The Night Doctors - Part 3

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...