Become the Rhythm

*Jazz music starts*

Background

The Truth

Richard Dorcas, a college dropout and music entrepreneur. Has recently started up an exciting new age physical therapy group “Rhythmic Renewal”, in his town of Bainmore, Vermont.

It promises to aid physical ails with a newly discovered technique of sound assisted healing. Despite sounding like any new-age quackery, it seems to actually work.

Of course not everything is perfect, every person who listens in on the song, becomes closer in tune to the court of the Daemon Sultan itself, Azathoth. The eventual harmonization culminates in a hideous transformation becoming just another instrument of the swirling chaos, of course here on earth, this can be problematic.

Briefing

Agents are called upon in their usual ways, and are briefed about a strange case of a medical incident. In the small town of Bainmore. A recently deceased individual has passed away from cancer, their autopsy showed unnatural results. A friendly on the inside picked this up and made the call.

Bainmore Hospital

The Corpse

Currently stored in the hospital mortuary. The agents do not get a cover identity to use, and thus might not even be able to access the corpse for inspection.

Using their real identification, or other ways to take a peek at it, might earn them scrutiny with the police.

The corpse is a homeless woman who had no identification. Her autopsy showed a large red tumorous mass in her head, overtaking most of the skull and pushing out the remaining brain. Despite this, evidence shows that she has lived like this for a bit, before passing away from a stroke.

An agent with relevant skills can easily see how strange this is, while people have survived with parts of their brain missing before, the tumor is much too large, and has a strange “spongy” feel to it.

Upon closer inspection, an agent can feel a subtle deep rhythmic beat if they bring up their ear to it, causing 0/1 SAN from the Unnatural.

This woman attended several Rhythmic Renewal sessions who’s staff allowed her treatments for free out of sympathy.

The Cancers

Even without the corpse, asking around hospital staff or patients, the agents can learn about the Cancers (Agents might overhear some staff discussing this).

An uptick in people suffering symptoms common with brain cancer, including some having confirmed tumors, though none as large as the corpse.

Further questioning will reveal that many of the patients have visited Rhythmic Renewal sessions, for various different reasons. Asking the staff about this, most of them dismiss it as new age pseudoscience and a fad.

Feel free to play up the symptoms of a mental fog or dementia that seems to be common with frequent users of Rhythmic Renewal.

Bainmore Police

The Bainmore police might be on alert if people start snooping around Rhythmic Renewal. This is because the chief Dale Adams, has had his long ailing leg injury he suffered on duty many years ago, cured by attending several therapy sessions.

This caused him to now hold its founder, and the whole business in high regard. On his recommendation many of the police in his station also began visiting it, earning it quite a reputation in the whole precinct.

They may become a consistent thorn in the side, especially if they realize that agents might be federal workers. Of course a lot of them are attendees of Rhythmic Renewal, and all the strangeness that causes, make sure to play it up in encounters with them.

Rhythmic Renewal

The Business operates out of a heavily renovated warehouse. It has a staff of around 30, with 12 trained musicians including Dorcas, it has few security staff, though they aren’t heavily armed.

It has operated only for a few months so far, group listening sessions are fairly cheap, more specialized treatment requires a consultation with Dorcas himself first.

Group Listening

If the agents seem curious they might get invited to a free group listening session, out of first time courtesy.

This involves scheduling around half an hour, where several “patients” lay in beds and are ordered to relax, while a trained band performs soft Jazz in the middle of the room, count this as a single time use of lesser Notes of Renewal.

If asked around, some staff might mention a Homeless woman who they allowed to attend these sessions for free, since she seemed to have been ailing often.

Specialized Therapy

Asking around may also reveal that more specialized treatment for serious causes is available. This costs a pretty penny (Unusual expense), and requires a full consultation with Dorcas first, as he wants to make sure the person requesting it truly needs it, and to make sure that they do not freak out once it is performed, this might be a good way for the agents to meet him.

The treatment involves the person and a musician going into a soundproof room, at which point they will perform the piece. Only 3 musicians including Dorcas know how to perform this. Count this as a single time use of true Notes of Renewal. Only a very select few have undergone this treatment, one of whom is Dale Adams, the chief of police.

Richard Dorcas

Richard Dorcas is a busy man, though his business has not reached mainstream yet, it certainly seems like it's about to, with many sources reaching out to him for interviews and the like. He also makes sure to oversee patients and he is present at every Specialized Therapy session, even if he is not the one performing it.

Though he enjoys his newfound fame and fortune, at his core he is still a nervous student, and further investigation reveals his shy nature, he is quite secretive, and the agents will have a hard time reaching out to him.

Beneath that hides something off, indeed he is the only one who truly realizes that this music is something more, something beyond them. He is no Alhazred, and the name “Azathoth” or the title of “Daemon sultan” mean nothing to him, but in his dreams he saw his place and destiny at the eternal court, though he doesn’t admit this to anyone out of fear of seeming insane.

Every night at the basement of Rhythmic Renewal, he performs music in private, perhaps training for his eventual role.

Items of interest

The upstairs of the facility contains several documents protected by staff containing instructions for lesser Notes of Renewal, given out to musicians performing group listening sessions. It also has several recordings of these performances that Rhythmic Renewal wishes to sell once it gains more mainstream attention. Additionally there are several documents that document each person that attended sessions.

Only Dorcas has access to the true Notes of Renewal, and he always keeps it on himself or secreted away in the basement.

Finale

Confrontation

Once the pressure starts to mount, especially if confronted about the cancers and the corpse, Dorcas and 2 of his musicians trained in specialized therapy scurry away to the basement of the facility, which will surely confuse the rest of the staff.

The basement is locked, and only some staff have the key, breaking it down is possible, but might attract unwanted attention.

Inside they find Dorcas laying in a fetal position, clearly in pain, playing a Saxophone heavily out of tune. Beside him are the other 2 musicians both in similar states of distress.

Upon witnessing someone enter the room, Dorcas will stop playing, sit up on his knees, and begin clutching his head panting heavily.

Soon he yells out “The music! I can hear it so clearly! I can see the throne-” before beginning to make unpleasant gurgling sounds, and violently turning himself inside out to become an Instrument. The 2 people next to him also turn.

If the agents somehow fully prevent Richard from reaching the basement, he will still transform, just in a different setting.

Continuation

After Dorcas’ demise Rhythmic Renewal will soon fall apart, agents wanting to avoid further consequences might wish to get rid of all sources of music present, which will be a lengthy, but doable process, as all the sources are currently only inside the business itself.

There are some further complications that might arise, that are unfortunately out of scope of this scenario, but creative handlers might still want to utilize them.

• The remaining patients - Smart agents may wish to gain access for a list of visitors of therapy sessions. In total there are around 81 unique group therapy visitors, and 7 specialized therapy visitors. Only 19 of them are suffering enough to potentially become instruments.
• Encore - If a Handler wishes for a more “explosive” finale, perhaps Dorcas’ turning triggers something in the rest of the patients, and all those eligible (19) also turn, all around the small town.

STAT BLOCKS

RITUALS

Notes of Renewal (Lesser)

Simple ritual. Study time: hours; 1 SAN. Activation: minutes; 4 WP, 1 SAN.

A modified version of the true original, has a much lesser and subtle effect. This is the ritual used in Rhythmic Renewals “Group Listening sessions”. Composed of a series of notes, and variations exist for all sorts of various different musical instruments, mostly written in the style of typical Jazz music.

An operator must perform a piece that features this sequence of notes, only knowing the notes is needed, but actually knowing how to play an instrument helps, allowing for a +20% bonus if an operator has at least 20% in any music based skill.

After finishing the piece, anyone hearing the music receives 1D4 HP back. Any mild aches or ills also seem to be elevated. This does not appear to “heal” damages in any traditional way, and wounds seemingly close up spontaneously.

Anyone hearing the music must make a POWx5 roll, this happens every time this ritual is used. On a success they seem to hear an odd deep rhythm in the back of their head, that’s not present in the music. Track each time a success happens for a character and see the results below.

• 1 Success - Nothing out of the ordinary changes in the life of the listener.
• 2 Successes - The listener begins suffering subtle symptoms of early brain cancer, as well as showing signs of memory loss and general confusion. Strange tumors may begin manifesting as well. This can be treated with traditional means, and may be cured, at which point you can reset the POW success counter and start from 0.
• 3 Successes - The listener begins to show heavy signs of early onset dementia, they begin to hear a subtle melody constantly akin to tinnitus.  Most of the brain is now covered by strange “spongy” red tumors, to the point where removing them would prove fatal. The listener may still live like this for quite some time. They gain +1D4 in Unnatural
• 4 Successes - The listener becomes in tune with the court of Azathoth, and they begin to hear the melody very clearly now. In time they will attempt to violently join it,  which will happen upon any stressful situation (hitting a breaking point, or temporary insanity, or any time the Handler wishes appropriate). They gain +1D6 in Unnatural

Notes of Renewal (True)

Complex ritual. Study time: days 1D4 SAN. Activation: minutes; 8 WP, 1D6 SAN.

The original transcription that Richard possessed, it’s unknown how he got access to it. It can be played on any melodic instrument, and the operator gets a +20% bonus if they have 20% or more in any musical based skill. This is used in specialized therapies at Rhythmic Renewal.

After finishing the piece, each listener has all of their HP fully restored. If they are missing any limbs, they seemingly appear again out of nowhere, which may cause further SAN loss. This also restores any stat losses that may be associated with such damages. Any suffering debilitation they had unrelated to the ritual they had such as chronic illnesses, seem to be erased. Important to note, that this does not “regrow” new tissue, instead it’s almost as if the listener shifts reality around until the issue stops existing.

Anyone hearing the music must make a POWx5 roll, this happens every time this ritual is used. On a success treat is as getting 3 successes, on a failure treat is as 2 (see above).

NPCS

Richard Dorcas

Overripe musician, age 24

(similar stats may be used for any frequent users of Notes of Renewal)

STR: 9 CON: 10 DEX: 12 INT: 11 POW: 15

CHA: 8 HP: 10 WP: 15 SAN: 17 Breaking point: 15

Skills: Art (Saxophone) 60%, Art (Piano) 40%, Art (Songwriting) 40%, Alertness 40%, Computer Science 20%, Persuade 30%,  Unnatural 7%.

TUMORS: As a frequent listener to the Notes of Renewal, Dorcas is tumor-ed up to the gills, this also manifests as signs of early onset dementia, and other mental problems.

BECOME THE RHYTHM: Dorcas is closely in tune with the court of Azathoth, and the tumors serve as amplifiers to the music. Upon any stressful situation his body will violently reject his human shell, and will attempt to reconfigure itself violently into an Instrument of the Outer Gods, witnessing this causes 0/1D4 SAN loss from the Unnatural.

Instrument of the Outer Gods

Feels the beat

STR: 14 CON: 16 DEX: 10 INT: 10 POW: 20

HP: 15 WP: 20

Armor: 1 point of protruding bones and muscle.

Attacks:  Bash 40%, 1D4 + 1

Rupture 50% 1D9 + 2 (see RUPTURE)

Minor Key 60% special (see MINOR KEY)

EXPIRY DATE: Instruments come from the human anatomy violently attempting to reconfigure itself to be part of the court of Azathoth, this is of course not perfect as our frail fleshy bodies are not able to perfectly replicate the various mad pipers and tuners at the seat of the Daemon sultan. All Instruments will pass away from various complications in only a few hours, of course this still leaves behind their body, and any damage they might cause beforehand.

MINOR KEY: The Instrument may spend 5 WP to attempt to perform a frequency that seems to heavily confuse and disorient the human mind, only one person suffers this at a time, as the others seem ignorant of any sound being produced. On a Success the person loses 1D6 WP, and they become stunned for one turn. On a Failure the person loses 1 WP. Wearing strong enough ear protection provides a +20% bonus to avoiding this effect.

MUSIC: Instruments constantly produce a blaring cacophony of noises imitating various instruments (see UNIQUE). Each round every listener must make a SAN roll, failing means losing 1 SAN, and every roll during that round having a -20% penalty, as they struggle to concentrate. If there are 3 or more instruments present at the same time the SAN is rolled at a -20% penalty, as they seem to horribly harmonize with themselves. Wearing strong enough ear protection provides immunity to this effect.

OUT OF TUNE: "That sounded off, give me a moment.", if an instrument fumbles a MINOR KEY or RUPTURE roll, they become stunned as they seem to attempt to reconfigure themselves.

RUPTURE: The Instrument may spend 5 WP to attempt to perform a frequency that seems to trigger something within a human, causing horrible internal ruptures, only one person suffers this at a time, as the others seem ignorant of any sound being produced. This pierces any traditional armor, but if the victim is wearing strong enough ear protection, it counts as 5 armor.

UNIQUE: Each instrument is unique in appearance, often poorly replicating a known musical instrument as a vague quivering fleshy mass. Often they become an instrument that the original person knew the most (had the highest skill level in), otherwise it’s up to the Handler.

UNNATURAL BIOLOGY: Though once human, the Instrument’s physiology now would baffle any biologist. Making a called shot for “vitals” or another apparently vulnerable area inflicts normal damage, with no special game effect.

SAN LOSS: 0/1D6

Credits

Become the Rhythm was written by Tairbaz for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GqtHhReVpdOSt00xn4ZS4DXEoEYMRRyZFVhh3v3u5qA/edit