TEXT: GAME TRADE MAGAZINE APRIL
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  INTRODUCTION
  Infest is a d20 Call of Cthulhu adventure set in the present day. Designed
  for beginning characters, it is ideal for use as an introductory scenario to
  begin a campaign. You need to have the d20 Call of Cthulhu rulebook to
  play this adventure.
  In d20 Call of Cthulhu, a horror game, characters usually play normal
  people that investigate strange, terrifying and ultimately mind-shattering
  events and entities. Getting characters started on these investigations can
  sometimes be difficult. How does a group of disparate, relatively normal
  people band together to explore the otherworldly? This scenario was
  designed to help facilitate that. In so doing, it is a non-traditional d20
  Call of Cthulhu adventure, in that things do not start slowly, with the char-
  acters getting opportunities to research
  and investigate the mystery at hand. The
  adventure’s action begins immediately,
  and the player characters are thrust into a
  terrifying situation with their only real
  goal being survival.
  BACKGROUND
  The insects from Shaggai, also known as
  the shan, are a fugitive alien presence
  here on Earth, having fled their home
  world after it was destroyed by some
  unknowable thing in the boundless void of
  space. Tiny, flying, crawling things, they
  feed on the emotions of other creatures
  and devote their horrible alien existence
  to a dread being known as Azathoth.
  They possess the ability to fly right into a
  person’s mind and take control. A number
  of them have done just that, and use their
  human hosts to help occasionally gather
  food and sacrifices for the blind, unknowing
  god Azathoth in a large office building in
  the middle of a city (whatever city you
  want to set it in). The creatures have taken over the minds of some
  contractors who have blocked off the bottom level of the building’s
  parking garage to construct a bizarre mental machine that will even-
  tually allow them to exert even greater influence over humans. They
  are currently hoping to capture a few humans to elicit strong emotions
  from (upon which to feed) and then test their machine on them.
  OVERVIEW
  The point here is to create a bond among the PCs, forged in super-
  natural horror, which will last into future adventures. They are no
  longer a group of unrelated individuals when this is over, but a
  tight-knit group of people who have shared a terrible experience.
  The PCs are trapped in an elevator in a large building at night.
  As they attempt to extricate themselves from the situation, strange
  things begin to occur. Finally, they must confront the insidious, alien
  creatures behind the events and—if they escape—are
  joined in a temporary telepathic bond that is both terrible
  and revelatory. 
  THE BUILDING
  The Heard Building is a 38 floor building filled with different
  offices and businesses. Beneath the Heard Building lies a five
  floor parking garage that serves not only the building but sur-
  rounding businesses as well. It has its own elevator, so people
  must ride the elevator up to the lobby of the Heard Building from
  the parking garage and then get on a different elevator to get to
  any of the building’s office levels. Currently, the bottom floor of
  the parking garage has been closed off for repairs—although this
  is actually not what it seems. The
  shan-controlled contractors use this
  bottom floor as a staging area to
  build an alien machine. When the
  machine is first activated, it drains
  power from the building’s systems,
  stopping the elevator unexpectedly.
  GETTING STARTED
  Have each player create his or her
  d20 Call of Cthulhu character ahead
  of time. In the best possible situation,
  the players would create their char-
  acters independently so that they
  know nothing about each other.
  This adventure can be set in any
  major city the Gamemaster wishes,
  and with only a small amount of
  adaptation, the time period can be
  changed as well. (For an earlier
  time period, such as the 1920s, the
  parking structure needs to be
  changed to the lower levels of a
  large building—and the number of cities with tall enough buildings is
  more limited.) 
  The players should come up with their own reasons why their char-
  acters have visited this particular building on this particular day
  and why they have stayed there until after dark—about 9:00 PM.
  Each of them has parked their respective cars on level 4 of the
  parking garage—the lowest open level. They ride the elevator
  down to get to their cars.
  At this point, don’t let the players talk to each other yet. People in real
  life don’t usually talk to strangers in elevators—particularly at night. Start
  the game session by telling the players this:
  By: Monte Cook
  
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  You ride the parking garage elevator down to where you parked.
  A few people get off on Parking Level 1, and a woman gets off on parking
  level three. You ride down to level 4. Suddenly, there is a jolt, and the 
  elevator shakes. Then all goes black.
  At this moment, allow the PCs’ panic to ensue. 
  The PCs can speak to each other, but have no reference for the other char-
  acters, whom they cannot see and do not know. Allow each to give the
  others a short phrase of description—only the amount of information that
  a person casually notices about someone else in an elevator: “the young,
  blond guy,” “the tall woman with all the shopping bags,” or “the over-
  weight guy in the nice suit.”
  Don’t allow them to engage in any really comfortable or personal 
  dialog. If things get to that point, interrupt the players and tell them that
  they feel another shudder from the elevator.
  ELEVATOR DETAILS
  The elevator is six feet wide, five feet deep, and about nine feet tall. Above
  the doors are six lights labeled L (Lobby) and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for each
  floor. To the right of the doors are buttons for each floor, a “door open” and
  a “door close” button, and an emergency stop button. These all light up.
  Behind a panel labeled “for emergency use only,” beneath the elevator 
  buttons, PCs can find a telephone receiver and a single button. Normally, pushing
  the button sends an alarm signal to emergency services and the receiver
  allows someone in the elevator to speak with someone at emergency
  services (assuming someone hears the alarm and picks up on the
  other end). The phone is also rigged with a light and a buzzer of
  its own so that emergency services can call into the elevator.
  In the rear of the elevator, in the ceiling, there is a two and a
  half foot square emergency hatch. This hatch is locked from
  the outside, meant to be usable by emergency rescue 
  personnel only. 
  POTENTIAL PC ACTIONS
  There are six likely actions that the PCs might take at 
  this point.
  1. Use the emergency elevator telephone to call for help. If a
  PC attempts this while there is no power, they hear nothing on
  the other end. If attempted when there is power, the only sound
  they hear in the receiver is a strange intermittent clicking and
  buzzing sound. If a PC attempts to use the phone after the first
  phone call comes (see below) he also hears a farwaway voice
  (besides the clicking and buzzing) that whispers coarsely “what are
  you doing?” No matter what the PC does then, he hears no further
  voices on the phone.
  2. Use a cell phone to call for help. All cell phones display “no
  service” or “no carrier.” This is partially because the characters are
  so deep below ground, and partially because of the interference of
  the shan machine.
  3. Pry open the doors. This is very difficult at first, when there is no
  power. This requires a Strength check with a DC of 30. When emergency
  power is restored, the door mechanism can aid the manual
  opening of the doors, lowering the DC to 25. As many as three
  people can help (see rules for cooperation in Chapter 2 of the
  d20 Call of Cthulhu rulebook) to open the door. A lever of some
  sort (like a crowbar, although it’s unlikely a PC has an actual
  crowbar) would give a +2 circumstance bonus to the check.
  When the elevator first stops, it is between levels 3 and 4 of the
  parking garage. When it drops (see below), it goes down to
  level 5. If the elevator doors open before the drop, the doors to
  level 3 and 4 are exposed. If the doors are forced after the ele-
  vator drops, the doors to level 5 are exposed. Characters can
  attempt to open any of these, with the same difficulty as the 
  previous doors.
  If characters are successful in opening all the doors, see
  “Exploring the Parking Garage” on the next page.
  4. Use the emergency hatch in the ceiling. This isn’t as easy as
  movies would have you think. As mentioned above, the hatch
  is locked from the outside. A character must make a Strength
  check (DC 30) to force open the hatch. Only one other PC
  could potentially help in this task, and that assumes both PCs
  are somehow able to reach the door on the nine-foot ceiling.
  If a PC succeeds somehow, he now has access to the shaft.
  The shaft, even after emergency power kicks in within the
  elevator, is very dark. A Search check (DC 18) allows a
  character to find the ladder that runs up the side of the shaft.
  However, not only does the searching character get covered in
  grime and grease from feeling around the mechanisms and cables,
  he tears a bit of his clothing. If the searching character fails a Balance
  check (DC 12), he also cuts himself on a rough edge of the cable mecha-
  nism and suffers 1 point of damage.
  Characters can attempt to open the doors out into level 3 from atop the 
  elevator, as described in 4, but suffer a -4 circumstance penalty due to darkness.
  Climbing the ladder in the dark requires a DC 5
  climb check (normally, no check is required to
  climb a ladder). If the character tries to open
  any of the doors to the levels above, the DCs
  for the Strength checks required are the
  same as described in 4, however he suffers
  a further -8 circumstance
  penalty (due to darkness
  and being on the ladder).
  And, if he fails the check, he must
  make a Climb check (DC 12) or fall.
  Falling characters suffer 1d6 damage
  per level—so if the character is
  attempting to open the doors to level
  2, he suffers 1d6 damage, and if on level
  1 he suffers 2d6 damage.
  5. Shout for help. This accomplishes nothing.
  6. Wait for help to arrive. Events occur
  whether the PCs wait for them or not.
  
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  EVENTS
  About a minute after the elevator stops, the emergency batteries kick in (this
  is a little slow, showing that something is definitely amiss to anyone making
  a Knowledge (Engineering) or (Electronics) check with a DC of 15). This
  gives the interior of the elevator a very dim, pale blue illumination.
  About two minutes later, there is a loud metallic banging sound from out-
  side the elevator for about 10 seconds. The shan-controlled humans are
  determining exactly where the elevator is now that it is stopped. 
  A minute later, the elevator emergency phone buzzes. If a character
  picks it up, she hears a strange, intermittent buzzing/droning sound and
  a faraway, coarsely whispered voice say “hungry…” and then just more
  buzzing and some clicks.
  About five minutes later, if the PCs have forced open the doors, they
  close. Anyone in the doorway must make a Reflex saving throw (DC 18).
  Failure means that the character is caught in the doors. The characters feel
  a powerful lurch and a drop. All of them must attempt Reflex saving throws
  (DC 13). Failure means that a character bumps her head or oth-
  erwise tumbles because of the drop, suffering 1d3 points
  of damage. Anyone caught in the doors suffers 6d6 dam-
  age (no saving throw)—and thus are almost certainly very
  messily killed. Anyone seeing the poor character trapped
  in the doors as the elevator slides quickly down the shaft
  must make a Sanity check (1/1d3). The elevator now
  rests at the bottom level of the parking garage.
  After thirty seconds more, the emergency phone buzzes
  again. On the other end, amid the intermittent droning
  noises, a voice says “welcome…”
  Two minutes later, the PCs can make listen checks (DC
  10). Those that succeed hear something moving
  around on top of the elevator.
  About ten seconds later, the PCs that made their listen
  checks hear something rattling the emergency hatch.
  Then, after a moment, they hear nothing. A shan-con-
  trolled human attempts to get in, but is thwarted by the
  lock. He climbs back up the ladder in the shaft.
  Three minutes later, the elevator doors open. The insects from
  Shaggai hope to draw out the characters to invoke still more fear to feed
  upon and then to capture them and scan them with their machine. 
  EXPLORING THE PARKING GARAGE—
  LEVELS 1 TO 4
  If the PCs make it into any of the levels of the parking garage other
  than level 5, they are faced with wandering around the garage in
  the utter darkness. The GM should take this very slowly. The PCs, as
  they move around, bump into cars and walls. If they are not on level
  1, the PCs can take a few minutes (assuming they keep their heads
  about them), however, make a successful DC 15 Search check, and
  find the door to the stairwell and get up to the first level.
  Once on the first level, the PCs can see a little bit from the 
  high-placed grating-covered windows and they can hear dis-
  tant sounds of traffic. This is when they are attacked by 2 
  shan-controlled workers that run up from behind wielding
  heavy tools as weapons. 
  You hear footsteps from behind you. In the very dim light, you
  can see two men dressed in dirty, torn coveralls approaching
  quickly. One carries a wrench and the other a crowbar. Both
  drool and gibber incoherently and one suddenly shouts “moth-
  erhive painstun feedmind!” He raises his crowbar and opens his
  mouth wide, from which comes an intermittent droning and
  clicking sound.
  The workers attack with intent to subdue with their crude but dan-
  gerous weapons. If they defeat the PCs, the poor characters are
  dragged down to level 5. If the PCs knock the workers uncon-
  scious, they can attempt to run away, but just as they escape,
  the shan machine is fully activated and the scan begins.
  If the PCs kill one of the workers, the shan within him crawls
  incorporeally out of his head and attacks, hoping to
  meld with a PC’s mind, rising up from the worker’s face
  like an insectoid ghost. Seeing this forces a Sanity
  check (0/1d6).
  EXPLORING THE PARKING
  GARAGE—LEVEL 5
  If the PCs enter level 5, either after the elevator drops
  and the doors open, or after they are brought there,
  captured on one of the above levels, they can feel
  some sort of strange energy that makes their hair
  stand on end on this level. There is a dim light here,
  and a door to the elevator maintenance room as
  well as a door to the stairwell that is locked with a
  chain and padlock (the lock can be opened with a
  DC 25 check, otherwise, the door can be forced
  open with a DC 30 Strength check). A shan-con-
  trolled worker is in the elevator maintenance room
  and attacks anyone that comes in. Besides the 
  elevator-related machinery, this room contains the
  massive electrical box that controls all the lights
  and other circuits in the parking garage (all are
  currently powered down), the emergency generator (currently
  active), and a phone.
  If the PCs knock the worker unconscious, they can either try to 
  re-activate the elevator with a Knowledge (Engineering) or
  Knowledge (Electricity) DC 18 check. Or they can call for help on
  the phone. Either way, the shan activate their machine before the PCs
  get fully away. The scan begins.
  If the PCs kill the worker, the shan within him crawls incorporeally out
  of his head and attacks, hoping to meld with a PC’s mind. Seeing
  this forces a Sanity check (0/1d6).
  
  There are also two shan-controlled workers waiting in the shadows
  of the parking garage, not far from the machine itself. They attack as
  described in the section above. 
  The dim light comes from the alien machine, a 6-foot tall pyramid of gray
  metal with metal tentacle-like controls and strange electrical flares all
  around it. If PCs were captured, this is where they
  are brought. When the PCs arrive here, either
  way, the scan begins.
  THE SCAN
  At some point, toward the end of the adventure,
  the workers activate the shan mind device. They
  hope to, eventually, perfect the machine to sense
  and direct minds. For now, all it does is produce
  a powerful mental scan of any nearby non-con-
  trolled humans (most likely, just the PCs). During
  the scan, the machine stores the mental patterns
  of the PCs. More immediately, however, the scan
  joins the minds of all it affects for one round.
  During that time, they trade thoughts and even a
  few memories. At this point, it is up to the players
  to tell each other the memories from their characters
  that the others experience. The exchange of mem-
  ories, emotions and thoughts should join the PCs
  together in a bond that few people—let alone 
  perfect strangers—ever experience.
  Those affected should then make a Will saving throw (DC 14). Those
  that fail are stunned for 1d2 rounds. Those that succeed can act
  normally. The shan-controlled workers are automatically stunned
  for three rounds.  This is an opportune time for the PCs to
  attempt to escape up to garage level one and out.
  THE ALIEN FOES
  These are the statistics for the insects from Shaggai and those
  that they possess.
  Shan-controlled worker, Male, 1st level: HD 1d6+2; hp 6;
  Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 11; Atk +1 melee or +2 ranged; SV
  Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 13, Wis
  12, Cha 8. 
  Skills and Feats: Bluff +3, Gather Information +4, Hide +5,
  Knowledge (Engineering) +10, Listen +7, Move Silently +4, Search
  +3, Spot +7; Alertness, Skill Focus (Knowledge (Engineering)).
  Possessions: Crowbar or heavy wrench (1d6 damage)
  Insect From Shaggai: Diminutive Aberration; HD 1d8; hp 4; Init +6
  (Dex); Speed 5 ft., fly 30 ft. (perfect); Armor Class 23 (+4 size, +6
  Dex +3, Deflection); Atk: +10 ranged (1d2+ pain, 1 nervewhip);
  Face/Reach 1/2 ft. by 1/2 ft./0 ft.; SA Meld, Pain: nervewhip
  stuns victims for 1d4 rounds ; SQ Incorporeal, darkvision 60 ft.;
  SV Fort +0, Ref +8, Will +6; Str --, Dex 22, Con 11, Int  17, Wis
  18, Cha  17.
  Skills and Feats: Cthulhu Mythos +7, Hide +18, Knowledge
  (occult) +7, Listen +8, Open Lock +10, Search +5, Spot +8;
  Dodge, Expertise, Lightning Reflexes
  Meld: If a victim is stunned by the nervewhip for 4 full rounds,
  the shan flies incorporeally into the victim’s mind and begins
  to insert sanity-destroying images and
  memories each night (victim loses 1d4
  Sanity per night)
  Incorporeal: An incorporeal creature
  can be harmed only by other incorpo-
  real creatures, +1 or better magic
  weapons, spells, spell-like abilities, or
  supernatural abilities. It is immune to
  all nonmagical attack forms. When hit
  by spells or magic weapons, it has a
  50% chance to ignore any damage
  from a corporeal source. Force effect
  spells affect it normally.
  An incorporeal creature can pass
  through solid objects at will. Its attack
  passes through (ignores) natural
  armor, armor, and shields, although
  deflection bonuses (and force effects)
  work normally against it. An incorporeal creature moves
  silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t
  wish to be heard. 
  THE FUTURE…
  If the PCs escape, they are safe for the moment. If they attempt to bring
  back authorities, any dead or unconscious workers remain (with no shan)
  and the machine is gone.
  The PCs have experienced something horrific together—and, with the men-
  tally-joining scan, something unique and strange. This can easily be used as
  an excuse for the characters sticking together and investigating more into
  strange events—possibly more into the activities of the insects from Shaggai.
  However, the shan now have the mental patterns of the PCs stored in their
  machine. They use this information later to track them by their mental 
  patterns in an attempt to meld with them and study them further.
  ���
  Monte Cook is the co-designer of the d20 system, 3rd Edition D&D,
  and the lead designer of d20 Call of Cthulhu. He publishes d20 
  material under his own imprint, Malhavoc Press. Look for Malhavoc 
  products at your local game store, and for more information go to
  www.montecook.com.
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