The Night Doctors - Part 5

What is Going On?

As stated above, whatever’s happening is up to the Keeper. If they choose that the story is a scübidüberism, then nothing more is happening than what it looks like – the medical school is using the local black population to further its academic concerns and the local law agents are willing to facilitate these ends in return for payment. Also as stated, the best recourse for the party is to get the reporter Elihu Lomax on side and to resort to publicity to shame those involved. Of course, part of this plan will involve unmasking the Night Rider, who can be one of the local deputies, Sheriff Jubal Compton, or even one of the University Professors, as the Keeper chooses. However, if the Keeper wants this to be a Mythos story, then things are altogether of a different complexion:

In this version, the local witches are taking their own revenge upon the personnel at Johns Hopkins Medical School. They have summoned Nyogtha and have created a new Spawn of the Great Old One to work against the medical community. This new Spawn is Jessie’s baby. As back-up, Nyogtha has sent one of its other, fully grown Spawn to protect the youngling – this is the Night Rider which the party encounters at the shanty-town. This entity’s true nature is veiled by its white robes and, if these should be removed, Sanity rolls all around will have to take place. The ‘Rider’s horse is not actually a separate creature – it is a part of the Spawn, extruded from its plastic body and made to move in an equine fashion.

The Night-Riding Spawn of Nyogtha

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	26	POW	17	Age	n/a
CON	17	DEX	11	HP	19
SIZ	20	APP	n/a	Magic Points	17
INT	13	EDU	n/a	SAN	0

Damage Bonus: +2d6

Weapon: Bullwhip 45%, 1d3 or Grapple; Claws 65%, 1d6+db; Bite 65%, 1d8+db; Grapple 50%, special

Armour: Immune to bullets and Impaling weapons; minimum damage from all other attacks; immune to fire, acid, radiation and electricity

Skills: Disguise 50%; Hide 75%; Sneak 50%;

Spells: Contact Nyogtha; Contact Naggoob; Contact Ghoul [plus 2d6 others]

SAN Loss: It costs 1/1d10 SAN to see a Spawn of Nyogtha

As the party investigates further, they will see the ‘Rider attack the School’s doctors, or agents of the Law, or Press, in preference to black citizens; this should get the party members scratching their heads. The party’s best defense against the Night Rider is located within the pages of Ivor Gorstadt’s Necrolatry, unless of course they have their own barrage of Spells at hand.

Postscript...

However this sorry tale ends, as the party are boarding a carriage to the train station, they spot the small child from the root cellar siege playing hopscotch by herself on the roadside. As she skips along, she sings:

“You see that house? That great brick house?

Way yonder down the street?

They used to take dead folks in there

Wrapped in a long white sheet.

And sometimes if a black man’d stop,

And wonder who was dead;

The student men would take a club

And bat him on the head,

And drag that poor dead negro child

To the dissecting hall

To investigate his liver-lights,

His gizzard and his gall.

Take off that black man's hands and feet,

His eyes, his head, and all;

And when the students finished

There was nothing left at all.”

Perhaps, if the Investigators have been less than effective in this matter, they can take heart in the fact that it looks as if the memory of these events will survive in spite of everything...

Notes:

That this entire scenario is based on truth is something to give one pause. Whichever way the Keeper chooses to take this story, the real horror at the heart of it is the fact that learned, unethical men took advantage of their society’s underclasses to advance their own careers. Blacks and the poor were systematically cut up so that fat, rich, white men could live in greater comfort; that the medical science of today gives (more or less) all of us those same benefits is probably something we should all reflect upon.

And just in case anyone thinks that all of this ended with the turn of the Twentieth Century, I advise you to think upon the Tuskeegee Experiments in which black men were allowed to contract syphilis and were then denied treatment without their knowledge so that researchers could study the long-term effects of the disease; this study lasted from the 1930s until it was shut down in the 1970s. Then there is the case of Henrietta Lacks, whose body was taken without consent in the 1950s and used (is, in fact, still being used) as a test culture for various disease studies. It makes you wonder what else is going on in the name of medical advancement?

Anyone interested in further reading about these subjects can check Wikipedia or “The Fortean Times”, issues FT323 (February 2015) and FT332 (November 2015). Several books have been written concerning Henrietta Lacks, focussing either upon the ethics surrounding the appropriation and use of her remains and/or the science which has been generated by her corpus; her name is also a Fox Mulder catch-cry which he uses (even in this 2016 season) whenever he seeks to demonstrate the US Government’s misuse of the people whom it is elected to represent.

As readers will notice, this scenario is not a train ride – a series of scenes leading to a conclusion - although several scenes are outlined. The Keeper might have to fill in many blank areas around this rough sketch – NPCs, locations and maps, further statistics – but there is more than enough here to be getting on with.

Odd Weapons

Pitchfork:

Base Chance	Damage	Hit Points	Impale?	Parry?
10%	1d6+db	10	Yes	Yes

New Spells

Crux Ansata

The crux ansanta, or ankh, of Ancient Egypt is very efficacious against Nyogtha, and indeed, of all the Old Ones, it would seem that it is the only one so affected. A strongly presented ankh will stop Nyogtha from advancing; however, the ankh must be a specially-prepared one – infused with 2 POW just like an Elder Sign – and even then, it will only stop Nyogtha from moving towards the wielder, it won’t drive it off entirely. Happily, a cave entrance, or Gate, which is warded by such an ankh, will keep Nyogtha from being able to use that access point.

Tikkoun Elixir

The word “Tikkun”, in Hebrew, refers to cabbalistic processes designed to restore Creation from a shattered state, and this ‘holy water’ derives from Jewish practises rather than Christian ones. The spell requires a pint of pure water to be infused with all the caster’s Magic Points, while chanting certain arcane Hebrew prayers during the Sabbath. The ‘Elixir is able to remove the target’s non-physical immunity to damage (that is, an immunity not based on purely physical qualities such as scales or tough hide), or its invulnerability to non-magical weapons, for a single round. When used against a Spawn of Nyogtha for example, the creature becomes vulnerable to gunfire, normal weapons, fire, acid, radioactivity, and electricity for the space of one round. Against Nyogtha alone, it does 2D10 points of damage as well. Of course, a successful Throw roll is needed to employ this weapon.

Mythos Entities

Depending upon how things proceed, there is a very high chance that certain other Mythos beings might enter the frame of this narrative. Keepers are reminded to not let things get too far out of control in this regard, but a well-experienced party might be up for a greater challenge.

Ghouls – Lesser Independent Race

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	16	POW	13	Age	n/a
CON	13	DEX	13	HP	13
SIZ	13	APP	n/a	Magic Points	13
INT	13	EDU	n/a	Move	9

Damage Bonus: +1d4

Weapon: Bite 30%, 1d6+automatic worry; Claws 30%, 1d6+db

Armour: Firearms and other projectiles do half damage (rounded up)

Skills: Burrow 50%; Climb 85%; Glibber & Meep 100%; Hide 60%; Jump 75%; Listen 70%; Scent Decay 65%; Sneak 80%; Spot Hidden 50%

Spells: None

SAN Loss: It costs 0/1d6 SAN to see a Ghoul

Wherever there are witches, there are bound to be ghouls, especially where Nyogtha is concerned. Some ghouls know spells: roll under the ghoul’s INT on 1d100 and that’s how many spells the ghoul knows. Ghouls attack with both Claws and a Bite each round; if all three connect, the ghoul may choose to forego Claw attacks next round and do an automatic 1d4 points of damage instead. A successful STR vs. STR on the Resistance Table will detach the ghoul.

Where there are ghouls, there is going to be a graveyard. Keepers may wish to establish a burial ground somewhere nearby – perhaps a Potters’ Field – and the Investigators may stumble upon some of these loathsome creatures – or perhaps some grave-robbers!

*****

Naggoob – Unique Entity

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	20	POW	20	Age	n/a
CON	18	DEX	17	HP	18
SIZ	17	APP	n/a	Magic Points	20
INT	17	EDU	n/a	Move	9

Damage Bonus: +1d6

Weapon: Bite 50%, 1d6+automatic worry; Claws 50%, 1d6+db

Armour: Firearms and other projectiles do half damage (rounded up)

Skills: Burrow 50%; Climb 85%; Cthulhu Mythos 35%; Dream Lore (Leng) 40%; English 75%; Glibber & Meep 100%; Hide 60%; Jump 75%; Listen 70%; Scent Decay 65%; Sneak 80%; Spot Hidden 50%

Spells: Clutch of Nyogtha; Contact Nyogtha; plus 1d3 non-Contact Deity spells from the Dreamlands list

SAN Loss: It costs  1/1d8 SAN to see Naggoob

Naggoob is an enormous ghoul and leader of the faction of these creatures who worship Nyogtha. It’s possible that Naggoob is the “Black Man” mentioned so often in witchcraft literature. The Spawn of Nyogtha are created through some awful process involving Naggoob, Nyogtha and a human witch.

*****

Nyogtha – Great Old One

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	85	POW	28	Age	n/a
CON	40	DEX	20	HP	60
SIZ	80	APP	n/a	Magic Points	28
INT	20	EDU	n/a	SAN	n/a

Damage Bonus: n/a

Weapon: Tentacle 100%, 1d10, or entrap and Grapple

Armour: Nyogtha ignores the first 10 points of damage from all sources each round; Nyogtha is dispelled at 0 hit points

Spells: all Call and Contact spells; Create Gate

SAN Loss: It costs 1d6/1d20 SAN to see Nyogtha

When attacking, Nyogtha ensnares a victim and drags it off to deep subterranean pits, there to go slowly insane. The victim can be saved if a STR vs. STR Resistance Table roll can be made on their behalf. If attacking to cause damage, Nyogtha’s attack is an area effect and everyone in a 15-metre radius of it takes 1d10 points of damage from a myriad small wounds.

Nyogtha is vulnerable to a specially-prepared Ankh and a substance known as “Tikkoun Elixir”; it is also susceptible to the Vach-viraj Incantation, a spell found only in the Necronomicon.

Obviously, if Nyogtha is around, then it needs a point of access. The Keeper should ensure that there is a dark cave somewhere in the vicinity, possibly the home of the Hoodoo Woman, otherwise, if Nyogtha is Summoned, it will probably show up embarrassed and late.

*****

I hope that, if anyone out there decides to put this work into play, that they have a good time with it (despite the subject matter!). If you do play it through, let me know your thoughts and suggestions – I’d love to hear them!