The Last Dance of Lola Montez – Call of Cthulhu

The Last Dance of Lola Montez is a modern Scenario for Call of Cthulhu set in the historical mining town of Ballarat, Australia. Clocking in at 43 pages, it contains 5 pre-generated characters and 8 handouts.

Besides being a fun night’s entertainment, The Last Dance of Lola Montez makes for an interesting and thought-provoking read. First, because the antagonist is based on a historical character, and second, because the issues that she raises are all-too-relevant in the here and now.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

History aside, the scenario features investigators who have all suffered the recent loss of a loved one. One died in a car accident, another of an overdose, and the list goes on. For one reason or another, the investigators all find themselves in a group grief-counselling session in the town centre. As the session unfolds, the counsellor asks increasingly insensitive and even ghoulish questions in a seemingly ham-fisted attempt to explore the investigators trauma. But before too long, a few facts emerge: the counsellor is deeply unprofessional, is livestreaming the counselling session online, and is insane. He screams some nonsensical gibberish and makes a run for the Irish pub across the street. He may or may not get hit by a car, but one thing is clear: tonight, in Ballarat, the Irish tavern is the place to be.

In the bar, the players are expected and are ushered upstairs. Before them stands a crowd surrounding a stunning woman. Flamboyantly holding court, the artist, dancer, and philanthropist Selina Sanchez is dressed in anachronistic finery. She speaks of a great artistic exploration of grief, loss and despair and it soon becomes apparent that the PCs have been the evening’s entertainment. Her Spanish accent is feigned, and she bears a striking resemblance to the portrait of Lola Montez, a woman who died in 1861. Superficially charming, she engages the PCs in conversation, always steering towards their personal loss, and observing their reactions voyeuristically. If the players haven’t twigged as to what she truly is by now, they will when she hypnotises one and drinks their blood (not all of it, don’t worry). Of course, she might not be so gauche and instead opt to do something more subtle but still ghoulish and predatory. You get the idea. At some point, she exits and it is made clear that her destination is the art gallery.

The players will enter the gallery at some point (there’s nothing else going on in town), and come across some truly disturbing works of art. Some of Selina’s installations seem to be directly related to the tragic losses in each of the PC’s backstories, but there are others. She’s been quite the busy bee of late. Selina’s lair residence is above the gallery and it is there that she is found. She has been waiting for them. Perhaps she would like a pleasant chat, or perhaps she hungers for something else.

As a one-shot, The Last Dance of Lola Montez is linear and quite fixed, but most one-shots are. Within these strictures, the Keeper is given plenty of options to tailor events to suit the players and the mood of the game as it unfolds.

The antagonist Selina Sanchez (Lola Montez) is suitably alluring and predatory, in true vampiric fashion. Being a modern scenario, Lola’s anachronism is appropriately jarring, in line with the classic Dracula, and the more recent Vampire Lestat (from Ann Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles).

This scenario interesting for two reasons. The first is the allusion to something I’ll call real-world vampirism: the phenomenon of narcissistic types to leverage negative emotions for personal gain, whether it be in the form of ghoulish satisfaction, attention, or money. Lola mourns her lost humanity and can only experience it fleetingly through the vicarious experience of another’s anguish. Of course, to do this, she needs to engineer the anguish, and she does this with predictably tragic results. This is not dissimilar to the real-world phenomena of toxic influencers, internet trolls and divisive politicians. Her use of livestreaming makes it all the more relevant to the modern world.

The second is the life of Lola Montez, the historical inspiration for the game’s antagonist. A 19^th-century performer, she was dogged by scandal her entire adult life. Known as a dancer, actress and mistress to the rich and famous, she scandalised communities with her violations of community standards. These included her infamous ‘spider dance’ (apparently quite naughty), her monumental arrogance, and her habit of settling disagreements with a whip. Her meddling in politics helped bring down the King of Bavaria, and a couple of her associates fell overboard during sea voyages and were never found.

If the vampire legend serves as cautionary tale, the Last Dance of Lola Montez expands its context to incorporate modern technology and its misuse – quite the achievement for a humble one-shot.

Get it at Drivethrurpg.com

Check out David Waldron’s other, award-winning, scenario: William Bailey’s Haunted Mansion

Further reading: From Bavaria to Ballarat: Wild Times with Lola Montez (McConville, 2022): The State Library of Victoria

Disclaimer: The pdf of this scenario was supplied free for review.