The eighth Down Darker Trails: Bag of Nails scenario, played in February 2020, was titled Old Bones. This scenario was intended to be a murder mystery with only mild supernatural elements.
Scenario: Old Bones
Stay a While and Listen
Due to the strange dangers the paleontologists and excavation team faced during their travels, and thanks to the cool heads of the player characters, Dr. Franklin Amasse and Dr. Emil Blankenthorpe request that the full team stay to help ensure their camp is safe during the expedition. They will provide additional funding, and the PCs may be curious to the bones the team may dig up.
The first few days are relatively uneventful as the team migrates the camp around the area, looking for the best dig site. After 1d4+2 days, the first bones are found and it’s a treasure trove. It appears to be the remains of a nest of the long-clawed deinonychus. Some of the specimens appear almost 12 feet in length, with a 4.7 inch claw on the second toe of their hind legs. The scientists are ecstatic at the find and excavation begins immediately and swiftly, though with protective care under the watchful eyes of Dawson and the doctors.
Death on the Watch, Shadows in the Night
Though it’s been calm, the excavation is happening near Crow territory and possible plunder from outlaws traveling to/from Red Lodge; everyone (excepting the paleontologists) is expected to take watch. Given there are a dozen people, watch is broken into 2 hour watch shifts of three people. During their watch, some might notice strange shapes in the shadows near the dig site. The shapes seem to be two hunched over forms, walking strangely. The shadows seem to be in the shape of the fossilized creatures, but it’s difficult to tell from a distance. If investigated, nothing will be found or seem to be disturbed at the site.
Owen Lesser and Gilbert Frog are part of the 3rd watch crew. When the third member of the watch (PC or NPC) has to defecate, they will return to find the two friends dead, slashed across their chest and throat. An investigation of their body will reveal that their wounds come from something thicker than a knife. Could this be caused by the claw of a dinosaur?
Monster or Murder?
The deaths will understandably cause chaos in the camp, but the paleontologists and Dawson will argue that the team stays. They’re almost done with the job and leaving the site in its current state will likely mean no money for anyone. They’ll be able to convince the crew, but will they convince the player characters?
Watches will be heightened, and even the doctors will participate in the nightly duties. But another death or multiple deaths may occur, including the likely death of Dr. Emil Blankenthorpe. Depending on the circumstances, deaths may result in bodies not just slashed, but ravaged. The shapes of deinonychus in the shadows will become more visible with each death.
The players (and their characters) should be under the impression that the dinosaurs are returning to life and killing.
Profit in Madness
If individual tents are investigated or the crew is persuaded to leave it will be revealed that Dr. Franklin Amasse and Eugene Dawson were responsible for the murders, slashing the victims with some of the recovered claws. Buried under Dr. Amasse’s bedroll is a box containing a book with strange runes and writing and a leathery scrap. If confronted with proof, Dawson will admit he committed his crimes at the behest of the senior paleontologist, seeking a greater share of profits for the recovered bones. Franklin Amasse, on the other hand, will say that the deaths herald the return of the his god.
Their fates will be in the hands of the PCs and whatever crew members may be left.
Session Recap
It didn’t take much to convince the Investigators to stay and assist the excavation crew. Not only was there more money to be made, but dinosaurs are cool. Even to cowboys. Ellis, Red Dove, and Arlene took a wagon to the nearby mining town of Red Lodge to acquire additional food supplies for their elongated stay, while the others helped keep watch over the camp. Being so close to Crow territory and with potential threats from bone robbers, the additional security was a relief to the excavation crew as it allowed them a bit more rest. Watches were done in teams of three by all except the Doctors Amasse and Blankenthorpe.
Late into the night watch, Corwin caught a glimpse of movement by the dig site. Investigating further he thought he saw the outline of a dinosaur but no one else on the watch shift could see the figure. As it never approached the camp and may have been a trick of the imagination, the shadow was dismissed.
The next night Anton Roche, Sylvester Hughes, and Hector Campos all took watch. None of the Investigators were awake, but Sylvester woke the camp and relayed that Anton saw shadows by the dig site that neither he nor Hector noticed. Anton left to investigate and his torch suddenly died out. He was found dead from a vicious slash across the throat. With the strange death and the confirmation that Corwin’s visions of shadows from the night prior were not an isolated event, watch was heightened.
As Ellis, Arlene, and Red Dove traveled back to the dig site, the whispers in the Native American scout’s damaged ear grew louder. She woke from their temporary camp with a seething rage and desire for violence. Fortunately, she was able to calm herself from acting out against her companions, but was in a sour mood. After reaching the dig site and hearing about the events, her mood went from angry to curious and the whispers died down.
Even with heightened watches and an agreement that everyone travel in pairs, death was not abated. Another murder occurred the next night during Owen Lesser, Gilbert Frog, and Levi Richmond’s watch. Owen left watch to relieve himself, followed by his friend Gilbert. A shout from Frog woke many in the camp and set Levi running to check on the two. Owen lied in a pool of blood and Gilbert had a large slash across his arm. He claimed it was from a dinosaur. An examination by Hiram Blake confirmed that Gilbert’s cut as well as the eviscerations on Owen were not made by a knife and were likely instruments similar to that of the dinosaur’s long claw.
With the strange deaths and three separate visions of a dinosaur, many of the workers were ready to leave. The archeologists and their crew leader, Eugene Dawson, talked the rest into staying. The work was almost done and without the rest of the bones, they could not afford to pay for all the work that was done. Additional hazard pay was promised to all.
The Investigators were suspicious and decided to check out the tents of the scientists and workers while they were at the dig site during the day. Inside Dr. Franklin Amasse’s tent they found a lockbox buried under his bedroll. The box contained the long claw of a dinosaur, a strange piece of leathery hide not belonging to any animals they were familiar with, and a journal. The evidence could be circumstantial and they were not yet ready to confront Amasse, so left the journal unread and all items in the box. While most of the other crew’s tents were “clean,” Dawson also had a dinosaur claw buried under his bedroll.
The Investigators debated amongst themselves if someone could be summoning a dinosaur from the grave, if the items were planted to leave a false trail, or if something more sinister was afoot. They agreed to keep a closer watch on the their prime two suspects. Now that three of the crew had died, they were able to rearrange the watch so at least one Investigator would be present during every shift. The archaeologists were also prompted to take a shift in the night watch.
Though careful, Eugene Dawson was still caught in the act of murdering Sylvester Hughes. While the Investigators chased and confronted him, they lost track of Amasse, who was quickly slashing the throat of everyone’s throat. With Dawson tied up, they returned to the camp to see the older scientist covered in blood and ranting about the return of his god. Not taking any chances, they killed the archaeologist with a well-placed shot.
Dawson confessed that he helped Amasse strictly for the money. He professed not to know quite how insane the Franklin Amasse was or what god the doctor had referenced. The Investigators decided to take him to Red Lodge for justice.
Amasse’s journal began as a standard trip summary written in black ink but quickly devolved into a red-brown writing. First there were words, then strange sigils. While Arlene wanted to pocket the book for later study, the Investigators still weren’t sure if something was actually resurrecting the dinosaurs or not. There was profit in selling the complete fossils so they decided to burn the book and strange leather in favor of a payout over knowledge.
With the mystery solved and a trove of dinosaur bones, they set out to Red Lodge to turn over Eugene Dawson to local law and plan their next steps.
Keeper’s Thoughts
Overall the game went better than I anticipated. I accelerated bits of the timeline for pacing purposes. I also ended up killing all the NPCs but the guilty, to avoid having them chime in. The larger the group of players, the less I want NPCs also weighing in on what PCs should do.
I have, however, neglected to write up rewards and retributions for this and the last few sessions. It’s always the last thing on my scenario creation list and sometimes it goes forgotten. As the PCs weren’t directly responsible for any deaths and they did solve the mystery, I awarded a 1d6 of Sanity points. Some of the Investigators are sitting on a pretty pile of Sanity, while others are woefully low at this point.
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