Based on the GUMSHOE One-2-One system by Robin D. Laws THE RED MIST BY Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan 1 THE RED MIST THE RED MIST A CTHULHU CONFIDENTIAL ADVENTURE by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan Based on the GUMSHOE One-2-One system by Robin D. Laws TABLE OF CONTENTS THE RED MIST 4 THE BOXER 13 PHYLLIS OAKLEY 4 Talking to Drummer 13 SOURCES 4 James Chin 14 Helena Rogers, City Clerk 4 NO-WIN SITUATION 14 Erik Zackarov, Forger 4 McRory’s Speech 15 Mr. Wyilter, Irregular Customer 4 Screaming on the Inside 15 Dr. Maria Forrest, Old College Friend 5 OLD WOUNDS 15 David Shea, Reporter 5 SANITY CHECK 16 CHARACTER CARD 5 Wyilter’s Fears 16 RELATIONSHIP MAP 6 THE DEFEATED 17 SCENE FLOW DIAGRAM 6 Alvin & Dr. Lake 17 CAST 7 Alvin & Drummer 18 WHAT HAPPENED 7 Alvin & The Book 18 SCENES 8 FORMLESS SPAWN 18 A BEATEN MAN 8 MAKING THE DEAL 20 The Beaten Man 8 At Lake’s House 20 Talking To Drummer 8 INTO THE UNDERWORLD 20 Physical Evidence 9 Getting In 21 Drummer Leaves 9 The Fight Begins 22 Incipent Dreams 9 THE RED MIST 22 THE CLIENT 9 On An Advance 23 The Red Book 10 On A Hold 24 The Library Copy 10 On A Setback 24 Visiting Dr. Lake 11 Aftermath 24 The House 11 ANTAGONIST REACTIONS 25 Speaking to Lake 12 THE RED MIST PROBLEM CARDS 26 Obtaining the Book 13 THE RED MIST EDGE CARDS 28 CHARACTER CARD PHYLLIS OAKLEY 30 2 THE RED MIST THE RED MIST A boxer lost in a psychic labyrinth, a monster player what happened to her? Was it an accident? that lurks within our own minds, and a mysterious Unchecked bibliomania? A lost love? An encounter book combine to drag the investigator into a bloody with the supernatural? nightmare. This Cthulhu Confidential adventure casts an occult book dealer Phyllis (or Philip) Sources Oakley as the player character. It can easily be Phyllis is exceptionally well read, but even she adjusted to work with an original investigator of the sometimes needs to call on some allies for assis- player’s devising, or any of the ‘official’ trio of Dex, tance. Her sources are: Viv or Langston). The place and date of the adventure are not HELENA ROGERS, CITY CLERK specified, and none of the locations mentioned are Helena lives in the same building as Phyl- real. Assume it’s set in New York in 1937 by default. lis (the same building that houses her basement bookstore), and the two neighbours have become Phyllis Oakley uncertain friends. Helena’s attitude towards Phyl- Phyllis Oakley is a Bookhound – a dealer in rare lis veers between motherly concern and bemused books, a somewhat suspect antiquarian who picks irritation, and she’s taken it upon herself to make through second-hand book marts and the collec- sure Phyllis stays safe. tions of the recently deceased, looking for under- Investigative Abilities: Accounting, Bureau- valued books. Find the right old tome or obscure cracy, Reassurance misprinted edition, and she can eat for a month. She also deals in banned books, in censored or foreign ERIK ZACKAROV, FORGER books, and in special orders – if a client wants, say, a ‘Forger’ is such a pejorative term – Erik’s usu- first edition copy of Don Quixote, then Phyllis Oak- ally employed to repair and rebind books. Phyllis ley knows all the local collectors who might possess knows that Erik had a colourful past – Zackarov a copy, and be willing to sell for the right price (the was a White Russian nobleman who fled the Com- right price, of course, includes Oakley’s cut as go- munists, and has connections to organised crime between.) She runs a small bookstore of her own, - and that he still makes forged identity papers, but although few people ever dare cross the threshold Erik insists that he’s just an old bookbinder now, into that musty little back-alley store. She lives in and that his wild days are behind him. an apartment above the shop. Investigative Abilities: Craft, Cryptography, Despite this hermitic existence, Oakley is Locksmith, Intimidation, Streetwise fiercely clever and driven; she comes alive when on the trail of a book, and has a magnetic personality MR. WYILTER, IRREGULAR CUSTOMER that encourages people to trust her. Old Wyilter is an eccentric book collector and Some tragedy or personal eccentricity drove autodidact. He lives outside the city, in a crumbling Phyllis Oakley to this life on the fringe – ask the old house crammed with rotting books, and refuses 4 Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan PHYLLIS OAKLEY Bookhound Investigative Abilities General Abilities Story Anrthopology Athletics 1 Opportunistic Bookhound Phyllis Art History Cool 2 Oakley slinks around the fringes of the city’s occult underworld, trading Assess Honesty Disguise 1 in rare books and manuscripts. Sifting Bargain Fighting 1 library sales, house clearances, second- Cop Talk Filch 1 hand book-barrows and the occasional Evidence Collection First Aid 1 daring theft can turn up a mouldy, Flattery Fleeing 2 worm-eaten diamond in the dust – the History Preparedness 2 price of wisdom is above rubies, and Phyllis is hungry for a cut. Inspiration Sense Trouble 2 Law Shadowing 1 Languages Stability 2 Occult Stealth 1 Reassurance Research Streetwise Theology to leave his small landholding. (He insists that he who believes that matters spiritual and supernatu- has placed ‘protections’ around its border, and that ral are all flim-flam, they have remained friends. he alone will survive when they return.) He is one Investigative Abilities: Biology, Chemistry, of her best customers, mainly because Phyllis is Medicine, Pharmacy one of the few booksellers willing to make the long pilgrimage out to Wyilter’s farm to hand-deliver DAVID SHEA, REPORTER purchases. (Wyilter refuses to trust the postal Shea and Phyllis have crossed paths several service.) times; he’s a reporter for the local newspaper, and Investigative Abilities: Archaeology, As- often gets assigned the weird stories that bring him tronomy, Geology, Cthulhu Mythos, Outdoorsman into Oakley’s domain. He claims to be convinced that Phyllis is a con artist (although this may be DR. MARIA FORREST, OLD COLLEGE FRIEND affectionate needling), and helps Phyllis out “so he A friend of Oakley’s from her university days, can catch her red-handed.” Forrest has become a brilliant and wealthy sur- Investigative Abilities: Architecture, Library geon. Although the two now move in very different Use, Photography, Oral History social circles, and Forrest is a hardened skeptic 5 THE RED MIST RELATIONSHIP MAP SCENE FLOW DIAGRAM 6 Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan of the cult would be possessed and transformed by Cast Tsathoggua, and grant them blessings. Over time, Moses “Bull” Drummer, a former sailor turned with the rise of Christianity in the Empire, this cult bareknuckle boxer. Several years ago, “Bull” was suppressed and worship of Tsathoggua was came into contact with an avatar of Tsathoggua mostly forgotten. in a shrine in Europe, and he’s carried a frag- Some fragments of the cult’s practises survived, ment of the deity in his mind ever since. Now, notably a maze-like symbol of a labyrinth used his experiences in the boxing ring have brought to draw Tsathoggua out of the ‘red mist’ and into the deity closer to consciousness. full manifestation. In the 19th century, a historian Alvin Yates: A writer and poet, obsessed with named Fr. Gideon Matthews wrote a book entitled masculine strength. As part of this obsession, Mithraic Mystery Cult Practises in the Western he’s looking for a copy of Mithraic Mystery Cult Empire and included the most accurate drawing of Practises in the Western Empire and believes that symbol that still exists. Phyllis Oakley can procure one. He’s also taking Now, two strands of that resurgent cult are part in the boxing ring to prove his toughness. about to collide. Nancy Yates: Alvin’s protective older sister. First, there’s Dr. Lake. She purchased a copy of Leon McRory: A local bookmaker and criminal, Mithraic Practises and was drawn into the worship responsible for running the boxing matches. He of Mithras. She’s tried to recontact the deity beyond wanted Drummer to throw the match to Alvin the red mist, but has been mostly unsuccessful so far. Yates. Second, there’s Moses Drummer. Ten years James Chin: Another sailor and an old friend of ago, when he was a sailor on a merchant ship, he Bull Drummer. and several other sailors took refuge from a storm Dr. Angela Lake: A would-be cultist of Tsathog- in a cellar that was an old mithraem, a cult temple. gua, determined to resurrect the old Mithraic There, he became partially possessed by the deity. elements of the cult and recontact her deity. It was only a brief psychic contact, but Tsathoggua She possesses a copy of Mithraic Mystery Cult lingers in his mind, close to the surface, lurking Practises in the Western Empire. behind the red mist. Nigel Haskins: Lake’s majordomo/acolyte. If Lake has her way, the god will not be kept waiting long. What Happened All existence on this planet is infected with the A Psychic Contagion unthinkable taint of the Great Old Ones. Just as our Mental contact with Tsathoggua is human civilisation is like a thin sheen of pond scum contagious. The initial infection vector is on the surface of some vast and noisome pool, so too seeing the labyrinth sigil while in physical is human consciousness and sanity; everything we distress, but once that combination has hold good and noble about ourselves is just a surface roused Tsathoggua from slumber in the amygdala, it can spread to others that have illusion.