Operation Foxglove

A Call of Cthulhu 7e scenario

by Chad Briggs
Operation Foxglove

CREDITS CONTENTS

Written by Chad M Briggs Introduction 2

Players’ Information 2
Copy Editors Keeper’s Information 3
Brooke Binkowski & Al Smith Arrival 4
Infiltration 5
Playtesters Confrontation 6
Mehvish Ali (WishMoon) Exfiltration 8
Basil Benitz NPCs and Monster 8
Brooke Binkowski Specialty weapons 9
Lukas Böhrer Additional Sources 9
David Graf Handout 1 (Stanway orders) 10
Chris LaVallee Handout 2 (Letter) 11
Nicholas Livingston Handout 3 (Player map) 12
Shannon Mac Handout 4 (Keeper map) 13
Al Smith Handout 5 (Røros map) 14
Paul Smith Handout 6 (Regional map) 15
Afterword 16
Pre-generated characters 17

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is used with their permission via the OBS Community
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The Miskatonic Repository Logo is used under

license.

All photos used are in the public domain. The

illustrations of Fanny Bidford are used with
permission of AM Melegh.

Operation Foxglove ©2021 Chad M. Briggs

Operation Foxglove
Madness rides the star-wind . . . claws and teeth Telemark. By early
sharpened on centuries of corpses . . . dripping death 1944, Operation
astride a Bacchanale of bats from night-black ruins Fortitude North
of buried temples of Belial. . . . Now, as the baying of attempted to distract
that dead, fleshless monstrosity grows louder and German forces and
louder, and the stealthy whirring and flapping of trick them into
those accursed web-wings circles closer and closer, I believing that an
shall seek with my revolver the oblivion which is my Allied invasion may
only refuge from the unnamed and unnameable. — take place in
HP Lovecraft, The Hound Scandinavia, not on
the French coast as actually planned. The British High
The tension has worn us out. It is a deadly tension Command called for a series of attacks on German
that feels as if a jagged knife blade is being scraped logistics across Europe, with Foxglove focusing on
along the spine. Our legs won't function, our hands Norway. As a prelude to Fortitude, Foxglove will insert
are trembling and our bodies are like thin commandos (from No. 3 Commando Battalion, 1st
membranes stretched over barely repressed Special Service Brigade) deep into German-held
madness, holding in what would otherwise be an territory, with a primary mission to slow transport
unrestrained outburst of endless screams. We have networks.
no flesh, no muscle now. — Erich Maria Remarque, This scenario is set in the environment of
All Quiet on the Western Front operations in the late winter and early spring of 1944,
when British commandos and Norwegian resistance
targeted key infrastructure and installations inside
INTRODUCTION Norway. The investigators in this sense are not
traditional Call of Cthulhu characters, as they will
In February 1944, the war continues to rage in Europe. possess skills different from and far in advance of the
While the German Wehrmacht is pushed back from the typically hapless adventurer who stumbles across
Soviet front, it remains in firm control of Western ancient Mythos. In the context of the scenario, however,
Europe, with Allied armies only pressing from Italy. In judgment of the players and how to react in a highly
occupied Norway, German forces have been in place for uncertain situation remains largely the same, and as a
almost four years, and it remains a distant region. A one-shot adventure it introduces pressing time elements
small group of British-trained commandos is sent on a and moral dilemmas that
mission deep into the mountains near the Swedish may well be more intense
border, to the small mining town of Røros. In this than a traditional
remote corner of the war, tasked to disrupt rail yards campaign scenario. Players
and German operations, the battle between the Axis and will be faced with the
Allies turns to a deeper and more ancient horror. dilemma of deciding who
or what the actual enemy
This scenario is meant as a one-shot adventure for Call is, and whether their
of Cthulhu 7th edition, set against the backdrop of the mission, their survival, or
Second World War. It is suitable for 3-8 players. protection of civilians takes
precedence.
Players’ Information Røros: population 1241
The town is
German armed forces invaded the country of Norway in located in the south of
April 1940, occupying and controlling it until the end of Trøndelag fylke, on the main rail line between
the war in Europe in May 1945. While the country was Trondheim and Oslo. Located in the mountains, it is a
officially neutral, Norway and Denmark were invaded in mining town with large deposits of copper in nearby
order to help secure Germany’s strategic hold on the hills, and is considered a strategic asset of German
European continent. Great Britain (UK) had been occupation forces. It is also a key rail junction, and has
concerned about the possibility of German control since one aerodrome with the 4th squadron of the
the start of the war in 1939, and throughout the German Jagdfliegerführer (JG5) Norwegen operating.
occupation provided support to Norwegian resistance Wehrmacht ground forces are estimated to consist of
forces. The most famous of these operations (Grouse, one company of infantry, drawn from the German 269th
Freshman, and Gunnerside) involved the British Special Infantry Division, with one support company, and
Operations Executive (SOE) working with the several smaller specialist units. Total Wehrmacht and
Norwegian resistance to disrupt the German atomic Luftwaffe personnel estimated at 400-500. Elements of
weapons research and heavy water production at the 6th SS Mountain Division "Nord" (6.

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Operation Foxglove
SS-Gebirgs-Division "Nord") are known to operate
training missions in the region.

Norwegian resistance forces have carried out rail

sabotage operations in the mountains outside the town,
but have not carried out direct actions of the aerodrome
or rail yards. Several members of the resistance work in
German-controlled warehouses and other installations.

Keeper’s Information
The deep copper mines of Røros, one of which sits in the
center of town, had long buried an artifact from ancient
Nordic tales. While trolls (troller) had been transformed
into English language bumbling or even friendly Theodor Kittelsen, Sjøtrollet, 1887 (The Sea Troll)
creatures, the original tales described devious and
horrifying monsters who preyed upon unknowing
travelers in the countryside. Norwegians had described Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands, a cold and
trolls as large as mountainsides, or those that resided in windswept field from where they will be transported
the depths of the earth or the sea. The trolls did not and air dropped into Norway. This may be important if
perceive passage of time as did humans, and could sleep the team requires some familiarity with each other, but
for centuries if the residents knew how to avoid waking the scenario can start just as well with the group already
them. One such creature lived in Røros, and was assembled just south of the village of Røros. After a long
aroused by the war. and cold flight aboard a Lancaster bomber, they
When the mine was first dug in the 17th parachute into the mountains of Norway. There they
century, locals had trapped a subterranean troll and will rendezvous with the SOE agent Fanny Bidford, a
kept it asleep, indistinguishable from the surrounding sly and enigmatic woman whose motives may differ
rock, by use of an artifact and sacrificial dark magic. The significantly from the rest. This scenario comes with
artifact, in the form of an emerald necklace, was kept eight pregenerated characters, though it can be played
behind a boarded-up section of the mine, and local with as few as two or three, with the Keeper deciding
Norwegians knew from folklore that section of the who the core team should be (British or Norwegian,
underground was off-limits, considered cursed and experts or resistance). All characters will be outfitted
never to be disturbed. The Germans didn’t know that. either with the weapons on their character sheet, or
In early 1944, an off-duty soldier had broken with German weapons, to assist in scrounging for
into the boarded-off section of the mine, and discovered equipment along the way (especially ammunition). The
the necklace and an associated letter of warning. one exception to this may be Lise Bergdahl, who as a
Thinking to purloin the necklace for himself, the soldier sniper prefers to keep her Lee-Enfield rifle.
was crushed by falling rocks when leaving the mine, an
event thought to be an accident. His sergeant found the Regardless of whether Allied commandos operated
necklace and letter, dutifully delivering it to the German under Hague Conventions and wore their own
army commander, while local Norwegians had lost all uniforms, or were in disguise, they could expect the
knowledge save for what was considered folklore and same fate if they were captured by German forces.
superstition. According to the Sonderbehandlung order by Hitler in
But the troll was awakening. The town October 1942, any commandos captured by German
suffering from several small earthquakes, the mine was forces would be handed to the SS and quickly executed.
closed off as more rock-falls occurred, and word of these
events caught the attention of a British agent. By the As the party is assembled, members of the
time the party arrives, the copper troll (kobbertrollet) party have the option to be dressed in winter combat
has emerged to reclaim what it considers its treasure. uniforms of the 6th SS Mountain Division, an elite
How the players react determines the course of the German unit trained for fighting in the Arctic and
story- do they carry out their primary mission and known for training in this area of Norway. Lacroix
leave? Protect the town? would refuse to be associated with the SS medical corps
The Keeper may wish to begin the adventure in even in disguise. The full group (with their equivalent
Scotland, where the team is finally assembled at RAF German ranks) would include: Captain
(Hauptsturmführer) Stanway, Sergeant
(Oberscharführer) Harrow, Corporals (Scharführers)
Roome and O'Leary, Lieutenant (Untersturmführer)
Bergdahl, and (Schütze) Olson. Players may choose

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Operation Foxglove
primary mission in mind. With a local resistance agent
reporting on a strange emerald necklace that was found
and kept in the German Wehrmacht commandant's
house, Bidford has a primary goal of obtaining the
necklace. She will guide the party to the railyards by
way of the warehouses and nearby house, and will insist
on tracking down the office where she knows this
artifact is stored.
Bidford is in her early 30s, and has worked as
an SOE agent and resistance coordinator in Norway for
close to a year by early 1944. The daughter of a British
mining executive and her mother a Norwegian
archeologist, she grew up in Newcastle but spent a good
deal of time with her mother's family in Kristiansand on
the south coast of Norway. She began working for SOE's
SO1 (propaganda) as a secretary early in the war, and
when that branch was formed into its own organization
in 1941 as the Political Warfare Executive, she was kept
on in SOE in the operations branch. Sensing both her
language abilities and quick thinking, she was trained as
a full agent, including both radio operations and
demolitions.
During one of her first missions in early 1943,
Bidford provided logistical support for Operation
Gunnerside, the destruction of German heavy water
Fanny Bidford facilities in Norway. While Bidford was nowhere near
Telemark (she helped two commandos escape from
appropriate weapons and sidearms from the handout or Oslo), during her work she came into contact with a
rulebook, keeping in mind that they will be of limited resistance group deep into Old Norse Paganism.
use in the final scenes. Bewildered by this experience, after her debrief back in
Hampshire she was approached by several Norwegians
who felt that her position in the war and knowledge of
Arrival the deep spaces in the earth (learned from her father)
would assist them. Obtaining a physical artifact of the
Light doesn't last long in a Norwegian winter, even less Old Times (gammeltidene) from the mines of Røros
so in the mountains. The weak sun far in the south would be an incredible find, though Bidford and the
hides behinds the peaks, and sound is muffled in the others didn't understand that any artifact would not
knee-deep snow. The mountains around Røros do not give them greater control over anything, it would just
tower above, but they are a reminder that escape into place everyone in greater danger.
Sweden, however close it seems on the map, will not be Fanny has been in Norway since June 1943
an easy endeavor. Tall pine trees cover the landscape helping coordinate resistance operations, but has still
and provide excellent cover south of Røros, but then been in contact with the cult and looking for an
lands open up into an exposed, rolling plain dotted with opportunity to increase its influence, in the hopes of
farmhouses and then the distant, muted lights of the using it to drive out German forces. She has become
town. increasingly obsessed with this new underworld, and
After a dark, chilling, and somewhat harrowing terrified of the Germans gaining control over any more
parachute descent into the forest, the party finds each earth elements (her knowledge of the German nuclear
other at a prearranged rendezvous point, then hunkers program was decidedly occult-related, not science-
down for the day to wait for nightfall again. February based). Cunning, intelligent, but slightly erratic of late,
24, 1944 is a dark, clear night and new moon, with Bidford speaks fluent Norwegian (bokmål) and
sunset occurring at 17:15. By the afternoon, they are excellent German, is a skilled wartime operator, and will
approached by their SOE contact in Norway, Fanny consider the rest as there for completing her missions.
Bidford. As far as the party knows, Bidford's mission is When she witnesses the destruction of Røros, she will
to help guide them into the railyards south of the be desperate for the party to help save local civilians,
German-occupied airfield, identify which cards contain even if it means destruction of the artifact. (Note that
ammunition, and also has much of the demolitions while Fanny is an NPC, her full stats are included in
expertise necessary to destroy the trains. Unknown to the handouts, and can be played as well.)
them, however, Bidford has an additional and more As with most special forces teams, the Keeper

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Operation Foxglove
may want to emphasize that there is not a clear military dripping from parts of the door frame. The black trail
hierarchy. All members of the team are expected to leads inward to a main parlor, where the body of
contribute and offer suggestions for actions, though in Oberstleutnant (Lt Colonel) Schmidt lay horribly
the end Captain Stanway should have final say if there mangled. Another body of a uniformed officer lies on
is not clear consensus. Also keep in mind that the the floor at the far end of the room, his death by
Norwegian members of the team will have more local
knowledge of the town, and a closer affinity to the
people than will the British and French characters. The
locals will be concerned over reprisals from attacks on
the rail yards, and may wish to suggest ways that will
better cover the tracks of the commandos.
Everyone on the team has a history, as well.
Most have served either in Norway or in other theaters,
with the British members having experience in North
Africa or Crete, Lacroix in France and the Netherlands,
and these experiences can also shape their perspective
on the situation in Røros. It may be helpful for the
Keeper to ask for details of their past service, and if any
have served together before.

The artifact being sought is a necklace containing a

large emerald, surrounded by old Norse runes. The
gem actsasa key tolocking the kobbertrollif used with Commandant’s House
the letter’s instructions. Should it be stolen by the PCs
somehow, the troll will follow. If destroyed, the troll handgun apparently self-inflicted.
will go on a destructive rampage and will no longer In the corner is heard a whimpering sound,
seek out the mine entrance. that of a German soldier (Oberfeldwebel Frick) sitting
on the floor, cradling his knees and he rocks back and
forth and mutters in German, “They had screamed like
Infiltration children...” (Sie haben geschrien wie Kinder) and if the
investigators try to speak to him, he pleads with manic
The approach to the mission objective is from the south, intensity that they must leave, that something will
and must pass through a barbed-wire fence that is destroy the town (es wird die Stadt zerstören). Frick is
patrolled on foot by German soldiers every 30 minutes. an older, grizzled, senior sergeant, but has gone
Electric lights illuminate the fence every 50 meters, and completely mad, and will not be able to answer any
there is a larger gate just east of the warehouses and in other questions, though a successful German
front of the house. Upon approaching, the investigators Language roll might get the phrase “black rocks” out
can see that the gate is not guarded, and a hard success of him. (schwarze Felsen).
with Spot Hidden they can see one or two bodies The parlor has had its dark oak furniture
laying in the snow. Bidford will insist on heading to the knocked out of place, evidence of a fight, and if the party
house first, particularly once it’s noted that there are no investigates they may find (Spot Hidden) a
guards present. While it is possible for the party to split Norwegian-language letter detailing some of the
up at this point, Bidford is also the only one who knows necklace (see Handout 3). The letter is written in an
which train carriages to target. It may be useful for archaic form of Norwegian, and will require a hard
Sneak rolls to be made, as much for suspense as success in Norwegian in order to translate. It contains
possible discovery. Have the party roll for Listen, and both a warning and instructions for how to put the troll
on a hard success someone will clearly hear a gunshot to rest, though the incantations are written in Norse
from the direction of the house (most likely a handgun). runes. An extreme success in Icelandic could
The house is a one-storey Nordic design with pronounce the words (modern Icelandic is very similar
a steeply pitched roof and a main doorway to the west to Old Norse), but the Keeper is advised not to lead the
along the gate road. The bodies of three German players on to that solution too easily, and the
soldiers are face down in the snow, all of them with incantation must accompany a human sacrifice.
horrible wounds with torn limbs and mangled bodies. In looking around the room, the party will
The front door to the house is only twenty meters from have to work quickly, however, as at this point the party
the nearest body, and it is obvious that the doors have will hear several things (Listen roll). The first is the
been smashed inward with great force. A horrible smell sound of gunfire in the distance, this time from rifles
permeates the doorway, a sour odor like a cross between and submachine guns. While a few single shots and
ancient death and freshly rotted leaves, with black ichor bursts at first, the intensity of fire will increase quickly

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Operation Foxglove
over time. Secondly, the characters will hear the themselves with the Germans, temporarily, or
shouted voices of German soldiers approaching the also fight them as they move along. They will
house. This comes from a squad of four Wehrmacht also need to decide how to approach such a
soldiers (armed with Mauser Karabiner 98k rifles), who confrontation, considering how difficult it will
are investigating the earlier gunshots and now the sight be to kill the troll (see next section).
of three bodies in the snow (assuming the investigators • The party can abandon the mission altogether
did not move them). The party will have to either fight and the town to its fate, though it would be
or bluff their way past these soldiers, with any firearm extremely unlikely for a commando team to
use likely to draw attention to the area and perhaps take such a path.
bring more soldiers.
The Keeper should have discretion over the Rail Yard
numbers and frequency of encounters with German
forces. While the main focus of the story is the necklace The rail yard lays northwest of the house, with multiple
and what has retrieved it, the existence of hostile forces tracks sitting near warehouses and just south of the
in the town is an enormous complication and cannot be aerodrome. Six long collections of cars, with some
ignored. It also poses something of a moral dilemma for sitting singly, are spread out across several hundred
the party, who may feel it necessary or expedient to put meters.
aside their primary mission against the Axis in order to One line of cars in particular contains high
deal with the current horror and its long-term explosives, and these would be the primary targets. If
implications for this town. set up properly, the destruction of three cars sets off a
chain reaction that will decimate the yard and most of
Confrontation the rail. However, only Fanny knows the correct cars,
and she must either be persuaded to give up that
information, or the investigators must spend time
Once past the house, the party must decide what to do. (Spot Hidden) and proper planning (hard success on
General alarms are blaring across the town, the sound Demolitions) to carry out the attack without her.
of rifle and automatic fire increases from the town Searching will also take time, during which the center of
center to the east, and most attention is being directed town may well be destroyed, and there is an ever-
toward that fight. It should be possible for the increasing chance of discovery by German patrols.
commandos to sneak into the railyards and complete
the demolition job they were sent to do, but the problem
at least partly rests with Fanny Bidford. She knows
which rail carriages to target, so any effort without her
takes additional time to open rail cars and search them,
plus she is the party’s real expert at demolitions.
Bidford is increasingly worried about what has
happened to the necklace, and quickly (and correctly)
assumes that something has emerged from the mine in
the center of town to retrieve it. Her sanity is also on a
knife’s edge, unsure of whether to continue her mission
to obtain the necklace, or save the town and its civilian
residents. She will push the party in conflicting
directions as they decide what to do, but will rush off on
her own toward the town center if they hesitate for too
long.
The players may choose several possible paths,
depending on what they consider a priority. The troll is
attempting to reach the entrance to the copper mine at Steam locomotive after a boiler explosion
the town center, just east of the central rail station.
• They can relatively easily go for the railyards For the British commandos, the rail yards
without the help of Bidford, but doing this will remain the primary mission, at least officially. How
take time and dooms much of the town to players interpret events and priorities is up to them, but
destruction from a combination of the monster the Keeper should keep a sense of time pressure if they
itself and ‘incidental’ fire from German deliberate too long. The rail cars will also be the lowest
soldiers and airmen trying to stop it. priority for Bidford.
• The party can rush into the center of town to
confront the monster, though in this case they
will also need to decide whether to ally

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Operation Foxglove

Town Center center as it is assaulted on all sides. It carries the

necklace in its tentacles, and is attempting to reach the
The center of Røros lay to the northeast of the copper mine entrance some 300 meters further east.
commandant’s house. One main road leads from the The party have a short period of time to devise a plan,
house and rail yard to the town’s central rail station, otherwise the troll will push its way to the east and enter
and along this road the destruction caused by passage of the old copper mine.
the troll is easily seen. Numerous bodies lay in the
narrow, bricked road, both military and civilian, with
Playtest notes There is no one way to destroy
evidence of a heavy firefight easily seen by bullet holes,
or dispel the troll, and the party should be
smashed equipment, and fires along the street. The
creative in how it approaches the situation. One
bodies show the same wounds as before, limbs torn
group allowed the creature to return to the mine
from bodies, but some also looking as if they have been
and then collapsed the entrance behind it. One
crushed by a heavy weight. Several soldiers and civilians
party fashioned a car-bomb out of explosives and
will still be alive but badly wounded, and will call to the
drove it into the monster, after trying to destroy
party for help. Other civilians will be hiding in their
the artifact with sniper shots. The most cinematic
homes and shops along the road, afraid to come out and
group sought out a tank (which normally would
(if confronted) describing some rampaging monster.
not be assigned to an infantry company, but I
500 meters into the center of town is the train
allowed it), angered the troll to follow it while
station, and in the town square in front of the station is
fumbling driving rolls, then intended to have the
where the German military have tried to surround the
tank drive into the mine and detonating
troll. Any approach by the party along the road will be
explosives after the troll was within. But due to
met with challenges from German army and Luftwaffe
some additional fumbled driving rolls, the tank
officers, with squads of heavily armed soldiers and
stalled and the troll was destroyed as it attacked
airmen crouched behind armored vehicles. If the
the tank itself with characters jumping out of the
characters are dressed in German uniforms they may be
tank and running pell-mell out of the way.
able to bluff their way past, or in any case they may be
able to negotiate a brief cease fire between Axis and
Allies. Exactly how many Germans are present on the
path is left to the Keeper, but they should make it clear
that a direct assault will likely meet with overwhelming It is also possible for the party to follow the troll into the
odds against the party. mines, and to attempt to lock the troll into place as it
Once the party reaches sight of the square, had been originally. This is a dangerous course of
they finally catch sight of the troll itself. Despite the action, and should the Keeper allow it, they risk being
sergeant earlier referring to more than one, only one trapped by falling rocks. Perhaps Bidford urges this
kobbertroll has surfaced to retrieve the necklace. To the course of action (especially if she is suffering from
party, and to the Germans, that is likely enough. The insanity by this point), or it is a consequence of
copper troll is a massive figure, standing some twenty investigator curiosity.
feet (six meters) above the square, sharply defined by
shale rock streaked with copper pyrite. Vaguely
humanoid, its long arms end in massive fists, one of
which tightly clutches the necklace. A small head is inset
with two brightly glowing eyes, below them a mouth
that bellows with the high screech of nails across a
chalkboard. Black ichor trails the creature as it seeps
out of cracks in the shale, and in one hand it holds the
remains of a large tree, with which it is clearing away
any humans in its path.

All characters must make a sanity roll (1D2/1D10),

including of course Bidford. Note that many of the
characters’ sanity scores are already lowered, the
cumulative result of stress during the war.
Norwegian soldiers near Narvik, 1940
The troll will shake off damage from normal weapons
and fire, and can only be harmed by high explosives.
While it has been wounded by the Germans, this has
only enraged it, and the troll is tearing apart the town

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Operation Foxglove
Attacks per round: 1
Exfiltration Brawl 60% (30/12), damage 1D3 + 1D4
Knife 60% (30/12), damage 2D4+2
Leaving the town and finding their way to neutral Rifle 65% (32/13), damage 2D6+4
Sweden can be played as another part of the scenario, or Pistol 70% (35/14), damage 1D10
it can be worked out in general terms. The town of Skills: Dodge 55%, Spot Hidden 65%, First Aid 55%,
Røros is 43km from the Swedish border by road, a Throw 65%
shorter distance as the crow flies, but moving overland
will take time and effort. Villagersshould use standard NPC stats, but hopefully
If the party has any wounded, physically or they stay out of the fight.
mentally, this would slow the progress, though the
Norwegian resistance will help (assuming that the party Copper troll (kobbertrollet)
helped save the town). The land between Røros and the STR 140 CON 150 SIZ 250 DEX 45 INT 30
border consists of both mountains and frozen lakes, and APP x POW 30 EDU x SAN x HP 40
can be skied while trying to avoid German patrols. The DB: 3D6 Build: 6 Move: 4 MP: 6 Luck: N/A
nature of the final fight makes a difference here. Did the
party fight the Germans, as well? Make a short alliance Attacks per round: 1
with them? Destroy the rail yards and therefore draw Brawl 35% (17/7), damage 1D10 + DB
attention of the SS? (Attack can hit up to three adjacent targets.)
More important, was the troll destroyed? Was
the necklace destroyed or buried? Should any character Armor: Impervious to normal weapons and fire. Can be
somehow obtain the necklace and try to carry it back to harmed by explosives at ½ damage.
Sweden or the UK, another troll (copper or other form)
will track down that person to retrieve it again. Should Special attack: the troll’s screams can stun all humans
the troll simply be buried in the mine, the issue is at a distance of 20 meters. Roll against Listen and try
temporally resolved, but the town will not likely recover to fail the roll. Succeeding at Listen means loss of action
following the war (Norway was liberated in May 1945). for one round and required sanity roll (0/1).
Did Bidford survive? What was her fate, and did she
ever see the necklace? Sanity loss: 1D2/1D10
The Keeper may also wish to play through the
inevitable debrief following the mission. What do the Grenades can do 4D6 damage if thrown accurately.
characters admit happened? How do they account for Plastic explosives can inflict 10D6 per kg if placed in
Bidford’s actions, for their own if they failed to destroy contact, with damage halving for each 2 meters range.
the rail yards? Of course it’s possible that none of the Note that any damage is halved again against the troll.
party survived. In such a case, there can be no epilogues The players need to think of something big, or else they
for the characters, and the war will continue without and the Germans around them will all lose sanity.
them.

NPCs & Monster

German regular soldier
STR 55 CON 55 SIZ 60 DEX 50 INT 45
APP 50 POW 50 EDU 45 SAN 42 HP 11
DB: 0 Build: 0 Move: 7 MP: 10 Luck: 40

Attacks per round: 1

Brawl 50% (25/10), damage 1D3
Knife 40% (20/8), damage 1D4+2
Rifle 55% (27/11), damage 2D6+4
Skills: Dodge 35%, First Aid 40%, Stealth 40%, Spot
Hidden 35%, Throw 40%

German officer
STR 65 CON 65 SIZ 60 DEX 55 INT 55
APP 50 POW 50 EDU 55 SAN 40 HP 13
DB: 1D4 Build: 1 Move: 7 MP: 10 Luck: 40 Røros town center

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Operation Foxglove

Specialty weapons Walther P38 9×19mm parabellum pistol

Damage 1D10
Mauser Karabiner 98k 7.92×57mm bolt-action Base range 12 meters
(standard infantry rifle) Rate of fire 2
Damage 2D6+4 Capacity 8+1
Base range 110 meters Malfunction 98
Rate of fire 1/2
Capacity 5+1 Grossfuss MG42 7.92×57mm Mauser squad machine
Malfunction 00 gun
Damage 2D6+4
Gewehr 43 7.92×57mm Mauser semi-automatic rifle Base range 110 meters
Damage 2D6+4 Rate of fire 50
Base range 120 meters Capacity 50
Rate of fire 2 Malfunction 97
Capacity 10+1
Malfunction 95 Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife
Damage 1D4+2+DB
Lee-Enfield .303 RSAF SMLE Mk III (only used by Lise
Bergdahl)
Damage 2D6+3 Additional Sources
Base range 250 meters (with scope)
Rate of fire 1 Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Jørgen Moe, Tiina Nunnally
Capacity 10+1 (Translator), Neil Gaiman (Foreword). The Complete
Malfunction 00 and Original Norwegian Folktales of Asbjørnsen and
Moe. Univ Of Minnesota Press 2019.
MP40 9×19mm parabellum submachine gun
Damage 1D8+1 Neal Bascomb. The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission
Base range 20 meters to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb. Mariner Books
Rate of fire 2 or 25 2016. Fast-paced history of the missions to undermine
Capacity 32 heavy water production in Norway.
Malfunction 97
David Howarth. W e D i e A l o n e . Adventure Library 1996.
Sten Gun submachinegun (can use MP40 ammunition Recounts the harrowing escape into Sweden of a
and clips) Norwegian commando, the last of his unit to survive
Damage 1D8+1 after an ambush.
Base range 20 meters
Rte of fire 2 or 6 burst Damien Lewis. Churchill's Secret Warriors: The
Capacity 32 ExplosiveTrueStory of the SpecialForces Desperadoes
Malfunction 96 of WWII. Quercus Publishing 2014. Adventurous
history of the founding of the SOE and their missions
DWm-luger p.08 9×19mm parabellum pistol across Europe and Africa.
Damage 1D10
Base range 12 meters Lynne Olson. Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied
Rate of fire 2 Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the
Capacity 8+1 Tide of War. Random House 2017. Describes the history
Malfunction 97 of Norwegian exile in the UK during WWII, and how the
British helped carry on the war in Norway.
Walther PP .32 ACP caliber pistol
Damage 1D8 F. Paul Wilson. The Keep. Tor Books 2010. Classic
Base range 12 meters horror novel of German soldiers disappearing one by
Rate of fire 3 one in remote Transylvania.
Capacity 8+1
Malfunction 99

9
Operation Foxglove
Handout 1- Stanway orders
MOST SECRET - FOXGLOVE - OFFICER ONLY
[Operational information only to be disseminated NEED TO KNOW]

04 February 1944

FROM: Col. Durnford-Slater

TO: Cpt. Gerald Richard Stanway, No3/1SSB

Target location: Røros NORWAY

Primary objective: Disruption of German rail yards in Røros
Secondary objective: Protect local civilians

Background: According to Norwegian resistance, Wehrmacht units may be

moving resources south from Trondheim. Unit is to disrupt rail
operations and any targets of opportunity. Local assets are not to be
unmasked. ROE FREE ABLE.

Team assets to be drawn as needed, RAF Biggin Hill, Dep. ASAP

Rendezvous with local forces to ascertain location of target. SOE
codename TEMPLE WHISKY.

Radio coms SILENT

Extract team east via Sweden.

V/R,
JDS

attch

MOST SECRET OFFICER ONLY

10
Operation Foxglove

Handout 2- Letter in commander’s house

(in archaic Norwegian language)

Be here warned of the trogre within, a jotul of metal and

stone. Disturb it not, or risk the wrath of the earth and
time that should be kept still. Know that should the trogre
be released, only be the incantation below, coupled with a
willing sacrifice of the chosen, can the stone be put back to
rest. Heed this our sons and daughters.

(Hringdu að utan og sættu þig við þessa fórn til klettanna. Sofið og vaknið ekki meira.)

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Operation Foxglove

Handout 3 - players’ map

12
Operation Foxglove

Handout 4 - Keeper’s map

13
Operation Foxglove

Handout 5 - Røros map

14
Operation Foxglove

Handout 6- Regional map

15
Operation Foxglove

Afterword
In August 1994 I was working with Chaosium as their Pendragon tournament author and gamemaster at GenCon in
Milwaukee. Having grown up in Wisconsin I knew the city fairly well, and led much of the company a few blocks through
the downtown to the Renaissance bookstore, a four-story firetrap of used books they didn't know existed. To prove the
eclectic nature of the books there I randomly grabbed a book off the shelves, and found myself holding a 1920 edition
titled ‘Paranormal Experiences of the Great War.' The Call of Cthulhu authors stared at me like I had conjured some
magic trick.
I didn't know the CoC system as a GM or author then, had not been into Lovecraft stories when younger, but
I would later teach 20th Century European history at universities. I had read officers' journals, the stories of shell-shock
and trauma and of soliders' inability to go back to normal lives. I knew that same trauma had left some more open to
extremist views in the 1920s and 30s, had reshaped art and literature, and that the interwar decades were often efforts
to express deep-seated trauma and horror. I had to apply those same lessons of trauma in Europe (in 1994 I had just
returned from Hungary, where the Yugoslav civil war was next door and psychology of genocide was my focus), and would
see it again over the decades from Iraq to Kosovo to Ukraine. I designed and ran wargames in war-torn countries, and
it was not a coincidence that I was drawn back to Call of Cthulhu.
The nightmares expressed in so much fiction was real. Even those authors who did not see the front lines often
tapped into the Zeitgeist of the age, could help describe the monsters under the surface of the earth and seas. The Great
Ones were not just metaphors for many people, they were the reality and overwhelming terror of that century. Unable
to grasp the unreal evil of human creation, they described these monsters as existing beyond human knowledge and
comprehension, and rightly suggested that knowledge of such mythos was highly dangerous. So when it came to writing
scenarios for Call of Cthulhu, it made sense to start in the conflicts themselves, and with a place I knew well— Norway.
A nod to John Houlihan, whose Norwegian Call of Cthulhu scenario I discovered after already playtesting this
one twice.
My thanks to Tracy for supporting me as I got back into role-playing, and to my earlier mentors, particularly
Erich Lassen and Greg Stafford.

CM Briggs
Anchorage, Alaska July 2021

Operation Archery, Vågsøy, Norway, December 1941

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