Looking for Scary Help(my players, ya know the drill; keep away!)

[blackshirt5]

OK, I'm planning on soon running my first Call of Cthulhu adventure, and I need some help tying it all together and coming up with some scary stuff for it. Any help you can give is appreciated.

The PCs are all going to be friends, along with a few NPCs. They're all connected to Rutgers University in New Jersey(probably students) and they often go out joyriding, looking for spooky stuff, since it's cheap and a good way to get a giddy thrill and have the girl jump into your arms to 'protect her'.

I want to incorporate these into the story, but I'm not sure how:
One of their friends, let's call him John(an NPC) works construction to help pay for school. His van is what they usually ride out in as it's roomy, ya know? They stumble across a cult ritual that involves the Jersey Devil(need help with that too; what ritual could involve that thing? although I'm thinking maybe a control ritual?) and John, freaking out, grabs an axe out of his back seat and decapitates the JD in the middle of the ritual.

The problem is, where could the ritual be held? Anybody from Jersey especially(barring, of course, my players) I'd love to hear your input. But others, I'd like some help too. Woods? Abandoned asylum? Old church? Spooky Tunnels?

John, unfortunately, by interrupting the flow of the ritual into the JD, opened himself up; he's gonna slowly transform into a half-man, half-devil creature, still bearing the axe, eventually growing huge, Cthulhu or Devil-like wings(haven't decided) and his face and body will somewhat transform, becoming more demonic and horsey; between him and the cult, they're doing the killings(although there are reports of killings before they go out joyriding). How should I reveal that to my players in game?

Also, I just need some ideas for trippy, weird things. Blood down the walls is a bit overused, although I might incorporate it if Devil John slaughters someone in an attic and throws them against the wall; it's running down from the floor above their head and dripping through cracks in the floorboards. But anything weird you can think of, it'd be gold for me, even if I don't use it directly.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WayneLigon]

Blood running UP the walls, spelling out things like 'Help me'. or 'You Die Tonight'.

Have the demonic force manifest in strange ways. The Jersey Devil was famous for leaving hooved prints in a straight line for miles in fresh-fallen snow. Maybe something like that manifests as the force grows stronger in John, like ... start out with seeing hoof prints in odd places, like in the pie in the fridge, or on the steam-covered bathroom mirror.

Start finding coarse hair in places, like it's been shed from something.

Maybe have John decapitate the cult leader instead of the Devil, which would (if per normal CoC monsters) probably wouldn't die from such an attack. The cult leader was planning on taking the Devil's power for some reason, and since he's dead the ritual rebounds on John.

The cult will of course WANT John, so they'll do their level best to kidnap him and make him see his Glorious Destiny. Of course as the demon manifests, he'll come to agree with this.

Axe motifs. Maybe they start seeing odd behavior from John, like finding him out in the middle of a rainstorm, chopping firewood. The authorities start finding decapitated animals. Character opens a door in John's apartment and has the head of a cow fall on her

Find John's shoes tossed out into the garbage. He had to go buy new ones because his feet are slowly deforming into hooves.

Goat/Horse motifs. Y'all go to a stable with John. All the horses go berserk and try to kill everyone around them.

John develops an interest in running. Discovery near the end of the change: John isn't leaving footprints, he's leaving hoof prints... in a straight line.

 

[Speaks With Stone]

Mood music and low lighting are imperative. I suggest anything by Midnight Syndicate. Spooky music, scattered screams and such are good at putting people into the scene. Lots of candles or a black light is also good. (I've used all of the above to good effect in the past).

As for spooky things to happen, take something common and twist it. A glass of water sends up a bubble of air and pops. A few minutes later another bubble floats to the top with an audible pop. Later it can bubble more intensenly as something wicked this way comes. But be sure that any investigation of the common item shows it to be common.

I also like the almost seen sights or the almost heard sounds that you sense but can't identify.

I think that it's important to not describe anything too much. Let people's imaginations fill in the gaps. The unknown is scary because it is unknown. Once you know what something is, it isn't that scary anymore.

 

[Larry Fitz]

here are a couple of sites to give you some inspiration...


abandoned asylum

weird NJ homepage

haunted NJ

I'd have John start exchanging "knowing looks" with strangers and indigents, then claim he has no idea what it was about. I'd give him so benefits before the really bad stuff starts (strength, speed, luck).

I would have the ritual have worked perfectly, they needed a fresh host as the old Jersey Devil was tired and needed to be put down, poor John was the one they got...

have his tastes in certain things start changing slowly at first and then drastically... use all of wayne's cool ideas as well...

 

[blackshirt5]

Thanks for the links, LArry; I've seen the weird NJ sites, but I've never been to the Haunted NJ one.

The idea about a new host was one that I originally had, funnily enough; I read something in a book, a theory that a series of deformed and mentally retarded children born in the Pine Barrens were the cause of the continuation of the Jersey Devil stories. Eerie how great minds think alike.

Wayne, Larry, those are definitely great ideas.

SWS-Do you know where to find unscented candles? The only ones I can find are scented. And I just need to replace my blacklight bulb and bring it to Rob's house.

 

[hellbender]

Thanks for the links, LArry; I've seen the weird NJ sites, but I've never been to the Haunted NJ one.

The idea about a new host was one that I originally had, funnily enough; I read something in a book, a theory that a series of deformed and mentally retarded children born in the Pine Barrens were the cause of the continuation of the Jersey Devil stories. Eerie how great minds think alike.

Wayne, Larry, those are definitely great ideas.

SWS-Do you know where to find unscented candles? The only ones I can find are scented. And I just need to replace my blacklight bulb and bring it to Rob's house.

Try this site out~ Propping up the Mythos


h

 

[Speaks With Stone]

Unscented candles? Never had a problem finding candles. A craft store probably will have all the unscented candles you need. Around here I'd go to Michaels, but not sure if they are in your area.

I like the Haunted NJ site - very cool.

They have similar sites in NC, but I don't know that they will be helpful for your purposes. Good luck.

 

[s/LaSH]

Unnatural things:

I immediately thought of blood running up the walls... you can have it pooling on the ceiling. It's also good to have blood dripping up from the occasional corpse (and, again, pooling on the ceiling - they did this in the computer game Undying). This would be even freakier to see outside, in the day, but then you don't get to describe the way the light changes as the bulb is slowly submerged (supermerged?) in blood...

Just general screwing with gravity is fun. Imagine how difficult it would be to navigate a house if one character had to walk on the walls facing North (and only North!). Or if you open a door and the contents of the room fall on you or something.

Or for real kicks, the door's stuck, and if you batter it open it tumbles across the room in zero gravity. You can walk normally, but maybe there's a few books hanging in midair...

The toaster pops some toast and it's still frozen. On inspection, the loaf wasn't.

If looked at out of the corner of your eye, pictures that John walks past appear to depict decapitated people. When you look at them directly, the people are OK and look quite happy. Occasionally, you hear stifled gargling noises when in the presence of portraits, but when you look at them it shuts up...

Someone using a computer puts their hand on the mouse and something furry writhes around in their grasp and claws and bites them. When they snatch their hand away, the mouse is a normal computer mouse (with their blood on it).

A good place to hold the ritual might be a dairy farm, for all sorts of reasons. There are animals to go crazy (or sacrifice, if necessary). And there are lots of wholesome foodstuffs in storage.

Imagine walking past a refrigerator. There's a clattering noise inside it, but it's got heavy metal doors and obviously can't be opened from the inside. When you do open it, it's filled with hundreds and hundreds of full glass milk bottles, all jumping up and down. If you open one, the contents start pouring out - inch-long white maggots. All as cold as ice. (They were in a refrigerator, after all.)

Well, there's some generic and specific freakoutness. In closing, I just want to say Play Clive Barker's Undying. There's some really class stuff in there (including the sources for several of my ideas).

 

[Mach2.5]

For some really freaky ritual music, try these two songs from Shine that were inspired by H.R. Giger and found on his official website.

Link to some really creepy music

The song biomechanic is truly awesome for setting a good tone with some demonic sounds. I've used them in a Dark Sun/Far Realms campaign game and they went off great.