The Devil’s Knowe – Part 6

With this latest revelation, it should be immediately clear to the party (depending upon their level of experience dealing with the Weird) that all is not as it should be and that Something Is Going On. The party should cease evaluating the scenario as merely an archaeological dig and review it as something more otherworldly – unless, of course, they decide to be pig-headed about it.

Tracking Elsie

Reuniting with the locals who have largely given up on finding Elsie alive after all this time, they can determine a few facts (unless, of course the party has been more pro-active in finding the child, then they will have these morsels already):

·       The child is six-years-old;

·       She is small for her age, with blonde hair and green eyes;

·       She was last seen wearing a purple knitted top, jeans and pink woollen mittens.

Any party members who saw the strange creature near the ‘Knowe will be able to identify that it was wearing very similar garb. It’s not too much of a stretch therefore – especially if the party has dealt with Mythos strangeness before – to infer that Elsie is transforming into something bizarre.

The party has a difficult decision before them: do they relate their new information to the villagers or do they keep such outré possibilities to themselves? If they do tell the villagers what they’ve seen, it’s unlikely that they will be believed, first, because they’re Outsiders and second, because they’ve thrown in their lot with the Reverend, who defaced the Watcher. If they do present their findings to the other searchers, they will need some hefty Persuade Rolls in order to convince the farmers – even then, the locals will assume that the party was mistaken about what they say they saw. If the party convinces the villagers that they saw something, at most Liam Reid and perhaps one other farmer will agree to scout the area around the Devil’s Knowe with them on the strength of the information. They will be highly sceptical though.

Searching the area is largely up to those involved: the Reverend will claim a slight head cold and beg off searching – implying, as he does so, that he feels the villagers are not interested in his company at present. He will allow them access to all of the rectory’s outhouses and land, including the glebe, and retire to his study for rest and a hot toddy. The party can then divide up the search area as they like and embark on the quest for the creature.

It may transpire that some of the party might feel that their duty lies more directly to the preservation of the ‘Knowe – there’s no reason that the group cannot be subdivided and set upon two goals if this is the case.

“Elsie” keeps within a certain range of the Devil’s Knowe defined by the radius line that connects the Watcher to the ‘Knowe. Within this zone, the searchers must make an averaged Luck Roll each hour they spend there in order to find her. If any party members have Tracking as a skill, they are allowed - after two hours and a successful roll – to make an Idea Roll: if successful, they can determine that “Elsie” has a distinct range, what that range is, and thereafter, the chance to find “Elsie” is equal to the highest Luck Roll of the party each hour.

Locating “Elsie” will not be a case of simply stumbling across her standing in the open. Have the party members make Listen Rolls: those successful will hear a distinctive “clop-clop!” noise, as heard previously. Fanning out, they will then need to make Spot Hidden Rolls to see the creature hiding in a thicket, or crouched amongst the heather: her strangely vegetal appearance allows her to blend in quite well with the harsh foliage and she uses the foul weather to her advantage.

Once the party has seen her, however, her first instinct will be to flee. If the party somehow corners her (and remember, no dogs will help in this pursuit), she will attack, and it won’t be pretty. “Elsie” is no longer a six-year-old child, but the budding scion of an horrific interstellar race; she will fight hard to avoid capture, and – at the first opportunity – will flee, rather than be caught or killed. Remember too, that she can run uphill as fast as if she was on level ground. Any person who has not seen her previously, must make a SAN Roll – 0/1D6.

If she escapes, then the party will have to make further plans in order to deal with her. If they capture or kill her, the party, along with the local people, will have to face some hard truths and realign their worldviews.

Meanwhile, at Devil’s Knowe...

After much patient work, the slabs at the top of the cist can be removed and the inner space examined: the results will be somewhat disappointing. While some of the accelerant entered the space and burnt within leaving some scorched marks, there was nothing inside of any value that could have been damaged: the space is empty. Intriguingly though, the bottom surface of the cist consists of three more slabs of stone lain alongside each other. Some poking and prodding (the stones are not a perfect fit) will determine that another space lies below these slabs. It now appears (on the basis of an Idea Roll) that the interior of the mound resembles a Tripartite, or Stalled, tomb, but one built vertically, rather than the usual horizontal conformation. This is unprecedented in Orcadian archaeology.

The incident with “Elsie” may prod the archaeologists of the group to forego some of the slow procedural standards of a typical dig, and proceed to break through into the space beneath this second barrier. At this stage, breaking the middle of the three slabs is the only quick way forward, as the stones are built into the walls and any other means of extraction will take significant time. However, let the party proceed as it sees fit.

Once through, the party will see that there is a third slab barrier below, beyond yet another empty space. The party can now determine the basic construction of the ‘Knowe as follows:

This third barrier is the same as the previous two – three rough slabs laid side-by-side. Again, breaking the central slab – with a mattock or sledge-hammer – is the fastest way through to the space below, however much this will offend the sensibilities of archaeologically-minded party members. Again, let the party proceed as it likes.

Once below, the party is confronted by this:

The space beneath the final barrier is filled by a greyish-brown woody mass, of incredible durability, resembling nothing so much as a giant walnut. It appears to have been carved lightly across its upper surface in a typical Neolithic zig-zag pattern, but otherwise seems natural. This is unprecedented: like Easter Island, the first human settlers to the Orkneys slowly denuded the islands of all tree-life and other sources of wood, forcing them to rely thereafter, exclusively on stone for building, and driftwood and peat for fire fuel. Whatever this thing is, it represents an enormous cache of useful lumber rejected and buried to no purpose. The mysteries just keep piling up.

Awakenings...

Of course, we know that the “wooden cache” in the ‘Knowe is more than it appears. It is actually a Being of Xiclotl, abandoned upon Earth in the distant past by the Insects of Shaggai and imprisoned by the Neolithic peoples of the Orkneys. The magic they used is a sympathetic variety: they first selected a sacrifice - a Watcher to hold vigil over the creature. This volunteer was infected by the Being and bound magically to it by the shaman’s spells. When the Watcher was sacrificed and buried under the standing stone which marked their eternal grave, the Xiclotlan fell into a torpor, a state which neared death as the Watcher’s body decomposed beneath the earth. Once incapacitated, the Neolithic tribespeople built a tomb in which to imprison it forever.

Of course, ‘near death’ isn’t the same as ‘actual death’, and the plant-like Xiclotlan still managed to produced pollen and seeds – admittedly at a far slower rate than normal – and these began to infuse the mound and the peat atop it. Once the ‘Knowe was opened, those nearby ran the risk of encountering these substances and of being infected and Elsie was the unfortunate recipient. Once her transformation began, and the Watcher’s grave had been desecrated, the sympathetic magic focused upon the child and, as she developed into a Xiclotlan, the “Devil” in the ‘Knowe began to revive.

At the moment, the Being of Xiclotl is content to await “Elsie’s” complete transformation before emerging from its grave. However, if “Elsie” is captured, or killed, this will be the spur to get the horror bursting forth from below the earth. At this point, if “Elsie” is killed, the sympathetic magic will change its focus to the Reverend, who, at this stage, is undergoing the transformation into a Xiclotlan himself (remember his rash eating of the seeds and his later complaining of being unwell?). Until then, the Being is content to wait, although, if “Elsie” is hiding nearby and she makes her “clop-clop!” noise, the Xiclotlan will respond with its own teeth-clacking sound from deep in the pit. This should give any players in the mound at the time a hefty moment of panic (SAN Roll, 1/1D6)!

Inevitably, the Xiclotlan is going to break free and run rampant across the isle of Hoy (and beyond). When this happens, the party will be faced with something more than likely outside of their experience and they will need to gird themselves in order to put an end to this menace!

Notes to Follow...