Edited by David Little
A warning to those with weak stomachs or strong ethical morals. The Horror writer in me really came out when I first wrote this side adventure about two years ago. In my campaign, Satanists are a rare, but extremely dangerous group. Thoroughly evil, and depraved. To emphasis this, I have included in graphic detail the deaths of the farming families. These should be used to their fullest in order to shock, disgust, and work the players into a burning rage. The Satanist's are to be destroyed with extreme prejudice.
This adventure is both a search and destroy, and a rescue mission. It is strongly recommended that at least one of the characters in the team have a degree in Psychology. It will be needed.
A small communal farm in central South Dakota, near the ruins Pierre, has been destroyed in the most hideous means imaginable.
A group of Satanists, lead by a powerful Telepath, have set up home in the ruins of an old high school on the outskirts of Pierre. They just moved in about a week previously, and are now busy hunting down local farmers. Their first target is a communal farm of five families located north, about midway between Pierre and the Oahe Dam. The Satanists have had several days to recon the farm, and finally make their attack. This is where the party comes in.
The project team, traveling near by, notice a large number of vultures circling a small communal acreage. As the party approaches, they take in a very disturbing view.
First, a description of the Farm itself. Three large barns can be seen standing side by side. They are two story structures. Its obvious that they are used to house milk cows and horses, as the corpses are easily seen at a distance. The party also notices an elaborate winch/pulley system to lift bales of hay into the barns collective lofts.
Behind the barns are two rows of six large metal grain silos.
To the right of the barns is a large wooden, open faced garage. Two ancient tractors can be seen inside, as well as plows, seeders, and swathers. Another large winch and pulley system can be seen hanging from the ceiling of the building. All around the building can be seen large amounts of rusting metal, everything from old car bodies to reinforcement beams.
About one hundred meters due south of the open faced garage is another large building. This one is sealed off entirely except for a large sliding door. Inside can be seen a huge still. A smaller building attached to the main one is used to store raw material for the still. The rear wall of the building contains shelves of glass jars filled with the distilled alcohol.
To the left of the barns the party can see a huge, fenced off pasture. Here the corpses of cattle can be seen, and this is what the vultures are after.
All over the compound are sheds of various sizes. One is used as a smoke house, two are used as chicken coops, one is used as a pig pen. A larger shed contains the remains of Ostriches. Several others are used for storage.
A large well sits in the dead center of the little community.
Three one story houses are spread out over the farm, and two, two story homes can be seen. Even from a distance, the party can see that the windows have been smashed out, and strange symbols have been painted on the walls.
Each house has an attached outhouse. They can also see doors lying on the ground which will lead to root cellars.
The One story homes have this layout: One large common room, a large and a small bedroom, a kitchen/dining room and finally a room with a large wooden tub.
The two story houses have two large bedrooms and three smaller bedrooms on the second floor. The main floor is identical to the one story homes, except there are no bedrooms on the main level.
As the party investigates the farm, they will hear nothing. No noise from anywhere. If they call out, no one will answer. The stench of death fills the air. A strong, metallic odor will be noticed (Blood). Every animal on the farm has been slaughtered. Most have been ripped open and different organs have been removed. The symbols on the homes are all satanic in nature (pentagrams, upside down crosses, a goats head, etc.). They have been painted in blood. It is strongly recommended that the party members be forced to make CON checks, as the smell is so strong, it might cause them to vomit.
This is what the party will find when they enter the homes: Each home will be in shambles. The windows will be broken, doors will hang off hinges, and the walls, floors, and ceilings will be splashed in blood. The families will be described in graphic detail for each home.
In the first one story home, in the common room, the party will find a man in his mid twenties. He is lying face down on the floor, surrounded by his blood. The skin on his entire body has been expertly peeled away, leaving behind the exposed muscle. He died slowly and in great pain. His skin is tacked on the wall like a bizarre trophy. In the main bedroom, a woman in her mid twenties will be found. She has been crucified, upside down on the wall above the bed. Her stomach has been torn open, and her intestines hang down. Her throat has also been slashed.
The second one story home contains the remains of a man in his late forties. He has been hung from the ceiling. A large gaping hole has been punched in his chest, and the heart has been removed. A look of sheer terror is frozen on his face. Several portions of his body have been sliced away, as if he was butchered. The main bedroom contains the body of a woman in her late thirties. She has been hung, and suffers the same wounds as the man in the main room. The smaller bedroom contains the body of a young girl, no more than 13. She has been stripped, and tied to the bed, spread eagle, on her stomach. She has been raped to death.
The third single story home contains a woman in her late forties. She is sitting in a wooden chair. A shot gun is resting in her hands. Her head decorates the wall behind her. The main bedroom contains the remains of a man in his early fifties. His chest has been blown open by a shot gun.
In the first of the two story homes, the party finds the family sitting around the large dinner table. An elderly man and woman sit side by side. A woman in her late thirties sits alone. Four children, ranging in ages from six to thirteen are seated around the table. All are dead. Their throats have been slashed, and their hearts have been torn from their chests. A man in his early forties is on top of the table. He has been cut from neck to navel, and his torso has been spread apart, revealing an empty cavity. All his organs have been placed on plates in front of the family members.
In the last two story home, the party finds the remains of a man in his mid thirties lying face down on the common room floor. His body is covered in deep slashes. His head has been separated from his neck. In the kitchen, a woman in her mid thirties has been killed in the exact same manner. Lying on top of the table is a pile of human hearts. In each of the upstairs bedrooms, a young child, no older than eight, has been killed in the same method. The difference here is that the killer is still around. It is the family's eldest daughter, a pretty young girl of sixteen. She will be hiding when the party enters and begins to investigate. She will stalk any character who is alone, and will attack using stealth. She is wielding a large butcher knife. If she is unable to kill the character outright, the party will be faced with a naked girl, covered from head to toe in human blood. She is totally insane. She is unable to speak coherently. She will do everything in her power to try and kill the party. Odds are that the party will end up killing her. It will take years of psychological counseling to return her to normal, or the work of a Telepath, to repair the damage.
Now, if any member of the party happens to possess the tracking skill, they will be able to find a number of tracks heading due south towards the ruins of Pierre. From the depth of the tracks, it appears that the people who made the tracks were carrying something heavy. It will be impossible to follow the tracks for more than a few hundred meters, as they dissappear into the fields.
The rest of the adventure will go as follows: The first night, the PD will roll PSI resistance checks for all the members in the team. If they fail, they will suffer from hideous nightmares (the players will probably think they are by products of the horrors they have just witnessed.) This will not cause insanity, it will, however cause a 20% reduction in all skills because of lack of sleep.
The High Priest will hide near where the players are camped. Any character alone will be targeted for torment. The high priest will first probe the victims mind (Mind Probe). He will try to find out what scares the character the most. If successful, he will use his illusion ability to bring the victims fear to life and will attack the character with it. Remember, the illusion is totally real to the character. Any damage suffered will be real. When the screams of the victim reach the rest of the team, the High Priest will end it. He will attempt to terrorize the party using this method for several nights as long as they are near the ruins.
The closer the party gets to the Satanists hideout, the worse the attacks will become. The priest will try to take control of any lone character (hey, they have to use the bathroom sometime) and if he is successful, he will force the character to walk away from the party towards the waiting arms of his followers. If successful, he will then transfer minds with the character and use his body and knowledge to approach the rest of the team. Here he will interact with the group if they talk to him (allow them a PSI roll to see if they notice something odd). He will wait until the last minute before his connection will be broken. He will then use the characters most powerful weapon, or explosives on the party. As soon as he pulls the trigger, he transfers back to his own body.
This tactic is very risky, as any character with tracking, motion detectors, etc.; will have a relatively easy time finding the Satanists. If this happens, the high priest will use his illusion ability to try and lead the party off in the wrong direction.
Even if this tactic succeeds, the party will eventually pick up the trail and it will lead to the ruins of an old high school. This is where the party will encounter and fight the Satanists.
The building the Satanists inhabit has all but collapsed. They will find a stairwell leading down to the building's basement. It appears to have been mostly cleared of rubble. The remains of a wooden door block the entrance. The doorway leads into a black, dusty hallway. All over the place the party can see rubble. Only a small section of the basement is intact. The stretch of hallway has three doors. Two on the right hand side, and one on the left. The hall stretches twenty meters and becomes a four way intersection. Only the right corridor is un-blocked. This corridor travels another 10 meters and ends in a large sliding metal door. The building reeks of decay, dust, and blood.
The door on the left leads to a small five meter deep by eight meter wide room. The walls still hold the crumbling remains of shelving units. A couple of old mattresses are lying about the room. In the center of the room is a black circle filled with cold ashes.
The first door on the right leads to another storage room. This one is five meters deep by ten meters wide. It is filled with old desks, which have been pushed back into the far side of the room, allowing a large portion of the chamber to be used as living quarters. Again, several old mattresses are scattered around the room, and another cold fire is in the center of the room.
The second door on the right opens to another storage room identical to the first. The main difference is this one is filled with one meter cube rusty metal cages. Here, the Satanists keep the few children they took from the farm. Even after only a few days captivity, the children are in sorry condition. There are three girls ages seven, nine and fourteen, and two young boys, aged three and five. All are naked, cold, and covered in small cuts and bruises. It is also obvious that they have all been raped repeatedly. They will cringe in fear when they see the party, and it will take a great deal of reassureing from the characters that they are not going to be harmed. Even then, the children will be ready to bolt as soon as they get a chance. The horrors they have both witnessed and endured will scar these poor souls for life.
Finally, the large metal door leads to a huge chamber. It is twenty meters deep, and fifteen meters wide. It is the school's old boiler room. This is where the High Priest performs his sick and twisted ceremonies. This is where the party will face the High Priest.
Don't think that it will be a cakewalk through the basement! The Satanists will attack from hiding. They are armed with knives, clubs, and meat cleavers. They will hide in the rubble and attack from behind if they get a chance. There will be a total of two and a half Satanists for every member in the team. So, if the team has eight members, there will be a total of twenty Satanists to fight.
No less than twentyfive per cent of the Satanists will be with the High Priest for the final battle. He will be in hiding and will send his followers to attack the party. He will then use area mental Attack, control, and stun to his best advantage. He will save enough points to try two mind transfers, if any character gets close enough for him to touch. No matter the cost, this particular group of Satanists will eventually be destroyed. The characters then have the sad duty of helping the orphans, and burying the dead.
The Stats for the Head priest are up to the PD. He is a hideously ugly man in his late forties. He is nearly skeletal he is so thin. He is a full Telepath, and has 200 power points to use.
All the Satanists possess the following skills: Hide, Camouflage, Listen, Move silently, and knife. The hide, camo, and move skills are at expert level, while the other two vary in skill level.
Again, if I have offended anyone, I'm sorry. But, the methods I used were very effective when I ran my players through this mini adventure.
