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), he 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 Arkham, Massachusetts, 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 Cthulhu 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 oer 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 Tsathoggua, 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 ospring. 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 oense 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 aairs 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.