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The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep d20
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<blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 4406164" data-attributes="member: 31465"><p>Adventure #33: Gray Dragon Island</p><p> </p><p> <strong> Part 2: Welcoming Party</strong></p><p> </p><p> The next morning a visitor arrives at the warehouse: </p><p> </p><p> <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/mu.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> </p><p> it is Mr. Mu, Jack Brady's scholarly friend and the translator of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. He has brought a small scribbled page that Brady wanted the investigators to see, and perhaps judge if it will change their plan of action. It is a copy of the translation which spells out in detail how the ward must be fashioned to seal the island. Of note, it requires the blood of an innocent, which Lester thinks means someone who has NO knowledge whatsoever of the Mythos. Even SEEING a Mythos-elated abomination might taint their subject's blood, so they immediately begin planning how to blindfold, gag, and stuff someone's ears with wax so they cannot possibly see, hear, smell or taste evil! </p><p> </p><p> This unlucky person will be their "innocent" whose blood must be spilled during the evocation of the Eye of Light and Darkness. How much blood? Well, Lester isn't sure about that. Chad Slambody even suggests buying themselves a young prostitute and using her as an innocent, but in the end they volunteer a young Firm Action guerrilla fighter who they'll keep hidden from the fight. Maybe in a trunk. Locked in the boat's hold.</p><p> </p><p> The investigators can't do much more. It is three days until the eclipse over the Indian Ocean, and with the translation complete, Firm Action is ready to roll. It will take at least 12 hours to reach the island, so they will be leaving mid-afternoon, arriving well after dark when the tide is high and try to avoid most of the dangerous reefs. All goes according to plan, and by that afternoon Jack Brady, in another excellent disguise, meets them at the predetermined location. Firm Action has a small fleet of boats, but they depart from different docks so as not to attract attention. Brady is carrying the translation of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan and his half of the Eye of Light and Darkness.</p><p> </p><p> They'll have just one shot to do this, or they'll have to wait another thirty days until the next full moon. And by then it might be too late.</p><p> </p><p> The winds and waves are calm, and by evening a thick cowl of clouds has obscured the darkening sky. There is no moon to be seen, and the night is black as tar. Anything could be waiting out there. Around three in the morning, after Hans and Chang have been fighting debilitating sea-seasickness, puking their guts out over the railing, the small fleet of Firmie vessels comes to a halt.</p><p> </p><p> <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/brady.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> </p><p> "The island is that way," says Brady, pointing. They can't see anything yet. "The others will approach, we'll hang back as planned and wait for the assault to begin." The other boats putter forward, winding through treacherous waters, bristling with guns, bombs, and fanatically loyal Firmies. The PC's have a squad of Firmies on their own boat (Three 3rd level lieutenants, seven 1st level grunts). Ten minutes later, while watching with several sets of binoculars, they see the first boat strike the shore and Chu-Min rushes out. There are now torches seen glittering in the sand on the beach, forming a shallow semi-circle around the landing area. At a secondary beachhead, they can just barely see a wooden dock jutting out over the water.</p><p> </p><p> As for the Dark Mistress, there is no sign.</p><p> </p><p> Twenty troopers disembark into the shallows and splash to shore. Twenty more land, following their brethren. All is going well...</p><p> </p><p> ...until the water around the other boats begin to bubble and froth!</p><p> </p><p> "Ho-lee <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />," groans Chad. Inhuman scaled creatures leap from the water by the dozens, hauling people off the small boats or dragging them back into the surf, razor talons and teeth digging into soft flesh. Screams and gunshots begin to immediately echo across the night. </p><p> </p><p> "What do we do?" asks Hans. "Do we help them? Or wait it out as planned?"</p><p> </p><p> "Give 'em time," says Brady. "Although I do feel guilty 'bout not telling my boys more. This is a bad, bad place."</p><p> </p><p> The Firmies take Sanity hits as they encounter Deep Ones and hybrids surging at them like bloodthirsty sharks. Automatic gunfire explodes over the water, punctuated by grenade bursts. But many troops make it to shore, and they're holding their own, mowing down anything green, scaly and slimy under a hail of lead. </p><p> </p><p> <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/deep1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> </p><p> But the investigators have problems of their own. Chang and Chad hear it first. A distinct cracking sound from the hull, followed by muffled creaking. The fishmen are trying to sink their boat! "Full power!" yells Brady, and the driver slams the gear forward. "Get us to the other shoreline! FAST!" Gasoline fumes pump into the air, and the vessel lurches into motion, sputtering through the black water as the sound of damage continues unabated below them. To protect their innocent blood sacrifice from any sort of "Sanity" or "Mythos" damage, they've already sequestered a young Firmie below deck and told him to NOT come up no matter what he hears!</p><p> </p><p> (It's just a guy in a rubber suit! That's all! Nothing to see here!)</p><p> </p><p> The boat finally grinds to shore, but after crowding to the railing, the investigators and their comrades see six scaly, amphibious creatures trying to clamber up the sides. Everyone unloads at once, picking the deep ones off the sides of the boat before they can fully ascend. The last deep one manages to slash over the railing and nearly kills a grunt. Others take him below deck where he'll be safer. At the other beachhead, dozens of Firmies have reached the small village and are rolling explosives into the huts. Explosions bloom in the night, sending geysers of sand and limbs spraying down in a grisly rain. Chu-Min is at the forefront of the attack, swinging his automatic rifle in a wide berth and screaming obscenities.</p><p> </p><p> Now that the investigators are beached, they see that there are several large bonfires, or burning buildings, they're not sure anymore, and a line of torches leading up to the volcano cone. But there is movement and light from a cave entrance a few hundred feet up the side of the cone, and to their dismay, dozens and dozens of people are streaking out, nearly all of them swinging sickles. At least a hundred cultists charge straight toward Chu-Min and his squads, while fifty others veer off and charge south right toward the party.</p><p> </p><p> "Take 'em down!" shouts Chad. Everyone starts plugging shots off, dropping a handful of cultists as they cross the distance between them. But it's not enough, and the next round they're tossing as many grenades as possible. The earth is torn to pieces from shrapnel, and two dozen more cultists are blown to smithereens, but there's still around thirty still clambering toward the boat, about to surround it. And then it gets worse.</p><p> </p><p> They hear splashing and growls from the back of the boat. Chad runs back and sees three more fishmen scaling the side, stabbing their claws into the wood. He demolishes the head of one monster into green mush with his shotgun, but what Chad sees slithering in the water like a nasty black oil slick sends tremors into his knees.</p><p> </p><p> <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/deep2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> </p><p> <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/deep3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p> </p><p> Something large, tentacled, and meaner than hell lashes a probing tentacle to the boat railing. And then two tentacles. And then three. And then four. It begins crawling up, and Chad screams for help and tosses two grenades off the side...</p><p> </p><p> BOOM! BOOM! Chunks of the thing's body is pulverized, but it relentlessly continues.</p><p> </p><p> Back at the bow of the grounded boat, the Firmies and investigators are having problems. There are too many enemies to simply shoot them all, so they start dropping grenades off the sides, indifferent to the damage inflicted on their own vessel (They might not be leaving this island anyway). Cultists are annihilated as they climb up, although the boat is hideously damaged too. It won't be floating away, no doubt about that. Lester, Hans and Chang offer Chad a hand, and good thing, because more fishmen are trying to scale the rear of the boat. The oily abomination pulls itself all the way up, and slaps four meaty, serrated tentacles across the heroes. The damage is awful, and they stagger back for cover, realizing that concentrated attacks by the monster will easily kill them. They keep pumping shells into it, backing away as they do so. </p><p> </p><p> The last of the cultists attacking the boat are slain, and the investigators retreat from the amorphous monster, stunned by how much damage the thing can absorb. Numerous maws and eyes and twitching limbs morph from its putrid body, but at least it's movement is restrained on the small deck. The investigators swap out with the soldiers, the few that have line of sight with the monster, and Chad rips a backpack of gasoline off the guy in front of him, throwing sight unseen toward the back of the boat. It lands square in the largest mouth of the beast, and the next instant a Firm Action soldier levels his pistol and shoots.</p><p> </p><p> <span style="color: red">[GM Note: At this point, Leo rolls miraculously LOW damage with 6d6 dice...it's enough to kill or maim three Firmies and launch them off the boat like flaming rags, but it's not enough to kill the shoggoth!]</span></p><p> </p><p> They have to get off this boat. If this thing can't be stopped, they need room to run. Hans leaps off the side, firing in mid-air and twists his ankle upon hitting the sand. Lester follows, and Chang comes last. But Hans Hazzenbaum, our stalwart German anthropologist who has been introduced to the madness of the Mythos since Port Hedland, is the last to shoot the blasphemous thing in the...head? It's seems all like head and teeth, but no matter, the disgusting abomination stops writhing, the tentacles cease flailing, and the remaining bulk spews out reeking juices and blood and viscera in a wide stinking berth, staining the deck a grisly color.</p><p> </p><p> And in the hold below, their trembling "innocent blood" wonders what the hell is happening up top.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> And there we stopped. </p><p> </p><p> <span style="color: red">[GM Note:That was a 4-hour session. Next time we play COULD be our last Cthulhu game, guys. Although it is possible we might need a "Loose Ends" chapter or an "Epilogue" session. We'll see how far we get our next time. The rest of Gray Dragon Island awaits...]</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nebulous, post: 4406164, member: 31465"] Adventure #33: Gray Dragon Island [B] Part 2: Welcoming Party[/B] The next morning a visitor arrives at the warehouse: [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/mu.jpg[/img] it is Mr. Mu, Jack Brady's scholarly friend and the translator of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. He has brought a small scribbled page that Brady wanted the investigators to see, and perhaps judge if it will change their plan of action. It is a copy of the translation which spells out in detail how the ward must be fashioned to seal the island. Of note, it requires the blood of an innocent, which Lester thinks means someone who has NO knowledge whatsoever of the Mythos. Even SEEING a Mythos-elated abomination might taint their subject's blood, so they immediately begin planning how to blindfold, gag, and stuff someone's ears with wax so they cannot possibly see, hear, smell or taste evil! This unlucky person will be their "innocent" whose blood must be spilled during the evocation of the Eye of Light and Darkness. How much blood? Well, Lester isn't sure about that. Chad Slambody even suggests buying themselves a young prostitute and using her as an innocent, but in the end they volunteer a young Firm Action guerrilla fighter who they'll keep hidden from the fight. Maybe in a trunk. Locked in the boat's hold. The investigators can't do much more. It is three days until the eclipse over the Indian Ocean, and with the translation complete, Firm Action is ready to roll. It will take at least 12 hours to reach the island, so they will be leaving mid-afternoon, arriving well after dark when the tide is high and try to avoid most of the dangerous reefs. All goes according to plan, and by that afternoon Jack Brady, in another excellent disguise, meets them at the predetermined location. Firm Action has a small fleet of boats, but they depart from different docks so as not to attract attention. Brady is carrying the translation of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan and his half of the Eye of Light and Darkness. They'll have just one shot to do this, or they'll have to wait another thirty days until the next full moon. And by then it might be too late. The winds and waves are calm, and by evening a thick cowl of clouds has obscured the darkening sky. There is no moon to be seen, and the night is black as tar. Anything could be waiting out there. Around three in the morning, after Hans and Chang have been fighting debilitating sea-seasickness, puking their guts out over the railing, the small fleet of Firmie vessels comes to a halt. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/brady.jpg[/img] "The island is that way," says Brady, pointing. They can't see anything yet. "The others will approach, we'll hang back as planned and wait for the assault to begin." The other boats putter forward, winding through treacherous waters, bristling with guns, bombs, and fanatically loyal Firmies. The PC's have a squad of Firmies on their own boat (Three 3rd level lieutenants, seven 1st level grunts). Ten minutes later, while watching with several sets of binoculars, they see the first boat strike the shore and Chu-Min rushes out. There are now torches seen glittering in the sand on the beach, forming a shallow semi-circle around the landing area. At a secondary beachhead, they can just barely see a wooden dock jutting out over the water. As for the Dark Mistress, there is no sign. Twenty troopers disembark into the shallows and splash to shore. Twenty more land, following their brethren. All is going well... ...until the water around the other boats begin to bubble and froth! "Ho-lee :):):):)," groans Chad. Inhuman scaled creatures leap from the water by the dozens, hauling people off the small boats or dragging them back into the surf, razor talons and teeth digging into soft flesh. Screams and gunshots begin to immediately echo across the night. "What do we do?" asks Hans. "Do we help them? Or wait it out as planned?" "Give 'em time," says Brady. "Although I do feel guilty 'bout not telling my boys more. This is a bad, bad place." The Firmies take Sanity hits as they encounter Deep Ones and hybrids surging at them like bloodthirsty sharks. Automatic gunfire explodes over the water, punctuated by grenade bursts. But many troops make it to shore, and they're holding their own, mowing down anything green, scaly and slimy under a hail of lead. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/deep1.jpg[/img] But the investigators have problems of their own. Chang and Chad hear it first. A distinct cracking sound from the hull, followed by muffled creaking. The fishmen are trying to sink their boat! "Full power!" yells Brady, and the driver slams the gear forward. "Get us to the other shoreline! FAST!" Gasoline fumes pump into the air, and the vessel lurches into motion, sputtering through the black water as the sound of damage continues unabated below them. To protect their innocent blood sacrifice from any sort of "Sanity" or "Mythos" damage, they've already sequestered a young Firmie below deck and told him to NOT come up no matter what he hears! (It's just a guy in a rubber suit! That's all! Nothing to see here!) The boat finally grinds to shore, but after crowding to the railing, the investigators and their comrades see six scaly, amphibious creatures trying to clamber up the sides. Everyone unloads at once, picking the deep ones off the sides of the boat before they can fully ascend. The last deep one manages to slash over the railing and nearly kills a grunt. Others take him below deck where he'll be safer. At the other beachhead, dozens of Firmies have reached the small village and are rolling explosives into the huts. Explosions bloom in the night, sending geysers of sand and limbs spraying down in a grisly rain. Chu-Min is at the forefront of the attack, swinging his automatic rifle in a wide berth and screaming obscenities. Now that the investigators are beached, they see that there are several large bonfires, or burning buildings, they're not sure anymore, and a line of torches leading up to the volcano cone. But there is movement and light from a cave entrance a few hundred feet up the side of the cone, and to their dismay, dozens and dozens of people are streaking out, nearly all of them swinging sickles. At least a hundred cultists charge straight toward Chu-Min and his squads, while fifty others veer off and charge south right toward the party. "Take 'em down!" shouts Chad. Everyone starts plugging shots off, dropping a handful of cultists as they cross the distance between them. But it's not enough, and the next round they're tossing as many grenades as possible. The earth is torn to pieces from shrapnel, and two dozen more cultists are blown to smithereens, but there's still around thirty still clambering toward the boat, about to surround it. And then it gets worse. They hear splashing and growls from the back of the boat. Chad runs back and sees three more fishmen scaling the side, stabbing their claws into the wood. He demolishes the head of one monster into green mush with his shotgun, but what Chad sees slithering in the water like a nasty black oil slick sends tremors into his knees. [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/deep2.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/deep3.jpg[/img] Something large, tentacled, and meaner than hell lashes a probing tentacle to the boat railing. And then two tentacles. And then three. And then four. It begins crawling up, and Chad screams for help and tosses two grenades off the side... BOOM! BOOM! Chunks of the thing's body is pulverized, but it relentlessly continues. Back at the bow of the grounded boat, the Firmies and investigators are having problems. There are too many enemies to simply shoot them all, so they start dropping grenades off the sides, indifferent to the damage inflicted on their own vessel (They might not be leaving this island anyway). Cultists are annihilated as they climb up, although the boat is hideously damaged too. It won't be floating away, no doubt about that. Lester, Hans and Chang offer Chad a hand, and good thing, because more fishmen are trying to scale the rear of the boat. The oily abomination pulls itself all the way up, and slaps four meaty, serrated tentacles across the heroes. The damage is awful, and they stagger back for cover, realizing that concentrated attacks by the monster will easily kill them. They keep pumping shells into it, backing away as they do so. The last of the cultists attacking the boat are slain, and the investigators retreat from the amorphous monster, stunned by how much damage the thing can absorb. Numerous maws and eyes and twitching limbs morph from its putrid body, but at least it's movement is restrained on the small deck. The investigators swap out with the soldiers, the few that have line of sight with the monster, and Chad rips a backpack of gasoline off the guy in front of him, throwing sight unseen toward the back of the boat. It lands square in the largest mouth of the beast, and the next instant a Firm Action soldier levels his pistol and shoots. [color=red][GM Note: At this point, Leo rolls miraculously LOW damage with 6d6 dice...it's enough to kill or maim three Firmies and launch them off the boat like flaming rags, but it's not enough to kill the shoggoth!][/color] They have to get off this boat. If this thing can't be stopped, they need room to run. Hans leaps off the side, firing in mid-air and twists his ankle upon hitting the sand. Lester follows, and Chang comes last. But Hans Hazzenbaum, our stalwart German anthropologist who has been introduced to the madness of the Mythos since Port Hedland, is the last to shoot the blasphemous thing in the...head? It's seems all like head and teeth, but no matter, the disgusting abomination stops writhing, the tentacles cease flailing, and the remaining bulk spews out reeking juices and blood and viscera in a wide stinking berth, staining the deck a grisly color. And in the hold below, their trembling "innocent blood" wonders what the hell is happening up top. And there we stopped. [COLOR=red][GM Note:That was a 4-hour session. Next time we play COULD be our last Cthulhu game, guys. Although it is possible we might need a "Loose Ends" chapter or an "Epilogue" session. We'll see how far we get our next time. The rest of Gray Dragon Island awaits...][/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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