The Dark Cathedral
The warning tone sounded again, even and short, and the doors hissed shut as Pelham
123 pulled away from the platform, slowly gaining speed. Soon the train was lost in the
darkness of the tunnels which snaked beneath the steaming pavement of New York City. It was
late at night, and the passengers in each of the five cars were few. An unkempt figure in a black
leather jacket stomped towards the front of the first car, his hands stuck in his pockets. He
pushed open the door to the driver's compartment and a shot rang out. The passengers
screamed and dove for cover. A woman began crying loudly as the man reached into the
compartment and pulled out the public address microphone.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Pelham 123," he said calmly, "this train has been hijacked."
Introduction
"The Dark Cathedral" is a short adventure for the Kult horror role-playing game. It is
recommended for a group of four to six players and a game master. The characters should be
everyday, walk-of-life type characters who preferably do not know each other at the beginning
of the adventure. The archetypes presented in the Kult rule book are good.
In the adventure, the characters are all passengers on the Pelham 123 subway late one
night, when a madman kills the driver and takes over. The madman forces the subway into an
accident, in which the cars go flying into Metropolis. Immediately after this, the characters must
band together to survive and escape an attack of Zeloths. They find Leonard, a mortal human
whose eyes have been opened somehow, who gives them food and drink and medical attention.
He also will be able to explain the madman's motive for hijacking the train: the madman hopes to
gain favor with a god of pain by sacrificing the passengers to him. To do this, the madman sent
the subway into the city and has now gone off in search of the god's temple, referred to as a Dark
Cathedral. Leonard also helps the characters find a magician of time and space who can help
them get to the Dark Cathedral to stop the madman from letting the god loose. The characters
then stop the madman from unlocking the god and find their way back home.
Since the adventure is set almost entirely in Metropolis, the introductory scenes do not
have a fixed location, so any city with a subway system (or perhaps even a working train or tram
system) can serve as the "background setting."
K'routh, a god of death and pain
K'routh is an ancient being who has been trapped in his temple for millennia. No one
knows who imprisoned the god, or why. All that is known is that to unlock the door and unleash
K'routh, the chains which bind the door must be shattered by someone who wishes to set the
deity free. This is not as hard as it appears, for K'routh can reach out telepathically and contact
those with a negative mental balance less than -50, and try to persuade them to set him free.
This is extremely tiring, and he can only try it once every three hundred years.
In 1994, K'routh contacted George Scaldin, a schizophrenic suffering at a mental
hospital, and persuaded him to come set him free. He also promised the Scaldin power and
wealth if he would bring a large sacrifice to satiate his appetite.
If freed, K'routh's powers are terrible indeed. He can spread disease and famine by will,
and his long, slender needle-tipped tentacles can inject a painful, paralyzing poison into an
opponent's body. He can bind creatures of Death to him, but they cannot free him, since they
cannot exercise free will if bound to him. Even when not bound, they will not free him, for the
majority of Death creatures have forgotten about K'routh, and those who remember do not care
to release him -- they would give up too much personal power.
K'routh appears as a large, black, spidery-looking thing with eight thin, yet strong, legs,
twenty wavy tentacles which are where the mandibles should be, two pairs of arms ending in
scissor-like weapons, and two humongous compound eyes. His abdomen is covered by a shiny
black and gold plate.
Personality: K'routh projects a malicious air about him. He is terrifying to behold, and anybody
who sees his true form must make a terror throw. All he feels is hate, anger, and the insatiable
desire to kill and inflict pain.
Game mastering hints: Be intimidating, terrifying. Talk to the characters as if you could kill
them just by thinking about it -- they are ants to you, nothing more. Nothing fazes you, except
the threat of being returned to your prison by someone who knows how.
AGL 80 EGO 70
STR 89 EDU 53
CON 80 PER 78
COM 06 CHA 05
Terror throw modification: +7
Height: 400 cm
Weight: 800 kg
Senses: Sees through darkness, compound eyes give "pixellated" image.
Communication: Telepathy
Movement: 40 m/round
Initiative Bonus: +68
Actions: 9
Damage Bonus: +17
Endurance: 430
Damage Capacity:
12 Scratches = 1 Light Wound
11 Light = 1 Serious Wound
10 Serious = 1 Fatal Wound
Dies after 4 Fatal Wounds
Skill: Climb 85, Sword 100, Dagger 90, Poisons and Drugs 70, Occultism 90, Two-handed
Combat 80
Attack Mode: 4 Scissor-sword appendages (SCR 1-6, LW 7-10, SW 11-15, FW 16+)
20 Tentacles (SCR 1-10, LW 11-17, SW 18-19, FW 20+) with poison (effects
similar to mustard gas)
Length of Life: Immortal
George Scaldin, the hijacker
George Scaldin could remember the voices and flashes of light appearing to him as a
child. Laughing at him, taunting him, torturing him. His parents could not handle raising a
mentally ill child, so he was given up for adoption. He went from family to family, never able to
stay in one place for very long -- not that Scaldin noticed, he was too often in his own world,
dealing with the nightmarish voices. Eventually, he reached the age of eighteen, and he found
himself alone, living on the street, with only the voices to keep him company. A politicking
mayor was showing his compassion for the mentally ill homeless of his city by giving them
shelter and treatment at a government facility. Surprisingly, the treatment there was good, and
the voices started to die down.
Then, George met K'routh. The evil being promised him power and riches beyond his
wildest dreams if he would bring him a sacrifice and set him free from his prison. George agreed
to help the god, and in return, the god helped George violently escape the mental institution.
Over the next three days, Scaldin carried out a brutal campaign of murder in the name of K'routh
as he prepared himself for the journey into Metropolis. He equipped himself with guns and
knives, and he stole a leather jacket from one of his victims. George came up with the idea of
piloting the subway into Metropolis himself. K'routh approved, thinking that, at the very least,
all of the pain and suffering on board the train would be transferred to him through his vessel
George.
Personality: George is severely schizophrenic, and he is often in his own little world. The only
times he appears to be capable of full interaction with our real world is when he is being guided
by K'routh. Once in Metropolis, however, he is fully aware of what is going on around him -- he
is no longer hindered by the Illusions. He is psychotic.
Game mastering hints: When trapped in the Illusion, look and talk in a calm, dreamy manner.
Your actions are usually slow and graceful, although they can be quick and pin-point accurate if
they have to. When in Metropolis, act gleefully psychotic, as if killing one of the characters is
just the thing to brighten his (already bright) day.
AGL 11 EGO 8
COM 12 EDU 7
PER 9 CON 16
STR 18 CHA 10
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 90 kg
Movement: 5 m/round
Actions: 2
Initiative Bonus: +0
Damage Bonus: +3
Endurance: 110
Damage Capacity:
5 Scratches = 1 Light Wound
4 Light = 1 Serious Wound
3 Serious = 1 Fatal Wound
Dark Secrets: Insanity (schizophrenia, psychotic), Pact with Dark Powers, Guilty of Crime
Disadvantages: Fanaticism (free K'routh), Nightmares, Schizophrenia, Paranoia, Touchy
Advantages: Endure Pain
Mental Balance: -55
Skills: Handgun 15, Rifle/Crossbow 10, Dagger 15, Unarmed Combat 10, Read/Write Native
Language 10, Shadow 18, Hide 18, Search 10, Whips/Chains 10, Axe 10, Climb 10, Sneak 10,
Dodge 10, Swim 10.
Living Standard: 1
Equipment: Colt m1911 A7 pistol with three clips, Ingram m10 SMG with two clips,
switchblade, leather jacket.
Johnson, the magician
Johnson was once human, but no longer. Johnson cannot remember anything of his
human days except being taken by the men in white shortly before his twenty-second birthday in
2004. He cannot remember if he had any of his magical knowledge then, or if he learned it after
the transformation, or if perhaps it grew on him like the claws in his hands.
In any case, Johnson is still somewhat sane, and is not the type to lash out blindly at any
passing, although those who meet him are likely to react badly to his inhuman appearance -- the
blood-encrusted ebony claws which protrude from his fingertips, the total lack of hair on his
shriveled body, and the thin, sticky film of coagulated blood over his eyes. Anybody who can
stomach looking at Johnson will find that he is still a very friendly person.
Johnson came to Metropolis sometime after the medical experiments had run their
course. He had gotten his chance to flee his tormentors, and he ran blindly into an alleyway
which opened up into Metropolis. His tormentors followed him, and the chase continued
through the winding streets, when the grilles started to rattle. Johnson was instinctively afraid,
and began fleeing upwards.
He has made his own home in Metropolis, and he is careful not to stray too far from it for
fear of becoming forever lost. He satiates his thirst for blood by catching the rats and other
creatures which abound in Metropolis. He sometimes is able to feed from a human, but this is
not always possible and he fully accepts it. He spends his time studying magic and hunting.
Personality: Friendly, but aloof. Johnson is constantly struggling with depression, and so he
will seem to be sad a lot of the time. In many ways, he hates Metropolis, but he is too scared to
go back into the "real" world -- he has no real concept of how Metropolis and our world interact,
and he assumes is in another dimension.
Game mastering hints: Friendly, but with tones of sadness. Throw in a white lie once in a
while. Once in a while, catch a rat and bite a chunk out of it, and let the blood drain into your
mouth. Rake your claws against steel pipes or chalkboards.
AGL 15 EGO 17
COM 8 EDU 13
PER 11 CON 13
STR 15 CHA 5
Height: 200 cm
Weight: 120 kg
Movement: 7 m/round
Actions: 2
Initiative Bonus: +3
Damage Bonus: +3
Endurance: 95
Damage Capacity:
4 Scratches = 1 Light Wound
3 Light = 1 Serious Wound
3 Serious = 1 Fatal Wound
Dark Secrets: Victim of medical experiments
Disadvantages: Animal enmity, Depression, Habitual liar
Advantages: Magical Intuition
Limitations: Bloodthirst (any blood), Inhuman appearance, Sensitive to electricity
Powers: Natural weapons: claws (SCR 1-8, LW 9-14, SW 15-19, FW 20+)
Mental Balance: -30
Skills: Handgun 12, Occultism 18, Poisons and drugs 15, Hypnosis 15, First aid 10, Sword 10,
Numerology 18
Magic Lore Knowledge: Time & Space lore 17
Magic Spells: See through time/space 13, Manipulate time/space 9, Summon creature of
time/space 7, Bind creature of time/space 8, Exorcise creature of time/space 6.
Living Standard: N/A
Equipment: Glock m17 handgun with four clips, rapier, ceramic dagger, tweed sport coat (acts
as armor with FA 3, MEL 5, FIR 5).
Leonard, the unexpected ally
Leonard is not actually a major character in the adventure, so character statistics have not
been provided for him.
Leonard Grammes used to live in London. He was an extensive studier of the occult, and
had copies of several ancient texts which made references to Metropolis and the Demiurge. One
morning, he woke up to find that his entire flat had been shifted to Metropolis! Both excited and
scared, Leonard ventured into the streets below. After narrowly escaping a marauding band of
Zeloths, Leonard bricked up his door and devised a secret entrance so if any Zeloths followed
him up into the building, they would not be able to follow him into his flat.
Perhaps the strangest thing about this whole situation is that Leonard's water and
electricity still work! Sometimes they go out for a couple of days, but in the end they always
return. Leonard has been living in Metropolis for three years now, and keeps himself fed by
negotiating with the other human inhabitants of Metropolis. In fact, he has started a garden on
the roof of his building.
Of all the people Leonard has met in Metropolis, the most intriguing has to be Johnson.
The two met unexpectedly one day and have contacted each other regularly ever since. Leonard
is fascinated by him, and hopes to learn more about him, perhaps even persuading him to leave
Metropolis with him and journey into Johnson's time to learn of his forgotten past.
Zeloths
The statistics for Zeloths are presented here so the game master does not have to flip
through the book constantly or roll up statistics by himself, unless he wishes to do so. "The Dark
Cathedral" uses the average ability values for the Zeloths.
AGL 21 EGO 2
STR 21 PER 21
CON 15 COM 1
Terror throw modification: --
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 70 kg
Senses: Sharp. Cringe away from strong light.
Communication: "Drum" signals, no vocal language
Movement: 10 m/round
Initiative Bonus: +9
Actions: 4
Damage Bonus: +5
Endurance: 105
Damage Capacity:
4 Scratches = 1 Light Wound
3 Light = 1 Serious Wound
3 Serious = 1 Fatal Wound
Skill: Climb 20, Sneak 20, Hide 20, Search 15, Swimming 15, Impact Weapons 15
Attack Mode: Iron bars, steel pipes, or natural weapons: 2 claws (SCR 1-7, LW 8-14, SW 15-
22, FW 23+)
Number Encountered: 10 + 4D10
Azghouls
In the same way as the Zeloths, the information on Azghouls presented here is a
capsulated version from the Kult rule book.
AGL 21 EGO 11
STR 52 CHA 5
CON 21 PER 11
COM 3 EDU 11
Terror throw modification: --
Height: 400 cm
Weight: 500 kg
Senses: Like humans. With their visor, they have infrared vision and light amplification which
gives perfect eyesight in near darkness.
Communication: Speaks all human languages
Movement: 10 m/round
Initiative Bonus: +9
Actions: 4
Damage Bonus: +9
Endurance: 135
Damage Capacity:
6 Scratches = 1 Light Wound
5 Light = 1 Serious Wound
3 Serious = 1 Fatal Wound
Natural Armor: 2 without armor, 12 with
Powers: Polymorph self: can assume any humanoid shape and improve its COM up to a
maximum of 40.
Skill: Climb 15, Automatic weapons 15, Rifle/crossbow 15, Handguns 10, Heavy weapons 10,
Dodge 10, Throwing weapons 15, Impact weapons 15, Whips and chains 15, Unarmed combat
15, Search 10, Motor mechanics 15, Survival 15, Drive vehicle 10
Attack Mode: According to weapon
Number Encountered: 1D10
Locations
Below are brief descriptions of each of the major locations in the adventure, in their order
of appearance, to help the game master breathe life into the environment.
Leonard's Flat
Leonard's flat is hidden well in the apartment building. In fact, it is impossible to see the
door, unless one is looking for it. This door opens up into a small chamber with an iron ladder
leading up into the flat proper.
The ladder opens up in the entryway, a small corridor with a door leading off to the
kitchen, the bedroom, and the bathroom. The end of the corridor opens up into the den. There is
a television set (now useless), a worn sofa and recliner chair, coffee table, a cluttered desk, and
literally stacks of books that didn't fit on the shelves. Almost all of the books on the shelves are
in English, mostly scholarly works spanning the ages and classical fiction and poetry. Many of
the books in the stacks deal with the occult, although only a handful are in Modern English.
There are works in Old and Middle English, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Sanskrit, Egyptian
Hieroglyphic, Greek, Phoenician, and almost every other major written language in the history of
the world. There are also a few books written in languages never seen on Earth before. An
ancient, leather-bound copies of the Arcanum Metropolis, in its native language, sit on the desk,
with semi-legible, hand-scribbled notes on the sheets of parchment beside it. It appears as if
Leonard is attempting a translation of the work.
The kitchen is relatively modern, with several appliances such as a coffee maker and
microwave oven. However, these are coated in a thick layer of dust, as if they have not been
used in many years. The refrigerator is stocked with a goodly amount of vegetables and bottles
of a thick brown liquid (Leonard will tell the characters, if asked, that the liquid is a sort of local
liquor, and will encourage the characters to try it. It tastes very sweet, and each character who
takes a drink must make an unmodified CON test to not gag or choke).
The bathroom and bedroom are both very spartan, although in the bedroom there is a
violin and some hand-drawn sheets of music, with odd, seemingly unpronounceable titles.
Leonard will be more than happy to play for them his works, but they will sound very unnatural
to the characters. He also explains that the titles of the works are his names for some of the
creatures and phenomena he has seen since he "moved" to Metropolis.
Johnson's Residence
Johnson's residence is thoroughly described in the adventure itself. However, it should
be pointed out that Johnson sleeps on a dirty mattress with spring-holes across both surfaces --
the pain does not bother him, he says. Insects are everywhere, and the environment itself should
be unsettling, if not downright repulsive, to the characters. A ladder leads up from the room to
the roof, underneath the water tank.
The Cathedral of K'routh
The exterior of the cathedral looks very much like the typical Gothic church, with
numerous flying buttresses and gargoyle statuary. However, whereas the gothic churches
emphasized the number three, K'routh's temple emphasizes the number six -- there are six
doorways underneath six arches, and so forth. In the interior, row upon row of rotting pews lead
up to the massive stone altar, which is thoroughly enveloped in a thick white web, tendrils of
which run all around the interior of the huge cathedral. K'routh himself is situated over the altar,
sitting in his web, positioned so that the characters can clearly see his spider's body and the
golden bands which run along the major divisions of his body.
Prelude: The Subway
This is a very brief chapter which opens with the characters boarding the Pelham 123
subway late at night, and ends with the subway crashing and pitching the characters into
darkness. Some small elements may have to be changed according to how the game master is
running the adventure -- for instance, if the characters are on a bus and not a subway, then the
characters will not arrive in Metropolis below ground. However, these trivial bits should be self-
evident to the game master.
The best way to describe the atmosphere aboard the train would be surreal. Also, let one
of the characters notice George sitting in the back of the first car. Draw comparisons to a junkie
who's crashed, perhaps a homeless bum, because everything about him is unkempt and dirty, and
until he goes to kill the subway driver, he's in his own little world.
A minute after the train leaves the station, George will be get up and walk towards the
driver's compartment. If one of the characters notices this, let them see the change in his
composure -- he is now confident and alert. He will blow the driver's head away with a short
burst from his sub-machinegun, then put the throttle to full. He will announce over the P.A.
system that he is hijacking the train and that it will be destroyed as a sacrifice to the great god
K'routh. He then picks someone in the first train (a player character, desirably) to drive the train
-- a particular button must be pushed once every two minutes to keep the train from stopping. If
anyone tries to attack him, he will shoot them. Depending upon the "combat readiness" of the
characters and your players' general attitude, you may want to demonstrate his willingness to kill
on a non-player character.
Two or three minutes after the train has been hijacked, the train crashes, throwing all
aboard into unconsciousness.
Chapter One: The City
The characters, and many of the non-player characters, come to. Many of the NPCs are
dead, and the floor of the cars is sticky with their blood. All the survivors will have at least 1D4
scratches, and some may have more serious injuries. The player characters should be left
relatively unharmed, however.
The only course away from the wrecked subway is through the front of the first car. Any
characters who were in the first car when it was hijacked might notice that George Scaldin is not
there. Venturing out, the characters see that they are in an underground tunnel on the edge of a
city. Ancient lamp stands edge the city's surface regularly, every two hundred meters. The
characters are on the edge of the Great Atlanticum Square, deep in the heart of Metropolis. The
square is so large that it is impossible to see the other side of it.
The characters are the only living things in the immediate vicinity, so it should appear to
be beneficial for them to venture into the city. The streets are narrow, and in some places the
sunlight does not penetrate for the buildings' towering presences. Once in a while, the characters
might catch a glimpse of one of the Citadels, but because the streets are so narrow and the
buildings so tall, this will happen only occasionally.
The streets are dilapidated and run-down. The store-fronts are abandoned, and the glass
windows have been shattered. Not a human soul in sight.
Attack of the Zeloths
After the characters have been wandering around the streets meaninglessly for about an
hour, hit them with the Zeloths. Start off with a single, rattling grille. Slowly build the pacing
and tempo of the rattling. Then the grilles are shoved aside and the lumbering humanoids pour
out. At this point, the non-player characters become disposable. It is left to the individual game
master to play this encounter as he sees fit, but some sort of chase/combat should occur, as
everyone tries to escape the monsters. The Zeloths will lumber through the NPCs, tearing them
from limb to limb. The player characters will come across a rickety old fire escape leading up a
dirty brick building. The fire escape goes up about twenty stories, not enough to dissuade the
Zeloths. However, there is a long corridor inside the building which opens up right next to the
escape. If the characters run blindly down the corridor, they probably won't see Leonard step out
of his flat through the secret door, wondering what all the commotion is about. However, once
he sees that they're human and he gets a glimpse of the Zeloths behind them, he quickly ushers
them into his flat.
Leonard
After all the characters are inside the flat, Leonard will start helping with the injured.
Once everybody has been taken care of, Leonard will start asking them questions: who they are,
where and when they came from, and how they got here. If somebody happens to mention the
madman on the subway's rant, Leonard will become extremely interested. He will want to find
out the name of the god as soon as possible. He then disappears into a second room for a minute
and return lugging a humongous book under his shoulder. The ancient brown leather bears a
faded, indecipherable title. Setting it down on his coffee table, Leonard flips through the book,
whose ancient parchment pages are covered from head to toe in extremely small writing. Once
Leonard has found what he's looking for, he reads aloud to the characters:
"K'routh, a minor god of death and pain, lies asleep in his unholy cathedral on one
of the hills of the Great City. Timeless legend says that K'routh was imprisoned
after he tried to usurp the power of Golab, the Death Angel. Afraid, K'routh fled
into his temple. Not having Power in the Great City, Golab beseeched the Evil
One for vengeance. Also having no power in the Great City, he approached the
mighty Creator in his citadel to demand justice. The Creator came to K'routh, and
as his punishment K'routh was imprisoned in his temple, condemned to sleep
through the millennia until a loyal follower loosed the chains of his own free will.
What was more, the Creator stole K'routh's powers of communication and locked
them into a silver box, which he kept in the throne room of his mighty palace."
If asked, Leonard will tell them that he does not know the title of the book, it had been faded
when it came into his possession. He can help them find the hijacker to perhaps stop him from
loosing K'routh into the world. He offers to take them to a man named Johnson, a man with
some skill in traversing the city, which he calls Metropolis. He also suggests that Johnson might
be able to help them get home, although that is not a sure thing. If the players seem disinterested
in contacting Johnson, Leonard will not force them. However, since he is sure that K'routh will
be looking for the survivors of the subway wreck, he will ask them to leave the next morning.
He will supply them with a little food (mostly dried vegetables, but there is also some beef jerky)
and water, and wish them luck. If the players take this route, they will wind up being confronted
by the horrible K'routh.
Chapter Two: The Magician
Leonard takes the characters to Johnson over the rooftops of the buildings early in the
morning. He seems to know where he is going even though it is hard to see in the dim morning
light. It is bitterly cold, and the metal of the gangways and catwalks suspended between
buildings is painfully freezing. The shaky gangways hang over dirty, empty streets, although
one of the characters might spot a Zeloth loping along the ground. If he points it out to Leonard,
he'll say that's why they take the rooftops.
As the sun rises, the shapes of the citadels will become apparent before the rest of the
city. If anyone asks Leonard about the great buildings, he will explain that, although he has
never actually gotten close to one, his research indicates that they are the mansions of the
Creator's servants.
After about two hours of walking, the character will come upon a building which has the
beginnings of a garden on its roof, not far away from a water collection tank. Leonard indicates
that they have arrived at Johnson's house. He warns them that Johnson is hideously deformed,
but that he is sure they can help him. However, he says that the mage might require a price in
blood -- he suffers from a mild form of vampirism. Then he takes them down into the heart of
the building. This building is more decayed and musty than Leonard's, and the characters must
be careful to step around several holes in the floor. After descending a rickety flight of stairs,
Leonard stops at a door and knocks. A muffled voice within bids him enter. He steps inside,
motioning for the characters to follow.
Johnson's room is very dirty and ragged. The walls and furniture all have deep gouges in
them, and the floor is slick with some unknown substance. The air is filled with the sweet stench
of decay. Johnson sits in shadow, but upon seeing that Leonard has brought company, he steps
into the light which filters through a hole in the ceiling. At this point, the characters must each
make an unmodified EGO throw. Leonard and Johnson briefly exchange greetings, and Leonard
introduces the player characters and their mission. Johnson agrees to help them, but he wants
one half pint of blood from each of the characters in exchange. Johnson can be bartered with,
but the lowest "price" he will accept will be the equivalent of one eighth of a pint from each
character. After the negotiations have been completed, Leonard wishes the characters good luck
and leaves. Johnson proceeds to his temple downstairs to begin the rituals that will take them to
K'routh's dark cathedral.
The player characters must wait outside the temple until the ritual is complete -- for them
to enter beforehand would defile the temple, making completion of the ritual impossible.
Johnson must cast See Through Time & Space, which takes ten minutes. He will open the door
and get the characters when the portal has been opened. Stepping through the portal, the
characters find themselves at the base of a massive hill covered in buildings. At the top is a
massive gothic-styled cathedral which lies in ruins. A narrow street runs up the hill towards the
dark cathedral.
Azghouls
About halfway up the hill, the characters will be attacked by a group of 1D10 Azghouls
which were wandering the deserted alleyways of the city. They are armed with steel pipes and
knives. Johnson, who has studied the history of Azghouls somewhat, has a small chance to get
one of them to "defect" to his side by naming it. The game master should roll versus his EDU
score with a penalty of +5 to the roll, and he needs an effect of at least ten to get the name of one
of the Azghouls right. That Azghoul will then fight with the characters. Furthermore, the
Azghoul will stay with the characters, obeying Johnson to the fullest extent of its abilities.
Johnson will be restrained with the creature. He will only ask it to scout ahead, to see if the
madman has made it to the top of the cathedral yet. The Azghoul quickly returns with an answer
to the affirmative. Scaldin has reached the doors to the cathedral and has begin tearing away the
chains. Johnson begins to run towards the top of the hill. If Johnson is not able to take
command of an Azghoul, then the characters will arrive at the entrance to the cathedral later, and
Scaldin will be closer to freeing K'routh.
Act Three: The God
Once the characters reach the top of the hill, they may find George Scaldin in the process
of freeing the imprisoned god. If Johnson was able to command an Azghoul from the previous
encounter, Scaldin will only have been able to remove 1D5 of the ten chains that bind the
cathedral. However, if Johnson was not successful with the Azghoul, then Scaldin will have
removed 1D10 of the chains -- if all ten chains have been removed, Scaldin will be inside the
cathedral. K'routh has been awakened, and the only hope of stopping him is to destroy his
physical shell before the cathedral finds a link into the Illusion and the city is destroyed.
If Scaldin Has Not Yet Awakened The God
Scaldin will realize that the characters are there to stop him, and he will attempt to kill
them by using first his Uzi, then his pistol, and finally his dagger. He will also be trying to loose
the chains at the same time. He will use one action per turn to either loose a chain or move up
next to it. Scaldin will have one action left after taking a fatal wound, with which he will try to
loose one more chain, unless he has already loosed all ten, in which case he will expire fulfilled,
and it will be necessary for the characters to enter the cathedral to do battle with the god.
If K'routh Has Been Awakened
If Scaldin has gone into the cathedral, the characters must follow. Refer to the map of the
cathedral. Seeing the god demands an EGO throw on the part of the characters, modified
appropriately. Destroying the physical shell of the god will plunge the cathedral into flames.
The characters should wisely attempt to escape, but they will find themselves back in the "real
world."
Coda
There are several possible endings to the adventure. The first, and least desirable, is that
all the characters die fighting either Scaldin or K'routh. The second is that K'routh is awakened,
but the characters destroy his physical shell and set the cathedral afire. Upon escaping the
burning temple, the characters will find themselves back in their city, running from a cathedral
which is burning down. The police come and arrest the characters, but they are later released
when an investigation reveals that an electrical shortage caused the fire.
The third ending is that the characters kill Scaldin before releasing K'routh. In this case,
they will find themselves on the steps of a church building in their downtown area in the middle
of the night, with Scaldin's dead body before them. The police will come and interrogate the
characters. This is open-ended and the game master can run it any way he sees fit.
Experience Points
The characters should each get at least five experience points for surviving an extremely
dangerous and difficult adventure. Aside from the usual bonuses for good role-playing and such,
the game master should also award points on how well the characters banded together to survive,
instead of trying to do it on their own.
Each character should also get at least one Hero Point, possibly two or three, due to the
difficulty of the adventure.
THE END