The Nocturnum
Episode 21: The Dweller in the Well
Original Air Date: 9/11/2005This episode is based off of original adventure notes which may be found Here. These notes are far more sketchy than my usual scenarios, as I had very little prep time. However, they should be very useful to any group who wishes to explore your basic "entering a dangerous place to retrieve an item of power" scenario.
Special Guest Stars:
James Gandolfini as Detective Joe Knonaem
Tony Shalhoub as Ebonor
Synopsis
It has been one week since the Cast's return from the Twilight World, and they have been brewing the Night Rose potion, concerned that they've no real clue what to do with it once it's complete. Then, Sunday night/Monday morning, the Cast are inexplicably attacked by Night Terrors in their respective homes at 3:00 am.
Drake, still living in the guest house on John and Cyan's property, defeats his assassin and crashes through John and Cyan's window, naked and wielding his katana, to assist them with the two Night Terrors who are attacking them.
At her own place, Anita realizes these creatures must have been forcibly removed from Hod and made to incarnate on Earth, weakening them. It seems someone was trying to send a message. Klaus, staying with Anita, is the only Cast Member not attacked, and he rushes to Anita's rescue, helping her to defeat the creature that's invaded her bedroom.
The Cast gather together after their respective attacks (and after Drake, John, and Cyan share an awkward moment where they're all naked, brandishing weapons). and reason that Xalotun had threatened to kill them all in their sleep if he ever got a body. This threat was made before Klaus joined the gang, and so Xalotun would not be aware of the man's existence. They fear the worst.
The next morning, the Cast completes the potion, and are paid a visit by their old buddy Ebonor, who makes cryptic remarks that "you'll need the Crystal Urn to make that work. And to get that...you'll have to descend into the Well."
The Cast begin to do research. Anita checks the Watcher Chronicles and finds a (very) recent entry detailing Angel and Spike's visit to something called the Deeper Well, in England, where the bodies of all the Old Ones are kept in eternal slumber.
A phone call from Detective Joe Knonaem interrupts their studies. It seems that in Tionesta, PA, in the middle of the Allegheny National Forest, a group of students have been found dead, murdered during what appears to have been an occult ritual. Joe notes to Anita that they've been drained of blood, but there are no wounds. He also mentions that he has a journal entry from one of the students, and that several of them were students of Alan's at CMU. He's informed the State Police that the Pittsburgh PD has a task force on occult affairs, and that he'd promised to ask Anita and her crew to come out and look over the scene.
Anita and Klaus go to the police station to collect the journal, which talks about the summoning of Leviathan. Joe also warns Anita and Klaus that the local Seneca Indians have set up a protest at a burial ground nearby and are causing problems for the State Police. After giving Joe a warning about the Church of Revelations, they return to the Hive to collect their fellows and set off for Tionesta. En route back, Ebonor appears in the car, advising Anita that she might need "that children's edition of Al Azif you like to carry around."
They arrive at the crime scene around 7 PM. John and Drake comandeer a uniformed officer to go talk to the indians at this burial ground, while Anita, Klaus, and Cyan look at the crime scene. During investigations, Anita recognizes the ritual as a summoning ritual for a Mythos creature known as a Guardian. It appears the students (unwittingly, juding from their journal entries) offered themselves up as sacrifices to these creatures, which are the heralds of resurrecting powerful ancient sorcerers. When the State Police insult Anita and the group for their theories and expertise, the frustrated Anita and Klaus make a grave tactical error and reveal Klaus's monstrous Pariah form. This results in gunfire, and then the expulsion of the group from the crime scene.
Meanwhile, John and Drake approach the burial ground to find an horrific site. The protesters and all of the police assigned to keep the peace are dead. Many of the protesters (including a shamanic circle sent to purify the land) have been drained of blood; the rest have been torn to pieces. Unfortunately, the two have no opportunity to examine the scene, as at that moment the officer's walkie talkie goes off, the Detective ordering him to escort John and Drake back to their car with the rest of their friends.
The group exchange notes, have a brief tiff about the mistake Anita and Klaus made, then decides to hole up in a small hotel for the evening, after going to talk to the local Seneca indians. John reasons that someone who isn't involved in the antagonism between them and the State Police has to deliver this news.
Upon arriving at the local Seneca village, they talk to the chief who delivers to Anita a piece of clothing from one of the shaman, so that she can attempt to contact the dead and get some information. She is greatly disturbed to learn that the souls have been unbound: they no longer exist. The tribal chief calls upon the Cast, if they are indeed warriors against these sorts of things, to avenge his people and purify the graveyard.
That night, Anita and Cyan are afflicted with horrible nightmares. Unable to get back to sleep, Anita passes the time studying the Necronomicon.
The next day, the Cast circles through the woods, John and Drake using their training to track their way to the burial ground from an opposite end from the police crime scene. They sneak in and make their way towards a shrine at the center of the burial ground, which Cyan spots and Anita and she note is carved with Elder Signs. They discover a deep shaft at the center of the shrine, which is illuminated in an eerie bluish glow and extends down as far as the eye can see, with large, box-shaped sarcophagi inserted into the walls all the way around.
Ebonor appears again, informing the Cast that this is the Deeper Well, and it is in there that the Cast must go to retrieve the urn. He summons forth rapelling equipment which he tosses to the Cast (he won't enter the shrine because of the Elder Signs), tells them that they'll find a landing leading to the tunnel a few hundred yards down, and to be careful, try not to wake up the Old Ones, and to remember his name. John asks if this is the same Deeper Well that is in England, and Ebonor responds, "after a fashion," then disappears.
The Cast carefully descend into the well, overwhelmed by the sheer power and evil that surrounds them in this place. They reach the landing unmolested, but are then set upon by two Blood Guardians, enormous, tentacled masses composed entirely of blood. They defeat the Blood Guardians and descend into a dark tunnel, where they are overcome by a sense of vertigo, of time spinning in all directions, of falling up and climbing down, and of strange visions of non-euclidean geometry. Finally, they emerge into a sort of central chamber, with five hallways branching off and a shaft at the center.
From the four other hallways, scores of reptilian creatures charge the Cast. Thinking quickly, Anita opens the Necronomicon to something she'd read the night before. She reads for a few seconds, then holds the book up and cries, "IA! NYARLATHOTEP!"
The lizard men fall back into their tunnels, hissing venomously at the Cast. Cyan asks what that phrase means, and Anita answers that she is invoking the god's name against the creatures. John gives her a concerned look at this revelation.
The Cast descend into the shaft, which brings them out into the tomb of an ancient wizard named Nectanebus. Anita recognizes the name from her reading the night before, and realizes that somehow, they've traversed halfway around the globe and are now in Egypt. Cyan steps forward to examine a seal on the abdomen of the mummified wizard, and the moment she moves the seal, she falls unconscious. Anita witnesses the spirit of Nectanebus rise from the mummified body and begin to converse with Cyan, though she cannot see or hear Cyan's spirit responding, since Cyan is not dead.
Nectanebus claims to be an ancient enemy of the wizard Xalotun and offers Cyan a deal upon realizing the Cast is doing battle with Xalotun. The offer is this: Nectanebus will share with Cyan the power to defeat Xalotun, but in return, Cyan must allow Nectanebus to experience the world through her. His proposal is that their two souls merge into one. He agrees to relay messages to Anita from Cyan, so that she may ask her friend's advice. With Anita's counsel, Cyan reluctantly agrees to the merging. The rest of the group witness Cyan's body and the body of Nectanebus both enveloped in a sickly green glow. Her body rises off the floor to float next to his, then his body explodes into dust. Cyan's body falls to the floor and she awakens. She then proceeds to open a hidden panel beneath the sarcophagus of Nectanebus, where the Crystal Urn is hidden. She also now knows exactly how to use the potion in conjunction with the urn; unfortuantely, using the potion requires that the ritual begin, which means people are going to die.
She also now knows exactly when and where the ritual to bring forth Leviathan has to occur.
Tired and worn down, the Cast return to Pittsburgh to prepare for their final showdown.
Great Quotes:
Klaus's player: You know what we need? We need a Pariah war brigade!
Klauss: Who have you pissed off lately?
(After Drake comes crashing through his window, completely butt nekkid, waving a sword)
Cyan: Hi...any visitors tonight?
Anita: Geez, we could have our own TV show - The Brit, the German, and the Necromancer.
Cyan: So the potion is done...what do we do with it?
(After reading the journal entry about summoning Leviathan)
Anita: You know the Greater Pittsburgh branch of the International Church of Christ?
Ebonor: Oh, just wanted to tell you. You know that kids' version of Al Azif you like to play with? You might need it.
Klaus: He called it a "Kids' version" of the Necronomicon? That's great.
John: Klaus, you ever do anything like that again, I'll kill you myself.
Cyan: Norms don't need to know about this stuff.
(Trying to pacify the Seneca chief)
Anita: I'm guessing they're controlled by a very large, Egyptian, pissed-off, ancient Necromancer.
(Re: her powers)
Director: Oooh, and they have lots of tentacles...which I love, because it means everyone's getting attacked.
Director: So, I assume everyone goes down the tunnel?
Director: Okay, so nobody gets a Madness Point...
Anita: IA! Nyarlathotep!
(After Cyan merges with Nectanabus and awakens)
(Out of game comment)
Director: I can see it now--hundreds of grotesque looking monsters, bawling their eyes out.
Anita: More like who haven't I pissed off. I mean, Klaus, I just got stabbed in the chest last week. If you hadn't noticed, I'm not the most popular girl in the world.
John: You broke my window!
Klaus: Ja, ve had a very dashing young man. He took qvite a fance to Anita.
Cyan: Excuse me?
Klaus: Someone tried to kill us.
Anita: Maybe it's meant to be used as a balm. I could rub the potion on Alan. Yeah. That could be fun.
Klaus: Oh, zat is wunderbar. It's wunderbar on so many levels, I don't have vords to describe it.
Joe: Sure, that's that cult that was scamming kids out of all their money a few years back.
Anita: Right. Well, the CoR Makes them look like the Girl Scouts.
Anita: Well, it is the kindler, gentler version. I mean, it was written by a Canadian, after all.
John: He's just jealous because Jack made of with his Arabic version.
Cyan: There's no need to talk about killing. Besides, he was following orders.
Anita: Let's not even begin this conversation about mistakes certain people have made in the past!
Anita: When do they need to know, Cyan? When the Church of Revelations tries to wipe them off the planet? I don't have the luxury or the time to protect them from what they can't handle anymore. My job now is to protect them from what's coming for them.
John: I kill those things from beyond that would hurt other people.
Klaus: Zat's a bit arrogant.
John (ignoring Klaus): Now, I know we're whiteys and all...
Director (metagame comment): Or, you know, by a not-so-very-large, pissed off English sorcerer.
Anita's Player: So, do like my eyes go black or anything?
Director: No. They just do your bidding.
Anita's Player: Come on, everyone else gets to have cool visuals.
Director: You chose to play a Necromancer.
Anita's Player: But why don't I get cool stuff like black eyes?
Director: That's the problem with being a Necromancer. Vast Cosmic Power!!!! Itty bitty special FX.
John's Player: No, we all give up and go home.
John's and Klaus's players: Awwww....
Anita's Player: YAAAAY!
(Lizard men retreat)
Cyan: Good job! Where'd you get that from?
Anita (holds up Necronomicon): Don't leave home without it.
John: Okay, what the hell just happened?
Anita: Cyan made a choice to save us.
Cyan: Honey, there's not just two in the bedroom, anymore.
Robert (with bad British accent): Oh, Lord, you are so very BIG
Great Moments:
During the Cut Scene, Alan's "mistress" pulls a fast one on him, and steals the power of Xalotun for herself, later claiming she did it to save his life.
Drake, completely nude, crashes through John and Cyan's window to rescue them from Night Terrors. John is more perturbed about the window being broken than Drake being naked in front of his wife.
Drake and Klaus decide that the best way to pacify the local Native Americans is with beads and liquor. John forbids them to get out of the car.
When the group is attacked by mummies and Hounds of Tindalos, Anita commands the mummies to attack the hounds...and they do. The Cast beats a hasty retreat.
Cyan merges her soul with that of an ancient Egyptian sorcerer who claims to be an old enemy of Xalotun.