Tag: keeper of arcane lore

Announcement: The Well Below the Valley

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Text reads, "Space Whales Press presents The Well Below the Valley, an audio drama."

I am starting a new project!

(“But don’t you have enough projects?” Yes. Yes, I do. Let’s not talk about that.)

On a rainy morning in 1922, an archaeologist is found dead in a London hotel room. At first, it is assumed his death was a natural one, but questions soon arise:

Who has been following the professor around Oxford?

What happened on his last field expedition, which was cut short and declared a failure?

What became of his crew?

And how did he drown, miles from the harbor and with no other sources of water nearby?

In a world still living under the shadow of the Great War, four intrepid investigators must discover the secret Professor Ragnarsson was murdered to keep, and learn that the world is darker and more terrible than they could ever have imagined–and that they are the only things standing between the earth and its total destruction.

Introduction to The Well Below the Valley
Continue reading “Announcement: The Well Below the Valley” →

Chapter Four: A Home Without Joy (Part Two)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The investigators have arrived at last at the seat of the cult’s power: the hollow island in the North sea. Already, the Great Mother’s servants are gathering, and they will stop at nothing to prevent our intrepid heroes from ending their evil and saving the world.

In Part One of this chapter, the investigators procured transportation and sailed to the island, hiding their boat and making their way over the jagged rocks to the underground temple. Armed with the spell in the Westmont Text, and possibly some explosives obtained in Dublin, they must now enter the temple and seal the Mother’s well for good.

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: eldritch horror, cult activity, forced drugging, abduction, monstrous pregnancy and miscarriage, explosions, and geographic destruction.)

Continue reading “Chapter Four: A Home Without Joy (Part Two)” →

Chapter Four: A Home Without Joy (Part One)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The investigators and their allies have faced the summoned creature and the cult in Dublin. They are left with a number of bodies in an abandoned barn and a black scar on the earth in someone’s field, or with the city crumbling in the horror’s wake.  If the investigators failed to defeat the summoned creature, they will receive no more help from their allies in Dublin. All efforts will be redirected to mitigating the damage and saving as many people as possible. Even if it and most, if not all, the cultists have been killed, arrested, or otherwise put out of action, the repercussions of their activities continue. Specifically, there has been a bombing in the city followed by quite a lot of gunfire just outside it.  It would be reasonable to assume that both the British and Irish governments will conclude that the local IRA members have broken the terms of the treaty and the previous ceasefire and restarted a pattern of sectarian violence. 

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: mentions of terrorism/bombing, cult activity, forced drugging, a general sense of doom.)

Continue reading “Chapter Four: A Home Without Joy (Part One)” →

Chapter Three: The Singer of Tales (Part Two)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The investigators are in Dublin, seeking an artifact and some information from the late professor’s demolitions team. The cult is here as well, and they are planning something even more terrible than they attempted in Oxmoor. A young woman, Grace Callahan, has already gone missing. The investigators are running out of time.

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: violence, kidnapping, murder, blood sacrifice, eldritch horror.)

Continue reading “Chapter Three: The Singer of Tales (Part Two)” →

Chapter Three: The Singer of Tales (Part One)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

Having thwarted the cult in Oxmoor, though perhaps not without casualties, the investigators now know they must travel to the island in order to stop them once and for all. Before they can do that, however, they must first stop in Dublin to obtain the “key of the hierophant” from the professor’s former demolitions team, who stole it when they learned they would not be paid. This is a momentous and bloody time for Ireland, and the investigators will find themselves in the very tense quiet between storms. As temporal politics rage on, the cult is still making plans of the supernatural sort—and by now, the investigators are starting to experience the effects of the terrible island as the artifacts they have obtained plague them with nightmares.  

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: mentions of WWI, the Anglo-Irish War, the Easter Uprising, and the Irish Civil War; mentions of terrorism and bombings, homophobia, and blood sacrifice; references in folklore to rape, incest, and infanticide.)

Continue reading “Chapter Three: The Singer of Tales (Part One)” →

Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part Three)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The time of the summoning grows closer and closer. Can the investigators find the cult’s base of operations and stop the ritual?

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: kidnapping, murder, blood sacrifice, potential mob violence, eldritch horrors.)

Continue reading “Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part Three)” →

Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part Two)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The cult of the Great Mother is well-established here in Oxmoor, and the investigators need to find out whom they can trust. The notes written by Professor Ragnarsson’s murderer indicated that the cult is seeking a book at the Westmont estate. Finding that book will be the key to the investigators’ next steps, but time is of the essence: the cult is preparing to summon an eldritch horror from ages long forgotten.

This section includes the Westmont Estate, notes on the book, and other locations around Oxmoor.

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: violence, death, murder, cult activity including blood sacrifice and implied forced pregnancy.)

Continue reading “Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part Two)” →

Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part One)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The investigators have discovered the murderer of Professor Ragnarsson and brought to light the terrible cult he belongs to.  They now have their next lead: the village of Oxmoor, where Ragnarsson’s former assistant is now living. She was entrusted with one of the artifacts the professor removed from the island, and has more information about the ill-fated expedition.  In a stroke of phenomenally bad luck, the cult is also gathering there to seek out an artifact from the island and a mysterious text. The investigators must travel to Oxmoor, find Jasmine, and put a stop to what the cult has planned next, which seems to also be putting Eloise’s young cousin, Aurelia Westmont, in danger as well. 

In this section, the investigators will visit Jasmine and find out what she knows about the cult and its practices, and have their first encounter with the dark magic of the island.

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: mentions of sexism/racism and suicide, forced pregnancy, body horror.)

Continue reading “Chapter Two: Green Grows the Lily (Part One)” →

Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part Two)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

The investigators return to London after gathering clues in Oxford and learning of the tragedy that befell Professor Ragnarsson’s expedition to the North Sea. While they try to hunt down the professor’s murderer and make sense of what he left behind, they find that something far stranger is happening here—and they are all in grave danger.

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, mentions of sexism and racism, drowning, possible mind control, discussion of WWI and loss of loved ones.)

Continue reading “Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part Two)” →

Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part One)

The Well Below the Valley cover image: A dead tree stands on a field of short grass, against a blank gray sky. Bottom text reads, "A fan-made Call of Cthulhu module."

Table of Contents

It is February 13, 1922, and it is a cold and rainy Monday morning in London.  Three days ago, Professor Emundr Ragnarsson was found dead in his hotel room. The investigators will visit and revisit various important locations, speaking to witnesses and gathering clues in order to find out who killed the professor.  Meanwhile, a rival detective at Scotland Yard will be conducting his own investigation, and an acquaintance of the victim’s has his own theories as to what happened. The real killer is out there, however, and the investigators must discover the truth before he and the mysterious organization he serves strike again. 

(All page numbers refer to the Seventh Edition of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook, published 2015 by Chaosium, Inc. I am in no way affiliated with Chaosium or the writers of the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game system. Content notes for this chapter: murder, mentions of sexism and racism, memory loss/mind control, drowning.)

Continue reading “Chapter One: The Souls of the Heathens (Part One)” →