The Yellow King RPG: La Fée Jaune

La Fée Jaune

In this scenario for the 1895 Belle Époque Paris setting of The Yellow King Roleplaying Game the players are expected to portray young American artists spending some time abroad as students in Paris. The recent publication of a play called The King in Yellow has resulted in fragments of an alien world named Carcosa leaking into everyday life, though most Parisians remain unaware of these alien influences. This scenario is designed as a standalone introduction to the world of the Yellow King, or it can easily be integrated into the Paris sequence of a larger series.

The students investigate a series of disappearances linked to the Nouvelle Athènes café.

The Alien Truth

The disappearances are the work of a Groac’h serving the King in Yellow, who has been providing wormwood grown on the shores of Lake Hali to a local absinthe producer. The tainted absinthe links frequent consumers to Carcosa, ultimately causing them to change into fish-like creatures and allowing the Groac’h to transport them to Carcosa with relative ease. This has placed him in conflict with a Korrigan who serves Cassilda, who is tired of the Groac’h poaching all of the good prospects. While the Korrigan is unwilling to enter direct conflict with the King’s vassals, she does have access to information and tools that would be be useful to the group.

Inspiration

While it’s unlikely that any of your players will be familiar with it or notice the similarities, this scenario is loosely inspired by the most famous story from Émile Souvestre’s Le Foyer breton, a collection of Breton folk tales which was published in 1844. “La Groac’h de l’Île du Lok” tells of a rich and beautiful fairy who lives on an island; she gives visitors enchanted wine, then turns them into fish once they’ve agreed to marry her and serves them to the next visitor. She uses a magical steel net to turn our hero into a frog after he discovers her duplicity, requiring him to be rescued by the real hero, his girlfriend.

Characters

Cesarine Dubruel

A 21-year-old red-haired dancer at the Montmartre cabaret Le Mirliton, who picks up extra money modeling for artists. Affianced to Brisson.

Léonard Brisson

A 25-year-old red-haired carpenter who builds sets for the Garnier opera house. In his spare time he dotes on Cesarine or writes poetry. Went missing two evenings ago after going out drinking with Ponsonby et al.

Lawrence Ponsonby

A 19-year-old blond Eton graduate from a wealthy background, spending his gap year abroad.

Valentin Magnan

Born 16 March 1835 (60 years old), works as a psychiatrist at Hôpital Sainte-Anne. Appears to have favoured short-cropped hair and a neatly trimmed medium beard. The main driver behind the definition of absinthism (épilepsie absinthique) as a syndrome distinct from alcoholism.

Jean No Last Name

The 38-year-old bartender at Nouvelle Athènes.

Raoul Diop

An excitable 17-year-old black-haired hat seller, who dresses in the height of fashion and is currently mooning after Calista Étrange.

Sylvia Picou

The 43-year-old black-haired proprietor of Le Petit Centième, a pawn shop in l’Île de la Cité. She secretly works for the Groac’h, paying an herb farmer to sell the Carcosan wormwood to Jordan Fontaine and selling copies of The King in Yellow.

The Roudiers

Placide and Candide Roudier are married. They own and operate a small herb farm outside of town, when they aren’t busy researching the occult.

Jordan Fontaine

The operator of a clandestine still in Belleville.

Calista Étrange

The French pseudonym of a Korrigan who works as a server at Les Deux Magots. Like all Korrigans this unearthly beauty has red hair and could pass for anywhere from 20 to 50, though her true age is likely much older.

Jean du Lac / Jacques du Lac

A Groac’h who lives in l’Île de la Cité. To more easily pass as human he switches between names as his appearance changes. Jean is a black-haired twenty-something twink, while Jacques looks like he wrestles bears for fun.

Scenes

Worried Dancer

The students are gathered together as a group, perhaps enjoying a lazy afternoon at a table outside Le Veau Gras (The Fat Calf, YKRPG: Paris p. 99) when one of them is approached by Cesarine Dubruel. She’s distraught and looking for a familiar face to share her troubles with (she might know the Portrait Painter or Sculptor from modeling, or have met the Muse while dancing.)

Her fiancé, Léonard Brisson, went out carousing with Lawrence Ponsonby and some other friends two evenings ago, but was supposed to meet her after her performance. She has been unable to find him or any of his friends, and is worried that something terrible has happened.

Poetry: You’ve heard of Léonard, an up-and-coming poet who is just starting to receive wide recognition for his deeply layered rhythmic stylings. You also recognize the name Lawrence Ponsonby; he’s an execrable poet with deep pockets, and recall that he is living on Rue Gabrielle in Montmartre.

Reassurance: With your help and encouragement, Cesarine is able to recall that Léonard mentioned their destination was the Nouvelle Athènes café. This well-known gathering spot for Impressionist painters (particularly Degas) is located in the Place Pigalle, a public square in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, between the Boulevard de Clichy and the Boulevard de Rochechouart, near Sacré-Cœur, at the foot of the Montmartre hill.

Bonhomie: While she’s naturally hesitant to say anything that would tarnish her fiancé’s reputation, Cesarine confides that she’s been concerned for a while now. Léonard has been staying out late more often than he used to, at times coming home incredibly drunk. She has also caught him staring off into space while humming a strange arrhythmic melody; after he snaps out of this trance he seems for a few moments not to recognize her. She urged him to visit Hôpital Sainte-Anne in the 14th arrondissement, where she believes he met with Valentin Magnan.

Early Leads

Poet Tremens

The group has tracked down Lawrence Ponsonby’s flat in Montmartre. He refuses to open the door, claiming that he has a really nasty cold and doesn’t want to pass it on to them.

Assess Honesty: Even through a thick wooden door you can tell that Lawrence is definitely hiding something.

Steel: Lawrence will open the door if you shout at him enough.

Breaking down the door requires an Athletics spend of 2.

Lawrence is sweating and shaking. He appears to be in the grip of alcohol withdrawal.

Docteur Absinthism

Hôpital Sainte-Anne is a psychiatric asylum that recently expanded to offer dentistry, surgical procedures, and outpatient treatment.

Docteur Valentin Magnan is an important physician and the group will need to figure out a way to meet with him. Most Interpersonal abilities should be able to get them a meeting, though being excessively aggressive may result in a confrontation with some Orderlies.

Magnan has no reason to lie to the group, but no inherent reason to be forthcoming either. The most obvious routes to gain information are Bonhomie, a promise of favourable coverage in the Belle-Lettres, or schmoozing by a Society maven. Bribery will not go over well.

He does recall meeting with Léonard Brisson; he presented a history of symptoms that Magnan interpreted as consistent with his personal hobby-horse, épilepsie absinthique, but also appeared to be suffering from bouffée délirante with delusions bearing striking similarities to those reported by another patient, Sylvia Picou. Both subjects talked about something called “Carcosa” and referred to black stars rising over Lake Hali. Magnan suspects they may have read the same serial novel and incorporated story elements into their psychoses.

Demimonde: You recognize Sylvia’s name; she is the proprietor of a small pawn shop in l’Île de la Cité with a questionable reputation.

Brisson claimed that Lawrence Ponsonby also knew about Lake Hali and provided his address on Rue Gabrielle in Montmartre, in case Magnan wanted to follow up on this information.

INT. CAFÉ - DAY

The Nouvelle Athènes is unusually quiet. There are one or two dissipated-looking absinthe drinkers, and a large bartender named Jean.

Drinking absinthe here causes a Health check as normal (difficulty 4 for moderate drinking, 8 for heavy), but for Injuries, Minor and Major: Intoxicated/Webbed Hands. If anyone receives Webbed Hands, the others will need to make a Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Uncertainty/Questioning Your Senses.

Things Jean knows:

Fashion: The hat is an empress hat from Ultramod, a well-known hat shop on Rue de Choiseul.

Negotiation: Sufficient money will jog his imagination enough that he will offer up his worry that the hallucinations were related to the new batch of absinthe; their usual supplier was running low so the owner sourced some from Jordan Fontaine, who runs an illegal distilling operation in Belleville. He’s sworn to never serve it again…once the already purchased amount is gone, of course.

Ultramod Chapellerie

Ultramod has existed on Rue de Choiseul since 1832. Upon inquiring whether they can tell you anything about the hat from the café, Raoul Diop demands to know why they have Calista’s hat; he’s certain that it’s hers because he distinctly recalls how the red highlights on the feathers are a perfect match for her divine hair. If you explain that you’re trying to track does its owner, Raoul will happily gush about her incomparable qualities to anyone who is willing to listen, in the process revealing that she works at Les Deux Magots. Raoul seems unusually intense, even for a teenager who’s crushing hard.

Pawn of Carcosa

Le Petit Centième is a small, dimly lit pawn shop filled with grotesqueries, books, bundles of dried herbs, and knives. Sylvia Picou sits behind the counter, wearing a fetching all-black ensemble including a turtleneck and gloves.

Among the items for sale is a copy of The King in Yellow; any character who browses the shelves will be drawn to it, and may find opening it irresistible. Refer to YKRPG: Paris p. 66-69 for the relevant mental hazards for interactions with the play..

Sylvia seems like a perfectly normal shopkeeper. She doesn’t really want to talk about her consultation with Dr. Magnan, but mentions that she’s feeling much better now that she’s started taking a calming tisane with her morning croissant.

If asked about The King in Yellow she says that quite a few copies have crossed her path, but they’re a hot seller and don’t linger in the shop for long. She’s never read it herself.

Occultism: You recognise a mish-mash of implements and ingredients used in traditions ranging from Kabbalah to Paracelsism to Goetia. The labels on many of the herb bundles bear a mark which you recognize as belonging to Placide and Candide Roudier, who frequently visit the city to socialize with the occult crowd but live on a farm in the countryside.

Negotiation: Alternatively, if the group agrees to buy enough merchandise in exchange for information about the tisane Sylvia will point them towards the Roudiers herself.

Deeper In

The Clandestine Still

In Belleville/the 10th arrondissement. A sparsely furnished box, with a few heavily curtained windows. The normal distillery things: a still, some large vessels, boxes of bottles.

Architecture: There is a hidden room at one end. Inside are an account book that shows all of the output going to Les Deux Magots, up until one recent purchase for Nouvelle Athènes. Tucked into the book is a calling card for Calista Étrange.

Les Deux Magots

See YKRPG: Paris p. 100.

Calista Étrange works here. There are a limited number of things she will talk about in public:

She has other things she wants to tell the group, and suggests that they meet up at her house when she’s off shift. She does not seem concerned by the prospect of being alone at home with a large group of strangers.

Drinking absinthe here causes a Health check as normal (difficulty 4 for moderate drinking, 8 for heavy), but for Injuries, Minor and Major: Intoxicated/Webbed Hands. If anyone receives Webbed Hands, the others will need to make a Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Uncertainty/Questioning Your Senses. (Possible Antagonist Reaction: Come Little Children)

If someone talks to the bartender and asks if they’ve had anything like the riot at Nouvelle Athènes, he’ll say that there might have been something like that a few months ago but everything calmed down very quickly when Calista started singing, and it hasn’t happened again.

Calista’s House

Located down the street from Les Deux Magots in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The interior is startlingly bare of personal possessions.

This is the group’s opportunity to learn a lot about the big bad. Things she may reveal:

Negotiation: Calista agrees to provide a dagger that is capable of cutting the unearthly metal that makes up the net.

If the group visits when Calista is not home or otherwise gain free rein of the house, there are a couple of interesting things.

On a table next to the bed is a boîtenoire (see YKRPG: The Wars p. 39.) Messages may be responded to by Cassilda, who addresses the sender by name. Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Unnerved/Agitated.

Underneath the bed is a securely locked box, approximately 30x30x5 centimeters. A Difficulty 4 Preparedness check will allow a character to produce lockpicking tools that are capable of opening it, or the group may take it with them and open it later. Inside are seven contracts (including an unsigned one for Raoul Diop) granting the signer’s “remaining vitality and attached sundries” to Calista or her designated agent.

Herbes de Puissance

A small, deserted herb farm about three hours away from the city. A cottage and a drying shed are the only buildings.

The fields are filled with meter-tall plants resembling ferns and (in mid-to-late summer) topped with clusters of yellow, button-like flowers. They give off a pleasant smell that resembles camphor with hints of rosemary. Regardless of the time of year, the fields have not been harvested.

The shed is filled with bundles of dried plants with yellow stems and silvery leaves. The aroma is reminiscent of sage, but less pleasant.

The small cottage is very tidy and well-kept. A pile of books on the desk includes the farm’s ledger and a book filled with strange sigils.

Natural History: The fields are planted with Tanacetum vulgare, or common tansy. While it’s used as an adulterant in cheap absinthe, ingestion is only a problem for people with a sensitivity to it. You can’t positively identify the plants in the storehouse; they closely resemble Artemisia absinthium (grand wormwood) but the stems are the wrong colour.

Research: The ledger shows intermittent sales of “ritual ingredients” for large sums to Le Petit Centième, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and Jean du Lac. Up until last June there are also regular sales of tansy to Jordan Fontaine, at which point it changed to double entries for purchase of wormwood from Le Petit Centième and sales of wormwood to Fontaine. Strangely, both entries are listed as credits.

Occultism: A personal journal is written in French using John Dee’s Angelic script. It contains:

Bishop of Carcosa

The group returns to the pawn shop, armed with more knowledge (or at least more questions.)

If they gain access while Sylvia is not present:

There is a well-scrubbed portion of floor behind the counter, that is nevertheless still stained with blood.

Intuition: Sylvia has a deed for the house the Groac’h is staying in.

If Sylvia is present:

Assess Honesty: She’s still a very good liar, but if questioned about specific details that the group have learned, it’s clear that Sylvia knows more than she’s saying.

When pressed Sylvia will pull out a large knife and attack the group, chanting “hail the King in Yellow, first among the Hyades.” See Civilian with a Knife.

If restrained, Sylvia seems completely lucid, but relates horrifying things she’s done as though they are mundane.

At some point the characters will notice that her body is partially transformed to a fish-like humanoid, with webbed extremities and gills. If this is their first encounter with a transformed human: Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Uncertainty/Questioning Your Senses. She says dreamily that she needs the tea to remain beautiful.

Things Sylvia will reveal:

Climax

Le Groac’h de l’Île de la Cité

The Duke of Hali makes his home in the Place Dauphine. He rarely leaves, so the group will find him at home. He is very attuned to his surroundings, but a Difficulty 6 Sneaking test will allow them to make it past him into the basement, if they try surreptition.

In the basement there is a large ritual circle with the Yellow Sign inscribed in the center. Looking too long at the circle results in a Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Whisper of the Sign/Song of the Sign.

In alcoves around the perimeter are the fully-transformed and comatose bodies of Léonard Brisson, Placide Roudier, and either an unidentifiable woman or (if they mentioned him to Sylvia) Lawrence Ponsonby. If this is their first encounter with a transformed human: Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Uncertainty/Questioning Your Senses. If they decided to wait for the full moon to weaken the Groac’h, all three will be unidentifiable (or possibly recognized as minor background characters.)

If the Duke defeats the group, they will awaken in an abandoned house with no sign of recent occupation, and no basement. Any characters who still had the Webbed Hands or Gilled Neck Injury cards may also be missing.

Coda

If the group did not take steps to prevent this, Calista has abandoned her house and Raoul is missing.

Maintenance of the transformation requires ongoing contact with Lake Hali, so the victims will return to normal within a few days. If they are reunited before this happens, Cesarine is not bothered by Léonard’s transformation.

If she is able Sylvia has fled the city, first stopping by the Roudier’s farm to load up on wormwood.

Revisiting the Duke’s house will reveal that the basement has vanished.

Antagonist Reactions

Come Little Children

Triggering Condition: One or more members of the group received Webbed Hands at Les Deux Magots at night.

When they leave the café, Sylvia Picou will attempt to persuade one partially transformed person to leave the group and follow her home. She may frame this as a solicitous offer to help them to their home (then lead them in the wrong direction), or as a hookup, or claim to have an herbal treatment that will help with their condition. If that character is foolhardy enough to separate from the group and follow her, Difficulty 5 Sense Trouble check to avoid Injuries, Minor and Major: Muzzy Headed/Heavily Sedated. She will flee if the sedation attempt fails; otherwise, that character is going to end up in a very unpleasant location.

False Report

Triggering Condition: Sylvia Picou feels threatened by the group.

Sylvia reports to the Préfecture de police (conveniently located in the Place Louis Lépine on l’Île de la Cité) that a group of rowdy students entered her store and distracted her while one of them stole a small jewelled box. A difficulty 5 Sense Trouble check allows the PCs to notice the Gendarmes noticing them in time to run away without entering combat, otherwise they will attempt to arrest the group.

Servants of the Duke

Triggering Condition: The Duke regards the group as a threat and they visit (or revisit) the Roudier farm.

The Duke sends some transformed underlings to ambush the group. If this is their first encounter with a transformed human: Difficulty 4 Composure test to avoid Shocks, Minor and Major: Uncertainty/Questioning Your Senses.

Foes

Civilian with a Knife

See YKRPG: Paris p. 152.

Gendarmes

See YKRPG: Paris p. 156. ACAB.

Groac’h

A sorcerous water fairy from Breton folklore. The powers of this Carcosan monster are linked to water and the phases of the moon. Groagez appear as ethereal young humans at the new moon, but grow more physically imposing as the full moon approaches and their power wanes. Their sorcery relies on an intricately patterned net made of an unearthly metal; if they are out of contact with the net for too long (or if it is destroyed) their human appearance gives way to a pale, mask-like visage with elongated teeth, resembling a walrus.

Human Dwellers in Hali

Less fearsome than the native Carcosan inhabitants of the lake but possibly more disturbing to behold, particularly if you knew the individual before they were transformed.

Korrigan

See YKRPG: Paris p. 158.

Orderlies

See YKRPG: Paris p. 162.

Injury Cards

Webbed Hands

-1 to Physical tests when you are not immersed in water.

Discard after 48 hours world time of no contact with the influence of Lake Hali.

Gilled Neck

Make a difficulty 4 Composure test when you get this card. On a failure, it is also a Shock card. -1 to Physical tests when you are not immersed in water. You can’t make Interpersonal pushes.

Discard after 72 hours world time of no contact with the influence of Lake Hali.

Moon Phases

Since the Groac’h is affected by the phases of the moon, you (and your players, if they’ve discovered this information) might be interested in its current state. While you can of course just make the phase whatever you want it to be (or decide that the Groac’h depends on the phases of Carcosa’s moons), the timing of the moon’s phases in the normal, non-Carcosa-influenced world are laid out in the following table.

Year New Moon First Quarter Full Moon Last Quarter
1895 Jan 4 Jan 11 Jan 17
Jan 25 Feb 3 Feb 9 Feb 16
Feb 24 Mar 4 Mar 11 Mar 18
Mar 26 Apr 2 Apr 9 Apr 16
Apr 25 May 2 May 8 May 16
May 24 May 31 Jun 7 Jun 15
Jun 22 Jun 29 Jul 6 Jul 15
Jul 22 Jul 28 Aug 5 Aug 13
Aug 20 Aug 27 Sep 4 Sep 12
Sep 18 Sep 25 Oct 3 Oct 11
Oct 18 Oct 25 Nov 2 Nov 9
Nov 16 Nov 24 Dec 2 Dec 9
Dec 16 Dec 24 Dec 31
1896 Jan 7
Jan 14 Jan 23 Jan 30 Feb 6
Feb 13 Feb 21 Feb 28 Mar 6
Mar 14 Mar 22 Mar 29 Apr 5
Apr 13 Apr 20 Apr 27 May 4
May 12 May 20 May 26 Jun 3
Jun 11 Jun 18 Jun 25 Jul 3
Jul 10 Jul 17 Jul 24 Aug 1
Aug 9 Aug 15 Aug 23 Aug 31
Sep 7 Sep 14 Sep 21 Sep 30
Oct 6 Oct 13 Oct 21 Oct 29
Nov 5 Nov 12 Nov 20 Nov 28
Dec 4 Dec 12 Dec 20 Dec 27

Boîtenoire

While I could have stuck with describing it as Dvorak, I prefer a weirder layout like this square one based on the AEG Mignon:

PFUGQ.
VINABJ
LDETM,
KOSRZ?
YCHWX!
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