TEXT: 1 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Annwn 
  ”In Annwn the peacefulness, in Annwn the wrath, in Annwn below the earth...”- Anonymous, Welsh poem 
  Introduction 
  Having fled a nightmarish future dominated by Serpent 
  People (“Shadow Kingdoms”) or the dangers of the 
  Nameless Mist (“The Tower”), the investigators wake 
  knowing they must act quickly to stop a catastrophe 
  befalling the world. The problem is, they’re not on earth, 
  they’re in Annwn (pronounced an’oon), a deceivingly 
  familiar dreamland bereft of humanity. The party slowly 
  realizes something is wrong as they rush across the land, 
  encountering evidence of hidden horrors. False hope 
  dawns in the form of a Viking trading party, but they are 
  just as lost as the investigators. Finally, after days of both 
  mundane and supernatural hardships, the investigators find 
  some answers and details of a route home… 
   
  “Shadow Kingdoms” ends when the investigators die or 
  become insane. The next thing they know is awaking in 
  Annwn. Every player should have an existing investigator 
  from the Pagan Call campaign, not one created specifically 
  for this scenario. If investigators have died, the keeper is 
  free to decide which incarnation awakes in Annwn. 
  “The Tower”: if keepers don’t want to run a modern 
  scenario, they can move straight into Annwn with all 
  investigators being consumed by the Nameless Mist. 
  Keeper Information 
  “Annwn” begins with the investigators waking somewhere 
  that is at once familiar but unsettling: the last campsite 
  they set up before reaching Caermaen (see “The Tower: 
  The Gray Hills”; use the appropriate descriptions and 
  maps). Investigators who disappeared or died in the Tower 
  appear to be back from the dead (in fact, they are their 
  dead selves in Annwn). Investigators are thus left to 
  wonder if they have dreamt their most recent adventures. 
  In reality, the investigators are plunged into a living 
  nightmare – the underworld Annwn, loosely based on the 
  Dreamlands’ Underworld, devoid of humanity and ruled 
  by the God of the Dead Gwynn ap Nudd! 
   
  Importantly, the investigators have lost the Book of Thoth. 
  In Annwn, the scroll is still lying at the same place where 
  Quintus fell in the waking world (see “the Tower”).  
   
  The first stage of the scenario is a journey through a land 
  that is superficially similar enough to the world of the 
  living for the investigators to mistake their true location. 
  As they roam this empty landscape, assailed by unseen 
  horrors every night, the party becomes confused and 
  increasingly desperate. The keeper has to work to stretch 
  this confusion out, dropping hints and avoiding questions. 
  Initial relief comes from meeting with a party of Danes 
  who are just as lost as the investigators. A Worm of the 
  Earth eventually provides the answers wanted – but can 
  they trust the alien creature? 
   
  After this apparent success – learning of both a Door out 
  of Annwn and a way to it - the investigators are forced to 
  earn their way to the Door, traveling first to a number of 
  unholy locations and crossing the paths of the Wild Hunt 
  (the Wights) - and that of Tawil at’Umr - see Statistics. 
   
  Find the Door out of Annwn 
  � Meet the Danes and become allies in misfortune. 
  Discuss folklore to answer burning questions: where 
  are we? Where to go? 
  � Learn to survive the Wights: find before nightfall the 
  ruins of the stone churches that dot the land, or 
  similar sanctuaries. 
  � Encounter the Worms; learn about the Door and the 
  Book of Thoth. Strike a bargain: the Book of Thoth 
  in exchange of the Black Stone. 
  � Go underground into the Worm tunnels, travel to the 
  Nameless City; use the Nightmare skill infiltrate the 
  city and steal the Black Stone. Capture a Serpent 
  Man. Return the stone to the Worms. Decipher the 
  Book of Thoth with the help of the Serpent Man. 
  � Cross the fens to the Glass Tower and the Door. 
  � Outwit the Avatar and return to the waking world… 
   
  What would earth be like if Seth succeeded in 1021 AD, 
  wiping the land clear of humanity? What would the world 
  look like days or centuries later, the ruins of stone 
  buildings the only sign of our existence, the serpents rising 
  back up and unchecked? 
   
  This scenario draws on themes developed in Robert E. 
  Howard’s short stories. It also is a modest homage to Jean 
  Ray, some aspects of the plot being loosely adapted from 
  his short stories “Mainz Psalter” and “Shadowy Street”. 
   
  Although Annwn is not part of the Dreamlands in the 
  sense that it is not formed solely by the dreams of the 
  living, but rather by the souls of the dead, the keeper may 
  find Chaosium’s Dreamlands book a useful reference. 
  Critical Dreamlands mechanics for this scenario are 
  summarized in the “Dreamlands primer” section. 
  Player Information 
  The investigators awake at their campsite as if nothing had 
  happened! Everything is as they left it with a few notable 
  differences. The entire site of Caermaen seems lifeless; 
  people and animals are gone and the fireplaces are cold. 
  The Gray Hills are still shrouded in mist, but apart from 
  the deadly silence that hangs over the woods, the mist has 
  lost its otherworldly quality. A cold sun shines somewhere 
  above the mist and provides rudimentary navigation. A 
  faint smell of burning wood is carried by the wind from 
  the South. 
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  2 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  The first day… 
  The keeper must foil all initial attempts to accurately 
  navigate the Dreamlands’ landscape, especially if the 
  investigators are intent on walking back to the Vale of 
  Wysg (eastward) or to Caerleon (southward). Invoke the 
  mist and the uncertain time of day to justify failed 
  Navigate rolls. Issue contradictory skill roll results for 
  different investigators and let the players argue about 
  directions. After hours of struggling through the 
  undergrowth, they eventually reach a random point on the 
  northern shore of the Severn Sea, in all likelihood to the 
  West of where Caerleon should be, because they never 
  crossed the river Wysg. 
   
  As night falls upon the Severn Sea, the smell of burning 
  wood becomes more pervasive and investigators can spot 
  a distant light or fire across the waters, miles to the South. 
  A bonfire maybe? A burning village or burgh? 
   
  Wights 
  The investigators become aware of the Wights – see 
  Statistics – before being actually harassed by them. Use 
  the following ploys, with moderation: 
  � The 
  investigators 
  hear 
  a 
  distant 
  high-pitched 
  ululation. What animal makes such a sound? 
  � A Spot Hidden around dusk briefly reveals a strange 
  shadow racing across mud flats miles away. 
  � Shortly after settling in to camp for the night the 
  investigators hear distant human-like voices. The 
  investigators soon realize the calls are being carried 
  by the wind. After a period of time, the gibbering 
  voices recede into the distance. 
  Food and water 
  If the investigators need food or water, they have to search 
  the landscape. Familiar plants and animals are easily 
  identified, but investigators do not encounter any large 
  game and have to hunt small mammals (e.g. mice, moles, 
  hedgehogs, squirrels, hares). 
  The second day… 
  The 
  investigators 
  travel 
  through 
  an 
  increasingly 
  worrisome landscape. The atmosphere of growing doubt - 
  central to the players’ experience in this scenario – places 
  more emphasis on the keeper’s discretion than usual. The 
  key is to constantly undermine the players’ expectations 
  and at the same time increasingly scare them with 
  otherworldly horrors. Start subtle and grow increasingly 
  overt, refuse to directly answer player queries and time 
  your introduction of events/locations so the world feels 
  empty, but never boring. 
   
  Investigators looking South across the yellow waters of 
  the Severn Sea, notice two ominous plumes of smoke 
  rising into the haze just over the horizon, and in the 
  general direction of the lights they spotted the evening 
  before. The smoke might indicate burning villages caused 
  by raiding Vikings or a even siege! In reality, these fires 
  are mirages, passing images of the fall of mankind on the 
  Last Day. The fires disappear for good over the next few 
  days. 
   
  On this second day, the investigators come across the first 
  abandoned hamlet… 
   
  The Abandoned Hamlet 
  There are of course many more deserted hamlets and 
  villages like this one in Annwn – reuse the description as 
  needed. The average density is roughly one village every 
  10 miles. One out of two villages features a stone church, 
  which might still be standing… 
   
  The investigators first notice several mounds on each side 
  of the track. Investigation reveals the overgrown remains 
  of wooden buildings, with scorched roof posts still 
  standing and the rest a mushy mix of rotted wood and 
  weeds on the ground. As in the rest of Annwn, there are no 
  farmsteads or crops or cattle, no villages or cities, no 
  people. Instead, everything is wild and random. Where 
  there would normally be buildings there are only ruins, if 
  anything at all. Only stone constructions such as churches 
  or Roman roads persist to some extent. 
  A detailed search takes about an hour and reveals nothing 
  of value. 
  The Stars aren’t right… 
  As the sun vanishes, a strange sky bends over the empty 
  land; the familiar constellations are gone; unknown stars, 
  arranged in new geometric patterns, shine weakly in the 
  blackness of the night sky. 
   
  Any investigator who makes a suitable Navigate or 
  Astronomy roll realizes the sky is utterly alien. After a few 
  minutes of looking at the sky, one investigator startles as 
  he or she catches a glimpse of “something” large gliding 
  across the stars. 
   
  At this point, aware investigators may start forwarding 
  various theories. The keeper is to neither confirm nor deny 
  these ideas; a sly smile may be threatening enough. 
  The third day… 
  The third day starts like the first or the second, with no 
  hope of improvement of the investigators’ situation. After 
  a depressing day, dusk approaches and the first chilling 
  ululations of the Wights can be overheard towards the 
  South. All of a sudden, the investigators hear a series of 
  shouts very close by! 
  The Danes 
  Unlike the calls of the Wights, these shouts are clearly 
  humans calling some name. If the investigators shout back 
  in return, the two groups keep calling until they’ve closed 
  on each other; if the investigators stay quiet and sneak up, 
  they are able to first hear then see a group of six Danes, 
  pausing at times to call out a name: Svein. See the 
  Statistics at the end of this scenario as well as Adalsteinn’s 
  and Torkel’s accounts below. 
  
  3 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  The Danes are on edge and desperate for answers. 
  Adalsteinn, the vessel’s captain, does the initial talking. 
  He asks the investigators where they all are and questions 
  them intently about how they got here. He’s keen to learn 
  as much about the investigators’ story as possible, and 
  patiently answers questions as long as the investigators 
  respond in kind. If the investigators help with finding the 
  vanished Dane (see “Where is Svein?” below), Adalsteinn 
  invites them back to their camp in a ruined church. 
   
  Adalsteinn - The eight of us sailed out of Lund with a 
  hold full of furs, 6000, not the best, but they would pay for 
  the trip. Good course for the first day but… We were kind 
  of sick, don’t know why, and we failed the night jump; 
  guess you could say we got lost. Have you seen the stars? 
  By Odin I said! Where on earth are we? We kept sailing 
  onwards, my fathers didn’t get anywhere by turning back 
  from new lands. So, then we had a few – er - problems 
  during the nights, but eventually found land before we lost 
  the sail to the invisibles, kept it bound up and hidden away 
  at night. We been sailing the coast for a few days now, 
  stopping at every ruin, having a look. You’re the first life 
  we’ve seen. 
  Torkel - Oh, second night out, we was sailin’ like we do, 
  but the sky was all wrong, like we sailed into Satan’s arse. 
  Then they came. I could feel ‘em but not see ‘em. Poor 
  Leif put up a fight but you can’t harm ‘em. They cut ‘im 
  and snatched ‘im up and away, God save his soul (yeah, 
  I’m a christen). The sail and the deck was all sprayed with 
  warm blood, Christ! They came back the next night, an’ 
  we’ ready, hidin’ and cuddled like sardines under the 
  planking of the foredeck. You could hear ‘em walking the 
  deck just above our sweatin’ heads like some sailors out of 
  hell; still we could see nothin’! 
  Where is Svein? 
  The investigators are allowed a party spot hidden roll (on 
  the highest spot hidden) for every ten minutes they search. 
  If successful, they notice a portion of disturbed plant life; 
  if unsuccessful a Dane spots it after thirty minutes. 
   
  Following the tracks leads to a small clearing. The missing 
  Dane, Old Svein, is huddled up under a tree, his skin cold 
  and gray, and muttering vehemently to himself. Old Svein 
  begins shouting out loud as soon as he is touched: “the 
  one-eyed man, the one-eyed man! Dead, all-seeing eye, 
  cold touch, flaming eye, blue as death, Bölverkr the ill-
  doer, the wanderer, Gangrad, GANGRAD!” After this 
  final shriek he becomes catatonic. His companions try to 
  grab his clenched arms and make him stand; he resists. 
   
  Gangrad (“wanderer”) is one of the many names of 
  Odin/Woden, alias Tawil at’Umr. The avatar was drawn 
  by Svein’s shaken Sanity and fear. The Odin/Woden 
  connection should be relatively obvious with appropriate 
  skill rolls (e.g. Occult or Other Kingdoms); if the 
  investigators don’t make the connection the Danes do. If 
  the investigators discuss Tawil at’Umr within earshot of 
  the Danes, relations become decidedly frosty and they are 
  made to explain their whole back-story. Either way, the 
  investigators are asked to help carry Old Svein back to the 
  ruined church. Unfortunately, the sun is now setting. The 
  first ululations of the Wights can be overheard from 
  various points of the southern horizon. The Danes freeze. 
  If the investigators ask about the calls, Adalsteinn says: “it 
  is them. No time for chatting though, we better reach the 
  church before nightfall!” 
  Night in the Church 
  The church is divided in four spaces. The largest is the 
  nave at eight by five yards, which leads into the chancel. 
  The nave also opens out into the north and south porticus. 
  Angels are painted liberally throughout. The stone has 
  lasted well and still shows sharp corners and tight joins. 
  The Danes have obviously built a makeshift door and 
  barricaded windows and the roof with wooden fittings.  
   
  The nave quickly fills with the Danish sailors. Svein is 
  carefully laid on a blanket and given some water. A fire 
  has been lit in the south porticus and Torkel is cooking a 
  stew over it with two hares that Steppo shot in the 
  afternoon. Sitting around the comforting fire, Danes and 
  the 
  investigators 
  start 
  to 
  speculate 
  about 
  their 
  whereabouts. Worried and somber faces dominate.  
   
  Some answers, many questions 
  Adalsteinn - The naïve answer is that we are currently 
  located two miles West of Caerleon. Our knarr is safely 
  anchored in the waters there, and we took the ship’s boat 
  to reach the quays. Caerleon is still standing but we found 
  nobody. I mean, not even dead bodies! Looks like 
  everybody fled. Anyway, Torkel here had a really bad 
  feeling about the place and we usually don’t care much to 
  challenge Torkel’s hunches, so we looked for a more, er, 
  pastoral shelter. We found this church… In truth, I have 
  no clue where we really are.” 
  Torkel - Right! Even the sea was, you know, different! No 
  seabirds to follow the knarr and… You know that I know 
  little but… I do know there is something all around us, 
  something worse than… than death itself! 
  Farman - I don’ usually argue with you bald man, but me 
  thinks that you’re right and wrong at the same time. I think 
  we’re fooling ourselves ‘cause… (he pauses for effect) 
  we’re already dead and this is Valhalla, the hall of the 
  slain! Remember what Svein said? I tell you he met Odin 
  in person! This is the END! 
  inn Fagri – Svein’s ramblings are worrying indeed and we 
  sure lost poor Leif to… well, something. But if you call 
  that escorting Valkyries, well they bloody lost their good 
  manners and I have no urge to see this place’s version of 
  the halls of Valhalla. Don’t expect feasting, roasted boar, 
  or mead for sure! Some sorcery transported us from 
  Middle-Earth to another plane of existence, I do agree, but 
  I’d bet for some kind of Underworld, maybe Ægir's hall at 
  the bottom of the sea (we were lost at sea, remember?), or 
  the Land of Mists Niflheim. Thinking of it… these beings 
  could be mara (“nightmare”) or sjovaettir (“sea-wights”), 
  spirits of the dead! In that case, we should also watch our 
  backs onshore because of the landvaettir (“land-wights”), 
  the Walking Dead. The real question of course is: can we 
  leave this place?  
   
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  4 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  The players are free to take part in the discussion, using 
  the knowledge and hints they’ve gathered so far. Here are 
  some elements of Celtic folklore that the keeper should 
  allow the players to bring into the discussion: 
   
  Comparative folklore 
  Investigators need no skill rolls to access this information: 
  � The Welsh underworld is called Annwn. Gwynn ap 
  Nudd rules this Land of the Dead. 
  � Annwn is the Land of the Dead, but may be visited by 
  the living who find the Door, if only in their dreams, 
  for sleep is also known as “the little death”. 
  � The Door is said to be at the mouth of the Severn or 
  on the Isle of the Dead, also know as the Isle of Glass. 
  � The Isle is associated with Gwynn ap Nudd, and some 
  say a “Glass Tower” stands on top.  
  � Gwynn ap Nudd heads the Wild Hunt, which captures 
  or kills any humans it encounters. The Wild Hunt is 
  formed by a host of ghostly huntsmen or hounds. 
  � The Britons believed that the hunter was Cernnunos 
  the Horned God; they called Avalon the Isle of the 
  Dead. 
  � The Saxons refer to the Wild Hunt as Woden’s hunt; 
  Woden is another name for Odin. 
  After the unsettling experiences of the last three days, each 
  investigator must now incur a 0/1D4 Sanity loss. 
   
  Later in the evening, Torkel suddenly pales. All 
  conversations subside. From the South, the mysterious 
  ululations echo, this time much close by. The Wights, 
  attracted like bloodhounds by Svein’s zero Sanity, are 
  coming! During a few stressful hours, something large 
  stirs around the church. It occasionally bumps against the 
  door, the shutters, startling the party, and makes the 
  makeshift roof groan under its weight. The creature is 
  clearly testing the crude barricades, forcing STR versus 
  STR Resistance Table matches with the humans to prevent 
  it from bursting through. The humans can only win if at 
  least 3 or 4 work together. The situation suddenly shifts 
  from being stressful to unbearable when one or two more 
  creatures join the first one, each trying to breach the 
  church’s defenses in a different place. 
   
  At this point, the keeper should allow the investigators to 
  discover that the Wights shun light. If they don’t, have inn 
  Fagri shout: “Wights shun light! Try the fire!” With a 
  torch, one person can hold the Wights at bay in one place.  
  As the Wights draw back, the group startles at something 
  banging on the door. A female voice (Tawil at’Umr) calls 
  out for help in Danish, claiming to have been hidden in a 
  refuse pit and begging for being let in. Peering through 
  loose planks, one sees a dark figure of a woman at the 
  door. As her face turns towards the light, her lovely 
  smiling face shows, she has lost one eye! Investigators 
  probably guess this is a trick, but it’s new to the Danes and 
  Rø starts for the door, wanting to step outside. Anyone 
  who leaves the church at this point is savagely attacked. 
   
  At dawn, everything goes quiet and the exhausted Danes 
  start preparing for the day ahead. Suddenly Farman cries: 
  “Silence! Pray for Old Svein, ‘cause he is now God’s 
  man!” Indeed, poor Old Svein did not survive the night. 
  Dreamlands 
  Shortly after dawn, the keeper should give a chance to the 
  players to propose a plan of action to the Danes. If they 
  fail, here is the captain Adalsteinn’s default proposal, 
  based on the previous day’s discussion: to look for the 
  Door, which seems to be located on some island. With a 
  bit of luck it is located in the Severn Sea, close to the 
  mouth of the river. It is a thin lead but the only one they 
  have got so far. One plan is to sail along the coast and 
  explore all islands they come across! The investigators are 
  asked to help inn Fagri with the construction of a proper 
  hiding place under the deck of the knarr, and when the 
  necessity arises, to help with finding shelters, collect waste 
  wood, set up camp, and barricade for the night. Another 
  group led by Steppo must hunt or catch fish, and collect 
  fresh water onshore. Finally, Farman and Rø bury Old 
  Svein and take care of the vessel. Here is the death chant 
  that Rø sings with a broken voice over Svein’s grave: 
   
  A warrior, 
  The man whom the greatest virtues accompanies 
  - Most men knew that - 
  Lies buried in this mound; 
  A more upright man 
  Of the seas 
  Will not sail, strife strong, 
  Land in Denmark 
   
  Without the Danes 
  If the investigators continue without the Danes, they 
  progress through Annwn on foot, coming across 1D6 
  ruined hamlets or villages per day. Larger towns or buhrs 
  are at least one full day’s walk from the last, assuming the 
  investigators know the direction. The players have to make 
  up their own daily survival routine, which depends on 
  finding churches every night. In reality, any closed space 
  will do, including the sewers of Caerleon, caverns, a hole 
  in the ground or even the burrows of the Worms of the 
  Earth, as long as the investigators can secure all entrances. 
  Only larger towns automatically have stone churches; 
  villages have a 50% chance only. Investigators find little 
  of use and few clues. The keeper should read the 
  “Dreamlands” events and adapt them to a party traveling 
  inland. After three nightly encounters with the Wights, 
  continue with the “Worms of the Earth” episode. 
   
  Should the investigators be attacked by the Wights in the 
  open, without having been able to find or build a proper 
  shelter for the night, spare them to some extent by 
  sacrificing only the weakest link, for instance the 
  investigator with the least Sanity points. 
   
  The Annwn plot unfolds similarly irrespective of whether 
  the players follow the solo path or the cooperative one. 
  Since Wights are attracted by fear, see Statistics, it may be 
  that the odds of encountering them at night are smaller 
  without the Danes. On the other hand, the investigators 
  may incur greater losses because they miss the Danish 
  helping hands and simply because if somebody dies or is 
  snatched away, it can only one of theirs! 
   
  
  5 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  The above routine should become the daily routine from 
  now on. The players and the keeper – who plays the Danes 
  - can perfect it as they go along. 
   
  It takes an hour to walk to the edge of Caerleon. The 
  investigators are shocked by the contrast between the 
  magnificent and inviting city they knew, and the strange 
  desolate ruins in front of them. Opposite, the investigators 
  startle at the sight of the knarr: it is at the exact same place 
  where they spotted the wrecked knarr from the quays of 
  Caerleon – in some other life! The Danes put the ship’s 
  boat to water and row towards the vessel. Steppo, Farman, 
  inn Fagri, and Rø maneuver the knar to deeper waters (it 
  may be gallant for one investigator to take Rø’s oar, which 
  elicits a smile from her). The crew then sets sail downwind 
  in the direction of the Severn, looking for the Isle of the 
  Dead. 
   
  The Knarr 
  A clinker built oval, this large knarr is sixteen yards long 
  and four and a half yards wide, shorter and squatter than 
  the more famous Viking longships. There is one large 
  mast in the center that holds a wide, white sail. The ship is 
  two yards deep from keel to gunwale, with fore and aft 
  decks at either end creating two covered spaces for crew to 
  sleep and shelter in. This leaves a large open hold 
  amidships where cargo can be stored and covered with 
  leather. The knar utilizes four oars for maneuvering. 
   
  The knarr’s open deck requires someone to be on constant 
  bailing duty. The Danes take a wry joy in explaining to the 
  investigators on duty how children often did this job. 
   
  Jellyfish 
  The investigators awake one morning to find the sea filled 
  with huge yellow jellyfish for as far as they can see. 
  Ranging in size from a fist to three yards in diameter, 
  these translucent creatures are a thick mass of slapping 
  jelly flesh and probing tentacles. Sucking and popping 
  sounds are common as the knarr forces a slow path 
  forward, the creatures clinging on and getting knocked off. 
  However, the Danes are carrying on as if everything was 
  normal. If asked, they say it’s not unusual for jellyfish to 
  spawn large numbers in hot weather, but they privately 
  concede that they’re not normally this huge, or in that 
  many numbers. They also warn the investigators to stay 
  clear, as the “fish” are poisonous. The numbers thin out 
  the farther the ship sails, taking a day or two to clear. 
   
  Tawil at’Umr 
  First encountered by the party in “The Tower”, Tawil 
  at’Umr – avatar of Yog-Sothoth – rules this land in his 
  guise of Gwynn ap Nudd, God of the Dead. At any time 
  the keeper wishes, allow the investigators sight of a black 
  human smudge at dusk, watching them from a distance. A 
  successful spot hidden reveals something disturbing: the 
  head doesn’t look right, much too big. On second sight, 
  the onlooker exclaims: “antlers? It looks like a damn 
  stag’s head, that’s what it looks like!” 
  See Statistics for a description. 
  Escalating hostilities 
  When at sea, the party hides from dusk until dawn in the 
  makeshift shelters under the deck, fore and aft. When on 
  land, the party looks for a church or any kind of 
  underground shelter – note that it may take a few hours to 
  properly secure a church or an improvised shelter. 
   
  According to the description under Statistics, the chance of 
  evading the Wights each night equals the Sanity roll of the 
  character with the least Sanity points. Succeeding the roll 
  doesn’t mean that the Wights are not hunting, but they 
  should not “smell” the investigators’ fear and should leave 
  them alone – for that night. 
  When Wights break through the makeshift barricades, the 
  keeper should try to mitigate losses by exposing the Danes 
  first, e.g. as a result of their self-sacrificing bravery.  
   
  Initially, the party does not find the Isle of Dead, because 
  it simply is not located at sea (see “the Glass Tower”)! The 
  erring should lasts long enough for the party to suffer three 
  nightly Wight attacks. The keeper can dutifully roll the 
  required Sanity roll every night, or leapfrog from one 
  event to the next with a narrative shortcut like: “after two 
  fruitless days of travel…” 
   
  FIRST NIGHT 
  The first Wight encounter plays similarly to the previous 
  one. The party should by now be primed to keep the 
  Wights at bay, and prevent the worst from happening. 
   
  SECOND NIGHT 
  The second attack starts like all others, but the odds 
  change dramatically in the middle of the night. At some 
  point, the Wights almost break through the men’s 
  provisional defenses, forcing the party to set some wood 
  afire to repel them (at sea this should be considered a 
  desperate act, as it could set the knarr on fire). Follows an 
  uncanny calm in which the players may be left to think the 
  Wights are gone. Suddenly, one of their horrible wails 
  rises in the dark, very close by! As if the night had 
  answered this call, a gale-force South wind swells, 
  progressively blowing out all fires and light sources of the 
  humans. A successful Luck roll is required to protect any 
  light source. In the dark, the Wights strike again and this 
  time only a wonder can prevent the loss of life. 
   
  THIRD NIGHT 
  In this event, the crew is expected to have bedded down at 
  dawn to get some rest after another nightly attack like the 
  previous one. They are awoken by loud cries of man 
  overboard. The knarr goes into controlled panic, people 
  looking overboard, but Spot Hidden rolls fail. After a few 
  minutes of confusion, a headcount shows everyone is 
  present. Somebody asks the caller what happened and 
  elicits the following reply: “we’re all here? Can’t be! I 
  woke and one of us was standing on deck holding the 
  rudder’s tiller, and steering the vessel… No I dunno who, 
  just saw the silhouette against the morning light, then he 
  fell over, well, looked like he stepped off truth be told, but 
  he must’ve fell. I swear it was one of us who fell!” 
   
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  6 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  If the investigators mention Tawil at’Umr to Adalsteinn or 
  another Dane, he/she looks grim and swears to say nothing 
  to the others, whose sanity is already shaken. The story of 
  the Demon steering the knarr towards who knows where, 
  spreads nonetheless. If the investigators really cause 
  trouble (“oh yes, that’s Gwynn ap Nudd and he’s hunting 
  us!”) Danes ask for them to be abandoned on land. 
  Adalsteinn resists this as first, but particularly insensitive 
  investigators may find themselves walking. 
   
  On the day following the third trial, an investigator spots a 
  wooded island slowly emerging from the mist. He or she 
  also sees smoke rising from the far end of the isle. 
  The Worms of the Earth  
  If the investigators travel inland, adapt the geography of 
  this encounter: turn the sea into a lake with a flat wooded 
  island in the middle. There are no obvious means of 
  crossing, although a Spot Hidden roll reveals that at one 
  point the lake bottom is high enough for investigators to 
  wade across waist deep. Otherwise they have to build or 
  raft or swim across. 
   
  Most of the island is covered in trees, preventing 
  investigators getting a true indication of its size. Wherever 
  the humans land, they find several narrow trails winding 
  through the thick wood (halve all movement) – close 
  inspection of the tracks reveals that they are made, 
  strangely enough, by children’s bare feet. The shadowy 
  trail eventually leads to a large clearing with a circle of 
  barrows – man-high mounds of earth partially covered 
  with rotting plants. The stench of rotten flesh is 
  everywhere. Each barrow features a low doorway half 
  sunk into the earth; all entrances are pitch-black except for 
  one that is burning with the red glow of some hidden fire, 
  and from which a heavy gray smoke rises above the trees. 
  Many piles of bones litter the area. 
   
  Before the investigators can examine the area, they begin 
  to hear a noise, like many babbling voices, coming from 
  all sides of the woodland. Give the investigators one 
  combat round before the noises become slightly clearer, 
  like a collection of hissing snakes, and one more round 
  before the Worms of the Earth close on them from all 
  sides, forcing the investigators into the clearing. With a 
  successful Listen roll at half skill, an investigator can 
  hears rumors coming from inside the barrows – more 
  Worms wriggling out of their underground tunnels. The 
  keeper should make it clear that the Worms seem afraid to 
  step into the light of the clearing and remain hidden in the 
  shadows. A Spot Hidden reveals a taller, hooded specimen 
  hanging back behind the squirming mass and hissing 
  orders – this is their shaman Th’sss, see the Worms of the 
  Earth statistics. 
   
  The investigators may recognize the Children of the Night 
  that they glimpsed in “the Tower”. 
   
  Once in the clearing, the party has enough time to prepare 
  for the fight and come up with the best possible tactics 
  (standing on top of the barrows or making a move to 
  capture the shaman). Gradually, the Worms of the Earth 
  silence and only the Worm shaman can be heard croaking 
  some kind of imprecation (the Worms use their collective 
  Nightmare skill to unnaturally advance the time of day). 
  Within a few heartbeats, the sky dramatically darkens to 
  the point that the first stars are seen shining weakly! A far 
  ululation resounds. This is the sign that the Worms waited 
  for: the squirming mass swarms the now dim clearing and 
  attack the humans - count twelve attacking Worms for 
  every investigator or Dane (max. Sanity loss: 6 points)! 
   
  If the Danes are present, one shouts: “Behold the Draugr, 
  the Walking Dead, the Worms of the Earth!” Another: 
  “Forward! Forward, champions of Odin! In the 
  Underworld even the dead can die – make the barrow-
  wights pay for our lost companions and earn your place in 
  Valhalla!”  
   
  The Nightmare skill at work 
  Here is an opportunity for the keeper to introduce the 
  Nightmare skill to the players. As one investigator and one 
  Dane, say Rø, end up back to back on top of a barrow, Rø 
  cries out: “if only I had a sword…” The investigator 
  observes that she does; Rø sighs in amazement: “where is 
  my axe? What is this new sorcery? No matter! I shall cut 
  many heads tonight with this iron…” 
   
  Despite the large number of Worms, the investigators are 
  expected to slaughter their weaker opponents with relative 
  ease. Every investigator who kills six or more Worms is 
  left in peace and may help his comrades. If more than half 
  of all attacking Worms are massacred, they flee into the 
  woods or into the barrows and their underground tunnels. 
  Th’sss 
  As the massacre comes to a close, the Worm shaman 
  Th’sss is seen rushing across the clearing towards the 
  doorway of the smoking barrow. The keeper must allow 
  the investigators or the Danes to stop Th’sss in his tracks 
  and overmaster him. Danes want to execute the creature, 
  but the investigators need to spare his life. The Worm’s 
  grasp of human language is poor but sufficient:  
   
  - 
  “Don’t kill me! I… I can help you!” 
  - 
  “You lost, yes? Lost in Annwn? 
  (Narrowing his yellow eyes and with a mewing voice) 
  - 
  “Aah! Where is the Door to Middle-Earth, eh?” 
  (He pats his own chest) 
  - 
  “Th’sss knows the path to the Isle of Glass! 
  - 
  “You not kill Th’sss… Then I tell you…” 
   
  In reality, there are many Doors out of Annwn, some of 
  which secret Worm tunnels. However, Th’sss is not stupid 
  and won’t play his best cards. If the investigators agree: 
   
  - 
  “Mmh! Th’sss very grateful!” 
  - 
  “You see... Th'sss knows where Door is...” 
  - 
  “And you need scrolls of Thoth magic to pass! 
  You don't know where, you don't have scrolls!” 
  - 
  “I say: my people give you scrolls, show you the 
  Door... If you give my people the Black Stone!” 
  
  7 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  The Nightmare skill 
  A nearby ululation reminds the investigators that the night 
  is upon them. With a hissing sound, Th’sss directs them to 
  the smoking barrow. The sunken doorway that the 
  investigators can just about squeeze along leans down at a 
  shallow angle to a squalid chamber lit by a large central 
  fire. Several stinking holes inside the chamber lead to the 
  bowels of the earth – the scurrying noise of light footsteps 
  can be overheard from time to time. 
   
  Th’sss turns to the investigators and repeats that he has the 
  authority to offer them a pact. The investigators can have 
  the secret to exiting Annwn and the book of Thoth, if they 
  travel to the Nameless City and retrieve the Black Stone. If 
  asked, Th’sss explains that: 
   
  � The Worms of the Earth found the Book of Thoth 
  lying in a tower just before a “Serpent Man” did. It is 
  currently kept in their deepest, most secret chambers. 
  � The Black Stone is a small artifact that they worship. 
  � The Serpent People awakened long ago, after Yog-
  Sothoth came through the Door. The Serpent People 
  then drove the Worms out of the Nameless City, and 
  thus appropriated the Black Stone in its Temple. 
  � The Worms cannot harm the thieves of the Black 
  Stone. Therefore, somebody else must steal it. 
  � The Book of Thoth is in a language that only the 
  Serpent People know (ancient Egyptian). The humans 
  must capture a Serpent Priest and bring him back! 
   
  Should the investigators accept the pact, Th’sss says he 
  will teach one or two investigators “nightmare magic” to 
  trick the Serpent People. He gives them a map of the 
  Worm tunnels that honeycomb the land (traveling 
  underground the investigators will be safe from the 
  Wights) and of the Nameless City. When the investigators 
  return with the Black Stone, he will give them the Book of 
  Thoth and bring them to the Isle of Glass. 
   
  From dawn to sunset, Th’sss demonstrates and teaches the 
  Nightmare skill to chosen investigators (see the 
  Dreamlands primer; apprentices incur a 0/1D6 Sanity 
  loss). Other worms come in sometimes and provide silent 
  assistance. Food is left on bowls and regularly replenished 
  with disgusting meats dipping in unidentifiable juices. At 
  the end of the day, the investigators are allowed a 
  Nightmare skill check and an experience roll. If 
  successful, add 1D10 percentiles to the POW base chance. 
   
  If the investigators decide to go their own way, allow them 
  to wander Annwn fruitlessly for as long as it takes. Th’sss 
  will pop up when they get desperate, and attempt to 
  bargain again. At whichever point the investigators decide 
  to go along with Th’sss, the Danes refuse to. They are 
  aghast at the sight of what they call “Draugr” and want 
  nothing to do with them. Moreover, they are disgusted by 
  the fact that the investigators – which they consider as 
  friends – strike a bargain with the “Walking Dead”. After 
  an uncomfortable farewell, the Danes sail on alone… 
  The Worm tunnels 
  The soil of Annwn is riddled with the tunnels that the 
  worms use to move about and it is into these Th’sss takes 
  the Investigators. Obviously, the humans are larger than 
  worms so they will have to take a longer route than a 
  worm would, going only via tunnels that are large enough 
  for humans to move through – see the Worms’ map.  
   
  The majority is through soil. These are roughly arch 
  shaped, with a flat ground level pounded solid by footfalls. 
  Walls are generally compacted dirt, but some areas will be 
  damp with muddy soil and more than a few hints of 
  possible collapse. All are dark – there is enough air to 
  breathe but not much – and cramped. Occasionally, the 
  party hears distant footsteps but they are alone. Some 
  tunnels go through the ruins of human settlements: crypts 
  and cemetery soil. Old, half rotted or “mummified” bodies 
  can be found within (by touch).  
   
  Here and there, the smell of fresh air coming from a side 
  tunnel indicates a hidden exit. The party can go above 
  ground to get their breath, seek water, etc. The pace is 
  slow and grueling, so count at least twice the normal travel 
  time, e.g. 14 days from the mouth of the Severn to the rim 
  of the Sea of Glass. 
  The Sea of Glass 
  When the party gets to within forty miles of the Nameless 
  City, the air becomes very thin and the tunnel stops 
  abruptly because of a cave-in. A weak current of air 
  indicates that the surface is near; the investigators can dig 
  their way up, or backtrack for many hours to the last exit 
  hole. 
  In front of the party lies a strange rise of land, like a 
  petrified wave of earth and stone that extends North and 
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  8 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  South as far as the horizon. Climbing to the top of this 
  “wall”, the investigators observe a desolate and destroyed 
  landscape in front of them. There are no standing trees in 
  sight, no ruined buildings, nothing of life at all. Instead 
  there is a dully-reflective soil, which seems to have turned 
  into glass from an immense heat, stretching for miles 
  ahead. It doesn’t matter how far the party travel, until they 
  reach Lundenburh they are in a dead mans land. 
   
  The party is standing at the edges of what they may realize 
  is the “Wormwood” impact (mentioned in “Shadow 
  Kingdoms”), the place where Seth – in some alternate 
  reality - managed to bring Yog-Sothoth through to scour 
  the earth. The party has to cross the whole 40 miles stretch 
  to the Nameless City in one go. The rules of aboveground 
  Annwn again apply and there is pressure on the 
  investigators to make trip before nightfall. The keeper is 
  advised to maintain an atmosphere of tension and to bring 
  dusk just as the investigators are within sight of the 
  Nameless City. Have them run the last distance and only 
  bring Wights into play if the party does something stupid 
  like stop for a while in the middle of nowhere. 
  The Nameless City 
  The Nameless City resembles a vast pit. As the 
  investigators edge closer, they see that its walls aren’t 
  actually cliffs, they are a huge architectonic structure made 
  of troglodyte dwellings into the cliff face, connected by 
  underground passageways, and a gallery coiled around and 
  around like a massive stone snake.  
   
  The Nameless City is now home of Annwn’s Serpent 
  People. Although the gallery is huge, transversal tunnels 
  radiating from it house an even greater part of the city: 
  the gallery is generally for public rooms and access to 
  radial tunnels, while the rooftops are for basking Snakes. 
  Observation 
  As the investigators observe the city (from a hidden 
  position if they’re sensible), they discover the following: 
   
  � The main entrance to the gallery is at ground level, at 
  some distance away from the pit itself.  
  � The City dwellings start just below the rim of the 
  hole. Idea rolls if needed suggest investigators could 
  lower themselves into the City via the rooftops. 
  � The gallery winds in an unbroken spiral until it 
  reaches the bottom of the city, concealed in shadows. 
  Most of the gallery is covered and hidden from view, 
  but it periodically changes to a roofless ledge or to a 
  half-open colonnaded passage. 
  � A few Serpent people (Serpent priests) walking 
  along the gallery wear red hooded robes covering 
  themselves completely, with long trains that drag in 
  the dust behind them. Other Serpent people throw 
  themselves face down to the ground until the hooded 
  Serpents have passed. Serpent clothing hangs loose 
  and covers the entire body except for the snakehead 
  and the hands; the shape of the body does not show. 
   
  Each investigator watching the Serpent people suffers a 
  maximum Sanity loss of 6 points. As the investigators are 
  finalizing their plan, the keeper runs the following event: 
   
  The Black Stone 
  “Drums and reedy horns sound from all parts of the city, at 
  first randomly but then forming into a steady beat. Serpent 
  People pour out of their holes onto the roofs and ledges 
  that overhang the pit. As the music gets louder and faster, 
  a painful parody of chanting can be heard. The hissing 
  reaches a fever pitch when a Snake priest appears on a 
  large platform holding what looks like a small black 
  object. The chanting continues for long minutes and at last 
  the Serpent priest can be seen walking back into a large 
  column-framed doorway behind the stone platform.” 
   This is a chance to see the location of the Black Stone.  
   
  As long as the investigators have got a basic disguise 
  (using the Nightmare skill or stealing hooded robes from 
  Serpent priests – whom they have to kill), follow basic 
  social conventions (see below), and don’t dawdle, they can 
  walk freely for a while, it’s a question of nerve. 
  Moving Around 
  Once inside, the central corridor is surprisingly spacious – 
  there is usually enough room for four people to walk 
  abreast – but in a few places along the lower coils of the 
  gallery, the walkway shrinks to a simple ledge not more 
  than one yard wide (these are crucial bottlenecks for the 
  
  9 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  keeper to consider in the “escape” later on). Doorways and 
  windows open into troglodyte chambers and those on the 
  right, the outside, frequently end up in vertiginous ledges 
  overhanging the central pit. As the investigators move 
  forward, Serpent people emerge out of the pitch-black 
  doorways, bustle past and disappear, all while strange 
  perfumes and fetid odors saturate the air. 
  Because the passageway spirals down and down around 
  the pit, the investigators feel like constant sinking. 
  Furthermore, sometimes the Serpent People pass close by, 
  so close that the investigators can see sweat glistening on 
  their mottled skin and the moistness of their flickering 
  tongues, and smell their fetid odor! 
   
  Without hindrance, it takes about 30 mn to walk from the 
  entrance to the Temple of the Black Stone. It takes another 
  15 mn to reach the very bottom of the coiled gallery. From 
  there it's a 5 mn climb down to the bottom. The keeper 
  may request at least one Climb roll for each investigator. 
   
  The main focus of the Nameless City is the constant 
  tension of being surrounded by enemies. Only the Temple 
  of the Black Stone is explicitly described; the keeper is 
  free to improvise the maze-like city should the investigator 
  stray away from the central gallery – be inspired by 
  historical Arab cities and their covered markets (Souks). 
  Problems 
  Keepers are urged to keep the tension high. The 
  investigators shouldn’t forget they could be one false 
  move away from a lynching, or worse. The keeper 
  shouldn’t be afraid to introduce a range of Serpent 
  encounters into proceeding, from arrogant Serpent priests 
  walking by and Serpents who come over and sniff the air 
  surrounding the disguised investigators with their flicking 
  tongues, to Serpents who attempt to engage the party in 
  some manner of conversation. It doesn’t matter what the 
  Serpents are really saying, because it all sounds like a hiss 
  to the investigators. 
   
  Social conventions 
  Investigators infiltrating the Nameless City should adhere 
  to the following basic social conventions of the Serpent 
  people. The investigators’ cover is blown after 3 slip-ups. 
   
  � Lay flat on the floor while Serpent priests walk by. 
  � Do not touch a Serpent except with a forked tongue. 
  � Do not imitate the Serpent’s language in vain. 
   
  Note that the Serpent’s vision is relatively poor. As long as 
  a human’s face is hidden in shadows, he or she is 
  relatively safe. The Serpents’ sense of smell is different: if 
  a Serpent can “smell” the air around a human for a full 
  combat round, it identifies the human’s “signature”. 
   
  Serpent reactions should occur on an increasing scale, the 
  escalation depending on how the investigators deal with 
  the pressure. Those who fail to respond appropriately 
  should cause a few odd looks or snubs at first, rising to 
  complaints to Serpent priests, and finally calls for guards 
  to seize the intruders (these have to be dealt with). 
  The Temple of the Black Stone 
  The Temple of the Black Stone lies half way down the pit. 
  It is carved into the very rock face, featuring an awe-
  inspiring 100-foot high façade and a massive column-
  framed doorway, contrasting with the plain, cool, and dark 
  interior chamber; the Temple is empty except for the 
  Black Stone sat atop a central pedestal. A platform pushes 
  out deeply over the pit in front of the doorway. Bas-reliefs 
  cover some walls, depicting incidents from the stone’s 
  history. Investigators may roll to spot figures of a loin-
  clothed human (Bran Mak Morn) or Worms of the Earth. 
  More pressingly for the investigators, there is a group of 
  particularly tall Serpents priests standing in worship. The 
  party must wait until they have left (D100 minutes or 
  whenever the keeper wishes) or they can decide to kill 
  them; they’d better do it quietly though!  
   
  The Black Stone itself is an oval about the size of a fist. It 
  is carved with sixty scratch-like symbols on one face. 
   
  However the party decides to deal with the serpent 
  worshippers, as soon as they have grabbed the Black 
  Stone, Sa-Ta the Snake priest enters the room. 
  The Serpent Priest 
  Sa-Ta is one of the leading priests among all of his kind 
  and a permanent dweller of Annwn. Like most Serpent 
  Priests, Sa-Ta is familiar with ancient Egyptian and can 
  thus translate the Book of Thoth. Additionally, this 
  powerful sorcerer sees through non-permanent effects of 
  the Nightmare Skill. If the party has been relying on the 
  latter, Sa-Ta lets out a hiss of alarm and tries to flee; the 
  party needs to stop him before he raises the alarm. If the 
  party has simply covered themselves with snake garments, 
  Sa-Ta will be initially fooled, but only long enough for the 
  players to gain initiative and for instance attack Sa-Ta. 
   
  Sa-Ta 
  Sa-Ta stands a foot shorter than many of his kin, with 
  much thinner features and a longer tongue. He wears a 
  robe of purple silk and wears a number of bone fetishes. 
  He also wears a small, black replica of the Black Stone.  
   
  Where Seth was unhappy with the state of his kin, Sa-Ta is 
  content, acting as he does as the head of the cult of the 
  Serpent God and feeling no need to endanger his position 
  with grand schemes. He is also a coward and can be 
  threatened with physical violence. While he is devious 
  enough to try and outwit the investigators in the Nameless 
  City, he will be a nervous, broken and wholly pliant 
  creature should they get him out and away from his 
  ”comfort zone”. 
   
  The keeper is urged to keep Sa-Ta alive so the party can 
  take him hostage, but confident keepers can allow his 
  death, leaving the party needing to go in search of another 
  priestly serpent who can read Egyptian. The troglodyte 
  quarters of such creatures are nearby, filled with scrolls, 
  divination bones and other religious utensils. 
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  10 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Escape 
  The party needs to use all their wit to get themselves, the 
  Black Stone, and Sa-Ta out of the City. The players also 
  have to consider the time of day: the investigators may 
  have to hide in a disused dwelling or chamber for the 
  night, before attempting the escape. There are two ways 
  out: back through the surface exit, or down through 
  abandoned tunnels beneath the City. The latter will only 
  be revealed if a) the party fails to escape through the top 
  exit and is forced to flee down into the depths, or b) the 
  Worms come to their aid (see “Deus ex machina” below). 
   
  � Use the Nightmare skill to transform into Sa-Ta, 
  cover the real priest up, and walk out.  
  � Threaten Sa-Ta with death and march him out. Sa-Ta 
  makes one attempt to attract attention or use magic. 
  � Sneak back out of the city, going from empty room to 
  empty room. The keeper should play on the 
  investigators’ fears of being found.  
   
  Time will be a factor. A party that moves slowly and 
  leaves a trail of unhidden corpses is in far greater danger 
  of discovery than one that hides their actions and moves 
  quickly. 
   
  Should the investigators fail to get out without attracting 
  attention, and should the keeper wish to avoid a total party 
  kill, he or she is urged to drive them further down into the 
  city, perhaps by Serpent People coming for them from 
  higher up. Push them further and further away from the 
  upper exit. Eventually drive them to the bottom of the pit: 
  a gloomy cathedral of gigantic piled-up boulders and 
  rushing waters. One end opens into an underground 
  cavern… with worm tunnels! The party can take a chance 
  and flee into one of these, hoping it remains wide enough 
  for them to find an exit (it does). The keeper might also 
  want to have worms coming to their aid. 
   
  Deus ex machina 
  If the party have really dug themselves into a hole in the 
  second half of the scenario, the keeper can bring one of 
  several allies into play. 
   
  � The Viking return unexpectedly to join forces with the 
  investigators: they changed their mind and had been 
  following the investigators’ trail… 
  � The Worms of the Earth creep out of a hole and take 
  the investigators to a secret/abandoned tunnel away 
  from danger… 
  � An interesting role-play variant on the previous 
  encounter: a dead investigator comes back as a Worm, 
  horribly warped but still recognizable and un-dead! 
  Adjust the statistics and the character’s psyche, and 
  play on. Friends or family lose 1/1D6+1 SAN. 
  � A renegade Serpent Priest (to be soon executed) 
  proposes to help the investigators in exchange of 
  freedom… 
  � Bran Mak Morn makes an apparition. Should the 
  party seem worthy of his aid, he either slaughters a 
  way through the investigators’ enemies, creates a 
  diversion, or silently guides them for a while… 
   
  The “Dark Man” alias Bran Mak Morn 
  "Bran Mak Morn fell in battle; the nation fell apart. Like 
  wolves we Picts live now among the scattered islands, 
  among the crags of the highlands and the dim hills of 
  Galloway. We are a fading people. We pass. But the Dark 
  Man remains — the Dark One, the great king, Bran Mak 
  Morn, whose ghost dwells forever in the stone likeness of 
  his living self." – Pictish chieftain 
   
  Bran Mak Morn is a mythical king of the Picts who lived 
  around 300 AD. The Picti or “painted ones” as the 
  Romans called them are a doomed race right out of 
  antiquity, which disappeared from recorded history in the 
  eleventh century. By then, Bran Mak Morn has becomes 
  something of a godlike figure. For that reason, no statistics 
  are provided: in Annwn, Bran Mak Morn epitomizes 
  mankind; he is immortal and the keeper can direct him as 
  he or she pleases to either haunt or help the investigators. 
   
  Bran Mak Morn is as a lean-faced man of average height 
  and dark complexion, almost Mediterranean. He only 
  wears a loincloth and carries an impressive spear and a 
  short sword. His skin appears to be painted or tattooed. It 
  is clear that the man belongs to some unidentified race. 
  Returning with the Black Stone and Sa-Ta 
  Upon arriving back to the Worms of the Earth village, the 
  Worms usher the investigators back into the shaman’s 
  barrow, which this time is packed with Worms: there is 
  precious little standing room. As the investigators 
  ceremoniously present the Worms with the Black Stone, 
  the room hisses in appreciation. The Book of Thoth is then 
  revealed and given to the investigators. 
  The Serpent man Sa-Ta (or whichever priest the 
  investigators captured) is imprisoned in an underground 
  hole and tortured by the Worms of the Earth.  
   
  The Book of Thoth 
  The brittle scroll is kept in a golden cylinder. 
   
  BOOK OF THOTH – in Egyptian, by Stygian sorcerer 
  Thoth-amon, c. 10000 BC. Three scrolls discussing the 
  being Tawil at’Umr, the Great Old Ones, Hyboria, the 
  secret of humanity’s creation, the opening of Gates, etc. 
  The Book of Thoth suggests that the serpent civilization 
  predates mankind.  Contains spells of life after death, 
  prayers to the half-serpent half-human god Seth-heh, 
  demon invocations, and astronomical data. It also contains 
  a spell of transformation into a Serpent man and a spell of 
  protection against Wights (“Watchers”) – see Players 
  handouts. Sanity loss 1D4/1D8; Cthulhu Mythos +6%; 
  Occult +10%; 15 weeks to study. 
   
  After hours of torture, the broken Serpent captive is very 
  willing to interpret the scrolls as long as the investigators 
  promise not to kill him (a promise that may be difficult to 
  hold given that the Worms are intent on killing Sa-Ta). 
  The Book of Thoth’s revelations are summarized in the 
  Player Handouts. 
   
  
  11 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Once the investigators have learnt about the Book of 
  Thoth, or whenever they decide to ask, Th’sss reveals that 
  there is a way out of Annwn through The Glass Tower. 
  Investigators with a Celtic background can roll to see if 
  they’ve heard of this before; if they pass they remember 
  their cultural myths, placing the Tower on an island at sea. 
  However, Th’sss goes on to reveal that this isn’t the case: 
  the Door is on the Isle of the Dead (also known as the Isle 
  of Glass), which is Glastonburh Tor in the middle of the 
  fenlands of Sumaersaeton (Somerset).  
  Returning without the Black Stone or Sa-Ta 
  If the investigators failed on their mission to retrieve the 
  Black Stone or to capture a Serpent capable of deciphering 
  the Book of Thoth, two problems arise: 1) how to find the 
  Glass Tower without the help of the Worms, and 2) how to 
  survive the challenges of the Glass Tower and exit Anwnn 
  without the guidance of the Book of Thoth. Here are some 
  alternatives for helping the players on the way: 
   
  � Clever use of the Nightmare skill, e.g. to create a 
  replica of the Black Stone, might just do the trick and 
  fool the Worms of the Earth – in the short term. 
  � An investigator may “recall” myths that say that the 
  Wild Hunt or Odin’s Hunt flies out of the Sacred Gate 
  that connect the realm of the dead with the realm of 
  the living. Investigators may thus try to retrace the 
  flight path of the Wights back to the Glass Tower, or 
  get the general location of their calls at nightfall. 
  � An investigator may “recall” folklore that locates the 
  Door to the Underworld on the Isle of the Dead, 
  namely Glastonburh Tor in the middle of the fenlands 
  of Sumaersaeton (Somerset). Keeper’s note: this is the 
  information that Th’sss would have provided. 
   
  � If one investigator assumed the form of a Serpent 
  using the Nighmare skill, a bizarre temporary side 
  effect could be the understanding of the Serpent 
  tongue, as well as some ability to read hieroglyphs! 
  � The Worms know of a nearby pocket of Serpent men 
  (including a Priest) and lead the investigators to raid 
  them and capture one for the translation of the book. 
  � Th’sss knows of an old worm-witch someplace, who 
  could decipher the scriptures of the Book of Thoth.  
   
  � Provide external guidance in the form of non-player 
  characters, e.g. as suggested in “deus ex machina”. 
  � If everything else fails, it should be noted that a few 
  Draugr tunnels (no more than twenty) do lead back to 
  graveyards of Earth in the vicinity of large burhs. 
   
  A new challenge if the investigators betrayed the trust of 
  the Worms of the Earth, may be that they bring upon 
  themselves the curse of the Worms: the Worms will avoid 
  direct confrontation this time and instead try to snatch the 
  investigators one by one from the surface of Annwn at 
  night, and/or undermine the party’s temporary shelters – 
  see the Worms’ “undermine” attack in the Statistics. To 
  counterbalance this new threat, the keeper is strongly 
  advised to introduce one or more “deus ex machina” such 
  as the investigators’ Viking friends, Bran Mak Morn, etc. 
  The Glass Tower 
  After a few days of (underground) travel, the investigators 
  arrive at Shepton, a ruined town less than ten miles East of 
  Glastonburh Tor (the green and black dots in the South-
  West corner of the map). The Tor is seen rising like an 
  island in the middle of the fenlands. At the top of the Tor, 
  the investigators find the ruins of what must have been a 
  tower. Between the rubble, they spot an opening in the 
  ground they initially overlooked because it is so small. 
  The investigators have to climb down carefully in total 
  darkness; the hole is just big enough for the largest 
  investigator. The hole reaches down into a half-caved in 
  chamber, which provides a seeming refuge against the 
  impending night and its terrors. The investigators find a 
  large bluish tile they close the hole with. 
   
  After nightfall, the hiding party starts to hear noises above 
  them, sometimes imitating light footsteps echoing through 
  vast chambers and corridors. One investigator may notice 
  that they do not hear the sound of the wind anymore. The 
  keeper should make the perceptions intriguing enough for 
  the players to gain confidence and send the investigators 
  up. To their surprise, the investigators emerge at the 
  ground level of a long corridor tiled with blue flagstones! 
   
  The Glass Tower 
  The Glass Tower has been seen in many worlds, yet it 
  only exists in between. It owes its name to this very fact, 
  and also because as it shifts in and out of reality on any 
  particular plane of existence, eyewitnesses have described 
  it as being made of glass. 
  The Glass Tower is best described as the House of the 
  Guardian/Demon (i.e. Tawil at’Umr, who may be known 
  under many different names in different places), or as the 
  Gateway (which Tawil at’Umr guards). Indeed, the Glass 
  Tower features two Doors: the outer Door – the Sacred 
  Gate, of which it has been said “there are few who can tell 
  the manner by which it is locked” - connects the Glass 
  Tower with all the worlds that it traverses. The inner Door 
  opens on the abyss of the unnamable devourers, which is 
  sometimes called Limbo. 
  In effect, the Glass Tower is the physical interface 
  between the spheres of existence that compose our 
  universe, and that void outside of time and space where 
  Yog-Sothoth resides. 
  There is no “system” to the transitions of the Glass Tower. 
  In Annwn, it stands on the Glastonburh Tor every night, 
  and vanishes during Annwn’s daytime, when it visits other 
  dimensions. Some scriptures mention that there are 540 
  possible Doors. It would seem that the Glass Tower often 
  materializes in darkness, irrespective of the place. 
  Whatever the exact number of alternate realities that know 
  the Glass Tower, most of them are related to human 
  myths. Here are some: 
   
  1. Annwn (Glastonburh Tor) 
  2. The Dreamlands (City of Gugs, Tower of Koth) 
  3. Limbo (undefined location) 
  4. A fiery hell (atop basalt island splitting a river of lava) 
  5. Plains of Asgardr (desolate, wind-swept, and lifeless) 
  6. Any other world that the keeper fancies, incl. Earth!  
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  12 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
   
  As the party moves forward, they find themselves inside 
  the Glass Tower, built up of many levels on top of 
  Glastonburh Tor, with tens of small contiguous stone 
  rooms connected by twisting stairways. There is no 
  obvious route through the dark maze. On successful Listen 
  rolls, investigators pick up faint melodies, which they can 
  try to follow through. 
  Like in a nightmare, the tower’s internal design defies 
  description and therefore any attempt to understand it, let 
  alone map it. There are only few features of notice that 
  exploring investigators discover within (what feels like) an 
  hour. Once they’ve discovered these features, the players 
  only need to state where they want to go and the 
  investigators somehow find their way back to it – although 
  they won’t be able to explain how. 
   
  THE HOLE IN THE GROUND 
  This is the caved-in chamber the investigators hid in at the 
  beginning. It is not part of the Glass Tower as such but 
  connects to the blue-tiled corridor when the tower 
  materializes. 
   
  LOOPHOLES 
  One stairway runs alongside the outer wall of the Glass 
  Tower. High up it features four loopholes, one in each face 
  of the tower. The walls are thick (more than two yards) 
  and the loopholes narrow, so the view angle is limited. 
  Nevertheless, investigators peering outside may see mind-
  bending vistas of the worlds that the Glass Tower 
  traverses. Count a 0/1D4 Sanity loss for glimpsing any 
  world yet unfamiliar to the investigators. 
   
  THE INNER DOOR 
  If the investigators home in on the source of the faint 
  melodies that echo through the rooms and corridors of the 
  tower, they eventually reach a large door of worn wood 
  adorned with a brass ring, at the heart of the tower. The 
  door makes the investigators instinctively cringe with fear, 
  but for no apparent reason. The melodies arise from 
  behind this door but have now lost their melodic quality: a 
  vague rumor born at a great distance, like the sound of the 
  sea, and punctuated by fearsome howls. The door simply 
  opens on a steep and short flight of stairs down, which 
  ends in a kind of bottomless well from which the rumor 
  originates, as well as a strong ascendant wind – strong 
  enough to extinguish any unprotected light source. 
  Looking up, the investigators see fading daylight raining 
  down the immense mossy walls. Looking down, the 
  vertiginous well dives into blackness, and vague shadows 
  are glimpsed stirring in the dark. 
  As long as daylight pours into the well, the investigators 
  are safe. However, at night, the host of Wights will raise 
  into the well and pour out of the top of the tower into the 
  night – investigators who stay longer than one combat 
  round on the stairs or forget to close the Door will be 
  attacked by one Wight – see Statistics.  
   
  THE OUTER DOOR 
  The Glass Tower’s outer Door simply opens into any 
  world that the tower happens to be standing in. 
  Investigators can go in and out freely, at their own risk. 
   
  THE HALL 
  Occupying almost an entire level high up in the Glass 
  there is a meeting hall, dark and empty except for twelve 
  seats and one high seat at the far end. The entire place 
  reeks of death – sitting on the high seat is a large naked 
  man with a rotting one-eyed stag’s head where the man’s 
  head should be (see Statistics of Tawil at’Umr). The 
  empty eye socket is filled with maggots and the stench is 
  unbearable. There are flies buzzing all around. After the 
  required Sanity roll, investigators can roll to determine if 
  they recognize this deity as Cernnunos or some avatar of 
  Gwynn ap Nudd, alias Tawil at’Umr. Whatever reaction 
  the investigators have, alien thoughts – more images than 
  words - drone inside their heads: “we meet… again… 
  Land of the Dead… Sacred Gate closed for you… you 
  must give me… something…”  
   
  The Horned God will not attack the investigators should 
  they act aggressively; instead he will just passively take 
  damage, be destroyed, and reappear the next day until they 
  tire. The avatar has a begrudging respect for the party; he 
  is a hunter, and they have managed to survive the Land of 
  the Dead so far. 
  The “sepulchral offering” 
  The keeper is invited to study the passages of the Book of 
  Thoth that he or she handed out to the players – see 
  Players Handouts. The occult writings are ambivalent on 
  purpose, especially regarding the role of Tawil at’Umr 
  who appears as the avatar of the All-in-One (Yog-
  Sothoth), both guide of the dead as well as –paradoxically- 
  the dog-faced devourer of the dead. Give the players 
  enough time to (try to) make sense of it and devise some 
  formulas and rituals of their own to “align” the Glass 
  Tower with Earth and open the outer Door (“first door” or 
  “sacred gate” in the Book). There is no right or wrong way 
  to leave Annwn – the right way is the players’ way, and 
  the keeper should reward all player ingenuity, courage, 
  and selflessness. 
   
  One important component of the ritual must be some form 
  of “sepulchral offering”, which can be anything from 
  handing the Book of Thoth to Tawil at’Umr, to one 
  investigator sacrificing his or her life (e.g. by jumping into 
  the “well of souls”) in order to save the others. 
  Conclusion 
  Eventually, the investigators succeed in aligning the Glass 
  Tower with Earth and opening the outer Door – the Sacred 
  Gate. They find the outside completely enveloped in mist. 
  After a few minutes of exploration, the investigators 
  realize they are standing on the steps of Quintus’ Tower in 
  Caermaen, returning to where they started many days ago! 
  This time though, they are back on Earth. 
   
  A Sanity award of 2D10 points is in order for all 
  investigators who braved death and physically exited 
  Annwn through the Glass Tower, back into the world of 
  the living. Reduce to 1D10 points if the keeper needed to 
  
  13 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  bring in substantial external help or if the players had to 
  rely too heavily on Idea rolls to understand Annwn. 
  Investigators who displayed great bravery against the 
  Worms of the Earth receive an additional 1D6 Sanity 
  points. The same applies to bravery display against the 
  Serpent people in the Nameless City. 
  The keeper may grant a single additional 1D3 points 
  reward roll for unusually good role-playing, ingenuity, etc. 
   
  Remember that Nightmare effects disappear upon return to 
  the waking world. Importantly, investigators who 
  physically died in the Dreamlands disappear forever; all 
  the others – even the ones who died or disappeared in the 
  Nameless Mist of the “Tower” or in the corridors of time 
  of the “Shadow Kingdoms” are back – as if everything 
  that happened from the point where the investigators left 
  the village on the Wysg and climbed into the namless 
  Mist, had only been a bad dream! 
   
  Another consideration for the keeper is what day of the 
  year (“the day of counting souls” in the Book of Thoth) 
  the party return to. Maybe everything happened within a 
  single heartbeat or a single night. The keeper could decide 
  to advance the date closer to the fateful date of November 
  1st, 1021 AD – but not too close! The Dreamlands rule 
  allow both, so the keeper must choose what suits the 
  campaign best, and proceed with the next untold chapter. 
  A Dreamlands primer 
  Although Annwn is not part of the Dreamlands in the 
  sense that it is not formed solely by the dreams of the 
  living, but rather by the souls of the dead, the keeper may 
  find Chaosium’s Dreamlands book a useful reference. 
  Critical Dreamlands mechanics for this scenario are 
  summarized here for the keeper’s convenience. 
  Many Doors 
  In reality there are many Gates allowing passage in and 
  out of Annwn, not the just the one Door sought by the 
  investigators. The most numerous of these doorways are 
  certain tunnel-like burrows dug by the Worms of the Earth 
  below the surface of Annwn. 
  Time in Annwn 
  Time flows in strange ways in Annwn. An investigator 
  may spend a week in Annwn to find upon returning that no 
  time at all passed in the world of the living. The keeper 
  should make time within Annwn flow to suit the need of 
  the Pagan Call campaign. 
  Sanity 
  Investigators lose and regain Sanity in Annwn in the usual 
  way.  Optionally, if an investigator loses more than 5 
  Sanity points in a single encounter and also fails an Idea 
  roll, he or she may suffer a Nightmare Effect at the 
  keeper’s discretion. Nightmare Effects replace or extend 
  temporary and indefinite insanity. Examples of Nightmare 
  Effects include: 
   
  � The investigator finds him- or her-self unable to flee 
  effectively, e.g. because of an infinitely stretching 
  corridor or excruciatingly slow motion. 
  � The investigator finds him- or her-self locked in a 
  location with the threat that prompted the Sanity loss. 
  � An old wound, disease, or malformation reappears 
  and grows to pain or terrify the investigator. 
  � The investigator is transformed into the most 
  appropriate horror to the situation, e.g. a Worm. 
   
  Nightmare Effects last as long as the investigator stays in 
  Annwn and disappear upon return to the world of the 
  living. 
  The Nightmare skill 
  Each investigator (and non-player character) unknowingly 
  receives this skill the first time he or she enters Annwn. It 
  starts at a percentile amount equal to the investigator’s 
  POW. The skill increases in identical fashion to any other 
  game skill. 
   
  The Nightmare skill is used to alter the Annwn “reality” 
  and can only be performed within Annwn or the 
  Dreamlands. An example of transformation into a Serpent 
  priest is included in at the end of the Book of Thoth 
  handout (see players handout). 
  The investigator chooses consciously what must be altered 
  or created. If the nightmare’s creative impulse comes from 
  the investigator’s subconscious (especially the first time 
  the skill is applied: “If only… I wished that…”), the 
  keeper may decide what is created in whole or in part. 
   
  Magic points are spent in the use of the Nightmare skill. 
  The Nightmare skill attempt is made after all required 
  magic points are assigned. The keeper decides upon the 
  value of the desired alteration of Annwn’s reality. If the 
  required magic points are spent and the Nightmare skill 
  roll is a success, then the Annwn reality is altered as 
  desired. The value of the alteration represents the 
  alteration’s most important attribute. Inanimate objects 
  normally have half the value of their animate equivalents. 
  A sword (“if only I had a sword…”) might have a value of 
  4 if the maximum damage it can deliver is 8. A Wight with 
  POW 21 (“In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I 
  command this demon to be driven out of your church…”) 
  might have a value of 21. 
  An investigator normally cannot make alterations of more 
  value than his or her Nightmare skill percentile. However, 
  many investigators could by pooling together their magical 
  points as well as their Nightmare skill percentiles. 
   
  Permanent residents of Annwn may also possess the 
  Nightmare skill - see for instance the Statistics of the 
  Worms of the Earth and the Wights. The Wights can 
  summon a gale to blow out the investigators’ torches, and 
  the Worms can darken the daylight to hide their approach. 
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  14 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  A Gazetteer of Annwn 
  While this scenario touches upon some locations of 
  interest in Annwn, it does not cover all possibilities. The 
  keeper interested in expanding the realm of the dead may 
  find the following overview inspiring: 
  City of the Legions (Caerleon/Isca): the ruins of glorious 
  Caerleon. See “the Tower”; adapt descriptions.  
  City of the Whisperers (London/Londinium): the ruins of 
  Lundenburh. No timber buildings remain. Only the ruins 
  of St Paul’s minster survive together with a handful of 
  roofless stone chapels, and of course the Roman walls. 
  The city is haunted at night by unseen, mysterious 
  “whisperers”. The whisperers shun light. Anyone hearing 
  their unintelligible whispers looses 0/1D3 Sanity points.  
  Cold Wastes: one to two mile-high ice sheet that covers 
  the northern regions of Annwn. Plunged in eternal night. 
  Dagon Flats: vast marshy plain. A mysterious gigantic 
  creature dwells in a deep mere there. A worm-witch lives 
  in a hut somewhere in the fens. 
  Fallen Abbey: the ruins of an abbey haunted by dwarfish 
  monk-things (Draugrs) with a deviant taste for flesh. See 
  “the Fall of Guthlac Abbey”; adapt descriptions. 
  Hollow Hills/Vaults of Annwn: the heights of Annwn are 
  riddled with the tunnels of the Worms of the Earth like ant 
  beds. Towards the North and under the cold wastes, the 
  extensive network thins and connects to the Vaults 
  through which the dreaming Serpent people and their 
  creatures (e.g. ghasts) came to Annwn. 
  Nameless City (Slough): Serpent City and – in forgotten 
  times - a gate through which Yog-Sothoth came. 
  Nightmare Woods: archetypal forest: old, gloomy, and 
  dense (¼ Move rate). So dark that squalid Worm villages 
  can be found. Worms aside, unknown horrors infest its 
  depths and leave trails that are better not followed. Dotted 
  by mysterious phosphorescent stone rings. 
  Plains of the Walking Dead (Thames): great dry 
  windswept vale that stretches from East to West. Scattered 
  with many bones. Contains the Nameless City and the City 
  of Whisperers. Haunted by Worms, Ghouls, and worse. 
  Salt Marshes (Othona): treacherous tidal marshes. See 
  “the Clan”. 
  Sea of Glass: forty-mile depression of glassy stones in the 
  plains of the Walking Dead, mark of Yog-Sothoth when 
  he came through the Gate. Lifeless. 
  Southern Sea/Sunken City: when the moon is high, a lit 
  city can be seen beneath the waves and strange shadows 
  move there – beware, for sea-wights dwell within the city! 
  Stone Fort (Caermaen): See “the Tower”. 
  Temple of Nudd (Lidney Park): one of several shrines of 
  Nudd/Nodens. 
  Buttressed 
  temple 
  of 
  monumental 
  proportions; divided into 3 rooms with 12 niches holding 
  statues of dog-things. Tawil at’Umr can be met here. 
  Tor of the Dead (Glastonbury Tor): Isle rising above the 
  fens, upon which ones finds Tawil at’Umr’s Glass Tower. 
  Trembling Mountain: entrance to the Dhole burrows and 
  perhaps the fabled World Serpent. See “the Blue Stone”. 
  Yellow Sea: jellyfish-infested sea. One island is inhabited 
  by the Worms of the Earth. 
  
  15 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Statistics 
  Danish sailors, companions in misfortune 
   
  STR 
  CON 
  SIZ 
  INT 
  DEX 
  POW 
  HP 
  curr 
  San 
  Ad 
  11 
  12 
  11 
  10 
  11 
  12 
  12 
  45 
  Rø 
  12 
  10 
  10 
  10 
  15 
  8 
  10 
  25 
  St 
  16 
  18 
  17 
  10 
  7 
  15 
  18 
  60 
  Fa 
  13 
  14 
  9 
  9 
  14 
  6 
  12 
  15 
  Vi 
  10 
  9 
  11 
  16 
  13 
  14 
  10 
  55 
  To 
  8 
  11 
  9 
  8 
  12 
  15 
  10 
  60 
  Note: Steppo has a damage bonus of +1D6. All have a 
  badly shaken sanity so their current Sanity points are 15 
  percentiles lower than normal. 
  Language and skills:  
  Weapons: Axe 40%, 1D6 + db, Knife 60% 1D4 + db 
  (Steppo also has a Bow 55%, 1D8) 
  Armor: Adalsteinn and Farman also carry a small shield 
  35%, absorbs 20 damage. 
   
  The men wear jackets of leather over brightly colored 
  woolen tunics (kyrtill) that hang down over their thighs. 
  They have equally bright trousers and some sort of animal 
  skin shoes. All have long, wild hair. All are carrying long 
  handled axes. Rø is a true Viking freewoman, self-reliant 
  and independent, holding equal status with her fellow 
  men. She is well groomed and particular about her 
  (agreeable) appearance, however, the lack of jewelry and 
  her practical dress tells of her modest standing.  
  This party of eight forms the crew of a large knarr that 
  crossed into Annwn by accident three days ago. The 
  Danes were initially unaware of their changing location, 
  but realized something was wrong as soon as the night sky 
  appeared. Shortly afterwards they were attacked by 
  Wights for the first time. Reeling from the attack, but with 
  no guesses to their location, the crew pressed on the next 
  day. They suffered a repeat attack that night, but saw a 
  coastline the following morning. They anchored their 
  vessel and landed with the ship’s boat in search of safety 
  and answers. So far they’ve found an abandoned town, set 
  up camp in the stone church and lost contact with one of 
  their crew who went to fetch dry wood. 
  For Saxons some the Danes are invaders, for others they 
  are legitimate rulers. For some Danes the Saxons are mass 
  murderers (Ethelred attempted to exterminate the Danes in 
  England in 1002 AD), for others they are kin. The horror 
  of Annwn initially masks these tensions, the Danes 
  accepting the investigators as fellow men, but awkward 
  comments, bad attitudes or other slights can bring old 
  enmities back. 
   
  Adalsteinn (noble stone) 
  Proud captain and owner of the vessel, well-respected and 
  perceptive leader. Man of the seas with a good sense of 
  humor (under normal circumstances). Cast out of Norway 
  because of theft, he indulged in piracy and trafficking for 
  some years – but doesn’t boast about his past “exploits”. 
  Could potentially become romantically attracted to one 
  investigator. 
   
  Rø (turnip) 
  A good girl and a good sailor despite her youth and quick 
  temper. An outcast like Adalsteinn with a weak spot for 
  intoxicating beverages – and Leif. A well-liked storyteller, 
  Rø is not averse to combat and much too emancipated by 
  Christian 
  standards. 
  Could 
  potentially 
  become 
  romantically attracted to one investigator. 
   
  Steppo (crown in Old Flemish) 
  A giant of Flemish origin, extraordinarily strong and 
  tough. Steppo almost never speaks but eats like three. Well 
  disciplined if well fed, Steppo is so phlegmatic as to 
  appear indifferent to danger. Keen hunter. 
   
  Farman (traveler) 
  Hideous and somewhat unstable man who misses half his 
  nose and one ear, souvenir from Sicilian sailors who were 
  too much in a rush to finish the job. 
   
  Vilhjalmr inn Fagri (William "the Fair") 
  Atypical sailor and remarkable craftsman, easily the most 
  intelligent and learned crewmember. It is rumored that 
  “inn Fagri” has royal blood flowing though his veins and 
  that Torkel is his loyal servant from a former life. 
   
  Torkel (Thor's cauldron) 
  A bald man with a strange animal-like sense of danger, 
  although he finds it difficult to explain his intuitions. 
  Inseparable from inn Fagri, the two seem complementary. 
  Under stress, Torkel may inadvertently call inn Fagri “my 
  Lord”. Torkel is the only Christian in the group. When 
  required, Torkel acts as the vessel’s cook. 
   
  Leif and Old Svein 
  Respectively vanished and indefinitely insane when the 
  adventure starts. 
   
  WORMS OF THE EARTH, Lesser Servitors. “… A 
  brief impression of a broad, strangely flattened head, 
  pendulous writhing lips that bared curved, pointed fangs, 
  and a hideously misshapen, dwarfish body that seemed – 
  mottled – all set off by those unwinking reptilian eyes.” – 
  “Worms of the Earth”, Howard. 
  “They were short and sticky, with broad heads too large 
  for their scrawny bodies. Their hair was snaky and 
  stringy, their faces broad and square, with flat noses, 
  hideously slanted eyes, a thin gash for a mouth, and 
  pointed ears.” – “ The Children of the Night”, Howard. 
  The Worms of the Earth average 3½ foot in height with 
  shortened arms and legs. They have stunted and deformed 
  bodies, “a broad, strangely flattened head” and mongoloid 
  face, almond eyes, and yellowish mottled skin that is 
  covered with a kind of sticky slime. The Worms of the 
  Earth wear crude animal hides and stink of decay. This 
  degenerate 
  race 
  is 
  encountered 
  in 
  barrows 
  and 
  subterranean tunnels, the network of which is said to 
  connect the burial grounds of many worlds. They shun 
  light, even that of the moon and stars. 
  According to Vikings, the Draugr are only destroyed for 
  good by: cutting the head off, burning the remains, and 
  burying the ashes or throwing them out at sea. 
  The Worms of the Earth communicate with each other in a 
  horrible hissing speech or with crude carvings, and are 
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  16 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  capable of primitive magic (Nightmare skill). Humans 
  easily mistake them with vampires or ghouls (Vikings call 
  them “Draugrs”). 
  The Worms of the Earth worship an artifact of obscure 
  origins, the Black Stone, marked by symbols of terror. It is 
  said that anybody succeeding in stealing the Black Stone 
  may be granted a service in return, although in the end he 
  or she will still incur the wrath of the Worms. 
  The Worms of the Earth attack in swarms and they eat up 
  the bodies of anything they kill (or any dead flesh for that 
  matter; their hunger is insatiable). Weapons normally 
  injure them. 
   
  WORMS OF THE EARTH, The Walking Dead 
  Characteristics 
  Rolls 
  Averages 
  STR 
  2D6 
  7 
  CON 
  2D6 
  7 
  SIZ 
  2D4 
  5 
  INT 
  3D6 
  10-11 
  POW 
  3D6 
  10-11 
  DEX 
  2D6+6 
  13 
  Move 7 
  HP 
  6 
  Damage Bonus: -1D4 
  Other names: Dragons, Dwarves (Draugr), Walking 
  Dead (Aptrgangr), barrow-wights. 
  Weapons: flint daggers or mallets 25%, 1D3, stone-tipped 
  spears or small bows 10%, 1D4. With the negative 
  Damage Bonus, count 0 or less damage as a superficial cut 
  or bruise. 
  Armor: none. 
  Spells: Nightmare skill 2% e.g. to shape-shift or to create 
  a temporary darkness or mist in daylight hours to hide its 
  approach. 
  Sanity loss: 0/1D6. 
   
  UNDERMINE ATTACK 
  The Worms of the Earth can undermine any building by 
  hollowing out the earth underneath it and digging its 
  foundations away. Residents might hear dim scratching 
  and clawing sounds. The time the Worms need to burrow 
  before a building comes crashing down is determined by 
  the SIZ of the building. Every hour, a single Worm can 
  undermine the equivalent of SIZ 1 of rock and SIZ 30 of 
  unconsolidated material (e.g. clay). To give an example, a 
  stone tower typically weights a few thousand metric tons. 
  Assuming SIZ 300, a hundred Worms of the Earth need 3 
  hours to sap the tower’s foundations. 
  The same attack can also target a single human sleeping 
  on the ground: the human will be swallowed by a hole in 
  the ground and carried away by the Worms of the Earth. 
   
  Th’sss  
  Th’sss is a large 4-foot Worm of the Earth. He wears a 
  festering wolf-skin mantle, the hood of which can 
  completely cover his face. He carries no weapons, just 
  some kind of ornaments made of animal bones and teeth. 
  What Th’sss lacks in fighting skills he makes up for in 
  knowledge and occult powers (Nightmare skill 15%). He 
  is the shaman and leader of his tribe, and exerts significant 
  influence on his entire race. 
  Importantly, he can speak one or two languages known to 
  the human party, at least approximately. 
  Th’sss always put himself before his temporary allies. He 
  will help the investigators by telling them partial 
  knowledge about the subsurface of Annwn and the 
  location of the Isle of the Dead and the Door, and by 
  teaching them enough Nightmare skill so that they can foil 
  the Serpent People and recover the Black Stone – in 
  exchange of the Book of Thoth that his kin found in the 
  Tower near Caerleon. 
   
  WIGHTS, Lesser Servitors. “Sinister creatures fly, 
  malevolent beings howl in the mists, the nocturnal Striges 
  wail.” -  “Thebaïd, III, 510-511”, Statius. 
  The Wights are arguably the least well known of all 
  mythical creatures. Their attributes are reminiscent of 
  those of the Old Ones in the Necronomicon. The Wights 
  are hunting spirits associated to the Death God who is 
  known under many names, such as Gwynn ap Nudd, 
  Cernnunos, or Tawil at’Umr. They are usually found in the 
  limbic regions in between worlds. Wights intrude into the 
  world of the living in places of darkness, at night, or even 
  underwater. Darkness effectively acts as a Gate for these 
  beings. The Wights are dispelled by direct light. 
  In Annwn, the Wights are only half-immaterial, formless 
  beings with ill-defined contours. Their appearance is as 
  indefinite as gray glass, with some oily quality to it. 
  Humans easily mistake Wights with ghosts (Vikings call 
  them “Vaettirs”). Some Wights do bear secret names, with 
  which they can be summoned. 
  The Wights attack by dragging someone up into the air 
  and away for the kill. They then reap the soul of their dead 
  victims. Needless to say, these victims are never seen 
  again. 
   
  WIGHTS, The Hunting Horrors 
  Characteristics 
  Rolls 
  Averages 
  STR 
  9D6 
  31-32 
  CON 
  3D6 
  10-11 
  SIZ 
  13D6 
  45-46 
  INT 
  5D6 
  17-18 
  POW 
  6D6 
  21 
  DEX 
  4D6 
  14 
  Move 7/30 (flying) 
  HP 
  28 
  Other names: Striges, Dark Elves (Dokkalfar), Nightmare 
  (Mara). 
  Weapon: cutting claws 65%, damage 1D6; grapple 90% 
  STR-against-STR Resistance Table roll to break loose. 
  Armor: none, but only cutting weapons (e.g. swords) can 
  harm a Wight’s semi-liquid substance. Impaling weapons 
  or blunt weapons have marginal effect. 
  Spells: Nightmare skill 4% e.g. to control the weather. 
  Sanity loss: 0/1D10 Sanity points to witness a Wight 
  attack. 
   
  TAWIL AT’UMR, Avatar of Yog-Sothoth. “An old man 
  of great height, lacking one eye and clad in a hairy 
  mantle.” - “Gesta Danorum, II, 65”. 
  Tawil at'Umr, one of the forms of Yog-Sothoth, is the 
  Most Ancient One. Tawil at’Umr is the Guide of souls to 
  Limbo and beyond the Ultimate Gate to the last Void, 
  where his dreadful other Self resides. Tawil at’Umr’s form 
  in Annwn is that of a tall one-eyed old man, wearing a 
  threadbare robe of many colors. Tawil at’Umr may also 
  
  17 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  appear as a 24-ft-tall one-eyed stag- or dog-thing, walking 
  like a man. The symbolism of Tawil at’Umr as a grim 
  nomadic peddler with supernatural sight is very ancient, 
  personified in the Norse pantheon by Odin, and having 
  roots in the “Angel of Death” figure. 
  Tawil can’t follow the investigators inside buildings 
  without being explicitly invited in, but he can look in from 
  outside. 
  Tawil at’Umr is sometimes confused with the Devil by 
  Christians. 
  TAWIL AT’UMR, The Horned God 
  STR 51 CON 29 SIZ 51 INT 40 POW 100 DEX 19 Move 
  19 HP 40 
  Other names: The Horned God (Cernnunos), The 
  Hunter/Seizer (of Souls), The-Stag-That-Walks, The-Dog-
  That-Walks, Gargan or Gangrad, Odin/Woden, (Gwynn 
  ap) Nudd. 
  Weapon: Antlers or Bite 40%, damage 1D10. 
  Armor: 3-point hide, and only magical weapons can 
  damage the Avatar. 
  Spells: Nightmare skill 20%. 
  Sanity loss: 0/1D10 Sanity points to see the Avatar. 
   
  SERPENT PEOPLE, Independent Race, "For as he 
  watched, Tu's face became strangely dim and unreal; the 
  features mingled and merged in a seemingly impossible 
  manner. Then, like a fading mask of fog, the face suddenly 
  vanished and in its stead gaped and leered a monstrous 
  serpent's head!" - “the Shadow kingdom”, Robert E. 
  Howard. 
  The “Howardian” serpent people are human-sized but tend 
  to be weak (low CON and low STR), they die easily in 
  combat, and therefore are always depicted as being poor 
  warriors. This is clearly different from the Call of Cthulhu 
  serpent people variant. 
  In their true form, Serpent People feature a monstrous 
  serpent’s head on a man’s body (often with mottled skin 
  and exuding a fetid smell). The Serpent civilization goes 
  back to the fabled prehistoric lands of Valusia. Snake-
  priests of Yig are crafty sorcerers who can secretly put 
  men to sleep or to death, and take on their appearance and 
  their place in society (“are the people of Valusia men or 
  are they all serpents?”). They can even change the 
  appearance of entire rooms to trick and ambush humans. 
  One way to recognize serpent men is that they do not wear 
  the symbol of the flying dragon – their ancient foe - and 
  they cannot pronounce the watchwords ka nama kaa 
  lajerama. 
   
  SERPENT BITE: the bite of a serpent is poisonous, and 
  is lethal about 10 percent of the time. The poison is a 
  neurotoxin that is chemically similar to the Egyptian cobra 
  (asp) poison. Symptoms start 10 to 15 minutes after the 
  bite and are characterized by pains and progressive 
  paralysis (all skill rolls halved). Failing the Resistance 
  Table match, the victim dies a painful death caused by 
  respiratory failure in about 2 hour, and otherwise recovers. 
  Only the specific antivenin helps against acute poisoning, 
  and it may not be available in all hospitals. 
   
  SERPENT PEOPLE, The Snakes-That-Speak 
  STR 2D6 CON 2D6 SIZ 3D6 INT 3D6+6 POW 3D6+6 
  DEX 3D6 Move 8 HP 8 (average) 
  Other names: snake-men, snakes-that-speak, serpent 
  priests, old serpents, nagas (oriental serpent people). 
  Damage bonus: -1D4 irrespective of STR+SIZ. 
  Weapon: Poisonous Bite 30%, damage 1D2 + poison. 
  Armor: none. 
  Spells: serpent priests know at least one spell, e.g. Soul 
  Singing. 
  Skills: Burrow 75%, Hide 80%, Listen 70%, Potions 65%, 
  Aklo 65%, Scent 75%, one Science at the keeper’s 
  discretion (e.g. biology, mathematics, physics) 50%, 
  Sneak 80%. 
  Sanity loss: 0/1D6 Sanity points to see a serpent in its true 
  shape. 
  Player Handouts (Book of Thoth) 
  It takes about 6-8 hours to skim through the three Scrolls 
  of Thoth for any person or creature skilled in reading 
  Egyptian hieroglyphs. After skimming, the reader learns 
  what the Book of Thoth is about (the keeper should read 
  the Book’s description aloud) and spots the rituals and 
  spells (“chapters”) it contains (the keeper hands out a 
  print out of the excerpts below). Skimming the Book of 
  Thoth only costs 1D2/1D4 Sanity points and does not 
  increase the Cthulhu Mythos skill. It does increase the 
  Occult skill by 5% though. If at a later stage the person or 
  creature reads the entire Book (which requires 15 weeks 
  of study), he or she collects the full benefits of the Book, 
  and incurs the full Sanity-point roll, minus those already 
  spent in skimming the Book. 
  Hymn to Umr-at-Tawil (from the first scroll) 
  “Homage to you, most ancient one, the Prolonged of Life 
  (Umr-at-Tawil), whose names are manifold, being of 
  hidden form in the Nameless Mist. You are the guardian of 
  the Silver Key, and also the mighty one in the City of the 
  Dog (Lycopolis). You are the Soul of the All-in-One, his 
  own body, and have your place of rest in… (unreadable). 
  You are the Lord of the Glass Tower. Your name is 
  established in the mouths of men. You are the substance of 
  Limbo. You are the Spirit among the spirits. The All-in-
  One draws from you his many mists. You send forth the 
  wind at night, and breath from your nostrils the host of the 
  Watchers, the bird-women of Limbo. The great Doors of 
  the Spheres open themselves before you. The Gods of the 
  Otherworld (Tuat) smell the earth in paying homage to 
  you. You are a Spirit-Body, the governor of the twelve 
  Spirit-Bodies; permanent is your rank, established is your 
  rule. Your fear is set in all the lands.” 
  “The Twelve Spirits which were appointed by Umr-at-
  Tawil are Netcheh-netcheh, Aatqetqet, Nertanef-besef-
  khenti-hehf, Aq-her-ami- unnut-f, Tesher-ariti-ami-Het-
  anes, Ubes-her-per-em-khetkhet, Maaem- kerh-annef-em-
  hru, … (unreadable).” 
  “The All-in-One has decreed for him the guidance of the 
  dead by your hand as long as times endure.” 
  “You have set darkness over the light, you are the guide of 
  every deceased. You are the favored one of the Ancient 
  
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Pagan Call: Annwn 
  18 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Ones, and the beloved of the Old Ones who are the 
  Watchers.”  
  “The Speech of Umr-at-Tawil: the dweller in the Glass 
  Tower who lays his hands upon the deceased, whose word 
  is truth, says: Umr-at-Tawil has bound you up. The 
  Prolonged of Life has exalted you. The All-in-One looks 
  upon you, and he leads you along the path between the 
  worlds, in the presence of the Great Company of the Gods 
  who dwell in the House of the Most Ancient One which is 
  in the Country of the Dead. You are the Walking Dead.” 
  The Chapters of living after death (from the 
  third scroll) 
  Here begin the chapters of living after death, and the 
  songs of praising and glorifying which are to be recited 
  for entering and for leaving the Underworld, of living 
  after death, of sitting in the hall of Umr-at-Tawil, and of 
  appearing as a living soul, and the spells which are to be 
  said at the doors for opening up a way through the Glass 
  Tower. They shall be recited after death. 
   
  Behold, the scribe, whose word is truth, says: homage to 
  you, O All-in-One, you who knows good nor evil, and 
  who lives in between the Spheres for the endless and 
  infinite eons of time which make up eternity. I have 
  opened up a way for myself to you. I have become a spirit 
  in my forms, I have gotten the mastery over my words of 
  magical power, and I am adjudged a spirit; therefore let 
  me cross the First Sacred Gate that separates the Country 
  of the Living from the Glass Tower. I know you, and I 
  know your names, and I know also the name of the All-in-
  One. His name is “Yoq-So-Thoth.” When he opens up The 
  Ultimate Door that is inside the Glass Tower, when he 
  aligns the Glass Tower and its Sacred Gate towards the 
  Country of the Living, may I pass safe and sound. Let not 
  the Fiend (Sebau) gain the mastery over me, let not the 
  sacred Gate be aligned with the doors of the Other Worlds, 
  let not your doors be shut in my face, for my 
  SEPULCHRAL OFFERING is in your temple. And there, 
  in the Glass Tower that Umr-at-Tawil has established, 
  grant unto me the power to float down and to sail down 
  the well of souls, and may I reach the Abyss of the 
  Unnamable Devourers. I am the Walking Dead. 
   
  Who is this slaughterer of souls?  
  “It is Umr-at_tawil, the headsman of the twelve Ancient 
  Ones. Concerning him some say that he is the All-in-One 
  when he rises up with two heads, whereon one bears the 
  mask of the Nameless Mist, and the other the symbol of 
  man. Others say that he is Ny-har-rut-hotep; others say 
  that he is Seth-Heh; and others say he is Anpu: Anubis the 
  dweller in the chamber of death, Governor of the 
  Underworld. Deliver the Walking Dead, whose word is 
  truth, from the Watchers, who carry murderous knives, 
  who possess cruel fingers, and who would slay those who 
  are in the following of Umr-at-Tawil.” 
   
  Who are these Watchers?  
  “They are the Old Ones, the messengers of Umr-at-Tawil 
  the Prolonged of Life, they are the reaper of souls. May I 
  never fall under the knives wherewith they inflict cruel 
  tortures. For I know their names, and I know the being… 
  (unreadable) who is among them in the Glass House of 
  Umr-at-Tawil. He shoots forth rays of light from his eye, 
  being himself invisible, and he goes round about robed in 
  the flames which come from his mouth, commanding the 
  host of Watchers, but remaining invisible himself.” 
  O All-in-One, you Lord of the Ultimate Abyss, you 
  Sovereign of all the gods, deliver the Walking Dead, 
  whose word is truth, from the god whose face is like that 
  of a dog-that-walks, whose eyes are like those of a man 
  but only one, who feeds upon the dead, who watches in the 
  corridors between the two Gates, who devours the bodies 
  of the dead, and swallows hearts, and who voids filth, but 
  who himself remains unseen.” 
   
  Who is this dog-faced god?  
  “His name is ‘Everlasting Devourer,’ and he lives in the 
  Glass Tower on the Isle of the Dead. As concerning the 
  Isle of the Dead, it is in 540 worlds. The man who walks 
  in the Underworld falls down among the knives of the 
  Watchers. Others, however, say that the name of this god 
  is Umr-at-Tawil, and that he keeps watch over the First 
  Door of the Glass Tower, which is the Sacred Door; others 
  say that his name is Tawil-at-Umr, and that he keeps 
  watch over the Second Door of the Glass Tower, which is 
  the Ultimate Gate. Hail, Lord of Terror, Chief of the Lands 
  of the Dead, you Lord of the Watchers, who does keep 
  prepared the block of slaughter, and who does feed on the 
  intestines of men!” 
   
  Who is this Lord of Terror?  
  “It is the Keeper of the corridors of the Glass Tower.” 
   
  Who is this Keeper?  
  “It is the Body of the All-in-One, which is the devourer of 
  all slaughtered things.” 
   
  THE DOORS OF THE HOUSE OF UMR-AT-TAWIL  
  The following shall be said when one comes to the First 
  Door. The Walking Dead, whose word is truth, shall say 
  when he comes to this door: “Terrible one, lord of the host 
  of Watchers, destroyer of the souls of men, devourer of the 
  bodies of men, maker of slaughter is your name.” 
   
  THE CHAPTER OF NOT LETTING THE SOUL OF 
  MAN BE HELD CAPTIVE IN THE GLASS TOWER 
  The Walking Dead says: “hail, Most Ancient One of 
  Souls, you divine Soul who inspires great dread, who does 
  set the fear of yourself in the gods, who are enthroned 
  upon your mighty seat. Make a path for the soul of the 
  Walking Dead. I am equipped with words of power. I have 
  made my way through the corridors of the Glass Tower.”  
   
  (If this Chapter be known by the deceased he shall be able 
  to transform himself into a Spirit-soul who shall be 
  equipped with his soul and his shadow in the Underworld, 
  and he shall not be shut up inside any door in the Glass 
  Tower, when he is coming forth in the Underworld, or 
  when he is going back to the Earth.) 
   
  
  19 
  Cthulhu Dark Ages – Pagan Call 
  Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  Copyright © 2006 Stéphane Gesbert and Robert Wilde 
  THE CHAPTER OF OPENING THE DOOR TO THE 
  SOUL 
  AND 
  THE 
  SHADOW, 
  OF 
  HAVING 
  MASTERY OVER THE SACRED DOOR 
  The Walking Dead, whose word is truth, says: “the place 
  that is closed is opened. That which lies down in the 
  closed place is opened by the soul that is in it. By the Eye 
  of Umr-at-Tawil I am delivered. I have journeyed over a 
  long road. The road of souls is opened. My twin soul sees 
  the Earth, on the day of souls. You shall not hold captive 
  my soul. It sees the Earth on the day of counting souls. It 
  repeats the words of Umr-at-Tawil. The Ancient Ones who 
  are invisible on their seats, and who would do evil to me, 
  shall do no evil to me. I sit down at the head of the 
  Ancient Ones who are chiefs of their temple. The twelve 
  wardens of Umr-at-Tawil shall not hold you captive, 
  though they keep ward over souls, and set a seal on the 
  shadow that is dead. The Glass Tower shall not shut you 
  in.”  
   
  (If this Chapter be known by the deceased he opens the 
  Sacred Door onto Earth, and his soul shall not be kept 
  captive.) 
   
  THE CHAPTER OF NOT BEING SEIZED BY THE 
  WATCHERS 
  The Walking Dead says: “hail, Prolonged of Life. Things 
  that have been without motion for millions of years have 
  come into life. Now, let me not be carried away, or be 
  seized violently by the host of the Watchers and taken to 
  the well of souls, to have the host of Unnamable 
  Devourers celebrate on me. Let not deadly wounds be 
  inflicted upon me, and let me not be gored by claws.”  
   
  THE 
  CHAPTER 
  OF 
  MAKING 
  THE 
  TRANSFORMATION INTO THE SERPENT SATA 
  The Walking Dead, whose word is truth, says: “I am the 
  serpent Sata whose years are infinite. I lie down dead. I am 
  born daily. I am the serpent Sa-en-ta, the dweller in the 
  uttermost parts of the earth. I lie down in death. I am born, 
  I become new, I renew my youth every day.” 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cthulhu Dark Ages (CoC)/adventures/CoC - Dark Ages Adv - Pagan Call 6 - Annwn.pdf