August 26-27th 1944
Paris, France
Operational Log:
in Zero Point Achtung Cthulhu
Played August 16th 2024 at DragonFlight 44
AC 1944 A weekend in Paris
Notes:
A "One Shot" based VERY loosely based on the characters in the comic book HighRoads
The plot was rewritten for a Call of Cthulhu WW2 setting.
Its August 26th 1944 and Paris has just been liberated...
Background:
Summary of the Battle for Paris August 19th-25th 1944:
With the allies’ armies closing in on Paris on August 19th the Free French Resistance revolted against their Nazi occupiers. Skirmishes reached their peak on 22 August, when some German units tried to leave their fortifications. At 9:00 a.m. on 23 August, Hitler gave the order to inflict maximum damage on the city. Except for the flour mills and warehouses (which were thoroughly looted and then burned) in the northeast Parisian suburb of Pantin, this order was largely unfulfilled.
On 24 August, the Free French 2nd Armored Division under general Leclerc entered the city. The remaining German troops that had not retreated surrendered the next day on August 25th.
Act One Scene one
Evening of Saturday the 26th, Paris France
With the surrender of the German forces in Paris yesterday, your units have given you 48 hours “leave” until the Evening of Monday the 28th. This will be the first Saturday night that the city of Paris has had free of German Occupation since June 1940. Although on “Leave” your commanding officers recommend caution, as there are still German Snipers active in the city.
The players pick some seats in a
Cabaret Theater called
Evening of Saturday the 26th (roughly 9pm)
You’re a mix of Allied servicemen in a Paris Carbert Theater called
Le Chat Noir
The Players are all seated at the Front table by the Stage…
The show
The showstopper, 10 black robed large men carrying a
screaming Blonde prostitute across the dance floor and run up to stairs to the roof..
Should the team follow the black robed men carrying a
half-naked blonde girl to the roof?
Do the players decide to Help?
Yes: the players chase the Black robed kidnappers to the roof and
Combat ensues;
One Nazi Ninja for each player plus one carrying the Blonde.
The One with the Blonde Drives off the roof and disappears in a puff
of smoke.
The Combat is won with a little fast thinking and a Satchel Charge
Supplied by Private Mel Brooks.
Unfortunately blowing a whole in the roof attracts a platoon of 50 British MPs that coral the team along with the rest of the patrons of the Chat Noir in the hotel bar for questioning which lasts until 11pm.
11pm of Saturday the 26th August in Paris France.
Back Door to the Chat Noir
Stage Door to the back street
After the British MPs finish integrating everyone in the building about the Blonde woman and the black robed men. The players leave, out the stage door to get some air, the actor playing the little dictator in the show; “Arthur Bombridge” Offers to hire the group for 10,000 US Dollars to help him get his friend back.
(That’s about $180,000 in July 2024 USD)
With Arthur Bombridge joining the group,
they leave the back alley and a young a young Nun with an odd scar
(or maybe tatoo) on her left cheek approaches the group,
and says in French to Arthur that she saw a black robed man running
through the shadows of the Paris streets carrying her and Arthur’s
mutual friend “Sloan” on his back through the Place de la Concorde
to the Hotel de Crillon.
When /if asked why she didn’t tell the police, simply says that
“Its Sloan, she is THE kinky-est whore in Paris, as she and Arthur
well know”.
She gives Arthur a wink and leaves down the street.
Places start Looking
11:15pm of Saturday the 26th August,
Place de la Concorde in Paris France.
With streets still full of people even at this late hour,
the night sky is lit up with a full moon, and people are in a celebratory
mood, even with the smoke filling the air from the northeastern
suburb of Pantin, and the occasional German sniper.
Hotel de Crillon.
A few minutes after the team enter the Crillon lobby
shots ring out from the roof, and screams are heard outside.
Go to the safety of the Courtyard or run up the stairs?
They went up the Stairs
Just as the team heads up the stairs, a platoon of British MPs
arrive, and tell the team to wait in the court yard while they
clear the building.
By the time they reach the roof its empty except for a beautiful view.
None of the team notice that 25 British MPs went up to the stairs and yet 26 come down.
Father Ted gets an Inspiration (Miracle feat) to go to the
Paris Catacombs and ask for directions.
Out of leads the Teams agrees to go.
Act Two Scene Three
Les Catacombs
Since its 1am in the morning the Cementery is locked, SO
the team breaks in....
The team discovers an illusionary wall....
Beyond it they find a large cavern cementary.....
Complete with occupants...
The Ghouls of Paris offer a deal, The team remove a creature the
Nazi SS Ahnenerbe has dumped in the Sewers of Paris, and they
in turn will help them find the missing prostitute Sloan....
The Ms Dubois, the French Resistance fighter in their group
knows of an entrance to the sewers back in Place de la Concorde
through a maintence door in the Metro station there.
Act Two Scene Four
Paris Sewers,
The team decides to check out the Paris Sewers,
there is an entrance right off the Metro platform in the
Place de la Concorde.
Sanity Checks Please !
After a hard fight in knee deep sewer water with a Soggoth,
The team is able, with the help of Dr Nathan Chance and his Tome
to gate the creature to Antarctica.
They then return to the cementary and the Paris City of the Dead
to tell the Ghouls their Soggoth problem was delt with.
Unfortunately they only info the Ghouls can tell the team is that
Sloan is not underneath or up to 6 stories above Paris.
The ghouls who can hear everything going on within the city
through the plumbing are certain of that.
Act Two Scene Five
Eventually, at 3am ish, the team will be invited to stay the
remainder of the night at Chat Noir.
The team goes to sleep, and they will share the same dream.
They all have the same dream of tentacles reaching down from
the night sky and killing everyone around you while
you’re standing in the Jardins du Trocadéro
(Gardens of the Trocadero) near the Eiffel Tower.
Act Two Scene Six
At 11am Sunday Morning August 27th
Arthur Bombridge awakes you up and tells the team he has discovered that something other than Sloan is missing…
Bombridge comes clean, and explains who he is and what he and Sloan were doing in Paris June 1940 to now…
They were spies for MI6.
Arthur would run the radio and send info to the Allies.
Sloan would service the various German Officers and collect info to pass on to Arthur.
Why would the SS Ninjas kidnap Sloan now?
Arthur tells you,
“On this past Thursday night, a SS officer, an OberSturmBannFurher (Lt.Col.) and self-described “Blood-Rune” mage, named Johan came in to pay Sloan a visit. He was fond of Sloan and told her to leave the city no later than Saturday night because he was going to feed the occupants to the dark god “Azathoth” on Sunday night. He showed her a many millennia old necklace that he was going to use in the ceremony. During her services to the Lt.Col. Sloan lifted the necklace, a rather dangerous thing to do, but Sloan probably thought this Nazi was going to be dead soon, with the fighting in the streets and the allies only a day or two away from liberating the city. She showed it to me on Friday (August 25th) after the Germans surrendered. I didn’t think anything of it until now, though I did take a picture of it. While I was cleaning up her room I realized the necklace was not in the hiding place. It’s the only thing that was missing.”
Dr Hathan Chance, recognises it, its the Azathoth, and when "Charged" with 10,000 Human Sacrifices, it will summon the
Gods tentacles for the sky to kill all the people within a
roughly 25 mile radius.
Dr Chance deduces that the Nazi SS Ahnenerbe charged the
necklace to 9,999 in Auschwitz then sent it here to receive its
final human sacrifice to summon the god.
When asked by the team what the hell is going on in
Auschwitz Occupied Poland the Nazi's can simplify
kill 9,999 in an afternoon, Dr. Chance wont elaborate, but
says we need to to end the war and SOON.
Act Three Scene One
At Noon Sunday Morning August 27th
The team realize that Sloan must be in one of two buildings in Paris that are the only ones over 6 stories tall,
The Eiffel Tower
OR
Notre Dame.
Since there is really no place to hide on the Eiffel tower they
search Notre-Dame.
As they search Notre-Dame they are attacked by SS Snipers.
The same British MP platoon shows up and 50 British
MPs go in. Several hours later 52 MPs leave. This time the team notices the extra men leaving.
They notify the Allied HQ in Gare Du Nord METRO STATION
of the SS troops masquerading as Brits.
Then the team heads over the the
Eiffel Tower
Act Three Scene Two
The Eiffel Tower, 9pm-ish Sunday night
The team arrives and goes looking for Sloan, the OberSturmBannFurher (Lt.Col.) and self-described “Blood-Rune” mage has already started the ritual to summon Azathoth.
The team must get up to the apartment on level 3 of the tower, break in and stop the Ritual. Storm clouds circle the Eiffel Tower and Lighting flashes and Thunder rumbles.
Combat once more ensues, three memebers of the team almost die, one by Die Totem, another by Azazthoth's tentacles and two by
Nazi Ninja ....
They prevent the SS Blood mage from completing the ritual to destroy Paris and save Sloan.
Act Three Scene Three
The Champs Elysees Noonish
Tuesday 29 August 1944
The team rejoins their various units and marches out of Paris
to continue to push the Germans and their NAZI masters back towards the Rhine.
Lay out of the ground floor of
Le Chat Noir
Place de la Concorde
Hotel de Crillon.
Les Catacombs
Paris Sewers,
Saturday Night Dreams
Azathoth's Necklace
A visit to Notre-Dame
and the Eiffel Tower
The Apartment on the third Platform
