Where does your body begin is a Kult adventure (although with a little tweaking it could fit the mold of most horror rpg's) that deals with Voodoo and the occult in general. Characters should have a better than average understanding of the occult, and preferably the Players as well. It is wise that one of the characters has good police contacts, and or Federal contacts.

BACKGROUND: Baron Samedi, a death conjuror, conjured the Haitian God Papa Guede to New York with the intention of using the presence of the death god to further destroy the barriers of the Illustion and open qider the barriers and access to the Realm of the Dead and Inferno. However, Papa Guede possessed Baron Samedi, capturing the Baron's soul within a black jar. Papa Guede begins destroying other Voodoo groups within New York not affiliated to him to stop those who could have the knowledge to stop his erection of a new kingdom within New York. However, Damballa, the serpent-god of life, arch-rival of Papa Guede awoke as deemed in ancient rituals of duality between them. Damballa was moved to stop the Papa Guede by any means necessary, which meant slaying the voodoo followers of Guede. Damballa will manipulate the heroes as pawns against the lifeless armies of Papa Guede.

THEME: The theme of flesh and spirit being two individual battlegrounds will be of factor here. Everywhere the heroes should look they will see elements of this. Prostitutes vying their bodies for sale, while Religious fanatics promulgate their religion fervently. Sometimes both clash, and the heroes should witness this as angry fundamentalists confront would-be pimps.

FIRST CHAPTER

This first chapter should capture the element of tension and mental fear associated with Voodoo. Tantalising hints and general weirdness accompanies most of the encounters. The heroes should feel they are stumbling upon things they don't really want to involve themselves with, but have no choice.

SCENE 1: The homicide

In this scene the heroes investigate the homicide of Pierre Duchamp in his attic, an illegal immigrant from Haiti, murdered in his house during what seems to be a voodoo ritual. Pierre Duchamp was actually a follower of Samedi, one of his moderately powerful conjurers. The God Damballa manifestated within Pierre and instilled his death.

The Heroes are called in for various reasons, as experts or as detectives to the scene, or maybe they stumble across it before the police arrive because they know Pierre or he is a neighbour.

The crack of policeband radios snap you away from reverie. Police mill below this attic murder scene, away from the stink of the blood and ruptured organs. You all stand, having interrupted one another at some point in time, the only people in the dark room.

The room is small, somewhat squat, with a small glass window set in the north wall, long ago painted over with dust. Behind you the stairs and aperture to below. The walls, striated with streaks of coppery red, are stained - whitewashed walls yellowed and dirtied. Before the body, below the window, outside of which night noises of New York can be heard, is an altar. A crucifix, is suspended below prints of Raphael's Madonnas, stuck to the wall haphazardly. Small black bottles and jars, capped with cloth and string rest upon the wooden altar. Feathers poke out from wax seals of bottles, strangled with string. Dishes lie overturned at the foot of the altar.

The body of the dark-skinned man lies face up, on his back, his legs slightly crossed - head facing away from the altar. Around him in white paint, mystical circles and symbols. Coloured in squares and designs. A small drum coated in blood sits in between his legs.

The man's skin has burst from his body. Small shreds of it are stuck to the discoloured walls. Tendon and muscle have been ripped, bone peeking within the folds of meat. Rib cage has been opened, revealing what remains of a blackened mess of internal organs. His mouth is open, a skull-like leer staring up at the ceiling in horror. A pool of blood coagulates around the man, just to the edges of the white-painted patterns.

The air is hotter inside than outside in the summer evening, and the smell of copper and incense has mingled in an insane cocktail. A chicken's head and body, severed from each other lie away from the dishes beyond the man's legs.

Allow them to interact. What other pieces of items they can find are the following. A splattered bell, under the altar. The dishes had some sort of powder in them (flower). A rattle filled with stones or something similar has rolled against one of the walls, a trail of blood following it. A bone-handled knife is under Pierre

Another hero with Magical Intuition might be able to see a bluish-white tinge to most things in the room, centering strongly on the man. The occult symbols are definitely Voodoo. Occult rolls can decipher that some sort of summoning ritual was used here by use of veves.

Below in the small squalid apartment, barely furnished with moth eaten furniture and termite-infested tables, they can learn more. The police wait outside, a yellow barrier sign barring entry in. Forensics are assembling outside and just wait the go-ahead (assuming the heroes are here by their say so). Detect rolls will reveal that none of the mirrors cast reflections, nor do any of the clocks move - five in all (strange considering the size of the place). Apart from the dining room, there is one musty room, humid, with a single bed and bed stand. Dirty clothes are stranded everywhere.

Under the single bed is a small chest of personal effects. Pierre Duchamp was an illegal immigrant, he has no papers, or green card. The case is divided in two. One side has photographs of other Haitian, family, and a black suit. The other side has powders, incense sticks, bones (human and chicken), dried skin, leather, few coloured stones, and feathers. A human hand, severed at the wrist is under the pillow. It gives off the musty smell. The skin has dried to the bone, and the flesh wasted away.

The bathroom stinks of animals, and two cages sit in a bath with brown scum rings circling it. Both of the cages contain remnants of feathers. A sink just beside the bath is drenched in blood which has dried. The mirror cabinet shows no reflection. Inside there is a rusty scalpel with dried blood and a jar of ointment.

The main room's kitchen contains mostly a cornmeal and rice. Herbs and spices grow on the window-sills and in the cupboards. A few broken mugs lie in the sink with a plate and fork.

Whatever the heroes gain from this is dependant on how well they search. There is no sign of forced entry and no sign of anyone else being in the house. In all there are no clues, except that something strange went on. Forensics will take away the body for autopsy and complete reports within the next day.

SCENE 2: The autopsy

This scene will take place later that evening at Tisch hospital. The autopsy of Pierre Duchamp will be performed in the hospital's basement. The heroes will be alerted to disturbances at the hospital through the same channels they used to see the homicide scene. Pierre Duchamp has been reanimated by Papa Guede to prove to Damballa that the flesh is still strong after Damballa destroyed it. The mortician, Jonathan Bruneschelli, who had just began his task was surprised and horrified, locking the door. The zombie now wanders the autopsy room smashing things and pounding on the doors.

If the heroes arrive by car, they passing prostitutes who bend over car windows, wearing little, promoting their servitude to the flesh. Tisch hospital is heavy and hot with the sweat of diseased people dying. Sick people cough in the waiting area, just inside the foyer, watching the heroes with lifeless eyes. A man prays to himself, his palms together, waiting to see if his wife will survive an recent accident.

The heroes move down long white corridors, sick faces in beds behind tiny windows peering out at them as they head to the basement. The smell of antiseptic only heightens the sickness in the place. Zombie-like surgeons and nurses shuffle along the floors in paper shoes.

The ride to the basement is slow, eventually opening to long white corridors, spotlessly clean. Neon tubes coat the ceiling, providing artificial light to the artificial appearance of health. It is warmer down here and the heroes will sweat continuously. The mortician rushes to them from down the hall, his green outer apron over his white coat smeared in blood, small portions of flesh clinging to the folds. A sprinkle of blood covers the face of the terrified man who rushes up, the smell of fresh meat accompanying his presence.

Jonathan will tell them that it came to life - the homicide forensics brought in. It got up and tried to kill him, but he stabbed at it with the scalpel and locked it in. It is still there.

Looking in through the window reveals an evil sight. The corpse of Pierre Duchamp hobbles about the room. In the centre of the room, a large metal table, with a smaller one beside it overturned, small tools and knives spread out from it. Basins and tables are attached to the outskirts of the walls.

Pierre without any skin shambles through the room. Seeing the heroes look in he rushes forward with his hands outstretched. He slams solidly against the door, causing it to shudder. Blood smears across the wire-reinforced glass in the door. The creature opens its jaw and tries to bite through the glass, fails to do so and shambles off, internal organs dragging behind him.

The heroes must decide what to do. Pierre will continue to hammer the door, and eventually the heroes notice that the hammering is having an affect. They should kill it. It has the stats of the living dead in the Kult rulebook (or other zombie). After this encounter the heroes should have more information to go on. Jonathan, still unnerved, will ask them what he should put in his report.

Jonathan's findings on the autopsy will show extreme mutilation caused by unknown weapon, what he would say off-record, air-tension - decompression, rupture in ear drums, etc. These are placed in his findings, which will be released in two days.

SCENE 3: Voodoo investigations

Allow the heroes to investigate other voodoo groups/shops in New York. They will find places which they should investigate.

Investigating Voodoo in New York will pull up several interesting information. The phone book has the addresses for two societies and a shop in New York. If the operatives search police files they can uncover that one society, Oguon's Hammer, has had several members arrested for mutilation of animals, etc. One man was even charged for murder and convicted, although the society claims it had nothing to do with them. The other is group is Madame Christie's Sisterhood. The shop is the Arcarnum Occultus, Voodoo not the main item it deals with, but lists it with witchcraft, etc in the yellowpages. This information can be uncovered through occult contacts which will bring up another person whom they heroes can investigate - Papa Theodore.

Oguon's Hammer The Oguon's Hammer is a simple white building on the northern tip of Harlem. Though tagging covers nearly every single building around, this one remains remarkably untouched. The words Oguon's Hammer, run through a lightening bolt hang from a painted sign over the simple double doors to the church/warehouse.

Damballa came here to destroy these followers of Guede as well, but Guede saved one and turning her into a zombie. The heroes should capture and observe the woman and try to extract information from her. The first autopsy reports in a couple of days and they match Jonathan's previous ideas and now he will tell the heroes how they died, like they were taken into outer space and then exploded.

It is extremely hot the next day, and the heroes will be sweating. Flies consistently irritate the heroes. Flies follow the heroes as they cross the street across the hot street to the building. Black faces watch from windows at the heroes, blank faces, wide, incredulous eyes. A black woman hurries across the street, trying not to go in front of the building. Dressed in black dress, she crosses herself as she does, muttering a slight prayer.

Flies swarm in a black mass outside the door, their buzzing incredibly loud and irritating. The heroes will have to go through the flies to get in. The windows are boarded up, and painted white. The back door is locked, and is similarly encased in flies. The hero that opens the door may be violently ill and may result in Terror throw as blowflies buzz in his ears, hair, face. Detect rolls can be made to notice a thin line of red paint under the door.

Swinging the doors open lets in the blowflies who surge into a charnel house. Immediately the smell of rotting meat wafts out, making the heroes ill. Bodies cover the floor in various pieces, jutting out like driftwood.

Inside the stench is unbearable. The large hall, painted white inside is full of bodies that have been ripped apart. Heads, limbs cover the sticky floor. Flies feast on the bloodied chunks scattered everywhere. Blood smears where people tried to pull themselves up cover the walls. But more importantly are the symbols in blood, dripped down the wall. Voodoo symbols cover the place as the heroes stand through bodies, stepping on arms, fingers, etc. Blowflies lay their maggots. The door to the back room/kitchen is empty, totally painted white. A headless chicken has been nailed to the back door, just like the back of the front door, nailed upside down to a cross, the blood dripping down. Searching through the bodies, the heroes will discover a live person, untouched dressed in a stained white robe.

The woman moves away from all people with wide frightened eyes. Her black hair is matted with blood, and her round face is scratched and bloodied. She will not speak, but may be calmed down. She has no identification and cannot help. If taken to a hospital she will refuse all people touching her, exploding into a rage.

After Oguon's Hammer

If the heroes take the zombie to a secluded area the following will have to be modified, but it will basically be the same. Damballa, while possessing another cannot die and the body will remain alive. The following assumes the zombie is either in a cell at the hospital or police station.

Damballa, fearing the zombie's affects on the Illusion and Guede's affrontery possesses a Haitian follower of Samedi and goes to see the woman. At the desk he tells that he is a relative. Dressed in White suit with zebra tie, the man with his short blond hair, carries red poppies wrapped up. Smiling he will talk his way to see his cousin and close the iron door. Then he kills her. If the heroes are there they will see the woman spasms then dies. Then the man collapses. Damballa leaves his soul intact and him to face the wrath of the men. He claims ignorance, and all he remembers is being at home and wakening here. They can get no more from him. He doesn't even know the woman.

Reviving the zombie woman will not work as she is dead cold.

Madame Christie's Sisterhood

No one has been in this abandoned warehouse for a long time, although in the centre of the warehouse a long dead chicken hangs by its feet from string, headless. A pool of blood has congealed around it. Inside the chicken maggots feast in the heat of summer.

Arcarnum Occultus

The Arcarnum Occultus is a store owned by a woman, Nadia. She deals exclusively in supplying materials to prospective Occultists in Harlem. Her small shop has been vandalised several times over the last year, and money is poor.

Hidden in Harlem, the shop can be found below street level, under a Triple X store where men covertly walk into. The Triple X store bears a massive sign that loudly proclaims "All you'll ever need for your pleasure".

Urine stained concrete stairs lead down to a shadowy alcove, with a wooden door closed, but a sign proclaiming open at the top of the stairs. The heat fades as the heroes enter the shadowy confines under street. At the bottom of the stairs beside the wooden door is a window, from which hang all manner of occult accoutrements. Dried frogs, stones glittering from light from within, Chinese mantras on scrolls, all hang behind the iron-barred window.

The door squeaks open to a dark room. A confusion of smells assails the nose. Small brass lamps attached to the walls illuminate the darkness and coolness of the shop. Split down the middle by a shelf on both sides, the room permeates occult. Leather bound manuscripts, jars of paraffined animals, ground powders of various types, incense burners. A counter is directly to the right of the door, where a mildly attractive women sits - Nadia. No one else seems to be in the shop. She smiles as the heroes enter.

Nadia will be pleasant, assuming they are customers. When they ask about Voodoo she will feign ignorance. If they have Papa Theodore's charms of Damballa, she will recognise them, but still feign ignorance. If they leave her their card she will contact them the next day. If they do not have Papa's charms she will still contact them, as she will have investigated them enough to learn about them. Hoping they can help some of her customers she will ring them with information. Madame Christie is one of Nadia's best customers, except for late. She knows where she is.

Papa Theodore

Occult contacts can direct the heroes to Papa Theodore if asked. He lives in Alphabet City, on the river side of D Avenue, on the corner of 51st, second story, room seven.

The apartment complex is a run-down hovel, with a deconstruction pending notice attached to the poles around the old building facing the crossroads, seemingly so out of touch with the more affluent houses around. The brown brick building, looks as though it should be in Harlem. It soars six stories, with fire escape on the outside. Clothes hang out to dry in the warm weather on platforms outside windows. It is impossible to find a park here, and only by driving in circles for a few hours, or parking blocks away can the heroes get out of their car.

Inside the building it is dark. It doesn't stop the heat, though, almost trapping it. A young white girl in leather mini-skirt and tight pink tank top sidles up to one of the heroes and offers herself to him for a price. Climbing the stairs to the next floor, the stairs groan. Bullet holes are in the walls to the left. Passing along the narrow walkway that overlooks the foyer the heroes make their way to the corner of the building overlooking the crossroads.

They pass an open door, where a white Italian mother and two sons are bowed in prayer to a small altar or Jesus.

Papa Duchamp asks who it is before letting them in after knocking. He opens the door reluctantly, many bolts sliding before the door pushes open. He then huddles over to his rocking chair near the window on top of a large pile of old encylopedias, so he can look out his window and down to the ground.

The room the heroes find themselves in is not so small. Five metres square. Bookshelves are cramped with old pulp country novels, yellowed and curled. Scatterings of pieces of mismatched carpet covers the floor. The furniture is rickety and old, groaning under weight. Most of it is covered with newspapers anyway. The peeling wallpaper hold prints of saints, crucifixes, and small baubles tied with string, peaked with feather - talismans of sort, which hang from the walls.

Papa Theodore will listen to them. He will only talk to them once they have expressed their concern and their willingness to do something about what is happening. He will only say that Baron Samedi is trying to destroy rival voodoo groups, but something is also killing Samedi's followers in retaliation. He removes three talismans from the walls and hands them to the heroes.

He tells them they must 'find the truth' and 'stop Samedi'. Samedi will be trying to kill Madame Christie and her followers. They must find her and tell her what they told him. They musn't lose the charms.

The small bags stink of sandalwood, and are sewn shut. Stones and long twigs seem to be inside.

As they leave the see the woman and her two sons still praying, while in the foyer the girl gives head to an elderly Italian.

SCENE 4: Dreams

Disillusioned and wanting the heroes will go to sleep on this second day. Sleep comes difficult in the intensely hot weather of summer. Sirens wail in the distance, gun shots ring out across NY. Eventually they sleep. Then lead each one through the same dream, solo.

Papa Guede lures them into the dreams because of the presence of Damballa around them. Damballa has chosen the heroes as his soldiers, and though he cares not for them, he will use them to destroy Guede with the help of Madame Christie. Guede resorts to dreams, though. The god can now dream with his physical body gained by Samedi. He lures them into his dream and tries to trick them.

They awaken, dressed in whatever they went to sleep in. A cool breeze blows against from from atop the grassy hill. The long yellowed grass blows against their legs. The moon, full above glares down at them, illuminating the land. The landscape around them is not at all familiar, and the taste of salt is in the air.

Eventually the hero will see a light flicker in the darkness at the base of the hill. It wavers in the wind, but doesn't move. The hero heads toward it. Eventually the grass dies away as it nears the cemetery, until the hero is walking through chaotic weeds choking stone in the earth. The light seems to be coming from among the buildings ahead.

Gravestones rise, silhouetted by the moon, their crosses of religion carrying the dead within stone slabs beneath. Allow the hero to walk through the strange gravestones. The names on all of the tombstones are French, and are recent. They close on the lights, passing through the cold of the cemetery.

Then they see it, illuminated by a single bright torch, flaming, held high by a black hand within a black robe. All around a grave, black robed figures stand, heads bowed. A deep french chant begins (saying the lord's prayer) from the figures. They chant louder and louder, and eventually a figure rises. It is the hero (who is dreaming), face is ashen, his eyes lifeless and dead, rotting flesh dripping from bone and faces the onlooking hero. Then Papa Guede appears. From behind the hero he greets them. Dressed in a tattered tailed suit is a figure with a top hat. The face is concealed in utter darkness, but the glistening of long, steel knives peeks out. The chanting has disappeared, but Guede holds out his clawed, rotting hand with a black, wax-sealed jar to the hero and offering them their soul. Papa Guede will disappear should they attack, but if they take their souls they have just taken a device that allows the God to track the heroes. He knows they are looking for Madame Christie and intends to be there when they find her.

SECOND CHAPTER

The heroes receive more autopsy reports from the massacre which all match with the same type of death as Pierre Duchamp. This chapter should involve the heroes finding out more Samedi and Guede, preparing them for the final chapter which is set in the Realm of the Dead.

SCENE 1: Trouble

When the heroes awaken from their disturbing dreams they will be confronted with horrific warnings upon their various domiciles. Each will have a black wreath hanging on their door. The wreath is made from black cloth around bent sticks from a willow tree (occult significance, meaning that the person will die within the next few days and be reanimated as a zombie - occult rolls needed). The wreath has a slightly musty scent to it. Chalk symbols (veves)of various voodoo nature have been roughly scrawled.

The heroes may learn that Guillaume Camille, the murderer linked with Oguon's Hammer, was found dead in his cell last night, skinned and killed by his cellmate. If the heroes visit Warden Hammerli, the warden explains that there was lots of screaming and the guards cuaght the cellmate coated in blood. The cellmate denied it, of course, but he was incareated for murder in the first place. The warden may confide he thought it strange that Guillaume was slain so quickly. Guards were there is minutes, but perhaps the murderer - David Giggs had kept Guillaume gagged, the warden elaborates.

If the heroes left their number with Nadia, she will contact them the next day. If they didn't she will hunt down their phone numbers if she knows their names. She will ask the heroes to meet with her at J's Blend Coffee House in northern Upper West Side 117. E street.

J's Blend Coffee House is a small cafe set among a throng of antique and odds and ends stores. A peddler tries to sell the heroes bibles from a street stall, telling them to repent for salvation.

Vivaldi plays gently in the background of this private eatery. Bay glass windows are covered by red drapes, and inside patrons huddle around select booths separated by brilliant red curtains. Glass ornaments are on every table, and hanging from the ceiling and walls. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and small food drifts lazily in the sweltering heat of summer here.

Nadia will see them and call them over. A blond hardbody waitress in short black skirt, tight tank top, with tied back blonde dreads comes over to ask orders. Nadia orders another Expresso. She will ask them about their talismans if she saw them wearing them, if they had them. She wants to know more about why they are investigating voodoo, and if they have mentioned her, Madame Christie. If they show their willingness to stop what is affecting her business she will take them to Madame Christie. Nadia just wanted to make sure they weren't going to bust Madame. She hasn't a car and says they need to go Washington Heights. She tells them Madame Christie has gone underground, afraid of something. Nadia doesn't know about the slaughters.

However, Nadia is being followed. The heroes are either tracked through the ethereal devices Papa Guede gave the heroes, or they have tracked Nadia.

It takes several hours to drive to Washington Heights, and there will be a car jam, just outside of Harlem. People grow impatient in the sweltering heat. Air conditioners fail, with fat overweight people hanging out of windows. Small children holler in the back of station-wagons at distressed parents. Many people get out to fetch water, and the pedestrians surge around the immovable vehicles, under sight of large buildings.

Papa Guede is impatient and upon learning that Nadia knows of the location of Madame Christie he sends his voodoo faithful to capture Nadia and to kill the heroes. Their instructions are to take Nadia and flee with her, extract what information they need and kill her. During the traffic jam they take advantage of this. Slipping out pistols, they ambush the car. There are five of them. They attack from several cars away, possibly surprising the heroes. The voodoo gangstas are dressed in casual¸ home-boy clothes. Baggy shorts, sneakers, and basketball tops. The leader lowers his head. He grins, showing a mass of yellowed teeth. Around his neck are finger bones stitched with wire on a necklace. He wears a white singlet, showing powerful muscles.

If things go bad for them the gangstas flee. The heroes can follow. Down a darkened alley way, the heroes scramble through garbage. Flies swarm among the stink and heat of the dump. A young prostitute sitting awkwardly sits with needle dripping from arm, lost in idyllic heaven, while further beyond a homeless man holds rosary beads and prays. At the end of the darkened alleyway the heroes should be able to pick out the Haitian men entering a building way down another alleyway.

The warehouse is striated inside with beams of light from a dilapidated ceiling. The shafts of diffused light pick out rotting timber in small piles. The heat is almost unbearable in here. A set of steel stairs rises up to door, and another level above. The smell of charcoal permeates the heavy air.

Blood splatters are upon the steel stairwell curling up to the tired wooden door. The small platform before the door creaks under the weight of the heroes. Beyond the door is a hallway. The hallway is extremely dark. Only faint light from within the shadowed warehouse filters in, revealing little.

The smell of charcoal continues to blossom here. If the heroes listen carefully they can hear the men further down the corridor, laughing with one another. Several doorways open into unused rooms. Tagging covers these rooms, and general damp associated with extreme heat locked in one place. Towards the end of the hall (which is boarded up - leading to an outside fire escape) is an open door where the heroes can hear the voodoo followers talking, in Haitian. The heroes should try to surprise, but remember the creaky wooden floor.

Treat the voodoo followers stats as usual gang members. They will shoot to kill, and may even try escape. Any attempted escape results in Damballa striking down any of them, their flesh exploding in shards. A Kirlian Aura of life will glow around any Haitian so targeted, who then begins screaming, and the colours run with hatred.

This should awaken the heroes to the fact that people are following them and that Nadia is being watched as well. Things are indeed getting dangerous.

SCENE 2: Madame Christie

Reaching Madame Christie should be not far from this point, unless the heroes call in back-up to deal with the situation. NY Police will not be called to this gunfire, as in Harlem it is rather common.

Nadia, still shaken, will direct them to an old factory in Washington Heights, bordering on the river. The old factory stinks of metal. Light streams in through rusted holes in the corrugated iron roofing. Massive chains, gears, conveyor belts, are unused and rusting in the heat. Somewhat cooler inside the darkened factory, the heroes wander through metal shavings, rusted, scattered everywhere.Cans of cola, and other junk wrappings litter the place as well. Nadia leads them to a large metal cat. Streams of green have imbedded themselves in the side of this dull cylinder. She looks around nervously before ascending the runged stairs leading up to the top.

At the top she descends by means of another ladder to the bottom, taking care not to fall into the smaller hole in the centre of the giant cauldron. The insides are intensely rusted. Rust breaking off from the rungs in the heroes hands. Nadia will descend into the hole by means of a rope, tied to the bottom rung. She drops into darkness below. She will attempt lighting a torch at the bottom, but if the heroes withdraw torches she will cease.

The tunnel they are in, is an old service tunnel. Steel pipes run along the ceiling in both directions. Old lights have blown out, browned and cobwebbed. The tunnel's stone is discoloured. Nadia immediately starts heading north. Through another turn they will eventually end up in a power junction room for the old factory now, disused. Steel mesh vainly tries to cover up massive generators and circuit boards. Power cables exiting the metal pipes run into them like some massive tentacled beast from other service tunnels sprouting from the room.

Incense lingers in the air here, and a slight change in the air makes the heroes with sixth sense uneasy, telling them something is wrong with this whole picture. Almost immediately, floating out from the shadows, too dark men, dressed in leather emobossed with white voodoo symbols. Both have long greasy dreadlocks to their necks. The identical twins inspect them, but with Nadia they let them pass.

Further into the room the heroes see a massive altar prepared against one wall. A large wooden crucifix, covered with feathers and string sits around small burning, decorated jars of oil and incense. Small white candles burn around the altar, illuminating it. Around the crucifix are four Haitan woman, their hair bundled in a white bandana, dressed in white robes, tied with rope, they turn as the heroes enter, led by Nadia. Then Madame Christie appears, moving from behind the massive generator into their field of vision. She looks at the heroes and speaks to them.

Madame Christie will tell them that Nadia informed her of them. Madame Christie knows what danger exists above. She then states that they are all marked. They want to know more about what is happening. To prove themselves truly worthy they must path the way to Legba. The three of them will pass into his realm, where he will lead them to the truth. They must take part in the ritual. They are bade to sit in the centre of the room. Each of the heroes is given a white candle which is lit, to signify the journey not be of evil.

Madame Christie begins to chant, lifting a rattle, similar to Pierre Dauchamp's and shaking it furiously in the air. She images out magical designs and sigils in the air, while the drums begin to caress in the background, quiet and irregular. Madame Christie's implores in a french tongue louder and louder, shaking more furiously. The drums rise crescendoing in relation to her chants. The candle wax burns, running down top the heroes hands, burning them, the candle flames flickering in intensity. Dishes of fresh fruit and vegetable are brought forward by other white-clad women, covered in a fine red liquid. Then dishes of white powder are brought forward as Madame Christie calls to forgotten gods and spirits. Small esoteric circles are dribbled around the heroes, small triangles and concentric circles. There is a very ritualistic and precise nature to the sifting.

The drums become primal and exciting. Blurring beats on dead animal skins. A goat is lead into the room, where the frenzied Madame Christie howls above the white-clad women who clothe and feed the goat. Madame Christie calls the heroes up beckoning them to dance with the women and the men who splay about like the gutted goat, who bleeds on the ground. Madame Christie chimes a small brass bell and calls out to her god, calling Legba, Legba, Legba. The dancing grows more wild, and the heroes lose themselves to the primal dancing. Nadia, likewise is crazily dancing. Colours blur, and the bass from the drums reaches deep within the heroes, clutching, spasming within them. Their minds soar, leave their bodies view the scene and then return. Then they fall, and darkness consumes them.

SCENE 3: The truth

BLACK OUT ALL CANDLES. GET A MATCH AND LIGHT IT.

Legba appears to them in the small corridor, peering over at them, after having lit a match to his face to illuminate the way. His Jet black face, perfect in symetry, stares down at them, obdurate. Then Legba drags the match to a torch which then illuminates the corridor they lie in.

The corridor they are in is sickly. Viscous fluid sticks to the floors and ceiling. Legba calmly walks with the torch, leaving a trail of smoke and fumes down the corridor. He will turn to wait for the heroes if they are deciding what to do.

He takes them far, seemingly for ever, and in an instant they are walking through the archways of an old church. Legba has just lead them in the past to witness the death of the missionary, whose hand the heroes have in their possession.

Pallid light emanates from arched windows, filtering the dust floating in the wooden church, with its wooden pulpits, smelling of freshly cut wood. A massive hastily carved Jesus sits on a Cross at the end of the room behind a small pulpit where sobs a man in black garb. This is Father Lucien. Approximately one of the first priest to land on Haiti, one of the first to introduce Cathlocism to the country and the people. He was taken in by the indigenous people, watched, but accepted. He gained followers to his church and people accepted, integrated their religion with his. Then one of his followers died, and he set about burying the man. He wouldn't let the villagers complete a rite to their pagan God of Death, Papa Guede, so he dug a grave, placed the man in a coffin, after a prayer to god. The villagers were furious. Even as the heroes linger, they come for him. Having harassed him all night with threats about burying him alive, without the chance to see his god, they promised to get him at midday.

Unable to leave the island he awaits them, fearful and godless. As the heroes speak to him they will be cast aside in flashes of imagery relating to Papa Guede and Damballa.

Father Lucien will tell them that it is too late for him; he faces the wrath of their pagan gods; that he has been beset with curses and veves since the burial; he buried a village follower without proper custom to their rites; Papa Guede is supposed to preside over these rites, not the Catholic church; they will bury him; dont let them bury him. Is there any way to stop Papa Guede?; there is, so the villagers say, another of their gods called Damballa the god of life, the most powerful of their gods; Papa Guede and Damballa continually fight for the right of souls, Papa Guede takes them in his blackened urns leaving the body to carry on semblance of life, while Damballa frees them.

Father Lucien will answer most questions he can; not all he knows is the truth. He is not expert on voodoo practitions.

Then suddenly the heroes stand on a grassy hill, the yellowed grass slapping against their legs. They look out across strange landscape. In front of them they see a beach, and with great detail a Haitan woman giving birth, her legs spread smeared with blood. Behind her a black humanoid smear or shade. From it massive, clawed talons rip out her throat as her child falls from her womb, attached by the cord, she screams - her own mingling with the child. This shows death begetting life.

Then they are back with the missionary. Father Lucien frantically rushes around, testing the doors he has barricaded, muttering about them coming for him. He prays before his altar, praying words of sanctuary. He begs the heroes help him secure the windows, hammering boards over them. Before long they will find themselves off again.

The heroes are upon the beach now, the sea salt on the breeze cooling their faces. There seems to be no sun, but there is light. The baby is struggling further up the shore, flopping about in a puddle of gore. The mother's body bobs distinctly in the surf, carried out. A small mangy emaciated dog rushes forward to the small flouderingchild. It begins to hungrily tear at the bloodied child, ripping arm from body, devouring it. This again is the survival of life over death. What these flashes of imagery are showing, is that wherever Papa Guede commits death life will follow and flourish, because the death he causes must be made with life, because Damballa so opposes him in a strange fight/fight duality.

The Priest screams hysterically. He drags his hands through his mangy hair. Dull thuds echo irregularly in the wooden church. The door shuddering from outside. Chanting can be faintly heard among the crashes. He grabs the heroes, begging them not to let them bury him, pleading with them not to let them take him away.

The dog whimpers, paralysed as a large silver and green snake devours the animal whole, its maw fully enclosing of the head of the dog, dampening the whimpers. The snake swallows the animal, slowly moving down. It begins to slither away through yellowed grass, leaving a wide trail. The heroes will have to follow the snake to the grave.

The snake stops before this scene and watches ahead. On a small barren tract of ground Haitan's dance wildly to drums being beat upon. A grave, dirt piled beside it sits in the middle of all of this activity. Then one of the fervant dancers collapses, and the Haitans pick him up and drag him off beyond view. They return now with blackened figure, more of a black smear on the skyline. Taloned hands drag upon the ground from charred and sinewy arms. Razor teeth gleam near the top of the smear of darkness and it enters the dancing, smiling.

The Mambo chants to Papa Guede, and then the Catholic priest is brought forth howling, screaming, 'don't bury me, oh God don't bury me'. Papa Guede watches this spectacle. The Haitans dump the priest in the grave and then begin to shovel earth with their hands back on him. He struggles, his hands clawing at the top, but he slips on the wet earth. The priests cries soon fade, smothered. The dancing stops and Haitans collapse. Papa Guede moves over the grave and his taloned hand reaches into the earth and continues to descend, impossibly. The teeth grow wider and Papa Guede pulls out a small black jar, sealed from the earth. He holds it up for all of the Haitans to see. He then says, whispering, 'His soul is mine, and so becomes the flesh, my followers.'

Then the heroes impercetably feel the gaze of this thing upon them, and then a blast of hot air funnels its way against them. Turning they see Legba who stands before a sickly tunnel, much like the one they traveled in. From down the tunnel, the sounds of screaming. Rushing down the corridor they leave the place, and behind them the light fades, but in the centre of it all behind them, a smiling Papa Guede, his teeth so wide they could eclipse a sun. Legba walks, but the heroes must run to keep up with him. Then they burst out, into their bodies, awakening with a start. There is screaming in their ears, and even as their eyes focus, a spray of blood bursts across them, warm and coppery.

Nadia is frantically trying to shake awake the heroes, her back to the horror behind her. Madame Christie lies dead, her skull broken open, brain seeping through. Other followers are engaged in battle with knives against a horde of sunken-eyed men, women and children zombies, attacking them. Their ashen skin is mottled and pitted.

Nadia is crying, tears flowing down her face, scared as one should be. She motions the heroes to leave via another tunnel from this generator room. The heroes flee down the other tunnel, running opposite to the pipes leading to the room where the screams echo. Eventually they find a service exit through a manhole, which they climb up and out.

Heroes will notice the sky has changed, the smog, darker, thicker, and the sun hidden, casting feeble light. They can see, occassionally, a large hill far in the distance.

The smog obscures the blazing sun, trapping the heat in the city like a dome. The heroes must make their way back to their car, past the warehouse, where everything is quiet. Then they return, with a stricken Nadia, who would enjoy being dropped back at her shop. She feels safe there most times. There she will try to deal with this problem herself. Mentally unstable now. She has never had to see anything like she saw in the basement.

SCENE 4: Papa in pain

The heroes must decide what they should do. They have few choices, and may still be lost to what is happening. One lead or hand to help them is Papa Theodore, Servant to Legba. The heroes may have other leads, but nothing that can truly help them.

Papa Theodore is being attacked. Papa Guede is using a small part of his power to keep the old man removed from activities. Theodore is requiring nearly all of his energy to stop the god. When the heroes enter the building; describe it. The girl of the day before lies bloodied and beaten in a dark corner. The Italian woman and her two boys sit before the altar, before the crucifix, their father sitting on the bed holding the leather skirt of the girl in his blood-smeared hands.

Papa Theodore sits in the centre of the room, burning incense surrounding by veves of protection. Countless talismans surround his head. Outside the door, the heroes can smell the incense, and heroes with Magical Intuition can sense the malicous presence lingering inside. The heroes have to shatter the door to get in, where they see the old man in loin cloth, his skin hanging off him in loose folds, his eyes focused.

Papa Theodore now knows some of what is happening. He can tell the heroes much, but will refuse to aid them in any other way, at first. He tells them that the gods of voodoo have no forms here. They must possess others to achieve the illusion of life within the world. Somehow Samedi must have accidently or purposefully summoned Papa Guede, the God of Death, who lords over the Barons, into his body. Papa Guede is using part of his magic to destroy Papa Theodore.

Papa Theodore will tell the heroes, that the only one who might have the power to stop Guede is the god Damballa, the god of life and survival over death. The powerful snake god battles with Guede everywhere. The heroes should realise that Damballa triumphed in their flashes in the journey Legba took them on.

Papa Theodore doesn't know where Damballa is. Papa Theodore says that if Samedi was possessed, Guede must have his soul somewhere. They must destroy the vessel containing Samedi's soul which will destroy Guede's hold over the body. They need a Mambo to cast a spell to find where Guede is now.

The heroes must convince Theodore to help them. They must prove to the old man that he is being selfish, and that if he doesn't help them he will die, and he has a chance at survival if he casts the spell. If they convincingly change his mind, he will tell them that they must immediately go to Guede and stop what he is trying to do.

He makes the most magically aware hero drum rhythmically while he chants within the veves. He chants for one hour, sweat forming upon his brow, running down his body. Eventually his eyes flash wide and he collapses, blood dribbling from his mouth. He will whisper where Guede is to the heroes through dying lips. North of 131st street, which is in Harlem, north of Columbia in Manhattan. Now the heroes must leave to stop whatever Guede is up to.

SCENE 5: Into the dead

The heroes can drive up to 131st street and scour the gang-owned neighbourhood. They drive through tenement buildings, covered in tagging, and black youths hanging on the steps of the buildings, dressed in shorts and shirts, sweltering in the heat. They watch every car like a hawk as they pass. However, they drive and drive, but there is no sign. The neighbourhood is totally black, without any sign of Voodoo influence. Were they misled by Papa Theodore?

Allow the heroes to freak out in the black neighbourhood. Other black youths go past, watching the car, fingering their glocks, checking out their car. They walk together like cowboys of old down the street. Older blacks watch them from the safety of their houses, peeking behind curtains and dirtied venetian blinds.

North of 131st street at night is a totally different place than from day. The houses shift, and Samedi's little hell breaks through the Illusion. Here Samedi/Guede's magicians begin their work, casting minor spells, spreading the destruction of the Illusion further. Zombie's prowl the area. The heroes will deal with a magician and his servants in this scene, which will give some hints to what is going on here, or more importantly why. Only at night can they enter.

There is a slow transition into the area north of 131st street. The older Harlem buildings seem to fade into darkness, layered over. The buildings on the edge of the darkness flicker sporadically, fading and shifting, warping.

No lights burn haloes in the night here, but small fires smolder in the blackened gutters along darkened streets. The houses framing the roads are old. Rotting 2-storied husks of dishevelled slums from the 1930's. They hulk over the road, leaning in toward the cracked and pitted road. Yellowed has clawed its way up through the cracks in the road and around the bases of the houses, silently moving, choking the life around.

No lights shine from within the dark buildings. Dark alleyways descend the sides of the buildings. There the vegetation, lost in silhouette grows in vast abundance, crawling up the sides of buildings.

Any character with Magical Intuition will gradually notice that they are all dying.

The heroes are on the borderline between New York and the Realm of the Dead. Guede has managed through enough death and spells to break a sanctuary for his mansion into the City of the Dead - the very same city the heroes have been visiting. More importantly this Sanctuary is but Guede's hill, the hill where he was buried. Damballa seeks to place him there once again. Through the heroes he hopes to do it.

The heroes will hear the chanting echo (perception rolls), The heroes can locate it coming from a house just four this side of the borderland. The house is two-storied, with a large attic saging over a warped porch that sits before the house. The dark windows are covered with loose, shredded cloth (flesh). The french chanting comes from within this house.

Ground Floor   1: The hallway is dark. Wallpaper, whose patterns have faded through to the wall beneath the peeling paper seem like watermarks. Small lights on twisting candle holders are browned. Stairs climb up into darkness, the ballustrade broken in places. Several doors lead off the main hallway, its once polished floors scarred and stained by varnish.   2: The sitting room sits in a dusty gloom. The door groans, and must be budged to open it properly as it catches on the warped floor. Inside is a room full of old furniture, crumbling from old age. Cobwebs and dust layer the appurtenances. Faded pictures contain ghostly images of previous residents. Curtains lie in shreds over the window.   3: The dining room's main table has been severed in half, broken. It lies like a V. The chairs normally sitting around it are scattered around the room. Grime obscures the window. There is rattling against the window, and a hazy figure can be seen through the gloomy window. This is just the yellowed grass, trying to get in.   4: The Pantry's shelves are bare. A lightbulb swings ever so slightly to the cadences of the chanting from above.   5: Totally bare, this room is colder than most. A fireplace sits to the left of the door. Inside it is a skull among the ashes, with fanged teeth.   6: This room adjoins to the sun room through an arched way. Bay windows face the door here. Several chairs are spaced around the bay window. The wooden chairs with high arched backs are the only things in the room.   7: This room has two zombies waiting beside the sides. They know the heroes are there and they intend to surprise them. The gangers will not hesitate in firing, dangerously. The zombies go to kill. The chanting grows louder.

1st Floor   1: The chanting is louder here, if because they are closer, or it is crescending. Almost immediately zombies will assail the heroes and gangers. In their precarious situation, located on the stairs, they are bound to tumble and fall. Five zombies will move from the darkness and continually throw themselves at the heroes, even grabbing them and falling off the stairs below. They won't die. By now the magician knows the heroes are here.   2: The bathroom is empty. A dirtied tub, basin and window are all that can be found here.   3: This is the study and is the resting place of many books for the magician. Not many books on magic can be found here, although if the heroes decide they have the time after destroying the mage they may search for a short time. Shelves upon shelves of books have been placed on all available parts of the un-wallpapered wall. The chanting is extremely loud here. A few rickety tables and sofa chairs hold a few books overturned and discarded.   4: This Storage room contains much of the magician's materials for rituals. Most occult items of various descriptions are here in various forms. Jars line the shelves, preserved items, dust, bone, string, blood.   5: This room has an antique four-posted bed, with carved gargoyles into the mahogany posts leering outwards. The white sheets are yellowed and rumpled. A single chair sits in the middle of the massive room, several clothes piled upon it. No rugs cover the ground and it is otherwise bare.   6: Totally bare, a thin layer of dust lines the wooden floor, buckled.

Attic   1: This is where the magician is preparing spells to further break down New York. As one of the leading occultists supporting Guede he knows more than others, and if caught could be tortured for information. The man is evil, twisted. Darkness exudes from this unstable man.

The room is in darkness, save for the candles surrounding the circle he sits in, white sigils, veves surrounding him. A thick liquid covers his black hands. He is naked, slighly paunched stomach, and aging body. His bald head is smeared in the same liquid, and his eyes have a feral look to them.

Zombies are lurking in the shadows in the corners and will attack the heroes. The chanting immediately stops as soon as the heroes appear. He turns to look at them slowly, interrupted. Catching them off guard, the zombies attack.

Before him is a basic map of New York. The man will attack them if the battle is going badly, using sharp knife. He is skilled in its use and is strong.

If the heroes decide to torture the man they will find that Papa Guede is here, that he will destroy New York, that he will aid those who support him, and that the heroes are dead.

Leaving the house the heroes move out to the verandah and head out the path, back to the blackened street. Launching up from the ground rotting hands, in tens of tens immediately start grabbing, clawing the heroes tugging them down through the earth, suffocating on dirt. They are dragged down into the earth, the world blacking out, their screams following them.

THIRD CHAPTER

The third chapter deals with Samedi/Guede, and the destruction thereof. Damballa secretly follows the heroes drawn to them to take him to Samedi. The heroes must evade zombies and fight them in Guede's hill/catacomb for his persona. Samedi is an Awakened being and will escape, while Guede will be placed back to sleep.

But to finally reach the awakened god they must go go through the ritual of seven, by passing through the seven occult sciences to finally reach the sanctum of Guede. I found in the playtesting of these seven steps the players became frustrated. Don't dwell on them too long.

SCENE 1: Breathing Dirt

Drawn into the earth, left to breath earth. This is where they were left. As PapaGuede realises the growing interest in Voudoo he begins to kill more. By inciting the fear of voodoo he further gains more power. He is able to break the Illusion easier.

By killing the Mambo who was breaking the Illusion with the spell they alerted Samedi to an intruding presence. Naturally he responded and the hands in the ground came up to drag them to a cell.

The heroes will awaken in a small chamber, isolated, blind from the darkness. The air is heavy, hard to breath, and the smell of mold lingers. The cave walls are hard, dark and rough. There is solid rock overhead. A dark tunnel leads off this room. The heroes are sore, and their clothes are shredded. Lose items are lost.

Having gained their bearings and deciding on what to do, the heroes will move down the tunnel, no choice available to them eventually arriving at a T junction. Left takes them to a dead end; The tunnel winds for some distance. Eventually after winding for some ten minutes the heroes find the tunnel open into a cavern. What will grab their attention will be the empty 9mm casings scattered on the floor. Bullet holes can be found against the opposite wall. Blood has been showered across the wall they enter from. Streaked blood covers the hard floor. Small pieces of shredded cloth are here.

Right takes them; Encouraged to return to the main chamber with the other two passageways, they must make a choice. Which one to journey down. Whatever one, send them to this situation. Going down the other one leads to the next encounter which would have been after.

The internment chamber. The high mambos or priests of Voudoo are buried within this small chamber. Set into four alcoves are coffins. Grey in colour, layered with dust. Faint white symbols cover each. There are no zombies in the coffins, although the heroes are allowed to think so. Rather the zombies will appear through the dusty haze, moving silently toward the heroes. This encounter should prompt the heroes to use all ammunition trying to kill four of the living dead who will kill them. Not only does it direct them to use magic against Samedi but it also stops them from wasting bullets on Samedi. It also makes the entire struggle that more epic.

SCENE 2: Knowledge is power

Beyond this room is the Library of Bones which serves as a source of knowledge for the priests. The library serves Guede no practise as he knows everything within it and more.

The smell of dry earth and dry death permeates the air. Scaling the walls are bones, perfectly horizontal, from floor to ceiling in this cylindrical chamber. The bones are long, like leg bones. Looking closely the heroes will see that some of the bones are not human,some other worldly creature or race. They shall also note that each of the bones are held by rotten human hand set in the wall, much like the green, decaying mandibles that grabbed them into this place. Each bone has etched upon its white, runes, words, and symbols.

The lore here is incredible. Much information, written in Cuneiform, Arabic, Latin, and French there are rituals and names of demons. To remove a bone the hero needs only to take from the putrescent hand the bone. (Information can be placed here for later adventures)

Cabalah This library room is the first Realm of Enlightenment - Cabbalah, based from the Lore of Madness. Based on the Tree of Life the heroes can work out that there are 32 scrolls that are similar, all contained on a different level, one across. Each has highly stylistic pictures and runes. [there are 32 of these in all before repeating]

Successful occult rolls will reveal this as the Tree of Life, which is divided into 32 paths. The heroes can now join their heads and try to work out what each symbol and Hebrew letter means. Only by pulling the 24th one can they escape. It is the number for death, forgetfulness and change, just what Samedi stands for. The gamemaster should provide a list of Cabbalah. By removing each bone that is not the 24th the door they entered will have a large slab of concrete slowly descend a foot each time. They have 3 (the higher sephiroth) attempts at choosing the correct one. if they are desperate, help them.

A grinding of stone will reveal another passage against a wall appear slowly, the bones being crushed. Darkness is found through. Walking through tunnels, coated in a soft white filament the heroes approach the next Realm. Alchemy This is a Realm of Transcendence, and covers the Lore of Death's science Alchemy. This room is not so much of a riddle, but a decision for the heroes. Here they must consume one of the Alchemic elements that will have greater bearing on the future of each character.

Each element has a significance. Unless the heroes have Alchemy they will not know what the elements stand for.

The room is small, containing nine small altars a short height from the ground. On the side facing the heroes on each block is a planet symbol. Above them upon wooden dishes is a small piece of the relative element. Record here what the hero has chosen for himself. The metal will slowly and surely inch its way down each heroes' throat. Once they have done that they will begin to choke upon it, and eventually black out. When they awaken they will be in the next room, the room of Astrology.

Astrology The next Realm of Transcendence is the occult science of Astology, based from the Lore of Time and Space. The heroes are required to read the heavens and choose the right sign to pass onto the next place. The chamber they are in is painted black. Upon the ceiling, shining with silvery light are thousands of pinpricks of light.

The heroes should realise that this is the sky and in time they must choose the correct zodiac constellation and planets that is appropriate with Guede and their current situation. Again the heroes can recall occult knowledge, or even better the skill. The heroes must stand under Capricorn. Only then will they be transported to the next realm, that of Numerology.

Numerology The next realm of Transcendence is the occult science of Numerology, based upon the Lore of Time and Space. The heroes will find themselves in this room as if they never were in the one before. They do not even blink. They believe that they were here for some time indeed.

This room is simple to bypass. Simple deduction can work out what to say, but the heroes must first find out what to do. They will be in yet another cave with no way out. Much like a spider's egg the room is circular, and covered in white filament. As they progress they will actually realise that they are in a spider egg, and the god outside harvesting her eggs will notice them. They may notice the shadows moving first. Time is of particular essence and the heroes must choose correctly. Written on one wall, in thicker filament, easily noticeable from the rest are the words TO MEGA CHRION, Latin for the Beast. Using Numerology the heroes can work out the number of the beast. Just mentioning 666 will not work. They must actually work it out. This needn't be played out. Rolls will do. You could include your own numerological number here - the above one is just an example and can be used to further any campaign.

Once the heroes have succeeded the bottom of the egg will open, and reveal a gnawing darkness. Then they will notice the great blackened appendaged thing coming at them from above. Dropping is a good idea, they fall into darkness eventually...

Symbolism The next Realm of Enlightenment is the occult science of Symbolism, based upon the Lore of Passion. The heroes will be barely illuminated on a flat dark plain. There is nothing here. What ever the heroes try to create as a symbol, whether it be words, insults will cause it to take on a more real appearance, which could lead the heroes to danger. The symbolism will kill, but it will also get the heroes out of this room. All they need to do is project a door to exit this place to get out of here.

Tarot Reading The next Realm of Enlightenment is the Occult Science of Tarot Reading, based upon the Lore of Dreams. The heroes will appear in a chamber, roughly hewn from stone. Upon a small foor-legged wodden table is a small black parcel. In this cloth is a Tarot deck. Each hero should pick a card. This major Arcana card will relate to each hero. Only once they have chosen their cards will they pass on to the final room. The gamemaster should choose appropriate cards for each hero.

Once all the cards have been chosen for each character a chute will open below each of them, dropping them away into darkness. They traverse the chute before it is left behind. The heroes plummet and then land with a sickening crunch into the pit.

Voodoo The last room belongs to the Realm of Transcendence and has the last occult science of Voudoo, belonging to the Lore of Death. The pit the heroes land in is filled with bodies. The first inhale is the worst. Rot and decay enters the heroes lungs as thick as knives, burning all the way. It doesn't get easier to breath. Worse, they flouder in a pit of bodies. Rotting husks and decayed skeletons, all jut out from the ground. The room is the storage of bodies that have been killed after zombification - as most are severed.

The only escape here is to climb out. The heroes will eventually fall through the rotting bodies, only to be suffocated by decay. Allow a few bodies to be dumped down the chutes as they await, landing among them, maybe knocking them back.

Climbing out is not easy, but there is a tunnel set some 20 metres up one of the walls. The heroes must work together to get there and away from the room. The tunnel leads to Guede's temple.

SCENE 3: Guede's temple

Guede's temple is a massive skull. The heroes crawl out from the tunnel to face the massive maw, filled with strange barbed teeth. The skull is yellowed, the mouth open revealing an illuminated room beyond, where the flicker of candles shows shelves carved from the very stone - shelves filled with black sealed jars. At the far end of the room is an altar alight with candlelight. Upon it is a crucifix with the Madonna nailed to it. Incense burns heavily in the air, smothering the smell of rot upon the heroes bodies. The walls are painted with veves, white symbols of death and change.

This room holds the souls of all those who crossed Samedi and Guede. This includes Samedi himself who can be found among the shards. Destroying a jar will cause the soul to be free. The hero will feel a great nausea when doing this, and a blast of cold air. If more than five jars are shattered at a time the hero will vomit and begin to choke, as the power of the spirituality is too great for him.

There seems to be nothing else within the room. But destroying the jars will cause Guede to appear. Slithering from the darkness, melding out from the shadows come a smear of inky black. Massive taloned claws drag behind it, with razor sharp teeth glinting in the candlelight. Clothes seem to fade in and on the figure. A skeleton like image reflects among this as well sporadically. Guede is furious the heroes made it so far. What he can't deal with is Damballa, who melds from the amulets that Papa Theodore gave them, if they kept them. If one or more amulet is missing, Damballa will lose the battle with Guede, but the heroes may succeed. If they have no amulets... tough luck, this is voodoo.

A white light emanates from the talismans, glowing around them. The heroes hear an unearthly screaming, tearing from beyond them - then thin shafts of light stream out from the bags. The screaming soars backwards, drowning out into sadistic half-screamed laughter. The light pours together forming an image between the heroes. The black smear shifts forward toward the heroes. The white coalesces as a snake in the air and strikes out at Papa Guede. Guede is distracted and claws at the thing to no avail. The snake likewise attacks without success. The two cannot harm each other in different forms, and so are acting as opposites, duality.

The heroes can either leave them here to battle eternally, or they can end it by destroying the jars one by one. It will make them ill, but eventually they will find Samedi's soul. When they shatter this the ground shakes and The inky blackness begins to decay. Peices or real flesh fall away from the vaguely incorporeal body. Last to fall is the black hat, then the inky darkness and white merge in a spasmodic collision, and a high pitched noise begins ripping the heroes ears, and causing the area to shake. Cracks appear along the wars, running out like nerves.

To escape the heroes must climb upwards, along the cracks and the shaking room. It is hard, but there are many handholds. Eventually they pull themselves over the top to escape the pit below. Now bleeding from ears, and sinuses exploding within them they roll upon the blackened street. But they still must leave Columbia.

They will see Harlem, an image layered over the one they are in, still flickering. Past the baricade, homeboys watch them from their defenses. They don't say anything and let the heroes pass to their car where they leave in silence away from the scene. The heroes have defeated the darkness for now.

Award experience and Hero points

NPC's Father Lucien Father Lucien is an old man. His hair is long, black and seaweed-like. His beard is unkempt, he has the eyes of a madman. His features have been drawn downward. A large silver cross hangs from his neck around his black robe.
  GAMEMASTERING HINTS: Speak disjointedly. You are a hysteric on the edge of death. Repeat phrases, but answer questions with correct answers.

Legba Legba is the opener of the way. He opens the gate to the world of gods, which means he opens the door to Metropolis and its dangerous passageways. He remains a servant to the spell that bound him to servitude of this task, powerless and forgotten to the Archons who once used him as a door.
  GAMEMASTERING HINTS: Dont smile, never say a word, and lead the heroes directly to where they should be going. Look long into their eyes, letting that carry all the messages they will ever require.

Jonathan Bruneschelli His blonde hair is long and unkempt. Wide glasses sit on his ruddy face.
  GAMEMASTERING HINTS: Jonathan Bruneschelli acts nervous and as though something is going to strike him at any moment. Act like a mouse, whimper words but speak sanely.

Madame Christie She is a large woman, with eyes that already seem to know everything. Her white robe is layered with talismans and charms around her neck. Her black feet are ensconed in wooden sandals.
  GAMEMASTERING HINTS: Speak above everybody. Hold your head high. You are proud and powerful. Though not evil, you can easily kill a man with a ritual.

Papa Theodore An afraid old man, too frightened of his own potential. Intent on passing on his knowledge to those who desire it. He awaits death with ease, too much ease. He currently fears the insurrection of Baron Samedi, an old Death Conjurer from Haiti who shouldn't be alive. Papa Theodore is an aged man. Heavy wrinkles have gouged his face like an old oak. Dim milky brown eyes squint from within the dark recesses of his sockets. Thinned white hair covers his head like spider filaments. He dresses in discoloured yellow shirts and baggy brown courdoroys. Around his neck are talismans of bright colours and feathers.
  GAMEMASTERING HINTS: Stare at the ground when talking to people. Murmur like an old mad fool. Hunch over with stooped shoulders and shuffle when walking. Speak erratically but clearly.

Nadia She is optimistic, often inciting naivete. More than often she acts before thinking, blurting out the answer when it should be a secret. Smile heaps and look directly at people. She wants her store, Arcarnum Occultus to be a well-known store, but has only a small clientele of regular customers. Her fascination with the occult has not yet lead her to practise magic. Nadia is a young woman, with long black hair, shredded with tight curls. She wears large jewellery and earrings, bordering on gaudy. Her clothes are a mixture of gowns emblazoned with occult sigils, and white lace. A somewhat dumpy body, because of her stature. She is more attractive when smiling, and her teeth are ivory white.
  GAMEMASTERING HINTS: Smile heaps and look directly at people. Motion with your hands, and generally stay chirpy.