'Beyond The Silver Threshold' - A Supernatural Horror Adventure Encounter For BASH & Call Of Cthulhu

Sitting on a shelf in a back water museum in a small New England Town is a terrible secret surrounding a centuries old Pictish artifact taken by Viking raiders in the 6th century. This silver artifact is part of ancient hoard containing ancient secrets including the location of a legendary monster god thing and its Viking warrior servants. Discovered in Nova Scotia and taken back to the small New England town museum of your choice. This piece has been stolen and is now up on the auction block. The theft has activated a strange curse summoning back the brine drenched ghosts and guardians of the god thing to slain whomever comes in contact with the artifact. Now its a race against time as the silver artifact passes from hand to hand spreading its blood curse to those who would defy the ancient god serpent monster. The thing who even now feeds upon the souls of those its minion slay in its name. There have been eight victims of the drowned Viking king and his warriors. The police seem helpless to stop the trail of bloodshed. 

Photo by Johnbod 

The last person to handle the item is Lowel Henderson, a local historian and antique dealer. He's been found slain in his west side home by neighbors who found the beloved historian with multiple stab wound and the police are at a loss. The players are called in to help identify strange symbols and whirls found made with his blood. Mr. Henderson has a book underneath some splintered book shelves which might offer a clue about the legend of the silver plaque called 'Viking Mysteries and Legends of Nova Scotia - An Account of the Supernatural Myths and Legends Of Vikings In The New World'. This book was written by Mr. Henderson's great grand father who tangled with the so called 'Drowned Kings and Warriors of Old'. The book goes on to describe that the Drowned Kings are servants and victims of the supernatural evil of the Sea Wyrm forever tied spiritually to the thing for all time due to the curse. Henderson was trying to trace down the 'whirl map' made up of the mystic symbols on the plaque that lead to the supernatural realm of the sea wyrm! But the drowned kings ended his life before he could open a gateway to the sea wyrm's realm & lift the curse. The silver plaque is part of a cursed Pict hoard of stolen silver artifacts and booty. The hoard bares a blood curse upon it for the terrible evil done for its possession whose betrayers fled to the New World but whose souls were pledged to the Sea Wyrm. They serve the thing beyond the grave even now and for all eternity.
The small silver plaque has been stolen by one of the neighbor's children who found the body. The magick of the blood curse compelled little Jimmy Throghu to take the shiny silver plaque because of its incredible shiny and supernaturally intricate design. The ghostly undead Viking warriors things are even now on their way.

Tracking down little Jimmy shouldn't be too hard at all as a dangerous and horrid storm of supernatural aspect moves into the neighbor hood surrounding  the Throghu household. The storm increases as the Veil between worlds begins to thin and the warriors move in.
A supernatural rip between worlds has been created as schism is created leading to the storm lashed sea  world where the wyrm waits to claim its latest victim's soul. The PC's must return the silver Pict plaque to the world of the Wyrm in order to end the curse. Or the blood shed will continue or worse will happen.

Returning the silver plaque to the realm of the Sea Wyrm will end the blood curse for now but there are many other artifacts from the hoard of the 'Drowned Kings' still circulating out in the world. The cycle of blood shed and supernatural slavery won't simply end with the saving of one or two lives. The PC's may have only seen the tip of the supernatural iceberg.

The Sea Wyrm for  Call of Cthulhu 

STR     85

CON    60

SIZ       80

INT      20

POW   30

DEX     12

HP       85

Armour:  8 points of scaly skin

Move:  4/ 12 Swimming

Damage Bonus: +9d6          

Weapons: His Majesty may bite each round, unless it is attempting to initiate a Grapple. Ongoing Grapple checks do not prevent His Majesty from biting.

Bite – 60%, 2d8+ Damage Bonus, If a target is bitten and survives, His Majesty will attempt a STR vs. STR roll to pull the unfortunate victim into its coils to Grapple, and  ‘Crush’.

Crush – His Majesty can automatically Crush each round that it maintains a grapple on an individual. It can also automatically Grapple any object, including boats with Hit Points up to ½ its SIZ. Use the Vehicle table on p. 285, of ‘Call of Cthulhu, 6 ^th edition, as a guide for judging the Hit Points for Marine craft. A ship that is ‘Crushed’ sustains half of the rolled damage bonus each round. When all of the ship’s Hit Points are gone it breaks up and begins to sink.

Swallow Whole – On a special or critical hit a target that is size 20 or smaller may be swallowed whole, in which case it takes half
More details on this monster can be found on Clint Staples blog HERE

For Call of Cthulhu the silver plaque is an artifact of the Draugr of Woden-lithi with deep ties to a particularly disgraced clan of these undead sorcerer warriors. Not merely undead viking warriors these things are something far more dangerous with ties to the Sea Wyrm and a deep as well as abiding curse upon them. 

STR 28

CON 25

SIZ 16 [for bloated/ gigantic, add +4d6]

INT 17

POW 27

DEX 15

APP 2

HP 21 [for bloated/ gigantic, add half of therolled 4d6 for greater SIZ]

Move 7

Damage Bonus: _2d6 ot +3d6 depending on SIZ.

Weapons: Witchbronze Blessed Keening Blade [Enchanted with Enchant Cane] 90%, 1d10+1 Damage + damage bonus.

Armor Points - Dead Flesh 3 AP + 1d10 – Skin Charm.

Skills: Astronomy 80%, Cthulhu Mythos 51%, Hide 55%. Antideluvian History, 50%, Mining 80%, Bronzesmithing 90%, Occult 84%, Sneak 69%;

Spells – Augur, Black Binding, Bless Blade, Cause/ Cure Blindness, Call Nightgaunt, Contact Nodens, Death Spell, Evil Eye, Dominate,
You can also find out more about these supernatural sorcerer things right over HERE

'Viking Mysteries and Legends of Nova Scotia - An Account of the Supernatural Myths and Legends Of Vikings In The New World'.

This book is the vanity press creation of Dr. D.D. Henderson from 1919 from his deep studies of the Pictish hoards taken from the wilds of some of the isle settlements  surrounding Norway taken by the Vikings and certain artifacts found in Nova Scotia. 

It contains the accounts of mythological legends concerning the dealing of the Vikings with the Draugr of Woden-lithi, Nodens, Odin, and the god thing known as the Sea Wyrm. The book is part archaeological journal, part occult treatise, and part sea account chronicling the author's journey into the world of the supernatural and his confrontation with the Sea Wyrm.  There were only twenty three copies at the time of pressing. Only four remain in the world. 

Spells Within The Viking Mysteries The book contains some very intricate spells drawn from antiquity mapped and steeped in deep symbolic language of the original author's view of the occult. There are spells such as call/dismiss Draugr of Woden-lithi, Contact Nodens, Call Odin, Bless Blade, Contact Sea Wyrm, Create Doorway To The Realm. 

There are still more secrets within the Mysteries and the DM can add in more mysteries as he sees fit to the book.
Special thanks To Clint Staples for his creations and conversions of the film Ragnarok