C:/AZATOTA>AGAINSTDAEMONCOURT.EXE

C:/AZATOTA>AGAINSTDAEMONCOURT.EXE

Background

“Against the Daemon Court” (henceforth referred to as ADC) is a middling RPG released for the MS-DOS system in 1993. Hiding a secret unnatural string in its code.

Now it is 1996 these hidden lines were rediscovered and refined in the small town of Blackheller, VT. A local game programmer distributes copies of the accursed program spreading the influence of the Daemon Sultan throughout the town.

Briefing

The Agents are called to investigate the small town of Blackheller. Apparently strange events have been sighted. The case officer can provide some of the hearsay (see Events).

Blackheller

Blackheller is a small suburban community, it really has no things of note, and doesn’t have a particularly rich history.

Locals tend to keep to themselves, but they can give accounts of the strange events some have overheard or seen happening.

They may, if persuaded (reluctantly since many of them are still young) give up the identities of some of the perpetrators, as some have seen the unusual things happening most often around them and their usual hangout spots.

Events:

As Agents investigate Blackheller, unnatural events may happen around them. These have been going on for a few days, manifesting from unnatural copies of ADC currently running in a few of the houses.

They are divided into 2 categories: Minor and Major events. Minor events can happen anywhere in the town, but Majors only manifest near active games (or up to the Handler).

Minor:

• Distant drum and flutes.
• Text from ADC seemingly melded into a wall.
• The Agent's electronics sputter and behave oddly.
• Two objects blended into each other (e.g., a shrub and a mailbox).
• Music and sounds from ADC plays at random before suddenly stopping.
• A minor enemy skulks away.
• The sky has more stars in it than ever before, extra pronounced at night.
• Random chunks of pavement are perfectly cut out and removed.
• Two objects near each other swap what materials they are made out of.

Major:

• An overwhelming amount of drumming and fluting, a single stringed instrument cutting through the cacophony, strangely beautiful.
• A car crash with the victim crumpled around a lightpost, as if hitting some sort of invisible cube around it.
• A large enemy jumps out to attack.
• A group of small enemies chasing around a street dog.
• Gravity acts wrong, either putting too much pressure, or not enough lifting things off the ground.
• As soon as the Agents want to proceed they are blocked off by some sort of invisible force, floating text appears reading “USER HAS PERFORMED AN ILLEGAL ACTION”.
• Randy the knight on patrol, slaying enemies and racoons alike.
• A living glitch briefly appears and moves like floating shattered glass before dispersing into the air.
• In a blink of an eye a large area near the Agents simply ceases to exist.

Looking into ADC:

If the Agent has a teenage child, or if they themselves are particularly “with it”, they may already be aware of ADC on a Luck roll.

It’s not terribly difficult to find the game, a lot of local children and teens talk about it due its strange surge of popularity in town, and some stores began advertising it again putting it on display. It can be summarized as:

“Against the Daemon Court" is a first person RPG released for home computer systems in 1993, similar in style to games such as “Dungeon Hack”, the company that released it, “Throne” is now defunct.

It follows the knight Randy as he traverses through a fantasy landscape overtaken by the “Dark Pharaoh” from the Desert Kingdom who has put a curse upon the land utilizing demonic magic.”

An agent with high enough Occult or Unnatural may see some similarities in the enemies with depictions of entities described in accursed books related to the Daemon Sultan.

Looking into the code of a normal copy, an Agent with Comp.Science 40% or higher can find some redundant seemingly nonsensical lines that aren’t hooked up to any game logic, these are the lines refined to produce the unnatural games, this process can be studied and recreated.

The programmer of the game, allegedly mysteriously disappeared one day, the only evidence left behind is a scribbled note calling the code his “Magnum Opus”.

The Perpetrators:

Quinn Ross was the one to discover the true unnatural properties of the game, and he is currently locked away in his family home. However he managed to make 3 other copies and gave them away to 3 of his friends, all of their copies of the game are currently running.

Some of the younger Blackheller residents are also playing non-unnatural ordinary copies of the game after hearing rumors of its strange properties.

Dustin

Dustin is dead, killed by Randy the Knight, who manifested into the world through Dustin playing the game.

Now the Knight patrols his family home and its near perimeter, becoming more active outside at night. Dustin’s body remains in the upstairs office room near his computer that’s still running a modified copy of the game.

Randy can only speak in pre-generated voice lines (I.E “Fall before my blade!”), but can string sentences along awkwardly by mixing different dialogue. He isn’t outwardly hostile, but is very confused.

He currently has the key to the final dungeon.

Judah

Judah became obsessed with finding secrets within their home that had grown unnaturally labyrinthine and trapped them. Their goal is to find their copy of the game somewhere in the basement, but so far they just have run into dead ends or enemies. If the agents help them they will be cooperative.

Imogen

Imogen knows that she and her friends are at fault for the events, abandoning her home and living off the streets in hiding. She will notice the agents and try to avoid them, in an effort to avoid blame, but her guilty conscience could persuade her to assist them.

The Final Dungeon:

Quinn’s house is the centerpiece of the manifestations and incessant piping plays constantly near it. Looking normally on the outside, inside it has transformed into a bizarre mix of a suburban home and an Egyptian tomb, with walls and furniture bleeding into each other.

No matter how hard the agents try, entry into the house without the key is impossible, besides utilizing a glitch.

Glitch:

Those familiar with the game know that there is an infamous bug present in the cursed desert level. The final dungeon which contains the final boss is technically always accessible, but can only be opened with a special key, however by performing specific movements near the side of the pyramid the player can teleport into it.

Doing the same movements (North, south, west, east, crouching for 5 or more seconds.) on the right side of Quinn’s house will allow the Agents to enter it without the key, but the process is disorienting and harmful costing 1D4 SAN and Health.

Navigating:

The dungeon has an inconsistent layout that’s filled with enemies and traps.

If utilizing a map or just being intimately familiar with the game the Agents get a 20% bonus on rolls to navigate the dungeon (typically Navigate, but it can be any skill up to the Handler).

They need 3 cumulative success rolls to locate the computer room, a critical success counts as 2, a critical failure loses 1 success from the cumulative pool.

(The Handler can improvise events themselves, the below are just guidelines)

Successful events:

• A treasure room, contains an antique weapon.
• Ordinary room, a Search roll reveals a hidden exit that counts as another success.
• A room from the original house.
• A cultist NPC, spits out cryptic nonsense.

Failure events:

• A small trap (1D4).
• A large trap (1D6).
• Group of small enemies.
• Large enemy.
• Dead end, remove one success from the pool.

Computer room:

Modeled after a throne room centralized around a computer that was entombed in a burial box, it is guarded by Quinn, who has been “taken over” by the Dark Pharaoh, the main antagonist of ADC, his appearance now shifted to suit this new form.

Unlike every other game entity, the pharaoh seems to have a degree of awareness of his current situation, and he knows that destroying the computer would end his existence as he knows it, so he will guard it with his life.

The tomb box containing the PC is not locked, but approaching it is very difficult. Shooting at it to disable the computer is possible, but the box is thick and counts as 5 armor.

Conclusion:

Destroying the main computer spontaneously causes all manifestations to cease, in a blink the Agents are standing in a normal house, earning a 1D6 SAN reward, all other unnatural games in the area burn up in their computers with similar effects.

Failing to stop the intrusion in time, will cause Quinn's house, alongside the block near it, to join with the court of Azathoth, consuming everything in a small radius and leaving behind a crater.

STATS:

Small Enemy

An oversized rat, vampire bat, slime, spider, or imp. (not every attack applies to every enemy).

STR: 8 CON: 8 DEX: 10 INT: 5 POW: 10

HP: 8 WP: 10

Skills: Alertness 50%, Unarmed combat 40%, Dodge 50%

Attacks: Scratch or gnaw 40% 1D6

Spit acid 35% 1D6 armor piercing 3

Overwhelm 40% target becomes pinned

Flame fling 60% 1D8 (costs 5 WP)

CONTACT DAMAGE: Touching the enemy in any way will burn the flesh and cause 1 point of damage per round of contact (including if the enemy pins the victim themselves).

EXPERIENCE: Reducing the enemy to 0 will cause it to dissipate into small particles before disappearing entirely.

FLIGHT: Some enemies may be capable of rudimentary flight.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL: Despite seemingly having depth at a glance, and interacting with the world as if they do, this enemy is impossibly thin from one side essentially being in “2D”, they can slip through doors and cracks effortlessly because of this.

SAN LOSS: 0/1D4

Large Enemy

Greater slime, direwolf, floating beast, daemon, or dark Knight. (not every attack applies to every enemy).

STR: 16 CON: 16 DEX: 12 INT: 8 POW: 12

HP: 16 WP: 12

Armor: 1 point of thick flesh, blubber, or metal.

Skills: Alertness 60%, Unarmed combat 50%, Dodge 30%

Attacks: Gnash or scrape 50% 1D8 + 1

Spew projectile 45% 1D6 armor piercing 3

Overwhelm 75% target becomes pinned

Flame dance 65% 2D8 (costs 5 WP)

CONTACT DAMAGE: Touching the enemy in any way will burn the flesh and cause 1 point of damage per round of contact (including if the enemy pins the victim themselves).

EXPERIENCE: Reducing the enemy to 0 will cause it to dissipate into small particles before disappearing entirely.

FLIGHT: Some enemies may be capable of rudimentary flight.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL: Despite seemingly having depth at a glance, and interacting with the world as if they do, this enemy is impossibly thin from one side essentially being in “2D”, they can slip through doors and cracks effortlessly because of this.

SAN LOSS: 0/1D6

The Undead

Skeleton or Zombie summoned by the Dark Pharaoh, each will either wield a sword or bow.

STR: 12 CON: 14 DEX: 6 INT: 4 POW: 5

HP: 13 WP: 5

Armor: 1 point of decaying armor.

Skills: Alertness 20%, Unarmed combat 50%

Attacks: Sword swing 50% 1D8

Loose arrow 40% 1D6 + 1

CONTACT DAMAGE: Touching the enemy in any way will burn the flesh and cause 1 point of damage per round of contact (including if the enemy pins the victim themselves).

EXPERIENCE: Reducing the enemy to 0 will cause it to dissipate into small particles before disappearing entirely.

TWO-DIMENSIONAL: Despite seemingly having depth at a glance, and interacting with the world as if they do, this enemy is impossibly thin from one side essentially being in “2D”, they can slip through doors and cracks effortlessly because of this.

SAN LOSS: 0/1D6

Randy

The protagonist

STR: 18 CON: 20 DEX: 15 INT: 9 POW: 15 CHA: 6 

HP: 20 WP: 15

Armor: 3 points of double enchanted, sacred, demon forged platemail.

Skills: Alertness 50%, Melee weapons 60%, Unarmed combat 60%, Dodge 40%

Attacks: Blade of impudence 60% 1D12 + 2

Crossbow of fury 50% 1D8 armor piercing 3

Righteous punch 60% 1D4 + 1 (deals double damage against impure targets)

Magic 60% (see MAGIC)

CONTACT DAMAGE: Touching Randy in any way will burn the flesh and cause 1 point of damage per round of contact (including if Randy pins the victim themselves).

RESPAWN: Reducing Randy to 0 health will cause him to dissipate into small particles before disappearing entirely, he will reappear if Dustin’s game is still running in a couple of hours.

MAGIC: Randy can utilize several spells he learned over the course of his quest.

Magic Missile, 1D8 (costs 3 WP)

Lighting Bolt, 2D8 (costs 6 WP)

Fireball, Lethality 10%, Kill radius of 3m (costs 10 WP)

Flash, stuns the target for 1D4 rounds (costs 3 WP)

POTIONS: Randy has access to a limited amount of potions he can drink as an action. An Agent may drink and utilize its effects as well, but it feels like TV static on your tongue and throat, costing 1D4 SAN each time.

2x Healing potions (heals 1D6 health)

1x Greater healing potions (heals 1D10 health)

2x Mana potions (heals 1D6 willpower)

TWO-DIMENSIONAL: Despite seemingly having depth at a glance, and interacting with the world as if he does, Randy  is impossibly thin from one side essentially being in “2D”, he can slip through doors and cracks effortlessly because of this.

VOICE LINES:  Randy can only speak in pre-generated voice lines (I.E “Fall before my blade!”), but can string sentences along awkwardly by mixing different dialogue.

SAN LOSS: 0/1D4

Dark Pharaoh

The antagonist

STR: 20 CON: 24 DEX: 12 INT: 20 POW: 25 CHA: 10 

HP: 22 WP: 25

Armor: 2 points of sacred garb.

Skills: Alertness 60%, Unarmed combat 50%, Dodge 45%

Attacks: Staff smack 60% 1D6

Dark bolt (ranged) 50% 1D10, (costs 3 WP)

Enfeebling ray 50% 1D6, target suffers a -20% penalty to all rolls for 1D4 rounds, (costs 3 WP)

Unfurl flame 50% 2D6 damage, can target 2 people, (costs 5 WP)

VESSEL: The Pharaoh is utilizing Quinn’s body as a vessel, morphing into a tall dark man wearing ostentatious egyptian guard, with a sunken skull-like face, any damage dealt to the Pharaoh will reflect on Quinn if the Pharaoh is ever defeated.

Summon the Dead:  The Pharaoh may spend a turn charging up a spell that will summon 2 [[[#h.7fi5tdt9z4ix | Undead warriors]]], costing 5 WP. If the Handler wishes he may already have several undead by his side when the Agents encounter him.

SAN LOSS: 0/1D6

Credits

C:/AZATOTA>AGAINSTDAEMONCOURT.EXE was written by Tairbaz for the 2025 Shotgun Scenario contest.
Source: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18kmWPeXrkao22imQF8s1NUHLlKvqRe8b0TzbUzxc7bo/edit