TEXT:  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Arctic Dreams 
   
   
  A One-Round Call of Cthulhu d20 Adventure 
   
   
  by Robert Hobart 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  CALL OF CTHULHU is a registered trademark of Chaosium, Inc. RPGA is a registered trademark 
  of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The Call of Cthulhu d20 Roleplaying Game is a product of Wizards of 
  the Coast. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Scenario detail copyright 1997 by Robert Hobart. This 
  scenario is intended for tournament use only and may not be reproduced without approval of the 
  RPGA Network.  
  
  This is a RPGA Network adventure game. A four-hour 
  time block has been allocated for playing the game (or 
  this round of the game), but the actual playing time will 
  be about three hours.  
   
  Some of the text in this scenario is written so that 
  you may present it as written to the players, while other 
  text is for your eyes only. Text for the players will be in 
  bold italics. It is strongly recommended that you 
  paraphrase the player text, instead of reading it aloud, as 
  some of the text is general and must be adapted to the 
  specific situation or to actions of the player characters.  
   
  It is a good idea to ask each player to put a name tag 
  in front of him or her. The tag should have the player's 
  name at the bottom, and the character's name, race, and 
  gender at the top. This makes it easier for the players to 
  keep track of who is playing which character. 
   
  This is a one-round tournament scenario for Call of 
  Cthulhu. The setting is the Soviet Union in January 
  1932. The forced-labor teams constructing the White 
  Sea-Baltic Canal have discovered some strange 
  archeological ruins. An international team of politically 
  suitable experts (the investigators) has arrived to 
  examine the ruins. Unknown to anyone, what they have 
  actually stumbled across is a threat to the sanity of the 
  entire world.  
   
  [paragraph for pre-gen games only] Pass out the 
  player characters based on class, gender, and/or race. 
  Instruct the players either to prepare their characters now, 
  or wait until you read the introduction, depending on the 
  requirements of the scenario as described below. When 
  they have prepared their characters, you may continue 
  with the game. 
   
  Scoring the game for RPGA points: The RPGA 
  has three ways to score this game. Consult your 
  convention coordinator to determine which method to 
  use: 
   
   
  INTRODUCTION: 
  1. 
  No-vote scoring: The players write their names and 
  numbers on the scoring packet grid, you fill in the 
  top of the grid. That is all. No one is rated. This 
  method is used for people who are just playing for 
  fun. 
  The time is January 1932. A few weeks ago, the Soviet 
  Ministry of Science made a startling announcement. 
  “Workers and citizens” of the Soviet Union had made a 
  dramatic discovery while working on a canal designed 
  to link the White and Baltic Seas. Buried beneath the 
  frozen soil of the northern taiga they had discovered the 
  ruins of a city, a city so ancient that its existence must 
  call into question all theories regarding the origination 
  of human civilization.  
  2. 
  Partial scoring: The players rate the game master 
  and the scenario on their player voting sheet, and 
  provide personal information, but don’t vote for 
  other players. The game master rates the scenario 
  and completes personal and event information, but 
  does not rate the players as a team or vote for 
  players. This method is used when there is no 
  competition, but the convention coordinator wants 
  information as to how the game masters are 
  performing, or the game master wants feedback on 
  his or her own performance. 
   
  The world archeological community has so far 
  reacted with some skepticism to these claims, so the 
  Soviet government has assembled a team of experts and 
  journalists, drawn equally from their own country and 
  the West, to examine the find and pronounce on its 
  authenticity. You are that team, and after several 
  harried weeks of travel you now find yourselves 
  together aboard a Soviet train on the way to the 
  supposed archeological site.  
  3. 
  Voting: Players and game masters complete the 
  entire packet, including voting for best player. If this 
  method is used, be sure to allow about 15-20 
  minutes for the players to briefly describe their 
  characters to the other players, and about 5-10 
  minutes for voting. This method is used when the 
  players want to know who played the best amongst 
  them, or when the adventure is run in tournament 
  format with winners and prizes. Multi-round 
  adventures usually required advancing a smaller 
  number of players than played the first round, so 
  voting is required for multi-round adventures. 
   
   
  KEEPER’S INFO  
  The ruins are the long-buried remnants of Kanothia, a 
  rogue colony of Hyperborea which worshipped an evil 
  dreamlands entity, Axlo-Rogai. This is a creature of 
  pure nightmare, a congeries of madness and delirium 
  which dwells in the hideous Vale of Pnath beneath the 
  Dreamlands. The people of Kanothia were gradually 
  driven mad by their worship of such an entity, and 
  finally tried to open a direct gate to the Dreamlands so 
  that Axlo-Rogai could come through to Earth. A few 
  citizens realized the danger and managed, at the last 
  minute, to seal the gateway within the temple. The 
  colony soon died out, its inhabitants drifting away into 
   
  When using Voting, rank the players in order of 
  your voting choice while they are completing their 
  forms, so that you are not influenced by their comments 
  on your abilities. 
   
  The players are free to use the game rules to learn about 
  equipment and weapons their characters are carrying. 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 2 
  
  the wilderness, and their structures crumbled into 
  ruin…until now. 
   
  This scenario uses several skills, concepts, and 
  spells from the Complete Dreamlands rules. These are 
  summarized on the Keeper’s Handout for the benefit of 
  those who do not own the Dreamlands supplement. 
  (Note that Axlo-Rogai’s Dreamlands spells are found in 
  the Cthulhu rulebook itself.) 
   
   
  HISTORICAL BACKGROUND  
  The ruins of Kanothia have been discovered by workers 
  on the White Sea-Baltic canal project. This was a 
  massive engineering project undertaken in 1931-33, 
  using the forced labor of hundreds of thousands of men 
  – most of them ordinary people who had been 
  condemned for one or another “political” offense. 
  Conditions at the Canal sites were appalling, especially 
  during winter (which is when the scenario takes place), 
  and approximately 250,000 men died during the 
  twenty-month construction period. 
   
  Foreigners inside the Soviet Union at this time 
  were closely watched and supervised by the OGPU 
  (predecessors of the KGB). In the scenario, one of the 
  Soviet investigators is actually an OGPU agent 
  assigned to watch the foreigners and prevent them from 
  having unneeded or politically risky contact with the 
  locals. The guards and officers at the construction site 
  will also act to restrict the investigators’ freedom of 
  movement 
  and 
  in 
  particular 
  to 
  prevent 
  open 
  communication with the prisoners. The Keeper should 
  try to create an atmosphere of hostility and paranoia 
  from the moment the tournament begins…which will 
  make it all the more surreal when Axlo-Rogai begins to 
  influence the waking world.  
   
   
  Arrival  
  The investigators’ train pulls into the construction site 
  at six a.m., and black night still prevails outside the 
  poorly heated railway car. The pallid yellow-white of 
  lamps and searchlights reveals the vague outlines of 
  some kind of large encampment, and the investigators 
  can see soldiers and guard dogs patrolling along the rail 
  line. As they disembark, they are surrounded by the 
  bitter cold and savage wind of a northern Russian 
  winter. Amid the occasional eddies of loose snow a 
  squad of troops comes forward to escort them, led by a 
  thin, rather handsome young man – Lt Alexei Golkov, 
  who introduces himself as “deputy Commissar, 
  People’s Corrective Work Camp #36.” Golkov invites 
  them to accompany him to the administration building. 
  He is polite and civilized, but will brook no other 
  course.  
   
  Golkov is of course an officer of the OGPU, and 
  makes no attempt to conceal this fact. As such people 
  go he is actually rather pleasant and personable, and 
  was in fact shipped into the camp a few days ago for 
  just that reason. His task is to supervise the 
  investigators 
  and 
  shepherd 
  them 
  around 
  the 
  construction site. He is unaware of Vladimir’s true 
  identity, although as an experienced officer he knows 
  one of the Soviet investigators is probably an OGPU 
  plant. He will carefully control the investigators’ access 
  to their surroundings and, in particular, will not allow 
  them 
  to 
  photograph 
  anything 
  outside 
  of 
  the 
  archeological site itself.  
   
  Golkov hustles the investigators through the 
  encampment, allowing them only a brief passing view 
  of the crude wooden buildings which serve as barracks 
  for this portion of the canal’s vast prisoner workforce. 
  With a successful Spot check DC 1-, the investigators 
  catch a few glimpses of the prisoners marching off to 
  work: long lines of men in dark, ragged clothing, 
  trudging into the darkness with shoulders hunched and 
  heads bowed, escorted by armed troops. If asked, 
  Golkov describes them as “enemies of the people, 
  redeeming themselves through labor,” and confirms 
  that the canal (and the archeological discovery) lie in 
  that direction. He will not permit the investigators to go 
  there now, instead insisting that they settle into their 
  quarters and then speak with the local commandant, 
  Commissar Ogarsky.  
   
  The administration building soon looms ahead, a 
  large and rather crude wooden structure, its yellow-lit 
  windows staring blankly at the approaching strangers. 
  The investigators are escorted to their quarters (three 
  rooms, each with two beds – the Soviets did not expect 
  a woman, so the investigators will have a chance to 
  role-play their sleeping arrangements). After about 
  half-an-hour, Golkov returns to escort them to breakfast 
  and the Commissar.  
   
  Commissar Ogarsky 
  Stepan Alexandrovich Ogarsky is a Colonel in the 
  OGPU and the commander of the camp which is 
  building this portion of the canal. A pudgy, balding 
  man in his late thirties, and a chain-smoker, Ogarsky is 
  uncomfortable with the outside scrutiny his discovery 
  has brought down on his head, and now wishes he had 
  kept the discovery secret and destroyed the ruins. He is 
  not a terribly educated or intelligent man, and tends to 
  come across as crude, cold-hearted, and imperceptive.  
   
  Due to the sinister mental influence of Axlo-Rogai, 
  Commissar Ogarsky has become somewhat unstable. 
  His hands shake slightly at all times, and he sometimes 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 3 
  
  pauses in conversation as though listening to 
  something. He will sometimes do odd little actions such 
  as putting out a cigarette with his fingertips or staring 
  intently at a spot on his desk. A Knowledge 
  (Psychology) or Sense Motive check DC 15 suggests 
  he has a fragile and fearful psyche.  
   
  Ogarsky will provide the investigators the bare 
  minimum of co-operation, counting on the charming Lt 
  Golkov to handle any public relations issues.  
   
  Golkov explains (on Ogarsky’s behalf) that the 
  discovery was made about a month ago, when a group 
  of excavators unearthed the corner of a strange stone 
  structure. The building was partially sealed in ancient 
  ice, ice so pure and virgin that edible fish were still 
  preserved within. (If asked how they know the fish to 
  be edible, Ogarsky shrugs and remarks in a bored tone 
  that the excavators immediately tore open the ice and 
  devoured the fish. This rather shocking remark, 
  delivered without any apparent concern, costs all 
  investigators except Vladimir 0/1d2 Sanity.) Eventually 
  the workers reported the find to their superiors. 
  Investigation of the site has been limited to excavating 
  a small portion of the structure, enough to locate a 
  doorway partially blocked with ice. Since then Ogarsky 
  has left the area undisturbed, at the orders of the Soviet 
  Ministry of Science.  
   
  Interview with the prisoners who found 
  the site. 
  If the investigators ask to speak with the excavators 
  who made the original find, Ogarsky appears 
  uncomfortable 
  and 
  mutters 
  something 
  about 
  “schedules” and “security.” Golkov will try to charm 
  the investigators out of the idea by remarking on the 
  amount of time it will take to track down the workers, 
  commenting on how they must be anxious to view the 
  actual site, and so forth. If the investigators are 
  adamant, Golkov finally hustles them into a nearby 
  office, where they wait for more than an hour. Finally, 
  two witnesses are brought into the room, guarded by an 
  armed soldier. Golkov accompanies to chaperone the 
  prisoners and make sure they say nothing improper.  
   
  The two prisoners are identified as Viktor 
  Cherensky and Ivan Gorudich; they are described as 
  “wreckers” serving ten-year sentences for sabotage. 
  The two prisoners (known in Russian camp slang as 
  “zeks”) are thin, pale, and ill-nourished, Viktor 
  obviously suffering from a severe cold, Ivan with eyes 
  sunken and darkened by lack of sleep. Both are dressed 
  in dark ragged garments which are clearly too thin for 
  winter conditions, and both wear thin mittens with 
  several holes. 
   
  Neither prisoner will volunteer any information, 
  but if questioned by the investigators they will confirm 
  that they were part of the excavation team that 
  discovered 
  the 
  ruins. 
  They 
  speak 
  mostly 
  in 
  monosyllables, and limit their descriptions of the ruins 
  to words like “big,” “dark,” and “foreign.” If asked 
  about the perfectly preserved fish, Viktor says nothing, 
  and Ivan merely grunts in the affirmative. If any 
  investigator inquires as to why the workers would 
  devour ancient frozen fish, Viktor straightens a bit and 
  stares directly at the questioner. “Why do you think!?” 
  he demands. At this point Golkov steps in and declares 
  the interview over, while the guard hustles the prisoners 
  out. Golkov will try to smooth over the scene by 
  pointing out that the prisoners are wreckers and cannot 
  be expected to put a favorable face on the work of the 
  Soviet Union.  
   
   
  Visiting the site, exploring. 
  The site is a shallow pit in the already deep excavation 
  of the canal. Prisoners can be seen in the distance, 
  laboring on other portions of the canal; in the 
  immediate vicinity of the discovery site, however, the 
  only laborers are the dozen who have accompanied the 
  team.  
   
  Within the pit, the excavators have uncovered a 
  large flow of solid ice, entombed within the permafrost 
  for millennia. Gouges and hollows mark where the 
  prisoners ripped frozen ichtyoids from the ice; other 
  fish can be dimly seen farther in. A Knowledge 
  (Natural History) check DC 15 can estimate, from the 
  types of fish, that the age of the ice is over 700,000 
  years. 
   
  The corner of the stone structure sticks out from 
  the ice. It is built of close-fitted stone, obviously well 
  constructed. An arched doorway can just be seen, 
  sticking up from the ice. The door itself appears to be 
  metal of some type, dark gray and covered in strange 
  hieroglyphics, and somehow left undamaged by its long 
  imprisonment beneath the ground. A Knowledge 
  (Archeology) check DC 10 confirms that the 
  hieroglyphs and construction style are completely 
  unknown. 
   
  Golkov defers to the investigators as to how they wish 
  to proceed. The prisoners have picks and can clear the 
  ice from the doorway in about twelve hours. If the 
  investigators wish to move faster, or to excavate more 
  of the structure itself, Golkov offers to send for 
  explosives and engineers, although he warns that all the 
  engineers in the camp are convicted “wreckers” and 
  cannot be trusted to do safe or competent work. For the 
  investigators’ own protection, guards will have to be 
  present. In fact, guards will always be present, no 
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  Page 4 
  
  matter what the investigators do or say; purely for their 
  own protection, of course.  
   
  Despite Golkov’s warnings, the prisoner-engineers 
  prove to be quite competent, and a quick explosion 
  clears the entrance safely. The investigators are now 
  free to explore further. 
   
  Translating the Hyperborean 
  Hieroglyphs  
  In order to make a successful translation of the 
  Hyperborean writings, investigators must succeed at 
  either a Cthulhu Mythos check DC 20, or both a 
  Knowledge (Archaeology) and a Read Egyptian 
  Hieroglyphs check DC 20. A Cthulhu Mythos roll also 
  suggests that the language may be either Hyperborean 
  or related to that tongue. Even with a success, however, 
  the investigators can build only a vague, uncertain 
  guess at what the hieroglyphs are saying – an accurate 
  literal translation would require months of work, and 
  the investigators will not be granted that time.  
   
  The Interior Entrance Chamber 
  Beyond the doorway is a large rectangular stone 
  chamber, exited by three archways. The floor, walls, 
  and ceiling are all built of smooth, close-fitted stone. 
  An Archeology roll can determine these ruins are older 
  than anything known today, even in Sumeria, and their 
  construction is of a higher quality than anything seen 
  prior to the 15th century. A Knowledge (Geology) 
  check DC 10 estimates the structure as being, 
  impossibly, hundreds of thousands of years old – far, 
  far older than the earliest known human civilization, as 
  a Knowledge (History) check DC 5 will confirm.  
   
  The 
  walls 
  are 
  covered 
  in 
  Hyperborean 
  hieroglyphics. These show a certain vague resemblance 
  to Egyptian hieroglyphs, but are much more complex 
  and include many abstract symbols which are more like 
  writing than pictographs. If the investigators can 
  manage a partial translation, as explained above, they 
  can guess that this was apparently the antechamber of a 
  religious shrine or temple of some sort.  
   
  Living Quarters 
  It is evident from the ancient, age-moldered furnishings 
  that this was once a living/sleeping chamber. There are 
  several pallets and chairs, all of a strange design not 
  resembling anything in conventional archeological 
  records (Knowledge (Archeology) check DC 10. The 
  furnishings had evidently already undergone some 
  decay before they were preserved by their isolation 
  under the ice, and threaten to collapse in moldering 
  wreckage at the slightest touch. A pair of corroded 
  brass lanterns, each containing a frozen candle, rest on 
  small stone pedestals on the corners. There are more 
  hieroglyphs on the walls and ceiling, and the 
  investigators can deduce from these that this chamber 
  housed 
  junior 
  temple 
  personnel, 
  acolytes 
  or 
  apprentices.  
    
  The Collapsed Chamber 
  This far end of this room (which faces north, if the 
  investigators check a compass or make an Intuit 
  Direction check DC 10) is partially crushed and 
  collapsed, evidently by the aeons-long pressures of 
  glaciers in past millennia. Judging from what little 
  survives amidst fallen stone and mounds of ice, this 
  was once a large worship or temple chamber. The wall 
  through which the investigators emerge is covered in 
  hieroglyphs which surround a large bas-relief mural. 
  Although the colors of the mural have faded, the 
  carvings themselves still give a vivid image of a large, 
  prosperous city in a temperate river valley. The people 
  inhabiting 
  this 
  city 
  appear 
  human, 
  but 
  close 
  examination (or a Spot or Search check DC 15) shows 
  certain odd features: long straight noses and elongated 
  earlobes. A Knowledge (Anthropology) check DC 5 
  can certify that no human ethnic/racial group today 
  displays such features. A Cthulhu Mythos check DC 15 
  identifies the types as Hyperborean, which is 
  surprising; Hyperboreans were supposed to be limited 
  to Greenland.  
   
  The hieroglyphs appear to be hymns and religious 
  chants, and identify the city as “Kanothia.” There are 
  also references to a guardian deity or spirit of some sort 
  named “Axlo-Rogai,” which is credited with the city’s 
  prosperity and happiness. The deity cannot be 
  identified from any historical religion, nor will a 
  Cthulhu Mythos roll assist; however, a Knowledge 
  (Dream Lore) check DC 10 will bring a sense of great 
  uneasiness at the name, and a vague sense of 
  recognition. 
   
  The Priest’s Chamber 
  This chamber is sealed behind a bronze door, carved in 
  elaborate hieroglyphs and symbols. A translation 
  identifies this as the chamber of an important person, a 
  leader of some sort. There are marks of vandalism on 
  the outside of the door, as though someone tried to 
  break in. The door can be broken open by making a 
  Strength check DC 15, or with explosives; the latter 
  option, however, will destroy the evidence within the 
  chamber.  
   
  The air beyond is stale and musty, and it is evident 
  that this chamber has been somewhat better preserved 
  than the rest of the complex due to the sealed door. It is 
  evidently the personal chamber of a single individual, 
  complete with a bed, a low chair, and a table. An 
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  Page 5 
  
  ancient human corpse, shriveled and desiccated (lose 
  0/1d2 Sanity, except Vladimir) is sprawled in the chair. 
  There are parchments (parchment, not papyrus, 
  identifiable with a Knowledge (Archeology) check DC 
  5) on the table, along with a corroded brass lamp 
  (burned out long ago, the blackened crisp of the wick 
  lying in a frozen puddle of wax) and what might once 
  have been a quill.  
   
  The corpse is in very poor shape – evidently the 
  sealed door only barely preserved it until the ice age hit 
  – but definitely shows the same features as the bas-
  relief in the temple: a long nose and large-lobed ears. 
  Allow the investigators another Cthulhu Mythos check 
  DC 15 if they missed the one before. A Heal check DC 
  15 or Knowledge (Archaeology) check DC 25 can 
  hazard the guess that the person starved to death. 
   
  The parchments must be examined very carefully, 
  lest they crumble with age. The hieroglyphs on them 
  are of the same sort as that inscribed on the walls, but 
  written in a shaky, uncertain hand. Translated, they 
  identify the author as a deputy priest who claims to 
  have prevented a great disaster or catastrophe of some 
  kind. There are implications that the priest was forced 
  to take action against his superiors, and that he feels 
  some sense of great betrayal. In fact, it was this priest 
  who led the effort to seal off Axlo-Rogai, later trapping 
  himself in here rather than be torn apart by his enraged 
  fellow-citizens. 
  At 
  the 
  Keeper’s 
  option, 
  the 
  investigators might glean additional clues from the 
  priest’s writings, such as the true identity of Axlo-
  Rogai as a creature of nightmare and madness. 
   
  The Library  
  One wall of this chamber is covered with small stone 
  alcoves, each alcove packed with rolled-up parchments. 
  The opposite wall is covered with hieroglyphs and 
  murals. The half-rotted wreckage of several pieces of 
  furniture are scattered about the room, evidently 
  damaged long ago before the ice came.  
   
  Three mummified corpses, withered away to little 
  more than skeletons, are sprawled on the floor near the 
  southernmost archway. From their postures they appear 
  to have perished in a struggle – the hands of one are 
  still clutching the throat of another. They are 
  recognizably human skeletons, but a Spot check DC 15 
  detects the remnants of the same strange physical 
  features (long earlobes, long straight noses) as seen 
  elsewhere.  
   
  The parchments contain a huge potential wealth of 
  information, but they are in even worse condition than 
  those in the Priest’s Chamber, and will crumble to ruin 
  if the investigators try to unroll them. Methods for 
  preserving such parchments due exist (unrolling them 
  onto soft wax, for example), and the Archeologists 
  among the investigators are aware of such things. It is 
  plain it will require many days, perhaps weeks of 
  careful work to rescue the ancient knowledge stored 
  herein. Sadly, Axlo-Rogai will not allow them that 
  much time.  
   
  The wall-carvings offer more immediate rewards. 
  They appear to be a history of Kanothia, told through 
  pictures and text, and can be interpreted with a 
  Knowledge (Archeology or Anthropology) check DC 
  15. The investigators can surmise from these that 
  Kanothia was founded by outcasts, followers of a god 
  not accepted by their rulers. They fled across a stormy 
  ocean and founded this city, where they built this 
  temple in praise of their guardian spirit. The last 
  illustration 
  shows 
  several 
  priests 
  praying 
  and 
  genuflecting before a large disk-like structure, 
  somewhat resembling an oversized mirror.  
   
  While the investigators are in this room, they begin 
  to feel a sense of unease and anxiousness, although 
  there seems no direct cause for it. 
   
  The Seal 
  The passage beyond the Library is blocked by a stone 
  wall. The wall is obviously of cruder workmanship than 
  the rest of the structure, and can easily be seen to have 
  been added later. Two more mummified corpses are 
  sprawled at the foot of the wall, their hands raised 
  claw-like to rake at it. 
   
  Inscribed in the center of the wall is a large Elder 
  Sign, its lines traced with gold. Peter can recognize it 
  from his knowledge of the spell, or it can be identified 
  with a Knowledge (Occult) check DC as an ancient 
  symbol for warding and protection. A Cthulhu Mythos 
  roll DC 5 identifies it with certainty. Below the Sign 
  are hastily carved hieroglyphs that can be easily 
  translated as a warning not to break the seal or open the 
  wall.  
   
  The investigators, as good archeologists, should 
  want to get past this obstacle. It will take at least a day 
  for the prisoners to bring down the wall with picks and 
  shovels. Dynamite will do the job much faster, but an 
  Idea roll suggests the danger of destroying artifacts in 
  the chambers to either side. Golkov will also express 
  such concerns. Presumably the investigators opt for the 
  safer route and spend the rest of the day investigating 
  the accessible ruins before returning to the camp for the 
  night.  
   
  While the investigators are in this area, the sense of 
  unease they felt in the library intensifies, bringing with 
  it a strange sense of urgency, as though there is some 
  important task which must be done, and soon. Lose 
  0/1d3 Sanity. This is, of course, the telepathic influence 
  of Axlo-Rogai, which is eager for someone to finally 
  break the seal and release it into the world. 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 6 
  
   
   
   
  The Incident/Dinner 
  As the investigators return to the administrative 
  building that evening, they hear a loud commotion from 
  the nearby camp, followed by the staccato percussion 
  of automatic weapons fire. Gun-flashes can be seen 
  from the vicinity of some of the barracks buildings. 
  Commissar Ogarsky emerges from the admin building 
  and hurries toward the site of the confusion, 
  accompanied by several guards. Golkov will not allow 
  the investigators to accompany him, instead ferrying 
  them into the admin building and guiding them to the 
  rooms set aside for their use. If the investigators press 
  him about the ruckus, which continues for almost half 
  an hour, he suggests that saboteurs or kulaks (rich 
  peasants) must be fomenting trouble in the camps. He 
  then guides the investigators to another office which 
  has been re-arranged to form a makeshift dining room. 
   
  Dinner consists of boiled potatoes of indifferent 
  quality, brown bread, and small portions of fish and 
  sausage…all washed down with the Russian national 
  drink, vodka. The food is of average quality, and 
  plentiful, both qualities which please the native Soviet 
  investigators. The foreign investigators find the fare 
  unimpressive, to say the least.  
   
  About halfway through the meal, Ogarsky arrives 
  and seats himself. He is still wearing his heavy winter 
  jacket, which is spattered with blood, and a Spot check 
  DC 15 notices traces of blood on his hands as well 
  (Sanity loss 0/1). He begins eating with concentrated 
  attention and almost bestial appetite, ignoring all 
  attempts at conversation. Golkov attempts to cover for 
  him with his usual charming patter, but is obviously 
  disturbed at his superior’s behavior.  
   
  Traditionally Russian meals end in an endless 
  series of toasts, but Ogarsky shows no interest in such 
  activity, instead drinking with the same direct ferocity 
  as he ate. As Golkov attempts to cover for him once 
  again, the scene is interrupted by a loud shriek from the 
  hallway outside. A thin ragged man, obviously a 
  prisoner, bursts into the room. His eyes roll in his head 
  and rivulets of foam dribble from between his clenched 
  teeth. “It is waiting for us!” he shrieks, as a pair of 
  guards charge in and attempt to subdue him. “It’s 
  hungry, so hungry, yes! It is coming soon!” The 
  soldiers finally overpower him and haul him away.  
   
  After this disturbing incident, the meal comes to an 
  uncertain and disappointing close. Golkov still tries to 
  smooth things over, suggesting that the prisoner must 
  have been driven mad by guilt for his “crimes against 
  the workers and peasants of the Soviet Union.” It is 
  obvious, however, that even the indefatigable Golkov is 
  running 
  out 
  of 
  explanations 
  for 
  events. 
  The 
  investigators are shepherded uneasily to their beds.  
   
   
  That Night 
  Late that night, the investigators are awoken by a 
  tumult of noise from several different directions. The 
  foul influence of Axlo-Rogai has driven scores of 
  guards and hundreds of prisoners over the edge of 
  madness, and now a massive free-for-all battle is 
  underway throughout the camp. Several of the 
  personnel within the admin building are also afflicted, 
  and before the investigators fully realize what is 
  happening, they are confronted by a crazed Lt Golkov. 
  He is still in full uniform, his pistol holstered forgotten 
  at his side, and blood courses out of deep scratches in 
  his face – the result of his last victim. 
   
  “It’s waiting for us, you know,” he remarks 
  conversationally, his calm tone at odds with his wild 
  and barbaric appearance. “It’s been calling us ever 
  since we found the ruins. It hungers for us, for our 
  souls, like a mjertovjek (vampire). Ogarsky has gone 
  to meet it. You should go too.” 
   
  If asked where Ogarsky has gone, Golkov gestures 
  vaguely. “To the gate, the door. To open the way. 
  Where else?” 
   
  If asked about his injuries, Golkov touches a hand 
  to his facial scratches and smiles. “They were traitors, 
  you see. To the people, to the state. So I dealt with 
  them.” 
   
  Golkov will answer other questions as deemed fit 
  by the Keeper. He has a vague, instinctive 
  understanding of what Axlo-Rogai is (a living 
  nightmare) and what it wants (to invade the waking 
  world), and always speaks unclearly and elliptically. 
  But at some point during the conversation, he suddenly 
  draws his gun. “It wants you too, you know,” he 
  remarks. “You’re just to its taste. But not me, of course. 
  No, I must remain pure.” He sets the gun to his temple 
  and shoots himself dead. Lose 1/1d6 Sanity (yes, even 
  Vladimir – Golkov was a fellow OGPU officer, after 
  all).  
   
  On the positive side, the investigators now have a 
  9mm automatic with six remaining bullets. If they think 
  to check, Golkov has a spare clip with seven more 
  rounds.  
   
  Searching the admin building discovers the bodies 
  of several guards and other personnel, all killed in hand 
  to hand combat – strangled, clubbed to death, and 
  similar brutal measures (lose merely an additional 
  0/1d3 Sanity, since the investigators were probably 
  expecting something like this). Commissar Ogarsky is 
  nowhere to be found. If the investigators search for 
  weapons, they can find three more 9mm pistols, each 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 7 
  
  with a spare magazine, and a single submachine gun 
  with a fifty-round drum magazine. There is enough 
  smashed furniture to equip them all with clubs. Other 
  equipment available includes flashlights, oil lamps, and 
  a variety of heavy winter clothing. 
   
  Outside the building, the investigators are greeted 
  with a scene out of nightmare. In the cold white glare 
  of the camp searchlights, prisoners run this way and 
  that in small groups, covered in blood, physically 
  tearing apart those they encounter. Guards with 
  submachineguns also run about, randomly firing on 
  those they encounter, laughing maniacally. From the 
  distant guard towers come streams of tracer fire as 
  machine-guns fire, some of them trying to suppress the 
  riot, others merely joining the slaughter. Sanity cost for 
  this midnight phantasmagoria is 1d2/1d10 (Vladimir 
  automatically makes his roll).  
   
  While the investigators try to decide what to do, 
  they hear the dull boom of a muffled explosion. A 
  Listen check DC 10 determines it came from the 
  excavation site. It does not take much thought to realize 
  it must have been Ogarsky “opening the way.”  
   
  Getting to the Site 
  Assuming the investigators are brave and decide to 
  investigate the explosion, they must get through the 
  chaos outside. If the investigators stick together and 
  move quickly, they can probably make it safely to the 
  site. They are subject to a few random pot-shots from 
  passing madmen (1d4 shots at +1 ranged, random 
  targets, 1d10+2 damage each). Further, if they did not 
  stick together, the investigators are set upon by a pack 
  of 1d6 maddened prisoners (human Com4, hp 14, +3 
  melee, 1d2 damage from hands and teeth), who attempt 
  to tear them apart with bare hands and teeth.  
   
  The Keeper should encourage the investigators to 
  keep moving quickly, avoiding getting bogged down in 
  melees with the madmen. If they try to stick around and 
  fight, they will attract more gunfire and more 
  cannibalistic prisoners. Give them plenty of chances to 
  break away and proceed to the ruins of Kanothia. 
   
   
  The Gate Opened  
  Ogarsky has used dynamite to break open the wall to 
  the Gate Chamber. Smoke and dust burble through the 
  tunnels, making the investigators cough and squint. 
  Picks and other tools from the excavation are scattered 
  in the hallway, along with fragments of stone and the 
  tumbled bodies of several prisoners. Beyond the 
  shattered wall they find a large circular chamber, 
  featureless save for the Gate itself. This resembles 
  nothing so much as a large mirror, set in a stone frame 
  inscribed with various hieroglyphs. The surface of the 
  mirror ripples and pulses with a strange white light, and 
  a low throbbing sound is audible (lose 1/1d6 Sanity). 
  Commissar Ogarsky crouches before the Gate, whining 
  and moaning, a pistol clutched in one hand. A crate sits 
  next to him, containing the remainder of the explosives 
  he used to shatter the wall. As the investigators 
  approach he stands, grinning at them, and they see his 
  face is covered in blood and one eye is gouged out 
  (lose an additional 1/1d4 Sanity). “It is waiting for us, 
  waiting,” he shrieks, and leaps through the Gate.  
   
  The investigators may well decide to follow on 
  their own. Those who do not find themselves fighting 
  an irrational, internal compulsion to do so; Axlo-Rogai 
  is calling through the gate, calling for victims to feed it. 
  Each investigator who does not voluntarily go through 
  the gate must make a Will save DC 17 each round they 
  remain in this room, or find themselves compelled to 
  pass through the Gate. 
   
  Axlo-Rogai continues to call for prey every round, 
  forcing the investigators to continue their struggle until 
  all are overcome. They can look around during the time 
  they manage to resist, observing there are still a half-
  dozen sticks of dynamite in the crate along with 
  blasting caps and fuses. Picks and other tools are 
  scattered about. The hieroglyphs which cover the 
  archway of the gate translate roughly as: “Here lies the 
  realm of our supreme lord Axlo-Rogai, may he 
  embrace us soon.” An investigators who makes a 
  Cthulhu Mythos check DC 10 can identify the gate as 
  leading to some alternate plane of reality. A Knowledge 
  (Dream Lore) check DC 10 can determine that the gate 
  leads to the Dreamlands, and can hazard a guess at 
  what effect the gate will have (modern equipment 
  cannot exist in the dreamlands, and will be changed or 
  destroyed by passage through the gate).  
   
  If the investigators stay out here long enough, 
  Axlo-Rogai will come to them. In this case events jump 
  directly to the “dream assault”; if the investigators 
  survive that they can try to destroy the gate with tools 
  or explosives. Of course, this is much less interesting 
  and atmospheric than a trip through the gate, so 
  hopefully the investigators are not so stubbornly 
  willful. 
   
   
  On the other side: the Vale of 
  Pnath 
  Each investigator loses one Sanity and suffers 1 point 
  of Wisdom damage from each trip through the gate. As 
  the investigators enter the Dreamlands, their modern 
  equipment warps into antique counterparts: firearms 
  becomes swords and daggers, flashlights become 
  torches, clothing assumes an antique design lacking in 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 8 
  
  zippers and other modernities, and so forth. Equipment 
  which has no medieval counterpart (such as dynamite) 
  simply vanishes. These effects do NOT reverse 
  themselves when the investigators reverse their 
  journey.  
   
  Beyond the gateway lies the Vale of Pnath: an 
  endless rolling plain of human bones, incalculably 
  deep, surrounded by vast gray mountains peaks of 
  immense height. The Gate appears as an ovoid of dim 
  gray light, shedding almost no illumination on the 
  surroundings. Other than that, the place is utterly 
  lightless unless the investigators brought their own 
  light-sources. The bones crackle and snap beneath the 
  investigators’ feet, and faint rustlings and shiftings can 
  be heard in the distance. This place costs 1/1d4 Sanity 
  if the investigators are in darkness, 1/1d6 if they have 
  light. A Knowledge (Dream Lore) check DC 16 
  identifies the location, and recalls that the Vale of Pnath 
  is stalked by gigantic bholes and other, less certain 
  horrors. 
   
  The surface of constantly crumbling, shifting 
  bones is difficult to cross, requiring a Climb check DC 
  12 to move at normal speed (otherwise the investigators 
  move at half speed). If the Climb roll is fumbled 
  (natural 1), the investigator takes 1d2 damage from 
  sharp bones piercing his feet and legs.  
   
  Commissar Ogarsky can be heard blundering away 
  through the darkness, moaning and mumbling to 
  himself, his feet crunching through the limitless bones. 
  Whether or not the investigators follow him, they soon 
  become the targets of direct psychic attack by Axlo-
  Rogai. 
   
   
  Confronting Axlo-Rogai 
  Axlo-Rogai is a being of nightmare, feeding on human 
  souls. Its favored attack is to weaken and immobilize its 
  victims by dredging out their deepest fears and 
  subconscious weaknesses, plunging each of them into 
  their worst nightmare. It has no need to do this with 
  Ogarsky, whose mind is already broken, but the 
  investigators are made of sterner stuff. To inflict its 
  nightmares on them, Axlo-Rogai must split its effort 
  among the six party members, meaning that each 
  individual investigator is making Will saves against a 
  DC of 14. 
   
  The investigators are not initially aware that they 
  have been forced into a nightmare. Instead, it should 
  seem to them as though they have just woken FROM a 
  dream, and the nightmare is their true reality. As the 
  nightmares progress, they adjust themselves to the 
  personalities and actions of the investigators trapped 
  within them, with realistic nightmares growing more 
  dreary and hopeless, while fantastic nightmares become 
  progressively 
  more 
  warped 
  and 
  surreal. 
  The 
  investigators’ only hope is to fight back with the 
  strength of their own souls, either by trying to impose 
  their will on the nightmare’s reality or waking up from 
  it.  
   
  This is the emotional climax of the adventure. Take 
  each player aside, read the appropriate nightmare 
  sequence, and have the player role-play the ensuing 
  nightmare for a few minutes. The goal here is to 
  encourage role-playing and atmosphere; use the 
  suggested nightmares as outlines and guides for 
  building an interactive story with the players.  
   
  If an investigator effectively role-plays an attempt 
  to resist the nightmare, s/he may make a Will save DC 
  14. Investigators who want to wake up must first make 
  an Int check DC 15 to realize they are dreaming, and 
  then make a Will save DC 14. 
   
  After each nightmare, the Keeper should rate that 
  player on how well s/he handled the situation. Players 
  are rated on a scale of 0-3 points, based on the 
  following guidelines: 
   
  0 points =  
  player is indifferent, fails to role-play 
  1 point =  
  the investigator accepts the nightmare as 
  reality and goes along with the reality it 
  portrays 
  2 points =  
  the investigator tries to resist within the 
  nightmare, or tries to wake up, but fails 
  the POW resistance roll 
  3 points = 
  the investigator resists and successfully 
  wakes/breaks the nightmare’s hold 
   
  After all the players have role-played their nightmares, 
  the Keeper should total the points to determine the 
  outcome. On a total of 0-6 points, the investigators are 
  defeated; Axlo-Rogai devours their souls, and the 
  scenario is over. On a total of 7-11 points, the 
  investigators break free from the nightmare, but at a 
  terrible cost: they each lose 1d20 Sanity and a point of 
  Wisdom. On a total of 12-14 points, they break free at a 
  cost of 2d6 Sanity. On a total of 15 or better, they 
  actually shock Axlo-Rogai with their spiritual strength, 
  losing only 1d3 Sanity each and inflicting a loss of 2d6 
  hit points on the nightmare creature from the psychic 
  backlash.  
   
  Aleksandr’s Nightmare 
  You blink as you sit up in your cell, jarred awake by 
  the clang of the door. The guards have arrived to haul 
  you away to your next interrogation. 
   
  Yes, that’s right…shortly after you returned from 
  the Canal, you were arrested on suspicion of Anti-
  Soviet Agitation. The same charge on which so many 
  of your academic colleagues have been arrested. But 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 9 
  
  Vladimir’s Nightmare 
  unlike them, you are innocent. You are sure you must 
  be innocent. How could a loyal communist like you 
  step off the true path?  
  You wake with a start, and are immediately assailed 
  by the stench of close-packed, unwashed humanity. 
  Yes, of course; you are on a railway car, one of the 
  prisoner transports known as “Stolypins.” Your 
  career is over, wrecked by that incident in Kiev a few 
  weeks ago, and now you travel to the Arctic to live out 
  your life as a camp guard.  
   
  Your interrogator smiles politely as you take your 
  seat across from him. You feel confident that he will 
  soon recognize your innocence. After all, the 
  government of the Workers and Peasants knows its 
  friends. 
   
  He slides a sheet of paper across the table toward 
  you. “Here, sign it,” he says in a pleasant voice. “It’s 
  your confession.”  
   
  You look through the bars at the close-packed 
  prisoners, and heave a silent sigh of relief. At least 
  you were not arrested, or you might be making the trip 
  on the other side of the bars with those traitorous 
  animals.  
   
  “Confession of what?” you stutter. 
   
  “Your crimes, of course. What else? Sign on the 
  line there at the bottom.” He hands you a pen.  
   
  But wait…why is the train stopped? That must be 
  what woke you from that strange dream. And where 
  are the other guards? You are alone in the train’s 
  central corridor, alone except for the prisoners 
  grunting and slavering on the other side of the bars.  
   
  You stare at the confession, trying to read it, but it 
  is a bad carbon on cheap paper. The letters are all but 
  illegible.  
   
  “But…what have I done?” 
   
  He chuckles. “What haven’t you done? It isn’t 
  important. We know everything.” He leans forward, 
  and his voice turns harsh and menacing. “Just hurry 
  up and sign, you little traitor.”  
   
  Slavering, yes, for they no longer look like men, 
  but like the bestial monsters, the volkulaku, of which 
  your great-grandmother spoke in your childhood. 
  They hurl themselves forward, gnashing their canine 
  teeth, trying to reach you through the bars. 
   
    
  Stepan’s Nightmare 
   
  And the bars are breaking..! 
  You start awake, and after a moment of confusion feel 
  an enormous sense of relief. You are in your 
  apartment in Ulthar, and what you just experienced 
  was merely a dream within a dream. Your body is 
  sleeping safely in Moscow even now. 
   
  Mirabelle’s Dream 
  You sit up in bed, sweating and crying out, and realize 
  it was only a dream. Of course, it was a dream, no 
  such monstrous nonsense as that could possibly be 
  real. That explains everything. 
   
  Your relief is abruptly broken as a party of short, 
  foul-looking men in turbans burst into your room. 
  They grapple you and muffle your cries with a thick, 
  stinking cloth. You recognize them with a start of 
  terror; they are the Men of Leng, servants of the 
  Moon-Beasts, whom Randolph Carter warned you 
  about so many years ago. They haul your struggling 
  body through the night-darkened streets of Ulthar and 
  onto one of the Black Ships, which promptly lifts 
  anchor and rows away from shore. Within half an 
  hour, such is the fearsome speed of the inhuman 
  rowers belowdecks, Ulthar has vanished below the 
  horizon. 
   
  You climb out of bed and stumble around your 
  tiny, stifling Paris flat, looking for the wine, and pour 
  yourself a glass with shaking hands. The last of the 
  wine, and no money to buy more, because your sewing 
  jobs don’t even earn enough to keep the larder full. 
   
  Yes, of course, all that about working for 
  Progressive Weekly was a dream as well. How could 
  you have believed otherwise? You aren’t a writer or 
  reporter, just a Paris girl left orphaned and penniless 
  by a train accident. Papa and Maman are in Heaven, 
  and you’ve been left here to face the empty days alone 
  for the rest of your life.  
   
  The chortling Men of Leng drop you in a corner 
  of the deck, not bothering to bind you. Why should 
  they? All around is vast ocean, far too much to swim. 
  They chuckle at you, and you know why; you are to be 
  taken to the Moon, to labor as a slave for the vile 
  Moon-Beasts forever. Despair fills you. Your dream-
  self will be trapped there forever. Sleep will no longer 
  be an escape from the dreary misery of the waking 
  world, but merely a visit to another realm of torment. 
   
  A knock on the door. The whiney, querulous 
  voice of the manager rings in your ears. “Mm. 
  Chirac? I know you are in there. You owe me two 
  months’ back rent!” 
   
  “I will pay you next week, I promise,” you lie, 
  clutching the wineglass tightly. 
   
  The landlord opens the door with his pass-key 
  and storms in, his pudgy little capitalist face red with 
  anger. A piece of paper is clutched in his hand. 
  Without looking you know it is an eviction notice. 
   
   
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 10 
  
  Peter’s Dream  
   
  Suddenly one of the audience stands. You 
  recognize him – Winthers, from the University of 
  Chicago, one of your oldest friends. “If Dr 
  Abromowitz doesn’t have a speech for us, perhaps we 
  should award the Nobel to someone else.” 
  As the nightmare being draws closer, a huge wormlike 
  creature erupts from the ground, swallowing both the 
  entity 
  and 
  your 
  comrades 
  in a single, all-
  encompassing gulp. You blunder away from the 
  monstrous Bhole, your feet slipping and sliding on the 
  endless bones, knowing it is useless to flee the 
  gargantuan monster. 
   
  A chorus of agreeing shouts answers his words, 
  and half the audience surges to its feet in a single 
  motion. “Yes, give it someone else! To a real person, 
  not a dirty Jew!” 
   
  But then a clatter of falling bones reminds you: 
  the ghouls dwell above the vale. You stumble toward 
  the source of the sound, calling out in the meeping 
  and gibbering language of the ghouls, and are 
  rewarded by a rope descending out of the darkness. 
  You seize it and are carried up, up, the thousands of 
  feet to the warrens of the Dreamland ghouls. 
   
  They advance menacingly on the dais where you 
  stand, and all their faces, even those of your oldest 
  and closest friends, are contorted with hatred and 
  loathing.  
   
   
  What Happens Next? 
   
  The gray, rubbery doglike humanoids gather 
  around you, meeping and gibbering curiously. You 
  relate your tale, and the ghouls look surprised. “Does 
  that mean you are here with your real body, not just 
  your dream-self?” one of them asks.  
  Assuming the investigators escaped the nightmare, they 
  find themselves back in the bone-littered Vale of Pnath. 
  Ahead, a despairing shriek is cut short as Ogarsky is 
  devoured. The investigators can hear, can feel Axlo-
  Rogai coming closer, its foul essence weighing on their 
  minds and numbing their emotions. They now have two 
  choices: stay and fight Axlo-Rogai hand-to-hand, or 
  retreat through the Gate and attempt to seal it before the 
  nightmare being can pass through. Either course can 
  succeed, and either can fail. 
   
  “So it would seem,” you confirm. 
   
  The ghouls exchange glances, and then stare at 
  you with new interest. You notice some of them 
  licking their lips with anticipation. “Haven’t eaten 
  meat fresh off the bone in a while,” one of them 
  gibbers, tittering to itself.  
   
  “Wait!” you cry frantically. “I’m your friend, not 
  your lunch!” But they are no longer listening. They 
  advance forward in a semicircle, pinning you against 
  the ledge from which you arrived. Far below, you can 
  hear the Bhole churning hungrily through the sea of 
  bones. 
   
  Investigators who suffer a Nightmare Effect as a 
  result of the just-completed nightmare, or as a result of 
  seeing Axlo-Rogai, find themselves sinking into the 
  limitless bones of the Vale of Pnath. It is as though the 
  bones have turned to quicksand, attempting to pull the 
  investigators down into their dry, crackling depths. The 
  investigators must make a Strength check DC 15 in 
  order to free themselves from the grasping embrace of 
  the bones. Non-affected investigators may help their 
  stricken comrades, of course (granting a +2 bonus to 
  their checks). 
   
  Stephen’s Dream 
  The crowd applauds as you stride to the podium. Yes, 
  of course, you are here to accept the Nobel Prize for 
  your work in Mexico. Your accomplishments have 
  finally been recognized by the rest of academic 
  community. What were you day-dreaming about just 
  now? A trip to the Soviet Union? You would like to 
  visit there someday, of course. Maybe now you’ll be 
  able to afford it.  
   
  Fighting: If the investigators stay (those stricken by 
  Nightmare Effects may have little choice), Axlo-Rogai 
  arrives within two rounds. Even if the investigators 
  have no light source, such is the psychic power pouring 
  from the nightmare being that they can still see its 
  ghastly outlines. The thing is a chaotic mass of shifting 
  forms, human and inhuman, tentacles, spines, tails, 
  wings, and less identifiable appendages forming, 
  shifting, and re-forming in an endless cycle of madness. 
  Countless eyes of every size and shape leer at the 
  investigators, and mouths and other orifices drool 
  greedily. Lose 1d3/2d8 Sanity.  
   
  You stand at the podium, basking in the roar of 
  applause. They are all here, every anthropologist you 
  have ever met or corresponded with, rivals and 
  colleagues both. They fall silent and take their seats, 
  waiting for your speech.  
   
  Your speech. Ah yes. You shuffle through your 
  papers and realize – with some embarrassment – the 
  pages of your speech seem to have gotten mixed up. 
  While you struggle to sort them out, the silence of the 
  audience grows deeper and more ominous, until the 
  only sound in entire auditorium is the shuffling of 
  your papers and your nervous, asthmatic breathing. 
   
  Within the Dreamlands, Axlo-Rogai can be harmed 
  by normal physical weapons. He is also vulnerable to 
  spells, of course, and two of the investigators have 
  access to some rather potent Dreamlands spells. Keep 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 11 
  
  in mind that investigators may use the Dreaming skill to 
  create weapons with which to battle the nightmare. 
  Axlo-Rogai retaliates by trying to grasp these 
  troublesome 
  mortals 
  in 
  his 
  shifting, 
  warping 
  appendages and draw them in to be devoured. He will 
  also use spells against investigators who are not 
  grappled. Although such a battle is likely to be fatal to 
  at least a few investigators, it IS possible to destroy 
  Axlo-Rogai in this manner.  
   
  Defeated, Axlo-Rogai dissolves into writhing 
  semi-liquid tendrils that drain down through the bones 
  that floor the Vale of Pnath. A Cthulhu Mythos or 
  Knowledge (Dream Lore) check DC 8 warns that the 
  entity has been only temporarily destroyed, for a few 
  days at most. Obviously, the Gate should be sealed or 
  destroyed to prevent a recurrence of this event.  
   
  Fleeing: Assuming they are not trapped by a Nightmare 
  Effect, or manage to break free from it, the 
  investigators are free to run back to the gate and return 
  to the waking world. Axlo-Rogai pursues closely, and it 
  should be obvious that the investigators must seal or 
  destroy the gate to prevent his invading the waking 
  world. If not, a Knowledge (Dream Lore) DC 10 can 
  suggest it.  
   
  The investigators have three rounds to act before 
  Axlo-Rogai comes through the gate. The explosives 
  used by Ogarsky are still available, assuming the 
  investigators did not make the mistake of taking them 
  through the gate. It will take a total of six rounds’ 
  worth of investigator effort (e.g. three rounds each from 
  two investigators, two rounds each from three 
  investigators, etc.) to set explosives to destroy the gate. 
  Each investigator working on this must make a 
  Demolitions check DC 10 or Int check DC 15 to 
  successfully connect explosives, fuses, and detonation 
  cord; failure means the explosives fail to detonate, and 
  the investigators must spend another round (and 
  another roll) trying to get things right.  
   
  Investigators of a more heroic bent can try to 
  detonate the dynamite directly, by shooting it or by 
  lighting a single stick (one Demolitions check DC 10) 
  and using it to set off the rest. Such drastic methods 
  allow little opportunity for the acting investigators to 
  escape the blast.  
   
  Investigators attempting to destroy the gate with 
  picks or other such tools must make a total of four total 
  successful Strength checks DC 15. Up to three 
  investigators may attempt to smash the Gate at the same 
  time.  
   
  Another option is to create an Elder Sign on the 
  gate. A Cthulhu Mythos check DC 10 (+2 bonus to this 
  check if the investigator has Elder Sign on his or her 
  spell list) can suggest this course of action. It will take 
  two rounds of work and a successful Dex check DC 12 
  roll for Peter to chisel an Elder Sign into the Gate, after 
  which he must make the sacrifice of Con. A blown roll 
  means the Elder Sign is improperly scribed and fails to 
  work.  
   
  Axlo-Rogai Emerges 
  If the investigators fled through the gate and failed to 
  destroy it in time, Axlo-Rogai comes through into the 
  waking world. Its indescribable form bulges and 
  squirms through the gateway, making soft cooing 
  sounds as it reaches out for the nearest prey. Here in the 
  waking world, where it should not even exist, Axlo-
  Rogai exudes an inescapable aura of madness and evil, 
  costing all within a one-mile radius 1d4 Sanity per 
  round.  
   
  Axlo-Rogai is more difficult to destroy in the 
  waking world. Melee weapons do only half damage; 
  firearms do minimum damage. And of course, the 
  investigators’ more potent Dreamlands spells cannot be 
  used here. If they do manage to reduce the nightmare 
  being to zero hit points, its slimy black essence retreats 
  through the Gate and reforms slowly, over several days, 
  allowing them the time to destroy the Gate at last. 
   
  It is quite likely, if events have advanced to this 
  point, that the scenario ends in the destruction of the 
  investigators. Axlo-Rogai is loose on the world, and the 
  future will be a twisting madness of nightmare come to 
  life.  
   
   
  Victory 
  If the party succeeded in driving back Axlo-Rogai and 
  sealing the gateway, they have “won” and prevented 
  the nightmare being from invading this reality. Sadly, 
  such supernatural victories do not always equate to 
  practical ones. Soviet troops eventually arrive and 
  suppress the camp riot with machineguns. After 
  interviewing the investigators, Soviet authorities 
  demolish the ruins and announce that the find was a 
  hoax perpetrated by “anti-Soviet elements.” The 
  foreign investigators are unceremoniously ejected from 
  the country; the native Soviet investigators are allowed 
  to return to their normal jobs, but within a few years all 
  of them are arrested on various false charges and 
  shipped off to the labor camps.  
   
  The End 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 12 
  
  KEEPER’S HANDOUT: DREAMLANDS RULES 
   
  Deflection (spell):  
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the 
  reality of the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within 
  the Dreamlands or creating new ones. In order to do this, the 
  character must both make at least one skill roll and also suffer 
  a certain number of Int damage determined by the Keeper. 
  This may be accomplished in a single instant or over many 
  years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious the creation 
  is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
  Components: V, S, F 
  Cost: Variable Int damage and 1 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 1 action 
  Range: Personal  
  Area: You 
  Duration: Concentration 
  Saving Throw: None 
   
  The caster waves his hand before himself and knocks aside 
  offensive spells directed against him. The Int damage spent 
  by the caster must be equal to or greater than the ability 
  damage cost of the offensive spell in order to deflect it. 
   
  Typically, the ability points spent are equal to the most 
  vital statistic of the object being changed/created. For 
  example, the most vital statistic for a sword would be its 
  damage, so the ability point cost would be equal to its 
  maximum damage of nine. When changing/creating a living 
  thing, the Int point cost is doubled. 
   
  Lavender Spheres of Ptath (spell):  
  Components: V, S, F 
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the 
  Dreamlands, a successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 
  Int point for each hit point restored.  
  Cost: Variable Wis and 1 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 1 action 
  Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) 
   
  Area: One creature 
  Dream Lore Skill: This skill is the character’s knowledge of 
  the Dreamlands, its inhabitants, geography, and history. Rolls 
  on this skill can be used to identify a Dreamlands location, 
  recall historical details about a particular time or place in the 
  Dreamlands, identify a Dreamlands creature or deity, and so 
  forth. It can also determine whether a being encountered 
  belongs to the Dreamlands or the Cthulhu Mythos. In effect, 
  it is the Dreamlands equivalent of History, Anthropology, 
  Natural History, and Occult all rolled into one.  
  Duration: Concentration 
  Saving Throw: Fort negates each round 
   
  For every four Wis points put into the spell, the caster creates 
  one lavender globe of energy, about the size of a basketball. 
  The spheres drift toward their target at speed 30, following it 
  for up to an hour. The spheres can leave the range of the 
  spell. When a sphere touches anything, it explodes doing 3d6 
  damage to all living creatures within one yard. Any other 
  spheres caught in the blast radius also detonate. 
   
  Nightmare Effects: Within the Dreamlands, normal insanity 
  does not occur. Instead, whenever a character goes insane 
  (temporarily or indefinitely), s/he suffers a Nightmare Effect.  
   
  Throth’s Stalwart (spell):  
  Components: V, S, F 
   
  As the name implies, a Nightmare Effect alters 
  Dreamlands reality in some hideous way, painful or 
  threatening to the investigator. Examples would include the 
  inability to flee, clothing disappearing, some past threat or 
  enemy suddenly popping out of nowhere, an item of 
  equipment transforming into something loathsome or 
  dangerous, and so forth. 
  Cost: Variable 4 Int damage and 3 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 2 rounds 
  Range: Personal 
  Area: One You 
  Duration: 10 minutes per level 
  Saving Throw: None 
   
   
  The caster radiates a subtle glow after casting the spell and 
  throbs with puissance; he adds +4 to his Strength, Dexterity, 
  and Constitution for the duration of the spell. 
  Awful Doom of Cerrit (spell):  
  Components: V, S, F 
  Cost: 2 Wis damage and 3 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 1 action 
  Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) 
  Area: One creature 
  Duration: Concentration 
  Saving Throw: Fort negates each round 
   
  A silvery thread springs from the caster’s finger and causes 
  the marrow of the target’s bones to run with molten lead. 
  Each round the spell is maintained, the victim loses 1 point of 
  Con permanently. Additional rounds cost 2 Wis damage. 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 13 
  
  Axlo-Rogai, Living Nightmare 
  Huge Outsider 
  Hit Dice: 8d8+80 (116 hp) 
  Initiative: +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) 
  Speed: 30 ft. 
  Armor Class: 16 (-2 size, +2 Dex, +6 natural) 
  Attacks: 1d4 grasping appendage +10 melee 
  Damage: 2d6+2 grasping appendage 
  Face/Reach: 10 ft. x 10 ft./15 ft. 
  Special Attacks: Improved Grab, Swallow Whole, Compulsion, Nightmares, Spells 
  Special Defenses: Damage Reduction, Sanity Drain 
  Saves: Fort +16, Ref +8, Will +12 
  Abilities: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 30, Int 30, Wis 22, Cha 20 
  Skills: Concentration +21, Cthulhu Mythos +30, Dreaming +17, Escape Artist +13, Intimidate +16, Knowledge 
  (Dream Lore) +21, Knowledge (occult) +21, Listen +17, Search +21, Sense Motive +17, Spellcraft +21, Spot +17 
  Feats: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative 
  CR: 12 
  Sanity Loss: 1d3/2d8 
   
  Axlo-Rogai is a chaotic mass of shifting forms, human and inhuman, tentacles, spines, tails, wings, and less 
  identifiable appendages forming, shifting, and re-forming in an endless cycle of madness. Countless eyes of every 
  size and shape leer from its body, and mouths and other orifices drool greedily. 
   
  COMBAT 
  Axlo-Rogai is incessantly hungry and seeks to draw beings into itself to feed. 
   
  Improved Grab: To use this ability, the creature must hit with a grasping appendage. 
   
  Swallow Whole: If it gets a hold, it can draw a target into itself. Targets swallowed suffer 2d4 points of acid 
  damage per round. 
   
  Compulsion: Axlo-Rogai can sense the proximity of prey, and will often attempt to subconsciously compel them 
  into its presence. Its compulsion attack causes all beings within 100 ft. to make Will saves DC 20 or find themselves 
  compelled to move towards Axlo-Rogai for 1d3 rounds, avoiding or eliminating any obstacles as efficiently as 
  possible. Victims who have already been driven insane by Axlo-Rogai are automatically overcome by this power. 
  This power works through magical gates. 
   
  Nightmares: When within 100 ft. of human prey, Axlo-Rogai can force its prey to experience terrible Sanity-
  draining nightmares, turning the worst fears of their subconscious against them. Targets must make Will saves DC 
  20 or be trapped forever in the nightmare, and Axlo-Rogai devours their souls. Axlo-Rogai can affect multiple 
  targets by dividing his power; each additional target reduces the save DC for all targets by 1 (thus for six targets, the 
  DC is 14). Those who succeed can break free of the nightmare, although at the cost of 2d8 Sanity loss. 
   
  Spells: Axlo-Rogai can cast these spells: Awful Doom of Cerrit (Dreamlands only), Mindblast, Black Binding 
  (Dreamlands only), Red Sign of Shudde M’ell, Shriveling 
   
  Damage Reduction: In the waking world, Axlo-Rogai is difficult to destroy; he suffers only half damage from 
  physical attacks, and firearms do minimum damage. 
   
  Sanity Loss: Those within one mile of the being suffer a Sanity loss of 1d4 per day as it eats away at their 
  subconscious minds. If it enters the waking world, this power is increased massively, increasing the rate of Sanity 
  loss to 1d4 per round. 
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 14 
  
  Arctic Dreams 
   
  Page 15 
  
  Aleksandr Voinovich Krupatkin, Archaeologist 
   
  Gender: Male 
  Age: 44 
  Defensive Option 
  Level: 4 
   
  Ability 
  Score Mod  
  Saving Throws 
   
   
   
  Strength 
  10 
  +0 
   
  Type 
  Total = Base 
  Ability 
  Mod 
  Misc 
  Mod 
  Dexterity 
  09 
  -1 
   
  Fortitude +3 
  +1 
  +2 
   
  Constitution 15 
  +2 
   
  Reflex 
  +3 
  +4 
  -1 
   
  Intelligence 14 
  +2 
   
  Will 
  +5 
  +4 
  +1 
   
  Wisdom 
  12 
  +1 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Charisma 
  12 
  +1 
   
  Sanity: 
  58 
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
  Class 
   
  Base 
  Defense 
  Bonus 
  Dex 
  Mod 
  Misc. 
  Mod 
  11    = 
  10 
  +2 
  -1 
   
   
  Hit Points: 26 
   
  Initiative: -1 (Dex) 
   
  Melee 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Str 
  Mod 
   
   
  Ranged 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Dex 
  Mod 
   
  +1 
  +1 
  +0 
   
   
  +0 
  +1 
  -1 
   
   
  Skill 
  Total 
  = Ranks 
  + Ability 
  Mod 
  + Misc 
  Mod 
  Appraise (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  4 
  +2 
   
  Climb (Str) 
  +4 
  = 
  4 
  +0 
   
  Dreaming (Wis) 
  +5 
  = 
  4 
  +1 
   
  Knowledge 
  (archaeology) (Int)  
  +12 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
  +3 
  Knowledge 
  (history) 
  (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge 
  (anthropology)  (Int)  
  +7 
  = 
  5 
  +2 
   
  Read Egyptian 
  Hieroglyphs (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  4 
  +2 
   
  Research  (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Search (Int) 
  +11 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
  +2 
  Speak English (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Speak French (Int) (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Spot (Wis) 
  +8 
  = 
  7 
  +1 
   
   
  Languages: Russian, English, French 
   
  Feats: Sharp-eyed, Skill Emphasis (knowledge—archaeology), Wealth 
   
  Equipment: Suitcase with four changes of clothes, heavy winter 
  jacket, felt hat, felt boots, notebook and pen, padded case for holding 
  archeological finds, pipe, tobacco pouch, matches, eyeglasses, 
  magnifying glass, set of small excavating tools (brushes, rock-hammer, 
  small picks, etc.), wallet with money and identity papers. 
   
  Roleplaying Information/Background: 
  You have been a faithful Communist since 1909, when you discovered 
  the writings of Marx during your University studies. As a young man 
  you participated in many protests and rallies against the Tsarist 
  regime, and wound up spending several years exiled in Switzerland. 
  There you continued your studies of archeology, met other 
  Communists, and corresponded with fellow exiles like Vladimir Ilych 
  Lenin, the man who would eventually bring liberation and socialism to 
  Russia’s benighted peasants. You never married, considering such 
  bourgeois attachments a relic of the old, dying world of feudalism and 
  capitalism. When the Russian Revolution came you returned from 
  exile, and even served briefly in the ranks of the Red Army during the 
  Russian Civil War.  
   
  After the war you resumed your studies in Archeology. You are 
  fascinated by the ruins and remnants of the past, and have spent 
  months at a time excavating in the steppes and deserts of Soviet 
  Central Asia. You have even managed to travel abroad and work in 
  Egypt and Mesopotamia, a rare privilege in these uncertain times. You 
  are published in numerous Soviet journals of science and academic 
  life, and a couple years ago Pravda ran a long article on your life and 
  accomplishments. You are sure none of this could have ever happened 
  under the old Tsarist regime, when your politics would have wrecked 
  your career.  
   
  Although the Soviet state has not yet achieved the ultimate goals 
  of true Communism and the withering away of the state, you are sure 
  that time cannot be far off. It would probably have been attained 
  already, in fact, were the Soviet Union not so beset with misguided 
  internal traitors and external enemies. The decadent capitalistic states 
  of the west must be terrified of the success and prosperity of the Soviet 
  Union, trembling at the example it offers to their own workers. 
   
  When the Ministry of Science announced the remarkable finds at 
  the White Sea Canal, you felt sure you would be one of the experts 
  called by the State and the People to confirm the truth. You were not 
  wrong. You intend to do your best here to further the causes of both 
  archeology and the Soviet State.  
   
  Stepan Gregorovich Leskov: A highly respected Soviet historian. You 
  have read some of his works and find his politics to be completely 
  proper. He seems rather gloomy and uncommunicative in person, 
  however.  
   
  Vladimir Ivanovich Dybenko: A reporter for Pravda. You think well of 
  Pravda, especially after that article they ran about you, and you feel 
  sure his reporting will be fair, accurate, and loyal. 
   
  Mirabelle Chirac: This Frenchwoman is a journalist of zeal and 
  integrity, writing for a periodical that strives to bring socialist honesty 
  to the repressed proletariat of France. Her attitudes about marriage are 
  refreshingly enlightened as well. 
    
  Peter Holloway: An English archeologist. Although he claims to be a 
  political progressive, you find him much too bound to the decadent 
  ways of his imperialistic home island.  
   
  Stephen Abromowitz: An American anthropologist and, disturbingly, a 
  Jew. Despite your politics you retain a full dose of Russian suspicion 
  toward Jews. You are sure this man cannot be the true socialist he 
  claims to be. 
   
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the reality of 
  the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within the Dreamlands or 
  creating new ones. In order to do this, the character must both make at 
  least one skill roll and also suffer a certain number of Int damage 
  determined by the Keeper. This may be accomplished in a single 
  instant or over many years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious 
  the creation is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the Dreamlands, 
  a successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 Int point for each hit 
  point restored.  
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 16 
  
  Stepan Gregorovich Leskov, Historian 
   
  Gender: Male 
  Age: 53 
  Defensive Option 
  Level: 6 
   
  Ability 
  Score Mod  
  Saving Throws 
   
   
   
  Strength 
  9 
  -1 
   
  Type 
  Total = Base 
  Ability 
  Mod 
  Misc 
  Mod 
  Dexterity 
  8 
  -2 
   
  Fortitude +5 
  +5 
  +0 
   
  Constitution 10 
  +0 
   
  Reflex 
  +3 
  +5 
  -2 
   
  Intelligence 15 
  +2 
   
  Will 
  +6 
  +2 
  +4 
   
  Wisdom 
  18 
  +4 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Charisma 
  11 
  +0 
   
  Sanity: 
  79 
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
  Class 
   
  Base 
  Defense 
  Bonus 
  Dex 
  Mod 
  Misc. 
  Mod 
  11    = 
  10 
  +3 
  -2 
   
   
  Hit Points: 26 
   
  Initiative: -2 (Dex) 
   
  Melee 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Str 
  Mod 
   
   
  Ranged 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Dex 
  Mod 
   
  +2 
  +3 
  -1 
   
   
  +1 
  +3 
  -2 
   
   
  Skill 
  Total 
  = Ranks 
  + Ability 
  Mod 
  + Misc 
  Mod 
  Bluff (Cha) 
  +8 
  = 
  6 
  +0 
  +2 
  Concentration (Con) 
  +7 
  = 
  7 
  +0 
   
  Cthulhu Mythos 
  +2 
  = 
  2 
  --- 
   
  Diplomacy (Cha) 
  +7 
  = 
  7 
  +0 
   
  Dreaming (Wis) 
  +11 
  = 
  7 
  +4 
   
  Gather Information (Cha) 
  +6 
  = 
  6 
  +0 
   
  Knowledge 
  (history) 
  (Int) 
  +14 
  = 
  9 
  +2 
  +3 
  Knowledge 
  (archaeology)  (Int)  
  +11 
  = 
  9 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge (occult)  (Int) 
  +11 
  = 
  6 
  +2 
  +3 
  Knowledge 
  (Dream 
  Lore)  (Int) 
  +11 
   
  9 
  +2 
   
  Research (Int) 
  +11 
  = 
  9 
  +2 
   
  Speak English (Int) 
  +11 
  = 
  9 
  +2 
   
  Spot (Wis) 
  +10 
  = 
  6 
  +4 
   
   
  Languages: Russian, English 
   
  Feats: Dodge, Persuasive, Skill Emphasis (Knowledge—history), Skill 
  Emphasis (Knowledge—occult) 
   
  Equipment: 
  Suitcases with six changes of clothes, heavy winter jacket, felt hat, felt 
  boots, portmanteau full of papers and books, pocketknife (damage 
  1d3+db), wallet with money and identity papers. 
   
  Spells Known: 
  Awful Doom of Cerrit (Dreamlands only, see below), Deflection 
  (Dreamlands only), Flesh Ward, Summon/Bind Nightgaunt 
   
  Roleplaying Information/Background: 
  You are an old man, tired and disillusioned. Once, in your younger 
  days, you were a Communist, a true believer in Marx and Engels, who 
  hoped and dreamed of the day when the workers of the world would 
  rise up and claim what was theirs. Once you believed that the Russian 
  Revolution offered the greatest promise of hope and freedom the world 
  had ever seen. 
   
  Once. No more. Now, looking around you, you see only terror, 
  lies, and despair.  
   
  You keep your thoughts to yourself, of course. Only with your 
  wife of thirty-four years do you trust yourself to speak clearly and 
  honestly. Not even your children guess the depths of your 
  disillusionment. And that is as it should be, for the Soviet State 
  considers such doubts as treason. You have already seen more than a 
  few colleagues disappear into the maw of prison and labor camps. 
  Engineers in particular have been a popular target recently, accused of 
  “wrecking” and sabotage, hauled before the public in elaborate trials 
  that cannot be other than shows, distractions for a populace shaken by 
  the failures of recent years.  
   
  You still pursue your studies in ancient history, specializing in the 
  pre-Christian civilizations of Russia. You are always careful to couch 
  your work in the safe phrases of Communist orthodoxy, and you have 
  even attained a degree of success and public recognition. That worries 
  you, for in these times such recognition can make one a target for the 
  informants of the OGPU secret police. You would almost rather your 
  work remained in obscurity, however valuable it might be to fellow 
  historians.  
   
  Sleep has become your escape. In sleep you visit the Dreamlands, 
  a realm of wonder and splendor, where the gray routine and miserable 
  falseness of life cannot intrude. It can be a dangerous place, where your 
  life and soul have been imperiled more than once; but the dangers are 
  open and honest, and do not disguise themselves as benevolent friends. 
  You have become somewhat famous in some of the Dreamlands realms, 
  such as Ulthar and Celephais, and among fellow dreamers such as 
  Randolph Carter, who you met in Ulthar many years ago. You have 
  grown to welcome your retreat into sleep each night. There, at least, 
  you can act without having to guard your every word and deed.  
   
  You are uncertain what to feel about this sudden expedition to the 
  White Sea Canal. The discovery of an ancient civilization this far north 
  could transform the study of antiquity and overset a hundred theories; 
  but the prospect of such a discovery no longer grants you the 
  excitement it might once have offered. .  
   
  Aleksandr Voinovich Krupatkin: This man, an archeologist, is a True 
  Believer like you used to be, full of rigor and fanatic dedication. You 
  find talking with him dreary and tiring. 
    
  Vladimir Ivanovich Dybenko: A reporter from Pravda. Although he 
  follows the Party Line on politics (naturally), he seems a more relaxed 
  and human conversationalist than Krupatkin. He does drink a lot, 
  though. 
   
  Mirabelle Chirac: A French Communist, here to represent the 
  international press. As though one reporter for a socialist weekly can 
  “represent” the rest of the world. She seems very intense in her politics, 
  a good match for Krupatkin. 
   
  Peter Holloway: Something about this English archeologist keeps 
  nagging at you. You’re sure you’ve seen him somewhere before; but 
  that’s impossible, because you’ve never left the Soviet Union, and this 
  is his first trip here. Could it be…that you’ve met in the Dreamlands? 
   
  Stephen Abromowitz: The only American on the team, this 
  anthropologist is also a Jew. That must be making life difficult for him 
  here in Russia, where so many people dislike Jews. He seems – 
  unsurprisingly – a bitter, unfriendly man. 
   
  Dreamlands Spells 
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 17 
  
  Awful Doom of Cerrit:  
  Components: V, S, F 
  Cost: 2 Wis damage and 3 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 1 action 
  Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) 
  Area: One creature 
  Duration: Concentration 
  Saving Throw: Fort negates each round 
   
  A silvery thread springs from the caster’s finger and causes the marrow 
  of the target’s bones to run with molten lead. Each round the spell is 
  maintained, the victim loses 1 point of Con permanently. Additional 
  rounds cost 2 Wis damage. 
   
  Deflection (spell):  
  Components: V, S, F 
  Cost: Variable Int damage and 1 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 1 action 
  Range: Personal  
  Area: You 
  Duration: Concentration 
  Saving Throw: None 
   
  The caster waves his hand before himself and knocks aside offensive 
  spells directed against him. The Int damage spent by the caster must be 
  equal to or greater than the ability damage cost of the offensive spell in 
  order to deflect it. 
   
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the reality of 
  the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within the Dreamlands or 
  creating new ones. In order to do this, the character must both make at 
  least one skill roll and also suffer a certain number of Int damage 
  determined by the Keeper. This may be accomplished in a single instant 
  or over many years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious the 
  creation is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the Dreamlands, a 
  successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 Int point for each hit 
  point restored.  
   
  Dream Lore Skill: This skill is the character’s knowledge of the 
  Dreamlands, its inhabitants, geography, and history. Rolls on this skill 
  can be used to identify a Dreamlands location, recall historical details 
  about a particular time or place in the Dreamlands, identify a 
  Dreamlands creature or deity, and so forth. It can also determine 
  whether a being encountered belongs to the Dreamlands or the Cthulhu 
  Mythos. In effect, it is the Dreamlands equivalent of History, 
  Anthropology, Natural History, and Occult all rolled into one. 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 18 
  
  Vladimir Ivanovich Dybenko, Reporter (OGPU Agent) 
   
  Gender: Male 
  Age: 26 
  Offensive Option 
  Level: 6 
   
  Ability 
  Score Mod  
  Saving Throws 
   
   
   
  Strength 
  17 
  +3 
   
  Type 
  Total = Base 
  Ability 
  Mod 
  Misc 
  Mod 
  Dexterity 
  12 
  +1 
   
  Fortitude +7 
  +5 
  +2 
   
  Constitution 15 
  +2 
   
  Reflex 
  +3 
  +2 
  +1 
   
  Intelligence 14 
  +2 
   
  Will 
  +2 
  +2 
  +0 
   
  Wisdom 
  11 
  +0 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Charisma 
  10 
  +0 
   
  Sanity: 
  49 
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
  Class 
   
  Base 
  Defense 
  Bonus 
  Dex 
  Mod 
  Misc. 
  Mod 
  12    = 
  10 
  +1 
  +1 
   
   
  Hit Points: 38 
   
  Initiative: +1 (Dex) 
   
  Melee 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Str 
  Mod 
   
   
  Ranged 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Dex 
  Mod 
   
  +8 
  +5 
  +3 
   
   
  +7 
  +5 
  +1 
  +1 
   
  Skill 
  Total 
  = Ranks 
  + Ability 
  Mod 
  + Misc 
  Mod 
  Bluff (Cha) 
  +11 
  = 
  8 
  +0 
  +3 
  Craft (photography) (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  4 
  +2 
   
  Craft (writing) (Int) 
  +11 
  = 
  9 
  +2 
   
  Diplomacy (Cha) 
  +7 
  = 
  7 
  +0 
   
  Dreaming (Wis) 
  +3 
  = 
  3 
  +0 
   
  Gather 
  Information 
  (Cha) 
  +9 
  = 
  9 
  +0 
   
  Innuendo (Wis)  
  +7 
  = 
  7 
  +0 
   
  Knowledge (Law)  (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge (Psychology) 
  (Int) 
  +11 
  = 
  9 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge (dream lore) 
  (Int)  (cc) 
  +4 
  = 
  2 
  +2 
   
  Research (Int) 
  +8 
  = 
  6 
  +2 
   
  Sense Motive (Wis) 
  +8 
  = 
  8 
  +0 
   
  Speak English (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Spot (Wis)  (cc) 
  +1 
  = 
  1 
  +0 
   
   
  Languages: Russian, English 
   
  Feats: Dodge, Point Blank Shot, Skill Emphasis (Bluff), Weapon Focus 
  (pistol) 
   
  Equipment: 
  Two suitcases of clothes, winter jacket, felt hat and boots, three 
  notebooks, fountain pen, pocketwatch, hip-flask of vodka, wallet with 
  money and (false) identity papers, OGPU identity badge, concealed 
  9mm automatic pistol (damage 1d10) with silencer and two spare 
  magazines, knife (damage 1d6+db) in thigh sheath. 
   
  Spells Known: 
  Dread Curse of Azathoth 
   
  Roleplaying Information/Background: 
  You grew up as an orphan in western Siberia, raised by your old 
  grandmother. She told you endless tales of monsters and ghosts, the 
  dark spirits of Slavic legend: the drought-causing upierczi, the 
  werewolf known as the volkulaku, and the purple-faced vampire called 
  the mjertovjek. The stories terrified you, and many a cold night you 
  were awakened by terrible nightmares in which the slavering volkulaku 
  stalked you through the forests. She taught you a secret ritual that was 
  supposed to drive the spirits away, and you still remember how you 
  used to mumble the words to yourself before going to bed. Perhaps 
  those terrible dreams were what made you so eager to embrace 
  Communism, with its bold rejection of superstition.  
   
  In high school you were only an average student, but your 
  ideological fervor (and denunciations of deviationists among your 
  fellow students) brought you favorable attention from the authorities. 
  At the age of eighteen you enlisted in the OGPU (or the Cheka, as it 
  was known then), the Soviet secret police who protect the state from the 
  traitors and spies who threaten it. You soon distinguished yourself as an 
  eager and capable agent, and within a few years were promoted to 
  lieutenant.  
   
  The dreams of your childhood still come occasionally, but you can 
  usually drown them out with vodka. And your work gives you plenty of 
  opportunities to work out your fears and frustrations; so many 
  opportunities, in fact, that the sight of bloodshed and pain no longer 
  disturbs you as it once did. The enemies of the State must suffer, must 
  pay for their treason and cowardice. Must pay for your dreams.  
   
  You are a little nervous about your current assignment. You are 
  pretending to be a reporter for Pravda, covering the strange 
  archeological discoveries in the White Sea Canal project. Your actual 
  mission is to watch the foreign scholars who have been sent to evaluate 
  the find. Although they were carefully hand-picked for their ideological 
  sympathies with the cause of socialism, there are no guarantees that 
  some of them might not be Western spies under deep cover. And even 
  casual contacts between Westerners and Soviet citizens might have 
  undesirable consequences. You must prevent any such negative 
  consequences from this visit. It could be a very difficult task – you 
  know nothing about archeology, and thus have no way of knowing 
  whether these foreigners are genuine scholars or spies. But you will 
  succeed, for the sake of the socialist future. And for the sake of sleeping 
  without dreams.  
   
  Aleksandr Voinovich Krupatkin: The dossier on this man reports that he 
  is a faithful and predictable Communist. Of course, that could simply 
  mean he knows how to hide his true feelings – and he’s been abroad, 
  more than once. You’ll watch him carefully. 
   
  Stepan Gregorovich Leskov: Supposedly a respected historian and 
  another loyal Party member. He seems more humanly three-
  dimensional in his behavior than Krupatkin, so you distrust him a little 
  less. 
   
  Mirabelle Chirac: A French reporter. You don’t trust the French, and 
  you don’t trust foreign reporters, no matter how sympathetically 
  socialist they behave. If she was good-looking you might try to be 
  friendly and charm her, but as it is you’ll just watch her carefully. 
    
  Peter Holloway: An Englishman. You hate Englishmen, with their 
  snobby manners and their globe-spanning Empire. And this fellow 
  sometimes looks at you with an odd expression that reminds you of 
  your grandmother. You hope he does something that lets you have him 
  arrested. We’ll see how arrogant he is once he’s inside Lubyanka 
  Prison. 
    
  Stephen Abromowitz: An American Jew. You REALLY hate Jews. You 
  intend to make sure this Abromowitz is arrested before he leaves the 
  country. 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 19 
  
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the reality of 
  the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within the Dreamlands or 
  creating new ones. In order to do this, the character must both make at 
  least one skill roll and also suffer a certain number of Int damage 
  determined by the Keeper. This may be accomplished in a single instant 
  or over many years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious the 
  creation is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the Dreamlands, a 
  successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 Int point for each hit 
  point restored.  
   
  Dream Lore Skill: This skill is the character’s knowledge of the 
  Dreamlands, its inhabitants, geography, and history. Rolls on this skill 
  can be used to identify a Dreamlands location, recall historical details 
  about a particular time or place in the Dreamlands, identify a 
  Dreamlands creature or deity, and so forth. It can also determine 
  whether a being encountered belongs to the Dreamlands or the Cthulhu 
  Mythos. In effect, it is the Dreamlands equivalent of History, 
  Anthropology, Natural History, and Occult all rolled into one. 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 20 
  
  Mirabelle Chirac, Reporter 
   
  Gender: Female 
  Age: 30 
  Defensive Option 
  Level: 4 
   
  Ability 
  Score Mod  
  Saving Throws 
   
   
   
  Strength 
  9 
  -1 
   
  Type 
  Total = Base 
  Ability 
  Mod 
  Misc 
  Mod 
  Dexterity 
  14 
  +2 
   
  Fortitude +3 
  +1 
  +2 
   
  Constitution 14 
  +2 
   
  Reflex 
  +6 
  +4 
  +2 
   
  Intelligence 16 
  +3 
   
  Will 
  +5 
  +4 
  +1 
   
  Wisdom 
  13 
  +1 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Charisma 
  10 
  +0 
   
  Sanity: 
  53 
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
  Class 
   
  Base 
  Defense 
  Bonus 
  Dex 
  Mod 
  Misc. 
  Mod 
  14    = 
  10 
  +2 
  +2 
   
   
  Hit Points: 32 
   
  Initiative: +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative) 
   
  Melee 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Str 
  Mod 
   
   
  Ranged 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Dex 
  Mod 
   
  +1 
  +2 
  -1 
   
   
  +4 
  +2 
  +2 
   
   
  Skill 
  Total 
  = Ranks 
  + Ability 
  Mod 
  + Misc 
  Mod 
  Bluff (Cha) 
  +5 
  = 
  5 
  +0 
   
  Climb (Str)  (cc) 
  +1 
  = 
  2 
  -1 
   
  Craft (photography) (Int) 
  +7 
  = 
  4 
  +3 
   
  Craft (writing) (Int) 
  +10 
  = 
  7 
  +3 
   
  Cthulhu Mythos 
  +1 
  = 
  1 
  +0 
   
  Diplomacy (Cha)  
  +4 
  = 
  4 
  +0 
   
  Dreaming (Wis)  (cc) 
  +3 
  = 
  2 
  +1 
   
  Gather Information (Cha) 
  +7 
  = 
  7 
  +0 
   
  Innuendo  (Wis) 
  +4 
  = 
  3 
  +1 
   
  Knowledge (dream lore) 
  (Int)  (cc) 
  +4 
  = 
  1 
  +3 
   
  Knowledge 
  (history) 
  (Int) 
  +7 
  = 
  4 
  +3 
   
  Knowledge (law) (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  3 
  +3 
   
  Knowledge (occult) (Int) 
  (cc) 
  +5 
  = 
  2 
  +3 
   
  Listen (Wis) 
  +11 
  = 
  7 
  +1 
  +3 
  Research (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  6 
  +3 
   
  Speak English (Int) 
  +8 
  = 
  5 
  +3 
   
  Speak Russian (Int) (cc) 
  +5 
  = 
  2 
  +3 
   
  Spot (Wis) (cc) 
  +3 
  = 
  2 
  +1 
   
   
  Languages: French, English, Russian 
   
  Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Skill Emphasis (Listen) 
   
  Equipment: 
  Three suitcases with six changes of clothes, heavy overcoat, winter 
  boots, fur hat and scarf, purse (contains notebook, pen, cigarettes, 
  lighter, money, passport, and straight razor – damage 1d3, can impale), 
  camera in leather-bound travelling case (with film and flash-bulbs). 
   
  Roleplaying Information/Background: 
  You grew up in a poor working-class family in Paris. Your father was a 
  soldier in the Great War, and was away at the front for much of your 
  childhood. After he returned he was changed, suffering from an 
  unstable temperament and fragile mind; he drank heavily and often 
  abused his family. Your mother was a cowed and helpless woman who 
  did nothing to stop him. You swore you would escape that life, studying 
  like mad throughout your school years, and eventually won a 
  scholarship to the Sorbonne. There, amid the feverish atmosphere of 
  post-War depressions and youthful rebellions, you discovered the 
  writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. You became a well-known activist 
  and pamphleteer, participated in (sometimes violent) student 
  demonstrations, and eventually joined the French Communist Party.  
   
  During your teenage years you had a strange and terrible 
  experience, one you do not clearly recall. It had something to do with 
  the sewers, perhaps. In any case, it left you with a permanent mental 
  disorder: Panzaism. You cannot recognize or accept the supernatural; 
  even if faced with the most ghastly and unimaginable events, you will 
  attempt to rationalize them and provide normal, natural explanations for 
  all that occurs. Of course, your politics only reinforce this tendency.  
   
  Since graduating from the university you have spent your life 
  working for various Communist and Socialist newspapers and 
  periodicals, most recently the “Progressive Weekly.” Although none of 
  the work pays well, you make enough to live on your own, without the 
  need for some domineering boyfriend or husband. You have no 
  intention of ever marrying or having children; your work for the Party 
  is much more important. 
   
  You are overjoyed to finally be visiting the Soviet Union, the one 
  country on earth that is actually trying to put Communism into practice. 
  Although you have studied Russian and written many articles on the 
  USSR, this is your first chance to actually see the country in person, 
  and you intend to make the most of it.  
   
  Aleksandr Voinovich Krupatkin: A true Communist like yourself, who 
  rejects the decadent ways of bourgeois society (like marriage). A pity 
  he is so much older than you. Still, you would like to know him better. 
   
  Stepan Gregorovich Leskov: This aging Soviet historian seems to have 
  no enthusiasm for politics, although he is a Party member. Perhaps he is 
  simply tired or sick.  
   
  Vladimir Ivanovich Dybenko: A young reporter for Pravda. He seems 
  rather crude and oafish, and you’ve spotted him taking a drink from a 
  flask once or twice. You tried to talk to him about the plight of 
  progressive journalism in the West, but he didn’t seem very interested. 
  You’d think Pravda would have sent a more seasoned journalist on such 
  an important assignment. 
   
  Peter Holloway: This Englishman claims to be in sympathy with the 
  progressive socialist spirit, but you can’t shake the conviction that he is 
  secretly laughing at you. How like the English, so priggish and 
  chauvinistic.  
   
  Stephen Abromowitz: This American anthropologist is a fine scholar 
  whose career has been unfairly crippled by his Jewish heritage. He has 
  long since rejected that ancestral superstition in favor of more 
  enlightened ideas, but that hasn’t prevented the Americans from 
  discriminating against him. He would be wise to stay in Europe, where 
  people are more open. 
   
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the reality of 
  the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within the Dreamlands or 
  creating new ones. In order to do this, the character must both make at 
  least one skill roll and also suffer a certain number of Int damage 
  determined by the Keeper. This may be accomplished in a single instant 
  or over many years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious the 
  creation is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 21 
  
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the Dreamlands, a 
  successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 Int point for each hit 
  point restored.  
   
  Dream Lore Skill: This skill is the character’s knowledge of the 
  Dreamlands, its inhabitants, geography, and history. Rolls on this skill 
  can be used to identify a Dreamlands location, recall historical details 
  about a particular time or place in the Dreamlands, identify a 
  Dreamlands creature or deity, and so forth. It can also determine 
  whether a being encountered belongs to the Dreamlands or the Cthulhu 
  Mythos. In effect, it is the Dreamlands equivalent of History, 
  Anthropology, Natural History, and Occult all rolled into one. 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 22 
  
  Peter Holloway, Archaeologist 
   
  Gender: Male 
  Age: 35 
  Defensive Option 
  Level: 5 
   
  Ability 
  Score Mod  
  Saving Throws 
   
   
   
  Strength 
  12 
  +1 
   
  Type 
  Total = Base 
  Ability 
  Mod 
  Misc 
  Mod 
  Dexterity 
  13 
  +1 
   
  Fortitude +5 
  +1 
  +2 
  +2 
  Constitution 14 
  +2 
   
  Reflex 
  +5 
  +4 
  +1 
   
  Intelligence 13 
  +1 
   
  Will 
  +8 
  +4 
  +4 
   
  Wisdom 
  19 
  +4 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Charisma 
  14 
  +2 
   
  Sanity: 
  72 
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
  Class 
   
  Base 
  Defense 
  Bonus 
  Dex 
  Mod 
  Misc. 
  Mod 
  14    = 
  10 
  +3 
  +1 
   
   
  Hit Points: 36 
   
  Initiative: +1 (Dex) 
   
  Melee 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Str 
  Mod 
   
   
  Ranged 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Dex 
  Mod 
   
  +3 
  +2 
  +1 
   
   
  +3 
  +2 
  +1 
   
   
  Skill 
  Total 
  = Ranks 
  + Ability 
  Mod 
  + Misc 
  Mod 
  Appraise (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  5 
  +1 
   
  Climb (Str) 
  +5 
  = 
  4 
  +1 
   
  Cthulhu Mythos 
  +2 
  = 
  2 
  +0 
   
  Dreaming (Wis) 
  +6 
  = 
  2 
  +4 
  +3 
  Knowledge 
  (archaeology) (Int)  
  +12 
  = 
  8 
  +1 
  +3 
  Knowledge 
  (history) 
  (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  8 
  +1 
   
  Knowledge 
  (anthropology)  (Int)  
  +7 
  = 
  6 
  +1 
   
  Knowledge (dream lore) 
  (Int) 
  +5 
  = 
  4 
  +1 
   
  Repair (Int)  (cc) 
  +3 
  = 
  2 
  +1 
   
  Research  (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  8 
  +1 
   
  Search (Int) 
  +7 
  = 
  6 
  +1 
   
  Speak Arabic (Int) 
  +7 
  = 
  6 
  +1 
   
  Speak Russian  (Int) 
  +5 
  = 
  4 
  +1 
   
  Spot  (Wis) 
  +9 
  = 
  5 
  +4 
   
   
  Languages: English, Arabic, Russian 
   
  Feats: Great Fortitude, Skill Emphasis (dreaming), Skill Emphasis 
  (Knowledge—archaeology) 
   
  Equipment: 
  Five suitcases of clothes, winter jacket, Wellington boots, hat, 
  pocketwatch, spectacles, several notebooks and pencils (stuffed in 
  various pockets), tin case of eight cigars with matches, wooden case 
  with assorted archeological equipment (magnifying glass, brushes, 
  rock-hammer, small picks, and so forth), large billfold with money and 
  passport. 
   
  Spells Known: 
  Contact Ghoul, Deflect Harm, Elder Sign, Lavender Spheres of Ptath 
  (Dreamlands only), Throth’s Stalwart (Dreamlands only). 
   
  Roleplaying Information/Background: 
  You were born and grew up in the great city of London, the son of a 
  solicitor. Since your childhood you have been a lover of antiquity, and 
  as a boy you often spent days at a time wandering through the British 
  Museum. At the age of 10 you decided to be an archeologist, a decision 
  which has never wavered since.  
  Your plans were put on hold, however, when Great Britain plunged into 
  the Great War. You served in the ghastly mud and squalor of the 
  trenches, struggling through months and years to keep body and mind 
  intact; and it was there you began to Dream. In these dreams you visited 
  strange and magnificent realms, places of unearthly beauty and terrible 
  danger, a world both simpler and more wondrous than the dreary and 
  war-torn waking lands. You have traveled through the Dreamlands 
  almost every night for all the years since then, having many adventures 
  and meeting beings both friendly and dangerous. You have even met 
  Pickman, the legendary earthly painter who was transformed into a 
  ghoul, and made friends with him and his inhuman comrades.  
   
  In the waking world, you emerged from the Great War whole in 
  body and, thanks to your dreams, only lightly shaken of mind. You 
  attended Caius College at Cambridge, pursuing your studies in 
  archeology, and joining the circles of the politically progressive: those 
  who had learned in the Great War to hate the rigid ways and ruthless 
  power struggles of the old order. You admire the Soviet Union for its 
  bold foray into the future, and wish your own government could have 
  been friendlier to the USSR in its formative years. 
   
  You have been on several archeological digs in the Near East, 
  delving into the origins of human civilization in Mesopotamia and 
  Egypt. You are well-known and respected within your field, although 
  many of your colleagues regard your politics as distinctly “dodgy.” 
  You, for your part, consider most of them to be stone-age Neanderthals 
  unable to appreciate the needs and problems of modern society. Now, 
  of course, you have the last laugh: because of your enlightened politics, 
  you have been chosen as part of the team to confirm the spectacular 
  archeological find in Russia’s northern wastes.  
   
  Aleksandr Voinovich Krupatkin: A rather dreary Russian archeologist 
  who never talks about anything but politics. You’d much rather discuss 
  digs in Mesopotamia – you know this fellow’s been there at least once 
  – but you can’t seem to get him out of his rut.  
   
  Stepan Gregorovich Leskov: An old Russian historian, he seems rather 
  gloomy and out-of-sorts. At least he’s willing to have a normal 
  conversation. 
   
  Vladimir Ivanovich Dybenko: A strange man, hulking in size but oddly 
  furtive in behavior. He has a look about him that reminds you of chaps 
  who ran amok during the War. You’ll keep an eye on him, just in case.  
   
  Mirabelle Chirac: A Frenchwoman but not, alas, an attractive one. She 
  seems almost as intense about politics as that Krupatkin chap.  
   
  Stephen Abromowitz: An American Jew who seems dreadfully 
  determined to NOT be a Jew. Personally, you could care less about 
  anyone’s religious beliefs. The Dreamlands are another matter, of 
  course, but thankfully the Gods there cannot intrude on the waking 
  world. 
   
  Dreamlands Spells: 
  Lavender Spheres of Ptath (spell):  
  Components: V, S, F 
  Cost: Variable Wis and 1 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 1 action 
  Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) 
  Area: One creature 
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 23 
  
  Duration: Concentration 
  Saving Throw: Fort negates each round 
   
  For every four Wis points put into the spell, the caster creates one 
  lavender globe of energy, about the size of a basketball. The spheres 
  drift toward their target at speed 30, following it for up to an hour. The 
  spheres can leave the range of the spell. When a sphere touches 
  anything, it explodes doing 3d6 damage to all living creatures within 
  one yard. Any other spheres caught in the blast radius also detonate. 
   
  Throth’s Stalwart (spell):  
  Components: V, S, F 
  Cost: Variable 4 Int damage and 3 Sanity 
  Casting Time: 2 rounds 
  Range: Personal 
  Area: One You 
  Duration: 10 minutes per level 
  Saving Throw: None 
   
  The caster radiates a subtle glow after casting the spell and throbs with 
  puissance; he adds +4 to his Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution for 
  the duration of the spell. 
   
   
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the reality of 
  the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within the Dreamlands or 
  creating new ones. In order to do this, the character must both make at 
  least one skill roll and also suffer a certain number of Int damage 
  determined by the Keeper. This may be accomplished in a single instant 
  or over many years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious the 
  creation is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the Dreamlands, a 
  successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 Int point for each hit 
  point restored.  
   
  Dream Lore Skill: This skill is the character’s knowledge of the 
  Dreamlands, its inhabitants, geography, and history. Rolls on this skill 
  can be used to identify a Dreamlands location, recall historical details 
  about a particular time or place in the Dreamlands, identify a 
  Dreamlands creature or deity, and so forth. It can also determine 
  whether a being encountered belongs to the Dreamlands or the Cthulhu 
  Mythos. In effect, it is the Dreamlands equivalent of History, 
  Anthropology, Natural History, and Occult all rolled into one. 
   
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 24 
  
  Stephen Abromowitz, Anthropologist 
   
  Gender: Male 
  Age: 37 
  Defensive Option 
  Level: 5 
   
  Ability 
  Score Mod  
  Saving Throws 
   
   
   
  Strength 
  11 
  +0 
   
  Type 
  Total = Base 
  Ability 
  Mod 
  Misc 
  Mod 
  Dexterity 
  09 
  -1 
   
  Fortitude +4 
  +4 
  +0 
   
  Constitution 10 
  +0 
   
  Reflex 
  +3 
  +4 
  -1 
   
  Intelligence 15 
  +2 
   
  Will 
  +2 
  +1 
  +1 
   
  Wisdom 
  12 
  +1 
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Charisma 
  14 
  +2 
   
  Sanity: 
  68 
   
   
   
   
  Armor 
  Class 
   
  Base 
  Defense 
  Bonus 
  Dex 
  Mod 
  Misc. 
  Mod 
  12    = 
  10 
  +3 
  -1 
   
   
  Hit Points: 25 
   
  Initiative: -1 (Dex) 
   
  Melee 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Str 
  Mod 
   
   
  Ranged 
  Attack = 
  Base 
  Attack 
  + Dex 
  Mod 
   
  +2 
  +2 
  +0 
   
   
  +1 
  +2 
  -1 
   
   
  Skill 
  Total 
  = Ranks 
  + Ability 
  Mod 
  + Misc 
  Mod 
  Appraise (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  4 
  +2 
   
  Demolitions (Int) 
  +7 
  = 
  3 
  +2 
  +2 
  Dreaming (Wis) 
  +3 
  = 
  2 
  +1 
   
  Heal (Wis)  (cc) 
  +2 
  = 
  1 
  +1 
   
  Knowledge 
  (anthropology) (Int)  
  +13 
  = 
  8 
  +2 
  +3 
  Knowledge 
  (history) 
  (Int) 
  +10 
  = 
  8 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge 
  (archaeology)  (Int)  
  +8 
  = 
  6 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge (occult)  (Int) 
  +8 
  = 
  6 
  +2 
   
  Knowledge 
  (geology) 
  (Int)  (cc) 
  +4 
  = 
  2 
  +2 
   
  Research  (Int) 
  +10 
  = 
  8 
  +2 
   
  Search (Int) 
  +9 
  = 
  7 
  +2 
   
  Speak Russian (Int) 
  +8 
  = 
  6 
  +2 
   
  Speak Spanish (Int) 
  +6 
  = 
  4 
  +2 
   
  Speak Yiddish (Int)  (cc) 
  +4 
  = 
  2 
  +2 
   
  Spot (Wis) 
  +9 
  = 
  8 
  +1 
   
   
  Languages: English, Russian, Spanish, Yiddish 
   
  Feats: 
  Cautious, 
  Skill 
  Emphasis 
  (Knowledge—anthropology), 
  Toughness 
   
  Equipment:  
  Two suitcases of clothes, jacket, boots, hat, briefcase with books and 
  papers, camera, wallet (money, passport, picture of wife). 
   
  Roleplaying Information/Background: 
  You were born to a prosperous Jewish family in New York City. 
  Although your parents hoped you would join them in business, you 
  eventually decided on an academic career instead. While in college you 
  read Franz Boas’ The Mind of Primitive Man and were immediately 
  fascinated. You decided then to change your major from History to 
  Anthropology, and eventually graduated Summa Cum Laude.  
   
  You excelled in other ways as well, leading New York 
  University’s fencing team to a national title. Yet despite all these 
  accomplishments, you have always felt denied the recognition you are 
  due. This has remained true since college, during the years you have 
  spent studying the extinct cultures of Mesoamerica. Despite the 
  frequent excellence of your work, you have never earned any awards or 
  prizes from the rest of the academic community, and you wonder if 
  your Jewish heritage may stand in the way of the fame and success you 
  feel you have earned.  
   
  What is especially galling about this is that you are not a faithful 
  or observant Jew; in fact, you are a socialist and an atheist, and your 
  wife Margaret is a Gentile. You feel bitter sometimes that your 
  ancestry, which you did not choose and have done your best to reject, 
  still hampers your life in so many ways. You regard this as a sign of the 
  failures of the religious, capitalistic West.  
   
  The call to visit the new archeological site in the Soviet Union 
  could well be the career breakthrough you have been denied for so 
  long.  
   
  Aleksandr Voinovich Krupatkin: This respected Russian archeologist 
  has the same political beliefs as you, but he seems strangely unfriendly. 
  You suppose it must be your heritage, weighing down your life once 
  again. 
   
  Stepan Gregorovich Leskov: An older Russian, introduced to you as a 
  famous historian. He seems tired and uncommunicative, but at least not 
  hostile. 
   
  Vladimir Ivanovich Dybenko: A reporter for some Russian newspaper. 
  You’re not sure if he is hostile to you or not. 
   
  Mirabelle Chirac: At last, someone who understands. This woman has 
  struggled bitterly against prejudice in her own country, just as you have 
  in yours. She has suggested you should move to Europe to further your 
  career, and you find that thought appealing. 
   
  Peter Holloway: An English archeologist; you’ve heard of him. Most 
  Englishmen are anti-Semitics who hide behind a veneer of snobbish 
  manners, and you’re sure this man is no exception.  
   
  Dreaming Skill: This skill represents the ability to alter the reality of 
  the Dreamlands, either by changing objects within the Dreamlands or 
  creating new ones. In order to do this, the character must both make at 
  least one skill roll and also suffer a certain number of Int damage 
  determined by the Keeper. This may be accomplished in a single instant 
  or over many years of dreaming, depending on how ambitious the 
  creation is. The more complex and powerful the creation, the more 
  time, skill rolls, and ability points are needed. 
   
  Dreaming skill has one other application: within the Dreamlands, a 
  successful roll can heal damage at the rate of 1 Int point for each hit 
  point restored.  
  Arctic Dreams 
  Characters 
  Page 25 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Call of Cthulhu (CoC) (BRP) [multi]/Call of Cthulhu (d20)/CoC d20 - Arctic Dreams.pdf