Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? Part II

This scenario was taken from the Chaosium publication, The Great Old Ones. It's titled Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? We played it using the 3rd edition rules for Call of Cthulhu.

Be sure to read Part I of this adventure.

You can also check out Still Waters, from the same publication.

The players' character sheets can be found here. 

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With James's abduction, and our players' knowing that the ritual to transform Fowler into the King in Yellow is to take place that night on a small island in the swamp, they gear up and head out while managing to convince a few police officers to come with them. 

As they make their way through the fetid swampy waters, there seems to be an abundance of snakes this time. Dockery is bitten by one but manages to extract most of the poison. The group eventually finds their way back to the island with the large ritual rocks. The swamp folk are here, as are Papa Screech and Fowler, who is wearing a white ceremonial robe. Four Byakhee stand by as well, their large wings flapping intermittently in anticipation. Papa Screech is casting a spell and finishes by anointing Fowler's forehead with blood. 

The players and police stay hidden as they watch - outmatched and frozen with fear by the unearthly ceremony. The degenerate cultists continue to chant as a fog rolls in. The lake surrounding the island begins to bubble and swell while an enormous yellow sign throbs and pulses beneath the inky water. The ground quakes and the physical reality in the area begins to stretch and contract as if breathing with a life of its own. Then, overlapping the players' own physical reality materializes the alien world of Carcosa. The stars in the sky are no longer recognizable and the whole environment has changed to that of a nightmare. 

The four byakhee take flight into the air and are quickly lost as they penetrate the alien sky above. Then, a few cultists emerge from Papa Screech's hut with a bound young woman. They bring her to the centre of the huge ritual rocks and tie her to a pole. Papa Screech pulls out an ornate ritual dagger and approaches the woman when suddenly, through the fog, the players see their friend, Clyde Arisona James, emerge. James staggers his way forward and makes this frightening declaration:

Astonished to see their friend still alive, the players rush forward from the bushes. Papa Screech sees the reunion and is amused:

Screech then raises the dagger over the bound woman's heart. At this point our heroes have seen enough and take action! Total chaos follows as muzzles flash from firearms into the night followed by screams of pain and terror. Crazed swamp folk leap toward the police but are stopped by a hail of bullets. The lead-ridden bodies fall to the ground, bleeding out. 

The King in Yellow

Randall Fowler, who has now transformed into the King in Yellow - an avatar of Hastur - shuffles forward. His appearance has already begun to mutate; his flesh jiggling and shaking as he becomes more jelly-like. The King grabs Dockery's head with tentacle-like hands and gazes into his eyes. Dockery shrieks as his sanity and life force are drained by the attack. Fighting through the pain through sheer force of will, Dockery manages to draw his revolver from its holster then shoves it into the King's mouth and pulls the trigger, sending its brain matter scattering out the back of its head.

Papa Screech begins chanting and catches Hillary's gaze, who freezes, lost in Screech's hypnotic trance. Gunner then steps forward, levels his shotgun and fires, blowing Screech's knee apart. Screech lets out a frenzied wail as he falls to the ground. Freed from the hypnosis, Hillary fans his revolver, ending the Voodoo priest and sending his diabolical soul to hell.

In the midst of the mayhem, the huge yellow sign now pulses and shines in the lake like a burning star, and from the watery depths an abnormally shaped planetoid begins to rise slowly. The gelatinous form is vaguely spherical in shape with massive wriggling tentacles. There are many vertical openings that cut into the formation which lead to blackness; and all over it is covered with uncounted flickering orbs. Hastur, He Who Must Not Be Named, has emerged from Lake Hali and now presides from above. 

All present need to make sanity rolls. All fail in their saves with the exception of Arizona James whose mind has retreated into its own reality as a means of survival from being trapped in Carcosa.

The dice rolls are not kind and Hillary, Gunner and Dockery all lose most of their sanity. Luck rolls are made by one or two to prevent them from completely bottoming out. 

Despite his mental collapse, Dockery runs screaming into Papa Screech's hut, travelling through the gate that leads to Fowler's home. Arizona James, in his wrecked psychological condition, manages to corral Gunner, who is laughing uncontrollably, and Hillary, who is screaming and pounding his fists on the ground, and brings them to Papa Screech's hut where they exit through the gate. Hastur and Carcosa soon dissipate as the fabric of space once again corrects itself. With the death of the King in Yellow and the disruption of the summoning spell, our heroes managed to save New Orleans and perhaps all of Louisiana but at a terrible price.

Epilogue

Our battered and tortured heroes are eventually transferred to Arkham asylum where they are locked away to prevent them from harming themselves and others. 

Arizona James fairs a bit better, being an out-patient at the asylum and eventually going back to teaching at Miskatonic University after a few years.

Many swamp folk were killed, in addition to the police that were brought along that horrific night. The Louisiana authorities couldn't figure out all that happened and eventually sent a detective to Arkham Asylum to speak with our heroes, but his questions were answered with screams of terror or attempts to kill him. 

The next years are ones of darkness for our players as they try to both face and forget their tortured memories, until finally, four year later they are released back into society.

Then one day, while sitting in his office at Miskatonic University, Arizona James opens a letter from an old friend asking if he is interested in locating an object called...The Shining Trapezohedron.

Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? Part I

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. 

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.

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.”

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.

Papa Screech

That night, James (thanks to a random die roll) is bitten by a poisonous snake that somehow made its way into his hotel bed. He does not die, but the players are getting the feeling they are no longer welcome in New Orleans.

The next day, our brave investigators make their way out to the swamp where Papa Screech lives. Deep in its murky depths, they find a small island and after looking around they find large stones arranged in a pattern. There are also some huts (with the inhabitants presumably at the Krewe warehouse) and in one is a magical gateway that leads to a room in Fowler's home. They go through the gate and proceed to search Fowler's residence and find a shrine dedicated to his departed loved ones, a copy of The King in Yellow and a spell book with a Call/ Dismiss Hastur ritual. They also find a journal with an entry titled "Coronation of the King." Scanning the journal, they realize Papa Screech is grooming Fowler to become the vassal of the King in Yellow. The ritual is to take place tomorrow night in the swamp.

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.

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. 

Black stars begin to rise while the black moons circles throughout the skies and as night descends on strange Carcosa, Clyde Arizona James falls to his knees and starts to scream.

Here is part II and the conclusion to "Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?"