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Campaign: Horror on the Orient Express
OK, so for those that have not played through the Call of Cthulhu campaign; Horror on the Orient Express, this story will contain spoilers.
In this story I'm the Keeper, overseeing my hapless group of investigators as they face the horrors of the Orient Express campaign. At this point, the steadfast PCs have traveled deep into the woods in search of a a mysterious old lady and the right arm of the Sedefkar Simulacrum. Before they left the village of Oraszac, one of the locals had given them a bone comb saying that it was a charm against 'forest spirits' and that if they are chased into the woods they can throw the comb to the ground in front of their pursuers and the woods will protect them.
To make a long story short, they find the old lady's cottage and the arm of the Simulacrum. The old lady turns out to be Baba Yaga, and the chase through the woods is on. Fleeing through the woods with Baba Yaga and her malicious hut in pursuit, the situation looked grim for the investigators. No one had been seriously hurt so far, but they were unable to shake their enemies and the hut was obviously capable of doing some serious damage if it landed a stomping blow. It was painfully apparent that they were in trouble as they crashed through the dark and gloomy old growth of the forest. At this point, one of them remembered they had the comb.
The comb, when thrown to the ground in the woods, transforms into (1D10) Dark Young of Shub Niggurath who viciously attacked Baba Yaga and her hut. I don't really remember how many of the monsters I rolled, but the number of them was not the issue…the issue was the SAN loss. The book stated that the investigators only lost 1D3 SAN each on a failed SAN check for "witnessing the shadowy terrors of the dark young – lessened damage because of the darkness and because the things aid the investigators first." The book also states that any investigator who stops and gets "entirely too good a look at the trees that have mouths, teeth, and writhing tentacles" take the full amount of SAN loss for seeing a Dark Young. Two of my hapless PCs at that point stated that they were stopping for a better look.
One of my players, Aldwyn, stated that his motive for doing so was insatiable curiosity. I can't remember either player's profession, but Nick (the other player) stated similar reasons for stopping. As was the case when the party splits, I took them into the back bedroom to preserve the mystery of what is happening to them from the other players who had kept on running.
I warned them...I warned them twice just to make sure that they knew what they were in for. I told them specifically that if they stopped that they would have to take 1D20 SAN instead of the 1D3 that was called for. Both had already failed their SAN rolls and I made them stick with that and cautioned both times that it was a D20 they would be rolling. For the record, they had their chance to change their minds and both took the risk. What came next was classic.
*** A bit of background on Aldwyn before I go any further is appropriate I think. There are times when I think he has a bit of psychic in him. I've seen him walk into our local games store and pull packs of collectible cards (sports cards, CCG, etc.), and as long as he isn't buying them for himself he can often times pull the hot rares, chase foils, etc. He can occasionally call dice rolls as well… ***
Back to our tale. At this point I had offered to let each player roll their SAN loss, or I could roll it for them. Nick went first and decided to roll his own dice. Off to the side, Aldwyn starts chanting "20! 20! 20!" over and over. From the living room, the rest of the players hear the sound of Nick's voice yelling "BASTARD!" as his dice spins to a stop on...you guessed it, a nat 20.
Of course, as good as that story is, it actually gets better...
After I had resolved the permanent insanity that Nick wound up with (Dendrophobia of course), Aldwyn stated that I could roll his dice for him. This time, his chant was "1, 1, 1" and it came up a nat 1. The other players, waiting in the living room, now hear Nick's voice coming from the back room; "YOU A**H**E!".
Nick's fear of trees (and his 'magic' sword he had picked up along the way) was one of the highlights in a tremendously fun and exciting campaign. A few other situations became a lot more comical as Nick was forced to carry out his hatred and mistrust of the vegetation around him. The story of the Orient Express D20 SAN rolls is still fondly talked about by all the players involved in that campaign. Everyone had a good laugh about it, including Nick.