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The SHADOW IN THE TREE
an adventure for the Call of Cthulhu
d20 system
by Jonathan stout
part II in the cthulhu Hardboiled campaign
DISCLAIMER
The majority of the graphics contained in this adventure were taken off of various sites
throughout the Internet. It’d probably take me days to track down all of the places I’ve
taken stuff from, so let me just say that I do not own nor do I claim to own any of the
pictures or graphics in this text.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
GM Information… 2
Background… 2
Hitting A New Low… 2
Must’ve Run Out Of Bananas… 3
Q&A Session: Benjamin Wilson… 3
The Professor’s Cage… 4
Q&A Session: Tom Beckett… 5
Searching the park… 6
Examining the files… 6
Speaking to the night watchman… 6
Examining the briefcase… 6
Legwork… 7
Maison D’Ashton… 8
Q&A Session: Mary Ashton Villepin… 8
The journal… 10
Damned Dirty Ape… 11
Searching the grounds… 11
The Professor attacks… 11
Aftermath… 12
Experience And Sanity Awards… 12
Appendix A: NPC Statistics… 12
Appendix B: Maps and Pictures… 14
Appendix C: View From The Backstage (GM Only)… 18
1
GM INFORMATION
This adventure has been designed as the second mission in a campaign centering on an
private investigations firm known as Hemingway Investigations. It is intended for a
group of 1
st
-level investigators. It is set in January of 1928, in and around the city of Los
Angeles, California.
BACKGROUND
In the last adventure, the investigators were hired to work for a small private
investigation firm called Hemingway Investigations. Their section chief is a short,
overweight man named Ernie Zulli with a penchant for sarcasm and cigars. In this
adventure, the investigators are hired to track down an ape that recently went missing
from the Griffith Park Zoo in Los Angeles. Griffith Park, by the way, is a large urban
park, apparently LA’s answer to New York’s Central Park.
Hitting a new low
Hemingway Investigations Offices, 9:15 am
Monday, January 16
th
, 1928
“So,” says Ernie abruptly, “how’d you like to go chasing a monkey?”
There’s an awkward pause as you turn that last sentence over in your head.
You’re sitting, by the way, in your usual table in the back room of Hemingway
Investigations. It’s been about a week since you finished up your first case; you’ve spent
it lying low, just like Ernie told you to. In all that time, you haven’t seen so much as a
black hat, let alone have someone shooting at you. All in all, you’ve come to believe the
coast is clear, and what with your landlady starting to look testy, maybe it’s time to take
another shot at this private investigator thing.
Anyway, you have to admit, that was the last thing you expected Ernie to say.
He takes another puff off of his cigar and continues. “I just got a call from the zoo
down in Griffith Park this morning. Turns out one of their exhibits disappeared from its
cage last night. They’ve got the police keeping an eye out for it, but they could use
someone actively looking for the thing.” He blows a smoke ring across the table. “By the
way, the LAPD is no longer on site. I checked.
“Anyway, I don’t have any more details than that. You’ll have to go down to the
zoo and talk to the director – ” He glances down at a note in front of him. “The director,
Benjamin Wilson. He’s the client.”
He looks across the table. “Case is relatively low profile. If you want to test the
waters, this is the best way to do it. Don’t think I gotta tell you to watch out for black
hats.
“Anyway, get going. They’ll be expecting you sometime before noon.”
2
must’ve Run out of bananas
Griffith Park Zoo, 11:34 am
You pull into the parking lot of the Griffith Park Zoo just around 11:30. You
might’ve strolled through here at some point. It’s a dingy little affair, basically a
collection of cages strapped together with wood and plaster. There’s also a small
administrative building which apparently doubles as kitchen and dung storage from the
way the dumpster behind it smells. That’s where you’re shown into when you present
your card to the guy at the ticket booth.
You end up in a small office. A short, professional-looking fellow stands up from
behind the desk as you enters and offers his hand. “Good morning, gentlemen. My
name’s Benjamin Wilson, and I’m the director of this zoo. How can I help you?”
Q&A Session: Benjamin Wilson
Do you care to describe the crime?
“Certainly. Sometime early this morning, our night watchman discovered one of
our exhibits was missing. A large male ape with grayish hair; we call him the Professor.
Essentially, the watchman found the door to the cage open at about six-thirty; he called
me first, and then the police. We haven’t seen any sign of the animal since.”
May we talk to the night watchman?
“I already sent him home. With the note, by the way, that Jacob has worked for us
for several years, and I would consider him above suspicion of any sort.”
Describe the Professor further.
“Well, let’s see. As I said, a large male ape, grayish fir. He has a very
distinguished look about him; that’s why we called him the Professor, you see. He
reminded me of one of my biology teachers in college. Anyway, he’s long-haired,
especially around the chin. Weighs about three hundred and twenty-five pounds. Exactly
five feet tall – when he stands up to his full height, of course. Very sedate personality.”
What is the Professor like personality-wise?
“Very sedate personality, as I recall.
What species is he?
“Well… the truth of the matter is, we’re not quite sure. We thought initially that
he was just a very large orangutan. Then we had him in for a physical examination two or
three months ago. It turned out his skeleton was much too large for him to be an
orangutan – the skull especially was more like a gorilla’s than anything else. But gorillas
tend to be short-haired, at least as far as we know. In any case, we called in an expert
from the university – a Dr. Neil Chalker. He’s been doing research on the Professor ever
since.”
Where did the zoo get the Professor from?
3
“I’m afraid that’s before my time. I’ve only been here as a director since last year.
I do know that the Professor wasn’t raised within the zoo. I think I heard something about
him coming from a private collection.”
Do you know anyone who’d know?
“Dr. Chalker might. I know he was going through the files a while ago. Let’s see,
who else… well, there’s Jack Mosley, but I’m afraid he’s off visiting relatives in Houston
this week… I’m sorry. The only thing I can think of is to check the files yourselves. You
certainly can if you wish to.”
What exactly do you want us to do?
“Essentially, I want you to track down the Professor for us, wherever he might be.
Trapping him would be ideal, but all that’s really necessary is for you to find his location.
After that, just call the police, and they’ll send over an animal control team.”
Do you believe the Professor has been stolen?
“Well… to be honest, I hadn’t even considered the possibility. It’s possible, I
suppose, but I don’t know what exactly you’d do with him once you’ve got him. He’s too
old to be trained for anything, and he isn’t particularly valuable, as far as I know. So…
well… I don’t know.”
Anyone else we should talk to?
“There’s Tom Beckett – he fed the Professor this week while Jack’s been away.
I’ve sent the night watchman home, but I can provide you with his number if you want to
talk to him. And Dr. Chalker, of course. That’s all I can think of.”
Can we see the Professor’s cage?
“Certainly. Take a left once you’re out of the building. The cage is marked with
his name; you can’t miss it.”
The Professor’s Cage
Wilson was wrong – it’s very easy to miss the cage. You spot it after doubling back; it’s a
small cage, maybe five feet by five feet at best. There are bars on the three sides facing
the path; behind that, there’s a plaster wall painted with what looks like a ten-year-old’s
conception of the wilds of Africa. The floor of the cage is concrete, and covered with
dirty straw and bits of torn-up newspaper. There’s a door built into the back-wall left
open. On the front bars of the cage, a faded and weathered cardboard sign reads simply,
in barely visible letters, “The Professor. Ape.”
Description of the door
:
The door is solid steel, as far as you can tell. The hinges are set inside of the cage, so that
the door swings inward. You notice that only the outside of the door has a handle,
complimented by a sturdy-looking lock.
4
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