Chronicles of Darkness -sas- Ruins Of Ur_FQvCD5.pdf

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.

- Jose Narosky

An adventure for the World of Darkness

using the Storytelling Adventure System

Written by Ben Counter Developed by Eddy Webb Based on material by Will Hindmarch

Edited by Genevieve Podleski Layout by Jessica Mullins Art: Sam Araya, Tomasz Jedruszek,

Brian Leblanc, Ken Meyer Jr., Juan Serrano, Cyril Van Der Haegen, Cathy Wilkens, James Stowe,

Andy Brase, Efrem Palacios, James Cole, Costas Harritas, Jim Pavelec

stOrytelling adventure systeM

Mental OOOOO

Physical OOOOO

sOcial OOOOO

WHITE WOLF PUBLISHING, INC.

2075 WEST PARK PLACE

BLVD SUITE G

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA 30087

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.

- Jose Narosky

An adventure for the World of Darkness

using the Storytelling Adventure System

Written by Ben Counter Developed by Eddy Webb Based on material by Will Hindmarch

Edited by Genevieve Podleski Layout by Jessica Mullins Art: Sam Araya, Tomasz Jedruszek,

Brian Leblanc, Ken Meyer Jr., Juan Serrano, Cyril Van Der Haegen, Cathy Wilkens, James Stowe,

Andy Brase, Efrem Palacios, James Cole, Costas Harritas, Jim Pavelec

stOrytelling adventure systeM

scenes

Mental OOOOO

Physical OOOOO

sOcial OOOOO

XP level

o-34

WHITE WOLF PUBLISHING, INC.

2075 WEST PARK PLACE

BLVD SUITE G

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA 30087

© 2008 CCP hf. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and one printed copy which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire and

World of Darkness are registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, Promethean the Created, Storytelling System and Ruins of Ur are trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. All

characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by CCP hf. CCP North America Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCP hf. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright

concerned. This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are iction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.

Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com

Beneath the deserts of Iraq, among the ruins of the ancient Baby-

lonian civilization, lie secrets. The ancient servants of a dead god stir

again. Forgotten magic waits to be claimed. Evil spirits yearn for souls

to consume. At the heart of it all is a terrible hunger – for power, for

servitude, but most of all for blood.

A squad of soldiers escorting an archaeologist is thrown into the maw

of these ancient secrets, and its men must fend for themselves against an

ancient horror beyond their understanding. But survival is not enough,

for deep in the ruins of Ur the very tools of their salvation could cost

them their souls.

Introduction

Ruins of Ur is a story kit that helps a Storyteller to run a World of

Darkness story crammed with violence, gore and horror. The player

characters in this story are soldiers sent on a seemingly routine mission

that pitches them into a deadly struggle with an ancient horror waking

from beneath the earth. Should they survive, they may uncover hints

about an ancient empire that was ruled not by mortal tyrants, but by

supernatural beings whose legacy has not faded from the world.

This kit can be run as a standalone story (and perhaps spark

the beginning of a new chronicle). Alternatively, it can be run as

part of an existing chronicle. This latter option will require some

adapting of the story and its set-up, and suggestions are given in

the introduction and throughout the story’s scenes about how this

might be done.

The tropes of this story include action, the military, visceral horror,

ancient secrets and internal conflict. It has a lot in common with

your average horror movie: it places its characters in an isolated set-

ting from which they cannot readily escape and pits them against an

overarching horror that is ostensibly far more powerful than them.

It provides plenty of opportunities for set-piece shocks and messy

deaths, and has potential for conflict not just with internal horrors,

but between the main characters. The story also has a tension-

ratcheting countdown. The atmosphere of Ruins of Ur was inspired

by action horror movies like Dog Soldiers , Aliens or Predator and by

survival horror videogames like the Resident Evil or the F.E.A.R .

series. Ruins of Ur is all about shock, desperate combat and setting

your M16 to full-auto so you can spray like a weak-bladdered tomcat

at anything that moves.

A b o u t t h e S t o r y t e l l i n g A d v e n t u r e S y S t e m

If this is your irst Storytelling Adventure System (SAS)

product, you’ve chosen a ine place to start. To keep this

story kit lean and focused, though, we haven’t included a

lot of the core premises and Storyteller suggestions that are

at the heart of the SAS. Whether you’re a new Storyteller

or an old hand, be sure to read the free SAS Guide , found

at the SAS website:

www.white-wolf.com/sas

Here are some of the features available in Ruins of Ur :

Interactive links.

Clicking on anything in blue will

take you directly to the section referenced, or to an

appropriate character sheet or prop. It can also take

you to an external website that could be useful.

Scenes.

• Clicking on a scene name in the scene low-

chart or the page number in the scene card will take

you to the full write-up of the scene.

Bookmarks.

•

This PDF is fully bookmarked, so you

can jump to major sections at any time when the

ile is open.

84.143.99.225

•

Theme: Mystery, Desperation and Violence

Ruins of Ur begins with mystery and its revelation. At the outset, the

player characters have little or no idea what they have let themselves in

for. As the story continues they uncover more about their location, the

ancient Temple of Sin, and the creature that wants to consume them.

This theme of revelation runs throughout the story, and uncovering

information about their surroundings is key to the characters’ survival.

Setting up mystery, and paying it off with revelation, is the story’s main

dramatic device.

In Ruins of Ur , the primary conflict between the characters and their

undead enemy will almost certainly be resolved through violence, and

lots of it. The story works best in a military context because then the

characters have a good reason to be toting the kind of weaponry they’ll

need. The inevitable escalation of violence is another major part of the

story and forms a great part of the story’s structure.

Finally, a theme more internal to the characters is desperation, or how far

they will go to survive. The most potent weapons for use against Bashanipal

exact a horrible toll on the humanity of those using them. For instance, the

Lyre of Ishtar is mind-warping to use, and the power gained from the temple’s

sacrificial pit requires the extremely horroible death of a living human.

The question of just how far the characters will go to survive Bashanipal’s

predations provides a counterpoint to the threat of Bashanipal himself.

Mood: Ancient, Dark, and Hostile

The story’s mood is primarily conveyed through the setting: the

Temple of Sin. This is an ancient ruin, and its age is an important part

of the story’s mood. Great age imparts gravity to the story, a sort of

grandeur that only the weight of centuries can bring. It brings about

questions, too: Who built all this? What kind of people existed back

then? How can anything still be alive down here?

It should also be noted that like many classic horror stories, Ruins of

Ur is very dark – literally. The Temple of Sin has barely any lighting,

and the characters will be forced to bring their own light sources. Fears

gather a hundred times more profoundly in the dark, and monsters

loom twice as large.

The story takes place in hostile territory. Characters should be very

aware that they are on a mission and that, regardless of the supernatural

foes they might encounter, there are plenty of good old mortal foes around

who would kill them just as fast as any undead bloodsucker.

Background

Ancient Times

Between 1800 and 1600 BC in Mesopotamia (corresponding roughly

to modern-day Iraq), an empire thrived, centered on the city of Babylon.

This empire was ruled by Marduk, a king who believed he was a god (and

he was, in fact, a supernatural creature). He gathered around him other

supernaturals to enforce his rule and expand his empire, and a golden

age of evil and predation grew in Babylon. One of the cities brought

under Marduk’s rule was Ur, a city ancient even then, and sacred to

the moon-god Sin. Sin was a giant figure, impossibly handsome and

blazing with moonlight, but Marduk was not awed by him, for Marduk

saw himself as more than Sin’s equal. Sin was impressed by Marduk’s

fierce presence and ruthlessness in the pursuit of power, and Sin and his

priests became allies of Marduk. The huge Temple of Sin just outside

Ur became the religious heart of the empire and Sin’s worshippers were

outnumbered only by Marduk’s own. Among the priests of Sin was a

magnificent and terrifying creature called Bashanipal.

Marduk’s reign could not last forever. Some time after 1600BC,

Marduk fell and Hittites from the north invaded and pulled the

Babylonian Empire apart. Some saw this coming, among them

Bashanipal, who chose to enter a near-death slumber until the

world was an easier place for a bloodsucking fiend of the night.

84.143.99.225

Unfortunately for Bashanipal and the retainers who were interred

with him in the catacombs adjoining the Temple of Sin, that time

never came.

Until now.

Modern Day

The Babylonian Empire and Ur became footnotes in history books until

a series of excavations in the late nineteenth century hinted at the size

and sophistication of the empire’s cities. Much later, in the aftermath of

the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces and the fall of Iraq’s government,

archaeologists had new and unobstructed access to these tempting sites.

Miranda Steele took the opportunity to excavate a promising site outside

the ruins of Ur, where her research suggested she could find a site of great

religious importance. She brought with her three assistants — Stellan,

Drake and Jenks — and beneath the sand of southern Iraq they found

the Temple of Sin. And Bashanipal found them.

In his slumber, Bashanipal reached out with his mind. Drake and

Jenks knew that something was wrong, but they continued with their

work because of the apparent importance of the site. Stellan went

insane, murdered Jenks, and was killed trying to acquire a weapon

which he believed could destroy the evil they had uncovered. Drake

walled himself up in one of the small side-tombs to escape the mad-

ness. Steele herself heard the voice of Bashanipal and was fascinated

instead of being repelled. Here was a being possessing knowledge of a

forgotten age; a golden age (in Bashanipal’s memory) of freedom and

enlightenment. She lost her mind, and became devoted to waking

Bashanipal and receiving his wisdom.

Steele left the dig site, determined to return with the sacrifices

Bashanipal required to complete his awakening. She went to the

US military, who were searching for ways to better understand the

mindset of the insurgents currently targeting their troops. Steele

explained to them the theory of Archaeological Intelligence

(ARCHINT) which might help shed some light on the cultural

forces at work in Iraq. She asked for the military’s help in gaining

access to the site near Ur, explaining that its treasures would al-

legedly help illustrate the “philosophical and religious roots of the

insurgency.” The military warily agreed and sent a squad of soldiers

to escort Steele to the dig site, unaware that she has already exca-

vated much of it or that she intends to hand her escort of soldiers

over to Bashanipal as a welcome gift.

The poor schmucks assigned to escort Miranda Steele have no idea

what’s about to go down in the ruins of Ur. Those poor bastards are

the player characters.

ArCheologiCAl intelligenCe

Military intelligence typically comes from one of a group

of recognized sources, such as Human Intelligence (HUMINT)

from observers and informers, and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT)

from intercepting enemy communications. Archaeological

Intelligence is intel gleaned from the study of history and

ancient sites. ARCHINT is theoretical and ictional, but in the

World of Darkness it is an occasionally valuable resource. Military

forces in the World of Darkness need intel not just on enemy

plans and forces, but on the weird shit that keeps on happening

to their soldiers (going mad, becoming possessed, being turned

inside out, getting exsanguinated, and so on). The US military,

in particular the Army, believes that ARCHINT may be worth

pursuing and is contemplating deploying ARCHINT-gathering

assets in Iraq to see if the violence in the country is fueled by

some cultural force that can only by properly understood in a

historical context.

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