Les Bibelots

The door is old wood, paint peeling in spirals. No sign, no address. Your phone shows nothing but a blank wall. But you see it. You all see it. And when you push... it opens into a space that smells of dust, binding glue, and something older. Candles flicker. Books line every surface—floor to ceiling, precarious towers, open volumes scattered on tables. The air is thick, warm despite the January cold outside.

The library contains:

• Main Floor: Reading tables, towering shelves, a checkout desk with an ancient ledger. Books on esotericism, philosophy, survivalism, scouting manuals—strangely practical alongside the occult.
• Back Room: Boarded up. "INTERDIT" painted on the door. Something behind it hums.
• Upper Floor: Accessed by a spiral staircase. More specialized texts. A window overlooking an alley that doesn't match the one outside.
• Basement: A trapdoor buried under book stacks. The librarian glances at it nervously when asked.

PHASE 1: Being Watched (Hours 1-2)

Subtle wrongness. The players should feel observed but unable to identify the source.

• • A person across the street, standing perfectly still, watching
• • The same face on two different people in the crowd
• • A café customer who orders nothing and stares
• • Phone photos show figures in the background that weren't visible in person

PHASE 2: First Approach (Hours 3-4)

The Alptrauma attempt social extraction—they look human, they sound human, but something is off.

• • A "fellow researcher" approaches, asking about their work—knows too much
• • A "delivery person" claims a package for whoever has the book
• • Someone approaches claiming to be a "friend of a friend" who can help

Each Alptrauma uses a different tactic. If refused twice, they become more aggressive.

PHASE 3: Open Pursuit (Hours 5-6)

They stop pretending. Multiple figures follow. Streets empty around them.

• • Crowds thin unnaturally—people flee without knowing why
• • Temperature drops. Breath mists. January becomes winter nightmare.
• • The pursuing figures no longer hide. They walk in formation.
• • Phones lose signal. GPS stops working. The city feels wrong.

PHASE 4: The Police Incident

If the players seek police help or are found by patrol officers, the Alptrauma demonstrate their true nature. A pursuing figure corners a police officer in an alley and consumes their essence—absorbing them into its mass. The players witness this: a person being unmade and incorporated into the creature's form. The police cannot help. No one can.

Corbeau makes a decision. He has portals in the library—in the back room, in the basement. He's been protecting them, keeping them closed. But there's no other choice now.

"Listen carefully. The portals will take you to Nowhere Land—to Nulle Part. I cannot control where you arrive. First-timers always go to The Passage, but you may be separated. You may never see each other again. But if you stay here... the Hohenmar will add your faces to its collection. Choose."

Players have seconds to decide. Corbeau opens the basement portal—a swirling void of purple-gray light. The windows shatter. The Hohenmar is inside.

POSSIBLE ENDINGS:

• All Enter Together: They arrive at The Passage, disoriented but together. This is the ideal setup for a campaign continuation.
• Separated Entry: Some hesitate too long. They enter different portals, arrive in different parts of The Passage (or different domains entirely). Finding each other becomes the next challenge.
• One Stays Behind: A player sacrifices themselves to buy time. They are absorbed by the Hohenmar—their face becomes one of its heads. (In future sessions, encounters with the Hohenmar include their voice.)
• Corbeau's Sacrifice: Corbeau forces them through and seals the portal behind them, facing the Hohenmar alone. The library—his Domain, his life's work—dies with him.