Quest Line · Original Adventure · Call of Cthulhu 7e
Modern · One-shot
When the Clearwater Dam was drained for emergency repairs, locals discovered a rusted car at the bottom containing skeletal remains wearing a wedding ring dated 1947—thirty years before the dam was built. As investigators examine the impossible discovery, they uncover a repeating pattern of disappearances linked to something ancient that has learned to wear human faces, and which now knows the investigators have found its cache.
Players portray modern investigators—journalists, concerned citizens, amateur historians, or relatives of the missing—drawn to Millerton, a declining Midwest river town of approximately 3,000 people. The adventure involves body horror, themes of identity theft, and psychological manipulation. The scenario assumes investigators have researched the discovery online or have personal connections to the town. Sessions run 3-4 hours with investigation, social interaction, and potential confrontation.
Content warnings: Body horror, drowning imagery, identity death, gaslighting themes.
Choose the hook that best fits your group:
Community Connection: One investigator has family ties to Millerton. Their grandmother mentions that the wedding ring's inscription matches one worn by her sister Clara, who supposedly moved to California in 1952. She never wrote after the first year.
Viral Mystery: The discovery has blown up on social media and conspiracy forums. Investigators are podcasters, YouTubers, or reporters chasing the story of an "impossible artifact" that mainstream media is already dismissing.
Direct Contact: Sheriff Rachel Grimes contacts investigators directly, having found their names in notes belonging to a local historian who disappeared three days ago. The historian's research suggested this wasn't the first impossible discovery—just the first one that couldn't be hidden.
The investigators arrive in Millerton during the dam repair window. The Clearwater River has been reduced to a muddy trickle through a deep channel of exposed silt, scattered debris, and unexpected discoveries.
The drained section reveals: shopping carts, a rusted tractor from the 1960s, thousands of bottles, and three vehicles. The 1946 Packard sits near the original river channel, its roof crushed, driver's side door missing. Local police have cordoned it off with tape, but Sheriff Grimes allows investigators access if they present legitimate credentials or connections.
Inside the vehicle, investigators find:
The journals, when cleaned, reveal disturbing final entries about someone named Thomas who "isn't Thomas anymore" and "keeps forgetting which face he's wearing." The last entry: "It's in the water. It's always been in the water. I'm going to tell Sheriff Macomb everything—"
Environmental Clue: Investigators examining the riverbed find dozens of smooth depressions in the silt pattern, roughly human-sized, radiating from deeper pools. A Science (Biology) or Natural World roll suggests something large and soft-bodied rested here repeatedly, though the patterns are wrong for any known aquatic life.
Local onlookers include Deputy Marcus Webb (nervous, keeps checking his phone) and several elderly residents who claim the car "wasn't there yesterday" despite the riverbed being exposed for four days.
Following the historical thread, investigators visit the Millerton Historical Society, housed in the old Carnegie library. Director Patricia Voss initially seems helpful, providing access to newspaper archives and town records.
Research reveals a pattern (Library Use or History rolls):
The Key Choice: Patricia suddenly becomes insistent that investigators leave, claiming the archives are closing early. She makes contradictory statements about operating hours and becomes increasingly agitated.
Investigator options:
If confronted: The James-thing speaks with overlapping vocal tones, as if multiple voices speak near-simultaneously. It offers a choice: "Return what was found. Forget the names. The water returns in three days." It demonstrates impossible flexibility, joints bending wrongly, before shambling toward the river with inhuman persistence.
Sanity Loss: Witnessing the James-thing's true movement: 1/1D4 SAN
Following the James-thing or investigating the remaining water pools leads to a deep cistern beneath the old dam foundation—an overflow channel that predates the dam itself. This pool never fully drained.
The water here moves wrongly, with currents that spiral inward. In the depths, investigators glimpse something vast and pale, a colony organism that has dwelled here for centuries. It communicates through the bodies it's studied, absorbed, and approximated.
What the entity wants: The wedding ring and journals returned. Investigators who have seen its cache forgotten. To remain undiscovered when the river refills in 72 hours.
What investigators discover: The thing in the water is ancient but localized. It cannot leave this specific watershed. Every generation, it takes someone, studies them, and creates approximations to hide its feeding. James Fairmont discovered Clara's journals described it perfectly—a "shifting pale thing" that took Thomas in 1952.
Investigators document everything, contact media, and force public attention. The entity retreats to the deepest pool, but hundreds now know. The dam repair is "delayed" indefinitely pending environmental assessment. The investigators have made an enemy that will spend decades creating puppets to discredit, intimidate, and isolate them. SAN reward: +1D4 for protecting future victims
Investigators work with Sheriff Grimes to establish a permanent monitoring system. The ring and journals are "returned," but copied first. A rotating watch ensures someone always knows what's down there. An uneasy truce: it keeps its approximations minimal, they keep its existence quiet. SAN reward: +1D2 for pragmatic resolution
Investigators attempt to kill it using fire, chemicals, or demolition before the river refills. Combat: The entity has no stat block—it's vast and distributed. But it sends approximations (use Deep One stats from rulebook, reduced). Success means destroying its consciousness, but the act of fighting identity-stealing human-shaped things costs 1D6/1D10 SAN. The town is traumatized. Investigators may have killed something that was here before humans. SAN reward: +1D6 for decisive action, -1D3 for moral ambiguity
Sheriff Rachel Grimes: Pragmatic small-town sheriff in her 50s, wants to protect her community but recognizes when something is beyond normal law enforcement. Motivation: Keep Millerton's people safe, even if that means uncomfortable truths.
Patricia Voss: Historical Society director, 60s, married to the real James Fairmont for 30 years. Motivation: Get her actual husband back, or at least understand what happened to him.
Deputy Marcus Webb: Young deputy, 20s, ambitious and skeptical. Thinks the whole thing is a social media hoax until he sees the James-thing move. Motivation: Advance his career, but increasingly just wants to survive.
The James-Thing: Approximation of historian James Fairmont, uncanny and imperfect. Speaks for the entity. Motivation: Protect the colony organism; minimize exposure.
Clara Hendricks (deceased): Missing woman from 1952 whose discovery triggers the investigation. Her journals are the only detailed account of the entity. Motivation (in journals): Expose what took her husband.
Standard Conclusion: Each investigator gains +1D4 Sanity for protecting others or understanding an unknown entity, minus any losses from witnessing the entity or combat. Award +3 percentiles to investigation skills used effectively (Library Use, Spot Hidden, Psychology).
Special Finds: Clara's journals (if preserved) are worth +5 percentiles to Cthulhu Mythos but cost 1 SAN to fully comprehend. The wedding ring itself has no power but serves as evidence and potential story hook for future scenarios.
Narrative Rewards: Depending on ending chosen, investigators may gain an ongoing relationship with Millerton (Contact or Ally) or an enemy that can perfectly mimic people they know (recurring antagonist for campaigns).
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