Friday, September 2, 2022

OSR Commentary & Sideskinning Sinful Whispers (Swords and Wizardry) By Tom Knauss From Frog God Games

 If you've been following the mods we've been doing let's dive right back into the mix and get with the idea the awakening of the Deep Ones goddess. But what if this kicks off other Lovecraftian  dieties agendas across the world?! We're going to assume that the player's PC's are  going to be at least fifth level after dealing with the adventure agendas in our last adventures. 

"They tell of a lonely island that bears Great Pele’s footprints. An isle seared by a mother’s vengeance for the evil wrought on Her eloved children –  and where gods smite the earth, only fools dare tread. On the Razor, ’tis folly, indeed, to walk any ground She condemned."



Squint & pretend that this says Swords & Wizardry 


"Yet still, mortals come. Legends of a secret magic hoard, the fate of a missing whaler, and the strange tale of a lone survivor beckon to shores grown as lush and inviting as a siren’t irresistible song."

"“This way”, encourages a sly whisper adrift on the wind. “Come, and I shall make you mine.” From ruins where once She trod in wrath, the temptations of an ageless evil speak after centuries of silence."

Sinful Whispers
is a great way to pick up the pace on the surface world as the Deep One's influence whispers to the rest of the Lovecraftian  pantheon. The PC's here are on the surface world are drawn into the web of the Deep Ones. Ships begin to go missing, coastal towns disappear, and more oceanic related weirdness happens. 



Hannes Bok's illustrations for the publication of the story in the January 1942 issue of Weird Tales

Sinful Whispers assumes that the players PC's are at least fifth level & if we go back to the original Lovecraft story the Shadow over Innsmouth then we get the original source of the  corruption from the Deep Ones; "My back was toward the fishy-smelling sea, but he was facing it and something or other had caused his wandering gaze to light on the low, distant line of Devil Reef, then showing plainly and almost fascinatingly above the waves. The sight seemed to displease him, for he began a series of weak curses which ended in a confidential whisper and a knowing leer. He bent toward me, took hold of my coat lapel, and hissed out some hints that could not be mistaken,

"Thar's whar it all begun—that cursed place of all wickedness whar the deep water starts. Gate o' hell—sheer drop daown to a bottom no saoundin'-line kin tech. Ol' Cap'n Obed done it—him that faound aout more'n was good fer him in the Saouth Sea islands.

"Everybody was in a bad way them days. Trade fallin' off, mills losin' business—even the new ones—an' the best of our menfolks kilt aprivateerin' in the War of 1812 or lost with the Elizy brig an' the Ranger scow—both on 'em Gilman venters. Obed Marsh he had three ships afloat—brigantine Columby, brig Hefty, an' barque Sumatry Queen. He was the only one as kep' on with the East-Injy an' Pacific trade, though Esdras Martin's barkentine Malay Bride made a venter as late as twenty-eight.

"Never was nobody like Cap'n Obed—old limb o' Satan! Heh, heh! I kin mind him a-tellin' abaout furren parts, an' callin' all the folks stupid for goin' to Christian meetin' an' bearin' their burdns meek an' lowly. Says they'd orter git better gods like some o' the folks in the Injies—gods as ud bring 'em good fishin' in return for their sacrifices, an' ud reely answer folks's prayers.

"Matt Eliot his fust mate, talked a lot too, only he was again' folks's doin' any heathen things. Told abaout an island east of Othaheite whar they was a lot o' stone ruins older'n anybody knew anying abaout, kind o' like them on Ponape, in the Carolines, but with carven's of faces that looked like the big statues on Easter Island. Thar was a little volcanic island near thar, too, whar they was other ruins with diff'rent carvin'—ruins all wore away like they'd ben under the sea onct, an' with picters of awful monsters all over 'em."

Although rejected by the magazine during Lovecraft's lifetime, The Shadow over Innsmouth was reprinted in Weird Tales in 1942

Those ruins that are spoken of in 'The Shadow over Innsmouth' are perfectly aligned with the island of  'Sinful Whispers'. That island is perfect for dropping onto Hyperborea or the campaign setting of your choice.
But this is only the start of the war an opening salvo if you will. But why?! Well, pure human greed;"
"They had all kinds a' cities on the sea-bottom, an' this island was heaved up from thar. Seem they was some of the things alive in the stone buildin's when the island come up sudden to the surface. That's how the Kanakys got wind they was daown thar. Made sign-talk as soon as they got over bein' skeert, an' pieced up a bargain afore long.

"Them things liked human sacrifices. Had had 'em ages afore, but lost track o' the upper world after a time. What they done to the victims it ain't fer me to say, an' I guess Obed was'n't none too sharp abaout askin'. But it was all right with the heathens, because they'd ben havin' a hard time an' was desp'rate abaout everything. They give a sarten number o' young folks to the sea-things twice every year—May-Eve an' Hallawe'en—reg'lar as cud be. Also give some a' the carved knick-knacks they made. What the things agreed to give in return was plenty a' fish—they druv 'em in from all over the sea—an' a few gold like things naow an' then." 
This is only the start of it as more horror and danger start to surface across the world because the 'Drow' have been busy as well. 

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