The Haunted Library

The National Archives has been collecting records, documents, books, and other items of particular importance to the realm for hundreds of years. It is one of Sweden’s oldest government agencies, dating back to the 13th century.

The impressive stone building on Knights’ Isle is newly constructed and built on a cast-iron frame to reduce the risk of fire. It will be familiar to characters who visited the archives in the first mystery of this campaign, Scent of a Killer. A wide stone staircase leads up to the first floor and the front desk.

The floors rest on iron beams and are supported by slender cast iron columns. A spiral book chute runs through the entire the stairwell. Light shines in through beautiful leaded windows. The bookcases are also made of iron and the doors of sheet metal. The National Archives is not open to the public.

Challenges

• The Archivist: Sitting behind the front desk is archivist Sigrid Holgersdotter, an ancient woman with round glasses and a stern face. Her gray hair is pulled back in a tight bun. Her behavior toward the characters depends on whether they have met before and, if so, how that meeting went. Unless the characters are already on very good terms with Sigrid, it takes a MANIPULATION test or a “donation to the organization” (cost level 2) for them to be granted access to the collections.
• Basement Vaults: If the characters ask Sigrid about vaults underneath the building, she admits that they exist and glances at an inconspicuous little door in the stairwell, visible from the front desk. She says that she cannot possibly let the characters walk around down there. Persuading her is difficult and takes another MANIPULATION test, this time a Challenging one (two successes required). If they fail, the characters must find a way to trick or sneak past Sigrid, or break into the National Archives at night or hide until it closes for the night. Do not make it too difficult for them.

Clues

• The City Archives: If the characters ask for information about the National Archives and the building itself, Sigrid refers them to the records and collections of the City Archives on the first floor.
• The Esoteric Section: If the characters are looking for works on vaesen and the like, Sigrid recommends the Esoteric Section on the second floor. If they ask specifically about ghosts, the archivist impishly mentions a manuscript entitled The Ghost of the National Archives that should be of interest to them.

The City Archives are located on the ground floor. Here the player characters can find documents about Stockholm and maps of the city’s districts and buildings.

Challenges

• Searching For Information: In the City Archives, the characters can find useful information about the history of the National Archives and Knights’ Isle. Each character searching for information can make a LEARNING test and gain a clue (see below) for each six rolled. If at least one character succeeds, they also find an old map of the labyrinthine passages beneath the National Archives, tucked between the ancient scrolls.

Clues

• The Greyfriars Monastery: The basement of the new National Archives is connected to old cellar vaults that originated from the medieval Greyfriars Monastery, one of the first buildings erected on Knights’ Isle. Back then the island was called Greyfriars Islet.
• The tunnels were expanded over centuries and connected many of the buildings on Knights’ Isle. It is said that in the 17th and 18th centuries, the cellar vaults were used as meeting places for secret societies.
• The Map: The old map of the passageways beneath the National Archives is shown on page 68 (handout 3B on page 113, also available for download on the Free League website).

The Esoteric Section is located on the second floor. There are reading areas with leather armchairs, large potted plants on pedestals, and statues among the bookcases. The Esoteric Section contains not only writings, but also historical artifacts and large display cases with stuffed animals and dried plants collected during various expeditions.

Challenges

• Searching For Information: A player character seeking information about vaesen in the Esoteric section can make a LEARNING test to find useful knowledge (see chapter 8 of the core rulebook). If the gaming group has access to the Vaesen art book, the players may consult it freely as well.
• The Ghost of the National Archives: If a LEARNING test is made here, whether it succeeds or not, the player characters spot an interesting tome among a large number of leather-bound volumes on spirits and ghosts. It is an unpublished manuscript entitled The Ghost of the National Archives, written by archivist Sigrid Holgersdotter herself.

Clues

• The Ghost of the National Archives manuscript is a collection of humorous but bloodcurdling ghost stories, all set at the National Archives, where hapless visitors are scared out of their wits. It also includes drawings of the various specters.
• The Symbol: Several of the drawings show the symbol of an ouroboros in a triquetra (see illustration below). The player characters recognize it as the original symbol of the Society, used for centuries by their predecessors. Entrance Archivum Secretum Chamber of R e idd Th le s
• Sigrid: If the player characters ask Sigrid about the manuscript, she is noticeably flattered and says the stories are based on her own sightings of ghosts at the National Archives. After this it becomes easier for the characters to persuade her to let them into the cellar vaults (a normal skill test instead of a Challenging one). If the characters ask Sigrid about the symbol in the manuscript, she explains that it is found in several places in the library and in the stairwell leading down to the cellar vaults. She herself has never ventured very deep into the vaults. “It’s like a maze down there.”

Behind a low wooden door on the ground floor of the National Archives, an ancient stone staircase spirals down into the deep vaults beneath the building. It is pitch black and the player characters will need a light source. Sigrid has a lantern, but is reluctant to lend it to them unless she has already given them permission to enter the tunnels.

Challenges

The cellar vaults are dark and cold with water dripping from the walls. The player characters’ lantern only lets them see a few meters ahead. The map found in the Esoteric Section provides an overview of the tunnels, and the GM version of the map (previous page) shows a possible route through the maze. There are several ways for the characters to find the correct path to the Chamber of Riddles.

• The Map: The characters can use the map from the Esoteric Section.
• The Symbols: At each intersection, a small ouroboros in a triquetra – the Society’s own symbol – is carved into the wall at the correct entrance. These can be discovered with an INVESTIGATION test if the characters examine the walls of the vaults. Once they have found a symbol, they can easily notice more of them and find the correct path.
• Trial and Error: The player characters can wander aimlessly through the maze until they stumble upon the correct path. However, note that there are several tunnels leading out of the map. If the characters follow one of them, after a long walk through narrow passageways, they will suddenly emerge through a door in the Knights’ Isle Church or in an alley in the Town Between the Bridges.
• Hauntings: The characters should experience one or more hauntings (see Countdown on page 65) on their way through the vaults.

If the player characters find the correct path through the labyrinthine passages beneath the National Archives, they eventually reach a large circular chamber with a high, vaulted stone ceiling. On the walls are gilded candelabras with candles. If the characters light the candles, they see the room in all its splendor.

The ceiling is engraved with Latin words in gold lettering, and on the floor is a large ouroboros in a triquetra carved in a circle – once again the Society’s own symbol, but now surrounded by nine smaller symbols. Finally, the room has three identical arched doors leading in different directions, each decorated with a woodcarving of a beautiful tree.

Challenges

• The text on the ceiling reads “Nomina si nescis, perit et cognitio rerum.” A character who passes a LEARNING test knows that it means “Who knows not the names, knows not the subject” and that the quote is attributed to Carl Linnaeus.
• The floor relief is illustrated on this page (also available as handout 3C on page 114 and for download on the Free League website). Anyone who examines it realizes that the nine smaller symbols surrounding the Society’s symbol can be pressed down. A successful INVESTIGATION test reveals that the ouroboros in the symbol – the snake biting its own tail – is a separate round slab with a small gap between it and the rest of the floor. A character who passes a STEALTH test notices that there seems to be a hidden mechanism that could open a large hatch in the floor. The slab with the ouroboros is actually the door to Linnaeus’s secret library and the endpoint of the mystery (page 79).
• The Secret Passage: If the three correct symbols in the floor relief – and only those symbols – are pressed simultaneously, there is a loud rumble as the slab sinks about a meter into the floor, revealing a dark, narrow staircase that leads to the secret library. The symbols that must be pressed to open the secret passage are the sheaf, the bellows, and the knife. If the wrong three symbols are pressed at the same time, the mechanism is locked for an hour and the symbols cannot be pressed at all. Then the players will likely realize that they must pass through the three doors in the room to figure out the solution. If not, Linnaeus’s ghost can point this out to them (see the sidebar on page 77).
• Each door in the room is made of light wood and has a beautiful woodcarving of a large tree in the center. The door frame is carved into a wreath of seeds, sprouts, flowers, and leaves. See the image on page 69 (handout 3D on page 115, also available for download on the Free League website). A character who passes a LEARNING test realizes that the carvings represent a linden tree and its phases of growth. A successful FORCE test reveals that the doors themselves are also made of this light softwood. The doors – facing east, west, and north – have brass handles and open easily. On the other side it is dark and damp, and a cold wind sweeps into the room. See the sidebar on the next page for more information about the doors and where they lead. Door 1:

When the player characters pass through the door, they are swallowed by darkness. As their eyes adjust, they realize they are standing under a large linden tree at the edge of a garden next to a small, thatched cottage. It is evening and quiet. The moon illuminates the garden beds of flowers and vegetables. Tall birch trees with wiry branches cast long shadows across the yard.

The characters realize that they are child versions of themselves, perhaps eight or nine years old. They are wearing simple, old-fashioned peasant clothing and carry no equipment. Their stats are intact except for their Physique, which is temporarily halved (rounded up). Let the characters react to all this and think about where they are.

Before they can do anything else, they see a small shadow moving across the yard from the stable. It is a boy of the same age as them, dressed in similar clothes. He stops, takes a small wooden box out of his pocket, and seems to be talking to it.

Challenges

• The Boy: If the player characters make themselves known, the boy puts the box away. He speaks in a Smolandian dialect that sounds strangely archaic. He says his name is Carl Nilsson Linnaeus and that this is his family’s house in Råshult in the parish of Stenbrohult in Smolandia. Carl is eight years old and interested in all things in nature. If they ask him what year it is, he is puzzled. “The year of our Lord 1715 of course, don’t you know?” His parents are not at home – only he and his little sister Anna Maria are here.
• The Cottage: If the characters gain young Linnaeus’s trust with an INSPIRATION test, he lets them into the cottage and asks them for help. The cottage consists of a vestibule, a main room with a fireplace, a kitchen area, and narrow beds for the adults, and an inner room where the children sleep. Inside, sheaves of barley are hanging from the rafters to dry after the autumn harvest.
• The Box: If the characters pass a VIGILANCE test, they see Linnaeus spit into his box before entering the cottage.
• The Sister: Carl’s sister Anna Maria, who is in the cottage, has been having nightmares for the past few weeks and wakes up screaming every night. She says it feels like she is suffocating. Carl adds that he has seen an eerie black smoke creeping in through a knothole at night. He is determined to save his sister. If Carl has not let the characters into the cottage, they will instead hear Anna Maria screaming in terror later that night.
• Research: If the players have access to the Vaesen art book or the Codex Occultum booklet (included in the game’s starter set), they can figure out for themselves that they are likely dealing with a mare and get tips on how to banish it. Otherwise, you can have them make a LEARNING test to recall clues (see below). The knowledgeable young Carl can also make suggestions – he has heard stories about mares.
• The Ride of the Mare: Anna Maria eventually falls asleep in the children’s bedroom, and each player character must pass an OBSERVATION test not to do the same. Later that night, the mare (page 142 of the core rulebook) attacks. A dark mist sweeps toward the cottage like oily black smoke and enters the children’s bedroom through a knothole. The smoke gathers around Anna and forms a hideous female figure on her chest. If the characters show up or are already there, the figure turns to them, baring its sharp teeth before launching a furious attack. Sleeping characters miss the first round of combat.
• Banishing the Mare: The Mare can be banished by force or cunning (see Clues below). It takes damage from physical attacks, but remember that the characters’ Physique scores are halved and that they have no weapons with them. However, they can find an axe, a knife, and several chairs in the cottage that can be used as weapons. If all player characters are Broken, Carl eventually manages to drive the Mara away. Once it has been banished, the illusion of Linnaeus’s memory fades and the characters find themselves in a cold stone chamber with a door back to the Chamber of Riddles.

Clues

• Mare’s Brooms: The birch trees around the house are full of mare’s brooms – twigs growing in dense, sheaf-like clusters. A mare’s broom can be used to lure a mare (fast action). The mare must then make a MIGHT test – on failure, the mare must stop what it is doing and attack the character holding the mare’s broom on its next turn.
• Mare Cross: Drawing a mare cross – a five- or six-pointed star – on someone’s forehead protects that person from the mare’s attack. Doing so during combat counts as a slow action for both the drawer and the person being drawn on. If everyone around mare has a mare’s cross on their forehead, the creature flees, howling with rage.
• Counting Grains: The mare suffers from obsessive thoughts, which can be used to trick it – if someone throws grains or seeds in front of it (long action), the mare must pass a MIGHT test to resist counting them all, which consumes its next turn in combat. Sacks of grain and jars of flaxseed can be found in the kitchen.
• The Worm: If the player characters ask Carl about his box, he reveals that it contains his lucky worm. He has always wanted to know more about nature but had difficulty learning to read. One day two years ago, he fished the worm out of a stream, and he has done well in school ever since. He takes care of it because it brings him luck. The worm is of course a spertus (page 154 of the core rulebook), which clever players may realize. Under no circumstances will Carl let anyone take the box from him, not even for a moment.
• Barley Sheaves: Sheaves of barley are hanging from the rafters to dry after the autumn harvest. This, along with the sheaf-like mare’s brooms, will hopefully be enough for the players to realize that the sheaf is one of the three symbols to be pressed in the floor relief in the Chamber of Riddles. Door 2:

When the player characters pass through this door, they are enveloped in darkness, just like the first time. The door behind them is gone, but soon they hear a murmur of voices, music, and clinking glasses. They are in a dark room, a large linen closet, with a door – the voices and music are coming from the other side, and a sliver of light shines through the cracks.

Opening the door, the characters find themselves in an ornate hall with candelabras and mirrors. The decor is almost palatial in its grandeur. Outside there is a beautiful park with impressive flower urns, low hedges, and lavender bushes. A short distance away is a small chapel and a hill with a huge old tree stump. It is dusk, and a thin mist has settled over the lawn.

The characters now realize that they are wearing 18th century clothing, with white wigs, silk waistcoats, and ruffled shirts or extravagant dresses and powdered hairstyles. They are adults and have their usual stats, but lack weapons and equipment. They are in Linnaeus’s memory of his dinner with Governor Nils Reuterholm at his residence in Falun, just before the famous expedition in Dalecarlia in 1734.

A servant in a ruffled shirt, livery, and a white wig enters the room and offers them a glass of wine from a silver tray: “Welcome! Governor Reuterholm is waiting for you in the dining room – dinner will be served shortly. Your professor is already there.”

The dining room is beautifully set for dinner, with wines in crystal glasses. A large fireplace spreads light and warmth throughout the room. Among the gathered are Linnaeus himself, his student Hedda von der Burg, who is also the goddaughter of Governor Reuterholm, as well as the governor and his wife. Show their portraits to the players. “Welcome, apostles, you are just in time for dinner,” Linnaeus exclaims, and Reuterholm invites them to sit down.

Linnaeus (and everyone else) perceives the characters as members of his expedition and is completely oblivious to talk of strange doors and riddles. They are very excited about the upcoming expedition, and the characters are welcome to join the conversation. See Challenges for more information.

What no one in the group knows is that Reuterholm’s residence is built on land that contains an old fairy mound. The great linden tree that once grew on the mound was cut down and its wood was used to make the beautiful door that now adorns the entrance to the house. This angered the fairies, who caused all kinds of trouble during the construction. Now they seek revenge by trying to abduct Reuterholm’s goddaughter, Hedda von der Burg.

Challenges

• Linnaeus spends much of the dinner talking about his plans for the expedition, which he has named after Reuterholm. He looks forward to cataloging both the worldly and occult flora and fauna of Dalecarlia, and is excited about all the knowledge this expedition might bring. “Think of all the medical discoveries! All the knowledge of the seen and unseen!” As he speaks, his hand unconsciously reaches for his vest pocket.
• Reuterholm has different ideas than Linnaeus about the purpose of the expedition. He is superstitious and loyal to the crown. He believes the artifacts and knowledge from the expedition should go primarily to the king, to combat the threat of supernatural forces.

Clues

• The Bellows: A pair of bellows can be used as a weapon against fairies (damage 2, range 0, +3 bonus to RANGED COMBAT). There is a copper bellows by the stove in the dining room, but only one. The significance of the bellows is hopefully enough for the players to realize that it is one of the three symbols to be pressed in the floor relief in the Chamber of Riddles.
• Holy Water: Splashing holy water (slow action) at the fairies can temporarily disperse them. They must make a MIGHT test, and if they fail, they lose their next turn. There is some holy water in a baptismal font at the chapel in the manor’s park. Door 3:

When the player characters pass through this door, they are engulfed in darkness, as before, but soon find themselves treading through dense bushes. They arrive at a tall linden tree near a small village church and its cemetery, situated on a slope down to a dark river surrounded by deep woods.

The characters are in the same guise as in the previous memory, but much more practically dressed. They carry simple camping gear but no weapons, except for the character with the highest CLOSE COMBAT, who has a knife. Linnaeus himself is standing a bit ahead of them. Crouching behind some bushes, he once again greets the characters as his apostles. Hedda von der Burg is here as well.

It is night, and the intense sound of violins echoes in the darkness. Down by the riverbank is a clearing where people are dancing in pairs, swirling around four musicians in the moonlight. Several graves in the cemetery appear to have been vandalized. The earth has been dug up and the tombstones overturned.

Linnaeus signals for the characters to move closer to the crowd down by the river. As they approach, they see that the faces of the dancers are contorted with terror and pain. The ground beneath them is completely trampled, their feet bleeding or broken at unnatural angles.

A man swings around a woman hanging limply in his arms, seemingly lifeless. Farther away, they see the rotting corpse of a man leading a terrified, bridal-clad woman in dance. Two small skeletons of children in decaying clothes are standing in front of the musicians, listening to the melody as if entranced.

The faces of three of the musicians are filled with fear. They play the stirring polka with bleeding fingers on their violins. Behind them, closest to the river, stands a tall, dark-haired man with piercing eyes and a hat on his head. He smiles enigmatically and carries a beautifully carved lyre.

“My apostles, we must save these poor souls, but be careful,” warns Linnaeus.

Challenge

• The music is irresistibly catchy. Each round in the vicinity of the three bewitched musicians (i.e. in the same zone), the characters must pass an OBSERVATION test to avoid being drawn into the dance and losing their turn in the round. A new attempt may be made each round. The music continues until all three violinists are Broken (they do not defend themselves), the strings of their instruments have been cut (requires a successful CLOSE COMBAT test with a knife), the violins have been taken from them (requires an opposed FORCE test), or the Neck has been banished.
• The Neck: If the players have access to the Vaesen art book or the Codex Occultum booklet (included in the game’s starter set), it can help them figure out that the man with the lyre is the Neck (page 148 of the core rulebook) and provide tips on how to banish him. Otherwise, you can let them make LEARNING tests to gain clues (see below) or simply have Linnaeus help them. The Neck attacks any character who tries to stop the music and defends himself if attacked.
• A Familiar Face: A character who passes a VIGILANCE test finds the Neck’s face strangely familiar but cannot figure out why (this will be revealed in the next mystery).
• The dancers desperately seek the characters’ gaze with a silent plea for help – they cannot stop dancing. Their eyes are wide with fear. If the enchanting music is stopped, the exhausted dancers collapse to the ground and the walking dead revert to lifeless bones. But the Neck himself continues to fight until he is banished.
• The Lyre: When banished, the Neck turns into a toad that jumps into the river and disappears, leaving behind his lyre. It is beautifully carved and looks very old, decorated with symbols that the characters (with a successful LEARNING test) recognize as ancient Greek letters. Linnaeus picks up the lyre and notes that it is a very valuable and potentially dangerous artifact that must be protected and preserved. Then the illusion fades and the characters find themselves in a cold stone chamber with a door back to the Chamber of Riddles.

Clues

• Beeswax: If the player characters put beeswax in their ears (long action), they get +2 to OBSERVATION to resist the music’s enchantment and the Neck’s Trollcraft spell DANCE. Linnaeus has beeswax in his pack and can recommend that they use it.
• Knife: If a knife that has cut the strings of a violin (e.g. one of the musicians’ instruments) is stuck into the ground in the same zone as the Neck (long action), he cannot cast Enchantments and Curses in that zone or against anyone in it. The significance of the knife is hopefully enough for the players to realize that it is one of the three symbols to be pressed in the floor relief in the Chamber of Riddles.
• Christian Symbols: The Neck is also sensitive to crosses and other Christian symbols. If anyone in the same zone shows him such a symbol (long action), he must pass a MIGHT test (not an action) or be forced to leave the zone on his next turn. If the Neck is completely surrounded by Christian symbols, he is immediately Broken and banished.