Trail of Cthulhu - The Dance In The Blood.pdf - Trail of Cthulhu - siemszak

TRAIL OF CTHULHU

THE DANCE IN THE BLOOD

Credits

Publisher: Simon Rogers

Author: Graham Walmsley

Layout: Beth Lewis

Artwork: Jérôme Huguenin

Thank you to the many playtesters for whom I ran this scenario, including Steve Dempsey, Simon

Rogers, Dave, Keary Birch, Pookie, Robin Poole and Will with the astonishing glasses. Thank you

also to the others, especially at Concrete Cow and Dragonmeet. I forgot to note your names, which

is unforgiveable, particularly since I stole your character concepts for the example Investigators.

Please get in touch and we’ll add your names to future editions.

Thank you also to the external playtesters: Geoff Skellams, Dave, Steve Dempsey, Simon Rogers,

Declan Feeney, Bert Isla, Nick Helton, Richard Gillingham, Jonathan Goodyear and Abel Vargas,

Morten Greis Petersen, Nis Baggesen, Christina Wodtke, Peter Fallesen, Jacob Zimmerman and

Thomas Mørch, Alexandra Gödecke, Joachim Krisch, Clemens Huder, Nico Walter, Miriam

Walter, Arne Gödecke, Guy Sodin, Vince Fisher, Joe Madigan, Aaron Wallenius, Jim Schmitz,

Adrian Thomson, Leath Sheales, Angela Skellams, Jason Morton.

Your feedback is invaluable. Thank you so much for your time.Special thanks to Jerome Hugenin

for artwork.

You might be interested whether the places I have mentioned actually exist. Most do. Keswick is a

pretty town in the Lake District, popular for walking holidays. Castlerigg Circle is nearby, although

the Blackstone Hotel and Keswick Hospital are fictional. Manesty is a genuine and tiny village,

although I have based its grey-slate buildings on nearby Grange. Both Derwent Water and Maiden

Moor are real, but the Maiden House is not. Everything is more pleasant in real life than I have

described it. The monsters under the soil are not, I hope, real.

This is the third Purist adventure in a series of four. In the next and last, The Rending Box, the

Investigators find the creature that spawned the monsters under the soil.

TRAIL OF CTHULHU

Table of Contents

Introduction

Manesty

The Hook

The Wareing House

The Horrible Truth

The Leeward Inn

The Spine

The Old Schoolhouse

The Investigators

Clues In Manesty

CreatingYour Own Investigators

Keswick Hospital

Clues

Low Manesty

Cast of Characters

The Dance In The Blood

The Blackstone Hotel, Keswick

The Maiden House

Bringing The Investigators Together

The Ritual

Keswick

Dreams

Epilogue

Static

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Handouts

TRAIL OF CTHULHU

The Dance in the Blood

INTRODUCTION

In a forgotten, secluded place, in the

North of England, lies a village of

many secrets and terrors. When the

Investigators find this village, they

uncover a mystery that has killed many

and doomed others.

Manesty stands on their land. Soon,

they will tear it apart.

lives elsewhere. When their time

comes, however, they find a reason to

return to Manesty. There, they dream

of a ritual they must perform: a dance

that runs in their blood.

When the monsters are young, they live

with the people of Manesty and appear

human. Indeed, biologically, they are

human: only later in life do they shed

their skin, revealing their wormlike

form.

In Manesty itself, there is a dynasty

of these monsters, called the Wareing

family. In 1895, Jack Wareing, one

of the monsters, married Victoria, a

human. Soon thereafter, Victoria gave

birth to a new generation of monsters.

The Dance In The Blood is the third

Purist scenario for Trail of Cthulhu. In

the previous scenarios, The Dying Of

St Margaret’s and The Watchers In The

Sky, there was little fighting and no

hope of winning. All the Investigators

could do was flee.

More importantly, they believe they are

human. Many leave Manesty to pursue

Timeline

As the scenario progresses, the Investigators will discover more of the

timeline. To help them keep track, use the following timeline which can also be

found at the back of the book as a handout. Cut it into strips, one for each date.

The, as they discover facts, give them the corresponding strip of the handout.

In The Dance In The Blood, the

Investigators cannot even flee. Because,

as they will discover, they are the

monsters themselves.

1697 The town by the lake, Lower Manesty, is destroyed. It is later rebuilt as

The Hook

In a hotel in the English Lake District,

a group of strangers discover they

are related. Although they did not

know it, they were born in the nearby

village of Manesty and adopted in early

childhood.

1816 Low Manesty is destroyed. It is later rebuilt as Manesty, the village that

1870 Jack is born.

1900 - 1904 The Investigators are born.

1905 The Investigators are photographed as children. Also in the photograph

are their parents, Jack and Victoria, and another child, Geoffrey.

The Horrible Truth

Beneath the Lake District, a race of

monsters swims through the soil.

They are wormlike, humanoid and

loathsome. These creatures regard the

land above as their own.

1905 Victoria has the children adopted.

1905 Victoria commits suicide.

1925 Jack, now aged 55, marries Mary.

Every 119 years, when their power

is greatest, they rise from the earth,

tear apart the village and murder its

inhabitants. They have done this many

times. In 1697, they tore apart a village

by the lake. In 1816, they tore apart the

village that was built in its place. Now,

1929 Jack and Mary conceive the twins. Jack disappears.

1930 The twins, Lisa and Bethany, are born.

1935 The present day.

Low Manesty.

now stands.

TRAIL OF CTHULHU

The Dance in the Blood

These were the Investigators, plus one

other: Geoffrey Wareing.

the Wareing children, adopted soon after

birth.

to Castlerigg Stone Circle. Geoffrey’s

skin is splitting, revealing the monster

beneath. They must choose whether to

perform the sacrifice, releasing him, or

leave him to die.

Eventually, by piecing together local

folktales and the family’s history,

Victoria realised what her children

were. She had them adopted, far away

from Manesty, then committed suicide.

The Investigators begin to dream of a

strange ritual: dancing on a hillside, within

a stone circle, and performing a sacrifice

with an ancient knife. Additionally, they

notice that all local radios emit static.

Nevertheless, the local inhabitants seem

to hear the radio as normal.

The Investigators

Here are five Investigators designed for

The Dance In The Blood.

Years later, Jack remarried. Mary, his

new wife, gave birth to twins: two new

monsters.

When the Investigators travel to Manesty,

they find Geoffrey, who has drifted there

for reasons he does not understand. His

pulse has stopped and the skin is loosening

around his fingertips.

For each Investigator, the name given

as their family name is their adopted

name. At birth, their family name

was Wareing. For example, Rosa was

originally Rosa Wareing, but is now

called Rosa Parker.

Then Jack began to dream of his

ancestry. Shortly afterwards, when he

realized what he was, he disappeared.

He had been called to join his brethren

under the earth.

Also in Manesty, the Investigators find

Mary Wareing, Jack’s estranged second

wife. They then discover a secret haunt

of Jack Wareing: the Maiden House, on a

deserted moor.

Similarly, where a Source of Stability

is listed as a family member, they are a

member of the adopted family. There

is one exception: Michael Laws is

genuinely Geoffrey Laws’ brother. At

birth, they were Michael and Geoffrey

Wareing, and were then adopted by the

Laws family.

Now it is time for the monsters to

rise again and reclaim the land. The

children of Jack Wareing have been

called back to Manesty. There, they will

destroy the village and those who live

in it. Those children, of course, are the

Investigators.

At the Maiden House, the Investigators

find Jack’s old documents, which reveal

his monstrous nature. In the upper rooms

of the house, they find the sacrificial knife

that appeared in their dreams.

Use the Family Tree handout on page

26 to keep track of the family tree.

There are two versions. If you are using

the sample Investigators, use the first

one. If the players are creating their

own Investigators, use the second, and

fill in the Investigator’s first names.

Occupational abilities are marked with

an asterisk.

Soon afterwards, Jack begins to talk to

the Investigators, through a radio in the

Maiden House. He is now a monster,

swimming beneath the earth. He

encourages the Investigators to sacrifice

Geoffrey. This will release his monstrous

form, so that he can join his brethren in

the soil below.

Rosa Parker

Concept: Spinster antiques dealer

Drive: Ennui

Occupation : Antiquarian

Sex: Female

In both versions, the Investigators are

shown in italics.

Sources of stability: Priscilla, my

sister. Derek, the antiques dealer with

whom I served my apprenticeship.

Martha, the newsagent who lives near

me.

The Spine

The Investigators are staying in the

Blackstone Hotel, in Keswick, a town in

the English Lake District. They do not

know each other. However, they find

a photograph of themselves, together,

as children. Also in the photograph is

Geoffrey, the brother of one Investigator,

and an unknown man and woman.

In the final scene, Geoffrey and the

Investigators feel themselves called

Simpler

Although the backstory seems

complex, it’s simpler in play.

There are two main facts for the

Investigators to discover: they are

related and they are monsters.

Essentially, that’s all you need.

Pillars of sanity: Honesty is the best

policy. Somebody will love me for what

I am. Deep inside, I am a good person.

Investigative Skills: Archaeology 2,

Architecture* 2, History* 2, Library

Use* 2, Assess Honesty 1, Bureaucracy

1, Credit Rating 3, Intimidation 2, Oral

History 2, Evidence Collection 1.

When they investigate, they discover

that the photograph shows the Wareings,

a family who lives in Manesty. The

Investigators discover themselves to be

Trail of Cthulhu - The Dance In The Blood.pdf

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