Ghouls of New York:

"Then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs, 2:5)


Campaign Frame:

Setting: New York, 1850.  Primarily lower income districts.

Style: This game is expected to run more along Purist lines than Pulp.  As a purist game, it is about desperation and contamination.  As a pulp game, it would be about finding ways to kill the unkillable; several other notes are included on adapting it for a pulp style.

Mythos degree: This is a somewhat limited Mythos game in terms of its scope.  Players may find references to Cthulhu or Yog-Sothoth, but they are incidental - the same way that they are name-dropped in certain Lovecraft stories.  The only two gods that are immediately relevant are Mordiggian and Glaaki.  Information about the Mythos is fragmentary and difficult to come by, even to its followers.  Heresies and conflicts among cultists are common.

Investigators: Investigators are expected to be members of a (fictional) riverside gang, the River Snakes, and are generally referred to as "the  gangsters" here.  The gang membership is meant to provide them with some cohesion and a small pool of replacement characters (other gang members) if the first set meets grisly ends.  While the game can be adapted for other character types (see the section on Tinkering), the story will flow more smoothly if they at least have a connection to the gangs. 

Continuing NPCs: see the last entry.  If making pregenerated characters, I would recommend making 8-10 in total; unused characters can represent other members of the River Snakes.  I'd also recommend tailoring PCs to what players enjoy playing;

PC suggestions:
These examples draw on the hypothetical PCs from the last deadline.
 - Eric loves fighting - it makes sense for him to have a gang enforcer type.  He should make sure that he has lots of points in Scuffling and Athletics, maybe Weapons if that's how he wants to play. 
- Jenny likes influencing people - she could easily be one of the leaders of the River Snakes, or perhaps a dilettante who is using her money to get into crime for a thrill.  She'll probably want to load up on the Interpersonal investigative skills and increase her Credit Rating to make sure she can hire NPCs.
- Chris can play a stage magician or street performer; he should probably make sure he has points in Conceal, Disguise, and Filch to represent his ability to distract viewers and apparently perform magic.
- Mike has unfortunately last read another Star Wars EU novel.  He's pretty big on the Jedi thing at the moment.  His first idea is a time traveler from the future, carrying weird weapons and sent  back to prevent whatever Mythos incursion is supposed to happen, so that's a bit Doctor Who as well.  It's also a little tone-breaking, so we sit down and talk for a bit.  After some compromise, Mike agrees to represent an "undercover" character - a survivor of another Mythos incident in Europe, who has tracked the idol to New York.  He doesn't have weird powers, but does have a bundle of strangely carved sticks of unknown function...
- Amanda can play as a doctor fairly easily; given the strong biological horror aspect of the story, it will be nice to have a character with Biology or Medicine investigative abilities.  Because of how the skill system works, she can also have a reasonably good weapons skill - maybe the dockside doctor's skills with a scalpel are legendary.  Reassurance would make an excellent investigative skill for her, to represent her caring side.
- Travis is the sort of player who tends to make things worse for the others, but in a Cthulhu based game, that's not always a problem.  Given the set-up, I think I'll give Travis a chance to be working with the ghouls - maybe he's related to them, or maybe they have something he wants.  He could also be a spy from the Swamp Angels, but I think that could give a little too much information to one player too early on - and make it too easy for him to set up red herrings for the other players.

Rules variations: Standard ability distributions and caps.  Players who pick certain Drives (such as In the Blood) may not know exactly what that entails until it comes up in play.  Pulp professions and skills are fine, so long as everyone wants to play a Pulp game.

The pitch: It's Gangs of New York, but with river pirates and ghouls!

 The Hook: The Swamp Angels have been acting strangely.  They're started taking tribute from the gangs and they've become too bold in their attacks on other gangs.  They stole one of our boys, and his protection money.  Find out where they got him and get him back.

The horrible truth:The Swamp Angels have become the tool of Glaaki, an aquatic Great Old One with the ability to prevent death in its followers.  Of course, there's always a price for that sort of gift.

Red herrings: In a one-shot, I would avoid red herrings (misleading clues that lead nowhere) altogether.  In longer games, I tend to prefer to let players make their own false trails - as they generally will, with an incomplete set of facts.  

The build: 
In the simplest outline, this is how the adventure will go. 
 - The gangsters track down the dock where the Swamp Angels snatched Little Pete
- The gangsters confront the Swamp Angels or break into one of their locations
- Little Pete is allowed to go if they can keep the protection money or if the gangsters do a favor for the Swamp Angels

- Little Pete isn't quite right after being recovered and will wander at night
- Father Brendan becomes very active in the dockside areas, helping the poor and offering services
- The gangsters come across the site of a failed ritual
- The gangsters come across other evidence of the increasing presence of Glaaki (twisted remains, the Banshee, scratch marks leading up buildings)
- Father Brendan tries to recruit the gangsters to help him
- the gangsters find a completed ritual site complete with a Node or interrupt a ritual
- the gangsters realize Father Brendan's involvement with the Swamp Angels and try to stop the final ritual by disrupting Nodes
- the gangsters travel to, or are pulled into the sewers to confront the Fragment.

The timetable: 
In-game events are expected to proceed over a week at most.  Be sure to remind the players of the passage of time - in the end of the adventure, they may have to pick between weakening the Fragment by destroying its Nodes or confronting it directly. 

There was an actual partial lunar eclipse on Sunday, November 24, 1850.  The default campaign period would be from Sunday November 17 to Sunday November 24, with the final ritual coinciding with the eclipse.  The longer nights and cold weather also fit the tone that the campaign is shooting for.

By default, Father Brendan tried the failed ritual on Saturday, November 16.
He will try again on Monday, November 18.
He will complete another ritual if not interrupted on Wednesday, November 20.
The final ritual takes more preparation, and is scheduled to coincide with the eclipse on Sunday, November 24.

For convenience, here is a calender for 1850 if you would like to change the dates, or your players ask about lunar phases.
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1850&country=1

Notable clues:

As a general note, I highly recommend making up some physical representations of clues.  There are only a few pictures of New York at this time, but that's no reason not to print out the depictions of Five Points or the pictures from Riis' "How the Other Half Lives." 

I do not have time to scan it, but I also made a journal chronicling Father Brendan's descent into Glaaki worship, then tore the pages out and to use as a "trail of  breadcrumb" style clues - offering one per clue per scene where it makes sense.  For instance, one page in the sewer, one page at the failed ritual site, one page at the church where he worked, and so on.

You can also print out maps of the city at that time.  If you are really feeling into the production of physical clues, you can copy these maps onto the back of Father Brendan's diary pages - so that, when assembled, they form a map of the city with the Fragment's location drawn in, and the ritual sites drawn out as well.  (Of course, using their investigative skills will reveal the significance if the players notice the pattern.)

While not essential, physical props like this are a lot of fun.

The dock: This is where the Swamp Angels snatched Little Pete.  It can be located simply by asking around; Streetwise would be a natural skill to use, but any sort of inquiry will lead the gangsters here.
The dock is mostly empty; there are a few deep, thin gauges in the old wood (Evidence collection).  Some of it appears to be burned, as if by a corrosive liquid (Chemistry). 
Asking around reveals (Streetwise, Flattery, Intimidation, depending on approach) that several of the Swamp Angels demanded that Little Pete join up with them, or at least turn over his protection money.  Little Pete refused and managed to "stick" one of them with a knife, but there's no blood (Forensics).  They clubbed him and dragged him off to the sewer.

Once recovered, Little Pete isn't quite the same.  (Little Pete is simply short, not a child.)  He had been a soft-spoken individual, but now he tends to look towards the sewer or the ocean with a dreamy expression.  He mutters softly about the things he saw - the forest of silver branches, the eyes, the man transformed.  If left unattended, he will simply wander back to the sewers.  (In terms of statistics, he has become one of the Spawn of Glaaki; he is meant to be a spy, but isn't especially well-suited to the task and may well end up as part of the Fragment's biomass.)

The sewer: There are many entrances to the sewers, but a lot of them have one or two Swamp Angels standing guard.  (The players won't know, but between the undying core group and the recruitment drives, there are far more active Swamp Angels than you'd initially expect.) 
The sewers themselves stretch under a significant portion of the city, and have access points to several docks.  They are how the Swamp Angels have always operated - snatching cargo and then spiriting it away to their fences (Streetwise).

Eventually the players are going to want to get in to the sewers, especially if they're looking for Little Pete.  But the Swamp Angels aren't going to want to let them in.

- Architecture might provide insights into buildings with sewer access that the Swamp Angels don't know about.  (Definitely so with a point spend.)
- Library use would be a good way to find maps of the sewers - though they may be incomplete.
- Bargain, Intimidate, or Flattery all might provide ways to trade something for getting Little Pete back, or to prove the gangsters' honest interest in joining up with the Swamp Angels instead of the River Snakes.  If the gangsters agree to do a favor for the Swamp Angels, it should lead them to another clue - such as grabbing some evidence from the failed ritual site or bringing back the banshee.  (The Swamp Angels woulddn't put it that way, of course - they'd tell the characters that one of their girls had run off and give them a rough description.)
- Credit rating could bribe the guards into a (guided) tour or spending enough money to get Little Pete back.
As with all obstacles in Gumshoe, this one should let the characters show off their skills and demonstrate their creative thinking.  Even so, to get closer to the inner sanctum - where the Fragment is housed - would require multiple skill uses.  Most of the Swamp Angels don't like to go there; only Father Brendan goes regularly.  The Swamp Angels will attempt to lead the gangsters around these portions of the sewer, which may be noticed with an Architecture skill or by Assessing Honesty if the players notice their reluctance.

The Swamp Angels essentially have the sewers organized into Outer, Inner, and Inner Sanctum regions. 
- The Outer regions are where they do their business, move their cargo, and where some of them live. 
- The Inner region is more fortified in case of an attack by another gang; there are weapons stashed around it and some homemade traps.  There's also some strange writing on the walls here:
"OUR DEAD ARE OUR WALLS"
"IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE SON, THE FLESH"
"FROM THE CITY WE BRING THE MEAT
 SO OUR DEATH WE NEVER MEET"
 "THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THE FEAR OF THE LORD
AND FIND THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD"

There are also handwritten, chalk scrawlings underneath written in a stream of consciousness style - drawing comparisons between the Christian faith, Glaaki, and Mordiggian.  These are thanks to Father Brendan.

 The inner sanctum is the few rooms where the Fragment dwells.  Most of the Swamp Angels will not go here unless delivering sacrifices/recruits and prefer to pretend it's not there.

 There are some failed Spawn of Glaaki lurking in the sewers, which may attack the gangsters if they travel too far towards the inner sanctum unaccompanied (or if the pace of the game is lagging).  For these creatures, something went wrong when they reacted to Glaaki's poison, and now they are mutated and twisted. 

The Swamp Angels are familiar with them, but will happily leave their guests to feed the failed creatures.  Use the same statistics as a regular Spawn of Glaaki, but feel free to make the description (and corresponding Stability loss) worse.  Suggestions include partially inside out humans; boneless masses covered in coarse fur that can ooze from pipes, and long-fingered silvery skeletal figures.   

The failed ritual site:
This is the location where Father Brendan and the banshee tried to perform the first portion of the ritual.  However, the banshee is unstable and fled before they could finish.  The result was a failed ritual.  (If running a one-shot and simplifying things, the banshee may well have been the intended victim - who managed to escape.).  Otherwise, the victim became a failed Spawn of Glaaki and retreated into the sewer.

 The best site for the failed ritual site is at the Bowery in Five Points.  It's a terrible area and the Bowery is at the center.  It's full of murderers and miserable, crowded conditions - but no one has ventured into this room since the attempted ritual.

Evidence collection is a catch-all for this area; if nothing else applies and the player thinks to ask, be sure to give them some clues.

Theology: the room has been set up as if for a baptism, then abandoned in great haste.  There is still a faint smell of incense, but it is mixed with something foul.  The candles around the room are bent into strange shapes.
Evidence Collection: the floor is absolutely covered in tiny punctures as if thousands of needles had punched their way up from below. 
Chemistry: there is a discarded bucket; the insides have been burned as if from a corrosive liquid. 
Biology: the discarded bucket has several small twigs growing from within, but they have a strange silvery sheen to them.
Forensics: There is blood spattered on the floor and on the ceiling, as if the victim was struck from below with great force but with very tiny implements. 
Languages: there are some scraps of Latin text here.  They are obviously taken from a prayerbook, but the passages have been crudely retranslated - as if by someone who knows a little Latin, but not well.

Father Brendan
Father Brendan is an idealistic priest who the gangsters may encounter early on during their investigations.  If they enlist his help to find Little Pete, he will promise to speak with the Sewer Angels - with whom he has made "some progress" and will return with the man.
Father Brendan may ask the gangsters to retrieve some things from his quarters in a downtown church - this can be an opportunity to give them some or all of his diary. 
If it appears that the gangsters are trying to hinder his plans, Father Brendan will first attempt to misdirect them - sending them to a wrong location while he finishes his work at a node.  (Of course, Assess honesty can be used to see through this.) 
If they confront him about  his involvement with the Sewer Angels or Glaaki, he will promise to explain everything - and lead them directly into the Fragment's lair, to be devoured or poisoned.  (Again, Investigative skill use should provide a chance to realize it's a trap, as long as the characters use their skills.)

Jim Corner
Jim Corner cave serve as a source of further clues or as an ally.  He is looking for someone to get rid of Father Brendan and his religious claptrap, but Corner would be happy to paint the priest as the source of all their problems, leaving the Fragment in the sewer.  If the players take this option, they can join up with Corner and even lure Father Brendan into an ambush - but the true source of the infection will remain.

The ghouls and other floating clues:
In Trail of Cthulhu, Ken Hite refers to the idea of the floating clue - a clue that can be dropped into other scenes.  In this adventure, the ghouls are primary source of floating clues, especially since they have a vested interest in the characters' success in stopping the Fragment and its minions.  Therefore, the ghouls are also a chance to point characters in the right direction, while giving them a side avenue to investigate.
- Perhaps the characters receive a map from 20 years ago, with certain locations picked out for them
- The ghouls may leave a letter, but the writing is strange and more similar to that of the Indian residents of the area before New York became a major city (Languages, History)
- The ghouls may leave a modified copy of the Revelations of Glaaki, with a short note
- The ghouls are unlikely to reveal themselves directly without some kind of subterfuge - posing as a dead relative or a fortune-teller, or something else where they can disguise themselves
- The legends about the Wendigo can be gleaned using Oral History, History, or Anthropology
 
Using Cthulhu Mythos: 
The Cthulhu Mythos skill comes with a cost in Stability; accordingly, it should always provide a useful clue.  This goes double if the investigation has stalled. 
Suggestions for useful clues are:
- Visions of the ghouls in their tunnels, chewing away at the dead
- Images of dead men getting up and slouching back to the sewers
- Images of the city flooding while white, bloated creatures swim amongst the streets, gobbling up residents
- Images of long thin silver spines coming slowly towards the characters' eyes

The first investigator to use the Cthulhu mythos skill should come away with the name "Glaaki" at the very least.  Perhaps they are muttering it as they have a vision; perhaps they carve it into a piece of paper or their skin, especially preferred for illiterate characters.



The Final Ritual:

The locations for the rituals should be tailored to each campaign, but some possibilities are:
- on a ship in the harbor
- on the docks (where townspeople may act to defend Father Brendan)
- the Bowery in Five Points
- a graveyard full of Cholera victims
- a nicer graveyard such as Green Wood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-Wood_Cemetery)
- Old St. Patrick's Cathedral (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Patrick%27s_Cathedral,_New_York)

Places with strong connections to water, death, or belief are ideal for the ritual.  The ideas of drowning, sacrifice, and immobility/freedom are also important. 

 The outline assumes that Father Brendan is attempting to flood the city, freeing Glaaki and making the citizens of New York part of its new, divine flesh.  The ritual is not meant to be a Black Mass, full of  inverted Christian symbolism.  Father Brendan is acting syncretically, trying to reconcile his old beliefs with the god in the sewer. 

Accordingly, for the ritual, the sacrifices must be fixed in place.  This will generally be from Glaaki's spines, which have worked their way through the sewer and then stabbed up through the floor.  (In the case of a ritual on a boat or very far from the Fragment's lair, this still works; Glaaki does not interpret space the same way that humans do.) 

The victims are then drowned in Glaaki's poison, either from a jug carried by a cultist or excreted from Father Brendan or the banshee.  The result is not just a Spawn of Glaaki, but a Node.  Nodes are smaller than the Fragment, but consist of cocoon-like masses of wrapped flesh.  Generally they are covered with closed eyes.  At the time of the final invocation, the eyes will all open; a giant mouth will finish the chants, and silver spines will reach into the sky.

Nodes do not have combat statistics and are immobile.  Other than stability loss and perhaps speaking in the voice of the sacrifice, they cannot defend themselves.  Though durable, as with other extensions of the Fragment, they may be destroyed with enough of a basic substance, such as lye.  Prolonged exposure to sunlight and/or fire might also work.  

If playing in a longer game and the players have befriended specific NPCs, it is highly recommended to use one of them for the final Node.

It ends:
 For the final portion, I recommend setting up a visible clock or other indication of how much time is remaining until the ritual.  This should help remind the players that time is limited.

Win conditions: 
 If the players destroy at least one Node, the ritual cannot proceed properly.  There may be a storm if at least one Node and the Fragment remain, but it will not flood New York extensively.  However, the Fragment will be aware of them through its Nodes, and will send as many Spawn of Glaaki as it can compel after the gangsters. 

For each Node destroyed, subtract 5 from the Health of the Fragment.  It has invested much of itself in these sites and their destruction weakens it considerably.  This loss is not restored by its Regeneration.

If the players find a way to destroy or neutralize the Fragment itself, then the ritual cannot be completed.  The Spawn of Glaaki are freed, but will wither away in the sunlight.  They cannot be saved, but the city is spared.  The characters  may well find a small metal idol at the center of the Fragment/Crawdad Jim's body - destroying this idol could be part of another adventure.  In a pulp game, let the players have their victory without such complications.

Lose conditions:
If the players fail to locate any Nodes or dismantle the ritual sites and the Fragment is still active, then it will carry out its plan.  New York will be flooded; many of its citizens will become food for the beast, and the remainder will become its undead slaves.  New York will vanish from the world map, a cautionary tale to the rest of the world.  Glaaki's influence will spread over the rest of the Northeast, eventually bringing it into conflict with Deep Ones near Innsmouth. 
(This sort of local post-apocalypse game could be great fun as a follow-up - provided that your players are into it.)

Themes:
Part of the idea for this campaign is to play on attitudes of the time.  1850 puts the game right after one of the Cholera epidemics in New York's history, and the rich of New York (and other cities) worried about the toxic miasma generated by the poor and their squalid conditions.  It is not until much later - after Jacob Riis has photographed the tenements of New York and given a face to the conditions there (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Other_Half_Lives) - that things begin to change in a meaningful way.  In fairness, several religious groups tried to offer aid (as Father Brendan does in this story), but their efforts were often short-lived and disorganized.


In the real world, these conditions truly came to a head in the New York Draft riots a few years later.  In this story, there is a Mythos explanation for the potential violence and horror that's brewing in New York - but it is still the result of a terrible situation going ignored and unchecked.

Many of the locations described in Gangs of New York were demolished in the years to come.  While this has a reasonable, real-world explanation (the city was attempting to break up the slums and condemn the tenements) the subsequent destruction of the Bowery and in fact the whole Five Points arrangement of streets should suggest some occult significance to any Cthulhu-minded Keeper.

Motifs:
The parasitism of Glaaki parallels the Cholera disease.  Without going too far into molecular biology, the bacterium Vibrio cholerae often does not cause disease - but it can become infected with a virus that effectively teaches the cholera bacterium to produce a deadly toxin.  Under these circumstances, Vibrio cholera becomes a deadly infection itself, and both the bacterium and the virus multiply extensively in sick humans.  In this metaphor, Glaaki represents the virus, recreating its human hosts to suit its needs. 


Some of the symptoms of cholera may be adjusted for those infected with Glaaki's toxin.  Not the copious production of rice-water stool, but the dehydration of the victim leaves them with thick, oozing blood - and not much of it.  Sunken eyes, shrivelled fingers, and a constant thirst may accompany later stages of infection with the toxin.

The symbolism of a cleansing flood is hardly new, either.  Since many adventures involve villains who wish to wash the world away to re-invent it, Father Brendan truly believes that he is saving the people of New York by bringing them into communion with Glaaki.  The ritual that creates Nodes is meant to represent both a baptism and a sympathetic connection to the idea of drowning the city. 

However, if you prefer, he could be a less earnest and more vengeful individual.  In this case, his "ark" consists of those infected with Glaaki's poison; they will be the survivors of the deluge. 

Players with Theology as a skill, or possibly Reassurance, may try to convince Father Brendan that he is overreaching himself, or remind him of the Old Testament's promise not to flood the world again.  These are excellent angles - but they may find that the ritual has been sent in motion already or that Father Brendan considers his bond with Glaaki to be a new convenant.

For a pulp game, an unrepentant Father Brendan is probably best.
For a purist game, Father Brendan may realize the error of his actions and seek repentance - only to be controlled like a puppet by Glaaki, who has grown in strength. 
  
Tinkering: 
 

The overall frame can be adjusted in several ways:
- If the players would like to play philanthropists or others investigating the slums, no major changes are necessary.  The gangsters will be initially more hostile, and there is a good chance of them being robbed.  However, the placement of clues does not need to be changed much, and dedicated investigators will persevere through these obstacles.  (If not, and they'd already made contact with Father Brendan or the ghouls, they may find themselves receiving notes, gifts, and ultimately visits from interested parties.)

 - If the players decide to side with Father Brendan or the rest of the Swamp Angels, then play up the rivalry between those who simply want to live forever as gangster-kings of the slums and those who truly believe in Glaaki and its healing touch.  Things are likely to get ugly as two factions of undying gangsters try to figure out how to incapacitate or kill each other.  (Lengths of chain and water are likely to be involved.)  In addition, the ghouls are likely to target the player characters as the newest members of the Swamp Angels.  Overall, siding with the Glaaki-worshippers is absolutely not an easier path. 

- If the players side with the ghouls (either out of opportunism or because the ghouls are impersonating a dead relative*) then the ghouls will offer their aid.  However, the ghouls are doing so for their own reasons and will want something in return.  They may demand that the investigators eat suspicious cured meat, carry out strange rituals of their own, or deliver threatening missives to those that have offended the ghouls.  If the ghouls' larders are starting to run low, they may even call upon the investigators to empty a flask into several wells around the city - leading to another cholera epidemic.  (If the characters carry out this action, a sizable stability hit is justified.  The ghouls would gleefully inform them what's coming.)

 The ghouls may lie as well - while they have rituals to drive off or even bind those infected with Glaaki's toxin, they have no cure for it. 

 * If there is an investigator who's taken the "In the blood" drive, the ghouls may even be one of their relatives. 





Fine-tuning the game - One-shots versus Campaign play:
 If running in a campaign type environment, the game is meant to go for 3-6 sessions.  The length will depend on how aggressively players chase down clues and how much they decide to prepare for any confrontration with the Swamp Angels or Father Brendan.  I also recommend scaling the number of ritual sites based on your number of players and their interest in the subplot.  Three's not a bad place to start - the real goal of that is to make the party make a hard choice about splitting up and dividing their resources.  Two sites would be fine for smaller groups.

If running the game as a one-shot, I recommend scaling back much of the investigative complexity and the various groups scheming against each other.  In this case, all the Swamp Angels should be working in concert, won over by Father Brendan's rhetoric.  The ghouls may not appear at all or may be very straightforward.

In a one-shot, you are on a limited schedule - so the minions of Glaaki are too.  Try and start them waist-deep in Lovecraftian weirdness, rather than a slower burn.  For instance, players trying to win the trust of the Swamp Angels should be given a strange sliver of the Idol or tasked with collecting a vagrant for one of the ritual sites.  Make it so virtually everything is set-up already; perhaps the investigators come across one ritual site immediately after the ritual or during it*.  Then use only one additional ritual site; even if they find a way to deal with that, there's still the Fragment in the sewers.

* Unless your players are extremely clever investigators or use their point spends, of course.  In that case, feel free to have them arrive as the ritual is being set up - they may be in for a fight, but interrupt the ritual and buy themselves some time.

Outline and Dramatis Personnae

Initial Pitch:

Game: Ghouls of New York

System: Trail of Cthulhu

Setting: New York, in the second half of the 19th century. Specifically, the neighborhood of 5 Points - which was famously full of various gangs at the time. Players will take the roles of gangsters from one of the historical groups, such as the Bowery Boys or the River Pirates.

The hook:
New York is full of immigrants. Some bring more than their ambitions with them. A group of settlers from the Severn valley in England have brought their worship of Glaaki, the dweller in the lake, with them. However, in order to survive in their New City, the servants of Glaaki need converts. Fortunately for them, there are many among the gangs who are willing to take on some odd jobs for the promise of a deathless existence.

Deadline 2: Dramatic Personnae:

The hook developed a bit from the initial post as I was writing.  The core ideas are the same, though.

Overview: Not unlike the Apocalypse World and Dungeon World games, Trail of Cthulhu is meant to be player-facing.  In other words, player skills and rolls generally determine more about interactions with NPCs than a full character sheet does.  Accordingly, I have stayed with the convention used in the Trail of Cthulhu corebook, where each NPC’s most prominent skills are listed, along with a few facts that could be gleaned using the players’ Investigative abilities.

I have included extensive notes about the characters’ backstories and goals; these may not all see play in every adventure, but  in an investigative game like Gumshoe, it is important to have some idea what has happened and what will happen if the players do not interfere.

To borrow the story progression from Monster of the Week, the following phases of increasing darkness represent what will happen if the players do not take an active role.  The exact time progression is up to the Keeper and their sense of drama.

Before the game begins: The Fragment is recovered; Father Brendan visits it and is transformed.  The Swamp Angels become increasingly bold in their piracy.

Afternoon:  The Swamp Angels begin taking prisoners, both from scuffles with other gangs and from the boats they invade.  Some of the local people are infected with Glaaki’s toxin.  Rumors circulate about people recovering from terrible wounds.

Evening: The banshee is seen in the poorer districts.  The ritual transfixion of people in certain locations around the city occurs (1-2 victims).  Heavy storm clouds begin to gather.  The Swamp Angels attempt to crush all other gangs in the dock districts.

Twilight: Father Brendan fully becomes Lazarus, the servant of the Fragment of Glaaki.  The banshee sweeps through the richer districts at night.  More victims (3-5) are transfixed.  A slow, steady rain begins.  A few (up to three) people are overgrown with green mold during the daylight hours and fall to dust afterwards.

Night: The final sacrifices (1-2).  The rain becomes a torrent.  Long silver spikes begin to crop up from muddy streets and slither out of buildings as the Fragment grows strong.  Many of the Spawn of Glaaki, the infected townspeople, impale themselves on the spikes or clog sewer tunnels with their bodies, worsening the flooding.  Lazarus merges with the fragment after leading a procession of the faithful to its lair.

Midnight: The Fragment of Glaaki reaches full strength.  The periphery of New York floods; vast portions of the city become extensions of a newly spawned offspring of Glaaki.  The harbor fills with its alien bulk; the moon appears to be a rotting tunnel, and silvery spikes reach towards the heavens, spearing those who try to escape. 

Note on NPCs:

These NPCs are intended to be somewhat modular.  In a shorter game, or if the players have introduced several red herrings themselves, feel free to make Father Brendan and the gangsters be working together without incident.  Jim Corner provides another way for the investigators to catch wind of what is happening. 

Likewise with the ghouls; it is quite possible that many investigators would not come across the ghouls unless they go looking for further strangeness. Under certain conditions, of course, the ghouls will go looking for them.

Danny the Boot

Athletics 8, Firearms 2, Health 7, Scuffling 6, Weapons 3
Danny the Boot is in charge of the River Snakes gang of river pirates. If one of the players is a Criminal or ambitious pirate, he is their primary rival for control of the gang. The River Snakes are a small and recently formed gang; roughly 15 members, plus some hangers-on. Danny is 21 and appears to take nothing seriously - he always has a joke ready or makes light of the gang's enemies. Yet he's concerned about the strange behavior of the Swamp Angels - they've been recruiting excessively and attracting a lot of attention lately. He'd really like to see them swept up by the cops, so the River Snakes can take of their network of sewers.

Roleplaying notes: Though he loves jokes and making light of things, Danny takes running the River Snakes seriously.  He also doesn’t appreciate jokes at his own expense, and will get sulky at them. 

Flattery: Danny appreciates a bit of sucking-up; doing so will cause him to admit that the Swamp Angels made off with a rich cargo of imported jewelry lately.  If the characters can recover it, he’ll split the profits with them 60-40.

Intimidation: Danny doesn’t like being intimidated; his nickname isn’t “the Boot” for nothing.  But if the character manages, he will admit that he heard stories of Swamp Angels getting up from things that should’ve kept them down forever – cracked skulls, maybe even gunshots.

Streetwise: Despite his care-free manner, Danny is extremely ambitious.  He’d love to take over the Swamp Angels entirely if it was possible, but their strange behavior has him unnerved.

Lazarus aka Father Brendan
Father Brendan volunteered to travel the river districts, offering guidance to the people there. After some time in the area, he was called upon to give confession to a member of the Swamp Angels, a local gang who mostly frequented the sewers. Father Brendan went, but nothing in seminary had prepared him for the scenes he witnessed in the Swamp Angels' home.

Upon finding the Fragment of Glaaki and its host, Crawdad Frank, Father Brendan fled into the night. But he returned in an attempt to exorcise the creature. The Fragment misunderstood; it though that Father Brendan's cries were supplications. It responded in kind, revealing its plan to the priest and infusing him with much of its power. The process shattered Brendan's sanity, but he has been trying ever since to fit the existence of this powerful creature into his religious understanding of the world. He believes that the fragment is God or some creation thereof, and that he is the prophet sent to spread the word.

Father Brendan realizes that there will be those who fight against his revelations.  He has started moving among the people of the poorer districts (mostly along the docks and Five Points) offering them Glaaki's communion.  Unlike other Spawn of Glaaki, Father Brendan has a large reservoir of toxin within him, which he can use to inject willing victims. Father Brendan truly believes he is helping people - offering them an escape from death by violence, starvation, or neglect.

At night the Fragment’s influence is especially strong - at these points, Father Brendan becomes the creature Lazarus. Covered with small spines  that can be rapidly extended, this humanoid extension of the fragment has started pinning its victims to walls and ceilings in certain corners of the city. There, kept alive by the toxin, these victims are left to wait until the creature's plan comes to completion.

Father Brendan does not clearly recall his time spent as Lazarus; it is at best like a hazy dream. However, he does know that the Fragment needs to flood at least part of the city, and is willing to assist in its goals - a matter of some dispute with the other Swamp Angels.

Roleplaying notes: Earnest and dreamy.  Father Brendan truly believes in what he’s doing; he knows that other people wouldn’t approve, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember why…

Medicine or Biology: Though he has no obvious injuries, this priest moves a bit stiffly – it almost reminds you of patients whose bones scrape against each other, but he appears to have no pain. 

Languages: The blessings that this priest offers in Latin are not found in any Catholic text.  A standard one: “May the servant take your death unto himself, that you shall not perish by violence, by filth, or by hunger.”

Theology: Though he professes to be helping the poor, this priest’s views are anything but orthodox.  He’s trying to maintain a good Catholic façade, but he keeps making slips – “our Father who dwelt below” rather than “our Father who art in Heaven”.

Lazarus statistics (as monster):

Hit threshold: 4

Athletics 12, Health 10, Scuffling 10

Stealth modifier: +0

Alertness modifier: +1 (Glaaki’s guidance)

Attack: +2 (spines).  When hit by a spine, characters must make a Difficulty 4 Health test or be infected with Glaaki’s toxin.  The toxin has no immediate effects, but affects the victim as if hurt in two hours.  Afterwards, the victim will be considered one of the Spawn of Glaaki.

Armor: -2 vs any (tiny spines)

Stability loss: +1

Notes: If all investigators have been injected with Glaaki’s toxin, Lazarus will attempt to flee.  If they continue to pursue, he will attempt to lure them into a building and transfix them in place with more spines.  This requires another successful Spine attack.  On the next turn, Lazarus will cause the spines to grow and spear into the material of the house, trapping the victim in place. 

While Lazarus has Health 10, he does not die when it reaches zero – like the Banshee and other Spawn of Glaaki, he will recover in one day, provided that his body is not further damaged, left in sunlight, or immersed in lye or another strong base.

Forensics: The walls and floors of this room are absolutely covered in tiny, pinprick sized holes.  Either a thin needle was plunged into the material thousands of times, or …?

The banshee aka Sister Megan - Father Brendan has been trying to recruit members of the clergy to his cause. Generally he tries to talk them into visiting the "dockside wretches" and then lures them to one of the cisterns where Glaaki may manifest. Sister Megan is one of the first such converts; unfortunately, the experience drove her immediately mad. She is only intermittently under the Fragment's control; the rest of the time, she wanders the streets of the poorer districts, dressed in a muck-smeared habit. Some people believe they've seen her brushing her hair with a silver comb, but she is actually clawing at her scalp with one hand covered in small metal spines. Like Lazarus, the banshee is working to place people in the proper locations around the city to create an unnatural flood.

Hit threshold: 3

Athletics 12, Fleeing 10, Health 10, Scuffling 7

Alertness modifier: +1 (Glaaki’s guidance)

Stealth modifier: +0

Attack: +1 (spines).  When hit by a spine, characters must make a Difficulty 3 Health test or be infected with Glaaki’s toxin.  The toxin has no immediate effects, but affects the victim as if hurt in two hours.  Afterwards, the victim will be considered one of the Spawn of Glaaki.

Armor: -1 vs any (tiny spines)

Stability loss: +0 (+1 if very familiar with Sister Megan or upon very close examination)

Notes: If confronted, the banshee will wail and attempt to escape. If blocked, she will lash out with the small metal spikes on her hands, which have trace amounts of Glaaki's toxin. Characters thus affected may experience rigor mortis-like symptoms upon awakening the next day, along with disturbing dreams of embalming. Like other spawn of Glaaki, the banshee may be incapitated by health damage, but cannot be killed except by treatment with a strong base (such as lye) or prolonged exposure to sunlight.

Roleplaying notes: Generally Sister Megan does not speak.  She does not linger for conversation, but may be overheard humming or even singing snatches of song, especially half-remembered hymns or children’s songs.  If captured and constrained somehow, she will remember the “devil beneath” and say that she must warn the city that death is coming.

Anthropology:  Many of the immigrants bring their stories with them; the English, Scots, and Welsh also believe in the banshee myth, though there are regional variations.  This one matches most closely with an Irish version.  If it is a person, it was probably one raised on such stories.

Occult: The story of the banshee is a common one in Irish Folklore.  She appears before those who are going to die, or warns families of a death that has already occurred.  Often she wears white or grey, and brushes her hair with a silver comb.  Banshees do not generally kill their victims directly; they only herald their deaths.

Crawdad Frank The leader of the Swamp Angels, Crawdad Frank, had robbed a few English immigrants and seized their belongings. Among these belongings was a small wooden box, sealed with several bands of silver. Crawdad Frank chipped the silver bands away and opened the box. But the thing inside was a fragment of a god - perhaps a little god, but still incomprehensible to a human. The bit of metallic flesh, which had been reverently harvested from Glaaki, the inhabitant in the lake, was supposed to travel to a secluded lake to grow.

Instead, the fragment found itself in the meaty grip of Crawdad Frank. While not a lake, Crawdad Frank contained quite a bit of water, and the fragment pierced his hand with long, thin metal spines. The gangster tried to conceal this from his compatriots, especially when he was unable to remove the strange metallic lump, no matter what he did. As time passed, it only grew larger - first fully injecting itself into the man's arm, then re-arranging his anatomy to fit its own needs. Now, Crawdad Frank lurks where several pipes dump refuse, constantly bathing his transformed body with sewage and nutrients. He can no longer move; most of his body has been ..unfolded in order to provide the fragment with more surface area to absorb nutrients. But it needs more mass - at first it simply tried to take the other Swamp Angels, but now they have worked out a deal. It has gifted them with its toxin, and they cannot die - but they will bring their prisoners to the fragment. As it grows, its spines will reach further and further..

As for Crawdad Frank, he still lives. His consciousness is not even a distraction to the fragment, and his voice is a useful tool. When not acting as the voice of the fragment, Crawdad Frank is quite mad; he believes that he is working on his uncle's farm, as he did one summer many years ago.

When the players reach Crawdad Frank's lair, at the meeting of several run-off tunnels, be sure that it is completely dark, for the full revelation when they strike a light.
Roleplaying notes: What  happened?  I was out cleaning up the cow shit, but it was a beautiful day despite that.  Sewers?  Angels?  No, just chickens and cows here…

If forced to remember, Frank’s voice is breathy and strained.

Medicine: This man should be – must be! clinically dead, but thin tendrils of metal – almost like wires – are strung through his tissue, keeping it moving. 

Reassurance: Crawdad Frank is past the point of much reassurance, but a soothing (or heartless) investigator can convince him to think back on finding the Fragment originally.  His story will cut off as he remembers it beginning to transform his body.

Theology: Alternatively, Crawdad Frank can be brought back to himself long enough to confess his most recent sins, shedding some light on his current situation.

The Fragment The Fragment is essentially a trimming from the form of Glaaki found in England. At this time, it is relatively weak and disoriented, but it is still a sliver of a powerful alien intelligence, and it's growing fast.
After infecting Crawdad Frank, the Fragment essentially unfolded him from inside out to maximize its surface area. It has added several other unfortunate Swamp Angels to its mass since then, plus some of the living offerings that the gang provided.  The appearance of the Fragment at this point, in decent light, is that of a time-lapse image of decaying corpses in black and white. However, rather than decaying to nothing, strange and oddly significant patterns appear in the rotting matter, shifting constantly.

Every human that the Fragment infects with its toxin adds to its available mass. At this stage, it can only nudge its toxin-infected spawn, but it can keep them alive through almost any trauma. For the most infected, sunlight will destroy them, as will immersion in lye or other strong bases.    

If the Fragment’s servants are not stopped, it will use the bodies collected and immobilized by Lazarus as part of a spell to flood New York.  Having been returned to its natural habitat, the Fragment will swim among the drowning at its leisure, adding them to its own mass until it is complete.

Using skills to investigate the Fragment can cause further Stability loss.

Biology: This creature is biologically impossible.  It appears to be made of flowing metal; it can create living matter from nothing; it can rearrange flesh, and its silver cords appear to link it to distant creatures.

Cthulhu Mythos: This creature resembles an aquatic god spoken of in obscure corners of England.  There are stories there of graveyards that hold only outsiders’ names; the residents have survived for generations.  But they only come out at night to worship Glaaki, the dweller in the lake.

Medicine or Chemistry: This creature has the stink of embalming fluids.  It appears to not only repair damaged tissue; it secretes some sort of substance that also toughens the tissue over time.  The process may be reversible if a suitable chemical can be located.

Athletics 10 (in water); immobile when partially submerged or on land

Health 35

Scuffling 25

Hit threshold: 3 (large)

Alertness modifier: +2

Stealth modifier: -1

Weapons:

The Fragment can attack those who venture into its chambers by growing large spines or lashing out with its pseudopods, which are mostly formed from reconstituted Swamp Angel members)

Spines +5.  When hit by a spine, characters must make a Difficulty 6 Health test or be infected with Glaaki’s toxin.  The toxin has no immediate effects, but affects the victim as if hurt in two hours.  Afterwards, the victim will be considered one of the Spawn of Glaaki.

Envelop +2. When hit by a scuffling attack, a character is partially enveloped by the Fragment’s loops of organs.  Each round thereafter, the character may be hit automatically as the Fragment constricts.  They may also be immersed in Glaaki’s toxin, which can be absorbed through the skin; see above.

Armor: Physical weapons do only 1 point of damage.  Chemical bases do full damage.  Regenerates 1 point of damage each turn, until killed.

Stability loss: +4

Notes: Flooding its chamber with lye, or somehow collapsing the ceiling in order to bring sunlight down upon the Fragment, would halt its growth and destroy its host, Crawdad Frank. The fragment itself could retreat to its original spore, a fist-sized chunk of living metal covered in tiny barbed spines. (This outcome is recommended for an ongoing campaign or for a Purist ending to the game. In a Pulp game, it is not unreasonable for the Fragment to be banished utterly.)

The local ghouls may also be able to acquire spells to banish the Fragment of Glaaki, but the knowledge to cast such spells will require eating the mummified flesh of a sorcerer.  (Knowingly partaking in cannibalism causes 7 stability loss).  In addition, such a spell will require a willing sacrifice - a voluntary death is required to cancel out the Fragment's parasitic immortality.  The stability loss from the sacrifice will depend on their relationship to the spellcaster.

Jim Corner

Athletics 8, Firearms 5, Health 10 (spawn of Glaaki), Scuffling 8, Weapons 3

Jim was the accepted second-in-command of the Swamp Angels. He expected to be in control once Crawdad Frank died or got himself arrested, but things are murky now that the gang revolves around some alien chunk of flesh. Jim's not happy about it - he was okay dropping off the occasional victim for the Fragment, and certainly no bodies could be identified after being incorporated into the Fragment's growing mass.  But this stuff about flooding the vm? And bringing the gift of the deathless to all people? Jim doesn't have time for this kind of nonsense, but there's not much he can do. He might reach out to the player characters in an attempt to have the get rid of Father Brendan. He'd rather keep the Fragment starved and useful.

Jim Corner is one of the Spawn of Glaaki. He likes not having to worry about dying in some street fight, but his ambitions haven't gone much past making a lot of money. Of course, even if he gets his way - Father Brendan and the Banshee removed, the immortality kept a secret - the Fragment will eventually win. It will recruit enough servants and become strong enough to impose its will on them, and the results will not go well for the city.

Roleplaying notes: Jim is gruff and irritated.  He’s had enough of his own gang being subverted by some soft-handed priest for some stupid suicidal plan.  He hates having to bring in other people to deal with it, and he’s just barely keeping his temper under control at all times.

Assess honesty: Jim may try to approach the characters and get them to eliminate Father Brendan without mentioning the priest’s association with the Swamp Angels – or Father Brendan’s special abilities.  If pressed, he will disclose the association, but it’ll take a point spend to get him to reveal anything about the Fagther’s unnatural durability.  The more people know about something like that, the less useful it is for him and his boys..

Bargain: If the players agree to take care of (deliberately left vague) Father Brendan, Jim will offer them cash, membership in the gang, or even the deathless gift, if they impress him enough.  The last he will only insinuate at indirectly.

Streetwise: Jim really just wants to run his gang.  He wants it to be the richest, biggest gang around, but he has no real patience for supernatural things that do not benefit him.

Spawn of Glaaki About 75% of the Swamp Angels have been infected with Glaaki's toxin. The gang is about 35 people, so 26 are Spawn of Glaaki.  If Father Brenda is not stopped he will continually recruit more each day. 

The process takes about two days after being injected with the toxin; shooting pains and disturbing dreams are common. The dreams cause Stability loss. In terms of statistics, treat Spawn of Glaaki as zombies from Trail of Cthulhu, but without an infectious bite. When reduced to zero health, Spawn of Glaaki will collapse but will gradually heal as tiny silver threads (looking exactly like tapeworms or botflies) wind their way through their bodies, knitting their flesh back together. The process takes 1 day for severe trauma (stab wounds, gunshots) and appropriately less for less dramatic damage. Each "death" of this kind reduces the spawn's Stability by 2. At stability 0, the Spawn burn up in sunlight and are little more than extensions of the Fragment.
Roleplaying notes: The Spawn of Glaaki are not mindless undead, at least at first.  They retain their personalities and most of their free will, though this will drain away over the course of the adventure.  They will gradually see their sanity weaken as they survive injuries with no ill effect and dream about the Fragment of Glaaki.

The Ghouls
The ghouls have the same statistics as the default ghouls in the Trail of Cthulhu corebook. They are distinguished by their personalities.

All three ghouls have names derived from Algonquin words. The legend of the wendigo tells about the lean, powerful monsters that humans may become when they resort to cannibalism. It's not clear if the three ghouls originally were Native Americans, or if they have simply appropriated the names in order to make themselves appear older and more alien. All the ghouls speak English, though in an alternately meeping and gutteral dialect.

It is possible (depending on the players' actions) that they will never encounter the ghouls. However, if they go looking for clues in cemeteries or appear to be allying with the Swamp Angels, the ghouls may well take notice. If the players ignore their Drives and do not delve into any aspects of the mystery, the ghouls can offer either rewards or threats to induce them.

Their goals: The ghouls hate the spawn of Glaaki. Glaaki's toxin is death to ghouls, and they consider the walking, toxin-filled corpses to be an abomination (especially when compared to their own sleek forms). To make things worse, Father Brendan has been covering his sewers with scrawlings drawing parallels between Glaaki and Mordiggian, the father of ghouls. It's a case of unwelcome, blasphemous neighbors who also threaten the ghouls' food supply - and the ghouls want the problem solved.

In terms of the adventure, the ghouls are potential allies or antagonists. They can be allies providing information or even resources to stuck investigators - but make sure that the assistance always comes at a price. Look to your characters' Drives and pillars of Stability for the price, but if nothing suggests itself, the ghouls can insist that the characters share a grisly feast of human flesh with them.

Alternately, perhaps the ghouls gain the memories of those they eat, and can manage a convincing imitation of a character's dead family member. (Among the ghouls, this sort of manipulation may be considered somewhere between a delightfully grim practical joke and an art.)

As antagonists, the ghouls can maintain tension in a very short game where the player characters have joined up with the Swamp Angels and their deathless recruiting drive. The ghouls will identify the characters as a weak link, and will do their best to terrify them, thwart their plans, or use them to send a message to the Glaaki worshipers. Suggested tactics might be desecration of family graves, messages scrawled in the characters' homes (DEATH IS COMING), or arranging for accidents to befall the characters. In this case, be sure to play up the Swamp Angels' paranoia - they know that something else lives underground and that it is hunting them.

Chansomps (locust) - appears to the be the lower ranking ghoul. Chansomps looks to the others for approval; when there are errands to be done, such as contacting investigators, Chansomps is the one who does it. Chansomps still retains some human behavioral tics; wearing mismatched clothes, clearing his throat, and tapping his clawed fingers against one another.

He prefers to leave notes and gifts. The gifts may include cured human flesh; eating it will strengthen the investigators, but carries a Stability cost if they realize what it is.

Chogan (blackbird) Chogan was a woman. She is far more quiet than Chansomps and tends not to speak unless necessary. When she does speak, it is generally in the form of short, sharp sentences. She does not appreciate arguments and will leave if contradicted. Of the ghouls presented, Chogan is most likely to imitate a dead friend or family member to get what she wants.

Eluwilussit (holy one) It is impossible to tell what Eluwilussit originally looked like. This ancient ghoul is encrusted with grave mold and even fungus. It is probably the leader of the ghouls of New York, as much as they have one. Chansomps and Chogan both defer to Eluwilussit immediately. Its voice is surprisingly high-pitched; when amused it will converse with visitors.

Additional:

The following names are from real gangsters from New York.  There’s not much information on many of them, besides their name, so Keepers put on the spot could use them for NPC names.

Additional names:

Sadie the Goat (1869)
Gallus Mag
Albery Hicks - 1860

Daybreak Boys: (another river-front gang)
Cow-legged Sam
Slobbery Jim
Bill Lowrie
Molly Maher
Sow Madden
Patsy the Barber
Nicholas Saul
William Howlett
Bill Johnson

Civil War era:

Skinner Mehan

 Dutch Hen

Brian Boru

 Sweeney the Boy

 Hop Along Peter

 Jack Cody

Patsy Conroy and gang:
Joseph Gayles (Socco the Bracer)

 Scotchy Lavelle

 Johnny Dobs (Mike Kerrigan)

 Kid Shanahan,

Pugsy Hurley

Wreck Donovan

Tom the Mick

 N. Wallace

Beeny Kane

Piggy Noles

Colorful location names:
Tub of Blood, Hell's Kitchen, Smug Harbor, Swain's Castle, Cat Alley, the Lava Beds