CoC16: The Snake Sorcerer

 Investigators:

Faraz Najir

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Xanathos- Drifter with a mysterious past
• Machmud- NPC guide
  

Wednesday, February 13th, 1925

The party finally met Faraz Najir at the El Hussein Mosque. They convinced him to take some Black Pharaoh art they found in the Penhew Foundation's basement in exchange for information. He shared some new insights with them:

• In 1919 he corresponded with Roger Carlyle about Black Pharaoh artifacts
  
• He sold Carlyle and Sir Aubrey Penhew some relics
• a scroll detailing the secret entrance to the Black Pharaoh's tomb via a hidden room in a pyramid
• a bust of the Black Pharaoh
• a small drum with mystic runes

• 

  Sir Aubrey Penhew
  

   a strange circlet with a large zircon- the crown of the Black Pharaoh and the key to his power over death
  
• Unfortunately, these items turned out to have been stolen from Egyptian mogul Omar Shakti, himself a powerful cultist
• Faraz was burned and almost died when a demon destroyed his shop
• Faraz wears a protective amulet everywhere
• Together, he and Gretta helped them identify a relic that they stole from the Cult of the Bloody Tongue
• Metal Headband- protection from Night Gaunts

Suddenly, Faraz glanced outside the window- "I am undone! We are spied upon by that cultist Sorcerer!"

The Chase is On!

The party burst out the front of the mosque and gave chase. They managed to follow him to the site of Faraz's former store. They spotted the tail of a snake disappearing between two bricks in a wall.

Through talking to the neighbors, the party tracked down Tewfik Al-Sayed to his hideaway! Allen climbed in through a windows, dodged a Mind Blast, and floored the sorcerer with two shots from his automatic!

The party searched the apartment:

• Two men are living here, one a westerner, one an Egyptian
• They guessed the 2nd occupant is their old nemesis, Edward Gavigan!
• They found a letter indicating that Gavigan is meeting with Shakti at his plantation at this very moment!
  
• Three hieroglyphic scrolls, apparently with magic spells
• Two magic sceptres used to increase magic points and protect from magic damage
• An ancient mirror with a strange powder and a vial of reddish syrup
  

The investigators set up the body in front of the mirror to look like a sorcerous ritual went wrong. They took the scepters and spells but left burn marks in their place.

 

 

 

CoC15: Mosques and Museums

  Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Bob- Texas Ranger

Tuesday, February 12th, 1925

The party decided to follow up with Faraz at the Mosque, however he was no-show. The Imam said Faraz would meet them for a price of 100 Egyptian Pounds in cash or artifacts.

They visited the Egyptian Museum and met Dr. Ali Kafour, who took them for members of the Clive Expedition. He was quite friendly and they got a lot of info out of him:

• The Penhew foundation is funding the Clive Expedition's dig
• They lost a mummy suspected to be Queen Nitocris
  
• Janwillen Vanheuvelen was kicked out of the expedition due to his alcohol problem
• Legends of the Black Pharaoh in the 3rd dynasty, including his pet sphinx and secret tunnels under Giza
• Legends of the evil Queen Nitocris in the 6th dynasty including her communion with Demons
  
• Stay away from the Shakti plantation- it's dangerous
• Stay away from the Bloody Tonque and such fanatics
  
• They seem to have soured their new relationship with the professor by making off with his copy of Kitab al-Azif and an abstract for a paper he is working on
• Black Pharaoh/Nephren-Ka are part of the pantheon of Elder Gods led by the Demon God Azathoth
• The Cult of the Bloody Tongue in Kenya has many commonalities, and seems to have broken-off from the Black Pharaoh cult thousands of years ago

 They visited the Cairo Bulletin and met it's editor, Nigel Wassif. 

• They learned more about the Carlyle expedition's principals and their activities in Egypt
• They heard more about the Clive expedition
•  He also expressed his distaste for Omar Shakti

They checked out the Turf Club 

• Janwillen Vanheuvelen used to be a regular but is now down on his luck, living somewhere in the Old City
  

CoC14: Cairo

Following up from last session, the party finally arrived in Cairo!

Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Xanathos- Drifter with a mysterious past
• Bob- Deputy Texas Ranger

Sunday, February 10th, 1925.

Settling in the Osiris Hotel on the West side of town, the party met up with Bob, a young Texas Ranger on  vacation. He has already taken in the sights, and is looking for a diversion, so he decided to team up with them!

Monday, February 11th.

Since none of them speak Arabic, the party found a local guide on the street. He took them to change Dollars to Egyptian Pounds near the Post Office(they got 13 pounds to the Dollar).

 

The party considered visiting the Egyptian Museum Library, but decided first to visit the Old City in pursuit of a lead on the Street of Jackals. Unfortunately, he was not to be trusted. The guide and his brothers mugged the party, but were defeated. Alan discharged a firearm illegally, so the party had to flee. A young dirty street boy named Machmud helped them hide and agreed to guide them from this point on.

They found that Faraz Najir's store had burnt down and was being rebuilt by some rich foreigner. A local woman told them that Najir was a good Muslim but had angered "the old gods" and a demon had come down from the heavens and burnt him and his store. The site still glows eerily some nights. He has a new store near one of the old markets.

They tracked down Faraz, but found he was not interested in discussing the Carlyle Expedition. He warned them of the dangers of dealing with such powers, then fled into a local Mosque. He managed to give them the slip there, but they stole his shoes from the entrance to the Mosque. The Imam agreed to arrange a meeting for them with Najir the following morning.

CoC13: Voyage to Egypt

Sunday, February 3rd, 1925. Looking to leave London quickly, the investigators decided to travel to Cairo and follow-up their leads there. They managed to obtain berths aboard the Ethiopian Queen a half-full merchant ship bound from Southampton to Djibouti, taking on passengers at a low rate.

Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Xanathos- Drifter with a mysterious past
• Dr. Thomas Thompson- surgeon and occult enthusiast
• Dr. Milka- 26 year old medical doctor. She has trouble finding steady employment and so is willing to look outside the standard hospital jobs

Tuesday, February 5th. Off the coast of Tunisia, one of the passengers claimed they saw a mermaid, though it might have been a Dolphin. More surprisingly, Gretta spotted Edward Gagivan on deck, though he disappeared before she could find him.

Xanathos was working in kitchen to earn his fare. He seduced the cook Fatima, and convinced her to bring him the passenger manifest. While she was having a midnight tryst with him, the others tracked down Gavigan to an old cabin in the Crew Quarters. They heard men chanting, but the door was locked. They banged on the door, then hid in the broom closet. A large thug ended up catching them, but they shot him dead, but still couldn't enter the door. Allen managed to jimmy-rig a pipe to release his mustard-gas grenade into the room.

In the meantime, Xanathos' tryst(in a lifeboat) was interrupted by splashing as 10's of fish-men boarded the boat and approached the crew-quarters, killing the watchman. Xanathos snuck among them, while the others were confronted by them. They shot the first one, but Allen ended up on the wrong end of a spear and they all fled below decks.

Xanathos watched as Gavigan and his associates emerged to the deck and perform another ritual with the Deep Ones. Some huge creature ripped a hole in the hull of the ship and all hell broke loose. Gavigan and his associates escaped in the ship's motor launch. Their plan was not successful, however, as the Investigators and Fatima managed to escape in a lifeboat.

They were picked up by a fishing boat and eventually made their way to Tripoli and from there to Alexandria and finally Cairo by Sunday, February 10th.

CoC12: Black Pharaoh Bites the Dust

Friday, February 1st, 1925. With a couple days to kill until their stakeout, the party decided to stay out of trouble and hang out at the office of The Scoop. How well do you think that went?

Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Michael Hunt- 45 year old dilettante in search of diversions
• Dr. Thomas Thompson- surgeon and occult enthusiast

Mickey received a call from one of his contacts: a suspicious truck has been sighted outside the Penhew Foundation. He convinced the party to go check it out.

They ended up stealing the truck and taking it to Hyde Park. It was full of various types of contraband, from Mythos statues, to Tommy Guns, Mustard Gas Grenades, Heroin...

After stuffing their pockets with goodies, the investigators exited the back of the truck and... were immediately confronted by a pair of Bobbies out on patrol. Mike shot one dead, but the other escaped. Mike also shot a lady witness out walking her dog!


The Investigators checked out of their hotel and into another one in the same area to avoid complications.

In the morning, Inpector Barrington called them in their new Hotel, inviting them to come meet him at Scotland Yard and discuss a lead. The party were suspicous, but Thomas and Gretta went to meet him. He implied that he knew about yesterday's events and that they would hang if they couldn't help him finally solve the Egyptian Murders. They told him about the stakeout tonight at the Blue Pyramid. He kept Thomas in custody and agreed to meet them there.

That night, the investigators staked out the club in a van with half a dozen police officers. The truck came as promised and picked up a couple dozen cultists. They drove to an estate in Essex by the North Sea. Barrington instructed the investigators to break in and get evidence that the police could use as probable cause to storm the estate.

They ended up impersonating a group of cultists, arrived late to the ritual. They crossed over on the cultist ferry boat, knocked on the door of the estate house, and were served drinks. The party ended up finding a hidden entrance to the basement treasure trove of the Black Pharaoh Cult leaders, but were set upon by the cultist household staff. After a close quarters fight, they found leads to cultists in other countries and evidence that some of the Carlyle Expedition members may indeed still be alive!

Thomas proceeded up the hill to observe the Ritual. It was some heady stuff even for the experienced MD, but things really got wild when a winged creature flew in from outer space and started eating willing cultists. An exhausted female cultist told him to climb on it's back so that he can be taken to meet the Black Pharoah in Azathoth, but our hero demurred and returned to the mansion.

Our heroes were leaving just as the police arrived, having thought that an illegal smugglers aircraft was landing. They shot their way through the crazed cultists and secured the facility. At this point, the Inspector congratulated the Investigators, but suggested that they leave London ASAP and don't return.

In the Sunday Morning's papers, there was a writeup of the events, but Edward Gavigon's name was conspicuously missing from the list of cultists. As the party was packing up to go, a fearful looking middle eastern woman bumped into them in the street. "They have taken Yalesha!" she said. "You might have brought down the cult, but their leaders, Edward and Tawfik have escaped! They will take her to Cairo where they can properly avenge themselves on her!" she shuddered, before running off.

CoC11: Mists of London

Israel is in Corona Virus lockdown, so this session was run via video chat on the Zoom app. The video-chat has it's challenges, but I think we all needed an escape from current events...

Thursday, January 31, 1925. The Investigators have one more lead to follow-up in London. Will this finally lead them to the cultist conspiracy that brought them all the way across the Atlantic?

Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Michael Hunt- 45 year old dilettante in search of diversions
• Gloria- 70 year old medical doctor

The party visited Detective Barrington in Scotland Yard. A lot came out of the conversation:

• The Egyptian Murders, as they are called, have claimed 24 victims, 17 of them Egyptian
• He met Jackson Elias- didn't like him. He claimed the Cult of the Black Pharaoh was responsible for the murders
• He met Gavigan, who denied such a cult still exists
• You can meet Egyptian locals at the Blue Pyramid club in Soho. Police stakeouts didn't yield any useful leads
• Gretta could tell he was holding back more information

The party decided to check out the Blue Pyramid. The waitress left them a note to come back tonight and talk to Yaelesha. They spotted a dapper gentleman in a fez who was speaking in whispers to an acquaintance.

When they returned that night, they Alan thought he spotted Gavigan in the crowd. On a dark, foggy street, Gretta was attacked by a tentacle fog thing. The party managed to scare it off with a couple Electric torches. They heard fleeing footsteps, but didn't manage to apprehend anyone.

Returning to the Blue Pyramid, now packed with people, Michael managed to contact Yalesha. She met him out back, saying that she wanted revenge on the Cult for her boyfriend's death, and hinting that Michael might become her new boyfriend. She let him slip some money in her thong, which is not bad for a first date!

Yalesha said that once a month a large number of Pyramid customers pile into a truck around midnight. She doesn't know where they go, but she knows it is cult related, probably outside London. The night of February 2nd is the next such date by her calculation!

The next day, Friday February 1st, the party told Mickey Mahoney about their close call. He fished out the following article from the recent archives:

CoC 10: the Eye of the Beholder

Following on the heels of last session, the investigators are back in London, doing what investigators do. This time they followed up on the lead about otherworldly art...

Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Dr. Milka- 26 year old medical doctor. She has trouble finding steady employment and so is willing to look outside the standard hospital jobs
• Xanathos- Drifter with a mysterious past

January 30th, 1925, the party visited the Soho apartment of one Miles Shipley and his elderly Aunt. She showed them his horrifying paintings of other planes and planets and times. Much sanity was lost by all.
Eventually the party convinced her to show them Miles' masterpiece, hidden in a cupboard. Dr. Milka was entranced and sucked into the painting where she got to see dinosaurs(cool!) and get sacrificed to the dark god of the Snake-People(less cool!).

The party fought the aunt, who turned out to be a powerful Snake-People sorcerer. After a tough fight, they were victorious and captured Miles and the strange drug he is addicted to.

They returned to The Scoop and made some money on the story.

Call of Cthulhu 9: the Wolf Within!

The Clue

January 27th, following up on clues from Session 8, the investigators traveled North to the village of Lesser Edale in Derbyshire to investigate the reported deaths there.

Investigators

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Xanathos- Drifter with a mysterious past

It's been a couple weeks since the session, and my memory is a bit foggy, but it was a highly amusing session, at least for your humble Keeper.

Here are the highlights of the investigators' escapades:

• Insulting the local Constable
• Beating up an innocent clergyman
• Almost getting lynched by the townsfolk, women and children included
• Being thrown in the castle dungeon with a comatose lass from the decadent nobility
• Performing a Mythos ritual to obtain a prescient vision of the

  

  Byakhee

  party being torn to bits by the lass-turned-werewolf
• Summoning a Byakhee from Outer Space to break them out of prison
• Fleeing town in the middle of the night in the local constable's police car

Much fun and sanity-point loss was had by all!

Call of Cthulhu 8: London!

Following Session 7, the party travelled by Steam Boat to Southampton and then train on to London, arriving January 25th and checking into the Savoy hotel near Waterloo Bridge.


Mike bought a local tabloid called The Scoop, with stories of Lizard People and three headed babies. They noted that the publishing house is located on Fleet Street, not to far from the Hotel.

Party Members:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Michael Hunt- 45 year old dilettante in search of diversions
• Rachel Hemingway- Journalist and Writer 

On the morning of the 26th the investigators decided to check out the Penhew Foundation, near the British museum, as it appears in multiple clues. The foundation is dedicated to research in the area of Egyptology. They ended up perusing the Library and finding a surprising monograph citing multiple primary sources indicating that prehistoric Egypt was ruled by a magic-wielding king called the Black Pharaoh.

They interviewed Edward Gavigan about the Carlyle Expedition and Jackson Elias, claiming to be there to complete Jackson's book posthumously. Gavigan shared what knowledge he had, but mentioned that the Foundation's late namesake, Sir Aubrey Penhew, took all the expedition's records with him to Africa. He then spent the afternoon giving the party a tour of the Foundation's collection.

When the party started asking uncomfortable questions, and Mike refused to be evaded, they were shown roughly out of the building. Mike forced his way back in and made a diversion while Gretta and Allen snuck into the supply room. They found a secret room with spell components and mythos artifact shipments to Ho Fong Imports in Shanghai and Randolph Shipping Company in Port Darwin, Australia. They stole some books, spells, and two silver daggers, before breaking out and fleeing into the night.

In the meantime, Michael and Rachel regrouped at the Hotel and went to visit Mickey Mahoney at The Scoop. He turned out to be a collaborator of Jackson Elias. He didn't know much about Jackson's scoop, just that he was nervous and left London in a hurry. He showed the party three news articles that had interested Jackson. Rachel ended up selling him a story from their adventures in New York.