The Giffard Auction

by Adam Gauntlett

A Trail of Cthulhu scenario set provisionally in Lovecraft Country, in which the investigators are hired as protection for an auction bid.

Some of the action in this seed uses material from Chaosium’s Arkham Unveiled, specifically the legend of witch Goody Fowler on Hangman’s Hill. The Keeper should feel free to amend this information as she sees fit. All that’s needed is a Mythos-tinged sorcerer of some description; it doesn’t have to be Fowler. Or Arkham.

The setting is 1930s Lovecraft Country in a time of economic hardship. The Great Depression is forcing a new order.

People unable to repay their loans are forced by the banks to sell up. Farmers who took out debt to pay for seed find themselves having to give up everything their family has, including the land their forefathers bled for. The lenders scoop up the land and sell it, along with the family’s possessions, at auction.

This is bitterly resented by farmers, who take collective action by forcing low bids and intimidating the lender’s representatives during the auction. The lender’s representative finds themselves caught between the devil and the deep blue sea; their employer expects results and the law is on their side, but those farmers are getting angrier by the minute and violence is all too likely. How to manage an auction when the neighbours won’t allow the sale?

This scenario assumes that the lender, Mutual Security, a New York firm, hires the protagonists to protect Mutual Security’s representative, attorney J.D. Stone, at an auction for the Giffard Farm and its holdings.

The neighbours are up in arms but the head of the Giffard family, William ‘Big Bill’ Giffard, turns to darker forces to stop Mutual Security wrecking his family. The Giffards, in the earliest days of the settlement, helped Goody Fowler while she still walked the earth. The Giffards haven’t been involved in cult activity since, but the secret’s hidden away in the family bible, passed down from father to eldest son. Now, Big Bill thinks, it’s time for Goody to repay the debt she owes the Giffards.

Attorney Stone: Tall, pale drink of water, full beard. Reads dime-store westerns voraciously. Likes to use Latin quotes to make himself look smart.

Big Bill Giffard: Short, salt-and-pepper hair, biggest mouth in the county. Reads the classics in Latin and Greek thanks to a stern education. Superstitious, effective Mythos 1.

The Other Giffards: Wife Mary, sons Achilles, Odysseus, Ajax; daughter Andromache; cousins Frank, John, Daniel, all farmers; brother Prentice, an unhappy local lawman.

The Farm: Hardscrabble apple orchard. The Giffard Spark is a well-regarded local cider. Farm includes two horses (Balius and Xanthos, both worn and elderly), house, barn, a struggling Model T Ford, and farm equipment (pruning, tilling, collection, brewing and a few jars of poison for rats and vermin). If asked what the Giffards did during Prohibition with all that equipment, nobody is willing to say. The farm is some distance from the town proper; if set in Arkham, the farm is between Arkham and Clark’s Corner.

Opening Scene: The Assessor

Before the auction can take place, Stone needs to go to the Giffard farm and assess what’s there and how valuable it might be. The protagonists, as bodyguards, will need to be there. Local law, represented by Prentice, is in attendance. Stone is unhappy with what he sees. There’s not much there, but the land is the thing: that’s what will earn Mutual Security its loan back with a little extra on top.

Clues:

Interpersonal, Giffards: They’re spooked by something, all except Big Bill who’s as volatile as a volcano but keeping a lid on it for now. Extra Spend: one of them whispers ‘is she here?’ and is told to hush by the others.

Interpersonal, Prentice: He’s spooked by something and he doesn’t want to stay any longer than he has to. Extra Spend: He’s almost deferential to Big Bill, but at one point he makes a sign against the Evil Eye when Big Bill isn’t looking.

Academic (Occult): Every house in the area has a blue witch ball hanging over the door, an occult tradition that locals take very seriously. Not the Giffards; if asked, Big Bill scoffs at this superstition. Extra Spend: there is a hook where a witch ball would have hung. Maybe the ball was taken down? Recently?

Academic/Technical (Biology, Outdoorsman): The horses seem listless, drained. Perhaps they’re sickening for something. Extra Spend: perhaps it’s blood loss; they have peculiar wounds near their necks, like bite marks. (Mythos: the ghoul was hungry.)

Technical (Evidence Collection, Extra Spend needed). The Family Bible has been hidden away, which is very unusual for a family like this. The Bible’s one of the family’s prize possessions, often out on display if it’s sufficiently old and decorative. Big Bill would read from it every Sunday. No telling where it is. Perhaps the Giffards are afraid Stone will try to sell it?

Potential 2-point Stability incident: Stone is frightened by something. If the investigators get to Stone quickly and see what he sees, it’s a small group of large, black rats fighting over the carcass of a cat. The rats run away. There’s a mark on the ground near where they were that looks like an animal track, but no animal the investigators have ever seen could make that mark. (Mythos: ghoul marks). Andromache Giffard is inconsolable about the cat; it was her favourite. She blames her father for this, though it’s not clear why.

At the end of the scene Attorney Stone is anxious to leave and Big Bill is polite but clearly furious. The protagonists see that Big Bill’s wife Mary is fluttering ineffectually around the two of them and she slips something into Stone’s pocket. No extra spend required to see this.

Alternate Scene: The Amulet

If the protagonists follow up on whatever it is that Mary slipped into Stone’s pocket, they discover a silver amulet. It’s clearly old (extra spend: 17th-century, probably local make, which means it dates to the earliest days of the colonies) and invokes holy powers as protection against witchcraft and the Evil Eye.

If asked, Mary denies giving it to Stone. If he finds out this happened, Big Bill will be apocalyptically angry.

Researching the Amulet (if Arkham, Miskatonic University has all the texts the protagonists could want) discovers a local history text: Witch Trials of Colonial Days, 1871, author Ephraim Giffard. In that book an amulet very like this was featured in accusations against alleged witch Goody Fowler in 1692; Fowler fled Arkham before anything could come of those accusations. When she returned, the townsfolk rebelled and hanged Fowler.

Though it is said, according to Ephraim Giffard, that ancestors of mine were connected in some way with Fowler and her deeds, I am pleased to report that, so far from being her helpers, the Giffards were foremost among her accusers.

Ephraim Giffard is Big Bill’s grandfather.

Mythos Spend: though the amulet appears Christian, it has the iconography of the Elder Sign and has all the powers of an Elder Sign.

Alternate Scene: The Neighbours

If the protagonists try to find out about the Giffards by talking with the neighbours, they discover:

Interpersonal (no spend): None of the farmers are willing to talk to them as they represent Mutual Security, a company they’ve all done business with and have no love for. Extra Spend: they’re still not willing to talk, but it’s clear they’re worried about Big Bill. There’s trouble in that family.

Interpersonal (no spend, someone other than a farmer, e.g., Miskatonic professor, antiquarian, clergy): The Giffards have a peculiar reputation. It’s said they tried to play both sides during the witch scare of the later 1600s. The current crop of Giffards are as God-fearing a folk as you’d wish to meet. Extra Spend: The Giffards are a remarkably lucky clan. Some say too lucky, or too clever for their own good. Cunning Men, in the magical sense.

Talking to someone other than a farmer provokes an Antagonist Reaction.

Alternate Scene: Mary Giffard

If the protagonists follow up with Mary Giffard, preferably without her husband anywhere nearby, they discover her packing up and ready to take the kids to her mother’s house. At least, she’s taking Andromache; her sons won’t go.

Interpersonal: She’s terrified of her husband and fears the worst but won’t say why. Extra Spend: she blames someone named Raphael but is immediately sorry she mentioned that name and won’t say any more. She makes a sign against the Evil Eye after mentioning Raphael.

Evidence Collection or similar (no spend): She has the Giffard Family Bible.

If the protagonists get hold of that Bible and look at the front matter, where the names of the family are handwritten, they find Raphael Giffard’s name, crossed out. Born 1672, no date of death. They must either persuade Mary to give up the Bible or steal it from her.

If the protagonists do not speak to Mary before the day of the auction, by the time that happens she and Andromache will be far away from the Giffard farm.

Looking at the Bible provokes an Antagonist Reaction.

Alternate Scene: The Witch

The investigators may follow up on the Goody Fowler information.

Academic (no spend): Fowler and Keziah Mason were two leaders of an Arkham witch cult, accused of hideous deeds in service to their Satanic master. Mason fled and was never seen again. Fowler fled but returned and was caught and hanged by outraged citizens. Her ghost haunts the spot where she was hanged, out in the Old Wooded Graveyard. Extra Spend, or a visit to the graveyard: Hangman’s Hill is a desolate place, and ghouls linger there after dark. People go there to leave messages for the witch tied to the tree’s branches, curses to be laid against their neighbours. Protagonists who go to that tree find, hanging from its branches, a curse from Big Bill against Attorney Stone and Mutual Security, written in excellent Latin.

Going to the graveyard provokes an Antagonist Reaction.

Antagonist Reaction: Raphael’s Rats

Goody Fowler, the witch, is long dead and her ghost can’t leave the graveyard where she’s buried. She relies on agents to do her work, and her agent in this case is the ghoul formerly known as Raphael Giffard, her accomplice back in the 1690s. Raphael has kept an eye on the Giffard family ever since; he’s interfered now and again, to keep the family prosperous, but his sorcery couldn’t beat Mutual Security’s contracts.

Raphael summons up a Rat Swarm to attack the protagonists, preferably while they’re asleep in their beds, on the privy or otherwise off their guard. Potential 3-point Stability incident. If a protagonist finds the rat-eaten corpse of a fellow protagonist, 5-point Stability incident.

If the Keeper finds one Swarm is too weak, add more swarms.

In the aftermath of an attack, Evidence Collection or similar (no point spend) finds tracks near the attack very similar to those at the Giffard farm (Mythos: ghoul marks).

If there is an Antagonist Reaction, Attorney Stone suffers Mythos Madness (megalomania) for the rest of the scenario. He represents Mutual Security and Mutual Security can do no wrong. He is its terrible swift sword (glory, glory hallelujah).

Core Scene: The Auction

Under a grey and threatening sky, the farmers of the district gather at the Giffard Farm on the day of the auction. There are a couple of outsiders there, perhaps bidders, but they’re intimidated by the farmers and won’t bid. Prentice is there to keep the peace; no point spend required to see that he’s not going to do anything to help Stone if trouble breaks out.

If Stone is megalomaniacal then he won’t care a bit. He’s chipper and bright. If not, then Stone is intimidated and the auction will falter, unless the protagonists intervene and give him reason to carry on.

If the auction falters, then the farmers will buy all the items up for sale for pennies. As soon as the auction’s over they’ll give everything to Big Bill. Raphael gets what he wants without taking action. When the auction’s over, Raphael will ambush and try to kill Stone – perhaps on the road, or in a hotel room. Raphael considers this a warning to Mutual Security.

If Stone is megalomaniacal then the farmers’ intransigence won’t worry him at all. He’ll get one of the protagonists to bid up the items, and if he can’t do that then he’ll pick some hapless stooge from the non-farmers present and pretend that they bid. This terrifies the hapless stooge, but Stone won’t care. He’s off in his own little world (glory, glory hallelujah).

This is a problem for Raphael. The ghoul must interfere directly.

He’s using magic to Disguise himself as one of the bidders; Assess Honesty or a Difficulty 6 Sense Trouble identifies which bidder.

He starts by using magic to provoke a thunderstorm, causing everyone to scatter except for Big Bill, Attorney Stone and possibly the protagonists. He then uses a variation of the Steal Life incantation on Attorney Stone, draining Athletics, Health and Stability; this stolen life is funnelled to Big Bill, who grows younger by the minute. The focus of the incantation is a waxen doll Raphael holds in his hand. Attorney Stone, lost in his own delusions, won’t notice this.

If Attorney Stone is not lost to delusion, because the protagonists persuaded him not to falter earlier, then he is terrified but unable to flee. He’s frozen to the spot.

5-point Stability incident to witness Attorney Stone’s life drain away.

Raphael cannot use this spell against anyone else in the scene. He needs the doll to make it work and the doll is keyed to Attorney Stone.

If the protagonists intervene, they can stop the magic either by destroying the doll or by killing Raphael. If Raphael is attacked and loses 3 or more Health, he flees, and if allowed to flee the spell ends.

Brandishing an Elder Sign forces Raphael to flee; holding an Elder Sign against the doll immediately destroys it.

If the magic ends because the doll is destroyed or Raphael killed, Big Bill instantly dies and Attorney Stone’s Health is restored (though not his Sanity; that will take time). If the magic ends because Raphael flees, Big Bill does not die but he does age 10 years, and Attorney Stone’s Health is restored.

The Giffard Auction is concluded.