Architects of Fear ______________________________________ ______________________________________
A collection of people and places for the role-playing game Kult (1st American edition)
by Johnstone Metzger
This document is not intended as an official release of any kind, nor an infringement upon the legal rights and ownership of Kult: Beyond the Veil. This document has been developed for non-commercial use and free dispersal over the internet for the benefit of Kult fans everywhere, and especially members of The Last Cycle. Come visit us at: www.kult-rpg.com Kult and related terms are trademarks of Paradox Entertainment under license to the 7th Circle Publishing company. Kult written by Gunilla Johnsson and Michael Petersén. Swedish edition copyright © 1991 Target Games AB. American edition copyright © 1993 Metropolis, Ltd.
INTRODUCTION This document contains three scenarios revolving around terrible locations. A haunted house, a tropical resort that hides a hideous secret, and an ordinary courtroom that leads to any one of several dark fates. These adventures do not require anything specific from player characters, in terms of histories or abilities, although combat training may be detrimental to the shock and tension of some situations. All three scenarios have been designed to begin longer campaigns that the individual GM designs based on the initial adventure and the (surviving?) player characters.
THE HOUSE ON HOUSE HILL The Elijah House house is located in rural Massachusetts, just off a lonely stretch of highway. It is surrounded by scrublands and cemeteries. The house was built by Elijah House, shortly after the American Civil War. The hill it was built on was named after Elijah as well, though in time it became known simply as House Hill. Most people nowadays think it is called that because there is a house built on it, and nobody remembers Elijah House.
THE SECRET OF THE HOUSE The Elijah House house is a manifestation, in the Illusion, of The House on The Hill, which exists in Metropolis. It was originally part of the Sacred Garden, where nature (Gaia) is tamed and sculpted for human pleasure. The house tends to attract the people who resided inside it's walls before the Fall of Man, before Elysium was even created. In Metropolis, The House on The Hill has been left untended. Nature has run riot over The Hill, and so The House may no longer manifest itself in urban areas. Still, it tries and tries to recover those who once called it home. Some of those people are the player characters.
HOOKS FOR THE HOMECOMING But first, the house needs to attract their attention. It can do this in several ways: The Old Seller It turns out the old owner of the Elijah House house is a friend of a friend of the PCs. Their friend from university, Jenette Downing, had been dating Martin Tétreault when he bought the house. He was a long-
time advocate of lucid dreaming, and liked how remote the house was. He lived there for a couple weeks, then moved back to Paris and hung himself. Jenette never went to the house herself, she was in Africa during the whole episode, but she does know who Tétreault sold it to – Tymoteusz Masiakowski. Rumors and Dares Word on the street is that the old Elijah House house is haunted. Nobody who moves in can stand to live there for more than a few months, and just ends up moving out and selling it. Various people have broken in to spend a night there, usually as the result of drunken dares and bets. Some people claim to have done this, but there are also stories about people who were injured, went crazy, or never even came back from a night in that house. Perhaps the PCs are brave enough? They sure keep hearing about the damn place... Family History One (or more!) of the PCs discover that they are a descendant of Elijah House. Doing some routine research, perhaps not even related to their family tree, they uncover some documents that show they are related to somebody who was related to Elijah House, who built his famous house in Massachusetts. If they look into the "famous" Elijah House house, they find it easily enough.
THE NEW SELLER The Elijah House house is currently owned by Tymoteusz Masiakowski. He is a contract killer who works primarily for the Russian Mafia. He had heard about the reputation of the house, and ended up buying it for a pittance from Martin Tétreault. He now uses it as a place to dump bodies, and intends to sell it as soon as he has to leave the East coast and go back to Europe.
TYMOTEUSZ J. MASIAKOWSKI Polish assassin, 33 years old. AGL 16 CON 14 EGO 13 PER 14 STR 15 COM 11 CHA 7 EDU 11 Actions: 3 Initiative Bonus: +4 Damage Bonus: +3 Endurance: 100 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -10
Advantages: Endure Pain (15), Influential Friends (15). Disadvantages: Death Wish (10), Debt (10), Greed (10), Vain (5), Wanted by the police (5). Dark Secret: Guilty of crimes. Skills: Automatic Weapons 15, Bugging 10, Burglary 14, Climb 12, Computers 5, Demolition 10, Dodge 13, Drive 12, Estimate Value 10, Gambling 8, Garrote 14, Handgun 12, Hide 16, Knife 15, Man of the World 12, Motor Mechanics 10, Net of Contacts: Russian Mafia 15, Poisons & Drugs 10, Polish Literature 10, Radio Communications 10, Rifle 16, Seamanship 10, Search 10, Seduction 8, Sneak 14, Unarmed Combat 12. Languages: Polish, German, Russian; poor English and Swedish; some Czech and Serbo-Croatian. Tymoteusz Masiakowski is normally quiet and collected, especially on the job, but he likes to drink socially. And when he drinks he gets loud and boisterous. He has been a criminal most of his life, though, and knows when to keep his mouth shut. He speaks with a thick Polish accent, especially when he speaks Polish. He keeps his tough-guy attitude low key in the company of women – he could kill you if he had to, but it's no big deal. Masiakowski will be happy to take prospective buyers out to see the Elijah House house, even at odd hours of the night, but he will not sleep inside. He would rather sleep in his car, or drive all the way back to Boston alone. He believes in haunted houses, and stays well clear. "You Americans think maybe is no such thing, but in Poland, we know haunting is real." Even though he paid next to nothing for it, Masiakowski wants fair market value for the House on House Hill. The longer a prospective buyer waits, though, the lower the price gets. When he has to leave the States, he will settle for anything, and certain "set-backs" (legal or criminal in nature) may cause him to lower the price so he can raise cash quickly. It's a rough-and-tumble life, being a hit man.
INSIDE THE HOUSE At first, the house will seem completely ordinary. After spending the night there, though, the PCs will discover more and more rooms that didn't seem to be inside the house before. They will likely be struck dumb in wonderment at the bizarre contents of the "extended" house, but there are dangers to face as well.
BATHROOMS Instead of leading to the dingy bathroom of the Elijah House house, with decades-old plumbing, that door now leads to what looks like sparkling clean, Roman-era baths, straight from an Alma-Tadema painting. There is room after room after room of pools and baths, the occasional modern jacuzzi room, and balconies showing the strangest city any human has ever seen. It stretches out into the horizon, farther than is possible on Earth. The view is sometimes blocked by overgrown gardens, sometimes the gardens below have been burned and trampled.
SERVANT'S QUARTERS This room is smaller than most rooms in The House on The Hill, but still larger than most rooms in the Elijah House house. It is decorated in a pseudo-Middle Eastern style, the floor covered in several layers of Persian carpets. The room is inhabited by two Azghouls (Kult, p. 200), named Mirosanganus and YaghutJhaheed. Their names are written above their beds, where they lie, waiting for their old masters to return, and command them again.
LIBRARY Oak-paneled walls give way to bookshelves, where hundreds of thousands, no millions!, of books reside. It seems like the shelves stretch on forever, for several stories, and contain any book a PC might ever want to read, and some he might not...
THE HOUSE'S CELLAR The Elijah House house has a very small cellar, for stockpiling food and goods. The House on The Hill, however, has a cellar as large as a city. It has a wine cellar, an elevator, a power plant, a broken-down subway system, and even a bomb shelter. Passages from this cellar lead into the underground that exists beneath all cities of the world, and into the labyrinth that leads down, down, down, eventually to Ktonor, and Achlys.
GREENHOUSE What used to be a beautiful, lush display of greenery under glass is now overgrown with riotous nature. The glass panes are smashed, and the great double doors leading out of the house have long ago been ripped off their hinges. This is where the Wolvens (Kult, p. 202) have dragged the bodies left by Masiakowski. All that is left is bones and a few scraps of flesh. The Wolvens return on a regular basis, and will attack the PCs if encountered. Outside the greenhouse is the remnants of the Sacred Garden, where humankind celebrated the sculpture of nature, where the forces of Gaia were tamed and domesticated. With the abandonment of Metropolis, the Garden has grown wild and dangerous. Gateways to Gaia itself are common, and numerous dangerous predators hunt through this wild land.
GARAGE It seems there are now back doors that lead to a garage or warehouse of some sort (there is no garage attached to the Elijah House house). The size is gargantuan, and it is almost completely empty, except for occasional, incomprehensible machinery. These spaces could even house aircraft. This is one of the most run-down areas of The House on The Hill. Broken windows show barren fields outside, bordered by strange woods in the distance. At night, the Wolven and Ferocci (Kult, p. 202) stalk these fields and haunt the woods. At all times, these warehouses are haunted by the ghostly shade of a woman, perhaps the wife of the House's god, or perhaps his daughter, or perhaps just one of the unlucky residents who could not leave The House, but also could not stay, and live.
THE CLASSIC TRAP In the dining room, and immensely long table stretches away from the fireplace. Upon the white table cloth is piled every conceivable type of food, from every culture of the world, and then some. At the head of the table sits the Son of the God of The House on The Hill. Cloaked in ragged veils, scaly grey hands rest upon the table, four spider-like legs protrude from the end of his soiled robe. If anyone should eat of the food upon the table, the Son will awaken, and attack. The Azghouls of The House know the words that crack against his flesh like whips and force him into his cage, but The House's former residents have forgotten...
THE SON OF THE GOD OF THE HOUSE ON THE HILL AGL 25 CON 40 EGO 40 PER 6 STR 50 COM 1 CHA 5 EDU 5 Actions: 4 Initiative Bonus: +13 Damage Bonus: +8 Endurance: 230 Damage Capacity: 9 scratches = 1 light, 8 light = 1 serious, 6 serious = 1 fatal, 3 fatal = death. Terror Throw Modification: 0 Skills: Acrobatics 15, Climb 15, Dodge 14, Hide 8, Search 10, Sneak 10, Unarmed Combat 16. Powers: Immune to fire, electricity and radiation, Infrared vision, Natural armor (5), Natural claws and fangs, No sense of taste or smell.
THE SLEEP OF DEATH In the bedroom, a great four-poster bed sits atop the steps of a small dais. The marble floor stretches out around it, and a great altar sits behind. Upon the bed lies the hoary form of the dead God of The House on The Hill. Once worshipped by the inhabitants, he now sleeps the sleep of the dead, waiting for his old supplicants to return and inter him in his great iron tomb, or, Heaven forbid, find some way to revive him, and let him bask in the sculpted gardens of Metropolis, once more.
OUR LAST RESORT or The Fork Behind the Scalpel This scenario presents a location, principle non-player characters, and advice on how to use this location in a game. There is no structured plot. The GM is free to design adventures in San Cristobal Resort around the player characters.
SAN CRISTOBAL Deep in some secluded corner of Latin America lies a very special vacation resort, known as San Cristobal. It is not normally open to the public, and has a very select clientele. Neighboring residents, especially the Indians, know to keep their distance from the resort property. Security can be heavy-handed in keeping unwanted visitors away, and some people even whisper about disappearances connected to the tourists who frequent San Cristobal Resort. The GM should feel free to locate the San Cristobal Resort in whichever Latin American country would be appropriate for the story, except perhaps Brazil, as this material has been written with Spanish in mind as the local language.
EL ORDO DE LAS HYDRAS San Cristobal Resort is controlled by a secret society known (to members) as El Ordo de las Hydras (The Order of the Hydra). This Order is a cabal of physicians who study the effects of pain, terror and torture. They have some knowledge of both the Lore of Death and the Lore of Madness, though Death is by far their expertise. Experiments in torture are their way of studying madness, and the human mind. The resort was set up by Dr. Jacinto Quesnel, the current leader of the cult, as a private arena where members of the cult can perform public and private experiments. The cult does not have unlimited access to money, however, and El Ordo has needed to make compromises to continue their activities. El Ordo de las Hydras is not directly connected to Golab, despite their practices. They undertake the torture of the human in order to gain insight, wisdom, and power, not because they are driven by inhuman forces. Dr. Quesnel has met Mortimer Blanco (Legions of Darkness, p. 27), and has received some assistance from him in the past.
CLUB FED The main source of funds for El Ordo de las Hydras is cannibal tourism. The corpses tend to pile up in the wake of cult practices, so Dr. Quesnel has opted to dispose of them in a way that generates revenue. Wealthy cannibals from all over the world come to San Cristobal to witness torture and murder and feed on the flesh of other humans. Most of the tourists partake of the rare luncheon San Cristobal provides, though some are only interested in performing, or watching, the torture. All of them affectionately refer to San Cristobal as "Club Fed."
CLUB DEAD A few of the local Indians have growing suspicions about the resort and it's owners. In the early days of San Cristobal, El Ordo would commonly kidnap the natives to use in their experiments, though nowadays the network of kidnappers they use casts a wide net when looking for suitable candidates. One bold journalist, Alberto Morales, managed to get a story about San Cristobal published. He had to go to foreign (English-language) newspapers to achieve this, though, as he couldn't find any Latin American media outlets willing to touch the story. He had interviewed local Indians about the resort, and used the nickname "Club Dead" in his article. Although he disappeared soon after he went public, several cannibal tourists have actually found their way to San Cristobal through his article. Kidnappings of Indians have stopped, though they can see that travelers in the area, especially young and poor travelers, and even the occasional local, still go missing. They have no doubt where these missing people end up, but no one will listen to them.
AND YET, AND YET... The resort still opens up to the general public during certain seasons when the physicians are not using it. San Cristobal is a very high-end resort, and normally includes everything a guest could ask for in a worldclass hotel and spa resort. While some of the services are scaled-back when El Ordo d las Hydras is using the resort, many amenities are still available in the areas of the resort where "business talk" is off-limits. San Cristobal Resort offers it's guests a health spa, massage and physiotherapy techniques, workout rooms, yoga classes, four-star chefs in a regular kitchen, all manner of water sports and boating tours, a movie theater, golf course, and live entertainment including world-famous musicians, DJs, comedians, magicians, and other performers, subject to availability.
WHO'S WHO IN SAN CRISTOBAL
DR. JACINTO QUESNEL Private Physician and Cult Leader, 58 years old. AGL 12 CON 12 EGO 17 PER 18 STR 9 COM 8 CHA 13 EDU 21 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: 0 Damage Bonus: 0 Endurance: 95 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -5 Advantages: Alertness (10), Endure Pain (15). Disadvantages: Compulsively Healthy (5), Egotist (5), Sexual Neurosis: cannot stand physical contact with females unless they are completely under his control (15), Touchy (5). Dark Secret: Cult leader. Skills: Administration 15, Anatomy 16, Biology 12, Bureaucracy 15, Computers 5, Drive 8, First Aid 14, History 15, Information Retrieval 16, Law 8, Man of the World 10, Net of Contacts: Cannibals 10, Net of Contacts: Physicians 15, Net of Contacts: Wealthy Latin Americans 10, Numerology 10, Occultism 14, Pharmacology 12, Philosophy 10, Physiology 14, Poisons & Drugs 12, Psychology 14, Rhetoric 14, Sociology 8, Surgery 18, Swim 15, Torture 16, Written Report 12. Languages: Spanish, English, some fluency in Italian, Portuguese, and French. Dr. Quesnel comes from the highest level of Latino society, and has always been surrounded by wealth and privilege. He has no doubts about his research. Why should he? Weaker humans were meant to serve whatever purposes he puts them to. Dr. Quesnel will tolerate no superiors save those who can completely outmatch him. He avoids other beings who have only slight advantages over him, preferring to move against them from a position of surprise and stealth. Though he was not present for the founding of El Ordo de las Hydras, Dr. Quesnel has been involved for several decades, and did not have to wait long before the leadership passed on to him. He has brought a far more rigorous scientific approach to a group that once contained numerous charlatans and hacks. Gone are the days when complicated rituals and mysterious gobbledy-gook interfered with statistical evidence and detached observation. He is much more amused by the cannibal tourists than he thought he would be. He finds their company enlivening, and looks upon them as if they were boisterous, precocious children. It is the torture-seekers who make him uneasy. He dislikes it when others see something beautiful or sexually stimulating in what he considers to be cold, calculated scientific experiments into the nature of fear, pain, shock and torture.
GUSTAVO BAUER San Cristobal Resort Manager, 49 years old. AGL 12 CON 16 EGO 13 PER 12 STR 13 COM 10 CHA 14 EDU 16 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: 0 Damage Bonus: 0 Endurance: 110 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -10 Advantages: Influential Friends (15). Disadvantages: Mental Constriction: Forgets what he sees (10), Rationalist (15). Dark Secret: Minion of evil. Skills: Accounting 12, Administration 15, Automatic Weapons 12, Bugging 10, Bureaucracy 15, Climb 15, Computers 5, Diplomacy 10, Dodge 12, Drive 16, Estimate Value 10, First Aid 10, Handgun 15, Information Retrieval 12, Interrogation 10, Jungle Survival 12, Motor Mechanics 12, Net of Contacts: Military 8, Parachuting 12, Pilot Boat 10, Search 16, Security Systems 15, Shadow 10, Sneak 15, Swim 12, Unarmed Combat 15, Written Report 10. Languages: Spanish, English, some fluency in Portuguese, German, and Japanese. Gustavo Bauer left the military to pursue a career in the private sector – more money, less risk. And the private sector has not disappointed him. He finds it very relaxing to run a resort, even a resort with so much secrecy and VIP security. He doesn't like to think about all the things that go on at San Cristobal, it's just not his place to ask questions or rock the boat. He doesn't care about a few Indians or backpackers, anyway. They are just the "little people," and it's really one the wealthy, cultured elite who are worth his time, care and effort.
TORBEN RYGG Norwegian Sales Analyst, 30 years old. AGL 11 CON 13 EGO 15 PER 13 STR 10 COM 12 CHA 12 EDU 16 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: 0 Damage Bonus: 0 Endurance: 95 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -10
Advantages: Motherliness (5). Disadvantages: Mental Compulsion: Cannibalism (15). Dark Secret: Cannibal. Skills: Bureaucracy 10, Computers 15, Cooking 12, Information Retrieval 10, Law 10, Mathematics 10, Net of Contacts: Cannibals 15, Net of Contacts: Corporate Culture 10, Net of Contacts: Travel Industry 8, Research Policy 10, Sociology 15, Statistics 10, Wine Tasting 10, Written Report 15. Languages: Norwegian, Swedish, German, English, Spanish. No one would suspect a vegetarian of being a cannibal, especially Torben Rygg – no one who knows Torb would suspect him of anything at all. Cheerful, generous and well-traveled, Torb is seen as a mother hen by all his friends and co-workers. In fact, he acts the same way amongst his fellow cannibals, which has led to him organizing all cannibal tourist bookings for San Cristobal Resort. Torb is the go-to guy for picky eaters all over the world who know of San Cristobal. He has almost total control over access to the eatery it provides. His job sees him traveling quite a bit throughout Europe and Latin America, so it is hardly surprising that he knows a vast array of people. He is always extremely careful about his use of language, and he never refers to cannibalism except by innocuous metaphor. Torb never uses threatening or abusive language. Nor does he participate in any torture, though he has been a voyeur in the past. His primary interest is eating other humans. He does not view prospective meals as human in any way, and almost behaves like their death and culinary preparation is inevitable and not a conscious choice made by anyone.
TIKU MACHI Indian Headman, 36 years old. AGL 15 CON 16 EGO 14 PER 14 STR 12 COM 13 CHA 16 EDU 3 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: +3 Damage Bonus: +2 Endurance: 110 Damage Capacity: 5 scratches = 1 light, 4 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: +10 Advantages: Endure Hunger/Thirst (10), Honesty (5), Status (5). Disadvantages: Persecuted (10). Dark Secret: None. Skills: Climb 10, Club 10, Diplomacy 15, Dodge 10, Fishing 15, Herbalism 12, Hunting 15, Jungle Survival 15, Net of Contacts: Native Indians 15, Sneak 12, Swim 10, Throwing 13, Unarmed Combat 10. Languages: Local Indian dialects, Spanish, a few English words. Tiku Machi is the most respected headman in the area. He is known for his sharp eyes and calming words. He will give help to any person he thinks will be able to rid the area of the San Cristobal Resort, including showing them how to infiltrate the resort, and where to find ample evidence of wrongdoing. The Indians spy on San Cristobal, despite its fearsome security measures.
WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL Player characters could find themselves in San Cristobal through any number of routes. Accidental Booking: The characters have booked a resort vacation, but have ended up in the wrong place. Perhaps their booking escaped the notice of resort security, and they were not included on the list of visitors to be vetted by Torben Rygg. Perhaps they show up and begin looking around only to have security ask them to leave. Or perhaps the resort assumes they are cannibals, and solicits them to pay for the privilege of torturing people. Or the other guests begin to question them first, before hotel staff is even aware there is a problem. However they discover the true nature of their vacation destination, they will quickly come to realize that nothing is quite what it seems, and they are in way over their heads. Snatched from the area: While the characters are backpacking, performing research or engaging in espionage, they are snatched away to San Cristobal. Either some wealthy sadist has paid good money to torture victims with very specific characteristics (matched by the PCs), or they have some unique qualities that have attracted the notice of El Ordo de las Hydras. Perhaps only some of the PC group is kidnapped, leaving the others to stage a rescue attempt. Right place, wrong time: Or, it could be that San Cristobal is supposed to be where they are going, but their timing is off. Perhaps they booked a stay when San Cristobal was not occupied by torturers and cannibals, but their dates got mixed up and here they are! Or they could have planned to drop in on San Cristobal, either to book a stay after backpacking in the mountains, or to meet a friends of theirs who is staying there. They misjudge the date completely, and either run afoul of resort security, or somehow manage to enter the compound without being turned away. Kidnapped from home: The bluntest option of all is simple railroading – the PCs are brutally dragged from their beds or snatched off the streets and shipped to San Cristobal to meet the needs of the torturers. They will find themselves imprisoned on the resort and subjected to inhuman cruelties. Undercover: The final twist here is that the PCs have entered the resort by way of fake identities, and are attempting to bust the cultists, or the cannibals, with an undercover operation. This will likely prove highly dangerous for all those involved.
THE LAST STALL ON THE LEFT The bulk of all experiments carried out by El Ordo de las Hydras are carried out in private rooms, where torture occur for controlled scientific study. About a dozen of these rooms are set aside for paying customers, being equipped with various observation rooms. Several are old-fashioned medical classrooms, others are modeled on high-tech interrogation rooms, with one-way mirrored glass hiding the observers. There are two peep-shows, however, with seven private observation rooms each, so that voyeurs can maintain their anonymity from each other.
There are two buildings devoted to these private rooms. The larger of the two is entirely devoted to private experiments and is off-limits to everyone except members of El Ordo. The smaller, newer building holds the rooms where tourists can watch people being tortured, either by cultists or other tourists.
FIGHT CLUB There is also an area designated for arena fighting, where the physicians can study the effects of fighting on the human mind and body. This area also caters to spectators, and has both open seats and box seats behind mirrored glass. In some cases, the physicians promise the fighters they will be released if they kill their opponents. In this case, they require all visible observers to cover their faces. Fighters in the arena are usually equipped with various medical monitoring devices, so the physicians may record physiological results while a fight is occurring. Fights are usually broken up numerous times before one party is declared the winner, to give the physicians a chance to tweak their equipment and re-monitor the subject. This arena is indoors, not open to the outside, and is entirely devoted to illegal fighting and larger cannibal festivities when it is not feasible to hold those outdoors.
CAFETERIA Special kitchens, attached to the arena, prepare all of the human meat at San Cristobal, as none of the physicians, security personnel or support staff are cannibals. Prisoners are unlikely to arrive here alive, much less escape, unless perhaps security in the arena is very lax. All the meat from corpses is used here, so that only the bones need be disposed of in the graveyard pits. The local Indians have collected a few human bones from these burial pits as evidence to support their claims. The cafeteria used by the cannibals (in the same building as the arena and kitchens, of course) can support more than two hundred people, the arena less than one hundred. Peak numbers for "special guests" is just over one hundred. This number does not include members of El Ordo de las Hydras.
PROMISES, PROMISES There is one exceedingly cruel activity that has fast become a favorite amongst Ordo members and "special guest" tourists. A group of living prisoners is separated into pairs, one to be tortured and one to do the torturing. The are told that whoever comes up with the most inventive form of torture will be released from the resort. There might be several rounds, where the least popular torturers then become victims, and
victims with less severe injuries become torturers. Usually, it is just the least-inspired half of the torturers who become the victims for the next round, until a winner has been decided from a small handful. El Ordo de las Hydras actually keep their word in this case. Sometimes. The winner may be released into the slums of a nearby city and left to fend for himself. Cultists are then free to observe the subject's behavior in an unfamiliar environment, post-trauma.
RESORT SECURITY Despite what the Indians may say, most observers will see a distinct lack of security around San Cristobal. Although there are some heavily armed guards, it does not seem like there is nearly enough of them to keep outsiders away from the resort. In fact, most of the human security is just there to frighten away intruders who scare easily. The real security duties are performed by Excrucies (Legions of Darkness, p. 27), provided by Dr. Mortimer Blanco. Most patrons of the resort do not notice them, and even Dr. Quesnel does not really believe in them. Other cult members have Mental Balance ratings extreme enough to notice them, but believe them to be a much-warranted addition to resort security. None of them pay attention to relations between Dr. Quesnel and Dr. Blanco. None of them realize that Golab will soon take possession of their souls. The Indians have found certain plants and animal toxins that can repulse or disorient the Excrucies, and use these when spying on the resort. These plants will not actually harm the Excrucies, just keep them busy long enough for the Indians to escape or slip by without notice. The Excrucies have not faced any significant challenge since arriving at San Cristobal.
LAST WORD San Cristobal is an exceedingly dangerous place for player characters to find themselves. It is worth remembering that the physicians are not hell-bent on killing per se – they are studying the effects of torture, and will desire to keep a subject alive for as long as he is providing useful data. Also, the PCs do not need to be highly trained combat machines to negotiate this scenario successfully. The only really formidable opponents at San Cristobal are the Excrucies – the physicians and cannibals are mostly regular people (aside from their bizarre hobbies), and the security personnel are not soldiers. With a little help from the Indians, it should be possible for even puny characters to escape, with life and limb more or less (but preferably less) intact.
THE HANGING JUDGE This scenario starts when a player character is arrested and must face trial. Whether the trial date is unnervingly soon or whether it takes a year or two is irrelevant. The GM may work this scenario into his game in whatever way suits the story. If the PC cannot make bail, though, he will have to stay in jail until his case comes to trial, which gives him little chance to escape. In any case, the trial is where the conspiracy comes out in force against the hapless PC – he faces His Honor, Judge O'Malley, a powerful Lictor (Kult, p. 180).
JUDGE O'MALLEY Judge, 63 years old. Lictor in the service of Geburah. AGL 31 CON 37 EGO 30 PER 38 STR 46 COM 8 in human form CHA 20 EDU 48 Actions: 5 Initiative Bonus: +19 Damage Bonus: +9 Endurance: 215 Damage Capacity: 9 scratches = 1 light, 8 light = 1 serious, 6 serious = 1 fatal, takes 2 fatal wounds to die. Skills: Acting 15, Administration 25, Diplomacy 10, Drive 20, Forgery 20, Information Retrieval 20, Interrogation 20, Law 25, Net of Contacts: Courts 25, Net of Contacts: Law Enforcement 15, Net of Contacts: Lawyers 20, Net of Contacts: Politicians 20, Occultism 15, Political Science 15, Psychology 15, Rhetoric 25, Search 15, Sociology 15, Unarmed Combat 12, Written Report 20. Magic: Lore of Dreams 50, Lore of Madness 30, Lore of Time and Space 20. Spells: All Lore of Dreams spells at 30, all other spells up to the limit of his Lores at 20. O'Malley's entire history has been fabricated to create the impression that the judicial system is not an oldboy's club, that struggling minorities can be successful, that the will of the people still leads this country. He appears to have succeeded in life through hard work, diligent study, and his own natural abilities, not through the privilege of knowing the right people. But this is all a lie. In Judge O'Malley's courtroom, the jury is irrelevant. They will always decide on his predetermined verdict, and that verdict will support the Illusion, the imprisonment of humankind, and most important of all, the will of his master, the Archon Geburah, the very essence of merciless judgment (Legions of Darkness, p. 53).
VERDICT AND SENTENCING Regardless of the charges – misdemeanor or felony – the sentencing is always the same. The defendant is always guilty. No amount of evidence will prove his innocence. The defense attorney's presentation falls on deaf ears. No person is brought to this courtroom without being guilty of something, and so punishment is always meted out. It is up to the defendant to determine the extent of his punishment, based on his own behavior. If the PC pleads guilty and confesses to his wrongdoings, he will be remanded to mandatory psychiatric treatment or a drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation facility. This facility is controlled by Geburah, and is actually part of his Citadel (Metropolis Sourcebook, p. 92). Here, the PC will be punished in full for his transgressions. If the PC pleads not guilty, he will be found guilty and sentenced to many years in a prison that seems remarkably like Jeremy Bentham's panopticon. Only worse.
ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE If the PC escapes at any point after his first hearing, Judge O'Malley will send one or more Ushers (Legions of Darkness, p. 56) to bring him back. These heartless creatures will hunt him to the ends of the earth and beyond, if necessary.
IN THE HANDS OF THE BLACK MADONNA However, Judge O'Malley has been targeted for acquisition by none other than Binah, the Black Madonna (Legions of Darkness, p. 50). Her servants have married into his family, encroaching upon his personal life from every possible angle. It may be that the PC does not reach the courtroom before she is triumphant in bending his will. In this case, he will opt for community sentencing. There is still no chance of a "not guilty" verdict. Local leaders, people affected by the crime, and even a few onlookers will meet later at the courthouse to decide the defendant's punishment. At the meeting, they will become hysterical, and begin
throwing things at the character. They will quickly produce heavy objects, like rocks and paperweights, chairs and garbage cans. They will not stop until the PC has been beaten to a bloody pulp, though they may stop before he is dead. As long as he has taken enough wounds and does not fight back, they will leave him in the courtroom and forget all about this episode. While Binah may have gained control of O'Malley's loyalty, Geburah's influence does not fade quickly.
PRISONS OF THE MIND Fairview Addictions Recovery Center is a facility that assists people trying to recover from substance abuse problems. It is located in a tidy neighborhood with lots of green spaces, where life is safe and tranquil. The space inside the center, however, is located in Geburah's Citadel (Metropolis Sourcebook, p. 92) The center is staffed exclusively by Lictors, although patients may acquire a position of authority (over other patients) if they behave themselves. Patients who are admitted are kept on the premises indefinitely, and if their behavior shows improvement, they will be allowed to check out temporarily. Inside Geburah's Citadel, patients will be punished for every infraction they have ever committed. Patients with a positive Mental Balance will receive shock therapy or be otherwise victimized until they are very close to 0 MB. Patients with a negative Mental Balance will be drugged and medicated in ways that control or reduce the severity of their Disadvantages. They may also be lobotomized, or undergo similar medical treatments. Ideological indoctrination at the Fairview Addiction Recovery Center comes in the form of Pure Land Buddhism. Patients learn about the Middle Way, and how they need to practice moderation in all activities. They learn about the paradisiacal afterlife that awaits them if they behave properly. Patients learn to control their addictions by submitting to judgment willingly, accepting the control of their superiors, and praying to Amitabha using mantras and meditation. Many of the patients who are successfully treated at the FARC do not live very long afterwards. Friends and relatives seem to see their deaths as unrelated, and epitaphs always mention how the deceased managed to overcome his problems, and how it was a good thing that he received treatment. But the FARC Lictors do not allow "cured" patients to deviate from their newly-balanced mental state. They will orchestrate the demise of a former patient who seems in danger of slipping onto the Dark or Light Path. The inside of the FARC center is made of sterile psychiatric rooms hidden behind sparkling clean reception areas. Beyond those lie dormitory rooms and cafeterias connected to kitchens, storerooms, and meeting rooms. The offices of staff that the public is allowed to see are adjacent to reception areas, but the real offices of FARC Lictors can only be reached by the elevators, which are hard for humans to find. Needless to say, there are far too many rooms to be contained within the center grounds as depicted in the Illusion. Because these areas are actually part of Geburah's Citadel, it is possible to escape from the Fairview Addictions Recovery Center and roam through other areas of the Citadel. Regardless, the supernatural effects of the Archon on the psyche of the human is ever present.
DR. LUCAS RESPONDEK Director of the Fairview Addictions Recovery Center, 49 years old. Lictor in the service of Geburah. AGL 27 CON 29 EGO 38 PER 36 STR 35 COM 7 in human form CHA 22 EDU 48 Actions: 4 Initiative Bonus: +15 Damage Bonus: +8 Endurance: 175 Damage Capacity: 7 scratches = 1 light, 6 light = 1 serious, 4 serious = 1 fatal, takes 2 fatals to die. Skills: Accounting 15, Administration 25, Diplomacy 10, Dreaming 20, Drive 20, History 15, Hypnosis 25, Information Retrieval 30, Interrogation 30, Law 15, Man of the World 15, Net of Contacts: Polish exCommunists 15, Net of Contacts: Pharmaceuticals Manufacturers 20, Net of Contacts: Psychiatry 25, Neurology 15, Pharmacology 25, Philosophy 15, Photography 12, Physiology 15, Poisons & Drugs 20, Psychiatry 30, Psychology 30, Rhetoric 13, Shadow 15, Sociology 20, Unarmed Combat 15, Written Report 18. Magic: Lore of Madness 50, maybe Lore of Dreams 20. Spells: All Madness spells at 30, all Dream spells (except Create/Dissolve Dream) at 20. Łukasz Respondek was forced out of Poland in 1996 by the minions of Binah and Malkuth, who now control the medical profession there. He has undertaken his new post in Geburah's hierarchy with little resistance from the locals, and has been able to integrate into the English-speaking world quite easily. His main goal is to keep humanity imprisoned by preventing them from stretching their Mental Balance, but because he spends most of his time inside Geburah's Citadel, he also blindly upholds justice. His human history, not hard to track down, is entirely unremarkable. No criminal record in any country, no suspicions of malpractice, no speeding tickets, good credit history. He did well at medical school, though he was not among the best of his class. He moved easily into a management position and still enjoys seeing regular patients. Lucas Respondek is married, to his second wife, and has three children. His older son Adam grew up mostly in Poland, and now works in New York, and his younger son Alexander grew up mostly outside Poland. Alexander is still in high school, and plans to follow is father into medicine. His daughter Maria is not old enough to be in high school yet. Dr. Respondek monitors and controls his family's dreams, and would never allow them to threaten the Illusion.
PRISONS OF THE FLESH Fen Park Federal Prison is a supermax correctional facility built on Jeremy Bentham's "panopticon" model. Almost every second of every day an inmate is observed without his knowledge. Almost every minute of his day is planned for him. Almost every hour is unbearable. Solitary confinement is the norm, not the exception. Fen Park has enough chaos inside it's horribly stagnant social order to stop the prisoners from walking the Light Path by embracing the ordered nature of existence. Beatings come often, for any number of minor missteps. Not everyone can be watched all the time, despite the mandate of the facility, and sometimes inmate-on-inmate violence occurs. Prisoners with a negative Mental Balance will be restrained as much as possible, and punished for each and every Disadvantage. The Lictors who control the prison are trying to manifest Geburah here in the Illusion, and have him bring the prison into his Citadel, but they have not been successful in finding ways to restore the "crazies" to sanity. Prisoners with a positive Mental Balance are subjected to attacks, beatings, and harassment until their Mental Balance drops or they get close to +75, when an Executioner (Legions of Darkness, p. 55) comes for them. The cell is hosed down afterwards in preparation for a new prisoner but the cleaning is not always as thorough as it should be...
THE JAILED AND THE JAILERS Fen Park Federal Prison houses 1,853 inmates, and employs 506 custody staff and 230 support services staff. The prison was originally built to accommodate only 1,260 inmates. One third of the prison houses maximum security inmates in a general population setting, while almost all of the remaining two-thirds houses inmates in the Secure Housing Unit designed for inmates presenting serious management difficulties and violent maximum security inmates. There is a small Psychiatric Unit to treat mentally disordered offenders serving SHU terms.
Fen Park has weathered several torture scandals and class action lawsuits. All attempts to alleviate the suffering of prisoners have been completely unsuccessful. So far, Geburah has been able to maintain his plans for the prison. Soon enough, it will become part of his Citadel, and all the prisoners inside will come with it.
WARDEN PAUL CRANE Prison Warden, 45 years old. Lictor in the service of Geburah. AGL 24 CON 30 EGO 25 PER 37 STR 55 COM 10 CHA 16 EDU 46 Actions: 4 Initiative Bonus: +12 Damage Bonus: +9 Endurance: 210 Damage Capacity: 7 scratches = 1 light, 6 light = 1 serious, 4 serious = 1 fatal. Skills: Accounting 25, Administration 25, Bugging 15, Criminology 20, Drive 15, Forgery 15, Information Retrieval 25, Interrogation 15, Law 20, Man of the World 15, Net of Contacts: Judiciary 20, Net of Contacts: Prison System 25, Net of Contacts: Prisoners 10, Psychiatry 20, Psychology 20, Rhetoric 15, Search 12, Security Systems 20, Sneak 15, Written Report 20. Magic: The Lore of Madness 50, the Lore of Dreams 30. Spells: All Madness spells at 30, all Dream spells up to Dream Walk at 25. Warden Crane is constantly happy, smiling and chuckling, even to himself. Most people, inmates especially, find this irritating and distracting. Middle management types just find him inoffensive. His skills of manipulation work better on the prison guards, but best on paperwork. Thanks to the Warden, tracking or analyzing Fen Park records of any sort is a task of mind-boggling difficulty. Reliable information is nearly non-existent, while meaningless exercises in paper-pushing abound. This extends to everything the Warden has to deal with, inside or outside the prison, maintaining the prison's web site, or relations with state and federal governments. The task assigned to Paul Crane is to bring Fen Park Federal Prison into alignment with Geburah's Citadel, so that they can become one. All prisoners and staff will become part of Geburah's new Elysium, one built on much stricter rules than those formulated by the Demiurge. Crane is totally committed to seeing his master become the new Demiurge.
BRIAN "SNITCHY" HOLDEN Prison Inmate, 31 years old. AGL 13 CON 14 EGO 9 PER 11 STR 12 COM 8 CHA 7 EDU 8 Actions: 2 Initiative Bonus: +1 Damage Bonus: +2 Endurance: 100 Damage Capacity: 4 scratches = 1 light, 3 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -25 Advantages: Luck (20). Disadvantages: Anxiety (10), Habitual Liar (5), Low Self-Esteem (10), Persecuted (10), Submissive (10). Skills: Burglary 12, Dodge 10, Drive 10, Estimate Value 7, Gambling 10, Hide 10, Knife/shiv 9, Net of Contacts: Criminals 7, Search 12, Sneak 12, Unarmed Combat 7. Brian Holden came from the wrong side of the tracks. When he dropped out of school, he tried construction and the assembly line before settling for petty crime. After a few short stints in prison, he killed a woman while burgling her third-floor apartment, and landed on his feet inside Fen Park. Everyone pegged Holden for the stupid fuck-up he is, and he knew it. Now, he keeps himself alive by keeping his ears open and snitching – not just for the Warden, but for the gang factions inside the prison as well. Life for "Snitchy" Holden is precarious at best. He dreads the endless solitary confinement, but he fears worse what will happen to him in the company of other inmates. Caught between numerous rival factions, Holden walks a razor-thin edge to keep himself alive.
STEVEN JAMES MACPHERSON Former Prison Inmate turned Metropolitan Hunting Beast, 37 years old. AGL 16 CON 24 EGO 15 PER 16 STR 27 COM 7 CHA 15 EDU 10 Actions: 3 Initiative Bonus: +4 Damage Bonus: +5 Endurance: 150 Damage Capacity: 6 scratches = 1 light, 5 light = 1 serious, 3 serious = 1 fatal. Mental Balance: -150 Advantages: Driving Goal, Endure Pain, Endure Torture, Fearless, Magical Intuition.
Powers: Increased Abilities, Infrared Vision, Regeneration. Disadvantages: Animal Enmity, Bad Reputation, Death Wish, Domineering, Fanaticism, Mania, Persecuted, Rage, Sexual Neurosis: Rapist, Wanted. Limitations: Blood Thirst (any blood), Hunting Instinct, Sensitive to Sunlight. Skills: Acrobatics 15, Automatic Weapons 10, Burglary 14, Climb 20, Dodge 15, Drive 10, Falling Technique 15, Handgun 10, Hide 20, Knife/shiv 15, Motor Mechanics 8, Night Combat 15, Poisons & Drugs 10, Scrounging 8, Search 10, Shadow 10, Sneak 20, Streetwise 15, Swim 20, Throw 20, Tracking 10, Unarmed Combat 15. Magic: The Lore of Madness 20, the Lore of Time and Space 20. Spells: Unshroud Illusion 20, Manipulate Senses 15, Madness Walk 15, See Through Time & Space 20, Manipulate Time & Space 20, Time & Space Walk 15, True Vision 15. Steve Macpherson is serving multiple life sentences for rape and murder. His mental balance is much lower than -75, but he has magical abilities to escape the notice of the Lictors. He uses the Lore of Time and Space to warp time so that when he exists in the prison it is when he first got there, and he appears to be a new prisoner with a mental balance of -20 or so. He uses the Lore of Madness to travel between the prison and Metropolis. His goal is to help other promising inmates escape the clutches of Geburah. He brings them to Metropolis to experience the thrill of the hunt, and helps drive their Mental Balance low enough that they begin to experience physical changes. His version of the Lore of Madness can only bring him to Geburah's Citadel or Hod's Citadel. He cannot see or travel to other places in Metropolis via magic.
EPILOGUE These three scenarios are designed to act as springboards for longer campaigns designed by the GM. Even Our Last Resort has been kept wide open for continuing adventures in San Cristobal Resort. The Hanging Judge, especially, provides numerous pathways to other worlds, and greater horrors. The forces of terror set forth in Architects of Fear can be quite formidable, and the GM should be aware of this before running any of these scenarios. Hopefully, at least one of them will be the start, or the continuation, of a great campaign.
This first draft completed July, 2007 AD.
