The Rudraprayag Leopard - Part 1

In 1926, a wild leopard that had preyed on humans in the Punjab region of Northern India over the past eight years, was finally shot and killed by a British big-game hunter – Jim Corbett - specifically commissioned for the job. Why is this such a big deal? Well firstly, the leopard attacked and killed a phenomenal 250 people before being taken out; and secondly, the incident rated a mention as a prophecy in the Hindi version of that mouldy old Mythos tome, the Cthaat Aquadingen.

This story takes place between the years 1917 and 1925, the eight years during which the leopard killed and ate people in the region without anyone seemingly able to check its progress. Getting the party here should be left up to the ingenuity of the Keeper, however this story is not the one about bringing the leopard’s activities to a halt; this is another tale entirely, set against the background of fear which the predator’s activity generates. (If the Keeper wants to play out the story of bringing the feline to justice, they are free to flesh out the details from this premise if they like, possibly using Corbett’s own memoir of the events as a guide – see the Library in a forthcoming post.)

The Keeper should find a solid hook to involve the party; for best effect, they should be involved before 1926. This adventure can form an offshoot to the campaign series “The Masks of Nyarlathotep” if the Keeper wishes. The party could have friends or acquaintances in India who might call them in to look at the problem, or they may be familiar with the prophecy in the Hindi translation of the Cthaat Aquadingen: wherever there’s a prophecy, there are those who seek to investigate it, and since we’re in the district...

Welcome to the Punjab!

The Punjab is a northern region of west India just below the Himalaya mountain range. The Ganges has its origins in this area and, as such, there are pilgrim sites, temples and other holy places galore throughout the countryside. The small town of Rudraprayag lies on a pilgrim trail between two such sacred sites and reaps the benefits of high annual traffic and the influx of tourists. Temperatures in the Punjab are significantly lower than other parts of India, especially during the traditionally hotter months, and this area is a place of escape for most non-Indian residents of the country. Many diplomats and soldiers whose job keeps them in such places as Delhi and Kolkata base their families in the cooler Punjabi hills for at least part of the year to ease the severity of the foreign lifestyle.

Getting There

The best way to get to the Punjab is by train. Trains run frequently between Delhi and Hardwar, the trip taking from two to three days (depending upon delays, break-downs, etc.). Delhi is a good place for research to happen, as there are universities, foreign embassies, trade missions, social clubs and so forth. From Hardwar, the party needs to find alternative transport. Wagons are available, teams of horses and possibly automotive vehicles (averaged Luck Roll of the party), but they should keep in mind that these means will only be of use for a short duration: inevitably, the party will be on foot. Guards, porters and other servants can be hired almost anywhere along the route: this is a pilgrim trail and many locals are adept at making their living by offering their services to the passing tourists.

From Hardwar, it is a three day hike (or one to two day’s Drive or Ride) to Pauri, where they will find the end of the telegraph line and the military outpost which defends it: this is the logical place to fall back to if everything goes pear-shaped in the high country. Rudraprayag is a day’s march beyond but Pauri marks the limit of progression for motorised vehicles.

Supplies

From the earliest days of colonisation by the British, the Indian populace has been motivated to create manufacturing industry throughout the country. Of particular interest is the manufacture of metal goods and of fabric items. Clothing, tents, canopies and other cloth necessities can be obtained at prices one-third of that listed in the standard equipment guides; so too can simple metal objects and contraptions, such as traps, lanterns, shovels, swords and tent spikes. More complex items – such as telescopes, compasses, or guns – will cost twice as much as usual and will be less effective, generally imposing a -20% penalty to the Skill required to use the item (Navigation for example). Guns and rifles will not impose a penalty per se, but will have a base 75% chance of Malfunctioning.

Basic foodstuffs and medicaments are easily obtained, including rice, flour, opium, tea and coffee. Complex or imported foodstuffs, such as alcohol, generally cannot be had, although there is a black market in Hardwar and Dehradun which can supply some items (at black market prices, of course!). Note as well, that alcohol, beef, items of bovine leather or cow horn, fly in the face of Hindu custom: players should choose their vendors wisely when shopping. Of course, while there are many Muslim shopkeepers around to circumvent religious strictures, it is not wise to ask them to provide bacon.

Haggling is the rule rather than the exception when shopping in India, so the players will have excellent opportunities to utilise their Bargain skill while stocking up for the trip ahead.

Pauri

This small outpost represents the furthest limit accessible by a party conveyed by an automobile: the trails into the mountain foothills beyond this point are rude and narrow and not the place for a lumbering car. Those parties who insist on driving ahead will discover only impassable bridges, near vertical slopes and broken axles. Horses and small, two-wheeled wagons will still be useful for a while longer; however upon reaching Rudraprayag, the party will discover that, if they want to go anywhere, they will have to walk.

At Pauri is a small, walled compound which houses two British soldiers – Major Thomas Evans and Captain Brian Harrows - and their families. These two military men maintain the telegraph line which terminates at this point, and oversee the mail deliveries (which are infrequent). They have command of a small troop of twenty Sikh soldiers who help to keep order in the local district. Both commanders have engineering backgrounds and the compound with its surrounding village is neat and well-maintained; military rigidity is noticeably absent, although the atmosphere is by no means slack or decadent. While in town, the party will be welcomed and accommodated in an easy-going manner.

Major Thomas Evans

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	12	POW	16	Age	42
CON	14	DEX	15	HP	13
SIZ	12	APP	13	Magic Points	16
INT	15	EDU	19	SAN	80

Damage Bonus: +/-0

Weapon:       Knife 50%; Pistol 65%; Rifle 60%; Shotgun 40%

Armour:        None

Skills:             Accounting 75%; Botany 55%; History 74%; Electrical Repair 65%

Spells             None

SAN Loss       It costs no SAN to see Thomas Evans

Captain Brian Harrows

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	16	POW	14	Age	35
CON	14	DEX	13	HP	15
SIZ	15	APP	12	Magic Points	14
INT	13	EDU	19	SAN	70

Damage Bonus: +1D4

Weapon:       Knife 70%; Pistol 60%; Rifle 75%; Shotgun30%

Armour:        None

Skills:             Accounting 65%; Military Procedure 75%; Wilderness Survival 55%

Spells             None

SAN Loss       It costs no SAN to see Brian Harrows

Typical Sikh Troopers

char.	value	char.	value	char.	value
STR	12,13,14,14	POW	14,12,13,12	Age	25,24,36,29
CON	14,14,15,15	DEX	14,14,12,10	HP	14,15,16,16
SIZ	14,16,16,17	APP	15,12,9,13	Magic Points	14,12,13,12
INT	12,15,13,14	EDU	10,11,11,12	SAN	70,60,65,60

Damage Bonus: +1D4

Weapon:       Knife 65%; Rifle 50%; Sword 65%

Armour:        None

Skills:             Bargain 75%; Folklore 45% Sikhism 80%

Spells             None

SAN Loss       It costs no SAN to see a Sikh Trooper

Once the locals become aware of the party’s intentions, they will not hesitate to point out the uselessness of vehicles, horses and wagons beyond Pauri and Rudraprayag respectively. Evans and Harrows will offer to help find porters from the local community and, under these circumstances, Bargaining Rolls have a +20% effectiveness. Despite the relative ease of haggling however, there may be some issues about finding people willing to head out towards Rudraprayag (see sidebar).

While at Pauri, any mechanical difficulties affecting the party can be left in the hands of the soldiers. Ammunition can be re-stocked to a reasonable extent and telegrams and letters may be despatched. Some local supplies are available in the form of fresh vegetables and fruits and laundry can be done here.

Rudraprayag

This village has an air of tension about it which the party will detect as soon as they enter. Depending upon what year it is, the atmosphere will be more or less heightened by the fear which the man-eater has generated by its presence. If the party arrives in 1925, all windows and doors in the village will be barred shut with rough-hewn planks of wood; people will scurry furtively from place to place, keeping their backs to the walls of the buildings; a constant sound of grieving and praying will fill the air. Prior to 1923, the atmosphere will be one more of excitement than fear, with much chattering and bluster and occasional arguments amongst people with differing views on how to approach the issue of the big cat.

Throughout the village (and indeed the entire district from here on in) the party will see decorated flags flying wherever they go. These are prayer flags (or yantras) and the one that they see most often is dedicated to Shiva for whom this is sacred territory.

The first difficulty the party will have (assuming they arrive during the time of dread) is simply trying to convince someone to step outside and talk with them. Once their presence is made known, the reaction of the villagers will be mixed: some will think that, being Westerners, they are expert hunters come to kill the leopard; others will believe that the presence of foreigners will only anger whatever forces are already punishing them. If the party makes an averaged Credit Rating roll, the villagers will eventually be predisposed to believe that the arrival of the party is a good thing: accommodation will be provided and the party will learn that the village elders sent a deputation to Delhi many months ago to ask for help in removing the wild cat from the district. The party may feel it appropriate for the villagers to believe that they are the help provided by the government; otherwise, they might choose to quickly disabuse the townsfolk of this notion. The choice they make here may cause a later meeting with Jim Corbett to be somewhat uncomfortable...

Pilgrim Territory

Passing through Rudraprayag puts the traveller on the path to Badrinath and its temple, a site which is sacred to adherents of Shiva, or Saivid Hindus. Journey to this shrine is part of a larger pilgrim trail known as the Char Dham, a voyage that takes the pilgrim to the four corners of the Indian sub-continent, and which is shared by Vaishnavite Hindus, or followers of Vishnu. Further, here in the Himalayan foothills, there is another pilgrim trail called the Chota (or small) Char Dham, which follows the footsteps of the Hindu saint (or sadhu) Ari Shankara: this walk takes in another powerful Saivid site at Kedarnath.

Pilgrims tend to walk clockwise along the Chota Char Dham so as to arrive at Kedarnath before coming to Badrinath. Kedarnath is the site of a temple where the Pandavars, a fraternity of warriors from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata, performed acts of austerity which won them the blessings of Lord Shiva. Kedarnath is located beneath a glacier and is open only between April-May and October-November – heavy snows completely cut off the town outside of these months and the residents depart to friendlier climes.

Badrinath is sacred to Saivid Hindus because of its location near the Alaknanda River. According to legend, when the goddess Ganga fell to earth, Shiva interposed himself to protect the Earth from her impact, catching her in his matted locks. The place where she left his coiffure to walk upon the ground is the trail of the sacred River Ganges. The River Alaknanda is a tributary of the Ganges formed by this dramatic fall. In the Ninth Century, Ari Shankara found a stone in the river, naturally carved into the likeness of an incarnation of Vishnu who did great penance at the site to ease the suffering of the world: this stone murti, or three-dimensional holy image, is housed within a temple in the village and pilgrims from all over India come to see it.

The surrounding area is full of other holy sites and places of interest, including hot springs and caves. Of note amongst these is a mountain which, when viewed from Badrinath seems to be carved with the Devanagari word “Aum”, a sacred syllable to Hindus; near Sonprayag is a temple where the Goddess Parwati was spiritually wed to Lord Shankar and in which a fire illuminating this ceremony has burned since the Ninth Century; and there is a spring at Udar Kund which, according to tradition, contains water from all the oceans and which never loses its freshness: its powers of purification are well-known.

Settling in...

The villagers put up the party at an abandoned farmstead on the edge of town. This is a four-sided construction surrounding a courtyard: a walled gate forms the front entrance with kitchens and laundry on either side, while staff quarters make up the left-hand side and stables are to the right. The main house is a two-storey construction with an upper balcony overlooking the central yard. The villagers will attempt to precede the party and clean up: they do not immediately (or ever, if they can manage it) reveal that the house was abandoned after the owner was attacked and killed in his bedroom by the infamous leopard. It will be noted by the party however, that the roof above the master bedroom has caved in at some point; this is where the leopard pushed through to make its assault.

Any servants that the party may have accumulated will, if they have journeyed to Rudraprayag and are not locals themselves, at first be unconcerned about moving into these premises; after a few days however, they become sullen and moody, jumping at shadows and muttering under their breath. Contact with the local villagers has revealed to them the nature of the past events in the house and the fact that most villagers consider the place cursed at least, haunted at worst. Any helpers engaged in Rudraprayag itself will straight-out refuse to move into the place.

To Be Continued...