Content Warning

THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL contains brief mentions of fictionalized drug and alcohol use,
death of LGBTQ+ characters, descriptions of the supernatural, references to mutilation,
and possible scenes of physical or gun violence. Call of Cthulhu is a game about mental
health and stress under psychological pressure. Keepers should use their best discretion to
keep this scenario fun for everyone.
THE DIONYSIAN

could act or would at least believe the events of this

Keeper Introduction impossible night, Andrews relayed what little information
about his situation time allowed.
The Dionysian is a scenario for one or more investigators. It
The violent urge repossessed him. The murders continued.
requires on average about 5-6 hours of playtime.

Scenario Background Investigator Introduction

Investigators enter this scenario of their own volition. The
2018 CE: Washington State, USA. In Jefferson County, west
Keeper may choose or invent an appropriate reason for their
of Port Townsend, a small city called Faltra surrounds a
involvement.
private for-profit college. Like Seattle and its underground,
this community rose atop and buried beneath it the • Hook 1: One of the investigators was the confidant
incinerated ruins of an older settlement. It hides a forgotten Philip Andrews called in his last moments of
and violent history that threatens to repeat itself. lucidity. This investigator has prior experience with
the mythos. Set their Mythos score to 1% if not
In 1889 colonial settlers founded the original Faltra. The
already equal or higher. The other investigators,
town took its name from Evelyn Faltra, a wealthy widow,
companions of this confidant, either share this
community leader, landlady, and patroness. Despite her
prior mythos experience or humor the
status as a public icon and active member of the community,
investigation. Set or maintain their Mythos scores
in private she created and obsessed over and created a Neo-
appropriately.
pagan cult of Dionysian ritual. Whereas ancient Greek
Dionysian Mysteries involved themes of liberation and • Hook 2: Andrews' confidant (suggested name
transformation, Evelyn bastardized history. Any detail that "Tom Wallace") leaked his story to the news.
threatened her bizarre conceptions of ancient Greek society, Investigators are sensationalists or conspiracy
she rewrote. theorists trying to "discover the truth" behind these
wild claims.
Her dabbles summoned Bacchae: immaterial entities, spirits
of wrath whose touch incites violence. Massacres engulfed • Hook 3: Investigators are coworkers of an
Old Faltra. The people leveled their settlement and burned organization concerned with the mythos. Andrews'
themselves with it. confidant, a member of that same organization,
orders them to investigate.
Two days ago three students—Philip Andrews, Rachel
Hemmings, and Clarissa Parkins—rediscovered Evelyn Investigators arrive in Faltra on a rented boat appropriate for
Faltra's diaries. They, convinced her writings represented their Credit Rating with a name of their choosing.
the harmless ravings of a colonialist bygone, decided to
reenact the ritual as a diversion before college finals week. What Investigators Know. Investigators begin with a few
For the fun of it, they even threw in an absurd alteration of pieces of information gleamed from their involvement hook.
their own. They know Philip Andrews is a college student at Faltra.
Local news claims he killed three people before his arrest.
What began as a night of drugs and alcoholic drink ended in
disaster. Their performance ensnared a Bacchae, trapped Andrews, in his haste to explain what he knew of the
and gave it physical form. The spirit touched Philip Bacchae, never mention its name. This omission makes the
Andrews, drove him to kill Rachel Hemmings. investigators' job more difficult. The Keeper should refer to
the Bacchae as "The Entity" until investigators discover its
Faced with the murder of a friend, Andrews regained true name. Anything Andrews told his confidant, he learned
lucidity. In a final act of free will, he phoned a confidant— from Evelyn Faltra's diary. If investigators acquire the diary,
one who had, in a heated argument long ago, claimed it confirms this information.
knowledge of the supernatural. On the off-chance those
claims proved true, in a desperate hope that this confidant

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 CHRISTOPHER D. LEONARD

• The Entity is dangerous and murderous. It is

violence incarnate.

• The more people know of The Entity's existence,

the stronger it becomes.

• The Entity has a singular and unique weakness:

rubble. Knock a roof or some kind of structure
atop it, and that should solve the problem.

Investigators may wonder why The Entity, which gains

strength from others' knowledge of it, hasn't revealed itself
to the public. The Keeper should agree with such questions.
Very strange indeed—how do investigators intend to find
the answer?

The Dog. Declare that one of the investigators recently

adopted a Pyrenean Mountain dog. They may name it
themselves or settle for the default name "Tiny." This dog
may count as a new investigator's significant person. Ask:
does the investigator bring their dog with them to Faltra? If
not, who cares for the dog in their absence?

The Backpack Bomb. How can investigators crush the

Bacchae beneath rubble? A structure collapse offers the
easiest way. Most demolitions rely on a controlled
detonation: lots of small implosions, planned over days and
weeks, set at strategic points. If investigators don't realize it
Science (Chemistry) roll. Failure means that investigators
themselves, the Keeper should veto the possibility outright.
acquire the tannerite but cannot rig it in a safe or reliable
The investigators possess neither the resources, time, cover
manner. Rather than an IED, they create an exploding target
story, nor stationary target to allow for anything controlled
(ET). It can only detonate with the aforementioned shot of a
and safe. They need something fast, disguised, and portable:
high-powered rifle. A fumble should trigger the ET at an
an improvised explosive device (IED). Hooks 1 and 3
inconvenient moment and perhaps kill its creator(s).
provide reason and opportunity for investigators to begin the
scenario with such a weapon. They receive from their Regardless of origin and trigger, the IED/ET boasts a 200
organization or assemble themselves a hurriedly-made meter explosion radius. Anything caught in its blast suffers
backpack bomb. Inside it hides a binary explosion mixture 6D6 HP damage. Ask the investigators: Who carries this
of an ammonium nitrate-based fertilizer known as bomb? Do they leave it on the boat? What happens if
Tannerite. Hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) someone asks about it, or a police officer demands to look
stored inside a temperature-stable capsule serves as the inside?
detonator. A battery-powered electric timer, start- and
stoppable, provides the firing system. This method
supersedes a radio or cellphone switch, both of which rely Timeline
on a remote signal that could fail in a critical moment.
Some events will likely occur before others. This timeline
Alternatively, anyone (both friend and foe) can detonate this
presents the most common outcome.
unstable substance with the shot of a high-powered rifle.
1. Friday June 8, evening. Investigators arrive on a
Hook 2 investigators, who might not truly believe in the
rented boat and investigate Faltra. They meet
Bacchae's existence till later in the scenario, can nonetheless
Clarissa Parkins. She pretends to offer aid but
develop a similar bomb themselves with a successful

[2]
THE DIONYSIAN

intends to mislead and delay investigators away Faltra and its College
from the Bacchae. Investigators make several
important discoveries. Anyone on the street can explain these pieces of
information. With the exception of any mythos-related
2. Friday June 8, night. The Aurora. secrets, the Keeper should not hesitate to provide any of this
3. Saturday June 9, morning. Investigators investigate information on request.
remaining locations, wrap up their investigation, Faltra. In the ruin of the early 2000s Dot-com Crash,
and know the Bacchae's location and Parkins' billionaire Dmitri Bloch bought swaths of land in Jefferson
involvement. county and moved his company headquarters there. The
4. Saturday June 9, late morning or early afternoon. hundreds and later thousands of workers that followed, their
Investigators delve Underground Faltra and need for houses and amenities, led to the reestablishment of
confront the Bacchae. this ill-fated settlement Faltra.

Bloch, the 53-year-old son of a Polish refugee mechanic

father and Louisianan Hispanic laundromat mother, came
The Investigation from humble origins. The most important lesson from his
Investigators arrive in Faltra on Friday June 8 at 5:31PM K-12 education, he tells interviewers, was that the world is
(17:31) PDT. They may explore Faltra's locations in any one giant playground. He graduated high school, joined the
order they choose. If investigators seem unsure where to US Navy, and learned computers. The Navy stationed him
begin, recommend the obvious: ask local residents for news. in Washington state: a land he grew to love in its appearance
though not politics. After Bloch's career in the military, he

[3]