The Haunted Church

by Warpmind de InzanE

One day, one of the characters will receive a plea for help from a Lutheran priest in a small town in Tennessee. Apparently, the little church is being haunted, and several exorcisms have been attempted, to no avail. The priest reports to have found the church desecrated on several occasions - crucifixes removed from the walls and tossed about, psalm books torn apart, never anything that couldn't be easily covered up before service - but there was never any indication that anyone had used the doors, or any other means of entry from outside. The priest has heard of the investigator through a friend of a friend of a friend, to whom the investigator has done a favor of supernatural nature in the past.

**KEEPER INFORMATION**

The church is being searched by a small band of reanimated skeletons, who at night search through the church for a spell that will allow them to break an Elder Sign that blocks the way deeper into the catacombs beneath the church.

The sign keeps the skeletons immediately beneath the church, while there are various other unsavory beings further down, who are imprisoned by the Elder Sign. The sign was placed there in 1878, by the first priest there, who searched the catacombs and found the means to bar the passage forever... or so he thought.

The reanimated skeletons are of more recent origin; they were laid to rest in the secret crypt under the church, and have recently been animated to search for the spell, which lies hidden somewhere in the church; the skeletons will be able to cast the spell (it's a ritual, rather than a voiced spell) as soon as they find it, and thereby release the beings further down. The church itself was built in 1845, by the Lutheran priest Henry Conner.

Conner knew of the catacombs, and during the late 1850's and early 1860's, the catacombs, or rather, the upper level of it, was used for the underground railroad, which helped escaped slaves to flee northwards. A few tragic deaths caused Conner to stop using the church for this purpose, and in 1878, he ventured deeper into the catacombs, alone, to see what was the cause of the deaths. Having found the answer, he magically sealed the passage, and retreated into the catacombs, where he eventually died.

**PLAYER INFORMATION**

FATHER ROBERT

The church has been repeatedly searched for something, but the priest, Robert Jones, doesn't know what. However, he is quite certain that whoever have been there, haven't found whatever they were looking for. He is a kind man with a calm temper; he has but one demand for this case: that the investigators don't start asking everyone in town questions about what is happening in the church; nobody knows that there is something wrong, and that's the way it should be. The local library has all the information on the town history, and the church, as well. He will give the investigators the key to the church, for the duration of the investigation.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

A successful Library Use roll will yield one or more pieces of the following information:

1. The church was built in 1845, and has been subject to some minor maintenance projects since; most notable was the removal of the bell during World War I, and its return five months ago.
2. The church organ is unique, and was specifically built for this particular church. It has undergone minor repairs, such as the replacement of some of the pipes. This operation revealed some inconceivable contraptions within the organ, but they were left unmoved, as the organ's spectacular sound was in danger, had they been removed.
3. There is supposed to be an underground cave under the church, but it has never been found.
4. The priest who had the church built, Father Henry Conner, vanished without a trace in 1878.
5. The original bell was forged according to specifics provided by Father Henry Conner himself. Intricate engravings go all the way around the bottom edge; all Christian motifs.

OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

The church is pleasant to the eye; white, with masterfully made windows. It has that strange, timeless feel to it that many old churches have, yet some of the investigators (Occult / POWx5 Combination roll) might sense something sinister when looking at it.

THE GRAVEYARD

The graveyard is on the west side of the church; there are roughly 300 graves here, of vastly varying age, from mid-19th century to present. It is a quiet, serene place, and it is daily tended by a small volunteering organization, devoted to keeping the town pleasant. The organization consists of about 30 women of the town; most of them in their fifties and sixties. They will have little to say about the church or the graveyard, except that they find it giving, to be able to look after their town like they do.

INSIDE THE CHURCH

The front door swings open easily; the hinges well oiled. The first room consists of a few benches and clothes racks on the wall, as well as a stair leading up. Aside from a forgotten trench coat (of decent quality - pockets empty), there is nothing here. There's a door leading to the ship of the church.

UPSTAIRS

There's a stair leading further up to the bell tower, and a door leading to the second floor of the ship.

BELL TOWER

The only thing here is the bell, and a remote mechanism which allows the priest to ring the bell from the altar, using a small remote control. A search of the bell might reveal (Spot Hidden at a -10 penalty) that a small engraved segment, portraying the burial of Christ, is in fact a small cache, containing a scroll with the description of a ritual that will allow the casting creature to ignore the repelling effect of an Elder Sign (obviously intended for non-humans), and subsequently destroy it.

SHIP, UPPER FLOOR

This area consists of several pews, all focused toward the altar. A search (Spot Hidden roll) might reveal a small cache containing a small piece of sheet music, entitled "Altar's Passage", by J. Conner. (If the searching character has an Art or Craft that logically grants knowledge of wood carvings and such, the Keeper might rule to use this skill, rather than Spot Hidden.)

ALTAR'S PASSAGE

It is a simple piece of music, composed for organ. Any character who plays a musical instrument has to make a successful Art roll at +20 bonus to be able to play it. Characters who do not play an instrument suffer a -20 penalty.

SHIP, LOWER FLOOR

There are pews on both sides, with enough room for maybe 150 persons to sit. From the entrance, there's a large organ on the right side of the altar; a side door is barely visible past it. It leads to the organist's chamber. On the left side of the altar, another door is visible. It leads to the priest's chamber. Both of these rooms contain a desk, a chair, and nothing else.

The altar itself stands about two feet from the back wall, where the crucifix hangs. It is covered with a fine lace tablecloth, and the church's silver stands ready upon it (chalice, candlesticks, the regular items you might expect in a church), sparkling in the light. If the investigators are here around midnight, the altar will move toward the crucifix, and five skeletons armed with clubs will climb up a set of hidden stairs and begin to search the church for something.

THE ALTAR

The altar conceals the passage to the catacombs. To move it from upstairs, it is necessary to play "Altar's Passage" on the organ. Downstairs, there is a small lever which will activate the same mechanism, conveniently placed so that it can be reached from upstairs to close the passage from the outside, without risking the loss of a hand.

UNDER ALTAR

The stair leads down into a large, open room, where five large caskets stand, each with a cross carved into the stone. If someone tries to open one casket, a concealed mechanism will open all the caskets (the lids are lighter than they appear - the lift will require no roll), and the five skeletons inside will climb out to fight, armed with clubs. There is an Elder Sign here; it is a mosaic of various small rocks, and it completely blocks the passage down a set of stairs visible past it. Trying to cross it will invariably scatter the sign.

CATACOMBS LEVEL 1

The first obvious thing is that there is no need for flashlights here - the walls are glowing faintly, providing the necessary light. A successful Chemistry roll will reveal that there is a phosphorous agent in the walls; a rare natural occurrence. For a map, see Map 1.

ROOM 1

In this part of the catacombs, three large rat packs have a nest; if the investigators scare them off, a battleaxe will be revealed. It is enchanted; it doubles the normally rolled damage. Stats are found further down.

ROOM 2

A Spot Hidden roll will detect a small note half-buried by dust in a corner. (Player Handout 1.)

ROOM 3

The only thing in this room is a large stone sarcophagus with strange markings. A successful Archaeology roll will reveal the sarcophagus to be of Egyptian origin. Marks on the floor clearly shows that by some unknown means, the sarcophagus has been moved to this place from further down; the passage is on the east wall.

A successful Egyptian Language roll will reveal the inscription to say "Herein lies Metek, Honor Guard of Tut-Ankh-Amon. He will destroy any who dare disturb his eternal sleep." Opening the sarcophagus will awaken the mummy within. Stats are further down.

CATACOMBS LEVEL 2

ROOM 1

Upon going down to the second level of the catacombs, the investigators will be met by a ghoul and three zombies. The zombies are the remnants of the ones who were mysteriously killed during the church's service to the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War. The walls are, also here, giving off light. Stats for the ghoul and zombies are further down.

ROOM 2

This room is completely empty, save some old, moldy footprints. A successful Cthulhu Mythos roll will reveal the footprints to belong to the ghoul the investigators just encountered.

ROOM 3

There's an old table and an old chair with an old corpse sitting in it in this room. The old corpse is that of Henry Conner, who in his days built the church. The old corpse clutches a scroll in its right hand; there is also a small crucifix lying on the table.

Furthermore, there is a small cache of old food here; mostly foodstuffs made for long-term storage, indicating the old priest had planned to remain here for the rest of his life. The note is Player Handout 2. Some of the food is beginning to smell exceptionally rotten, other bits of food seems to have tried to escape the rest of its own accord.

ROOM 4

In this room a ghast is rummaging about; there are several old barrels that at one time or another seems to have contained various foodstuffs, including, judging by the smell, salted mackerels. The ghast is not initially hostile, but if surprised, it will become frightened and either attack the investigators or run back the way it came. There is a set of wet footprints leading to the next room. Stats for the ghast follow.

If the investigators count more than five, the ghast will invariably flee. If it is aware of the investigators, it will approach them out of curiosity, but only a successful Psychology/Cthulhu Mythos roll will reveal this. If, after a few minutes of game-time, neither the investigators nor the ghast have started being hostile, the ghast will withdraw a bit and watch the investigators from a safe distance.

ROOM 5

The ghast's wet footprints lead out of this room, all the way from a rather sinister-looking mirror, which by any means looks like something out of a Grimm Brothers story. The mirror frame has 10HPs resistance, and will easily shatter if someone shoots or hits the frame.

Attacking the reflecting portion of the mirror will only result in the attack going through the mirror's surface and into an unknown location. Stepping through the mirror, or even poking one's head through, will let the foolish investigator see terrors beyond human comprehension; the passage leads to a small, damp chamber where the only thing visible (aside from the soggy ground) is a large statue of Cthulhu, which will cause half Sanity loss of actually facing Cthulhu himself. No matter what happens, the sheer sight of the statue will frighten the investigator enough to back out again.

If the ghast still lives, and the investigators try to destroy the mirror, he will either attack, or try to get through the mirror first.

ENCHANTED AXE

The enchanted axe is old; an Archaeology will reveal the design to be Central European, from the mid-14th century. It has a base chance of 20, and does (1D10+2+db)X2 damage, due to an enchantment of unknown origin. Its HPs resistance value is 20, and it allows 1 attack per round.

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