Down Darker Trails: Bag of Nails continued with its ninth scenario in March of 2020. The Investigators stopped in the nearby town of Red Lodge to plan their next moves, only to encounter more strangeness and violence.
Scenario: Seeing Red Lodge
Law Don’t Go Around Here
Red Lodge, Montana is a small, makeshift town that’s made up of coal miners and people of the Crow tribe. It has two physical buildings: a saloon with 4 room rentals and a coal storage building. Every other construction in the town is a tent or lean-to. As an unincorporated area, there’s no official presence of law, but the people of the town have maintained a semblance of civility through some of the authority figures.
Touched by Darkness
During their stay in Red Lodge, one or more of the Investigators may see an elderly Crow woman who is clearly distraught by their presence. If questioned, the wizened woman will proclaim that the Investigators are “touched by the darkness” and wherever they go, death will follow.
Even if the PCs don’t believe the notion, it will help plant the seed of why they continually happen into supernatural events.
Red Coal, Bloody Floors
Death does indeed follow the Investigators. It’s only while they are in Red Lodge that a recent haul of coal shows a red tint in its blackish hue. Upon inhaling the coal or smoke from the coal, the victim will be forced to make a POW roll; at increasing difficulty the longer they inhale or with direct contact. Failure of the roll results in the character suffering a boiling rage with the desire to extinguish that rage in violence.
The two buildings will be the first to suffer the consequences of this cursed coal. The workers at the coal storage plant will slowly succumb to the rage, as they are inhaling it a little bit at a time. The saloon, on the other hand, has used some of the new coal in its stove. This will incite bar brawls that could swiftly become massacres.
Fight or Flight
With almost an entire town turned savage, the Investigators will be in great danger and some may even be under the influence as well. The coal can be extinguished and moved, but doing so will come with some risk. The longer they stay in town, the more their recent treasure of dinosaur bones will be at risk from skirmishes that fire up throughout the town.
Will the Investigators act as heroes or save their own skin (and bones)?
Rewards and Retributions
Recognize the danger of the coal before it affects too many: +1d4 SAN
Destroy the coal or halt the violence in the town: +1d10 SAN
Killing any in more than just self defense: -1d4 SAN per killing
Session Recap
Keeper’s Note: I lost my original summary notes so am compiling this from memory two months after the fact. While I’m confident the key points are in place, there might be some details out of sequence or missed.
The Investigators entered the town with Eugene Dawson in tow. Hearing of the murders at the dig site, and backed by the word of both a soldier and a reporter, the former crew leader was quickly put to justice with a hanging. With the bodies of the slain needing to be laid to proper rest, Lieutenant Corwin Blackstone returned to the dig site with some of the more authoritative townsfolk. The other Investigators opted to stay in town to plan for next steps.
Red Dove noticed the old Crow woman scowling and questioned the strange elder. Upon hearing the old woman claim the scout was “touched by darkness,” Red Dove largely dismissed the elder as being senile or not willing to adapt to the white man’s world. There was a part of the scout, though, that wondered how true the old woman’s vision might be and if she and her companions could be marked; they’d certainly encountered constant strange happenings.
With limited rooms for rent available, Levi set up his tent near the edge of town. As he finished preparing his campsite, he saw the miners bringing in their latest wagon of coal. Some of the coal had a reddish tint that intrigued the prospector. No one really cared or would notice if a piece of coal or two went missing and Levi took advantage of that fact to run some experiments. He crushed some of the coal in his hand, inadvertently inhaling some of the dust.
It didn’t take long for the cursed coal to work its way into Levi’s system. When his dog, Earl, began barking what would normally be minor annoyance immediately became a vexation that tempted violence. Fighting the urge to harm his dog, Levi quickly moved to a nearby post and began to thrash against it. Red Dove, noticing the strange behavior of her friend, tried to question the prospector but to no avail. The scout didn’t realize that Levi was fighting the urge to shift the focus of his fury on her.
Red Dove quickly gathered the other Investigators—specifically, Doctor Blake—in the hopes they might know what to do. The doctor had an idea: sedation. With the jab of a syringe, Levi was unconscious.
While the Investigators were dealing with Levi other violence was starting to break out across the town. Still unaware of the cause, Red Dove decided to report an alert to the coal storage building: the seat of authority in the town. When Red Dove reached the coal storage building she saw naught but death and brutality. The coal was red with the blood of miners and administrators.
Ellis and Arlene still had their possessions in their room and needed to retrieve them in the midst of a growing barfight. This took much dodging, weaving, and eventually climbing to the second floor to retrieve all the belongings of the Investigators.
With Levi now semiconscious and the others having seen a population turned to internal riot, it was easy to deduce the culprit: the strange red coal. Not wanting to endanger themselves or the dinosaur bones any further, the group immediately left the town to fight itself and went west towards the dig site so they could notify Corwin and the closest thing to law the town had. The two groups met halfway the Investigators provided what they felt was sufficient warning to the traveling Red Lodge residents regarding the events in the town and the cause.
With warning provided and Corwin back in the group, they traveled northward to a city large enough to have a telegraph and train.
After a short bidding war with rival universities the Investigators’ credit scores jumped when they accepted an offer from Miskatonic University. Now all they needed to do was transport the bones safely from Montana to Massachusetts. An endeavor that could prove to be an adventure on its own.
Keeper’s Thoughts
This marks a major turning point in the campaign. The players had previously debated leaving Virginia City but at the end of this session, they seemed eager to get as far away as possible. This doesn’t trash my plans, but elongates them and will, potentially make me move things around a bit.
While I plan each scenario as if it were an episode in a TV series, I don’t want to take the format of “should you choose to accept this mission.” I prefer to have things flow around the PCs allowing them to choose to take part in their own way. Despite my scenario structuring, it’s really just there so that the game has direction if the players don’t take one on their own.
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