Re-Group
After
this distressing encounter the party may wish to get back together to swap
stories: their original purpose for coming to Baltimore might well have faded
into the background at this point.
The
Investigators may feel that they have some concerns which need to be brought to
the attention of either (or both) the University Vice-Chancellor and the Police
Commissioner. Both of these individuals (or, more likely, their proxies) will
listen to the party’s grievances, nod sagely and agree “to look into matters”.
Without it being explicitly stated, the party should be left in no doubt that
the issues will be discreetly swept under the rug and forgotten.
If
inquiries are made at the clinic, the party will be told that all six of the “tuberculosis
sufferers” have now succumbed to their disease. If necessary, have the
appropriate characters make Idea Rolls
to realise that none of the men whom they examined showed any sign of the illness.
Into
the Night...
While
the party are next at the Clinic, they will notice a young medic preparing to
venture out into the evening. He wears an Ulster coat and carries a doctor’s
black bag and an enclosed lantern. If the party enquires about to the other
student doctors they will be dismissive and roll their eyes: “He’s crazy,” they
will say, “going out on a night like this to see some Negro woman. If she was
that unwell, she should just come to the Clinic for treatment.”
Talking
to the young man will reveal that this is the case: he has been treating a
woman out towards Catonsville who has been having a difficult pregnancy and now
has learnt that she has been scared away from the Clinic by local superstitious
talk. Her case intrigues him because it seems to indicate some abnormal
incompatibility of the blood between the mother and the foetus. Knowing that
she is ready to deliver at any minute, he is determined to “take the Mountain
to Mohammed” and visit her himself. He asks if any of the party would be
willing to come along.
Dr. Henry Barnstable – Earnest Medico
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
STR
|
13
|
POW
|
15
|
Age
|
24
|
CON
|
12
|
DEX
|
14
|
HP
|
12
|
SIZ
|
11
|
APP
|
12
|
Magic
Points
|
n/a
|
INT
|
17
|
EDU
|
21
|
SAN
|
75
|
Damage Bonus: +/-0
Weapon:
Lister Knife 55%, 1d6; Fist/Punch 60%, 1d3; Kick 45%, 1d6
Armour:
None
Skills: Medicine 55%; First
Aid 65%; Psychology 65%; Ride Horse 70%
Spells: None
SAN Loss:
It costs no SAN to see Henry
Barnstable
The
party may agree or not as they see fit. If they choose to accompany the doctor
(whose name is Henry Barnstable) they will have to make some small
preparations: the night is sultry and humid, but with chill winds, the lead-up
to a massive storm before morning. They will need lights and weaponry (if they
think that this is necessary) and any other equipment which they feel will be
of use. Dr. Barnstable has a horse ready to ride so the party will have to
commandeer a wagon or horses for themselves. The Clinic has several carts and horses
and an Idea Roll will recognise these
as being of the same kind that were present during the root cellar siege that
morning.
The
road out to the settlement is unsealed and winding. Small patches of woodland
nestle in the hollows between hills covered in field-crops or topped with
abandoned buildings. Periodically, the party passes by a cluster of rude shacks
and lean-tos and Barnstable explains that these are the shanty-towns of the
poor and the Negroes. After a journey of about three miles (during which the
weather becomes increasingly ugly), Barnstable pulls off the road into one of
these communities and dismounts before a flimsy shack; those following in his
wake can make Spot Hidden rolls to
see curtains twitch at nearby windows and dark shapes appear in neighbouring
doorways.
Our
medic strides to the door and pounds upon it calling “Jessie? Jessie, it’s
Doctor Barnstable. Will you please let me in?” After awhile, the door opens a
crack and a wizened black face peers out. “Gwan wit’ choo, Doc!” says the face;
“Git! Jessie don’ wan’ truck wit’ no school med’cine! We gots good juju heah!
We kin tek care o’ ourselfs!”
Hard
on the heels of this comment comes a cry of pain and distress from within. Dr.
Barnstable shoulders the door, calling out his patient’s name; however, he
won’t be able to push his way inside unless one of the party members come to
his assistance: the help of a single other character will be sufficient. If the
party gains access, go to the next section; if they don’t, head on down to the
section entitled “Welcoming Committee”.
Bad
Baby!
(NB:
This incident contains Mythos elements. If the Keeper has decided that there is
no Mythos activity in this tale, then they can eliminate most of what is to
follow; if they do want this to be a Mythos adventure then they can let it run
as described.)
Within
the shack, the mother-to-be, Jessie, lies in a bed, surrounded by several other
figures. On the dirt floor, symbols delineated in flour are illuminated by
candles and spattered by the blood of a decapitated chicken. As the party moves
into the small room, a drum falls silent and a tall black woman stands forward
to intercept the doctor and his associates, the dead chicken falling
dismissively from her hand. In her other hand she holds a bloody dagger.
“Ain’t
no need fo’ you heah, Doctor-man,” she says, “this heah ain’t the business o’
no white doctor.”
Hoodoo Woman – Vindictive Witch
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
STR
|
13
|
POW
|
17
|
Age
|
28
|
CON
|
12
|
DEX
|
15
|
HP
|
11
|
SIZ
|
9
|
APP
|
15
|
Magic
Points
|
(17)
|
INT
|
14
|
EDU
|
12
|
SAN
|
85(0)
|
(Statistics and
other information in parentheses only apply if this is a Mythos story.)
Damage Bonus: +/-0
Weapon:
Knife 65%, 1d6; Scratch 60%, 1d3; Kick
70%, 1d6
Armour:
None
Skills:
Botany 65%; Dodge 75%; First Aid 75%;
Occult 70%; Psychology 65%; (Cthulhu
Mythos 85%)
Spells:
None, if this is a scübidüberism (otherwise, Contact Nyogtha; Contact
Naggoob; Contact Ghoul; Summon/Bind Spawn of Nyogtha)
SAN Loss:
It costs no SAN to see the Hoodoo
Woman
At
this point Jessie screams and the doctor will rush forward to her assistance.
The hoodoo woman will snarl and throw herself at him: party members may
intercept her attack as they see fit. A strong show of weaponry will be enough
to cow the other black participants of this scene.
Barnstable
will make a hurried examination of the patient; that is, if he hasn’t been
grievously wounded by the hoodoo woman. If he has, then one of the party
members will have to take over, and Barnstable will direct from the sidelines.
If he remains unwounded, then he will call upon one of the party to assist him.
The birth is a complicated one, due to the fact that the placenta has begun to
haemorrhage, and the mother is losing a lot of blood as a result. The baby
needs to be delivered quickly. Medicine
or First Aid rolls are crucial here,
in order to turn the baby and facilitate its entrance into the world. What the
medicos see when it arrives however, may give them pause:
The
child is black, as expected; however, one foot is misshapen and hoof-like and
the baby is covered in a thick black liquid. The umbilicus, when cut and tied,
also drools this strange ichor; too, when the child opens its mouth for the
first time, this black liquid runs out, and the doctors need to clear this
fluid before the baby can take its first breath. Finally, the baby opens its
eyes: they are solid black with no irises, whites, or pupils. This bizarre
arrangement lasts only a minute before the blackness clears and normal human
eyes are all that can be seen. By the time the baby begins to cry, all of this
blackness has vanished, seemingly evaporated, as if it was never there at all.
Those witnessing these strange events need to make Sanity Rolls – 0/1d3.
After
all this excitement, the mother must be cared for: this requires another
successful Medicine or First Aid roll. If this roll fails, then
the life of the mother is forfeit.
The
baby is taken by the wizened woman who first greeted the party at the door of
the hovel, and is taken to one side to be bathed and coddled. Soon it is
wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a cot to one side. If the mother has
survived, she is grateful to the party and thanks them for their assistance; if
she has succumbed, then the hoodoo woman rounds on them and blames them for the
woman’s death.
“You
ain’t welcome heah, Doctor-man,” she says; “You an’ yo’ kin’ have got the blood
o’ too many black men on yo’ han’s, an’ naow, dere’s a Judgement comin’! A
black Judgement!”
The
party may make of this what they will...
Welcoming
Committee...
Meanwhile,
outside the shack, a group of local men has formed, with some women standing a
safe distance behind them. Disconcertingly, the men are all armed with
axe-handles and pitchforks. The party members may decide to try and negotiate
their way out of any unpleasantness, but then one man steps forward to
interrupt:
“Whut
yo’ t’ink is gwan happen to any po’ nigger what goes to dat dere clinic o’
yours? He gon’ git chopped up fo’ fun, dat’s whut. Dem big med’cine men, dey
don’ care fo’ no niggers; dey jist wanna chop ‘em up an’ play wit’ deir
gizzards. So now, whut yo’ spec’s gwan happen when yo’ med’cine boys come inna
our town, huh? An’ mebbe yo’ don’ t’ink dat’s fair?”
Obviously,
things immediately become very messy.
Shanty-town Enforcers – Handy with a Length of
Hickory
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
STR
|
12,14,16,15
|
POW
|
14,12,13,15
|
Age
|
23,35,27,29
|
CON
|
14,12,13,13
|
DEX
|
15,12,13,12
|
HP
|
13,13,14,15
|
SIZ
|
12,14,15,16
|
APP
|
10,15,14,13
|
Magic
Points
|
n/a
|
INT
|
10,12,12,13
|
EDU
|
8,8,9,11
|
SAN
|
70,60,65,75
|
Damage Bonus: o; +1d4; +1d4; +1d4
Weapon:
Club 50%, 1d6+db; Fist/Punch 45%, 1d3+db; Head Butt 20%, 1d4+db; Kick 50%, 1d6+db; Pitchfork 40%, 1d6+db
Armour:
None
Skills: Exact Righteous
Justice 90%
Spells: None
SAN Loss:
It costs no SAN to see the
Townsfolk
The
Keeper should let the fight continue until several of the party members get
hurt – nothing too serious, but they should know that for them it’s a losing
battle. Just as this revelation begins to sink in, a loud clatter of hooves and
a horse’s neighing cuts through the scene: at the other end of the shanty-town
a mounted figure appears, robed in white. It rears, spooky in the wind and
oncoming rain, then rides pell-mell through the fray, slashing and cracking
with a bull-whip (Dodge Rolls, please
– 0/1d6 hit points damage if failed).
The Night Rider – Strange Shape in the Darkness
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
char.
|
value
|
STR
|
15
|
POW
|
13
|
Age
|
26
|
CON
|
12
|
DEX
|
13
|
HP
|
13
|
SIZ
|
14
|
APP
|
10
|
Magic
Points
|
n/a
|
INT
|
12
|
EDU
|
9
|
SAN
|
65
|
(If this is
Sheriff Compton, or the Spawn of Nyogtha, use those statistics instead.)
Damage Bonus: +1d4
Weapon:
Bullwhip 40%, 1d3 or Grapple; Kick 70%, 1d6+db; Knife
75%, 1d6+db
Armour:
None
Skills: Ride Horse
75%
Spells: None
SAN Loss:
It costs no SAN to see the Night
Rider
Instantly
the town’s residents drop their weapons and flee into the night. The rider
reaches the main road back to Baltimore, wheels around, then tears off towards
the city as the rain crashes down. The party have ample time now to Get the
Hell out of Dodge!
To
Be Continued...
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