I ran my third Down Darker Trails: Bag of Nails scenario on the first Saturday of May. This issue was titled “As the Crow Flies” and sent the characters on a journey through the Crow reservation in search of treasure. This marked the first scenario in the campaign that was based on player proactive decisions (to go after the treasure), rather than reaction.
Scenario: As the Crow Flies
This scenario directly follows the events of Issue 2: Brass in Pocket, where the investigators found a treasure map in the diary of Montague Tobias Pockets and the players decided to obtain the goods for themselves.
Old Friends and New Acquaintances
Characters of the previous session were now in Fort Ellis. The remaining established player characters (or any Virginia City-based characters) were sent as a back-up group after not hearing from the other characters, allowing for the established group to be reunited. New characters could be introduced to the party as fellow treasure hunters, past friends, guides, Crow representatives, or financiers.
Leaders and Followers
Before embarking onto the Crow Reservation, the investigators will need to meet with the natives to discuss terms, otherwise they invite additional conflicts between the Indians and white people. If required, the General Chauncey Miller at Fort Ellis will dissuade (possibly by force) the investigators from entering the natives’ territory without permission. Crows will send an ambassador named Standing Deer to examine where the investigators intend to go and warn them that they will be headed through an evil place, beyond the Black Canyon and into the shadow of Sacrifice Cliff. The investigators will also need to negotiate the terms of how much the Crow are to receive. The easiest split is 50/50, with the investigators doing all the work and paying simply for being undisturbed by the Indians on the reservation. Additional accommodates, such as guides, will alter the base bargain.
Depending on new players, this gives another opportunity to bring in additional characters, either as free/cheaper guides through the lands or as representatives to the Crow to verify the investigators are honest with their share.
Badlands
From the edge of the reservation, the investigators will travel for about five days through the badlands. This can be an easy, mostly scenic journey, allowing for role-play and additional introductions between new and old characters. Though still snow-covered, the characters will see bison, pronghorns, and bighorn sheep. If any animals are killed for any purpose beyond survival (for fun or sport) the travelers will be haunted by a howling wind and a giant, phantom wolf. The spirit, an avatar of the Crow god named Old Man Coyote, will not directly attack the investigators, but will make their journey far less pleasant. The attacks will be to eat away at the sanity of the investigators and potentially urge them into making mistakes wherein they harm themselves or each other.
The Black Canyon
The primary leg of the journey to the treasure will be complete when the investigators arrive at the edge of the canyon forged by Yellowstone River. This will require finding a path down the canyon and dealing with Flying Skulls that wait in the canyon for prey. The investigators will need to fight to keep both hit points and sanity points as the impossible fiends bite and rend their flesh. Poor footing could also lead to falling down the canyon, resulting in injury or death.
Once at the bottom of the canyon, the trials and tribulations will not have ended as the investigators will need to cross the swift-running Yellowstone River. If running from the flying skulls (the Kanontsistonties), this will present additional skill challenges that could send an individual crashing into the rocks in the river or a mile away.
Once the river has been crossed, the survivors will also need to find a path up the canyon wall, all with the knowledge that they will have to go through the ordeal again and potentially loaded down with treasures.
Kanontsistonties
Iroquois myths speak of disembodied, winged heads, hungry for any human in their path. These flying heads, or flying skulls, are the undead remains of cursed cannibals and now their hunger can never be sated. Though weak, they are typically numerous, appearing in packs of 3d6.
STR 80
CON 40
SIZ 10
DEX 70
INT 30
APP 20
POW 70
EDU —
SAN —
HP 4
Damage Bonus: 1
Build: 1
Move: 7
MP: 19
Combat: 1 Attacks per round: biting; Fighting 70%, bite damage 1D6; Dodge 50%
Special Abilities: Flight
Sacrifice Cliff
Once across the Black Canyon the characters have another day’s travel ahead to Sacrifice Cliff. Lore tells of the cliff being named for the two Crow youths who journeyed through many perils to throw themselves from the top of the plateau, sacrificing themselves to end the plague brought by the white man. This is a relatively new tale, only 40 years old circa 1869. Investigators must make a POW roll or hear the whispers that will compel them to climb the cliff and commit suicide. To the ghosts of the Crow boys, this is retribution and revenge for the smallpox-laden blankets given to their peoples. Investigators who failed their roll will want to throw themselves from the cliff and may not be obvious about their desires to their companions.
Getting is One Thing, Keeping Another
After dealing with the tribulations of Sacrifice Cliff the investigators will finally be free to examine the flat side of the plateau and find a cave that presumably leads to the treasure. Depending on time spent/available in the session, a family of bears may live at the cave’s entrance.
Once through a relatively short series of tunnels leading down and around, the characters will find a large chamber filled with trinkets and jewelry; some of which is valuable, others likely were simply sentimental (like dolls and clothes). Above the pit are organ-like brass pipes, as if they were pieces from the calliope, each ending in a spear-like point. Any flesh that enters the pit will be speared by a pipe for 1d10 damage. The initial observation of such unnatural magic and movement will also be cause for a SAN roll. It will require a lot of time and careful gathering to catalogue and appraise the treasures.
The investigators will also need to keep in mind that they’ll need to re-travel the Black Canyon and badlands with this heavier load, potentially slowing their travel and having to face many of the same dangers on the way back. What was a 6 or 7 day journey will now be 10 to 12 days and there are many ways treasures can be lost along the way back.
Once returned to Fort Ellis, the investigators will need to provide the expected share of the treasure with the Crow. It’s possible that the characters will try to cheat or swindle the natives in some way. While the Crow representatives may not be aware, the spirits of their ancestors will be and this will come back to haunt the characters. Literally.
Rewards and Retributions
Successful completion of the scenario: +10 Credit Rating
Splitting the treasure fairly: 1d10 Sanity
Keeping extra treasure: Characters “cursed” (additional monsters/tribulations next scenario)
Session Recap
We began with a full table of established characters, plus a new player (who chose the gunslinger, Maximo Gaspar). The first half hour of table-time consisted largely of updating character sheets, procurement of supplies, and internal discussions regarding the plan. The investigators met with Standing Deer and agreed to a fifty percent split of the profits in exchange for safe travels (at least, safe from the Crow). Maximo was introduced to the party as an outside agent who would ensure the characters kept their word; and the Crow felt he would be more expendable should they all die as they ventured into what the native representative described as evil lands.
The initial journey started off well, though there was some suspicion from the established investigators and the gunman. They took care not to show the map to their new party member. While traversing the badlands Red Dove, seeing the opportunity for food beyond their dry rations, killed a pronghorn. This would allow the companions real meat for the journey. Plus, as the player joked, there’d be less time wasted on bathroom breaks thanks to eating only meat..
Maximo Gaspar, however, did not kill for food and killed a buffalo to take its head as a keepsake. Red Dove chided the actions and did what she could to make the buffalo meat useable. Little did they know the gunman’s intent would put them all in jeopardy.
That night the wind howled around them like wild animals circling, adversely affecting their sleep and making their travel the next day all the more difficult. The following night, the howling was worse and the snow and dust formed a whirlwind around their camp, extinguishing any light that might be mistaken as threatening, like torches held outward or campfires set ablaze. Peering into the dark revealed the shadow of a wolf the size of horse, with cold blue eyes. At dawn, the spirits vanished. Though no one was directly harmed, the party took to sleeping by day and traveling slowly by night.
For three nights this continued, eating away at the stability of the companions. Attempting to make amends by throwing the buffalo head into the darkness only seemed to make things worse as the action was followed by a harrowing crunching noise, like the skull was being eaten in a single bite. Pants were soiled, people were frozen stiff in fear, and to others it seemed like the wisest course of action was to run away in the dark. Thanks to the help of those who kept their cool, no lives were lost. But the investigators had only begun their hardships.
The group planned their journey as carefully as they could and reached the canyon around midday. With little climbing experience in the group and with the hopes they’d be hauling treasure back, Red Dove and Levi Richmond scouted the canyon wall looking for the easiest path down. Once found, they used their rope to start to set up a guard rail system.
Once halfway down the mountain, the two were set upon by flying skulls. They worked hard at fighting them off and were aided by Maximo Gaspar and Ellis Gentry. Arlene Hunnell had other work on her hands as Doctor Blake, consumed with fear, decided he could run back to Fort Ellis. While the four were fighting off flying skulls, the reporter and doctor had a slapstick-like sequence of near-misses and tackles. Thankfully, Arlene was able to bring Hiram back to his senses as the doctor’s skills were needed following the fight; Red Dove was badly wounded and many of the others suffered painful bites.
After their ordeal with the flying skulls fording the river and walking up the other side of the canyon seemed like a walk in the park. A very dangerous park. A walk in Central Park at night in the 1970’s. But still easier and less breaking than what they’d encountered so far.
The scout and the prospector were the first to reach Sacrifice Cliff. Red Dove sensed something wrong with the area, but it was Levi who heard voices in the wind. Voices he could ignore, but dangerous words nonetheless. Doctor Hiram Blake was not so lucky. The words traveled into his mind and he knew the best thing for the group was to throw himself from the top of the cliff. At first he put it under the guise of looking for a cave entrance, but the investigators were already wary of his actions given how he had reacted to the skulls and the howling. Once more, it was the doctor who needed mental healing.
Haggard, but still alive, the party found a cave on the side of the cliff, one that matched the description in M. T. Pockets’s diary. Once more, the lack of climbing skills in the group meant a difficult voyage to the cave. Finally up and inside, the investigators moved carefully and cautiously through the tunnels, some fearing skulls or cannibalistic dwarves. To their relief, no such dangers threatened them and they soon found a cavern filled with precious and sentimental knickknacks.
Thankfully, some of the investigators looked up and noticed the spiked roof of brass pipes. Sensing some sort of trap, they threw a piece of buffalo meat into the treasure and watched in horror as one of the pipes moved impossibly to spear it. The group carefully plotted methods of obtaining the treasure, tying ropes to bags to “fish” out as much as they could. Ellis did his best to appraise what he could see and pointed the group to the best items. Once their bags were full and nothing of obvious material gain stood out, the group experimented by throwing pieces of meat into the cavern, watching the spears weave a deadly dance ruining both the meat and the items left in the deep trench.
While not completely surprising, it was still disconcerting to Maximo that once the group left he decided to check on the cavern to find the spears back in place on the ceiling.
The journey back was not as supernatural, but was still fraught with difficulty. One of the pack mules toppled from the canyon side, over-weighted by treasure. Almost a third of the treasure was lost to the rapids of Yellowstone River. The return through the badlands was peaceful but the serenity was lost on the wounded and frayed investigators.
The party was fair in their dealings with the Crow and, despite the hardships, the journey was very profitable. The investigators all used some of their newfound wealth to take a much needed break.
Lessons Learned
Despite not being a complex mystery, this was a longer session. The group went over time by an hour and that last hour was mostly a compressed version of the trip back and splitting the loot. Our new table location was quieter, and that was an overall boon.
We had a new player at the table on this adventure, one who was primarily a D&D player and unfamiliar with Call of Cthulhu. Unsurprisingly, he chose the gunfighter. It took little effort on my part to egg him into shooting a buffalo for sport. While this added more tension at the start of the journey, it did stymie some opportunity for group role-play and discussion around a campfire. If the player returns, I’ll encourage him to role-play more and reiterate that, despite the action, Call of Cthulhu is not a combat game and characters are much more fragile.
As a GM I try to give everyone some spotlight time, but due to the road trip nature of the scenario and with so many people at the table it left me a more reactionary GM. This often meant that I paid more attention to the louder players and didn’t encourage other players to interact as much. I don’t like to mention things at the table, but I saw a couple players looking at their phone or computer from time to time and I never take that as a positive sign. It’s a good reminder to me that one of the GM responsibilities is helping to make sure every players gets their time in the spotlight.
This particular scenario also didn’t allow for much in the way of personal character stories. Because of the “on the road” nature, there wasn’t much interaction with the town or allowing the players to run their characters in a bit of a “day to day.” As I plan future sessions, I’ll try to make sure that not only do players get a chance to do something, items should be tailored for their characters wherever possible.
My biggest takeaway, though, was that I have about four sanity/surprise options I fall back on. This is fine during one-shots, but begins to feel repetitive in a campaign. Not only will I write up a number of new options and add them to my GM screen, but I think I’ll also start giving players the option to dictate their reactions.
Recent Comments