3+db
  Flash Pouch, 45%, damage 1+1d6 rounds 
  of blindness
  .32 Revolver, 40%, damage 1d8
  Skills: Bargain 40%, Cthulhu Mythos 15%, Credit 
  Rating 15% (60% in Steeplin County), Fast Talk 
  50%, Law 75%, Library Use 20%, Listen 70%, 
  Occult 20%, Persuade 50%, Spot Hidden 70%, 
  Fist 50%, Pistol 40%, Throw 45%.
  Possessions: 
  .32 
  pistol 
  with 
  16 
  rounds 
  of 
  ammunition, 1 Flash Pouch, Deputy 
  Sheriff Badge
  If the characters get a chance to examine Carl (or his 
  body) at any point they can’t help but notice a small 
  tattoo/brand of a spiky beetle on his chest. This same 
  symbol is one of the main characters on the base of the 
  statue.
  The Train Station
  When the train eventually pulls into Steeplin Valley 
  station it is nearing 11pm. With heavy cloud cover 
  there is no sign of the moon, which leaves the small 
  town in almost total darkness. It has rained recently 
  but, despite this, the air is humid and muggy.
  The train station itself is little more than a raised 
  landing with a roof, a tiny office and a block of toilets. 
  Six other people get off the train with the party, 
  although they are all met and in small groups disappear 
  into the town. As the characters discuss their plan of 
  action read the following:
  You are all very surprised to encounter Booth at the 
  train station. He is a little ragged but alive – bruises 
  and cuts are visible on his arms and face and while he 
  is still wearing his suit trousers, his shirt is torn and 
  he no longer has his jacket. As he walks towards you, 
  you notice he may well have injured his legs or ribs, as 
  his movement is stiff and slow.
  Each player must make a Resistance Roll, using their 
  Intelligence (INT) versus Booth’s POW of 11 (although 
  to minimise tipping off the players you may want take 
  these rolls on their behalf). If any player succeeds 
  they notice Booth appears to be more than just a little 
  shaken up, although they can’t quite put their finger on 
  what is so unusual about him.
  Booth explains he was able to make it to the road after 
  being thrown from the train. He also states that, as was 
  planned, another of DuPont’s agents was trailing the 
  train and picked him up. From that location the trip by 
  car was actually quicker into town than the one taben 
  by the train. If questioned in depth about any of the 
  previous meetings between Booth and the party  he 
  is at a loss, but will beg off, blaming the fall from the 
  train.
  This man is in fact not Booth at all, but a Copy Imaged 
  Servant of Xnaaki. The Double’s goal is of course to 
  acquire the statue before it can be delivered to DuPont. 
  (If the group lost the statue to Deputy Carl, the Double 
  Booth will still appear, but with the intention of killing 
  the party).
  If the Double is forced to drop the guise or a party 
  member gets close to uncovering the truth an Idea 
  Roll should be made. Success and they realise the 
  man in front of them is not truly Booth (an immediate 
  Sanity Roll of 1/1d4 is required by anyone revealing the 
  truth). Failure and the character continues to have the 
  feelings of singular unease about Booth.
  If the Booth Double fools the party, he says:
  “We are still being pursued, the Deputy’s master 
  won’t be so easy to overcome and we should leave 
  immediately. I have a car in the lot behind us.”
  There is no sign of the ‘agent’ that helped ‘Booth’ 
  in the lone Buick and if asked ‘Booth’ states that he 
  has already gone, on his way to advise DuPont of the 
  situation.
  The Double then plans on getting the characters to 
  drive up to the DuPont homestead (he claims he is too 
  sore to drive). On the way he will use the spell Xnaaki 
  Blindness to force them off the road before attempting 
  to dispose of them.
  If the Booth Double is forced to confront the 
  group at the platform he will attempt to use the 
  Enthrall Victim spell before things get out of hand. 
  Then, if he can get the statue, he will try and escape, 
  possibly casting Xnaaki Blindness in an attempt to 
  stun any pursers.
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  BOOTH DOUBLE, Disguised Servant
  STR 
  17 
  INT 
  13
  CON 
  22 
  POW 
  17
  SIZ 
  13 
  DEX 
  8
  Move 
  5 (slow and disjointed)
  HP 
  17 
  MP 
  14 (remaining)
  Weapons: Fist 60%, damage 1d3+1d4db.
  Dagger 40%, damage 1d6+1d4db+Poison 
  (POT = 10 The effects of  render the 
  victim unconscious for 1d4+1 hours)
  Armour: none
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d4 to discover Servants true identity, 
  1/1d8 to see a Servant of Xnnaki.
  Spells: Copy Image, see the Xnaaki Spells sidebar
  Xnaaki Blindness, see the Xnaaki Spells 
  sidebar.
  Enthrall Victim, as per the Call of Cthulhu 
  rules.
  Mind Blast, as per the Call of Cthulhu rules.
  Steeplin Valley County 
  Assuming the party either take the car with Booth, or 
  discover it parked in the station’s lot (it’s the only one 
  there), they can continue onto the DuPont Estate.
  Steeplin township has a population nearing 4000, 
  although its main street is nothing in much to behold. 
  It has eight or nine main blocks, with highlights 
  including a police station, post office, library, two 
  churches and a variety of general businesses. The 
  towns back streets are mainly residential. Oddly 
  there is not a single car seen on the streets, and only a 
  minimum of street lighting. In fact, the only building 
  seemingly occupied appears to be the town police 
  station.
  The DuPont estate is located up the valley, directly 
  off Steeplin Road, near the Mill. The road itself is 
  well maintained up until the Mill (about 10 minutes 
  drive), although the estate is another 15 minutes along 
  a rough unsealed track.
  DuPont’s Estate
  As you approach the estate you become aware that 
  the cloud cover has thickened to make the night an 
  almost impenetrable darkness. It seems as if a fog 
  has drifted in masking everything more than 30 feet 
  away. A chilling wind is blowing briskly in from the 
  south but seems unable to move the blanket of cloud.
  The DuPont homestead, a large two-story building, is 
  deathly quiet as is the forest to the west of the estate. 
  There are no signs of disturbance outside the house, 
  (unless by some chance the characters come across 
  the down power lines - see below). If the characters 
  do search the grounds before entering the manor a 
  successful Spot Hidden roll reveals movement in one 
  of the upstairs windows (although what exactly is 
  moving can’t be made out through the darkness and 
  fog). Characters failing this roll instead get the eerie 
  almost claustrophobic feeling of being watched.
  The Great Hall: It is most likely that the characters 
  will enter the homestead through the main doors, 
  which are not locked. Here they soon discover the 
  first signs of trouble – the lack of power in the house 
  (characters with no light sources are surely going to 
  end up with bruised shins!) 
  The cause of the fault can be found easily enough - 
  downed power lines, severed about 80 feet from the 
  house.
  The second sign of trouble is the large greasy 
  footprints, which can be seen on the floor of the Great 
  Hall, although if the Investigators are without a light 
  source then a Spot Hidden Roll is required to notice 
  them. These human-like prints have been made with 
  some sort of black/green slime which reeks with 
  odorous decay.
  The prints lead upstairs, before petering out. They can 
  however be followed back to where their owner, one 
  of three Servants of Xnaaki, entered the homestead, 
  through the West Wing (see the map for more details 
  on where the footprints lead). This Servant is now 
  upstairs in a confused state after an “incident” with 
  DuPont.
  East Wing: Characters searching the East Wing 
  should make a Listen roll. Success and they hear 
  movement on the floor above them. Apart from this 
  noise there are no signs of disturbance in this part 
  of the house with the Dining, Smoking and Billiard 
  rooms have nothing of real interest in them.
  7
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  8
  West Wing: If searched the Investigators discover 
  where the Servants of Xnaaki entered the building. 
  The creatures have wandered into most of the rooms 
  of this wing, leaving behind their tell-tale footprints 
  throughout, although apart from these all the rooms 
  are otherwise untouched. 
  UpStairs: Following the tracks upstairs becomes 
  more difficult as they fade. The Servant upstairs is 
  not hiding, but rather aimlessly wandering around 
  after DuPont cast a spell on it. Currently in one of the 
  East Wing bedrroms, it will not attack the party, rather 
  once disturbed will attempt to flee, dropping DuPont’s 
  diary in the process (see The Diary of DuPont below 
  for more details). If necessary the Servant will leap 
  from a second story window to escape, and will only 
  attack if cornered.
  SERVANT 
  OF 
  XNAAKI, 
  Enchanted 
  and 
  Confused Intruder
  STR 
  12 
  INT 
  14
  CON 
  22 
  POW 
  13 
  SIZ 
  13 
  DEX 
  3
  Move 
  5 (slow and disjointed)
  HP 
  11 
  MP 
  8 (remaining)
  Weapons: Fist 40%, damage 1d3+1d4db.
  Dagger 40%, damage 1d6+1d4db.
  Armour: none
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d8 to see a Servant of Xnnaki.
  Spells: Xnaaki Blindness, see the Xnaaki Spells 
  sidebar.
  The Study
  Assuming the characters follow the footprints 
  backwards through the house, they will be lead to the 
  Study door, where they immediately notice a greasy 
  hand print on the handle. Entry into this room from 
  the Great Hall is difficult however, as a corpse of one 
  of the Servants is lying against the other side. If a 
  Strength Resistance Roll versus the corpses Size of 14 
  succeeds, the door can be forced open.
  You wrench the door inwards with as much force as 
  you can muster and after considerable effort it shifts 
  suddenly and slides inwards.
  It is immediately apparent what the obstruction is 
  – a putrid skeletal corpse is slumped in the doorway. 
  A large ragged hole has been blasted in its chest 
  blackening what little flesh is left around the wound. 
  The rest of the corpse is an unnatural greenish colour, 
  its long fingers twisted as if suffering from some sort 
  of hellish arthritis. It is naked, its withered genitals 
  exposed.
  As you watch, a little blood and a thick green fluid 
  have drains from the wound into a sickly pool around 
  the corpse.
  All characters viewing the dead Servant should make a 
  Sanity Check losing 1/1d4 Sanity. From the Great Hall, 
  little can be seen in the Study – although it is obvious 
  there has been some sort of serious disruption inside. 
  Anyone stepping inside will immediately to see the 
  following.
  Map of the DuPont Estate
  Garage
  Disused 
  Stables
  Great 
  Hall
  Study
  Downed 
  Power Lines
  Dining, Smoking 
  & Billards rooms
  Kitchen & 
  Staff Quarters
  To th Mill & Town
  Up hill towards the coast
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Stepping over the rancid pool around the corpse you 
  enter the Study. A nauseating smell hangs in the air… 
  death, blood and charred flesh. Glancing back you 
  see the inside of the study doors are blackened and 
  splattered with the innards of the corpse. Furniture, 
  books and papers have been scattered violently 
  around the room. Between you and a large desk is 
  a second corpse, far more seriously damaged than 
  the first, now little more than a charred skeleton. 
  A faint stream of smoke still slowly drifts from 
  its incinerated remains, although there is no sign 
  as to what has inflicted the assault. It also has an 
  unnatural appearance, too thin, too tall, too twisted 
  to be human.
  All players viewing the second Servant should make a 
  Sanity Check or lose 1/1d2 Sanity.
  Henry DuPont is also in the study, barely conscious, 
  lying on the floor behind the desk. He is almost in an 
  as bad a state as the two corpses, his left arm, from 
  the elbow down, is missing and is bleeding heavily (he 
  has applied a simple tourniquet with his jacket, but 
  this has done little to stem the flow). He also has a cut 
  scalp and a serious deep stab wound in his stomach. A 
  number of cuts and scrapes are also about his body but 
  are minor in comparison. 
  DuPont requires an immediate First Aid or Medical 
  attention to prevent him from falling unconscious. A 
  success stabilises him, but the medic will realise his 
  wounds are most likely terminal – he has perhaps a 
  few hours if not moved. The nearest hospital outside 
  Steeplin is probably Concord, but if Dupont is moved 
  he will shriek in agony and beg to be left where he is.
  Beside DuPont is a handful of tattered and now bloody 
  papers. This manuscript is in a spidery hand comprised 
  of both English and Arabic text (they cannot be read 
  without good light and a bit of concentration). 
  Even if the characters can’t stabilise DuPont – he will 
  speak to them for a moment before passing out. He 
  is barely coherent and obviously in shock, a situation 
  which Keepers can use to their advantage to avoid 
  answering questions and to be generally mysterious.
  It takes DuPont a moment or two to recognise who you 
  are. He coughs a grim laugh before saying “You made 
  it, excellent. Do you have the statue?”
  Yes they have the statue. “Thank god… at first 
  light you must take it and this manuscript (he points 
  to the papers beside him) and get out of Steeplin”.
  No, they have lost the statue. “Mother of god 
  – whatever you do it must be recovered…before…
  before they are able to evoke its power and release 
  the demon”.
  DuPont insists there is another Servant in the 
  homestead, stating it must be killed before he will talk 
  further. 
  Once the servant is stopped, DuPont will advise the 
  characters they will be safe in the house, that the 
  disciples of the demon are tonight performing rituals, 
  a task that will take all night. DuPont is obviously weak 
  and throughout the rest of the night he slips in and out 
  of consciousness. When awake he rambles about the 
  situation.
  “Within the Statue is the ‘Stone of Xnalku’ – an item 
  that can be used to evoke many different rites… The 
  most sinister ritual will unleash a horrifying creature 
  from its age old prison…The demon, Xnaaki, has 
  been trapped in the Steeplin Lake for a millenium – 
  banished by another of his kind an aeon ago… Xnaaki 
  is weak now but if ever the stone and the beast are 
  re-united …” DuPont trails off.
  “There are only a handful of madmen crazy enough 
  to worship Xnaaki…the head disciple is the Sheriff of 
  this very town…he has little in the way of followers… 
  but with that damned stone… Xnaaki will invade the 
  minds of all but the strongest”.
  “Destroying the stone is the only way to secure 
  Xnaaki in its prison …I only wish I could live to see it 
  myself…a ritual is among these papers… to fail is to 
  condemn the world”.
  Morning After
  Whatever the group decide to do next, they should be 
  aware that it is the middle of a dark foreboding night 
  and any plans they concoct should wait until at least 
  first light (Keepers should remind them of this - they 
  are not supermen).
  If the party still holds the statue, they can only 
  watch as DuPont’s condition gets worse and despite 
  their best efforts he passes away painlessly shortly 
  after 5am.
  As per DuPont’s advice, the best course of action would 
  be to head into town at sunrise and from there make 
  there way back to Arkham, manuscript in hand (To 
  help facilitate this DuPont has a car in the garage). 
  There is, of course, the possibility they may wish to 
  do some investigating in Steeplin, in which case see 
  Steeplin County Investigation below. Finally they 
  may decide to confront the Sheriff and the cult directly 
  (Keepers should discourage this option), although 
  this is not the best course of action, considering 
  the Sheriff’s position, the lack of solid information 
  and other avenues of investigation still open to the 
  characters.
  If the party doesn’t have the statue they will 
  need to steal it back from the Sheriff before heading 
  out of town. DuPont will make a dramatic plea to the 
  characters to recover the statue, pointing out that the 
  9
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  10
  Sheriff will have it under lock and key (DuPont is able 
  to provide an address for the Sheriff’s home - he lives 
  opposite the Mill on a small farm). He will also explain 
  that Xnaaki can only be contacted on the new or full 
  moon and with tonight being a full moon, the cult will 
  have to wait at least two weeks before they can use the 
  Stone of Xnalku. DuPont clings to life long enough to 
  supply any required information before passing away.
  Recovering the Statue
  If, at any point of the adventure, the statue is stolen, it 
  soon becomes apparent that it is the key to a successful 
  conclusion to this investigation. 
  If the cult has acquired the statue it will be secured at 
  the Sheriff’s residence until the moon is right for the 
  next ritual.
  The farm is typical of many rural holdings, well 
  maintained and private (it is surrounded by trees). 
  It is less than a mile from the Mill and, at all times of 
  the day, noise from the plant filters through the trees, 
  giving the house and land an eerie feeling as if it is 
  somehow disconnected from the real world.
  The Sheriff is usually home between 6pm and 8:30am 
  each day, and will otherwise be on duty at the Sheriff’s 
  office or on business around town. The house, a large 
  single story ranch style home, is guarded during the 
  day by his two dogs. The two dogs should be treated 
  as Wolves (see the Call of Cthulhu Rulebook) and will 
  fiercely defend the house. Note that gunfire outside the 
  house will more than likely draw the attention of the 
  nearby Mill workers.
  There is little of interest inside the house and not 
  surprisingly no evidence can be found linking the 
  Sheriff to the cult. Once the house is searched 
  however, a trap door can be found in the Study leading 
  to a hidden basement.
  This basement is little more than a single small room 
  with dirt floor and walls. The only objects of interest 
  in the room is a small shrine (on which the statue  
  can been seen) and a puddle of muddy water next to 
  it, where the recent rain has seeped in and formed a 
  pool.
  A Servant of Xnaaki protects the statue and is resting 
  in this muddy pool. If the pool is disturbed, or if the 
  characters move within a foot of the shrine, the Servant 
  arises shrieking and attacks the nearest investigator.
  SERVANT OF XNAAKI, Guardian of the 
  Shrine
  STR 
  17 
  INT 
  17
  CON 
  30 
  POW 
  16 
  SIZ 
  13 
  DEX 
  5
  Move 
  5 (slow and disjointed)
  HP 
  17 
  MP 
  16
  Weapons: Fist 40%, damage 1d3+1d4db.
  Armour: none
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d8 to see a Servant of Xnnaki.
  Spells: Xnaaki Blindness, see the Xnaaki Spells 
  sidebar.
  Mind Blast, as per the Call of Cthulhu rules.
  Steeplin County Investigation
  If the characters decide to do any investigation 
  in Steeplin they will have access to the following 
  information. However by lingering in town they will 
  also risk drawing attention to themselves, especially 
  if they are spotted on the street. If located, the Sheriff 
  will attempt to arrest them and characters who get 
  themselves caught are destined to become the next 
  Servants of Xnaaki.
  The Library. With a successful Library Use Roll a 
  book on Steeplin’s history can be found. In this there 
  is some information about the design of the DuPont 
  Statue and its maker. 
  Commissioned by Fredric DuPont and sculpted by 
  Harvard Haywright, an Arkham jeweller, the book 
  also mentions the symbols on the statue, apparently 
  they refer to eight different Arabic religious rituals, 
  although further details are not provided. 
  The library has no references to either Xnaaki or the 
  stone of Xnalku.
  The Mill. Mill workers and administrators happily 
  talk about general Mill issues and their dislike for 
  DuPont. Almost everyone is of the opinion that he 
  is trying to run the town into the ground and might 
  even be responsible for some of the town’s missing 
  persons.
  The Steeplin Express. The local paper is the only 
  place with any real records about people who have 
  gone missing in the area (apart from these reports the 
  Sheriff has carefully covered his tracks). In total there 
  have been 14 missing persons in the last eight years, all 
  in or around Steeplin Lake.
  Time Marches On
  The smartest approach is to leave Steeplin and return 
  to Arkham to investigate the diary and manuscript. 
  However during the next two weeks the following 
  events occur:
  The death of DuPont, Booth, Deputy Carl and 
  anyone else makes headlines, even as far south as 
  Arkham.
  If the characters do not lay low Coleburne will have 
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  agents locate them and attempt to get the statue 
  from them (these agents will be similar to Deputy 
  Carl in ability). 
  Two days after the events in Steeplin the DuPont 
  homestead is burnt to the ground. DuPont’s 
  funeral, scheduled for a week after the fateful 
  evening, goes ahead despite the arson. DuPont’s 
  next of kin arrive from England soon afterwards 
  and by the time the characters return to the valley, 
  plans are already under way to sell the Mill.
  Interpreting the manuscript pages takes four or 
  five days of study (see Investigation of the Artifacts 
  below) and should allow for injured characters to 
  regain a few Hit Points.
  Investigation of the Artifacts
  The Diary of DuPont
  Approximately 90 pages in length, it is not what one 
  would call a conventional diary, rather it discusses 
  the DuPont family lineage and history. (See the The 
  Diary of DuPont sidebar).
  The Manuscript Pages 
  The seven pages making up the manuscript are in 
  physically poor condition. Written in a combination of 
  English and Arabic the handwriting is in a particularly 
  erratic style, using a dark red and suspiciously blood 
  -like ink. The pages are stiff and inflexible as if made 
  of some sort of treated fabric or hide.
  Skimming the Manuscript. It is obvious that the 
  author is a madman as the manuscript often jumps 
  between English and Arabic, frequently mid-sentence. 
  There are references to many different cults, religions 
  and Great Old Ones in the text, but more specifically, 
  several different rituals or spells can be made out.
  Origins of the Manuscript Pages. Any further 
  investigation into the origins of the text requires an 
  adequate library (such as the Restricted Section of 
  the Miskatonic University library) and a successful 
  Library Use roll. 
  The pages are from the Book of Al Arkmar’b, which 
  is about 500 years old. Essentially this text is a poor 
  translation of several rituals and spells written by an 
  even older Arabic madman. The full book is supposed 
  to cover a variety of Mythos subjects, although 
  the pages on hand specifically refer to Xnaaki, its 
  Servants and several related rituals. According to 
  the few tomes that make reference to the Book of Al 
  Arkmar’b, only one copy of this manuscript exists.
  A further Library Use Roll can be made to research the 
  cults, disciples and history of Xnaaki.
  A cult existed in 1050ad that had made reference 
  to the worship of ‘The Banished’ evil god - many 
  details of which fit the description of Xnaaki. This 
  11
  The Diary of DuPont
  1750. Fredric DuPont is born to Martha and Alfred 
  DuPont in the colony of New York.
  1780. At age 30, Fredric travels to the Middle East and 
  opens a successful trading business. About this time his 
  parents die and he is left the family fortune.
  1790. Fredric becomes involved in the establishment of 
  a gentlemans club, primarily to assist in his trading. This 
  club however has a much more sinister heart.
  1800. Fredric begins preparations to return to America 
  as tension amongst the club’s more powerful members 
  builds.
  1801. The cult is disbanded and Fredric leaves for 
  Washington D.C. with the leader of the cult.
  1802. DuPont arrives home in America without the  cult 
  leader is dead (althought the Stone of Xnalku, the cult’s 
  most powerful artifact is now in his possession).
  1809. Fredric has spends 7 years traveling with the 
  Stone of Xnalku as his guide,  finally settling in the 
  Steeplin Valley.
  1810. Construction begins on the DuPont mill. 
  1811. The Church of Xnaaki is established.
  1812. The Church is closed to keep the Mill workers 
  happy.
  1815. DuPont marries and turns over a new leaf, 
  abandoning his pursuit of Xnaaki. The statue is made to 
  hide the Stone of Xnalku.
  1821. Fredric has his first and only child, Robert.
  1826. Fredric DuPont dies in hunting accident.
  1842. Robert comes of age and takes ownership of the 
  DuPont Mill.
  1844. Robert marries.
  1847. The statue and a few other items of jewelry are 
  stolen from the DuPont estate and a fire is used to cover 
  the theft. The thieves sell the stolen items on foreign 
  black markets.
  1855. Mathew DuPont is born.
  1885.  Mathew marries and takes ownership of the Mill. 
  The same year Robert dies.
  1889. Henry DuPont is born.
  1910. The manuscript pages are discovered by a Steeplin 
  town deputy. With the script he reforms the cult which 
  slowly grows in numbers and influence.
  1916. Mathew is killed by the cult when he refuses to 
  join.
  1917. Henry takes ownership of the DuPont Mill and 
  quickly learns the truth behind his fathers death.
  1918. Henry begins researching a way to stop the 
  cult and destroy Xnaaki. He also begins to plan the  
  relocation of the Mill and the local population away 
  from the Lake.
  1919. The Stone of Xnalku is located and Henry arranges 
  for its sale in Arkham. Closing the mill is proving more 
  difficult than initially planned.
  1920. The cult begins to fight the move, as does the  
  Mill’s board, although for very different reasons. The 
  stone arrives in Arkham ahead of schedule.
  The last entry in the dairy is on the 1st of August, in which 
  Henry states heplans to hire a number of ‘trustworthy 
  souls’ to acquire the statue…
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  12
  cult led by an Arab was based in England’s Severn 
  Valley. No further details are given, although the 
  cults destruction is later mentioned as taking place 
  after locals claimed a demon had visited them in their 
  sleep.
  In 1790ad more evidence of a Xnaaki cult is recorded, 
  this time in Egypt. Again its members are said to have 
  disappeared suddenly.
  A reference can be found concerning the Steeplin 
  Valley and a ‘Church of Xnaaki’. Opened in 1811, it 
  is described as a place of free worship until, with the 
  influx of Christian workers to the area forced it was 
  focred to close its doors. Further details on what was 
  worshipped in the church are not mentioned, although  
  suggestion are made that one Fredric DuPont, a town 
  father, was actively involved in the worship there.
  Rituals in the Manuscript Pages. There are four 
  rituals scattered amongst the pages of the manuscript, 
  each of which must be translated and studied. Each 
  spell or ritual takes approximately a day to translate, 
  read and absorb. (See the Rituals from the 
  Manuscript sidebar).
  On the seventh page of the text is the beginning 
  of a very different spell and, although the opening 
  sentences are in English, the spell itself is actually 
  written in an Arabic code. Both a successful Arabic 
  and Mathematics rolls are required to crack this 
  code, although if translated the reader discovers that 
  the ritual is incomplete, instead hinting that it is for 
  opening a gateway or a portal to another ‘world’. No 
  more can be learned without the other pages from the 
  manuscript - which of course are not present.
  During the translation of the manuscript the group 
  will no doubt uncover that the rituals can only be 
  enacted on a night with either a new or full moon. A 
  quick calculation can be made to discover that when 
  the adventure began it was a new moon, meaning that 
  even after spending a week translating the rituals, they 
  may have several more days to wait before attempting 
  to raise Xnaaki. This is of course is a convenient 
  opportunity to acquire weapons and formulate a plan 
  of attack.
  The Statue 
  Before DuPont died he would have advised the party 
  that the Stone of Xnalku is in the statue, so before 
  they will be able to perform the final ritual, the Bain of 
  Xnalku, they will need to free it.
  It is possible to take it to the jewellery store where it 
  was made, Haywrights in Arkham. Also there is the 
  possibility that they will investigate at the jewellers for 
  further clues. 
  The original sculptor is long dead (the statue being 
  made over a hundred years ago) but his son Avery 
  Haywright (now in his 70s) now runs the Jewellery 
  store and has records of the statue. These confirm the 
  general design of the piece and mention that there is 
  an oval stone at its center.
  If requested, Haywright can cut free the Stone of 
  Xnalku, or alternatively the statue may simply be 
  smashed to pieces. Either way the stone is unharmed.
  Rituals from the Manuscript
  Call of Xnaaki
  Language:English
  Cost: Nil
  Required Casting Time: 3 mins
  A successful English roll is required to read and 
  understand this ritual. The Call of Xnaaki is a simple 
  chant, which, when cast under a full or new moon at 
  midnight on the shores of Xnaaki’s prison, calls forth 
  the Great One from its slumber. Xnaaki will surface in 
  approximately 5 minutes. 
  Restrain Xnaaki Servant
  Language:English & Arabic
  Cost: 0 - 2 Magic Points
  Requires Casting Time: 1 Combat Round
  Spell Duration: 1 hour
  Requires one read English roll (to understand the ritual 
  purpose) and a further read Arabic roll to complete the 
  translation. This spell restrains all Servants of Xnaaki 
  from coming with 5 feet of the caster, although the it has 
  no effect Xnaaki nor his mortal worshippers. 
  Veil of Azif
  Language: English & Arabic
  Cost: 1d6+1 Magic Points*
  Requires Casting Time: 2 -3 mins
  Spell Duration: 3d6 mins
  Requires one read English roll (to understand the ritual 
  purpose) and a further read Arabic roll to complete the 
  translation. When invoked the casters vision is masked, 
  as if they are in a heavy thick fog (all attacks and actions 
  should take this into account). The most important 
  function of this spell is to allow the caster the option of 
  expending Magic Points instead San for sanity loss.
  *Sanity cost is only for the first casting, additional 
  castings only cost 1 Sanity.
  Bain of Xnalku
  Language: English & Arabic
  Cost: 1 Magic Point
  Requires Casting Time: 1 Combat Round
  Requires one read English roll (to understand the ritual 
  purpose) and a further read Arabic roll to complete 
  the translation. This spell allows the caster to destroy 
  the Stone of Xnalku by making a POW Resistance Roll 
  versus the POW Xnaaki. Multiple casters can combine 
  POW scores to make a single resistance check against 
  Xnaaki. Failure just enrages Xnaaki further, success 
  results in the stone being destroyed and Xnaaki being 
  banished back to prision... forever?
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Stone of Xnalku 
  The stone is small enough to fit into the palm of your 
  hand but weighs much more than your’d expect from 
  a rock of this size. Its black surface is covered with 
  faint weaving ridges, each one tainted with a subtle 
  crimson streak. 
  The Veil of Azif. When seen under the veil, the stone 
  has a much more alien appearance.
  The stone appears to shift and move, the ridges 
  turn into tiny tentacles that dart about in random 
  directions. It has an unnatural glow and seems to 
  emit a whimpering groan, as if it were some lame 
  animal.
  Calm Before the Storm 
  The characters should now have learnt three important 
  facts:
  That Xnaaki is trapped in Steeplin Lake and cannot 
  escape without the stone of Xnalku. 
  That there appears to be only one way to destroy 
  the stone – the Bain of Xnalku ritual.
  The ritual must be carried out in the presence of 
  Xnaaki.
  At this stage they have two options – hide the stone or 
  destroy it and Xnaaki. 
  If the characters decide to hide the stone they will 
  discover that it has an uncanny way of being found. 
  This option should be discouraged, in fact DuPont 
  himself has advised against it. If they still persist with 
  this option, further attacks by disciples of Xnaaki 
  should eventually either, change their minds or kill 
  them outright.
  The smarter course of action is to destroy the stone. 
  To do this all characters should learn the rituals (or at 
  least the last three) if they hope to destroy the stone. 
  For those who do not have skill to read Arabic, it can 
  be translated for them, and a Read/Write English Roll 
  made instead, although this is with a 10% penalty.
  Deciding how to deal with Xnaaki and his Servants 
  should be a simple enough decision – kill the Servants 
  and banish Xnaaki. They can keep the Servants at bay 
  with the Restrain ritual and the Bain of Xnalku will 
  stop the Great Old One. The disciples, however, pose 
  a different type of threat, one which the characters 
  will have to think carefully about. Characters killing 
  the disciples in cold blood or without provocation risk 
  losing sanity.
  No matter how much the characters plan and 
  regardless of how well they deal with the Servants and 
  disciples – Xnaaki is still a Great Old One. Its horror, 
  magnitude and total alienness should not be down 
  played. Most normal humans encountering Xnaaki 
  would not only lose their minds but also their lives. 
  The key to the climax of the scenario is in exposing 
  the characters to the horror of Xnaaki without having 
  them being pointless slaughtered. (Of course reckless 
  or foolish players should be treated by the Keeper as 
  appetisers for the Great Old One.)
  Let the players hack n’ slash the Servants and struggle 
  with the disciples but most importantly they should 
  come away with the feeling that they have not defeat 
  Xnaaki, but rather having simply escaped it alive. 
  13
  Where 
  Xnaaki 
  rises ->
  <- Steeplin Lake Road 
  10 minutes to town
  Main Clearing
  8 miles to the Mill
  Map of the Steeplin Lake
  Ritual Clearing
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  14
  Steeplin Lake
  The characters can enter Steeplin County by train or 
  car, however as they will need to travel undetected 
  and also make their way to the lake, a car would be 
  advisable.
  The lake is about 10 minutes drive east of the town, on 
  a road that arcs gently northwards. At this point the  
  lake is only about 8 miles from the Mill. 
  The climatic conclusion will probably unfold by itself, 
  the Keeper should not need to spend to much time 
  setting the scene as either the characters will rush the 
  ritual and try to raise Xnaaki before the cult arrives 
  or will wait to ambush them. A few basic points to 
  remember are.
  The ritual ‘Call of Xnaaki’ will only work under a 
  full or new moon.
  The disciples meet every full and new moon at the 
  ritual clearing, although the characters may or may 
  not be aware of this.
  After the ‘Call of Xnaaki’ ritual is completed it takes 
  several minutes for the Great Old One to rise.
  How Xnaaki and his minions react to the attack can 
  vary greatly depending on how the Keeper wishes to 
  treat them., while the number of protagonists depends 
  on the size and combat skills of the party. The Author 
  recommends that in addition to the Sheriff and the 
  eventual arrival of Xnaaki, a good guide is two cultists 
  and/or one Servant per party member. 
  Once darkness falls the cultist gather in the ritual 
  clearing in preparation for the evening ahead. Up until 
  midnight they enact chants and rituals, worshipping 
  Xnaaki and speaking of the time it will rise eternal and 
  bestow gifts upon all those who follow.
  Unless the characters make a point of being seen they 
  will not be noticed observing the cultists ceremonies.
  Midnight at the Shores of the 
  Prison
  At midnight the characters are able start the ritual 
  which will raise Xnaaki. This requires chants and 
  actions of it‘s own, which quite possibly could attract 
  the cultists attention. 
  Once the ritual is completed, Xnaaki begins to rise . 
  From the bottom of the lake bubbles of air escape and 
  soon a dark shape can be seen nearing the surface. 
  This takes about 5 minutes and if not already alerted, 
  the arrival of Xnaaki soon gets the cultists attention.
  Once to the surface of the lake Xnaaki makes its way to 
  the characters location.
  Through the darkness you hear the creature, a 
  grumbling howl, punctuated with piercing alien 
  shrieks. The ground vibrates and the sound of foliage 
  splintering and shrubs being crushed reaches your 
  ears. It appears suddenly, almost as if it were some 
  horrifyingly animated train – moving towards you 
  on a mass of writhing tentacles rather than wheels. Its 
  segmented body is shiny and black, its other worldly 
  appearance is an unbelievable sight. The head of the 
  creature is simply a black pit – a mouth perhaps - but 
  you cannot bring yourself to look for long. As it raises 
  its first segments from the ground, towering 10 feet 
  Xnaaki
  Advanced Description Xnaaki’s slimy dripping body 
  is bulberous in shape and loosely cylindrical, 6 to 7 feet 
  wide and at least 40 feet long. It moves on a belly of 
  tentacles, each approximately 6 in lenght. Its massive 
  gapping mouth is filled with row upon row of wriggling 
  tentacle like teeth.
  Origins of Xnaaki. The details concerning the origins 
  of Xnaaki should remain hidden. Similarities to Glaaki 
  can be made but one can never know the truth behind 
  either.
  Cult of Xnaaki. Those mad or foolish enough to 
  worship Xnaaki will be rewarded for their efforts, 
  usually in the form of a horrifyingly gratuitous death! 
  However those with an understanding of the ways of 
  the Great Olds, such as Sheriff Coleburne, are be able to 
  face Xnaaki and receive gifts from the Great One. Xnaaki 
  imparts knowledge of other races, worlds and times and 
  infrequently spells. Those mad and patient enough could 
  easily uncover many of the world’s great secrets in the 
  service of this ancient entity. 
  Creating Xnaaki Servants. Unlike Glaaki, Xnaaki 
  is not well suited to mental control or attacks. It 
  commands its undead servants only after they have had 
  one of its tentacles imbedded in them. After a normal 
  tentacle attack, when Xnaaki has its victim firmly in its 
  grasp it can shoot 1d4 smaller tentacles into them. Each 
  of these tentacles does 1d4 damage, with any those doing 
  only 1 or 2 points failing to attach (falling to the ground 
  to wither and die). Tentacles doing 3 or 4 points damage  
  successfully borrow into the victim. If the damage done 
  to the victims in the ritual kills them, then they soon 
  after rise again as a Servant of Xnaaki. Victims surviving 
  this ordeal become living channels for the will of Xnaaki, 
  although in day to day life they remain of their own free 
  will .
  TYPICAL SERVANT OF XNAAKI, The Will of 
  Xnaaki
  STR 
  17 
  INT 
  12
  CON 
  24 
  POW 
  13
  SIZ 
  13 
  DEX 
  6
  Move 
  5 (slow and disjointed)
  HP 
  15
  Weapons: Fist 40%, damage 1d3+1d4db.
  Armour: none
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d8 to see a Servant of Xnnaki.
  
  The Unbound Book
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  into the air – tentacles lash out in all directions.
  XNAAKI, Great Old One
  STR 
  32 
  INT 
  26
  CON 
  65 
  POW 
  28 
  SIZ 
  60 
  DEX 
  10
  Move 
  7 (Centipede like on hundreds of squirming 
  tentacles)
  HP 
  65 (each tentacle has 8 hit points)
  MP 
  16
  Weapons: Tentacles, 80%, damage 1d8+3d6db, 
  Xnaaki’s tentacles combine to act as one 
  attack per turn. Xnaaki will focus this attack 
  on the closest target. (This can include any 
  disciple or Servant if close enough).
  Devour, 50%, damage 6d10 (per round). 
  The Devour attack requires the target to 
  have received a successful tentacle attack in 
  previous round. A successful devour attack 
  sees the target swallowed whole.
  Armour: 25 points Xnaaki’s Body is soft and slimy, 
  but amazingly resilient to damage. Each of 
  Xnaaki’s tentacles has only 2 points of armour 
  however.
  Sanity Loss: 1d10/1d20. The darkness and prior 
  understanding of the horror that 
  is Xnaaki assists the characters in 
  withstanding this terrifying entity.
  Spells: Xnaaki Blindness, see the Xnaaki Spells 
  sidebar.
  Mind Blast, as per CoC manual.
  Enthrall Victim, as per CoC manual.
  Once Xnaaki reaches the lake side its Servants awaken 
  to its call. These reside in the mud at the bottom of 
  lake during the daylight hours and now rise from the 
  dirt and slime around the characters feet.
  The following are options that a Keeper may wish to 
  keep in mind while the combat between the characters 
  and Xnaaki takes place.
  Xnaaki. Xnaaki is enraged at being summoned in the 
  presence of the Stone of Xnalku and will use physical 
  rather than magical forms of attack. Reaching out with 
  massed tentacles it drags all that it grabs into its maw. 
  Having shrubs, cultists and Servants disappearing into 
  that black pit of a mouth will frighten the players as 
  much as the sheer size and weight of the creature.
  Most attacks the characters will inflict on the Great 
  Old One will focus on the tentacles, so go ahead and 
  let them blast away at these slimy ropes as the damage 
  will do little to effect Xnaaki.
  ‘The Veil of Azif’. This ritual can mask the characters 
  vision but it should also be treated as an advantage 
  to the followers of Xnaaki. For example the veil 
  makes the undead appear as nothing more than dark 
  shadows, while the living are vibrant and easily visible. 
  This means the characters will naturally focus on the 
  cultists leaving the Servants free to act.
  ‘Restrain Xnaaki Servant’. Once cast the Servants 
  cannot attack the characters but they can still try to 
  distract them. 
  ‘The Stone of Xnalku’. Xnaaki and his Servants are 
  drawn to the stone and will focus their attention on the 
  character holding it. 
  ‘The Bain of Xnalku Ritual’. Regardless of how 
  the previous rituals are enacted, the casting of the 
  final ritual should be dramatic. The clashing of minds 
  – Xnaaki versus the characters, haunting flashes of 
  other worlds, lives and horrors blind the characters as 
  they face Xnaaki. The Veil of Azif does little to shield 
  them from the alien and evil force that approximates 
  the horrifying mind of a Great Old One.
  CULTIST OF XNAAKI, Disciples of a Hidden God
          STR CON  SIZ DEX INT POW   DB   HP
  1)       17      12 
  12     14      8      7   +1D4  12
  2)      16      14      16      8      12    12  +1D4  15
  3)      18      13 
  16     13      12    8   +1D6  16
  4)      15     18 
  17     12      11     9   +1D4  17
  5)      17      14 
  16     16     10    10  +1D6  16
  6)      16      15 
  15     17      7      14  +1D4  16
  Conclusion
  After Xnaaki is banished its Servants collapse, their 
  tentative link to the realm of the living severed. As 
  for the cultists, they lose heart once their master is 
  defeated although, if he is still alive, Sheriff Coleburne 
  is furtherenraged and will attack the characters with a 
  renewed fury. 
  The Cultists. Any surviving cultists will give up after 
  Xnaaki is gone and the Sheriff is defeated. They will 
  blame most of their acts on Coleburne, saying he was 
  responsible for leading them astray. 
  The survivors are from all walks of life, but most are 
  from the older, more respected families from the 
  valley, and as such prison means little to them after 
  they lose their standing in the tight community.
  As for any dead cultists and the Servants bodies, 
  the inevitable investigation will be confusing and 
  complicated. Unless the players are sloppy they should 
  not have any trouble avoiding any repercussions. The 
  key to staying below the radar is simple – don’t leave 
  any evidence behind.
  The Journal and the Manuscript. These pose 
  15
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  The Rise of Xnaaki
  16
  interesting questions. Have the party discovered the 
  beginning of the fifth ritual? Do the group hand over 
  the manuscript to the Miskatonic University and form 
  a relationship with a scholar there? Or do they hide 
  the manuscript to ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong 
  hands?
  To protect themselves, the Diary of DuPont should be 
  destroyed or at least securely hidden. The manuscript 
  on the other hand holds a potential evil, but does 
  not implicate the characters in any way. The players 
  decision on how to deal with these papers is a perfect 
  opportunity to open up further adventures.
  Steeplin County. The town itself will return to 
  normal after the events of August 1920. Xnaaki 
  remains hidden in the lake but is now trapped 
  permanently… or so we hope.
  Booth. If he wasn’t discovered earlier, his body 
  is found by the Rail authorities not to far from the 
  train tracks. Apparently having survived the fall from 
  the train, he has died under even more mysterious 
  circumstances. Bound, with his throat cut, he is 
  drained of all his blood. A spiked beetle has been 
  drawn on his chest!
  Rewards. Each character receives 1d20 Sanity (plus 
  any extra for good roleplaying etc) in knowing that 
  they have stopped an ancient and terrible evil. Xnaaki 
  still resides in the lake, but with luck and foresight it 
  can never again … Rise!
  On the Unbound  
  Website 
  The Rise of Xnaaki 
  - D20 Stats for The Rise of Xnaaki
  - A Players Guide to Steeplin Valley
  - Maps of Steeplin Valley and Township!
  Visit the Unbound Book Website @
   www.unboundbook.org
  
  (Note: To play this scenario it is suggested the Keeper has access 
  to both the Dreamlands and Kingsport supplements for Call of 
  Cthulhu. In the absence of the Kingsport book, another city can 
  be substituted with a little effort, although some background 
  information has been provided on the Resources page of The 
  Unbound Book website [www.unboundbook.org]).
  Keeper’s Background
  When Jonathan Nash died he left his tottering Georgian home on 
  Church Street, Kingsport, to his Bostonian nephew, Allen. Allen 
  was shocked at the dilapidated state his eccentric, reclusive uncle 
  had left the place in, but realised its potential value if it was ‘done 
  up’ and decided to do it himself, as a weekend project.
  A month or so into the job, Allen happened upon a secret 
  compartment in his uncle’s former bedroom – the only room 
  that appeared ‘lived in’. In this compartment he discovered three 
  items of interest: a bag containing several bottles of a strong 
  sedative, an oddly shaped Crystal on a metal stand and a journal.
  In this journal, Jonathan told how he had stolen the Crystal from 
  a Chinese Sorcerer when travelling in the East and how he had 
  discovered its incredible power. If a man sleeps with the Crystal 
  beside his bed, he is transported in his dreams to a marvellous 
  land of wonders  - a land where a man of strong will can become 
  whatever he desires and go where it is even possible to cheat 
  physical death. It was clear that over the years Jonathan spent 
  more and more of his time in this world, using sedatives to 
  prolong his sleep. This seems to have had severe effects on 
  Jonathan’s health and sanity, and indeed, near the end of his life 
  the journal became totally incoherent.
  Jonathan died, hit by a car, on a rare trip outside his house to 
  buy food, and as such lost his chance of immortality in the land of 
  Dream.
  Allen was fascinated and decided to sleep with the Crystal on 
  his nightstand. That night he discovered the Dreamlands – 
  entering the Enchanted Wood through a magical cave of the same 
  substance as the Dream Crystal. That first evening he became 
  enchanted, and indeed, addicted.
  Taking a six month sabbatical from his job as a librarian at 
  Harvard, he moved into the house on Church Street where he 
  could dream in peace. But after a few weeks he had an accident 
  – seemingly minor but with terrible ramifications.
  Venturing into parts of the Dreamlands his placid uncle never 
  found, Allen, a veteran of the Great War with a much darker 
  imagination, disturbed a hungry Gug. Fleeing headlong from the 
  beast he woke with a start and leaped from his bed, knocking the 
  Crystal to the floor, and cracking it.
  He was terrified he had ruined it and immediately took a sedative 
  to test its power. He was relieved to find the Dreamlands were 
  still accessible, but what he did not realise was that the crack 
  had altered the Crystal’s structure in one significant way – now it 
  worked BOTH WAYS.
  Since that night, a week ago, every time Allen uses the Crystal 
  17
  The Unbound Book
  His Wildest Dreams
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  ‘Her Hunger’ © 2002 Alan M. Clark
  His Wildest 
  Dreams
  By Mark Chiddicks
  A Call of Cthulhu Adventure set 
  in Kingsport, January 1925
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  His Wildest Dreams
  18
  something crosses into the Waking World – appearing 
  randomly within a quarter of a mile of the house and 
  staying in Kingsport for a random period of time 
  before being snatched back to its own dimension.
  These Dream creatures are often harmless, but 
  sometimes terrible and it is an encounter with 
  these terrible things that brings our heroes into the 
  adventure.
  Introduction – The Cloudbeast
  It is a chill winter evening in Kingsport. This town 
  can be a forlorn place out of season, now tourism is 
  its lifeblood. In the middle of winter there are few 
  tourists and most of the local artistic community is 
  out of town. Freezing fogs roll in from the sea on 
  most nights, reducing visibility to a few feet.  On this 
  particular night however, there is not fog, but clouds 
  hang heavily overhead.
  The Investigators are visiting the Congregational 
  Hospital in Central Hill where a mutual friend, Dr 
  Curtis Newman, is recovering from burns suffered 
  in last nights’ terrible fire which gutted his church 
  and killed five parishioners. Newman has specifically 
  asked for the Investigators to visit him.
  Dr Newman is, sadly, in a wretched state. Heavily 
  dosed with morphine for the pain of his burns, he 
  hardly recognises his friends, but in a lucid moment he 
  moans that a ‘demon’ attacked his Church, burning up 
  through the floor and trapping half the congregation. 
  It was a miracle God spared him and he must warn 
  everyone that demons are real.
  If asked to describe the demon, he will break down, 
  unless a Persuade or Psychoanalysis roll is made, in 
  which case he manages a reasonable description of the 
  front third of a 10ft long Fireworm of Parg. No doubt 
  the PCs will leave, believing the shock to have been too 
  much for their friend.
  As they exit the hospital and walk towards their car or 
  cars, the heavens open and heavy rain starts to pour. If 
  a Spot Hidden roll is made, one of them glances up at 
  the clouds, and sees a horror!
  Immediately above the car park the clouds are roiling 
  and twisting as if they were alive. The very clouds 
  themselves seem to be shaping into great pseudopods, 
  which are even now reaching down towards you!
  A sanity loss of 1/1d6 is appropriate, before any 
  declaration of intent.
  If the Beast is not noticed, the first they know of it is 
  when a great misty tentacle snakes down and attacks 
  a nurse who is running into the Hospital, a newspaper 
  held over her head. If it is seen, the Beast attacks the 
  Investigators instead.
  If the nurse is attacked, the attack is automatically 
  successful as she is pulled up screaming, into the 
  clouds, never to be seen again. In this case, the sanity 
  loss is 1/1d10 instead!
  There is no earthly weapon capable of harming a 
  Cloudbeast. If a victim resists its attempts to absorb 
  them, the Beast drops him, doing 2d6 damage. Apart 
  from that the only thing to do is to run back inside 
  the Hospital. Heroic Investigators might, of course, 
  wish to aid the nurse, who is still running across the 
  car park. If they fail to do so, further sanity rolls are 
  appropriate.
  Once indoors, the Investigators are safe and the 
  Cloudbeast flies off across Central Hill, snatching 
  away a further three poor souls before it vanishes. 
  Now  they have personally witnessed such a horror, 
  the Investigators will surely realise something must 
  be done!
  CLOUDBEAST, Vaporous Predator
  STR 
  N/A 
  INT 
  3
  CON 
  40 
  POW 
  10
  SIZ 
  80 
  DEX 
  14
  Move 
  4 floating
  HP 
  60
  Weapons: Bite 40%, damage 1d3+8 – resist 
  POW+SIZ vs damage or be absorbed, 
  and add to SIZ.
  Prelude - The Creatures of Dream
  Before the Investigators are involved with the case 
  the following creatures have travelled over from 
  the Dreamlands.
  Tuesday 13/01/25. Being of Ib - wanders Central 
  Hill Cemetery in terror. Seen by the wino, Davy 
  Harris.
  Wednesday 14/01/25. Wenelian - wrecks 
  Kingsport Public Library, seen by nobody.
  Thursday 15/01/25. 5 Zoogs scuttle around 
  Central Hill, killing cats – 8 cats die horribly, 
  several witnesses see ‘wild wolverine’ or similar 
  creatures.
  Friday 16/01/25. Butterfly Dragon appears in 
  Hubert Davis’ apartment in Robbin’s Apartments 
  and deafens him. Nobody believes his story, but the 
  doctor is mystified. Davis is in the Congregational 
  Hospital undergoing tests.
  Saturday 17/01/25. Small Fireworm of Parg 
  - appears in the basement of the First Unitarian 
  Church and burns it down during evening service. 
  5 die, 3 badly burned survivors, including the 
  Pastor, claim a ‘Worm Demon from Hell’ came up 
  through the floor.
  Sunday 18/01/25. The Cloudbeast Attacks – 
  see below.
  
  The Unbound Book
  His Wildest Dreams
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Vaporous Tentacle 25%, drags to mouth 
  and adds 1d6 to bite damage, next round.
  Armour: None, regenerates 8HP per round.
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d6 to see a Cloudbeast 
  The Next Day
  The Investigators are likely to have ended the previous 
  evening talking to skeptical policemen and may well 
  have decided to stay the night, even if that was not their 
  original plan. At this time of year all the guesthouses 
  have rooms and are willing to open up late at night to 
  get some much needed custom. A Kingsport tourist 
  brochure will be in any room the Investigators may 
  rent.
  In the morning, the town is in a panic – everyone has 
  heard rumours of the horror that came from the skies 
  last night, even if few saw it and many give the tales 
  little credence.
  Apart from themselves, the Investigators encounter 
  nobody else who actually witnessed the Beast, but 
  everyone knows of it second or third hand.
  Nonetheless, 
  the 
  Kingsport 
  Chronicle 
  splashes 
  the story across the front page of its late edition. 
  Reference in the story to “The latest in a series of 
  bizarre occurrences” should lead the Investigators, 
  non-natives of the town, to visit the newspaper or at 
  least seek out back copies at the library.
  If the Investigators have not stayed the night in 
  Kingsport, they will see a copy of the Chronicle 
  elsewhere at a later point in the day. If they don’t return 
  to Kingsport before nightfall, they will not witness 
  Julian St Jerome’s firing (see below), but St Jerome 
  will not start to investigate until the next day, giving 
  them a chance to meet him before his disappearance. 
  In this case, insert an extra, non-deadly sending into 
  the adventure before the Leng Spider – a gigantic 
  moth flying above the rooftops, for example.
  The Kingsport Chronicle
  The previous night’s events are reported thus:
  “IT CAME FROM ABOVE” – Bizarre disappearances 
  terrorise Kingsport. Several witnesses claim ‘Demon 
  from the sky’ took their friends. 
  The story is credited to Julian St Jerome, the paper’s 
  most imaginative reporter (a man, indeed, made of the 
  same material as the Investigators themselves).
  When the Investigators arrive at the Chronicle, 
  however, they discover the editor, Stanley Carter, in 
  the midst of firing St Jerome. They overhear something 
  about “a sensationalist idiot, printing unsubstantiated 
  rumour, fit only for a New York scandal sheet or a 
  Penny Dreadful!”
  Either St Jerome or Carter will tell the Investigators 
  that St Jerome had told the print room to change the 
  front page of the second edition at the last moment, 
  claiming, falsely that Carter (who was at breakfast) had 
  approved it.
  If asked directly about ‘strange occurrences’, Carter 
  will call it ‘nonsense’ and ask the Investigators to stop 
  wasting his time, though he will give access to back 
  issues if requested by anyone who seems even vaguely 
  respectable.
  St Jerome, on the other hand, freshly out of work, will 
  be only too happy to discuss his theory with willing 
  listeners and will suggest they retire to a nearby café 
  to talk about it.
  If the Investigators don’t talk to St Jerome before 
  he leaves the Chronicle, Carter will give them his 
  address in Mother Gamble’s Boarding House (home, 
  incidentally to an insane young occultist, Malcolm 
  Veidt, who could become involved if Investigators are 
  indiscreet – he’d love to own the Dream Crystal, and 
  could even learn to control its sendings!).
  JULIAN St JEROME, Sensationalist, Age 26
  STR 
  12 
  EDU 
  13 
  Know 65%
  CON 
  12 
  POW 
  14 
  Luck   70%
  SIZ 
  13 
  INT 
  15 
  Idea    65%
  DEX 
  12 
  APP 
  15 
  HP        13
   
   
   
   
  SAN      70
  Damage Bonus: +1d4
  Weapons: None
  Skills: Accounting 20%, Bargain 40%, Credit Rating 
  19
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  His Wildest Dreams
  20
  10%, Fast Talk 80%, Law 25%, Library Use 
  50%, Listen 70%, Occult 10%, Persuade 66%, 
  Photography 40%, Psychology 50%, Spot 
  Hidden 60%, Fist 60%.
  Back Issues
  Not all of the events of the last week have made the 
  paper, but the following stories may be noticed:
  Thursday: Public Library Ransacked by Intruder. 
  No witnesses, nothing taken, police unsure of how 
  intruder got in or out, but many bookshelves and desks 
  turned over and much damage done  - “An appalling 
  sign of the philistinic age in which we live”
  Friday: Wild Animal At Large in Kingsport – Keep 
  Your Pet Indoors! Eight cats slaughtered in a single 
  night. Several witnesses described a creature that ‘may 
  have been a wolverine’. Local Animal Control warn 
  Kingsport residents to keep their cats indoors while 
  they hunt for the creature. “Whatever this beast is, it 
  kills for sport, not food.”
  Sunday: 
  Fire 
  Guts 
  Unitarian 
  Church. 
  Five 
  Parishioners Die, Pastor Injured. The story makes 
  no mention of eyewitness accounts of the ‘demon’s’ 
  attack, and suggests an electrical fault started the fire 
  which burned in the basement, where old prayer books 
  and the like were stored, for some time before erupting 
  into the main building. “A great tragedy for Kingsport, 
  and surely a test of all our faith.”
  Carter added editorial gloss to the first and third 
  stories, but all three were in fact written by St Jerome. 
  Now he has calmed down, the editor admits St Jerome 
  is a ‘fine writer’, but his search for sensation in every 
  story is just unsuitable for a paper like the Chronicle.
  Interviewing St Jerome
  Julian St Jerome is keen to discuss his ideas, provided 
  of course, none of the Investigators are journalists. In 
  that case, he will be suspicious they intend to steal his 
  story, and he must be ‘Persuaded’ to co-operate.
  Assuming he is willing to talk, and wherever the 
  interview happens, Julian proves to be an affable, 
  intelligent young man, though possessing a somewhat 
  wild imagination. Depending on the experience of 
  the Investigators this may be viewed as a good or bad 
  thing:
  ‘There’s something going on in Central Hill,” explains 
  St Jerome. “This week I have reported on four 
  different stories, all with some kind of strange angle 
  to them, all within a few hundred yards of the Central 
  Hill Cemetery.”
  “I don’t know if you’ve been reading the paper, but 
  apart from that story last night, which got me fired, 
  there was a fire at the Unitarian Church on Saturday 
  – I have witness accounts that talk about a Demon, 
  if you can believe that; then there was a weird 
  occurrence in the middle of the week where something 
  ripped apart 8 cats in a couple of hours – the story 
  Carter printed suggested a wolverine, but again, 
  witnesses told me otherwise.” 
  “Then back on Wednesday night there was some 
  weird sort of break-in at the Library – except nobody 
  BROKE in. The place was locked up tight as a drum 
  and someone or something got in and trashed the 
  place. I got a look at it and it was like a chimpanzee 
  or something had run riot in there for the whole night 
  – one hell of a mess!”
  “I tried to convince Carter that there’s a pattern, 
  but he won’t even listen – says I’ve got a ‘wild 
  imagination, not commensurate with my standing as 
  member of the Press.’ I guess he’s right; I shouldn’t be 
  working for a small-minded small-town rag like the 
  Chronicle.”
  “Anyway,” he says, finally drawing breath, “how can 
  I help you – or maybe you can help me, eh?”
  St Jerome knows the following information, all of 
  which can also be uncovered by the Investigators with 
  intelligent questioning:
  He interviewed several survivors of the fire, 
  those uninjured described smoke suddenly rising from 
  the floorboards followed seconds later by an eruption 
  of flame near the front of the aisle. He interviewed one 
  of the burned survivors, Martha Franks, who told him a 
  ‘Great scaly Demon’ came from the hole and devoured 
  three men. Only Dr Newman kept his head and was 
  able to get her and another woman to safety through 
  the vestry, despite being badly burned in saving her. 
  The other survivor, Rebecca Smith, was too ill to talk, 
  and the pastor was unwilling to talk to him. A fireman 
  told him the dead men were ‘burned to a crisp’ by an 
  
  The Unbound Book
  His Wildest Dreams
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  ‘extreme heat’, which mystified him.
  Three witnesses of the cat killer described the 
  creature. The ‘wolverine’ description comes from 
  Carter accepting the least detailed and least outlandish. 
  One old lady said the thing which killed her ‘Pussy’ 
  had a face made of tentacles, like an octopus, and the 
  remaining witness, who saw only the hind quarters of 
  the thing (which were, indeed, wolverine-like) swears 
  he heard the creature giggling as it scuttled away from 
  his dead pet. The deceased felines appeared to have 
  been ‘broken’ rather than savaged, judging from the 
  two St Jerome was shown.
  The Librarian told him there was a ‘strange, 
  electric smell’ in the air when she entered 
  her wrecked library. In St Jerome’s opinion that 
  damage was like one would expect from a wild animal, 
  rather than a man, although no sign of tooth or claw 
  damage was visible.
  A wino, Davy Harris, approached him when 
  he was exploring the graveyard for clues and 
  offered him a ‘story’ for $5. St Jerome offered him 
  $2, and Harris told him that on Tuesday night he saw 
  a ‘strange little guy’ creeping around the graves – he 
  swears it wasn’t human, having big eyes and ears, ‘like 
  some kinda bush-baby’. Harris said when he saw this 
  creature he fled, and so did the creature, which seemed 
  as scared as he did – no evidence of it was apparent 
  when St Jerome searched the graveyard.
  Last night’s events were described to him by 
  three witnesses; a couple who saw their dining 
  companion snatched into the clouds and a man, 
  currently hospitalised with a broken leg, who claimed 
  the ‘cloud’ picked him up and dropped him 30ft to the 
  ground. Apart from the witnessed disappearance, and 
  the nurse (if she was taken), three other people who 
  were out that night have been reported missing! In at 
  least one case screams were heard from the next street, 
  but nothing was seen.
  St Jerome sums up that all of these events happened 
  ‘close by’ the Graveyard. He is sure they have some 
  common cause and he would welcome help in 
  searching it out. He would love to see Carter’s face 
  when a big city paper printed the story the Chronicle 
  thought ‘too outlandish’ to pursue! He’d be willing to 
  give 50% of whatever he could sell the story for to the 
  Investigators if they helped him break it!  (Pit Bargain 
  vs. Bargain to improve the deal, if required).
  Further Investigations
  St Jerome suggests he should interview the occupants 
  of all the houses overlooking the graveyard, and that 
  the Investigators pursue their own lines of research. 
  He suggests meeting for dinner at The Sea’s Harvest 
  Restaurant in South Shore at 8pm to compare notes. 
  If asked, he gives the names and addresses of all the 
  witnesses mentioned in the conversation, since the 
  Investigators may be able to find out something he 
  missed.
  The following may present themselves as possible 
  avenues of research:
  Re-interviewing the witnesses. This is a mostly 
  fruitless exercise, since St Jerome is a skilled 
  interviewer who learned nearly all worth knowing. 
  However, a couple of significant points will occur. 
  Firstly, the wino, Davy Harris proves elusive. Nobody 
  who the Investigators might ask knows him, and he is 
  nowhere to be found (for today, at least). Secondly, 
  any attempt to visit one of the burned survivors in 
  the hospital leads to the encounter with Hubert Davis, 
  detailed below. Visiting Dr. Newman again proves 
  pointless, as he is under heavy sedation.
  Library Research. Kingsport Library is ‘Closed for 
  Repairs’, after the Wenelian wrecked the place. Any 
  journey out of town to another library proves fruitless, 
  unless the restricted collection at Miskatonic can be 
  accessed, in which case see below.
  Cthulhu Mythos Research. No Dream Lore tomes 
  are available to the Investigators, but either a Cthulhu 
  Mythos Knowledge roll, or a Research roll in a Mythos 
  tome (halved in each case) will reveal the common 
  thread amongst the things has been seen so far is 
  Dream. Apparently, through some sorcerous methods, 
  creatures from another dimension, usually accessible 
  only through Dreams, are crossing into the Waking 
  World.
  Local Historians. Although usually a very intelligent 
  course of action, in this case interviewing such people 
  as Aaron Hart at the Historical Society, or old Danny 
  Houghton at the Mariner’s Home will cause only 
  confusion. Hart is senile anyway, but records at the 
  society and the memories of older residents will 
  contain clues to such things as the Kingsport Cult, the 
  wreck of the Hellene and the Strange High House in 
  the Mist. Of these, only the latter may be of use in this 
  scenario. 
  Exploring the Graveyard. A Spot Hidden roll 
  discovers a tomb with a forced door within which Davy 
  Harris’ sleeping place and a collection of empty bottles 
  can be found. Harris will not be found here until late 
  that night, since he is elsewhere in town begging for 
  food. No sign of anything supernatural or suspicious 
  can be found anywhere in the Cemetery, unless the 
  Investigators have met Solomon Oakes – it which case, 
  see below for more details.
  The Strange High House in the Mist. If the 
  Investigators choose to visit this place, then they 
  may  (20%) encounter William Bain. Bain will listen 
  with interest to any tales of strange creatures and will 
  21
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  His Wildest Dreams
  22
  visibly pale. He assumes, wrongly, that his activities 
  have opened the rift between Dream and reality and 
  will ask the visitors to leave, while he meditates on a 
  course of action. A Psychology roll reveals that he feels 
  guilty and, if pressed, he admits he thinks he may be 
  to blame. He promises no more such ‘visitations’ and 
  the next evening, the lightning destroys the House. 
  At this point, a Keeper with access to the Kingsport 
  Guidebook could insert the scenario, ‘The House 
  on the Edge’. Within this dream the sendings have 
  stopped, but on awaking from it they continue.
  Visiting the Sites of the Sendings. There is little 
  to be learned from visiting the various places where 
  the Dream creatures have manifested. The Unitarian 
  Church is a hole full of burned timbers – suggestive 
  of an accelerant to anyone with a knowledge of such 
  things. Kingsport Library is closed and if entered looks 
  much as has been described, and all that can be found 
  in investigating the cat slayer is a man from Animal 
  Control scratching his head at some muddy footprints 
  that seem to match no known native predator (Zoology 
  roll – they match no known animal on Earth!).
  Whatever the Investigators choose to do, they have 
  until 8pm, at which point they are due to meet St 
  Jerome at Kingsport’s finest restaurant – they really 
  need time to dress for dinner as well!
  Hubert Davis
  On any second visit to the Congregational Hospital, the 
  Investigators may overhear the following conversation 
  between a pair of passing doctors:
  “I think it’s psychosomatic – we’ve done all the tests 
  and there is no physical reason for the hearing loss.”
  “Possibly, but I’ve never known a psychosomatic loss 
  so total.”
  “I agree, but the man claims to have seen a dragon – I 
  think that’s a pretty clear sign of psychosis.”
  “A dragon?”
  “That’s what he says – ‘a dragon the size of a cat’, if 
  you please. It appeared in his apartment out of thin 
  air, and when he tried to touch it, it breathed vapours 
  on him and he went deaf. Then it vanished.”
  “I see what you mean about psychosis!’
  “He even claims to have photographed it!”
  At this the doctors walk off chuckling, but investigator 
  curiosity is likely to be piqued.
  If the Investigators are able to both discover the 
  identity of this patient and gain access to either Doctor 
  or Davis’ medical notes, they can learn the full story of 
  Hubert’s encounter with the Butterfly Dragon.
  Being a shutterbug, Davis took a single, rather 
  underexposed photograph of the creature. He has the 
  film in his coat pocket and will ask the Investigators to 
  get it developed for him.
  The photograph is clear enough for the creature to 
  be identified by anyone who knows what a Butterfly 
  Dragon is, but not clear enough to be accepted by the 
  authorities as anything other than a rather bizarre 
  fake.
  St Jerome’s Fate
  After a fruitless couple of hours, Julian St Jerome 
  knocks on the door of Allen Nash’s house, which 
  proves a fatal mistake. Nash, who is now sleeping from 
  early evening until lunchtime, has just awoken from a 
  particularly terrible trip to the peak of Thok and his 
  fragile sanity is almost broken. The combination of 
  his bleak outlook on life and the damage to the Dream 
  Crystal has resulted in his dream life spiralling into 
  darker and more deranged fantasies.
  When the dishevelled, wide-eyed Nash opens the door, 
  St Jerome is instantly suspicious. Charming his way 
  inside the house (an event witnessed by Davy Harris 
  who is crouching in the Cemetery, having just awoken 
  himself from his latest bender), the reporter starts to 
  explain the situation to Nash. Nash realises, when the 
  Cloudbeast is described, that the Crystal has become a 
  two-way gate. Desperate that he not lose his chance at 
  immortality, he grabs a poker and launches a frenzied 
  attack on the reporter, breaking his skull open and 
  falling into true insanity.
  Now Nash is truly mad, his dreams will be the most 
  obscene nightmares, and tonight’s will be the first in a 
  series of truly awful ‘visitors’!
  Meanwhile, Julian St Jerome’s corpse lies in the living 
  room of Nash’s house – Nash is too far-gone to even 
  
  The Unbound Book
  His Wildest Dreams
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  bother hiding it.
  That Evening
  The Investigators wait for St Jerome at the restaurant, 
  but he does not show up, or answer his phone. 
  Whenever they decide to give up and return to town 
  will coincide with the latest, and worst, manifestation 
  of the damaged Dream Crystal.
  As the Investigators drive up High Street towards 
  Central Hill, they come across a nightmare scene. 
  Ahead of them a cab has driven into a great web 
  spanning the street where it is trapped like a great 
  mechanical fly, its engine still running. As the 
  occupants try to clamber clear, they are caught on 
  the web, and as a number of stunned witnesses watch 
  uselessly from the street, a gigantic purple spider 
  moves across the web towards them!
  This is a great Leng Spider, and it is hungry. Right 
  now the only people likely to do anything to help are 
  the Investigators, everyone else is either failing Sanity 
  rolls, running away or staring uselessly.
  The Spider will not leave its web unless it takes more 
  than 10 points of damage, in which case it will leave its 
  prey to pursue its attacker. Luckily for everybody, this 
  particular Spider knows no spells.  
  LENG SPIDER, Web-Spinning Horror
  STR 
  35 
  INT 
  7
  CON 
  20 
  POW 
  14
  SIZ 
  40 
  DEX 
  17
  Move 
  6/8 in web
  HP 
  35
  Weapons: Bite 40%, damage 1d6+3d6+poison – POT 
  = 40 (20 damage, 10 if resisted).
  Web 60%, Entangle with STR 20, Range 
  10yds.
  Armour: 6 points of Chitin
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d10 to see a Leng Spider. 
  If the Spider proves too much for the Investigators, it 
  vanishes at just the moment when they seem utterly 
  doomed. It would be a shame to kill them just yet.
  When the Spider vanishes, which it does a few seconds 
  after being killed if not before, it does so by suddenly 
  shimmering and blinking out of existence. Any victim 
  in its jaws (i.e. hit the previous round) vanishes with 
  it.
  The web is left behind. It proves tough and resilient, 
  drying up in 24 hours at which point it can be chopped 
  apart. It burns only at blast furnace temperatures! This 
  is one phenomenon even Carter cannot ignore, and 
  from now on the Chronicle starts to report sanitised 
  versions of all the more public manifestations of 
  Dream.
  Reaction In Kingsport
  Chief Crane and his small force of officers are not 
  equipped to handle such an invasion from beyond, and 
  apart from cordoning off the area where the web is, do 
  little else. Sensible Investigators may urge curfews or 
  even the calling for outside aid, but Crane is indecisive 
  for at least 24 hours.
  What he does after that depends upon the nature 
  of the next evening’s sending. If it results in injury, 
  death or damage to public property, he consults with 
  the Mayor then he calls on Lt Commander Maddern 
  at the Coast Guard Station for assistance. Kingsport 
  is a town which values its individuality, and in which 
  nothing is considered more of an insult than to suggest 
  it is simply the ‘seaside suburb’ of Arkham. As a result 
  the impulse of Civic Authority in the town is to handle 
  this problem without calling on the Arkham Police 
  Department.
  Chief Crane also persuades the Mayor to call a 
  public meeting at Talbot Hall, where he announces 
  Kingsport’s intention to deal with the current crisis 
  without calling on its larger neighbour. There will be 
  a dusk to dawn curfew in the Central Hill area along 
  with nightly patrols by armed Coast Guard men, 
  each patrol to have one of the Kingsport police force 
  accompanying them.
  At the same time, experts in ‘this kind of thing’ are 
  to be contacted for assistance. In this case, however, 
  progress is far too slow to prevent the sendings 
  culminating in the appearance of the Dhole, which will 
  kill several of the Coast Guard men along with many of 
  the local residents. This will cost Mayor Hoag the next 
  election!
  If the Investigators approach the police, Mayor or 
  Coast Guard claiming to be such ‘experts’ (and seem 
  convincing) then they will be given all official help 
  necessary to complete their investigations, including 
  access to the damaged library.
  If they do access the library, a Library Use roll will 
  uncover the story of the Kingsport Cult, which proves 
  to be a most unfortunate red herring (unless of course 
  they have already crossed paths with Mr Oakes!) After 
  one more fatality, people will start to leave Kingsport 
  on ‘visits to relatives’ and the like – a most sensible 
  course of action.
  Resident Dreamers
  A number of Kingsport’s residents are experienced 
  Dreamers and as such may recognise the sendings as 
  creatures from the Lands of Dream they know so well.
  23
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0, June 2002
  His Wildest Dreams
  24
  Of these, the three most significant are William Bain, 
  Basil Elton and Robert Carlton.
  Bain’s reaction has already been discussed, and Basil 
  Elton, out at the North Point Light is unlikely to hear 
  about the events in town in time to react to them 
  (though he certainly would like to chat about them at 
  a later date).
  Robert Carlton, however, might react in such a way 
  as to bring him to the attention of the Investigators. 
  He does not know the Dreamlands are anything other 
  than a product of his own imagination, and should he 
  realise that creatures from his dreams are invading 
  the city, he will be driven temporally insane. This 
  insanity is characterised by an acute hypnophobia 
  and a fascination with the Central Hill area. He will 
  walk the streets at night, downing strong coffee from a 
  vacuum flask. As soon as he discovers the sendings are 
  continuing despite his refusal to sleep, he will throw 
  himself in the harbour, in a desperate attempt to ‘wake 
  up’ and be fished out two days later.
  Searching For Julian
  The best way to solve this mystery is to trace Julian St 
  Jerome. Until this is done, nightmare creatures from 
  the Dreamlands will appear nightly in Central Hill. 
  Use the following table to generate a random creature, 
  and choose a suitable place for it to wreak mayhem:
  1d2 Minions of Karakal
  A Moonbeast
  1d4 Ghasts (indoors, somewhere dark)
  A hungry Gug
  A pair of Wamps
  1d3 Nightgaunts
  Some suggested locations for subsequent sendings are 
  as follows:
  The Crawford Intermediate School, empty at 
  night except for a pair of elderly cleaners – they could 
  be found dead in the morning.
  Masonic Lodge, a monster appearing at a meeting 
  could kill a number of the town’s leading lights.
  Kingsport Rest Home, a creature appearing 
  here would cause chaos amongst the senile and 
  cantankerous residents.
  Harbour Place Hotel, a City Father could die in 
  the George Washington suite, along with his mistress, 
  leading to a scandal.
  The Congregational Church, a minion of Karakal 
  appearing during evensong would be considered a 
  second Demonic appearance.
  If Nash is not stopped within seven more days, a Dhole 
  will appear in the cemetery and destroy most of Central 
  Hill, including Nash’s House. Nash and some 200 
  other people will be killed and many more sent mad 
  before the Dhole vanishes, taking the Dream Crystal 
  with it and dooming the Investigators to failure.
  If this happens because they gave up and fled, Sanity 
  losses of 1d20 are appropriate to signify the enormous 
  guilt they will feel. If they are still in town, seeing the 
  Dhole will be punishment enough!
  To find Julian, the obvious course of action is to do 
  what he did and start to question the occupants of all 
  houses overlooking the Cemetery.
  Before he met Nash, St Jerome had worked his way 
  from the North end of Hill Circle around the cemetery 
  in an anti-clockwise direction. Whether or not the 
  occupants of a given house remember him depends on 
  where exactly the house is. About 80% of the houses 
  are occupied when the Investigators call, and 80% of 
  the occupants in the area St Jerome visited saw him 
  the previous day. None of them had been able to tell 
  him anything.
  At some point during this exercise, a Spot Hidden 
  roll should be attempted. A success notices a scruffily 
  dressed man, obviously a transient, watching from 
  amongst the graves. The possibility that this is Davy 
  Harris, who proved elusive the previous day, should 
  present itself. Approaching him is not easy though, 
  he knows the cemetery very well and is nervous of 
  strangers. If the Investigators do manage to get to talk 
  to him, they are certain to mention St Jerome. When 
  they do so, he reacts at once:
  “I see him, I see him yesterday! You give me $5 and 
  I’ll show you. Yes I will.” Investigators can get the 
  
  The Unbound Book
  His Wildest Dreams
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  information for as little as $2, as St Jerome did earlier 
  in the week. He leads them across the cemetery to the 
  graves overlooking Church St, and points at Nash’s 
  house. “That’s where he went. I see him go in there, 
  yesterday and I think I’ll wait for him, and maybe 
  he’ll give me a dollar. He didn’t come out though. I 
  waited till dark and he never came out.”
  If asked who lives in the house, Harris says he doesn’t 
  know, though it used to be this skinny old man who 
  hardly came out. If asked about the being he saw the 
  previous week, he’ll direct the Investigators to the part 
  of the graveyard where he saw it, but nothing can be 
  found.
  Nash’s house is on Church St, halfway along the 
  cemetery. It is a somewhat run-down Georgian house, 
  in a shabbier state than its neighbours, none of which 
  are exactly palatial. All the curtains are drawn, and if 
  watched at night the only light comes from an upstairs 
  window – and even that is a faint, flickering purplish 
  glow (the Crystal).
  The neighbours on either side, both elderly, know 
  that ‘Old Mr Nash’ died a while back, and his ‘young 
  nephew from Boston’ inherited the house. He came 
  up a few times, saying he was going to fix the place 
  up, then a few weeks back he came to stay. Unlike his 
  previous visits, they have heard no noise of hammering 
  from the house, and they have hardly seen him. Indeed 
  he seems to rarely leave the house, and certainly keeps 
  to himself. To the aged denizens of Church St, this 
  makes him a most agreeable neighbour.
  The neighbour to the left remembers St Jerome calling 
  the previous day, the neighbour to the right does not, 
  and significantly claims to have spent the afternoon 
  sitting in her parlour, knitting.
  If the Investigators consult newspaper files for a report 
  of the death of ‘Old Mr Nash’ they discover he died in 
  September, run down by a car on High Street, and his 
  only living relative is listed as Allen Nash of Boston.
  If they choose to do some research into Allen, all 
  they are likely to discover is that he is a Librarian at 
  the Widener at Harvard, currently on a six month 
  sabbatical, ostensibly to restore the house he inherited 
  from a distant uncle in Kingsport.
  At this point the Investigators should have a pretty 
  clear idea of where St Jerome disappeared. They 
  are, of course free to call the police. If they do this, 
  the police end up seizing the Crystal and the Journal 
  as evidence, and Nash ends up in Danvers Asylum. 
  Within a month, Captain James Blair, the moody 
  moocher of the Kingsport Police Department, has 
  read the journal, stolen the Crystal and started the 
  whole horrible cycle all over again from his lodgings 
  in a seedy Prospect Hill boarding House. Calling in the 
  cops should never result in a satisfactory conclusion in 
  Call of Cthulhu!
  Solomon Oakes
  At 306 Summit St lives the evil cultist Solomon Oakes. 
  St Jerome never called on him, but the Investigators 
  might. He will answer the door, but is dismissive of 
  questions unless his curiosity is piqued by any mention 
  of the supernatural. In such a case he becomes overly 
  keen to hear more, which should be a warning sign 
  to sensible Investigators. His neighbours won’t 
  answer questions about him unless Investigators are 
  particularly persuasive, in which case they will mention 
  his frequent wanderings of the Cemetery at night and 
  their general suspicions of him being ‘unwholesome’.
  Once alerted to supernatural events, Oakes will 
  start to investigate the situation, and each day has a 
  percentage chance equal to his INT (16%) of tracing 
  the source, in which case he will slay the sleeping Nash 
  and take the Crystal, ending the Dream sendings for a 
  while at least.
  If the Investigators start to suspect Oakes, they could 
  end up chasing a particularly dangerous wild goose!
  If asked about Oakes, Davy Harris goes pale and says 
  he knows of him, but always avoids him if he sees him 
  in the Cemetery. Oakes disappears into a particular 
  tomb, to which he has a key, and often does not emerge 
  for hours. He can direct the Investigators to the tomb, 
  which has the barely readable legend “Solomon Oakes” 
  and contains an entrance to the tunnels below. What 
  they find there is outside the scope of this scenario.
  Harris seems to be holding something back, however, 
  and a Persuade roll or a bribe is needed to get him to 
  admit that he once (about two months ago) saw Oakes 
  take a fellow transient, a young man called ‘Marty’, 
  into his house. Marty never came out.
  Confronting Nash
  The events of the final confrontation with Nash 
  depend wholly on whether he is awake or asleep when 
  the Investigators arrive at his house. He has reached 
  the point where he is sleeping 18 hours a day (with 
  chemical assistance), from around 6pm until mid-
  day. When awake, he spends 90% of his time at home, 
  writing in the journal, eating cold food out of cans and 
  so on, and the other 10% out on minor errands.
  This means there are three possible situations when 
  the Investigators arrive:
  Nash is out of the house (10%, if between mid-day 
  and 6pm).
  Nash is present, and awake (90%, if between mid-
  day and 6pm).
  25
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  His Wildest Dreams
  26
  Nash is asleep and dreaming (100% between 6pm 
  and mid-day).
  If asleep, knocking at the door will not wake him up 
  under any circumstances, so the Investigators must 
  either break in, or come back later.
  If Nash is absent, the Investigators may break in, and 
  will find St Jerome’s body. The Crystal and Journal 
  are hidden in the secret compartment. In this case, 
  upon his arrest, Nash will say nothing. The ‘sendings’ 
  will cease, but nothing has been explained, and the 
  Investigators will be left with an uncomfortable feeling 
  that the case is not really solved.
  If Nash is present and awake, he will be unfriendly to 
  visitors and try to force them to leave. If they insist on 
  entering, he will direct them to the study, and when 
  they see St Jerome’s corpse, he will attack in a frenzy 
  using the same poker that killed the reporter. If he 
  is killed, the Journal and Crystal will be found in his 
  bedroom.
  If Nash is asleep, he will not wake unless shaken (in 
  which case he is extremely hostile and grabs for a 
  kitchen knife under the bed). The Crystal sits on the 
  bed stand, pulsing with an unearthly light, and the 
  journal sits open on the floor. In this case, the sendings 
  can be stopped by killing Nash or smashing the Crystal. 
  Killing the sleeping Nash costs 1/1d4 Sanity.
  The house itself shows signs that Nash has been 
  working on his renovation project, but this appears to 
  have been abandoned. The room in which St Jerome 
  lies dead is part way through being re-wallpapered, 
  but the paste has dried in the bucket.
  ALLEN NASH, Insane Dreamer, Age 30
  STR 
  14 
  EDU 
  15 
  Know 75%
  CON 
   9 
  POW 
  16 
  Luck   80%
  SIZ 
  14 
  INT 
  14 
  Idea    70%
  DEX 
  13 
  APP 
  12 
  HP         12
   
   
   
   
  SAN       0
  Damage Bonus:+1d4
  Weapons: Poker, Kitchen Knife, Skillet etc. all at 
  base skill.
  Skills: Cthulhu Mythos 10%, Dreaming 80%, 
  Dreamlore 30%, Library Use 80% (spends a lot 
  of time in the Great Library of the Dreamlands)
  Destroying the Dream Crystal
  The Dream Crystal is fragile, and can be smashed 
  with a hard blow against something solid. Doing 
  so, however, triggers one last sending. The creature 
  appears in Nash’s room and attacks at once. In this 
  case it does not disappear until slain.
  Destroying the Crystal while Nash sleeps traps his 
  spirit in a very bad part of the Dreamlands, leaving 
  him a catatonic husk. He is not immortal though, and 
  will die in the Dreamlands when his body dies – a 
  matter of only 1 or 2 years with him in such a state. 
  Destroying the Crystal while Nash is awake sends him 
  into an uncontrollable homicidal frenzy from which 
  his shattered mind will never recover. During this 
  frenzy he gains an effective 2 extra points of STR and 
  CON at the cost of 10% from all combat skills.
  Keeping the Dream Crystal
  If Nash is not killed, but merely overpowered and 
  the Investigators choose to keep and even use the 
  Crystal, Nash is far more manageable. However he will 
  immediately start planning to escape and return for 
  his property. This situation will result in Nash being 
  sent to Danvers Asylum and escaping in 1d3 months to 
  come back for his Crystal. Even if it has been destroyed 
  by then, he won’t know and will still come after it.
  If Nash is dead, the Investigators are free to take the 
  Crystal. Using it, however, creates the same dangers 
  Nash faced.
  To some extent, the problem with the Crystal is 
  connected, as Bain would guess, to the weak barrier 
  Nash’s Belongings
  The two significant items in Nash’s room are the Dream 
  Crystal and the Dream journal, which his uncle began 
  and he has continued. If these items are hidden, then 
  they will only be found if the Investigators specifically 
  search for a secret compartment and make a halved Spot 
  Hidden roll.
  Dream Crystal. An asymmetric white Crystal about 
  8 inches high, supported by an ornate silver stand. All 
  those sleeping within 5 feet of it enter the Dreamlands 
  through the Crystal Cavern, and gain an initial Dreaming 
  skill equal to their POWx3. This Crystal is badly cracked, 
  which causes the arrival of Dream Creatures in the 
  waking world while it is in use. This is useless as a 
  means of following Nash, however, since his great skill 
  in Dreaming enables him to travel quickly to the more 
  nightmarish parts of that realm, where anyone sleeping 
  beside him will not be able to follow. 
  Dream Journal of The Nash Family. This book 
  was started by Jonathan and continued by Allen, and 
  describes their travels in the Land of Dream. Allen’s 
  travels and adventures become steadily more horrific, 
  hence the SAN loss and Cthulhu Mythos Knowledge 
  found within. 
  Language: English; Sanity Loss: 1D3/1D6; time 
  the read – 4 weeks; Cthulhu Mythos 
  Knowledge +3; Dreamlore +15.
  Spells: Lace Curtains of Hish, Passing Unseen, 
  Eviscerator (All Dreamlands only).
  
  The Unbound Book
  His Wildest Dreams
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  between the worlds created by the presence of the 
  Strange High House. Consequently, the sendings the 
  damaged Crystal causes are less frequent outside of 
  Kingsport. If the Crystal is used anywhere outside of 
  the town, the chance of a sending equals 50% minus 
  the user’s POW. Each dreamer sharing the Crystal has 
  a chance of triggering a sending, though only one will 
  occur per use, no matter how many dreamers sharing 
  there are.
  A user also has a chance equal to their POW, as a 
  percentage of mastering the Crystal’s ability to create 
  sendings, and gets to roll on this once per month 
  of constant use. Once mastered, a specific creature 
  can be summoned (though not bound or in any way 
  controlled) at the cost of 1 MP per point of POW the 
  creature has. If the dreamer exceeds his Magic Points 
  in attempting this, his sleep becomes dreamless and 
  he cannot enter the Dreamlands again until he has 
  recovered at least half of his MP total.
  Apart from the nightly sendings, using the Crystal is 
  addictive. Each use requires a Sanity roll. If the user 
  fails he loses 1 SAN and gains 2d6% to his chance of 
  addiction (which starts at zero). The Keeper should 
  keep a secret note of this Addiction percentage and 
  each night the owner chooses not to use the Crystal 
  must roll over their addiction score to resist the urge 
  to use it anyway. Any attempt to smash the Crystal or 
  give it away also requires the Addiction roll be failed 
  first.
  Any visits to the land of Dream should be role-played 
  in detail between the Keeper and the Player – creating 
  a series of small Dream adventures for this purpose is 
  well worthwhile.
  There is no way to prevent the Dream creatures from 
  appearing, although they always do so within half a 
  mile of the Crystal, which makes its use in isolated 
  places relatively safe – the creatures will not approach 
  the Crystal itself willingly, so the Dreamer himself is 
  safe.
  Every time using the Crystal results in a creature 
  appearing and causing harm, a Sanity roll is required, 
  for a loss of 1/1d3. It should be obvious the moral thing 
  to do is to destroy the Crystal.
  Rewards For Success
  The Sanity gain for completing this adventure is 
  variable, depending on the conclusion played out. 
  If Nash is stopped, but the Crystal is never found 
  and the puzzle is left unsolved, a mere 1D4 SAN should 
  be gained. This applies in the case of calling in the 
  police.
  If Nash is killed when helpless, and the Crystal 
  destroyed, 1d6+1 SAN should be gained.
  If Nash is either killed in self-defence or not 
  at all, and the Crystal is taken, 1d8+2 SAN should be 
  gained.
  If Nash is either killed in self-defence or not at 
  all, and the Crystal is destroyed, 1d10+3 SAN should 
  be gained.
  If the Crystal is taken, but destroyed at a 
  later date, 1D3 additional SAN should be gained by 
  whoever chooses to destroy it.
  If a third party ends up in possession of the 
  Crystal, a SAN loss of 1/1D6 is appropriate when the 
  sendings start again.
  Bringing an end to the second wave of sendings should 
  result in half of the SAN gain listed above, since they 
  were preventable.
  The presence of Julian St Jerome’s corpse in Nash’s 
  house should protect the Investigators from any 
  ramifications for his death. 
  It is very unlikely that the Investigators will attempt to 
  get the bizarre story into print – Stanley Carter at the 
  Chronicle will certainly not consider it, although he 
  does dedicate the next issue to St Jerome, and prints a 
  rather touching obituary.
  Within a year, even those sendings that were witnessed 
  by multiple people, and resulted in widespread death 
  and destruction have been relegated to the status of 
  urban legends. In Lovecraft Country, it is surprising 
  how quickly the ripples fade and the pond calms once 
  more. 
   
  27
  On the Unbound  
  Website 
  His Wildest Dreams
  - D20 Stats for His Wildest Dreams
  - Overview Map of Kingsport
  - A Players Guide to Kingsport
  - Player and Keepers Maps of Central Hill
  Visit the Unbound Book Website @
   www.unboundbook.org
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  His Wildest Dreams
  28
  Central Hill, Kingsport 1925 (Keepers Map)
  Lee Street
  Unitarian Church
  Hill Circle
  Church St
  Lafayette
  High St
  Orchard
  Page
  Kingsport
  Library
  Seas Harvest
  Kingsport Police & 
  Fire Department
  Dennehy’s 
  Dinner
  Kingsport 
  Chronicle
  Masonic 
  Lodge
  Congregational 
  Hospital
  Solomon Oakes’ 
  House
  Nash House
  Robbin’s Apartments
  Kingsport Historical 
  Society & Musuem
  The Kingsport Rest 
  Home
  Crawford Public 
  School
  Carter St
  Caldecott St
  Howard St
  Summit St
  Congregational 
  Church
  Harbour Place 
  Hotel
  Pine
  Franklin
  Turner St
  Pearl St
  High St
  Atlantic St
  Price St
  Hart St
  Brush
  Summit St
  Endicott Street
  Cooper
  Northward
  Central Hill 
  Cemetery
  
  What Goes Around… is a short non-mythos adventure designed 
  to be played in one session by one or two relatively inexperienced 
  Investigators (although more can be easily accommodated). 
  Although nominally based in Lovecraft’s Arkham during the 
  winter of 1921, it can, with very little work, be situated in any 
  small town during any time period.
  The entire adventure should only take one game day, depending, of 
  course, on the characters actions. During this time the characters 
  may well be faced with a moral dilemma, in which they will not 
  want to take sides, however it is important the Keeper emphasises 
  the need for the characters to react quickly to the situation to 
  achieve the best outcome.
  Keeper’s Background
  John Burton, owner of Arkham’s finest jewellery store, used to 
  love his wife, and he supposes that at sometime in the past she 
  may have loved him. Tonight, however he knows the marriage is 
  no more and he plans on ensuring she is out of his life forever…
  When John Burton and Valerie Haywright married it looked as 
  if both were getting what they most wanted in life. John was to 
  become heir of Haywright’s, Arkham’s most prestigious jewellery 
  store, and Valerie was to gain herself the man she needed to 
  get her into high society. But if this was their only goal in the 
  marriage, both were be horribly disappointed. 
  John quickly learnt that his father-in-law was a tyrant, whose 
  control of the purse strings and the business was almost draconian. 
  Not that John was ever really around to be effected by Avery 
  Haywright’s financial policy, as he was regularly travelling at his 
  father-in-laws behest, always on the look out for the cheapest 
  raw materials. In Valerie’s case, shortly after their marriage she 
  discovered her husband was no more suited for fame or high 
  society than she herself was. To make matters worse despite her 
  goading, John seemed unwilling to even try and better himself. 
  When Old man Haywright passed away a year ago John hoped he 
  would be free to run the business as he wished. However as he 
  quickly discovered his wife’s demands filled the void left by the 
  old man. Valerie became more and more demanding of him and 
  it seemed as if nothing he did was ever good enough. 
  It was about this time, during one of his many trips to New York, 
  John met and fell in love with Joanne Carter, a secretary from 
  Manhattan. Unable to leave Valerie - all the money was either 
  invested in the store or closely guarded by his wife - John began 
  plotting his salvation. 
  As his plans formulated, John left on a buying trip to Vladivostok 
  in Russia (a voyage which had been arranged by Old man 
  Haywright shortly before his death). It was during his long days 
  on the ocean that he set on a plan to rid himself of Valerie and the 
  legacy of the Haywrights once and for all. 
  But one small purchase in an ancient city set in motion a chain of 
  events which were to change John Burton’s life forever. Travelling 
  to a meeting one brisk morning he chanced across a street vendor 
  selling estate jewellery. Professionally interested, he stopped 
  to review the goods and discovered a most beautiful necklace, 
  29
  The Unbound Book
  What Goes Around...
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  ‘Chainletter’ © 2002 Alan M. Clark
  What Goes 
  Around...
  By Marcus D. Bone
  A Non-Mythos Adventure in 
  Lovecraft’s Arkham
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  What Goes Around...
  30
  one that, the seller insisted, had attached an ancient 
  and obscure legend. Immediately he knew he must 
  purchase it, not for his wife, but rather for Joanne - a 
  symbol his new life with her. 
  Last week John returned from his long trip away to 
  find his luggage had arrived at his Arkham home 
  shortly before him. Before he had a chance to hide the 
  necklace, the gift had been discovered and claimed by 
  Valerie. 
  John Burton is now more determined than ever to rid 
  himself of his wife and at last be with his true love in 
  New York.
  Involving the Investigators
  The opening events of the adventure take place just 
  prior to dawn on West Main Street, Arkham, outside 
  Haywright’s Fine Jewellery store (located at 227 - 
  between Ace Alarms and Lock-Safes and E Parrington 
  Gunsmiths). What the characters are doing in this area 
  at the time is left up to the individual Keeper, although 
  it is important they are the first people on the scene to 
  witness the destruction of the jewellery store.
  A Fiery Beginning
  Shortly before dawn a huge explosion shatters the 
  peace in the early morning streets of Arkham, as 
  Haywright’s Fine Jewellery store is consumed in a 
  massive ball of fiery destruction. The characters, in the 
  area for whatever reason, are the first on the scene. 
  “By the time you reach Haywright’s Fine Jewellery 
  it is already well ablaze. The roof has exploded 
  outwards, covering the street with brick and tile. 
  Flames rise high into the air consuming the inside 
  of the building frightfully quickly. As bricks begin to 
  burst and glass shatters, you hope to God no one is 
  inside.”
  The characters are unable to get too close to the 
  burning building due to an intense heat and flying 
  debris. A successful Idea roll will lead the Investigators 
  to realise this fire is being fed by some flammable 
  source – most obviously natural gas (heating gas).
  “The flames seem to rise in intensity and quickly 
  threaten the businesses next to the fiery convocation. 
  Although some local residents have appeared on the 
  street, most are barely dressed and seem stunned and 
  unmanned for the events unfolding around them.”
  Fortunately Haywright’s is located in a light commercial 
  district and, although it is near residential buildings, 
  the fire will not have long enough to do any substantial 
  damage to any other structure. If the characters do 
  not summon the Arkham Fire Department, they will 
  nevertheless soon hear the distant ringing of brass 
  bells as fire trucks converge on the blaze.
  There is not much for the characters to do during this 
  time, except watch the fire and thank their lucky stars 
  they were not near the building when it first exploded. 
  However before too many curious locals or the Fire 
  Department arrives a Spot Hidden roll should be 
  attempted by all Investigators present at the blaze. If 
  successful read the following:
  “The flames roll and lick higher, changing shades of 
  red as they consume everything they touch. For a 
  moment it looks as if they might almost be alive…in 
  fact, as you watch the blaze it becomes obvious, as 
  impossible as that seems, someone or something is 
  inside the building. Yes… as you watch intently you 
  are positive you can make out something ALIVE in 
  the fire”.
  In the flames something is indeed alive, and angry.
  A Son of Veles (see the Guides of the Dead side bar) 
  which is now free. Until the death of Valerie Burton 
  (who has perished in the blaze) it resided in her 
  necklace (coincidentally the same necklace she had 
  found in John’s luggage after his return from Russia). 
  These creatures are known in Russia as the guides of 
  the dead or the bringers of justice, stalking those who 
  have murdered the owner of their resting place (in this 
  case the necklace).
  Guides of the Dead
  Standing over 6 feet tall and covered head to foot in dark 
  grey fur, the Sons of Veles (or Volos, a little remember 
  God) are known as the guides of the dead. In Russia, 
  stories of the Sons are used to frighten young children 
  at bedtime and to ensure those who wish to misbehave 
  are kept in line. Resembling the fictional Werewolf, they 
  might well be the basis of that myth.
  Whether or not these creatures are actually the sons of a 
  God is up for debate, although what is known is that they 
  are bound to a piece of jewellery or personal item until 
  the owner’s death, at which point they emerge and lead 
  the soul to the underworld. 
  Leading the spirit of the deceased to a better place is just 
  half of the Son’s task; the other is to exact revenge on any 
  killer of the wearer. In this task it is relentless,  tracking 
  down the murderer with unmatched ferocity. Active only 
  at night, during daylight hours it returns to its original 
  realm. 
  A Son, although ‘hurt’ by mundane weapons regenerates 
  all damage done to it quickly. One can even be ‘killed’ 
  only to return the next night to exact its revenge. Perhaps 
  the most frightening part of the Sons of Veles legend 
  involves it hunting down and killing any other mortals 
  which happen to witness it when it stalks its prey. Those 
  hunted by the creature learn of their fate by its howling 
  as it closes in on them, a noise which only they can hear.
  
  The Unbound Book
  What Goes Around...
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Shortly after appearing in the flames the Son makes 
  its way out from the store and heads towards the Old 
  Wooded Graveyard. It is easy enough to follow and will 
  not concern itself with the characters unless they get 
  in its way. Viewing this huge creature requires a Sanity 
  check costing 1/1d8.
  SON OF VELES, Guide of the Dead
  STR 
  20 
  INT 
  10
  CON 
  22 
  POW 
  17
  SIZ 
  18 
  DEX 
  18
  Move 
  9 
  HP 
  20
  Weapons: Claws 70%, damage 1d6+1d6db.
  Bite 40%, damage 1d8+1d6db
  Armour: None but can only be damaged with 
  enchanted weapons, or with a flaming 
  stake to the heart (see the rest of the 
  adventure). Regenerates hit points at a 
  rate of 1 per turn, or 5 per round once 
  under zero.
  Sanity Loss: 1/1d8
  If the characters do not confront the Son it lopes 
  across the cemetery as dawn breaks. As the light creeps 
  across the ground the characters witness an amazing 
  sight. Where the rays of the sun strikes the creature, it 
  becomes opaque, almost totally see through. As the sky 
  lightens, the Son, who continues to cross the cemetery, 
  slowly but surely vanishes, until, once bathed in full 
  sunlight, cannot be seen at all. 
  If the characters confront the Son, the dawn should 
  reach it before they are able to do too much damage to 
  each other. If the characters go to the spot where the 
  Son was last seen, nothing can be found. It is as if it 
  had never really existed at all, like some sort of figment 
  of their imaginations. The Son has, in fact, returned 
  to its realm of existence, eagerly awaiting dusk to 
  complete its task.
  The Investigators are now working against a clock they 
  don’t even know exists if they are to have any chance of 
  defeating the Son of Veles and saving their own lives.
  After the Fire
  Once all the excitement has abated the characters can 
  return to the scene of the fire. There are a number of 
  facts which they may or may not be able to discover 
  about the events they have just witnessed.
  It is however vitally important the characters discover 
  the documents which describe the necklace (the casket 
  in which the Son of Veles was imprisoned) and some of 
  the legends which surround the Veles myth. Although 
  these are nominally the jewellery store safe (the only 
  item to survive the fire relatively intact) they can be 
  discovered at any point of the adventure. (See The 
  Documents below).
  Once the fire has been fully extinguished (about an 
  hour after the first fire engine arrives) the following 
  can be discovered:
  Damage. The building is in ruins, the initial explosion 
  and the subsequent fire blew the roof off the store and 
  destroyed many of its walls. As a result, Haywright’s 
  Fine Jewellers is now not much more than a shell. 
  The scene has been cordoned off at both ends of West 
  Main Street, with police officers questioning those who 
  witnessed the blaze.
  Although some furniture and internal wall structures 
  have survived, albeit as wet, blackened and charred 
  icons of destruction, only two items of any real interest 
  can be found, a body and the safe. 
  What the Police know. The police will quickly piece 
  together a number of facts about the explosion.
  While the fire may or may not have been deliberately 
  lit, natural gas was most definitely the propellant 
  (the Fire Department states that they turned the 
  gas off when first reaching the scene).
  At this point in time it is not being treated as arson, 
  31
  What really happened last 
  night?
  The body in the shop is that of Valerie Burton, burnt now 
  beyond all recognition, the victim of her husbands plot 
  to free himself from the insignificant life he now leads.
  Early that morning John Burton had awoken his wife 
  with a start, stating he thought he might not have turned 
  off the gas at the store. Berated by his wife for such a 
  stupid act, they both arose from bed, dressed and drove 
  down to Haywright’s Fine Jewellery.
  Once inside John set his plan into action, apologising 
  to his wife for obviously making a mistake, who berated 
  him again this time for getting them out of bed, he left 
  her standing in the shop area while he made his way into 
  the back room. Here he flicked off the main lights, yelled 
  that it must be a fuse, and made his way to the fuse box. 
  The old fuse box was already a disaster waiting to 
  happen. Flicking off the mains, John exposed some of 
  the lighting wires, before reinstating the power. One 
  simple twist of the gas mains and all was set. 
  Valerie, still waiting for the return of the lights, heard 
  the click of the back door closing followed by the roar 
  of a familiar car engine. Calling out to John, she got no 
  response and after a few moments, she made her way 
  into the back room angrily trying to get a response from 
  her husband. Reaching the light switch she flicked it on. 
  The gas and one random spark did the rest.
  
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  What Goes Around...
  32
  but rather as an unfortunate accident.
  The witnesses (except perhaps the Investigators) 
  have nothing to tell, most arriving long after the 
  blaze began. 
  Discovery of a body. If the characters gain access to 
  the site they will discover a tarpaulin over the remains 
  of an unidentified victim of the fire (although if John 
  Burton has already visited the scene, the police can 
  make a fair assumption it is his wife Valerie). A police 
  officer is always present, watching the body until it is 
  removed shortly after 12.
  If any of the characters are game enough to examine 
  the body a Sanity loss of 0/1d4 results in seeing the 
  twisted charred corpse of Valerie Burton. The smell 
  alone is enough to make the character retch and 
  the police officer watching over the body is almost 
  physically sick at the sight of it.
  Nothing can be found on the body, but it is obvious the 
  victim was fully clothed at the time of the explosion. 
  The Safe. This is the only object to survive the fire 
  intact. A man high four by four-foot steel safe, it will 
  be forced open during the initial investigation by the 
  police. While nothing of interest is discovered inside, 
  all the precious raw materials and jewellery pieces are 
  moved to the police station (to be passed on once the 
  insurance investigation begins).
  There are also a number of legal and informational 
  documents inside, most of which are receipts, orders 
  or other jewellery related notes. There is however 
  a number of curious and seemingly out of place 
  documents here as well.
  The Documents in the Safe
  These papers are vital to future of the characters. 
  Not only do they describe what the Investigators saw 
  earlier that morning, they also explain why and, how it 
  is here and more importantly, how to stop it. 
  Where the characters discover these papers is left up 
  to the Keepers’ discretion, although nominally they are 
  present in the safe at Haywright’s Fine Jewellers until 
  they are either taken by John or placed to one side by 
  the police as unimportant. If the characters cannot 
  get access to the scene of the fire the best suggestion 
  is for them to be found early on while scoping out 
  Haywright House (see below). If this is not possible 
  the Keeper can allow the characters to observe the 
  documents being placed in a police car outside the 
  cordoned off area before mentioning that they are left 
  unattended while the driver goes back to collect more.
  A good Keeper should have no trouble getting 
  the documents to the players no matter what the 
  circumstance. 
  The documents are a note, a letter and aparchment, 
  all relating to John’s recent trip to Vladivostok in Far 
  Eastern Russia. (See Around Handouts 1 through 
  3).
  The letter of travel arrangements - Around 
  Handout 1. This letter is about five months old and 
  was received by John (with other documents no longer 
  attached) from the Dormantry Travel Bureau in New 
  York. John had actually planned on throwing out this 
  letter with the rest of the scraps he had brought back 
  from Russia, but somehow it ended up in the safe with 
  some of the more important documentation from the 
  trip.
  Page from a journal - Around Handout 2. 
  This yellowed and torn page looks as if they once 
  formed part of someone’s personal journal. Although 
  impossible to date, one could hazard a guess that it is 
  at least a hundred years old. Written using an older 
  style of Russian grammar it takes two hours and a 
  Read/Write Russian roll to translate (although it is 
  more likely the characters will take this and the other 
  Russian note, see below, to a translator).
  The Trinket text - Around Handout 3. This is 
  nothing more than a scrap of paper, on which is written 
  a few simple words of modern Russian (a successful 
  Read/Write Russian will translate it). 
  Learning More about the Documents
  Finding out more information about the documents 
  found in the safe is a relatively easy task. Those in 
  Russian can be translated by anyone with a decent skill 
  in Read/Write Russian and, although it is unlikely one 
  of the characters will have this skill, a translator can 
  be easily tracked down at the Miskatonic University 
  Modern Languages Department (Russian is currently 
  being taught by Dr Nicholai Stolpa). More about 
  the travel itinerary can be found out by ringing the 
  sender.
  Dormantry Travel Bureau. Owned and run by 
  Peter Domantry this company specialises in Eastern 
  European travel (which is still a rarity in the 1920s). 
  
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  What Goes Around...
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  Based in New York, they cater for upper or business 
  class travellers who wish to not only to get where they 
  are going safely, but also with a bit of style. 
  If any of the Investigators contact the company 
  directly, all inquiries are put through to Peter, who is 
  in his late 50s and has a heavy Polish accent. Peter will 
  not give out any information unless the characters can 
  convince him of the importance of their call or contact 
  him in some official capacity.
  If the Investigators do get him to talk, he will actually 
  have only very little to say about Mr Burton, except 
  that he is a fairly regular customer (once every year 
  or so he would organise business trips to Russia or 
  other parts of Eastern Europe) with the last trip to 
  Vladivostok about four months ago. John had rung 
  not more than a week ago to say that he had returned 
  safely and had enjoyed his trip. Peter will wrap up the 
  conversation by stating he hopes to be able to fulfil Mr 
  Burton’s travel needs for many more years to come.
  The Translated Trinket Text. Any good translator 
  can almost immediately translate the Trinket text. 
  They will explain it is actually a quote from a very 
  famous book on Russian Folklore. It reads:
  The Sons of Veles are the guardians of the soul, 
  Guides in the after life. To touch their resting place is 
  to ensure your safe passage to God.
  Born from their Father’s love of all that is good in 
  the world. They reside in small trinkets awaiting the 
  passing of their owner to help them leave the mortal 
  coil.
  The translator believes there is a copy or two of this 
  same book in the Miskatonic University Library. It is 
  called The Darkness of the North: Stories from 
  Russian Folklore and was written at the turn of 
  the century by a well-known Russian scholar, Sergi 
  Romantov.
  If possible the translator will also volunteer further 
  information about Veles (a character with Read/Write 
  Russian skill will also know this with a successful 
  History roll), who was also known as Volos, a Russian 
  god, whose worship extends back into the earliest of 
  written records. Originally he is the god of music, art, 
  poetry and animals. But later was also considered the 
  god of flocks and herds and, because he was depicted 
  with horns, of death and the Underworld.  
  As a note to the Keeper Veles/Volos was really 
  worshipped in Russia and a search of the Internet for 
  folklore or other mythology sites could help flesh out 
  any questions the characters might have about this 
  god.
  Translating the page of the journal. This is a 
  much more difficult proposition, as the style and 
  grammar of the writing is quite old. (For an example 
  of this see Mallory’s Mort de Arthur - or the legend of 
  King Arthur which, while in English, is difficult to read 
  due to the style of language used. This is a good way of 
  explaining to players why Mythos books take so long 
  to read).  
  It takes about two hours to get a readable translation 
  out of the document (See Around Handout 4), at 
  which point the translator, although dismissing the 
  ‘journal’ as just a piece of fiction is never the less 
  intrigued as to where the characters have got such 
  an old and obviously important piece of Russian 
  literature.
  Although he can’t date it, telling from the style of the 
  text it is at least four hundred years old! The translator 
  won’t pressure the characters but will request that such 
  an item would best be served in a Library or Museum.
  Perhaps the most important things to come out of this 
  journal page are:
  A Son of Veles is a vicious killer who tracks down 
  those who have killed the wearer of its ‘trinket’.
  It kills all mortals who get in its way, or who witness 
  it.
  What is not so obvious is that it comes after dark and 
  only those marked by the Son can hear its howls. 
  Nevertheless this page should act as a warning to the 
  characters that they have witnessed a relentless killer. 
  Darkness of the North
  The Miskatonic University Library does indeed have 
  copies of this book and, most surprisingly from the 
  Investigators point of view, they are held on the regular 
  33
  
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  What Goes Around...
  34
  stacks of that building.
  A successful Library Use roll will enable the characters 
  to locate the book and find the passages relating to the 
  Sons of Veles. (See Around Handout 5).
  These pages are the characters key to understanding 
  and defeating the Son of Veles - before it starts hunting 
  them down as well. 
  The story of the Woodsman defeating the Son of Veles 
  holds the three key points needed for a successful 
  conclusion to the character’s investigation:
  Sons are invisible during the daylight; so  even 
  if the characters have defeated the creature the 
  chances are it will return tonight at dusk.
  A Son is stunned by seeing its own reflection, 
  although why this is so is not explained.
  While stunned it can be killed by driving a flaming 
  arrow (a stake or any other wooden implement will 
  also work) into its heart.
  If the characters have already visited the Haywright 
  House and encountered Mrs McTighe, they will be 
  able to workout who the murderer is and therefore 
  who the Son is tracking.
  Haywright House
  John and Valerie received Haywright House as part 
  of their inheritance. A two-storey villa situated on a 
  large piece of land at 219 West Miskatonic Ave, it is 
  an example of early 1840s Arkham architecture, with 
  extensive use of high stud ceils and gabled roofing 
  typical of the era of its construction. 
  Old Man Haywright, although frugal, decorated the 
  interior with many interesting (but mundane) pieces 
  of art, most of which still remain. The majority of 
  the everyday furniture is old restored antique pieces, 
  not because Haywright was too cheap to purchase 
  anything new, but rather as a result of his hobby 
  - carpentry and woodturning (his lathe and other 
  tools now reside in an unused shed at the back of the 
  section, collecting dust).
  Since taking possession of the house, just over a year 
  ago, John and Valerie have done little to the building 
  or the land on which it stands. Although the Haywright 
  House is not a manor by any stretch of the imagination, 
  it is situated on a large property typical of Arkham’s 
  upper-middle class. The section in the front is private 
  and enclosed by a large well-groomed hedge, while the 
  back yard (which is the size of a normal Arkham city 
  property) is lush with trees and gardens. Two utility 
  sheds and a garage are also located near the rear of the 
  section.
  Front Garden and Porch: The front of the 
  Haywright House is neat and tidy, the hedges have all 
  recently been trimmed and the garden weeded. If it is 
  after 10am, the mail has been delivered, but consists 
  of nothing more than bills and statements. There is 
  nothing of real interest here to any Investigators, until 
  they reach the front porch, at which point they will 
  notice a bouquet of flowers with a note attached. 
  Valerie, John  
  Have just heard about the fire! Hope all well and 
  safe!
  Eric and Melissa
  This is from family friends, who are as yet unaware 
  of Valerie’s demise. If tracked down Eric and his 
  wife Melissa have nothing to add to the investigation, 
  rather than stating their concern about the well being 
  of the Burtons. 
  Backyard, Garage and Sheds: The backyard is just 
  as tidy as the front, with weeded gardens and low cut 
  grass. A number of flowerbeds are showing the first 
  signs of life in the spring. 
  The garage is locked at all times but once opened is tidy 
  and clean inside. A car, a new Chevrolet 490 Touring, 
  is only present when John is in the house. Nothing 
  much else is in here except a few tools, stored art and 
  antiques (Old Man Haywright’s tastes weren’t always 
  matched by his heirs).
  The larger of the two sheds is used to store gardening 
  equipment (trowels, spades, shovels and hoes are all 
  lined up nicely against the walls), while in one corner 
  firewood is neatly stacked. The smaller shed is full 
  of Old Man Haywrights carpentry and woodturning 
  equipment. Dusty, but in useable condition this has 
  sat in here since John and Valerie took ownership of 
  the house. A number of unfinished pieces of furniture 
  are also present.
  Down Stairs: This consists of a Sunroom, Dining 
  Room, Kitchen and Family Lounge. In general this 
  floor is very tidy, with the floors clean and the rooms 
  spotless, the only things that will be out of place 
  depends on what time of the day the Investigators 
  enter the house. If it is between 9am and 6pm they 
  will discover three packed bags near the front door. 
  If examined these bag contain just mens clothing and 
  other personal items. It seems however as if someone is 
  prepared for a long trip away (there is enough changes 
  of clothing to last many weeks). If the characters arrive 
  after 6pm the bags are still there, however in the front 
  room a number of sympathy notes and bunches of 
  flowers have been dumped. All the notes are unread, 
  including any the characters might have left, and if 
  opened all express sympathy over the destruction 
  of Haywrights. These are from the Burton’s friends 
  and neighbours and none mention anything about 
  Valerie’s death.
  
  The Unbound Book
  What Goes Around...
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  Everything else is as one would expect to find in a 
  house of the Burton’s standing - the kitchen well 
  stocked, plenty of liquor in the alcohol cabinet etc.
  Upstairs: The second story of the house is much like 
  the first, clean and tidy throughout. This floor consists 
  of four bedrooms of various sizes and a small study/
  workroom. 
  Of all the bedrooms only the master looks as if it is 
  lived in, the others call have that slightly empty look 
  of guest rooms. In the master bedroom, a large range 
  of clothing, both mens and women’s can be found, also 
  there are a number of personal items displayed around 
  the room, including many jewellery and art pieces. If 
  the bedside tables are searched, a .32 pistol with a 
  box of 25 rounds will be found along with a licence 
  for the weapon (for personal defence). John Burton is 
  napping in this room from about 6 to 7pm (before the 
  Son arrives at dusk).
  The study/workroom is the only other room that 
  looks as if it is used. This contains a large desk (which 
  has good lighting situated around it) and a filing 
  cabinet. The files contain a number of tax, legal and 
  personal documents most pertaining to the running 
  of Haywright’s Fine Jewellery. If examined and a 
  successful Accounting roll is made, it will be revealed 
  that not only are the Burtons in a strong financial 
  position (Haywright’s business is booming as of 
  late - the late Avery’s aim of purchasing cheap and 
  selling expensive has certainly paid off), there is also a 
  number of large life insurance policies on both Valerie 
  and John. If the desk is searched a number of jewellery 
  tools and other jewellery maintenance equipment is 
  found.
  A Day in the Life of John Burton
  The following is a description of what John does 
  during the day following the murder of his wife and the 
  destruction of the store. This should help the Keeper 
  determine where he is, if and when the Investigators 
  start to try and find him.
  Shortly after leaving is wife at Haywright’s Fine 
  Jewellery store, John watches the destruction of his 
  shop before returning home to await the inevitable 
  fall out. About 6.30am he receives a visit from Luther 
  Hardin, Arkham’s Chief of Detectives, and two 
  officers. Hardin explains the situation to John, who 
  then reveals that “his wife awoke early this morning, 
  and unable to sleep said that she would go to the store 
  early and prepare for the days work ahead”. When the 
  fact that a body has been discovered in the store is 
  mentioned, John breaks down in tears (only some of 
  which is acting).
  John and the police then visit the sight of the burnt 
  out building and John is asked a few more questions, 
  most of which he answers honestly - yes the shop was 
  insured, and yes his wife often came down early to 
  ensure everything was secured on the premises etc.
  While Hardin is a little suspicious of John, mainly due 
  to the odd events surrounding the fire and death of 
  Valerie, he leaves the jeweller to his own devices for 
  the rest of the day. 
  Again John returned home, this time to pack for his 
  trip to New York. Between then and 10am the phone 
  rings a number of times (friends who have seen/
  heard of the fire and reporters trying to get further 
  information - no one at this time knows of Valerie’s 
  death) but he doesn’t answer (nor does he respond to 
  any visitors at his door).
  Shortly after 10am John heads out to visit both his 
  lawyer and insurance company, foolishly leaving a 
  New York Hotel as his forwarding address with both 
  (if John does somehow make it to New York, the police 
  will eventually track him down and arrest him for the 
  murder of his wife).
  After 1pm John is at a bit of a loose end, he doesn’t 
  want to go home (and be forced to deal with media 
  and/or friends) so instead he takes a drive west to 
  Aylesbury. During this drive, he gets the first pangs of 
  guilt over the murder of his wife, although by the time 
  he returns, at 6 that evening, he has fully justified his 
  actions to himself.
  After returning home, he collects his mail and any 
  flowers/notes awaiting him and dumps them in the 
  front room unread. At this point he is tempted to 
  immediately leave for New York, but since it has 
  already been a long day he retires to his room to rest 
  for a few hours. 
  35
  
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  What Goes Around...
  36
  Unless otherwise disturbed John Burton is found 
  dead the next morning, torn to pieces at the foot of the 
  staircase. 
  Mrs McTighe
  Julia McTighe has always been a go-getter and 
  neighbourhood personality (some would call her a 
  busybody) and has become even more so since the 
  death of her husband. Speaking with a southern drawl, 
  even though she is in her early seventies and has lived 
  in Arkham for almost 40 years, Mrs McTighe is willing 
  to talk to most people about most things. 
  Living next door to the Haywrights for more than half 
  her life she is probably the leading authority on their 
  family. Julia holds the key to why events have unfolded 
  the way they have, and even has a discarded letter to 
  back her story up. 
  Mrs McTighe will intercept the characters if they are 
  skulking around Haywright House and, as a fiercely 
  independent woman, will even approach them if they 
  have broken into the Burton’s home (as long as they 
  don’t wander around brandishing weapons of course). 
  Julia has learnt of the fire earlier in the morning (as 
  does most of Arkham) and will initially suspect the 
  Investigators of being plain clothed police officers 
  and/or reporters.
  If she can be convinced of the characters good 
  intentions (whether they have good intention or not is 
  another question entirely) she has this to say:
  About John and Valerie Burton. “You don’t live 
  next to a family for forty some years and not learn 
  about their dirty laundry…ya know? John and 
  Valerie been having their troubles ever since they 
  hitched up, or so said old Avery, and since they buried 
  that old coot in the ground they have been going at it 
  like cats and dogs. Or should I say SHE has,”  Julia 
  spits out the word ‘She’. 
  “That’s right, Valerie is a mean hearted woman. Got 
  the worse bits of her old pa and ma, God rest their 
  souls. Never satisfied with what poor John gives her. 
  She accuses him of all sorts of things, none of which, 
  to mah knowledge, is true.”
  “All I can say is, from what I hear through the walls, 
  is I’m surprised that he don’t leave her… but then 
  again if he dida that then he’d lose the store then eh.” 
  She laughs, “Not much good that did him, coose it 
  gone now.”
  Valerie’s inheritance. “That right… it all belongs to 
  Valerie, old man Avery told me once he’d never leave 
  anything to that dopey son-in-law of his, he didn’t 
  know what his daughter saw in the man”. 
  The Fire. “Oh yesa, I heard about that, but then ain’t 
  everyone? Bit of a doozey from whats I keep hearing… 
  why you know anything more?”
  If the characters are aware Valerie is dead and they 
  tell Mrs McTighe, she will immediately go and get the 
  letter (see below).
  However if the characters do not tell her of the 
  death, but convince Julia of their need to know more 
  information she will say:
  “Well I kinda guess there is something you oughta 
  know then…” Julia trails off, as if weighing up her 
  options.
  “You just wait here a moment anda… I’ll get 
  something you’ll want to see” With that she totters off, 
  disappearing into her house next door.
  This gives the characters a few moments to talk before 
  Mrs McTighe returns with a piece of paper in hand.
  To My Dearest Love…
  The piece of paper Julia hands the characters is a 
  letter, crumpled and botched as if previously wet. She 
  is almost reluctant to hand it to them.
  Julia McTighe hands you the dirty and crushed piece 
  of paper saying, “Don’t think bad of him, he is a nice 
  man, if a bit foolish…Valerie doesn’t love him, and 
  now after the fire… this could be his only chance for 
  happiness”.
  If asked how it came into her possession Julia explains 
  she found it in her garden a week ago. Originally she 
  thought it was just a piece of rubbish but on closer 
  examination discovered it to be much more interesting. 
  She had planned on quietly returning it to John, but 
  had yet to have a chance.
  If she is now aware of Valerie’s death, Julia insists the 
  information goes to the police (she doesn’t honestly 
  think John killed her, - he is just too well tempered and 
  quiet to do that - but knows that to withhold evidence 
  is an offence).
  The letter itself is a bit of a mess, but can be made out 
  easily enough. (See Around Handout 1).
  The contents are pretty well self-explanatory and, if 
  taken to the police, John Burton will become suspect 
  number one.
  Following up Joanne. With no address or contact 
  details on the letter it is rather difficult to track down 
  Joanne in any short period of time. However any 
  investigation into the girl will reveal that Joanne Carter 
  is a secretary for DeBeers of New York (a diamond 
  mining company based in South Africa). Neither her 
  nor her family are rich, nor does any evidence (bar the 
  letter) lend support to the fact that she and John have 
  
  The Unbound Book
  What Goes Around...
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  a relationship.
  If Joanne is approached she denies knowing John 
  Burton, although in reality she is aware his marriage is 
  the key to his income and will do nothing to jeopardise 
  this. 
  Other Avenues of Investigation
  If the characters decide to ask around town about 
  Burtons or Avery Haywright, they will soon discover 
  most locals know of them.
  It was hard for people to forget Old Man Haywright, 
  even though he has been dead and buried in 
  Christchurch Cemetery for over a year. He was a 
  cantankerous old coot, with an opinion on everything. 
  He would have run for mayor in his younger days, but 
  he was smart enough to know that no one would have 
  voted for him. His jewellery however was unsurpassed 
  in quality and his reputation extended from New York 
  City to Augusta in Maine. No one knew of his dislike 
  for his son-in-law, but to be honest no one would have 
  been surprised to learn of the fact.
  Most people will have little to say about John, except 
  that he is a quiet, dry man. Professionally he has a 
  good reputation for quick and excellent work sold at 
  an acceptable price (Haywright’s has always been top 
  draw jewellery and their prices reflect that).
  Valerie Burton on the other gets an opinion out of 
  every one, either you like her or you don’t. She sat on 
  almost every citizen board run by the council and a 
  few others besides. She has a reputation for ensuring 
  things get done, for better or worse! Those that agreed 
  with her attitudes and thoughts became firm friends, 
  while those that didn’t were sworn enemies.
  As for the Burtons as a couple, most people know, or 
  records can be found of their marriage 12 years ago. 
  They met at a Miskatonic University Dinner party 
  (even back then Valerie was know for her strong will 
  - head of the University Temperance Union) and 
  had an immediate attraction to each other. Shortly 
  afterwards, with Valerie graduating with a degree in 
  Liberal Studies, they announced their engagement 
  and were married within the year. John, who had 
  completed his apprenticeship a year earlier, came to 
  work with Avery Haywright at the store.
  Of the people in Arkham that call the Burton’s friends, 
  most are upper or upper-middle class, and will not 
  talk to anyone other than the police about them. 
  As it is, most are unaware of the disharmony in the 
  relationship - Valerie made sure of that. 
  Those who really know John and Valerie best are their 
  employees. Like many of the upper-middle class of the 
  time, the Burtons employ a number of people to clean 
  and maintain the house on a part time basis (gone are 
  the days of live-in housekeepers). With a little polite 
  questioning the following people can be found.
  Betty Wright: An Afro-American woman who works 
  as a part time cook for the Burtons. She likes Mr 
  Burton, and can attest to Mrs Burton’s wild temper. 
  Betty can relate stories about the many times Valerie 
  has made a mountain out of a molehill when it came to 
  37
  ‘Werewolf’ © 2002 Dan Dionne
  
  The Unbound Book
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  What Goes Around...
  38
  minor decisions in the house.
  Argus Whately: Of the untainted Arkham Whatelys. 
  Argus, who is now in his early sixties, is employed to 
  help Valerie maintain the impressive Haywright House 
  garden. A farmer by trade, Argus has recently left his 
  farm to his ‘young’ins’ and had originally planned to 
  retire in town. He found, however, that he was not yet 
  ready for a sedentary life and as such enjoys helping 
  out around the gardens of others in the town.
  If questioned about the Burtons he will say he really 
  only knows Mrs Burton, Mr Burton did not have 
  much to do with the garden. However Argus will say 
  the Burton’s bad temper was not all one way, relating 
  an incident where he witnessed John trample a bed of 
  prize roses after a particularly loud argument with his 
  wife. 
  Other household staff: Most other staff work only 
  on a causal or temporary basis, mainly through one of 
  Arkham’s cleaning agencies. If any are tracked down, 
  they will all have stories to tell about Mrs Burton 
  ranting like a mad women over some insignificant 
  event or incident. Most really don’t mind if they never 
  work at the Haywright House ever again.
  Jewellers at Haywrights: The Burtons employ 
  two other Jewellers at the store, both of whom will 
  be rather distraught upon hearing the news that their 
  place of employment has just burnt down.
  Lawrence Cabot, now in his late 50s, has worked all 
  his life at Haywright’s. Not much liking either Valerie 
  (her temper) nor John (his approach is too laid back 
  - when compared to Avery Haywright), he is more 
  than willing to say  the Burtons fought like cats and 
  dogs, with Valerie winning most of their arguments. 
  He sees Valerie as a pain in the neck, always trying to 
  get her own way, regardless of whether she is right or 
  not and John not being man enough to stand up to her. 
  Lawrence often cops abuse from Valerie, as he is left in 
  charge of the day-to-day running of the store whenever 
  John is out of town. However it is this authority, which 
  he would not get anywhere else, that keeps him from 
  leaving Haywright’s. 
  Karl West, 18, is an apprentice and has been working 
  for the Burtons for just over a year. He has nothing 
  but good things to say about John - he listens to 
  Karl’s comments and takes time to train him. He 
  has, however, witnessed on many occasions the swift 
  temper of Valerie, so much so he is now frightened 
  of her. Karl also dislikes Lawrence, although this is 
  because the old hand believes in the more ‘traditional’ 
  way of training apprentices.
  An Evening of Fire, Fur and Not 
  Much Fun
  By the time the evening arrives the characters should 
  have gathered enough evidence to understand what is 
  going on. 
  If they haven’t, the next day the papers will detail the 
  discovery of the grizzly remains of one John Burton in 
  his own home. The next night however the characters 
  will all get a visit from an angry and vengeful Son of 
  Veles, as it tracks down those who have seen it stalking 
  its original prey.
  It is anticipated the characters will arrive prior to 
  dusk on that first, but with John already in the house. 
  Burton resists all attempts to get him to leave and it is 
  highly likely  he will believe somehow the Investigators 
  know of the murder.
  If pushed or threatened in any way John will a) try and 
  get the gun which is in the bedroom upstairs and/or  b) 
  make his way to the car and off to New York (with his 
  bags if possible). 
  John isn’t a cold-blooded killer (he justifies killing 
  his wife as a form of self-defence) but he will defend 
  himself and is not against firing a few warning shots if 
  someone gets too close.
  JOHN BURTON, Arkham Jeweller, Age 32
  STR  
  10 
  EDU 
  16 
  Know 80%
  CON 
  12 
  POW 
  9 
  Luck   45%
  SIZ 
  13 
  INT 
  15 
  Idea    75%
  DEX 
  16 
  APP 
  12 
  HP     13
  SAN 
  32 (after killing his wife)
  Damage Bonus: +0
  Weapons: Fist, 50%, damage 1d3+db
  .32 Revolver, 30%, damage 1d8
  Skills: Acting 50%, Accounting 60%, Art (Jewellery) 
  70%, Bargain 80%, Credit Rating 30%(80% 
  in Arkham), Fast Talk 30%, Library Use 20%, 
  Listen 30%, Pistol 30%, Psychology 60%, Spot 
  Hidden 70%, Fist 50%, Throw 45%.
  Once dusk settles over the city a successful Listen roll 
  allows an Investigator to hear a distant howl (unless, 
  of course they haven’t seen the Son, in which case they 
  cannot hear the creature). Over the next 5 minutes the 
  howl gets closer and a Sanity check is need by all those 
  hearing the Sons approach (0/1). 
  Before long the Son appears, this also requires a Sanity 
  check, even if the Investigators have seen the creature 
  previously (the maximum loss for seeing a Son of Veles 
  is a total of 8 points - see ‘Getting Used to Awfulness’ 
  under the Sanity Rules section of the Rule book). It 
  immediately attacks John who, stunned and shocked, 
  fires an ineffectual round at the beast, before it 
  probably cuts him down in one turn (unless, of course, 
  the characters can somehow intervene). 
  
  The Unbound Book
  What Goes Around...
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Until John is killed the Son will focus all its attention 
  on him, this should allow the characters time to set 
  up anything they require to defeat the creature. Once 
  John is killed however the Son will immediately turn 
  on the closest Investigator. 
  The Son can be stunned by showing it its own reflection, 
  this has the same effect as stunning the beast (see 
  ‘Stunning’ under the Rules and Skills section of the 
  Call of Cthulhu Rule book). The creature can only be 
  stunned once a day in this way, as it will try and avert 
  its eyes if tricked into looking at a mirror again. 
  To defeat the Son of Veles, its heart must be pierced 
  with flaming wood. How the characters arrange to 
  do this is up to them, although any object hitting 
  the creature’s chest will only puncture the heart if an 
  Impale is rolled (depending of course on the individual 
  party’s stats and how the Keeper sees the adventure 
  panning out).
  If enough mundane damage is done to ‘kill’ the Son, it 
  collapses to the ground, regenerating hit points back at 
  5 per round until above half, at which point it will leap 
  up and continue its attack. (Of course in such a state a 
  ‘dead’ Son is much easier to vanquish).
  Hopefully this gives a lot of scope for a Keeper to 
  develop a fluid yet interesting combat situation - with 
  the Son chasing John or one of the characters, while 
  the rest try and impale the beast with the wood.
  Once the Son of Veles is vanquished it drops to the 
  ground howling in pain, striking out at anyone close 
  enough to hit. Hearing its death throes costs 0/1 
  Sanity. 
  As it passes away in front of the characters its face 
  contorts, with the image of the beasts last victim 
  appearing over the wolf-like muzzle. This sight costs 
  1/1d4 Sanity, although if the Son’s last victim was one 
  of the Investigators this cost could increase. If John 
  survives, the creature’s face becomes that of an old 
  man, with dark rustic features (no-one recognises 
  him).
  Moments later the human faced Son begins to fade, 
  until eventually nothing but the characters wounds 
  remain to prove it ever existed at all.
  Conclusion
  During this adventure the characters may or may not 
  have a moral dilemma on their hands. John Burton 
  did indeed kill his wife, although if he survives, states  
  he had no other choice, she had treated him no better 
  than a dog.
  The Investigators may think the retribution handed 
  out by the Son of Veles is deserved enough to allow 
  the ‘murder’ of Burton to go ahead, even though they 
  might be aware it is only a matter of time before the 
  Son comes after them also. 
  If the characters decide to involve the police in the 
  matter, they will only be believed if they have the 
  love letter from Mrs McTighe. If this is the case, 
  Harden will have the evidence he needs to confirm his 
  suspicions, and will immediately try and locate John 
  Burton. If he is arrested prior to the return of the Son, 
  the result will not be a pretty sight, as all of the officers 
  stationed at the jail, along with John are found dead 
  the next morning.
  Having John arrested after stopping the Son of Veles 
  has little if any effect on this adventure, although it 
  may help the players consciences.
  In the end there is no right or wrong conclusion to 
  the adventure, although the Sanity gains handed out 
  do reflect the actions they took to keep deaths to a 
  minimum. 
  If the Investigators defeat the Son of Veles and 
  keep John alive (regardless of whether he stands 
  trial for the death of Valerie), each earns 1d12 Sanity.
  If the Investigators defeat the Son of Veles, but 
  John dies, while they are trying to protect him, each 
  earns 1d8 Sanity only.
  If the Investigators defeat the Son of Veles, but 
  do not even try to save John, they only receive 1d4 
  Sanity.
  If the police arrested John for the murder of 
  Valerie.  Regardless of the outcome after this point 
  the characters will only receive 1d4 Sanity. However 
  for every innocent person that dies - the Son has no 
  compunction killing all in its way to get to John - the 
  Investigators must lose one point of Sanity.
  In the end both John and Valerie probably got what 
  they deserved for not respecting each other as people. 
  It’s just another case of what goes around… comes 
  around!
  39
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  What Goes Around...
  - D20 Stats for What Goes Around...
  Visit the Unbound Book Website @
   www.unboundbook.org
  
  40
  Arkham Art Specialists
  >>Dealers of Antiquities & Fine Art<<
  1/43 Walnut Street,
  Arkham,MA
  New England
  Handouts
  The following Handouts are to be used with 
  the adventures as labelled. 
  Due to space restrictions some handouts may 
  need to be enlarged before use.
  Rise 1 - Booth Business Card
  Around 2 - Page from a journal 
  сорок пятьсот шесть шестна-дцать ты я 
  шестьсот 
  семь 
  семнадцать 
  шестьдесят 
  семьсот.
  шестьсот семь семнадцать ьдесят семь-сот 
  восемь восемн-адцать семьдесят я восемьсот 
  девять 
  девятнадцать 
  се-мьдесят 
  ты 
  девятьсот.
  Around 3 - The Trinket text 
  Around 6 - Burton Loveletter
  мь 
  семнадцать 
  шестьдесят 
  семьсот 
  восемь 
  восемнадцать семьдесят я восемьсот девять 
  девятнадцать восемьдесят ты десять двадцать вы 
  девяносто тысяча.
  сорок пятьсот шесть шестнадцать пятьдесят ты 
  я шестьсот семь семнадцать шестьдесят семьсот. 
  восемьдесят ты девятьсот оно они десять двадцать 
  вы девяносто тысяча.
  двадцать один сто он, она, два ты двенадцать 
  двадцать я два двести три тринадцать. сорок 
  пятьсот шесть шестнадцать пятьдесят ты я 
  шестьсот семь семнадцать шестьдесят семьсот.
  шестьсот семь семнадцать шестьдесят семьсот! 
  восемь восемнадцать семьдесят я восемьсот 
  девять девятнадцать восемьдесят ты девятьсот!!
  я восемьсот девять девятнадцать восемьдесят ты 
  девятьсот оно они десять двадцать вы девяносто 
  тысяча.сорок 
  пятьсот 
  шесть 
  шестнадцать 
  пятьдесят ты я шестьсот семь семнадцать 
  шестьдесят семьсот.
  шесть шестнадцать пятьдесят ты шестьсот семь 
  семнадцать 
  шестьдесят 
  семьсот 
  восемь 
  восемнадцать семьдесят. я восемьсот девять 
  девятнадцать восемьдесят ты девятьсот оно они 
  десять. десятьодин я мы одиннадцать двадцать 
  один сто он, она, два двенадцать двадцать два! 
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Player Handouts
  
  41
  Around 4 - Translated Journal
  Around 1 - The letter of travel arrangements 
  … and as night fell we could hear it coming, Veles the guide of the dead. It’s arrival 
  proved only that one of us was the killer of the Cossack girl.
  This was the proof, if the guide came then we could not deny that one of us had gone 
  back and had killed her. Revenge for the deaths of our own children. 
  It came like lightening to the house, a sundering apart the braced door. Its eyes like 
  black pools of chaos it searched for the killer. Jacques… Why did he do it!
  And yet for all his begging it did no good as Veles ripped him in two. And nor did we 
  stop him, no, for none desired to be guided as well…
  But then it turned on Demtri and Varese, why oh why!! It seemed that all those who 
  witnessed it became souls it desired. 
  And then was my turn. Unable to stop the beast I to was dead …I awoke at dawn a week 
  later to the discover of Cossacks had found my shattered body, and saved by life.
   Yet although I healed in time it took me seasons to walk, forever cursed never to forget 
  the Son of Veles… ever!       
  Dormantry Travel Bureau
  5310 West 81ST Street, Lower Manhattan, NY
  Specialising in East European Travel since 1897.    
  Dear Mr Burton,
  Please find enclosed your travel itinerary.
  Be aware that your Liner leaves pending last tide on the 
  noted dated.
  Unfortunately we are unable to yet confirm the name 
  of the Liner on which you will completed your return 
  voyage, although we will advise you of this on arrival 
  in Vladivostok.
  We wish your journey is a pleasant and safe one, and do 
  hope you find Russia an exciting and wondrous country. 
  Yours Sincerely,
  Peter Domantry
  Peter Domantry,
  Travel Manager - Dormantry Travel Bureau
  The Unbound Book
  Player Handouts
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  
  42
  Extracts from “The Darkness of the North: Stories from Russian Folk lore”
  by Sergi Romantov
  The Sons of Volos, The Guides of Death, The Guardians of the Soul, The Bringers of Revenge. The Sons of Veles 
  are known by all these names, and yet the people of Russia  do not fear them. Many of the old stories tell of the deeds 
  of men that would go unpunished. How the Slavs killed the Cossack and the Magyar slaughtered the Chechens or 
  how woman and children where rode down by horses or burnt in their homes. 
  But at the same time all knew that with the passing of these men’s lives they would at last pay for their sins. Not 
  of course by any mortal means, but instead to Veles the God of the Underworld, who, as punishment for their crimes 
  would not allow them to sleep eternal. Yet Veles hated the chaos man wrought on each other, and wished they instead 
  danced or sang, made merry or made love. Above all he loved animals and those that treated flocks and herds with the 
  respect they deserved - for was it not the herds that fed man. 
  As a reward to those men and women who cherished his creatures he gave them a gift, a stone, in which resided a 
  Son of Veles. This stone although precious in life, was more so in death, as on the passing of the physical the Son that 
  resided within awoke and guided the departed to the loving arms of Veles, safe from those evil souls that still tried 
  so hard to reach the underworld. Unfortunately today these stones are long gone, vanished like those that worshipped 
  Veles. 
  The Sons of Veles. Large and immensely strong they were said to have guided the dead in the form of a wolf. 
  Invisible during the day they always return at night to complete their one and only task. In all the stories that speaks 
  of them there is but one that tells of a Son of Veles being stopped from completing it’s task.
  That tale speaks of a evil man on his deathbed who, by some vicious deed, had acquired a Stone of Veles. Now a 
  local Woodsman learnt of this crime against Veles and prayed to the God for guidance. Veles, being a loving and 
  caring God, heard these prayers and came to the Woodsman, who in turn explained what had happened. Upon hearing 
  this Veles was full of sorrow, for although he did not wish for the evil man to enter the underworld he knew his Son 
  would not be stopped from fulfilling his task, even if his father wished it. The Woodsman then asked if nothing could 
  defeat a Son of Veles and the God cried out in sadness. Yes, he did know of a way of defeating his Son but he loved 
  him almost as much as he loved mankind so was loathed to tell. 
  Yet Veles, the God, had little choice, an evil soul could not enter the underworld without balance and peace being 
  lost in the world, and so with tears in his eyes told the Woodsman the secrets of his own Son’s demise.
  That night as the evil man died the Woodsman lay in wait. And as the Son of Veles arose from his slumber the 
  Woodsman did as the God bid. Big and fearsome although the Son was the Woodsman challenged him. With prism 
  of mirrors he dared to show the Son its true reflection. Stunned then, the Woodsman raised his bow and lit the head of 
  one of his arrows. Taking aim not to miss the Woodsman let fly, striking the Son in the heart. And how did the Son 
  cry out, its task could not be completed.
  As it fled back to the arms of his father, it vowed that from that day forth its brothers would hunt to the ends of the 
  earth those that harmed the bearers of their stones, so never again would a Son fail in its task. 
  And Veles wept. 
  Around 5 - Darkness of the North
  The Unbound Book
  Issue  - 0 August 2002 
  Player Handouts
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Call of Cthulhu (CoC) (BRP) [multi]/Adventures/1920s/CoC - 1920s - Adv - The Unbound Book #00 (.pdf