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Yokeltania Proper | The Game Mill | ||
Artifact Chase | City Visitation | Clue Finder | Concepts in Conflict |
The library of St. Martin's does not have any real books.
Instead, it is entirely filled with relevant passages to your player's delimmas. The preists of the cathedral take care to preserve their various quotations and snippets, but visitors with impending supernatural delimmas, good library sciences rolls or those who Ask Real Nice can freely skim through and find what they need in the collections.
What most people are looking for in the library is the weakness of some horrible monster or the ingredients to break a spell. Sometimes, people need to research the ingredients to cast a spell or make some strange potion, but those things are better left to your player's imaginations.
If you're stuck for a clue, or want to spice up your games with a quote-like clue, you can have your players (unwittingly) generate this randomly by rolling two dice (and claim it's a "library search" check or something), or you can look up a type of "remedy" or solution you'd like your players to need and pick two of the four passages (out of twelve total) that mention it to quote or paraphrase to your players:
View RANDOM Passages, CHOSEN Elements or return to YOKELTANIA.
In fact, the monks are particularly excited today, because they've just acquired the artifact chase generator. It's a javascript online text generator that gives you a starting point for hunting down esoteric relics. Check it out at: archase.html!
RANDOM RELEVANT PASSAGES
The most useful service the library has to offer is that of plot-point-crucial crossreferencing. This is when a researcher stumbles across two sections from two disparate books which both happen to mention the same thing. Not only that, but this jointly-mentioned thing also happens to be the one being researched! Wow! What a coincidence! I'll bet a modern scholar would cheerfully commit murder to have that happen everytime a research assistant comes back from the library.
Fortunately, through the use of vagueries and the fact that I've made up all the references myself, you can provide this effect for your players (at least, the ones who you deem worthy by means of good rolls, good roleplaying or good vibrations.) All you really need is two dice and a list of Nine different ingredients or, for want of a better word, "Elements", that you want your players to might have to need. Roll the dice one at a time (or have the players roll them together and then read them off one at a time.) The first passage is from an ancient text. Presumably, the ancients knew how to handle supernatural menaces much better than we do. There are six ancient texts which may be stumbled accross by intrepid antequarians. Once you've found the relevant passage from the list of tomes below, you should then proceed to the second reference (one of more modern origin.)
1. The Verbine Pullet
2. Sprechenze Kulten
3. Discouverie hyght Apocryphas
4. Desiderata Maleficorum
5. The Hundred Folds
6. The Anastomotic Revelations
Each of the twelve passages on this page mentions three different very vague, for want of a better word, "Elements." When you compare any two passages, at least one of these "Elements" (supposedly ingredients of magic spells or the Achilles' Heel of monsters) should appear in both. That "Element," or some creative version of it, is what the players ought to start looking for (or figuring out how to substitute.) Actually, there is a slight caveat I should have added earlier. Because I'm not very good with probability equations, you have to compare one fo the six "Ancient" texts with one of the six "modern" sources, otherwise you won't get a match or, worse yet, all three "Elements" will be the same in both passages. As there are nine "Elements," each one essentially a blank to fill in (like a Mad Lib!), the person preparing this game will have to think of nine different magical ingredients and have versions of them available in the game (just ot be fair about it.) We have some suggestions listed under each of the objects below, but, beleive me, your players will probably be able to come up with variations on anything we mention. They are ROLEPLAYERS, after all.
OBJECT, FLUiD, HOUR,
SYMBOL, WORD, COLOR, ANiMAL, HERB,
RAYS
OBJECTs (gen.)
These are usually man-made and include everything from mirrors to magic blades. They tend to be old, but substitutions of more moderrn items (with similiar "spirit") are perfectly acceptable. Six popular objects for this sort of thing include the ever-popular mirror, the knife (squiggly blade-preferred), the ornate statue, the mystic amulet, the rare gemstone, the forbidden book and the infernal device (which is easier to build than you think). Objects are mentioned in these specific sources:
Discouverie hyght Apocryphas, Desiderata Maleficorum
And these generic ones:
Personal Journal, Courtroom Document
FLUiDs (gen.)
Generally messy and made of unspeakable things, you'd better hope you don't have to drink this stuff. Blood is a popular fluid (although this can sometimes refer to relationships, so be careful), so is wine and mercury (or "quicksilver" as it can be known.) Lots of people consider grave moss mixed with swamp muck to be a good fluid and there are those who will swear by Aqua Vitae (the water of life), which is probably another name for blood (or, um, ah... semen. Ahem.) Anyway, to keep the theme of six suggestions going, let's throw milk and arsenic into this mix. Fluids show up in the following ancient references:
Sprechenze Kulten, Anastomotic Revalations,
and these generic ones:
Official Declaration, Unpublished Manuscript
HOURs
Not always referring to a specific stretch of the clock, an hour can be a time of day, a time of the year or even an astrological conjunction. Under hour is grouped any significant moment of time, which is usually fast approaching when your players stumble upon it. Hours aren't always solutions, but clever players can probably turn them into a fighting chance. Besides a those hours mentioned above, you've got your mystically-significant holidays, bodily cycles and even specific weather conditions. These things are mentioned in two strange places:
Verbine Pullet, The Hundred Folds
and two generic ones:
Medical
Notes , Written Report
SYMBOLs
A vital part of making anything seem magical is assigning nonsense sigils to it. Besides the obvious pentagram, other magical symbols have included circles with writing all around the outside, mathematical gibberish and letters from dead languages (Norse runes are always in vogue.) Astrological symbols never seem to stop showing up and pretty much any jumble of scratches can be mystically significant. Symbols don't always have to be drawn. They can be carved, made out of sticks, welded in place or even formed by shadows and light. Symbols appear everwhere, but are specifically mentioned in these infamous texts:
Discouverie hyght Apocryphas, The Hundred Folds
and these generic ones:
Official
Declaration , Unpublished Manuscript
WORDs
Separate from Symbols in that they can be spoken aloud as well as drawn, words can be things like names, invocations and chants. They can be a single word or a whole book. Plays, proclamations and even relevant passages can be the words you need for your magical problems. Writings where certain words seem to be most important are these eldritch writings:
Verbine Pullet, Anastomotic Revalations
but these generic ones mention them, too:
Personal Journal, Courtroom Document
COLORs
In a lot of cultures, a certain hue can be the only thing that stands between you and unspeakable evil. Then again, sometimes wearing the wrong color will get you in dutch with the powers of Good. Really, I can't suggest alternates to colors, I can just point out that sometimes patterns, color combinations and dyes count for mystic defense. This is mentioned in these dangerous sources:
Sprechenze Kulten, Desiderata Maleficorum
and also these generic ones:
Medical Notes, Written Report
ANiMALs
There are all sorts of mystic animals, they are usually scary or troublesome. Let's just mention six, shall we? The wolf, obviously, in western culture, as well as the hare and, suprisingly, the hedgehog. Rhinos are quite popular in parts of the world, it is said, as are sharks and, well, Dragons. Animals are neccessary components in these sepulchral tomes:
Sprechenze Kulten, The Hundred Folds
and these generic ones:
Personal
Journal , Courtroom Document
HERBs
Green, leafy things which can kill you or taste real good (or both) often tend to attact attention. As a result, many herbs are important to magical stuff. Red berries, green leaves, white flowers and plants with roots shaped like little men (mandrake) are all very mystic. We can't forget graveyard moss or bits of elder wood, either, just don't forget to observe the proper respect when collecting these items or you might find another supernatural menace hunting you down. Keep this in mind when you see mentions in these august volumes:
Verbine Pullet, Desiderata Maleficorum
and these generic ones:
Official
Declaration , Unpublished Manuscript
RAYS
Light is the most common ray of all, particularly that of the sun. Once it's out, people are safer and the world is a lot less supernatural. Beams can come from all sorts of things and might even include certain sounds, colors of light or the light from certain constellations. Then again, we're probably just talking about sunlight (or any old light) here, especially in books like:
Discouverie hyght Apocryphas, Anastomotic Revalations
or these old standbys:
Medical Notes, Written Report
1. It is interesting to note that the notorious "lost" edition of the Verbine Pullet is, in fact, the most widely-read. Its original author is lost to history, but it was published by "Flieing Wytch Studios," (the quality of which perfectly indicated with the "y" in witch, but not in flying) only recently revealed to be the press of one Reverend Whittle. The editions is typically of bad typesetting and worse editing in early chapbooks, but the brittle pamphlet is still a favourite among demented cults and people who think magic works. The passage below is a prime example.
"...it being knowne bie alle thate, uponne the HOURE ayeh ("I"?) haffe sayed, thenne the craitore doth tekken them HYRBS whotte yse wand andde spaketh sertayne WERDD yew weel can..."
The books is both a headache and a heartache to read. The good Reverend or whoever was at arranging the type, was clearly overly excited or, as it were, not in the least bit competent. It survives, none the less, because many beleive the mispellings and grammatical errors are deliberate (an affront to Johnson's "Oppression" of English; to wit: the dictionary) and form some sort of evil code. As Reverend Whittle died in unquestionable moral sanctity, this is rather unlikely.
See Next (Read: roll ) Random Passage.
2. For years, those "in the know" have whispered of Helmut Zane's Sprechenze Kulten. Zane spent years "interpreting" occult messages buried in everyday and ecclesiastic writings. He even claims (in the gibbering preface) that the COLOR of the cover to his own book is of great significance. The hue of the binding is supposedly a protection from "pernicious influences" which Zane feared were focussed on him at all times. Since the publisher changed the cover against Zane's wishes, it may take some additional research to discover what the actual shade was that may have saved poor Zane's life. The whole cover mishap may be part of a conspiracy which Zane mentions over and over again in his section on certain ANiMAL cults he'd uncovered. Toward the end of his career (and the end of the book) Zane had clearly become totally paranoid and lived in an isolated farm house refusing any food but pure grain alcohol and thinly-sliced cheese. He perished of gasto-intestinal combustion which, to this day, is said to have been from a poisoned cigar given him by jealous sect known for their toxic rites (as in the following passage.)
(from page 107) ...they brought forth theFLUiD, an obnoxious mixture, in honor of their obscene ANiMAL god, and poured it on the thing, claiming, "Only this shall keep us safe. Only this shall preserve us." They all wore the COLOR dictated by their superstitious fears and quaked as the horrid stuff sizzled on the grill.
See Next (Read: roll ) Random Passage.
3. The sisterhood of St. Osyth DeBley's Discouverie hyght Apocryphas is, of course, the seminal work in the field of this sort of thing. It has never gone through a modern print run and is still only available in a beautifully illuminated monastic script. The book itself is over twelve hundred pages long and took three lifetimes of work by fourteen and fifteen year-old nuns to complete. While this makes it an imposing book to read, it is interesting to note that each page contains a maximum of seven words, all written in Very Tiny, crabbed handwriting in the bottom corner. The actual significance of the work is in the breathtaking SYMBOLS that adorn every square inch of the paper. Little hearts, happy unicorns and ornate designs based solely on boys' names (along with the occasional scowling parody of a Mother Superior) cascade across page after page, each supposedly dedicated to eradicating evil from the hearts and minds of men. Getting a sore arm is certain as the following simple quote spans thirty-six pages.
(from the middle of the fiftieth chapter and only the beginning of the second paragraph): As the RAYS struck the altar, a curious OBJECT was revealed by the mark of the unseen SYMBOLS, or so it is said, by those who place faith in such things.
See Next (Read: roll ) Random Passage.
4. It is not unusual to find dedicated witch-hunters quoting from the Desiderata Maleficorum of Polonius de Tanstaafl. Originally published as a manual for rooting-out heresy and black magic, it is, in fact, a very long list of peices of simple advice. Including such classics as "Beware the Ides of March" and "Never forget to wash behind the ears," the manuscript also contains warnings to "Keep your shifty eyes on thy road, ahead," and, when faced with male witchery, to "hit thy rod, Joque." Here and there, a useful and arcane peice of advice floats to the surface of the constant nagging platitudes, but these have been widely used by those both seeking to prevent and cause supernatural evil. The three most famous are listed below.
Don't put an OBJECT in your mouth if you don't know where it's been.
Never wear this COLOR (one mentioned in a previous admonishment) under a glowering moon.
Don't partake of such strong HERBS before bed, either.
See Next (Read: roll ) Random Passage.
5. History records the demon Kuei Shu-sai-chong as the author of The Hundred Folds but recent evidence suggests that it was, in fact, Hop Park, a cantankerous palace gardener, who penned the notorious manual. Either way, generations have feared and honored it as a gateway to the hell of painful happiness and it has been banned in more countries than the blasphemous and unspeakable Adventures of Huck Fynn. By way of mystic advice, it deals only in dark deeds and unholy encouragement. Some of its suggestions make even the most tainted shudder, as in the horrible entreaty below.
...look, it's just an ANiMAL, okay? Take the stupid thing down to the cellar at the appointed HOUR, position it squarely over the prescribed SYMBOLs, grab a hammer, drop your pants and...
The rest is too horrible to finish. In fact, in most editions of the book, it never actually is finished. As of this writing, not one complete copy of the book has ever been found. Some suspect that Hop Park specifically left it uncompleted, or that he published it in sections that, when all are brought together, will match up, but the wiser scholars tend to think that old Hop was just trying to get everyone's goat.
See Next (Read: roll ) Random Passage.
6. Sadly, Aldous Pendleton admitted to several possible mistakes when he translated the Anastomotic Revelations from the mad scribblings of the unnamed author who, in turn, had transcribed it from the Sir Kipling Galbraith version. Galbraith himself drank heavily and may have garbled a few words in wading through the obtuse code in which the volume he originally bought was enscribed. Since the text Galbraith had copied from was, itself, transcribed by an elderly and near-sighted cleric using a politically-influenced interpretation of a second-hand copy of the all-hieroglyphics version. The hieroglyphic translation, it must be said, was long attributed to the mysterious G'hummotep. This credit more appropriately belongs to the epileptic engraver Melboos, who created the Demotic edition (rather than the earlier impure "backward" glyphs of G'hummotep) from a half-remembered glimpse of the version dictated (from a secondary source) by the mad god-king, Bel-Ablis-Ra. Also, with the confusion noted at the time of the uncovering of an early "Rosetta Stone"-esque version (one side of which contained the Revelations in a complete gibberish language), most experts agree there's no way to tell what the original writings were even about. Still, they are used by practicioners of the darker arts across the globe, despite passages like the one below.
Seventeen RAYS, there are in the mighty tumbling sock, filled with the FLUiD of the hopping angry grater. How they will tremble at the ring of the monkey, inscribed with the WORD on the pickle of righteous ablation. See to them, the birds of heaven and glue, lest the bugler swallow tiny yellowness.
See Next (Read: roll ) Random Passage.
Next Related Random Passage
This is the clincher, the final peice of evidence that corroborates the reserach begun with the ancient passage. In these six more modern sources, three more "Elements" are introduced b each. Comparing any one of these with any one of the previous passages will reveal that one "Element" matches in both. It is up to the person putting together the game to have a suitable ingredient or even a specific item which both texts seem to be talking about for presentation to the reserachers. Just roll a die to see which one ends up completing the match.
1. Personal Journal
2. Medical Notes
3. Official Declaration
4. Courtroom Document
5. Written Report
6. Unpublished Manuscript
A fixation on one of the other OBJECTs found amidst the personal effects was most notable, along with frequent references to an ANiMAL that the wretch clung to for salvation. Also, a WORD is repeated over and over again without any real meaning.
( Find Another set of Randomly Relevant of Passages.)
2. After the good doctor was arrested, some disturbing evidence of what really went on during the nights of the murders was found stuffed amongst the medical notes. It was scribbled with a hand unlike that of the estimeed medical expert and the papers were typically stained with something better left unmentioned.
The papers typically commented on the effects of certain RAYS, or -and here the notes a hoplessly confused- possibly COLORs of the afforementioned wavelength, which, when focused, at a peculiar HOUR, brought about medically impossible results.
( Find Another set of Randomly Relevant of Passages.)
3. A peculiar section from an Official Declaration of the time may shed some light on a night best forgotten. It seems that the public officials were moved to make the most remarkable of ordinances "for the preservation of goodliness in this blighted community."
Among the interdictions is an almost ludicrous order that any HERB (or any FLUiD made from such herbs) of that most unremarkable kind must be burned upon sight or, at least, confiscated. Also, all instances of a certain SYMBOL were to be irradicated from the town and anyone purposely making such a sigil be put to death.
( Find Another set of Randomly Relevant of Passages.)
4. Only recently coming to light, this supressed transcription of a courtroom document seems to obtain only a few details that were different from the version that was actually filed. Whether this points to evidence of a conspiracy, as some imply, or whether it was merely a clerical error, as is claimed officially, remains one of contention.
The document is not without peculiarities, such as the amount of space devoted to the ownership of that significant breed of ANiMAL and a lengthy arguement over whether a queer OBJECT should be admitted into the courtroom. In the end, it seems that a certain WORD was being avoided during the entire session, but it appears only once in the document, whereupon the transcription abruptly ends.
( Find Another set of Randomly Relevant
of Passages.)
5. Buried in a written report that acheived limited, but sensational, circulation, are a few paragraphs which only someone with an occult bent might make any sense of. What readers actually thought of these bone-chilling allegations is unknown, but the article only appeared once and was never repeated.
It dealt with strange RAYS noted at a most singular HOUR by persons in a very questionable circumstance. The entire article dwells upon the afforementioned COLOR, making many insinuations about the hue but never quite touching on what is remarkable about it. It is almost as if the people reading this strange report would already know why it should be so prominent.
( Find Another set of Randomly Relevant of Passages.)
6. Why this information should be edited out of an unpublished manuscript, one that no one ever intended to be seen by the public at large, still puzzles the survivors. Still, the scars of the catastrophe run deep and the loss of so brilliant a mind leaves somber echoes.
Witness, from the edited section, mentions of a SYMBOL and its subtle (so subtle only one mind could have spotted it) connection with the forbidden HERB (the one found in the ashes of the garden) or the exotic FLUiD of which the dear, departed author was so fond.
( Find Another set of Randomly Relevant
of Passages.)