Merry XMAS!!!!! Fnord.
The Strange Metal Edifices of Daryl
Horn
A Call of Cthulhu Now Tale
Background
Daryl Horn
is a noted entrepreneur and artist who works in metal. Inspired by many
sources, his welded constructs have impressed for decades, and his multi-acre
proper in the Tri-Cities area of Kennewick, Washington has stood out for those
who take the time to find it. Covered in enormous and multifaceted cubical and
disk-like structures, his ranch is noted for being the epicenter of
eccentricity. Daryl himself dislikes visitors, however, and has put much effort
into keeping people at bay; his sculptures are for the viewing eyes of guests
and prospective clients only.
Recently
Daryl Horn has become something of a sensation as his sculptures became the
unwanted center of attention when a murder was committed on his property, a
local high school student Amanda Hayes. Amanda was missing for three days
before her body was identified and called in by Horn, who admitted to the
police that he had not discovered here until some time had passed; the body had
been on his property for all three days. While being held as a suspect the
police grudgingly admitted that they could find no evidence of wrongdoing on
Hayes’ part, and the angle of the odd disk-like sculpture of metal was at such
an angle that it was impossible to see the body without a step-ladder, or
approaching from a distance. It was while navigating his property line that
Horn spotted Amanda’s body at a distance, or so he claims.
The police
have investigated Amanda’s murder so far with few results. A coroner’s autopsy performed
by Dr. Jeremy Allston reveals that she experienced some form of severe
electrical shock which damaged her nervous system and likely rendered her
unconscious, but the cause of death is elusive. Precisely what transpired
remains a mystery; no evidence of physical assault can be found, nor can
evidence be found of how she was placed on the sculpture. No DNA evidence is
evident, either, although the coroner concedes that she had two unusual
elements which he could not explain: severely elevated serotonin levels in the
blood suggesting carcinoid syndrome (he notes evidence of several minor tumors
to support the elevated levels). The other oddity was even harder to explain:
trace amounts of several unusual gasses in the lungs and tissue, including a
disproportionate amount of methane, ethane, acetylene and diacetylene, with
evidence of lung damage from exposure to the gasses, though not enough to
suggest cause of death. Dr. Allston is
leaning to a “little bit of everything” theory of her death: that she may have
been electrocuted, and then suffocated while unconscious and exposed to a mix
of chemicals.
Two days
after his autopsy release, a leak to the press leads to the “New Mad Gasser”
nickname for the murderer. Meanwhile, Horn remains a prime suspect even if they
can’t pin it to him, and Horn’s good friend and attorney Anton Wells decides to
intervene. He contacts some known associates (the PCs) to look into the case
and try to find evidence to help exonerate his friend Daryl Horn.
Anton Wells
has used the PCs for other investigative work with different clients in the
past….nothing “weird” though. When he brings them in, he explains his theory
about the incident: it’s either a cult thing, or a local hazing gone wrong. He
suggests that they start by trying to dig up info on Amanda Hayes and
“discredit her” in the eyes of the public and law enforcement.
The Daryl Horn Story
Daryl Horn,
aside from having become independently wealthy in the 90’s due to a large
inheritance is an artist by trade who specializes in large metal sculptures,
and he favors working with a wide variety of metals. He is locally famous for
his private works, which he tries to keep private, but he also made a fantastic
unique cubic array in front of the Hanford Research Center where physics
research is still ongoing and the administrative side of maintenance at the
Hanford site continues.
Daryl’s
quiet and not prone to talking, a man of middle years and a haunted aspect to
him. He’ll let the investigators look around as long as Anton Wells is
supervising their investigation. They can find out the following info on the
ranch and talking to Horn:
Horn
contends he never even knew the girl, and really doesn’t know many people in
town at all. He orders his scrap metal from out of state and has it shipped in.
He usually flies out to events at the private air strip. He even has arrangements
with the local grocer for home delivery of food. He is a true recluse.
His
sculptures, including the large quasi-pyramid and the eight “disks” on top of
which Amanda was found on one are part of a sculpture he claims is a symbol of
the unifying nuclear force, a larger work inspired by the design he did for the
Hanford Research Center. He explains it’s a work in progress, and not yet done,
though what’s missing he won’t elaborate on.
Anyone
snooping around will notice that many of Horn’s older works are more elaborate
and involved; his latest work is the simplest, although the etching on the
disks is phenomenal and apparently done by laser. He has older works such as
the Mona Lisa, Venus on the half-Shell, and “Aphrodite,”--all very different from his later stuff. His
style changed about two years ago, from the looks of it. His first “new”
sculpture was of a strange cubical cluster resting on three leg-like
appendages.
His ranch is
solar-powered. His vehicle is electric, and Horn seems to be off the grid, as
his ranch appears to be in a strange blind spot. He has no television access,
and all of his orders are done by land line.
Amanda Hayes and Her Story
Amanda is a
17 year old high school student at Kennewick High, and rather popular. On the surface
she’s regarded as a team player, a popular and attractive blonde girl with
everything going for her, a position on both the women’s softball team and
(surprisingly) a prestigious award for the Science of Youth Program sponsored
by wealthy businessmen in the Puget Sound. Her acumen is in physics, something
atypical for a girl her age and appearance….
Digging a
bit deeper reveals a woman who has changed, but only recently. Her studies
clearly kept her occupied, but her community work and dedication to local civic
duty was outstanding until about six weeks ago, when she stopped most external
activities and developed an unhealthy fascination for promiscuous sex. Her
trail of change leads to the Red Baron, a local biker bar which is frequented
by tourists and out-of-town bikers who make this a frequent pit stop. The
bartender knows her, and admits he figured she’d just gotten tired of being the
local town goodie-two-shoes. He says she was most well known for her frequent
almost daily affair with a man named Thomas Hodge, a researcher working for for
a cleanup and maintenance contactor on the Hanford Nuclear Facility.
Aside from
Hodge, it looks like Amanda had a regular relationship with a local boy named
Steven James, a football player (of course) and up-and-coming future sports
star according to those who know him. James, it turns out, has been sliding in
his classes and generally going downhill. When the investigators look into him
they discover he’s been missing for two days, and friends say he was hit hard
by Amanda’s death. One of his friends will joke that they should go look for
him under the bridge west of Snoqualmie Pass “where he might have jumped.”
Looking into
Amanda’s story, someone investigating her at school with regards to her
“science angle” will discover that she was working on a new project for the
Fair this year, and investigating the bits and pieces in the garage of the
Hayes’ household will reveal that she’s using working parts for a functional
nuclear reactor….parts that could only have come from a place like Hanford. The
device is a bit unusual, though, containing what appears to be a strange,
cylindrical object with eight disks inside. An astute investigator will notice
that the curious shapes and swirls of the disks look exactly like stacked
miniature versions of the massive sculptures on Horn’s property…..in fact the
similarities are too much to ignore; an aerial view of Horn’s ranch will look
alarmingly like a close up of the device Amanda is working on, except this one
also includes active fuel rods and hazardous radioactive waste materials
percolating around a strange metal cube, presumably the source of the
radioactivity itself.
(If
investigators ignore the family for long enough then they should hear of the
Hayes’ residence coming down sick and subsequent reports that stolen
radioactive materials were found on site, with Hanford clean-up crews arriving
to remove the materials, followed by a government investigation).
The Thomas Hodge Story
Thomas Hodge
is a physicist and researcher working for the Hanford Reserve as a cleanup and
monitoring specialist. He’s largely incidental to the story except for two
issues: he was enamored with Amanda Hayes and stole radioactive materials for
her, though he has a hard time explaining why he did it, and although he has no
memory of it, he’s been meeting with Daryl Horn late at night for two years
now, assisting him in the dead of night on unusual projects on the ranch. This
info is not something he knows….he doesn’t even think he knows Daryl, in
fact….but surveillance of the ranch at night will reveal the meet-ups.
Thomas under
pressure or otherwise will break and admit that he doesn’t know what he’s doing
anymore, that he’s always tired and worn out, and that he thought Amanda was
his one ray of hope in the world. She approached him, and he just caved, an
emotional wreck of a man ready to be manipulated. When he heard of her death he
grew terrified it was his fault somehow, though he couldn’t tell anyone why. He
continued his routine, but suspicious his fatigue was caused by night-time
blackouts he decided to install a security cam in his residence. To his
surprise, he has recorded days of his nighttime somnambulistic wanderings, and
he’s grown insanely paranoid as a result, unsure of what it all means.
Investigators
who approach him with aggression will provoke him into flight, fearing he will
be accused of Amanda’s murder. He has little else to offer other than the fact
that on the night she was killed he has no memory of what happened that
evening, but knows he was at the Red Baron bar meeting her…after which he
blacked out.
As an aside,
investigators at the Red Baron will find out it has security cams in the
parking lot. One cam does capture him arriving (and her as well). It also shows
her leaving with Hodge, as well as an unnamed mystery man, and Horn!
Steven James’ Story
Steven is a
victim in much of this, but not entirely so. Investigators who look to track
him down will need to head to Snoqualmie Pass at the famous Suicide Bridge a
few miles to the west, where they will find his abandoned car, with an impound
notice, to be fulfilled any time now. In the snow (it’s almost always snowing
up there) they will find evidence of tracks, apparently his, as well as what
appear to be a multitude of strange circular imprints in the snow with a weird
swirling pattern that appears to be very precise, almost machine-tooled.
Tracking
James in the snow will eventually lead to a grizzly sight: James, frozen to death,
his body covered in eviscerating burn lines. Anyone who’s gotten a chance to
investigate Amanda’s corpse will recognize the same burn lines from her
autopsy. In addition, there’s a faint yellowish residue on the snow, a weird
and unpleasant stain that smells vaguely of mustard oil.
Clutched in
James’ hand is a cell phone, battery drained. Charging the cell phone reveals a
severe amount of distortion on the digital video, but the sounds of James’
fearful voice is unmistakable:
James’ Face
is distorted, fearful: “I don’t know who they are, or why they’re chasing me.
The thing…I don’t know what it is….it killed Amanda and now it wants me, and I
don’t know why! I don’t know how… how it can move so fast…how it found me. I
was going to end it all, kill myself, but I couldn’t do it. Then it showed up.
I…I think I’m going to die. Out here. Or if it finds me. I don’t know where to
go now. No one will believe me.”
The video
cuts to a snow bank as he jolts in shock. A hideous noise like grinding metal
that almost sounds like words reverberates. “I god….!” James begin coughing and
seconds later there’s a shocking sound of a crack like lightning. He falls
back, camera held up very still, and for a moment it seems to catch something,
strangely like a cluster of stacked cubes moving on three long cylindrical
legs, a cluster of elongated cilia stretching up from a central point on the
cube cluster waving about with a charge of blue lighting flickering about. It
is surrounded by a dull yellowish haze, seemingly emitting from holes in the
cubes.
The camera
remains on for a long time even as this “thing” bounds into the darkness of the
woods with shocking speed, another hideous metallic grinding noise echoing at
its retreat. If the investigators leave the video running for a few more
minutes a strange “rustling” noise followed by the beating of insectoid wings
reverberates, and the camera image sputters. The investigators will hear three
voices speaking furiously in quiet whispers, but the words are
incomprehensible….then a strange, delicate claw-like tube becomes visible for
just a moment before they see it slide down to turn the camera off.
(Viewing the
body requires a SAN check and a loss of 0/1D2 SAN on a failure; viewing the
camera leads to another check and a SAN loss of 0/1D8 for seeing the L’gh’yx
assassin on the recording and the partial evidence of a shan nearby; 2/1D8 if
the investigator in question realizes it’s a fully animated version of the same
statue from Horn’s ranch!)
Whether the
investigators take this tale to the cops or leave the body there is a matter
for conjecture….but the police will want to know a few questions if they come
into play. Such as: why were they looking for James? Who are they, and how are
they connected to the Hayes murder? The murder here crossed county lines, and a
Special Investigator Richard Morton will be called in from Seattle to head up
the investigation. If the “Hayes house radiation incident” has happened yet the
FBI investigators will already be involved as well.
Ultimately
if Steve James’ body is autopsied it will reveal the same electrical damage to
the nerves and evidence of the same gas damage to the lungs as as found in Amanda.
Like before, the cause of death at first seems uncertain…..but this time
there’s one other bit of evidence different from Amanda: Steve’s cranium shows
evidence of severe hemmoraghing and electrical damage. An autopsy reveals his
brain has been turned into a muchy soup, but there appears to be some sort of
web of a sticky, semi-solid substance running throughout his skull, something
investigators have never seen before which looks like some sort of silicate
material. The doctor performing the autopsy will conclude it is an unusual side
effect of the electrocution, but a close examination reveals what appears to be
an exosekeletal mass in the shape of some sort of ten-legged chitinous “thing”
lodged in the brain, effectively fused with it. Exposure to the air causes the
exoskeletal mass to decompose and evaporate.
Enter the Shan
Horn, Hayes,
James and Hodge each have one thing in common: they are enslaved hosts being
puppeteered by the insectoid shan. The
shan are an ancient race trapped on earth, devout worshippers of the blind
idiot nuclear god Azathoth, dancing his mad dance beyond the edge of the
universe. The shan, trapped on earth, have become wallowing deviant hedonists
who exploit their puppet bodies by night and let their slaves wander about by day.
In the Tri-Cities area however there is a bit of a conflict going on….a
religious disagreement, if you will.
There’s a
bit of a rebellion going on in the shan community. Horn is possessed by an
elder shan that is determined to leave this world, to restore the greatness of
its trapped species. It has dissolved all connections with the greater hive of
its people, and migrated to this region, to be near the Hanford facility while
it begins constructing a monument to Azathoth that just possibly might be the
foundation of a new temple-ship to the chaos god. He is accompanied by two
followers: one shan who is in possession of Thomas Hodge and another in
possession of the shadoy Mr. Winters, who has remained in the shadows so far,
an unknown variable.
Accompanying
Horn’s shan is its own special bodyguard: a Neptunian L’gh’yx assassin which
actually spends most of its time disguising itself as a statue on horn’s ranch.
By night the statue moves to the semi-pyramid and enters, to resume oversight
on the construction going on beneath the surface….
The
“pyramid” is actually the tip of a much vaster construct. The shan’s plan is
well underway, and he is using a nanotech conversion program to harvest local
precious metal resources and stolen nuclear materials from Hanford to power his
machines of creation. The interior of the pyramid is vast and deep, and
contains a massive spherical projector which is currently trying to harvest an
aspect or manifestation of Azathoth himself to serve as the ship’s core. Even
seeing this vestige will lead to the madness of witnessing Azathoth himself.
Meanwhile,
the shan collective is determine to find their rogue and either reel him in or
destroy him. His efforts are seen as an abomination, destined for failure. The
shan collective sent two of its best agents in to the region once they learned
of the possible hiding spot of the rogue shan in Horn….something impossible to
disguise once the “Collector” showing the projection of Azathoth’s danzing
vestige came online.
The two shan
took host forms that they found most interesting on arrival, seemingly
innocuous enough to start investigation: Amanda Hayes and Steven James. By
night the shan began investigating, doing what they knew best: seeking out the
depraved, hedonistic corners of the local community. Amanda was easy to
manipulate, but the James shan found its host resistant.
The rogue
element was the shan possessing Thomas Hodge, who had been having second
thoughts about the process. When he saw what sort of abomination was being pulled
in to the new temple-ship, he realized it as somehow impure, a bastard child of
Azathoth and not a true reflection of the deity. When the Amanda-shan
approached him they reveled in their hedonistic excess and began their plans.
Her goal: to get him to give her the secret code to the pyramid, to allow her
to gain access to it. To do this she decided to pose as a supplicant, wanting
to join the flock.
As it turned
out, Hodge was playing both sides, and revealed in a moment of doubt to
Horn-shan that he had been approached by her. Horn in his paranoia rightly
concluded she was an agent and was furious that the collective had found him,
but had Hodge arrange to lure her to the ranch, where he planned to interrogate
her and then extract the shan from her mind.
As with all
troublesome plans, it went awry. Amanda’s shan escaped, but not before
Horn-shan’s pet assassin ravaged her body in an effort at torture. Placed on
the center dial of the nuclear panel which he disguised as art, one of the
summoning disks to project the image of Azathoth in the pyramid below, the shan
fled Amanda’s body, causing an embolism as it did so.
Horn’s shan
fled its host for the first time in years, seeking out the enemy shan to avoid
being reported, but to no avail….he was certain it hadn’t gone far, though, as
it was injured; perhaps it was healing in another local host. After giving up
the chase he returned to his host body, although in doing so he found that the
body had been reported, the old attorney friend called in, and the
investigators sitting on his doorstep….
During the
night the L’gh’yx assassin continued to patrol looking for the enemy shan. It
investigated Steven James and began hunting him, leading to his death. After
Steven died, the shan which fled Amanda arrived, realized what had happened, tried
and failed to destroy the L’gh’yx and then moved on….it has now taken host in
Detective Richard Morton if he is called in, or another special investigator if
not.
If the
investigators show the image of Amanda’s nuclear device (or the aerial of
Horn’s property) to any shan host during the day when they have cognizant
control (even Winters) they will almost immediately recognize it and say,
“Shaggai es ‘sin’deg’hrga” before collapsing and blacking out. The devices
trigger a primal “implanted” memory of the shan homeworld Shaggai, for the
object symbolizes the eight worlds of Shaggai, surrounding the might of
Azathoth.
Mr. Winters’ Story
Mr. Winters
is an enigma: a willing host, he learned of the shan long ago and gave himself
over to the aliens during a visit to Sussex, England. He has been a loyalist,
and his waking mind is in tune with the thoughts and wishes of his shan
counterpart. This gives him a unique edge over his brethren, who cannot sense
or control their hosts during daylight hours.
Mr. Winters,
however, is also quite eccentric as a result of this unique union between slave
and puppet master. He doesn’t “think right” and is known locally as the town
crazy, often found wandering the local streets speaking in tongues until the
sheriff takes him in to sleep it off. Usually his shan will just “slip out” and
get the deputy on duty to let Mr. Winters loose, then rejoin his beloved slave.
Anyone who
meets Mr. Winters by happenstance or intent and who saw the parking lot video
of the bar will recognize him as the mysterious third person accompanying
Amanda. Anyone who talks with local bums
and homeless will learn that Mr. Winters has a reputation not only for being
crazy, but also cruel. No one likes him, it seems.
Other local
townsfolk will admit to seeing him visit Mr. Horn on occasion, but only rarely.
Some suggest that Mr. Horn takes pity on him. One man says that Horn’s art
style went “a bit stranger” after he made Mr. Winters’ acquaintance.
One bum, a
man named Horace, remembers vividly one night when Winters was accosted by two
local bullies. He remembers something emerging like a “gossamer angel, but with
too many legs” from his head, and how it entered one bully’s head as if it were
made of smoke. The one man then beat the other to death while Winters laughed
hysterically. Horace flees whenever he sees Winters now.
Local police
have a file on him. His full name is Richard Winters, a once brilliant inventor
and head of the Winters-Alderstein Development Group, a astronautics research
firm with big government contracts. He was said to have personally designed a
new type of radio telescope with a much greater efficiency than prior models,
and considerably smaller. His last great contribution to any research was a
paper on the “Great Attractor,” a cosmic phenomenon which held his interest
greatly, before he took off for a walkabout in Europe. He disappeared in Sussex
and was not seen again until arriving in the Tri-Cities area two years ago.
Some Curious Local News Items
While all
the investigation is underway, a few random new items will pop up on occasion:
“Local
townsfolk out of Richland complain of sink hole on property; accuse county of
not repairing water main leak” (The machines being used to build the temple
caused the sinkhole in their subterranean plundering)
“Local man
attacked at restaurant by homeless man,” (Mr. Winters up to no good; interviews
with people at the restaurant reveal the man tried to grab Winters after he
confronted his wife, but on grabbing Winters he says he “blacked out.” Wife
says she can’t remember the incident…turns out she can’t, she say the shan
emerge and blanked it out in terror.)
“Six dead in
Snoqualmie crash, traffic backed up for hours.” (A family sedan was
deliberately driven off course by the Amanda-Shan in an attempt to hit the
escaping L’gh’yx; an investigation of the scene shows that the van seemed to
deliberately careen into a ravine….but a thorough search of the area will
reveal the strange cylindrical tracks.)
“Latest
blackout in Tri-Cities leaves tens of thousands without power for six hours,
authorities still won’t comment on the failure of the electrical plant during
this cold winter season.” (As the temple-ship grows the needs of the vessel
grow larger, reaching out to the local power sources. Talking to people near
the power plant reveals that a nearby couple claimed they saw a giant
projection like a swirling star-shaped vortex manifested over the power plant
for thirteen seconds before disappearing. The guard on duty has been missing
since, his phone found smashed; his body will be dredged up from the Snake
River a day later).
Variables
First the
investigators begin poking around. Then they start drawing the attention of the
otherworldly forces at work here. Each of the shan in this operation have an
agenda, and their plan of action is as follows:
Horn-Shan Eliminates the Competition
Horn needs
more time to manifest the Azathoth image in full. He will use his assassin to
eliminate anyone he grows suspicious of, including the investigators. He will
get tired of his attorney Anton Wells three days in….the attorney will be found
dead of an apparent suicide after a few days have passed. Wells will (unless
the investigators find a way to stop him) be killed by either Mr. Winters or
the assassin….or Horn if necessary. His death will be gruesome and excessive
despite being a suicide, suggesting he was not in his right mind (i.e. breaks
into drug store, takes all pills. Or drives into power main….or breaks into
pawn shop, then shows up at police station firing pistol….all “suicide by shan”
examples; any could happen to any foes of Horn-shan).
The One Week Invasion
Horn knows
he needs to find the missing shan that was in Amanda. If he fails to do so,
then he knows she will be able to call in reinforcements know that she knows
his location. He has one week before this happens (give or take a day for
dramatic purposes as needed). Assuming Amanda is able to make her escape (into
the detective) the shan will head to a high point in the mountains the
following night (anyone looking for or following the detective might see this),
where she will construct an elaborate wire-frame device built from parts at the
local Radio Shack (another clue the investigators could learn of, a detective
buying off electronic parts). This device will broadcast to the shan collective
the location of the rogue. During the broadcast the L’gh’yx assassin will appear,
and seek to slay the shan for good. If
the investigators are present this is their chance to intervene, assuming they
can tolerate the sight and presence of the creature.
When the
invasion force arrives, it is in a manner most unsettling: overnight the city
of Kennewick will be blanketed with hundreds of shan from the collective, who
will take local hosts and begin moving en masse on the ranch. Their intent it
so shut the operation down entirely. The event will be spearheaded by a group
of shan equipped with potent binding spells; they seek to bind the traitor so
that they may execute him, and then they intend to summon a mass of Xictotl
which will tear the complex down, and destroy the reactor summoning the
image/vestige of Azathoth.
To their
surprise, either Horn, Winters or the assassin will insure that Azathoth…..the
real Azathoth, bursts forth and destroys the invasion of shan-possessed
attackers. It will inevitably destroy the complex and devour the subterranean
temple as well. Naturally, any sorry investigators caught in the middle of this
risk destruction or severe sanity loss….
Alternative Events
If the shan
in the detective (Amanda’s shan) is somehow stopped or destroyed and fails to
summon the collective to destroy the heretic, then after a week the Horn-shan
will attempt one final heist, using his available allies to break into the
Hanford site and collect the last of the nuclear material he needs to empower
his projector. He will on the following night, with host bodies now riddled
with radiation damage, fire it up and complete the manifestation of Azathoth
within the temple. The complex will erupt from the ground and take off, leaving
a smoldering crater a quarter-mile deep where it once rested, and the Feds will
close in with a total lockdown shortly thereafter.
Default Timeline
It is
possible the investigators just do not catch on…wander about cluelessly, don’t
investigate the likely leads, and just generally end up flopping on this. The
following events will happen in order regardless of what the investigators do:
Day 1: murder
discovered, attorney called in
Day 2: investigators
arrive
Report of sinkhole
Day 3: investigators
may or may not find nuclear material in Hayes home
Report of assault by Mr.Winters
Day 3-4: investigators may or may not
find James’ body off Snoqualmie. Will be found by a state patrol officer if
they do not investigate
Car crash reported
Day 5: Contaminated
“project” found in Hayes home when parents visit doctor with radiation sickness
(unless discovered sooner)
Day 6: shan
in detective will broadcast to collective for backup
Day 7 or 8: shan arrive for big
showdown; Azathoth eats it all (or alternate: shan do not show, pyramid takes
off)
Side Bits: the Neptunian Assassin
The odd
chemical stains and contamination found with corpses killed by the L’gh’yx
assassin is a byproduct of its emissions, which curiously reflect the
composition of Neptune’s atmosphere precisely.
The burnt
nerves of the victims of the assassin are caused by its neural whip.
