Galápagos Islands: Temple Passage

16) Temple Passage
Volcán Wolf, June 29-30, 1845

Keeper Note: This encounter was written for “White Leviathan,” a Call of Cthulhu campaign set on a Kingsport whaling ship from 1844-1846.

A) The Thatch Door
The passage to the Deep One temple is covered by a thatch door. In the center of the door, Quiring has affixed a clay seal—a five-pointed star etched with crude glyphs. A Cthulhu Mythos roll identifies the symbol as an Elder Sign; but it’s utterly ineffectual. (What, you think Derleth was right?) The thatch door opens on a passageway that slopes down a dozen yards before terminating abruptly at the Zodiac Door.

B) The Zodiac Door
Carved from the same greenish-gray basalt as the “wall fragment” embedded in the cavern’s entrance passage, the “Zodiac Door” is a giant eyeball over 14 feet in diameter. The eye is clearly not human—the pupil is lens-shaped, set in a round iris flanked by two smaller irises. A model of the solar system occupies the pupil, ten golden planets orbiting an invisible sun. Each planet is about the size of a musket ball, and can be freely moved around its orbital groove. This miniature solar system is surrounded by a zodiac inscribed into the central iris, its diamond stars connected into constellations by finely etched lines. Directly beneath this ocular orrery, five bas-relief glyphs peek from pentagonal windows flush with the door’s curved surface. The windows and the planetary grooves gleam with tortoise oil, applied by Quiring to lubricate the locking mechanism.

Making Sense of the Zodiac
A Science (Astronomy) roll notices there are ten planets instead of seven, although the globes are identical in size and shape. A second Science (Astronomy) roll observes that the zodiac isn’t “accurate”—the correct stars are there, but they’re organized into thirteen unfamiliar constellations instead of the twelve familiar ones. An Extreme success detects faint variations in the stars’ positions relative to one another; surely the result of a careless artist? The door would have to be thousands of years old to reflect Edmond Halley’s “proper motion!” (A Regular Occult roll may recognize the irregularity of the zodiac, but can’t detect the stellar drift.) A Spot Hidden roll finds scrape marks at the base of each golden planet; clearly someone tried to pry them from their grooves. (That would be the sailors who discovered Lowell. The Rachels remained quiet about the gold in the hope they’d return with better tools.) A Mechanical Repair roll made while examining the glyphs realizes they’re connected to tumblers hidden inside the door. (A modern explorer might think of a combination lock.)

Unlocking the Door

The door is unlocked by sliding the golden planets along their tracks to match the “zodiacal configuration” of the five glyphs. Interpreting this configuration requires (1) a Hard Science (Astronomy) roll paired with a Hard Science (Mathematics) roll, or (2) an Extreme Occult roll paired with an Extreme Intelligence roll. Lowell was the first human to unlock the door, and inscribed detailed instructions for understanding the mechanism into his cave wall. If anyone has read the “Volcán Wolf Testimony,” they may unlock the door with a Hard Intelligence roll. (See “Getting the Gist of It” in Encounter 15-B.) Once a character has understood the mechanism, subsequent attempts to open the door are automatic. (Quiring and Vox are the only two Calibans who can unlock the Zodiac Door.) The moment Lowell sees the Deep One zodiac, he understands why he was fumbling with sticks and stones during his fugue state, and unlocks the door with a Regular Intelligence roll.

Once the planets have been moved into the correct configuration, a satisfying “clang” resounds through the stone sphere. The eyeball rolls upwards 90°, exposing a circular passage 8 feet in diameter. After three minutes have passed, the eyeball rotates back down, the tumblers resetting into a new sequence of glyphs.

C) The Human Remains
Just past the door, a jumble of human bones has been heaped against the tunnel wall. Counting the skulls suggests the presence of four skeletons. A Medicine or Anthropology roll suggests the remains are between 10-15 years old. A Spot Hidden roll notices teeth marks on some bones—surely rats? Hopefully rats? A Hard success finds certain markings that could only be made by a very sharp instrument—say a scalpel, perhaps?

Keeper Note: The bones belong to Anthony Manley, Charles Thomas, Douglas Fisher, and Karl Brophy, formerly of the “Atlantis.” Having died horribly, they continue to suffer even after death, their remains shuffled back and forth by the whims of madmen. Relocated from the oubliette during one of Lowell’s rare moments of guilt, they were later assembled into a skeletal “audience” for Quiring’s deranged recitation of Shakespeare in the main cave. They were returned a few months later by Rafael Castro, who pretended not to recognize his former shipmates.

D) The Passage
The subterranean passage descends the northwest slope of Volcán Wolf for five long miles. (A Navigate or Tracking roll realizes the passage follows the direction of the lightning strikes observed during the electrical storm.) The tunnel is obviously artificial, carved from basalt and polished to a glassy black sheen. Eventually the passage becomes level some 100 feet below sea-level, leading to a circular exit suffused by a pale green glow.

Prisoner Scenario: Temple Passage

If Lowell has been cooperative, he’s the first player character brought through the Zodiac Door. If he’s been resisting Quiring’s intellectual and spiritual advances, a different character is pulled from the pit, masked, and marched to the temple.

White Leviathan, Chapter 4—Galápagos Islands
[Back to Encounter 15, Lowell’s Cave | White Leviathan TOC | Forward to Encounter 17, Y’ha-n’thal]

Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 2 December 2023
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
White Leviathan PDF: [TBD]

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