Fear in a Bottle Wherein the investigators follow the trail of a dead thief, nd clues about an ancient evil and learn what they have to fear in a bottle. B J  A. A  I   V

“And Zhothaqqua begot Zvilpogghua, who be- recalling the antediluvian history of his people gat the virgin Sfatlicllp, who is the Fallen Wis- (see section below), does not notice the ob- dom.” vious irony in this reckless course of action. - Robert M. Price and Laurence J. Cornford, For his insane plan to succeed, Ssethraas had “e Epistles of Eibon” to rst obtain a magical artifact called the Flask of Eibon. It was unearthed earlier this year at S C an excavation of a presumed Shoshone Indian e setting for this adventure is the witch- burial site and recently put on innocuous dis- haunted town of , , and play at the local Exhibit Museum. In typical its nearby environs during the last couple of serpent man fashion, he chose to use someone days before Halloween in 1929. It is intend- else to do the hard work retrieving the item for ed for two to ve investigator characters hav- him. Preparing a week ahead of time, he used ing past experience dealing with the the Black Binding spell on the freshly dug grave mythos and is designed to be completed in one of a mobster to produce a zombie. Ssethraas or two game sessions. Keepers may wish to ad- then cast Eyes of the Zombie to take direct con- just the relative diculty level for their Sampleown in- trol file of his undead servant, broke into the mu- dividual group of players. As written, it can seum at night and stole Eibon’s Flask. be incorporated into an existing campaign as He now only has to wait three more days to a sequel to other previously published works enact the completion of his nefarious scheme. set in and around Lovecra Country. In par- Assisted by a small number of degenerate ser- ticular, keepers who have access to the “H.P. pent folk, and at the center of a circle of stand- Lovecra’s Arkham” and/or “Miskatonic Uni- ing stones imported from England last month, versity” sourcebooks will nd the additional Ssethraas will perform the necessary ritual cer- background information that they contain use- emony to summon the Fallen Wisdom. He will ful, but not mandatory, to running this scenario then o er up a human sacrice to honor his in- tended bride upon her return on All Hallows’ K’ I Eve. is adventure concerns the somewhat mis- guided attempt by an atavistic serpent man, Ss- T  S     T ethraas, to reverse the slow decline of his species Untold aeons ago, long before Mhu ulan known as the Curse of Yig. He hopes to do this was buried beneath glaciers of ice, the First Em- by summoning forth a Great Old One named pire of the Serpent People fell with the coming Sfatlicllp, a little-known relation of , Age of the Dinosaurs. ose who were long and mate with her, thereby reinvigorating his favored by Yig ed the destruction of Valusia racial bloodline through her o spring. While and established places of refuge deep under- Fear in a Bottle 3 ground. e greatest of these subterranean cit- law Knygathin Zhaum, Eibon of Mhu ulan ies was built in the red-litten cavern of Yoth, un- would grow up to become one the most pow- der what would later become North America. erful mages of the Hyperborean Age. As fame ere they ourished in the dark for millions of of his thaumaturgical exploits spread through- years, protected from the ravages of geological out the land, the people of the new capital in changes occurring on the surface world above, Uzuldaroum (fearful of a repetition of events and free to conduct experiments in biology to from decades previous) petitioned the sorcer- increase their knowledge er for his aid in ridding themselves of the noto- both sorcerous and scientic. It is believed rious voormi hybrid. Accepting the challenge, that these advanced, serpentine researchers Eibon led a band of stout warriors a day’s march created the primitive race of fur-covered voor- into the old city. Bravely he fought against the mis at this time to serve as their slaves. protean thing that had once been Knygathin Alas, it eventually came to pass that the Yo- Zhaum, ultimately destroying the horrid mon- thic civilization would meet its doom when a strosity with re and sorcery, but at the terrible passage was discovered leading downward into cost of most of his followers. At rst rejoicing black, lightless N’kai. Returning from explo- in the news of the hard-won victory, the Hyper- rations of the Stygian realm below, the serpent borean people quickly began to dread the wrath men brought back idols of onyx and basalt de- of the loathsome spawn’s extra-terrene mother, picting the amorphous, toad-like Tsathoggua. Sfatlicllp, and demanded that the existential Many amongst them soon abandoned their pa- threat posed by her be dealt with as well, lest tron deity Yig to worship their new found god. she bore more eldritch abominations. is greatly angered the Father of Serpents and is subsequent task presented a quanda- in retribution for this serious transgression he ry for the heroic magician. A devoted acolyte placed the Curse of Yig upon his apostate chil- of Zhothaqqua (Tsathoggua) himself, Eibon dren. ey were cast out from the depths and knew that he could not simply slay the fecund destined to slowly devolve into the unintelligent granddaughter of the Sleeper of N’kai for fear snakes whence they were originally formed.Sample of causingfile o ense to his patron god. Instead, One sect of Yig’s disciples who had remained the sorcerer had a sturdy bottle forged from faithful to the jealous god retreated to the safe- meteoric “star metal”, which men considered ty of caverns underneath the extinct volcanic sacred, and engraved it with arcane runes of cones of Mount Voormithadreth and, though powerful magic. us so prepared to confront few in number, still continued in their advance- the mother of Knygathin Zhaum, he then made ments. However, this state of a airs would not the dangerous journey alone into the Eiglo- last forever. e thralls of the serpent people, phian Mountains and up the summit of Mount having attained true sapience while in captivity, Voormithadreth itself. Enduring constant ha- nally grew strong enough to successfully re- rassment by the savage voormis, Eibon cau- volt and escape from their ophidian overlords. tiously entered a ssure on the mountain slope. e newly-freed voormis would go on to create ere he encountered the Fallen Wisdom as she their own thriving civilization in (then tropical) lay asleep in the cave. Prudently placing de- Hyperborea, bringing with them the worship of fensive wards around Sfatlicllp beforehand, he Tsathoggua that they had adopted themselves, then cast a spell taken from the Parchments of long before the coming Age of Man. Pnom to bind her will to the metal container whilst simultaneously entrapping her physical T  F   E form within extra-dimensional space. is in- Born in the same year as Commoriom’s aban- credible feat of thaumaturgy accomplished, the donment due to the depredations of the out- mage is recorded to have gone on to have other remarkable adventures. 4 Fear in a Bottle Nothing is known about how, or even if, Ei- this backdrop of fear and uncertainty about the bon ever made use of the ask that bears his future that your adventure begins. name. Exactly what happened to it a century later when the continent of Hyperborea suc- B P  cumbed to the great Ice Age also remains a How the players initially become involved mystery. with investigating the the of an artifact from Eibon’s Flask may have been carried by Hy- the museum will depend on their characters. perborean hands escaping the advancing ice ose with private eye backgrounds or contacts sheets to Kranoria. en when that colony be- within the Arkham Police Department may be fell a horrible fate, it traveled westward with called in directly by Chief Detective Harden to their tribal descendants who had intermarried assist in the formal investigation. Player char- with the early Native Americans. acters who are students or have links to Miska- Or it might have been stolen by the voormis tonic University can be asked by Curator Grewe and brought with them (retracing the path of or another member of the MU faculty to quietly ancient portal gates once used by their former conduct an informal inquiry into the burglary. masters) back through N’Kai and into long de- Any that are employed as investigative reporters serted Yoth. ere it could have been uncov- for one of the local news services might simply ered in the ruins by explorers from blue-litten be following up leads for a good story. It is even K’n-yan who recognized the valuable tulu met- possible for those whose interests lie in more al used in its craing. antiquarian or occult subject matters to have Whatever the case, the Flask of Eibon even- been tipped o about the apparent strangeness tually became the property of degenerate ser- of the item by someone from the Eye of Ama- pent people who still yet lived in the lands ra society shortly before the break-in occurred. above. It was placed with veneration for one of e keeper is free to invent other plausible ra- their dead inside a burial chamber, only to one tionales for their involvement, as desired. day be found again by modern man. e players should also be given a copy of an Sampleunusual file news article (see Fear Papers #1) from I I this morning’s paper, found buried between In the last days of October, 1929, few believed more sensational stories about the continuing the time of wealth and excess known as e nancial slide on Wall Street, to further pique Roaring Twenties would soon become history. their curiosity. e inherent dangers of overspeculation and long bottled up market forces reached an inevi- D P table result on the 24th, “Black ursday”, when e following is a list of important characters, share prices on the New York Stock Exchange most or all of whom will be encountered by the collapsed. e frightful djinn of market cor- investigators at some point during the scenario. rection once released, the sense of panic among Complete statistics for each are located at the investors continued into the following week as end of the adventure. Other people mentioned the events were covered by newspapers across by name are less central to the plot and can be the United States, even in sleepy college towns found in either “H.P. Lovecra’s Arkham” or like Arkham. While the common men and “”. Keepers may refer to women would not experience the full horrors the relevant entries in those books or create en- of the Great Depression until several months tirely new statistics for them, if required. and years later, in the minds of the rich and powerful it seemed as if their whole world were suddenly coming to an abrupt end. It is against

Fear in a Bottle 5 Arturo “ e Bear” Giovanni Nicodemus is ocially at Miskatonic Uni- versity to teach a course in Classical History In life, Arturo was not a particularly good and to replace Dr. Fuda, his fellow Hungarian looking man, a fact that his current undead countryman, while the latter professor takes an condition has done nothing to improve. extended sabbatical. Secretly, he has another Standing at well over six and a half feet tall, agenda as well. with coarse facial features and a stocky frame While still working in Czechoslovakia, Dr. to match, he posed an intimidating gure even Stavros came across fragments of a scroll that before his death. His eyes have been surgically had been found in the crypts of a local Ortho- removed post-mortem by Ssethraas as part of dox monastery. Deciphering the ancient and a spell, not that the zombie really needs them barely legible text, he discovered that it was a to “see”. He had not been properly embalmed portion of the legendary Pnakotica, a transla- and therefore his mindless body continues to tion in Greek of the equally fabled Pnakotic rot, which will become increasingly obvious as Manuscripts. is mysterious volume of eso- time goes on. teric lore was supposedly written by human Belinda Chase (and possibly inhuman) scribes back in prehis- Belinda is a lovely woman of twenty who is cur- toric times, the original of which is thought to rently studying the exotic worlds of anthropol- no longer exist. ogy and archaeology at Miskatonic University. Aer carefully making photostatic cop- Her mother died during childbirth, while her ies of the crumbling scroll, he soon traveled grandfather is Dr. Aaron Chase, the Director of to Arkham. He wanted to make an attempt at the School of Rhetoric. Her most striking phys- comparative analysis with a later English ver- ical traits are her pale skin and red hair, both of sion that is reportedly held in the Orne Library. which she got from her dead mother. A mem- However, Dr. Armitage had previously placed ber of the Gamma Delta sorority and several of that copy, along with many other tomes of for- the academic clubs, Belinda has a reputation bidden knowledge, under lock and key in the around Arkham of being a “good girl”,Sample despite Restricted file Collection shortly before his arriv- taking an interest in outré topics not normally al. Nicodemus is now patiently waiting for a considered appropriate for a lady. It is assumed response from the elder librarian to his petition by most people in town that she will probably for gaining access to the restricted work. marry someone like Paul, her boyfriend, right A man of some independent means, the pro- aer graduation and then move on to more so- fessor is presently staying in room 301 of the cially acceptable pursuits. grand Hotel Miskatonic. Belinda is totally unaware of any occult con- Paul Wilkenson nection her grandfather might have to the Ros- e only son of a prosperous, old family in icrucians. She would likely nd the idea fasci- Arkham, Paul is fair-haired and clean shaven nating, if she were to learn about it. with the boyish good looks typically associated Dr. Nicodemus Stavros with young manhood. An accounting student Dr. Stavros is a visiting professor from Charles in his senior year at Miskatonic University, he is University in Prague. A portly gentleman with oen seen attired in a raccoon fur coat over an a black beard, thinning hair and generally argyle sweater vest and a straw boater hat. Paul swarthy appearance, he wears the stereotypical is a member of both the notorious Delta Phi tweed jacket and pince-nez reading spectacles fraternity and the much more exclusive Shoot- of an academic. It has been said by students ing Club, keeping a loaded hunting ri e locked that his deeply-resonate speaking voice can be in the trunk of his sporty roadster convertible. heard clear across the Quad. 6 Fear in a Bottle He is also obviously much in love with his col- Since that time, Ssethraas has extensively lege sweetheart, Belinda. traveled the world, from Europe and the Amer- Paul will try to be courteous and helpful to icas to the Middle East and Central Asia, always the investigators in their search for the missing seeking out more hidden knowledge and oth- artifact. He is very familiar with the univer- ers of his kind. His journeys to mystical places sity grounds and members of the faculty, and nally brought him to Arkham, home to many knows the general locations of most important dark secrets. places in town as well. About ten years ago, the serpent man set up shop in town as an import broker. He uses the Roger Kavanaugh contacts made during his travels to help facili- A veteran of the Great War, Roger served in the tate shipments of foreign mechandise into the United States Navy as a Machinist’s Mate in the country, as well as to provide cover for smug- boiler room of a patrol vessel that escorted con- gling more questionable materials needed in voys in the Bay of Biscay o the coast of France. his magical research. Until Dr. Armitage had He is a rowdy sort of guy in his late thirties with most of the mythos-related works moved to the prematurely graying hair, ruddy complexion, a Restricted Collection, Ssethraas also frequently scraggly beard, and tattoos of an anchor and a perused the dusty grimoires on the shelves of mermaid on his arms. Although still fast and the Orne Library. strong for a man his age, his state of health His base of operation is inside a dilapidat- has been su ering lately due to falling on hard ed warehouse located just down from times. the Lucky Clover Cartage Company. He is on Aer being discharged from the service, Ka- reasonably good terms with the legitimate side vanaugh came back home to Arkham only to of that business, sometimes hiring one of their nd out that his wife had le him for another trucks to transport bulky items to a custom- man. He soon began to drown his sorrows in er across town. Ssethraas does not interfere cheap booze. Distraught over the loss and un- with Lucky Clover’s illicit activities, and in re- able to nd permanent employment, heSample eventu- turn, file they do not pry into his. A majority of ally ended up a vagrant, pan handling and do- the largely Irish drivers mistakenly believe him ing the occasional odd job when sober enough. to be Jewish, owing to his keeping odd hours Keepers are free to make whatever use of and lack of involvement with the Church, while him as an additional resource to aid the investi- he does nothing to correct this rather racist as- gators, as needed. sumption. In his human guise as Samuel, the serpent Ssethraas (a.k.a. Samuel Phineas Drake) man appears to be an elderly Englishman who Ssethraas is an atavistic serpent man, a throw- is almost completely bald, wearing a bowler hat back to a bygone era when his race was still and frock coat that are at least a generation out strong and powerful. Hatched from an egg in of style. He walks with a heavy ivory-topped South Wales, he was raised in a cave by a small cane, which is expensive, but otherwise quite band of degenerate serpent people who recog- ordinary. His most distinctive item of appar- nized his superior potential. Aer he learned el is a pair of darkened glasses that are, in fact, what little they could teach him of their culture, pure a ectation. If they are removed, his eyes history and magic, Ssethraas headed east to look perfectly normal (due to the powerful il- England where he ambushed and devoured an lusion) and his vision is just ne without them. unlucky human. Using the Consume Likeness He rarely comes outside into broad daylight spell, he then assumed the unfortunate man’s where his serpentine shadow can be easily spot- form and identity, becoming Samuel P. Drake. ted, for obvious reasons.

Fear in a Bottle 7 Except for a newly-created zombie, and a ground burial chamber, accidentally discovered tribe of degenerate serpent folk secretly quar- by prospectors searching for gold in the moun- tered at a cabin in Billington’s Woods, Ssethraas tains near Casper, Wyoming. is not currently allied with any of the occult fac- e disturbing photograph of a tiny, mum- tions or entities in town. Keepers could expand mied body (tentatively indentied as a Sho- the scenario to include associations with other shone Indian girl) is also present. A caption antagonists in their campaign, if they choose. states that the miniature mummy was sent to Harvard University for further examination. O  - B  A Any investigator looking at the photo and mak- T  E  M ing a successful Anthropology roll will recall folklore about the Nimerigar, a race of canni- e day that the investigators arrive at the mu- balistic “little people” believed by many Na- seum, the sky is darkened by foreboding clouds tive American tribes to inhabit caves out west, that cast a pall of gloom over the entire town much like those described in tales of the Brit- and perfectly re ect the mood of the popu- ish Isles. lace. Entering through a splintered set of dou- A nal descriptive label for the missing, sto- ble doors, they are immediately met inside by len artifact only has “anomalous metal ask, George Grewe, the museum’s curator. e po- possibly Spanish in origin, meaning of en- lice have gone, and unless previously acquaint- graved symbols unknown” written on it. ed with the curator, the man hurriedly tells the If asked where he was while the crime was investigators that the museum is closed to the being committed, Curator Grewe claims he public until further notice. Upon learning that went home and was preparing for bed. ere is they are here to help investigate the burglary, he nothing in the man’s story to suggest that he is enthusiastically thanks them and quickly ush- not answering honestly. ers the player characters into the adjoining An- When questioned about his whereabouts cient Cultures room at the front of the building. during the break-in, Tetlow says that he had Once there, they are introduced to LucasSample Tet- completed file his rounds and was cleaning the low, the caretaker, just as he has nished clear- oors at the back of the museum when he ing up broken glass with a broom and dustpan. heard Rhodey, his German Shepherd, barking A large display case with a smashed win- at something around 11:00 PM. By the time he dow stands alongside other exhibits, which ap- had made his way up to the front, whoever the pear untouched. It has obviously been dusted intruder was had already le the building. Ob- for ngerprints, taken as evidence earlier by servant characters who make a successful Psy- the police detectives should a suspect be appre- chology roll realize that the man is probably hended. A successful Spot Hidden roll reveals withholding some information. that the culprit was quite big and apparent- In truth, the caretaker actually did see the ly used bare hands. ere are no visible trac- perpetrator at the scene of the crime. es of blood, as would have been expected from If Lucas is what he seems to be, a slightly the amount of glass shards. Have investigators slow-witted janitor, then both he and his dog who spot this make SAN rolls with those that were terried by the huge, undead burglar. e fail losing a single point of Sanity. caretaker is simply too afraid to admit it. e shattered display still contains sever- On the other hand, if the keeper is using al noteworthy items collected from the recent the mythos-connected version of Tetlow, then excavation made by Miskatonic University. A something else happened. e man had tried nearby wall placard explains that the assorted to use Stop Heart on the exiting thief, initial- objects (beaded turquoise jewelry, simple stone ly not aware the target of his spell was already and wood tools, etc.) were found in an under- dead. When that failed, it suciently unnerved 8 Fear in a Bottle him enough to allow the zombie a chance to es- of the skull, which is still covered by sparse, red cape with the ask. hair. In fact, she was a full-grown, degenerate Whichever the reason, the caretaker will re- serpent woman, but there is no way for the in- sist all attempts at divulging this fact to the in- vestigators to determine that. vestigators. Characters who examine the rubbings must For more details about Grewe, Tetlow, and make two rolls. ose who the overall layout and contents of the Exhibit successfully make the rst will recognize the Museum, please consult the appropriate sec- large symbol engraved on the stopper as a Pna- tions in the “Miskatonic University” source- kotic Pentagram, a magical ward against evil. A book. success on the second roll identies the other At this point, the players must now decide runes as Tsath-Yo script, but does not provide exactly where to proceed next. ey may re- any help with translation to those who cannot main as a group or split up to follow individual read it. leads. Listed below are likely areas where the At the keeper’s option, if unable to under- player characters might want to continue with stand the Hyperborean language, then the play- their investigation. ers may be allowed to make Occult rolls. If suc- cessful, they remember hearing about a book I  M  (e Kranorian Annals, Fact or Fallacy? by U Garson Casterwell), which mentions similar runes and is among the unrestricted volumes A logical place to start their search is to nd in the Orne Library. Investigators can locate out more about the artifact in question at Mis- the copy in the Occult section with a success- katonic University. Curator Grewe can direct ful Library Use roll, then make a Luck roll to them to the newly-built Jonathan Edwards Hall see if they glean enough information from the northwest of the museum. e Department of appendices of to interpret the writing. Archaeology is on the fourth oor of the build- Please reference the entries in “Miskatonic Uni- ing, which is where the investigators meetSample Be- versity” file for more information about this book linda Chase, a pretty anthropology student. or its author. She is currently assisting Dr. Francis Morgan, Either way, it takes 1D4 hours to translate while he remains on location in Wyoming, by the engravings as a short incantation for the ling papers and uncrating boxes of relics for Call/Dismiss Sfatlicllp spell. Once translated, the department. Aer initial introductions are actually learning the Call portion or its reverse made, Belinda can show the player characters requires 20-INT more days of study and a suc- more photographs taken of the burial tomb, cessful INTx3 roll, barely enough time for even along with sketches and notes about the items high INT characters to accomplish before Hal- recovered, and charcoal rubbings made of the loween night. ose who do memorize the strange runes on the ask itself. spell will then be able use it normally. Desper- e photos show a natural, dusty cave paint- ate characters who try to cast the spell direct- ed with many pictographs of a female image ly from the translation without having learned holding twin snakes on the walls. A successful it are required to make an INTx1 roll, before Archaeology roll suggests a link to bronze g- checking to see if the spell itself succeeds. urines of a “Snake Goddess” found in ancient When asked if she knows anything else about Minoan culture. the ask, Belinda replies that Dr. Morgan theo- A detailed description of the mummy re- rized it was an ampulla. ey were small con- ports that she appeared to be small child, pre- tainers for holding precious uids, especially served by the dry air in the enclosed chamber. oils used for religious purposes in and around She was apparently killed by a blow to the back the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. Fear in a Bottle 9 How the object ended up in a North Amer- I  ican Indian gravesite is unknown. Perhaps it A  was carried across the Atlantic Ocean by a Spanish conquistador. Another area to search for clues is the neigh- Aer receiving it, the ask was sent to the borhood immediately adjacent to the Exhibit metallurgy department for analysis, which Museum. While the police failed to nd any- proved inconclusive. It was then carefully one willing to discuss the break-in, if the player cleaned and put on display at the Exhibit Mu- characters casually ask around for witnesses to seum. the crime, their e orts eventually lead them to And the answer to the obvious question of Roger Kavanaugh, a man who is down on his “what is in the bottle?” “Nothing,” she says luck. He only o ers to tell them what he knows, cheerfully. “Nothing to fear.” once they agree to buy him alcohol. She then tells the player characters that they Unless they happen to have their own supply are the third people to ask her about it this on hand, a successful Know roll from the play- month. e second person was Dr. Nicode- ers lets them recollect the location of a speak- mus Stavros, a professor in the ancient histo- easy on the north side of town across the Mis- ry department, while the rst was a funny, old katonic River. e bouncer at the door initially Englishman. Belinda cannot seem to recall his balks at letting in Roger, due to his unkempt name (in fact, Ssethraas never gave her one), clothes and shabby demeanor, but a successful only that he wore dark eyeglasses. She assumes Fast Talk roll plus a small bribe will grant them that he was one of Arkham’s many resident an- all entrance into the club “for one drink”. Inside tiquarians and thinks she remembers seeing the bar, the generally low spirits of the other pa- him once or twice at the library. trons are a sharp contrast to the garish Hallow- Right before the investigators leave, a young een decorations festooned about the room. gentleman arrives who nonchalantly kisses Be- Aer loosening his tongue with a glass of linda on the cheek. While blushing, she intro- Canadian whisky, Roger begins his bizarre tale. duces the man to the player charactersSample as her e file navy vet was looking for a safe place to boyfriend, Paul Wilkenson. Aer getting ac- sleep for the night when he saw “a great bear quainted, he reminds her about the big football of a man” shambling along West Street heading game coming up on ursday and inquires if northward from the direction of the museum. she has her costume ready, which she does. If He thought the man was possibly drunk, un- the investigators are now going to talk with Dr. til he saw his craggy face. e large man had Stavros, Paul o ers to escort them downstairs no eyes, just gaping holes where they had been. to where the professor is conducting a lecture ose listening to this story must make SAN on the history of Grecian architecture. rolls, for 0/1 Sanity loss. Nicodemus may be approached by the char- Anyone glancing at the people sitting near- acters when nished with his class. e man by, and who makes a successful Spot Hidden is noticeably shocked upon hearing of the the roll, sees one of the men overhear part of their from the museum. He admits to being familiar conversation and silently mouth the words “the with the artifact, but claims that he has no more bear”, as if it means something. Before the in- knowledge about it or who might have stolen vestigators can react, however, the bartender it than the players do. is is mostly true, al- motions to the bouncer to have them uncere- though he does have some suspicions. e pro- moniously deposited outside. ey have obvi- fessor is busy tonight grading test papers, but is ously had enough to drink. willing to research into the matter and promis- es to contact them in a day or two, if he learns anything important to the investigation. 10 Fear in a Bottle I    P  Please read the applicable entries in “H.P. S Lovecra’s Arkham” for more information about the police department sta or the various If the investigators have gotten a description of criminal elements in town. the potential suspect from Roger, or even “the bear”, they may now go to the Arkham Police I  P’ Station looking for answers. e desk sergeant F  on duty smirks at them when given these details, then leaves for a moment and returns bearing a Characters following the above line of clues to folder. Within the folder are criminal records their conclusion will nally end up here just for Arturo “e Bear” Giovanni, a small-time north of town. street hoodlum who was once a member of the A successful Spot Hidden roll will allow an Rocks gang of Italian youths. e police ocer investigator to conrm that the dirt over Artu- smiled because the former gangster’s records ro’s grave has been recently disturbed. Legal- were led under “deceased”. ly exhuming the body by court order requires While refusing to show most of the sealed making a Law roll and a very good reason. documents to the players, he does summarize Judge Randall is not likely to accept “suspicion the autopsy report for them. Giovanni had of committing a burglary posthumously” as a died from multiple gunshot wounds, the appar- valid excuse. If the con is disinterred, its lid ent victim of a homicide. His body was later is found to be broken into. e corpse, as prob- identied by Joe Portrello. Lastly, he notes that ably expected, is missing from the casket. Have their suspect, having no known next of kin, was all players present make SAN rolls, for 0/1D2 buried in Potter’s Field at the town’s expense. Sanity loss. An investigator may make a Know roll to see No more information can be learned during if they recognize the name, Joe Portrello, as a daylight hours. shadowy gure believed to be connected to the If the investigators should stake out the Italian crime syndicate in Arkham. It isSample a clear gravesite file at nighttime, they will ultimately at- indication that Giovanni had “graduated” into tract the attention of a pack of ghouls. is the maa. requires another SAN roll, for 1/1D6+1 Sani- ose prying into the exact circumstances of ty loss due to their number and the frighten- the man’s death will soon run afoul of Detective ing circumstances. e ghouls will act strange- Ray Stuckey, who quietly warns them not to in- ly wary of the player characters and not initiate terfere with an ocial murder investigation. If combat. they persist with their questions, the characters Any player attempting to parley with the may spend the night as unwilling guests in a jail ghoul pack will need a successful Persuade roll cell. e detective does not want Chief Nichols and either make a demonstration of strength or Captain Keats to hear any rumors of an open or an o er of “food”. If communication can be mob war brewing. established and they are questioned about the If the police can be somehow convinced to grave robbery, then their leader will state that compare the ngerprints taken from the mu- it was the work of “the snake who walks like a seum to the ones found in Arturo’s le from a man.” He used dark magic to scare them and previous arrest, they will turn out to be a match. steal their “rightful property.” Once befriend- When the Chief of Detectives, Luther Harden, ed, the ghouls will let the investigators leave un- learns about this, he harshly dismisses the nd- molested. ing and accuses the investigators of wasting the department’s time and resources on someone’s idea of an early Halloween prank. Fear in a Bottle 11 O  - M A the investigators see the stunned gunmen star- T  M  H ing out of the windows in disbelief at the ee- ing zombie. e crumpled remains of Dr. Stav- On Wednesday, the player characters may still ros lies on the oor, requiring SAN rolls from be conducting investigations carried over from everyone who views it. ose that fail lose 1D4 the day before. ose that visited the graveyard Sanity. last night might choose to sleep late today. A successful Spot Hidden roll allows an in- Nothing exciting happens until the aer- vestigator to nd a business card (see Fear Pa- noon, when the investigators are contacted via pers #2) lying next to the professor’s body, ap- telephone by Dr. Stavros. e man is in a hur- parently fallen out of his jacket pocket during ry and cannot speak at length, but wishes to see the attack. them tonight around 7:00 PM at his hotel room A photostatic copy of the Pnakotica frag- to discuss something that he has discovered, ment is in plain sight on a nearby table. Beside which could be of interest. it, written on hotel stationary, is a partial trans- Unless the characters arrive early, they never lation in English of one of the passages (see Fear get the opportunity to talk with him again. Papers #3), which Dr. Stavros obviously meant e professor had remembered chatting to give to the investigators. Reading this pas- with Ssethraas in the Exhibit Museum last sage alone awards 1 point of Cthulhu Mythos week, and following a hunch, confronted him to the character, but at the cost of 1D2 Sanity. this morning at his warehouse oce. Although e rest of the Greek copy, transcribed Nicodemus learned nothing denitive and le from the words of a voormi sage, largely deals without incident, the serpent man decides to with Hyperborean history and contains the kill the troublesome human anyway. He puts spell Enjoin Pnakotic Pentagram (see descrip- his own iconic glasses on the zombie to conceal tion in “Miskatonic University”). is specic its lack of eyes, then sends it to the Hotel Mis- fragment, for those who can read it, takes 32 katonic to deal with him. weeks of study to gain +5 Cthulhu Mythos with As the undead minion strolls throughSample the 1D3/1D6 file resulting loss of Sanity. hotel lobby on the way up to the third oor, it Amongst the broken window glass on the is spotted by one of Danny O’Bannion’s hench- ground outside, players can locate the crushed men. e hired thug is confused to see a sup- pair of eyeglasses belonging to Ssethraas with posedly dead guy still walking and runs to get another Spot Hidden roll. reinforcements, while the zombie goes to room e investigators will only have a few min- 301 and busts down the door. Inside the room, utes to search the area for clues before the po- the surprised professor is attacked by the mon- lice show up and cordon o the crime scene. ster and quickly strangled to death. Several of All those present are immediately detained for O’Bannion’s men then enter the hallway, and questioning and Chief Detective Harden is fu- following the sounds of a struggle, they witness rious. If he hought the burglary was some kind the murderous zombie standing over the body. of bizarre joke, then with a man now dead, it’s e horried men open re on the animated no longer a laughing matter. corpse just as it proceeds to crash through a When the men are interrogated by the po- window and plunge three stories to the pave- lice detectives, they claim to have only been ment below. It sustains 8 points of damage, but defending themselves against the “big mook gets back on its feet and stumbles o into the who bumped o the sti and scrammed out- darkness, returning to the warehouse. ta window.” Asked why the assailant would do If the players keep their scheduled appoint- that, one of them o ers “maybe he was steamed ment, they make it in time to hear gunshots about losing dough on the market.” coming from above. Upon entering the room, 12 Fear in a Bottle