CoC 19: LOLCATS!

 

 Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Helen Alexander- Archaeologist and author
• Bob- Deputy Texas Ranger on vacation
  
• Machmud(NPC)- street urchin, guide
• Agatha Broadmore(NPC)- medium, ex-Clive Expedition member
  

 

Friday, February 15th, 1925

Gretta, Allen, Helen, and Agatha arrived travel-worn back at the Osiris Hotel around sunset, the city echoing with the call of Imams calling the faithful to prayer. Machmud was waiting them outside the Hotel. Bob was well-rested, drinking a whiskey at the hotel bar. They filled him in on the happenings during their visit to the Clive Expedition. The investigators decided to forgo rest to immediately track down ex-expedition member member Janwillen Vanheuvelen. They spotted a shady character watching the hotel.

 

Machmud took them on a tour of seedy bars in the old city, since Janwillen was rumored to be staying there and was reputed to be an alcoholic. They found the Dutchman sitting in a dark corner of a disreputable establishment. He was agitated by the group's arrival, but they plied him with drink and he loosened up.

Janwillen told the party of his firing from the Clive Expedition. On the night that we was in charge of the site with Nitocris' mummy, he went out for a drink, and returned to find that the mummy had been stolen! This was his last chance to make his name in the world and now he is a ruined man. His story was interrupted when a cat scratched his leg under the table.

After more drinks he admitted that he has a plan to become a rich and famous Egyptologist. He came across some rare, 13th dynasty scrolls in a temple and is working on a translation. When he finishes, he will publish the results and become famous!

He agreed to take the party back to his apartment and show them his translation, the originals being "in a safe place". Allen noticed an area of the dirt floor which looked like maybe it had recently been dug-up. The party learned the spells "summon/bind cat", and "summon/bind crocodile" from the translation. Stray cats stared in at them from the window.

The party decided to wait for him to fall asleep and steal the scrolls. The neighborhood cats began acting strange, and everyone lost some sanity. A beautiful priestess came and told them that they should tell Jan to return the scrolls to the temple. She was both seductive and threatening and walked with the gait of a panther.

Ultimately, Bob climbed in the window, but woke-up Jan with his digging. He was able to manipulate the drunk and confused archaeologist and the party made-off with the scrolls, returning to their Hotel around dawn for a much needed rest.

Saturday, February 16th, 1925

After much rest, the party decided to spend the day translating the scrolls and learning spells. The cramped hieroglyphics on the 10 scrolls was difficult, but they managed to learn:

• spells
• Rituals to worship Bast
• Rituals to worship Sebek
• Lore of the Black Pharaoh
• Lore of the Faceless Sphinx

Bob heard noises outside their room late at night and the door was blocked. After removing the door, they saw fleeing cultists who were setting up scented candles around their room. The party identified the scent as an incense used by mediums to enter the Dreamlands. They went back to their studies.

 Past midnight, they heard chanting outside and saw that the cultists had set up candles around the whole hotel. Suddenly the lights began to flash, the moon began to flash, and the night went dark. The Investigators found themselves and the hotel transported to a dark landscape of sweeping sands and cyclopian structures...

 

CoC 18: I see SAND PEOPLE!

 

 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

 

Friday, February 15th, 1925

Around mid-day. The party spent the morning snooping around the ruins in Memphis while Helen participated in the dig with fellow Clive Expedition members.

She snuck away to share a juicy lead with the the other Investigators.

The expedition members don't know I understand Arabic. While I was cleaning off the day's finds with Martin, Dr. Clive entered the tent and addressed him saying "I've just had a message from Omar. He says he's discovered the location of the girdle, in the Mosque of Ibn Thulun. He will have it in his possession in time for the next ritual. He'll want our help in preparing."

While checking on the boat, they noticed the flash of a spyglass from the expedition's camp and thought they heard some notes of a chant on the wind.

Choosing to return to the camp to get a better look, they saw Dr. Clive entering hurriedly from among the dunes. They wanted to follow him, but the guards barred their entrance. They told the guards that they needed water for the trip to the tram. Finally the Dr. sent out Agatha Broadmore with a camel loaded with water bags to lead the investigators through the sands to the tram stop.

They agreed to accompany her but were suspicious of her and the water. They also thought they saw shambling figures and moving sands.

Suddenly two sandy, emaciated figures materialized, rising up from the sands themselves, waving wicked claws at the party. They proved very hardy opponents, but Michael's double-barreled shotgun saved the day, killing one, while the other fled badly wounded.

Agatha was left shaken by the encounter. She attempted to psychically connect to the creatures to calm them, but learned that Dr. Clive had made a pact with them to slay the party. Shaken at revelation that her employer was a cultist and that he sees her as expendable, she agreed to join the investigators on the tram-ride back to Cairo.

CoC 17: the Clive Expedition

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
• Helen Alexander- Archaeologist and author
• Machmud- street urchin, NPC guide

Regrouping at the hotel, the investigators reconnected with Mike. He managed to recruit Helen, a young Archaeologist seeking gainful employment. A discussion ensued over which lead to follow next:

• Omar Shakti- powerful plantation owner is somehow involved. Reputedly a danger man to cross
• Edward Gavigan- disgraced Penhew Foundation chairman and Black Pharaoh Cult Sorcerer. He is visiting Shakti, on what business, who knows?
• Clive Expedition, funded by the Penhew Foundation, is camped near Memphis. They discovered an unusual female mummy new Giza, but it scandalously and mysteriously disappeared
• Janwillen Vanheuvelen, a former Clive Expedition member, used to be a regular at the Turf Club but is now down on his luck, living somewhere in the Old City

They decided travel to visit the Clive Expedition. Mike gave Machmud a $10 bill for his troubles and told him to meet them in the morning.

Thursday, February 14th, 1925

Machmud didn't show up in the morning. After a while the party gave up and decided to go it alone.

They found a Riverboat captain willing to take them to Memphis. Neil Young is a young dilettante, son of a British official, enjoying himself in post-colonial Egypt. Helen managed to get on his good side and he took the party to Memphis in his steam-yacht.

They found the Clive camp outside the city near some magnificent temple ruins.

The camp itself is quite well protected, with barbed wire fences and armed guards. Knowing that the expedition recently fired an archaeologist, the investigators talked their way in, saying that Helen is looking for a job.

Dr. Clive interviewed Helen. He wasn't terribly impressed, but he agreed to take her on as an assistant Archaeologist in an unpaid capacity. The rest of the party were invited to stay the night in camp.

The party took the time to meet the members of the Clive Expedition. They got some useful info from James and Agatha about the theft of Queen Nitocris and the stolen mummy. Marten and Johannes seem like characters to be careful of.

In the night, Alan, Mike, and Helen decided to search the camp for the mummy. In a store-tent they found a creepy, life-size granite statue of the Black Pharaoh. Mike created a diversion(and was kicked out of camp by Johannes and the guards) while the others buried the statue in the sand.

Friday, February 15th, 1925

In the morning, Dr. Clive attempted to fire Helen, but she persuaded him to keep her on. That said, it was made clear that the rest of the party were no longer welcome. They spent the morning snooping around the dig sites in the area...

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.

Call of Cthulhu 7: Front Page News

January 18th, following up on last session, the party decided to give a second look at the artifacts they got from the cultists.




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
• Artie Gumshoe- streetsmart private eye
• Dr. Warren Bedford- Professor of European History
• Rachel Hemingway- Journalist and Writer

 Mike was brave and decided to try on the High Priest's garments. Upon putting on the Wooden Mask, his pupils grew and he fell down with a sort of seizure. He had a vision of Yog-Sogothoth which left him shaken with horrible knowledge. The only thing that saved his sanity was Dr. Von Flue's immediate ministrations. He was left with psychosomatic limb loss effecting his trigger fingers for the next couple months.

Besides that, they figured out that the copper bowl is used for a Send Dreams ritual, and the sceptre is a sort of magic-enhancing wand.

On the 19th the investigators took a couple taxicabs to Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn for Elias' funeral. All of New York's upper crust had turned out to see off the best-selling author.

Lietenant Poole met them and told them to keep a look out and perhaps go out of town for a while. Some nasty people are looking for them, perhaps in connection to something belonging to the cultists.

A blonde reporter asked Mike to meet later in a local Tea Room and he assented.

The party noticed some cultists spying on them. They shot up their car, making a big scene at the funeral, but the cultists got away.

Allen Challenger & Gretta tried intimidating Erica Carlyle but her bodyguard intervened.

Dr. Bedford tried shooting a gravedigger so he could reanimate Elias' corpse but ended up getting murdered by a cultist.

The party recouped and drove to the Tea Room to await the rendezvous with the blonde reporter. She ended up sweet-talking Mike and getting all the juicy gossip about the Elias murder.
 
On the 20th, the party found Mike and Gretta's photos on the front page of the New York Times. A rather embellished account of the party's misadventures was included. Now the cultists know who they are!

They visited Jonah Kensington, publisher of the late Jackson Elias. Jonah shared a note from Elias as well as some of his notes:

 

 

The party spend the rest of the day preparing for their voyage to Southampton tomorrow

Call of Cthulhu Session 6: Party Crashers

We pick up on a Wintry morning, January 17th on the old docks in New York City. Gretta is shipping Denato's remains back to Brazil. In one hand, she holds the telegram from the Federal Police, requesting the return of his body. In her other hand, she holds a note from Jonas Kensington informing her that Jackson Elias' funeral will be held the morning of January 19th in Evergreens Cemetery in Brooklyn. She said a few words about the brave Detective and watched the steamer pull away.

Investigators:

• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Allen Challenger- Antiquarian and dealer in forged artifacts
• Artie Gumshoe- streetsmart private eye

The investigators started the session with some some phone calls:

They called Erica Carlyle's associate Bradley Grey, wanting to reschedule Denato's missed meeting. They were less successful than Denato at convincing him that they had embarrassing information about Erica's brother, so he demurred from arranging a new meeting. He did let slip that Erica is due to attend a charity banquet tonight at the Excelsior Dance Hall.

They called Detective Poole about the car found idling at the scene of Jackson's murder. He asked the investigators to come in and talk with him. They were followed by suspicious characters on the subway, but lost them at the Police Station.

The investigators told Detective Poole about Denato's murder in Harlem. The quick Lieutenant connected it with the shooting yesterday, but was not aware of the scene under the curio store. He asked the party to take him to the scene of the crime. Regarding the car found at the scene of Jackson's murder, it was a stolen car owned by a Thomas Witherspoon, stolen while it was parked on Lenox Ave.

The drove with the Lieutenant and a couple constables back to the Curio store. They found the place boarded up so the Police broke-in. Downstairs they observed the blood-stains and fire damage, but the place had been cleaned out, including the pit-monster. Allen stole a bulky wood Masai Shield that he found upstairs. Lt. Poole went to question the neighbors about the Curio Store while the party agreed to check in with him later.

The party decided to crash tonight's banquet in an attempt to meet Erica. They quickly headed out to shop for clothes to wear. Artie managed to find a really great outfit(credit check +10).

They arrived at the Excelsior to see guests arriving in their Limousines, being greeted by a priest with slicked-back hair. The sign said "Fundraiser for the Children of Africa". They eventually snuck in through the back entrance, convincing the maitre d they were delivering an African Shield to be auctioned to charity.

Gretta danced with an elderly financier. She used her reputation to get him to introduce them to Erica. Erica was also familiar with Gretta's work. They discussed the Children of Africa and Dr. Huston. When the conversation shifted to Erica's brother and his expedition, she got uncomfortable.

They also spoke to the priest, Reverend Pat Stephens. His mission had actually hosted the Carlyle expedition for a night. He described some of the expedition principals. He described them as a strange group. Carlyle and M'Weru were clearly together and he seemed quite infatuated by the beautiful Kenyan native. Dr. Huston seemed to be in a daze much of the time. Patty Masters was as beautiful as her reputation said, but seemed sick.

Next morning, they called Harvard Librarian Miriam Atright. She is a big Jackson Elias fangirl and wanted to help. She reported that Elias had sought a book called Africa's Dark Sects(which the party now have in their possession). The book had been in the Library's collection, but had disappeared a few months back. An unspeakable odor had lingered for several days after the book's disappearance.

The players bought fare on a steamer to Southampton leaving the morning of January 21st, planning to follow their leads in London. It's a 4 day trip, assuming fair weather...

Call of Cthulhu Session 5: Terror in Harlem

Picking up we left off last time, the party met up in the lobby of the Waldorf the morning of January 16, 1925 to plan their next step.

Investigators:

• Detective Donato dos Reis- hardboiled Brasilian police detective
• Dr. Gretta Von Flue- Parapsychologist and occult enthusiast
• Dr. Warren Bedford- Professor of European History
• Michael Hunt- 45 year old dilettante in search of diversions
• Dr. Milka- medical doctor with a shotgun
• Dr. Thomas Thompson- surgeon and occult enthusiast
• Ms. Carmella Bates- jazz musician with gangland ties
• Brad Johnson- Golfer/Businessman

They are waiting to hear back from the police and to meet up with one of Erica Carlyle's associates. For now they decided to follow up on the Emerson Imports lead.

This brought them to a subway to Harlem. Carmella ended up finding them a guide. At this point the party split with half of then following the guide and the others continuing on to 137th street in search of Silas. (Except for Dr. Milka who got lost in the subway and wandered off).

Carmella et al ended up eating Good Voodoo soup in a Hatian restaurant and hearing local street musicians on their way to 137th. Meanwhile, Donato, Michael, and Warren had a run in with the Bloody Tongue.

The three couldn't find the store, but noticed some shady-looking locals watching them. Michael, ever the murder-hobo, blasted a guy with his shotgun. Fortunately, the guy turned out to be a cultist. Unfortunately, he had a lot of friends. The three ended up surrounded by knife-wielding cultists and were soon tied up in Silas' basement...

When Carmella and the others arrived, the neighborhood was in an uproar over the shooting. They ditched their guide, Brad knocked out the cultist guard with a golf club, and they entered Silas' shop. They found the secret trap door, descended the stairs, and heard voices behind a heavy wooden door...

A Face of the Chakota

Jumping back to the scene of the first group's capture: Silas sent a couple messengers out(to call the priest of the cult). He began interrogating Michael, then showed him the creature in the pit when he refused to answer. Michael managed to hang on to his sanity. When he dragged Denato to the pit, the cop broke his bonds and attempted to grapple the cult leader. The heroic detective went down under a flurry of cultist knives!

Jumping back ahead to the rescuers' arrival: they busted open the door and came out guns blazing. Only Silas and the priest were there and they were easily dispatched. The party then opened the screen at the back of the room where they were met by the dead eyes of their friend Denato and several other zombies. After ineffectively shooting them, they lit them on fire and fled. Brad and Dr. Thompson lost some sanity from the experience.

The investigators discovered the cult's private stash of artifacts:

• High priest's robes
• Lion's Claw Gloves
• Africa's Dark Sects book- from which several party members learned the Create Zombie spell
• African Devil Mask
• Burnished Copper Bowl
• Wood Scepter
• Metal Headband

The investigators left the horrors of the Ju Ju House, having saved two of their friends and having dealt the Cult of the Bloody Tongue a serious blow. On the other hand, the creature in the pit was left unmolested and no cult members were interrogated to find out why they had murdered Jackson Elias...

Heart of Cthulhu

A quick note about the first three sessions of our Call of Cthulhu campaign:

This last adventure was based on Don Coatar's adventure The God of Mitnal. It's a high-quality adventure for a fan-published work, but I found it a bit bland, with all the occult setup coming to nothing and explicit advice to go easy on the investigators. I was thinking how to spice it up and I thought of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. 

I always enjoyed Heart of Darkness, but found the climax to be, well, anti-climactic. After this descent into the semi-mythic underworld in the dark heart of Africa, our narrator finds... Kurtz dying of Malaria and the natives really bummed out about it. I'm sure there's some deep postmodern message in that. No quest object or beloved Eurydice awaits our Hero's at the end of his quest. It was all for naught as there is only a great void at the Heart of Things. That's a powerful theme but makes for a dull plot point. What was rally lacking there is for our narrator to find Kurtz at his prime just as he's about to perform the great ritual to awaken Cthulhu from his eons-long slumber! The ritual goes wrong, Kurtz is left shattered, he is loaded onto the river boat. Denouement continues from there. 

So in that spirit I made Kimbel the Kurtz character. Our slippery gun-runner has met his match in the form of the crystal skull of Au-Puch. He has spent too many hours staring into it's owlish eyes and with the loss of his sanity, it has persuaded him to perform the ancient ritual to break the seal and release Au-Puch, an ancient Cthonian deep under the ground. Unfortunately, Donato's Judo skills foiled that plan before things could really get interesting.