by Jean-Loup Sabatier
Here is a description of the following steps of my Kult game.
It's yet a mere draft, very linear, and if you have some
suggestions about it, your comments are welcome! (on the list
or through private e-mail...)
Sorry, for the length, and hope some of this ideas may interest
some of you... And also, I apologize for my pseudo-English and
hope you may understand what I mean most of the time...
Some parts of the scenario are located in Honduras, and that's
country I really don't know, so it will surely help if you could
point out any inaccuracy and/or mistake in the description of
this country...
_The situation for the PC_
Player's characters live in London. One of them is now addicted to
a new drug he found recently in London. This drug is incredibly
addictive and once addicted, weaning is impossible (there was
terrible deprivation crises, and the PC even once saw through
the Veil and made a projection, during such a crisis).
Players know that this substance is made from standard cocaine
mixed with human blood (from a physician PC). They suspect that
there was a ritual made on it (and they are right).
The dealer let him have only the minimum of this drug, (or even
less than the minimum, from time to time), to make him understand
clearly how he is dependant from this supply...
Trying to find the source of this drug, the PC found a portal to
Metropolis and willingly entered the Bazaar... The following
session will start as they are in front of the bodyguards of the
drug merchant.
Originally, this drug was made from the blood of the Messiah of a
sect, following a ritual. This way, the sect has some slaves around
its implantations, and can pick some adepts from this slaves.
Additionally, it is possible to enchant the blood of any addict to
make drug with the power bind other people to *this* blood. So, there
is a hierarchy of blood-bound people, and the top of the hierarchy is
an Awaken of the Dark Path (see below)...
_Summary of the next episodes_
The PC are (probably) going to annoy a powerful drug dealer in his
lair (in the Bazaar). His bodyguards have all the needed weapons
to subdue a handful of angry PC (hopefully without any combat). So,
The dealer's private army disarm the PC, handcuff them and put them
in a vault. Then, they inject them something (it is a soporific
with this strong addictive drug) and they phone to the sect to give
them the PC.
PC awake inside the Londonian buildings of the sect. In London,
the sect consists in a dozen of Londonian newbies (some willingly
there, and some recruited by the drug), and a couple of old sect
masters coming from central America. The "Filhios" (as they
are called in Portuguese, as an abbreviation for "The Sons of the Black
Queen") are mainly implanted in Honduras, in the depth of the Jungle.
They are now "invited" by the sect to be reprogrammed (brainwashed) to
become standards acolytes. Then we have some game hours about funny
brainwashing methods allying drug deprivation, sleep deprivation,
prolonged hypnotic prayers and for the rebel PC, a combination of
sensorial deprivation caisson with drug deprivation (this is likely
to turn them completely mad if they stay here for a long time)
One of the oldest Londonian adepts of this sect, a young woman named
Laura, is addict for two years, and is harshly weakened by the use of
this drug. She is now only a human wreck who is going to die soon, and
she knows it. She don't have moral (or physical) strength to wean from
this drug (anyway it's impossible) and/or to seek revenge from the sect.
She was forcibly recruited by the sect, and say everything she knows to
the PC: this cult is based in Nicaragua, a boat (a freighter) links the
different settlements of the sect. She supplies them with some drug,
enough for some free days... She just want them to take her when they'll
escape the sect and/or to help her to commit suicide.
The PC get into the freighter (probably as stowaways, or else, they
could assume the identity of some sect members who have to go to
Nicaragua, and officially get into the boat. Some hints signal that
the crew is not human: they don't speak any known language, and
have some weird behaviors.
If players characters secretly get into the boat (and illicitly),
the crew will probably locate them easily thanks to their keen hearing
and smelling (they are not at all humans...). Then, the first mate
will confiscate their spare drug, and say he will give them some only
if they obey his orders... The crew has a lot of weaponry, and the first
mate explains to the PC that they should not try again to trick him...
Anyway, by now, PC are probably "official" members of the crew...
And they assist to a sabotage made by a spy assuming the identity of a
crew member. (There is a war in Honduras between the national army led
by minions of Hareb-Serap, and the Awaken protecting her sect). The
engines are dead, a fire spread rapidly from the machines; there is
a leak in the hull... Some hours later, the situation is better: the hull
is now flimsy, but more or less watertight... Engines are dead and radio
receive only static... And even worse: a storm is coming.
Due to the stress, the Veil is weakened. And the boat is now crossing the
Veil toward the Primal Sea... The boat becomes larger and larger, and
everything rust in the same time. Gangways become taller, twisted in weird
angles, and rusted. New gangways and new hatchways appears in impossible
locations. Some parts of the Machine City are superimposed to some parts
of the boat, and other parts of the Machine City are included/inlaid between
the boat original parts. So, the boat looks more and more like a labyrinth
of rusted twisted metal... The hull wail, creak and squeak... There is some
leak... And the water is very dangerous: it generates mutations when you
touch it (wet parts of the body tends to become fish-like)...
Then the storm is over them. The night is apocalyptic, but after some time
spent in the Primal sea, the boat is recalled in the Illusion, and they
find themselves in the Carribean sea, early in the morning... Radio is
working again, and they can call for help. A tug-boat is towing them toward
a small Honduras harbour. The freighter is now a complete wreck...
The harbour is under the influence of the Hareb-Serap's troops, and the
sect has little influence here. So, they have better to get out of the
town quickly and unnoticed...
PC have several options to be freed from the drug addiction: they may help
the Hareb-Serap troops against the sect (But you better have a solid stomach
to help the Death Squads in their blood-and-guts spreading actions). They
can stay in the sect for a while, learn the ritual, and use it to bind
themselves to their own blood (which breaks the former ritual without implying
any further addiction)... If they freed themselves from the addiction, they
will probably flee as fast as they can; else, they are still slaves of the
sect, and they'll probably have some other mission from the Queen of the
Jungle.
_The Londonian settlement of the sect_
The adepts are located in a lonely old building (a former sanatorium which
was built in the beginning of the century). And there is an old crumbling
chapel near it where lives the local master of the sect (in the
vestry/sacristy).
This sanitarium is on a windy hill top, surrounded by a (fenced) private
park.
The chapel is in poor condition: stained glass windows are broken, the main
gate is barred by nailed planks, and this building seems deserted. But,
entering it from the rear-door, you'd find a functional room with a bed
and some furniture.
_The arrival in the sect_
They are "welcome" by Felipe Gonzalbo, a high-rank member of the sect (and
a Children of the Night). In London, he is second only to the sect master
Jorge Escobar. Felipe's skin is like gray parchment, thin and leathery. His
muscles are strong and impressive.
When PC awake, they are on bare beds in a large (white-tiled) room.
Everything is white and immaculate. There is a harsh light, they feel
nauseous and they wear nothing except a vague white hospital nightgown...
There is half a dozen people in the room with the PC. Felipe explains them
that:
- this is an isolation chamber for the newbies, so they can forget
about the outside senseless world...
- they will spend some days (or weeks) here, and they will have time
to think and pray
- they will "purify" themselves from outside influences. Once this
is done, they will join the other members of the sect.
This "mentor" doesn't consider protestations from the PC: "You are
blind: you don't know what is good for you. Our Messiah chose you,
and She knows what is good for you..." And normally, as a Children
of the Night, Felipe is more than PC could overcome through
hand-to-hand combat. So, once there, the only option of the PC is
to wait a little...
PC have some companions which are "brainwashed" with them...
_The Brainwashing_
They have no access to any outside information. Nothing reminding
them about the outside world is left around them. They are
completely cloistered.
They are applied stress, and forced to spend long hours of work
on tiny (and hypnotic) patterns of giant tapestries they are making
for the religious ceremonies. If the work of someone shows the
slightest imperfection, the whole work is un-woven, and they have
to weave it again, the next night, instead of sleeping.
Their sleep is fractional: every 4 hours, they are awaken and make
an hour of prayers to the Queen and Messiah of the sect. One day
every 3 days, there is a fast day: they have just a water jug for
the whole day... They have no spare time: they are required endless
repetition of prayers (with powerful auto-hypnotic effects)...
Generation of fear and paranoia: for no reason, they are sometimes
harshly punished (rebellion is sometimes rewarded a little, and
sometimes strongly punished, and some others are punished without
understanding why). Nothing is logical here, you cannot do anything:
you never know what the consequences will be...
They are not told why they are here or what they are supposed to do.
No one knows what will happen to them in the next days, or even in
the next minutes. Every episode is a complete surprise to them...
They are not allowed to see the day light. They don't know the hour
or the date...
The first punishment is sensorial deprivation caissons. After some
hours, the nasty effects becomes clear. And then, the drug deprivation
crisis starts again... And the drug deprivation crisis under sensorial
isolation will be the worse episode in the PC's life... (If he comes
here often and for a long time, the PC is likely to be mad, very
soon...) And, if the PC happens to peer through the Veil, he will not
be reassured either, his vision would only be mixed with the sensorial
deprivation nightmares and the drug deprivation hallucinations...
In case of clear rebellion, they may even try electroshock combined
with drug and food deprivation to make them follow the "right"
path...
*** The Londonian master of the sect ***
Jorge Escobar is a former priest who became a Children of the Night.
Lean man, always moving, with bright eyes and a grey-brown skin of
an unhealthy shade. His gaze is both intense and weird.
He comes from Honduras, where he was originally a minister. He lost
his faith, and found it again, lately, but as a damned soul:
Almost ten years ago, he wasn't able to believe any more that this
nasty ugly world could have been made by a good, caring, forgiving
God; and he lost his faith...
But if there is no God, no reward in being right, no punishment for
sin, nothing is important and no act could possibly have any meaning.
He became depressive, and drug addict. From then, he still preached,
but he didn't believed any more. And it didn't made any difference:
there was definitively no God...
Then, he started to kill, only to prove that nothing happens when
you commit a murder (and, of course, no lightning bolt felt from
the Heavens to burn him in place)... So, he thought "if you kill
in an intelligent way, there is no punishment for that... Then, he
tortured to death a children, in an horrible way, with no result...
"Good and Evil really don't exist! Universe is blind and uncaring"
was his only conclusion...
"The Holy Bible contains only lies, I lost 40 years of my life! And
now, I'll seek revenge for that on Church and on every people which
lied to me!"
He became a serial-killer (with a special taste for killing
ministers)... Completely mad, he started to suffer from physical
alterations, and remained hidden all the day long.
Once, some times later, when he tortured to death an altar boy, he
was discovered and chased for that. While fleeing, his madness and
his stress tore the Veil apart: he saw Metropolis and mistook it for
Hell; so, he made Projections from his fears and nightmares... They
appeared like Demons: "Congratulations! You are a True follower of
Satan... We take you to Hell!". He somewhat managed to flee from
the false demons (he himself projected)...
But there was Demons, so, this was an evidence that Devil exists.
And, therefore, God existed, too... From that time, he knew he was
Damned, and he became completely mad... From now, he believed in God,
but it was too late, because he was now a Children of the Night (and
he thought of himself as Cursed and Damned for that). A Children of
the Night believing in God, finally, for his despair...
He hid and wandered in most part of Central America, and he became
addict to almost every known kind of drugs... Finally, he became a
slave of this sect (because of their special drug).
The Queen explained him as much of the Truth as she could: as She is an
Awaken (from the Dark Path) she had enough powers and made enough miracles
to convince him that she was some kind of a new Messiah... And She made
him 'expiate' his Sins (i.e. continue on the Dark Path through pain and
madness)...
So, now, he is still insane but acts in a more rational way, as he is
obeying the Queen... After five years spent in the former Jesuit Mission
where the Cult is centered (and in a near Maya pyramid), he became one of
the most efficient agents of the sect. Now, he preaches again, but it's
no more Christian religion...
He is completely indoctrinated, and became one of the main cogwheel of the
cult... So, recently, the Queen sent him in Europe to settle the cult in
this distant land, and to extend Her network of slaves... She send him all
the drugs he needs for that...
_An help from inside the cult_
Laura is a young woman, but she is also one of the oldest Londonian adept
from the sect. She is really weakened by drug abuses (she is bony, the skin
around her eyes is mottled with black marks, and elsewhere, she has a grey
unhealthy skin). She became a slave of that drug and was recruited against
her will... She was well indoctrinated first, but now, she is dying and she
hates the cult, and she only wants to take her revenge on the sect. She knows
she cannot escape alone as she really is in bad conditions (she can barely
walk slowly)...
She needs some help from the PC: either she wants to escape, or, maybe, she
wants them to help her to commit suicide (because she cannot do that
herself...). Or maybe she is a true-false-traitor which is used by the
Londonian sect against the cult in Honduras (for a reason which still need to
be elucidated).
She'll help the PC to get away:
- she supplies them with a small amount of drug (which
is enough for them to stay away for a while)
- she helps them to get out of their prison.
- she says them about the freighter which goes back and
forth from an (unknown) destination in Central America
_Once freed, PC may want go back to the oriental drugstore_
In a former game session, the players were given some hints about the
drug's dealer by a Londonian shop keeper: Karim, the clerk of an oriental
drugstore... He told them about rumours (that PC understood to be a
permanent portal to the Bazaar in the backyard of the oriental slums
where the drugstore is located). The PC used this portal but were noticed
and skirmished when using it...
Anyway, when they go back to the drugstore, they see that there was a fire
here: little is left from the slums, and the portal to the Bazaar is now
closed. Inside the burnt buildings, (if PC choose to ignore the police's
notification to keep out) they may find the hung burnt corpse of Karim with
the word "Traitor" written on a notice around his neck, and tied with barbed
wires...
_The Freighter_
The freighter is an old banana boat, dilapidated and dirty.
The Captain: Aldo Falconi, 50 years old, but still strong and
sturdy. Dark secrets: smuggler, criminal. Toxicomania (opium and
alcohol). MB -40.
He is hired by the cult, but he is not a member of the cult.
He goes to and fro an island in Honduras (Roatan?). This island
(where the cult dwells) has a small harbour where some of the
Hareb-Serap troops are besieging the cult. The Captain is very
well paid, and would do anything for money. So, he is lawful
to the sect. Since he is doing this transports for the sect,
he has seen a wide variety of supernatural phenomenon, and
suffered a wide varieties of attacks and other inconveniences
associated with the tearing apart of the Veil... But he is
very calm (EGO 18), and knows that things could often get
difficult when one is as well paid as he is... So when a problem
occurs, he just takes a big firearm and solves it, and ask no
more questions... He is rather sociopath, but he is not easily
scared.
First mate: Felipe Raimondo
He is an important member of the sect, and he is keeping an eye
on the captain.
The crew: are not human beings. They don't speak any language
that PC could understand, or even identify... They are tall,
lean, sun-tanned face, with inexpressive faces and something
nasty and vicious in their eyes... They don't like the PC, they
don't like anyone...
_The Sailing_
PC may soon be uncovered: If they embarked as stowaways, they'll soon face
a lot of problems:
- they are low on food and water (and must steal it)
- they are low on drug (and must steal it as well)
- they must go pee from time to time (and the crew as a keen smelling)
The Captain is not very wary: he is spending most of his time listening at his
sonar with a beatific smile... He is looking all the time at the blurred
pictures shown by the computer of his sonar from the echoes of the depth.
(The captain is on the way of his awakening: he his understanding more
and more what he hears from the depth of the ocean, the voices which are
calling him...); but the first mate and the crew are very watchful... So, the
PC may soon be found by a crew member... And they'll capture them short
after...
_Act of sabotage_
One of the crew member is a traitor infiltrated here by the Hareb-Serap
agents. His mission is to sink the boat which is a major facility to the
sect.
PC on the upper deck suddenly see a sailor climbing up the stairs, running.
The "man" goes to the ship's rail and jumps into the water. He sinks in the
ocean and never surfaces again... People which looks very carefully may see
that his body turned into a fish-like shape: something like a big walrus...
A few second after, the engines explodes (from a bomb). There is a leak in
the hull, and there is a fire in the engine chamber and the fuel storage.
Every crew member is recruited to face the fire and the leak.
When the leak is repaired, there is a lot of water in the hull (a foot deep).
Engines are definitively dead. And the fire has destroyed most of the back of
the ship, making the hull warped and brittle. No propulsion, no electric power
(except for a couple of batteries for some instruments), and a storm is
coming... In fact, they are crossing the Veil to go in a part of the Primal
Sea, where there is ALWAYS a storm...
The radio receives only static (not because of a sabotage, but because they
are no more inside the Illusion)... The freighter is now at the very border
of the Primal Sea, and the Veil is torn apart in its wake.
The freighter is now growing and rusting fast. Unknown hatchways open on
weird gangways... Rooms become taller and taller, and resonate from a thousand
of metallic echoes, they have something gothic in them, like metallic
Cathedral dedicated to the cult of some weird mechanic god...
Everything rust in the boat: shapes become blunt, blurred, warped. The hull
resound with sinister creaks and squeaks, as if it was going to give way under
the weight of the water in a few seconds...
The captain send some of his men to explore the new ways opened in the boat.
They'll never come back...
_PC are lost in their room_
The cabin of the PC is isolated from the boat by a part of the machine city
which inserted itself inside the boat (as the boat is progressively going
out of the Illusion)...
The PC's door opens only on a rusted labyrinth... The gangways are all
unknown. Many strange liquid sounds come from everywhere... Drops hitting
a metallic ground. Puddle which sweeps the floor following the rolling of
the boat.
If PC try to get out of this labyrinth, they'll need to walk about 10
minutes. They'll cross some puddles of this deep-blue water, shedding an
eerie light... But, beware!: this water provokes strange mutations:
When you touch this water, it burns your skin as acid. The skin becomes
mottled with red and itching (as with a strong allergy), and, some minutes
later, the part of the skin which was wet begins to mutate to become like
the same part of a fish:
- a drop on the hand, and it turns into palmed hands.
- a drop on the skin: scales and mucus (optionally with fins)
- if the whole arm gets wet: it atrophies and degenerates into a fin.
- if the head is wet: it becomes frog-like and the PC becomes very stupid...
- the legs: the two leg join themselves and become a fishtail.
(If someone falls into the ocean, he will soon become a big grotesque fish,
very stupid, and unable to breath air...).
The Razide: If the game slows down, we could even use a Razide coming out of the
unknown galleries (from the city machine). If PC hide when the crew acts, we
can also use the Razide to get rid of most part of the crew, so PC will have no
choice but to do something...
_The sunken city_
At this time, on the screen of the computer sonar, there is the ever changing
picture of the bottom of the ocean. The boat is now in the Primal Sea, above
the sunken parts of Metropolis.
Suddenly, the screen shows ruins of a big occidental city (6000 feet deep
underwater): modern buildings derelicts, cathedrals, highways, towers...
The freighter is in the neighbourhood of the sunken Demiurge's citadel, so we
could even show to the players some pieces of fortifications: the outpost of
a fortress...
They haven't a lot of time to look at this, though, because the storm is
exploding above them, and will give them hard time the whole night...
_The harbour_
Then, finally, there is dawn... If the boat is still above water, it is
returned inside the Illusion: the radio works perfectly again... They may
call for a tug-boat to be towed in the harbour of the near island, their
destination (Roatan?)... But this harbour is controlled by the local army,
(and soldiers are not at all friendly to their cult, since they are pawns of
Hareb-Serap...). They would be safer with the guerillas, but have to get
through a lot of military controls to reach the jungle where the guerillas
and the sect dwells. So, there is predictably a tough episode in the town
before they reach the jungle... There is also some American military help
here and there (but very discreet).
_The Queen_
She is the Awaken which is worshiped by the cult. She settled in an old
Mayan pyramid, which is now Her temple (even if she was born far after the
Mayan period)...
She is a mulatress, and former slave of the conquistadores during colonial
conquest (16-17th century). As she was both beautiful and slave, she was
ill-treated, often raped, and otherwise harshly handled. This rough treatments
lasted for years, and the physical changes began... Then, she was no more
beautiful (for long!) but Spanish soldiers found very funny this freak, with
her weird physical alteration. And they toyed with her: if you burn her, she
begin to change; if you sever her, the parts soon join together again; if
you keep her "head" underwater, gills appear soon after... They toyed with
her for decades... And she didn't look any more like a human being. The new
Spanish soldiers often mistook her for some kind of weird jungle creature
captured by their predecessors, but none thought she may have been human
once (but they kept on torture her nevertheless).
Many decades after, she suddenly reverted to her true, young, beautiful,
human form: she was Awaken. No conquistador in the island survived that
night. From that night, the Jesuit mission in the jungle believed no more
in the Christian God, but worshiped Her instead, and the Indians in the
Jesuit mission worshiped Her as well...
_The Queen and Her Cult_
To Awaken Her troops, she knows only the Dark Path. So, She is very cruel
with them (as they are only blind humans, this is of little importance).
The Goddess is most of the time in a Mayan pyramid, deep in the jungle. And
Her closest worshipers live near their Queen, they are very savage, and no
longer live as civilized (occidental or Indian) people. Rather like wild
animals. They are mostly not humans in shape, and are quite insane... But,
most of her worshipers, Her "Filhios", live in a (nearby) Jesuit mission. The
cult implies mutual torture and very painful and disabling auto-mutilations.
She remained in this jungle, because She is a new Awaken, not yet very
powerful, and she is afraid from the troubles in Metropolis. In this jungle,
She is near Gaia, and far from Metropolis. But, there is still a Death Angel
to wage war on Her...
Inside Her sect, everybody is bound by this enchanted drug and blood. To
advance in rank in the sect, you only need to be addicted to the blood of a
higher rank member. The new addiction breaks the former one. To be one of the
closest worshipers of the Queen, you'll need to be addicted to the Queen's
blood.
The Queen supports the Guerilla which lurks in the area, in order to distract
Hareb-Serap troops. But Her main strategy in this war is to hide and to
entrench, until some new Awaken on her side could change the outcome of the
conflict.
_The ruined Mayan Pyramid in the Jungle_
The low mental balance members are stalking the jungle around the pyramid.
They are crippled (auto-mutilation), and suffered many physical
changes. They are unable to communicate, except with the Queen Herself.
The rooms inside the pyramid are used as jails where the Queen try to force
some (lowest mental balances) adepts to awaken. This rooms are the final
stage of the sect members when they are "near" awakening (MB -200 or -300).
There, they cannot drink anything except their own blood; they cannot eat
anything except their own flesh, and are deprived from the drug they need.
They are lying in pain among their excrements, devouring their own torn bodies
while making inhuman noises. Their wounds shed pus, the stench is unbearable
and they are all dying in a slow and painful way.
The Queen hopes she'll get some Awakens to help Her. But, until then, she
failed to awaken any of Her followers. She "improves" her torture methods
every day, and She hopes She'll soon find the way to Awake a lot of people
very fast, but so far, that's only a hope... Until then, either they starve
to death (or die from multiple infections first); or they kill themselves
eating their organs.
_Additional quirk_
Before being entrapped inside the Illusion, the Queen and one of the
PC knew each other. She likes him, and especially wants to Awake him
(they would be trusted allies). But Her way to help someone is rather
unpleasant...
_The end of the scenario_
_1st option: Freed by Hareb-Serap_
If PC gives any hint in the Harbour that they are linked to the Cult and
hostile to it, they will be contacted by Hareb-Serap troops (the Death Squads
of the army? The torturers from local police?). They want that PC infiltrate
the cult and try to destroy it from inside. They'll propose the PC to free
them from the drug if they act like a Trojan Horse for Hareb-Serap.
The mission is obviously very dangerous... And if they succeed, and live long
enough to see it, they will have even more difficulties to escape the
Hareb-Serap armies where they now are.
The drug addiction could be removed by an Avatar of the Death Angel himself.
During the process, the addiction takes the form of a ugly parasitic insectoid
creature, that the Avatar removes from the guts of the PC with its claws,
inflicting a serious wound, and leaving the guts partly outside his body. If
they survive it, they are now pawns of Hareb-Serap, and that's not the best
place in the world...
_2nd option: Breaking the ritual_
If at least one of the PC learn the ritual, he can enchant the blood of
an addicted PC to make him addicted to his own blood (rather than bound to the
blood of his "godfather"). That breaks the ritual, and frees the PC: he is now
only addicted to the drug in a natural way.
That's probably the 'easiest' way to escape the cult.