More Rats, Different Walls

[Drhoz]

I've been asked to run a game of Call of Cthulhu for Swancon again (theme this year - Contagion ). I've got a setting and basic plot in mind - to whit, an island in the Western Mediterranean, a ruined fort thereon, and a long history of plague, mysterious unsolved massacres, and the like. Naturally, the island is almost depopulated by the 1920s, and the local count is the last of his line, since his only son died in the Great War. He's invited the officers that were with him at Flanders to the island, along with a significant other or two, in order to make some announcement about the inheritance.

Cue sudden mysterious death at dinner, accusations flying, cut off from the mainland, and various increasingly terrifying problems with rats.

I'll certainly be including mythology of the Black Death, king rats, stuff borrowed from Edgar Allen Poe, and murder mystery twists.

But I would love a few more twists, references, and red herrings to throw at the players. And I'm also stuck for a suitably ominous name for the adventure...

Anybody given me an idea will be Tuckerised

[Cygnia]

The son died in the Great War, to be sure. But not due to enemy combat. He didn't want to be at the front, but his father forced him the front and enlisted the "help" of those officers to make sure he "did his duty for God and Country". Instead, he fled like a coward, but was caught in the crossfire. He took shelter in what was left of a bombed-out house, little more than a basement, a root cellar.

No food left...all there were left were the rats. And they took turns eating each other until the rats finally won. He died cursing his father's name.

It's time to come home.

[matrix3]

The Count wants to share his inheritance, but it isn't what his guests are expecting.

The Count is actually a parasite (physical or energy based, whatever) that has been feeding upon this particular family line since the Black Death, due to some genetic quirk that allows them to act as hosts. It has control over the rodent population, but inhabiting rats is boring and it wants to continue its inhabitation of a human host. Thus, it has researched the family line and discovered distant relations that might have the necessary traits to act as hosts, and chose a few that happened to be in the war as an easy way to get them together.

A big reason the parasite prefers human hosts is the pleasure that humans feel. Of course, it would be a selfish, sadistic pleasure, and I'd expect the PC's to discover chambers to make de Sade weep dating back centuries.

[MrAgdesh]

Sounds like Isle of the Dead might be worth a watch.

[Drhoz]

Sounds like Isle of the Dead might be worth a watch.

indeed!

[Drhoz]

The Count wants to share his inheritance, but it isn't what his guests are expecting.

The Count is actually a parasite (physical or energy based, whatever) that has been feeding upon this particular family line since the Black Death, due to some genetic quirk that allows them to act as hosts. It has control over the rodent population, but inhabiting rats is boring and it wants to continue its inhabitation of a human host. Thus, it has researched the family line and discovered distant relations that might have the necessary traits to act as hosts, and chose a few that happened to be in the war as an easy way to get them together.

A big reason the parasite prefers human hosts is the pleasure that humans feel. Of course, it would be a selfish, sadistic pleasure, and I'd expect the PC's to discover chambers to make de Sade weep dating back centuries.

Oh yes indeedy

[Drhoz]

The son died in the Great War, to be sure. But not due to enemy combat. He didn't want to be at the front, but his father forced him the front and enlisted the "help" of those officers to make sure he "did his duty for God and Country". Instead, he fled like a coward, but was caught in the crossfire. He took shelter in what was left of a bombed-out house, little more than a basement, a root cellar.

No food left...all there were left were the rats. And they took turns eating each other until the rats finally won. He died cursing his father's name.

It's time to come home.

That's certainly usable!

[Lucius]

an island in the Western Mediterranean, a ruined fort thereon, and a long history of plague, mysterious unsolved massacres, and the like. Naturally, the island is almost depopulated by the 1920s,

Such an island should have a bloody and Gothic history.

Specifically, Visigothic.


Although the most ancient stonework - resembling the megalithic ruins on Malta - are much older, the fortress began as a monastery in the time of the Visigothic king Reccered, the first king of Visigothic Iberia to renounce Arianism and embrace the Catholic faith. Before the foundation was laid, the already present community of ascetic followers of Priscillian were ruthlessly slaughtered. While religious tolerance had been a hallmark of Gothic rule, and the newly converted king was less than enthusiastic about persecuting Jews, Priscillianists, and followers of the Arian Christianity he had only just abandoned, the Church found it convenient to be able to spirit away some of their more important targets to this little island, well out of sight of the too-tender king and his nobles.

When the Arian Witteric became king of the Visigoths, he dispatched a shipload of soldiers to discommode the monks and establish a military base to forward his campaign against the Byzantines in North Africa. He followed that up with a second ship when the first never returned. The second detachment reported back that they discovered the burned out remains of TWO ships and two sets of soldiers, Byzantine and Visigothic, plus the bodies of the monks - and the bodies of a great many rats. It was as if the island had been swamped with rats, and everyone had died trying to fight them off.

There was one survivor of course - a sailor, raving in Greek, who had climbed atop a dolmen to escape whatever had befallen. After they brought him to the ship, they caught him trying to set fire to it and the Goths who knew a little of the language swore he screamed "Don't let it off the island, don't let it spread!" before he was restrained. Thereafter he said little but "Bryluka" or "Vrykolakas" several times.

Lucius Alexander

The palindromedary thinks the island should look like this, covered with cypress, but bigger

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Po...d_05-06-06.jpg

[tkdguy]

There's also the Stephen King short story Graveyard Shift (synopsis in Wikipedia).

[Drhoz]

I love Wikipedia

With just a few minutes researching for my, I've found a REAL island that has two ruined towers, a history of massacres, invasions by every Mediterranean civilisation you can think of, an order of hermits, and religious sects being banished by order of the Pope. And it's called the Gorgon! I couldn't make this up!

[Drhoz]

Such an island should have a bloody and Gothic history.

Specifically, Visigothic.[/url]

would rep, but... Fear not, your account will turn up with successful Library Use rolls - as recorded by the Genoese historian Lucius Alexander, of course

[Drhoz]

There's also the Stephen King short story Graveyard Shift (synopsis in Wikipedia).

Funny, I don't remember that one...

[Lucius]

I love Wikipedia

With just a few minutes researching for my, I've found a REAL island that has two ruined towers, a history of massacres, invasions by every Mediterranean civilisation you can think of, an order of hermits, and religious sects being banished by order of the Pope. And it's called the Gorgon! I couldn't make this up!

I say that all the time when researching history.

I recently learned about shaturnals for example.

Apparently, someone got the bright idea of mounting a cannon on a camel

and it worked!

Lucius Alexander

Not sure I should try it with a palindromedary....

[tkdguy]

Funny, I don't remember that one...

They also made a movie about this story, although the ending was changed a bit.

[Drhoz]

I say that all the time when researching history.

I recently learned about shaturnals for example.

Apparently, someone got the bright idea of mounting a cannon on a camel

and it worked!

Yes, tried to rep you for that post too... and told my wife and housemates all about it