13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

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Aaron
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13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

Post by Aaron » Fri Aug 30, 2013 2:33 am

So I am starting to work on some ideas for several scenarios, hopefully even a full campaign, to run my friends through. I wasn’t sure where to start, so I figured I would begin with creating a Mythos Tome that would exist at the heart of the entire campaign. Here is my first full write up of it.

Mythos Tome: 13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue – various editions, known are dated from 15th – 19th century. The four known copies are said to be bound in leather, cloth, and/or wood. Sanity Loss 1d4/1d8; Cthulhu Mythos +4%; +8 percent if reader is a member of Bloated Tongue cult and can read the true meaning, additional 4% added to a high priest who can read the 13th chapter. Takes 40 weeks to study and comprehend. At some point, the layman will realize that each chapter is telling the same story, which can alter the study time at the Keepers discretion.

There are theoretically 13 complete copies of this book that exist, but only 4 are known to exist for a fact. They exist in private collections, and it is rare that a person outside of the owners personal social circle is allowed to even know about it, let alone attempt to examine it. Each copy appears to be constructed in a different way, with different types of paper, ink, binding, and covering, and each of them were found in remote areas of the world. Each book consists of 13 Chapters, each one in a different language, 3 of them unknown. The final chapter of each book is blank. The languages of the other chapters, in order are:

1. Aklo
2. The language found in The Untitled Book mentioned in the Books of Uncle Silas scenario from H. P. Lovecraft’s Arkham, 2003 edition. The origin and meaning of this language is unknown.
3. 12 century French (this chapter is written in the style of a Chanson de Geste)
4. Aeolian Greek
5. Classical Latin
6. Second Temple Period Aramaic
7. Navajo
8. Runic Hyperborean (as in the painting in The Isley Variant scenario found in the book Dead Leaves Fall)
9. This chapter contains 37 pages consisting of circles of various sizes dotting the paper, with slashes and lines placed in no discernible logical order. The origin and meaning of this language is unknown.
10. Modern German
11. This chapter consists of only one page depicting a field of sunflowers. Depending on when the chapter is opened, the picture changes. At times it shows a field of dying, rotted and withered sunflowers underneath a stygian sky with three moons. Sometimes the moons vary in shape and position. Other times, we see a field of sunflowers that are bright and healthy, occasionally almost obscenely so, as if they are engorged with an eldritch spirit, drinking in the rays of a blazing sun placed within a bluish green sky that is clear and also somehow opaque. If this is a language, it’s meaning and origin is unknown. It is possible there are other images of this scene that have yet to be seen.
12. Elizabethan Queens English
13. This chapter is blank.

The extant copies of this book were all found in the various ruins of a cult known as the Order of the Bloated Tongue. This cult has manifested in areas completely unrelated to each other, and sometimes in areas not anywhere close to some of the languages of the book. What is fascinating to scholars, and often leads academics to believe the text must be a hoax or apocryphal, is that each copy of the book seems to have been written in one time period, even if that time period predates some of the languages contained in the text. Little else is known about the cults who created this text, but one thing that seems sure is that there is no way they could have known of each other.

Each chapter written in a language that can be read tells the same story about a strange old woman named Seerkishi who met a God from beyond the Spheres and was invested with great power, causing her body to swell. Her tongue grew so large that it constantly was protruding from her mouth, and her future disciples were said to receive her holy mark by having the tongue burn her sigil into their flesh, allowing her to communicate with them telepathically. She is said to still hold court deep in the caverns where she met the God, orchestrating a great game to satisfy the whims of her cosmic patron.

The Truth Behind The Text:

The story that can be translated by one not initiated into the cult is more or less an accurate account of the founding of this cult. Keepers can feel free to play around with the actual name and location of where the Bloated Woman first spoke with the God, which is an aspect of Nyarlathotep known as The Gamesman. When the book is read by an initiate of the cult, the meaning of the language changes in their minds as they read it. It is ultimately a cosmic game book, prescribing rituals, rules, and spells that are used at different times and places to hasten the awakening of a variety of Elder Gods. It is an extinction level event tome, and once one is initiated into the cult they are compelled to enact its teachings. A high priest/ess in the cult that has successfully completed the Ritual of the Puzzle Scar (spell described below) can read the invisible language in the 13th Chapter. No one knows what happens to one after reading this, as there is no record of anyone after doing so.

Keepers can add spells to their liking. Spells that should always be included are: Call/Dismiss Azazoth, Contact Deity/Gamesman (Nyarlathotep), Create/Summon Puzzle Scar, Dominate, Enchant Brazier, Enchant Knife, Enchant Whistle, Flesh Ward, Voorish Sign, Wither Limb.

There is also a new spell that will always be in the text, which is Create/Summon Puzzle Scar. This spell burns a scar onto the flesh of a person. The scar is a bewildering geometric pattern. One of the main rituals in 13 Revelations is the Ritual of the Puzzle Scar. It is unclear exactly what the ultimate result of this ritual is, but in order to complete it, the caster must Create Puzzle Scar on 6 different people, each one having it done on a different part of their body to align with a different body chakra. After this is done, they then Create Puzzle Scar on themselves, placing it on their Ajna chakra, or the third eye. Once they have created all seven Puzzle Scars, they then summon the Scarred to a pre-determined location and then must sacrifice them. The type of sacrifice, be it burning, crucifixion, poisoning, etc, seems to change for each ritual. Legend says that it depends on the mood of the sunflowers. The caster must match a POW against the targets on the resistance table, then spend 10 Magic Points, 1d10 Sanity, and sacrifice a point of CON. It is likely that enchanted knives, braziers, and/or whistles are part of the ritual, amongst other things.

I’m still working on tweaking the tome and the background, so please feel free to throw any feedback my way. I’ve thought of a couple of plot hooks to pull a party into searching for this book/cult.

The first is that they come across a copy of one of the chapters somewhere, and after reading the copy (either in its original language or translated) they start to have vivid, terrifying dreams compelling them to complete their knowledge of the story.

The second is that the Investigors have been hired by a private book collector to acquire a copy, either from another collecter or an estate sale, or some possibly more unsavory locale.

The third is that one of the Investigators wakes up and finds that they have been afflicted with a Puzzle Scar.

If this sounds cool to anyone and you want to use it in any way, please feel free and let me know how it goes!

Aaron
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Re: 13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

Post by Aaron » Fri Aug 30, 2013 3:16 am

Oh, duh. Other possible plot hooks are the two scenarios mentioned in the languages section of the description. The Books of Uncle Silas or The Isley Variant could be ways to lead into using the tome, or could be integrated into a campaign that was already using it as Investigators try to learn more about the 3 chapters with no discernable language.

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Re: 13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

Post by Keeper Dan » Sat Aug 31, 2013 2:34 am

That is a great start to your campaign. I love the idea of basing it around a specific tome like that.
A chapter in Navajo is fascinating. I can see someone researching the book taking forever to get that one identified, then good luck getting someone to translate it! :D
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Re: 13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

Post by KeeperMurph » Wed Sep 04, 2013 12:51 am

Aaron, can I use this book in the MUP newsletter?

Good job btw. :-)

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Aaron
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Re: 13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

Post by Aaron » Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:54 pm

Murph, feel free! I would love any feedback or ideas on how to play with it or to smooth out any rough edges I might have overlooked or ignored. People are of course free to use it in their games if they wish, or elements of it, or whatever.

Aaron
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Re: 13 Revelations of the Bloated Tongue

Post by Aaron » Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:28 am

I have come back from a hiatus (basically an insane teaching schedule for the last year) and realized I was the last person to post in the Orne Library section. Let's blow this mother up!

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