Amanuensis Dolls

AMANUENSIS DOLLS

a horror adventure
for the modern era

by

BRIDGET RENOUX

1
 Amanuensis Dolls

What is this?
AMANUENSIS DOLLS is a free horror adventure, compatible with
all modern investigative horror TTRPGs. In this document, you’ll
find a profile of the main antagonist, followed by a brief
description of the adventure. After that, each section details
one of the rooms inside cabin that features as the adventure’s
primary location, with flavor text (to be read aloud to your
players) and descriptions of the mechanical effects. The intent
is to provide you with a straightforward blueprint that you can
use to engage your players in either a one-shot thrilling horror
adventure, or as a mission inside a longer-running campaign.
This scenario should take two to three hours to complete, and
is suitable for two to four players, plus one person to act as a
moderator.

How do I use it?

The first section, ANATOMY OF ADVENTURE, details the main
antagonist of the adventure, as well as brief description of the
expected trajectory of the scenario. The second section,
LOCATION OF HORROR contains the introductory sequence for the
scenario, and then lists the rest of the rooms in the cabin in a
somewhat logical order. Each sub-section ( The Cabin, The
Kitchen, etc.) is titled for easy reference during play. The
third section, NIGHTMARES AND FLASHBACKS, details the flashback
vignettes that occur during several points in the scenario, as
well as suggestions for playing the character of the villain,
Jack Knight. The final section, ENDINGS AND EPILOGUES, has
thoughts for how to conclude the adventure, and provide hooks
for further inspiration.
I recommend reading through the entirety of the document in
order to get a feel for the scenario. If you have time, you can
search for Amanuensis Dolls on
https://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com to listen to a
live recording of this adventure that I ran for Role Playing
Public Radio.

ANATOMY OF ADVENTURE
In this scenario, two to four players are investigators tasked
with apprehending Jack Knight, a failed horror author. The
investigators are part of a secret government agency, special
investigative team, or some other group used with tracking down
and dealing with horrors of a supernatural nature — whether or
2
and dealing with horrors of a supernatural natureAmanuensis
— whether Dolls
or
not the investigators themselves have much experience in that
field is up to you and your players.
Jack Knight is a recluse living near the fictional town of
Calamity Falls, Oregon. Once known for writing novels, he made
contact with a mythical entity known as “The Storyteller,” and
has been obsessed with it ever since. Knight has bound himself
to his cabin through ritual magic, and is impervious to most
forms of assault. Through this magic, Knight is attempting to
have the players live through moments of his life — Flashbacks
presented in the NIGHTMARES AND FLASHBACKS section — in order to
try to find a new spin on his personal story. Knight wants to
have the best possible version of his own narrative, because he
believes he can trade it to The Storyteller in exchange for some
kind of boon.
Whether or not Knight is on the right track is immaterial. The
players have been given instructions to enter the cabin,
apprehend Knight, and discover the truth of whatever he’s
working on. The players don’t need to know much about Knight at
the start of the adventure, other than his name, his residence,
and that he’s a failed author working on something that could be
dangerous. Through the course of the adventure, the players will
confront Knight, explore his otherworldly cabin, get lost in his
maddening psychic hallucinations, and perhaps ultimately face
The Storyteller.

3
 Amanuensis Dolls

LOCATION OF HORROR

HOW TO USE THIS SECTION:

The following locations include text to read aloud to your
players, either to set the narrative pacing, or describe objects
they’re looking at. As these are written in my personal note-
taking style, it might not be immediately obvious how to use the
text. For the most part, here is the scheme for the text in this
adventure:

This is text to be read aloud.

This is an item that players can investigate, or

notes on a feature of a room.
This is a description of that item.

This is another piece of the larger item that

requires further investigation
This is more description awarded after investigating
further. If you wish, you can require your players to make use
of their various character skills in order to unlock this
information.

During various parts of the adventure, interacting with

specific items triggers a Flashback sequence. Whichever
character last handled the item in question experiences one of
the Flashback scenes in the NIGHTMARES AND FLASHBACKS section.
Stop other investigation to immediately play out that sequence,
which takes place in the blink of an eye for all player
characters. When your players trigger a Flashback, start in
order with Flashback 1, and continue through to the next
numbered Flashback whenever a new one is triggered. Players
might find the Flashback triggers in any order, but the
Flashbacks themselves play out in the listed order.

OPENING SCENE

4
 Amanuensis Dolls
READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:
The van rattles away in muffled silence, leaving the snow
swirling around you. It’s cold this year, colder than you can
remember it being. It was a joke at the office, at first.
“Global warming is going to kill us faster than they will,” and
you’d laugh. At first it was at the mysterious they, the ghouls
and monsters out there in the dark, scuttling along behind the
veils of public ignorance or natural law or whatever it was that
kept nightmares in our dreams and boogeymen lodged firmly in our
closets. It was easier to laugh at things when you weren’t
staring them in the maw, or cleaning up the wreckage of bodies
that used to be coworkers.

Eventually the laughter became directed at that violence. It

was the only way to cope. Another agent gunned down in a green
boxed, and you’d make jokes about how he’d likely done it
himself. It took the sting out of the truth. Comedy became a
shield, and then it became a routine. No one really found it
funny, but you had to do it anyway. Like a ritual to morn the
dead. It was a close to a funeral as some of those agents were
going to get.
Then the laughter worked its way back around. Things in the
dark, claws and teeth and screaming, undulating masses of
horrors were nothing compared to the every day reality that the
world would become unlivable, and it was going to be our fault.
It seemed inevitable, and that was funny at first. Much in the
same way that nuclear winter would’ve been funny, fifty, sixty
years ago.

But now it’s twenty-eighteen and you’re staring extinction in

the face on a regular basis and the only real thought you have
anymore is that it’s cold, and you don’t remember the last time
you felt your toes, and whether or not the damn van could’ve
driven you the last fifteen fucking minutes up to the cabin
instead of having to hoof it yourselves. These are decent boots,
job-issued, a size too big so you can fit the three layers of
socks you need into them, but all the same you’d rather not
expend the cardio workout it’s going to take to carry you up the
laneway.

Now that’s funny. Really and truly funny. Your first day into
this job, you would’ve wanted a gun, or some magical charm, a
ward against evil. But now you’re just whimpering to yourself
about coats, and scarves, and gloves. It’s hilarious how times
change.

You huddle together, warm breath turning to clouds of vapor in

5
 You huddle together, warm breath turning to clouds of vapor
Amanuensis in
Dolls
the moonlight. It’s bright out here, really; the overcast skies
are threatening, but the snow reflects the light of the stars,
clearly illuminating your path. The mailbox, flag up, marks the
end of the laneway, but it’ll take you a little bit of time to
hoof it up to the cabin. Time to reflect, time to plan.

What do you want to do?

IF THEY LOOK INSIDE THE MAILBOX

Inside, you find several letters. They’re marked with proper
postage, made out to several offices, some local and some not.
The addressees include what you assume must be the utility
company for the area, several to the district’s congressional
representative, a letter marked “Return to Sender,” and one to
the Library of congress.

The Utilities Company

The letter addressed to the utility company is the standard-
issue form. Curiously, where an indication of payment should be,
there’s merely a text scrawled “Keep it all turned on” in an
angry hand with an involved, laborious scrawl.

The Congressman
The envelopes themselves have been stamped “return to sender”
at least twice each, and haven’t been opened.

( If opened)
The letters contain a ranting, meandering diatribe about
“works owned” and “copyright reform,” but the combined natures
of the personal and political ramblings make them difficult to
dissect.

The Library of Congress

The letter contains a copyright claim for a work referred to
as “ My Final Novel”

Return to Sender
This letter has been marked “return to sender” in a loopy,
erratic scrawl. Opening the envelope, you find it is a rather
personal note from Garret Knight to his brother Jack, pleading
with him to abandon the “spooky old cabin” and to let the
“ghosts inside” finally come to rest.

6
 Amanuensis Dolls

THE CABIN

READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:

The walk up to the cabin was exactly as terrible as you were
hoping it wouldn’t be. By the time you arrive, things like
“stealth” and “tactics” feel secondary to just getting inside
and getting this shit over with. A large snowdrift lines the
makeshift walkway up to the porch, like someone had shoveled the
snow fairly recently. Judging by the size of the piles, it most
snow deep here and quite regularly, which corroborates the awful
slog you had up the laneway.

Smoke pours steadily from the chimney, but there’s really just
the one way of ingress. Windows on the north and west sides are
firmly shuttered and locked; the rusted nature of the metal
seems like they haven’t been opened in a long time. There’s a
door on the south side of the building are really your only way
inside; it’s a small building, can’t be more than one, two rooms
inside. A decent deck and overhang are the only ornamentation to
the face of it. The door itself is solid, but if you have to ram
it, at least one of you could do it.

The closer you get to the building, the more the whole thing
seems like a waste. All this for one guy?

Entering

The door swings open, faster and louder than you were going
for. It slams against the wall, having been blown in completely;
maybe the wind was with you, maybe you’re stronger than you
thought. The noise is excruciating in the relative silence of
the wilderness.
Light spills from inside. There’s a rather tacky chandelier
providing most of it, but the hearth is no slouch, nor is the
desklamp. You notice things in slow motion, like a car accident.
The horrendous bearskin rug beneath the chandelier, in front of
the fire. The small table and chair in the near corner, like a
cute breakfast nook in one of those homesteading catalogues. The
huge bookshelf perched on the wall behind the desk. The desk
itself, of course. That’s hard not to notice, it takes up all
your focus. It commands the room, placed opposite the doorway.
It stares at you, like a loaded gun on the other end of a
standoff. It’s large, well-made, scattered with paper and ink
and pens and a typewriter. It’s less of a desk and more the idea

7
and pens and a typewriter. It’s less of a desk and more the Dolls
Amanuensis idea
of a desk, plucked from some detective novel from 30 years ago,
dropped into this quaint cabin in the middle of nowhere. It’s
comical. It’s a joke.

And like all jokes it turns quickly to violence.

None of you remembers who draws first. The man behind the desk
twitches, looking to his left. The rifle on the wall is too
obvious. Your hands go to your weapons instinctively, and the
tension in the room builds to a sharpened point.

What do you do?

Try Talking

The man ignores your questions, muttering to himself instead.

“You’re not supposed to be here yet,” he says quietly. His voice
rises as he points a finger in your direction. “You’re too
early! You’re always too early!”

He goes for the gun, shouting at you. “I never have time to

finish!”
Try Shooting

The body of the man twitches as the bullets enter him. He

never makes it to the rifle. He stumbles backwards into the
bookshelf, pulling it down on top of him. Books cascade
everywhere, onto the table, under it. They bury the man in tomes
of all shapes and sizes, piling up. The heavy shelving collapses
onto the desk, capping the entire thing like the lid of a
coffin. What a damn mess it all is.

There is also a hallway in the back of the room.

The Books
The books seem to be mostly horror novels, books on law, and a
few pseudo-scientific books on time and the nature of the
universe. Do you care to investigate further?

Horror Novels
The completed works of noted horror author Sutter Cane,
including The Whisperer in the Dark, Haunter out of Time, and
The Thing in the Basement. The copies are dog-eared and well-
read.

8
 Amanuensis Dolls

Law Books
They seem to be largely devoted to the complicated and,
frankly, impenetrable nature of copyright law. Some well-known
rulings and filings have been highlighted. A small number of
these books include laws related to national security and spy
programs, including binders of printed-out texts of various
secrecy and non-disclosure laws in the United States and its
allies.

Scientific Books
These are almost complete garbage. While some multiverse-for-
dummies-type books are in the pile, a surprising number are
sociology or group psychology books. The overarching themes of
the latter books deal in the idea of shared reality, memetic
mutation, as well as a pop-culture-focused book documenting the
“viral” phenomena of public discourse.

WHEN ALL BOOKS HAVE BEEN READ

Among the rest of the books, you find a sort of local
encyclopedia, or travel book. While most of the lore contained
relates to the city of Calamity Falls, there are a few sections
describing the Knight family. They have a surprisingly long
lineage of Academics, Librarians, and occasionally Politicians.
The Knight family is described as having the “gift of
communication,” making unlikely allies and being excellent
storytellers. There’s a modest paragraph devoted to Jack Knight
himself, largely on his reclusive cabin and semi-successful
horror writing career.

Papers on the Desk

The papers on the desk seem to be more letters. They’re stern
letters advising the nature of copyright law in the state,
received letters of rejection from several publishing companies,
as well as statements of payment from those publishing companies
still sending royalties from Knight’s earlier works. Do you care
to investigate further?

Letters of Rejection
The letters are broad statements refusing Knight’s newer
works. Some are overly polite form letters, but those that are
more personalized talk about market saturation and Knight’s
works being too “derivative.” Letters from publishing companies
9
 Amanuensis
works being too “derivative.” Letters from publishing Dolls
companies
that worked with him in the past are begging him to consider
doing something novel, outside of the horror genre.

Royalty Payments
The royalty payments are paltry sums, and nothing for books
published earlier than fifteen years ago. Whatever made Knight
popular before seems to have petered out a long time ago. It’s a
wonder that this place still has the lights on; it’s doubtful
the royalties are enough for someone to afford food, much less a
private residence.

The Rifle
A hunting rifle. Despite its age, it seems to be particularly
well-cared for, and it’s definitely loaded.

The Fireplace
A very smokey fire burns in the hearth. There’s evidence that
wood might have been stacked up before, but there’s precious few
logs now. The fire seems to be partially fed by heavy
manuscripts, a few stacks of which are piled next to the logs.

The Manuscripts
A cursory reading suggests that these are copies of whatever
recent book Knight has been peddling. Large sections have been
blacked out by a dark marker, making much of it unreadable. The
cover pages are simply titled “My Final Novel”

The Desk
The contents of the desk include mundane things, like a letter
opener and a stapler, along with pens and erasers, stamps and
envelopes and the like. At first glance, a lot of this looks
worthless.

INVESTIGATION CHECKS ROLL WELL:

Upon further investigation, one drawer is shallower than it
should suggest. Feeling around, you find a secret panel.

10
 Amanuensis Dolls
Repair Manual
Tucked inside the secret panel is a small book detailing the
repair of books and other papers that have been damaged or
defaced, along with a key, and a woodworking kit.

Woodworking Kit
A very basic woodworking kit, made for simple carvings and
engravings.

Key
The key is simply labeled “Attic.”

The Body
The body of Jack Knight, slain by gunfire. Tragic.

UPON RETURNING TO THE ROOM

The body is gone.

Under the Rug

Removing the rug reveals a door set in the floor itself.
Amusingly it, too, has a placard. It reads “The Basement.”
There’s a hole where a handle should be; hooking a finger into
it and pulling doesn’t seem to help. You’ll need something that
can insert into the slot and help you lift the door.
Additionally, there’s a keyhole, but it doesn’t seem to be
connected to the door itself at all; rather, it sits adjacent to
the placard.

The “Attic”
The Attic and the Basement share the same door. Only Attic or
Basement placards work on this door.

To open the door to the “Attic,” the players need the “Attic”
placard (from reading the book in The Library and making a
placard) and the “Attic” key.

THE HALLWAY
READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLATERS:

11
 Amanuensis Dolls
The hallway is short, but it has a lot of things to say in
that time. Unfortunately, all of them are vulgar. The dust would
suggest that no one has cleaned it in a long time; the carpet
laying along the length of it has been scuffed and torn in so
many places, and it barely sits evenly in the middle of the
hallway anymore. There’s three doors, equidistant from each
other. The only lighting comes from a light fixture on the wall,
giving the entire place a gloomy look. It’s not very homely at
all. The doors all have little plaques fitted to the front,
suggesting what they might be used for; in order, they read
“Kitchen,” “Bathroom,” and “Bedroom”.

How the Hallway Works

Exchanging placards exchanges which
Editing a placard to say “The Library”
Library; it can be placed in any door.
open to The Bedroom if the key is also
the placard is.
Anyone attempting to force the lock
closet that is exactly the dimensions
inside. Similarly, if anyone attempts
placard — or with an improper label —
Nothing Room.
door the rooms open into.
grants access to the
The Bedroom will only
used on the door where
instead opens a door to a
of the door, with nothing
to open a door without a
it also opens to this

THE KITCHEN
READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:
This is beyond disgusting. Nominally, the features of the room
include a sink, a drying rack, a counter, a fridge, and an oven,
but they clearly haven’t been cleaned in a very long, long time.
Dishes are piled in the sink, with all kinds of film and mold
growing from them. The door to the oven is completely busted and
it sits slightly ajar, revealing a soot-charred inside. All the
cupboards are doorless and bare, leaving a very un-lived-in
look. The only thing remotely fresh is a carving board with some
kind of meat on it. Glancing at the fridge, you’re not looking
forward to opening that monstrosity.
The Sink
You regret needing to investigate this. It’s stomach-churning
12
 Amanuensis Dolls
You regret needing to investigate this. It’s stomach-churning
work, and you suspect that the only reason there isn’t a cloud
of flies around this is the fact that it’s the dead of winter.
After shifting plates and forks, you get the impression that
there’s nothing useful here.

The Cutting Board + “Meat”

The meat doesn’t look completely rotten. The knife is a simple
chef’s knife, but it’s sharp at least. It’s hard to really tell
what kind of meat this is; maybe venison?

The Fridge
Compared to the rest of the kitchen, the inside is actually
clean and well-organized. It’s by far the most-disgusting part,
however. Categorized into torso, arms, legs, and head, the
shelves of the fridge currently contained the dismembered body
of someone.

The Body
An unidentified male, whose features seem vaguely familiar to
you for some reason. It can’t have been in here for more than a
few hours, which leaves one to wonder where the parts come from.
As you poke around, it seems like something is stuffed in the
mouth of the dismembered head.

The Note
Inside the head is a note in a rough hand that reads, “Now the
real game begins.” (Reading the note triggers a Flashback)

THE BATHROOM
READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:
This room is as unappealing as the rest of the house, yet
moreso. It contains the standard; sink, medicine cabinet,
toilet, and bathtub. The entire place looks like it could’ve
seen better days, in stark contrast to the rather well-kept
nature of the front of the cabin. The sink and the toilet don’t
look too bad, but the bathtub is nightmarish. Thick, blackish-
brown stains coat the entirety of the inside, and it seems to
spill out onto the floor. You can’t imagine anyone has used it
for bathing in quite some time.

The Bathtub

13
 Amanuensis Dolls
The ichor covering the bathtub is … disgusting. It’s dried
now, but you get the idea that it was rather greasy or oily.
There’s a familiar coppery smell to it, and you can’t help but
assume the worst. Curiously, the drain seems to be clogged with
some kind of foreign object.

The Meathook
It takes some effort to wrench it free, but there’s a meathook
buried in the drain. It’s rusted, but the ichor on it is fresher
than what’s dried in the tub. There’s … something stuck to it,
rolled up and speared by the hook.

The Vellum
It turns out to be ichor-covered paper, possibly something
related to vellum. There’s writing etched into it, like it was
done by a series of jabs or scratches with a short blade. It
seems to tell a fragment of a larger story, told in a very
clinical account of a terminal and sudden-onset cancer. (reading
the note triggers a Flashback)

The Toilet
It’s not that bad, really. Flushes and everything.

The Medicine Cabinet

Daily-use items make their appearance here. Headache medicine,
shaving cream, razors, and … well, a key. The label states,
“only for emergencies.”

The Key
This key unlocks the bedroom.

THE BEDROOM
The door to the Bedroom is locked.

14
 Amanuensis Dolls
A small, cramped room, barely more than two broomclosets put
together. There’s a bed here, of course, and a small nightstand.
The covers are disturbed, suggesting that this bed at least sees
use for what it’s intended. Really, the oddest thing in here is
the pages and pages of paper nailed to the wall.

The Nightstand
The nightstand has a to-do listen written on it, with some
items checked off. The checked items included “Clean the
fridge,” “Lock the Attic,” “Tidy up in the Library,” “Replace
Kitchen placard.” The item that has yet to be finished says,
“Set the table for my guests.”

The Bed
Underneath the bed is boxes and boxes of files. The boxes
themselves are categorized by date, going backwards from the
present date to almost seven years ago.

The Files
The files seem to be accounts of the exploration of two rooms
inside the cabin, neither of which you’ve seen— and which there
doesn’t appear to be physical space for. The accounts mostly
mention the “Library,” and the stories contained inside. Some of
them are gruesome, but mostly mundane; the books appear to be
only biographies, which Knight was reading through and keeping
notes on.

Investigating Further
Most of the books are uninteresting to Knight, but a few
seemed to be biographies of serial killers. As he describes the
lives of the people the books write about, you can’t help but
notice similarities to some of his recently-published works. Was
he copying the lives of these horrific killers? You’ll have to
dig further to be sure.

Investigating Even Further

The investigations of the books, and Knight’s notes on them,
seems to hit a fever peak when he found an unfinished volume
with his own name on it. The notes become unintelligible after
that. Tho he has recorded for months afterwards, you can no
longer distinguish what the symbols scrawled into these journals
even mean.

The Papers
15
 Amanuensis Dolls

The papers remind you of dried animal skin, perhaps,

incredibly old and bleached white. There’s maybe six-dozen
nailed to the wall in total, but together or alone they don’t
make any sense. They’re fragments of a larger story, or maybe
multiple stories. They describe a battle with childhood illness
on some pages, the deterioration of a woman battling with
cancer, and many unsuccessful meetings with someone called “The
Storyteller.”

Investigating Further
“The Storyteller” seems to be the one clear thread. While
these pages seem pulled from at least three stories involving
unrelated characters, “The Storyteller” is a figure that remains
constant in each of them. Specifically, there’s an emphasis on
either meeting “The Storyteller,” or having just met “The
Storyteller.” The pages don’t describe anything that happened in
these meetings. (Reading this far triggers a Flashback)

THE BASEMENT

READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:

The stairs down into the basement are dark and dusty. They
creak horribly, ominously even. The basement is small, more a
cellar dug into dirt than anything else. It’s a sight, to be
sure; there’s a workbench, a locker against one wall, a tarp on
the floor and very, very little else. The walls are stacked with
brick to keep out the dirt, and they must be as old as the cabin
itself. Maybe this space would’ve been used to keep chilled
food, because it’s certainly cold down here; the heat from the
rest out of the house doesn’t seem to penetrate down here.

The Workbench
Against one wall is the workbench. It looks like something
you’d use as a carpenter, or maybe a hunter. It’s a thick,
sturdy table, with a few clamps attached to it. The dried blood
on it is unmistakable, and there’s more than a dozen deep scores
along the surface. This bench is well-used. Something about it
seems odd.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
It’s been turned around.

The Ledger
Inside the pull-out drawer of the Workbench is a ledger,
16
 Inside the pull-out drawer of the Workbench is Amanuensis
a ledger, Dolls
simply labeled “Library Stories.” It’s a huge list of volume
numbers, filling up the hundred or so pages of the ledger. Many
are crossed out with a red pen.

The Tarp
A tarp lays on the floor opposite the bench. It’s covered in a
dried, ichorous substance.

The Floor
Underneath the tarp, on the concrete floor, is the phrase
carved in repeatedly, hundreds of times.
NEED BETTER STORIES

The Locker
It’s a metal locker, locked by a simple padlock. If you want
to investigate further, you’ll need a means of opening it.

Investigating further
Neatly arranged on the rows of shelves inside the locker are
pieces of human bodies. Arms, legs, and bits of torso are
organized categorically, and it’s hard to tell exactly how many
people this locker contains. Curiously, the skin of many of
these pieces seems to be flayed from the flesh, and pulled back.

Investigating even further

The peeled-black flesh contains markings on the underside,
likely made with a sharp object. In a crude and scrawling hand,
they contain words that spell out clinical accounts of everyday
life. Here’s an example: “30 years old. Male. Investigating the
cabin on suspicions of insurance fraud. Unaware that Knight is
inside. Ambushed easily, bled out within seconds of receiving a
knife wound to the neck.”

THE LIBRARY
THE LIBRARY CAN BE ENTERED BY CRAFTING A PLACARD READING
LIBRARY AND PLACING IT ON ANY OF THE DOORS EXCEPT THE BASEMENT

17
 Amanuensis Dolls
READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:
It’s a sprawling library, in the purest sense of the word. The
doorway you’ve come from appears to be set into nothing. From
all directions sprawled out around you are floors and shelves
and floors and shelves and floors and shelves and stairs and
shelves, overhangs and nooks and alleys of nothing but books.
It’s endless, with no real architectural pattern or reasoning.
There’s no real distinguishing features or landmarks, like a
world populated only by tomes of indecipherable age.

On the ground at your feet is a length of knotted rope. It

meanders outwards, deeper into the Library.
THINGS THAT CAN BE FOUND AT THE END OF BRANCHING PATHS (roll
1d6 to decide which dead end the players reach first. Continue
in this fashion until they have explored all possible avenues,
or decide to stop investigating)

Adrian Knight 1
This particular book has singe marks on the cover and the
pages, like it’s been placed in a fire more than once. The smoke
damage makes it unreadable.

Russel Knight 2
Huge gouges mar this book. The cuts are very deep.

Garret Knight 3
A biographical history of someone named “Garret Knight.”
Contains no publishing information on the inside cover, but
there is a hand-written scrawl in a permanent marker saying,
“I’m Sorry.” The text covers the entire history and life of
Garret, including inconsequential moments. It’s written from a
weird perspective and tone, both emotional and clinical all at
once.

Jack Knight 4
The pages of this book have been torn out, and replaced with
new ones. There’s a few short pages, all hand-written. They
contain ramblings about a vastness, an emptiness that exists
somewhere or maybe somewhen. The raving script attempts to
explain this location, often referencing its “beauty.” Towards
the end of the text, there’s descriptions of an inhabitant of
this place; the text is fawning with lots of purple prose
describing the inhabit, but nothing to explain who or what it

18
describing the inhabit, but nothing to explain who or what it
Amanuensis Dolls
might be. The very last page contains only two lines of text,
one above the other. The bottom line is a series of symbols that
almost hurt to look at. Above it is scrawled two words, in
quotations: “The Attic”

Placards 5
There’s a bunch of wooden placards left here, some carved and
some not. They have very mundane room names carved into them,
like “Bedroom,” “Basement,” “Kitchen.”

Book of Binding 6
This book is covered in a strange, pale-white material,
somewhat resembling vellum. ( Ask your players: Would you like to
continue reading?) The majority of the book is in some kind of
indecipherable code, while pages in other languages seem to have
been inserted after-the-fact as a guide. It hurts your eyes to
read, and a careful examination of the texts and diagrams causes
that pain to extend ever backwards behind your eyes and into
your brain. The most you can come to understand before the book
becomes unbearable is that it concerns the nature of agreements,
pacts, summoning, and binding of ancient and powerful creatures.
Sanity Damage

THE ATTIC

READ ALOUD TO YOUR PLAYERS:

The sky streches out ahead of you, endlessly undulating. The
atmosphere is a series of waves, but with a gentle ripple to it,
like waves on a glassy black pond. It’s night, or at least you
assume by the dark emptiness of the space above you, pocked by
watery stars. It’s clear, like glass, so far away from you.
Beneath you is a flat white plane of snow, flowing out in all
directions. Where the sky has a gentle texture and wave to it,
this is completely flat. You sink into the ground a little,
leaving footprints that mar this pristine landscape.

The world here is featureless, save for a shape in the

distance. It looks like the crouched form of a traveler wrapped
in a long flowing cloak, huddled with the garment drawn about
them. What do you do?

IF THEY APPROACH

The figure is farther off than you first believed. As you grow

19
 The figure is farther off than you first believed. As you grow
Amanuensis Dolls
closer, it only grows in size, until you realize that the form
was monstrous. It notices you approach, the hood of the garment
turning to regard you, but it doesn’t move. You walk forward
inexorably, until you stand in front of it. Now, it turns to
you, finally presenting itself.

Its body is wrapped in a cloak, made of hundreds of thousands

of pieces. They’re long and white, tattered and aged. It seems
to be sewn together from so many pieces of paper, older than you
can possibly conceive. They blow with a wind and there is no
wind; they reflect the light from the sky and there is no light.
They hold back the chill of the snow and yet there is no
discernable temperature.

The creature is massive inside, made of spindly dark limbs the

color of cherrywood. It has so many arms, so many horrible arms
reaching out from the darkness inside its cloak. They reach out
and land softly in the snow around you, forming pillars, like a
makeshift cage— or maybe just a pleasantly-columned gazebo. It’s
impossible to know, as there’s no visage to look into, nothing
to gage a reaction. Or at least, not one that you understand.
The hood of the cloak hides a face made of galaxies, of swirling
stars and gasses, of emptiness and yet crammed full of
something. Of the essence of space. Of time. You can feel it
regard you in the way the galaxies burn, in the way the stars
twinkle, in the way that tiny universe hums inside the cloak.

It bends it face down to you, and screams at you in a voice as

quiet as a mouse, yelling and whispering all at once, in a voice
so terrible and thunderous that the noise of it is deafening,
and in a murmur so quiet as to focus all understanding into this
one terrible pinpoint of communication. It speaks precious few
words:

“Tell me … a story.”

IF THEY RUN
It tears them apart mercilessly. The Storytell will flay the
skin from their bodies, and it ages hundreds of years in the
blink of an eye, becoming akin to aged paper; this is then
fashioned into the cloak of The Storyteller.

IF THEY TELL A STORY

Have them roll any kind of persuasion skill
If they succeed, it nods and turns to the next participant, or

20
 If they succeed, it nods and turns to the next Amanuensis
participant, or
Dolls
turns and leave if all have been dealt with.
If they fail, it flays the skin off the body, complete with
the words underneath. The skin ages thousands of years in a
second, becoming a thin white sheet that it sews into its cloak.

NIGHTMARES AND FLASHBACKS

During various parts of the adventure, interacting with
specific items triggers a Flashback sequence. Whichever
character last handled the item in question experiences one of
the Flashback scenes listed here. Stop other investigation to
immediately play out that sequence, which takes place in the
blink of an eye for all player characters. When your players
trigger a Flashback, start in order with Flashback 1, and
continue through to the next numbered Flashback whenever a new
one is triggered. Players might find the Flashback triggers in
any order, but the Flashbacks themselves play out in the listed
order.
The Flashbacks are mini-scenes where the character who
triggered the scene lives out a moment in Jack Knight’s past.
The characters are themselves, with their own knowledge, and
appear as themselves — but characters in the sequence perceive
and interact with them as though they are Jack Knight.
Inevitably, at some point during each sequence, Knight will
become irritated by the way things are progressing, and attack
the player.
Characters can flee; if they escape the scene, they return to
the normal, waking world with little consequences. If Knight
catches them, he will kill the character in a brutal fashion.
This “death” still ejects the player character back to reality,
but they suffer mental trauma as a result (the Sanity mechanic
in many modern horror RPGs is one way to reflect this).

FIRST FLASHBACK:

The first flashback sequence involves the player character

sitting down in an outdoor restaurant, sometime in spring or
summer, in downtown Calamity Falls. They are here to meet a
blind date, who expresses condolences about Jack Knight’s
career, and his strained relationship with his family.
The setting itself is largely unimportant, and the player
character experiencing disorientation is completely normal.
Topics for the conversation can include:

○ Knight’s recent unsuccessful novel

21
 Amanuensis Dolls
○ Knight’s brother being elected to local office
○ Knight’s very public fight with his father a few weeks
ago
The blind date will respond with confusion and possibly
annoyance if the player character hints to any supernatural
goings-on, or if the player character claims to be someone other
than Knight. After a couple minutes of roleplay between the date
and the player character, Knight appears and expresses
frustration.

Jack Knight is obsessed with the narration of his life. He

acts like a crazed movie director upset with the performance of
his actors. Try to play up his anger; if your players are
comfortable being uncomfortable, shouting lines in-character can
help establish the mood where appropriate.
If the player character fails to escape Knight, he will attack
and kill them with a large kitchen knife.

SECOND FLASHBACK:
The second flashback sequence involves the player character
meeting Jack Knight’s mother on her deathbed inside a hospital.
The character might be alerted to the details of the scene by
the beeps of a heart monitor, or other medical equipment inside
the room.

This flashback establishes the untimely death of Knight’s

mother, and delves deeper into his money problems, growing
paranoia, and rifts with the rest of his family. Topics for the
conversation can include:
○ The mother offering to give him gas money
○ The sudden nature of his mother’s terminal illness
○ Knight’s brother’s public condemnation of his work
After a few minutes, Knight will appear again, dissatisfied
with some aspect of the scene. This time, he attacks the player
character with a meat hook. If they fail to escape down the
hallway outside this room, Knight will swiftly “kill” them as
before in the first flashback.

Note: the player viewing this flashback may be different than

the first player, and will be unaware of the previous
flashback’s contents unless that information was shared between
characters.

THIRD FLASHBACK:

22
 Amanuensis Dolls
The third flashback sequence sees Jack Knight visiting his
father at his childhood home. Knight’s father is dying of an
unspecified medical condition, and is attempting to reconcile
with Knight. Topics for the conversation can include:

○ The bequeathment of the cabin to Knight in his

father’s will
○ The ill will that Knight harbors towards his brother
○ Condemnation of Knight for being a failed writer.
After a few minutes, Knight will appear again, dissatisfied
with some aspect of the scene. He attacks the player character
with a meathook. There is no ready escape; the player character
will likely “die” in the attack. If so, they remain conscious as
Knight drags their body out of the room; the room will give way
to the cabin, and then they will have sensation of being dropped
outside of the cabin in a snow bank.
When the character comes to in the “real” world, they may
search the snow banks right outside the cabin. There, they will
find many, many frozen bodies of previous investigators who
succumbed to Knight’s attacks.
Note: the player viewing this flashback may be different than
the first other player(s), and will be unaware of the previous
flashback’s contents unless that information was shared between
characters.

FOURTH FLASHBACK:
The final flashback sequence includes all player characters
who have so far seen a flashback. These characters are sitting
in chairs in a semi-circle, bound and gagged. Jack Knight
appears before them, angry for their “poor” performances in the
other flashbacks. Knight picks one of the characters to torture,
and will peel back their skin like wrapping paper. Inside, on
the flesh of the character as well as the underside of the skin,
appears to be words written into the tissue; this is,
essentially, the life story of the character. Knight will use a
knife to begin making alterations to it, in an extremely painful
process.

After a brief description of this awful act, the player

characters re-awaken in the cabin. All of them suffer stress,
but at the moderator’s discretion, the play Knight chooses to
torture can also suffer physical injury.

ENDINGS AND EPILOGUES

23
 Amanuensis Dolls
HOW DO WE KILL JACK?
Burning down the cabin will “reset” Knight’s magical link to
the cabin. He’ll be too occupied attempting to save it to harass
the player characters; they can escape while the cabin burns, if
they choose. The fireplace and fuel inside it is a likely method
of starting this fire.
A particularly brave character who has passed The
Storyteller’s test can ask it one question.
○ If they ask how to kill Knight, The Storyteller gives
them knowledge of how to perform a banishment spell on
Knight. This information is directly written into
their consciousness instantaneously; gaining the
knowledge, as well as casting the spell itself (a
short, verbal incantation), is stressful.
○ If they ask how Knight got his powers, they will be
given that knowledge as well. The player character
gains the ability to remove skin to see the story
written underneath, just like Knight himself can do in
Flashback 4. Gaining this ability — as well as using
it — is extremely stressful. Characters can make an
unarmed attack to attempt this ability; if successful,
the target is helpless, and their life story can be
edited. Player characters can attempt this ability on
Knight, who will confront them if they try to leave
the cabin.

WHAT HAPPENED?
If players survive their encounter with The Storyteller and
find some way of dealing with Knight, they are considered to
have been successful in this adventure. Moderators looking to
use this adventure as part of a campaign are encouraged to make
the encounters with Knight and The Storyteller much less lethal;
those playing this as a one-shot are obviously free to do the
opposite.

WHERE DO WE GO NOW?

Some possible hooks for further adventures in a campaign

setting can include:
○ Investigating the origins of the Library, or
24
 Amanuensis
○ Investigating the origins of the Library, or Dolls
uncovering other doors to it
○ If a player character gained Knight’s ability from The
Storyteller, they might now be considered as much of a
threat as Knight was. Organizations of various kinds
may attempt to recruit or exterminate this character
and their allies.
○ Portals to the “Attic” could appear in other places,
leading to The Storyteller or some other mythical
creature from that plane escaping into the “real”
world

25