The Singer from Dhol

Details

Pages: 28

Author(s): Florian Hardt, Anne Abelein, Robert Maier (translator), Adam Crossingham (adapted by)

Artist(s): Artists listed with credits for magazine issue.

Setting: 1920s

Appears in: Worlds of Cthulhu, Issue 02.

Campaign:

Summary

The Singer from Dhol is a scenario set in 1920 on Oyster Island, a small island in Maine. The adventure is designed as a one-shot for 4 or 5 players, with each playing a pre-generated character who lives on the island.

Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only

Players should not read any further.

Synopsis

The players each adopt a character who lives on Oyster Island and is part of the same family. At some time in the Middle Ages, an ancestor of the family came into possession of a strange artefact which resembles a flute made of porcelein. When played, a Mythos entity called the Singer from Dhol appears bringing great madness.

Through misadventure, this artefact fell into the hands of a buccaneer who set up a hide-out on Oyster Island. Two different orders followed the call of the flute to the island, though neither could find where it was hidden. Ultimately representatives of both groups settled on the island to watch.

The adventure begins with a death in the Gullson family which leads to long-hidden secrets being uncovered by family members. A sequence of events follows which lead the characters into a kind of who-dunnit for the first half of the scenario as they struggle to find out who committed a series of crimes.

As they understand more about the history of the island, their own family's part in that history, and secrets hidden in St Savior's church, the characters slowly come to understand that the Singer from Dhol is about to manifest on the island. The second half of the adventure revolves around the efforts to stop this terrible fate from coming to fruition.

References

Player Handouts:

• Ada's Letter to Harry
• Sketch of a cave painting
• Newspaper clipping from Boston Globe, 1907
• Handwritten notes and a woodcut
• Page from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Typewritten manuscript
• A page from an art-historical magazine
• A woodcut from Malleus Maleficarum
• Typewritten chapter from Homer's Odyssey
• Letter of complaint from French settlers, 1705
• Text in Latin with hand-written remarks in English
• Floorplan of St Savior's church
• The notebook of Revd Markham

Locations: Oyster Island, Maine

Creatures: The Singer of Dhol is somehow associated with Azathoth

Tomes and Artifacts: Malleus Maleficarum

Campaigns / Scenarios:

Comments

The adventure is inspired by the M.R. James short story "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad".

Keeper Comments

This is a very detailed and quite complex adventure, which includes a fairly significant twist. It would be best attempted by a fairly experienced Keeper, and would be quite rewarding to a group searching for something narratively unusual.