Duty and Despair

Our story opens with the players meeting an interesting character, the renowned author Franzibald Hansen, at Castle Gyllencreutz who brings them on a mission to the old mining town of Falun. Franzibald is curious about the player characters and is hopeful that they will have what it takes to help him on future missions as Society members.

Background

The Great Copper Mountain mine of Falun has been operational since the 10th century, perhaps even earlier than that, and helped fund many of Sweden’s wars during the 17th century. The town is long past its prime, as the demand for copper from Europe has dwindled. A recent discovery of gold has boosted the operations and generated a small gold rush, but not without sacrifice. Carl Linneaus described the mine as “…one of the great wonders of Sweden but as horrible as hell itself,” where the workers were surrounded by “soot and darkness on all sides,” and would climb, “rickety ladders with sweat pouring from their bodies like water from a bath.”

In the past few years several newcomers have arrived in town and with them came many changes. Initially no one thought too much of it. A town as prosperous as Falun would continually have an influx of new people. Among them was Lisa Johansson, who quickly found work at the local inn. Later, the charismatic but strict Reverend Edward Bruselius arrived together with his family. He brought with him a stricter interpretation of the Lutheran preachings, and most townspeople found themselves going to church more often and living by the “Word of God” to a larger extent than before.

Then unexplained events started to occur. The workers, even the experienced miners who had been at the copper mine for years, would suddenly get lost or take a bad fall. Some would report hearing horrifying sounds coming from the dark caverns. The mines weren’t the only place where such unexplained events occurred. Crops would suddenly burst into flames. Cow milk would turn into ash. Burnt carcasses of animals would be found scattered around the surrounding forest. Eventually, people claimed that cries from young children could be heard from the mine late at night.

Reverend Bruselius is convinced that this can only be explained by witchcraft and moral depravity among the miners and townspeople of Falun. He has sworn that he will get to the bottom of it no matter the cost. The superstitious miners, however, believe their misfortune is due to someone angering a mountain spirit – the Bergafru (The Wife of the Mountain), a vaesen they claim protects them and is the cause of their prosperity. A conflict between the followers of pious Reverend Bruselius and the old miners is starting to boil, as the town continues to be plagued by terrible accidents and unexplained events.

Due to the abusive nature of Bruselius and his harsh, strict teachings, his wife, Emilie, has come to resent him. She is confined to their house (unless escorted by Bruselius himself) where she is guarded by his equally strict and pious sister, Berta. The reverend performs painful cleansing rituals on himself and Emilie to remove any improper thoughts, and watches her every move like a hawk.

The behavior has only grown worse since the couple lost their newborn daughter, and Emilie has been unable to conceive again since. As his frustration grows, Bruselius starts getting more and more suspicious of the women in town and is ready to call a full witch hunt, to finally bring the culprit to light and end the alleged curse once and for all.

In reality, Emilie, having sunk into a deep pit of depression due to her situation, could not bring herself to carry and raise a child that was an offspring of Bruselius. Hoping her daughter would grow up in Heaven surrounded by love and happiness instead of the hell Emilie herself has endured, she put a pillow over her newborn daughter’s face and smothered her.

Bruselius, seeing a birthmark on the baby’s body as a mark of the Devil, decided to burn the corpse instead of giving her a proper burial. A questionable decision for a devout Christian, but the reverend has become increasingly obsessed with the idea of cleansing the town with fire. Emilie found the burnt remains of the baby and buried them in the mine. Instead of finding peace, the child came back as a Myling, haunting the miners and the inhabitants of the town, carrying the pain and hopelessness from her mother and a burning rage towards her father.

Besides the myling, there’s another being that has been drawn to The Great Copper Mountain. Every night, Lisa Johansson dreams of walking alone in the mine and its dark, empty caverns while singing of memories she no longer remembers. Every morning she wakes up with dirt and bruises on her feet, suggesting it isn’t just dreams. Lisa will not tell anyone about her sleepwalking, especially not with the town on high alert and wild accusations of witchcraft being thrown around. She just hopes they find the cause of the accidents and maybe, when they do, her own problems will be solved.

Conflicts

The primary conflict is between the townspeople and the myling, which is causing the various accidents and attacks. The myling won’t rest until it’s given a proper burial in hallowed ground.

The secondary conflict is between the old beliefs of the miners and the new Christian ways of reverend Bruselius. He is ready to burn the whole town down to the ground if he comes to believe it would cleanse them of their sins. Having pushed his wife to the brink of madness, Bruselius continues to stay firm in his piety and is willing to sacrifice everything and everyone before admitting the truth – that he himself is the cause of the pain and suffering that has befallen Falun.

The third conflict is related to Lisa and is tied to the greater mystery of The Lost Mountain Saga. In this chapter, she’ll act more as a red herring for the players until her true nature is revealed in the aftermath.

Invitation

At some point before the journey to Falun begins, either at Castle Gyllencreutz or somewhere else of your choosing, the players will meet Franzibald Hansen, who’s an old friend of Linnea and a member of the Society. It’s up to you as the Gamemaster to decide how you wish to introduce Franzibald. As he is an important person in the backstory of the campaign, incorporating him into the player characters’ backstory might make sense. He could be a lifelong friend and confidant to either one or several of them.

A renowned Danish author who has written extensively about Norse mythology and the supernatural creatures that live among us (which most people assume is just fiction), Franzibald is always on the lookout for the next story. He takes an interest in new Society members, willing to share notes but also puts them to the test in the field.

A successful VIGILANCE check will let the players know he’s wearing a bright green gemstone around his neck. When asked about it, Franzibald will tell the players that he found it during one of his many travels and that it is one of his most valuable assets. Worry briefly colors his face, before he asks to change the topic. If pushed for more information about it, he will become annoyed with the players, questioning whether they are a good fit for this delicate investigation when they are so blunt and inappropriate.

Franzibald’s life partner is Björn, his butler. They are an odd couple, Björn being the stern, humorless and dry servant and Franzibald being an upper class author, constantly buzzing with energy and laughter.

After initial small talk, Franzibald eventually invites the players to join him in the town of Falun, four hours outside Upsala by train, to settle “…an idiotic dispute between a foolish, pious man and his constituents. We need to make sure the buffoon does not start another witch hunt. Here, read for yourselves…”

Franzibald takes out a letter and hands it over (Handout 1A, also found at the end of this book and available for download at the Free League website): Mr Hansen, It is with great concern that I write these lines. Your name was recommended to me by someone I trust, and perhaps against my better judgment, I now place my hope in your particular talents and expertise.

We have reason to believe our town, Falun, has become the target of witchcraft and devil worship and will need your help urgently to find and eliminate the source of this evil. It all started with a series of accidents in the town mine, with horrifying howls coming from the dark caverns. And the venom from the mine has now spread into the town, with crops burning, milk turning to ash, and animals dying without reason.

The miners unfortunately seem to have fallen under the temptation of ungodly and, dare I say, heathen behavior, which I suspect is more due to the lack of guidance by a true Christian such as myself, than any actual fault in their character, but it can explain their resistance to help us solve this problem once and for all.

I have taken it upon myself to cleanse this town of its moral depravity and believe I shall be successful with the guidance of someone with your… knowledge. We can speak more about this delicate matter in person, Reverend Bruselius With a darkened expression, Franzibald shakes his head.

“I have had the displeasure of meeting many men like Bruselius before. But we need to be very careful. We do not want to escalate this conflict. I have a bad feeling the smallest of embers can burn the whole bloody town down at this point!” Suddenly, he lights up again.

“But, we are going to Falun, which means that after we have sorted out this mess…” Franzibald points at the letter, “…we can have some delicious fika at Dagny’s, the town’s best cafe and inn!” THE SECRET PLAN: Franzibald has an ulterior motive for traveling to Falun. He has a hypothesis that the mine there might also contain the ancient green gemstones and he will try to find a way to leave the group and go explore the mine. He will not say anything about this to the player characters at this stage.

THE RITUAL OF SWEDISH FIKA Once or twice per day, a typical Swede will sit down with a cup of coffee and a small treat, like a cinnamon bun or a cookie, to recharge, reconnect and refuel. The ritual is called fika. It doesn’t matter if it’s a workday or not, everyone’s expected to take the extremely important “fikapaus.” To “take a fika” with a co-worker, or bring some “fika” to your friend, or bake “fika” for a celebration – it’s all accepted. The most important thing is to not ever, under any circumstance, skip the fika.

Preparations

The player characters can prepare for the journey at their headquarters and thereby gain an Advantage. Franzibald informs the party that he will personally take care of any travel or lodging expenses, as he believes the work that they are doing is of utmost importance.

If they start looking for clues in Upsala, they will find a relatively recent paper with a note on reverend Edward Bruselius and his marriage announcement with the widow Emilie Ekdahl. If they do any research on Franzibald Hansen, they will learn that he’s an internationally renowned author who has written a whole series about Norse mythology and various encounters with the occult.

At this point of the campaign, the players won’t find out any more info on the Abisko mine. Franzibald is very protective of his gemstone and if pushed for more information, he will get annoyed with the players and might even decide to stop helping them, and if they are too obnoxious and push too hard, he will fire them (see Catastrophe, page 16).

The Journey

It’s a warm September afternoon when the players embark upon the train to Falun. A beautiful golden and auburn landscape passes by them on their journey, and Franzibald will tell the players a peculiar story of a man who went missing back at the turn of the century.

“…The copper mine is not as rich as it once was during its prime, and so the prospectors decided to re-open abandoned, old areas that were considered useless by most. In one of those chambers, they found the corpse of a young man. Strange, for it looked like he hadn’t been dead more than two days! But there had been no recent reports of missing persons. So the men then decided to carry the body out of the mine and see if the villagers could identify him. After a while, an older woman steps up. ‘That’s my Mats… That’s my Mats!’ she said, horrified. Apparently, the boy in front of her was the man she had once been engaged to… 40 years earlier.”

Franzibald pauses, looking at each player with intensity. “40 years! There the boy was… almost half a century later! Completely preserved, as if time had stood still.” Franzibald is quite taken by his own story and absentmindedly fingers the gemstone around his neck. “Now, the scientists will have their explanations, but… there are things we do not understand yet, lurking in these mountains.”

Nothing else out of the ordinary happens on the train, and the group eventually arrives at Falun, and the inn, Dagny’s, where they will be staying during their investigation.

Arrival

A cozy and bright inn decorated in the latest French fashion, the players are met with the fresh smell of cinnamon buns. The inn is quite crowded as several people are enjoying their afternoon fika, as is the norm. At the very center of the main room is a whole buffet of Scandinavian pastries and warm coffee.

A voluptuous brunette walks over, accompanied by a small but fierce little Yorkshire terrier, and with a very thick French accent, she introduces herself as Dagny Dubois. When she sees Franzibald, she lets out an excited squeal and covers him in wet kisses. The two of them start reminiscing about old times. A successful OBSERVATION check will let the players know that despite the sincere happiness she’s currently projecting, Dagny’s eyes appear to be quite red and swollen, as if she’s cried recently.

At some point, a man dressed in black and accompanied by two women enters the inn and everyone quiets down. Dagny immediately gets up and hurries over to him. He quietly says something to her and she escorts him and the women to a different room. After a while she comes back and nervously tells the player characters that reverend Bruselius is here to see them.

Bruselius is waiting for them, cross legged in an armchair in an otherwise empty room apart from a couple of wooden chairs. The two women are standing behind him by the window, eyes downcast. In a cold, calculated manner he recounts the problems the town has been facing with accidents in the mine, crops dying, milk spoiling, and various attacks late at night. He keeps it short and to the point, and seems to have already made up his mind.

“Witchcraft,” he says, in a cold monotone voice. “I have noticed certain tendencies already…” He looks towards the other room where one can hear the loud laughter of Dagny and some patrons.

Bruselius will not go into any details while at the Inn, but invites them to visit him at his church, and tells them he can help them since he has already started his own investigation. He assumes the player characters are good Christians and will help him start a witch trial. It’s clear the man has a lot of influence in town, and is someone they should not anger.

Countdown and Catastrophe

In this Mystery, the player characters must not only figure out what type of vaesen is behind the strange events in Falun. They must also control the increasing paranoia and mob mentality that’s being fueled by reverend Bruselius and his pious followers before they start burning people for witchcraft. Adding the extra layer of the mysterious Lisa will create even more tension.

1. The burnt corpse of Dagny’s dog is found outside

the mine and, considering how everyone in town

loved that dog, the disbelief and anger reaches new

heights. Dagny is devastated, wailing while holding

the little body. Lisa is there too, trying to comfort

her while Bruselius seizes the opportunity to preach.

“The Lord have mercy on our souls, for we are lost. There is an Evil

amongst us. Yes, right here. Right here! They walk among us. One

of you could be a servant sent by the Devil.” Suspicion and

anger starts growing amongst the townspeople,

several of them nodding in agreement. “Stay vigilant!”

2. Bruselius grows impatient by the lack of support

from the miners who, unlike the rest of the townspeople, seem to not want to participate in his

narrative. So he convinces the authorities to shut

down the mine for the time being. A confrontation between the paranoid townspeople and the

miners occurs, with several of the miners being arrested. Bruselius will make the argument that they are protecting the Devil and should face trial. 3. The witch trials begin, and several local women

are accused, among them Lisa Johansson. Brothers accuse their sisters, husbands accuse their

wives, even daughters accuse their mothers. Lisa,

having no family to defend her, stands alone in

front of an angry mob, protesting her innocence.

See Confrontation, page 21.

Catastrophe

The townspeople fail to put out the fire and it spreads. The entire southern part of Falun burns down. Its ruthless devastation kills many in its way, including Franzibald, Lisa, Dagny, Reverend Bruselius and his family.

The inevitable confrontation with the myling will take place at the church when the witch trial of Lisa begins. An absurd trial where the most ridiculous accusations are being thrown around. There’s no decorum or legal representatives present outside the mob and Bruselius.

The tension is suffocating. The anger has nowhere to escape. It is imprisoned in this mighty church where friends, family members and lovers are all turning against each other. Some of them are so consumed by hatred they are frothing at their mouths. Bruselius tries to reign it in, focusing their hatred towards Lisa, who’s standing right in front of the altar awaiting her sentence. “Satan, I repel you!” he cries, believing he can exorcize the demon she has invited into her body. He wants to help her, that’s all he ever wanted.

Even Dagny, who always felt protective of the girl who took her in and treated her like her own, is starting to waver. “…The girl has been acting weird, and now that I think about it… she always seemed to hate my dog.” The devastation in Lisa’s eyes as she hears Dagny is almost too much for her to bear, and she falls down on her knees, unable to stand as her heart breaks into a million pieces.

But Emilie knows. She has known for a while. This is her doing. The heartbreaking cries of her lost baby haunt her every night. All mothers can hear it. She sees it in their terrified faces. This is not a demon, this is God… punishing her for her sins.

The Myling Attacks

The myling wakes, feeling the distress of her mother. A woman’s high-pitched scream of terror cuts through the commotion. “It’s a child!”

There, behind Lisa, floating over the altar, is the small body of an infant. It’s covered in soot, parts of its body have been burnt off. Smoke rises from behind it, its eyes completely black. The church goes completely quiet outside the small whimpers of pain from the myling. The myling suddenly lets out a guttural scream and starts casting the curse Fire (page 119 in the core rulebook). The first target is Bruselius, who lights up like a living torch, waving his arms around in panic and setting fire to the furniture and tapestries in the church as he dies – unless the player characters save him. The myling then attacks everyone else, including the player characters. Panic erupts, people start to flee. Particles of ash and embers flutter and swirl in the air and there’s the distinct smell of burning. The fire spreads quickly.

The players can try to put out the fire, requiring three successful FORCE rolls (slow action) in as many rounds. If they fail, the church will burn down to the ground. The player characters also need to fight the myling. For stats, see page 142 of the core rulebook. If the player characters are defeated, the myling leaves them and the burning church behind, and continues to haunt the town. If the myling is Broken, it dissolves and leaves behind black feathers, but returns the next day. The only way to permanently defeat the myling is to bury its remains in hallowed ground – more on that below.

No matter if he dies or lives on as a broken man, Bruselius’s reign of terror is over. The healing process of trying to forgive and move on begins, as families and friendships have been shattered over these past few years.

When the commotion in the church dies down and the shocked townspeople have left, the player character may notice that Lisa and Franzibald are both gone. Don’t tell the players this unless they ask about them, however. If they ask the townspeople, no one has seen them leave.

Emilie Bruselius is distraught. Seeing the destruction she’s responsible for and fully realizing the unforgivable crime she’s committed, she confesses that she buried her daughter’s remains in the mine. With a LEARNING roll, the characters will understand that they are dealing with a myling, and that its remains must be buried in consecrated ground. Emilie agrees to lead them to the spot in the mines where her daughter rests.

Back to the Mine

It’s getting dark. People are making their way back to town, in shock of what they’ve just witnessed. The player characters enter the cool darkness of the mine. Lantern in hand, Emilie leads them through the tunnels. Finally, she kneels and brushes off a layer of sand and gravel from the floor to reveal a flat stone. Beneath it, she finds the wrapped remains of her child. Sobbing, she embraces the bundle. Her ordeal is finally over, and she can start to heal.

But this story is not over. Suddenly, scraping footsteps are heard in the tunnel ahead. An icy chill sweeps through the dark passage. Then, the player characters see someone standing in the tunnel. It’s a woman with long brown hair and a tattered dress, dimly lit by a pale green light from a stone in her necklace. It looks like Lisa Johansson, but something is off.

Lisa comes closer, moving with strange, gangly gait, her face in shadow. She is holding something large in her hand. Blood is dripping from her jaw down on her dress, and even more blood is oozing from whatever she’s holding. In her hand, hanging at her side, is the severed head of Franzibald Hansen. His bright green gemstone hangs around her neck.

Then, in a deep, guttural voice, Lisa growls a few words in some ancient tongue, before letting out an otherworldly scream. The player characters must all make a Fear test against Fear value 3 (increased from the normal 2 for a revenant due to the horrifying scene). When they manage to find their bearings again, Lisa is gone. In the unlikely event that any player characters make the Fear test, they can fight Lisa in her revenant form. She will flee at the earliest opportunity, turning into her spectral form if needed.

With a LEARNING roll, the player characters will recognize the language that Lisa spoke as Old Norse. If they get two successes or more, they will even understand the words:

“The stones are for the gods, not for men. The Vanadisir must die!”

A further successful LEARNING roll will inform the characters that the Vanadisir was rumored to be a secret order during the Viking age, whose members claimed to be the direct descendants of the Norse goddess Freja.

The mine is absolutely still as it mourns the dead.