Call of Cthulhu: Down Darker Trails "Missouri Crossing" Chapter 8: Burials and Bargains

Morning breaks over a shaken caravan, revealing hard truths in the light of day. Those who survived the night gather for food, headcounts, and the grim work of understanding what was lost. The relief of finding Mary safe is quickly shadowed by the realization that the trail now lies littered with the dead—cattle and people alike—and every choice from here on carries weight the settlers can no longer ignore.

As fear and exhaustion press down on the camp, tensions rise: how long can they stay in one place without inviting more danger, and how quickly can they leave without abandoning their fallen? Practical needs clash with spiritual duties, and the group finds itself split between honoring the dead properly and protecting the living from whatever stalked them through the dark.

Friendships strain, tempers flare, and the fragile unity of the caravan threatens to crack as everyone struggles to decide their own line between safety, faith, and survival. When tempers cool, uneasy compromises are struck—but whether they will be enough to hold through the coming night remains uncertain.

With the sun high and decisions made, the settlers turn their eyes westward. The closer Missouri Crossing comes, the more it feels like the only thing standing between them and whatever waits out there in the long prairie grass.

About the Chronicle

Call of Cthulhu – Down Darker Trails: Missouri Crossing is a Western horror campaign set in 1867, using the Down Darker Trails supplement for Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition. The story follows the founding generations of Missouri Crossing, a rough camp town in what will one day become Bismarck, North Dakota—decades before the events of The Ultimate Evil. As immigrants, veterans, and drifters stake their claim on a cold, contested landscape, they must navigate community, lawlessness, prejudice, and the brutal realities of frontier life. Against this backdrop of manifest destiny, “northern horror” takes shape: long distances, bitter weather, scarce resources, and the creeping realization that some things lurking beyond the firelight are far worse than bandits or hunger.

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