The next scenario was taken, again, from the Chaosium publication, The Great Old Ones. It's titled "Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
It is an awesome adventure. If you're looking for something to run for your group, I very much recommend it. Unlike the previous "Still Waters," I really didn't change anything - it's great as written.
Once again, this is a summation of our game. Many details have been left out for the sake of brevity.
We left our players as they were traveling down to New Orleans in the hopes of trying to figure out why this mysterious yellow symbol they found in a spell book is being displayed on banners at the Mardi Gras celebration.
Soon after arriving in New Orleans our players discover, through a contact, that a reporter, Peter Gavvin, was found dead on the university grounds and clutching a piece of paper with the Yellow Sign on it.
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| Yellow Sign |
His death is deemed a suicide by the police, believing he jumped from the top of one of the buildings, but the players speak with a professor at the university who believes he landed too far away from the structure for it to be possible.
The city editor is an old army buddy of Gunner's and they are given the dead reporter's notes to go through. Apparently, he was writing about how some of the festival organizers were into the occult and were financed by the rich and influential in the city.
Two names that stand out are Denis Bouchard and Randall Fowler. Bouchard is a wealthy playboy, gambler, collector of antiquities and race car driver. Fowler is also wealthy, due to his family making money off the backs of indentured servants. Fowler lost his wife and child recently and after that he became obsessed with the occult, which is when he met a voodoo priest called Papa Screech.
The players go to Bouchard's favourite restaurant for dinner in the hopes of meeting him and they do. After introducing themselves, Bouchard is impressed with Hillary's name and wealth, so he invites Hillary and the others to the Masquerade Ball on Mardi Gras Day at Randall Fowler's home. Bouchard isn't very helpful in unraveling any clues regarding the reporter's death but by the end of the conversation, he and Hillary agree to a car race at the track the next day.
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| Denis Bouchard |
After dinner, James and Dockery go to an old book store and with the store owner's help, find a copy of The King in Yellow. It has the slightly luminous Yellow Sign on the front cover which beckons them to read its foul and debased contents. Beguiled, they take it back to the hotel and sink into the otherworldly text. Written as an allegorical play, it describes The King in Yellow as an avatar of Hastur, a great Old One. Soon after reading it, James and Dockery both have a very similar and strange, fevered dream:
The next day is a busy one for our group: they meet at the race track where Hillary (having made a nice Credit Rating roll) pulls up in a Bugatti. With the wave of the green flag, Hillary digs deep, hits the accelerator and in the end leaves Bouchard eating his dust as he speeds across the finish line. Bouchard is none-too-pleased and says his car was having problems. He doesn’t like to lose, especially in front of people in his home town who know him.
In the afternoon, Fowler is interviewed by the players at his lavish, but sparsely staffed, mansion. He admits to having spoken with the dead reporter and shows sympathy at his passing: “Too bad about the poor fellow; these atheists are an unstable lot.” He says the Yellow Sign was Papa Screech’s idea and seems unconcerned about it. When asked about the King in Yellow, Fowler looks nervous and avoids answering. He says Papa Screech is helping him deal with the deaths of his family. “He’s opened my eyes to a world beyond, where my loved ones are always close by.”
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| Randall Fowler |
At night while walking back to the hotel, a group of toughs try to rob and kill the players, paying special attention to Hillary. However, always welcoming a good fight, the players give the thugs a thorough beat down, with a few managing to run away, having met their match.
The next day our players visit the festival "Krewe" that is responsible for the display of the strange symbol. The warehouse is run by mostly illiterate swamp folk and the luminous Yellow Sign is on banners throughout. It is here they finally meet Papa Screech. While polite, there is something about Screech that is unnerving: he constantly smiles and has a contemptuous air about him. He says the Yellow Sign came to him in a vision (which prompts James and Dockery to both look at each other with wide eyes). Screech says he has a shack near Nightmare Lake, with the other swamp folk, and extends an invitation for the players to visit anytime.
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| Papa Screech |
That night at the players' hotel, James (thanks to another random die roll) is ambushed in his room and stolen away into the night. He awakens on the roof of the Krewes warehouse surrounded by a few of the swamp folk, a byakee and Papa Screech. James tries to struggle free but Screech hypnotizes him into drinking a Space Mead potion, then James is placed on the back of the byakee and flown off to Carcosa, 68 lights years away.
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| Night flight – Byakhee artwork – Copyright 2010 Fantasy Flight Games |
It only takes a few hours for the byakee to travel through space to the hideous twilight planet called Carcosa. James is dropped in the dark and terrifying, maze-like streets of the alien city with the Lake of Hali near by. Hastur is rumoured to reside beneath its depths and James knows this, having read The King in Yellow. As James wanders he hears unnerving wails off in the distance; sees winged creatures flying in the dark clouds above and horrific splashes in the foggy lake where a glowing Yellow Sign can be seen below. James's sanity is dwindling with each passing moment as he begins to lose all hope of ever seeing the Earth again.
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