TEXT: A CRYPTIC CASE OF ARCANE SECRETS AND ZEALOUS SACRIFICES
  
  CULT OF THE GOD-KING
  A CITY OF MIST CASE
  
  FIND OUT MORE AT  
  WWW.CITYOFMIST.CO
  CREDITS
  Writing, Game Design, and Production: Amit Moshe 
  Assistant Game Producer: Omer Shapira
  Editing: Eran Aviram
  Proofreading: Marshall Oppel
  Art: Marcin Sobon, Mariusz Szulc, Devin Billy, Gunship 
  Revolution (Marlon Ruiz)
  Graphic Design: Manuel Serra Sáez
  Contributors: u/mattfen93 (The Initiate’s Chant)
  The production of this game was made possible 
  thanks to our Kickstarter backers. Thank you all!
  © 2020 Son of Oak Game Studio / Amít Moshe
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Background  
  4 
  The Iceberg  
  7
  The Cabal's Damage Control  
  7
  Magnum Opus Dangers  
  10
  Depth 0: The Hooks  
  14
  Ariadne  
  16
  Depth 1: A Candle in the Dark 
  17
  Depth 2: Dangerous Excavations  
  24
  Depth 3: What Lies Beneath 
  30
  Depth 4: The Sacred Fire  
  36
  Aftermath  
  39
  CONTENT WARNING
  This game contains mild language as well as strong 
  themes of violence, crime, and immorality.  
  Parental guidance is advised.
  HOW TO USE THIS CASE IN YOUR GAME
  You can use Cult of the God-King as a standalone one-
  shot or as a part of the Nights of Payne Town story arc.
  Within Nights of Payne Town, this case is the second 
  case out of a three-case sub-arc that forms the  
  Mystical Vein. It is preceded by The Furnace and 
  followed by The Alchemist.
  Throughout this PDF, red clues (clues given in red 
  cards) point the investigation to another case in the 
  Mystical Vein or in the Nights of Payne Town story 
  arc. Reveal them to your players only if and when 
  you wish to lead the story to the given case.
  This case mentions Corbin Payne, the Avatar of the 
  Fisher King and the main villain for the Nights of Payne 
  Town story arc. You can find the full background and 
  game information regarding Corbin Payne and his oper-
  ation in the complete Nights of Payne Town book.
  
  4   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  You can hear it whispered on the cob-
  bled streets of the Old Quarter, in the 
  murmur of the ocean by the docks, 
  echoing down abandoned, candle-lit 
  subway tunnels. It’s like an ancient spell 
  or a mumbled recipe, a spark that lights 
  the melting fire. They are gathering, 
  they have awakened, and now they must 
  serve their forgotten master. Do you, 
  like them, seek enlightenment or power 
  untold? What are you willing to sacrifice 
  to the God-King?
  Cult of the God-King is a psychological thriller follow-
  ing a mystical journey for self-transformation, guided 
  by a mysterious and shady cult. Lead characters can 
  attempt the journey themselves as spiritual seekers or 
  they can play the cynics and iconoclasts and attempt 
  to decipher the cult’s true motives before it’s too late. 
  As the culmination of the cult’s Great Work approaches 
  and the stakes become higher and higher, lead char-
  acters will break, switch sides, attain a deeper under-
  standing of the City, and reveal their true nature.
  This case takes a headlong dive into the occult circles 
  of the City, exploring the rich lore of medieval alchemy 
  as a path to spiritual evolution and combining it with 
  the mystery of the City and the Mist. It plays best 
  when at least one PC joins the cult and is willing to 
  go all the way to find answers.
   
  A PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT
  The Great Work of the medieval alchemists, or Mag-
  num Opus, revolved around the creation of the Phi-
  losopher’s Stone, which could transform base metals 
  into gold and grant life everlasting. The secret behind 
  this highly sought-after recipe is that it is an allegory; 
  while it discusses the transformation of metals, its true 
  use is to transform the soul, from a lost and blind 
  state, caught in the trapping of this world (Sleeper) to 
  an awakened state (Rift) and finally a complete state of 
  unity with all of existence, thereby achieving an indi-
  vidual’s ultimate potential: reuniting with the Source.
  According to the Magnum Opus, the four stages neces-
  sary to achieve this transformation are:
  • Rotting, or Blackening: Confronting and ruminat-
  ing on one’s darkness and nothingness
  • Purification, or Whitening: Purifying oneself from 
  worldly pursuits 
  • Awakening, or Yellowing: Awakening to one’s true 
  nature
  • Transformation, or Reddening: Transforming into 
  the ultimate state of being, uniting with the Source
  In the City, “the Source” refers to what exists beyond the 
  Mist, perhaps even beyond the realm of the Mythoi. The 
  ultimate goal of this process is to break the chains of the 
  Mist and to attain the ultimate level of awareness.
  THE SACRED IS EXPLOITED  
  FOR POWER LUST
  While this recipe may be a true path to enlightenment, 
  the cult that calls itself “Magnum Opus” has defiled it, 
  using it for its own dark agenda: the ritual awakening 
  and harvesting of Rifts. Masking itself as a promising 
  path to enlightenment, the cult does indeed lead in-
  dividuals through the first three stages of the process, 
  turning them into Rifts while brainwashing them to 
  worship their false idol, the God-King (a figurehead 
  that substitutes the ever-elusive “Source”).
  In the fourth stage, however, the subservient Rifts are 
  drained of their powers and then discarded, and their 
  Mythos powers are harnessed to increase the influence 
  of the greedy cult leaders, the council of the Cabal (and 
  ultimately, if you are playing the story arc, to fuel Armand 
  Kai's fear of death and search after a literal Elixir of Life).
  FROM SEEKERS TO DISCIPLES
  The servants of the God-King are divided into ranks 
  based on the stage they managed to achieve in the Mag-
  num Opus process (see table). To attain each rank, cult 
  members must complete the stage and undergo a gradu-
  ation ritual, which initiates them into the next stage.
  Based on their nature and desires, the cultists are fur-
  ther divided into two groups:
  • Lambs, candidates who seek enlightenment, and are 
  destined to be awakened as Rifts and to have their 
  Mythos harvested.
  • Wolves, candidates who seek power over others, and 
  are destined to become the leaders of the cult and 
  eventually control the power harvested from Lambs.
  Name:  
   
   
   
  background
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  5 
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  Stage
  Blackening
  Whitening
  Yellowing
  Reddening
  Alchemical meaning
  Rotting
  Purification
  Awakening
  Transformation
  Mystical meaning
  Confronting one’s dark 
  side
  Relinquishing worldly 
  pursuits
  Discovering one’s true 
  self
  Attaining enlighten-
  ment and ultimate 
  power
  Rank
  Seeker
  Follower
  Initiate
  Disciple
  Teacher
  Prof. Clay
  Whirler (in Whirler’s 
  Commune)
  Disciples
  For Wolves: the Cabal 
  or Armand Kai
  Graduation ritual
  The Silo Trial
  The Feast of the Fools
  Anointing in the Cata-
  combs
  The Furnace / Canseliet 
  Manor
  Wolves
  Prove their ruthless-
  ness
  Shed their past lives
  Receive Trans-
  mutations
  Gain new Trans-
  mutations and Tinc-
  tures
  Lambs
  Prove their innocence
  Awaken as Rifts
  Harvested
  THE BLACKENING
  The cult recruits Seekers from all across the City, indi-
  viduals who have shown interest in the occult or in spir-
  itual liberation. The chief recruiter is one of the cult’s 
  highest-ranking Disciples, the charismatic Prof. Clay, 
  who doubles as a philosophy professor in the Old Quar-
  ter University. Prof. Clay is responsible for the first step 
  of the candidates’ journey: confronting newcomers with 
  their flaws and challenging them to strive to be worthy 
  of the secret knowledge he possesses. He also profiles 
  them, assigning them as Lambs or Wolves. At the end 
  of the Blackening, both Lambs and Wolves undergo the 
  Silo Trial to prove their worth to Prof. Clay.
  THE WHITENING 
  Now dubbed Followers, aspirants move to a second 
  teacher, Whirler (Tincture of Krishna), and live with her 
  for a while on the streets until they learn to abandon 
  their former lives and social norms. Whirler then ini-
  tiates the Followers in a mass celebration, the Feast of 
  Fools, during which the Followers are whisked away and 
  begin their life as cultists in the service of the God-King.
  THE YELLOWING 
  New Initiates become cult operatives and are taken into 
  the Catacombs, the cult’s base of operations, hidden 
  deep underground in a chain of abandoned subway tun-
  nels and managed by its most devout Disciples. There, 
  they ready themselves for their Anointing, the cult’s 
  awakening ritual. While Lambs await their awakening 
  in prayer and meditation, Wolf Initiates take part in the 
  clandestine activities of the cult to serve the will of the 
  God-King: intimidating and harming those who pose a 
  threat to the cult, stealing Relics, guarding cult meet-
  ings, etc. This phase culminates with a ritual to awaken 
  Lambs into Rifts and to brand Wolves with alchemical 
  symbols, giving them the power of Transmutations 
  which finally makes them into fully-fledged Disciples.
  RIFT HARVEST
  In the fourth and final stage, the Reddening, Lambs 
  who were awakened into Rifts do not remain Rifts for 
  very long; instead, they are drained of their Mythos 
  powers. Having been brainwashed throughout their 
  time in the cult, most Lambs comply without protest. 
  Once the Lambs’ Mythos powers are extracted and 
  given to “the God-King”, the Wolves who perform this 
  so-called sacred duty are granted access to greater 
  alchemical Transmutations and may become candi-
  dates for the council of the Cabal. In some of the cases, 
  the God-King allegedly boons the Cabal with a new 
  Tincture, made from the Ichor of the harvested Rift. 
  The soulless husk that was once the Lamb returns to 
  the City as a Mythosless Sleeper, with no hope of ever 
  awakening again.
  
  6   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  ALCHEMICAL POWERS
  Followers and allies of Armand’s so-called Cult of 
  the God-King wield two forms of alchemical magic: 
  Tinctures and Transmutations.
  Tinctures are Relics created by the leader of the 
  cult (Armand) from the Mythos essence harvested 
  from Lambs. They are vials which hold the liquid 
  essence of a Mythos. Unlike most Relics, they do 
  not choose their bearer, but instead grant the power 
  of a Mythos to whoever possesses them. 
  Transmutations are alchemical formulas that 
  allow the cult’s Disciples to control the alchemical 
  elements and manipulate them in various ways. 
  Only Wolves who reach the rank of Disciple are 
  taught Transmutations, becoming fully Touched by 
  Armand’s Mythos.
  If you are playing through the story arc, harvesting 
  takes place at the old Aurora Glassworks furnace (see 
  The Furnace), or, if the cult no longer controls the 
  furnace, at Canseliet Manor by Armand Kai himself 
  (see The Alchemist). If you are playing this case as a one 
  shot, the Cabal are the ones performing the harvesting 
  ritual in a section of the Catacombs.
  THE CABAL
  The most loyal and veteran Disciples are chosen by 
  the existing Cabal members to join the Cabal. The 
  Cabal commands a great deal of power, both magically, 
  thanks to the Mythos Tinctures harvested, and politi-
  cally, in their professional and private lives. Most no-
  tably, all Cabal members bear a portion of the Tincture 
  of the biblical Magi (the Three Wise Men who observed 
  the Star of baby Jesus’ birth), which grants them pow-
  ers of astrological divination to foresee any possible 
  interferences in the cult’s activities.
  Alona Wainwright is the most prominent Cabal mem-
  ber, a businesswoman and art collector who finances 
  the cult’s activities and uses her legal team to rid the 
  cult of any unwanted attention. She has also hired 
  mercenaries and equipped them with Mythos Tinctures 
  to provide additional protection for the cult. As a side 
  business, Wainwright is using her art collector connec-
  tions to obtain Relics for harvesting, gaining addi-
  tional Mythos Tinctures.
  Name:  
   
   
   
  background
  A TRUE CULT CLASSIC
  Here are a few cinematic tropes about cults 
  that you should consider when depicting Mag-
  num Opus in your game:
  • The cult is cryptic. Only those initiated into 
  the secrets of the cult understand its inner 
  working and motivations. 
  • The cult is ever present. Anyone could be a 
  cult member in disguise.
  • The cult is always one step ahead of the 
  crew. Between the Disciples’ thoughtful cal-
  culations and the Cabal’s astrological fore-
  sight, Magnum Opus always seems to already 
  have a solution to any interferences from the 
  crew, to the point of mocking them. 
  • The cult is ruthless like only fanatics can be. 
  Lambs or Wolves, those seeking absolute truth 
  and power unimaginable care not about the 
  lives of Sleepers or Rifts blinded by earthbound 
  morality. The cultists are willing to obliterate 
  anyone standing on their path to the sublime, 
  some with regret while others with zeal.
  • The cult is all-powerful. At least from the 
  crew’s viewpoint, the cult seems to have 
  unlimited mundane influence as well as nev-
  er-before-seen forms of magic that can rob 
  one’s power (Armand’s alchemy), character-
  izing it as a force too strong to contend with.
  • Don’t call it “a cult”: When you portray NPCs 
  remember that the followers of Magnum Opus 
  don’t consider it a cult or call themselves 
  cultists and that the other NPCs don’t know 
  enough to do so. Avoid blowing the lid by us-
  ing the world “cult” until the PCs figure it out 
  and introduce this word themselves.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  7 
    THE CABAL’S  
         DAMAGE CONTROL  
  The Magnum Opus Cabal commands top-quality intel. 
  Members of the council wear vials with the Tincture of 
  the Magi, granting them astrological foresight, and 
  their mundane connections span government, criminal 
  underworld, and esoteric circles. 
  Cinematically, you should make regular Deny Them 
  Something They Want and Complicate Things, Big-
  time moves throughout the case to make the crew feel 
  as if they are one step behind the cult and that their 
  plans are thwarted at every turn, such as:
  • Treat a lead they have as obsolete (e.g., the cult al-
  ready knows they are coming and moved its opera-
  tions elsewhere)
  • Have the cult send the crew a threat
  • Have a cultist they captured kill herself or assassinated
  • Have the cult ambush them
  • Have the cult attack their loved ones or favorite 
  hang-outs
  You can justify such hard moves by giving them a fair 
  warning in the form of an eerie feeling that they are 
  being watched or tracked. Make sure not to overdo 
  these setbacks; balance them with successes to keep 
  the players engaged.
  Name:  
   
   
   
  the iceberg
  Seekers
  Alchemy 101
  The Dig 
  Site Job
  The Cabal's Damage Control
  The Silo Trial
  The Feast of 
  Fools
  The Catacombs
  Ariadne
  The Furnace
  People worried 
  about seekers
  Silvio 
  Yadao
  Prof. Clay
  Valérien's 
  Oddities & 
  Curiosities
  Whirler's 
  Commune
  Alona 
  Wainwright
  Chinatown 
  Festival
  Depth 3
  Depth 4 
  Depth 2
  Depth 1
  Depth 0
  
  8   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  INVESTIGATING THE LEAK
  Whenever you choose to have the cult thwart the plans 
  of the crew, drop hints to let the players wonder how 
  it was possible or ask them directly what their charac-
  ters think about it. If the crew Investigates, they may 
  discover the following:
  DISRUPTING THE CABAL’S  
  ASTROLOGICAL CHARTS
  Based on their research, the crew may try to disrupt 
  the astrological divination that is betraying their every 
  move to their enemies. This can be done on a tempo-
  rary basis by:
  • Refraining from using Mythos powers to reduce the 
  characters’ fate signature
  • A successful Sneak Around move with powers that 
  can hide one’s destiny or dispel divination
  • A Dynamite! Change the Game move used to create 
  a Mist-hidden effect
  • Obtaining Gatekeeper gear that can mask one from 
  divination powers
  • Obtaining Silvio Yadao’s Tincture of Tarnkappe (Cloak 
  of Concealment) which hides one from divination
  • Obtaining one vial of the Tincture of the Magi and 
  using it in a ritual to disrupt the others (this requires 
  adequate knowledge of the occult)
  ATTACK OF THE CULTISTS
  Whenever the crew is about to meddle in the affairs 
  of the cult, or as vengeful retribution for trouble they 
  have caused, the Cabal dispatches its agents to intimi-
  date the crew or make short work of them.
  Choose the agent(s) dispatched based on the Depth of 
  the case, what the crew is about to expose, the challenge 
  level you desire, and any cinematic considerations.
  • A circle of Seekers (Professor Clay’s students) yy
  • A circle of Initiates yyy
  • A Corporate Lawyer hired by Alona Wainwright to 
  harass the crew yyy
  • Talia Al-Bahar, a deadly mercenary with the Tincture 
  of Wilhelm Tell yyyy
  • The Yakuza Yōkai, a violent pack of thugs tattooed 
  with Tinctures of Yōkai (Japanese ghosts and de-
  mons) yyyy
  • A circle of Disciples who control elements tailored to 
  the crew’s powers yyyy
  • A Nemesis armed with a Tincture tailored to a specif-
  ic PC’s powers
  The cult can find the crew anywhere (unless steps are tak-
  en to prevent this), and is likely to attack in places such as:
  • Wherever the crew is conducting the investigation
  • A sewer or subway tunnel to which the crew was 
  lured by a cultist
  • A cult ritual the crew plans to infiltrate and/or storm 
  (e.g., the Silo Trial, the Feast of Fools, or the Anoint-
  ing ritual in the Catacombs)
  • Locations related to the PCs’ private lives
  The cult is not technologically spying on the 
  crew nor are they shadowing the crew. There 
  doesn’t seem to be an informer from within 
  the crew’s circle leaking information directly 
  to the cult.
  There are clerks and secretaries collecting 
  information about the crew, running back-
  ground checks, accessing personal data, etc. 
  Once the crew has reached Depth 2, these 
  individuals can be traced back to Alona Wain-
  wright in Depth 3.
  Looking beyond the Mist, using abilities that 
  can detect divination, or consulting Ariadne 
  or another expert (e.g. a psychic reader) can 
  reveal the crew members’ threads of fate are 
  being charted using astrology.
  Aridane or another expert may suggest Rifts 
  have a stronger fate signature than Sleepers. 
  Withholding the use of Mythos powers for 
  a while may serve as a form of astrological 
  camouflage and allow the crew to get the drop 
  on the cult.
  Looking beyond the Mist can also reveal the 
  Mythos of the Magi at work: three wise men 
  under a bright star. However, having been 
  harvested years ago, the three original Rifts 
  of the Magi can only be found through other 
  Rifts who knew them and their former powers 
  back then (presumably Ariadne). Now Mytho-
  sless Sleepers, this trio of former rich and wise 
  salesmen (King of Used Cars, King of Mat-
  tresses, and King of Hotdogs) have now been 
  reduced to listless, hollow husks.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  9 
  INVESTIGATING THE AGENTS OF THE CULT
  Once defeated, each agent can point to a different part 
  of the case:
  UNDER-LAMP INTERROGATION
  Captured cultists at the rank of Initiate or higher 
  possess the potential knowledge to blow the lid on 
  the cult’s operation all the way down to the Cata-
  combs. Fortunately for the cult, the cultists’ zeal 
  (see Magnum Opus Dangers, below) could make 
  interrogating a cultist a long and tortuous process 
  for both sides, as it should be, cinematically. The in-
  terrogation can stretch out over several scenes and 
  downtimes, parallel to the main investigation. 
  • Interrogating a cultist is a great cinematic oppor-
  tunity to build up suspense and creepiness, and to 
  dive into the brainwashed mind of a power-hungry 
  or spiritually-driven fanatic. Drop some alchemical 
  cryptic lines from the Initiate’s Chant (page 40).
  • Even when a player generates Clues, the cultist 
  still speaks in riddles; give leads and hints that 
  point at locations on the same Depth or one Depth 
  lower, never further.
  • When you get a hard move, a cultist prisoner could 
  attempt to recruit her interrogators, especially if 
  they spend a lot of time together. They may re-
  gress, regaining their zealous status. Or, the Cabal 
  can astrologically predict the weak point and send 
  Talia Al-Bahar (page 14) to assassinate the cult-
  ist from afar with a carefully placed sniper shot.
  Cultists in general ooze alchemical symbolism 
  (chants, recipes, sigils) and powers (Trans-
  mutations, Tinctures) that can be researched 
  (Alchemy 101).
  Seekers are usually members of Prof. Clay’s 
  Philosophy Club and can be followed to a club 
  meeting or to the professor’s office.
  Initiates and Disciples are harder to crack or 
  track (see sidebar) but they serve as the foot 
  soldiers and couriers of the cult and can be 
  followed to almost any location with cult ac-
  tivity (as long as it is no more than one Depth 
  below the current). Most importantly, start-
  ing at Depth 3, they can lead the crew to the 
  Catacombs, especially if the crew missed their 
  chance to sneak in during the Feast of Fools.
  The Corporate Lawyer, Talia, or the Yakuza 
  Yõkai are handled by Cabal member Alona 
  Wainwright and can be traced back to her com-
  pany, Wainwright Auctioneers.
  Disciples are entrusted with the cult’s most 
  valuable operations such as harvesting Rifts and 
  collecting Ichor from the furnace. If the crew can 
  circumvent the Cabal’s astrology and the Disci-
  ples’ unwavering loyalty, they may lead them to 
  the old Aurora Glassworks factory (The Furnace) 
  or even to Canseliet Manor (The Alchemist).
  
  10   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  MAGNUM OPUS SEEKER y
  Seekers are candidates who are being considered as 
  potential cult members by Prof. Clay or any other 
  cult recruiter. They are a hodge-podge of individuals 
  of various ages, backgrounds, and walks of life, who 
  share a yearning for something more in their lives. At 
  the start of their mystical journey, they are merely 
  cultist wannabes; they don’t possess any magical 
  powers. Instead, they rely on home-made chemical 
  compounds based on basic alchemical recipes.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 1   /   TURN AWAY FROM CULT 3
  • Not Sure About This: When a Magnum Opus 
  Seeker enters the scene, give her hesitant-1.
  • Hide in Plain Sight: When you try to find the Mag-
  num Opus Seeker, she first gets inconspicuous.
   
  • Commit herself to the God-King’s will (remove 
  hesitant-1 or 1 tier of emotional statuses)
  • Hit someone (ouch-1) or use a common tool as a 
  weapon (bruised-2 or stabbed-2)
  • use a home-made chemical compound, such as:
   » Corrosive: burn one armor tag
   » Lubricant: make an area slippery
   » Flammable: everyone nearby takes charred-1
   » Flash bomb: everyone nearby takes a temporary 
  dazzled-2
   » Smoke bomb: one or two Magnum Opus Seekers 
  escape (Deny Them Something They Want)
   
  • Awkwardly announce their intentions
  • Hesitate before moving to strike
  • Steel her resolve with words in broken Latin: “O, 
  pater animans!” (“Oh, life-giving father!”)
  MAGNUM OPUS FOLLOWER yy
  Followers are cultists who endured the Silo Trial and are 
  on the path to initiation. During their sojourn at Whiler’s 
  Commune, they are guided by their guru (who possess-
  es the Tincture of Krishna) to refrain from all mortal 
  attachments and practice compassion, tenderness, and 
  love. Mildly Touched by their guru’s powers, they exude a 
  calm air and avoid violence. They still retain their every-
  day appearance but may be wearing white or cream-col-
  ored linen robes when in Magnum Opus functions.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 1   /   TURN AWAY FROM CULT 4
  • Drinking the Kool-Aid: When a Magnum Opus Fol-
  lower enters the scene, give her zealous-2, renewable 
  as a hard move.
  • Violence is not the Answer: When you attack a 
  Magnum Opus Follower, you first take peaceful-2.
  MAGNUM  
  OPUS DANGERS
  Magnum Opus cultists operate in small groups. unless 
  otherwise stated, a group of cultists usually has a hand-
  ful of members and a size factor of 1. The cultists’ Size 
  Factor helps them resist and dish out not only greater 
  physical statuses but also greater emotional and social 
  statuses as they support one another in their faith.
  The cultists' earnest faith in the Magnum Opus makes 
  them virtually immune to mental influence. As they 
  advance in ranks, they increase both their turn-away-
  from-cult maximums and their zealous statuses pro-
  vided by the Drinking The Kool-Aid custom move. 
  Removing a cultist’s zealous status puts her in a 
  vulnerable position, where her defenses are down and 
  she may question her commitment to the cult; howev-
  er, only maxing out turn-away-from-cult will make her 
  betray or leave the cult. 
  The following Danger profiles describe Seekers, Follow-
  ers, Initiates, and Disciples; individual Danger profiles are 
  given for advanced Disciples, such as Prof. Clay, Whirler, 
  or Alona Wainwright, in their relevant locations.
   
  • Ask someone to lay down their arms (peaceful-2 or 
  burn one tag)
  • Inspire someone to lose inhibitions (uninhibited-2  or 
  burn one tag)
  • Talk enthusiastically about her guru (listening-2 or 
  burn one tag)
  • Share a profound perspective that makes aspects of 
  someone’s life seem empty and futile (self-doubt-2, 
  burn one tag, or narratively give the player cause to 
  mark Crack)
   
  • Bow to someone with eyes shut and hands clasped 
  together
  • Praise her guru, Whirler
  • Say a prayer to compose herself: “Spiritus meus mercu-
  rio lavatur” (“My spirit is washed by Quicksilver.”)
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  11 
  MAGNUM OPUS INITIATE yy
  Initiates are the classic cult minions: they follow com-
  mands unequivocally but know nothing of the shocking 
  truth at the core of the cult. At this point in their jour-
  ney, they are too far deep and too close to their goal to 
  turn on the cult. When out on the field, Initiates dress 
  in everyday wear but identify themselves by wearing a 
  light yellow-brown tunic under their clothing.
  Thanks to the Cabal’s astrological powers, Initiates are 
  often uncannily well-prepared for their tasks, carrying 
  alchemical compositions that are designed to handle a 
  specific threat, such as the PCs and their unique powers 
  and weaknesses.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 2   /   TURN AWAY FROM CULT 5
  • Drinking the Kool-Aid: When a Magnum Opus Ini-
  tiate enters the scene, give her zealous-3, renewable 
  as a hard move.
   
  • Intimidate or recruit someone with profound-sound-
  ing babble (apprehensive-2 or listening-2)
  • Throw vials of advanced alchemical compounds 
  especially designed to counter the PCs powers or for 
  a specific task, such as:
   » Salts against liquid (dry-2 or crystalized-2)
   » Adherent against strong hand-to-hand fighters 
  (rooted-2 or stuck-2)
   » Quicksilver against electricity (the environment 
  becomes conductive)
   » Explosives against speedsters (everyone nearby is 
  knocked-back-2 and bruised-2)
   » Poison against plants or animals (withered-2 or 
  poisoned-2)
   » Sulfur against acute senses or mentalists (over-
  whelmed-senses-2)
   » Stink bomb: all Magnum Opus members escape 
  (Deny Them Something They Want) and every-
  one else takes coughing-2
   
  • Face the enemies of the cult with burning eyes
  • Cry out a battle cry in Latin: “ut sol elucidatur!” (“Lu-
  minous as the sun!”)
  MAGNUM OPUS DISCIPLE yyy
  Only Wolves become Magnum Opus Disciples – the 
  Lambs who attain this level are awakened as Rifts 
  instead. Disciples are fully-fledged members of the 
  cult. Upon their initiation, they are taught their first 
  Transmutation and branded with an alchemical symbol 
  representing an element, becoming Touched by Armand’s 
  Mythos. They then gain magical control over that ele-
  ment. A Disciple often carries a supply of her element if 
  it is not ubiquitous. Disciples wear burgundy red robes or 
  red tunics under their clothing.
  As with Initiates, the Cabal deploys Disciples who control 
  elements needed for the task and any foreseen challenges 
  based on their astrological predictions. Therefore, Dis-
  ciples sent to counter the PCs usually command Trans-
  mutations befitting the PC’s powers and weaknesses, 
  unless the PCs have circumvented the Cabal’s divination.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 3   /   TURN AWAY FROM CULT 6
  • Drinking the Kool-Aid: When a Magnum Opus Disci-
  ple enters the scene, give her zealous-4, renewable as a 
  hard move.
  • Trained Practitioner: Once per scene, a Magnum 
  Opus Disciple can make a Transmutation hard move as 
  an intrusion.
   
  • Manipulate her Transmutation element to her advantage:
   » Earth: Create a barrier that protects the cultists 
  (smash:4) or blocks a path (Deny Them Something 
  They Want)
   » Fire: Make a fire lash out at someone (burnt-3 or 
  blinded-3)
   » Water: Cause dehydration (dehydrated-3) or drive a 
  surge of water (everyone affected takes a temporary 
  knocked-down-3)
   » Air: Make the cultists hidden-by-fog-2 or cause 
  someone to stop breathing (choking-3)
   » Lead (or Silver): Shield the cultists from lead bul-
  lets (counter the next 3 tiers of gunfire) or propel 
  nearby lead bullets (gunshot-wound-3)
   » Iron: levitate and propel heavy objects made of 
  steel (crushed-3) or bend them to create a cage 
  (caged-3)
   » Salt: Spray an area with salt, shredding it to pieces 
  (shredded-3 or salt-cuts-3) or crystallizing liquids 
  (crystallized-3)
   » Arsenic: Infect someone with a deadly arsenic 
  poisoning (poisoned-3 and again poisoned-3 every 
  downtime) and force them to yield in return for 
  removing the arsenic from their body
   » Phosphorous: Create a white smoke screen (cov-
  er-3 for her group or Deny Them Something They 
  Want) or cause chemical-burns-3
  • Fervently attest that Magnum Opus can grant some-
  one the power to fulfill their wishes (tempted-3)
   
  • Express complete calm in the face of danger
  • Invoke her Transmutation, making its sigil glow, while 
  whispering “Deus in orbe terrarum.” (“God on Earth.”)
  • Respond to a command with a composed  “Cum pyra 
  tua sacra.” (“With your sacred fire.”)
  
  12   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  YAKUZA YÕKAI yyy
  This pack of former Yakuza mobsters had their tattoos 
  embellished with ink mixed with the Tinctures of Yōkai 
  Mythoi (Japanese evil spirits, ghosts, and demons). 
  When they activate their powers, smoke swirls around 
  their tattoos, which seem to come to life and transform 
  the mobster’s body or materialize objects and substanc-
  es around him. In exchange for these demonic powers, 
  the Yakuza crew swore an oath to serve the Cabal for 
  seven years. The five crew members Yōkai are:
  • Akaname (Filth-licker), a bathroom goblin that 
  enjoys licking, as well as producing, slime and filth
  • Aobōzu (Blue Monk), a one-eyed buddhist Monk of 
  uncanny perception and might
  • Chōchin-obake (Paper Lantern Ghost), a floating 
  demonic paper lantern that wreaks fiery havoc
  • Enenra (Smoke Shroud), a demon of darkness and 
  smoke visible only to the pure of heart
  • Jubokko (Tree Child), a vampire tree, capable of grow-
  ing branch- and root-like tentacles that suck out blood 
  This Danger profile represents a single Yakuza Yōkai. 
  HURT OR SUBDUE 4   /   TURN AGAINST THE CULT 6     
  • Tinctures of Yōkai: Each of the Yakuza Yōkai pos-
  sesses a different ability:
   » Akaname: When you attack Akaname, he first sprays 
  you with a jet of disgusting slime (slipping-2).
   » Aobōzu: When Aobōzu enters the scene, give him 
  sees-the-unseen-2, renewable as a hard move. For 
  Aobōzu, Tough as Nails reduces 2 tiers instead of 1.
   » Chōchin-obake: When Chōchin-obake enters the 
  scene, give him floating-evasively-2, renewable as a 
  hard move.
   » Enenra: Enenra can dematerialize into smoke as 
  a soft move and materialize as an intrusion. While 
  in smoke cloud form, Enenra’s hurt-or-subdue 
  spectrum maximum is (–) and he becomes invisi-
  ble-5 (except to the eyes of the pure of heart). This 
  status may affect Facing Danger against attacks he 
  makes immediately after materializing.
   » Jubokko: When Jubokko inflicts a drained status, 
  he gains a revitalized status with the same tier. He 
  can use tiers of revitalized, one-for-one, to remove 
  tiers from a negative status he has.
  • Tough as Nails: When the Yakuza Yōkai take a status 
  of physical harm, subdual, or mental harm, reduce its 
  tier by 1.
   
  • Attack, employing unarmed martial arts (bro-
  ken-arm-3, pinned-3, or winded-3) or high-caliber 
  pistols and submachine guns (gunshot-wound-3)
  • Akaname: Spray an area with slippery-2 slime
  • Chōchin-obake: Create a new lantern
  • Chōchin-obake: have each lantern spew a jet of 
  hellish fire (hellfire-burns-3)
  • Jubokko: Attach his branches to someone and drain 
  their blood (drained-3)
   
  • Face off with the crew, striking a pose and weighing 
  their opponents
  • Charge!
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  13 
  
  14   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  DEPTH 0: 
  THE HOOKS
  Cult of the God-King plays best as a psychological thrill-
  er when at least one PC who is serious about getting 
  answers goes through the process of the Magnum 
  Opus. While the cult’s ultimate goal is corrupt, the 
  journey the PC undertakes with the guidance of Prof. 
  Clay, Whirler, and others, can still be a meaningful one 
  (and in the context of the Grail story arc, a preparation 
  for things to come). For her, it could be the first steps 
  on her path to the ultimate truth.
  On the other hand, PCs who mistrust the cult’s teach-
  ers or are uninterested in what the cult has to offer can 
  investigate the cult from the outside, through research 
  or through uncovering and sabotaging its operations. 
  This inevitably leads to a direct and ruthless confron-
  tation with the cult.
  The crew may become involved in the case in the fol-
  lowing ways:
  • Seeking answers or power: PCs who are seeking 
  answers about the City, the Mist, and beyond are perfect 
  candidates for joining the cult. Characters who are inter-
  ested in the occult as a vocation, as a means to answer 
  their Mysteries, or as a path to more power may also 
  become cult recruits. They may come across Prof. Clay’s 
  calling card in the back of a dusty library book or hear 
  him speak in the Speaker’s Corner. If they are advised by 
  Ariadne (see sidebar) she may point them to Prof. Clay 
  as “a man who guards the path to many answers”.
  • Commissioned to investigate the cult: Relatives 
  or friends of cult followers could approach the crew 
  and hire them to save their loved ones (see sidebar for 
  potential NPCs). Ariadne may send the crew into the 
  cult undercover to reveal its secrets. One of the sup-
  porting cast members could get involved with the cult, 
  leading the crew to trace her steps. Investigating the 
  cult begins with Prof. Clay and his Philosophy Club.
  • Following up on The Furnace: If the crew already 
  came upon the cult’s artifacts during The Furnace, 
  such as the Tincture of the Gingerbread Witch or the 
  Rift-harvesting furnace itself, or if they had a run-in 
  with the cult’s Disciples, they may already be looking 
  for answers about the cult’s strange magic. Research-
  ing the secret art of the cultists can lead to answers 
  (Alchemy 101). Seeking out the cult’s operation will 
  initially lead to a dead end or to an ambush (The 
  Cabal’s Damage Control).
  TALIA AL-BAHAR yyyy
  Talia Al-Bahar is an ex-commando hired gun who 
  accepted the Cabal's offer to up her game with some 
  “top-secret tech”. She bears a pendant of reinforced 
  titanium on her neck (reminiscent of army tags) that 
  contains the Tincture of Wilhelm Tell, augmenting her 
  accuracy, combat prowess, and valor (and making her 
  aware of the legendary). On the job, she wears typical 
  mercenary garb: combat boots, camo cargo pants, tank 
  top, army jacket, and shades, and carries an impressive 
  assortment of weapons. While she’s not a person of 
  strong morals, the same cannot be said of the Mythos 
  of Wilhelm Tell; the Tincture pushes against the cult’s 
  tyrannical agenda, and Talia can only use it for a short 
  amount of time before having to let it “cool off”.
  Talia’s moves reflect her abilities as enhanced by the 
  Tincture. If she loses it, reduce her hard move effects 
  by 1, limit Seize the Initiative to melee attacks only, 
  and remove Heroic Fortitude.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 3   /   BRIBE 6   /   TINCTURE 
  CONFLICT 5     
  • Sniper: When Talia enters the scene, if she’s in a 
  sniping position, give her hidden-2.
  • Seize the Initiative: When you attack Talia, she 
  hits you first with one of her hard moves.
  • Heroic Fortitude: When Talia takes a mental or 
  emotional status, reduce its tier by 2.
  • Mythos Backlash: When Talia takes action to 
  secure or support an oppressor, the freedom-fight-
  ing Mythos of Wilhelm Tell backlashes; give her 
  Tincture-conflict with an appropriate tier. When 
  Tincture-conflict:5 maxes out, she must cease all 
  such actions or drop the Tincture (MC’s call).
   
  • Take her aim (give someone in-her-sight-2, applied 
  to all Face Danger moves against her gunfire)
  • Shoot a single, deadly, accurate shot (severe-gun-
  shot-wound-4)
  • Provide suppressive or cover fire (Force Them To 
  Choose: stay in cover or take gunshot-wound-3)
  • Accurately shoot an object out of someone’s hand, 
  hit a switch, etc. (Complicate Things, Bigtime or 
  Deny Them Something they Want)
  • Bounce a bullet off a hard surface or curve it around 
  a corner (gunshot-wound-3)
  • Draw out a combat knife when fighting hand-to-
  hand (vicious-stab-wound-4)
   
  • A glint of light flickers up above
  • Expertly change a magazine while scoping  
  her next target
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  15 
  • Crossing paths with the cult’s Relic hunt: Con-
  tacts in the art or antiques dealing world, including 
  smugglers, fences, and forgers have all caught wind 
  of a heavyweight collector that is buying up artifacts, 
  creating a market hype and a rush for antique heists 
  (one such contact is Michel Ahmagi of Ananda Gal-
  lery, see the free case Demons in Cross End).
  The person to talk to is Silvio Yadao, a cat burglar 
  who has been working for that anonymous collector 
  (Alona Wainwright) but is now eager to go legit and 
  is being threatened by the cult. Silvio would suggest 
  meeting at the Chinatown Festival, a crowded place 
  ideal for furtive meetings with ample escape routes.
  Crew members may also happen to be present at 
  the Chinatown Festival when the cult’s attack on 
  Silvio takes place, prompting them to act and later 
  investigate. Supporting cast caught in the mayhem 
  may call the PCs for help.
  CULTISTS ARE PEOPLE, TOO
  If neither the PCs nor their supporting cast are drink-
  ing the Kool-Aid, use the following NPCs as victims of 
  the cult in order to keep the crew emotionally invested. 
  Peter Hill, a tall and broad-shouldered jock, is an an-
  gry young man and a bully. His sense of entitlement 
  and ambition to tower over his peers do little to hide 
  his insecurities. Peter is not interested in unpacking 
  his rough childhood and lack of a role model. In-
  stead, he wants to possess power that will help him 
  shut up anyone who tries to talk about these things.
  Sloane Martinez (Nymph) is a petite and mousy 
  bespectacled bookworm who has grand questions 
  about the mysteries of the universe. A gentle soul, 
  Sloane nonetheless is willing to sacrifice anything 
  for the truth and for magic. Initially, she is able to 
  hide the fact that she is a Rift, but if the cult finds 
  out, they’ll watch her extra carefully.
  Jiahao “Jaja” Zhang is a podgy, ever-smiling follower 
  of the other two. He joins the cult because his friends 
  are there and will go to great lengths to follow them, 
  even though he maintains a lukewarm attitude toward 
  the cult’s teachings. Jiahao seeks to belong more than 
  anything else; once he experiences the cult as a group, 
  he may become the most zealous cultist of the three.
  
  16   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  ARIADNE
  In the spiritual and occult circles of the Rift underworld, 
  Ariadne (Ariadne, wife of Dionysus, who gave Theseus 
  the ball of thread to lead him out of the Minotaur's lab-
  yrinth) is a well-known figure and highly sought-after 
  mystical guide. A powerful Rift who keeps to herself, she 
  nonetheless is driven by her Mythos to guide those who 
  are worthy out of proverbial labyrinths, perhaps even 
  out of the illusion of the Mist itself. 
  Ariadne knows a great deal about all that is going 
  on in the underworld of Rifts and particularly in its 
  esoteric and magical subcultures; you can use her to 
  dispense wisdom and information to characters who 
  seek mystical answers. However, she usually shares 
  her knowledge sparingly, giving the PCs just enough 
  to make the next move, not unlike a string that hooks 
  around a corner in a labyrinth. During a scene, she acts 
  all cryptic-3, making it hard to glean information she 
  doesn’t want to share.
  No-one truly knows who or what Ariadne is. She may be 
  a powerful (Legendary) Rift on the brink of Avatarhood, 
  ready to take on the guardians of the Mist, or she could 
  be a Gatekeeper herself. More likely than not she is 
  both, playing the Gatekeepers and fellow Rifts to further 
  her Mythos’ agenda: to help those who wish to awaken 
  transcend the labyrinthian prison that is the City.
  ARIDANE AND MAGNUM OPUS
  Aridane can sense in her heart of hearts that the 
  Magnum Opus cult is a sham, that it is more likely a 
  labyrinth hiding a devouring “minotaur” than a ball 
  of thread leading to true liberation. This tingles her 
  Mythos’ sensitivities and makes her want to help those 
  who have fallen prey to the cult’s scheme find their 
  way back out to the light.
  At the same time, she can sense that there is a core of 
  truth behind the lies, though she does not know what it 
  is exactly (she could be sensing the Grail Water used to 
  awaken new Rifts, see the Catacombs). While this piques 
  her curiosity, it’s a mystery that remains outside of her 
  reach: Armand’s alchemy is strong enough to interfere 
  with her divinatory powers and the Cabal’s astrology 
  will mark her as a target if she intervenes directly.
  Ariadne is not one for direct confrontation – she is much 
  more inclined to recruit “Athenian” heroes and send 
  them into the maze to do her dirty work. The crew (or 
  at least some of its members) fits that profile perfectly. 
  Ariadne won’t reveal all she knows and feels about the 
  cult, just enough to spur the crew to investigate.
  INTRODUCING ARIADNE
  Contact with Ariadne begins with a thread one must 
  pull on: a physical red thread hanging conspicuously 
  on a doorknob, a hinted opportunity in a conversation, 
  or a mystical trail a magician Rift can trace back to 
  her. She often meets her protégés in secrecy, down a 
  dead-ended smoky alley, up on a random rooftop, in 
  a shady warehouse off a bustling market, or in a quiet 
  church or temple alcove. There, she will loom silently 
  out of the shadows, a gray-haired and hooded mid-
  dle-aged woman in silver robes woven of spider silk. 
  To Rifts, she almost appears to be an apparition; to 
  Sleepers, she’s just a creepy old chain-smoking lady in 
  an ashen trench coat. 
  Ariadne will offer to guide the crew out of the labyrinth 
  of lies and deceit that is the City. As a first step, she 
  will point the crew to Prof. Clay, either to investigate 
  him or to learn what he has to teach. She may gift a PC 
  that is likely to get lost with a woolen garment, which 
  will reveal itself as one of her balls of thread in a time 
  of need (the PC gains a temporary Extra Theme).
  ARIADNE’S BALL OF THREAD
  Relic
  MYSTERY
  How can I stop the devouring of that which is pure?
  POWER TAGS
  find the best path, dispel confusion, lead the lost 
  to safety, weave itself into a woolen garment, warn 
  against monsters, discern a dead end, more powerful 
  in the hands of a hero/ine, decipher cryptic message, 
  see the threads of fate, demystify the Mist
  WEAKNESS TAGS
  attracts monsters, fear leads to doubt, easily burns, 
  blind follower
  THEME IMPROVEMENT
   Demystifier: When you Change the Game with 
  tags from this theme to remove tags and statuses 
  that describe confusion or misguidance, you 
  generate +1 Juice.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  17 
  DEPTH 1:  
  A CANDLE IN THE DARK
   PROFESSOR CLAY
  You sneak in and take a seat at the back 
  of the lecture hall. Across the crowd of 
  listeners, the burly, bearded man on the 
  podium is captivating his audience with 
  his profound, poignant questions. Behind 
  him on the board, there are symbols and 
  diagrams, and the word TRANSFORMATION? 
  encircled many times. You slowly begin to 
  heed his words: “So, is it possible for 
  us, then, to go through the same process, 
  let go of all the noise and contaminants, 
  and become what we are in essence? The 
  ancients thought so, and they left us with 
  specific instructions...”
  Officially a respectable (albeit unorthodox) professor of 
  philosophy and antiquity in the Old Quarter university, 
  Prof. Gregory Clay is in fact a Disciple of Magnum Opus 
  and their main recruiter. He is the frontliner of the cult in 
  this case, recruiting both pliable individuals for Mythos 
  awakening and harvesting (Lambs) and ambitious go-get-
  ters to grow the ranks of the cult’s Disciples (Wolves).
  Professor Clay possesses a magnetic personality and 
  years of experience in bringing seekers through the 
  first stages of awakening. Fancying himself a free 
  thinker, he believes wholeheartedly in the Magnum 
  Opus path to illumination, and preaches to his fol-
  lowers not out of malintent, but out of deep, burning, 
  horribly misguided, fatherly love. More than he aspires 
  for the political power of membership in the Cabal, 
  he yearns to unite with the source of life as he under-
  stands it: the God-King.
  The professor is middle-aged, thickset, with a barrel 
  chest, arms like logs, and an impressive, voluminous, 
  salt-and-pepper beard. His voice is harsh and raspy, 
  and his eyes are almost black, but they seem to smolder 
  like embers. He dresses formally as fitting his academic 
  position; when passionately sharing his ideas, he is 
  often seen perspiring in his dress shirt and suspenders, 
  with his sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened.
  The professor operates in four locations, all in the Old 
  Quarter:
  • The university lecture hall, where he lectures on 
  religion, spirituality, and ancient paths to transfor-
  mation to attract candidates. use this location to 
  establish him as an authority on these matters.
  • The professor’s university office, where he holds 
  his private meetings with candidates. This is a dark, 
  musky room, decked in wood, lined with bookcases, 
  and draped in velvet curtains. It’s notably spacious 
  and plush for a philosophy professor, overlooking the 
  campus grounds. The office is decorated with several 
  pieces of medieval art including a tapestry, a bust, 
  and a laboratory set. There are numerous texts on 
  spirituality and alchemy (Alchemy 101).
  • The Philosophy Club, where he teaches his Seekers. 
  Prof. Clay uses a university-run study group, officially 
  open to the public, to run his recruitment environment 
  for Seekers and guide them through the first steps of 
  their spiritual path. The Philosophy Club meetings 
  take place regularly three nights a week at the campus 
  house of the preppy and learned Mu Omicron fraterni-
  ty, many of whose members are in attendance. During a 
  meeting, the house is guarded by alert-1 club members. 
  Meeting nights are foggy, providing additional cover. 
  Inside, Prof. Clay is as mindful-3 as ever and may spot 
  an intruder. The secretive meetings take place by can-
  dle light, for effect, as Prof. Clay teaches his students 
  the basics of alchemy and the Magnum Opus, often us-
  ing “The Alchemy of the Soul” book as reference (see 
  Alchemy 101). When a newcomer is present, Prof. Clay 
  first studies her reaction to the group before breaking 
  out the burners and mortars.
  • A private log cabin in the forested hills just out of 
  town, where he takes small groups of promising stu-
  dents on spiritual retreats complete with late-night 
  fireside talks and outdoor challenges.
  PROFESSOR CLAY’S ABILITIES
  Beyond his remarkable esoteric knowledge and 
  mentoring techniques, the professor also secretly 
  commands two elemental Transmutations, one 
  for Water and one for Earth, having earned them 
  through years of loyal service to the cult. The sigil 
  brands for these Transmutations are burned into his 
  flesh in two concentric circles covering most of his 
  back. While they glow neon-bright when activated, 
  they are usually well-hidden under his thick shirt.
  The Transmutations of Water and Earth allow Prof. 
  Clay to shape these elements freely with a motion 
  of his fingers or arms. Most usefully, he can manip-
  ulate the water in a person’s body, causing paralysis 
  or even crudely controlling their movements. While 
  undercover, the professor never uses his alchemical 
  gifts, unless he is in grave danger.
  See Clay’s Danger profile as a Disciple on page 26.
  
  18   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  When the PCs first arrive on the scene, the Professor will 
  try to pick out a PC to recruit. If some PCs show distrust, he 
  won’t push but will enlist his Seekers to ensure inquisitive 
  PCs stay out of his business. Once the crew gets into an 
  altercation with cult Seekers or the Professor himself, they 
  will start showing up on the Cabal’s astrological charts, 
  leading to a retaliation (The Cabal’s Damage Control).
  Note that when you use hard moves to reflect Gregory 
  Clay’s convincing a PC (e.g., giving her convinced-3), 
  you automatically expose him as a Danger and a villain. 
  Instead, when a PC genuinely takes interest in what Clay 
  has to say, consider foregoing the hard moves in order 
  to leave his motivations shrouded in mystery. Continue 
  to play through the story and try to present a convincing 
  Prof. Clay. If the PC decides to follow him for the value 
  he offers and not because the player is compelled by a 
  status, the cinematic effect will be much more powerful.
  INVESTIGATING THE PROFESSOR
  THE BLACKENING:  
  CONFRONTING ONE’S NOTHINGNESS
  As the first line of recruitment, it is the professor’s job 
  to separate the serious Seekers, who can go all the way, 
  from the lightweight, fake, or snoopy candidates. This is 
  done by offering answers on the one hand, and on the 
  other hand forcing the candidate to look at her own 
  faults over and over again, a most unpleasant experi-
  ence which only the most earnest seekers endure.
  RIFT RECRUITS
  Magnum Opus accepts Rift recruits but they must 
  go through the same process as Sleepers do to 
  prove themselves. A Rift is considered valuable to 
  the cult only after she fully accepts the Magnum 
  Opus teachings and is willing to sacrifice herself to 
  the God-King.
  Rift candidates are expected to set their powers 
  aside until they witness the power of the God-King, 
  in the Anointing ritual. Failure to do so results in 
  expulsion from Magnum Opus.
  The professor’s background check is impec-
  cable. He seems to be a valued member of the 
  faculty, other than a comment about taking his 
  class on an unapproved field trip long ago. A 
  forger could detect the comment was left there 
  to avoid making this doctored file look too 
  perfect. Pulling on this thread leads to Silvio 
  Yadao (see The Hooks, page 14, leading to 
  the Chinatown Festival), who swapped the 
  previous file at the request of financier Alona 
  Wainwright. The previous file is full of entries 
  casting doubt on the professor’s far-reaching 
  ideas and strict educational methodology.
  Prof. Clay leads the Philosophy Club, an ex-
  tra-curricular society meeting at the Mu Omi-
  cron fraternity house on the university campus.
  The preacher is a man of many faces. When 
  lecturing he is impassioned, in a conversation 
  he is pleasant and charming, and among his 
  students he is stern (even abusive when they 
  disappoint him), though he tries to hide the 
  latter behavior in public.
  INVESTIGATING THE PHILOSOPHY CLUB
  The Philosophy Club members aren’t there to 
  study theoretical philosophy – their clique 
  seeks to obtain real power through occult 
  knowledge. To join this group, one must 
  approach the preacher personally.
  While it is composed of both men and women, 
  the philosophy club has taken on a “good old 
  boys” mentality, fostered by Clay’s demand to 
  bravely contend with their faults and dark urges.
  Some members of the club aren’t as sure as the 
  others that this is the right path for them. They 
  may talk if separated from the group.
  Prof. Clay is teaching his students basic 
  chemical recipes to give them a taste of the 
  power that may become available to them in 
  the future.
  Most of the teachings come from “The Alche-
  my of the Soul”, a medieval book by Mathil-
  da DeAquino. Researching the book leads to 
  Alchemy 101.
  The candidates are eagerly awaiting their “fi-
  nal trial” (the Silo Trial), after which they will 
  be initiated into the “Mystery of the God-King”.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  19 
  When recruiting a new Seeker, PC or NPC, the Profes-
  sor uses the following outline:
  1. Read the Seeker (if applicable, using the custom 
  move Dark Mentor) trying to establish if she is a 
  Lamb or a Wolf, what interests her, and how to ap-
  proach her (kindly, authoritatively, charmingly, etc.) 
  2. Based on that, build rapport, and talk about the 
  subjects that interest the Seeker
  3. Invite her to undergo the Magnum Opus: Promise 
  answers to her questions or the power to change her 
  position if she is willing to walk the path of transfor-
  mation
  4. Demand that the Seeker first prove her earnest-
  ness by confronting her weaknesses; Choose a 
  task that would be difficult for the Seeker to do, such 
  as a situation that triggers a PC’s weakness tags 
  (see custom move Dark Mirror) or challenge her 
  to do something that would be difficult without her 
  Mythos powers.
  5. Reward efforts with some answers: A free Clue 
  about alchemy or a copy of “The Alchemy Of The Soul” 
  which the Seeker can study (see clues in Alchemy 101)
  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5, appointing increasingly hard 
  tasks and granting greater rewards
  7. The final trial: Once the candidate has shown 
  enough commitment and the professor thinks she can 
  withstand the trial, she is invited to the Silo Trial
  QUOTES FROM THE PROFESSOR
  • “You are blind. That is why you cannot find what 
  you seek. The first step on the path is to awaken to 
  what you cannot see – your own darkness, your own 
  nothingness.”
  • “Alchemy is the path to the transformation of 
  the soul. Me, and this book, we are just guides. You 
  are the one who must walk the path.”
  • “Your powers are what we call Fool’s Gold. Do you 
  know where they come from? What they are? Are they 
  truly your powers? No. To know the truth, you must 
  abandon this lie. To become the Philosopher’s Stone, 
  you must first melt yourself and clean all these impuri-
  ties and contaminants.”
  • “If you are not ready to sacrifice for the truth, you 
  are not ready for the truth. Only the initiated can 
  grasp the ultimate reality.”
  • “I am not asking you to succeed in your task, I’m 
  asking you to try, so that you will witness your own 
  failings and learn to know them.”
  • “Beyond the confines of this City, of this twisted 
  world, there lies the God-King, the source of all 
  existence. To reunite with him means to become 
  absolute, omniscient, and omnipotent. This is the 
  possibility hidden in your soul.”
  UNDERCOVER PROF. CLAY yy
  HURT OR SUBDUE 2   /   THREATEN, FOR NOW 3
  • Disciplined Mind: When Prof. Clay enters the 
  scene, give him mindful-3; he is both mindful of 
  what he says and mindful of his surroundings.
  • Dark Mentor: Whenever you ask Prof. Clay for 
  answers (whether you Investigate or not), the MC 
  asks you “What do you seek?” Prof. Clay knows the 
  answer. You also take a relevant tier-1 status, e.g. 
  seeking-to-belong-1, seeking-arcane-knowledge-1, 
  etc. Multiple statuses stack normally.
  • Dark Mirror: Whenever you invoke a weakness tag 
  while performing a task given to you by Prof. Clay, 
  it reduces your Power by 3 instead of 1.
  • Roll Up The Sleeves: If Prof. Clay is in mortal dan-
  ger or if he is about to reveal secret cult informa-
  tion, he blows his cover before it happens. use the 
  Disciple Gregory Clay Danger profile (page 26).
   
  • Speak a universal truth that makes someone con-
  templative-2 or hesitant-2
  • Help someone cope with fear or confusion (remove 
  up to two tiers of appropriate negative statuses)
  • Identify what someone seeks (giving them a status 
  as in Dark Mentor)
   
  • Cleverly entice someone with the possibility of 
  finding what they seek
  • Stare at someone with his smoldering soul-piercing 
  gaze
  
  20   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  INVESTIGATING THE ARTIFACTS
   ALCHEMY 101
  ”Here it is,” says the austere librari-
  an as she softly slides the worn-out book 
  across the counter,”’The Alchemy of the 
  Soul’, 1233, by Mathilda DeAquino. It’s a 
  modern printing of the original medieval 
  manuscript, but still quite hard to come 
  by.” You pick up the leather-bound book 
  and flick through its pages, skimming over 
  cryptic words, sacred verses, forgotten 
  formulas, and strange sigils. It looks 
  like you have your work cut out for you.
  Sooner or later, the crew will have to delve into the 
  mystic arts that lie at the base of the cult’s power. This 
  can be spurred by witnessing signs that the cultists 
  study or wield alchemical power, such as: 
  • A cultist calling out phrases in medieval Latin
  • The alchemical powders and concoctions used by 
  Seekers and Initiates
  • The glowing alchemical sigils of a Transmutation 
  activated by a Disciple
  • A Mythos Tincture
  • From The Furnace case: the furnace itself, or Ichor 
  (the raw product of the Mythos harvesting process)
  Academic crew members or those versed in the occult 
  should Investigate in order to obtain the following 
  clues about Magnum Opus; other characters may reach 
  out to knowledgable contacts. The more the crew 
  learns about the cult and its form of alchemy, the more 
  they draw the attention of the Cabal, eventually trig-
  gering an attack when it is most dramatically appropri-
  ate (The Cabal’s Damage Control).
  INVESTIGATING THE CULTISTS
  Adherents of Magnum Opus speak catchphras-
  es and battle cries in medieval Latin. These 
  refer to a “life-giving father”, being “washed 
  by Quicksilver”, something “as luminous as the 
  sun”, and a “sacred fire”. These are all lines from 
  the Initiate’s Chant, a prayer which appears in 
  the book The Alchemy Of The Soul.
  The chemical formulas used by Magnum Opus 
  date back to the ancient science of alchemy. The 
  glowing sigils from which the Disciples draw 
  their power are alchemical sigils representing 
  different elements; their power to manipulate 
  elements may be alchemical in nature. The 
  source of this specific symbolism originates in 
  an esoteric medieval book titled “The Alchemy 
  Of The Soul” by Mathilda DeAquino, found in 
  the back of the library or in an old book store.
  A (Mythos) Tincture contains the essence of 
  a legend inside it (Ichor in its raw form). The 
  only possible source of such potent Mythos 
  power is the Rift of that Mythos.
  The furnace was built by a master of the oc-
  cult arts, someone who knows how to extract 
  spiritual essence out of matter – most likely 
  an alchemist. It is impossible to decipher who 
  engineered it or how it works without vast 
  alchemical knowledge.
  Alternatively, if you wish to connect the 
  cases, studying a Tincture with divinatory 
  powers could lead to:
  • The furnace where it was harvested in its raw 
  form (the old Aurora Glassworks factory in 
  The Furnace);
  • The co-creator of the furnace, Rosina Lecker-
  maul (the Leckermaul house in The Furnace); 
  or
  • The creator of the Tincture(s), Armand Kai at 
  Canseliet Manor (in The Alchemist).
  READING IN “THE ALCHEMY OF THE SOUL”
  On the inner side of the back cover, someone 
  scribbled: “Still seeking answers? Call Prof. 
  Gregory Clay” along with Prof. Clay’s phone 
  number.
  According to the book, alchemy is not concerned 
  with turning base metals to gold. The process 
  of creating the Philosopher’s Stone, called the 
  Great Work, or Magnum Opus, is an allego-
  ry for the transformation of the soul, from a 
  coarse sleeping state to an awakened state that 
  can merge back with the source of all life.
  The source of all life is referred to as “the 
  godhead” or “the God-King”. While revered 
  as a god, this being is not described as a mor-
  al foundation or a personified deity, but as a 
  source of unlimited knowledge and power to 
  be sought, with whom alchemists and gnostics 
  seek to unite.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  21 
  As the crew has witnessed, in this City, people’s 
  souls contain a specific type of magic inside 
  them (their Mythos). Theoretically, this form 
  of alchemy can be used to manipulate mythic 
  powers, maybe even awaken them.
  The alchemical Magnum Opus consists of 
  four stages: blackening or rotting, whitening 
  or purification, yellowing or awakening, and 
  reddening or transforming.
  The book contains the Initiate’s Chant, which 
  may be a prayer to the God-King or a medita-
  tive chant. There are some inaccuracies in both 
  the original and the translation (see next clue).
  Further investigation into the book cannot con-
  nect it with any other literature; it seems very 
  obscure. An especially scrutinizing research-
  er may discover the text is actually a fake, 
  written in modern times. (The true author is 
  Armand Kai.)
  There is a recipe in the book for creating and 
  revealing invisible ink. Using it successfully 
  on the book reveals additional hidden annota-
  tions, removing its obscure status (see below) 
  and unlocking advanced clues (see Valérien’s 
  Oddities & Curiosities). Failing the process 
  destroys the copy.
   CHINATOWN FESTIVAL
  The constant whistling and crackle of 
  firecrackers and the jingle of bells and 
  cymbals almost drown out the sound of the 
  crowd swarming around you. Lanterns hang 
  from every house and over the streets, 
  where thousands of visitors and locals 
  stroll in a meandering flow, sampling the 
  street food and stopping to watch the col-
  orful and fantastic performances. In the 
  center, a procession of floats and a giant 
  dance figure of a dragon flare occasional-
  ly with pyrotechnics. Your contact picked 
  this place for a reason: one could easi-
  ly disappear in the crowd here. But some-
  thing’s wrong. The hairs on the back of 
  your neck bristle when you look down the 
  dark Chinatown alleys all around. Then you 
  hear a scream over the festive music. When 
  you turn back, the flames are everywhere 
  and within them the dragon, coiling in the 
  air as its operators flee in panic.
  When cat burglar and Relic thief Silvio Yadao (Tinc-
  ture of Tarnkappe, the cloak of concealment of The 
  Song of the Nibelungs) decided to go legit and avoid his 
  mysterious employer (Alona Wainwright of the Cabal), 
  they sent him an unequivocal threat. While Silvio and 
  his daughter Helena (Sleeper) are waiting to meet the 
  crew at Chinatown’s Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the 
  vendors, who was paid off by the cult, pretended to 
  kindly gift Helena with a rattle drum.
  The rattle drum is a Mythos-powered “bomb”: it 
  contains the accident-prone Tincture of The Sorcerer’s 
  Apprentice, the Mythos of magic going out of control. 
  Every time Helena shakes the drum, she enchants an 
  object and brings it to life. Because of the Mythos, any 
  haphazard attempt to stop the animated object causes 
  it to duplicate, breeding more mayhem. unfortunately, 
  one of the first things Helena enchanted was the festi-
  val’s huge fire-breathing dragon figure.
  In addition, the rattle drum is especially dangerous 
  for magic-wielding Rifts who are prone to lose control 
  over their powers. Sorcerers and witches who touch 
  the drum must Take the Risk to control their powers. 
  A 7-9 means keeping control over their powers takes 
  its toll or demands some concession (Force Them to 
  Choose), while a miss causes them to momentarily 
  lose control over their powers (similarly to a missed 
  Stop. Holding. Back), with mild or severe repercus-
  sions, as appropriate. Optionally, give such a PC uncon-
  trolled-powers-2.
  Investigating PCs can discover the basic clues above; 
  when they attempt to delve deeper, however, they hit 
  a wall: the alchemical symbolism and lore become ob-
  scure-3 or esoteric-3, unless the PC is an expert in this 
  type of alchemy. 
  Contacts in the academic or occult circles can 
  point to Valérien’s Oddities & Curiosities as 
  a place to search for answers on obscure and 
  esoteric subjects.
  
  22   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  This dramatic incident at the festival serves as an ac-
  tion-packed sizzler which can open the case or pick up 
  a slow investigation. At the very least, the crew must 
  locate and save their informant, Silvio Yadao, who will 
  beg them to find and save his daughter. The crew mem-
  bers may also be involved with protecting innocent 
  bystanders. Investigating the incident can take place as 
  it unfolds or after the drama is over.
  The threat worked: Silvio is shaken and 
  resigns to attempt the Dig Site Job to avoid en-
  dangering his little girl. He was taken aback by 
  his employer’s ruthlessness; he didn’t think she 
  would dare to hurt his daughter. If provoked, 
  Silvio warns the crew not to try and stop him.
  Silvio is hiding his feelings and would say 
  nothing about the Dig Site Job, fearing-for-
  his-daughter-3. He knows that the Dig Site Job 
  involves stealing an ancient tablet. If the crew 
  exposes his plan, he begs them not to interfere.
  Silvio neglects to mention that he carries the 
  Tincture of Tarnkappe – which was given to 
  him by his employer. The vial allows him to 
  turn invisible and conceals him from surveil-
  lance and divination, which he has been using 
  to make his life as a cat burglar much easier.
  His employer’s henchmen – Magnum Opus 
  Initiates – are watching over the unfolding of 
  the trap from a safe position on the rooftops of 
  Chinatown.
  For information garnered from studying the 
  Tincture, see Alchemy 101.
  Helena’s rattle drum is causing all the trou-
  ble. Studying the drum shows it contains a 
  highly-volatile magical liquid (a Tincture). 
  Beyond the Mist, the Mythos of the Sorcerer’s 
  Apprentice is revealed, a vision of a helpless 
  young man in a magician’s robes who has lost 
  control over a host of animated brooms.
  According to Silvio, this is all the doing of an 
  antiques collector he has been working for. 
  He doesn’t know her name, but he knows she 
  has been gathering ancient artifacts to add 
  to her collection. Silvio used to steal items of 
  great value for this employer, but now that he’s 
  trying to go legit, she wouldn’t have it.
  
  FLAMING ANIMATED DRAGON FIGURE yyy
  TEAR 2   /   DISENCHANT 4   /   EXTINGUISH 4
  • Monstrous: When the Dragon Figure takes a 
  status that is countered by its large size, reduce 
  the tier of that status by 1. When the MC makes 
  a hard move with the Dragon Figure, she can hit 
  two targets or hit a single target for +1 tier.
  • Misfortunate Enchantment: When tear:2 
  maxes out, the Dragon Figure splits into two 
  separate dragons (create two new Dragon Figure 
  Dangers instead of this Danger).
   
  • Someone is burned by the flames (burns-2)
  • The Dragon Figure drops someone it is carrying 
  (broken-rib-3 or concussion-3) 
   
  • Set a section of the street ablaze with a shower 
  of fireworks from its mouth, endangering Hele-
  na, Silvio, a PC, or a bystander
  • Carry Helena, Silvio, a PC, or a bystander up in 
  the air as they hang on by a thread 
  • Coil and dance in the air, partially on fire
  MOONWRAITH
  To complicate things, also observing the chaos from 
  the rooftops is Tracy Chang (Chang’e, Chinese 
  goddess of the moon), more commonly known in 
  the criminal scene as the vigilante Moonwraith. An 
  athlete trained in a wide range of aerial gymnastics 
  and martial arts, Moonwraith has recently awakened 
  to her ability to fly in the moonlight and has been 
  fighting crime ever since. Unbeknownst to her, her 
  Mythos also makes her immortal, a fact that will 
  remain hidden until she is killed for the first time.
  Moonwraith is attracted to the scene because 
  her Mythos goddess is popularly associated with 
  the Mid-Autumn Festival and because she’s a 
  crime-fighter. To add fuel to the fire, her Mythos also 
  pulls her there because Silvio Yadao is going to steal 
  the recipe for the Elixir of Life (Chang’e became the 
  moon goddess by consuming such an elixir). All this 
  makes her involvement with Silvio, the crew, and the 
  cult nothing short of inexorable.
  Moonwraith may team up with the crew to stop the 
  mayhem at the festival or get in an altercation with 
  them if they wrongly associate her with Silvio’s em-
  ployer or if she discovers they are after the tablet. 
  ultimately, however, she will do what it takes to 
  protect the tablet during the Site Dig Job.
  MOONWRAITH yy/y
  Moonwraith is a curvy young woman dressed in sporty street-
  wear: a hoodie over a sports tee, sweatpants or tights, and sneak-
  ers. Agile and strong, she can easily cling onto fire escapes, drain 
  pipes, and other building wall fixtures to quickly scale urban 
  terrain. In the moonlight, she can simply fly over any obstacle.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 4   /   CATCH 4
  • Immortal: When Moonwraith dies, unless her Mythos 
  powers are hindered, the MC may reset her hurt-or-subdue 
  spectrum as a hard move.
  • Ethereal: Moonwraith can choose to become ethereal. In this 
  form she can only be seen; her presence cannot be detected by 
  devices or senses that detect weight, motion, heat, or sound.
  • Moonlighting: When Moonwraith is in the moonlight, she can 
  fly. In addition, increase the tier of all of her hard moves by 1.
  • Reawakening +y: When Moonwraith dies for the first time, 
  she transforms from a Touched Rift to a Borderliner. She 
  becomes her own source of moonlight; consider her Moon-
  lighting move as always applicable. In addition, she gains 
  Celestial Moonlight Radiance and a new hard move.
  • Celestial Moonlight Radiance: When Moonwraith takes 
  a status of physical harm, subdual, or restraint, or a status 
  emanating from a dark or evil source, reduce its tier by 2.
   
  • Fly through the air, performing superhuman acrobatic feats 
  (giving herself evasive-1)
  • Swoop down or fly by with a martial arts strike move  
  (dizzy-2, bruised-2, or prone-2)
  • Show up to interrupt any shady activity taking place in the 
  moonlight (Complicate Things, Bigtime)
  • The moon looms out of cover or reflects on a reflective 
  surface (Complicate Things, Bigtime or remove one tag 
  obstructing the moonlight)
  • (After Reawakening activates) Blast brilliant moonbeams 
  out of her fingertips (zapped-2 three times; the effects of 
  Moonlighting are already factored in)
   
  • A dark silhouette flutters across the moon
  MOONWRAITH
  Ally
  MYSTERY
  What is the price of life everlasting?
  POWER TAGS
  Expert martial artist, immortal, fly by the moonlight, 
  crime-fighting, blasts of moonbeam, moonlight radiance, 
  informants in the criminal underworld, training room, Queen 
  Mother of the West, incorruptible
  WEAKNESS TAGS
  impulsive, weaker when the moon has set, ignores the law, 
  weakness for archers
  THEME IMPROVEMENT
   Immortal: When this Ally takes a tier-6 status of physi-
  cal harm, remove it after the next downtime.
  
  24   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  DEPTH 2:  
  DANGEROUS  
  EXCAVATIONS
   VALÉRIEN’S ODDITIES  
          & CURIOSITIES
  Valérien’s Oddities & Curiosities shop 
  is nestled under layers and layers of Old 
  Quarter construction with nothing but 
  painted lettering on a quaint door to hint 
  at its entrance. Inside, however, it is 
  surprisingly voluminous, but not spacious; 
  the store is packed floor to ceiling with 
  books, trinkets, archaeological arti-
  facts, jars full of strange ingredients, 
  and crumbling scrolls. “One could get lost 
  down there,” warns the owner, Valérien, an 
  aging bespectacled man in a tweed vest as 
  he points to the pathways in the vast re-
  pository of esoteric knowledge he curates. 
  “Better take a light,” he adds.
  Valérien’s Oddities & Curiosities (The Rabbit Hole of 
  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland) is the go-to shop 
  for anyone dabbling in the occult. PCs who actively 
  practice the magical arts may already know it or of 
  it, or they would be delighted to discover it. Its only 
  visible entrance is a door in an Old Quarter alley, but 
  inside it seems to extend deep into the building. Those 
  who explore the store always find another passageway, 
  another small room, or another spiral staircase; in the 
  deep recesses of the store it seems to overflow into 
  a cellar carved in the earth, and unwary visitors may 
  even fall into a lower level, only to land safely on an 
  old armchair covered in leaves.
  Valérien’s Oddities & Curiosities offers an opportunity 
  for academic and occult crew members to research the 
  Magnum Opus lore. As the Enclave of the Rabbit Hole, 
  it presumably holds any imaginable book or object 
  that a researcher or an occultist might need and its 
  mysterious ways can even contrive to help PCs who 
  aren’t great researchers find answers. While the front 
  of the store seems to hold books about interesting but 
  ultimately trivial or common topics, its deep interior 
  contains ancient manuscripts and objects with magical 
  properties that can unlock the most esoteric mysteries.
  VENTURING INTO THE ODDITIES
  Venturing into the shop is a Change the Game move 
  that can only be attempted once per scene. A PC who 
  is exploring the shop chooses how deep she goes and 
  receives a status to reflect this – curious-1, exploring-2, 
  venturing-deep-3, or lost-in-books-4 – which enhances 
  her Change the Game move. PCs who explore togeth-
  er must choose the same tier of status and only one of 
  them can take the action, with the other PCs assisting. 
  If the move was successful, the Juice that is generated 
  by the move can be spent on generating tags of useful 
  objects or on obtaining relevant Clues, one-per-one.
  Once the move is resolved, all the characters in the 
  exploring party take a lost status with a tier greater 
  by one than the tier of their exploration status. If the 
  Change the Game move was successful, they may 
  Face Danger; if it missed, the MC can impose the lost 
  status without allowing a Face Danger move. The 
  condition of being lost in the shop can be a practical 
  one (actually lost or stuck in some part of the store) or 
  a mystical one (opening books and not seeing any writ-
  ing, falling endlessly in a psychedelic space, etc.). A PC 
  can recover from this status normally over time or by 
  using other means; to end her state of bedlam immedi-
  ately and remove the status, the player may also burn a 
  tag representing order, structure, or logic or mark one 
  Crack on a Logos theme that keeps her grounded.
  Magnum Opus isn’t training alchemists to do the 
  Great Work of the Alchemists. The adherents 
  are the base material and the Great Work is the 
  process of making them into something else.
  Blackening stands for rotting. At the begin-
  ning of the process, the base materials must rot 
  and decompose. Psychologically, it represents 
  facing one’s nothingness and corrupted nature. 
  Only by wallowing in one’s festering failings 
  and meaninglesness can one be free of it (Prof. 
  Clay’s impossible tasks and the Silo Trial).
  Whitening stands for purification. After 
  breaking up the base material’s resistance, 
  it can be purified, leaving the gross matter 
  behind. In this stage, one must let go of all 
  attachments and worldly desires, becoming 
  “refined”. Thus inner peace is achieved and all 
  sins are absolved.
  Experts or local guides can link this denial of 
  mainstream life with some communities that 
  live underground (Whirler’s Commune) or with 
  a medieval celebration called the the Feast of 
  Fools which is reenacted occasionally in a big 
  avant-garde rave.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  25 
   THE SILO TRIAL
  It’s hard to breathe or see in the dank, 
  dark silo. Echoing in the cylindrical 
  chamber is an eerie, murmured Latin chant. 
  Somewhere at the ground level, you hear 
  stifled weeping and clanking teeth along 
  with a constant drip. As your eyes adjust, 
  you see human shapes chained to the pipe-
  work. Above them, on the catwalk, cloaked 
  figures begin turning creaky valves. The 
  drip grows to a trickle, then to a flow, 
  then to a gush. The chanting increases 
  along with the rising water, choking out 
  the gasps of the victims below until a 
  single blood-curdling scream penetrates 
  your shock – and spurs you into action.
  The Silo Trial is the first true test of the Magnum Opus, 
  testing the candidates’ suitability to become Lambs 
  or Wolves and attain the rank of Follower. More than 
  anything, it shows candidates their dark side: either 
  complete vulnerability and helplessness for Lambs, or 
  cruelty and ruthlessness for Wolves. Once they accept 
  their failures, they pass the test.
  The test is simple: Lambs must agree to be sacrificed 
  by Wolves, Wolves must agree to kill Lambs. For 
  this purpose, the Seekers are brought to an abandoned 
  and retrofitted agricultural silo at the edge of town. The 
  bottom of the silo is sealed and can be filled with water 
  through multiple pipe mouths at ground level. While 
  chanting the Initiate’s Chant (page 40), the Wolves 
  shackle the Lambs to steel rings adjacent to the pipe 
  mouths, climb a ladder to a circular catwalk 20 feet 
  overhead, and draw up the ladder. The Lambs’ test is not 
  to resist. The water flow is controlled by multiple valves 
  that are fixed around the Wolves’ catwalk. The Wolves’ 
  test is to turn on the water and watch their fellow Seekers 
  drown. Amid gushing water, tragedy and drama ensues, 
  with Lambs screaming for their lives and Wolves shaking 
  as they push past their morals. Lambs who “drown” pass 
  the test, as do Wolves who did not break.
  Before the trial, both groups are promised by Prof. Clay 
  that no one will be harmed and that this is just a test to 
  reveal to them the glory of the God-King and their own 
  darkness and insignificance. Indeed, once everyone’s 
  true colors are revealed, Prof. Clay, who watches from 
  another catwalk at the top of the silo, uses his Trans-
  mutation of Water to push water away from the sub-
  merged Lambs’ lungs and keep them alive underwater.
  At the end of the test, the Seekers are physically safe, 
  even if mentally broken-3. The professor bids farewell 
  to those who would not shackle themselves or watch 
  their friends drown, warning them never to speak of 
  this again (they know what would happen if they do not 
  comply). Those who completed the test also become 
  zealous-3 and are sent to cool down for a few days before 
  moving to live in Whirler’s Commune as Followers.
  Yellowing stands for awakening. A purified 
  substance (or soul) can begin to contain the 
  light. Exposing it to divine light (or knowledge) 
  illuminates it from within and awakens it. The 
  soul becomes infinitely aware (and a Rift in the 
  Mist is formed).
  If the crew reached the Catacombs, the Anoint-
  ing ritual can be linked with this stage. Other-
  wise, they can speculate that the cult has a third 
  location where this awakening stage takes place.
  Reddening stands for transformation. The 
  awakened matter can now be transformed into 
  another matter, of a higher order. Likewise, an 
  awakened soul can transcend humanity and 
  reunite with its source, the God-King.
  Even if the crew saw the furnace, it’s difficult 
  to link it with this stage. This is where the cult’s 
  lies finally unravel: at the end of the road there is 
  no union with the God-King, only greedy Wolves 
  feasting on the Lambs. However, this only clicks 
  once the crew understands the entire process.
  Reddening can be linked with the furnace at 
  the old Aurora Glassworks factory (The Fur-
  nace) or Canseliet Manor (The Alchemist).
  With the necessary alchemical knowledge, 
  this ritual can be connected with the Blacken-
  ing stage of the alchemical Magnum Opus.
  Inspecting the Lambs’ miraculous survival 
  points to Prof. Clay, who is using a Trans-
  mutation to control the water. Investigating 
  this power leads to Alchemy 101.
  After the trial, the Seekers who were initiated 
  as Followers gradually abandon their every-
  day lives and move to live on the streets, in 
  the sewers, and in abandoned subway tunnels. 
  Following them for a while could eventually 
  lead to Whirler’s Commune.
  
  26   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  THE SILO TRIAL yy
  LAMBS SUBMERGED 5   /   BREAK THE SILO 6
  • Reinforced: When the silo takes a status of physical dam-
  age, reduce its tier by 2.
  • Shackled: Each Lamb is chained-3. This status can be re-
  duced or removed tier-for-tier with an opposite status (e.g., 
  give the chains broken).
  • Drowning Ritual: As a soft move, give the silo water-lev-
  el-rising-2 on the lambs-submerged spectrum. When the 
  spectrum maxes out, everyone underwater who cannot swim 
  to the surface starts taking drowning-3 as a soft move. When 
  a Lamb gains drowning-5, if Prof. Clay is not preoccupied, 
  remove the drowning status from the Lamb.
   
  • One of the Lambs pleads a crew member NOT to rescue them 
  and “witness the miracle of the God-King” (hesitant-2)
  • The crew’s interruption prevents Prof. Clay from saving a 
  Lamb and she drowns (Make Something Horrible Happen)
   
  • A Lamb’s scream for help is muffled by the gushing water
  • A Lamb is gasping for air
  • Silence takes over the silo as the last Lamb is submerged
  THE GUARDS OUTSIDE
  Like all initiation rituals, the Silo Trial is a high-stakes event for 
  Magnum Opus, a part of its Mythos harvest supply chain. unbe-
  knownst to the Seekers, the trial is guarded by the cult’s agents.
  After all candidates enter the silo and its pressure-resistant 
  blast door is sealed, guards deploy around the silo to prevent 
  unwanted interference. Normally, these are a handful of Mag-
  num Opus Initiates (page 11) but if the crew bested them 
  before, they may show up in greater numbers this time (for 
  powerful crews, replace them with the Yakuza Yōkai). How-
  ever, be aware that inside the silo, the crew must still contend 
  with Prof. Clay and his Wolves (Magnum Opus Seekers, page 
  10); adjust the challenge level accordingly.
  DURING THE TRIAL
  Lead characters who follow or pretended to follow the Magnum 
  Opus teachings may wish to complete the trial or at least allow 
  it to unfold. This could turn the scene into a moral dilemma 
  which may lead some PCs to mark Fade/Crack or render them 
  upset-2 or shaken-3.
  PCs who are not Seekers may still have to circumvent the guards 
  and Prof. Clay if they want to watch the trial. Watching remotely, 
  e.g., with a drone or with scrying, may trigger the Cabal’s astro-
  logical sense and have them send cultists to eliminate the spy.
  PCs who wish to interrupt the trial must handle or trick the 
  guards, reach the silo, battle it out with Gregory Clay and his 
  Wolves, and save the drowning Lambs even as they resist. unfortu-
  nately, the PCs’ intervention turns out to be unnecessary or even 
  tragic: they can cause someone to drown if they distract Prof. Clay. 
  DISCIPLE GREGORY CLAY yyy
  The Silo Trial is the consummation of the 
  professor’s hard work for Magnum Opus and 
  a crucial turning point for his followers so he 
  isn’t about to let anyone spoil it. During the 
  trial, the gloves are off; he’ll use his Trans-
  mutations to rid himself of interlopers and 
  saboteurs, manipulating their bodies like little 
  clay figurines. The silo contains ample supply 
  of water and dirt (earth) for him to work with. 
  If his dress shirt gets sweaty, wet, or torn, the 
  neon-bright glow of the sigil brands on his back 
  can be seen.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 4   /   EXHAUST 6   /   TURN 
  AWAY FROM CULT 6
  • Drinking the Kool-Aid: When Gregory Clay 
  enters the scene, give him zealous-5, renewable 
  as a hard move.
  • Protective Barrier: When Gregory Clay or 
  someone he is protecting within range takes 
  a status of physical harm, he first encases 
  himself or the target with a massive barrier of 
  earth, water, or clay, reducing the status by 3. 
  The barrier then melts away. For each target 
  he protects, he takes exerted-1.
   
  • Force someone to shut their mouth (zip-it-3), 
  freeze in place (held-back-3), or walk out 
  of the silo (controlled-3), exerting himself 
  (exerted-1)
  • Preach to a student or two (remove up to 3 
  tags or status tiers representing doubt)
  • Create a spectacle of water, telling his stu-
  dents to behold the power of the God-King 
  (remove up to 2 tags or status tiers repre-
  senting doubt from each student, giving 
  himself exerted-2)
  • Create a tidal wave of water that slams 
  someone against the silo wall (crushed-3) or 
  a surge that pushes them through a hatch 
  out of the silo, exerting himself (exerted-1 for 
  each target)
  • Punch or wrestle an intruder (bruised-2 or re-
  strained-2), sometimes augmenting his attack 
  with his Transmutations (burn one tag of 
  strength or combat prowess before the status 
  applies, giving himself exerted-1)
  • Enter a seething fanatic rage (reduce exerted 
  by 1 tier; note that this is more effective at 
  higher tiers)
   
  • Roll up his sleeves and glare down furiously 
  from the top catwalk
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  27 
  LEAD CHARACTERS IN MAGNUM OPUS
  A lead character’s commitment to the Magnum 
  Opus path can be purely narrative (as explained 
  under Prof. Clay, page 18, in some cases, it is 
  better to keep it this way to avoid portraying the cult 
  as an antagonist). Alternatively, it may be reflected 
  in a zealous status, which compels her to obey her 
  teachers and impedes any actions against the cult.
  PCs who are following the path of Magnum Opus 
  may also be required to make sacrifices on their 
  journey and may replace a theme as a result. No 
  matter the type of theme the character loses, the 
  player may choose to replace it with a Logos theme 
  based on the following Theme Kit. The MC may also 
  give it to the PC as a temporary Extra Theme.
  FOLLOWER OF THE GOD-KING
  Mission
  IDENTITY
  I seek to unite with the God-King.
  POWER TAGS
  unwavering faith, useful chemical recipes, stronger 
  in groups, theoretical alchemy, follow my teacher’s 
  instructions, mock the mainstream, burning spiritual 
  questions, earn the teacher’s respect, a copy of “The 
  Alchemy of the Soul”, loyal to Magnum Opus 
  WEAKNESS TAGS
  cryptic guides, my old life, gnawing doubt, I’m resisting 
  the truth
  THEME IMPROVEMENT
   Zealous: Once per scene, you can give yourself a 
  zealous-3 status when someone attempts to con-
  vince you to turn away from the Magnum Opus path.
  
  28   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
   THE DIG SITE JOB
  This unlikely dig site, at the heart of 
  the City, lays silently in the moonlight, 
  walled off from the public by glass bar-
  riers that allow passersby to peer into 
  the dusty archaeological pit. You, on the 
  other hand, aren’t fooled by the neighbor-
  hood-friendly facade. CCTV monitoring and 
  counter-intrusion sensors line the walls, 
  ominously labeled as property of “Helix 
  Labs”. Whoever is running the show here 
  knows they hit the jackpot and they’re 
  ready for any unexpected guests.
  Legend has it that the Chinese Emperor Wu received 
  the secret recipe to immortality from Xiwangmu, 
  Queen Mother of the West, cultivator of the Peaches of 
  Immortality (she’s the one who made the Elixir of Life 
  consumed by Chang’e, see page 23). While Wu was 
  never able to achieve immortality, he kept this sacred 
  text in the form of a tablet which he hid in the Cedar 
  Beam Terrace palace. His predecessor, Qin Shi Huang, 
  also sought immortality and failed; his earthly legacy 
  included both the inception of the Great Wall of China 
  and the creation of the Terracotta Army (an army of 
  lifesize terracotta soldiers) as his guard in the afterlife.
  Somewhere below the Old Quarter, all these myths and 
  stories brewed and melded, creating a thin place: an 
  impregnable mausoleum guarded by the Mythoi of the 
  Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army, and hold-
  ing the tablet with the secret to immortality. Quickly 
  after the site’s discovery, Helix Labs took over the dig 
  under the guise of academic research but, as of yet, 
  they have not been able to breach the wall and reach 
  the tablet. Working for art collector Alona Wainwright 
  of the Cabal, expert burglar Silvio Yadao (Tincture of 
  Tarnkappe, the cloak of concealment of The Song of the 
  Nibelungs) was tasked with obtaining the tablet so it 
  can be harvested for its Mythos essence.
  Depending on the involvement of the crew and your 
  cinematic considerations, the dig site job can be a 
  single scene or an entire heist. In addition to the crew, 
  multiple parties of interest have a stake here:
  • Silvio Yadao wants to steal the tablet for the Cabal, 
  after receiving threats to his daughter’s life from 
  Magnum Opus (see Chinatown Festival).
  • Helix Labs Black Ops leader Jakub Krask was or-
  dered to safeguard the tablet from theft, but resident 
  archaeologist Macey Reynolds can’t access the mau-
  soleum and needs supernatural help so she might 
  seek to enlist Rifts for the job. Both are Touched by 
  Helix Labs and can perceive the legendary. 
  • The Cabal want the tablet and Silvio’s skillset and 
  Tincture are their best shot at getting it; unless 
  somehow thwarted by the crew, they have kidnapped 
  his daughter Helena and plan to trade her for the 
  tablet. At least one Disciple and a group of Initiates 
  are lurking nearby, waiting to make the trade.
  • Moonwraith, if she is involved, is driven by her Mythos 
  to protect the site and the secrets of immortality.
  THE DIG SITE
  The dig site is an excavated area locked between alleys 
  where a large house once stood. It contains mostly dirt, 
  rocks, some half-buried stone walls, and perhaps worth-
  less century-old coins. At the center of the dig, the Helix 
  Lab team excavated a buried stone complex that seemed 
  out of place. As they dug closer to the stone complex, 
  from any direction, the archaeologists found themselves 
  facing a rising Great Wall of rock, packed earth, and 
  bricks. They soon established that this thin place defies 
  the laws of space or gravity; even if one rappels onto the 
  exposed complex, one will find oneself standing before 
  the Great Wall (see Danger profile below). Therefore, 
  jumping or flying over the Mythos wall isn’t possible; 
  gravity simply shifts again and the interloper finds 
  themselves facing the wall once more.
  If someone scales or breaches the wall, they find them-
  selves in a dark space reminiscent of Emperor Qin Shi 
  Huang's mausoleum. The cavernous room is laid with 
  thousands and thousands of terracotta soldiers, ready 
  to annihilate anyone who attempts to reach the center, 
  where the tablet with the recipe for life everlasting 
  rests, illuminated by a beam of moonlight.
  AFTER THE HEIST
  HEIST RULES
  If you’re using heist rules given in Fortune Row, the 
  three cards of the dig site job are:
  • Silvio Yadao: A master-thief/trickster Rift is tasked with 
  stealing the prize back from anyone who steals it (9 ).
  • The Great Wall of China: Access to the prize is guard-
  ed by a Relic of a legendary security measure (4 ).
  • The Terracotta Army: The mark is guarded by an innu-
  merable horde of monsters, beasts, or foot soldiers (3 ).
  If the cult obtained the tablet, it can be traced 
  to art collector Alona Wainwright. This can 
  be done using divination, e.g., by following its 
  magical trail; using detective skills, by finding 
  and following the cultists; with technology, by 
  planting a homing device, and so on.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  29 
  SILVIO YADAO yy
  With his Tincture of Tarnkappe and knowledge of secu-
  rity systems, Silvio Yadao is a man almost impossible to 
  catch. The crew may try to convince him to turn himself 
  in or help them against the Cabal, but his daughter’s life 
  is still on the line. Note, however, that Silvio can’t go 
  through solid matter or magical barriers, hold his breath 
  indefinitely, or resist mental influence very well, so a 
  clever crew could still manage to catch him.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 3   /   CATCH 4   /   CONVINCE TO 
  SURRENDER 4
  • Tincture of Tarnkappe: Once per scene, while he 
  is wearing his windbreaker, Silvio Yadao can turn 
  completely imperceptible-5 except through touch, as 
  a soft move. No other sense, surveillance, or divina-
  tion ability can detect him and Investigate moves 
  using these methods cannot be initiated against 
  him. Looking Beyond the Mist is also ineffective. 
  He may activate this move again in the same scene 
  as a hard move.
  • Threatened: When you try to change Silvio’s mind 
  for the first time, he takes fearing-for-his-daughter-4.
   
  • Easily slip through security systems while the crew 
  is left behind (Complicate Things, Bigtime)
  • Steal something valuable or important from some-
  one (burn up to two appropriate tags)
  • use Brazilian jiu jitsu and contortion techniques 
  to escape holds and restraints (remove up to three 
  tiers of restraint statuses) or to restrain others (tan-
  gled-2 if he then leaves the target, restrained-3 if he 
  maintains the hold)
  • Disappear altogether and flee the scene (Deny 
  Them Something They Want)
   
  • Pick up the object he’s after, hide it in his wind-
  breaker, and vanish
  • Make a run for it
  If the cult failed, Alona Wainwright will try to 
  buy the tablet from whoever has it, offering a 
  stupendous sum of money (Helix Labs would 
  decline). The financial paper trail and rumors 
  among dealers, smugglers, and fences, would 
  be enough to lead the crew to her company, 
  Wainwright Auctioneers.
  Ignoring cultural differences, the tablet text 
  describes a path to immortality remarkably 
  consistent with the teachings of Magnum 
  Opus (see clues in Alchemy 101 and Valérien’s 
  Oddities & Curiosities).
  Beyond the Mist, the celestial deity Queen 
  Mother of the West can be seen hovering above 
  the tablet. She can bestow immortality upon 
  the bearer of the Relic, but has not found a 
  worthy one yet.
  If the crew knows about Tinctures, they can 
  speculate that the cult intends to harvest the 
  Relic for its Mythos essence.
  THE COMPLEX WALL yyy
  Imbued with the three legends of the Great Wall of 
  China, the complex wall is mythically-empowered to 
  stop invaders. While it can be chipped and dented, 
  no amount of physical punishment – legendary or 
  mundane – can punch through it. However, the same 
  legends impart unusual weaknesses on the wall: it 
  can be broken down by tears; its power stems from 
  one supernatural brick; and its signaling tower, when 
  misused, causes its guards to become complacent. The 
  wall can also be scaled and it is susceptible to erosion.
  SMASH –   /   ERODE 5   /   SCALE 4
  • Tears of Meng Jiang: When the Complex Wall is 
  washed with tears of great sorrow, add the resulting 
  emotional status to the erode spectrum.
  • Jiayuguan Wall-Stabilizing Brick: Incorporeal 
  beings and teleporters cannot pass through the wall 
  due to an inconspicuous yet magical brick that was 
  purposefully left out of the wall and placed on its in-
  ner side. This property as well as the wall’s physical 
  immunity (smash:–) end when the brick is moved 
  from its place (change the spectrum to smash:6).
  • Bao Si’s Amusing Signaling Tower: When an 
  intruder approaches the Complex Wall, the signal-
  ing tower lights up. Create a Danger: Terracotta 
  Soldiers (size factor 1). The intruder may Sneak 
  Around. If the Terracotta Soldiers cannot locate the 
  intruder, the intruder gains laughing-1. When the 
  alarm is raised a third time after two false alarms, 
  the Terracotta Soldiers cease to respond to the 
  signaling tower.
   
  • Bricks crack underfoot, making a climber slip 
  (remove two tiers from scale and climber takes 
  sprained-ankle-2)
  • The Signaling Tower lights up (trigger Bao Si’s 
  Amusing Signaling Tower)
   
  • Tower overhead, monolithic and foreboding
  
  30   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  TERRACOTTA SOLDIER yy
  There are thousands of Terracotta Soldiers within 
  the complex (size factor 4) and dozens of them (size 
  factor 2) can gang up on each interloper at a time. 
  Made to protect their Emperor from evil spirits in the 
  afterlife, these clay statues are immune to Mythos 
  powers and must be smashed with ordinary means or 
  with Mythos powers that hurt them indirectly, e.g. by 
  manipulating nearby rocks.
  SMASH 2   /   DRY OUT 1   /   AFFECT MIND –
  • Guardians Against The Beyond: Mythos powers 
  cannot directly affect the Terracotta Soldier.
   
  • Attack, slashing and stabbing with their metal 
  weapons (slashed-2)
  • Tighten their ranks and listen carefully (give them-
  selves alert with a tier equal to their size factor; this 
  status cannot exceed their size factor)
   
  • Stand silently, dusty and yet lifelike
  HELIX LABS BLACK OPS yyy (+ y)
  HURT OR SUBDUE 4   /   DRAIN THEIR GEAR 4
  • Collective: This collective has several members 
  and a size factor of 2.
  • Advanced Technology: When you make a move 
  against Helix Labs Black Ops gear and weapons, you 
  cannot invoke tags from your Logos themes.
  • Automatic Ignition: When Helix Labs Black Ops 
  enter the scene, unless their gear is disabled, the 
  MC can make two of their hard Danger gear moves 
  as an intrusion.
  • Gamechanger: As a hard move, Helix Labs Black 
  Ops reveal a specialized piece of tech that chang-
  es the battlefield (Complicate Things, Bigtime), 
  following which they can make a hard move with a 
  tier-6 effect.
   
  • Activate a piece of equipment:
   » Force-field generator (give themselves shielded-3)
   » Multi-spectral scanner (give themselves alert-2 
  or gain specific knowledge of nearby threats, 
  especially Rifts)
   » Bio-matter patch (remove up to 2 tiers of medical 
  statuses)
   » Ion-9 assault rifle (perforated-3 or pinned-down-3)
   » Web-shooting spiders (bound-3)
   » Laser pointers (cornered-3)
   
  • Deploy silently and quickly around a target, guns ready
  DEPTH 3:  
  WHAT LIES BENEATH
   WHIRLER’S COMMUNE
  Around the corner of the tunnel, unexpect-
  edly, you find a decommissioned subway sta-
  tion. The tiles that once lined its walls 
  are now cracked and grimy, but the place 
  is far from abandoned. The platform and 
  train tracks are built over with planks, 
  pallets, rugs, and sheets to form a war-
  ren of hovels. Colorful strings of prayer 
  flags stretch from side to side, faintly 
  illuminated by trash fires in barrels and 
  tall candles scattered around the station. 
  Dirty, unkempt shadows creep around amid 
  tents and graffiti of strange sigils: con-
  centric circles, triangles, and squares in 
  black, white, yellow, and red. At the cen-
  ter of it all, hovering over an improvised 
  altar and wreathed in otherworldly flames, 
  is a mural of the God-King, a shadowy 
  crowned figure offering life everlasting 
  in the form of a shining chalice.
  The Seekers who complete the Silo Trial become Fol-
  lowers of the cult and move to the next step: a life of 
  poverty and asceticism with the serene guru Whirler, 
  aimed at releasing them from their mortal attach-
  ments. They pack a few essential belongings and find 
  their way to the mystic’s commune, somewhere in the 
  underground tunnels below the Old Quarter.
  If this happens to NPCs such as Peter Hill, Sloane Mar-
  tinez, or Jiahao “Jaja” Zhang (page 15), or the crew’s 
  supporting cast who became embroiled with the cult, it 
  creates an opportunity for interpersonal drama (if they 
  are intercepted) or sad revelations (if the PCs simply 
  discover they are gone). If a PC attempts to dissuade a 
  Follower, she finds the Follower much harder to influ-
  ence than they were as Seekers; use the Magnum Opus 
  Follower Danger profile.
  THE COMMUNE
  The commune is a shanty village set up in an aban-
  doned subway station. The way is marked for Follow-
  ers using the cult symbols and Initiates in disguise 
  who both guide Followers onwards and watch for 
  intruders. Finding the way there without guidance 
  requires divination, shadowing or tracking skills, or 
  contacts in the undertrash (the underground terri-
  tories below the City, full of outcasts and monstrosi-
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  31 
  ties, see The Undertrash district). If the cult foresees 
  a danger to the commune, they tackle it with full 
  force (The Cabal’s Damage Control); it is, after all, 
  their Rift incubator.
  WHIRLER
  upon arriving, Whirler welcomes everyone, Follower 
  or not (she believes the cult will foresee the arrival of 
  any dangerous interlopers and deal with them before 
  they arrive at her doorstep). This petite monkish lady – 
  formerly an insurance agent and later a self-help guru 
  – meanders around the encampment in orange robes, 
  bare feet, and a clean shaven head. She speaks softly, 
  smiles heartily, and sympathizes sincerely with the 
  suffering of the Followers who had to leave their lives 
  behind, but stresses the need for complete purifica-
  tion in order to open up to the power of the God-King. 
  Whirler is a Disciple in possession of the Tincture of 
  Krishna (Hindu deity of compassion, tenderness, and 
  love), which she uses to placate and sedate the Follow-
  ers as they go through this “purification”, filling them 
  with inner peace and tranquility. 
  Behind the guru facade, Whirler is more interested in 
  playing the savior than she is in pursuing the spiri-
  tual journey to its end or actually guiding others in a 
  helpful and meaningful way. She guides the Followers 
  through a real transformation, but she does so mostly 
  because this is crucial for the cult which supports her. 
  She is comfortable where she is and wants to protect 
  the commune above all else.
  THE WHITENING: PURIFYING  
  OF ALL ATTACHMENTS
  Life in the commune serves as the second stage of the 
  Magnum Opus, the Whitening, and strips away a Fol-
  lower’s life, preparing them for Mythos awakening.
  PCs who wish to follow the Magnum Opus path and 
  join the commune must abandon, at least temporari-
  ly, their Defining Relationships, Routines, Turfs, and 
  possibly Missions and Possessions; this may poten-
  tially force them to Make Hard Choices. Don’t make 
  it easier on them; instead, Complicate Things and 
  have their Logos themes generate problems: someone 
  slips them a note with news about their old life (true or 
  false) or their old life somehow finds them down there 
  (perhaps with the help of other PCs).
  While in the commune, PCs may not choose to Give 
  Attention during Montage (Downtime). Sneaking out is 
  possible, but any zealous statuses left over from the Silo 
  Trial impede such an action. If discovered, the offending 
  Follower may be punished with a demand to renounce 
  her attachment entirely or be ousted from the commune 
  and the Magnum Opus path (Force Them to Choose).
  Followers may spend weeks at the commune until 
  their old lives seem like a distant dream. Only when 
  Whirler deems enough of the Followers ready to move 
  on does she signal the cult to begin preparations for 
  the Feast of Fools. 
  On the fateful day, Whirler instructs the followers to 
  dismantle the mural-covered brick wall that hides the 
  opening to a subway tunnel that will lead them to the 
  ritual. She warns them that during the Feast of Fools, 
  a guide will approach them to take them to the 
  God-King. This will be their only chance and to do 
  so they must leave the City forever. Then they put 
  on their costumes and march into the dark tunnel.
  With the necessary alchemical knowledge, 
  life in the commune can be connected with the 
  Whitening stage of the alchemical Magnum 
  Opus. Knowing the Magnum Opus way, one can 
  deduce another initiation ritual will take place 
  at the end of this period (the Feast of Fools).
  Whirler says the next initiation ritual (the 
  Feast of Fools) will be “the end of life in the 
  City as it is now” for the Followers. Undercov-
  er PCs feel they must keep a close watch on the 
  Followers during the ritual.
  Beyond cooking and studying “The Alchemy of 
  the Soul” (see Alchemy 101), everyday activity 
  in the commune involves preparation for a cel-
  ebration of some sort: Followers sew together 
  costumes, especially animal costumes, as well 
  as banners, streamers, and prayer flags, etc.
  Once or twice a week, a hooded Initiate in 
  streetwear shows up to convey messages from 
  the Cabal to Whirler and receive her report. They 
  can be followed to Alona Wainwright or the Cat-
  acombs. Whirler tells him which costume each 
  Follower will wear in the Feast of Fools.
  Behind the brick wall with the mural of the 
  God-King there is another abandoned subway 
  tunnel. It leads to a large underground cave, 
  the future location of the Feast of Fools. At the 
  base of the wall there’s a brick-and-mortar 
  patch job that shows it was used as an entrance 
  before multiple times and then resealed.
  
  32   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT FROM WHIRLER
  • “Your eyes have opened, but you are still yearning to 
  go back to sleep. Don’t let this undo all the work that 
  you have done.”
  • “Everything that you have left behind was not 
  enough to make you happy, to answer your ques-
  tions, or to change your fate. The only way to reveal 
  the truth is to let it all go.”
  • “You were taught to fear emptiness, but emptiness 
  is the foundation for illumination. If you cannot 
  become an empty vessel, you cannot admit the light.”
  • “I cannot describe to you what will be revealed to 
  you when you unite with the God-King. But know 
  that it is beyond your wildest dreams. Everything 
  that you desire now will be yours, without struggle or 
  conflict. But for now, desire is an obstacle.”
   THE FEAST OF FOOLS
  Strange twisted music, a rabid mongrel of 
  modern beats and medieval tunes, echoes 
  from the deeps long before you arrive. 
  There, under the vault of an enormous nat-
  ural cave, you are struck by the sight of 
  thousands of ravers dancing, frolicking, 
  and fooling around wearing animal heads 
  and everyday suits, uniforms, and work 
  clothes. Somewhere in all this revelry 
  hides the one who could show you the way 
  deeper, where all mysteries are unlocked. 
  But you wonder if you can find them, and 
  if so, whether you will be ready to take 
  the final step into the abyss.
  The Feast of Fools is Magnum Opus’ second initiation 
  ritual, one that represents the Followers’ liberation 
  from their old lives, mainstream society, and tradition-
  al concepts of morality and sin. It is the culmination of 
  the second phase of the Magnum Opus: the Whiten-
  ing or purification. 
  As in the Silo Trial, the test is simple: Followers 
  must choose to follow their Guide, foregoing their 
  lives in the City completely, knowing that they may 
  never return (at least not as they are now). 
  This rite of passage takes place during a massive and 
  chaotic underground rave organized by the cult, where 
  thousands of intoxicated people dance and drink in 
  an enormous cave, completely unaware that they are 
  a part of the ritual. All participants are wearing masks 
  and heads of animals – donkeys, foxes, crows, fish, and 
  tortoises – while wearing caricature costumes of vari-
  ous everyday City dwellers – cops, judges, bank clerks, 
  cooks, etc. – making a mockery of life in the City, social 
  roles, and normality.
  The Magnum Opus Followers (PCs and NPCs) partic-
  ipate in the rave but abstain from intoxication until, 
  amidst all this chaos, someone in the crowd stares at 
  them intently (while still wearing an animal head) and 
  beckons them to come along. This is the Guide, whose 
  appearance spells the moment of truth for the Follower.
  The Guide is a Disciple who mastered the Trans-
  mutation of Earth. If the Follower follows the Guide, 
  he secretly admits her into a narrow mining tunnel by 
  shifting the earth aside and then sealing it behind her. 
  The tunnel is dark, and the Follower must feel her way 
  in the dark for a long time, until the tunnel suddenly 
  ends in a stone door engraved with the secrets of Mag-
  num Opus: triangles and squares inscribed in circles, 
  formulas, and alchemical symbols. The earth shifts 
  again to seal the tunnel behind the Follower.  
  WHIRLER yyy
  Despite and perhaps because of her tranquil nature, 
  Whirler is just as dangerous as her fellow cult Disci-
  ples. While she poses no risk to the crew’s safety, she 
  may very well be a threat to their personal lives.
  Whirler’s supernatural air of tranquility and mental 
  resilience emanate from the Tincture of Krishna, 
  which she carries in a glass vial tied in a necklace 
  around her neck. Without it, she is just another guru 
  wannabe; the trick lies in removing the Tincture 
  before it fills you with good intentions.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 1   /   EMOTIONALLY OVERWHELM 4      
  /   TURN AWAY FROM CULT 6
  • Drinking the Kool-Aid: When Whirler enters the 
  scene, give her zealous-5, renewable as a hard move.
  • Peace & Love: Whenever you take a malicious action 
  against Whirler, you first take peaceful-and-benign-5.
  • The Diamond Mantra: When Whirler takes a status 
  of emotional or mental influence, reduce its tier by 2.
  • Bodyguards: When Whirler takes a status from 
  which her bodyguards can protect her, the body-
  guards take the status instead (use Magnum Opus 
  Followers, page 10).
   
  • Encourage someone to abandon their worldly 
  attachments in order to progress in the Magnum 
  Opus (tempted-3 or zealous-3, or Complicate 
  Things, Bigtime in a way that invites the player to 
  mark Crack on a specific theme)
  • FIll someone with well-wishing and good-inten-
  tions (peaceful-and-benign-5)
  • Call her Followers for help (create a new Danger: 
  Magnum Opus Followers, page 10)
   
  • Take someone’s hand in hers and smile at them 
  compassionately
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  33 
  She is then expected to sit for hours and ruminate on 
  her transition. During her stay in this sealed chamber, 
  the earth beneath her seems to shake – unbeknownst 
  to the Follower, the Disciples are relocating her cham-
  ber to the Catacombs, far on the other side of town and 
  deeper underground. 
  This ritual both serves to impress and frighten the 
  Follower and as a security precaution, preventing any-
  one who isn’t authorized from finding the Catacombs. 
  When all Followers have been whisked away, the rave 
  ends abruptly, clearing the cave in minutes. Any Fol-
  lowers who did not follow their Guide into the tunnels 
  are left behind and never hear from the cult again.
  CRASHING THE PARTY
  PCs who are not Followers can locate the rave by 
  following the procession of Followers from Whirler’s 
  Commune or by crossing rumors with the clues in 
  Valérien’s Oddities & Curiosities. 
  Attacking the ritual is impractical, what with swathes 
  of cultists everywhere, Whirler’s tranquilizing pres-
  ence, and optionally Talia Al-Bahar in a sniping 
  position and the Yakuza Yōkai mixed into the crowd. 
  Even collapsing the cavern is unlikely with so many 
  Disciples around versed in the Transmutation of Earth, 
  nevermind thousands of more-or-less innocent ravers.
  Instead, this scene is a great opportunity to infiltrate the 
  gathering (with costumes!), learn more about the cult, 
  and try to save Followers with whom the crew is invest-
  ed – all against the backdrop of unhinged festivities.
  • Locating the Followers is difficult amidst the chaos 
  of costumes and inebriated crowds but these exact 
  conditions make Sneaking Around easier.
  • The Guides (Disciples) assigned to each Follower 
  will not open the tunnel for anyone else, unless they 
  mistake them for their Follower, in which case the 
  interloper gets an express ticket to the Catacombs. 
  THE INITIATE’S RIDDLE
  Before the chamber reaches its final position at the 
  Catacombs and as a final security measure, the Follow-
  er (or interloper) is presented with the Initiate’s Rid-
  dle: she must complete a sequence of four alchemical 
  symbols that correspond to the verses of the Initiate’s 
  Chant from “The Alchemy of the Soul” book. Some 
  of the alchemical symbols appear on the stone door 
  as glowing sigils. The Follower must complete the 
  remaining symbols by drawing them on the door. 
  The complete sequence represents the words “Body”, 
  “Quicksilver”, “Sun”, and “Fire” that appear in the verses 
  that correspond to Blackening, Whitening, Yellowing, 
  and Reddening; it is represented by the symbols in the 
  table. In the easiest version of the riddle, the sequence 
  is missing only the last symbol (fire). You can make the 
  riddle more challenging by removing additional symbols 
  or raise the stakes by giving the PC just one attempt.
  Blackening
  Whitening
  Yellowing
  Reddening
  When my body rots, I will be 
  absolved
  My spirit is washed by 
  Quicksilver 
  My soul becomes luminous  
  as the sun 
  I burn to unite with your  
  sacred fire 
  Salt or Body
  Mercury 
  (Quicksilver)
  Sun
  Fire
   
  Or alternatively, the  
  symbol for Sulfur, which  
  also stands for soul: 
  With the necessary alchemical knowledge, 
  this ritual can be connected with the Whiten-
  ing stage of the alchemical Magnum Opus.
  A smuggler could infer the festivity provides 
  cover for whisking away the Followers to some 
  safehouse or haven. Tailing a Follower will 
  reveal that they are being led into a tunnel by a 
  Guide. Identifying a Guide and following them 
  will show they are looking for someone in a 
  specific costume.
  Connecting the dots with the Magnum Opus 
  teachings, one can infer the next step is the 
  Yellowing or awakening the candidates to their 
  true selves. The final step, Reddening or trans-
  formation, will be their complete union with 
  the God-King.
  
  34   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  You can assume that a PC that has been a serious fol-
  lower of Magnum Opus knows by heart the four stages, 
  the Initiate’s Chant, and the alchemical element sym-
  bols. This should be enough for her to infer the answer.
  PCs who do not know the answer can Investigate, 
  if they have the required knowledge or some way of 
  accessing it. A copy of “The Alchemy of the Soul” is es-
  pecially useful in this situation and may provide some 
  free clues, at your discretion. 
  unmatched power. One of the City’s most prominent art 
  collectors and dealers, she came in contact with the cult 
  several years ago after stumbling upon a manuscript of 
  “The Alchemy of the Soul” and identifying it as a fake. 
  Threatening to blow the lid on Prof. Clay’s operation 
  unless he lets her in on his secrets, she got herself an in-
  stant seat in one of the first Silo Trials, which she aced. 
  A year later, she was accepted into the Cabal and started 
  to greedily collect Tinctures of Mythoi as she grew the 
  cult’s operations further and further.
  An attractive, accomplished, and assertive woman in 
  her 40s, Wainwright is the cult’s financier and legal 
  advisor. She funds the battery of lawyers that protect 
  cultists and harass the enemies of the cult and she 
  uses her influence and connections to draw attention 
  away from the cult’s activity in the high rungs of law 
  enforcement and the media.
  As a bearer of the Tincture of the Magi, Wainwright pos-
  sesses vast magical and astrological knowledge, although 
  her magic is ritualistic and is not suitable for conflict. She 
  keeps the Tincture in a small receptacle cut from ruby 
  that is fixed into her belt buckle. She often wears expen-
  sive jewelry to lure thieves away from the Tincture.
  The crew can trace cult activity back to Ms. Wain-
  wright. Mercenaries working for the cult like Silvio 
  Yadao (the Dig Site Job) or the Yakuza Yōkai and 
  Talia Al-Bahar (The Cabal’s Damage Control) report 
  directly to her, as do the cult’s lawyers. 
  INVESTIGATING ALONA WAINWRIGHT 
  Wainwright conducts her business from her offices at 
  Wainwright Auctioneers, based in a regal historic build-
  ing on the border of the Old Quarter and Downtown. The 
  difficulty in pinning her down lies with her daily horo-
  scope, which predicts any interferences or threats to her-
  self or the cult’s work (see The Cabal’s Damage Control, 
  page 7, on how to counter this power). Just when the 
  crew finally thinks they have her cornered, she is simply 
  not there, and a nasty surprise could be waiting instead. 
  If the crew does find a way to circumvent her horoscopes, 
  they may discover the following.
  While the Follower is solving the riddle, they 
  can faintly hear the Initiate’s Chant mumbled 
  behind the door.
  The riddle is literal, not symbolic; the signs 
  stand for words.
  The alchemical element which represents the 
  body is salt.
  If the person in the chamber solves the riddle, the 
  chamber moves to its final position. A Disciple holding 
  a candle opens the door and ushers the Follower into 
  the Catacombs, giving her yellow-brown robes to don 
  as she becomes an Initiate (taking zealous-4).
  If she fails, the Disciples consider her an invader and 
  either collapse the chamber or simply leave her there 
  to starve to death, stuck under dozens or hundreds of 
  feet of earth (buried-alive-5). To make things worse, 
  sigils on the door inhibit powers of magical transporta-
  tion or incorporeality. 
   ALONA WAINWRIGHT
  The rain falls incessantly as you stop 
  in front of the impressive, immaculate-
  ly restored house, next to a gold-tint-
  ed sign spelling WAINWRIGHT AUCTIONEERS. 
  Somehow, you’re not surprised it all boils 
  down to an auction house. This covetous-
  ness, this desire to possess, hangs about 
  the place like foul breath. This is where 
  the ancient and the priceless get labelled 
  with a dollar sign and sold to the high-
  est bidder. You doubt that these people, 
  who crave to privately own collections of 
  museum-worthy treasures, stop there; sure-
  ly they must feel the urge to deal in far 
  more sacred commodities.
  Like her fellow members in the Cabal, Alona Wain-
  wright is a Magnum Opus Wolf through and through: 
  for her, the worship of the God-King is only a path to 
  Together with the other members of the Cabal, 
  Wainwright’s main job is to keep the cult’s 
  operation running smoothly like a well-oiled 
  factory line. She follows closely the number of 
  graduates from the Silo Trial, Whirler’s Com-
  mune, and the Feast of Fools, as if there is some 
  quota or demand she is trying to meet.
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  35 
  As with all members of the Cabal, Ms. Wain-
  wright’s arrangement with the cult is no lon-
  ger spiritual but transactional: generate more 
  power, and you’ll be rewarded with a share of 
  the power. The currency of power is Tinctures.
  The final two phases of the Magnum Opus 
  process take place in the Catacombs. Ms. Wain-
  wright seems to receive her payment for gradu-
  ations in Tinctures, but only after the fourth 
  and final phase is complete.
  Once or twice a week, a suited Initiate shows 
  up to convey reports from Whirler’s Commune 
  or the cult’s Anointing rituals in the Cata-
  combs. They can be followed to either location.
  Wainwright collects Relics, such as the tablet 
  from the Dig Site Job, as a side business for 
  the cult. The Relics are sent to the furnace / 
  Canseliet Manor (to be harvested). She keeps 
  an encrypted-2 ledger listing which Relics were 
  sold to the cult (it does not contain information 
  about human Rifts).
  Wainwright keeps about half a dozen Tinc-
  tures in an ornate locked-3 and boobytrapped 
  (poisoned-4 and starcrossed-4 if triggered) jew-
  elry box. The box is kept in her auction house 
  vault among many other objects of refined 
  craftsmanship and great value, including a few 
  Relics (awaiting harvest).
  Wainwright uses the Tincture of the Magi to 
  magically communicate with the other Cabal 
  members: they can see and hear each other 
  through a basin of water, in the flames of a 
  fireplace, or in a cloud of smoke and mist.
  In the same way, Wainwright communicates 
  with someone she calls “Great Teacher”. This 
  can lead to Canseliet Manor and Armand Kai, 
  in The Alchemist.
  If the furnace is still operational, Rachel 
  Woods reports to Wainwright by phone or 
  through a Disciple courier. This could connect 
  this case to The Furnace.
  ALONA WAINWRIGHT yyyy
  Alona Wainwright has mastered the Transmutation of 
  Metals and the Transmutation of Precious Stones, both 
  branded on the back of her neck under her flowing hair. 
  She also holds the Tincture of the Magi, granting her 
  mastery of the magical and astrological arts.
  HURT OR SUBDUE 3   /   TURN AWAY FROM CULT 6
  • Drinking the Kool-Aid: When Alona Wainwright 
  enters the scene, give her zealous-5, renewable as a 
  hard move.
  • Master of the Arcane Arts: When Alona sees or 
  detects the presence of a Relic or magical effect, she 
  immediately knows its nature and how to counter 
  it. When you use a Relic or magic against Alona 
  Wainwright, she first gives herself a temporary 
  counterspell-3, impeding your move.
  • Bodyguards: When Alona Wainwright takes a sta-
  tus from which her bodyguards can protect her, the 
  bodyguards take the status instead (use Magnum 
  Opus Initiates, page 11, or Corporate Lawyer, 
  MC Toolkit, page 142).
  • Transmutation of Metals and Precious Stones: 
  When Alona Wainwright takes a status involving 
  metals or precious stones, she can redirect up to 3 
  tiers of it to another target.
   
  • Order the cult’s agents to attack (Create any of the 
  Dangers under The Cabal’s Damage Control, page 7)
  • Counter a magical ability or Relic (burn two rele-
  vant tags)
  • Cause guns to misfire and metallic weapons to 
  slash, stab, and smite (gunshot-3 or wounded-3, one 
  target per loaded gun or metal weapon at the scene)
   
  • Scoff at the interruption to her busy schedule
  • Twiddle her fingers and thumb her bejeweled belt 
  buckle, casting a spell
  
  36   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  DEPTH 4:  
  THE SACRED FIRE
   THE CATACOMBS
  To the sounds of a repetitive Latin chant 
  and an occasional stifled whimper, you 
  make your way through the underground tun-
  nels. The empty eye sockets of a thousand 
  human skulls embedded in walls follow you 
  mockingly. You pass by torchlit alcoves 
  and see in each the shuddering body of 
  one of the initiates, shackled to a heavy 
  altar, a boulder, or a subway car. Passing 
  solemnly from one sacrificial lamb to the 
  next is a procession of robed and hood-
  ed cultists carrying a golden basin. As 
  they stop next to a stupified victim, they 
  chant, and an unearthly crackle roars as 
  the walls are lit by eldritch flashes of 
  green glow, showing their long shadows. A 
  moment later, the procession continues its 
  path, a little worse for wear, yet with 
  greater zeal. 
  The Catacombs are the secret headquarters of the God-
  King’s cult. Originally a complex of burial chambers 
  underneath the Old Quarter, where the alchemists of 
  old reputedly gathered in secrecy to conduct their for-
  bidden experiments, today the Catacombs is a barracks 
  the size of an army base buried much deeper under the 
  City. Thanks to the power of Earth Transmutation pos-
  sessed by the cult’s Disciples, the entire complex can 
  be transported to a new location as necessary, while 
  accessways in the form of abandoned subway tunnels 
  can be put together and disassembled like toy bricks.
  The candle-lit tunnels, corridors, and chambers of 
  the catacombs are lined with the original skulls and 
  bones of those buried here, a constant reminder for 
  the cultists of the mortal fate that awaits them if they 
  fail to fulfill their mystical calling (or if they betray the 
  God-King). The complex is built in three sections, each 
  enclosing the next: the Initiates' Court, the Disciples’ 
  Court, and the Sanctum Sanctorum.
  THE INITIATES’ COURT
  When Initiates first arrive in the Catacombs, they 
  don the gold-hued robes – marking the beginning of 
  the Yellowing stage – and join the life of servitude 
  of the other Initiates and Disciples. They are shown 
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  37 
  to their meager living quarters. The atmosphere is 
  severe and austere. There is no room for socializing or 
  time-wasting; everyone understands they have a role 
  to perform and the ultimate goal of the Magnum Opus 
  is ever-present. They are forbidden from entering the 
  Disciples’ Court and beyond without an accompany-
  ing Disciple.
  Lamb Initiates are confined to their chambers. They 
  are expected to study the texts and secrets of alchemy 
  to prepare for their awakening. In fact, the cult merely 
  holds them there temporarily until the preparation for 
  the Anointing ritual is complete. 
  Wolf Initiates are assigned to a Disciple who commands 
  them, and partake in cult activities in the City, like the 
  Chinatown Festival attack or the Dig Site Job. They 
  prepare for their missions in a series of labs within their 
  Court, concocting their chemical formulas. Wolf Initiates 
  work under the assumption that the cult has enemies and 
  that in order for the cult to complete the Magnum Opus, 
  they must do what it takes to ensure its survival. 
  PCs who are in this stage may begin to feel that some-
  thing is amiss. After the life-shattering sacrifices they 
  made in the Blackening and the Whitening, studying 
  scriptures and running errands may not seem a very 
  mystical experience. The Disciples promise them that 
  the next ritual will be worth it all.
  THE DISCIPLES’ COURT
  While Disciples are stationed in key roles all over the City 
  (most notably Canseliet Manor in The Alchemist), the 
  Catacombs is their central barracks. Versed in elemental 
  Transmutations, Disciples seek to grow their alchemi-
  cal powers through service to the God-King in hopes of 
  learning from the Great Teacher (Armand, or the Cabal if 
  you are playing the case as a one-shot) and gaining the 
  ultimate power promised to them. They train tirelessly in 
  special facilities in the complex and prepare for the mo-
  ment they receive orders from the Cabal, communicated 
  via an eternal flame that burns in one of their halls or 
  through a messenger sent from Cabal members such as 
  Alona Wainwright.
  THE SANCTUM SANCTORUM
  At the center of the Catacombs, there is a system of tun-
  nels and chambers that is used for the Anointing ritual, 
  the Rift awakening ritual. At its heart is a golden basin 
  with the Magnum Opus’ most important Relic and in-
  gredient: the twice-diluted water from the Grail, purified 
  water in which one drop of Armand Kai’s Grail Water was 
  dissolved. Access to the Sanctum Sanctorum is blocked by 
  solid earth and guarded by Disciples at all times; it is only 
  ever made accessible during the Anointing ritual.
  THE ANOINTING RITUAL
  The Anointing ritual completes the Yellowing 
  stage. Each Initiate is carried to a different chamber 
  in the Sanctum Sanctorum and chained to an altar or 
  another heavy object.
  • Whether Lambs or Wolves, Initiates who the cult 
  identified as Rifts are still chained, but are sub-
  jected to neither treatment. At the end of the ritual, 
  they are treated as anointed Lambs (any resistance is 
  impeded by their zealous statuses, if any).
  SECURITY IN THE CATACOMBS
  The cult has put in place multiple defense systems to 
  protect its underground stronghold from snoopy Rifts:
  • Access by Earth Transmutation: Positioned deep 
  underground and movable at the whim of the 
  Cabal, the Catacombs can only be physically 
  accessed by those who (a) know where they are at 
  the moment, and (b) can travel through solid earth. 
  Disciples with Earth Transmutation serve as gate-
  keepers and ushers, dismantling and reconstruct-
  ing old subway and service tunnels to connect and 
  disconnect their base.
  • Astrological divination: The cult monitors the as-
  trological chart of the Catacombs a hundred times 
  more intensively than it does any other aspect 
  of its operations. If you haven’t used The Cabal’s 
  Damage Control to bring the PCs to a dead-end or 
  ambush, this would be a good time to do so.
  • Magical Wards: The Cabal are powerful ritual sor-
  cerers, especially when they work together. They 
  have placed magical wards on the Catacombs that 
  counter divination powers or magical infiltration 
  attempts (teleportation, shapeshifting, etc.) and 
  alert the Cabal. The Initiate’s Court is warded-1, 
  the Disciples Court is warded-2, and the Sanctum 
  Sanctorum is warded-3.
  • The Initiate’s Riddle: The mystic’s version of a 
  keypad, this riddle serves as another barrier for 
  interlopers (see the Feast of Fools, page 32).
  • Cultist patrols: Initiates and Disciples on guard 
  duty (alert-1) patrol the corridors of all three sec-
  tions of the Catacombs at all times.
  • Other cult agents: If the Cabal are concerned 
  of an imminent attack on the Catacombs, they 
  may post Talia Al-Bahar or the Yakuza Yōkai in 
  the Sanctum Sanctorum with clear instructions 
  to either engage the interlopers or secure the 
  Twice-Diluted Grail Water.
  
  38   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  • Wolves are given a Transmutation by branding 
  the alchemical symbol of their element in their flesh. 
  This hurts-like-hell-3 and permanently transforms 
  them into individuals Touched by Armand’s alche-
  mist Mythos. They each gain control over their ele-
  ment and become Disciples, but initially they can’t-
  control-their-powers-2 and must train to remove this 
  status. At the end of the ritual, they are carried 
  to the Disciples’ Court for recovery, never to see 
  their fellow Initiates, the Lambs, again.
  • Lambs are Anointed with the Twice-Diluted Grail 
  Water and become Rifts. They erupt with the legend-
  ary power of their Mythos, sometimes leveling their 
  chamber or harming the Disciples who perform the 
  ritual. While still overwhelmed-3, they gradually regain 
  their bearings, their zealous status helps them control 
  their power and compels them to obey the Disciples’ 
  commands. At the end of the ritual, Lambs and pre-
  viously-awoken Rifts are gathered and promised 
  that they are a step from uniting with the God-
  King and achieving total illumination and omni-
  science. They are then sent to be harvested. 
  Whatever the location of the harvest, the Disciples 
  herd the Rifts together and usher them into the flames 
  one by one, praising their coming transformation and 
  union with the God-King while the zealous Rifts can 
  do nothing but comply, believing they will attain their 
  long-awaited answers or ultimate powers. Instead, 
  the Lambs emerge from the “Sacred Fire” as soulless 
  Sleepers, devoid of their unique animating force – their 
  Mythos – and of any hope to ever awaken again.
  With the necessary alchemical knowledge, 
  this ritual can be connected with the Yellowing 
  or Awakening stage of the alchemical Magnum 
  Opus. The next step is the final step, Reddening 
  or transformation, which will unite the aspi-
  rant with the God-King, the source of all life.
  The water in the golden basin has the power to 
  awaken Sleepers into Rifts.
  The branding of alchemical symbols grants 
  Disciples their alchemical powers.
  THE HARVEST RITUAL
  The cult does not wait long to harvest the new-
  ly-awakened and veteran Rifts, leading them soon 
  thereafter into the “Sacred Fire”: a Mythos-melting 
  flame which can strip the legendary from a Rift, collect-
  ing it as a volatile and corrosive substance called Ichor, 
  which is later refined into a Tincture. See the exact rules 
  for the effects of this process in The Furnace.
  If you are playing through the story arc, the harvesting 
  site can be at the furnace (The Furnace) or the Ichor 
  refinery in Canseliet Manor (The Alchemist). If you are 
  playing this case as a one shot or if it better fits your 
  cinematic considerations, the Cabal has another inner 
  room at the center of the Sanctum Sanctorum, where 
  the “Sacred Fire” is burning and where they personally 
  conduct the harvesting. 
  With the necessary alchemical knowledge, 
  this final ritual can be connected with the Red-
  dening stage of the alchemical Magnum Opus: 
  the coveted union with the God-King. Howev-
  er, something is amiss here: it doesn’t feel like 
  anyone here is any nearer to the truth.
  The Disciples who usher the Lambs into the 
  “Sacred Flame” have seen this ritual before; 
  they don’t believe a word they say to the Lambs 
  about their upcoming union with the God-King.
  Walking into the “Sacred Fire” is not the gate 
  to ultimate illumination but to permanent 
  Sleep. The “Sacred Fire” melts down one’s 
  Mythos into a glowing, corrosive goo. Rifts 
  come out of the “Sacred Fire” virtually brain-
  dead, remembering nothing at all. At first this 
  may seem like a state of enlightenment, but 
  very soon it becomes evident: they are com-
  pletely ordinary people with no power nor 
  connection to the Source. In fact, any glint they 
  had in their eyes seems entirely snuffed out.
  This shines a light on the true motives of the cult 
  of the God-King: “Magnum Opus” is a manufac-
  turing operation driven by power lust, harvest-
  ing people of their innate mystical powers.
  OPERATION CLEAN UP
  Once the cat is out of the bag about the cult (or once 
  there is enough evidence to prove it), the crew may 
  wish to take any of the following courses of action:
  • Rescue Initiates from awakening or harvesting: 
  The crew can try to sabotage the Anointing or “Sacred 
  Fire” rituals. They may also attempt to convince the 
  Initiates of the truth: seeing a fellow Initiate emerge 
  numb and empty-eyed from the “Sacred Fire” or 
  seeing the Ichor harvested from them has a sobering 
  effect. Give the PCs story tags for every piece of hard 
  evidence they show the cultists to help them break 
  through their zealous statuses and turn-away-from-cult 
  spectrums (see Magnum Opus Dangers, page 10). 
  
  CuLT OF THE GOD-KING   |  39 
  • Bring down the Catacombs: This could entail 
  defeating the villainous Disciples and any remaining 
  cult agents at the scene, and physically demolishing 
  or collapsing the compound. The crew may wish to 
  somehow save the Twice-Diluted Grail Water.
  • Shut down the entire cult operation: The crew could 
  set out to apprehend key figures like Prof. Clay, Whirler, 
  and Alona Wainwright and the remaining Cabal mem-
  bers, or at least sabotage their operations. There may 
  also be a battle of political influence as the Cabal try to 
  pull strings to get rid of the crew once and for all. 
  AFTERMATH
  Here are a few questions to consider and points to 
  revisit when you wrap up this case:
  • How did the crew emerge from their interaction with 
  Magnum Opus? Did any of them follow the path 
  offered by the cult and if so, how far did they go? 
  Whose life was altered forever, whether by the cult’s 
  intervention or their own willing sacrifices?
  • What is the state of the Magnum Opus operation at 
  the end of the case? Was it completely decommis-
  sioned or can the cultists rebuild? Where are key 
  figures such as the Cabal, Alona Wainwright, Profes-
  sor Clay, and Whirler? If the truth came to light, does 
  Prof. Clay continue recruiting for the cult or seek a 
  new way to realize the alchemical Magnum Opus?
  • What was the fate of the cult members in the end? 
  Seekers, Followers, Initiates, and Disciples – did 
  they sacrifice everything for ultimate knowledge and 
  power? Were some of them able to break free from 
  the cult and rebuild their lives? If Armand’s power 
  THE TWICE-DILUTED GRAIL WATER
  The substance used by Magnum Opus to awaken Rifts 
  is a diluted solution of purified water and a drop of 
  water previously contained in the Grail. Water from the 
  Grail was given to Armand by Corbin Payne, perhaps 
  in the hope that the alchemist could find a cure to the 
  king’s legendary ailment. While Armand still keeps the 
  original Grail water in his lab (see The Alchemist), he 
  gives the cult a diluted version of it, thus diluting the 
  raw power of the Grail a second time.
  In this story arc, the Grail represents the ultimate power 
  of the truth, of transformation, and of healing. Armand 
  and his cult use it to awaken individuals to their true 
  nature, their Mythos, before cruelly ripping its essence 
  out of them, turning them into hopeless shades.
  Treat this substance as a wild card. If a Rift is 
  Anointed with it, she may awaken further, replacing 
  another Logos theme with a Mythos theme, or she 
  may See Through the Mist, at least temporarily (as in 
  the Moment of Evolution, Player’s Guide, page 269). 
  The power in the diluted version could be tapped to 
  power a miracle equivalent to a significant sacrifice 
  on a Stop. Holding. Back move. Narratively, it could 
  make someone see a truth they’ve been ignoring or 
  heal grave physical or emotional wounds.
  If you are playing the story arc, the trail leads 
  to the man behind the cult: the Great Teacher, 
  the alchemist Armand Kai, who resides in his 
  Old Quarter Canseliet Manor (described in the 
  final case of the mystical vein, The Alchemist). 
  The crew can find the manor by following a 
  delivery of harvested Ichor, tapping a commu-
  nication from the last Cabal members, chasing 
  escaped Disciples, or investigating the source 
  of the Twice-Diluted Grail Water.
  Furthermore, the Twice-Diluted Grail Water is 
  a link to the Mythos of the Fisher King (Corbin 
  Payne). Investigating it should yield clues 
  based on the current act in the overarching 
  case, Percival.
  still holds, did they retreat to Canseliet Manor? Or do 
  some of them continue the quest on their own? What 
  of the cult followers the crew was sent to rescue from 
  the cult? Were they returned to their families? 
  • What of all the Tinctures the cult left behind, and the 
  Twice-Diluted Grail Water? If the cult or Armand fall, 
  do they lose their power? These powerful artifacts 
  can wreak havoc in the wrong hands. How does the 
  crew intend to dispose of them? Can the crew find a 
  way to return the Mythos essences to the people they 
  were stolen from, and if so, should they?
  • Did the mysteries of the Magnum Opus and the pos-
  sibilities it offers made a lasting impression on the 
  crew members, supporting cast, or the NPCs in the 
  case? Will they continue the quest to discover what 
  lies beyond this world? Perhaps Ariadne would be 
  willing to guide one of them.
  • What ever happened to those embroiled in the dig 
  site job: Silvio Yadao and his daughter, Helena; 
  Moonwraith; and the Helix Labs archaeological 
  team? Who ended up with the tablet with the recipe 
  for the Elixir of Life, and how do they use it?
  
  40   |   CITY OF MIST − NIGHTS OF PAYNE TOWN
  THE INITIATE’S CHANT 
  O, pater animans, 
  Life-giving father
  Sequor aranei filum mysticum 
  I follow the thread of the mystic spider
  per labyrinthum mendaciorum tuum 
  Through your labyrinth of lies
  ut adiungam tibi in sancto sanctorum. 
  To join you in the holy of holies
  Corpore meo putrefacto absolutus ero. 
  When my body rots, I will be absolved
  Spiritus meus mercurio lavatur, 
  My spirit is washed by Quicksilver
  Anima mea ut sol elucidatur, 
  My soul becomes luminous as the sun
  Ardeo ut coniugem cum pyra tua sacra, 
  I burn to unite with your sacred fire
  Factus sum 
  I have become
  Deus in orbe terrarum. 
  God on Earth.
  Latin chant
  English meaning
  Usage of phrase in everyday
  O, pater animans,
  Life-giving father
  Exclamation or swear word
  Sequor aranei filum mysticum
  I follow the thread of the mystic spider
  Facing the unknown or the terrifying,  
  such as torture or leap of faith 
  per labyrinthum mendaciorum tuum
  Through your labyrinth of lies
  Revealing deception or treachery
  ut adiungam tibi in sancto sanctorum.
  To join you in the holy of holies.
  In the presence of the sublime or 
  transcendent
  Corpore meo putrefacto absolutus ero.
  When my body rots, I will be absolved 
  (Blackening)
  Battle cry, especially the first three words 
  and the last two words separately  
  Spiritus meus mercurio lavatur,
  My spirit is washed by Quicksilver  
  (Whitening)
  Composing oneself to avoid violence or 
  aggression
  Anima mea ut sol elucidatur,
  My soul becomes luminous as the sun 
  (Yellowing)
  Rejoicing or committing to a cause
  Ardeo ut coniugem cum pyra tua sacra,
  I burn to unite with your sacred fire  
  (Reddening)
  Response to commands from a higher-
  ranking cultists, also the last four words
  Factus sum
  I have become
  Deus in orbe terrarum.
  God on Earth.
  Activating transmutations.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/City of Mist (PbtA)/City of Mist - Case - Cult of the God-King [2020].pdf