22/2/2015 26/6/2016

ROLEPLAYERS
AVEIRO

MASKS OF NYARLATHOTEP

PRESENTS

Campaign write up |
David Foley et al.
0

Many names many forms, but all the same and towards one end.. Need help.. too big, too ghastly.
These dreams.. dreams like Carlyle's?.. so the power and the danger is real... many threads
beginning... Coming for me. Ho Ho no quitters now. Must tell and make the readers Believe. Should I
scream for them? Let's scream together.. -from the London notes of Jackson Elias

Acknowledgements
Players:
Bruno Pinto
Joo Carvalho
Joo Pedro Nunes
Lus Figueiredo
Marta Foley
Rui Bia
Samuel Foley
Inspiration:
Sandy Peterson
Larry DiTillio
Lynn Willis
Howard Phillips Lovecraft
and my brother for making me buy Call of
Cthulhu in the first place, I had no idea what I
was getting.

Copyright disclaimer: This work was produced

for personal non-commercial use and while
containing text and handouts from the
following sources in no way should this be
interpreted as asserting copyright over such
material.
Sources: The Masks of Nyarlathotep by
Chaosium; Secrets of the. Kremlin by E.S.
Erkes from "Glozel est Authentique!"; The
Sense of the Sleight-of-Hand Man by Arc
Dream Publishing; The Masks of Nyarlathotep
Companion by Innsmouth House Press.
Images: From the sources above and also
swiped from all over the internet. You are all
great artists and deserve all credit; just I didnt
even record where I got them from; please
dont blame me; google image search just
makes it too easy.

Contents
Acknowledgements......................................... 1
Introduction .................................................... 3
New York ......................................................... 4
Session 1: The friends of Jackson Elias........ 4

Sharnoth ..................................................... 177

Session 16.5 Emily Lost in Time and Space
................................................................ 177
Egypt III ....................................................... 187
Session 17 The Curse of Nitocris ............. 187

Session 1.5: January the 17th, 1925 ......... 10

Session 18 Under the Sphinx .................. 195

Session 2 Harlem ....................................... 23

Shanghai III .................................................. 203

Session 19 Gray Dragon Island................ 203

Session 3 How long shall mine enemy be

exalted over me ........................................ 28

Postscript 1: Where did Lawrence go? ... 221

Session 4 Hole in the world like a great

black pit ..................................................... 38

Postscript 2: What happened to the Bomb?

................................................................ 222

London .......................................................... 43
Session 5 Tired of London, Tired of Life .... 43

Postscript 3: What happened to Emily? . 222

Session 6 The dreamers of the day ........... 55

Session 7 Docklands .................................. 65

In Memoriam .............................................. 224

Character Biographies................................. 225
Emily Durand........................................... 225

Session 8 Out of the frying pan and into the

fire ............................................................. 72

John Kuzak, PI ......................................... 226

USSR .............................................................. 79
Session 9 To the East Through the Land of
the Soviets................................................. 79

Krzysztof Polanski ................................... 227

Shanghai I ...................................................... 93
Session 10 Shanghai .................................. 93

Preston Hurst .......................................... 226

Simon Exton ............................................ 227

Thomas-von-Liepwig/Jesse Ridden......... 229
Rabbi Tsou Jung. ..................................... 230

Session 11 On the trail of Jack Brady ...... 105

Fahim Khalid ........................................... 230

Dreamlands ................................................. 110

Session 12 The dreams of the sleep of
death ....................................................... 110

James Barrington .................................... 231

Session 12.5 Demon Cabinet of Mr Lung 123

Shanghai II ................................................... 128
Session 13 The Seven gates of heaven ... 128
Session 14 The Eye of Light and Darkness
................................................................ 139
Egypt I ......................................................... 148
Session 15 Night Boat to Cairo ................ 148
The Fourth Dimension ................................ 161
Session 15.5 The Gestalt ......................... 161
Egypt II ........................................................ 165
Session 16 Imprisoned with the Pharaohs
................................................................ 165

Helen Coulston........................................ 232

Artie Rathlin PI ........................................ 233
Major George Randall ............................. 234
Jackson Elias ................................................ 235
Custom Rules for the Campaign ................. 236
Hero Points ............................................. 236
Falling Forward ....................................... 236
Sanity House rule .................................... 236
Team Rolls ............................................... 236
Reading Mythos Tomes .......................... 238
Combat.................................................... 240

Introduction
In 1992 I tried to run Masks with my first
gaming group, some of us having played
together since we discovered RPGs in the
early 80s. It was the last campaign we played
together and we never finished it. I dont even
know now how I thought wed ever have time
to finish it, somehow I thought that the
summer in between my end of school exams
and my starting University would give enough
time, but all we managed was NY and London
and one session in Egypt and then I went off
to University far away and never came back.
I only have a few memories of the sessions we
played and whenever the old group gets back
together we often end up disagreeing about
what exactly happened in our campaigns.
Maybe such disagreements might in part
explain the existence of the document you are
reading now.
Masks lay dormant, almost forgotten in a box
in my parents house for twenty years. But
like a thousand other tomes in a thousand
Cthulhu scenarios its slumber was not to be
eternal; there came again a day that that box
was opened and what was never finished
would have to be begun anew.
However my scheming to recruit cultists
players was too successful, more were
interested than I could handle. The campaign
was a long one and having a history of
unfinished campaigns under my belt I knew
player dropout and scheduling difficulties
could kill a campaign
So I told the eight potential players that I
would run a session if I could get at least four
of them to agree a time and I would write up
the session in a Facebook group and the other
players who couldnt make it could follow the
action there. We would make up in game

reasons for why their investigators were not

present.
The idea was that the players would make up
a pool of investigators and for a while the
scheme worked like that, but around session 8
due to players suddenly leaving town (I didnt
scare them away, honest!) or missing some
sessions and then feeling left behind, the
players dwindled down to the same four for
the rest of the sessions. However due to the
sunken costs fallacy of the write ups already
done I kept it up.
Also writing the session up after playing it had
become a stage in my scenario prep, I would
use it to nail down exactly what had
happened and make me think how the
campaign NPCs would respond to the players
actions.
We added our own particular touches to the
campaign, for instance after London the
players thought that the Brotherhood would
be waiting for him in Egypt and they thought
Shanghai a hotter lead, so they wanted to
journey there without passing Egypt.. hence
our session in Soviet Russia wherein the
investigators almost kill Stalin with a
flamethrower!
We also added in trips to the Dreamlands and
Sharnoth, a whole side plot involving
Dimensional Shamblers and another one
involving Nodens both then got blended back
into the main plotline by involving a dream
version of one of the PCs and a disgraced
Edward Gavigan looking to recover his
position in the Brotherhood. At least I think
thats how it went, that one got complicated!
In the end I am very content with what we
achieved and it remains the only campaign I
have ever finished.

New York
Session 1: The friends of Jackson
Elias
Session played 22/2/2015
Keepers notes: this write up is one of the
weakest as it was written about 15 months
after the fact. My actual first write up on the
Facebook group was just a report that the
investigators found Jackson dead and all the
handouts they found there. MON gives so
many handouts up front that I thought that
sufficient. When I came back to compile the
write ups I decided I needed something more
long form.

Krzysztof gets in touch with the editor and

publisher of Jacksons books, Jonah
Kensington. Kensington suggests a group of
people he knows who might be interested in
helping Jackson.
Emily Durand a Jungian therapist and
correspondent of Jacksons; John Kuzak a PI
known to both Jackson and Kensington;
Preston Hurst another author published by
Prospero books; Dr Simon Exton a toxicologist

In early January 1925, the aspiring film

director Krzysztof Polanski receives an
intriguing radiogram from a ship at sea. The
message is from Jackson Elias, a writer with
whom Krzysztof had been corresponding in
order with to bring his book Skulls Along the
River to the silver screen.

who once treated Jackson after his return

from South America. Krzysztof contacts each
of the investigators who indicate that they
would be prepared to meet with Jackson to
discuss his investigation. In the meanwhile the
investigators research the Carlyle Expedition.

An archaeological expedition in 1919 that was

led by famous playboy Roger Carlyle, it went
to Egypt and Africa but all participants were
massacred by tribemen while safaring in
Kenya.On January the 15 Jackson Elias calls
Krzysztof asking to meet at Room 410 of the
Chelsea Hotel at 8pm. Krzysztof perceives that
Elias is cryptic and anxious, perhaps even
uncharacteristically frightened. Elias gives out
no information over the phone and hangs up
immediately when Krzysztof tries to ask
questions. Krzysztof contacts the other
investigators and they go to the Chelsea hotel
at the indicated time
At the Chelsea Hotel, the investigators get no
answer to their knocks at the door of Room
410, however after listening at the door they
think they hear some noise from within.
Dr Exton and John Kuzak burst down the door;
inside the small room, Jackson Elias lies clearly
dead on the bed with his intestines ripped
out, a Caucasian and two Negros each holding

blooded sharp long blades, his apparent

assassins are still present. The window
through which they must have entered is
open leading to the cold night and the snowy
fire escape outside; each of the killers wears a
shabby suit and a hideous headpiece with a
dangling red strip protruding from the
forehead. One of them is waiting near the
door and slashes his knife at Dr Exton as he
crashes through the door, wounding his arm
badly.

The other investigators pull out guns and

shoot at the assailants, two of whom collapse
under a hail of bullets, the remaining one
diving out the open window and starting
down the fire escape.
John Kuzak runs to the window and climbs out
onto the fire escape. He sees a waiting car in
the alley below. When the last assailant tries
to run from the fire escape to the car, John
shoots at him, hitting him in the head. As the
car speeds away, he catches the licence plate
NYL7.

A matchbox;

A letter from Egypt;

Preston examines Jacksons body; his chest

has been viciously cut open and on Jacksons
forehead is carved an unusual mark. Krzysztof
takes photos of the crime scene.

A flyer for a lecture at NYU;

Emily attends to the wounds of Dr Simon while

the others search the bodies of the assailants;
they find documents, apparently stolen from
Jacksons room.
The documents found include: A London
business card;

A letter from Harvard Library;

A business card;

A blurry and grainy photograph showing a large steam or diesel powered yacht beyond some Chinese
junks. Part of the name of the yacht is visible: the first three letters are DAR

The police are soon on the scene and seem to

believe the investigators story of stumbling on
the scene of murder in progress. Dr Simon
Exton is taken to hospital because of his arm.
The detective in charge of the case is Lt.
Martin Poole, a hard-nosed veteran of the
force. Martin informs the investigators that
this is the ninth murder victim of this kind in
the last two years. The victims had no
apparent connections. They were poor,
wealthy, and middle class, both black and
white, and from all over the city. All the
victims had the same marks on their
foreheads. Known voodoo cults do not seem
to be connected, nor do they use the symbol.
The police are consulting folklorist Dr.
Mordecai
Lemming,
an
eccentric
Manhattanite, who is convinced that the
marks are of Santera origin.

16th January 1926

Jonah Kensington owns and is chief editor for
Prospero House. Kensington was a friend to
Elias, as well as the editor of all of Elias
books. He already knows of the murder and is
greatly saddened by the loss of his friend.
Kensington believes that the police theory of
cult murder is correct. Elias was always
infatuated with blood cults he thinks that
either some old enemies at last caught up
with the courageous author, or else that Elias
new project was even more important (and
dangerous) than Jackson Elias himself had
believed. Elias, he says, had been persuaded
that a blood cult had massacred the Carlyle
Expedition, but that not all of the principals of
the expedition had been killed. Kensington
received a letter and some notes from
Nairobi, and then got a wire (from Hong Kong)
asking for the advance, which was sent
immediately.

After questioning the investigators are let go,

but find they cannot let this matter go, they
all agree to meet tomorrow with Jonah
Kensington and see if they can discover why
their friend Jackson was silenced.

The investigators examine the Nairobi Notes

of Jackson Elias
Sheets of plain paper each covered on one
side only with Elias neat printing, and paper
clipped together into sets by Jonah
Kensington. They are reasonably well
organized, and seem in many ways complete,
yet are remarkable for the absence of
conclusions, connections, and clearly-defined
themes. The hand is strong and bold.
Set One of the Nairobi notes sets forth the
offices, officials, and tribes which Elias visited,
searching for material concerning cults and
cult rituals. Nothing conclusive was learned,
though Elias discounts the official version of
the Carlyle massacre.
Set Two describes his trip to the massacre
site. He notes particularly that the earth there
is completely barren, and that all the tribes of
the region avoid the place, saying it is cursed
by the God of the Black Winds, whose home is
the mountain top.

Set Three is an interview with a Johnstone

Kenyatta, who says that the Carlyle murders
may have been performed by the cult of the
Bloody Tongue. He says that the cult
reputedly is based in the mountains, and that
its high priestess is a part of the Mountain of
the Black Winds. Elias is politely sceptical, but
Kenyatta insists upon the point. In quotes,
Elias records that regional tribes fear and hate
the Bloody Tongue, that tribal magic is of no
protection against the cult, and that the cults
god is not of Africa.
Set Four follows up on the Kenyatta interview.
Elias confirms from several good sources that
the Bloody Tongue exists, though he finds no
first-hand evidence of it. Tales include
children stolen for sacrifice. Creatures with
great wings are said to come down from the
Mountain of the Black Winds to carry off
people. The cult worships a god unknown to
folklorists, one fitting no traditional African
pattern. Elias in particular cites Sam Mariga,
rr-sta.

Set Five is a single sheet reminding Elias that

the Cairo-based portion of the Carlyle
itinerary must be examined carefully. He
believes that the reason which prompted
Carlyles Kenyan side-trip is on the Nile.
Set Six is a long interview with Lt. Mark
Selkirk, leader of the men who actually found
the remains of the Carlyle Expedition, and a
Kenya hand since the Great War and the fight
against the resourceful von Lettow.
Importantly, Selkirk says that the bodies were
remarkably undecayed for the length of time
which they lay in the openalmost as if
decay itself wouldnt come near the place.
Secondly, the men had been torn apart, as if
by animals, though what sorts of animals
would pull apart bodies so systematically he
could not guess. Unimaginable. Inexplicable.
Selkirk agrees that he Nandis may have had
something to do with the episode, but
suspects that the charges against the
ringleaders were trumped-up. It wouldnt be
the first time, he says cynically. Finally,
Selkirk confirms that no Caucasians were
found among the deadonly corpses of the
Kenyan bearers were scattered across the
barren plain.
Set Seven is another single sheet. Elias ran
into Nails Nelson at the Victoria Bar in Nairobi.
Nelson had been a mercenary for the Italians
on the Somali-Abyssinian border, and had
escaped into Kenya after double-crossing his
employers. Nelson claimed to have seen Jack
Brady alive (March of 1923) in Hong Kong, less
than two years before Elias was in Kenya and
long after the Kenyan court declared that
Brady and the rest of the expedition were
dead. Brady was friendly, though guarded and
taciturn. Nelson didnt press the conversation.
From this report Elias deduced that other
members of the expedition might still live.

entries like tell what happened and explain

why.
Elias was not heard from until the middle of
last month (Dec. 16, 1924), when he wired
from London. Elias telegram was very excited
and a bit crazy-sounding He said hed been to
China, to Africa of course, and to London for a
few days, where hed dug up a lot of stuff.
Elias said hed seen unbelievable things, and
mentioned a plan or conspiracy of monstrous,
world-wide proportions. He said that there
was a timetable, and that he needed to find
the missing pieces, but wouldnt or couldnt
explain more. The wire ended, saying that he
would soon be in New York. Elias took passage
on a freighter, the Phal-arope, the next
morning. Arriving in New York a few days ago,
Elias left more notes with Kensington. They
were so bewildering and fragmentary that the
editor concluded that either Elias had gone
over the edge and needed six months in a
sanatorium. Kensington says he always
thought Elias work exposed the author to too
much danger, though he could never
persuade Jackson Elias to do less personal
research. He is very grieved at the loss.
Kensington informs the investigators of the
time and place of Elias funeral. He also offers
to finance their investigation for up to $1000.
He also gives them two more names that
might be relevant to LondonMickey
Mahoney, editor of The Scoop, and Inspector
James Barrington of Scotland Yard, both of
whom Elias mentioned in conversation.

Set Eight discusses a possible structure for the

Carlyle book, but is mostly featureless, with
8

A phone call determines that the Harvard

book was "Africa's Dark Sects" by explorer
Nigel Blackwell. The book was stolen from the
collection and the librarian Miriam
remembers a strange foul smell on that day,
she is sent crime scene photos and promises
to research what she can of the mark carved
on Jacksons forehead.

Many names many forms, but all the same

and towards one end.. Need help.. too big,
too ghastly. These dreams.. dreams like
Carlyle's? Check that psychoanalyst's files.. All
of them survived! they'll open the gate.
Why?.. so the power and the danger is real.
They .. many threads beginning.. the books
are in Carlyle's safe.. Coming for me. Will the
ocean protect? Ho Ho no quitters now. Must
tell and make the readers Believe. Should I
scream for them? Let's scream together...
Approaching Lt. Poole again at the 5th Av.
Police Station the investigators discover that
the car with plates NYL7 is owned by a
Thomas Witherspoon and had been stolen the
evening of the attack while it was parked on
Lenox Avenue, Harlem. Poole and his men
assume that the murders are ritual slayings of
people who somehow learned too much.
Research at NYU discovers that the lecture of
Prof Cowles took place 2 days ago, and was
poorly attended

Investigation of the business card leads to an

export business where Arthur Emerson tells
that Elias was interested in knowing about
people importing from Mombasa, Kenya.
Emerson gave the name of Silias N'Kwame of
the Juju House who was the only person he
handled imports for from Kenya. Visiting the
Juju house in Harlem left the investigators
with a very bad feel for the location and the
people there and they left the card of John
Kuzak PI at the shop, thinking to lead those
behind Jacksons murder into a trap. Emily
buys shoes for a street urchin called Timothy
who looked after the groups car in Harlem
while they visited Juju house.

Later that night the investigators wait hidden

in the dark in the PI's offices when two men
seemly try to break in but hesitate at the last
minute, perhaps hearing some noise from
within. Kuzak tries to trail them but ends up
being confronted in a dark alley by the two
men now wearing tongue masks and wielding
machetes. He only just manages to escape.

Session 1.5: January the 17th, 1925

Keepers note: The players had many leads to
follow so we decided to try to play the next
game day in between sessions via Facebook;
each investigator following a different set of
clues. The experiment worked out quite well,
with most players participating, but was never
repeated during the campaign; perhaps
mostly due to the fact it took up a lot of
keeper prep time that later in the campaign
was needed for preparing for the next session.
Rolls were done with an online dice roller, I
have dropped game mechanics from the
below transcriptions
January the 17th is a Saturday, libraries are
open but government offices (city hall records
etc.) are shut. It is also very cold out there,
having snowed heavily on Jan 12th, so dress
appropriately.

Joo Pedro knew he would have to

miss the next session so we thought it better
he investigate more further afield> Arkham
for instance is 230 miles away, it would take
about 5 hours by car or train and it would be
doubtful you could go and return on the same
day. Harvard University is near to Boston and
is on the way to Arkham if you want to talk
further to Miriam Atwright. There are other
possible leads to Washington DC, should you
wish to follow up some of the overseas clues.
You could also invent some other reason your
character needs to go to one of those
destinations, perhaps to finish a case in
Boston and are involved in that case until you
are next able to play with the rest of the
group.
Keeper:

John Kuzak can spend a few days exploring

the Harvard and Arkham angles. I can go to
Harvard, speak with Miriam Atwright, spend
the night in Boston, then go to Arkham and
inquire further.
Catch the "Merchants Limited" train
from Grand Central Station to Boston, this
takes 5 hours leaving at 9am and he arrives
into Boston at 2pm, from there he must catch
a streetcar (the red line) to Harvard University
(where he planned to find and talk to Miriam
Atwright the librarian) , which will take about
half an hour. He needs to also find
somewhere to stay in Boston and also
Arkham, where he wants to locate Prof
Cowles. Miskatonic University is twenty miles
north of Boston, which takes about forty
minutes.
Keeper

Joo Pedro Nunes playing John Kuzak: Yes, I

think it's too dangerous to stay at my office
further. Ill leave it empty for a couple of days
and see what happens.

10

range. Then you head out to Harvard. At the

library you ask for Miss Atwright but are told
that she is not at work today, but then a
woman approaches you, saying that she is
Miss Atwright and that she is not working
today but is doing some private research
herself and asks if you are friends of Krzysztof
Polanski

I find a cheap hostel to stay in

Boston. Afterwards I'll go the Widener Library
to find Ms. Miriam Atwright. I want to
approach her and ask if she remembers about
a request by Mr. Jackson Elias. I will then tell
her that he has passed away, unfortunately;
I'll spare her the details, and I'll give the least
possible information if she asks. So I'll present
myself as a friend of his, trying to help
manage his estate, and especially to find out
what he was working on at the time of his
death. I came across her telegram when
looking at his possessions, and I want to find
out more about his latest research. So I'll try
to find out which book he was after; which
information was he seeking; and I'll try to Use
the Library (hint!) to study the other volumes
she mentioned.

John Kuzak

Keeper ok you book into the Kilkenny Arms

hotel near the station which is in your price

Keeper Miriam received the crime scene

photos by mail today from Krzysztof and he
mentioned that you may also visit; she was
most shocked by them. She decided she had
to help out however she could as she admired
Jackson Elias greatly. She decided to come
into the library to research the mark on
Jackson's forehead.
She also repeats to you what she already told
Krzysztof over the phone; that Jackson Elias
sought a book called Africas Dark Sects. The
book mysteriously disappeared from the
Widener library several months before Elias
sought it. By mysteriously, she means that
one day it simply vanished. There was an
unspeakable odour in the collection the day
we noticed the Sects book was missing. Her
research has revealed that the rune carved in
Elias forehead is ancient, thought to have
been an offshoot of an unnamed cult driven
out of dynastic Egypt, that of the god of the
Bloody Tongue, and that the cult is cantered
in Kenya. More information exists in the book
11

Gharne Fragments, she does not have access

to that book. The Penhew Foundation in
London possesses an excellent copy.
Well I make two notes: visit the
Penhew Foundation in London to look at the
G'harne Fragments; and look into Egypt as the
source of the bloody tongue sect

John Kuzak

Keeper Searching yourself through the library

records you are able to find the purchase
receipt for Africas Dark Sects ("I thought that
was lost said Miriam!" and also a reference to
the book in another book "Tales from the dark
heart", however the rest of the book looks
otherwise uninteresting. The missing book is
bound with green cloth over paperboard, 6
by 8 ; 328 pages, with the title stamped on
the spine. Date of publication (1921) The book
collects the papers of Nigel Blackwell, a minor
self-funded African explorer. No attempt
seems to have been made to organize
Blackwells work (there is no index for
example) and the topics vary widely. The
focus of the work is on African cults and
esoteric religious practices the more
gruesome or vile the better. Cannibalism and
bestiality are some of the more comparatively
tame practices discussed. The author treats
the blasphemous religious claims of the
various African tribesmen he discusses with
an undue and unexpected degree of
credence. Regions discussed include East
Africa (the Kenya Crown colony and German
East Africa in particular), the Belgian Congo,
and West Africa (especially the Niger River
basin). Written in 1916-1917 by the English
author and anthropologist Nigel Blackwell,
Africas Dark Sects was published in London in
1921. It was immediately banned under the
Obscene Publications Act, and all but 13
copies were seized and destroyed. The real
reason for the ban is unknown - there is
indeed some obscenity, and the book is
disturbing. However, the reason may be
political - it was detested by politicians of all

persuasions. Liberals viewed it as a

sensationalist attempt to demonise Africans,
while Conservatives regarded it as an antiColonial tract, so any ban would have had
almost universal parliamentary support. Nigel
Blackwell was presumed lost in Kenya 1922
The library is now closing and Miriam says
that she hopes that your research here today
can help somehow. If you ever later need her
to do some research contact her at the library
and she will do her best to help.
After your research in Harvard's Widener
Library you head back to the Kilkenny Arms
hotel for the night and have to bang on the
paper thin walls multiple times to get the
over-amorous couple in the next room to
keep it down sufficient for you to sleep. You
catch an early train to Arkham and arrive
there at 9 am. On the river Miskatonic,
textiles form the bulk of its present industry,
but more and more it is becoming a genteel
residential suburb of Boston. Arkham is the
home of Miskatonic University

I start by phoning the Miskatonic

University... I want to know if Prof. Cowles is
in, and if he can meet me.
John Kuzak

You reach the train station in Arkham

and in the diner there make use of the pay
phone and after ringing through the operator
you are put through to the University. The
phone is picked up "Mistkatonic University,
Keeper

12

Verity Stock, assistant to the vice rector

speaking, how may I help you?"

I'll try to get him to put me in

touch with Prof. Cowles. I'll be insistent. I'll
mention his lecture in NYC and links between
what he studies and African cults (I'm making
things up to get him to see me)

John Kuzak

Yes we have a visiting Australian

academic Prof. Anthony Cowles, he is a
professor of Anthropology. He would be
found at the Liberal Arts Building on a
Monday. You use some of the Kuzak charm on
Mrs Stock and she concedes that she is sure
Mr. Cowles would be keen to meet up with
you as you travelled up especially to hear
more about his lecture. She didn't know that
he knew much about Africa at all, but she
supposes you must be right and anyhow he
has a bungalow on Pickman between West
and Garrison, the only bungalow in the area,
he is sure to be in, just go over and call

Keeper

I go over and call. I'll introduce

myself as an interested person in his work,
very sorry to have missed his lecture in New
York

John Kuzak

When leaving the diner you bump into

a person trying to enter who seems startled to
be face to face with you, you remember on
seeing the same person in New York Central
when you set off yesterday

Keeper

John Kuzak hmm I try to keep him off balance,

I get close to him and say "do I know you?"

he tries to go back the way he came
saying.. "I ain't seen you before mister.. I
thought this was the exit" in a strong Brooklyn
accent. You note that he knows you and he
did not intend for you to see him. You
succeed in blocking him from getting away
from you, although he does back out of the
door somewhat. He is still alarmed at
bumping into you and is just stumbling
backwards. You don't notice anything
else.."what's up mister, aint you going to let
me go passed?"
Keeper

"are you gonna tell me the truth

or what?", I'll just follow him closely, does he
run?
John Kuzak

Are you making the gun in your pocket

obvious.. you are close enough to him to
perhaps push the gun up against him without
other people seeing
Keeper

"hold it right there, we have

something to talk about"
John Kuzak

You think you almost blow it as the

man quickly reaches into his inner coat pocket
Keeper

13

when he realizes you are pulling a gun on him

but in his agitation he manages to drop the
gun which clatters to the ground noisily
beside you.. half a dozen eyes around the
train station are drawn to the scene. of two
men seemingly in an altercation and a gun
falling to the ground.
I grab him by the jacket, " we
should both get out of here before this gets
interesting; I just wanna talk with you" and try
to bring him along with me

John Kuzak

You leave the gun there on the

ground?. A ticket collector shouts out for
somebody to call the police; the man seems
eager to cooperate with you and puts his
hands up in the air

Keeper

I leave the gun, just say "put your

hands down and come with me", and move
along at a brisk pace. I try to go down some
alleys away from the railroad

John Kuzak

Fortunately for you, Arkham being an

old town has many back ways and the area
around the station as it is near to the river has
many old back alleys once lived in by boat
men but now crumbling into to ruin as they
are too near to the train lines..you make some
distance between you and the station and
then force your captive to duck down in an
old ruined cottage you hear police sirens and
some noise of investigations but after about
20 minutes the sound has died down and you
feel confident the danger has passed.. you
spend the 20 minutes staring at your captive
in silence menacing him with the gun which
he eyes nervously. His noise has the familiar
red stain between the nostrils of a habitual
cocaine user

Keeper

"well, spill it pal, I wanna know

why you're following me. if you don't lie, you
can get out of this alive. and believe me, I can
tell if you're lying"

Look I don't know what I've got myself

into.. I'm just doing a favour for some black
cats that hang out at Fat Maybells in Harlem.
They source my blow and also this new green
stuff you chew, they call it kaht or something!
anyhow they said I did this favour for them or
they'd cut me loose.. told me to follow you,
just see where you went and stuff.. nothing
more.. <Fat Maybells is a speak easy It was
mentioned as a possible connection between
rum smuggling and the Juju house crowd>
Keeper

"have they asked any of your

friends to follow my friends?"
John Kuzak

I don't know.. there is a guy there..

they are all afraid of him.. Mukunga is his
name.. they had me go into a back room to
talk to him.. he is not the kind of man you say
no to.. he just touched me and I felt like my
head would explode if I didn't do what he
wanted.. anyway he said you go with these
men and do what they say or else you will
have no more from us and will see no more
the light of day.. so then they brought me to
the train station and gave me this gun and a
few dollars and point you out to me in the
crowd
Keeper

I followed you to the library and hung outside

your hotel yesterday and then I screwed up
when you came to this town.. you think that
he is telling the truth and is just a patsy.. you
also think he is very scared of this Mukunga
person. The men at the station said.. good if
you tell us where he goes.. better if he doesn't
come back
I'm not a killer mister, as you saw I barely
know how to use a gun.. I've been tweaking so
long my nerves are shot.. you got a drink
mister I need to calm down

John Kuzak

I offer his a cigarette and go

through his wallet
John Kuzak

14

He smokes it greedily his wallet has a

dock workers union card for the name of Joe
Spillane. I don't work there much now days.. I
don't keep regular hours.. but sometimes stuff
falls out the back of a crate and I make sure it
finds an owner if you know what I mean

Keeper

and town and then head over then to the

bungalow of the Prof?
At the address you find the aforementioned
bungalow and knock at the door, which is
soon opened by the following gent and the
appellation of "Howdy mate?"

"no worries Joey, you just go back

to Mukunga and tell him you lost me in
Arkham"

John Kuzak

He also has in a brown bag some

herbs.. you have not seen them before.. it
keeps you up, you chew it

Keeper

Thank you for seeing me Prof.

Cowles. I'm very sorry I missed your lecture in
New York. But I have a problem you might
help me with.
John Kuzak

But as soon as I can, I'll try to call

the rest of the team and send them info on
this Mukuba guy and the Fat Maybells

John Kuzak

Keeper I think I'd rather take my chances and

head over to Chicago.. I'm not going to head
back to NY, only some say that Mukunga can
stick pins in a doll and you are as good as
dead no matter where you are .. I think I
might go and hide in a church until this things
is all over I have some confessing to do
You do what you must... not sure
about pins, but he has some pretty nasty
fellows looking for him... run for a church in
Chicago

John Kuzak

Keeper Perhaps you walk Joe to a bus stop for

a bus to Boston or out of town and make him
buy a ticket and wait until he leaves the bus

Keeper Come on in..The lecture in NY.. pity

you didn't make it, it was such a small crowd
I was otherwise engaged... See, a
friend of mine got murdered in some kind of
dark cultist ritual. Thought you might know
something which could help.
John Kuzak

Keeper cultist ritual .. horrible. I'm an

anthropologist.. don't know much about that..
although funny you mention I have been
reading some books by a fellow called Jackson
Elias.. he is the guy to see if you want to know
about cults
John Kuzak He's the guy who died

Keeper That calls for a drink .. Ewa.. bring in

some brandy!
A pretty young woman of 20 comes in and
gives out to her father that it is still early.. but
15

the Prof.. says after what I've just heard it is

deserved and that she should go away and
leave men to talk this over
Cowles says he collects tales about strange
doings, a hobby which more than once has
gotten him into troubles with University
officials, who see him as keeping bad
company. He says he is sorry but doesn't
know anything about Africa or the bloody
tongue. Cowles believes sorcery exists though
he always wants proof.
He is not sure what the connection between
himself and Elias except for the very tenuous
connection that he had begun to read some of
Elias's books?
I explain that Elias was following
his work and probably wanted to meet him at
his NY lecture, does he see any similarity
between what he's been studying and what
Elias describes in his books? He read the
books to study modern cults to see if that
could help him understand ancient cults

John Kuzak

Keeper I don't think he came to the lecture

after all.. I think I knew nearly everybody who
did. I could repeat the lecture to you if you
want? He seems most eager to do so!
Prof. Anthony Cowles NYU Lecture:
1) A bat cult once existed among the
Aboriginals of Australia. It was known across
the continent, and the god of the cult was
always known as the Father of All Bats.
Adherents believed that by making human
sacrifices to their god they themselves would
become worthy enough that the Father of All
Bats would appear to them. Once he was
enticed to appear, he would conquer all men.
Sacrifices were run through a gauntlet of
worshipers who struck the victims with clubs
embedded with the sharp teeth of bats. The
teeth were coated with a substance derived
from rabid bats. The poison was quick-acting,

but victims apparently went mad before they

died. Leaders of the cult reputedly could take
the forms of bat-winged snakes, enabling
them to steal sacrifices from across the land.
Cowles believes that this cult became
dormant or extinct hundreds of years ago. Its
former existence is the reason that he became
interested in Jackson Elias books about
present-day cults.
2) An Aboriginal song cycle mentions a place
where
enormous
beings
gathered,
somewhere in the west of Australia. The
songs say that these gods, who were not at all
like men, built great sleeping walls and dug
great caves. But living winds blew down the
gods and overthrew them, destroying their
camp. When this happened, the way was
open for the Father of All Bats, who came into
the land, and grew strong.
3) Cowles shows the investigators a set of four
over-exposed glass slides. Each shows a few
sweating men standing beside enormous
blocks of stone, pitted and eroded but clearly
dressed and formed for architectural
purposes. Dim carvings seem to decorate
some. Billows of sand are everywhere.
Though he did not bring the book with him,
Cowles says that the discoverer, one Arthur
MacWhirr of Port Hedland, kept a diary in
which he records several attacks on the party
by Aboriginals. MacWhirr reportedly records
deaths to victims from hundreds of small
punctures, reminiscent of the earlier bat-cult.
4) Cowles tells finally of a tale he collected
from near the Arafura Sea in northern
Australia. In it Sand Bat, or Father of All Bats,
has a battle of wits with Rainbow Snake, the
Aboriginal deification of water and the patron
of life. Rainbow Snake succeeds in tricking and
trapping Sand Bat and his clan into the depths
of a watery place from which Sand Bat can
only complain, and is unable to return to
trouble the people.
16

On the 17th of January Emily Durand decides

to follow up the clue from Jackson's London
notes about the possibility of existence of Dr.
Huston's psychoanalytical notes for Roger
Carlyle. Knowing that such notes would
become the responsibility of the Medical
Affairs Board of the State of New York, Emily
heads over there early Saturday morning,
however the offices are shut with only a
caretaker present. Emily decides to try to
persuade the caretaker that she has taken on
a patient of Dr. Huston who has now gone
missing in a potentially suicidal state and
that she needs access to the notes as they
might reveal where the patient has gone.
Unfortunately she was unable to persuade
the caretaker who said they were
sympathetic but it was more than their job
was worth. Emily decided that the caretaker
was also not open to bribery and decided to
come back Monday morning.
Afterwards Emily decided to research about
Hypatia Masters a friend who had been a
member of the Carlyle Expedition. Emily and
Hypatia had been the only American girls at
a Swiss finishing academy, Hypatia had
been older and took the young Emily under
her wing for the first year of Emily's time
there, thereafter Hypatia finished and
returned to New York, Emily had heard little
about her since. Emily decides to look up
back copies of socialite and gossip
newspapers where Hypatia was bound to
appear. She discovered Hypatia worked as
in visual arts, principally photography and
that her relationship with Roger Carlyle
would seem to be remarkably mostly a
platonic one. Emily also noted the gossip
papers hinted at Roger Carlyle's relationship
instead with a Poet Negress.

down and getting him to invite her to dinner

where she brings up the subject of Hypatia.
Apparently Hypatia pursued a relationship
with Raoul Luis Maria Pinera, a Catholic and a
Marxist studying at NYU
Joo Carvalho playing as Dr. Simon Exton
Despite his arm wound and being interned in
hospital Simon decides to head to the morgue
and ask around if he knows any mortician,
maybe the investigators missed something on
the mangled body of Elias?
Keeper Murder victims (such as Jackson Elias)
and other suspicious deaths are the
responsibility of the New York City Medical
Examiners office which performs all of the
autopsies in the city. This office is
headquartered in Bellevue Hospital and the
remains are retained in the morgue until they
are turned over to families (or other
claimants) so he ended up going to the same
hospital as Simon! As he is to be buried on the
18th he must have already been autopsied
and is probably due to go to undertakers
some time on the 17th. Luckily as a toxicology
researcher you previously worked with the
coroner at Bellevue Dr. Thomas Shreve. When
you go down to the morgue he is still on duty.
You see the old dear with his hands stick in
the cut open chest of a 50 year old woman.
He looks up and says "My dear Simon, to what
do we owe the honour of your presence?"

Emily also noted in the New York Tatler

mention in the company of Hypatia a French
friend of hers, Jean Petain, now living in
New York as a sculptor, who had attended
an academy for boys in Switzerland, at the
same time Emily and Hypatia did. Emily
spends the rest of the afternoon tracking him

17

Dr. Simon Exton My dear chap, the days have been good for you! I'm afraid this visit isn't one for tea
and cookies though. My good friend Jackson Elias was brutally murdered right as I was to meet with
him. As a result one of the bloody darkies that did it cut up my arm good. I was wondering if I could
have a look at him...try and find why anyone would commit such a brutal act on a good man, a
follower of the truth! Will you help me old chap?
Keeper Yes I remember the case it was Thursday night, and I can see you have been hurt terribly, I
hope you are not getting mixed up in the same kind of affair your friend was, I'm afraid we don't
have the body any more, the undertaker just took it away half... an hour ago. But it can't hurt for you
to have a look at the Autopsy report. They cut him up bad they did, just like the other ones, you
were lucky to come away with your life
Dr. Simon Exton Truly they were like beasts, with masks like demons! What has this world come to, I
thought sights like those were left behind in The War...Might I have a look friend?

18

Keeper Those cuts on his forehead were

unusual; my assistant Dr Willis says he had
seen some similar cases so I made a note of
the case numbers on the report. But really
you must let the police deal with this, these
are desperate characters, you would do your
friend no favours if you went and let those
thugs finish off the job they started on you!
Dr. Simon Exton I ask Dr Shreve to look at
case files 46321A and 47718B (as referenced
in Jackson's autopsy report)
Keeper Dr. Shreve goes to get them,
remarking that his assistant Dr Willis noted
the similarities, as he had carried out the
previous autopsies. Also that Lt Poole who is
investigating the case says there may be
more, but the bodies may not have been
handled at Bellevue. The reports show the
killings to be very similar in method and to
have the same symbols carved in their heads
47718B 9/8/24 (note US date format is
month/day/year!)
Richard Ritchie C. Cederecci, Caucasian (28)
from East Harlem (318 E 111th St) found in
the Harlem river
46321A 11/6/24
Rev. Elijah A. Johnson, Black (52) a Harlem
minister
Shiloh Baptist Church 201 W 131st St found in
his Church
Dr. Simon Exton I jot the names down. Can I
head home and attempt a first aid/medicine
check to rest a bit and maybe get an extra hp?
Keeper yeah your arm is killing you, you can
go home and try to rest up, we'll deal with the
healing at the start of the session Sunday
Samuel Foley as Preston Hurst As my
character Preston Hurst studied Archaeology

at Syracuse University I think he is best suited

to find out more information about Sir Aubrey
Penhew from the Carlyle Expedition and the
"Penhew Foundation" which was on the card
from room 410. May be I still know one of my
teachers at Syracuse and I can go ask them
about Penhew?
Keeper Ok, yes Preston is still friendly with Dr.
George Melias at Syracuse, however Syracuse
is in upstate NY and it takes about 4 hours to
get there so you decide you best ring ahead
first and see if you can arrange an interview
But that is what you plan to do in the
morning.. first you need to sleep.. <the
following dream happens only to Sammy as
he was the only to fail a SAN check in room
410 >
"You are pacing back and forth in a hotel
roomit is the Chelsea Hotel! Notes and
papers are spread across your bed and desk,
interspersed with photographs and other bits
of evidence about the Carlyle Expedition. A
glance at the clock reveals it is half past 7. You
are muttering to yourself. What you are
saying is important but you can only hear
snatches of it
grave dangerKrzysztofPreston Emily..Jack
Brady.. Imports and Exports. You feel a great
sense of apprehension and dread. Suddenly
there is a knock at the door. It must be your
friends! You hear yourself saying Finally,
theyre here! and throw the door open.
Instead of your friends you see three men,
two blacks and one white. Suddenly, one of
them strikes you, leaving you stunned. You
regain consciousness to find yourself held fast
by two of the men while the third scores your
forehead with a switchblade. You try to cry
out at the stingbut your voice is lost in a
gag. The blood weeps from the cuts, rivulets
running up and down your forehead as you
swing your head round to see what your
19

tormentors are doing. In a panic you realize

that one man is holding a wickedly sharp
machete, muttering in some strange
language. You struggle with all your might as
you see him raise it up above you but to no
availthere is tremendous, overwhelming
pain as he brings it down, stabbing into your
abdomen. The pain is unbearable and,
begging God to save you, your world goes
dark." Preston wakes up in his sweat filled
bed.
The next morning Preston starts ringing
contacts at Syracuse Uni.. but he fails a Luck
roll and unfortunately Dr. George is at a
Conference in San Francisco and is not
available at this point.
Preston decided to check out the New York
public library. He then failed a Library Use
check. I explained to him the house rule I want
to use (pinched from 7th edition) for falling
forward.. basically if you fail a roll you get to
ask the keeper if you can roll again, if the
keeper can think up a suitably bad occurrence
to happen should you fail a second time then
the keeper may decide to allow the second
roll. The keeper need not warn the player
what the circumstance is, but I warned Sammy
that after his bad nights sleep he was feeling
very drowsy.. I had decided if he failed again
then he was going to fall asleep in the Library
and miss most of the rest of the day. Preston
luckily made his second roll, but doesn't get
an experience tick. Preston shuck off his
sleepiness and spent the rest of the morning
compiling a short biography of Sir Aubrey
Penhew
Sir Aubrey Penhew
Police record: minor infraction while at
Harvard
Military record: Lieutenant with the Yorkshire
Guards, 1901-02, breveted as a Colonel in

British Army Intelligence 1915-16, then retired

because of injury.
Viscount of Pevensey, Colonel (retd.) His
background is readily available in works like
Whos Who and Burkes Peerage. With the
inevitable nimbus of black sheep and
blackguards down through the centuries, the
Penhews trace their nobility from the time of
William the Conqueror, when Sir Boris
Penhew acquired great holdings in the west of
England. With the exception of one Sir Blaize,
who was beheaded for treason and black
magic, the Penhew prosperity and prestige
has been undiminished for eight centuries.
He held title to several stately homes, as well
as mansions in London, the Cotswolds,
Monaco and Alexandria.
He graduated with honors in classics from
Oxford, thereafter working with distinction as
an archaeologist in Egypt, surveying and
performing exploratory excavations amid the
then little known wonders up-river, to the
First Cataract and beyond. As his official
biography notes, Sir Aubrey is credited with
founding several important branches of
Egyptology, and for several important
archaeological discoveries, particularly at
Dhashur.
Though a public figure, his private life is little
known. He was a bachelor, without family or
heirs other than the Penhew Foundation. His
Egyptologist peers hold him in high respect. In
1919 he formed a surprising partnership with
New York playboy millionaire Roger Carlyle.
He disappeared in Kenya along with the other
members of the expedition that same year.
The Penhew Foundation that carries his name
continues his work, funding archeological
research throughout the world.
After a hotdog lunch Preston returned to the
NY public library and decided to now research
20

Roger Carlyle, he compiled a biography and

then attempted to look up more information
on Carlyle's relationship to Jack "Brass" Brady,
but was unable to find information.

Preston started investigating more about the

cult of the bloody tongue. He learns that the
cult is cantered in Kenya. That the central
figure of worship is a three legged spirit with a
large tentacle instead of a head; the spirit is
thought to be not a native spirit. Preston
wants to research more but the library is
closing, so he hides (successfully) in the toilets
while the library shuts and then listens out for
librarians who are restocking the library while
he continues his research.
Preston learns that the cult is ancient, thought
to have been an offshoot of an unnamed cult
driven out of dynastic Egypt. At this point
Preston is caught by a librarian but
successfully persuades the librarian that he
did not notice the library close. Outside the
library he buys a copy of the NY examiner
newspaper because it has an article of the
upcoming Eclipse. He returns to his hotel
room to leave his notes and then goes for a
meal at "Baghdad Nights" an Arab run
restaurant where he makes fast friends with
some of the patrons. Later that night when he
gets back to his hotel room he has the
unnerving sensation that his papers are out of
place.

Roger Vane Worthington Carlyle Born 1895

No police record; no military service. Leader
of the lost Carlyle Expedition. He was
rumoured to be a dissolute playboy and was a
favourite topic of the New York gossip
columns. He had a checkered academic record
with gentleman's resignations from Harvard,
Yale, Princeton, Miskatonic, Cornell and USC,
before finally earning a degree from Groton.
He is said to have pulled himself together
after his parents died in an automobile
accident. It also said however that he relied
heavily on the assistance of his more capable
sister, Erica Carlyle, and his bodyguard, Jack
"Brass" Brady. The Carlyle Expedition,
announced in Spring of 1919 was an abrupt
and unexpected chapter in his escapades.

21

Newspaper article about Eclipse Jan 24th 1925 bought by Preston

22

Miss Hypatia Celestine Masters

Born 1892

Session 2 Harlem
Session played on 15/3/2015
Sunday morning the 18th of January, Preston,
Krzysztof, Simon and Emily attend Jackson's
funeral in the company of Jackson's friend and
publisher Jonah Kensington and Rev.
Lawrence T. ODell, Jr., a minister with the
Seamans Church, in Manhattan. The reading
is Psalm 13.
How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for
ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from
me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
having sorrow in my heart daily? how long
shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and hear me, O LORD my God:
lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of
death;
Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against
him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I
am moved.

No police record; no record of public service.

Hypatia "Patty" Celestine Masters. Heiress to
the Masters armaments fortune. The business
dealings of her grandfather Aldington Masters
were chronicled by the muckraker Nikolai
Steinberg in his work Masters of Corruption.
Went out with Roger Carlyle several times,
but only as a friend. Accompanied the
Expedition as photographer and archivist.
Research reveals that she had no criminal or
public records
Hypatia's grandfather and father farmed out
management to competent businessmen.
Hypatia schooled in France and Swiss and
studied languages and photography, achieving
success with both.
Hypatia dallied with Roger Carlyle on
occasion, but the two were foremost friends.

But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall

rejoice in thy salvation.
I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath
dealt bountifully with me.
During the service Krzysztof and Preston
notice a man, seemingly out of place, enter
and sit at the back of the chapel; Krzysztof
makes his way to sit next to him and whispers
to ask his connection to the deceased.
The man makes an excuse that he means to
attend the next service but Krzysztof
remembers that there is not a service for
some time. The man leaves and Krzysztof
waits a while then follows. The man's
footsteps in the snow make following easy
and Krzysztof follows the trail to a wall and
sees the man being driven off in a car on the
other side of the wall, he notes the licence
23

plate. Preston leaves at the end of the service

and notices another man in the cemetery car
park taking note of the investigators car
registration plates. Preston hurries down to
the car park to talk to the man who tries to
rush off, Preston tries but fails to jump on to
the car but also takes note of the car
registration.
The characters decide to visit Lt. Poole (the
police man in charge of the Elias murder) and
see if they can get him to look up car
registrations. Lt. Poole says that he looked
into Juju house and thinks that they are
involved in something but not the murder of
Jackson as his occult specialist Dr. Mordecai
Lemming, is sure that the symbol carved in
the victims head is a Santera symbol and so
the murders will be Spanish speakers not
Swahili speakers as the community around
Juju house is.
Lt. Poole mentions that the Prohibition
Bureau once had a lead connection Juju house
and rum smuggling but that the informant
was unreliable, he gave Agent Kale as a lead
there. Lt. Poole checked up the car
registration but of course could not give that
to the investigators; however he was suddenly
called away on police business and left the
paper on his desk. The investigators looked at
it and saw that one of the cars (the one of the
man who sent over the wall) was stolen; the
other belonged to a PI by the name of Finlay
Patterson
The characters split into 2 groups, one group
visit Agent Kale and the Bureau, the other
track down Finlay Patterson. The latter group
(Preston and Krzysztof) find Finlay in his run
down offices where he admits to be trailing
the investigators because a wealthy client of
his would want to make sure that such sordid
events such as the Elias murder do not reflect
bad on the client and that events that have
been settled long ago remain as they are.

The group suspect Erica Carlyle (or even

Roger!) to be the client.
At the Bureau, Emily and Simon talk to Agent
Kale.

Discovering that the agent had a weakness for

tales involving satanic forces and the duty of
God fearing Christians to battle against it
manage to convince him to tell what he
knows about the Juju house informant.
The Bureau arrested one Bennington J.
Conway, in a raid on a speak-easy "The Kitty
Kat" in November. Conway was found in
possession with intent to supply with 3 barrels
of rum. Conway attempted to bargain his way
out of the arrest by providing information
implicating Juju house as a location of rum
smuggling but once he started speaking he
couldn't shut up and the less sense he made..
with tales of orgies and vile sacrifices obvious
proof of his insanity and he was transferred
into the custody of Bellevue Psychiatric
Pavilion, where he remains in January of 1925.
His testimony was considered unusable..
The group now visit Bellevue Psychiatric
Pavilion where Dr. Simon and Dr. Emily obtain
access. Bennington is clearly mad and is kept
calm by the hospital by being allowed to
indulge his habit of hunting and consuming
insects. He begs for a kitten, he has to offer a
life you see.

24

She also asks if Artie could suggest suitable

bodyguards as she felt her life to be in danger.
Artie recommends an ex-cop by the name of
Willard Webster.

When convinced that Emily and Simon are

members of the Cult of the bloody tongue he
starts talking about how he had been seeking
"the good stuff" and they led him below to
the sound of much drums and he go to see
the many faces and endless screaming and he
had a choice to could become part of it or he
could take another life. In his babbling the
group realize that Bennington is most likely
responsible for the murder of Rev. Elijah A.
Johnson. Bennington is enraged that he has
not yet received his kitten and tries to
strangle Dr. Simon, but an orderly intervenes
and Bennington scuttles over to hide in the
corner of his cell.
Earlier in the day Emily also hired a PI by the
name of Artie Rathlin to investigate the links
between the rum trade and Juju house.
<Keepers note Artie is introduced here as an
NPC, but becomes a PC played by Rui Bia in
the next session>

That evening Emily when returns to her

apartment she finds a pair of black child's
shoes tied to her door. She had previously
bought the same shoes for a street urchin
Timothy who had looked after the groups car
in Harlem. Emily sleeps the night at Simon's
apartment (he chivalrously sleeps on the
couch) but her sleep is plagued with dreams
where she is Timothy and being held blindfold
somewhere and angry men come and bind
her/him by the wrists to the end of a stick
almost like a fishing pole, she/he is brought
like that to a well that is covered by a stone
lid, the stone lid is raised by chains and as it is
raised loud screams rise from the depths..
Emily then wakes up in bed screaming!

25

Below is a photo of Jean Pierre Ptain, a suitor

of Emilys, who featured in this session but
somehow never made it in the write up.

Monday the 19th of January sees the group's

Doctors going to the Medical Affairs Board to
look for the psychoanalytic files of Dr. Huston
(Carlyle expedition member and analyst for
Roger)
They also find Hustons file for Rogers sister
Erica Carlyle which details a few innocuous
consultations for which he charged her an
outrageous $90 each, and establishes that she
was troubled by her relations with her
brother. Huston believed Erica to be of
remarkably fine character, and notes that he
not often saw such capable adjustment to the
problems of living. He suggested to her that
he would be glad to talk to Roger. Evidence is
also found that points to Dr. Huston carrying
out an inappropriate affair with a patient
Imelda Bosch who later went on to kill herself.
Dr. Hustons notes on Roger
First Meeting: Jan. 11, 1918
Reference: Erica Carlyle

At his sisters insistence, Mr. Roger Vane

Worthington Carlyle visited me this morning.
He deprecates the importance of his state of
mind, but concedes that he has had some
trouble sleeping due to a recurring dream in
which he hears a distant voice calling his
name. (Interestingly the voice uses Mr.
Carlyles second given name, Vane, by which
Mr. Carlyle admits he always thinks of
himself.) Carlyle moves towards the voice,
and has to struggle through a web-like mist in
which the caller is understood to stand.
The caller is a mantall, gaunt, dark. An
inverted ankh blazes in his forehead.
Following the Egyptian theme (C. has no
conscious interest in things Egyptian, he says),
the man extends his hands to C., his palms
held upward. Pictured on his left palm C.
discovers his own face, on the right palm C.
sees an unusual, asymmetric pyramid.
The caller then brings his hands together, and
C. feels himself float off the ground into
space. He halts before an assemblage of
monstrous figures, figures of humans with
animal limbs, with fangs and talons, or no
particular shape at all. All of them circle a
pulsating ball of yellow energy, which C.
recognizes as another aspect of the calling
man. The ball draws him in; he become part
of it, and sees through eyes not his own. A
great triangle appears in the void, asymmetric
in the same fashion as the vision of the
pyramid. C. then hears the caller say, And
become with me a god. As millions of odd
shapes and forms rush into the triangle, C.
wakes. C. does not consider this dream a
nightmare, although it upsets his sleep. He
says that he revels in it and that it is a genuine
calling, although my strong impression is that
he actually is undecided about it. An inability
to choose seems to characterize much of his
life.

Closest Relative: Erica Carlyle

26

September 18, 1918. He calls her MWeru,

Anastasia, and My Priestess. He is obsessive
about her, as well he might beexterior
devotion is certainly one way to ease the
tension of megalomaniacal contradictions.
She is certainly a rival to my authority.
December 3, 1918. If I do not go C. threatens
exposure. If I do go, all pretence of analysis
surely will be lost. What then will be my role?
Monday the 19th also saw Preston and
Krzysztof taking the subway over to Harlem
and venturing over to the Juju house,
however on reaching ransom court they spot
eyes watching them from windows and
become spooked and decide that going
there as so few was unwise and head back
to the subway instead. As they are going
down into the subway, the majority of people
are coming out and Preston is grabbed
unnoticed by two men who try to silence him
but fail, alerted by Preston's shouts
Krzysztof pulls out Simons wartime souvenir
Luger pistol and shouts to the men to drop
Preston.

into the train but Preston has the doors slam

shut in his face. Preston is soon
apprehended by the police and taken away
for questioning.
Krzysztof meets up with Dr. Simon at
Prospero press who stitches him up and is
then contacted by Preston as his one
allowed phone call, who says that the police
encourage him to give himself up or for
Preston's story of shooting by self-defence
to be discounted.
Krzysztof does so and they are interrogated
until Lt. Poole turns up and vouches for the
pair. He says that the case will be turned
over to the coroner and prosecution services
but that strong ground for self-defence
exists. However he feels that the group
should stop their investigations, that they will
end up getting themselves killed that they
are mixing with the wrong people for the
wrong reasons and they should leave this to
the professionals. Lt. Poole tells Preston and
Krysztof they will spend the night in the
police lock up for their own protection and
for them to think about the situation
carefully. Officially they are being held for
extra questioning

The men instead attempt to run up the

subway stairs with him. Krzysztof shoots
both men, downing one of them, the other
turns and leaps at Krzysztof with a knife and
stabs him in the abdomen. However Preston
also brought a gun and he pulls it out and
shoots the assailant dead in the back.
Fearing more attackers and having to
explain what happened, Preston and
Krzysztof run down into the subway, jump
the ticket barriers and run toward a waiting
subway train. Krzysztof is lucky and makes it

27

Following the shooting New York's finest take Preston into custody at 137th street subway
station

Session 3 How long shall mine

enemy be exalted over me
Session played on 4/4/2015
Artie Rathlin Investigates: Still on Monday the
19th of January P.I. Artie Rathlin having been
hired by Emily Durant to investigate rum
smuggling from Juju house heads over to
Ransom Court on the corner of 137th and
Lennox av. There he notices a disturbance at
Lennox Av. subway entrance that the police
seem to be attending to. He also notices his
friend and professional colleague Finn
Patterson walking away from the crowd and
hails him and suggests they get a drink
together.

Finn professes to be mightily in need of a

drink and the two P.I.s are soon settled into a
speakeasy. Finn says he has a steady
employer now but that job has had him have
to trail some people who were up to strange
things and who were then assaulted before
turning on and killing their assailants. The
disturbance on the street earlier was his
targets being arrested. Artie asks Finn if he
knew of Juju House and Finn says that was
where it looked as if his targets were going
before they seemed to think twice and turned
back to the subway and were attacked. Artie
asked Finn if he though their two cases were
linked, Finn though maybe but he could not
say who his patron was. When Finn left, Artie
decided to trail after him. Finn left and went 2
blocks and entered a diner where he went
into one of a pair of telephone booths at the
back. Artie made his way over to the other
unnoticed and listened at the partition and
28

overheard Finn asking the operator for

Bradley Grey and then give Mr Grey an
account of what had happened outside the
subway.
Later Artie checks out Ransom Court but Juju
house was now closed, Artie notices that the
only other entrance to the square is the back
door of an abandoned pawn shop and that
the court is overlooked by many windows
from surrounding tenement houses. Artie
enters one of the tenement houses to see if
he can stake out the store, passing by some
suspicious looking men hanging around the
front door. He goes up one of the stairwells
but is challenged by one of the residents as to
why he was there, Artie claims he is just a
homeless person looking for somewhere
warm.. the man tells him to find some other
place.. descending an old woman asks him in
to eat something out of charity but Artie
blows it there and is asked to leave by scaring
the old lady by saying he was homeless
because he burnt down his own house!!! On
leaving the tenement Artie is asked by one of
the men by the front door if he wants to buy
something, Artie says yes and buys some
green leaves in a bag from the man for $1,
("Its new, you chew it, it will keep you up all
night"), he asks the man (Luis) where was
good here to get a rum, Luis says that Fat
Maybelles is the best for rum.

from behind and try to drag him to a back

room, one of them tries to use a blackjack on
Artie, Artie manages to get his arm free and
pulls his gun. Two armed men then come out
of the back room and Artie threatens to shoot
the man who is holding him, after a Mexican
standoff situation, Artie backs to the door and
manages to flee and lose his pursuers.
Deciding he has earned his 15$ for today,
Artie makes his way back to his car and then a
cold unwelcoming home.

Artie locates and heads to Fat Maybelles, he

has to go down some steps to a cellar
entrance, he knocks at the door and a small
security door slides back to show the face of
the eponymous Fat Maybelle. Artie is let in
and buys rum, he then talks with Maybelle
and tries to make out that he is working for
the Italian mob, for "Fat Tony", and wants to
buy a large quantities of rum from her. But
Maybelle doesn't seem to believe him ("he is
a mick not an eye-tie, micks are all with the
pigs") and two large black men grab Artie

29

On the evening of the 19th, Preston Hurst and

Krzysztof Polanski are in the lock up of the
main Manhattan police station. They share
their cell with a failed car thief Danny Kemp
("the damn car broke down on me.. what is
the luck in that!") they are then joined by
another person Wayne Barton.. who is in for
assault.. he is in his early 30's is a nervous
man who sit on his bed and talks little and as
the evening goes on seems to break into a
sweat and start to sicken a bit. The prisoners
are brought to a canteen area for diner (slop
on a meal plate), and when returning
Krzysztof notices something under his
mattress, he pulls it back and finds a small
wooden humanoid figure carved in black
wood and African tribal style, instead of a
head it has a tentacle. Preston notices that
Wayne seems very worried by Krzysztof's
discovery, but when accused of having
planted it under Krzysztof's mattress he
denies having ever seen it before. Krzysztof
calls out to the warden who confiscates the

statue and tells them to shut up and that it is

light out in 10 minutes. During the night
Wayne starts getting violently sick and
eventually he is taken away to the infirmary.

The next morning when Emily, her new

bodyguard Willard Webster and Jonah
Kensington go to the Police station to see
Preston and Krzysztof released they see a
crowd of protesters from the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) they are protesting about
police indifference to the murders of black
people. The investigators find out from Lt.
Poole that Preston and Krzysztof are not to be
released today as 2 witnesses have come
forward (Wayne Glenn and Grover Dennis)
saying that Preston and Krzysztof attacked
first and shouted out beforehand.. "This is for
our friend Jackson, you Negros had better stay
in Harlem in future"
The investigators end up talking to Raymond
Pace Alexander Lawyer of the NAACP who has
30

learned through contacts that there is to be a

possible acquittal or bail, he is new and keen
having taking over in the position from the
murdered Rev. Elijah A. Johnson.

The investigators explain that their friend was

murdered by the same people who killed the
Reverend. Raymond confesses that he has
little regard for the new witnesses who are in
his opinion low lives, but feels he must still act
to protect his community from police
indifference unless some other trusted
witness was to come forward.
Artie meets up with Emily and party at
Prospero press where he tells of his
investigations yesterday. The group come up
with a two part plan: 1) to investigate the
name Bradley Grey and 2) to go to the
prohibition bureau and their contact there
Agent Kale and tell him that the drugs that
Artie bought were actually bought at Fat
Maybelle's
At the Manhattan Prohibition Bureau Emily
and Artie meets up Agent Kale, everybodys
favourite secret fundamentalist crazy. They
leave their quite confident that Fat Maybelle's
will soon receive a visit from the bureau

the group decide to pay him a visit. At his

plush office the receptionist is less then
helpful but it is obvious that Bradley is in his
office having an argument with a woman.
Soon the door opens and an elegant young
woman is at the door talking back into the
office, Bradley that is the last time you act on
my behalf without my direct instructions.
Emily guesses the woman to be Erica Carlyle
the sister of the doomed expedition leader
Roger. Emily greets Erica and says that they
had a friend in common Hypatia Masters..
"lets do lunch sometime"

"I never cared for Hypatia much so I am afraid

that is not reason enough for us to socialize".
Artie and Emily continue to ask question of
Erica until Erica remembers where she had
heard Emily's name before. "Bradley, bring
me that list of the names of people you had
trailed without my permission".. yes you are
on it, I thought so, I apologize for my lawyer
he is over zealous sometimes. "But it is all
perfectly legal, I can assure you" says Mr.
Grey.

Looking up Bradley Grey in a phone book

brings up the address of a prominent lawyer;
31

The group come clean and admit that they are

investigating the disappearance of her brother
which is the remaining legacy of their friend
and who lost his life in the investigation.
Bradley Grey points out that many people
have tried to profit from Rogerss
disappearance and this group are just the
same and know as little as previous attempts,
by their own fault their investigations have
brought them foolishly into danger and that
they would just damage the reputation of the
family. Erica remains uninterested until the
group say that Jackson had talked in Nairobi
to somebody who had talked to Jack Brady at
a date after the Carlyle group was supposed
to have been murdered. At which point Erica
opens up to the group.

talked Roger into the expedition, as an

attempt to show the difference between the
reality of Egypt and the fiction of his dreams,
but feels that it was that Negro Woman who
caused Roger to lose his grasp of reality..
Emily asks if her name is Anastasia?, Erica
replied that it could be. To Erica, Rogers
entanglement with a colored woman only
indicated how depraved his tastes had
become. After the Negro Woman came to rule
Rogers lifeErica has no idea how Roger
came to meet her he spent much time in
Harlem dives, Roger said that the Negro
Woman was queenly, a priestess, and that she
held secrets which he must have.
For a while Erica encouraged the African
expedition, supposing that when there Roger
would see that the Negro Woman and her
tales were mumbo-jumbo but now feels guilty
in that the expedition was obviously just
another attempt for people to take money
from Roger and that by the bad luck of being
in the wrong place at the wrong time they all
died needlessly in Kenya.

Erica talks about Jack Brass Brady: saying he

was fanatically loyal to Roger, and someone
whom Roger could always trust. In California,
Carlyles lawyers had saved Brady from
certain conviction of murder. Erica wants to
see the evidence that says Brady could still be
alive, perhaps Roger could still be, life has
been better with him gone, but she misses
him terribly too.

The investigators are keen to see Roger's

books, Erica is not sure if that is possible,
Emily notes how she is also a psychotherapist
and could help Erica come to terms with the
loss of her brother, eventually it is agreed that
the group will go out for lunch to Erica's
Winchester county estate tomorrow to
discuss things further. Artie asks if Finn could
be persuaded to testify to having seen the
attack on Preston and Krzysztof and discredit
the other testimonies. Erica tells Bradley to
make it so and to help out the group. So with
Bradleys help and Finn's testimony the two
prisoners are soon set free.

Roger began to have strange dream involving

Egypt and would scream and wake up. He also
had some old books he would endlessly read.
Erica recommended that Roger visit Dr.
Robert Huston. She believes that Huston

Tuesday the 20th 1925: The party spend

some time fruitlessly trying to find out more
information about Wayne Barton and later
Artie goes to talk further to Finn Patterson.
Finn admits that Bradley Grey has had him
32

research Juju house further to make sure it

had no embarrassing links to Roger or the
Carlyle family. He was not able to find any link
but says when he talked and offered cartons
of cigarettes to people living in the nearby
tenements they admitted that once a week
strange people and foreigners go into the
shop very late at night, more then would
seem to fit in the small shop. Odd noises are
occasionally heard at those times. The party
decide that tonight is the night that they are
going to find out what is happening in Juju
house.

After Artie and Emily convince her bodyguard

Willard that this needs to be done and that
sometimes the law has to be taken into their
own hands the group set out in 2 cars to
Harlem at 2am. The plan is to park them near
the entrance to the Pawnshop that abuts Juju
house but also has an entrance to 138th
street so that they can avoid the very visible
entrance of Ransom court by breaking into
the pawnshop and seeing if it is possible to
get into Juju house from it. After checking that
the coast was clear Artie tries to pick the lock

of the pawn shop, but finds the pressure of

the moment is too much for him and he can't
get the lock open. Willard goes back to his car
and gets a crowbar, "Ahem, you'll be needing
this" The door is soon open, the party inside
and the door pinned shut again.

Inside the pawnshop is totally empty, no sign

can be seen of any cellar and the party feel
too nervous to try going out the back door
into Ransom court so it is decided to attack
the walls until it is possible to get into the
neighbouring shop. This takes about 3 hours.
Preston Hurst is the first to squeeze into the
Juju house, almost knocking over some tribal
drums in the process, nobody seems to be in
the shop and soon the rest of the party are in.
Krzysztof soon finds a trapdoor under a rug
behind the counter.

33

wood are more symbols, this time much

stranger in appearance.

Artie has more luck on this door despite its

tougher lock. Beyond the door is a chamber,
with a fifteen foot ceiling. All surfaces are of
dressed stone. .Torches in wall niches light the
ceremonial chamber. A curtain covers the far
wall. At the centre of each wall are large
African drums. Two long, stout poles jut from
the entry door wall. Leather thongs dangle
from the poles. In the centre of the room is an
eight-foot-diameter pit, covered by a thick
stone block. A large pulley lifts the heavy
block.

Lifting the trap door and laying it back on its

hinges reveals a set of stairs barely wide
enough for one person. The steep stairs lead
downward nearly twenty feet. These stairs
end in a corridor fifteen feet long, which in
turn stops at a stout door. Walls, ceiling, and
floor of this corridor are stone. The ceiling is
eight feet above the floor. Cut into the stone
slabs are arcane tribal symbols. An unlit
kerosene lantern hangs from the centre of the
corridor. The door at the end of the corridor is
oak reinforced with iron strips. Cut into the

The party spread out to quickly explore the

chamber as it is now 5:30am. Preston was
walking passed the red curtain when an oddly
decayed arm reaches out and tries to grab
34

him, this causes the curtain to part and the

torches of the investigators to reveal four
shuffling human forms that are clearly
zombies with runes carved into their heads
similar to that carved into Jackson's head.

The four undead creatures shuffle out from

the alcove and attack, Krzysztof tries to run
forward to fend the creature off of Preston
but to no avail. The zombies are armed with
machetes and one of them manages to catch
Preston on the arm who then falls to the
ground in shock. Krzysztof picks up Preston's
gun and flees for his life. Meanwhile Emily,
Artie and Willard open fire on the creatures,
who seem to be largely resistant to the bullet
damage, only the skilled shooting of Willard
manages to stop the advance of the living
dead.
Behind the zombies was an alcove that had a
large chest and a shelf with some items

wrapped in a leopard skin. On a peg hangs a

long feathered shawl of shimmering colour
and a set of gauntlets that have animal claws
attached to them. Wrapped in the Leopard
skin is the Harvard library copy of AFRICAS
DARK SECTS, a copper bowl etched with
unrecognizable runes and signs, a carved
sceptre, an African devil mask carved of wood
and a headband of grey metal.

Preston is back on his feet having been

attended to by Emily and is spooked out by
Willard saying he can hear some moaning
from the chest (the rest of the party
somewhat deafened by the gunshots in such
an enclosed space) Preston pleads with the
party to shoot into the chest, it is clearly
something horrific! However when the chest
is opened it turns out to be a bound and
drugged Timothy!

Timothy is picked up and carried from the

alcove and all the items from the alcove are
placed in bags and taken. Passing by the stone
covered pit, the party hear more human cries
and moans from within and thinking that
35

there could be more people trapped down the

pit work the pulley to lift the stone block
cover. When they do so the crying sound
becomes very intense and the group are
stunned into inaction. Willard rushes forward
to shine his lantern down into the pit but
when he does so he falls back covering his
face. "We must burn this foul place, burn it all
down!" the group let the lid fall closed again
and Willard later describes what he saw as
being a large creature composed of dozens of
human faces set into a thickly cylindrical,
worm-like mass of sickly, purple-veined
muscle. The group find some torch oil and
dose everything flammable and leave with
Timothy through the pawn brokers and out
into the now snowy early morning and take
the cars back to Emily's apartment.
Note to Joo Carvalho: the excuse we gave for
Dr. Simon not playing was that he caught
septicaemia in his wounded arm and on the
night of the 18th had to be admitted to
hospital. Doctors really do make the worst
patients!. He will be clear of the septicaemia
and with arm fully healed when you can next
play with us. The other investigators sent
flowers. Joo Pedro Nunes: John Kuzak was
delayed returning from Boston as the trains
were cut because of heavy snowfall in the
Boston area. Talking of snowfall, I forgot to
mention to the players, as the group was
leaving the pawn shop it was already snowing
heavily. When you are back at Emily's
apartment as dawn breaks you can see the
snow is coming down heavier then you have
ever seen. Today (the 20th) is going to be a
snow day.

Back at her apartment, Emily attends to

Timothy's many small wounds; he remains in
a semi-conscious state. Preston recognizes
some Arabic calligraphy on the copper bowl
that identifies it as being "bringer of dreams"
and "copper from above, Preston places the
headband on his head to no apparent effect.
Krzysztof places the wooden mask on his face
disturbingly it adheres like a living thing and
clutches the face of Krzysztof, who cannot
remove the mask, the others try to help, and
call Emily who leaves Timothy in the care of
Willard. She also cannot get the mask off.
Krzysztof ceases to struggle. After fifteen
seconds his pupils expand to fill the eye
sockets! After thirty seconds like that the
mask falls away and Krzysztof stares at the
rest of the group pale faces and with startled
eyes.. he screams out "She is in us, in us all" ,
when asked who he replies "Shub-Niggurath,
the black goat of the woods with a thousand
young!" When he has calmed down a bit he
36

recounts how he had the following dream like

vision: Krzysztof found himself on the edge of
a pool of bubbling, primordial muck, out of
which eyes, lips, limbs, and grotesque sexual
organs continually boil and recede. The pool is
oily and glistens with a polychromatic sheen.
Occasionally, small obscene entities capable
of self-locomotion arise out of the pool, and
frantically attempt to swim, run, or fly to the
shore. Most fail, as great muddy tentacles
form to drag them back under, but a few
reach Krzysztof and run past. Most are
disturbingly eyeless. Suddenly, the shore
begins to sink, the pool advances from all
sides. Krzysztof soon finds himself on a small
island rapidly shrinking even as he watches.
When the muck reaches his feet, thousands
and thousands of eyes sprout from the pool
and all simultaneously swivel to stare at him.
Krzysztof is extremely distressed by this
vision.
Keepers notes: This mask is campaign gold,
they stuck it in a trunk and forgot about it for
ages, but later on from Shanghai onwards it
found its way back into the story in a big way!

37

Session 4 Hole in the world like a

great black pit
Session played on 19/4/2015
Wednesday the 21st of January 1925.
Trapped in Emilys apartment by the falling
snow, which turns rapidly to blizzard and too
agitated to rest, the investigators spend their
time checking in on the still sleeping Timothy,
drinking "Canadian" bourbon and studying the
recovered book "Africa's Dark Sects". The
enormity of what the characters have recently
witnessed and the horrors recorded by
Blackwell in his work come crushing down on
their psyches, it is too much for Krzysztof who
takes advantage of Preston's recounting of his
time being tortured by the Yazidi in the Arab
revolt 1917 to slip out of the apartment into
the frosty morning, leaving behind a simple
note on a business card: "This has gone too
far, I cannot do this anymore, Don't follow
me, I will contact you if I want to be involved
again."
Meanwhile, propelled by a sensation his has
been away from New York for too long, John
Kuzak makes his way by hitching lifts with

road crews and even hiking overnight from

Boston to Emily's New York apartment,
through the snow!
Willard comes rushing from the spare room
where Timothy is sleeping. "The boy is
waking!"
As the characters enter the small room
Timothy awakes and starts asking "where am
I?, Who are you? Take me to see my
grandmother" The investigators comfort him
and answer his questions and say that they
can't bring him to find his grandmother until
he has recovered and the snow clears up. He
suddenly acts confused and then repeats
some of his questions, "where am I?", "You
are the shoe lady!" Emily notes that in
between his bout of confusion he seemed to
undergo some change of personality, she also
notes he is suffering from Post-Traumatic
Stress syndrome.
He tells how he was grabbed by some men
who offered him chocolate when playing on
his own near Ransom court, they took his new
shoes, he is very happy when Emily shows him
the shoes again.
38

The men tied him to a pole by his wrists; he

was forced to see something terrible with
many eyes and faces in a pit. The old man
from the shop said that when the moon ate
the sun Timothy was to become part of the
creature and that Timothy should feel himself
lucky.

heavily again and John Kuzak and Artie make a

simple meal of corned beef and beans for
everybody, including Timothy who is feeling
well enough to be out of bed. After the meal
Artie plays a tune on his harmonica and
Willard decides to teach the boy some chess.

Most of the time they pushed a rag in his face

and he went to sleep. Some of the people in
that basement did not look right, they just
stood there, and they smelled bad. There was
one kind man, he came to see him a few
times, his name was Mukunga, and he
brought food and water. He said that the
others were bad men and that one day soon
when there were no others around he was
going to free Timothy. Did they rescue
Mukunga too?
Once outside the spare room John Kuzak tells
the other characters that he recognises the
name Mukunga, a cultist that was tailing him
in Arkham said he was the one they took
orders from and were all afraid of.
The rest of the day passes, the electricity goes
out occasionally and up to two foot of snow
has fallen and it is obvious the characters
won't be able to meet Erica Carlyle at her up
state residence as previously arranged, so
they call her and speak to her butler who
mentions that Erica had mentioned she had
expected they would not be able to make it
and that they should reschedule, good news
she discovered the combination to her
brothers locked safe as a note in his edition of
the collected works of Poe.

Soon after dusk, the lights go out again but

some candles and the torches are found.
While Timothy is in the toilet, Preston hears
Timothy speaking to himself in some strange
language, picks up a lantern and goes to
investigate, Emily also hears from where she
is studying in her office and picks up her
shotgun.
At that moment the toilet door opens and
Timothy stumbles out falls to the ground,
above him a rip in reality seems to appear, a
hole in the world like a great black pit, and
from the rip flies out a large black flying
serpent horror with sharp teeth and a form
that shifts and changes and is hard to view.

When the snow lets up for a while Emily

leaves to meet her friend Jean Pierre at a
nearby coffee house. Artie Ratlin, being
suspicious of Jean Pierre, attempts to follow
them but instead slips on ice and crashes into
some trash cans. Once all back at the
apartment the snow starts to come down
39

As the characters in the living room look on in

shock, the enormous ropy, black single batlike winged worm grabs up Timothy with his
mouth and swallows him whole. The 40 foot
long horror is coiled up in the corridor outside
the toilet, near the front door separating the
living room and kitchen from the sleeping
areas and office. Emily is separated to the rear
of the creature; Artie is in the kitchen, the rest
are in the living room. Emily drops her lantern
which breaks and blasts at it with her
shotgun, however most of her shotgun pellets
seem to scatter off the creature's thick hide.
Willard also stands up and tries to shoot at
the creature but his bullet bounces off the
creature barely marking it. Preston stands
still, frozen in shock mealy holding his lantern,
illuminating the creature.

it then discards his ineffectual gun and pulls

out his knife
The horror lurches forward to bite Preston but
seems to be repelled when the beam of light
from Preston's lantern by chance shines in its
bulbous eyes, instead it lurches around and
tries to bite at Emily but misses, its tail tries to
grab at Willard but he dodges out of the way.
Artie comes running from the kitchen
clutching a bottle of whiskey, sees gun shots
are ineffectual, drops his gun and sticks a
candle in the end of the bottle to make an
improvised Molotov cocktail

John Kuzak seems much affected by the sign

of Timothy's demise and screams semicoherently at the creature and shots wildly at

40

Artie picks up John and goes to Preston who is

still motionless in front of the apartment
door, thinking to save Preston by pushing him
out of the apartment, Artie opens the main
door only to see 3 people there, one of them,
a Caucasian man in a cheap suit trying to pick
the lock, the other the old black owner of the
juju shop and the third an intense powerful
looking back man who is gesticulating and
making strange gestures.

Emily shoots her shotgun, seemly more

effective this time and runs into her office
slamming the door shut
John Kuzak rushes at the creature which grabs
him in its tail as he ineffectually stabs it, the
tail coils around and John is propelled toward
it head and it's many teeth, the creature bites
savagely at John and drops him to the ground
apparently dead.
Artie throws his whiskey Molotov at the beast
and hits it right in between the jaws, the
bottle bursts and catches into flames, and this
distresses it.
The horror pursues Emily to her office
destroying the door and part of the wall in the
process, seeing herself cornered, Emily blows
out the window in her office and climbs out
the window on to the exterior brickwork of
her 4th floor apartment.
Artie at this point has rushed to John and has
managed to stop the bleeding from the bite
wound
Willard has fallen back to the kitchen and
manages to improvise a torch from a brush
handle and some table protectors, he lights it
from the gas oven.

The lock picker pulls a gun out and tries to

shoot Artie, the old man readies a machete
and the sorcerer starts incanting. Artie just
slams the door in their face and drags the
catatonic and injured away from the door.
Meanwhile the horror is trying to demolish
the wall between the office and the living
room and seems to eye the mask and other
occult materials on the living room table,
Willard comes rushing in with his improvised
torch and rams it into the eye of the creature
with such force that the creatures eye
explodes! green ichor splatters everywhere,
the creature is able to grab hold of the mask
with its tail and with its head it bares down on
a retreating Willard, who finds himself
cornered by the window and running out of
options and avoids the horrors jaws by diving
through the window and plunge the four
floors to the ground. He is buried deep into
the snow, which starts to turn red.
41

Emily climbs down two stories but then slips

and falls the rest of the way, but only hurts
herself slightly, the snow protecting her.
The cultist with the gun shoots out the door
lock and the sorcerer Mukunga casts a spell
that hits Artie in the abdomen and causes it to
blacken and die, Artie is wounded but still
walking slowly carrying John to safety. Preston
seems to return to his senses in time for the
old man to rush at him with the machete, the
white cultist rushes in and places the occult
items in a bag. Mukunga enters the
apartment and receives the Mask from the
horror. Preston and Artie shoot their guns at
the old man and the sorcerer, both fall, the
cultist with the bag tries to flee from the
apartment but Preston runs after him. When
the sorcerer fell to the ground, the horror
seemed to turn on him and grabbed at his leg
pulling him into the air as it flew out the
window and into the snowy sky, now free
from control it consumed its failed master.
Preston shoots down the stairs at the
remaining cultist who drops.

shooting stopped to come out and see what

happened, a story is passed off of how
robbers tried to burgle Emilys apartment, but
unluckily for the burglars Emily was hosting
her local NRA meet and then there was an
explosion and John got bit by a dog or
something ;) luckily there is enough time,
because of the snow before the police (and
ambulance) come for the investigators to
arrange things and make the story straight.
The next day the characters who are not in
hospital ring Erica Carlyle and talk again to her
Butler to discover that Ericas staff are
worried for her, she has apparently spent all
night reading the books and it refusing to
allow anyone to enter the library or to allow
anyone to bring her dinner or breakfast. Emily
says that she is a trained psychoanalyst and
will attend immediately. She manages to drive
out there despite the difficult state of the
roads and at Ericas mansion find her ready to
feed all Rogers occult tomes into a large fire..
The evil is in the books, it passes from mind
to mind, and the books must be destroyed!
Emily was able to persuade Erica that there
was some hope that Roger might still be alive,
as it seems his most loyal bodyguard Jack was
still alive according to Jacksons evidence and
that the books were needed by the group to
follow the leads that might lead to Roger.
Erica agrees for Emily to take the books from
her house.

Preston decides that since he is still officially a

suspect in the subway shooting a few days
earlier he had better leave post haste, Emily
rushes over and manages to save Willards
life, he is close to death and will need many
weeks hospitalization. John is also made
stable and gains consciousness again.
To avoid unnecessary questions, when the
neighbours have courage enough after the
42

London
Session 5 Tired of London, Tired of
Life
Session played on 1/5/2015
Monday Feb the 16th 1925. Early in the
morning the RMS Mauretania docks into
Southampton
and
the
investigators
disembark, Emily has had her Type S
Mercedes brought over with her at great cost
and she waits for it to be unloaded. The
investigators split up as loaded with her
luggage there is little room in the car bucket
seats for the other investigators. Emily drives
to London and the others take the train, they
agree to meet up later after Emily has booked
into the Savoy and the others are settled into
the Great Southern Hotel near to London
Waterloo station.
Once settled into their hotels and
acclimatized to strange currency (20 shillings
to a pound, 12 pennies to a shilling), the
driving on the wrong side of the road, the
constant tea and the fog, the characters
decide to check out Inspector Barrington of
New Scotland yard. Jonah Kensington,

Jackson's publisher had mentioned the

Inspector as being a person Jackson had
talked to in London. When the investigators
set out for New Scotland Yard the fog comes
down so thick that the investigators are
grateful of the glow of the police station's
blue light to guide them.

In the station they ask for an interview with

Inspector Barrington and say that they are
following up on a meeting their friend Jackson
Elias had with the inspector. Barrington only
opens up when the investigators admit that
Jackson was killed in a cult related murder, he
says that he is in charge of an investigation
that the more unscrupulous newspapers have
taken to call "The Egyptian murders"so
called because seventeen of the dead were
native to Egypt, all brutally murdered in a
43

ritualistic fashion. Jackson Elias told him that

the murders were ritual killings by the
Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh, an
Egyptian death cult, the inspector could not
confirm the suspicions. When told how
Jackson died the inspector tells the
investigators that the methodology is
different, here they seem to use a club then
drive a nail through the heart as a killing blow.
John Kuzack remembers reading a passage in
My Life as a God about a ritualistic weapon
used by the brotherhood, a club with a spike.
The inspector said he will check up on
possible connection between Elias's murder
and his case. Barrington wants to know the
investigators purposes in London, and warns
them about illegalities committed through
excessive zeal.

but would love to have it, and offers Preston

Hurst fifteen English pounds for it and also a
further five pounds if he writes a story about
his adventures in the Arab revolt, Mr
Mahoney arranges for Preston and a
photographer to pay a visit to London zoo the
next day to get a photo with Preston and a
camel. Elias browsed through The Scoops
files, and Mahoney says the investigators are
welcome to do the same, but he recalls that
the author seemed interested by only three
stories. Mahoney says that he himself may
have rewritten them from wire or stringer
copy, to give em that little extra whoosh!

Next the investigators visit Mickey Mahoney,

a grubby Irish journalist who publishes The
Scoop, a weekly tabloid. Mahoney delights in
printing stories about gory murders, sex
scandals, and weird happenings. He is a cigarsmoking, red-haired, 43-year-oldcynical and
tough. The offices of The Scoop are on the
third floor of a shabby building in Fleet Street,
not far from Ludgate Circus. Mahoney is
greatly saddened by Elias death, while he was
recently in London, Elias visited Mahoney,
promising a story about an evil cult operating
in London. Elias hinted that the cult might be
well connected. Mahoney never got the story,
44

45

The investigators decide to check out the

Shipley painting story and look up the Shipley
address of 6 Holbein Mews. in the scoops
archives. Driving out there, they discover the
house is a two-story brick terraced building in
need of repair, the flanking buildings are
deserted and it would appear that the loft has
been converted to a garret. On knocking at
the door an old lady with a soft voice answers
the door leaving it on latch. The investigators
announce that they are interested in buying
some of Mr Shipley's paintings. The old
woman says that she is his mother and that
they are welcome to come see the paintings
but she must warn, her son is very talented
but the subject matter is very strong and not
for the weak minded

her son in the care of the investigators but

agrees when Miles promises to be on his best
behaviour.

The Garret is a bare room with sloping

ceilings. a dangling electric lamp lights it.
Beneath the skylight (painted black) is an
easel.

As the investigators are invited into the

ground floor of the small building, an agitated
young man comes out of the kitchen. The old
lady explains that the visitors have come to
see the paintings, the man seems confused at
first and rambles a lot about how the
paintings SHOULD already be famous in
America, he is calmed by Emily who says one
is already hanging in the Met. Miles wants to
show the investigators his paintings in the
garret. Emily asks Mrs Shipley to bring up
some tea, the old lady seems alarmed to leave

The canvas on it bears a few pencil sketches

toward a new work. A table to the left holds
brushes, paints, palettes, etc. The door is
locked from the outside; Shipley opens it with
a key. Against the walls lean finished
paintings. There are four tiers of finished
canvases ranked along one wall. In the north
wall of the garret is a padlocked closet. Miles
shows the investigators some of the
gruesome paintings and studies very closely
their reactions to them
The investigators see a portrait of a beautiful
woman, unnaturally pale, sleeping delicately
on a verdant carpet of writing serpents. There
is a bite mark on her neck, and as you look
closer at the painting, you realized that her
flesh has a sickly greenish cast. Artie seems
particularly affected by this painting, he has
been acting rather odd since his studies of the
Carlyle tomes on the liner over from the US

46

The investigators then see a painting of a man

sprawled on a black stone. The mans eyes
look straight at the viewer. His lower torso is
dissolving into a flood of black beetles. The
stone is covered in carvings in Greek... Shipley
comments.. it is a total realist painting.. I paint
what I see. he starts to act strangely and only
calms when the old lady arrives with tea.
I know the painting for you! says Shipley.. it
was told to me that this is your painting.. I
was brought to then so I could witness for
you.. he then shows a painting were it is night.
A vast black mountain rises from a savannah.
A great figure rises over the mountain,
blotting out the moon. Its head is a massive
red tendril. Near a temple-like building, tiny
human figures lift their hands imploringly
towards the creature; each wears a headdress
of the Bloody Tongue

her time to quickly stick her head into the two

bedrooms on that level. One smells very bad
and is very untidy, a mess of old cloths and
bed sheets with a bed buried underneath
somewhere. The other has a key in the lock
and after Emily unlocks the door, she finds it
to be very tidy room with a made bed and all
clothes tidied into closets. Emily slips into the
room and searches it, she finds hidden behind
a hatbox on the top shelf, a small lacquered
box containing a syringe and a small vial filled
with doses of a strange green glowing liquid.
The syringe nib has been used repeatedly and
is now blunt.

Meanwhile after been shown the first painting

Emily has excused herself to go to the
bathroom which is on the first floor (which is
above the ground floor, not on the ground
floor! you are in the UK now) and she takes
47

Upstairs in the garret the investigators are in

discussion with Mrs Shipley to buy the
painting of the mountain and the bloody
tongue. Mrs Shipley wants 75 ($375) but
after some bargaining with John Kuzak the
price is brought down to 60 ($300). Artie
begins to see the serpents in the first paining
they see leave the painting and start to move
across the floor, he asks John Kuzak if he is
seeing the same thing as he is seeing, John
Kuzak looks at him as if he was a madman,
Artie decides it is time to get a break, perhaps
he'll go down to the kitchen, look for some
matches, something might need burning.
Emily re-joins the group in the garret.

and leaves the closet, Emily and Preston

look on the work, the painting shows a
swampy area infested with serpents. A
small island in the centre holds a stone
altar. Mrs Shipley says that it needs more
light and reaches in to turn on a light in
the closet, when better lit the images
quickly appear to become threedimensional, the waters of the swamp
start to ripple, the serpents wiggle, and
the altar glows. Emily looks away but
Preston continues looking.
Preston begins to fade from reality and
out of a corner of her eye Emily sees he
beginning to appear on the island in the
painting, she screams out in alarm. The
old lady speaks in a strange voice and
speaks to Emily in a commanding reptilian
voice "look at the painting!", the illusion
of Bertha Shipley slips from the monster
she truly is and reveals a humanoid with
scaled skin and a snake-like head

Preston asks if Miles knows the name of the

location in the painting they are buying.. Miles
whispers shyly "the mountain of the black
wind". Preston then asks if Miles has a
painting of Shub-Niggurath. Emily notices that
Mrs Shipley seems alarmed at mention of that
name. Miles starts looking through his
paintings, but Mrs Shipley says perhaps it is
time we show them your special painting,
your masterpiece, this suggestion excites
Miles greatly, who goes over to the padlocked
closet and unlocks it, Within are an easel and
a canvas covered by a sheet. Emily, Preston
and John enter the closet with Miles to view
the painting, Mrs Shipley stands back to allow
more room for the viewing. Miles pulls the
sheet off with a flourish, John averts his eyes
48

Emily feels compelled to look at the painting

and feels herself being sucked into it, but she
resists, in the painting she can see Preston
standing on the altar shooting with his gun at
the many serpents that now converge toward
him. The serpent man/Bertha Shipley hold up
a scaly hand toward John Kuzak and speaks
strange incantations, John pulls out his gun
and tries to fire at the creature but the gun
jams! Miles leaves the closet and picks up a
knife used for cutting canvass. Artie finds
Matches in the kitchen and starts returning
upstairs, somehow not yet aware of the
events above him.
Preston is starting to run out of bullets and in
his panic some of his shots miss, bullets
ricochet off the stone surface of the alter that
Preston stands on and the serpents now
climb. The serpent creature now speaks some
other incantation and strange images flood
John Kuzak's mind, images of a time long ago
when the serpent people lived with the
dinosaurs and practiced their magic and
worshiped the old gods. The information is
overwhelming for John who holds his two
hands against his head and screams "make it
stop, make it stop, tell me what I have to do
to make it stop" his screaming finally alerts
Artie who rushes up the remaining stairs, but
who is heard by Miles, who waits for him at
the top of the garrets stairs to surprise him.
Lost in time, out of bullets and swarmed by
serpents, Preston succumbs to the bites and
poison of many ancient snake creatures.

In the garret, Miles messes up his attempt to

surprise Artie and manages to fall down the
stairs instead. Emily manages to resist her
compulsion to look at the painting and instead
bull rushes the serpent man, surprising herself
with her strength, she knocks it flat to the
ground and pins it by the feet. Artie reaches
the garret, sees Emily and the lizard creature
on the ground, throws in the matches (!?) and
then draws an aim with his gun and shoots a
shot straight into the head of the creature,
exploding its head, green blood splashes onto
Emily.
At the bottom of the stairs Miles Shipley
gathers himself and his knife up and rushes
towards Artie, who has to shoot him to stop
him. The young man collapses blood spewing
from his chest. Emily tries to see what is
wrong with John Kuzak, who seems to have
lost all will of his own and does whatever is
told, then she tries to see to Miles Shipley
who is at death's door. The serpent creature's
corpse begins to dissolve
In the Basement of the house the player find a
secret room. Inside, many mystic symbols are
inscribed on the walls of the small room.
Shelves cover one wall, holding jars filled with
strange substances. There are also three
grimoires in snake skin written in an unknown
script. Against another wall is a deep stone
tub with a stone lid. In it rest butchered
49

leftovers and the severed head of a woman.

The smell of the snake pit is strong in this
room.

Back in the Great Southern Hotel the

investigators try to take stock of what they
have just experienced and mourn the loss of
Preston. Emily worries about how they can
access Preston's considerable monies that are
held in the hotel safety deposit box. She
and Artie try unsuccessfully to look up about
serpent men and the strange green drug in
the mythos books that they have. John knows
more then he wants to know about the
serpent men, but keeps it to himself as he
obsesses over his jammed pistol, he keeps
mounting and dismounting the gun, but never
to his satisfaction
There is enough evidence in the house for the
investigators to realize that Miles has been
luring women of the night back to the house
for the serpent man to consume, in return the
serpent man has been creating and injecting
Miles with the strange drug which has been
giving him the visions for his painting,
together they have been creating the
masterpiece, a gate back to time when the
serpent people ruled the world! (one way
travel for now!) When the investigators return
to the bandaged Miles, they see that he has
died, the investigators take the painting of the
mountain of the black wind and the serpent
books and ingredients and the strange drug
and set fire to the house before leaving in
Emily's car. They are now serial arsonists!

Tuesday February the 17th 1925. The party

resolve to not let Preston have died in vain
and thus continue the investigation by setting
off for the Penhew foundation. The Penhew
foundation was set up by Sir Aubery Penhew
before he went missing with the Carlyle
expedition so that his work in Egyptology
would continue without him, should
something happen to him. The foundation
sponsors digs in Egypt and exhibits to the
public some of their finds at the foundation's
Bloomsbury building. The investigators arrive
at the building only to be told by the doorman
that the public exhibition is only open for
noon. John persuades the investigators to use
the available time to find a gunsmith so as to
have his gun repaired by a professional, which
they do, the investigators also take the
opportunity to stock up on sporting supplies.

50

Returning to the Penhew foundation after it

opens, the investigators visit the permanent
exhibition on the first floor of the building.
This contains many pre-Ptolemaic Egyptian
artefacts from pot chards to mummy cases.
After looking around for a while the
investigators decide to get down to business
and decide to ask the staff librarian if the
foundation has the G'harne fragments in its
catalogue (John Kuzak had come across this
reference in Harvard). On hearing the request
the librarian seems to be visibly shocked.. we
don't have that book in our collection, but
please tell me, why do you ask for it? my
fiance is missing and some days before he
went missing I saw he was reading a book
with that title.. he said he got it from work but
he works here and there is no such book
here.. Mr. Gavigan has been kind enough to
give me a few days off work, but the worry is
too much, and being at work keeps me
occupied until the Police have some news
But they are taking so long

The librarians name is Helen Coulston and she

shows a photo of her fiance Paul Maclean.
The investigators explain that they are visiting

London to investigate the murder of a friend

and that the book G'harne fragments is
involved with that investigation.

As Helen is visibly disturbed one of her

colleagues comes over to console her, he
introduces himself as Edward Gavigan, the
director of the foundation. He tells Helen that
she should take the day off or better yet why
not take these American visitors and show
then the tourist sights, to better take her
mind off of things

Emily asks the director if he would have some

time to personally show some of the exhibit
and he agrees too. She learns of a mummy
51

excavated by Sir Aubery at Dahshur in 1913,

Sir Aubery had a particular interest in
Dahshur. Emily brings up the Carlyle
expedition and Mr Gavigan confirms that Sir
Aubery lost his life then. Emily asks Mr
Gavigan if he would have a look at an ancient
item she had acquired, Gavigan looks
dismissive, saying that this is not an
antiquarian's shop!, but agrees when Emily
drops hints of a donation to the foundation.
She shows the bowl found in the Juju house,
he reads the Arabic and hesitates a guess that
it might be from the 11th century due to the
calligraphy but says he is not an expert on the
subject, but he does know somebody more
versed on more recent Egyptian finds, a
Tewfik al-Sayed who works at his spice shop
on Ardour Street Soho. Mr Gavigan says to tell

Tewfik that he sends his complements.

Emily catches up with the two PIs and Helen,
Helen looks relieved to have some more
feminine company. The investigators have
persuaded Helen that their cases are
connected and that they can help find her
fiance. They ask if she has a key for his flat
and if they can go search there. The flat is off
the old Kent road and soon the investigators
get to work there and find a flier for a type of
club that Helen thinks Paul would never be
interested in.
Helen's flat is nearby and as it is tea time
again, and she only has fresh milk at her flat,
she invites the investigators back to her flat.
At her flat she finds that the postman has
delivered a postcard

52

Helen thinks that the handwriting is Paul's but

he has uncharacteristically made some
mistakes including spelling her name wrong!
The investigators think they can see a pattern
in the capitalization.. either MISR or MFISR..
neither names make any sense in a dictionary
or atlas
Helen does not in any case believe in the
existence of any French woman
The party decide to go to the Soho spice shop
of Tewfik al-Sayed. It is a small, neat, two
story building on Ardour Street in Soho. Even
from outside it smells nice, it would seem
Tewfiks spices are of good quality and people

of all sorts patronize the spice shop. Inside the

shop, behind the register is a middle aged
man wearing a Fez who the investigators take
to be Tewfik. The investigators say they have
been sent by Edward Gavigan and that he
sends his complements and show the bowl,
Tewfik says that it is a remarkable piece
belonging to a period when people wrongly
turned to false black magic and not the Koran
and Allah as should be. He asks if he could
study further the piece and how the
investigators got hold of it. The investigators
decline to leave the bowl and avoid questions
of where they got it. They then show some of
the other items they got in the Juju house,
53

such as the cloak and the sceptre, which

Tewfik seems impressed with but also says
are not Egyptian, perhaps the sceptre is from
Sudan. Emily asks if the word Misr means
anything to him, Tewfik chuckles and says that
the word is the Arabic word for Egypt and that
it is pronounced more as mus-ir. The
investigators buy some spices and then leave.

When it is late enough to open the party and

Helen visit the Blue Pyramid. The club
features belly dancers, Egyptian food, and
Egyptian singers. Abdul Nawisha, a fat,
taciturn man, owns the place and greets the
investigators at the door as there are few
customers yet when they arrive. The
investigators drink sweet tea, smoke a hookah
and watch the floor show, which consists of
several attractive young ladies in scanty
costumes cavorting about. Helen is a bit
shocked to think that Paul was at this place.
Artie asks the barman if he saw previously
Paul Maclean and shows a photo, the barman
says yes, he was there about two weeks back,
he was with a french woman, tall and blonde.
Artie notes that the description of the woman
is vague as if the barman is inventing rather
than recalling. Emily talks to Abdul and asks
the same question and Abdul also says that he
saw Paul with a French women but his
description of the woman doesn't match that
of the barman's. John Kuzak is trying to
ingratiate himself with the mostly Egyptian
crowd and inquiring if they are afraid because
of the attacks on people, people claim
ignorance or lack of concern. A dancer
whispers to John while dancing close, she says
her name is Yalesha, she has information and

wants to be met at midnight down the street

in a nearby alley.

The investigators see that Yalesha ends her

shift at 10 to midnight and they take that as
their cue to also leave and wait in the alley.
Soon Yalesha appears an overcoat over her
dancer's costume, Yalesha says she is fearful
of a group known as the Brotherhood. She
thinks her boyfriend Kalam was killed by
them, he was one of the victims of the
Egyptian murders, they wanted him to join,
but he did not, and she wants revenge. She
knows little, but once a month, at the dark of
the moon, (next Monday) an old truck
appears around midnight in the vicinity of the
club. Up to two dozen Blue Pyramid
customers, connected to the Brotherhood and
led by a man, a regular customer named
Tewfik al-Sayed climb in They all go to
somewhere out of London, she thinks. After
telling this, Yalesha says she must go, she is
fearful that she will be seen

The investigators also asked Yalesha if she

remembered Paul and showed his picture, she
remembered him, but said he was there with
another British man not a French woman, she
54

thinks the name of the other man was Brian?

Helen and Paul have a work colleague at the
foundation called Brian Sutton, Helen tried to
describe Paul to Yalesha, but Yalesha was
unsure if the description matched.

Session 6 The dreamers of the day

Session played on 31/5/2015
Artie makes a card to remember Preston
Hursts sacrifice.
Keepers note: We imagined that the
investigators held a memorial for Preston,
however discussion for this took place on
Facebook and it was never really clear when
this happened in the campaign chronology

T.E. Lawrence, Preston's friend and fellow

veteran of the Arab revolt, on later hearing of
his disappearance and possible death writes
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who
dream by night in the dusty recesses of their
minds, wake in the day to find that it was
vanity: but the dreamers of the day are
dangerous men, for they may act on their
dreams with open eyes, to make them
possible."

55

18th of February 1925

Artie waves John Kuzak off on the train to
Derby for his visit to Lesser-Edale to
investigate the clipping that Jackson Elias had
pulled from the Scoops achieve and then
goes to the Savoy hotel to meet up with Helen
Coulston and Emily. At the Savoy a bellhop
brings Emily a newspaper clipping, courtesy of
an unknown Cpt Smith

his guilt got the better of him and he decided

to drop in on Prospero press and Jonah
Kensington. Upon finding out what had
happened after he had left (or at least the
version the party had felt comfortable telling
Jonah) Krzysztof full of guilt of abandoning his
new friends and left for London. Arriving in
London Krzysztof also checks into the Great
South Western hotel and crosses the
Waterloo Bridge to the Savoy hotel to reunite
with the party.

Deciding that both their current hot leads

need investigating, the party splits up, Emily,
Krzysztof and Helen go to Penhew foundation
to talk to Brian Sutton, the person they
suspect accompanied the missing Paul
Maclean to The Blue Pyramid and Artie goes
to the Daily Mirror newspaper offices to check
out that clipping that arrived that morning .

Krzysztof Polanski arrives. After leaving

Emilys apartment a month ago he met up by
chance with a professional contact that was in
need of a cameraman and offered Krzysztof
work, Krzysztof jumped at the chance to
throw himself into his work and tried to forget
what had happened to him in the preceding
week. But once the film project was finished,
56

At the Penhew Foundation and with Helens

help the investigators pass the guard, George,
at the reception desk and enter the staff area
on the ground floor. In a room to the back of
the foundation they find Brian Sutton.
After some questioning he admits to having
gone to The Blue Pyramid, he is
uncomfortable speaking about this in front of
Helen, but the characters insist, he says it was
at Pauls suggestions, that Paul was getting
ready to settle down and wanted a last
adventure, and that they had spent so long
looking at shrivelled dried up mummies, that
they deserved to look at some live Egyptian
flesh! This statement causes Helen to slump
semi-conscious to the floor, when she
recovers herself she denied believing that
Paul could ever say such a thing.

At this point Edward Gavigan, the foundation

director arrives telling Brian to deal with a
special delivery, on seeing the Investigators
and Helen he asks them to accompany he to
his office. In his office he asks why Helen is
still with the group and what exactly is their
interest in the foundation. The party say they
are just trying to help Helen find her fiance.
Mr Gavigan says he is sure he will turn up
soon and hopes they had success identifying
their bowl with Mr. Tewfik. Making excuses
the part makes to leave but Krzysztof
pretending to go to the toilet sneak to the
back of the building and out the door that
Paul left by. There he sees Brian with a
clipboard supervising some middle eastern or

Indian men load crates from a basement to a

van with Security written on it, Brian notices
Krzysztof before he can look at his clipboard
and Krzysztof leaves, returning to the rest of
the group which is talking with George at
reception, and on learning that Krzysztof
forgot to note the registration plates of the
trucks, Emily sneaks back to the loading bay,
now without the risen cargo elevator from the
basement or Brian and with the truck leaving,
she does however manage to get the
registration

Meanwhile P.I. Artie Ratlin is at the offices of

the Daily Mirror having paid to access their
achieves, but is having little success finding
the article from the clipping until another
peculiarly dressed gentleman arrives. It soon
becomes clear they are looking for the same
article, which the man, who introduces
himself as Wilson "windy" Windford finds,
however he agrees to share information with
Artie.

57

Windy is a "Psychical" researcher, an

investigator into the paranormal, and
currently he is investigating some unusual
fires to buildings and also to animals in a park
that seem to occur close to a particular
locality and only in winter. He is looking for
the article Artie was looking for (and which
turned out to be from the Daily Mirror, the
15th of July 1920) because it involved a victim
of the first such fire that Windy could find
about from the locality, Hugh Tylesman.
Windy showed another clipping he had from
The morning Post Dec 1919 which detailed
the fire

Artie and Windy Wilson seek out the

journalist, Simon Phelps, who wrote the
article about the attack on Gavigan, he is in
his office, but clearly his best journalistic days
have already past as the members catch him
napping at his desk. As they ask him
questions, the investigators are keen to know
he seems to figuratively wake up (mostly
likely in actuality too) as he smells the
possibility of a story involving a fine and
upstanding person such as Mr, Gavigan, he
says that when he worked at The Scoop, they
wouldn't miss following up a story such as
that, but the Mirror is more "refined", he
agrees to help out the investigators if they
come back to him with any juicy leads. He

telephones up a contact he has at Scotland

Yard, Howard, and discovers that Hugh
Tylesman was committed to Malbury Asylum.

The party regroups at the Savoy, with Wilson

given a cautious welcome, Helen returns to
her flat to await further development. After
Lunch they head out in Emilys car to visit
Malbury Asylum. TheMalbray Asylum
occupies the grounds of an old mansion in
Hackney, just off of Temple Mill Road.
The party pose as family friends from the US,
here to visit Tylesman, it is clear he doesnt
normally get visitors, however the level of
care at the asylum would seems to be
satisfactory. The party meet with Dr.
Finnagan, Tylesmans doctor, he reveals that
Tylesman is thought to be deluded, paranoid
and a pyrophobic , going so far as to
extinguish the cigars and cigarettes of others,
frequently breaking the electric lights in his
own room if switched on after dark. His
condition seems to get worse in the winter for
some reason, the obvious trigger for his
mental breakdown must be the death of his
family in an accidental fire.. Dr. Finnagan
when asked why the target of Hughs
paranoia is by Edward Gavigan, states that he
cannot think of any reason, as far as he is
concerned, Gavigan ia an upstanding member
of society, who has gone as far as contributing
no small amount towards Mr. Tylesmans
confinement at the asylum.

58

off to visit Insp. Barrington with the

registration of the truck at the Penhew
Foundation and Windy decides to visit
Bannicker Park.

The group is lead to meet Tylesman , Dr.

Finnagan warns to keep conversation to
matters before the fire that killed his family
and asks Windy to put out his pipe straight
away! Tylesman tends to favour a bench in a
rose garden facing the rear of the main
building. He avoids make eye contact with the
party (and even Emily who tries to take charge
of the questioning).
To Dr. Finnagans
disappointment he does not seem to react to
the arrival of his American friends. However
when during trying to talk to him Emily asks
him about Gavigan, he responds violently
Damn him! Damn him! Villain! Liar! Sinner!
Murderer! Murderer!! That stone was his
working, you know! Hes the guilty party! He
should pay! Damn him to Hell!!. Emily calms
him somewhat by talking about his children,
and Tylesman begins to silently weep,
occasionally muttering snatches of phrases
beautiful, young things, dear, dear boy,
Leave them be!, and my dear sweet Eloise
but soon it switches to crying out to God.
Mention of flying embers and dancing
lights, burning and flying. Dr. Finnagan
decides Hugh has had enough and asks if the
party can not come back another day if they
want to continue the visit and next time to
please stick to less provocative subjects!
Once back at the Savoy, Emily starts showing
Krzysztof some of her research into the
mythos tomes they have found, Artie heads

At Scotland Yard, Artie tells Insp. Barrington

that the party think the disappearance of Paul
MacClean has to do with the Egyptian
murders, Barrington reveals that his
predecessor on the case , Insp. Clive Souper,
disappeared and never has been found.
Barrington makes a call to the DVLA and says
hell have the information about the van in an
hour or so, Artie invites the inspector for a
coffee but instead they end up going to the
Shiny Copper, a police bar for a half pint,
one of the privileges of being plain clothes
says the inspector as he sups his drink. Upon
returning to the Yard they find the
registration plates are registered to a Trotter
Trading based in the East End of London and
Artie persuades Barrington to come with him
to check out the location. They head there in
an unmarked police car.

The East End of London is the location of

London docks and much social deprivation.
Trotter Trading would seem to be a company
supplying night watchmen and is based in a
fenced off area of an abandoned shoe
workshop. From the outside Artie and
Barrington can see an occupied building with
the van parked outside with windowless and
abandoned buildings to either side of it. Two
men leave the occupied building and enter
the van and drive out of the chained area,
Artie and Barrington trail the van in their car
until they arrive at the truck parked outside
59

another abandoned factory Steptoe and Son,

the drivers would seem to have entered.
Searching the van brings up lists of factories
to visit, from within the factory some sounds
are heard, some thuds and a scream.

Deciding to be cautious, Artie and Barrington

make their way back to a main street and a
pub with a telephone, their Barrington calls
for some police to come and Artie rings the
Savoy for the rest of the group (minus Windy
who is still at Bannicker Park). When the
reunited group and the police arrive back at
Steptoe and sons the van is no longer parked
in front and on entering the abandoned
factory they find a chair with some rope and
blood stains on the floor, somebody was then
dragged to a side door where van tracks are
found outside. Barrington decides there is
enough evidence to raid Trotter trading, but
the party manage to persuade him to give
them 25 minutes to go in first and see what
they can find by sneaking in ahead of the
police raid.

In well to do Bayswater Windy visits the

Tylemans old house, the house was rebuilt,
and is occupied by a family, he is refused
entry by a middle aged woman who says that

nothing strange happens here, thank you!

Windy goes to have a look at the memorial in
the centre of the park.

Bannicker Park is a green area between the

Bryant, Millwood, Milett, and High Tabran
roads in Bayswater; the neighbourhood is
quiet and thoroughly upper middle class. The
memorial is striking and a bit out of scale for
the small park. The lower section is a platform
sixteen feet square and made of fine white
sandstone, rising up in three steps to a
smaller 12 foot square tier upon which a
marble base rests. Atop the base is the
obelisk. Each side of the base has been
decorated by a bas-relief sculpture depicting
the 1916 expedition against the Fur Sultanate
and Ali Dinar (in what is now the Darfur region
of Sudan). One side includes a short
dedication to the troops who died in that
campaign, listing the units that took part in
that action.
The obelisk itself is 11 feet tall (17 including
the contemporary base), 21 inches wide, and
made of grey-black granite. The stone is
weathered but generally intact and without
significant cracks. The very tip of the stone is

60

chipped off and one of the bottom corners

has been repaired with modern mortar.
Wilson knows some geology and thinks the
obelisk was subjected to prolonged exposure
to water and looks Egyptian rather than
Sudanese. He takes photos of the hieroglyphic
inscriptions that cover all four sides, though
the text on two sides show significant
weathering.
Despite the beginning of a light rain, which
can interfere with readings Wilson takes out
some equipment he has for the measurement
of electrical fields. He notes that the
interference is less as he gets close to the
obelisk and comes to the observational
conclusion that rain would seem to be
avoiding the obelisk to some extent. Taking
out a thermometer, he concludes that the
stone is, at a minimum, 10 Fahrenheit (5 C)
warmer than the surrounding atmosphere,
While logic would suggest that the black
coloring of the stone (as well as the shape of
the obelisk) might be the cause of these
phenomena, the effect would seem to be
more pronounced than expected.
While hugging the obelisk
to get a better sense of
the energies radiating it,
Wilson is interrupted by a
school boy, around the
age of 14-15, who asks
Wilson if he is attracted
to the stone, thinking
himself mocked, Wilson
tells the boy to feck off,
the boy does but first of
all says that, you cant
have it, the stone is
mine!
Wilson
then
pursues the boy but the
boy knows the area and
soon loses him. When
Wilson returns to the

stone it is already dark and he notes that

where he is in the park is sufficiently far away
from the city glare, despite the small size of
the park, to see the stars, and that some of
the notations on the stone seem to be
astronomical indications (another hobby of
Wilson) particularly corresponding to the star
Fomalhaut,, now visible low on the horizon
and which only shows itself in the northern
hemisphere in the winter sky from Dec- Feb.
Feeling suddenly tired, Wilson decides to call
it a day and goes home to his Cottage on
Hampstead heath to develop him photos of
the stone so he can show them to somebody
to decipher the hieroglyphs
At Trotter Trading the group arm themselves
and park their car outside and climb over the
surrounding fence and sneak into one of the
abandoned side buildings, when they hear the
sound of an approaching van, they switch off
their hand torches and Artie peaks a look out
of the factory building they are hidden in, two
men get out of the van and examine Emilys
car and speak in some unknown language
before returning to the van and entering the
fenced compound. The party sneak along the
building they are in until they are near to the
occupied building where the van parks.
Krzysztof and Emily go one way around the
building and Artie the other when they hear
the sound of water running, the men are
using a hose to hose out the back of the van.
The group surprise the men and although one
of them tries to blast Emily with the hose, she
holds on to her shotgun and they surrender.
Krzysztof bursts into the building a forces the
surrender of two men inside who were
playing cards.
The men are Indian or perhaps middle eastern
in ethnicity; the two men that had been in the
van are mostly silent when questioned, the
other two men from the office are talkative
saying, that they work for a Mr Ahmed, they
supply watchmen, they dont ask questions
61

for a few side jobs they know nothing about.

The last statement elicits glares from the
other two van men. The two groups are
separated for further questioning. Artie
searches the van and finds a recently washed
club with a separate removable spike found in
secret compartment in back of van. The group
concentrate on trying to find out where the
delivery from the Penhew Foundation was
brought but dont seem to be getting
anywhere. A police siren is heard and the club
is returned to its hiding place and the men are
left tied up while the group hide once more in
the side buildings as the police arrive on
scene. As they sneak out of the compound
Emily catches the eye of Barrington and
indicates with her head to check out the van
carefully.
The group head back to the pub they phoned
from earlier and there are many dockers
there, after buying the men some drinks they
discover that the Trotter trading vans were
seen today unloading some crates at the
Limehouse warehouses.
Via the Midland railway, Derby (say Darby)
lies some 130 miles north of London. Beside
Derby flows the river Derwent. To the north of
Derby is the valley of the Derwent,where the
village of Lesser-Edale is to be found The
valley of the Derwent is one of the most
beautiful regions in England, and its upper
reaches frequently are compared to the Lakes
district. John Kuzak arrives at the village
having caught a bus from Derby , he finds the
limestone cliffs and outcrops, the lovely
wooded vales, and the splendid waterfalls
refreshing after the dank mornings and
dangers of London. The countryside is
immaculately green, and the fences welltended. There are about thirty homes in the
village (including two which still have thatch
for roofing) This afternoon has turned

showery, many locals have gathered in the

pub The Laughing Horse

The atmosphere in the Laughing Horse is

friendly and curious, for not many visitors
from the United States come this way.
Constable Tumwell stops by. His moustache
has been dampened a bit by the downpour.
He sloughs off the murders as done by a wild
dog, which he strongly believes he killed with
his shotgun. Gone off to die in the hills. We
hant been troubled since, thank God. Two of
his friends tease him, implying that he wasnt
nearly so sure when the big-city detectives
came out to study the killings, nor when the
inquest was held. A general discussion ensues.
Most fear that the monster will return, and
affirm that they still hear howls at the full
moon., thankfully the full moon is over two
weeks away. One man swears he caught a
glimpse of the thingNo dog be a-walkin
round on his back paws, Hubert, he says to
the constable, and no dog eer ripped bone
fra bone in such a way as done to poor Lydia.
Constable Tumwell has little reply to this, and
John concludes that his concern for the truth
has gotten confused with his concern for his
job and reputation.

62

John decides to interview the families of the

victims. Harold Short was a bachelor, and is
still recovering at his brothers home in
Norfolk, but eyewitnesses in the Osgood and
Parkins families are available. Edith Osgood
says that her husband heard a noise in the
barn and went out to investigate, taking his
shotgun with him. A moment later she heard
him fire, then scream. Peering out, she saw a
hairy hunched-over form race away. It was as
tall as a man, and ran howling into the woods.
Her children cling to her skirts and say the
same thing. The horse-dealer John Parkins did
not see the murder of his daughter. He found
her body after coming home from the
Laughing Horse. He is convinced that
Lawrence Vane, son of Sir Frederick Vane, had
something to do with it. A neighbour (Tom
Corty,) saw Lawrence Vane near the Parkins
house the night of the murder. Corty said that
young Vane looked upset, and was hurrying
from the direction of the Parkins house.
Tumwell and his superiors questioned
Lawrence, and declared him innocent of
involvement, but Parkins feels the authorities
were protecting the Vane family from scandal.
Bitterly he declares that the Labour party
must correct such class injustice, and spends
several minutes lecturing John about political
power and an oppressive ruling class.

John decides to go talk to the Vane family, the

local aristocrats who live in Castle Plum, which
is situated two hundred feet up on a stone
bluff above the town. A winding road leads
from the town to the castle entrance.
Sir Arthur Vane is a country gentleman, 67
years old and very proud. His handsome son
Lawrence is 23, and also proud. Having
attended Oxford, Lawrence has only recently
returned. Eloise, Lawrences sister, is a softspoken 21-year old, The Vanes have resided in
the valley for nearly seven centuries. They
were titled in the reign of Charles II as a
reward for Wellington Vanes skilful handling
of certain royal indiscretions. The family lives
in the keep of a medieval castle otherwise
fallen or in bad repair. A few servants, all old
and loyal, also live in the keep. The Vicar of
Lesser-Edale. The Right Reverend Jeremy
Stratton is visiting the family when John
arrives. Sir Arthur Vane says little and seems
to resent the intrusion on his castle, Lawrence
denies having been out on the night he was
spotted, but seems to be holding something
back. Eloise a sweet girl, soft-spoken and
thoughtful, but terribly distracted is keen to
smooth over any understandings and tries to
make her American visitor as comfortable
as possible by drowning him in tea.

63

was in English but a portion was in classical

Greek.

John is joined on his walk back by the vicar,

who asks if he can talk to John for a while. As
the pair walk the reverend asks John if he
believes in the supernatural. John tells the
reverend that until recently he would be
sceptical, but recently has witnessed things
that show there is an evil in the world perhaps
beyond mans control, but that good men can
make a difference. The reverend tells how
after the murder of the two victims, he began
to translate an old journal written by a longdead vicar of the village. Some of the journal

He read how many generations past a Lady

Evangeline Vane had a young witch burnt at
the stake. For the death of her daughter, the
mother of the dead girl put the Mark of the
Beast on all the daughters of the Vanes. For
centuries since then, when a blood-daughter
of the Vanes reached the age of 21 she
became a werewolf! The family kept the
secret, locking up women during the full
moon or slaying outright any female babies
born to Vane women. Then, for four
generations, no Vane daughters were born,
and the curse was almost forgotten. The
reverend only regrets that he did not translate
the book earlier, it might have saved lives,
Eloise herself is unaware of the cure but Sir
Arthur Vane had started to gain suspicions of
his own based on Eloises monthly blackouts
and apparent nude sleep walks, and his
remembrances of some old family stories
Sir Arthur had told Lawrence of his fears and
on the night he was witnessed Lawrence had
discovered his sister missing and had bravely
gone out looking for her. Since the familys
fear have been confirmed they are drugging
her and locking her in the castle dungeon on
64

the full moon, from where the villagers still

sometimes hear her howls.
Reverend Stratton hopes to find a way to lift
the curse, when he finishes his translation, he
asks that John will treat this information as
confidential and that he swears that now the
danger has been identified the family will
keep Eloise from harming others and that
there is nothing to be gained from attempting
to prosecute her for crimes she committed,
but is innocent off. John says he wishes the
reverend and the Vanes luck in their quest to
help the young girl and then takes the bus
back to Derby and the last train back to
London.

Session 7 Docklands
Session played on 13/6/2015
After the police raid on Trotter Trading and
the intelligence-gathering trip to the docker
bars in the East End, where the party learn
that the Trotter Trading trucks have been
going to the Limehouse warehouses, they
return to the Savoy hotel to plan their next
move.

Eric Durand, and the other is Krzysztof

Polanski. Eric Durand is on route to Geneva
and staying overnight at the Savoy, there the
hotel staff let slip that Emily was also staying
and Eric is keen to catch up with his daughter.

Krzysztof was last seen in NY some weeks ago

when he fled after trying on the strange mask
found in the Juju house basement, after that
he was recruited as a camera man for a film
project and threw himself into his work, to try
to forget what he saw in his vision of the
spawn of Shub Niggurath and in that
basement. However when the project was
finished, he felt guilty that he had abandoned
his new friends and the orphan boy they had
rescued, so he went to Jonah Kensington and
found out about the attack that happened
and how poor Timothy had been murdered by
black magic. After hearing the sad tale,
Krzysztof booked passage on the next ocean
liner for London.

At the hotel the party see waiting in the lobby

for them are two people: one is Emilys father
65

Helen that Gavigan is a dangerous man and

might be responsible for the Egyptian
murders and Pauls disappearance
Helen suggests that if proof is needed perhaps
they could go now to the Penhew foundation
and she would distract the night watchman
while the investigators enter the foundation,
just to look for evidence and not to take
anything.. so, Helen and the party take a tube
to centre of London. On noting the foggy
night that it was, Windy decides it is time to
share his research into a suspected fog beast..
Helen is shocked once again
On seeing her father waiting, Emily pushes the
party and Krzysztof into a side room and
indicates to them that they should leave for
now and she would catch up with them when
she can. Krzysztof is welcomed back to the
party.
At that point Windy arrives at the Savoy, he
has copied to a notebook some of the
hieroglyphs from the war memorial in
Bannicker park and is looking for Helen to see
if she could translate them. After talking to
the party, he is told the real reason they have
to be investigating Edward Gavigan and the
Penhew foundation, Windy agrees that they
should join forces in their investigations.

Helen briefs the party on the general layout of

the foundation

At 11pm the party take the tube to Helens

flat where on examining Windys drawings
Helen notes that the hieroglyphs are from
Alexandria Egypt and not the Sudan and the
text consists of prayers to an obscure being
named Ka-Thigu-Ra
She wants to know what this has to do with
Pauls disappearance, and the investigators,
especially John Kuzak manage to convince
66

At the foundation, Helen enters and says that

the party should go around the back via a lane
and wait 20 minutes and she will open the
exterior and interior doors of the cargo
elevator, which will allow them access to the
staff area and the foundation.
Krzysztof volunteers to keep watch in the lane
at the back of the foundation, and practices a
warning bird whistle. While Windy, John and
Artie are helping each other climb over the
fence at the back of the foundation Krzysztof
hears a sound, somebody is coming down the
Lane.. Krzysztof indicates for the party to hide
while he goes over to a nearby rubbish bin
and starts rummaging through it.. the person
coming turns out to be a Policeman, who was
not satisfied with Krzysztofs tramp disguise
but was distracted enough not to notice the
rest of the party hiding at the side of the
foundation. The policeman takes Krzysztof
away for further questioning at Oxford circle
police station

With the policeman gone, the party make

their way in to the foundation through the
opened cargo elevator door and they can hear
Helen instructing the watchmen to move
shelves in the library
The party sneak into the ground floor staff
corridor from the staff room and then over to
Gavigans office.. in the reception room the
party stop and use torches to look at
employment records, and find that Brian
Sutton, the person who went to the Blue
Pyramid with the missing Paul has been paid
considerably more than other staff members
for the last six months.
Gavigans office contains a large desk behind
of which are several large closets, some
contain papers relating to archaeological digs
and the others contain some spare suits for
Gavigan, there does not seem to be any
suspect material. There is however in the
room a safe. When Artie inspects the safe he
at first suspects that the safe has a trap but
afterwards comes to realize that it is
67

unlocked, inside there is a packet of one

hundred five-pound notes still wrapped by
bankers tape.

hanging suit and pulls down the suit rail

causing all the clothes to come crashing down,
John lands face first on the ground in the
storage room, but fortunately the watchman
doesnt notice the panel closing in all the
confusion of falling clothes.
The watchman and Helen discuss what
happened, with Helen saying it was all caused
by the collapsing cupboard, but George
notices the open door of the safe and the
money with in and thinks something
suspicious and rings the police himself.

Upon finding the money there is a

disagreement amongst the party, John and
Artie want to take the money so that it might
better look like their intrusion was simply a
robbery. Windy however says that they
promised not to take any items and anyhow,
the money would appear to be a trap
somehow, as it was very unusual that the safe
was left unlocked. Unfortunately their arguing
is heard by George the watchman, who stops
stacking books, picks up a hooked pole used
to open high windows and decides to see
what the noise might be, Helen tries to get
him back to work, and raises her voice so the
party is alerted. The watchman enters the
reception area for Gavigans office and the
three party members decide to hide in the
closet, there they note that behind the suits
there is a hidden panel that opens into the
storage room behind. However the watchman
hears the closet door closing and on entering
the office with Helen, in a loud voice tells her
to ring the police and that whoever is in there
should surrender, Helen picks up the phone
on the desk but delays ringing, meanwhile the
investigators are trying to figure out how to
open the panel and eventually do so, and try
to evacuate through to the storage room the
panel opens out into. The watchman uses the
pole to open the cupboard door as John
Kuzak, the last of the party is trying to get
through, he unfortunately catches his foot in a

At Oxford street police station, Krzysztof is

being held pending questioning when he
overhears the call coming in from the
watchman. When a group of bobbies
(policemen) are about to set out to
investigate at the foundation, Krzysztof
attempts to delay them by acting crazy and
attacking them, he succeeds in delaying them
but is now consider psychotic and is shipped
off to Bedlam lunatic asylum
In the storage room are many boxes and
crates, old furniture, and so on. There is also
an empty mummy case in poor condition lying
on its back on the floor. Windy shining his
torch around the room reveals that a section
of a circle relative to the mummy case is less
dusty and somewhat worn. The watchman
starts to patrol before the police arrive, the
investigators can hear Helen trying to
convince him to get back to work in the library
to no success. After much messing about with
the mummy case it is discovered that if one of
the eyes on the sarcophagus are pressed
twice, an electric motor slides the case aside
to give access to a set of steep stairs leading
to a secret room in the basement. The party
descends into the secret room and uses a
control button beside the stairs to close the
opening.

68

The secret room is enclosed by foot-thick

concrete on all sides and is essentially
independent from the rest of the building,
rather like a box within a larger box. The
enclosed stairs are the only entrance. There
are several small, not well disguised
connections. An electrical cable, water pipes
pass through and an air-intake pipe leading
from the roof to the basementit, coupled
with an air-pump, circulates fresh air through
the room.
The room contains a bookcase groaning with
tomes and scrolls, a closed cupboard, many
ancient artworks mainly on masonry and
stucco like surfaces carefully separated from
the original walls, , a comfortable study area,
seating for small meetings, a small ornate
chest, and several small wooden crates
stacked about, all but two are open and
empty.

The investigators investigate the crates; the

smaller wooden crate is stencilled Randolph
Shipping Company, Port Darwin, Northern
Territory, Dominion of Australia. In smaller
letters are the words Personal to Mr.
Randolph. Within the crate is a 16-inch-high
representation of a fat humanoid figure
whose evil-looking head is fringed by
tentacles. Artie identifies the form as that of
Cthulhu, he has read about him in a tome he
has read, he is an ancient evil figure
worshiped by evil cults worldwide, when he
picks it up , he feels an odd tingle pass
through his arms and torso

The larger closed one is stencilled Ho Fong

Imports, 15 Kaoyang Road, Shanghai, China, in
English and Chinese. In smaller letters are the
words attention honourable Ho Fong.
Within the crate is a corroded brass statue in
the awful form of a bloated tentacled female.

In the cupboard there is a supply of tinned

food and water, a revolver and a box of
bullets, a couple of false passports for
Gavigan, a bundle of used five-pound notes,
candles and matches, changes of clothes, an
eldritch jumble of dried bat-wings, pickled
toad-eyes, animal claws etc and a, small stone
jar: that contains some strangely luminescent
powder.
The stucco art, ancient icons, statues and
paintings are mostly obviously Egyptian or
proto-Sumerian and are of various unknown
deities and servitors.
69

Artie appears to be much affected by the

appearance of this larger statue and tries to
avoid it
Within the fine walnut case are several glassprotected shelves of books and scrolls.
Quickly recognizable are volumes in German,
French, Russian, Latin, and Spanish. Two are
in English. Some are mere insane glosses
praising various gods or talking about the
most abstruse theological questions, such as
how many non-believers the Dark God will eat
in his first mouthful. There are a few useful
Mythos tomes: the Gharne Fragments (the
book that supposedly vanished with Aubrey
Penhew in 1919, and that Paul Maclean was
reading) Book of Dyzan, and the Liber Ivonis,
There are many scrolls, all very old in Arabic,
Latin, Medieval French, and one in Old
English.
Windy finds out that Ka-Thigu-Ra, the name
from the hieroglyphs, is also called cthugha

Windy gets a shock while studying the Latin

scrolls, as two of the scrolls would appear to
be hundreds of years apart judging by the
language and type of Latin used, but the hand
writing suggests the same person scribed
both.
The small ornate chest is fashioned of carved
sandalwood, and inlaid with silver depictions
of humanoid creatures with over long arms
and legs. In the box are two silver daggers.

The investigators decide to wait in the secret

room until 5am, studying their finds and
deciding which to take in the bags they
brought and then they plan to sneak out,
At approximately 2am the lights suddenly go
out, and as the investigators are turning on
their electric torches, they smell burning hair
and it appears as if fog is drifting into the
room from the air vents. John feels something
is pulling his electric lantern from his hands
and it breaks it on the ground, he feels as if
fowl smog is trying to force itself into him
mouth and nose. Artie climbs the stairs and
tries to activate to motor to open the exit, to
no avail. Windy shines his lantern at John to
see what is up, the light shows sparkling grey
cloud with thin, whip-like tentacles reaching
out up to engulf John. Windy panics on seeing
this and retreats over to the corner of the
room. Artie tries to jump down from the stairs
without looking at the creature and in doing
so shines his torch widely, John notes that
when his light shines right at the heart of the
fog ball the fog there seems to melt and the
creature become a bit smaller. John to flees
the fog beast, gets hold of his lantern and
tries to aim it at the very heart of the fog,
Artie find a bottle of whiskey he was carrying
and tries to burn the table then a crate which
he throws at the beat where it passes through
the heart of fog before unfortunately passing
to hit Kuzak. Windy snaps out of his shock and
joins John to catch the beast in the shine of
their lanterns and despite it trying to force fog
down their mouths and pull away the
lanterns, eventually the party would seem to
succeed at destroying the creature. However
the air quality is now terrible in the basement
what with the dissipated fog and the smoke
from Arties fires, so the party have to crouch
at ground level fighting for breath. The party
decide to hide as best they can behind the
stairs and under the table.

70

The two creatures fly toward John who fires

wildly and soon he is on the ground dropping
from their cruel bites and claws. Seeing that
John is doomed, Artie shoots him in the head
to put him under his misery as one of the
creatures is gunned down by Windy. Artie,
carrying the loot taken from the secret room
makes a run for the door while the remaining
creature flies at Windy and knows him to the
ground dead with its claws.
After some time, the lights and air filter
suddenly come back on and soon after the
sarcophagus hidden entrance opens and 2
strong looking middle eastern men with
spiked clubs start down the stairs, one of
them spots Artie and rushes down the stairs
toward him, Windy shoots his gun but
accidently hits Artie instead, meanwhile
Windy is hit badly in the head by a club by the
other cultist. Windy, Artie and John gun down
the two cultists and cautiously make their way
up the stairs, Artie moving slowly because of
his gun shot to the abdomen and Artie still
dizzy because of concussion.
Climbing the stairs they can hear a deep
British accented voice intoning strange
syllables, followed by a whistle and then
laughter.
As they are crawling out of the sarcophagus
two creature come flapping into the storage
room, bat-winged, black-furred, iron-beaked
and with "eyes of hell". The creatures appear
similar to some of the wall art in the secret
room

Artie runs toward the open door to the

foundation back yard as the last of the
creatures pursues him, it catches up with him
as he climbs over the fence but fortunately
Artie is able to shoot it dead perched on the
fence. Artie drops to the other side and runs
off as best he can considering the state of his
wound.
Artie tries to make his way back to the Savoy
but his unlucky as he is spotted by two
patrolling policemen near Oxford circle, on
seeing the police, Artie makes his was toward
them, expressing his relief to see them, he
asks to talk to Inspector Barrington, who the
policemen know, and convinces them to bring
him to Barrington to talk first, one of
policeman was rescued by some yanks in the
great war and says hell do it as a favour.
Artie meets with Barrington in Scotland Yard
motor garages, he shows Barrington the
gharne fragments and the passports,
however Barrington says that his hands are
tied, he has already received a reprimand
after one of the plainclothes policemen
reported the delay on raiding Trotter trading
to a superior and the Penhew foundation
have already reported a break-in and shooting
of its watchmen, so he has no option but to
arrest Artie and take him to hospital under
police custody. Artie tries at the last minute to
convince Barrington that extraordinary things
are happening by showing him the green alien

71

blood on his coat, but the inspector is not

impressed.

Session 8 Out of the frying pan and

into the fire
Session played on 12/7/2015
Thursday the 19th of February 1925. Artie
Rathlin rings Emily from his hospital bed,
where he is handcuffed and under police
guard, he explains what happened during the
Penhew Foundation break-in as best he can
because of the policemans presence. He
warns Emily that her and Helen Coulstons
lives must be in danger.

on to the pictures surface, when this

happens, Emily also starts to feel a terrible
sense of dread and also senses as if time
come to a halt but is able to shrug the feeling
off.. Tewfik tells Gavigan I can do no more,
they must have protection and the vision
ends.

Emily checks out of Savoy and into the Carlton

under the false name of Lucy Tanner. She
then decides to visit Artie in hospital posing as
his therapist Dr. Tanner. At the hospital Artie
feels a terrible sense of dread and senses as if
time come to a halt for him..

Emily arrives to see Artie going into cardiac

arrest and revives him. While he was without
heartbeat Artie has a vision of Tewfik and
Gavigan, Artie sees them as if he was looking
out of a framed picture or mirror that they are
standing over, Tewfik drops a black powder

A Savoy clerk rings a man he knows as

Jess Riden (although that may not be his
72

real name) a person who has been spying

on the group and who knows that the
group had visited Helen previously and
has by chance been staying at a B&B
nearby to Helens flat, he decides to see if
he can spot the group arriving at Helens
flat

Helen is in her flat unable to sleep, she hears

an intruder entering through her front door so
she goes to her kitchen to get a meat cleaver.
The intruder has an electric torch and a club
with a spike through it. Helen tries to hide
behind the kitchen door but the intruder
makes a grab for her and a struggle ensues.

can her a struggle in progress. The intruder

and Helen slash out at each other in the semi
darkness of the kitchen, each slightly
wounding the other. Jess rushes to the
kitchen to help the woman in peril but just
adds to the confusion

Meanwhile inspector Barrington has been

over to the Penhew Foundation where he
finds his investigation blocked by a colleague
Peter Spindler. Barrington learns that there
were two bodies, both middle eastern looking
and had been killed by gun shot wounds. The
bodies of other investigators or Byakhee are
not present. Gavigan had given a statement
and had already left. In his statement he says
how he had been alerted by the watchman to
unusual sounds in the building but when he
and the police came over initially they did not
think to search Sir Aubery Penhews study
basement, as few people went there now and
it was kept how sir Aubery left it before he
died in 1919. The intruders must have hidden
there, as a precaution, Mr. Gavigan send
some extra guards to relieve the usual
watchman, these guards were loyal Egyptian
veterans of previous archaeological digs.
However the intruders must have had guns
and shot deal the guards before escaping with
valuable antiques.

Jess has arrived outside the flat and hears a

scream and makes his way to the buildings
front door which he finds in unlocked, he
climbs the stairs to Helens flat door which he
finds has had the latch broken and beyond he
73

would have fallen to the ground. Barrington

manages to shoot out one of the tires of the
car, but the car driver is able to keep control
and the car is soon out of range. Barrington
asks a neighbour with a telephone to call in
the police and soon uniformed police are on
the scene where Barrington interviews Jess
(who had tried and failed to save Helens life),
Jess claims to be just a passer-by.

Barrington decides to interview the other

potential witness, Helen and so heads over to
her flat and on arriving sees the front door
open and sounds of screams coming from the
flat. The intruder gets the upper hand on
Helen and guts her completely, she falls to the
ground dead and the intruder tries to flee
from the scene.

Only to face Barrington in the door with a

pistol in his hand, Barrington tells the man to
stop but the man rushes him. Barrington
shoots him, but the man continues and
manages to push his way past Barrington and
rush down the stairs, Barrington shoots at him
again, hitting again, but once more just a flesh
wound. A car is heard coming rapidly down
the road, the man runs out and jumps onto
the runner of the car.. Barrington shoots again
and this time gets a clear hit, if a hand did not
grab from the car at the intruder, his body

Inspector Peter Spindler arrives to take charge

of the crime scene. Barrington is told that he
has been suspended by chief inspector David
Beal pending investigation into the raid on
Trotter Trading. Once Emily has checked into
the Carlton she decides to head over to
Helens flat to check on her and comes across
the crime scene.
Barrington and Emily recognise each other
and the inspector tells Emily what has
happened to Helen, Jess overhears that the
inspector has been suspended (and thus less
fearful of the policeman) and comes over to
reveal that after all it was not a coincidence
after all that he had been there, he had been
looking for Emily, because he is also searching
for Roger Carlyle. He is in the pay of Erica
Carlyle, doing a physic investigation of Roger-s
last few months, when Erica writes to him to
say she met another group of people
investigating the Carlyle expedition who
would be visiting England soon and that he
should meet up with then, they could pool
resources. Jess says he had been watching
over the group for some days now, planning
to get to know them first before approaching
them, as you can never be too sure of people
there is a lot of scammers in this world!
Barrington, Emily and Jess agree to meet up
later at a teashop near Trafalgar square. At
9am Emily finds her father, the diplomat Eric
Durant,
taking
his
usual
morning
constitutional outside the American Embassy.
She tells her father that she is worried
74

because of the many murders reported in the

British press, but despite his pleading wont
consider leaving her work in the UK. She asks
if he could talk to the Ambassador regarding
getting her protection. She then waits in the
lobby as Eric discusses affairs of state with the
ambassador. He returns to say that the
ambassador thinks that these murders are
being exaggerated by the gutter press and
that the risk is actually very low, however if
she needs some assistance later, the
ambassador Frank B. Kellogg, will do his best
to help.

Artie is not thinking right, ever since his heart

stopped and he nearly died. He is sure that
THEY can see his every move because they
know where he is, so he must escape! He
escapes his handcuffs by leveraging his body
against his bed and dislocating his thumb, but
in his weakened state is easily apprehended
again and then sedated. The police guard is
increased.

Barrington is now convinced that corruption

has reached the ranks of the police too, so he
goes to Scotland Yard to get hold of the
evidence that Artie took from the Penhew
foundation , switches it (and their file
numbers) for another evidence box, he
smuggles the books, scrolls and a statue out
of the police station.

At the tea house Emily, while eating creamed

cakes and taking tea, tells the Inspector and
Jess of major clues they have found so far: the
Limehouse docks location where the trucks
were going; the story of Yalesha and the pick
up of people from the Blue Pyramid; the
cursed Egyptian pillar that is masquerading as
a Sudanese war memorial; and also the
postcard with the Misr clue. Barrington
remembers having read a personal file for
Gavigan which mentions he had two
properties including a country estate, in
marshy ground near The Naze, called Misr
House !

75

interfere. In the elevator Emily gives Artie a

shot of adrenaline and with some difficulty
revives him. Jess has forged paperwork saying
he is to pick up a John Doe from the morgue,
Emily distracts while Jess and Barrington
switch the bodies. Artie Rathlin is officially
dead!

The party agree this is the probable location

of the kidnapped Paul Maclean, but decide
they must rescue Artie first from the hospital
as he is clearly not safe there as the cultists
may try to kill him again.
Jess goes to Limehouse Docks, disguised as a
docker there he learns that the crates from
the trucks had been loaded into a ship called
the Ivory Wind which sets sail in a hurry this
morning for Shanghai, half loaded, its drunken
Norwegian captain had to be found in a pub
before it could leave.

The party move again to new hotel and sneak

Artie in, for him to begin his recuperation.
Barrington fears people, including Helen
Coulstons fiance Paul will be sacrificed at
Misr House come the New Moon in four days
time. He wants to raid Misr House before
before then, but the other party members
feel exhausted and powerless to intervene
and decide that they have had enough of
London, when Artie is recovered enough, they
will leave for Shanghai. Barringtons resolve is
increased when he hears news from police
contacts that the body of the dancing girl
Yalisha is found in the Thames.

Jess rents a hearse from an undertaker, saying

it is needed in a film production. He dresses
up as an undertaker and calls himself David
Fisher. Emily goes to Artie and gives him an
overdose of sedative to stop his heart, she is
not sure the safe amounts necessary because
of his recent heart attack, but she decides to
risk anyhow. Barrington arrives while Emily
declares Artie dead and announces that he
should be brought straight to the morgue, the
police guards know Barrington and do not
76

However Barrington is unable to persuade any

of his police fellows to accompany him on an
unofficial raid as the chief superintendent is
keeping a watchful eye over his force. Emily
introduces Barrington to Captain T.E:
Lawrence, who was a friend of Preston Hearst,
a war hero and currently a commander of a
Tank regiment based only 30 miles from the
Naze. Lawrence says that he is bored of his
posting, as the military are afraid he might get
harmed and never let him near any action, he
wants a transfer to the Air Corp. Emily tells
Lawrence that the inspector is close to
catching those responsible for Prestons death
but is also being blocked by those above.
Lawrence says he is due to field test some
new amphibious tanks and the inspector is
welcome to join them on the trip.

Some days later, on the new moon, Monday

the 23rd of February 1925, at night,
Barrington is with Captain Lawrence, 2
amphibious Mark I Vickers medium tanks and
20 soldiers. Captain Lawrence arranges that
the sea trials are to take place near to the
small island connected by causeway on which
Misr is situated. When at sea (the tanks float,
but make for ungainly vessels, so Barrington

feels sickly) Lawrence has one of his men

declare a mechanical emergency that
requires that the Tanks come to land
immediately. As the tanks come to shore on
the beach next to Misr house, Captain
Lawrence orders them over to the source of
light and chanting that is coming from behind
the estate house, so that he might apologise
for the unexpected intrusion on private
property.

When the tanks make their way around

behind the house they see robed cultists
dancing around a large Egyptian stele,
shackles embedded in the stele hold the
wrists of four sacrificial victims, one for each
77

side of the stele. In front of the stele is a huge,

scaly, birdlike creature with batlike wings,
slimy skin, and two strong talons. Unshakable,
Captain Lawrence orders his gunner to load
the main gun and fire at will at the winged
elephant! taking lead from their calm
commander the soldiers spring into action
and fire at the creature, which is bearing
down on the tanks. Two clear hits from the
main guns are sufficient to take it down and
soon the cultists are fleeing the tank machine
guns. However the leaders of the cultists,
Gavigan and Tefwik, if present soon slip away
and are not apprehended. Paul Maclean is
rescued from where he was chained to the
stele.

Barrington had previously learned about an

underground priest hole (used to hide
catholic priests when they were outlawed in
Britain) from plans to Misr house that he
found and makes his way there, only to find
the fleeing cultists tried to destroy any
evidence by setting a fire. It is extinguished by
some soldiers and amongst the scraps of
paper Barrington finds the following clue,
which he passes on to the investigators.

78

USSR
Session 9 To the East Through the
Land of the Soviets
Session played on 9/8/2015
Keepers note: I played with the historical
timelines a bit here, this scenario is better
suited to 1929 rather than 1925.. sue me!
Emily, Jesse and Artie are in London, applying
for Russian visas and arranging their plans to
travel via the trans-Siberian railway to the far
east. They plan to catch up with the steamer
Ivory Wind which is sailing from London to
Shanghai with items from the Penhew
foundation on board while also avoiding Egypt
and the cult of the Dark Pharaoh. However
obtaining visas for the Soviet Union would
seem to be impossible and the group begins
to think that maybe they should have made
different plans.

Lawrence, Jesse replaces the photo in one of

Edward Gavigans fake US passports, with the
name Neil Mathews, for a picture of Artie, so
he has an official identity again. Emily and
Jesse also use The British Museum Library to
study some of the mythos tomes the group
has.

One day, at the British Museum one of the

books requested by Emily comes with a card
tucked into it. Services required of an
investigative nature, Can facilitate travel to
the
USSR.,
Confidentiality
absolutely
necessary. Meet reading room 13, March 7th
at 11am if interested The next day, March
7th, Artie, Jesse and Emily go to library private
reading room at the indicated time and inside
meet a curt, reedy Englishman named Walter
and a Chinese man wearing a yamaka

Artie is being treated mind and body by Emily

in a series of expensive hotels which the trio
check in to and out of at frequent intervals
under false names. Emily sells her car to T.E.
79

Walter asks the investigators to close the door

and explains that and his associates are in
"the Service"; and he explains that he can
help with their desire to cross the Soviet
Union, if the group would be willing to do a
favour for them. He also offers the
Investigators $200 as a retainer now; at the
completion of the mission, they will be paid
$1000.00. The investigators manage to haggle
the value up to $300 and Walter asks that
they sign The Official Secrets Act so that
they could be prosecuted for revealing
anything that he says to them. Walter
introduces the second man as being Tsou
Jung, a fluent Russian speaker who has
reasons of his own to revisit Moscow and will
assist the investigators on the mission

Walter asks the Investigators to investigate

the disappearance of one Evgeny Potapov, an
migr Russian professor of History and
Architecture, formerly of Moscow University.
Potapov had been living in Berlin for over half
a decade, after leaving Russia in 1919. He
disappeared from Berlin on December 10,
1924. Walter stresses, however, that there
will be no point in investigating the
disappearance in Berlin. Walter says that
intelligence leaves them to believe that
Potapov was kidnapped by the "the other

side".. the Soviet secret police. Walter is

certain that Potapov is being held in Moscow.
While kidnappings of migrs are nothing new
for the GPU (as the Soviet secret police was
then known), this case seems very different.
In all known episodes of such GPU terror, the
victims were either killed or taken to
Moscow's infamous Lubyanka prison;
Potapov, however, is intelligence" believed to
be incarcerated inside the Kremlin complex
itself. It appears likely that Josef Stalin himself
has taken a personal interest in this case. The
Investigators, therefore, must conduct their
investigation within the walls of the Kremlin.

Walter reveals that an international

conference of journalists is to be held in
Moscow. The conference, be held in the
Grand Kremlin Palace, will run from 11:00 AM
Moscow time, March 15, to March 19th. This
is apparently a grand propaganda move by
Stalin to improve his image in the world press.
Approximately two hundred journalists and
artists from all over the world will be invited,
and this will form a perfect cover for the
Investigators during their investigation. The
Investigators' mission, then, will be to enter
the Kremlin in the guise of journalists or
artists and find out what precisely happened
to Potapov, using the assistance of Walter's
Muscovite accomplice. Specific questions
Walter wants answered are: What does Stalin
want from Potapov? What has Potapov told
them? Does Potapov know of any
experiments taking place inside the Kremlin?
80

If it is possible, Walter wants the Investigators

to bring Potapov back. The investigators will
be met by an associate in Moscow, who will
give them further information and also
internal passports and train tickets when their
mission is over, he will use the password
Nodens to identify himself.

A Times of London article on the

disappearance of blind war veterans from
Moscow.

Walter also has a key to a safe deposit box at

the Berliner Stadtbank in Potapov's name.
Walter has no idea what is in the box, but
thinks it may help the Investigators in their
investigation.

A Pravda article (in Russian) eulogizing a

Soviet mountaineer.

The group leave London on the 10th of

March; take the ferry to Calais and then the
train to Paris, then take the night train to
Berlin, arriving on the morning of the 11th.
The investigators stay at the Stadthof Hotel.
At the Stadtbank bank they are able to get the
contents, mostly newspaper clippings, of the
box without incident.

81

A letter (in German) on Reichswehr stationery

describing the sudden recall of a Soviet officer
named Alexei.

A New York Times article on construction in

the Kremlin.

An international Herald Tribune report on the

alleged Soviet conquest of mental illness

The next day the party stop in Warsaw, their

friend, the cineaste Krzysztof Polanski- had
been accidently deported to Poland, from the
London Asylum of Bedlam while clinically
sedated. They ask at the central asylum in
Warsaw and although he was in their records
as having arrived, he was soon released to his
own recognisance and the asylum had no idea
of his current whereabouts. Asking further for
him got the party nowhere and so they
departed eastward for Russia

At the Polish/Soviet border, there is a

considerable delay as the train carriages are
shifted to the wider Russian gauge and visas
and passports are checked by customs and
party officials. Jesse in particular gets into
problems as he has forged journalist papers
from the Manchester Guardian, but soviet
officials are suspicious as there is another
delegation from the Manchester Guardian on
82

board the train who know nothing about

Jesse. Jesse is taken from the train along with
this other delegation of journalists, but with
his silver tongue is able to convince the other
journalists that he is working for the London
office of the Guardian and that he is a short
term employee there.

During the journey from the Soviet border to

Moscow the investigators note they are being
watched by a thick-bearded man, tall and
stooped, with almost opaque glasses. He has
an odd walk .As a distraction Tsou Jung cooks
up chicken (he buys one from an old lady at a
stop) in the train compartments samovar
(used to heat and also produce tea)

about in the lobby. The scene is confused, and

chaotic, the hotel has only recently reopened
and due to a miscommunication, had not yet
been expecting guests . There are a number of
native Russians in the crowd. Amongst them:
Yuri Katkov. He comes up to Tsou Jung at
some point and waits until he can see that
none of the party officials are watching and
starts to complain about Stalins rule. Lenin
died early last year with rumours he left a
testament that under no circumstances was
Stalin to be allowed to rule, but despite that
Stalin seems to be directing the politburos
decisions more with every passing day. Last
month Trotsky was made resign his politburo
seat and few would now seem to be able to
oppose Stalin. At first ideology required
brutality, but soon brutality was the one
requiring the cover of ideology. Yuri wants to
defect. He has a false foreign passport and
only needs a space in the train when the
Investigators leave. Tsou says he will do what
he can for him

This allows the other Investigators enter his

sleeping car where they find a pair of pants
with stilt shoes in them, the kind used to
make midgets appear to be of normal height.
Artie then tries to accidently bump into the
strange man to see if he can knock him off his
stilts, but it doesnt work, the man gets off at
the stop before Moscow, Gorky
The Investigators arrive at the Moscow
Central Train Station on the evening of the
14th. Under a heavy Red Army guard, they
and the other journalists disembark and are
taken on buses to the Hotel Metropol. At the
hotel, hundreds of journalists will be milling
83

Sasha. He tells Artie that in exchange for hard

Western currency (dollars, pounds, francs), he
can get them anything - virtually anything they want

inside the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great. During

the lunch breaks in the conference, the
Investigators and the other journalists will be
able to visit some of the other sights of the
Kremlin, and they will have to sneak away into
the secret entrance, unseen, during this time.
They will be required to re-join the other
journalists at the close of the conference for
the day, at about 5:00 PM. All investigation
will have to be handled in this way. Ivan says
he will meet with the Investigators again
tomorrow evening.

Tatiana Arbatova. She is young and attractive

and tried to flirt with Jesse, she also offers
various Soviet goods - furs, icons, etc. - in
exchange for hard currency.

The investigators eat dinner at the hotel, but

the food quality is terrible with much moaning
from the journalists

While the investigators are checking in, they

hear a voice behind them say, rather loudly,
the word "Nodens." When they turn around, a
man in the crowd behind them will wave
them over the side. He is old and calls himself
Ivan. He is cold, laconic, and unfriendly. He
details to the Investigators the location of a
secret entrance to the underground Kremlin,

Tsou Jung reveals to Artie what his reason to

return to Moscow is, Jung used to live here,
running a Chinese restaurant and studying to
be a rabbi, until conditions became too
difficult during the civil war and Jung decided
to flee. He had to leave in a hurry when the
opportunity presented itself and he had to
leave behind a great treasure of his people
the Kaifeng Jews, an annotated version of
their Torah. Jung has been studying kabbalah
in his time in London and now believes that an
interpretation of his memory of the
annotations could signify great troubles for
the world ahead, and now he doubts his
memories, he needs to get his book back from
84

where it was hidden in the cellar of his

restaurant.

breakfast foods on offer. The food is of very

high quality, but the investigators detect an
unusual note to flavour of the food and Emily
sneaks away a sample for testing later.

However the Soviet secret police the GPU are

clearly keeping an eye on the entrance of the
hotel and Rabbi Tsou needs a distraction.
Artie finds Sacha and gives him money to
bring a nearby practicing marching band to
the hotel, where Artie joins them in concert
on his harmonica, this produces the required
chaos and Jung slips out and goes to where
his restaurant was, and is now a communal
kitchen area for the nearby collective. Jung
manages to sneak in and retrieve the Torah,
from where it was still hidden bricked up in
the cellar. Later that night back at the hotel,
Jung confirms his fears about his kabbalistic
interpretations, the ancient rabbi who wrote
them was warning of great danger for the
peoples of Israel and all G*ds children in the
coming year.

At 7:30 the next morning, the Investigators

along with the other journalists are taken by
bus through the gates of the Spassky Tower
and into the Kremlin. Breakfast is given at the
Kremlin palace with a rich spread of bread
sausages and other traditional Russian

The conference begins at 8:00 with a keynote

address by the General Secretary of the Soviet
Communist Party, Josef Stalin, entitled "The
Struggle against Reformism in the Field of
Progressive journalism." This is a rare
appearance by the leader of the Soviet Union,
and the speech is simultaneously translated
into all the different languages of the
journalists. The speech, though, is incredibly
dull and tedious. Stalin is a wooden,
uninspired speaker with a thick Georgian
accent that makes it occasionally difficult for
Tsou Jung to understand him. Unfortunately
for the gathered journalists, most of the
speeches they will hear this week are in this
85

vein, despite this many of the journalists seem

to be very receptive to Stalins arguments and
not just the journalists from the left wing
papers. At 11:30 AM!, when the speech ends
it is a great relief to all the investigators but
Tsou, who for some reason finds himself on
his feet applauding and very excited about
achieving the goals of the next five year plan!

Emilys cover for being invited to the

conference is as a modern artist, specializing
in filling shotgun cartridges with paint instead
of shot and blasting away at canvasses. She,
of course has brought hidden some shot to
refill some of the cases. She has to give a
demonstration. BTW it must be noted that
after Marta made up this idea to sneak in her
shotgun I found out that shotgun art actually
existed, and was invented by none other than
William Burroughs!

After waiting for Emily to finish her

demonstration and avoid the clutches of a
mocking soviet officer the investigators make
their way to the Bell Tower. Following Ivan's
instructions, they duck into an unused side

room and assemble behind a large pillar in the

northwest corner of the building's interior.
There they find after much searching a special
latch recessed in a part of the wall; pulling
aside a wooden windowsill to reach it. This
loosens a portion of the wall enough that it
swings inward if pushed hard. Beyond this
entrance, the Investigators find a black tunnel
stretching down into emptiness

Steps are discovered going down and are

illuminated using Arties cigarette lighter and a
flashlight brought by Jesse. At one point
flowing water is heard nearby, eventually the
steps end in a short corridor and a metal door
that the investigators have to figure out how
to open by pulling in and pushing up. The
door opens into a corridor heading North and
South, the investigators follow the tunnel
North and continue to do so for some 3km,
when eventually it ends by being bricked off
and apparently impassable, back-tracking the
investigators return to the initial entry point
and then go south until they can hear the
sound of two voices speaking in Russian
ahead. Going forward with care and
overhearing they realise that ahead are two
Russian soldiers guarding a ladder going
86

down. With little time left before 5pm and

with little appetite to engage the soldiers the
investigators return to the Bell tower and
meet up with the other journalists to return
to their hotel.

As soon as the Investigators get off the bus

from the Kremlin, a man about three feet tall
meets them and the first thing he says to
them is an insistent "Nodens." He introduces
himself as Nikolai, He is horrified to learn that
someone else has given the Investigators the
password. He asks, "Did he say it directly to
you? Did you see him say the word?" He asks
for a description of Ivan. He says that he
would have been here yesterday except a
man similar in description to Ivan tried to kill
him, he says that Ivan is most likely a
worshiper of Shub Niggeerath, they are
unable to say the word nodens, he must
have got somebody else to say the word.
Nikolai knows all about the entrance to the
lower Kremlin in the Bell Tower. But, he says,
this way is too risky; there is another
entrance, he says, a better and safer one.
Across the Moscow River a group of
cobblestones in a back alley is actually a
trapdoor leading to a way into the
underground Kremlin. He describes its

location (behind the Lenin Purchasing

Building) and its configuration and says he can
arrange for some handguns, flashlights, rope
and a compass to be hidden nearby. If the
investigators discover more information,
place a white stone in the bird bath of a
nearby park

Emily wants to test food samples from

breakfast, Tsou goes to find Sasha to ask for
some chemicals to help with analysis, but
cant find him, but instead finds Tatiana , she
agrees to get the chemicals from a chemistry
lab she knows, for a fee
Soon afterwards Tsou and Emily are in Emilys
room when there is loud banging on the door
and when it is opened many Soviet police
enter the room along with Tatiana. She
arrests Emily and Tsou for drug peddling,
counter
revolutionary
activities
and
attempting to corrupt soviet youth.

87

above and realise they are below the guards

from yesterday. Nikolais instructions were to
find a specific rock and twist it anti-clockwise,
when that is done a circle appears in the floor
and as the rock is twisted further the circle
lowers itself and eventually goes to the side to
reveal another ladder going down. A lever on
the other side closes the entrance.

Tsou and Emily spend much of the night being

interrogated, the interrogator is convinced
that they must be spies and wants names of
their soviet contacts, both are slapped in the
faces and Tsou has leads from a car battery
applied to his fingers. The investigators give
their interrogators the name and description
of Ivan and eventually are returned to the
hotel, when they get back they discover some
of the groups items are missing (specifically
The Pknotic Manuscript book and a pair of
silver knives in an ornate box)

Descending the ladder brings the investigators

to a north running tunnel that would seem
not to have been entered for quite some
time. After follow it for about a kilometre it
ends in a door that also needs to be pulled in
and pushed up, they are now looking at an
underground river that is flowing from west to
east. On the far bank there is a pathway, to
the east there appears to be a circular
enlargement of the river tunnel with an island
in the centre with a bridge from the path,
before you get to the island there is a passage
going to the north. Occasionally from the
island, the investigators hear the sounds of a
sentry, ascending and descending a set of
spiral stairs.

On the morning of the 16th of March, the

investigators avoid breakfast, instead eating
extra food in the hotel, and as the conference
speeches are being given by a number of
speakers it is easier to sneak out of the
Kremlin Palace earlier
The investigators arrive at the location
described by Nikolai and find the promised
cache, they enter a damp tunnel that travels
north mostly horizontally but also descending
after a while they arrive at the base of a
ladder and hear voices and see light from
88

The investigators wait until the sentry is not

on the island and make their way across the
river by way of a series of half submerged
stones and the ropes that Nikolai provided.
Afterward they quickly make their way to the
corridor to the north before the sentry
returns. The corridor to the north leads to a
series of well-made concrete steps that
ascend. The investigators ascend them and
arrive at a metal door; Tsou listens at the door
and overhears a man speaking in Russian with
a heavy Georgian accent, obviously Stalin. He
is giving orders to a second man; he is
demanding that production be increased, that
the secretion is working, that he must have
more of it. The man replies that they are
running out of food stocks, that the creature
only secretes when well fed and its food is
peculiar, Stalin laughs back, that is no
problem, Genrikh, because if there is only
thing that mother Russia does not lack for, it
is imbeciles! The investigators hear some
other people, perhaps guards come into the
room and decide that it would be too risky to
confront Stalin, so descend the stairs

The investigators decide to try to overpower

the guard whose round takes him from below
up a set of metal circular stairs set into the
centre of the island in the underground river.
Artie crouches, waiting for him to come up
the stairs, with Emily out of view ready with
the shotgun. However Artie misjudges his
moment to jump and ends up tripping in front
of the feet of the soldier climbing the stairs,
the soldier barks orders to Artie telling him to
surrender and Emily rushes over to intervene,
as the soldier is about to hit Artie with the
butt of his rifle, Emily appears and startles the
soldier while Artie grabs the rifle and wrestles
it off of him. Jesse arrives and tells the soldier
(in Russian) that he has been command to
bring them below to the creature.. the soldier
seems to panic and mumbling something
about they said Id never have to go down
there again tries to reach into his inner coat
pocket, Artie and Tsou pin his arms back first
and it is revealed that he was trying to get at a
grenade, which Artie takes from him. Refusing
to cooperate further the soldier is tied up and
gagged and the group descend the stairs.
Some keys are also found on him.

89

The stairs descend into a circular room and

continue below. The room has five rooms off
of it, four with barred windows and the fifth a
plain wooden door. There is a strong smell
coming from below, it is a mix of a very earthy
smell and gasoline.
Looking into the first of the dungeon cells, it is
clear that the people within are suffering fro
mental illness, one of them comes up to the
bars and starts mumbling.. food, for the love
of Christ, food WE ARE FOOD!

The next contains a man he is sat on the floor

humming, he has no eyes, it looks like he has
torn them out himself

A voice calls out in Russian, from another cell,

he told Stalin hed rather tear his eyes out
then translate another word.. in that cell
there are four men, who start to plead to be
let out, none of them is Potapov, some of
them seeing as the investigators are obviously
not guards start pleading to be released, they
explain that they are survivors of an
expedition led by the mountaineer
Aleksandrov. Stalin sent them to get a thing

from the Pamir Mountains, near the Chinese

border, Aleksandrov succeeded, but at such a
cost.. the men start acting very agitated when
asked to describe better the creature and it is
clear that they are not all together sane,
however the party agree to let them go and
advise them to make there way out following
the current of the river.
The forth cell contains a man fitting the
description of Potapov. He is very nearly
paralyzed by fear and obviously suffering from
intermittent torture. He tries to ignore the
investigators until they say the word
"Nodens" to him. After that it is as if a light is
lit up in him and he asks to be let out. He
explains, speaking in English, how these
tunnels where originally made by Ivan the
Terrible and how they were rediscovered by
Stalin when excavating for the Lenin
memorial, I was needed as I am unfortunately
somewhat of an expert on the buried secrets
of the Kremlin, come with me, I will show
what he found..

Potapov asks that the last door be opened

and the room turns out to be a library, the
recently discovered library of Ivan the
Terrible. The room has an incredibly musty
smell. Most of the books are undisturbed,
with the dust of centuries still on them. One
of the opened books is the original Greek
Necronomicon. Stalin admires Ivan, he
wishes to emulate his rule.. so he wanted to
read his books, he had Alexi Samsonov
brought back from Germany to translate it
90

and that is how he learned of the location of

the Dark Young, come we must see what he
has been up to

One of the walls here will not be covered with

books. It contains nothing but three reliefs
carved in stone. The reliefs are of three
famous buildings: St. Peter's Basilica in Rome,
The St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople,
and St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square in
Moscow. The Tsars were obsessed with the
concept of Moscow as the so-called "Third
Rome." Explains Potapov, The third relief, St.
Basil's, contains a hidden stud in its centre.
When pushed, part of the wall opens up into a
narrow tunnel leading downward. I have
read of this tunnel, Ivan liked to watch his
prisoners being fed to his monster without
being seen
Down the tunnel there is a small room at the
centre of the room is a small hatch which
Potapov pulls back.. the smell of sickly earth
and gasoline rises, the hatch reveals an
opening in the top of the domed roof of the
chamber below, part of the view is blocked by
the descending staircase, beyond it is a pit of
some sort in which is some sort of large
tentacled creature, the creature is surrounded
on all sides by soldiers with flamethrowers,
the flames seem to keep the create at bay..

the soldiers have to be blind, the sight of the

creature is so overpowering
The room below is large and ancient, but is
cluttered with a good bit of new construction.
On the north side of the strangely shaped
room are the barracks for the blind men who
guard the Dark Young. The South side is
divided between an office and a laboratory. A
man in a lab coat comes out and using a long
pole with a scraper on the end, scrapes some
slime from the creature.
Potapov points out some cracks in the uneven
floor, I fear it is as I thought it was, I did not
reveal all my secrets to Stalins torturers,
legend has it that when Ivan died, they could
not kill his creature, simply they buried it it
mortar and I fear it is still there
Artie tries to calculate if he could throw the
grenade he has and hit the creature and
decides that he would be able, so he and the
investigators decide that it will be necessary
to go to the lowest level.

The group gather up their arms and sneak

down the stairs as best they can. At the
bottom of the stairs they get a view of the
foul creature with its many mouths, tentacles
and hooves. Artie manages to keep his cool
91

and runs forward, channelling a childhood

playing baseball into the one throw he has to
make, he pull the pin and lets go of the
grenade. The grenade sails through the air
and lands directly inside one of the creatures
mouths, and is swallowed.

When Artie joins up with the rest of the group

they have already climbed up to the level with
the underground river, screams come from
below where the creatures are, however
sirens are going off and from the stairs that
lead to Stalin is the sound of many guards
coming and the group is paused, unsure if
they dare cross the mouth of the corridor,
Artie arrives and turns the corner, blasting a
half dozen soldiers with his flame thrower,
this allows the group to rush across and get to
the door they used to enter this part of the
underground Kremlin.

There is a deafening explosion and half the

creature is blown up, the explosion throws
back many of the blind flamethrowers and
also causes the ground to shake and many
cracks to appear in the floor of the chamber.
The party direct their gunfire at the still living
dark one, but it is clear that something else is
rising out of the floor, all the party but Artie
scramble up the stairs again, Artie however
has his heart set on a flame thrower and he
wrestles one off of a blind soldier, however in
doing so he gets a glimpse of a terrible
creature making its way out of the depths of
the pit

The investigators wait for some time behind

the door, they hear the sound of gun fire and
screams behind them, but soon the sounds
die off. Later when the group makes it way,
with Potapov, back to the hotel, they find out
that due to an earthquake the rest of the
conference has been cancelled. Potapov
meets up with Nikolai and gets travel
documents, internal passports, but there is no
more promised money and the investigators
still need to pay for tickets

92

8 days is ideal time Moscow to Vladivostok,

but the line is not in great repair and by the
12th day the train has only reached Irkutsk.
The investigators pass endless days of looking
out the window at frosty trees.

The train is delayed at Irkutsk and Lake Baikal,

due to the Trans Baikal route being blocked by
a land fall. Despite the lake being partly frozen
the travellers board an ice breaker, the
Angara for a days voyage

In another two days travel the train will leave

Soviet territory and reach China

Shanghai I
Session 10 Shanghai
Session played on 13/9/2015
Rabbi Tsou Jung and the investigators are in
Harbin waiting for an onward train through
Japanese controlled territory. The rabbi is
more and more convinced that G*D has
deliver him into the hands of the other
investigators for a reason and that their
investigations are the only hope against a
worldwide testing that his Torah warns him
of, another flood is coming, once more G*Ds
children must pay for their wickedness, too
many golden calves have been raised.

Jung knows that the other investigators seek

Jack Brady and know he was last seen in Hong
Kong, but perhaps he is in Shanghai where the
investigators now are headed? Divination is,
of course, banned by mishrah but kabala
allows one to understand better the word of
G*D, for he alone can say what the future
brings, perhaps G*D has already answered the
Rabbis question and if perhaps he just study
the true word further the answer would come
to him.

93

April the 11th 1925

Jung retires to his hotel room and asks not to

be disturbed for some hours, his Torah, the
collected work of centuries of Kafaing rabbis is
unrolled before him as Jung starts rocking
back and forth reciting the new prayer he
learnt from the venerable scroll, his hand
searches through the Torah text with his
finger resting on certain characters as
determined by the cadence of the prayer.
Finally a message is revealed by this
technique. A warning to the people of Israel,
the moon will eat the sun, the loyal guard is to
be found in the golden triangle, firm action,
firm study, firm belief, firm practice, firm
action. That evening Rabbit Jung shares his
message with the other investigators, he says
that he thinks that Brady is the loyal guard;
Jesse says that he thinks the Golden Triangle
could another name for the delta of the
Yangtze River in which Shanghai lies.

As overland travel to the international

settlement of Shanghai is unwise due to the
crumbling security situation of The Chinese
Republic, the investigators board The Yellow
Sea Queen at Port Artur and travel 2 more
days by sea. Travelling by sea into Shanghai
follows this course: upon arriving at the
mouth of the Yangtze River, ships are boarded
by pilots who guide the craft the fourteen
miles up the Yangtze and then Wangpoo
rivers to Shanghai.

During this five-hour journey passengers fill

out customs forms and watch the scenery: the
riverbankspocked with farms, hamlets and
fishing campsblended into billboards and
factories closer to the city.
Dirty brown and alive with ships and patrols
of every flag and size the river finally curves
before reaching the city proper; to the right is
Hongkew, with its wharves and shanties,
ahead is the eight mile stretch of impressive
western frontage, high promenade and
docksides known as the Bund. This is the first
94

sign that Shanghai, is not of the Orient, but

of something like the waterfronts of a tropical
Liverpool or Southampton. Before landing,
small boats swarmed around the arriving ship,
disgorging insurance-brokers, luggage touts,
and hotel salespeople.

One of the hotel touts that arrives is a

Frenchman, who introduces himself as Claude
Rains and advises Emily to fill in the French
version of the customs declaration, as the
French police the sortee are more amenable
to speeding up the process of clearing the
partys weapons through the customs of the
official Chinese arms blockade.

The party also agree for Claude to bring them

and their luggage to the Palace hotel, it the
international part of the bund, close to the old
American concession area. Emily is to stay in
the penthouse with its gold faucets.

Claude arranges for 4 rickshaws to take the

group and their luggage to the palace hotel.
Artie finds tucked into the back of his
rickshaw seat yesterdays copy of the English
Language newspaper Shanghai Courier,
skimming through it he notices an article that
comes to him attention as the address is the
same as that of the Stumbling Tiger bar which
is one of their clues from Jackson Elias.

Shanghai was founded by imposition on the

Chinese Empire in 1842 after the opium wars,
and has three authorities with foreigners
95

having the right of extraterritoriality, the right

to be tried by their own courts not the
Chinese courts. The three authorities are the
International settlement, the amalgamated
British, American and Japanese settlements;
the French settlement, as the French decided
not to join their concessions with the others;
and the Chinese municipality. There are 1.6
million Chinese and some tens of thousand
Shanghailanders, expat Europeans, who lord it
over the Chinese, discriminated against even
in their own country

After visiting the French police and smoothing

over the import of their weapons and the
issuing of weapons permits with a bit of cash,
a scene that is to be repeated time and time
again during their stay in Shanghai, the
investigators decide to investigate the killings
on Lantern Lane. And so now make their way
now to the headquarters of the Shanghai
Metropolitan Police, the police force of the
International settlement. At the police station
the group is able to talk with Inspector Chang,
saying they may have some information to
offer. The inspector says that the killing was

most likely a case of a mistaken identity gang

killing, as the killing had the level of brutality
associated with gangs but the male victim,
Mr. Chin Hsi-chou, was liked and respected;
everyone agrees that he had a hankering for
flower girls but it appears he was just in the
wrong place at the wrong time. The Inspector
lets on that the witness Yanghong Zhe
(Magenta Joy) is in hospital and is incoherent;
Emily says that as an eminent psychotherapist
she had come to offer he services to help the
woman recover and make a coherent
statement.

The inspector brings the inspectors on patrol

in his police van so that they can pass by the
General Hospital, where Magenta Joy is being
kept in the Chinese womens ward. The young
woman is mumbling to herself, and Emily tries
to sooth her with Rabbi Jung translating..
however nothing can be done for the poor
woman, but at one point she says that the
attacker flew with just one wing, which makes
Artie and Emily think of the hunting horror
that attacked them in Emilys New York
apartment.

96

speak some English and to her surprise Jesse

wants to speak to her. She says that the girl
who had lived in the room of the murder was
sold to another house (140 Lantern Street)
just the day before the murder, because she
insisted on keeping an American in her room,
a man whom Madame Gee disliked. Quivering
Jade knew him only as John. Jesse brings
Quivering Jade to Emily and the Rabbi and she
identifies Jack Brady from his photograph. The
name of the girl who was sold was Choi
Meiling.
Lantern Street, just northeast of the
confluence of the Whangpoo and Soochow
Rivers is a district of bars, gambling dens, and
flower girl houses, a Shanghai euphemism for
brothel, convenient to the docks and factories
of the American concession The building
where the murders took place a flower girl
house. When the investigators knock, several
naughty ladies happily greet them; the
manager of the house, a fierce woman named
Madame Gee, condescends to talk when
offered some currency. Artie and Jesse are
dragged by some of the flower girls into their
rooms, unwillingly on the part of Jesse.
Madame Gee shows Emily and Jung the
murder room with furnishings completely
demolished and walls, floor, and ceiling
splattered with blood. Anything else she
doesnt know. She wasnt here, and she has
things to do. She seems to take offers of
additional money as insulting, and calls in two
gigantic Korean bouncers who offer to neuter
or otherwise alter the genetic destinies of the
insistent investigators.

The manager of Number 140 Lantern Street, a

hokey Taoist doctor wearing a robe
embroidered with meaningless symbols, is
very interested when the investigators ask
about Choi Mei-ling. That whore escape! he
shouts. I pay good money. I treat her right!
he swears. The investigators get no other
information from this cad. However in the
waiting room Artie does find a card in English
that catches his eye with a mythos like
mention of The Stars Being Right

Rabbi Jung apologizes profusely and the

bodyguards are calmed down The girl chn
wi y (Quivering Jade), that is with Jesse can
97

man drinking from a beer and a further two

Chinese men drinking green tea.
The owner-barman is a squat taciturn man,
His fingers, like those of his customers, are
brown from chain-smoking cigarettes.

The group now visit the Stumbling Tiger bar at

10 Lantern Street identified by both Chinese
and English signs, and by the image of a
drunken tiger tripping over a stone. The bar is
a single room plus a separate toilet both
rooms are large, dark, and dirty. Lurid green
and magenta posters of Chinese songstresses
and film stars decorate the walls. The light is
simultaneously harsh and inadequate.
Decades of cigarette smoke and missed tries
at spittoons give the air a heavy, damp,
mouldering quality Emily uneasily thinks of
tuberculosis.
Jesse notes the Scottish flags behind the
counter and introduces himself as being a
half-Scot too, saying he had a Scottish father
but grew up in London, the barman
introduces himself as Fergus Chum, but his
friends know him as McChum. He is a native
of Shanghai, but his father was a also a
Scotsman. Jesse asks for some of his best
whisky and McChum breaks out a bottle of
Laphroaig single malt that he says his Da
brought over.

Inside there is a single oriental man drinking

from a bottle of whiskey, a well-built black
98

Emily notices that the solitary whiskey drinker

is only pretending to drink from his whiskey
and is not as drunk as he pretends; Jung
notices that the man is actually Japanese;
they whisper these facts to Artie and Jesse.

Artie sits down next to and offers to buy a

whiskey for the black man, who declines
saying as a Muslim he does not drink spirits,
but he did not think Allah would take
exception to another beer. He speaks with a
slight French accent and says his name is
Moussa "Jean-Paul" Coulibaly and he is from
Sudan but fought in the Great War for the
French and afterwards he served in the
colonial forces in South East Asia eventually
being demobbed here in Shanghai here he has
continued life as a soldier on his own terms,
finding work in turn as a guard, a bodyguard,
and a gun for hire. He can speak some
Chinese now and finds he can easily
intimidate the local people. Emily asks him if
he would be interested in working for the
group as a bodyguard and he agrees for the
price of $10 per day plus danger pay if
appropriate.

Artie asks McChum about Jack Brady and

shows a photo, No see him for long time.
Think maybe he leave Shanghai., Emily has
got used to Shanghai ways and gently
suggests that cash could improve his memory,
McChum seemingly agrees. but McChum
doesnt come cheapJack Brady once save
my life, he swears, right here in this bar.
Yeah. To salve his conscience, many dollars
helps. Lowering his voice, he says,Jack Brady
go to Rangoon. He have big deal there with
Charlie Greythey sell guns, I think. Charlie
Grey a big money manvery important
there.

99

The group show a photo of Jackson Elias and

McChum says that maybe he remembers him,
said he stayed at at Jin Juang guest house on
Black Slipper Lane, unusual for a Caucasian, as
it is in Chinese Part of town. At this point the
two Chinese men leave.
Artie sits down next to the solitary whiskey
drinker and asks him what his real reason for
being in the bar, the drinker says he is a
fisherman and the catch has been bad, so he
is drowning his sorrows. But you are really
Japanese!, Is that a crime now!, I want to go
now! Artie makes a grab for the man but the
man is able to throw him to the ground with
some sort of Judo move. Jean-Paul looks over
at Emily and she gives a nod, so he moves
over to join in the fight, Artie on the ground
tries to throw a chair at the man but instead it
smashes against a wall breaking hey, watch
the furniture! shouts McChum who is
peaking over the bar. The man pulls a gun on
Jean Paul who puts his hands up, Artie pulls
out his own revolver. Artie notices that the
gun the man uses is a Nambu pistol, which is
normally only issued to Japanese navy
officers.

After a tense few moments of stand-off Artie

indicates that he is willing to put his gun down
and gestures to the man to do likewise, they
both sit at a table with their guns on the table
in front of them. Lets talk says Artie, We
trade question for question says the man, I
start, why do you seek Jack Brady? Jack is
connected to the murder of our friend in New
York says Artie, Who then asks, do you

know where Jack Brady is?, Brady is working

with some communists replies the man,
Who then asks, what do you know about the
Radeon? Artie doesnt know what Radeon is,
only Jesse had heard or even knew what a
radioactive element was.. the group look
confused at each other. The Japanese man
slowly picks up his pistol again and says, you
have no information to give me, I will go now,
If you have real information later you come to
Japanese Consulate and ask for Captain Isoge
He then stares down the group as he backs
out of the bar.
After leaving The Stumbling Tiger bar the
group decide to check out the Jin Jang Guest
House where McChum, the bar owner said
that Jackson Elias had stayed when he visited
Shanghai. The Guest House is a cheap sixroom hostel converted from an apartment
building located on Black Slipper Lane, one of
many alleys in district south of the Chinese
Bund. The neighbourhood throngs with
market squares, shipping offices, and
beautiful temples, bunched together into an
area far too small for them all. Westerners are
few but not unwelcome. Black Slipper Lane
itself is only a few feet wide, cool, quiet, and
well shaded by the brick apartment buildings
on either side. A small plaque set next to the
door advertises the hotel in both English and
Chinese. Inside the group meets Wang Ting,
the owner who they note with her delicate
steps and teetering walk; has bound feet,
which limits her mobility. News of Elias
passing saddens her; he was a good customer
and a gentleman. He even paid up front for a
month, though he only stayed for a fortnight.
Ting is willing to let them see his room as
while it has been cleaned by the maid after
Elias left, no one else has stayed there since.
Wrong time of year, she admits
enigmatically Elias frequented the Stumbling
Tiger Bar and Hells Kitchen Nightclub once or

100

twice, though she recommended better

establishments.

Elias room is one of the pair on the top floor

(and therefore unable to be reached by Ting
without great effort) and is quintessentially
Chinese; hard four-poster bed, ornate
lacquered screen, and very low writing desk
complete with stool to kneel or sit upon.
The group finds a scribbled note crumpled up
amongst the soggy dregs of the rooms
spittoon. The notes hold information on a
long-dead Chinese cult, historically from the
Yangtze basin, called the Order of the Bloated
Woman. Alongside the usual blood-rites, black
magic, and Triad activities, the Order is
reputed to have worshiped a beautiful
woman with a fan, seemingly at odds to the
bloated epithet. (A few scribbled lines
remind Elias to investigate whether this is a
mistranslation between Chinese dialects).
Notably absent from western study, the cult is
thought to have died out during the mid-tolate Qing Dynasty. Much of the outline is

incomplete; it is obvious that Elias was toying

with a few scraps of info he had overheard or
read in passing.

As evening is approaching, the group decide

to visit Hells Kitchen Nightclub and once
more take rickshaws to go there.

As the group of two rickshaws get split up by

heavy traffic at an intersection the rickshaw
with Tsou Jung and Jesse Riden falls behind
and the pair note that another rickshaw
101

would seem to be following the lead rickshaw

with Emily and Artie. With the traffic in their
favour again, Tsou and Jesse get closer and
note that the occupants are the two Chinese
men from The Stumbling Tiger bar. Tsou
asks his rickshaw driver to get closer and try
to box in the followers rickshaw against the
lead rickshaw while trying to signal to the lead
rickshaw about what is happening. That done,
the two occupants of the following rickshaw
panic and abandon their vehicle and
disappear into the crowd much to the dismay
of their unpaid driver. Jesse notes that one of
the followers has an unusual symbol on the
back of his jacket. Artie decides to try to
follow the men through the crowd, telling
Emily that he will meet up later at Hells
kitchen.

Located on the edge of the French

Concession, Hells Kitchen is Shanghais only
shrine to Prohibition-era U.S.A, that its owner,
Steven Chin, only knows about the U.S. from
Life magazine articles and newsreels only adds
to its charm. Hells Kitchen
is smoky, loud, and carefree staff are
predominantly white, the clientele mixed, and
even the gangs enjoy it enough not to muscle
in or cause trouble. The nightly cabaret,
usually comprised of local Chinese performers
with the token white house-band, is

considered one of the best in the city. Emily

and Jesse ask around discretely for gunner
runners and encounter Patrick Devlin a young
Irishman, who is known to have contacts in
that line, he admits to have heard about
Charlie Grey, but that Charlie wasnt working
out of Shanghai anymore, when asked if he
knows Brady, he says he doesnt know him
but that many people on the street have
been asking for him.

Rabbi Tsou feels out of place in the nightclub

and decides to wait outside, when collecting
his coat he notices that the cloakroom staff
member, a young cherub-faced Chinese man
slips a leaflet into the coat pocket. Outside
examining the leaflet he discovers it is in
Chinese and invites people to come to a mass
meeting tomorrow at Loonghwa Pagoda
square at 14:00 organised by Sin Jung-Qua or
New China the group promises its four
affirmations Firm Study, Firm Belief, Firm
Practice, and Firm Action will end Chinas
humiliation and solve her problems. Tsou Jung
returns to the club and waits for a moment to
talk alone to the cloakroom attendant, whose
name is Jang Jin-Shui and who admits to
planting the leaflet and to being a member of
New China and encourages once more for
Tsou Jung to support New China in order to
solve Chinas duel parasitic problems of
criminal corruption and foreign interference.

102

Easter Sunday 1925 April 12th

Although mostly a Chinese town, on Easter
Sunday Shanghai mostly shuts down in the
afternoon, to respect its international rulers
traditions. So the investigators split up in
order to rush around a few locations before
returning to The Palace Hotel for their lavish
Easter lunch.

Artie meanwhile has been following the two

men from The Stumbling Tiger and the
rickshaw into the old city, past the Temple of
Confucius and to the entrance of a compound
for a large dwelling on Yu-Yuan road.
Unfortunately his trailing skills give up on him
at that point and he is spotted observing the
men enter the building, the men and some
other men that come from the compound (all
wearing jackets with the same symbol on the
back) give chase and Artie runs for his life.
After a frantic five minutes, Artie manages to
hide in a side ally while his pursuers lose his
trail then makes sure he is not being followed
and then makes his way to Hells Kitchen.
After the group reunites they decides to call it
a day and start their investigations anew
tomorrow.

Rabbi Tsou Jung visits the Customs house, an

imposing building on The Bund, still under
construction in 1925. He wishes to ask if The
Ivory Wind has arrived yet from London. He
joins a long queue and eventually finds
himself in the presence of a European official,
who is convinced that Tsou Jung wishes to
find out this information for commercial stock
trading gain, Tsou finds out that the boat has
yet to arrive and after the customary
exchange of bribery money and promise of
further, the official promises to send word to
The Palace hotel when the ship docks

Artie is with "Jean-Paul" Coulibaly, the body

guard recruited yesterday in The stumbling
Tiger, Jean-Paul is relatively proficient in
103

Chinese and knows some water front people.

Together they locate some Wang-po boatmen
that recognise the boat in Jackson Eliass
photo as a large steam yacht, the Dark
Mistress, that pulls into Shanghai to load
food, water, about once a month. Its crew is
particularly depraved and degenerate-looking
(Like frogs, buddy, yeah). It flies a Union
Jack, the owner is an Englishman, Alfred
Penhurst. No one ever has seen him. He must
be very wealthy to own such a luxurious boat,
and a very wicked man to hire such a
terrifying crew.

Emily and Jesse visit the temple near to the

house that Artie fled from the day previously,
they talk to the monks there and light candles
and make offerings. They learn that the
nearby compound has been recently rented
by a rich man Lin Tang-Yu and his retinue from
Kweilin in south central China.

obese tentacled woman in the secret room of

the Penhew foundation.

The investigators wait until after midnight and

head out to investigate, bringing along "JeanPaul" Coulibaly. "Jean-Paul is a bit reluctant,
as he says all the import and export business
in Shanghai is controlled by gangs and that
you dont want to mess with them, but he is
persuaded that the group just want to have a
look at what is stored in the warehouse. The
large brick building is on the north bank of the
Whangpoo River. Jesse notices that at least a
portion of the warehouse is built on a wooden
pier or wooden pilings. A stout peaked roof of
tile fends off the rain. Five sets of large doors
along the sides of the building give access to
the high-ceilinged storage area, and two
stories of low-ceilinged offices face the street.
Artie picks the lock of one of the doors to the
offices and the group enter.. Soon they are in
a fight for their lives as fearless Chinese
guards rush at them.. But that is as far as we
got last time and the outcome of the battle is
still to be resolved..

After an enjoyable full Lunch and relaxing

afternoon at the Palace Hotel, the
investigators decide they need to see what is
inside the warehouse of HoFong. This was
the destination of the crate containing the

104

Session 11 On the trail of Jack

Brady
Session played on 24/10/2015
The large brick building is on the north bank
of the Whangpoo River. A stout peaked roof
of tile fends off the rain. Five sets of large
doors along the sides of the building give
access to the high-ceilinged storage area, and
two stories of low-ceilinged offices face the
street. Artie picks the lock of one of the doors
to the offices and the group enter with Jesse
holding an electric torch to light the way..

The group can hear the sound of some guards

playing cards from the main warehouse and
decide to confront them while they have the
advantage of being undetected. With JeanPaul in front they go down the corridor, past
some offices, however suddenly a guard
appears at the other end! The guard screams
out an alert and adopting a martial arts
fighting stance attempts to rush at Jean
Pierre. Alarmed by the fanatical look in the
mans eyes, but quick off the mark, Jean
Pierre shoots his rifle and the guard crumples
to the ground.

More guards appear and attempt to rush at

the group; one of the guards with a revolver
takes cover at the far end of the corridor.
Artie at the corridor entrance and Jean Paul in
the corridor hold their ground and keep
shooting, the rest of the group take cover and
try to shoot around the corners. In total there
are six of the guards and soon three of them
are on the ground bleeding out from multiple
gunshot wounds; however Jean Paul takes a
bullet to his leg and collapses, thinking him
out of the fight, two of the guards jump over
him and try to rush the rest of the group,
Emily tries to take them out with her shotgun,
but it jams catastrophically and the shotgun
blows up in her face.

105

Tsou Jung is grazed in the head by a bullet and

falls unconscious, Artie downs a guard and so
does Jean Paul from the ground, there
remains only the shooter at the far end of the
corridor who now concentrates his fire on
Jean Paul, an easy target.. but he still
manages to miss due to the cross fire. Artie
rushes down the corridor and grabs Jean Paul
and drags him into a side office. Emily has
recovered from her shotgun mishap and has
pulled out a pistol. Jesse and Emily manage to
hit the shooter who collapses, but a strange
sound of splashing water and meat being
slapped drifts up the corridor. There appears
there shambling at the end of the corridor,
the first guard to be shot, body bloated up
somehow and with water spewing from his
mouth and the gunshot wound.

The creature that was a man advances toward

the group, who waste no time trying to fill it
with lead, but that does not seem to stop its
advance. Emily hits the creature directly in the
eye, which blows out half its head, but even
that does not stop it, more salty water

impossibly shoots from the new hole. Jesse

drags Rabbi Tsou away to safety and Artie
tries to wrestle with the creature which tries
to claw and bite at him. Emily spots a strange
amulet on a chain around the neck of the
creature that seems to glow faintly and point
it out to Artie who tries to grab at it and after
a struggle gets hold of it, only to feel a
strangle electrical shock course through his
body. Ignoring this strange sensation, Artie
manages to pull the amulet away from the
creature, which then flops to the ground
lifeless and will the jets of sea water replaces
not with trickles of red blood.

After Emily attends to Rabbi Tsou and Jean

Paul, she also attends to one of the guards
who is wounded but still alive. Tied to a chair,
when his gag is removed he is cursing them in
Chinese, saying little other than that Ho Fong
will have them killed for this and that he
wished he had the amulet so he could kill
them. The man starts trying to shout out and
has to be silenced again. Emily decides to hell
with the Hippocratic Oath and silences him
forever with 50cc of barbiturates from her
medical kit.

106

Jean Paul is helped to the entrance of the

warehouse where he keeps guard while the
rest of the group search the warehouse. The
main warehouse storage area is supported
by several rows of wooden pillars and
contains archipelagos of salted fish, hemp
cordage, copra, canned foods, bagged rice,
chests, bricks of tea, porcelains, dried herbs,
machine parts, hard woods, and yard goods.
A room with a very strong locked door is
discovered at the back of the main area and
after Jesse fails to open it Artie sets to work to
see if he can trick open the lock. Meanwhile
Rabbi Tsou is checking out the upstairs offices
and discovers a loose step on the stairs up. He
goes back to find a crowbar and levers the
step up and shines a light into a storage area
below, the same area that Artie has just
successfully picked the lock on.

have bails of dried opium paste. The third and

last are six small crates labelled AP. These
contain strange mechanical and electrical
pieces some also with electrical circuit
diagrams. Included are some glass tubes with
wires running out of each end, which are very
light to the touch and also some tubing that
would seem to sit in some sort of high
pressure system. Note of the group have any
clue what function these parts could serve.
The group take the circuit diagrams, a brick of
opium and take a selection of the strange
pieces enough to fill one crate.

Upstairs in some offices the group find many

nautical charts, some ledgers in French and a
safe, which when cracked by Artie (who is
getting very good at this now) is found to
contain hundreds of dollars worth of money
in a variety of currencies. The investigators
take the money and the ledgers and decide it
is time to leave. Spreading some of the
flammable goods onto the warehouse floor
they set light to the building and make their
way through the dock area as best they can to
not be seen until they make it to a main road
and they hail a taxi to return to the Palace
hotel.

This room has three piles of crates in it and

also contains a trap door in the floor to the
river below, A hoist allows crates to be
lowered to small boats tied beneath the pier.
Some of the crates contain strange artwork
Japanese, Indian, African, and Polynesian
pieces, disturbing but none obviously with any
magical powers, the second set of crates
107

Ho Fong has shipped to and received items

from the Penhew Foundation (London) and
Ahja Singh (Mombasa)mostly art objects,
though books are referred to also. These sorts
of shipments also are sent to points in Tokyo
and Rio de Janeiro. In the same file are
notations concerning shipments of mining
equipment to Mortimer Wycroft of
Cuncudgerie, who lives in Western Australia.

The assassins go further into Emilys rooms,

apparently searching for something. Emily
hides behind her room door with her pistol
ready and a protective spell cast. Artie,
Thomas and Jung grab their weapons and rush
to help. Emily is able to protect herself with
gun, spell and surprise position while the
other investigators attack the assassins from
the rear. On realising they are losing the fight,
the remaining attackers try to throw smoke
bombs and try to escape but fail. Rabbi Jung
does not hesitate to coupe de grace one of
the wounded assailants, one is captured alive
and is tied to a chair to be interrogated for
information on who sent them before the
police arrive. But he bites into a cyanide cap in
a false tooth and dies.

After returning To the Palace Hotel, Jean Paul

keeps watch in the living room of Emilys suite
while the investigators retire to their rooms to
rest. Later that night the door to Emilys suite
flies open and some masked men rush in
surprising Jean Paul and throwing shrunken at
him.

Jean Paul is almost killed by the sword of the

leader of these assassins, but manages to
shout out a warning before he is cut down.

Naturally the police are called by the hotel

management; in charge of the investigation is
Police Inspector Chang, who the investigators
had met previously when following up the
Lantern street attacks. The attackers would
clearly seem to be professional and Inspector
Chang is very keen to find out who would
want to attack to steam from the
investigators and why. The investigators
mention that they have been followed by men
working for Lin Tang Yu. The inspector knows
of Mr Lin, who is a rich art collector. The
inspector discovers the large safe at the back
108

of Emilys walk in wardrobe and asks for it to

be opened. It was at that point that the
investigators remembered the 1kg brick of
opium resin they had taken from Ho Fongs
warehouse was in the safe.

Emily had left with the ambulance that took

Jean Paul to hospital. Inspector Chang had
insisted she was accompanied by a constable,
for your own safety. Emily assists a British
surgeon Dr. Carlson in saving Jean Paulss life.
After the surgery, she complains that she and
her friends. the victims are being treated as
criminals by facing acquisitions. Dr. Carlson
recommends an American lawyer friend of
his, Dale Richards. Upon returning to the hotel
suite, which is now sealed off as a crime
scene, Emily refuses to open the Safe and the
Inspector, who suspects the investigators of
illegally exporting artworks from China,
threatens to get a warrant to open the safe.

After much legal wrangling, the investigators

new lawyer, Dale Richard, suggests that the
investigators admit to their being some drugs
in the safe, that Emily has important family
and she does not want them to lose face, that
there is nothing else criminal in the safe, that
she make a contribution to the police widows
fund. Emily agrees to this and the Inspector
also agrees, that he is uninterested in that
matter, he just wants to see what it was that
caused some powerful tongs to be involved
either in murder or theft. So he still insists
that the safe is opened. The other
investigators, on learning this, directly bribe
one of the police guards to leave the room for
ten minutes and empty nearly everything out
of the safe (leaving some legally acquired
artworks). The investigators take the items
and taking circular routes to avoid being
trailed they book into the Astor hotel under
false names. Emily finally opens the safe for
Inspector Chang, who is shocked at the
amount of opium that was supposedly for
personal quantities only. He confiscates it, for
destruction and checks out the artworks
before declaring that there was nothing
suspicious there.

109

Dreamlands
Session 12 The dreams of the
sleep of death
Session played on 14/11/2015
Keepers notes: Down to 4 players and I
couldnt even get them to all meet at the
same time, hence sessions 12 and 12.5 that
split the action into two locations
As night falls in Shanghai on the night of the
12th/13th of April 1925 our intrepid
Investigators try to settle in to sleep for their
first night at the Astor House Hotel. They have
booked in under false names and are staying
at less expensive rooms at the back of the
hotel and hope that the cultists have not been
able to trail them from the Palace Hotel
where they were staying previously and were
attacked by the assassins.
Apart from the usual problems that
experienced investigators would be expected
to have sleeping, sounds of caterwauling and
fighting from the local cats outside the
investigators windows make sleep very
difficult. Eventually Artie opens his curtains
revealing two giant pairs of cat eyes looking
in! Letting out an expletive in shock, the rest
of the investigators are soon awake

Investigators reaching for their weapon are

surprised by black cats tumbling out of
bedroom night stands and closets. Each from
their separate rooms Investigators are
shouting one to another, Did you see the
cats?, screams are heard, weapons are
discharged , room doors then collapse and a
swarm of cats fall into the rooms from the
corridor outside. Rabbi Tsou Jung is dragged
screaming down the corridor, on the back of
the many, many cats that occupy it. Emily
loads and blasts her shotgun at the cats in her
room, killing many, she can hear Artie
shooting too. However, suddenly the window
behind her is smashed and she is knocked
over by a giant cat paw onto the cat covered
floor, soon she too is being pulled along the
corridor, by many grasping cat jaws.

The investigators once overpowered by the

apparently endless cat hordes are dragged by
the cats down the stairs. They suddenly find
themselves along with two unknown Chinese
women on a wide desert plane facing a horde
of cats charging towards them and with a cliff
wall behind them, a cave mouth would seem
to offer the only source of refuge. Behind the
horde of Cats there would seem to be the
enormous cat again. One of the women is
wearing a maids uniform (some of the
investigators recognise it as being from the
Palace Hotel) the other is wearing
sophisticated but mistreated clothing.

110

While the group runs in panic towards the

cave a things swoops down and grabs Emily. It
is a shocking and uncouth black thing with
smooth oily whale like surfaces, unpleasant
horns that curve inward toward each other,
bat wings whose beating make no sound, ugly
prehensile paws, a barbed tail that slashes
needlessly ,and disquietingly and worst of all,
it has no face! It flies away with Emily in its
grasp, with its tail wrapped around her and
the pointed end tickling her madly, the
tickling rendering her unable to act. Artie
shoots at the creature with his handgun,
hitting it in the wing and almost downing it,
but it flies on taking Emily screaming into the
sky.

Once inside the cave the sound of pursuit dies

off and looking out of the cave entrance
reveals only darkness, Rabbi Jung venturing
out into the darkness finds himself to his
shock somehow returned to the cave. At the
back of the cave is a staircase that leads down

into the gloom. The only light source is a dim

light shining up from the stairs. The Maids
English name is Mary, her real name is Sima
Qian, she keeps pinching herself to wake up
and saying in Chinese that she should not be
there.

The other Chinese woman when spoken to by

the investigators is very defensive and replies
to their inquiries with Mr Fong! There is no
need to do this to me, I dont know anything, I
cant answer your questions, I have not seen
him for some weeks, he abandoned me!
After she is reassured they mean her no harm,
the investigators manage to coax from her
that she is Choi Mei-ling, the woman who had
been keeping Jack Brady in her room at 88
Lantern Street. She thinks that she is being
interrogated by Ho Fong, and is under the
effect of a hallucinogenic.

As If the investigators had dallied too long in

the cave, great tendrils of darkness spill in
through the cave entrance and chase them
down the stairs which plunge ever downward,
finally opening into a vast cavern. It is lit by a
111

huge pillar of purple and white flame that

bursts from the centre of the floor and
disappears into the ceiling overhead. Nearby
are two very tall bearded men dressed in
robes and high mitre like headgear. The men
greet the investigators calmly, introducing
themselves as Nasht and Kaman-Thah, priests
of the Cavern of Flame, they say they were
created by great dreamers of the past. The
priests approach, peer deeply into the
investigators eyes and look to each other.
We cannot interfere. They must pass,
Nasht, then speaks gravely to the
investigators. Your lives and your souls are in
great peril. There is One who covets them and
you have fallen into its trap. I say this but
once- do not reveal the location of your
dreaming body, you arrive as waking spirit,
not dreaming spirit, find a way to leave the
dreamlands, find the Keeper of Dreams fail at
this and you are lost. With this the priests
point them toward another descending
staircase opposite the first. These are the
Seven Hundred Steps to Deeper Slumber,
beyond which lie the lands of dreamyou are
safe during the day, we can alter the time of
your arrival, that might help somewhat, but
we know of entrance not of exit

The torch lit passage down the Seven

Hundred Steps is a long one. At the bottom
the passage opens out into a moon lit forest
of thickly-grown trees; the passage itself
winds upward into the trunk of one of these
great trees. Patches of fungi hug the bases of
the trees and fill the air with musty earthy
smells. Strange bird and animal cries pierce
the dense wood and odd rustlings are heard
above and all around the investigators. Paths
lead off in several directions. At times the
foliage is so dense that the moon cannot be
seen overhead. Jesse has a strange feeling of
dj vu, the source of which he cannot pin
down.The roar of some beast from the depts.
of the forest sends a chill down the
investigators and their companions spines.

As the party makes their way through the

near- claustrophobic forest, they hear a
rustling commotion ahead. There, alongside
the path, is cat painfully struggling with a
nasty steel trap that holds fast to one leg.
Rabbi Jung is still greatly affected by his
encounter with cats earlier in the night and is
filled with fear and revulsion at the sight of
the cat. Artie and Jesse prise open the traps
jaws and are very surprised when the cat on
finishing a quick lick of his wounded paw
speaks to them with a thanks!. The cat says
its name is Arram, it is from the nearby city of
Ulthar, where many of the dreamland cats live
and the most important rule is that no man
may kill a cat. Aram had been sent by the Cat
General to the enchanted woods, to spy on
the zoogs, small evil creatures, enemies of the
cats, but had got caught in one of the Zoogs
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traps. Aram says he smells some strange

creature, somewhat like a cat, but with great
evil in the forest. Jesse picks up Aram as he
has trouble walking on his paw and the cat
gives them indications to make their way to a
river and follow it out of the forest.

Now trusting more the investigators, Choi

Mei-ling tells her story, a revolutionary friend
had asked her to hide Jack, and they had
fallen in love, when Jack disappeared her
Madame had tried her to get her to start
working again, she was first tricked into going
to another brothel and then ran off. She
knows that Jack was involved in something
very dangerous; she knows he has to hide
from members of the Black Fan Devotees
Gang, but she does not know the specifics of
the evil Jack is fighting. She had been lying low
when she was pulled off the street into a dark
car by a caucasian man and some Chinese
associates. Artie discovers that he has a
notepad and is able to sketch a description of
the man based on her recollection. She was
brought back to a location between the Old
City and the French Concession, which she
thinks is the residence of Ho Fong, she knows
him as his wife was a famous actress.

Mary the maid wails out. it was all my fault!

she admits she was paid $20 dollars to get
some personal items from The Palace Hotel
while cleaning the rooms. She doesnt believe
in black magic, but knows some people do, so
what if she gets some items for them,
anyway, who is going to say no to a tong
member? She gave some hair from the
bathtub, some discarded tissues, but
somehow the curse has fallen on her too,
perhaps some of that hair was hers!. On
hearing this, Choi Mei-lings eyes go wide,
they were very excited when they found a
letter I had from Jack, the Caucasian said the
Shesru could get Brady with that..! but I
guess so many of my kisses and tears had
fallen on it that it got me instead!.
The Dreamers hear the sound of running
water ahead and continue in that direction
and come across two bearded warriors sitting
crying with their heads in their hands by the
side of the river. In a nearby tree are hung
two harps.

Are you Babylonians? Are you Edomites? they

point out the cat.. Are you from Ulthar? We
were in the town of Ulthar and there they
asked, Sing us one of the songs of Zion! but
How can we sing the songs of the Lord while
in a foreign land? So we left the town to be
alone here, lest we anger seizes one of their
infants and dash them against the rocks.
Rabbi Jung recognises he is seeing an echo of
Psalm 137. At the fall of the First Jewish
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Temple, the Edomites attacked Judah and

looted the Temple and forced the Exile in
Babylon. The warriors Tomar and Yitzak are an
incarnation of fears of exile and having to live
as a minority culture. They are Psalm 137
brought to life.
When they realise that Tsou is a Rabbi, they
are very eager for news of Jerusalem. Is the
temple rebuilt, are our people still in Exile?

The Rabbi tells them that G*d had instructed

the exiles to pray for and seek the peace of
Babylon. Prophet Jeremiah had written: "And
seek the peace of the city where I have
caused you to be carried away captive, and
pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you
will have peace" (Jer. 29:7). Jungs scriptural
interpretation seems to just confuse the
Hebrew warriors until Jesse suddenly
discovers he too is Jewish and tells them in
simpler words what the Rabbi was trying to
say it is normal to feel pain in Exile, but it is
G*DS plan for you to live in Babylon, it is a
test. At this the attitude of the two warriors
is greatly changed. They wish to travel back to
Ulthar and further afar to find more of the
children of Zion to tell what they learned.

They sing a song, the tale of David versus

Goliath, and play their harps and reward the
dreamers with a shield to Jesse, a bow to
Artie and to the Rabbi they take away his fear
of cats. The Dreamers now travel onward, the
Hebrew warriors now showing the way and
the Rabbi holding and petting Arram, but soon
Tomar and Yitzak disappear behind some
trees and are not seen again.

A line of red on the horizon tells the dreamers

that the trees are thinning, they are near the
edge of the forest and that dawn is coming. At
that moment a creature, the Shesru, bursts
out of the forest and pounces at Mary the
maid

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Shesru uses its claws on Mary, eviscerating

her. Jesse pulls a rapier from his belt and
lunges ineffectually. The Sheshru springs from
the Marys lifeless body on ground and knocks
Artie flat.

He pins her to the ground and stares into her

face intensely, she says something in Chinese,
understandable to Rabbi Jung as Palace
Hotel, Servants quarters room 15.

Aram the cat jumps from the Rabbis hands

and forgetting his pained paw dashes for the
edge of the forest. Artie fires his bow at the
Sheshru; the arrow flies true, but only grazes
as it veers away at the last minute as if hit by
an invisible hand. Rabbi Jung tries to throw a
dagger, but the dagger just drops out of the
air so he grabs Mi Lings hand and runs. The

While exploring the dreamlands the dreamers

have come to realize that they could through
will power come to change or effect slightly
themselves or their equipment, Jesse now
feeling angry at the sight of his friend felled by
the creature and assumes the form of a
creature from his dreams, Jesse has been
feeling the call of the moon, he frees his inner
wolf!

Artie falls under the spell of the Shesrus

hypnotic gaze and speaks.. Astor House
Hotel, room 324 Jesse the werewolf pounces
on the Sheshru claws and bites wounding it
strongly. Artie lets loose the pyromaniac
within and bursts into flame in order to force
the creature off him. The Sheshru is forced off
of Arties flaming body and both Jesse
Werewolf and the Sheshru lunge at each
other trying to find weakness in their defence.

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only half a tail.. I was getting help meows

Arram.. The cats push on to where the
battle with the Sheshru is taking place What
sort of creature are you! You dont seem a cat
friend! says the cat general when they come
across Jesse in the process of changing back
from his werewolf form

At this point sunrise occurs at a seemingly

unnatural speed, as the light of the day hits it,
the Sheshru shrinks to the size of a normal
Siamese cat, arches its back in fear and leaps
an incredible distance into the sky apparently
in the direction of the retreating moon

With the coming of the dawn and the

departure of the Sheshru, Artie and Jesse
return to their normal forms and after some
convincing purring from Arram, the cat
general is placated and accompanies the
dreamers and Arram to Ulther. Along the
route the cat general, explains that a long
time ago an evil pharaoh corrupted the
worship of the cat god Bast instead of being
just protector of cats, she became the
destroyer who threatened to devour all of
humanity until the other gods made her drunk
with red alcohol she thought was blood. She
commanded seven evil spirits called the
Sheshru who struck those who opposed the
Black Pharaohor whoever it amused him to
destroy. The Sheshru, has not been seen in
the dreamlands for a long time, it lives
partially in the dreamlands and partially in the
walking world, it pursues its victims by dream
in order to devour them in the other world. It
is much weaker by day and will hide away on
the dreamlands moon until night, however
when it will returns, they should expect it to
have learned from its weaknesses and be
stronger.. The cat general has heard of the
keeper of dreams, and that he appears
sometimes to dreamers in need, but doesnt
know how to find him, that would be a
human matter as they get closer to Ultar, the
general and most of the cats go, leaving only
Arram.

Rabbi Jung and Mi Ling are running through

the fields at the edge of the forest when their
appears Arram and a swarm of cats led by a
cat covered in many cuts and scratches and
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The city of Ulthar is a peaceful place a cluster

of winding red and white houses with peaked
roofs, bulging with upper stories that follow
winding streets occupied by traders and built
on several hills which stand on the banks of
the river Skai. Sitting upon the hill overlooking
the river is the huge ivy covered stone edifice
of a temple to the gods of the dreamlands,
the Elder Ones. The narrow streets are
cobbled and well worn. Ulthar is home to a
frequent presence of cats, and according to a
very ancient and significant law, here no man
may kill a cat. Arrival in Ulthar is easy. There
are no guards, no walls and no security to
speak of. People wander in and out through
the fields of wheat that grow around the city,
and simply walk in, often with locals offering a
hearty Hello! or Good morning! or cats
swarming visitors and rubbing up against their
feet. The streets are packed with dreamers,
cared for by the good graces of the locals
such is one of the laws of Ulthar. Ulthar has
long been a trade capital due to the huge
influx of people. The people of Earth draw
many foreigners to trade and set up shop in
such a bustling city. The dreamers themselves
are a tourist attraction.

Arram and the dreamers ask around in Ulthar

for the Keeper of dreams, they meet a baker
selling from a bread cart, the baker knew of
the keeper, he will be found when you need
him, he gave me this cart and this life, when I
had to leave the waking world. At this point
a woman in armour with a curving scimitar
walked up Sammy, you are the one called
Ymmas, who stole the book from the temple,
you are to come with me to the Burgomaster

117

or not. Apparently a person who looked

exactly like Jesse except for a pencil thin
mustache and calling himself Ymmas visited
about a month back and that he stole things
from the temple of the Elder gods. He took a
book from the library Excerpts from the
Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan and a crystal
from the treasury. However the Burgomaster
accepts Jesses pleading that it was not him
true it was not you, it was your dreaming
self, maybe you will learn to control your
dreams better, but I cannot hold you
responsible for them. Regarding the keeper
the Burgomaster says the keeper appointed
him to his positionand that if the keeper
wants to be found, they will find him.

Jesse and the other dreamers are brought to

the Burgomasters palace, which is
constructed of the finest marble with golden
spires and ornate roofing and situated upon a
high hill exceeded only in height by the
temple of the Elder Ones. Burgomaster
Kranon sits behind a huge desk carved from a
single piece of golden wood. He wears a red
and white cassock along with a leather jerkin,
and an inordinate amount of bronze
jewellery, His hat is a Tricorn and hangs on his
head in a manner which suggests it is always
about to fall off.
The dreamers find themselves at the mercy of
Kranons booming voice. Name? Place of
birth? Age? He takes exception when Artie
uses the name Neal, the name on his passport
rather than his real name. He seems to be
able to tell when someone is telling the truth

In the Market place the dreamers can chance

upon a pink and white carnival tent .with a
straw-hatted fellow in a white suit
brandishing a bamboo cane crying out Come
one! Come all! Gaze upon the greatest
wonder of the natural world, Step right up!
he invites. For the nominal price of one thin
dime, you can see the only captive specimen
the only living example south of the
Cerenarian Sea! None other than one of the
colossal purple spiders from the distant
North! With his cane, he gestures toward the
tent flap. The dreamers watch as a young
couple approach and, paying the fee enter the
tent while the barker holds open the flap.
Seconds later, the dreamers hear the girl
scream, rapidly followed by the sight of the
118

frightened couple bursting from the tent.

They are scared but giggling, and soon
disappear into the crowd.

All enter but Artie, who feels he has seen his

fill of monsters recently. Inside, several
lanterns dimly light the tent. The interior is
much larger than the outside dimensions
would suggest. Inside sat at a simple wooden
chair is an oldish man with dark untidy mop
hair and a spotted bowtie So, you have found
me. . His demeanour is one of immense
power and responsibility. His charm,
intelligence and impression of power make it
clear he is something much greater than what
he appears. The Keeper of Dreams knows that
the Dreamers seek a portal back to Earth, and
are under threat from the Sheshru. He has a
magic item that would allow them to return
the way they arrived can help but he asks a
favour first. think of this as a pass it along
system, somebody had to go on a quest to get
your trinket and in return I gave them the
golden fleece they were looking for, now you
need the trinket so I have to ask you to help
the next group that will seek my help. He
asks them to go an isolated clearing at the
edge of the Enchanted Forest to recover a

flower called the Kalixys, which grows in a

cursed spot. He gives a map and says that only
access to that small portion of the Enchanted
Wood is permitted. Those who stray from the
path will be lost forever. He adds Dont
forget to Scream on the way out, please!

The dreamers and Arram follow the keepers

map, it marks a path from the River Skai into
the Enchanted Wood. If they follow this path
and do not deviate, they travel safely through
the Enchanted Wood without succumbing to
the mystical protection of the forest that
turns uninvited travellers around. The path
winds through a stunted portion of the
Enchanted Wood, where the trees seem
sickly, covered in blight and overcome with
fungus. The floor of the path is covered in
small animal bones, discarded armour and
weapons and fresh tracks which appear to be
rat-like. They arrive at a very large clearing,
bordered by more healthy trees to the north.
A stone door hung with a giant iron loop is
embedded in the earth in the center of the
clearing, and the grass around it is rotted and
dead, covered in fungus, weeds and
unwholesome grey grass. A stench begins to
fill their nostrils. Within fifty feet of the stone
door, the clearing reeks of rotted meat and
worse smells, like wild animal dung and wet
fur. The tracks die off here. The clearing is
silent.

119

Arram says that he has heard of this place, the

door in the centre of the clearing is the door
to the dreaded underworld that is blocked at
the peak of the Tower of Koth which means
the horrific city of Gugs lies right beneath
them In the midst of the gug city, the Tower
of Koth contains a stairway that leads to the
Enchanted Wood in the upper Dreamlands.
There it is sealed by a huge stone trapdoor
with a large iron ring. The gugs, evil four
armed giants because of a curse of the gods,
were exiled to the underworld and no gug
may open that door.

Growing on top of the stone door, from earth

which surrounds the iron loop, is a lone,
beautiful, thin flower. It rises more than two
feet and is lit by a spectral light. This is the
Kalixys, the flower desired by the Keeper of
Dreams. Artie approaches carefully and
notices a crack in the ground beneath the
stone door, and within the shadow two giant
red eyes watching. A Gug has wedged itself at

the door, waiting for prey. Artie dodges a

huge arm that comes from out under the door
and smashes around on the grass looking for
prey, while smoking foully from the ill effects
of the Curse of the Underworld. Artie jumps
on top of the stone door and grabs the flower
and then jumps over the flailing arm on the
way out.

The dreamers return to the keeper of dreams,

who gives them their trinket, it is a small
diamond set in the ellipse of an eye, a bluewhite stone that twinkles even in absolute
darkness. This is the key to the Wood. With
it, you can cross the threshold. When you are
in the forest, your exit will be made apparent
120

to you, however It will not protect you from

what haunts that space. Fear the things that
move in the dark. They have allies from
beyond this world.. Both Mi Ling and Jesse in
turn speak privately with the keeper.
Returning to the forest, they must part ways
with Arram, who warns them that the Zoogs
will use traps even more cunning than the one
that caught him. He hopes they meet again
someday. Back in the forest, the trees are
huge and close together, broken up
occasionally by paths and clearings lit by
glowing mushrooms. The Dreamers can
detect Zoogs about, but they always dash
away before they can be challenged. Zoogs
are small, rodent-like creatures their faces
appear mouse-like, except their glowing eyes
are large and bulbous. A Zoogs muzzle ends
in a spray of multi-coloured tentacles which
seem to shift and change as emotions play
across the intelligent face.

must be the exit. However the others believe

this a trap and they pull her away from the
pool The Dreamers now come upon several
beautiful beings adult humans of both
sexesunconscious in a meadow, covered in
giant, phosphorescent mushrooms. These
beings are naked and lie inert on the ground,
eyes closed. Artie is overcome by an urge to
rush to their assistancethe other Dreamers
notice that the beings have red on their hands
and their mouth, and that reddish blue berries
are scattered on the ground near their hands
and heads. Conscious that Artie is not in his
right mind and that this might be another
trap, Jesse uses his dreaming powers to
concentrate on making it appear as if the
bodies are 20m to the left of where they
actually are and that is what happens, Artie
rushes over to that point and attempts to pick
up the non-existent bodies. In his confused
state he is easily picked up by the other
dreamers and dragged to safety

The Dreamers are drawn to a glowing pool of

still water by what sounds like distant city
traffic. Artie sneaks forward to look closer but
just sees a black puddle with no reflection in it
at all, glowing at its edges, like a puddle of
paintdull and flat but Mi-Ling cries out that
she can see a Shanghai street, and that this

A bright light is seen through the trees in the

distance. This light grows in intensity, rushing
towards the dreamers. They soon see that it is
a wall of silver crystal. It moves with bizarre
implacability, sliding smoothly across the
ground and simply passing through things too
large for it to avoid. It moves so fast that it
covers a distance from the furthest visible
point to the ground just before the characters
in seconds. With a huge clang like a bell, the
silver prison slams shut on all sides in a shape
like a malformed crystal. The ringing lasts for
121

long minutes, very gradually becoming a hum,

and then a barely audible after-sound which
hovers at the edge of hearing. Through the
walls, the world is a distorted mess of
swimming colours. Dreamers struggling to see
clearly through the glass see something
terrible. Something huge holds them and a
giant yellow eye considers them from outside
the prison. It dawns on the dreamers that this
is a Zoog. With magic, the Zoogs have
shrunken and trapped the Dreamers in a silver
crystal prison, an object no bigger than a
grape.

The Dreamers explore the limits of the prison

as the light outside drifts from sunlight
towards dusk. They soon note the odd
acoustics of the room, and note that that
metal reacts strangely with the crystal. Every
strike on the walls of the crystal with a metal
object causes an intense ringing noise. Striking
the same place twice causes that noise to rise,
however, the noise is dreadful and even
painful. At times the entire prison suddenly
shifts and then begins to move dramatically,
as if subjected to an earthquake, in fact the
Zoogs are playing with the crystal. Dreamers
who fail to lie down on the floor to avoid
being flung about suffer damage. Rabbi Jung
has seen Artie and Jesse use their dream
powers to create things, and so he does so to
create a large sledge hammer. Those that can
bash away at a point of the crystal wall, the
others try to cover their ears as best they can

to avoid the intense ringing. Eventually the

prison shatters, dropping the group to the
night time forest floor in the middle of a
startled group of tiny Zoogs, who scatter
immediately.

At that moment a blue-white light arcs across

the sky like a shooting star. It drops into the
Enchanted Wood with an explosion. It is
impossible to tell how far away it fell; only
that it was in the woods. Silence fills the
woods, followed by an inhuman, glottal
baying of some huge creature. The Sheshru is
back! The dreamers feel defenceless against
the creature and just start running, frantically
looking for the tree that was their entrance to
the dreamlands and hopefully will be their
exit. Soon the sounds of the creature are close
and the group has been broken up somewhat.
Artie is with Mi-ling, she trips and the Sheshru
is upon her, Artie turns back to help her and
calls out to the others. Mi-Ling, hypnotised
speaks aloud Ho-Fong residence, rue Chu
Paosan, French Concession. The Sheshru
greedy for as many waking addresses as
possible now turns on Artie, but realizing it
already has his location slashing at him with
its claws, which Artie dodges, barely.

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Artie thinks he spots the exit and he leads a

retreat of the dreamers with Shesru in pursuit
to there but it turns out to just be a glowing
fungi on a tree bark.. the dreamers are now
trapped and the Sheshru is almost upon them
when a skinny figure wielding a sword and
with an eyepatch, glasses and a face only its
mother would love appears, Artie is amazed,
it is his friend Preston Hearst, who was
apparently lost to the distant past in a
painting portal in London, but is now standing
between the dreamers and their demon
opponent. He shouts out Run, the exit is
about 100 yards that way he says pointing,
Ill delay it, I cannot exit that way with you, I
shall explain all later!

is better I die here? Artie promises her that

she will be rescued and soon. The Dreamers
stumble into the perfect, yellow-white
doorway from the night-time wood. Those
that enter find themselves stumbling down an
uneven spiral staircase that crosses first
through a tree and then into dirt and stone. If
the Dreamers stop, the stairs continue moving
for them, twirling and rocking, shifting
beneath their feet. The staircase above them
bends and crumbles, collapsing, leaving no
exit except to continue down. The Dreamers
can barely keep up with the collapse. Finally,
horrifically, Jesse finds himself at the bottom
of the stairs, where the last step hangs out
over a horribly vast, black, empty space. A
moment later the other Dreamers smash into
the first from behind and the whole structure
collapses, flinging all of them into the void

Session 12.5 Demon Cabinet of Mr

Lung
Session played on 9/12/2015
A Emily Durand Solo session

As the Dreamers stumble through the forest

they find themselves suddenly at the base of a
familiar giant tree. A door opens from the
recesses of the tree, sliding on smooth,
perfect hinges. A yellow-white light glows
from within. Mei-Ling hesitates and says to
Artie, what do I have to return to? Perhaps it

That cat in the window! And then an

overpowering and endless tide of cats, that
dragged, Emily and her companions,
somehow, to a deserted rocky plain, where
only a dark cave mouth offered rescue from
another wave of felines. Then, before any
decisions could be made, a black oily faceless
thing with curved horns swoops down from
the sky and grabbed Emily. It flew away with
Emily in its grasp, its tail wrapped around her
123

with the pointed end tickling her madly, the

tickling rendering her unable to act. Artie
shoots at the creature with his handgun,
hitting it in the wing and almost downing it,
but it flies on taking Emily screaming into the
sky.

Although startled at first, Emily identifies the

faceless creature from her study of the Livre
d'Ivon, it is, she believes, a Nightgaunt and
thus a servant of Nodens , the huntsman and
searcher. Nodens, Ivon writes, almost alone of
the elder beings that the ancients called gods
has some respect for humanity and, Emily
remembers, owes her a favour. She let his
servant Potapov sneak off with Stalins copy
of the Necrominicon. Her capture by the
Nightgaunt does not signal danger for her, but
for her companions left behind.

like wings, until the figures and cats on the

ground below are like tiny ants. Suddenly they
are surrounded by flashing lights and are then
they are surrounded by night sky and are
swooping over a large city at night. The city
lights shining on the river Wangpoo identify it
as Shanghai, Emily is immobilised all this time
by the nightgaunts claws, the tail wrapped
around her and the tickling tip. The creature
swoops down and lands in a small square not
far from the burnt out remains of Ho Fongs
warehouse. She is deposited on the ground
and the creature takes off immediately. The
square is dark except for one shop front, the
ground floor of a three floor building, which is
lit up, the sign announces in Chinese and
English Mister Lung Shanghai Famous
Astrologer Strange scrolls with tiger pictures
on them dangle at the front door. Emily
remembers the name from the card they
previously found at 140 Lantern Street, the
Flower Girl house of the Taoist Doctor.

Emily checks she still has her new folding

shotgun that she bought earlier in the day and
arranges her coat so she has easy access while
still maintaining discretion. Emily enters the
shop, the door is apparently unlocked and
.sees an very disorganised room. In what she
would take to be the waiting area for the
astrologer is a strange arrangement of
partitions, screens and chairs, seemingly lined
up in such a way as to impinge direct transit
to the two other exits, one a door, the other a
curtained passage, from the room. In one
corner is shrine with a particular statue on it.
The creature flies through the sky on its bat
124

When she passes through the curtain, Mr

Lung, gasps and retreats to the other side of a
round ornate table over which hangs a sword
whose blade and hilt are of threaded Chinese
coins. Mr Lungs gaze keeps creeping up to
the overhanging sword and he once again
gasps and looks alarmed as Emily sits down in
the seat opposite him.

The twitching curtains of the passage cause

some bronze amulets hanging there to rattle.
Emily hears voice of a Chinese man from the
area beyond the curtains telling her Most
honourable lady, there is no entry for you at
this hour, you must regretfully depart. Emily
says that she is here to have her horoscope
read and regrets the hour but it is urgent and
she cannot be dissuaded. If that is so, then
step forward to my office. Within is a short
slight man in robes with astrological symbols
that Emily takes to be Mr Lung.

Your horoscope, How much? asks Emily?,

Take it all! replies Mr Lung and he drops
fistfuls of very colourful money in front of her.
Emily has learnt enough Chinese to
understand the characters Bank of Hell
written on the curious notes and tries to pick
one up but to her shocks he cant as her hand
passes directly through. Mr Lung jumps up,
almost knocking over his chair and makes as if
to dash to a side door. Emily tiring of
whatever is going on here decides to shortcut
proceedings by pulling out her folding
shotgun.. sit back down!. Mr Lung complies,
hands in the air and pale faced, mutters in
Chinese.. You are especially cruel., once sat
down he regains his composure, If my
honoured guest would care to come with me
to my back room, the fates could be better
determined

125

Im not going anywhere until you tell me

what you think is going on! says Emily. Cruel
demon, you wish to boast of your victory over
me by making me admit that I have prepared
in vain for this night for twenty years! Well it
is true, I have long known that my stars have
fortold that on this day I would meet a demon
such as you and have foolishly thought that I
could prepare defences for myself.. But none
of them have worked; I dare say even my
masterpiece the demon cabinet is of no
value. I swear to you I am no demon, but
truly I dont know what has happened to me
Emily says as she once again tries to pick up a
note for the table, eventually concentrating
hard she is able to pick up a note for a while
before it floats down again. I and my
companions were asleep when I dreamt we
were attacked by cats but then a servant of
the hunter Nodens saved me and brought me
here, my companions were left behind .. at
the mention of the name Nodens, Mr Lungs
face lights up.. We in China know of Nodens
as Ao Guang, the dragon king of the eastern
seas!.. you are a friend of his? Emily reaches
out her hand with three fingers extended and
Mr Lung meets her in the secret handshake of
the brotherhood of Nodens that Potapov had
thought her. Tell me everything, I have yet to
meet myour demon. The horoscope was
right and my lifes work was not wasted!

Emily tells all that had happened that night

and Mr Lung asks for her date and place of
birth, waves some amulets over her and
consults some books. He pronounces that the
demon they face is part of the dream world,
part of the waking world and that she has
been discorporated. Her body and the bodies
of her companions are at great danger from
the demon that will try to discover their
location and devour them. Mr Lung hails a taxi
and has the Taxi driver come inside to help
him bring from a back room a solid cabinet
constructed of lacquered wood with an
outside latch, he explains it is his demon
cabinet and took ten years to construct, he
takes his coin sword, and Emily stuffs her
coat pockets with Hell Money

Arriving at the Astor hotel, the Night porter

complains to Mr Lung that it is very late!
dont bring your junk in here to sell to the
guests, he does not seem to see Emily, Mr
Lung had warned not everybody see spirits.
However Emily rests her hand on his shoulder
and concentrates hard, he becomes suddenly
aware of her and turns around shocked..
Miss Shaw, I did not see you there Emily
explains that the man is with her and would
the porter be as kind as to help him bring her
new purchase to her room.

126

At the lift door on Emilys level Emily excuses

the porter and Mr Lung continues carrying the
cabinet himself. As they approach Emilys
door, she is drawn to the door as if she was
being sucked in by a vacuum cleaner, then
disappears through the closed door, re-enters
her sleeping body, awakens and opens her
room door to a startled Mr Lung. Fearing the
demon will attack her companions in her
sleep, they try to enter the next room along,
that of Arties. It is, of course, locked so Emily
goes to reception and gives the excuse that
she fears that Artie is sick and that she is her
doctor, the night porter lets them in. Emily is
unable to wake the sleeping Artie and Mr
Lung takes out his book to study his
horoscope.

At this point a blue and white creature with

cat features and a grinning face appears in the
open door. It jumps on Artie, and digs its claw
deep into his still sleeping body, Emily pick up
and blasts at it with her shotgun, the creature
seems undamaged, but is blown off Arties
body, Mr Lung brandishes the coin sword at
the creature, which it seems to show a
physical aversion too. Emily tries to attend to
Arties wounds, using bed sheets to try to
stanch the worst of the bleeding, meanwhile
the creature slowly advances on Mr Lung,
and on reaching him Mr Lung is felled by a
slash of claws. Emily rushes over and picks up
the sword.

Although the sword does not actually look like

it was made for combat, Emily lunges with it
at the creature. When touched by coin sword,
it leaps away and is thrown a distance into the
127

corridor. The creature picks itself up and

advances again, Emily throws hell money on
ground, which the creature picks up when it
reaches them and is fascinated, examining in
detail the notes. Emily advances on the
creature, trying to use the warding power of
the coin sword to force it into the other hotel
room. However the creature looks up from its
pile of hell money and leaps at her with
murderous intent. With sure death by flailing
claw bearing down on her, Emily takes a step
backward and in doing so knocks over a light
stand that in falling deflects the Shesrus
attack. Her luck cannot hold out for ever, so
Emily goes on the offensive again and hits the
fallen creature with the coin sword again, it is
repelled again as if opposite magnets
touched. Emily finally forces the creature in
between open doors of demon cabinet and
there is a bright flash of light as it disappears
and the two doors of the cabinet slam shut.

Shanghai II
Session 13 The Seven gates of
heaven
Session played on 28/12/2015
Exhausted after her fight with the cat demon,
Emily simply closes her hotel room door and
goes to bed, just as some of the hotel staff

arrives timidly by elevator to find out what

the disturbance had been. Artie awakes from
his trip to the dreamlands to find himself in
his hotel room with a policeman and two
members of the hotel staff who are trying to
get answers out of the unfortunate astrologer
Mr. Lung. Attention turns to Artie and
questions are asked about the smell of cordite
and shotgun marks on the wall. Believing his
excuse that he discharged his gun accidentally
while drinking, the policeman insists that Artie
keep his gun in the reception safe, and the
hotel manager gives him a last warning.

When the staff and the policeman leave, the

other dreamers who had also awaken, make
their way to Arties room, Mr Lung knocks on
Emilys door to see what happened to her.
Everyone together again, they explain their
respective stories and Artie emphasises the
danger that the captive Choi Mei-Ling is in. Mr
Lung examines his demon cabinet and shaking
it discovers there is something rattling inside
it. The investigators counsel against opening
it, Mr. Lung decides he will try to show it to
Mr Mu, who works at the Shanghai Museum
and has previously helped with his spiritual
research. He leaves with his cabinet and coin
sword and proposes to return at 8pm. Rabbi
Jung also remembers that he has to meet with
the prospective member of the New China
revolutionaries at 5pm.
After breakfasting the investigators decide to
visit St. Johns University, the American
university in Shanghai to consult with learned
people there. They wish to show the plans
128

taken from Ho-Fongs warehouse and to learn

more about the Radium that the Japanese
officer was looking for. First they play to pass
by Ho-Fongss mansion, to scout it out. Jesse
stays back to research The Seven Cryptic
Books of Hsan,the book that his dream-self
stole, but arranges to meet the others later at
the University.
Ho Fongs residence is located on Rue
Huangpi, technically in the French concession
but close enough to the old city that many of
the houses on the street are occupied by well
to do Chinese. It is a one story townhouse,
surrounded by a walled garden, the walls
have spikes and cut glass on top, some of the
trees in the garden look exotic. There is only
two obvious entrances, next to each other, a
set of metal double doors with a dragon motif
worked into them and a larger set of door
next to them with tire tracks that indicate a
car passes through them regularly. After some
investigation the investigators discover a
manhole that Emily remembers, when
researching how hot and uncomfortable
Shanghai can get in the summer, was used by
some houses to place ice under the building
as a primitive type of air condition. The
investigators are examining the narrow
manhole when a man leaves the building and
notices them.

The man is the same man who was described

by Chou Mi Ling and drawn by Artie in the
dreamlands, he asks what they are doing?
Emily replies that she has dropped a bracelet

down the grating. The man says that his hosts

servants will find it and turns to call back into
the house for servants to come out. Artie
takes the opportunity to try to bash the mans
head in with his pistol, but discovers that
some unknown force protects the man and
blocks his blow. Emily conceals the attack
when the man turns around by spontaneously
hugging her boyfriend Atrie. The man
introduces himself as Carl Stanford, a fellow
American visitor and extends the welcome of
his host Ho Fong, who surely would wish to
meet such interesting guests, he asks also
might he have an address so that the bracelet
be sent onto them? Emily gives her name but
gives the address of their old Palace hotel.
The investigators decline to enter as they
regretfully have a previous appointment, Carl
them gives them a standing invitation for
lunch, should they wish. As the investigators
are leaving, Rabbi Jung lingers back a bit and
overs hears Carl use the slang shanghainese
expression to somebody in the residence for
that person to follow the investigators.

After heading to a main street and hailing a

cab, the investigators fear they are being
pursued and have the cab driver take a
circular route with many sudden turns to lose
129

the tail. At St Johns University the

investigators sit in on a physics lecture with a
Professor John Charles Cutler. Afterwards
Emily attempts to pose as an inventor in need
of a partner to help develop her plans for a
mining engine powered by radium. However
Professor Cutler is not impressed with Emilys
technical knowledge and accuses the other
investigators as using her as a pretty face to
present their work. Jesse claims to be the real
inventor, after talking with Prof. Cutler, it
becomes clear that the plans are for part of an
advanced rocket engine, and have nothing to
do with Radium. Prof. Cutler says that he has
become the Shanghai Radium expert ever
since he advised his friend Stirling Fessenden,
current chairman of the Municipal Council, to
not approve the licence for a Radium paint
factory due to health fears. He mentions how
a Japanese man had been to talk to him in
Feb, he had brought with him a copy of HG
Wells book The World Set Free and wanted
to know if Radium could be made to act like
the fictional Carolinum in Wells book. The
professor was dismissive.

The investigators go to the university library

to get a copy of the HG Wells book. HG

Wells's "atomic bombs" consist of "lumps of
pure Carolinum" that induce "a blazing
continual explosion" whose half-life is
seventeen days, so that it is "never entirely
exhausted," so that "to this day the battlefields and bomb fields of that frantic time in
human history are sprinkled with radiant
matter, and so centres of inconvenient rays."
Never before in the history of warfare had
there been a continuing explosive; indeed, up
to the middle of the twentieth century the
only explosives known were combustibles
whose explosiveness was due entirely to their
instantaneousness; and these atomic bombs
which science burst upon the world that night
were strange even to the men who used
them

The investigators decide that the best plan for

rescuing Choi Mei-Ling is to attempt to make
a bargain with the strange creatures
described in the book of Dyzon as dimensional
shamblers. Jesse studied the book and thinks
he knows how to call them forth to make a
bargain. They are according to the book
capable of moving from place to place and
130

even bringing a passenger with them. Jesse

feels confident that the hell money created by
Mr Lung using numerology to be especially
potent on this particular date could be a
potent weapon to force the creature to their
will.
The investigators decide that if the shambler
is to locate Choi Mei-Ling they will need a
personal item of hers, so go to Lantern Street
to visit again Madame Gees Flower Girl
house. Jesse enters while the other
investigators wait in the Stumbling Tiger bar
(McChums) nearby. After some bargaining
with Madame Gee, Jesse avoids being sold a
kimono that did not actually belong to Choi
Mei-Ling but leaves Madame Gee believing
that a private personal item is needed to
satisfy an previous elderly wealthy client who
was obsessed with her. Madame Gee holds
out for a small fortune, but finally parts with
the hairbrush. Jesse re-joins the other
investigators at McChums, where deciding
that no time should be wasted they decide to
hire the bar for the rest of the afternoon.
Fergus McChum pockets the money and takes
the rest of the day off. Artie keeps guard
outside the bar, Emily and Rabbi Jung hide in
the toilets where they could come to Jesss
assistance if needed. Jesse makes a circle of
Hell Money on the floor and brandishing a
small copper knife in one hand and the Book
of Dyzon in the other he takes about ten
minutes to make the correct incantations

Slowly something fades into existence inside

the circle of hell notes, a short crouching
creature with tight grey mummy like skin. Its
head is semi ape like and semi canine, and it
has crooked stained fangs. Its eyes are
recessed in deep eye holes and appear as
yellow slits. It has long arms with huge claws.
Unfazed Jesse finds the page with the
incantation that binds the creature to the
casters will and starts to recite it. The time
stream leads to you Thomas, you have to
bargain with us Jesse continues the
incantation We have been you and we will be
you, You are us and we are you, Jesse does
not allow himself to be distracted. With the
incantation finished, he puts down the book
and picks up some hair extracted from the
hairbrush, he stares the creature in the eyes
and commands it, Find Choi Mei-Ling , the
woman that this hair belongs to and return
her to here or I shall never release you from
this circle, the creature replies We will do as
you order, but one day you will be the one
standing in the circle, the creature then
fades slowly away and Jesse is left alone in
The stumbling Tiger.

Some minutes later the creature returns

empty handed, She is protected by a circle,
we cannot pass; you must come with us, the
creature opens its claws wide and reluctantly
131

Jesse steps into its embrace and fades away.

Jesse and the creature materialize in a 20 foot
by 20 foot chamber with only one closed door
and no windows. At the side of the room
opposite to the door is a life sized metal
statue of a bloated woman with tentacles
sprouting from various locations across her
body. Her flesh is flabby and the statue is a
repulsive sickly yellow grey colour. Centred on
the floor is a wide circle within which cult
characters have been inlaid in gold. Across
this circle has been laid a coffin-like glass and
steel box, three feet wide and six feet long.
The box lies east to west; on its east end is a
movable cage which holds two large, hungry,
scaly Shanghai river rats. Choi Mei-ling lies
naked within the box, her face directly
beneath a thick glass plate, the only obstacle
between her and the leering, salivating
rodents.

seem to shift slightly. Jesse struggles to avoid

staring at hypnotic characters. Against the left
wall is a teak cabinet about five feet high with
hammered gold doors carved with strange
monsters and alien inscriptions.
The box holding Mei-ling is divided into seven
compartmentsthe
seven
gates
to
heavenby
six yoke like partitions
sandwiching under and over her, both
keeping her body immobile and the
intervening spaces separate from one
another. To torture her, the rat cage is moved
to above one of the seven compartments, the
clear glass bottom of the cage removed, and
the hungry rats admitted. Earlier in the day,
they were admitted to the compartment
containing her feet and ankles, severely
slashing and gnawing her before the gloved
handler pulled the foul rodents back into the
rat cage by their neck chains.
Mei-ling does not react until Jesse steps into
the circle and starts taking apart the box that
imprisons her. She starts to scream, he tries to
cover her mouth with his hand, but he is too
late and her voice, freed from the containing
box echoes around the small room. Hurrying
now, Jesse removes the remaining sections
and lifts her towards the waiting dimensional
shambler, she struggles at the sight of the
creature, but Jesse holds her securely and
soon the creature has transported them back
to the Shambling Tiger.
The panicked girl is comforted by Emily and
clothes of some sort are found for her in the
lost and found of the bar. When calmed she
tells that she had been keeping back some
information from the cult leaders, she does
not know where Jack Brady is, but she does
know of a person that almost certainly does,
she tells a bit of her life story.

The Ceiling bears large luminescent brush

strokes forming some Chinese characters that

Choi Mei-Ling was born into a well to do

family but she was disowned when she
132

disgraced her family by going to radical

meetings and living with a young radical
doctor, Li Zhisui. When she became pregnant
he abandoned her and she miscarried and
was destitute. She began to earn a living as a
Changsan courtesan, an upmarket flower girl,
catering for the richer clients that wanted the
full girlfriend experience. She used the money
she earned on an occasional opium habit.
When Brady needed a place to hide out, 88
Lantern street was suggested by the leader of
New China Chu Min who knew her from her
radical days, and had met her again recently
and was trying to get her active in the cause
again.

Brady and Mei-Ling fell for each other and

Brady helped her kick the opium habit, MeiLing stopped seeing other clients. Madame
Gee was afraid of Brady, so tolerated the
situation, but Brady left to meet somebody
one day and did not return. When Brady was
gone two days, Madame Gee demanded that
Mei-ling see clients again, which she refused,
so she was sold to 140 Lantern street where
she ran off. Mei-Ling is certain that Chu Min
would know where Jack is and it was this
information that she asked the keeper of
dreams if he could help her hide from her
torturers. When she talks of her abuse, Emily
gets the sense that now she has succeeded in
keeping the information from falling into the
hands of those who would hurt Jack, she no
longer wants to live and would self-harm at
the earliest opportunity. Emily gives a mild

sedative to Mei-Lung and a taxi cab is

summoned and the investigators leave.
However the investigators soon realize that
they are being trailed by the same car as
before, so they pay the taxi driver well to
bring them to an abandoned warehouse on
the Chinese bund water front. There Artie,
Emily and Jung sneak out of the taxi and hide
behind a wall when it enters the compound,
the taxi continuing on with the sedated Miling and Jesse within. When the trailing car
also enters the compound the investigators
ambush it shooting the four occupants, two of
who manage to put up some resistance. Artie
is accidently caught in a shotgun blast by
Emily. The Investigators put the dead people
into their car and roll it into the river. The taxi
man is well paid and threatened into
promising to say nothing, the investigators
and Chou Mi-ling return to hotel.

At 4pm Artie, Emily and Tsou Jung travel

across the Whangpoo river by ferry to Pudong
to meet Li Po, a young man that Tsou Jung
met at the new China meeting the previous
day. Li Po knew of the location of the New
China headquarters and wanted to join but
needed moral support to make the step. They
had agreed to meet at the Phoenix Foundry
gates at 5pm. Tsou decides that Li Po might
not react well to the presence of foreigners
and asks that Emily and Artie wait in a nearby
teahouse while he asks Po if he would mind
also
bringing
some
international
133

revolutionaries
to
the
New
China
headquarters . Li Po does not like the idea and
suggests they ask at New China first, Li po and
Tsou Jung enter a nearby abandoned
warehouse and are soon surrounded by
armed members of new China. They convince
the guards that they are potential new
recruits and soon are introduced to Chu Min.
Jung mentions to Chu Min that he has a
message from Chou Mi-ling to give to Jack
Brady. Chu Min brings Tsou Jung into a private
office, where he covers up a tactical map
board that has the outline of an island and
lines indicating possible landing or assault
points. Rabbi Jung tells Chu that they have
freed Chou Mi-ling from jacks enemies and
they need to get her to him.. Chu is doubtful
that they know Chou Mi-ling and suspects a
trick, but Jung tells the story of how Chou
ended up a flower girl and Chu believes him.
Chu says that they should be at the Great
World entertainment centre tomorrow
morning and Jack will find them.

Back at the hotel, Mr Lung returns bringing

something wrapped in a blanket, he explains
how he could not resist opening the box and
that this is what he found inside. He shows
the investigators a cat mummy with

hieroglyphic writing on it. I talked to Mr. Mu

at the Museum and he gave me a scroll on
which is written details of ceremony our
enemies must have used to attack us with this
demon, shall I burn the mummy? The
investigators think it better they stay with the
mummy and also the details of the Sheshru
summoning ceremony

"On the first floor <of the Great World>were

gaming tables, singsong girls, magicians, pickpockets, slot machines, fireworks, birdcages,
fans, stick incense, acrobats, and ginger. One
flight up were actors, crickets and cages,
pimps, midwives, barbers, and earwax
extractors. The third floor had jugglers, herb
medicines, ice cream parlors, a new bevy of
girls, their high collared gowns slit to reveal
their hips, and (as a) novelty, several rows of
exposed (Western) toilets. The fourth floor
had shooting galleries, fan-tan tables,
massage benches, dried fish and intestines,
and dance platforms. The fifth floor featured
girls with dresses slit to the armpits, a stuffed
whale, storytellers, balloons, peep shows,
masks, a mirror maze, two love letter booths
with scribes who guaranteed results, rubber
goods, and a temple filled with ferocious gods
and joss sticks. On the top floor and roof of
that house of multiple joys a jumble of
tightrope walkers slithered back and forth,
and there were seesaws, Chinese checkers,
134

mahjongg, firecrackers, lottery tickets, and

marriage brokers."

After about an hour of wandering around the

many attractions of The Great World, the
investigators and Chou Mi-Ling sit in a tea
shop in a quieter part of the complex. When
suddenly a man sits at their table and kisses
Chou Mi-Ling.. Jack! You are back! And you
are coming with me babe!, I have a car
waiting around the back, but first I think I owe
our friends here a bit of an explanation!

questions. I gather you never got to talk to

Jackson Elias. If its all the same, Ill talk now,
and you can ask your questions later. As far
as I can make out, were all in a lot of trouble.
The more I learn about the situation, the
scareder I get. When I spilled the beans to
Jackson Elias, I figured people would read his
book and do something about this cult. Sorry
he ended up that wayyou guys friends of
his? All the same, I did warn him, and I didnt
hold nothing back. Im warning you guys, too:
the cult plays for keeps. Or maybe mugs like
you already know that. (He laughs.)
Well, right from the start I knew that Rogers
nigger-girl was trouble. She was as tough as
they come, and she had him around her
finger. He must have known she was trouble,
too, because the more he saw her, the more
crazy dreams he had. I thought it was great
when he wanted to go to Egyptthatd be the
end of her, see, and things would get back to
normal. I liked the guy, and I owed him a lot.
It seemed for a while that everything would
work out. London was a lot of fun, but once
we got to Cairo, Roger started having dreams
again about meeting a god, and crap like that.
But now he wasnt drinking, and the girl
wasnt around, and the gentlemen Roger had
asked along started acting nuttier than Roger
did, and so I said to myself, trouble is
somewhere up the road.

Im Jack Brady. I hear youve been looking for

me. I got a minute, and you got some
135

After I paid Faraz Najir for his junk, Roger

spent some time with it. He went off the deep
end. There was a black kind of head-andshoulder statue that hed stare at for hours.
And there was a map that hed study and
study, like a normal guy would check out a
beautiful dame. He started telling me that we
could meet the god as soon as he destroyed
the eye and opened the path. That hotshot
Dr. Huston should have talked Roger down,
but he only encouraged him. So the first night
that we were up the Nile at Dhashur, Roger
snuck out and climbed up the Red Pyramid.
Any of you guys ever climbed a pyramid?
Theyre steep! Roger started up that pile like a
monkey. Never looked back or hesitated once,
which proved to me that the poor bugger was
absolutely crazy. But I followed him up. (He
laughs again.) I was crazy, too. For about
two thirds of the way up the Red Pyramid, you
just climb up and over big blocks, sort of like
something some dumb kid could make by
piling up a million great big construction
blocks. The pyramid builders filled in all the
gaps with nice smooth stone, but then later
people stole that nice stone from around the
bottom of the pyramidthe high stuff was
too hard to grab, and they couldnt finish the
job. Well, Roger zipped right up this part, too,
with me still behind, my eyes bulging out
cause I could barely find handholds to keep
from bouncing down the whole damn
pyramid. Theres a little flat place at the tip
of the pyramid. When Roger reached the flat
place, he put on some kind of robe and
started making weird sounds, as though he
had flipped for good. But then there was a
hell of an explosion with all kinds of funny
echoes and screams with it, and a big red
flash of light. Well, I lay there for a minute
until it seemed safe to go on. He looked at me
and said, The eye is gone, Jack. Now we can
be gods. Well, that was just Roger talk, you
know, but beside him there was a big patch
ripped right out of the stone, and it looked

fresh. When I went back the next day, the

patch had been filled in, as though the
pyramid had repaired itself. But near the base
of the pyramid, I found part of a rock which
looked like it could have been in that patch
originally, and it had this sign on it. (Brady
sketches a mysterious-looking sign) Now I
know what it wasits strong magic kept evil
things away from us, and Roger deliberately
broke its power.

Two days later, the whole gangPenhew,

Roger, Huston, and Pattygave me the slip
and disappeared in the Bent Pyramid. Some of
the messenger boys went to find them, and
they came out shrieking that the pyramid had
eaten the respected scientists, woe, woe,
woe. Bingo, the workers run in all directions!
The whole dig was deserted. In five minutes
the only person left in the whole area was me.
Well, I went in. Sure enough, nobody was
inside. I was worried. But, a long time later,
out come all the missing people from the
pyramid. Roger says theyd been to Egypt, to
the real Egypt. And that was about the most
sensible thing he said. Penhew looked like he
had lost about five years. And Patty and
Huston both seemed somehow changed.
Nobody would explain where theyd been,
and nobody cared that after that it was hard
136

to hire workmen. After that, when Id wake

up in the nights, the rest of the gang would be
talking creepy lingo like Id never heard
before. Then one evening Roger said that he
was going to show me the power of what
theyd learned. We went out into the desert
with a passel of Arabs. Everybody started
screaming weird words and songs, and
Penhew beat the drum that we got from Najir.
When creatures started coming out of the
ground and eating the Arabs, and Roger and
the others started laughing, why I took my
leave, as they say, and went on a real toot.
Roger found me the next day, and warned me
that Id better change my attitude. Well, I
owed the kid, and I wouldnt desert him,
but after that I started thinking real good.
Then we went to Kenya, and Roger filled me
in during the trip. We had found a true god,
he said, who would rule the Earth, and we
would rule with that god, for we were the
chosen of the god. The god had picked us to
open the way for his return. And there was
enough in what they saidand in what I
sawto make me listen. Every week, Penhew
seemed a little younger and a little livelier.
Patty was sick a lot. We were going to leave
Nairobi from some place in the mountains
where there was no river, no railway, no
telegraph, no police, and nobody who looked
friendly. I figured that Jack Brady wouldnt live
very long there, so I made some
arrangements. On the last night, in Nairobi, I
drugged Roger, kyped the cash box (it was all
Rogers money, anyway), and got me and him
aboard an unscheduled deadhead freight to
Mombasa. Later I read that my guess was
right. The newspapers said a lot of people
died, but Penhew, Huston and Patty Masters
werent among them. Anyway, my
arrangements went off without a hitchthat
happens when you think small and carry a lot
of cash. When we got to Mombasa, we got off
before the causeway and found a fisherman

who was willing to go to Zanzibar for a few

dollars. From there we hopped a coastal
trader to Durban, and in Durban we dyed our
hair, got some decent clothes, and sailed for
Perth. Now, on the train to Mombasa, Roger
got some sleep, and he seemed to wake up a
different person. I guess that being away from
the influence of those other people let him
return to his old self. I told him we were in a
lot of trouble, and that we needed to hide
out, and reminded him about the Arabs being
killed in Egypt, and the god stuff, and so on,
and he could remember it all right, although it
didnt seem very important, somehow. But he
understood the logic of the situation. After a
week or so, though, his nightmares started,
and he began to go off the deep end. He was
beginning to realize some of the things he had
done. I was in Shanghai while I was in the
Marines, and I had a fair number of friends
here. By the time our ship put into Hong Kong,
Roger could go no farther. He began shrieking
at shadows and everything that moved. So I
put him in a sanitarium thereI had to use up
most of the remaining money to get him
settled. Then I went on to Shanghai, believing
that Id never again see any member but
Roger of that damned expedition. So I
thought, until I looked through naval glasses
at a certain yacht, and saw Sir Aubrey Penhew
preening on the deck of the Dark Mistress.
Now my goal is to learn the secret of the
magic seal that Roger broke, I have found an
ally, Mu Hsien, a real smart guy at the
museum here. He says the seal was called the
Eye of Light and Darkness and he needed a
book to learn more about it, The Seven
Cryptical Books of Hsan, so I acquired a copy,
and I might have pissed off a bunch a people
in the process and now Mu Hsien is studying
it, he says the book is real confusing like and it
may take him awhile, I got to keep him safe
while he does that and at the same time get
some friends organised for an assault,
137

because we know where Penhew is going to

unleash whatever evil he is up to, it is an
island about three hundred miles southeast of
Shanghai called Gray Dragon Island
Mu believes that the Order wants to
summon their goddess to Earth, and that the
first step, a poisoning or rupturing of the sky,
is planned to happen soon. After the sky has
been altered, about a year must pass
before the world is tainted by these evil
entities, when the stars themselves shift
position and dread Cthulhu, Nyogtha,
YogSothoth, and Azathothare spoken in
worship
While I hold the fort here and keep training
troops I need you guys to go back to Egypt
and find the other half of the Eye, it would
help Mu a lot, it might be the only way we
finally beat this evil, many be the other half
was found by somebody else, or maybe
somebody made a drawing of it before Roger
destroyed it, but we have to know how the
symbol was.. think you can handle that?

138

Session 14 The Eye of Light and

Darkness
Session played on 9/1/2016

should get out of Great World by means other

than the front door. The Investigators break
up and agree to meet up later at the Palace
hotel.

Wednesday April 15th 1925, it is midday; the

Investigators are meeting Jack Brady in the Lin
Tao tea house on the second floor of the
Great World (Da Shijie) which is located on
the corner of Avenue Edward VII and Yu Ya
Ching Road. The Great World is already fairly
busy with people entering for their lunch
break. Jack has explained what happened to
the Carlyle Expedition and how Mr. Mu and
Jack need their help to go to Egypt and find
the other half of the Eye of Light and
Darkness.
He says they should leave
messages for him at Shanghai general post
office under the name of Mr. Feng Wu-pei.
Brady is approached by a young Chinese man,
the man warns that the SMP (Shanghai
Municipal Police) have sealed the entrance to
Da Shijie and are looking for 2 male and 1
female westerners and a Chinese priest. Brady
says he has a car waiting and has to go now
with Choi Me-ling and that the investigators

The Rabbi removes his kipa and prayer shawl

and exits onto Avenue Edward VII, he sees
two Police at the exit with sketch artist
drawings of the investigators, checking people
as they leave. Thomas/Jesse goes up stairs,
finds a fancy dress shop, buys a clown
139

costume and dresses in it and then sneaks out

the Yu Ya Ching Road.

Artie and Emily go to nearby theatre stall and

buy costumes; Artie wears a mask and Emily a
Kimono and sun parasol. However while
exiting on to Avenue Edward VII Emily is
recognized, disarmed and arrested. Artie is
also stopped but when he is asked to pull up
his mask, he is somehow able to scrunch up
his face such that it is not recognisable.

The same Police inspector, Inspector Chang,

who was suspicious of the investigators
following the Astor hotel incident, arrives and
Emily is told she is being arrested for murder.
The inspector is acting on request of the
Chinese authorities who have received the
confession of Yuen Yongrui, a taxi driver, who
indicated the location of a car and four slain
Black Fan faithful tong members. Inspector
Chang says he now suspects the investigators
to be international assassins brought in by Big
Ears and the Green Gang to take out targets in
their gang rivals the Black Fan faithful.

Artie, Jesse and the Rabbi meet up in front of

the Palace hotel. A Police van is in front, the
investigators try to enter the hotel disguised
as two clowns and their manager but are
thrown out by hotel manager; however they
manage to see that there are police waiting in
the lobby. They go around to the rear of the
hotel and get the fire escape down by
throwing a clown shoe tied to extra-long silk
clown ribbons.

Picking the lock on the fire door and Emilys

hotel door, the investigators remove
valuables from their rooms and are leaving
back through the fire escape when police
arrive at their hotel corridor via a lift. The
investigators rush down the fire escape to the
ally at the bottom, carrying a travel case full
of their financial and occult wealth, hearing
calls from the police to stop. At the bottom of
the fire escape they can see the ally is blocked
140

by a van with unusual car licence plates, a

Japanese man in the van calls to them, telling
them to jump in the back of the van if they
want to escape. Once in the back of the van,
two Japanese soldiers relieve them of
weapons. Soon the investigators hear the
sound of Captain Isoge Taro, the undercover
naval office they had brawled with at The
Stumbling Tiger, arguing with police that the
van had consular protection and could not be
touched. The van is driven to the heavily
guarded Japanese consulate compound.

When Capt. Taro places the mask on his face

it adheres like a living thing and clutches
hima disturbing effect, even to watch. The
Captain cannot remove the mask, but soon
ceases to struggle. After fifteen seconds his
pupils expand to fill the mask eye sockets.
While this is happening, the two soldiers raise
their rifles and start shouting in Japanese at
the investigators. After thirty seconds the
mask drops from Capt. Taros face, he draws
his pistol from its holster, puts its barrel in his
mouth and pulls the trigger.

On their arrival Captain Taro comes around

from the front of the van and greets them the
investigators as they are escorted out the
back. He asks if they now know anything more
about the radium. Artie indicates that they
have learnt more and might have some
information to trade. The Captain wants to
know what is in the travel chest, and indicates
for the two soldiers to open it. Looking
through the contents he finds the groups
occult tomes and concludes.. nonsensical
books, they must be code books when he
finds the rocket plans he has a quick scan
through them.. these look interesting- but
incomplete what is this wooden mask for?,
put it on! says Jesse! Artie and the Rabbi try
to stop the unfortunate captain but it is too
late.
Meanwhile Emily is brought to the SMC police
headquarters, dressed in prison clothes and
locked up in a cell. She asks that her lawyer,
141

Dale Richards, is brought, and lies on her

rough cell bed awaiting him, when he arrives
she asks that her diplomat father and the
American consulate be contacted.

However, soon after Mr. Richards heads off to

send a telegram to her father in Geneva, Emily
falls sick with a high fever, and is taken to
hospital. After some time at the hospital
under police guard, she is told that she is to
be visited by the American consul, before
meeting him she asks to wear some of her
own clothes and discovers a cloth panel sown
into her prison clothes, under which there is
some Chinese characters and symbols that
she recognises from the Livre Ivonis as said to
invoke disease causing spirits. She tears the
cloth out and flushes it down the toilet, and
soon is feeling much better. The American
consul is an old friend of her father from the
state department, and Emily turns on her
charm and the consul promises that the trial
would most likely be a formality, as an
international citizen, she would be tried under
US laws and no jury of Americans would

condemn her on the word of some lowlife

Chinaman. However her father has sent word
that she must return to the US, for her safety.

At the Japanese consulate compound the

investigators lie on ground with arms spreadeagle in front of panicking Japanese soldiers.
Eventually an officer appears and they are
taken away and locked in separate cells. After
some hours pass, Artie is dragged from his cell
and tied to a chair in a room with a single light
focus on his face. He is interrogated by the
same senior Japanese officer, who accuses
them of being communist double agents, who
inexplicitly turned on their Japanese
intelligence contact Capt. Taro. The officer,
Commander Haraguchi Sanada,
wants to
know where the rest of the plans are, what is
their function, who produced them? The
Commander gets impatient with Arties
attempts to explain what he knows, he picks
up the Mask of Hayama and asks how does it
work? Artie pleads ignorance and says that
Jesse was the one who told Captain Taro to
put it on and knows

142

duplicate from his chariot sending him

crashing down into the abyss. You are free of
him now, he was an agent of the Crawling
Chaos the rider is none other than Nodens,
the Lord of the Great Abyss, he warns Jesse
about the dangers to his world, Jesse asks if
Nodens could help him somehow and Nodens
replies that the next person you talk to will
believe you. Nodens returns Jesse to the
chessboard plain and disappears into the
distance.

Jesse is brought out and tied to a chair beside

Artie, Commander Haraguchi asks him how
the mask works and when Jesse replies that it
is magical, the Commander shakes his head
and places the mask onto Jesses struggling
face, soon his terrified eyes are seen merged
in with the mask until finally Jesse stops
struggling.
Jesse finds himself on a seemingly endless
chessboard plain under a starless sky. The
sound of hooves approach from the distance
and soon a chariot appears, drawn by black
stallions with manes of fire. The chariot is a
giant half-shell that floats a foot or two above
the ground; its rider is a wiry old man with
wild white hair and carved hide armour. He
wields a trident-like harpoon. The chariot
stops near Jesse and the rider extends his
hand expectantly for him to clamber aboard.
Then the horses bray and the chariot leaves
the chessboard plain into a dark abyss. The
rider begins to question Jesse, who is he, why
has he come here, and is he a worshipper of
the Outer Gods. Jesse answers with his real
name of Thomas, but when he hesitates over
the last question because of the strange
dreams he has been having involving his alter
ego Ymas, the rider grabs and pulls from him a
struggling duplicate of Jesse, he hurls this

The Mask falls off of Jesse, who in his relief

that his mind was not consumed by the mask
as happened to Captain Toro, bursts into
laughter. Commander Haraguchi is furious..
are you joking with me!, Jesse replies to
him, not knowing exactly why A joke is often
the hole through which the truth whistles.
That phrase triggers a memory in the
commander of being a child at a Buddhist
temple; he had been brought there by his
mother and had an attack of giggles on seeing
a statue of the Budai. His mother scolded him
but an old monk came up to them and said A
joke is often the hole through which the truth
whistles and then spoke directly to the young
boy- one day it will serve you well to
remember this. The Commander suddenly is
struck with the thought that maybe all this
nonsense of magic and evil cults that the
investigators had been saying could be true
143

and says to Jesse and Artie. Let us just

pretend that you are telling the truth? Tell me
all you know again

The Commander listens to what Artie and

Jesse have to tell him and says that he cannot
exactly say why, but for some reason he
believes them. The Commander is an
influential person, he is the head of Naval
Intelligence for Shanghai, however he says he
will have to bring investigators to Nagasaki,
that has already been arranged and that the
rocket plans will have to stay with the
Japanese, but once the ship that is to take
them tomorrow has left Shanghai, he will free
them and consider them guests of the
Imperial Japanese government and will do his
best to help them in their onward struggle
against the evil they have uncovered. Naval
intelligence will be told that the investigators
need to be freed to get the rest of the rocket
plans. The investigators say they also need
Emily to be freed from police custody, if
possible.

Next day aboard His Imperial Japanese

Majesty's Ship the Kobayashi Maru the
investigators are freed from their shackles and
they are brought to the commanders cabin
where Emily is found recovering from the
effect of being drugged and rescued by
Japanese intelligence agents from the hospital
during the night. The commander shows them
naval charts and he concludes that Gray
Dragon Island must be one of the Senkaku
Islands, which he says are nominally under
Japanese control and lie between Okinawa
and Formosa.

As they are leaving Shanghai, Artie sees a

yacht that he recognises from Jackson Eliass
photo to be the Dark Mistress, Penhews
suspected personal craft, travelling in the
opposite direction up the Wangpoo River. The
Journey time to Nagasaki is 18 hours or so, as
it gets dark the Rabbi asks the investigators
and Commander Haraguchi to gather to
celebrate a Seder as it is the last day of
Passover the danger has passed over and
G*D has spared us for another year.

144

Sounds can be heard outside of commotion

amongst the sailors, the Commander steps
outside to find out what is happening, he
returns to say that a very fast small ship has
overtaken the Kobayashi Maru, and is not
responding to radio or semaphore, he asks
the investigators to stay in his cabin while he
goes to talk to the captain on the ships
bridge. Artie and Jesse make their way up to
the deck where in the half moon light they
can just make out the small distant ship, near
to them sailors are flashing semaphore lamps.
The sea between the two ships starts to boil
and lift itself into the air, a claxon sounds from
the Japanese boat and the sailors stop their
flashing and both exclaim Tsunami! as it
becomes obvious a tidal wave is bearing down
on the ship. Artie and Jesse make their way
down to the Commanders cabin, Jesse has a
life vest shoved to him by a passing sailor.
The ships Captain turns the ship hard to face
directly the wave, the ship goes up the wave,
the investigators are thrown back against the
stern wall of the cabin, a loose table almost
hits Emily, who dives out of the way at the last

moment, the ship then crashes down the

other side of the wave, Emily is thrown
against opposite wall, the other investigators
remain braced. There is a terrible sound of
twisting metal that indicate that the ship has
most likely broken its back and an immediate
tilt to the bow confirms the investigators
worst fears, the ship is sinking!
The investigators grab the travel case of
occult goodies and try to find a way off the
ship, struggling to climb the ship corridors and
stirs with the incline. Jesse manages to find a
way onto the lower deck where they see two
sailors and an officer getting ready to man a
life raft. The officer speaks some English, he
tries to argue that the case is too heavy and
needs to be left behind, but the investigators
successfully argue that it has items in it vital
to the defence of Japan. The officer doesnt
want to discuss the point more as he shouts
either they lower the life raft now or they will
go down with the ship.
As the Kobayashi Maru sinks, Artie and the 3
Japanese sailors in the boat row hard to avoid
getting pulled down by the sinking ship. The
145

weather has worsened and the lifeboats get

separated from each other. Screams and
shouts that the officer translates as meaning
shark can be heard from the other life rafts.

The life raft suddenly lurches to one side and

the moonlight reveals as three creatures,
grabbing onto the side of the craft to pull
themselves from the sea. Their forms vaguely
suggested the anthropoid, while their heads
are the heads of fish, with prodigious bulging
eyes. Shiny and slippery with the ridges of
their backs scaly, they are coloured
predominantly greyish-green, with white
bellies. At the sides of their necks are
palpitating gills, and their long paws are
webbed and hold clubs and tridents. Their
croaking, baying voices, clearly used for
articulate speech, held all the dark shades of
expression which their staring faces lacked ...
They were blasphemous fish-frogs of the
nameless design - living and horrible. The
Japanese office draws his service revolver, but
upon seeing the creatures drops it in alarm
and flees for the far end of the life raft. Jesse
likewise is filled with terror and flees the
creatures. Artie and one of the sailors attempt
to keep on rowing while the other sailor and
the Rabbi try to fight the creatures off with
oars. Emily goes to the emergency supplies
and finds a flare gun.

Jesse and the Japanese officer fight for space

in front of boat to hide, the office losing out
after Thomas bites him savagely on the face,
the officer dives into the ocean to escape the
deep ones and Jesse. The shock of the
officers blood in his mouth shakes Thomas
back to normal and he jumps into the ocean
to try to save the poor man. Emily hit in her
leg by a Trident and collapses unconscious. A
Shark bases against the life raft and throws
everybody out into the water on the far side
relative to the shark, Jesse and the officer.
The shark then attacks the Japanese office
and Jesse. Jesse is injured by the being hit by
the sharp fin of the shark as it homes in on the
bleeding Japanese officer. The doomed officer
is bitten mercilessly by the shark and Jesse
protects himself by using the deflective magic
spell he learnt from Emily.

In the lift raft, one of the creatures climbs

back in and is about to finish off the
unconscious Emily when Rabbi Jung having
swam back to the craft shoots at it with the
flare pistol. The flare hits the deep one
squarely in its chest and it is blown back into
the water. Artie and the two other sailors also
146

make it back to the raft and the officers pistol

is found. The creatures are fought off for now,
Jesse is rescued by the rabbit holding out an
oar for him to swim too and Emily is woken by
the ministrations of Artie, her right leg has
been badly shattered, but she is able to cast a
spell to cause mist to appear in order to hide
the investigators from any more of the deep
ones.

The investigators and the two surviving

Japanese sailors pass a cold fearful night
adrift. The Japanese sailors dont speak any
English or Chinese but the investigators work
out that their names are Ren and Takumi,
they are young and nervous but trusting of
the investigators. Next morning, Artie spots a
small boat on the horizon and fires off a flare
pistol to attract attention, when the ship
doesnt seem to change course, Emily grabs
the pistol and fires it directly in the direction
of the boat which seems to do the trick. The
boat is a fishing boat from the Philippines, it is
captained by Macro Matapang and had been
fishing illegally for fish in Japanese waters, its
hold is full and the boat wont stop until the
fish are unloaded in Manila.

147

Egypt I
Session 15 Night Boat to Cairo
Session played on 6/2/2016
Unsure of their legal status , after their
Shanghai arrests and because of a possible
hunt for Emily by the US state department
provoked by a telegram to her diplomat
father and wishing to remain drowned to the
cultists, the investigators feel it best they
arrive unofficially and unannounced into the
Philippines. After noting the crucifix on a
collar around Cpt Marcos neck, Emily aided
by Thomas persuades the captain that they
are Christian missionaries who were fleeing
persecution in China and that the work of the
Church would suffer if there was a lot of fuss
made about their rescue. Religious fervour
and a financial incentive convince the fishing
captain to drop the investigators off at a small
Filipino port before arriving in Manila. With
help from one of the Filipino fishermen who
speaks some Japanese the two sailors, Ren
and Takumi, are given money to buy passage
back to Japan and are also persuaded that the
investigators are working with the Japanese
government and to not mention the existence
of the Investigators in Manila, a US
protectorate.

In Manila Thomas creates some new identities

using their old Passports and the last of
Gavigans captured passports. Emily is now Dr
Lindsay Lohan MD working for the red cross,

Thomas is Tom Tucker a journalist, Artie is

now Fredrick Kruger a body guard for Dr.
Lindsay and Rabbi Tsou is now Jackie Khan a
chef wishing to visit Egypt to learn about
middle eastern cuisine. As Emily is confined to
a wheelchair because of her leg broken by a
deep one trident, the investigators pass the
time studying the occult tomes they have
found in order to better understand the evils
they face. Emily and Artie regularly meet for
psychotherapy, also Artie and the rabbi spend
time discussing the meaning of their struggle
with evil and studying the Torah; Artie even
tries to learn some Hebrew.

On May 21st The Investigators board the

Dollar Line ship SS President Cleveland for
Suez arriving on the 4th of June. Egyptian
Clues that the Investigators have are: A Letter
from Faraz Najir to Roger Carlyle that Jackson
Elias had on him (Warren Besart is the agent
mentioned.. Erica Carlyle also mentioned
Warren); Clippings the New York Pillar Riposte
about the expedition; Information on
Dahshur, location of the Red Pyramid, and
that it was a site of particular interest and
original dig location for the Carlyle expedition;
The book Life as a God.. gives details on the
Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh; Jack
Bradys account of what happened; Jack
Bradys recommendation to ask for Faraz Najir
as he was a person who could find things.

148

As it is already June when they arrive, the

summer sun beats heavily down on the
investigators as they leave their ship and are
processed by customs. Thomas has some
difficulty entering Egypt, the number on his
passport corresponds to an expired passport,
however after turning on his charm and
offering to pay some bakhsheesh (in this
country sir, it is the oil that keeps the machine
running!) as a retainer, he is let enter just
as long as he promises to see the American
consulate in Cairo and sort it out straight
away.

As the investigators are leaving Cairo train

station they are swarmed by guides and touts.
However the guides are shooed away by a
well-dressed moustached aging Englishman,
who introduces himself as Reginald Reggie
Fortworthy III. He offers to show the
discerning visitor all the secrets of Ancient
Egypt. A fee is discussed and the investigators
tell Reginald that they are looking for some
exceptional collectable antiquities and need
help finding and exporting these items,
Reginald recommends they talk to a friend of
his Dr. Ali Kafour at the Egyptian Museum.

From Suez to Cairo is a 6 hour train journey.

The investigators say they need to first find
Faraz Najir. On Reginalds suggestion they
book into Shepheards Hotel in the modern
Ezbekieh Gardens district.

149

The investigators mention that they feel

unsafe on the streets of Cairo and ask if
Reggie knows of any ex-solider types for
protection and on his advice they go to
Groppis tea rooms, a spot popular with exarmy types since WWI, for some Ice Cream
and to meet Major George Randall, a big
game hunter, in between jobs and who agrees
to accompany the party for a fee.

however he has the investigators attention

when he mentions that there is a Penhew
Foundation expedition in Egypt.
Reggie tells how the Clive expedition
discovered a secret chamber in Menhauras
pyramid, the smallest one of the three at Giza,
which contained the unprepared but
preserved remains of an unknown Egyptian
queen. Preparations for removal of the casket
and the mummy were made in conjunction
with the Egyptian authorities. But three nights
later, terrible screams echoed from inside the
pyramid.
When the archaeologists investigated, they
found that the mummy, the sarcophagus, and
the two Egyptian police guards were missing
without a trace. Reggie thinks that either the
guards were in on the theft or else Clive
exaggerated his find of an empty room to get
more funds and then faked the robbery to
hide up the facts. But no one knows how the
thieves were supposed to have so quickly
removed a sarcophagus weighing several
tons.

Reggie discusses current happenings in

Egyptian Archaeology, he seems to be
constantly droning on about something,
150

seeking medical advice. Eventually Major

George fires a gun in the air to scare the
beggars away, explaining that he saw
someone attempting to pickpocket.

The next day the Investigators set off with

Reggie and Major George in a hired Victoria
horse carriage to the old city of Cairo, a
twisting maze of alleys and self-styled streets
to find Faraz Najir, resident of the Street of
Jackals. Reggie has some difficulty finding the
location and attempts to conceal his
ineptitude by providing an endless running
commentary. Eventually Reggie admits defeat
and excuses himself by admitting no complete
street maps for Cairo exist as the city has
nearly doubled in population over the last
twenty years, he stops the carriage to ask
directions.

Most of Cairo is shockingly poor, beggars

abound, some lacking arms, legs, noses,
untwisted spines, etc. While waiting on Reggie
to finding directions, Emily easily diagnoses
rickets, advanced cases of syphilis and
Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by parasitic
worms, amongst some of the beggar children
and starts dispensing anti parasitic medicine.
Soon the carriage is swamped by people

When eventually the investigators discover

The Street of Jackals it turns out to be a
narrow alley smelling of aromatic secrets from
the many spice shops located there.
Unfortunately Faraz Najirs shop would
appear to be now a burned-out, rubblestrewn hole in the ground.
Locals invoke Allah each time they pass the
spot, and no one in this enormously crowded
quarter will rebuild on the site. Reggie asks
around and the locals say that, five or six
years before, a hideous djinn descended on
the shop and set it aflame. The investigators
and Reggie question other shopkeepers on
the Street of Jackals, liberal offerings of
money pry out that Faraz Najir was horribly
burned but survived, and has since opened a
new shop in the Khan el-Khalili, an ancient
marketplace off the Sharia Muezzeddin Allah.

151

The New Shop of Faraz Najir situated in the

midst of a dozen pottery shops is clearly
marked Faraz Najir in Arabic, Curios in
English, and Magasin des Antiquites in
French. Several stories of tenements tower
above. Entering the shop Reggie whispers
seems to be mostly tourist garbage. One
side of the shopkeepers face bears ugly and
extensive scars and welts. On mention of the
Carlyle Expedition, Najirs eyes bulge, and he
tries to shoos the investigators out of the
shop, taking a beautiful bejewelled scimitar
from a case and shaking it at them and cursing
loudly in Arabic about their relation to
diseased camels. However Emily convinces
him to hear them out by saying they just want
to talk and will reward handsomely his time.
Faraz Najir agrees to talk with the
investigators, but only at the nearby El
Hussein Mosque, saying he only feels safe on
ground sacred to Allah. About an hour later,

152

Najir meets the investigators at the side of

the mosque, and leads them through several
short hallways to a quiet room. Reggie and
George agree to stay outside during this
meeting. Thomas notices that Najir wears
around his neck beneath his djellaba a
necklace of silver and jet with a large opal in
the centre that he nervously touches it from
time to time. Najir holds out for a lot of cash
before he starts speaks, pleading that he has
to support his sisters seven children and that
his life is at risk.

Roger Carlyle, according to Najir, sought

information about the reign of the Black
Pharaoh, a reign supposed to have been
ended by Sneferu, first pharaoh of the Fourth
Dynasty. Najir had come into possession of a
number of items related to the Black Pharaoh,
including an ancient scroll detailing the
entrance to a hidden room in an unnamed
pyramid, within which the Black Pharaoh was
supposedly entombed; a bust of the Black
Pharaoh; a small drum bearing odd symbols
supposedly of mystical power; and a strange
circlet with a large zircon which was said to be

the crown of the Black Pharaoh and to be the

key to his triumph over death. With Carlyles
agreement, Najir sold the items to Carlyles
agent, Warren Besart.

Najir is shown the drawing of the half of the

Eye of Light and Darkness that the
investigators have. He doesnt recognise it,
but asks where it was found and when told
the Red Pyramid says that he recently met
Warren Besart on the streets of Cairo, he
seemed in a dishevelled state, Besart talked
about having part of the pyramidion (cap
stone) of the red pyramid to sell, but as he
was clearly a junkie, who might say anything
to get some money, Najir ignored him.

153

Najir is asked why he thought he was attacked

by the djinn, he refuses to tell until he is given
more money. Najir admits to stealing the
artifacts he sold Carlyle from the house of
Omar Shakti, an important land owner
rumoured to be involved with the
Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh. When
asked more about the Brotherhood, Najir says
that the Brotherhood is rumoured to be
involved in the recent theft of a mummy from
the Clive Expedition, currently in Egypt. He
has also heard that the Brotherhood wants an
item located in the Mosque of Ibn-Tulun, but
he does not know what it is or why the
Brotherhood wants it. He says that members
of The Brotherhood meet at the Qahwa coffee
shop, near the Carpet Bazaar, but begs that
the investigators do not go there. At this point
the nerves of Najir give out and he asks that
the investigators bother him no more and he
leaves the room to head into the main part of
the mosque.

The investigators decide to seek out Warren

Besart and split into two groups: Emily and
Mgr. George working on the assumption he is
French ask at the French Ambassadors office
claiming to have medicines to deliver and the
others ask at a police station adjacent to
Ezbekia Gardens claiming to have cash to
offer for information. Both groups discover
Besarts registered address to be The Red

Door, Street of Scorpions, in the Darb elAhmar (the Red Alley).

The Red Alley is another part of the Old City, a
bazaar located along Sharia Muezzeddin Allah.
The sole red door along the Street of
Scorpions opens into a clothing shop owned
by Abou Udhreh. The Investigators enter and
buy some local clothes. Emily buys some
baggy male clothing and headscarves so as to
not be harassed as a European woman.

The shopkeeper Abou denies that Besart lives

there; but when confronted by a discovered
dishevelled bed in a backroom he eventually
admits he rents out the backroom to Besart.
However, he has not seen him for 2 days after
a blonde haired Englishman with a riding crop
and bad attitude came and dragged him away.
Abou says that a favourite haunt of Warren is
Qua-Masood a hashish den not far away.
At Qua-Masood s the investigators meet Van
Heuvelen a plump slightly bloated Dutch man
of average height unshaven, and wearing a
tiny pair of spectacles perched on his nose,
unlaundered clothes, and smelling of
perspiration and body odour.
154

Van Heuvelen partakes of the hospitality of

the investigators and is soon puffing away on
a hashish pipe. Van Heuvelen claims to be an
archaeologist and was a member of the Clive
expedition, until he was unfairly fired by Clive,
he also admits to being a friend of Basart. Van
Heuvelen tells a story were three days ago he
and Basart met Clive and Martin Winfield by
chance in the street, Van Heuvelen hides
because problems, but Basart runs up to them
shouts Gavin or something! then stops in his
tracks followed by you work for the Black
Sphinix! before running away. Van Heuvelen
has not seen Basart since. Van Heuvelen
confirms that Martin Winfield meets the
description of the man with the riding crop
described by the shopkeeper Abou. Van
Heuvelen says he is now working on own
stuff, and has some books to translate.. the
investigators want to see book,s but by this
point Van Heuvelen is so wasted he just says
maybe tomorrow.. maybe tomorrow

To end the day the investigators head out on

a Spying trip to the Clive expedition camp at
Giza, about ten miles out of town. The Clive
site at Giza is impressively guarded. It lacks
only minefields and machine guns to be up to
WWI standards. Artie and Major George
sneak after night fall through the desert until
they can check out the camp by binoculars.
Artie takes the opportunity to give Major
George a big speech about how they are
saving the world fighting evil cults, but George
says he doesnt believe any bit of what Artie is
saying until he sees it himself. They can make
out the five figures of the Clive expedition
sitting around a camp table outside a tent, but
see no sign of Basart.

155

The Following day the investigators decide to

visit Dahshur and the Red Pyramid , getting
there takes an hour long train journey and a
short camel ride. As there are few guards
about and because Dahshur would seem to be
less developed than Giza as a tourist spot and
hence there are less restrictions, the
investigators decide to climb the Red Pyramid.
At the top they note nothing extraordinary or
anything to indicate where the Eye was.

When they arrive back down and start to

investigate around the base they are met by a

guide, who introduces himself as Hakim and

asks what they are looking for in the ground.
When the investigators show him the drawing
of the half eye, he says he may know what it
is, but wants to know why the investigators
seek it? The investigators say they seek it to
defeat an evil threat, so Hakim, apparently
pleased at this response,
says it is a
protection that used to be on The Red
Pyramid, and was only visible to some but is
now gone. He says he is a member of an
ancient order the Jamaeat Eaqadat Mughlaqa
(Brotherhood of the sealed knot) charged
with protecting the defences on the Pyramid.
The Red Pyramid held the Black Pharaohs
soul, the Bent Pyramid held his body, there
should therefore be another seal on his burial
casket.. he himself has never seen it, but his
father claimed to have once entered deep
156

into the Bent Pyramid and saw a second seal.

If they went with him to the Bent Pyramid
they should be able to find and make a copy
of the seal, Hakim will help them if they
promise not to touch or interfere with the
seal.

Hakim leads the kilometre or so from the Red

Pyramid to the Bent Pyramid. The Bent
Pyramid is so called because the builders
reduced the angle of construction half way
during
building.
Hakim
brings
the
investigators to the unguarded but boarded
up western door. Several loose boards are
shoved aside to allow entrance. Reggie hands
out some torches he brought I hoped wed
do some exploring today! A passage leads to
a false funerary chamber roughly in the centre
of the great pile of stone. The chamber is
devoid of artefacts, though two remarkably
thick alabaster columns stand at the rear of
the room. After much searching it is
discovered that the one to the right contains a
secret door, the opening discovered, twenty
steps lead up to where a series of ramps
ascend. The ramps climb nearly to the interior
of the pyramids capstone. An asymmetrical
arch signals the entrance to what seems to be
a throne room. Hakim trembles before the
chamber and pleads to not have to enter.

However after the investigators, George and

Reggie enter a solid stone doorway falls,
sealing them in the chamber.

Most of the investigators have read

Montgomery Cromptons book Life as a God
and are reminded of the following description
as they view the throne room. Its angles
were magnificent, and most strange; by their
hideous beauty I was enraptured and
enthralled, and I thought myself of the
daylight fools who adjudged the housing of
this room as mistaken. I laughed for the glory
they missed. When the six lights lit and the
great words said, then He came, in all the
grace and splendour of the Higher Planes, and
I longed to sever my veins so that my life
might flow into his being, and make part of
me a god!

While George and Reggie try to see if there is

a way to open the shut door, the others
examine the bass reliefs and the throne. The
157

six lights which Crompton reported are from

six five-foot-high pillars topped with strange
gems, the throne is carved of black obsidian,
and encrusted with precious stones; raised
hieroglyphic inscriptions cover the wall behind
the throne. The wall to the left of the throne
holds two bas-reliefs, a large star chart and a
smaller depiction of specific solar system
planetary positions. On the wall to the right of
the throne is a distorted map of Eurasia,
Africa, Australia, and the western Pacific.
Mountains, rivers, and continental outlines
are easily recognized; no cities or nations are
shown. An elongated triangle is formed by
three uncut rubies respectively marking
points in the East China Sea, central Kenya,
and Western Australia. An inlaid ebony band
marks an arc crossing the Indian Ocean

Suddenly a cold unceasing fire ignites from

the six gem topped pillars. The investigators
see that Thomas has sat on the throne,
however seated now on the throne is no
longer just Thomas but simultaneously
occupying the same space is a figure in full
Egyptian regalia, a lithe but powerful man
with dusky skin. The very air crackles with
electricity and occasionally the investigators
catch strange movement out of the corner of
their eyes. To his left and right, the air boils
and bends, foul, unearthly music toys with the
minds of the investigators, taunting and
disappointing them. The smell of death is
everywhere.

The investigators pull out their guns to attack

the god, Artie shoots at the Black Pharaoh,
but his shot instead connects with something
that had been invisible between the group
and the Pharaoh, that now becomes visible, a
large flying snake like figure, a hunting horror
similar to the one that attacked Emilys
apartment that cold day back in New York.

The investigators shoot at the hunting horror,

but its tough skin seems almost resistant to
gun shot. Artie shouts to shine touch lights
into the creatures faces. A second hunting
horror appears.
158

Feeling overwhelmed Emily casts a spell to

opens a magical gate to Tahrir Square in the
centre of Cairo and jumps through, however
Nyarlathotep points a finger at gate and
destroys the gate before the rest can flee.
Nyarlathotep uses a rod and the ring of his
office as a foci through which he casts energy
blasts, Major George dodges one such blast
and a small crater is left in the ground where
he once stood. Reggie and the rabbi are
grabbed by hunting horrors, soon Reggie is
unconscious from the cruel nibbling bites of
the horror. George manages to down one
hunting horror with blasts of his rifle, giving
Artie a free shot at the Black Pharaoh. Artie
shoots at the Pharaoh however from the large
gunshot emerges, absorbing the body it
comes from, a hideous, howling three legged
giant with a tentacle in place of a face. On
seeing this horrific creature their minds not
able to take more, both Artie and Rabbi Tsou
drop their weapons and, only George fights
on, but he is quickly overpowered by a bash of
the enormous head tentacle and also lies
unconscious on the floor.

A voice penetrates the open minds of Artie

and Tsou. For a moment it amuses me to
touch your mind, pathetic creatures. Do you
really think in all your fury and action you can
influence my grand plan? Are you so
impossibly confident and foolish to bear such
delusions? Do you truly think that any of what
has passed so far has not been part of my
will? You have played the part of a challenging
Satan to my worshipers Job.. of course this is
a scene I have played out often, even at the
original. They have delighted too long in the
power they have been given and they tarry in
their tasks. But the time of play has come to
an end, it is time to put away the toys, you
would be foolish to continue your present
efforts. The gods you defy are too powerful to
be discomforted by mortal efforts. You should
meekly and gratefully return to your homes to
await the inevitable. But, perhaps you have
what the current fools that expect my favour
do not, do you have the will to rule? would
you dare to be Gods on Earth?

Nyarlathotep waves a hand and, the

hemispheric map shimmers and dissolves. In
its place is an archway: beyond stretches
ancient Egypt. The archway opens onto
ground-level; it is simple to step through. The
locale is the same area as that surrounding
the pyramid, but the Red Pyramid does not
exist. The dimensional gate seems to have
opened into a marketplace. Craftsmen work
busily. Everything is real. Step through the
portal and assume your destinies, if you are
159

worthy when you return you shall have your

hearts desire in this world. Artie and Rabi
Tsou, momentarily believing the forked words
of the monstrous god, make towards the
shimmering portal. Artie is fascinated by the
shape Nyarlathotep assumes and the Rabbi
hears him muttering such burning beauty!

As the two unfortunate men approach the

archway portal, a clawed misshapen figure
approaches rapidly from the other side, as if
falling sideways, it hits the portal, passing
through to the other side. It appears to be
one of the creatures known as dimensional
shambler as previously described by Thomas
and Emily. When it hits the portal its body is
stretched as a band of light towards the
monstrous figure of Nyarlathotep and is met
by another light stretching from Nyarlathotep
in the form of Thomas. On the meeting of the
two lights, the monstrous form explodes,
scattering flesh and blood around the Throne
room. Two Thomass are left in front of the
black throne, one clothed but badly wounded
by gunshot, the other near naked in rags.
Masonry begins the fall from the ceiling and
the stone door blocking the exit collapses.

The archway portal to ancient Egypt begins to

fade and Artie and Rabi Tsou attempt to dive
through before it goes, however they fail, Rabi
Tsou stuns himself as he crashes against the
solid wall. Artie shouts out I am worthy, I will
find another way and picking up a fallen
torch runs from the throne room. The two
Thomass fight on the ground, strangling each
other, eventually the ragged one overcomes
the wounded one who lies dead on the
ground. The surviving Thomas, rallies the
stunned Tsou and together they pull the
wounded Reggie and Major George from the
room before it collapses totally behind them.

160

The Fourth Dimension

Session 15.5 The Gestalt
A Thomas-von Liepwig Solo
Played late February 2016
Keepers notes: Wherein we tried to make
sense
of
the
deamlands/dimensional
shamblers/Nodens subplots
Later Thomas tells the story of what
happened to him, at least as much of the
story as makes sense to him. You see it is not
I that has been with you today, I was
substituted. The previous evening after the
group returned from Giza, Thomas found it
difficult to settle to sleep and went for a walk
in the nearby Ezbekieh Gardens to deal with
the heat. At a certain point he must have
been attacked from behind by some means as
he suddenly blacks out.

He awakens to find himself tied to a slab of

white marble in some enormous chamber
with a vaulted ceiling. Stone braziers that
burn with a sickly yellow light are built into
the four corners of the raised white marble
altar on which he lies bound and gagged, two
hooded figures stand over him. On noting
Thomass open panicked eyes, one of the
figures throws back his hood to reveal a face
exactly equal to Thomass. You thought you
were finished with me, you thought you had
abandoned me to the Abyss, well the dark
lord rescued me, gave me flesh, I am now as
real as you, more real in fact, as I stand here
holding this at this point Ymas pulls a dagger
from his robes and you lie there awaiting its
caresses, We need to resolve the issue of our
unfortunate origins!, you dont want to make
the pact with the shamblers, the pact that has
to be made, you wont give them our father.
Never mind, I have a new friend At this point
the second figure pulls off his hood and
Thomas recognises the other person to be
none other than Edward Gavigan, the
defeated head of the Order of the Black
Pharaoh in England. Edward now speaks,
while Ymas uses his dagger to incises a design
into the flesh of Thomass chest, Here, under
the Sphinix, in this Great Chamber of
Nyarlathotep, we have the power to rewrite
things, we need not wait for you to deliver
your progenitor to give spark to my friends
existence, we can just give you to them
directly, you will be the spark

161

French to each other, but when the Bishop

speaks to Thomas his words pass directly to
Thomass mind..I have summoned you here,
o Samael angel of death, kill the heretic
cathars manning the gate, let the Dukes army
be victorious. Thomas thinks to himself how
when he gets out of the circle he will kill these
fools that dare bind him, but he finds himself
unable to resist and instead steps in an instant
from the forest to the gate house of a nearby
hilltop castle where he slaughters the guards
with claws and even uses his jaws to rip the
throat out of one, he then opens the gate to
let a besieging army in as he fades from reality
again.
Both Ymas and Gavigan start and sustain a
chant, Thomas recognises the incantation
used to summon dimensional shamblers, but
there is more, a new chorus to each refrain, at
the chantings end a glowing figure of a
dimensional shambler appears hovering over
Thomas, it has large claws, leathery skin and
small black eyes. It reaches out its claw and
covers Thomass struggling gagged face with
it, a commanding voice penetrates his skull
Join the Gestalt suddenly the chamber is
gone and Thomas seemingly races across vast
distances of space, viewing bizarre
cosmological phenomena and strange
landscapes of unusual colours.

Eventually he can hear chanting again, once

more the summoning spell, he appears
standing in a forest in a runic circle, to his
horror his body is now like that of the
creature that floated over him in the vast
chamber. A knight and a person in Bishops
robes stand outside the circle, they speak

Many such summons follow, Thomas feels his

sense of self weakening, he feels how all
dimensional shamblers are but one and he is a
part of it. However, sometimes he is Thomas
is in his own form, but in some far off land. On
one such occasion, Thomas is at a large stone
obelisk, situated on a hill, Thomas is
desperately trying to read some runes that
are written on them, perhaps here is written
the spell to reverse this horror that is now his
existence. However, suddenly, Thomas can
hear the sound of many people shouting from
all around him. An angry crowd is surging up
the hill towards him. Seeing no escape from
the mob, Thomas starts to climb up the
obelisk, the climb is hard, but he is
succeeding, but the obelisk seems to stretch
ahead of him and seems to turn into an
unending pillar. He climbs and climbs,
162

reaching into the clouds, one slip now would

mean certain death, his hands are sore and
cut, his limbs ache. Finally his hands reach the
top of the pillar and he pulls himself on to a
flap top, in the centre of which is a trap door
with a ring pull. He opens the trapdoor, and
from a descending staircase comes a
disembodied floating brain with flailing
tentacles.. Join us! a voice screams in his
head again. Thomas dodges past the brain,
which pursues, but he is running down
circular stairs in near darkness, he trips and
falls.. falling, falling lights and colours flash
again and once more he falls into another
summoning circle

power to connect with the dreamlands, but

your dreamland self now walks the waking
earth, with the essence of this flower you will
instead be reconnected with your dreaming
self, the huntsman has foreseen that the dark
one will use your nightmare to open a gate,
that gate will instead make the link between
you. This will happen at the moment when
the dark one thinks he has triumphed, thus
thwarting his plans, that is the genius plan of
our lord.. I am sorry I do this to you, but you
must continue on your way.. now eat the
flower After consuming the glowing flower
Thomas fades from existence again.

He is in a cellar in a building, it is lit with an

electric light bulb, the person who summoned
him looks familiar, it is Potapov the man they
rescued from Stalins dungeons. you !, you
are Thomas, I can see that, it has taken three
attempts, but you are here as Nodens said
you would, oh poor Thomas,. oh that I could
release you, you must be suffering terribly,
but I cannot, you are bait for the trap, or more
truly your evil shadow is bait and you are the
trap, the huntsman has plans for you in his
game, so you must go on.. but you must
consume this, he hands dimensional
shambler Thomas a beautiful, thin two foot
long flower, lit by a spectral light. It is the
Kalixys, the flower requested by the Keeper of
Dreams, and rescued from the trapdoor to the
Abyss of the Gugs by Artie. Potapov continues
there will come a time when there will be
those who will use your dimension shifting

More scenes follow, a coven of Celtic witches

summon him.. more killing, It is the Future
now, he must be body guard to a
technomancer who must journey through a
post-apocalyptic landscape of destroyed
buildings and vicious mutants. Thomas barely
remembers his life from before, the Gestalt
approaches.

Finally Serpent men from the time before

men summon Thomas; he is in a room full of
creatures with snake heads wearing colourful
163

robes. At one end a series of steps lead up to

an enormous crystal wall, against which is
manacled a human. It is the man, Preston, the
one who the others said was lost to the
painting in London, the one who rescued the
dreamers in the dreamlands. He is manacled
by chains and is wearing a helmet that covers
entirely one eye and is attached by cable to
somewhere behind the gem wall. One of the
serpent men from the circle surrounding
Thomas speaks, Creature you will bind to the
crystal portal and you will power the gate that
would connect our dreamlands and the
human creatures dreamlands, this link will
propel us to the future, your sacrifice and his
sacrifice will save the serpent people from our
foretold doom. Thomas approaches the gem
wall and Preston struggles in his manacles,
when Thomas touches Preston, the gem
behind, shimmers, then bursts into bright
light and disappears, Preston and Thomas fall
through, Thomas loses sight of Preston who
seems to be going to a destination of his own
and soon is flying over a desert landscape,

before him is a Red Pyramid, in front of the

Pyramid is a market and workmen and also a
shimmering circle, it is toward the circle that
Thomas falls, he cannot escape the pull to
reconnect with his own shadow.

164

Egypt II
Session 16 Imprisoned with the
Pharaohs
Session played on 15/3/2016
At the Bent Pyramid, the bedraggled Thomas
and Rabbi Tsou help their dazed and injured
companions, Major George and Reggie, to flee
the collapsing Sanctum. After escaping the
collapsing section of the pyramid and the dust
cloud that emanates from it, they catch their
breath and their wits on a descending flight of
stairs. The rabbi demands from Thomas some
sort of explanation and receives a brief
summary of how it was Thomass dream self,
Ymas, and not Thomas who had turned into
the Black pharaoh. Also that the entity known
as Nodens had baited Nyarlathotep with Ymas
in order that he could use Thomas as a
dimensional shambler and their link to
subsequently frustrate Nyarlathotep. During
the encounter in the Sanctum Emily had
escaped by opening a magical gate to Cairo
and Artie had fled, clearly out of his mind.

<

>

As the investigators stumble from the Pyramid

into the bright Egyptian sunlight they come

face to face with the barrel of a rifle Ta-wofiqa! Arafa idika! Stop, Hands Up!. Two
nervous Egyptian soldiers are at the entrance,
having heard deep rumbling sounds come
from within the pyramid. The soldiers have
poor English and are very suspicious of
Reggies improvised explanations in Arabic of
their having been attacked by bandits. They
relieve the investigators of their weapons and
with the help of another two soldiers that
arrive bring the injured investigators to a
sentry hut, near the main entrance. There is
no sign of Artie.

The investigators camels had been tied up

outside the west entrance, but now all but
one of them are to be found wandering
grumpily around the pyramid. A soldier
catches one and rides it back to the
settlement of Dahshur to get a doctor and
their captain, so he can decide what to do
with the confusing foreigners. When the
solders came around to the west entrance to
investigate the noise they noticed somebody
riding away on camel to the North, but the
person was too far away to see well let alone
stop them.
165

After some time, Emily returns by taxi from

Cairo and after getting out of the taxi
immediately draws her gun on Thomas as she
blames him for summoning the Black pharaoh
in the Sanctum. The Taxi driver, alarmed, flees
in his car and the soldiers fumble for their
weapons, a confused standoff occurs until it is
broken by the arrival of a truck; inside it is
Captain Mohamed Sadik, a doctor and 4 more
soldiers.
Emily and Major George tell the captain a
story involving being kidnapped by bandits,
and that Emily managed to escape while the
others were forced into a secret passage of
the Bent Pyramid, where fortunately they
overpowered the bandits who fled. Emily
claims that after escaping she discovered that
the bandits had been working in conjunction
with their treacherous guide Thomas

The Captain enters the Pyramid with

investigators to see the secret chamber, but
no sign of secret door can be found. The
investigators say they could be mistaken
about the secret chamber, it was dark and
confusing. The Captain declares that he thinks
investigators were carrying out a excavation
in pyramid without permit and caused a
collapse or damaged the pyramid and are now
putting blame on their servant Thomas, in the
morning an expert from the Egyptian museum
will come to evaluate. In the meantime
Thomas is arrested, and the other
investigators are put under house arrest at
Captains house, due to the Captains regard
for Major Georges service record.

166

us, the dark one seeks you, we will give you

up to him if you do not join with us now for
protection Thomas response to is to start
the binding chant and commands the
Shambler to dimension shift to the waking
world where Thomas is sleeping, and take his
sleeping body to Shepheards hotel.

Thomas is thrown into a primitive dirt floor

cell at the army barracks, he is exhausted and
tries to sleep; he has a plan to escape his
troubles and it requires him returning to the
dreamlands. However at first he feels he cant
dream anymore because he murdered his
dreams, whenever he closes his eyes he feels
he is back in the bent pyramid, in his half
sleep he wonders which one of them won the
struggle in the end. Sometime during the
night he eventually somehow falls asleep.

Thomas returns to dreamlands and descends

the seventy steps to the cavern of flame and
talks of his plan to the bearded priests Nasht
and Kaman-Thah, the priests shake their
heads and vow it would be the death of his
soul. Entering the enchanted forest, he goes
to Ulthar, and hustles on the street using the
3 shell trick, and soon earns a considerable
amount of money, enough to buy a silver
knife and rent a room at an inn. There in the
privacy of his rented room he paints a
protective circle and once again summons a
dimensional shambler.

Once at Emilys suite in Shepheards hotel,

Thomas notices that the Mask of Hayma and
the eight sticks of dynamite are missing from
the suites safe. Thomas finds a confused
resignation letter from Artie. He also takes
$700 and then goes toward Cairo old city in
the early morning to buy some WW1 Ottoman
army grenades in the Souk.

The long armed clawed creature appears

inside a protective circle and speaks to
Thomas this is your last chance to join with
167

168

That night the investigators each have

disturbing dreams. Emily while dreaming
awakes to find herself strapped to a hospital
gurney. She is dressed in a patients gown and
almost immediately sees that she is in the
final days of pregnancy. As she struggles
against her bonds a doctor enters the room.
He is slender, darkly handsome, but Emily
loathes him immediately. She know that she
has met him before, but the memory of who
he is or where they met fades as she tries to
recall. The face she sees reflected in his head
mirror is not her face, but the face of her
missing friend and Clive expedition member,
Hypatia masters.
The doctor wears a large gold ring on his right
hand (the other is covered by a glove), which
makes a cold clinking sound as he grips hold
of the arms of the gurney. He is speaking to
Emily, but she is solely focused on his hand
the flecks of dried blood along his cuticles
first, and then the gem in his ring. It is a
rubyno, onyx and it seems to soak in
almost all the light. Deep within it Emily sees
tiny flecks of light stars...? She is startled
when he grasps hold of her arms and speaks.
The time has come. You need not be afraid, it
will be over quickly. His voice is cruel, almost
mocking. She feels him place a hand on her
distended belly and he whispers a few words
in an inhuman tongue. Suddenly, she feels the
baby within her quicken for the first time. A
weird glow suffuses her bodyit is as if she is
being illuminated from within. Emily feels a
sudden and sharp pain and the child moves
and she resumes her struggle against her
bonds, to no use.
The doctor has suddenly gone, but her
thoughts are focused on her great pain and
the ever-increasing light from her womb,
which has grown largerfar larger than you
know it shouldand become translucent. It is
with this realization that she begins a
ceaseless scream, for the child she bears is no

baby, but something far greater and far worse

than any man, as she knows from the bright
red shine of its great tri-lobed eye. Emily
awakens in a cold sweat.

In Rabbi Tsou Jungs dreams he was one of

the Israelites that fought at Jericho. However
despite the victory at Jericho, the solders of
Israel went on to be defeated by the men of
Ai and only Jung knows why.
At Jericho the walls fell at the sound of the
trumpets and the prophet Joshua gave the
command: The city and everything in it are to
be destroyed as an offering to the Lord, Dont
take any of the things that are to be
destroyed. If you take them and bring them
into our camp, then you yourselves will be
destroyed. You will also bring trouble to all of
Israel. All the silver and gold and things made
from bronze and iron belong to the Lord. They
must be saved for him". And the Israelites ran
straight into the city and defeated it. They
destroyed every living thing in the city. They
killed men and women, young and old. They
killed
cattle,
sheep
and
donkeys.

169

However when Israelite soldiers returned

defeated from Ai, Joshua tore his clothes,
bowed face down on the ground before the
Box of the Lord and threw dirt on his head
and said, Lord God, you brought our people
across the Jordan River. Why did you bring us
this far and then let the Amorites destroy us?
The Lord said to Joshua, Stand up! Why are
you down on your face? The Israelites have
sinned. They have broken the agreement I
commanded them to obey. They took some of
the things I commanded them to destroy.
They have stolen from me. They have lied.
That is why the Israelites cannot face their
enemies. I have commanded that they be
destroyed. You must destroy everything I
commanded you to destroy. I will not help
you anymore unless you do this.
And Jung knew it was true, for buried under
his tent is his sin, his stolen offerings from
Jericho: The beautiful coat from Babylonia,
the five pounds of silver and the one and onequarter pounds of gold. He saw them, he
wanted them, and he took them. But nobody
need ever know.
Early this morning Joshua led all of Israel
before the Lord. All of the tribes stood before
him. But the Lord chose Jungs tribe alone, the
tribe of Judah. So all the family groups of

Judah stood before the Lord, but the Lord

then chose the family group of Zerah, his
family group. And all the families of Zerah
stood before the Lord. But the family of Zimri
was chosen, Jungs family. Then Joshua told all
the men in that family to come before the
Lord and Jungs knees shook for he knew the
Lord would know and so The Lord chose him,
Tsou Jung.
And Joshua said to him, Confess to the Lord,
the God of Israel. Tell me what you did. And
Jung answers, It is true! I have sinned against
the Lord, the God of Israel. I wanted these
things very much for myself. So I took them.
You will find them buried in the ground under
my tent. The silver is under the coat. Then
Joshua and all the people led him, Tsou Jung,
his sons, daughters, cattle, donkeys, sheep,
tent and everything he owned to a nearby
valley. They also take the silver, the coat and
the gold. And Joshua says to him, I dont
know why you caused so much trouble for us.
But now the Lord will bring trouble to you.
Now the people throw stones at him and his
family. They pile rocks over him and his
familys bodies. And those rocks are still there
today. That is why it is called the Valley of
Trouble. Rabbi Tsou wakes up struggling for
breath as if a weight of rocks still crushes him

170

Major George is on the crest of a sand dune

overlooking a desert encampment; he and
Artie pass a pair of binoculars back and forth.
He is a veteran too, George likes him. Artie
tells you that a great battle is coming and that
George will have to choose sides, that they
need him. He tells George that one side is
weak and foolish and the other burns bright
and will win. One side has lost already; the
other side will make him a God! Alarmed at
what Artie is saying and the invisible figures
you feel are already swooping down at him,
George pulls out his rifle as Artie laughs, he
has made his choice, let him die with the old
world George pull the trigger and where
Arties head was is now a bloody tentacle.
Blood fills Georges eyes as he feels his body
pulled apart. He awakens but cannot breath,
his head throbs and he feels himself falling
back unconscious to the agony he escaped
until finally he is able to gasp greedily for
breath.

The next morning Rabbi Tsou impresses upon

Emily his belief that Thomas was telling the
truth that Thomas was not involved in
summoning Nyarlothep, that they had heard
tell of Ymas in the dreamlands. Emily seems to
take particular interest that Thomas had
mentioned that Potopov was involved in
Nodens trap. However before they can act on
this information the Captain arrives back at
his house; he has good news and bad. The
good is that the government archaeologist has
already been out to the Bent Pyramid and can
see no trace of damage, the bad is that the
disloyal servant Thomas has escaped
somehow from the barracks, which is very
embarrassing for the captain. The captain says
he still suspects that the investigators were
illegally doing work on the Pyramid, but he is
prepared to let them go rather than
embarrass the reputation of the Egyptian
army. Rest assured that the search will be
kept up for the bandits and Thomas.
The Investigators return to Cairos Ezbekieh
gardens area, their guide Reggie says he
wants no more involvement. However he
agrees to first develop some photos he took
at the sanctum. Curse of the mummy stuff!
What were those flying creatures! How did we
escape! Will the vengeful Pharaoh come and
hunt us down.. Nobody will ever believe us!
Lucky I brought my Camera.

171

Back in Shepheards hotel the investigators

find Arties letter and discover that there are
impressions from writing on the previous
pages. Mosque of Ibu Tulan.. Queen Nitrocris.
The investigators think that Artie might be
planning to steal the girdle of Nitocris from
the Mosque of Ibu Tulan that Faraz Najir
indicated the brotherhood was looking for.
Reggie returns after lunch with the photos, he
asked a friend who lives nearby to
Shepheards hotel and is an amateur
photographer with their own darkroom to
develop the photos. He has one of the
Sanctum, a blurred photo of the globe and a
photo of the star map. Reggie agrees to go
with the Investigators to see Dr. Ali Kafour at
the Egyptian Museum.. I want to see his face
when I show him these photos and Reggie
thinks that if anyone can overcome the curse
of the mummy it would be Dr. Kafour.
The investigators visit the Mosque of Ibu
Tulan on the way to the Egyptian Museum;
the mosque is about half a mile due west of
the Citadel of Saladin, very nearly due south
of the Ezbekieh Gardens. The easiest way to
get there is by hired car: go out Sharia
Mehemet, and then turn right, toward the
Nile. The windswept wilderness of the City of
the Dead begins less than a kilometre south of
this mosque. As Reggie explains Ibn Tulun is
the oldest complete mosque in the city of
Cairo, it is a walled court, open to the sky,
with shade along several sides to imitate the

courtyard of Mohammeds Medina house,

where the great prophet first taught and is
less ornate than many of the later Cairene
holy places. As in any place of worship, quiet
is the order of the day. Visitors should remove
shoes when entering. Women may not be
allowed, so Emily dresses up as a Bedouin
man with turban covered head. During times
of prayer, non-worshippers are unwelcome.
Reggie asks for an attendant for an audience
with the nazir or one of the ulama of the
mosque.

In a building in one corner of the quad the

investigators meet the Nazir, Achmed Zehavi,
who is busy and uninterested in foreign
Christian tourists.

Emily repeatedly makes the sound Girdle,

Girdle to provoke a response, to explain his
companions behaviour Major George says
that she, sorry eh he is touched by Allah.
Eventually the investigators straightforwardly
172

mention the Black Pharaoh and warn that

they believe whatever the mosque is
protecting is at threat. The evil ones shall not
have it. Inshallah. The Nazir replies while
glancing towards a locked door in his office,
Major George notices. After leaving the
Mosque Major George discretely stays behind
in the square in front of it to see if he can spot
Artie

interchangeable in the minds of the people,

and the sorcerer became known as the Black
Pharaoh. Now no one can distinguish their
deeds and legends. For a time, Nephren-Ka
ruled the Nile and its peoples, Dr. Kafour
mentions that the Black Pharaoh is sometimes
called by the name Nyarlathotep. At last
Sneferu arose, and founded the Fourth
Dynasty, thwarted the evil magic and slew
Nephren-Ka. Remarkably, however, a pyramid
was built to contain the sorcerers body
Kafour speculates that this perhaps insulated
Egypt from still-potent magic within the
corpse but this structure collapsed even
while Sneferu was building a second. The
Collapsed Pyramid is at Meidum; the second
pyramid is the Bent Pyramid at Dhashur.
Records imply that Nephren-Kas corpse was
removed from Meidum and placed within the
Bent Pyramid, but exploration of the site has
discovered no trace. Dr. Kafour tells the
investigators that clearly they were able to
see and photograph the hidden heart of the
Pyramid that had eluded so many.

Emily,Rabbi and Reggie meet Dr. Kafour at the

Egyptian museum. Dr. Kafour is a short, thin
man, alert and intelligent. When told about
their entry to the hidden Sanctum in the Bent
Pyramid and that Reggie has photos he grows
so excited in that in gets out of his office chair
and jumps up and down with impatience
while Reggie gets them out of his satchel and
the folder they are stored in. He studies the
photos and Emily asks him if he knows of the
black Pharaoh
Dr. Kafour says he does and explains that at
the end of the Third Dynasty, a man known as
Nephren-Ka and said to be a powerful
sorcerer, came to Egypt from Irem, the City of
Pillars. He brought madness and death to his
enemies at the flick of a finger and revived the
worship of an old, foul god the Black Pharaoh.
Soon Nephren-Ka and that god were
173

Another pyramid at Dhashur, the Red

Pyramid, is also attributed to Sneferu; this
pyramid is said to guard Dhashur, lest
Nephren-Ka rise from the dead. The
investigators show Dr Kafour the drawing of
the half of the eye of light of darkness that
Jack Brady found. Near the red pyramid and
Dr. Kafour agrees it is part of a ward, and had
heard of similar things but does not know of
the missing part of the inscription.
Reggie asks if all this has to do with the
mummys curse and in particular the
unidentified mummy recently stolen from the
Clive Expedition at Giza? Dr. Kafour replies Yes
and no. Yes as the mummy was undoubtedly
was the remains of the cruel Queen Nitocris.
In the Sixth Dynasty, the cruel Queen Nitocris
was thought in league with a new cult of the
Black Pharaoh; though the proof of this is
subjective, Dr. Kafour believes it to be true.
Dr. Kafour agrees that it is possible the Girdle
of Nitocris is at the Mosque of Ibu Tulan and
that it and her mummys theft might be
connected with legends that tell of a
prophesied return of the Black Pharaoh.
Finaly Dr. Kafour consults with some almanacs
and deciphers the photos of the Bent Pyramid
globe and star map to refer to the date of a
future eclipse over the Indian Ocean on Jan 14
1926. This matches the prophecy that the
Black Pharaoh will arise fingers and toes after

the Great Good One, a reference which many

have taken to mean twenty centuries after
either the prophets Mohamed or Jesus.

A new age then begins, destined to end the

dominance of mankind upon the earth, and to
bring freedom and stark truth to the Black
Pharaohs followers Dr. Kafour worried by this
revelation, pledges to do what he can to
combat this threat and sets off for his
institutions book collections in order to study
further.

174

Mgr. George while looking out for Artie sees

Thomas walking past, by chance, the mosque
and follows him and eventually calls out for
him to stop. He apologises on behalf of the
other investigators stating that the group has
come to understand it was not him that tried
to trap them in the Sanctum. Soon after
Reggie and rest of group arrive back outside
mosque and on meeting Emily, Thomas says
that he forgives her. The Investigators decide
that they will steal the Girdle of Nitocris in
order to deny it to the cultists and to use it to
force Artie, who they fear has gone unhinged,
to come to them.
The investigators and Reggie but not Rabbi
Tsou, who fears his ethnicity would be a

giveaway, disguise themselves as locals and

enter into the Mosque of Ibn Tulun with the
night time Isha prayers crowd. During prayers,
they sneak over to the office where they met
the Nazir earlier. Thomas is able to pick the
lock to the office open, Emily and Reggie stay
outside to keep a look out. Thomas is unable
to pick the heavy wood locked door they saw
the nazir glance at earlier. Outside a boy
approaches with a meal on tray and Reggie
and Emily attempt to delay the boy while
alerting Thomas and the Major who are in the
building. The Major gets frustrated with
Thomas efforts with the lock and tells him to
get out of the way while pulling the elephant
gun he had hidden in his robes. While an
enormous bang the Major discharges both
175

barrels into the door, half of which is blown

away. Hearing the bang the boy drops the tray
and flees towards the prayer hall. Emily casts
the spell Mists of Releh and the area in
front of the office is soon shrouded in dense
mist. Worshipers start to stream angry out of
the prayer hall to see what interrupted their
praying.

Inside the office they discover that behind the

door is a set of stairs to a cellar. George and
Thomas descend to find a short corridor that
ends in another door with an Arabic elder sign
above it. Emily comes down stairs too and
Thomas picks the lock of the door.

Behind the door is an aged man ready to

strike with an elaborate scimitar, he chops at
Thomas, but Thomas manages to dodge out
of the way. The Major bounds in and swings
with his fists connecting with the old mans
face with a force that sends the man
sprawling backward with great force. The old
man lets the scimitar fall and his head hits the
ground with an unwaveringly loud tonk!

The room he was occupying is small and bare

but for a chair and a chest. Dr. Emily rushes in
and starts applying chest compressions to the
old man who seems to be on the verge of
dying. Thomas picks up the scimitar, Reggie
appears on the stairs saying that a large angry
mob is on its way. The investigators enter the
cellar and close the door. In the chest is the
Girdle. The Girdle proves to be a narrow band
of intricately-linked gold chain, with what
appears to be a large, uncut ruby marking the
clasp. Studied, the polished stone appears to
shift unpredictably its shape and colour.

The investigators are stuck in a cellar with a

mob of outraged Egyptians outside and
decide that opening a magical gate is the only
way out. However Emily explains that it is
necessary to sacrifice life force to fuel its
creation, either a small part of the casters or
the life of another another; Emily argues that
since she saved the old guardian's life, she
should be able to use it as a sacrifice!; The
176

guide Reggie and Thomas think otherwise and

draw guns to stop her; No time to argue as
the crowd outside the door are forcing their
way in, so Emily reluctantly agrees to sacrifice
some of her own life force, but discovers she
is unable to do so in the cellar as it is warded
against gates.
The investigators open the cellar door and
Major George dives in to the angry crowd
swinging his fists to clear Emily a space on the
floor outside to create a gate, which she does
and all the investigators jump down through
the gate while saying the password Emily
thought them back to the hotel. However
something seems to go wrong during the
transit through the gate!

Sharnoth
Session 16.5 Emily Lost in Time
and Space
A Emily Durand Solo

bands of light creep in from the edges and she

now see her origin and destination as
disconnected tears in the universe. Both the
corridor she left and the hotel room she was
going to seem to be moving away from her,
the other investigators shoot past her and
soon she is left in a universe made up only of
darkness broken up by passing bars of
coloured light. Then even the bars of light
disappear but somehow she senses she is still
travelling, endless eternities with no change
except the unsteady beating of her heart. She
feels cold, ice-cold, and her limbs are numb
and paralysed.

She passes through an absence of time and

matter; through limbo, she feels that perhaps
she is now beyond the universe; has crossed
the final threshold, un-relatable distances
from the cosmos that is normally imagined.
And then it comes, a green-tinged light, or
perhaps only a suggestion of light. She drifts
at what seems to be an infinitely slow speed
toward dual black and green suns; around
these black and green prodigies rotates a
single planet.

Keepers note: I decided that Nyarlathotep

was getting a bit pissed off with Emilys use of
the gate spell
Session played on 27/3/2016
Something seems to be going wrong!, the last
time Emily travelled via a magic gate she
caught glimpses of darkness and flashing
bands of light out of the corner of her eye as
she transitioned from one location to another.
However, this time, the darkness and the
177

Toward this dark cold globe she floats slowly,

and as she approaches she see a green plain
far below her, upon which rests a gigantic
twisted city, looking misshapen and out of
proportion in the unnatural glow. In the
centre of the city is a gigantic square stone
building with a tall arched doorway that
yawns blackly like the maw of some terrible
primeval creature. From this building radiates
an aura of palpable malevolence. Over the
crumbling masonry, cracked pillars and roofs
of this dread metropolis she drifts. In the
entire city not a thing moves, and yet there is
a feeling of life there, of evil prurient life that
senses her presence. The streets below her
change character, the buildings become
smaller and closer together, soon she is no
longer floating over a city but some sort of
apparently endless twisty maze. She starts to
descend and begins to feel her physical senses
returning. She is descending into the maze, as
she is landing; she catches sight in the
distance of a raised circular area with winding
stairs climbing it.

Emily lands into a circular room with 6 arched

exits, a tall black obelisk with gold Egyptian
carvings is at the centre. The arches lead to
corridors that curve such that line of sight is
restricted. Emily is dressed in Bedouin
clothing, she has her folding shotgun
holstered, a bandoleer with 12 shots, and a
satchel with the Girdle of Nitocris, a med kit,
binoculars, hand cuffs and chloroform. As she
examines the obelisk she hears a female voice
with a Middle Eastern accent. Little mousy,
You might as well give up, because soon the
owner of this house shall come to inspect the

mouse trap After further exchanges with this

voice, she realizes it is just in her head and
that she is conversing with an element of the
soul of Queen Nitocris from the Girdle she is
carrying. 'Do not meddle with spells and
enchantments concerning the Black Pharaoh,
for he is quick to trap the unwary. Beware, O
ignorant one, for terrible indeed is the wrath
of Nyarlathotep!'

Emily unwinds the thread of one of the cloths

from her Bedouin robe and ties it to the
obelisk and enters one of the corridors,
178

trailing thread behind her, the corridor turns

into smooth uneven almost circular tubes, as
she continues into the tunnels the air is
getting hotter. She reaches junctions and
cross roads, selecting paths and continuing.
Suddenly the thread she is trailing goes slack,
when Emily pulls the tread in she discovers
the end has been burnt.

A blazing ball of fire that Emily recognises to

be a Fire vampire rushes down the corridor
towards her, she tries to run back down a side
passage but it follows her. She takes out a
bottle of water and tries to splash the
creature seemingly made up of living fire.
Flame lashes out and burns half the hair off
her head, through the ball of fire she can see
a human figure appear, the figure is holding a
bucket and tries to douse the fire vampire the
flames are damped down sufficient for her to
sees that the figure is Krzysztof Polanski. He
runs away as she collapses from further burns
and heat exhaustion. He returns very soon

after with second bucket and destroys the fire

vampire.

He looks a mess; he is also trapped in the

maze and doesnt know where it really is. He
tells what happened to him after they were
separated in London. He was locked up in
Bedlam asylum in London, he was soon
repatriated to Poland due to a confusion
regarding his Polish name. When it became
clear in Poland that he could not speak Polish
and was now lucid he was released but by this
time he had no idea of how to contact the
other investigators. He decided he needed to
read up more on the threats they were facing
and went to a library in Warsaw and their
found an old French book Cultes des Goules.
He cast an incantation thinking that it would
take him back to where the other
investigators were as the book claimed the
spell would bring the caster to every
magicians true companion, but instead it
brought him here. He thinks that
Nyarlathotep is playing with the investigators,
picking them off one by one as he has also
met another of the investigators, Simon
Exton- the toxicologist doctor from New York.
They were together for a while but they lost
each other when they went through a door.
He wont speak about what happens in the
rooms, just that Simon and Krzysztof figured
out that they are different for each person
and you find your past waiting for you.
However he has to spend a long time looking
179

for them, he enters them because you can

find food and rest in some of them he
sometimes thinks that he finds clues that help
him find the rooms. The room for this section
he cannot pass but he finds there the buckets
and uses them to kill the vampire, it goes
away for some hours before coming back.
Each section of the labyrinth is different, in
this section you have to follow the heat
gradient to find the hottest spot to find the
door.

Emily persuades Krzysztof go in search of the

door, perhaps they can pass it together,
perhaps it will be different this time. They find
the door in an insufferably hot corridor; It is a
hardened metal door with a circular spinning
lock like on a submarine. Krzysztof warns that
the lock is burning hot and they use a rag to
unlock it. The door opens into impenetrable
blackness. They jump into the darkness hands
held together. Emily never sees Krzysztof
again.

Emily is in a New York apartment, her school

friend and Carlyle expedition member Hypatia
Masters is with her, it is Hypatias home and
Emily is visiting. Hypatia is keen to show off
her baby son to Emily, such a pity Raoul is
not here, but he will come soon, the baby is
sleeping, but come we will peak at him in the
room.

However, when Hypatia touches Emilys hand,

Emily has a vision of a different place, a
natural rock cavern lit by torches, the sounds
of the African savannah enter from outside,
and a different Hypatia. She is upon a dais,
semi-circular steps lead up to her; her
beautiful face is still recognizable, but instead
of her lithe body her face now sits atop an
amorphous, pulsating mass of sallow flesh
little more than a swollen container encasing
the Spawn of Nyarlathotep. Two baleful eyes
can be seen glaring through the translucent
yellow membrane of her belly. Hypatias head
babbles constantly in sing-song schoolgirl
English
about
college
friends
and
photography, and her metamorphosis to the
bride of a god.

180

fresco pointing or moving, armies at war with

half animals and people pointing at black and
green suns. As she wanders through junctions
she hears sounds of growling and walking
echoing through the maze. She figures out
that she has to follow the pointing of the
figures on the walls and eventually arrives at a
triangular door with a handle set into it. She
pulls the door open, which hinges on one of
the corners of the triangle and jumps once
more into the blackness.

Now Emily is back in the apartment with the

original Hypatia, baby is waking, The child
wakes and turns over in its cot, it has tri-lobed
eyes, Emily draws her folding shotgun,
Hypatia is oblivious to the baby being a
monster and Emilys actions. The baby leaps
onto the ceiling of the room and Emily tries to
shoot at it, the baby crawls rapidly across the
ceiling and drops onto Emily gnashing out
with its sharp teeth, baby is hungry today!
says Hypatia. Emily knocks the diminutive
creature from her head and manages to drop
kick it against the far wall where it crumples
allowing Emily to pulls up her shotgun again
and blast it with a clear shot.. the room
surrounds fade away.

She is back at where it all began, the Chelsea

Hotel, in front of Room 401, she knocks on the
door, and a live Jackson Elias answers the
door. Emily then realises that she has a curved
dagger in her hand and Jacksons eyes are full
of fear, the window behind Jackson leading
out to the fire escape is being forced open
and two other people with the mark of the
bloody tongue on her forehead and prangas
are climbing in. Jackson sees Emily as another
one of the assailants, but Emily manages to
persuade him that she is there to help and
despite Jackson being wounded they manage
to fight off the assailants, the room fades out
to the sound of Jackson thanking her.

Emily is surrounded by labyrinth walls made

up of Egyptian wall paintings with figures in
181

She is now in corridors of white membranous

soft matter, through which passes pulses of
blue light. She realises that this is brain matter
and takes a sample, while doing so she suffers
a headache and that and by studying the
pattern of the pulses she realises that she is in
fact in a labyrinth made up of her own brain
matter. She discovers that by focusing a
thought she causes the pulsing to speed up or
slow down and when she focuses on thinking
about the exit she begins to be guided
towards a door. Continuing on in this way,
following her own brain pulses, Emily turns a
corner and almost runs face to face with a
great greyish-while slippery creature with the
general shape of a great toad without any
eyes, but with a curious vibrating mass of
short pink tentacles on the end of its blunt,
vague snout.

Emily decides to flee, the creature lops after

her in pursuit, after choosing an exit to a
junction Emily is cornered at a dead end the
bulging brain matter from both sides pinches
the corridor such that it is impossible to
continue. Emily ignores the advancing
creature and staring at the blocking brain
matter, Emily tries her mediating techniques
and is able to causes the walls to relax and let
her pass, and when she has passes she tenses
up and traps the creature. Soon Emily finds
the door, it is a sphincter muscle. Time to go.

Now she is outside the office of her teacher,

Carl Gustav Jung, one of the founding fathers
of psychotherapy and documenter of the
collective unconsciousness. The receptionist
asks would she like some tea and biscuits sent
in. Professor Jung welcomes Emily to his office
and asks is she ready for another session. She
lies on the divan and they begin their
psychoanalysis. As she recalls her recent
dreams he starts to convince her they fit a
powerful new archetype he has discovered, a
stronger collective unconscious, one that
allows you to do what you really want, that
makes you a god amongst other minds,
against the arguments of her teacher Emily
falters and the room fades and she finds
herself back in the brain matter corridors and
is once more being chased by the tentacle
toad again.

182

After some time Emily is back at the sphincter

muscle again, despite not want to really go
again, she forces herself and leaps once more
into the darkness. The scene is repeated, but
this time Emily is more prepared for her
teachers line of argument and she chides her
Jung for what she sees as errors in his
analysis. Jung has to admit the correctness of
her argumentation and the room begins to
fade, but not before Emily stuffs her pockets
with biscuits and picks up her teacup.

The next section of the maze is made up of

swampy overgrown half flooded corridors.
Emily decides to follow insect trails to find her
door. She can hear some flapping creatures in
pursuit and decides to ambush them as they
turn a corner. She comes face to face with a
group of three winged things not altogether
crows, nor moles, nor buzzards, nor ants, nor
decomposed human beings, but sharing
features of all these things, she reckons these
must be the Byakee, such as Artie spoke of as
attacking her fellow companions at the
Penhew institute.

A frantic battle ensues but Emily is able to

come out with only minor scratches, her
shotgun victorious. The insect trails lead her
to a tree with a wooden door carved into it.
Passage through the void brings her once
more to a New York apartment, but one
furnished in an old fashioned style, a man
with his jacket off and his sleeve rolled up
rushes over to her and exclaims You have
come at last, doctor! She is in great pain!
There is something very familiar about the
man. She is carrying a medical kit and is lead
into a bed room, in the bed is a heavily
pregnant woman going through labour. It is
Emilys mother, Emily only recognises her
from photos she was shown while growing up
as her mother died during Emilys birth. She
now realises that the man is a younger version
of her father. The baby girl is a breech birth,
i.e. coming out feet first and the mother/ her
mother is haemorrhaging badly, everything is
happening too fast and Emily has to make the
decision to either concentrate on the baby
(herself?)or her mother.
Emily decides to save the baby. She manages
to extract the baby and quickly cuts the cord
and hands it to the man and now turns her
attention to her mother, her pulse is very
faint. She needs a transfusion, Emily takes the
chance that she is of a compatible blood type
with her mother and donates her own blood.
The gamble works out and her mothers pulse
stabilises. She asks her father how the child is
doing, see for yourself doctor! the child is
now a glowing healthy colour and cries out,
briefly it and it flashes its three lobed eyes.
The room fades as green mist fills the floor.

183

Emily has progressed to a section with aged

walls, the floor hidden by green mist and an
overhead view of the sky scape she saw as she
was arriving; the twin green and black suns
hang in the sky occasionally obscured by
overhead clouds. After getting lost for some
time Emily notices that some of the clouds
change direction as she passes junctions and
starts to follow these changes.

Eventually she reaches a heavy wooden 10ft

tall door and steps through. She finds herself
sat at her own desk back at her New York
apartment, she is reading Africas Dark sects
by electric lantern, it is snowing outside, and
she can hear Harmonica music from her living
room. She remembers this moment, it was
the calm before the storm, the moment
before the death of Timothy and the battle
with the hunting horror. She goes to her bed
room, and gets a change of clothes, then
climbing up on a chair gets more shotgun
shells from an overhead cupboard, and
reloads her bandoleer. She can hear chanting
in Timothys voice follow by Preston Hearsts
screams and she knows that Mugungu has
already possessed the child and summoned
the hunting horror in the toilet, she climbs out
bedroom window, and jumps down into
snow.. the room fades out and she returns to
the green mist section of the labyrinth.

She is set upon from the mist by a number of

rat like creatures with the bones of their tiny
paws appear more like that of a diminutive
monkey than of a rat; while their small heads
with savage yellow fangs is of the utmost
anomalousness , appearing like a miniature,
monstrously degraded parodies of human
faces. Some of them bit and grab on to her.
She reaches into her satchel and grabs the
chloroform bottle. She splashes it around
herself knocking some of the creatures out
with fumes and flees.

This time around, the rat things attempt to

ambush her as she reaches the heavy door
and Emily struggles with one and falling with
it through the door. When she reaches her
office, she uses her remaining chloroform to
sedate it, wraps it in bandages and rushes
through the apartment to the amazement of
184

Preston, Willard, John Kuzak, and Artie. She

grabs the Mask of Hayama from the items
taken from the Juju shop on the living room
table and goes to the kitchen, there she gets a
pickle jar and a knife, pokes some holes in the
jar and places her sedated rat thing in the jar.
Artie follows her amazed into the kitchen,
trying to get an explanation, but soon returns
to the living room as the sound of chanting
and screams comes again.. the scene fades
once more to green mists. Emily evades the
rat things this time and as soon as she arrives
at her apartment she heads straight for the
toilet with her shotgun out, she burst open
the door and Timothy is surprised drawing
symbols in his own blood on the floor.. Still
you are too late, Makunga will have his
revenge! Emily raises he shotgun and blows a
hole in Timothys chest.

The room fades but this time she has arrives

to somewhere different, a circular corridor
running all around a 60 foot high raised dais.
Emily walks around until she comes to the
entrance of a stairway that winds around the
dais until the top, she ascends. In the centre
of the dais is a well made up of old stone
blocks and next to it sitting on a chair is a
black man with a skull painted on his face
smoking a cigar. There is a bottle of rum on
the ground next to the chair

How are you liking my therapy, Doctor? I,

Baron Samedi want to make a deal! This well
is used by my servants to go where I need
them to go, but only a faithful servant knows
the secret of the gate, those who do not know
the secret meet oblivion at the bottom, you
could be a faithful servant, doctor, you need
not fear me, I do not want to destroy the
world, it is just he who can destroy a thing can
control a thing and I wish for control. Be
faithful and give me the girdle. Emily says
that if the Baron would first let her return to
earth she would give him the girdle, she hears
in her mind Nitocris mocking her and urging
her to obey her master.

185

You look doubtful doctor, would you like to

look upon oblivion, those that do, soon sing a
different tune Baron Samedi gets up from
the chair and gestures for Emily to join him
beside the well. Emily looks down and at the
bottom of the well there is a burning orb,
merely to look upon it tugs at the viewers
soul causing it to beg its owner jump in, fill
what cannot be filled.

Once more she is surrounded by darkness

broken up by passing bars of coloured light,
the mind of Nitocris hisses at Emily You may
have escaped Sharnoth as I am bound to my
mistress and my destruction would be her
destruction, but I will bring us back to where
her body awaits and she will destroy you
There is then a battle of wills as both
travelling entities, Emily and the girdle try to
steer the transit until finally another tare
appears before them, a gap in the void
looking onto the suite at Shepheards hotel.

Emily senses that even Nitocris fears the

burning orb and with that though Emily knows
what to do. She dives head first down the well
toward the terrifying nothingness, Nitocris
screams out in terror as Emily plunges
carrying the girdle, just before she hits the orb
she can hear Nitocris repeat an incantation
and the burning orb transforms to an empty
void and Emily passes through.

186

Egypt III
Session 17 The Curse of Nitocris
Session played on 2/4/2016

he is a foreigner. Minutes later Artie appears

right next to Jung, We must talk Rabbi, but
not here it is too dangerous and prompts for
Jung to follow.

The investigators snuck in to the Mosque of

Ibn Tulun with the Isha worshipers attending
the last of the 5 daily prayers. However,
fearing detection due to his ethnicity, Rabbi
Tsou Jung stayed outside waiting. Dressed in a
local keffiyeh head scarf and an ankle length
local robe, he is under one of the minarets
near the main entrance. It is around 9pm and
dark, but Cairo in June is more alive at this
hour then earlier during the heat of the day.
He hears sounds of disturbances in the
Mosque, a loud bang, shouts, the sounds of a
crowd; it does not seem as if things are going
well in there. Perhaps the investigators have
been caught trying to pilfer the Girdle of
Nitocris, figuring that soon it will be
dangerous to be seen, Jung tugs tighter at his
keffiyeh, to better conceal his face.

Jung notices two figures under the minaret on

the other side of the main entrance. He
realises it is Artie talking to Hakim, the guide
from the bent pyramid. Soon Hakim leaves
and Jung starts making his way towards Artie,
Artie spots Jung. At that moment an angry
crowd spills out looking for devil worshipping
foreign thieves. Jung loses sight of Artie, angry
people surge around him, shouting and
chanting, but they do not seem to notice that

Artie leads Jung back to the room above a

hardware shop in the Qal, et el Kabsh area
near to the mosque, Artie climbs some side
stairs and enters a door, Jung follows but
waits in the door way. The room inside is very
simple with bed and chair and a few of Arties
belongings. Artie has the Mask of Hayma in
his hand... thank you rabbi, if I had not
studied with you I would not be able to
understand everything that is happening to
me, you gave me the language to understand
it all, to understand that he was there all
along, not just guiding me, but guiding all of
us, he offered us the apple of knowledge, he
was the burning bush, come in and sit down
friend we will discuss more Jung enters and
sits in the chair; Arties says that he should put
on the Mask, when Jung refuses, there is a
struggle where Artie tries to force him, but in
the struggle a chair breaks and Jung rolls free.

187

Physically, Shepheards hotel is impressive. It

is four stories high, has a colonnaded foyer
and portico at its entrance, and cupola towers
at each corner. To its front is Ezbekieh
gardens, however the hotel backs up against
one of the poorest districts of Cairo; Visitors
staying in the back rooms will be affronted by
views of goats tethered to rooftops and the
odours of daily life. Visitors who have rooms
on the west side of the hotel will have a view
of Cairos thriving red light district.
A chase ensues, down the stairs and back out
onto the street, Artie tries to tackle Jung but
the Rabbi evades him and leaves Artie lying in
the street. Jung makes his way back to the
hotel but takes a long time so as to avoid
angry crowds that are forming. He also gets
lost in the dark narrow Cairo streets, finally
finding a horse taxi that then refuses to go
further at one point because of the danger of
going through an angry crowd out for infidel
blood. In all it takes him about 2 hours to get
back to the hotel.

On entering the hotel lobby, Jung sees the

manager of Shepheards Charles Muller,
accompanied as always by his dog Titus, in
animated conversation with a number of
bearded local men. Jung realizes that amongst
the men the manager is trying to throw out is
the nazir of Ibu Tulun mosque, who along with
some of his congregation wish to talk to the
westerners that hired Reggie and visited the
mosque.

Jung decides it is wiser to enter instead via the

tradesmans entrance, but is noticed trying to
cut across the kitchens. However he
successfully bluffs that he has been newly
hired to work in kitchens, by demonstrating
his culinary skills. He works awhile in the
kitchens, discovering, by accidentally opening
the wrong door when sent to the cellars, that
there are tunnels under the hotel, he is
188

warned not to go in there he could get lost. At

an opportune moment later he removes his
keffiyeh and ankle length local robe and
enters the part of hotel for guests and makes
his way to Emilys suite.
Reggie, Major George and Thomas tumble out
of a hole in reality into the hotel suite, Emily
does not arrive for some reason. Something
strange happened while traversing the gate,
but only Thomas notices this, for the others it
is their first time gate travelling and it is all
strange. The gate remains open behind them;
Reggie picks himself up from the ground and
starts complaining, he tells them he regrets
not following his instinct to walk away when
he could, He claims he did not understand
what the investigators were up to at the
Mosque of Ibn Tulun until it was too late. He
says he is now convinced that the
investigators are the ones responsible for
stirring up old curses and black magic that
they dont understand. He wants to return
what was taken from the Mosque to the
police and to do whatever is necessary to
placate the ancient evils they have woken,
either that or leave Egypt by the next boat.

Emily arrives 10 minutes later than the others,

light flashes from the gate and Emily is
discharged, she has burnt hair, bite wounds,
and different clothes. In the void of the gate
behind her, in the distance but approaching
rapidly would appear to be a hunting horror
following her through the gate. Emily quickly

closes the gate, but it then appears looks like

a form crashes against the spot the gate used
to occupy, trying to break through to reality.
Emily asks how long she has been gone and
explains how a number of days had passed for
her and that she had been trapped in a
labyrinth. She has brought some things back
and shows them, samples, brain matter from
her own brain, somehow? and another copy
of the Mask of Hayama! Reggie asks what the
thing in the jar wrapped in bandages with the
human like nose sticking out is, that nose is
twitching! Emily explains that it is a rat thing
that she captured and they can use it to
extract information; she un-wraps the
bandages from its face and gets a good look at
it for the first time.

Emily dont you remember me! it says and

she does, for its face is the face is of Simon
Exton, the toxicologist that the investigators
worked with in New York and who Krzysztof
says he met wandering in the labyrinth.
Simon, what did they do to you, you poor
man, let me help you and Emily starts
unwrapping the bandages. Reggie is appalled
by the sight of the creature with rat body and
human face and he is reduced to leaning
against the room wall and gibbering.
At this point the Rabbi arrives back and some
sort of explanation of what has happened to
the others in the meantime has to be given to
him. Emily is cleaning Exton the rat thing, who
189

explains how he ended up on Sharnoth, the

home of Nyarlathotep. After Simons arm had
healed up from his injury he followed on to
London after the investigators but ended up
captured by a man called Tewfik. Then in a
cult ritual he was sacrificed to empower a
magic mirror, Simon found himself lost in an
endless maze pursued by horrors and
tormented by the trauma of his past, there he
met Krzysztof but they were separated.
Eventually he was stuck in a section, unable to
pass a room and tormented by rat things, the
last time he failed to pass his room when he
returned once more to the maze of green
mists he was now also a rat thing. Despite this
story, Major George and the Rabbi do not
trust the rat thing and tell Emily to put it back
in the jar, Exton says he does not want to go
there and he jumps from Emilys hand and
hides under the bed.

As the investigators are about to tear up the

bed to get at Exton, there is a knock at the
door of the suite. It is Muller the Hotel
manager and his dog Titus, they have arrived
to ask the investigators if they would talk to
the Nazir to placate them, as a crowd are
causing a scene outside the hotel. Exton takes
the opportunity to escape through open door;
the manager sees the rat thing, but thinks it
an ordinary rat, which is perhaps even more
horrifying for him! Titus the dog goes ballistic
and chases after Exton. Muller apologises
about the rat and offers that Emily Change
suite, and not to worry about the locals, the

manager will placate them or get the police to

move them along.

At this point Reggie is a psychological mess,

Emily who seems to have recovered her grasp
on reality when Exton the rat thing ran off,
spend some time with him, telling him that he
has a duty to serve, to protect Britain, the
King and the Empire. Reggie seems to accept
this but is incredulous that an old has-been
such as himself can be of any use against such
threats.
The investigators examine the sword taken
from the elderly guardian of the girdle. The
Scimitar is about 4 feet long with a moderate
curve. It is forged of Damascus steel, with a
bronze hilt and ebony-covered grip.
Unusually, spikes from the tang of the blade
pierce through the grip, in such a way that it is
impossible to grasp the sword firmly without
cutting ones own hand. Emily remembers
reading in The Book of Eibon that a Sword of
Barzai was of great use against
extradimensional beings and bears some
resemblance to this blade. Tsou Jung
remembers from the book the People of the
Monolith that the weapon is similar to one
used to slay the great Toad-Demon of
Xuthltan in Hungary. twas slain with flame
and ancient steel/ blessed in old times by the
Prophet of War/ to Rhymes that were old
when Arabia was young/ bloodied, bronze
clasping, the slayer cries On!. As the Major
trained in swordplay during his time in the
lancers he takes charge of the weapon.
190

As there is increasing sounds of a riotous

crowd building up outside the hotel, the
investigators decide the safest thing would be
to leave the hotel via tunnels Jung found.
Reggie explains more about the history of the
hotel and seems reassured to slip back into
his tour guide role. The hotel was built
between 1849 and 1852 over a razed palace.
Prior to Shepheards, the site had been home
to a palace and a temple, built in about
900A.D. In the 1750s, Alfi Bey razed the
original temple and palace and built a larger
one. Beys palace later served as Napoleons
headquarters and then Muhammed Alis
School of Languages. Reggie surmises that,
Shepheards must sit on a network of cellars
and tunnels created by the ruins of the
original temple, Beys Palace, Napoleons
Headquarters, and even the school.
After going through the cellar door that Jung
found, the investigators descend some
curving stairs to arrive in a room that appears
to be an abandoned wine cellar with 2 doors
leading out of it. There is a strong smell of
burnt hair in the room and in the light of the
investigators electric lanterns smoke or fog
can be seen seeping in from one of doors. The
fog seems to take on a vague shape and sends
forth tendrils of fog to engulf and smother the
investigators. Thomas, who had yet to leave
the stairs, stays back afraid to enter the room.
Reggie stands frozen in terror. Emily

remembering the stories Artie told of the

creature from the cellar of the Penhew
institute instructs Rabbi Tsou to try to shine
his lantern to the very heart of the fog mass.
Major George draws the scimitar and grasps
the hilt allowing the spikes to pierce his hand,
assuming this a necessary step to use the
weapon against magical opponents. Both
Reggie and George soon have tendrils of fog
forcing their way down their throat, causing
them to almost suffocate, Reggie collapses.
However a combination of the lights of the
Rabbi and Emily and especially the sword of
George vanquish the creature.

Once Reggie is helped up and he has

recovered his breath the investigators decide
to go through door that the fog creature came
from. After a short passage they open
another door only to be ambushed by two
scimitar wielding Egyptians, the Major
valiantly parries off their sword blows and
191

Emily and the other investigators get out their

gun and make short work of their opponents.
After wandering through many, many,
tunnels, and with Reggie speculating they may
even have passed into the catacombs of old
Cairo they arrive at an ascending ladder, after
climbing that they pass a tight crawl space
and then a climb down another ladder into
deep well. Eventually the investigators arrive
at a large domelike space about 40 feet
across, its walls dotted with many nooks and
crannies within which cats perch and lurk,
their eyes glinting in the soft glowing light.
Against the wall opposite the one entrance
sits a seven-foot-tall statue of a cat headed
woman seated on a throne. Reggie identifies
it as the ancient Egyptian cat goddess Bast.
The statue is carved from a single block of
obsidian there is an opening for a drawer
between the feet, the drawer is pulled out
and appears empty. At the statues feet a
small brazier burns dimly, casting steady
shadows across the whitewashed walls.

As the investigators tentatively enter the

apparent temple of Bast, they are surprised
from behind by the roar of a black panther.
Having got their attention the panther turns
into a striking beautiful woman. She asks
mockingly if the investigators have come back
to steal more of Basts sacred relics. The cat
woman says that there is the smell of
something abominable on them, the
investigators assuming she can smell Exton,
explain about the rat thing, the priestess,
Neris says that there is a population of such
creatures near the City of the Dead on the
outskirts of the city, but that is not the smell
she can detect, she indicates instead the trunk
the investigators carry. The investigators
realise that she is referring to the cat mummy
Sheshru that was trapped in Mr. Lings demon
cabinet.
They say they have come to the temple to
destroy the Shesru, Neris agrees that is a
fitting task as the creature is an abomination
and she feeds it to the flames under the
statue.
After
some
discussion
the
investigators learn from Neris, that about a
week ago a westerner stumbled over the
temple while Neris was not in attendance and
took a book The Black Rites of Luveh-Keraph
sacred to the cult. The descriptions apparently
provided by cat witnesses of the red nose and
alcohol soaked clothes of the interloper
remind the investigators of the dutch
archaeologist and failed Clive expedition
member Vanheuvelen that they met when
looking for Warren Basart.They agree to get
the book back to Neris and she guides them
through the tunnels to an exit into an
alleyway in the old city, agree to get book,
brought to exit in old Cairo, and teaches
Major George a phrase in cat to tell to any cat
that he is a friend of Bast.

192

rabbi convert to Islam and companion of the

prophet. George tries to destroy the Girdle of
Nitocris using the scimitar, but does not
succeed. Dr. Kafour says that the wielder of
the sword ought to be Muslim.
Major George decides that there is not too
much difference from the Church of England
to Islam and is instructed by Dr. Kafour on
how to recite the Shahada, the Muslim article
of faith: There is no god but God.
Muhammad is the messenger of God .
However despite Georges conversion the
Girdle still does not break.
As it is now early morning and the
investigators
are
exhausted,
Reggie
remembers that they are near to the house of
Dr. Kafour, and he might offer them shelter.
They make their way to the old city town
house of the eminent doctor and he invites
them it and offers them the famed hospitality
of the Middle East. The investigators sleep
some hours and when they awake they read
some of the local language newspapers.

The investigators return to the hash den in

the old city where they met Van Heuvelen ,
the owner speaks of having thrown him out
because he kept filling up the place with cats,
one of the other clients says that he thinks he
lives on the street of the moths. When the
investigators arrive at the given address, it is
the shop of a carpet seller, the grizzled old
carpet is shooing several cats out of his shop
with a broom, cursing in Arabic.
When asked about Van Heuvelen, the
investigators are shown an upstairs room
reachable by narrow stairs to the back of the
shop. The Dutchman is asleep snoring in his
tiny room which contains only a cot, a crude
table and chair, a few books on Egyptian
archaeology, an oil lamp, and a couple of
wine-bottle candles.

Dr. Kafour identifies the scimitar as being the

sword of Akmallah, which once belonging to a
193

investigators, as a demonstration she says her

cats overheard that the investigators are
looking for a man named Basart, apparently
the cats know that Basart is a prisoner under
the Sphinx but that the cats know a secret
way into the tunnels below.

The investigators rough the pathetic Van

Heuvelen up, until he tells where hidden scroll
is, hidden under his cot bed in a rough hole.
He has been working on a Dutch translation,
Major George says that if he comes to Dr.
Kafour in a week sober and agrees to work on
an English translation he can get his notes
back. Van Heuvelen is cheered with the
possibility of having an audience with the
esteemed Dr. Kafour on his work.

George tells his cat word to one of the cats

that have by now wandered into the room,
the cat goes to the door and waits for the
investigators to follow, which they do and the
cat leads them to some back alleys and then a
tunnel and eventually back to Neris in the
Bast temple. Neris is pleased with the return
of the scrolls and says that cat know many
things and can be of some help to the

As the sun sets the investigators take a tram

out to Giza in the company of one of Neris
cats. After going to the Sphinx, the cat heads
some one hundred and fifty yards southeast
of the Menkaura pyramid. And digs at an
ancient-looking stone slab until it is able to go
under it, the investigators join in with pick and
shovel until they too are able to go under the
slab and into a rock tomb that connects with a
descending winding narrow tunnel.

Far below the earth the silence is ceaseless

and oppressive, Above is a terrible weight of
suspended stone and earth. There is no light,
except for an occasional glow from livid
purple or putrid green fungislimy stuff
disgusting to touch. Eventually the small
tunnel meets a larger man made tunnel with ,
loathsome images panel the walls, depicting
men with the heads of animals, animals with
human limbs, and alien entities performing
cruel, disgusting, and obscene activities.

194

The main tunnel descends to the right and the

investigators go that way. Following the
tunnel for about 20 minutes ignoring the
occasional smaller side tunnels, until when
turning a sharp corner they come face to face
with some 4 humanoid creatures with animal
heads (ibex and Hyena) but human bodies
blocking the way. The creatures come to life
and attack the investigators.

Session 18 Under the Sphinx

Session played on 30/4/2016
The tunnels under the Sphinx echo with the
sound of handgun and shotgun as the

investigators fight back against the strange

animal headed creatures that attacked them.
The blood of the creatures splatters against
the painted tunnel walls and when the cordite
smoke clears the only creatures remain are
twitching and dying. As Emily attends to some
minor wounds taken by the investigators; the
sounds of voices chanting starts to echo down
the main corridor. This spooks the
investigators so they decide to leave the main
tunnel and take the next small side tunnel to
the right. Makusha the cat from the temple of
Bast, goes with them. They follow this much
smaller unpaved rough tunnel for a minute
until it comes to a fork, then follow the right
fork for two minutes until it comes to a dead
end and then returning to the fork and trying
the left hand branch. After another few
minutes travel they come to a T junction and
go to the right. The investigators realize it
would be easy to get lost in these many
labyrinthine like tunnels.

Rabbi Tsou and Reggie hold high oil lanterns

so the investigators led by Major George can
find their way stumbling through the tunnels.
Suddenly the Major slips and falls on some
unexpectedly smooth tunnel flooring, sliding
down an incline, however he manages to grab
the tunnel walls before falling down the hole
in the ground at the end of the incline. Some
rocks he dislocated continue to rattle against
the walls of the drop for nearly a minute
before the sound stops. The investigators tie a
195

rope to the Major and with Emily and the

Tsou at the other end; pull the Major out of
his precarious spot. They decide to continue
on roped together past the slippery floor
section, at one point the Major stumbles once
more but Tsou and Emily hold fast.

The tunnel arrives at a four way junction,

through which the investigators continue
straight and ahead and onwards down a long
tunnel. After some two minutes the
investigators are surprised from a side tunnel
by two creatures, one bull headed and one
hyena headed. Emily and George open fire at
them; the Bull headed creature is particularly
hard to fell. Emily is unable to stop shooting
her shotgun into the creature even after it is
clearly dead. George has seen soldiers get
trigger happy before and tries to calm her and
seeing an opportunity grabs the shotgun off of
her. Emily reacts as if George was attacking
her, kicking him cruelly in the shin and trying
to grab back her shotgun. Emily mind swims
with paranoid thoughts

Emily concerned by the ideas that the spirit of

Queen Nitocris is putting into her mind gives
the girdle containing the spirit to Thomas. The
investigators continue on through the tunnels,
until Rabbi Tsou hears the sound of a group
approaching, so the investigators back track
and prepare an ambush using a side tunnel.
George whispers back to Thomas to pass up
one of the ottoman grenades that Thomas
bought in the souk. George has a peak around
the corner and can see following an animated
mummy, there is Dr. Clive, a while cat and a
group of cultists in robes mixed with some
animal headed creatures. Major George tries
to sneak forward to get a good spot to throw
the grenade, however stumbles on some
uneven ground and drops the grenade, from
which the pin pops out.

196

Alerted by the sound the white cat rushes

forward and as it does so, it seems to
transform, becoming larger and more vicious
looking. Its tongue lashes out, becoming
impossibly large, trying to ensnare George.
George dodges the tongue which instead gets
stuck to wall. Clive moves forward and
appears to be casting magic, Emily steps out
from the side tunnel and blasts at Clive with
her shotgun, however some sort of magical
protection seems to protect Clive as the force
of the shotgun is deflected. The mummy
approaches behind Clive. Emily picks up
grenade and throws it into the mass of
approaching enemies, the Grenade goes off,
Emily is knocked back and temporarily
deafened, Clive and the cat creature are hit by
the blast and by falling rocks and are killed

remembering the sword of Akmallah on

Georges belt passes it to Rabbi Tsou.

Thomas is pursued by mummy into dead end,

Reggie hides in a side tunnel, the mummy
ignores him. Thomas points a hand at the
advancing mummy and uses his Deflect Harm
spell to attempt to ward it off, the spirit of
Nitocris rejoices in the approaching mummy
and attempts to overwhelm the mind of
Thomas.

The Mummy however digs itself out of rubble

and advances on Mgr. George, who vainly
blasts his rifle at the creature. The mummy
pounds him fiercely with its fists and George
collapses. Thomas retreats to where the Rabbi
and Reggie have a lit torch, The Mummy
seems to ignore Emily and now Clive does not
stand in its way goes after Thomas. Emily tries
to save George with the risky gambit of
injecting him with adrenaline, however the
procedure fails and George dies. Emily
197

Rabbi Tsou comes rushing up with the sword

of Akmallah, Reggie sees him and
understanding his plans, asks him if he has
ever used a sword in anger before? When the
Rabbi replies in the negative, Give me the
sword, I was in my fencing club at school and
still remember a few tricks!, Reggie grasps at
the sword, letting the spikes in the handle cut
into his hand.. As the last of Thomass magic
defence fails and he is left dodging the lunges
of the Mummy, Reggie comes from behind
the Mummy and strikes decisively at it with
the sword of Akmallah. The mummy crumbles
in a pile of bones, bandages and dust. The
spirit of Nitocris screams out of anguish, but
then tells Thomas to count the mummys
fingers.. Thomas notices one is missing.. From
that, they can grow me a new body! boasts
Nitocris.

The tunnel that mummy came from was

blocked off by the explosion of the grenade.
The investigators digging out the rubble find
body of Clive, but discover it is actually the
body of Edward Gavigan, in his backpack they
find clothes of Hakim the guide that brought
them to the sanctum in the Red Pyramid and
also The Mask of Hayama. Gavigan must have
had the ability to change his face, and he must
have got the mask from Artie somehow. They
also find a cat mummy in the rubble and take
it to offer to Bast. Deciding they have no
alternative but to leave the body of George,
Rabbi Tsou says a blessing over it. Too much
rubble blocks the tunnel and the investigators
decide to find another route. They go through
further small tunnels until eventually making
their way back to the main wide tunnel with
the loathsome images.

Along the main tunnel the investigators once

more hear the sound of ritual, chanting and
now also the sound of a middle aged woman
droning out the phrase I call out to the spirit
of Nitocris..; The investigators go toward the
sounds, but after a while the keen ears of the
Rabbi pick up some noise ahead, this time the
sounds of some whispered speech in English.
The investigators spot some figures preparing
an ambush, so decide to try to outflank them
by taking a side tunnel to the right. However
the side tunnels they follow take them and
the cat Makusha in a different direction and
soon they are approaching the sound of some
people chatting in Arabic. The investigators
rush in the surprise the chatters, who turn out
to be four guards sat at a table playing cards,
they seem to be in charge of a prison block
with many Egyptian men and boys locked up
the cells. The investigators easily overpower
the guards, who struggle to pick up some
scimitars on time; Reggie is still using the
Sword of Akmallah, but uses it in a fencing
style, expecting his opponent to surrender
when he has passed their defences, Thomas
shows however how the game is played and
takes down Reggies opponent with his pistol..
Not very sporting, old chap is Reggies
comment.
In the prison block, as well as a small army of
boys and old men stolen from the streets of
Cairo as sacrifice fuel for the cults rituals, the
investigators find two western men. One of
them calls out from his cell to be released; he
says his name is James Gardner and that he is
a member of the Clive expedition, or at least
he was until about 6pm this evening when his
198

world was turned upside down, he and

another member of the expedition Agetha
Broadmoor, a spiritualist, were imprisoned
here by the other members of the expedition.
About ten minutes ago Agetha was taken
away by Martin Winfield, who told James that
hed be back for him soon to make an offering
of him to the Dark Pharaoh. James thinks they
have all lost their minds.

The cat Makusha scratches at the door to

another cell, inside the investigators can see a
western man slumped on the ground, James
does not know who the person is.

When the cell door is unlocked, the cat rushes

in and licks at the face of the man, who wakes
and calls the cat Yeux verts evidently the
man is Warren Besart, however he seems to
be in a very feeble mental state and cannot

answer any questions about the Eye of Light

and Darkness, he just sits stroking the cat,
pausing only momentarily to ask if the
investigators brought any opium or hashish.

Reggie speaks to the freed Arabic captives and

they are armed with the scimitars of the
guards and some rocks. The street people of
Cairo want some revenge. Gardner leads the
investigators and the small jihad back to main
tunnel and the group moves toward the
chanting again this time proceeding from
another direction.
At the far end of the main tunnel from the
investigators and their Egyptian allies a figure
is seen at the top of a descending staircase,
the source of the chanting. It is a man
smoking a cigarette and holding in his other
hand a stick of dynamite. It is Artie; strapped
to his chest are the other 7 bars of the
dynamite the investigators acquired in
Shanghai. Emily rushes forward to try to
reason with him, and talk him out of the
desperate act he would seem to be about to
do. Artie threatens to put the cigarette to the
fuse of the dynamite it is no use; I have to
stop them, take as many of them with me as I
can.

199

The staircase is at a bend in the tunnel of the

loathsome images, from another direction
shots are fired at Artie followed by sounds of
people running. Artie ducks down the stairs.
Emily casts the spell Mist of Relah, producing
billowing clouds of mist to provide Artie and
herself cover from these newcomers. Knowing
that Artie is soon going to blow himself up,
the investigators and the freed prisoners
quickly back track down the main tunnel. They
are almost at the point where the
investigators fought the first animal headed
creatures when there is a massive explosion,
which sends many loose stones falling from
the tunnel ceiling.

The investigators exit the dusty tunnels by the

same ancient tomb they entered, their freed
companions give praise to Allah for their
deliverance to the surface. They return to
Cairo by walking and then catching a taxi,
Gardner and Besert travel with them. When
they arrive back at his house Dr Kafour is
sadden to hear of the loss of Major George
but gladdened to know that they inflicted
great damage on the forces of Evil. There is
just one thing we need to finish says Dr.
Kafour, I have been researching, we just
needed more blood. He takes the sword of
Akmallah and asks that a servant bring in a
goat from the yard, he cuts the goats throat
using the sword, the animals blood is
collected and the sword immersed in the
blood. Dr Kafour cuts his hand on the hilt of
the bloodied sword, he then asks Thomas to
hold out the girdle and cuts cleanly through
the gem that joins it, the gem shatters and
turns to dust.
Emily is able to speak with Warren Basart, she
uses her therapists skill to put him at ease
and tease his story out of him. He does not
know what this Eye is that they keep asking
about, to get any sense out of him it seems he
has to start by telling how he got involved to
begin with.
A lawyer contacted me. I agreed to act as
purchasing agent for Mr. Roger Carlyle. On
written instructions from Mr. Carlyle, I
purchased certain artifacts from Faraz Najir,
an antiquities dealer, and illegally shipped
them out of Egypt to Sir Aubrey Penhew in
London. I know the artifacts were ancient, but
nothing more. When the Carlyle Expedition
came to Egypt, I arranged for all their
equipment and permits. Their main site was
at Dhashur, in the area of the Bent Pyramid.
One day at Dhashur, Jack Brady came to me
and told me that Carlyle, Hypatia Masters, Sir
Aubrey, and Dr. Huston had entered the Bent
Pyramid and then vanished. Brady was excited
200

and suspected foul play, since the diggers

already had fled the site and work had come
to a stand-still. We did not know what to do,
so we drank. The next morning, Carlyle and
the others reappeared. They were excited by
some tremendous find, but what it was, they
would not say, nor did I learn, for Sir Aubrey
was a fiend for secrecy. All of them had
changed in some inexplicable way, and a way
not for the better; I did not ask further.

The evening after, an old Egyptian woman,

Nyiti, visited me. She said that her son, Unba,
had been one of the diggers. She said the
diggers had fled because Carlyle and the
others had consorted with an ancient evil, the
Messenger of the Black Wind. She said that
she could recognize that the souls of all the
Europeans but Brady and myself were lost. If I
wanted proof, I should go to the Collapsed
Pyramid at Meidum at the time when the
moon is slimmestthe night before the dark
of the moon. God help me, I went! I took one
of the trucks, pretending to leave for a night
in the pleasure quarter of Cairo. But instead I

drove the twenty miles south to Meidum, and

secreted myself where she advised.

There in the midnight blackness I saw Carlyle

and the others disport themselves in obscene
rituals with a hundred madmen. The very
desert came alive, crawling and undulating
toward the ruins of the pyramid. To my
horror, the stone ruins themselves became a
skeletal, bulging-eyed thing!
Strange
creatures emerged from the sands, grasped
the dancing celebrants, and, one by one, tore
out their throats, killing all until only the
Europeans (and one other robed celebrant)
remained. Something more loomed out of the
sand, the size of an elephant but with five
separate shaggy heads. Then I realized what it
wasbut it is madness to speak it! I saw it rise
and in a great ravening swallow as one all the
torn corpses and their hideous murderers,
leaving alive only five people amidst the
stench of the blood-soaked sands. I fainted.
When I recovered, I wandered into the desert.
There further horrors awaited me. Stumbling
up a rise before dawn, I saw beyond hundreds
of dark sphinxes, rank upon rank drawn up
and waiting for the hour of madness when
they will spring to devour the world! I fainted
again, and this time I left the world for many
months.
Unba found me; for two years he and his
mother cared for meme, a man mindless
and returned, I came back to Cairo. But I
began to dream! Only hashish helps now, or
opium if it can be found. This thing you speak
201

of, the item I offered to Faraz Najir I know

now what it is, I saw that Nyiti kept with her
some fragment of the Red Pyramid cap stone,
when I saw Faraz on the streets I was so
desperate for money I offered to sell it to him,
even though I did not have it myself, yes, it
did have a symbol like that on it, that is it, for
sure and it must still be with Nyiti in El
Wasta.
It is now morning, Dr. Kafour arranges for a
truck to be rented and the investigators drive
to El Wasta, a few hours up the Nile, south of
Medium. With some difficulty Dr. Kafour
tracks down Nyiti and Unba, the locals say
they are not living in their house any more as
a terrible creature attacked it and wounded
them, but they survived and are now living in
a tiny hovel on the outskirts of the town. The
first person the investigators see is Unba,
Nyitis son. His right arm and shoulder and the
right side of his face have been gouged away.
The investigators suspect that a Hunting
Horror maimed Unba. This large mans speech
is slow and halting. Dr. Kafour patiently persist
and Unba at last agrees to bring them to his
mother. Nyiti looks extremely old. Her jaw
and both of her hands have been burned
away.

Normally she is quite insane but, seeing the

investigators, her eyes light. She makes awful
gurgling noises, and she points with her
stumps to a corner of the hut. This disturbs
her son, who rushes to her. The investigators
look in the corner, amidst blankets, pots, etc.,
is a rush basket painted with a red symbol. Dr.
Kafour identifies the glyph as an ancient
Egyptian symbol of protection. Within the
basket is a 7x9-inch slab of red stone several
inches thick. Its irregular edges make
apparent that it was broken from a larger
piece of worked stone, it has upon it carving
similar to that found by Brady. Nyiti pleads for
the investigators to take the stone. When
they accept it, her last goal accomplished, the
remaining life force drains from her, she lets
loose a gasp of air and dies.

202

Shanghai III
Session 19 Gray Dragon Island
Session played on 26/6/2016
The investigators, Reggie and the man they
rescued from the cells under the Sphinx,
Warren Besart, are staying at Dr. Kafours Old
Cairo Manse recuperating from their
adventures fighting the unleashed evil of
Egypts ancient past. After two days a young
Egyptian man introduced as Fahim Khalid
visits and talks with Dr. Kafour. After dinner
the wizened old archaeologist addresses them
all: My good friend Fahim is familiar with and
supportive of your situation, we can speak at
liberty; Through the martyrdom of Major
George and Artie we may have destroyed
their nest and killed their Queen Ant, but now
there are many angry doomed ants wandering
about and according to contacts of Fahim they
have your names and descriptions

arrest warrants for the investigators and

Reginald Forthworthy (Thats Reggie to you!)
Cairo is not a safe place for the investigators
and leaving Egypt is going to be difficult.

Fortunately Dr. Kafours friend Fahim is an

expert on getting things out of Egypt from
under the eyes of the authorities. For some
years now Dr. Kafour has been working with
Fahim, who is a tomb raider and smuggler,
Fahim brings to Dr. Kafour the more
historically valuable items he finds and in
return the doctor helps with the export of
items that the Museum has in abundance.
Fahim also keeps a special eye out for mythos
items, and has been sent on missions to
retrieve such items by Dr. Kafour. He has
skimmed through the museums copy of Al
Azif by Alhazred the mad and from there has
learned the secrets of sealing a gate by
creating an Elder sign.

Many of the cultists that had gathered for the

ceremony to revive Queen Nitocris had been
sent back to Cairo in order to recover the
required girdle and were supplied with
descriptions, names and alias of the
investigators; later that night the Brotherhood
leadership were killed by Artie in the great
temple, now the remnants of the
brotherhood want revenge. Also the Nazir of
Ibn Tulan has acquired information,
somehow, perhaps from the cult, that the
investigators are the thieves of the sword of
Akmallah. Now the Egyptian government and
the British High Commissioner have put out
203

Fahim also has a personal reason to

investigate the mythos, when he was a young
man his parents, circus contortionists were
killed in front of his eyes by a large flying
monster. He had known that a short time
before they died they had been employed to
enter a difficult to enter tomb. The person
who hired them was Alfred Penhew, he now
understands that Penhew most likely knew
the tomb his parents were hired to enter had
a curse to fall on the first to enter it. Fahim
wishes to follow the investigators to wherever
Penhew now is and have his revenge.

arranges for him to be sent to Cyprus in the

company of a friend Fr. Lief, a Belgian monk.

The investigators arrange for a cryptic

message to be sent to Brady, as per
instructions, care of Mr. Feng Wu-pei at the
Shanghai general post office, letting him
know they have succeeded to get the eye but
giving no return address.

Fahim and Dr. Kafour suggest that the

investigators continue their recuperations,
study and preparations at Manzil Alshshati , a
holiday house belonging to a cousin of Dr.
Kafour currently touring Europe. The house is
near Ismailia on Lake Timsah on the Suez
Canal, it being high summer it is too hot for
the cairine holidaymakers and is deserted at
this time of year. Reggie asks Thomas to
create a fake ID for him and decides to risk
returning to the UK to try to get help from
friends of his in the British establishment
;The King must be warned!. The
investigators suggest he seeks out T.E
.Lawrence. Warren Besart is a mess, he can
barely keep things together, and the
investigators decide he needs to be
committed to an institution. He is safest if
doped up and in the presence of his cat
otherwise he reverts to paranoia, Dr. Kafour

Van Heuvelen, the drunk dutchman who had

the cat problem, turns up at the Egyptian
museum asking for Dr. Kafour. He is
struggling, but has managed to keep away
from the drink, Dr. Kafour sends a message to
Manzil Alshshati and the reply is given that he
should be encouraged to continue his
translation. Van Heuvelen joins the group at
Manzil Alshshati and after about a week
produces a first draft of an English translation
of his notes of The Black Rites. The book
details some of the rites of the cult od Bast

204

and includes invocations to summon cats and

even crocodiles.

New identities are created for the

investigators: the rabbi is now Chow Ping a
sculpter; Emily is Dr. Ava Gina a doctor from
down south (Australia); Thomas is Wilfred
Maxwell an actor from the USA. The
investigators recover over a two week period,
Emily and the rabbi give consoling. To
understand better the threats they face Fahim
reads Africas Dark Sects and in the process
learns the Create Zombie spell. He finds
himself disturbed by what he reads and
imagines enemies waiting for him around
every corner.

Fahim takes charge of getting the

investigators from Egypt undetected and
decides to leave via Sudan; In 1925 Egypt is
nominally independent, but Anglo-Egyptian is
part of the British Empire, crossing the
frontier might allow the investigators to evade
the cultists, the nazir and the authorities. In
order to avoid border officials and perhaps
still fearing enemies around every corner,
Fahim decides to risk crossing the frontier by
desert, despite it being currently the hottest
period of summer. The plan was to travel
some days by truck to Aswan then cross the
frontier through the desert to Wadi Halfa in
Sudan, catch the Nile- Red Sea railway to Port
Sudan and there catch a steamer to Aden. In
the Yemen it would be possible to join a

coaling ocean liner bound for the Far East. All

in the entire trip should take a month or so,
they set off on the 23rd of June 1925.

From Aswan Fahim and the three other

investigators set off by camel into the desert,
however, soon Fahim realizes that a recent
storm has altered all the land marks and trails
he was familiar with and he decides to
secretly reduce his water ration just in case
they need to stretch their supplies. Three days
into what should be a five day journey the
Rabbi is overcome by the intense heat and
tumbles from his camel, Fahim rushing over to
help, is weaker than he thinks and also falls
from his camel. The others set up a camp and
decide to rest. Neither Tsou or Fahim are
badly hurt, Fahim admits to the others that he
is lost, they are following a compass bearing in
the right direction, but they could easily miss
the Wadi.

205

Travelling the next day they see glimmering in

the distance 4 figures on camelback, Fahim
realises that it is a Mirage, but tells them that
this does mean that there is a group
somewhere nearby as mirages are reflections.
Tsou Jung asks for guidance from the Torah as
to the direction they should take to meet up
with the riders. It seems that the hand of God
is with the investigators as when they set off
in the direction that Jung suggests after about
an hour they can see the four riders approach.
They are one British officer and three African
riders of the Sudan border patrol. Fahim,
Thomas and some of Emilys cash explain
away the investigators situation and the
patrol accompany them to Wadi Halfa.

strange multidimensional creature to repair

the tear in the universe. Fahid creates Elder
sign on the hilt of the knife and in doing so
stops its trans dimensional powers. Fahid and
Thomas are sure they have inadvertently
created a powerful magical weapon.

The rest of the journey to Port Sudan and

onward to Aden goes without incident. The
investigators continue to study their mythos
tomes, attempt to learn defensive magic and
train up their languages. On the Blue Funnel
Line liner SS Sarpedon to Shanghai a notable
incident occurs to Thomas as he tries to learn
the spell enchant dagger. Frustrated by his
inability to summon up the required psychic
energy Thomas finds himself spontaneously
adding a section into the enchantment. Too
late he realises that he is speaking in the
language of the dimensional shamblers! The
knife glows and as the tip of the knife is
moved slightly through the air a shining trail is
left behind. Thomas fears that something has
gone terribly wrong are confirmed when the
familiar clawed hand of a dimensional
shamble reaches in through the glowing gap
in the universe that Thomas has inadvertently
created. Thomas is petrified to move as little
as possible to not widen the cut, but also
needs to avoid the claw. Thomas cries out for
help and fortunately is heard by Fahid who
burst his way into Thomas cabin. Thomas
asks him to take hold of the knife carefully,
while Thomas binds the Dimensional
shambler, Thomas does so and commands the

On the 20th of July the investigators arrive

into a very different Shanghai from the one
they left in April, since then relations between
the International Settlement powers and the
native Chinese have reached a new low.
Municipal Police officers opened fire on
Chinese protesters on May 30, 1925. The
Municipal Council declared a state of martial
law on Monday, June 1, calling up the
Shanghai Volunteer Corps militia, and
requesting foreign military assistance to carry
out raids and protect vested interests.

Over the next month Shanghai businesses and

workers went on strike, and there were
sporadic outbreaks of demonstration and
violence. Trams and foreigners were attacked,
and there was looting of shops that refused to
uphold the boycott of foreigners. Servants to
206

foreigners refused to work, and almost a third

of Chinese police failed to turn up for their
shifts. The gas-works, electricity station,
waterworks and telephone exchange became
entirely run by Western volunteers. At night
the city became a lurid, neon-swept ghosttown with only the tramp of soldiers boots
and the clatter of armoured cars. Rumours
from outside of the city spoke of murdered
foreigners, riots, and sensational frenzy.
Booking into the low price Grand Hotel, the
investigators have to carry their own bags
because of the striking bell hops. The
investigators attempt to contact Brady by
asking for messages for Mr. Feng Wu-pei at
Shanghai general post office. A Chinese clerk
goes off to check and returns 5 minutes later
with a card on which is written Feng Wu-pei ,
Lanting Cemetary, Pudong, no other
explanation is given.

mourners if the deceased person is Mr Feng

and the mourner confirms so and asks how he
and the foreigners were connected to Mr Wu,
business is the reply. The cortege arrives at
and enters a large family shrine; Thomas
thinks he hears the clunk of something heavy
move in the coffin it is set down on the dais.

Suddenly from under white robes handguns

are drawn on the investigators and one of the
men shouts out in Chinese that You police
spies, you will now die! However as Jung and
Emily try to plead that they are not police
spies a trap door opens in the floor of the
shrine and Jack Brady comes up from below
and vouches for the investigators, telling the
gunmen to put away their pistols.

Pudong is across the Wangpo river and is

where the investigators last encountered the
New China Firm Action revolutionaries.
Getting there means taking a ferry boat,
Lanting Cemetery is a traditional cemetery
mostly full of shrines to family ancestors. A
funeral cortege dressed in the traditional
white of morning is leading a coffin towards
one of the tombs. Rabbi Tsou asks one of the
207

Later the investigators discover how the Firm

Action faction, responding to the events of
30th May, now has most of its foot soldiers
involved with riots and lockouts. However,
true to his word, Chu Min has let Brady keep
training with some of his best troops. The
warehouse base was raided by police, luckily
with some hours warning. The training now
goes on in the underground chambers of an
the old tomb which had previously been
enlarged as a smugglers den, materials and
personal are brought in and out as mourners
and in coffins.

what happened in the Bent Pyramid and of

Dr.
Kafours
interpretation
of
the
astronomical carvings found there as referring
to an eclipse over the Indian ocean on Jan
14th 1926 Mr Mu thinks this must correspond
with what he has read in The Seven Cryptical
Books of Hsan of a prophesised poisoning or
rupturing of the sky, and after the sky has
been altered the world will be tainted by the
evil entities, the stars themselves will shift
position and the dread namesCthulhu,
Nyogtha, YogSothoth, and Azathothare
spoken in worship. Mr Mu and the
investigators agree that Gray Dragon Island is
a vertex in a triangle, with Kenya and Australia
the other vertices, the centre matches the
centre of the eclipse totality, Penhew must be
planning to launch his rocket there on that
date and open a giant gate in order to allow
his master to physically enter the world.

In an underground hideaway with Jack Brady

is the leader of Firm Action Chu Min, the
woman rescued from Ho Fongs house Choi
Me Ling and the scholar Mr Mu. Jack Brady
and especially Choi Me Ling are saddened to
hear of Arties death.

The investigators show Mr Mu the complete

eye of light and darkness symbol and also tell

Mr Mu has finished his studies of the The

Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan He knows now
how to create an eye of light and darkness, it
should be inscribed into the substance of a
high place near the haunts of evil, it expels
the evil strength for so long as the sign exists.
The Eye must be created the afternoon before
the full moon rises. At moonrise, the blood of
an innocent must fill the pupil of the Eye once
per drumbeat from then to moonset. As the
first blood is given, chant the words sa-ma,
sa-ma, te-yo, sa-ma, and continue until the
moon sets. When next the moon rises, the
Eye opens to ward and to guard. The
208

investigators look worried when Mr. Mu says

the blood of an innocent must be used, but he
reassures them the volumes are tiny, mere
pinpricks. Gray Dragon Island must be a point
of instability between the worlds, it is not
enough to stop them launching their rocket,
an eye must be created on Gray Dragon
Island, to stop it being a future entry point.

tells that the magic used by the enemy to sink

the ship is called Wave of oblivion, but
auspiciously for their plans it is weakest on a
full moon. All sides agree that If there are no
more delays the attack date should be next
full moon, the 4th of August.

Chu Min tells how Firm Action have sent two

fishing boats there as a reconnaissance, only
one has returned, they have a map of the
volcanic coral atoll.

Jack Brady says that he had feared that the

investigators had been sunk with the
Japanese boat, as they knew the investigators
had been taken by the Japanese and had
feared they left on the doomed ship. Mr Mu

Mr Mu casts some yarrow sticks and makes a

reading from the I Ching as to the success of
the raid on the island. The reading is aptly
Hexagram 7. Shih (the Army): The army needs
perseverance and a strong man; Good fortune
without blame; In the middle of the earth is
water; The image of the army; Thus the
superior man increases his masses by
generosity toward the people; An army must
set forth in proper order; If the order is not
good, misfortune threatens; There is game in
the field; It furthers one to catch it; Without
blame; Let the eldest lead the army; The
younger
transports
corpses;
Then
perseverance brings misfortune. Mr. Mu looks
worried at this reading as I feared, I myself as
the eldest must go with you to the island.

209

Thomas asks for an individual reading for

himself, he fears that his experiences as a
dimensional shambler and in the bent
pyramid have compromised him and he might
be a risk to the operation. The thrown yarrow
sticks reveal Hexagram 63. Chi Chi (After
Completion). Success in small matters;
Perseverance furthers; At the beginning good
fortune; At the end disorder; Water over fire;
Thus the superior man takes thought of
misfortune and arms himself against it in
advance; He gets his head in the water;
Danger. Mr Mu explains after crossing a
stream, a man's head can get into the water
only if he is so imprudent as to turn back. As
long as he goes forward and does not look
back, he escapes this danger. But there is a
fascination in standing still and looking back
on a peril overcome. However, such vain selfadmiration brings misfortune. It leads only to
danger, and unless one finally resolves to go
forward without pausing, one falls a victim to
this danger. So you must go too. Emily
wonders how are we supposed to get him to
the island without him getting wet, Mr. Mu
simply closes his eyes and shakes his head.

The next day, there is much talk around

Shanghai after an RAF sea plane lands on the
Wangpo. When rumour reaches the
investigators that the pilot is none other than
the famous Lawrence of Arabia, they make
their way to the Bund at once to talk to the
crew. A crowd of curious onlookers surrounds
the mooring of the plane, a Supermarine
Southampton. A familiar voice is heard
pointing out technical details of the plane to
the crowd, it is Reggie! He is overjoyed to see
the investigators and shoos the crowd away,
tour is over for today! In the plane, working
on one of the engines is indeed T.E. Lawrence.
Reggie explains how he couldnt get anyone
to take seriously the threat they had
uncovered until he approached Young Ned,
as Reggie calls T.E.. Lawrence had finally made
the transference he wanted from the Tank
Corp to the RAF. Please call me Captain
Shaw, it is the name I am enlisted in the RAF, I
am fed up with the publicity! I have got
permission to take this goose out on an
extended test, lets see how it matches up
against whatever winged horror you have for
me this time!

Emily discovers her father is still searching for

her in Shanghai. Disguised by Thomas, she
visits the American consulate, to learn what
she can, her stay there interrupted by a
Marine that fails to see the funny side of her
alias Dr. Ava Gina. However she learns that
her father believes that she is still held by the
210

Black Fan faithful, the international

authorities could not catch Ho-Fong. They
know he is being sheltered by the Zhili Clique,
but the domestic situation in Shanghai would
make action against the Zhili Clique
unconscionable. Emily decides that it is best
not to get her father involved further in the
situation

Emily uses up almost the last of her funds to

hire a rundown 5,000 tonne freighter: the SS
Slice of Life. The forces available for the raid in
addition to the four investigators (Emily, Jung,
Thomas and Fahim) are Jack Brady, Chu Min,
12 elite Firm Actions troops, Mr Mu, Reggie
and Lawrence and his Supermarine
Southampton. The plane is capable of flying
out to Gray Dragon Island and returning but
only would only have minutes there and
might not make it if there are unfavourable
winds. It has a radio and the Firm Action
troops have a man portable radio, so the plan
is for the SS Slice of Life to go close as they
dare to the reef surrounding the atoll at about
2am; the night before full moon, then let
down the life rafts and slip into the lagoon
and around behind the fishing village landing
on the beaches there. The Supermarine
Southampton will have meet up and refuelled
from the Slice of Life the day before and will
keep itself at about half an hours distance
from the island until the forces have landed
and have radioed it. Thomas is to fly with

Lawrence and one member of Firm Action to

act as a gunner. Reggie has had enough of
flying for a life time and Emily is still
concerned by the I Ching prediction and
thinks Thomas could stay drier by plane. The
Supermarine has a submachine gun and
Lawrence has a single bomb which could be
used for a limited bombing raid if opportunity
presents.

Members of the Firm Action assault team with

some English skills are assigned to liaison with
each of the investigators. Jue Ming-ma, a
veteran of warlord Sun Chuanfangs army his
favourite weapon is his sword, Reggie loans
him the Sword of Akmallah, as he feels the
younger man more suited to weld it; Ting
Bang Bang Yao-leng, is the proud owner of
one Of Firm Actions few Thompson sub
machine guns; Shang Za-dan, Za-dan means
bombs he got this nickname as he is a dab
hand with a hand grenade; Chang Mauser
Pang, is very proud of his german made
Mauser rifle, he comes from a family of
fishermen and appoints himself captain of the
SS Slice of life

211

Shang Za-dan

Jue Ming-ma

Chang Mauser Pang

Ting Bang Bang Yao-leng
212

The Battle of Grey Island starts in the dark of

early morning of the 4th of August; three of
the life rafts of The Slice of Life are each filled
with 6 people and slip off from the freighter
towards the entrance of the Lagoon. Chang
Mauser Pang is at the helm of the lead boat
and the others follow his cues as they try to
cross the lagoon unnoticed. Visible in the
moonlight, the island is mostly cinders and
sand. Stunted palm trees and sand crabs are
its main residents. A dozen active steam vents
dot the island, giving the appearance of fires.
The cinder cone topping the island is about
five hundred feet high
The boats land seemingly undetected on the
target beach behind the village, as the raiders
are exiting their boats come under sniper fire.
Taking what cover they can, they spot that the
sniper is in a wooden box suspended from and
hidden in some trees, at considerable
distance. After the next volley, Mauser.
Takes make on the sniper and takes them out
with one shot.

As the sound of drums sound from the village

the Firm Action troops, or firmies as Brady
refers to then, position themselves on a ridge
overlooking the village. Soon they are
attacked by waves of cultists, some with
firearms, some with sticks of dynamite held in
their hands for throwing or as a human bomb,
but most with just fierce short curved knives.
Some of the cultists seem to be more monster
than human, clearly a result of cross breeding
with deep ones. The onslaught is fierce with
some casualties taken amongst Bradys
firmies, but with many more casualties taken
amongst the islands defenders.

213

resolve her story in a satisfactory way see Post

script 3 later on)

During the battle Fahim Khalid who had snuck

forward to attack with his throwing knives
from some bushes in the middle of the battle
field is shot and collapses. Emily rushes out,
shotgun blasting to rescue him, but finds
herself isolated and under fire and creates a
Magic Gate to the SS Slice of Life to escape
and tend to Fahim.
At last no more cultists come and the Firm
Action troops tend to their casualties. Back at
the SS Slice of Life, Emily discovers that
Fahims wounds were mostly superficial and
that he quickly recovers from his shock. They
decide to return through the gate. Fahim goes
first, however when Emily goes through it
coincides with a wave of energy that pulses
down from the volcano. It is like a shimmering
wave in the air, rapidly pulsing out, time
momentarily stops for everybody it passes
through. When time starts resuming for
Fahim again, Emily is gone, she is neither on
the Slice of Life nor on Grey Island, she is
simply gone. (Keepers note: Marta had to
leave at this point, however I found a way to

Mr. Mu declares that he needs to consult his

books on what just happened and as dawns
light comes up he is to be found squatting
under a tree reading through the scrolls of the
Seven Cryptical Books. Chou Min radios
Lawrences Supermarine, it has been circling
at a distance in order to allow the troops to
land undetected on the island and signals him
to approach.

Fahim is distraught at the disappearance of

Emily and starts to feel that they will surely be
overwhelmed if they do not also dip into their
magical powers. He crosses the battle field
and finds a dead cultist and starts incanting
the spell he learnt from Africas Dark Sects
214

that creates a zombie. When he ends his

incantation, Fahim breathes some life into the
body and the dead person, eyes rolled totally
backward, is animated and get up from the
ground. Fahim feels invigorated with power
and decides to do it again. This time Rabbi
Tsou sees Fahim create the zombie and he
convulses at what he is seeing and the evil his
friend is bring into the world and then his
mind snaps and he becomes convinced that
he too died in the battle and Fahim brought
him back as a zombie. (Keepers note: at this
point they are both insane, one was going to
keep creating zombies, and the other believed
he was a member of the zombie hoard!)

A sound of trees collapsing comes from the

direction of the slopes of the volcano;
something is rolling down the hill and through
the foliage destroying everything as it
advances. As Brady and Chou Min spread out
the firmies into positions to oppose it, the
thing comes into view. It is a terrible,
indescribable thing vaster than any subway
traina
shapeless
congregation
of
protoplasmic bubbles, faintly self-luminous,

and with myriads of temporary eyes forming

and un-forming as pustules of greenish light.
It bores down upon the firmies slithering over
the ground, followed by some deep ones,
odious greyish-green fish creatures with white
bellies, shiny and slippery, but the ridges of
their backs scaly. Mr. Mu declares the
attacking creature to be a Shoggoth.

Fahim sends three of his zombies to fight the

Shoggoth, Rabbi Tsou follows after them. Mu
and Brady direct rifle fire and blast at it
themselves with machine guns, the gun fire
appearing mostly ineffectual. The creature
pauses before the zombies, perhaps not
knowing what to do with these undead
creatures, but when they ineffectually bash
against it, the creature sloshes around and
through the zombies and their bodies are
soon dissolved away. Despite shouts from the
defenders for him to run away, the Rabbi
stands his ground to the last and is also
likewise absorbed and dissolved. Alav Hasholom Rabbi Tsou (may he rest in peace).
Fahim goes in search of bodies to create more
zombies.

215

A sound of an explosion comes from the

summit of the volcano followed by a long
rumble of a rock slide, when the dust settles,
it is seen that volcano is now missing part of
its summit, overhead the drone from
Lawrences incoming seaplane can be heard.

The creature now closer, the fermies let loose

a hail of grenades onto the creature,
damaging it and sending explosive sprays of
protoplasm into the air. The creature rushes
forward against one of the positions of the
defenders, swallowing some of the troops.
Jue Ming-ma charges forward with the Sword
of Akmallah to defend his comrades. The
sword slices through the creature wounding it
greatly but the creature grabs hold of Mingmas legs and pulls him in to his doom. Shang
Za-dan and Chou Min let loose another
round of grenades and Brady empties his
Thompson into the creature. This time it is
sufficient to reduce the loathsome creature to
puddles of slime.

In the Supermarine Southampton in the

cockpit behind Lawrence is Thomas and
manning the nose machine gun is Bang
Bang Yao-leng. As the plane reaches the atoll
an explosion causes the tip of the volcano to
fall into the sea, Lawrence decides to overfly
the volcano and report back to the fermies
what is happening there. However Lawrence
first of all has the plane overfly the village and
pier, Bang Bang strafing the Dark Mistress
yacht and what remains of organise cultist
resistance there. Lawrence passes a small
bomb back to Thomas, It is only one we
have, it is already primed; when I give the
shout let it drop!

The plane makes another pass over the island,

this time gaining height to overfly the volcano.
As they get closer it is clear that the explosion
provided an exit for a hollow chamber in the
centre of the volcano. The chamber is a rough
cylinder 150 feet high, a cavern left when
volcanic material retreated from the top of
the cone to the magma pools below. From
within the chamber the aviators get a brief
view of a glowing magma pool with a
gleaming metal bullet about seventy-five feet
high, suspended above it, as Lawrence shouts
216

Thomas lets go of his small bomblet which

falls directly into the chamber. As Lawrence
puts the plane into a steep climb Thomas
cranes his neck around in order to see what
happens and hears the sound of the explosion
and is convinced he managed to get a hit on
the rocket. I think I hit it Ted! Lawrence
looks back and then replies I hope you
damaged it, I really do, but if you destroyed it,
from what they told me youd be seeing more
fireworks!

Thomas radios the raiding party and explains

what they saw and then Lawrence lands plane
in the sea near to where the Slice of Lifes life
rafts came ashore and then tells Bang Bang
and Thomas to go ashore and meet up with
the others while he ties up the plane.
Jack Brady approaches Fahim as he creates his
third zombie, and asks his if he really knows
what he is doing tells him to cut it out! I think
you had something to do with the Rabbis
death. At the reminder of Tsou Jungs demise
Fahim finally realises what he has been doing
and says he will stop, when he asks Brady if he
should destroy the three zombies under his
control, Brady asks if they will fight on their
side, If I order it, replies Fahim, then keep
them, they could be useful says Brady.
Mr. Mu calls together Chou Min, Brady,
Reggie and Fahim he tells them that he thinks
he has figured out what Penhew is up to, that
the enemy is creating a time bubble, to

accelerate the passage of time, Look we are

already in it, look where the sun is it is in the
sky, it is already midday! Mr Mu explains that
as the bubble collapses, the relative time
difference will accelerate, and that
progression from one side of the bubble to
the other would be impossible, The enemy
knows that now they have been discovered,
we would never let up, so they are escaping
to the future, to the date of the eclipse,
January the 14th, we must not let them get
there

A clear trail winds from the village to a cave

about one hundred and fifty feet up the side
of the cinder cone. The entrance to the cave
has been decorated with cult characters,
dripping fangs, clutching tentacles, and other
symbols which gladden the insane hear. Long
steps lead down from the higher entrance. Mr
Mu is feeling weak after the climb and sits
near the cave entrance I will start the
preparations for the creation of the eye here,
Mr. Reginald stay here to help me, what they
have to do is a task for the young . The
remaining 7 fermies, Fahim, his 3 zombies,
Thomas, Chou Min and Jack Brady descend.
A mixture of two sounds comes from the
chamber below: that of three voices, two
female, one male chanting; also the sound of
frantic repairs, welding torches and hammer
strikes.

217

As they get close to the chamber Fahim and

Thomas sneak forward to see what is
happening. They have to stop when they spot
two deep one guards at the point where the
tunnel enters the large chamber. The deep
ones dont seem to spot the pair peaking
around the curve of the tunnel walls and they
are able to see past them into the chamber
beyond. A hard orange light emanates from a
magma pit in the centre of the chamber and
suspended above it on sturdy girders is the
cultists rocket. Its alien metal gleams with a
variety of oily colours never seen before by
the investigators and worked into its hull and
fin-like steering vanes are small, stylish Art
Deco motifs, dents and burn marks on its
exterior and support cranes mark the damage
done by Thomass bomb. Around this great
bullet, are cranes and platforms at various
heights that hold numerous cultists frantically
performing repairs, inserting wires, and
making spot-welds. A dozen inch-thick pipes
lead five feet from the bottom of the rocket
into the magma pit. A white-hot glow of
blinding intensity comes from those pipes. All
the workers wear goggles protecting against
this light. At the base of the rocket at the edge
of the magma pool are three chanting
magicians, Penhew, and two women that the
investigators recognise from their research
into the Carlyle expedition: the photographer
Hypathia and Rogers black lover Anastasia.

218

At the last turn of the tunnel, with a shout of

Ching-Che-Sing-Dong! (Firm Action!) the
firmies charge the deep ones , killing them
and spilling out into the rocket chamber.
Fahim pulls the pins on his zombies grenades
and instructs them as to their targets. Brady
and Chou Min open fire with their Thompsons
on some cultists dressed in white overalls and
goggles. The Three magicians continue their
chanting, seemingly reaching a crescendo.
Thomas hangs back wonder what his role in
all this is.

The scouts return to report to the others, they

tell of the repairs and the three magicians. As
they finish their account from the direction of
the surface a shimmering appears in the
tunnel, the time bubble is contracting. Brady
declares that there is no time for plans, they
must simply attack; Fahim says he has a plan,
he asks Shang Za-dan to set three of his
grenades to the maximum delay and proposes
that they attach them to his zombies and
command each of them to go to one of the
magicians. Sounds good! says Brady as he
takes the safety off his Thompson.

Further cultists and deep ones drop what they

were doing and rush to the defence of their
masters. From the nose cone of the rocket
two cultist technicians fall inexplicably to their
death. The zombies continue towards their
targets ignoring attempt to shoot them or cut
at them. The magicians would appear to have
come to a conclusion when the zombies
grenades detonate ; Anastasia and Hypathia
being closer and their zombies having almost
reached them appear to be killed instantly by
the explosion, Penhews zombie was some
distance from him and he appears to just be
thrown backwards.
The dreams that Emily had as to Hypathia
birthing a spawn of Nyarlathotep must be
219

true, as from the corpse of Hypathia grows

some sort of creature, the spawn haven taken
the form of Hypathia to go amongst the world
of men.
The creature had a roughlytriangular, bottom-heavy body with an orange
tri-lobed eye at the apex of its slithery form.
Just below the baleful eye droop down long,
writhing, crimson tentacles. Fanged and
drooling maws randomly decorate the ventral
side of this thing. The hide is a lurid, blotchy
orange. Many nine-inch-long appendages
sprout from this formthere is a claw at the
end of each.

Jack Brady snaps at the sight of this creature

coming from the body of his friend Hypathia
and charges at it with his machine gun
blasting. Thomas too takes up his gun against
the monstrosity. Brady is knocked flying back
by a magic blast from a recovered Penhew
and lies still. Chou Min and Fahim turn their
guns on Penhew and mow him down. The
spawn of Nyarlathotep is finished off with
some further shots from Thomas. The Time
bubble collapses and the remaining 5 fermies
kill the last of the cultists and deep ones.
Fahim spits on the corpse of Penhew and says
a prayer for his parents that died through his
deception. The group pick up the unconscious
Brady and return to the surface where ,
because of the now failed time bubble the day
has mostly already passed and dusk is almost

upon them. Mr. Mu has already started the

ceremony to create the Eye of Life and
Darkness.

As Fahim also knows how to create gates and

cast the eye spell, as the moon rises he
organises the others to join in the chanting
sa-ma, sa-ma, te-yo, sa-ma and volunteers
come forward to supply drops of blood to fill
the eye of Mr. Mus carving. The Chanting
continues for hours, however at one point it
was almost interrupted, Chu Min noted that
Jack Brady was no longer with them, one of
the firmies tells him that Jack woke up and
went back down the tunnel to the chamber.
Soon after that a great explosion rocks the
volcano and fire shoots out of the summit.
Jack could not leave that machine of
destruction intact and blew it and himself up.
Thomas is surprised the explosion was not
greater as Lawrence had said it should have
been. Thinking that Thomas remembers he
has not seen Lawrence since he landed the
seaplane, but then soon after notes Lawrence
amongst the chanters.

The chant has a hypnotic effect on those who

join in, whereby they feel compelled to
220

continue even though with every drumbeat

they realise they are giving over their life
force to the enchantment. Four hours into the
ceremony a Firm Action chanter falls dead,
but still the chanting continues. Next to fall
dead is the venerable Mr. Mu, Fahim takes up
his role in the ceremony, Fahim can now
sense that have of the needed life force for
the eye is in fact coming from Thomas who is
channelling it from the dimensional
shamblers. A half hour later another two of
the firm action troops fall to the ground, but
the chanting continues. Soon the moon is now
low in the sky, dawn is starting to break
through again, the ceremony nearly finished,
Fahim suddenly realises that his time has
come to an end, he cannot continue, finish it
Thomas, it is within you how to finish,
Inshallah, Fahim then falls dead to the
ground the last of the five to give their lives to
seal the rift at Gray Dragon Island. Thomas
continues the ceremony and as the dawn
breaks the survivors see on the volcanic rock
the carving begin to glow and the eye opens.

cultists had a dangerous new type of bomb

and that he should either try to destroy it or if
it seemed possible to obtain it. They also gave
him an occult artefact, a stone that when
exposed to light falls as slow as a feather, but
when kept in a bag falls as per normal.
Lawrence, remembering the betrayal of his
Arab comrades, had misgivings about giving
the British military such a weapon, but he also
knew his duty. When Lawrence landed the
seaplane at Gray Dragon Island, he realised
that the investigators would be able to stop
the cultists and set off to try securing the
bomb for king and country! He quickly
climbed up the side of the volcano and waited
at the edge of drop into the chamber for
gunfire to be heard. When the shooting began
he took the stone from its bag and jumped
down. He drifted toward the nose cone of the
rocket and landed on the two technicians
there, knocking them to their death. Once on
the platform next to the nose cone he was
able to look inside the open service panel and
see the circular shaped warhead and remove
it. When the fighting died down in the
chamber below, he once again drifted down
using his rock and snuck back to his seaplane
and secreting the warhead there before
returning to help at the end of the ceremony
to create the Eye of Light and Darkness

Postscript 1: Where did Lawrence

go?
Soon after Reggie came to him asking for help,
Lawrence had been approached by agents
from Section X of MI6, an element of British
intelligence charged with investigating the
mythos. They encouraged him to go with
Reggie and gave him permission to take the
seaplane on extended trails. Lawrence was
told that they had information that the
221

Postscript 2: What happened to the

Bomb?

Postscript 3: What happened to

Emily?

Section X of MI6 was never looked upon with

much favour by Admiral Sir Hugh "Quex"
Sinclair and he did not believe most of what
he was informed in reports from them. In
1927 because of budget cut backs, the section
was closed and its equipment including the
radium bomb recovered from Gray Dragon
Island was warehoused. There it remained for
the next 16 years, until 1944 when the
Americans informed the British that they had
come to a seemingly impassable block in the
Manhattan project. A crosscheck though
British supplies for additional radioactive
materials led to the British to their
embarrassment discovering that they already
had in their possession a working nuclear
warhead. A deal was cut and the warhead was
sent over to Los Alamos to become the
blueprint for the US atomic weapons project.

Emily tumbles from the gate, something

happened as she passed through from the
Slice of Life back to Gray Dragon. Fahim would
seem to have disappeared from in front of
her, the foliage where she arrived is very
different to how it was and there is no sign of
the fermies or of any battle having taken
place, however she does see the familiar sight
of the volcano to her right even if the gate
that brought her here is no longer behind her.
She hears some screams from the direction of
the volcano and goes in that direction, She
comes across two people, a man and a
woman dressed in strange gaudy clothes,
running for their lives down slope and being
chased by two byakee. Emily stands her
ground and raises her shotgun, she blasts one
of the creatures out of the sky and ducks
avoiding the other. The creature now on the
ground tries to attack again, Emily raises her
hand and casts her protection magic
deflecting the blow, however her shotgun
now jams, but before the creature could
attack her again a bright white light flashes
out and burns a hole in the foul creature. The
light came from a device held by the woman
who had been fleeing, who waves urgently for
Emily to join them, when Emily gets to them
222

the woman says Would you believe, damn

lazpistol did have one shot left in it, cheap
Indian build, lousy energy dial said it was out!
Thanks for saving us, we need to get out of
here Emily is all too confused by this to
object and simply follows after the pair while
trying to unblock her shotgun.

The trio run on for some hundred metres and

from behind them the squawks of more
byakhee sound, Emily turns to get ready, but
her companions urge her on, saying that they
are almost there, there where? shouts
Emily, here! Replies the man who raises his
arm and presses a small button on a box and
some metres front of them a small box with
large glass windows and seats inside suddenly
appears. The woman opens a hatch and the
three climb into the box, Theyll smash
through the glass! This magic hut is no
protection for us! says Emily. The man
speaks Computer, get us out of here, set
course for Taipei, a disembodied female

voice replies at your command, Mr Fry and

improbably the box lifts itself off the ground
and into the air. Id do your seat belt up,
weve modified its engines, it is a little faster
than yours I bet! When they are in the air
heading away from the island, Emily turns to
her companions and tells them We have to
go back, they are going to create a gate on
Gray Dragon island and let great evil into the
world during an eclipse next January the 14th,
we have to stop them The man and the
woman look at each other, the woman replies
Some of what you say makes sense, but that
island is called Thomas island, after a hermit
who used to live there three hundred years
ago, we discovered that the cult of the
bloated woman had taken it over and had
destroyed a blocking ward or eye and they do
indeed intend to use it as part of a great gate
that will coincide with an eclipse over the
Indian ocean, but the eclipse is to take place
next Valentine's Day, February the 14th
Emily pauses for a while and then asks
February the 14th, what year? What year!

223

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=23060214

In Memoriam
Dedicated to those investigators who did not make it
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants"
Investigator

Date

Player

Manner of Death

Preston Hurst

17/2/1925

Samuel Foley

Fell through a time portal into the distant past. Later turned
out to have escaped to the Dreamlands

John Kuzak

19/2/1925

Joo Pedro
Nunes

Death by Byakhee in the Penhew Institute

Wilson
Windford

19/2/1925

Samuel Foley

Death by Byakhee in the Penhew Institute

Helen
Coulston

19/2/1925

Lus Figueiredo

Silenced by a crazed cultist

Artie Rathlin

7/6/1925

Rui Bia

Something snapped in Artie's mind in the Bent Pyramid

Sanctum, he would never be the same again, blew himself up
in the great hall of Nyarlathotep under the Sphinx

Krzysztof
Polanski

20/3/1925

Bruno Pinto

Stuck in his own personal hell on Sharnoth, the abode of

Nyarlathotep

Simon Exton

20/3/1925

Joo Carvalho

Lost in a labyrinth on Sharnoth, was turned into a rat thing,

returned by Emily to Cairo, still at large!

Major George
Randall
7/6/1925

Rui Bia

Killed by the Mummy of Nitocris (and medical malpractice?)

Rabbi Tsou
Jung

4/8/1925

Lus Figueiredo

Attacked a Shoggath while believing himself to be a zombie

Fahim Khalid

4/8/1925

Rui Bia

Gave his lifeforce to seal the great gate

224

Character Biographies

species. She also wrote about hallucinations

and dreams, studying there subconscious
origins.

Emily Durand
Played by Marta Foley
Her
French
great-great-grandparents
immigrated to America in the early 1790s
because of the complications of the ongoing
French Revolution. They were already
reasonably wealthy, and through some wellplaced marriages managed to increase their
social status exponentially in the US. Her
mother died in childbirth, and her father, Eric
Durand, an important diplomat in Switzerland,
never remarried.
She was born on the 1st of January, 1896,
New York and lived there until 1911.She then
moved to Switzerland, Geneva, to accompany
her father, since he had been assigned there.
She was enrolled in an expensive Swiss
Academy, but took time out to go hunting and
skiing with her father. At the age of 18 (1914)
and the brink of WWI she moved back to the
US, where she got her Doctors License at the
New York Medical College. During that time
she developed a love for Psychology and
Psychoanalysis, and so moved back to
Switzerland to study under Carl Gustav Jung,
who accepted her as a student, in 1920. She
also started to correspond with Freud at that
time. In 1921 she was inducted into the
Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, which qualified
her for membership in the International
Psychoanalytical Association (IPA).

In 1922, she followed Jung to his British

seminar. She meets up with Jackson Elias for
the first time, since he was conducting some
research there. This meeting reinforces their
friendship. After that, she, herself, conducted
seminars in France and West Germany
throughout 1923 and 1924. Her father, now
retired, had moved back to NY. Feeling
homesick she decides to move back to NY in
1924 (September).
Upon arriving she gets in touch with some of
her old med school colleagues who value her
psychological insight, asking her for occasional
advice in regards to there more troublesome
psych patients. She increases correspondence
to Freud, Jung, Antonia Wolff, Otto Rank, Lou
Andreas-Salom, among others.
She dresses and acts like a flapper (Flappers
were a "new breed" of young Western
women in the 1920s who wore short skirts,
bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and
flaunted their disdain for what was then
considered acceptable behavior. Flappers
were seen as brash for wearing excessive
makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual
manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and
otherwise flouting social and sexual norms)
and considers herself a free thinker.

It is around this time that she starts

corresponding with Jackson Elias after reading
his books, to discuss the cult mentality.
During this time she wrote several articles,
focusing mostly on analyzing Jungs collective
unconsciousness, believing we, although
individuals, all share some primal instincts and
mindsets, because we are from the same
225

John Kuzak, PI
Played by Joo Pedro Nunes

human soul, and has actually met him a few

times.

Preston Hurst
Played by Samuel Foley

Kuzak is a 38 year old Private Eye from New

York. He is a big man with a large scar on his
cheek, suspicious eyes and a cynical smile. He
is quiet and rational. He might not be well
travelled or well read, but he has wits and a
lot of luck.
Kuzak grew up in a poor Polish neighborhood
in New York City and escaped poverty by
joining the Army. He fought as a private in the
border wars with Mexico, then as sergeant he
join the American Expeditionary Force and
fought in France; the horrors of trench
warfare scarred his face and his soul, and he
left the army soon afterwards.
Since then hes been a private detective in
New York City. He doesn't always operate on
the right side of the law, and has seen his fair
share of work for the Mafia and other
gangsters. But he tries to do the right thing, at
least the way he sees it, which can be a bit
distorted. In his heart hes a would-be
vigilante, with a bit of cynical philosopher to
add to the mix.

Preston Hurst was born in 1894 to well to do

Boston stock and attended Syracuse
University from 1912-1916, majoring in
Archaeology and Arabic. Despite his
physically weak constitution, and bookish
nature, Preston longed for some great
adventure. His opportunity came in 1916
when the journalist Lowell Thomas recruited
him to accompany him as his Arabic
specialist on an expedition as embedded
journalists with T.E: Lawrence and the Arab
revolt. Lowell, a cameraman Chase and
Preston travelled and lived with Lawrence
and the Arab rebels during their guerrilla war
against the Ottomans. When the US entered
the war the expedition became an official
part of the propaganda effort to popularize
the war in American eyes and made a hero
of Lawrence of Arabia.
In 1918 Hurst was travelling with a group of
Arabs in Syria when they were captured by
some irregular troops loyal to the Turks,
these mountain men held to beliefs older
than Islam and Preston was exposed to their
rituals and torture for many days before he
was rescued by Arab army fighters, none of
the Arabs that had been with him survived.
The incident broke Preston, who returned to
the US to recover, but he found an outlet for
trauma through study of the occult and the
writing of poetry.

Kuzak has read some works of Jackson Elias

for his insights into the dark side of the

226

In 1921, following on from the public

appetite for Lowells expositions and film,
Preston published an autobiographical
account of his war years, Riding with the
Arab Revolt, the book was a success.
Subsequent anthologies of Prestons occult
laden disturbing poetry, although reaching a
small discerning and appreciative audience,
have not been so successful.
Preston shares an editor, Jonah Kensington,
at Prospero House with Jackson Elias and
the two have met on occasion. When
Krzysztof received the telegram from
Jackson he contacted Jonah for suggestions
for a team of investigators, Jonah suggested
Preston as his knowledge of Arabic and
archaeology could be useful and also
perhaps because sending him off on an
adventure again might get him to start
writing more lucrative novels once more.

Krzysztof Polanski
Played by Bruno Pinto
Krzysztof Polanski is a young 25 years old
polish-american man, that works for Famous
Players - Lasky Corporation, a company
related to the movie industry.
Polanski, usually does some minor jobs as
clatterboard assistant and more recently he
started designing title cards for the company
movies.

He has a penpal and a good friend called

Jackson Elias, who publish many books related
to the occult, one of those called Skulls Along
the River, a book that Polanski desires to
adapt to the big screen.
Recently, after 5 years working in minor jobs
in the cinematographic industry, Polanski
decides to send a draft of his adaptation of
the book Skulls Along the River, and the
company decides to give him a shot at film
directing, funding modestly his project.
Currently he's been doing castings to find the
perfect actor to be the main role in his
upcoming movie.

Simon Exton
Played by Joo Carvalho
Born into a middle class Liverpool family,
Simons father is still a local respected doctor
in the city whilst his mother devotes herself to
various charities and good works. Simon and
his sister followed in the family tradition, both
becoming doctors. She works in the same
practice as his father, but Simon became
more interested in medical science than being
a practitioner, and even that came after trying
several other professions, most notably the
printing industry. With his fathers influence,
he was able to attend the medical school at
the University of Liverpool, and after
qualifying, continued study in London. It was
there that he met Jackson Elias as a patient,
his case of poisoning spurring Simons interest
in the effects of toxins upon the human body.
This interest continued during the Great War,
in which Simon served as a medical officer,
specialising in the treatment of the various
poison gasses deployed by the Germans. After
the war, Simon wanted to continue
researching this field of study and obtained a
research fellowship at Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New
York.

227

found his travels and tales fascinating and has

read all of his books, continuing a friendship
through sporadic letters, and was looking
forward to his return to New York. Simon has
heard tales of strange things and unspeakable
doings amongst the native peoples across the
world, mostly through reading Elias books.
This is his only experience with the outr.

Wilson "Windy" Windford

Played by Samuel Foley
Although he welcomed the professional
opportunity to continue your research in New
York, Simon finds America's laws on alcohol
restrictive. Once his work is out of the way, he
enjoys going out and dancing, having become
a regular at various nightclubs and
speakeasies. Not only can he hold his drink,
but he is light on his feet, and thus never
short of a partner. As a young boy, Simon took
great pleasure in reading the Sherlock Holmes
stories. His scientific methods spurred your
interest in the sciences, particularly chemistry,
which your father encouraged with the gift of
a chemistry set. Simon was also fascinated by
the fighting skills displayed by his hero and
resolved to learn baritsu himself. It turned out
that Conan Doyle had misnamed the martial
art and another article suggested that it might
be Bartitsu. A family holiday in London
provided you with the opportunity to meet its
creator, Edward William BartonWright, at his
Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture.
He spent his pocket money on lessons and
pamphlets that enabled him to continue some
practice at home. Although the skills have
waned since, he still would like the
opportunity to learn more, if not of BartonWrights forgotten teachings then another
martial art, but this has not occurred in
America. Jackson Elias was a patient of
Simons nearly a decade ago when he treated
him for the effects of a poison used on him
when Jackson was in South America. Simon

Born into a upper class family, Wilson

"Windy" Windford went to Rugby school and
later Oxford and served as a Lieutenant in the
Great War. His passion in life since a young
child was natural history and collecting
specimens. He would have gone on to a
lifetime as a gentleman naturalist but for an
unusual experience he had on the fields of
Flanders. After "going over the top" Windy's
unit was cut off and being annihilated by
enemy fire, when Windy was visited in his
foxhole by a strange glowing humanoid figure
who took him by the hand and lead him back
to British lines.

After a spell in a field hospital where the

orderlies declared him to be suffering from
shell shock, and because of the shame of
228

being the only of his unit to survive,Windy

spoke no more of the incident during the war,
but once he returned to "civvy street" he
decided to dedicate his life to investigating
and documenting accounts of the paranormal with the same vigour and passion he
had once collected butterflies. His family have
long tired of him and have cut him off from
what family monies they can, his money much
reduced. Windy has recently been reduced to
writing some articles about his psychical
research for "The Scoop".

Thomas-von-Liepwig/Jesse
Ridden
Played by Samuel Foley
When war broke out in Europe, to avoid
military service, young Thomas von Liepwig,
left his native England to travel to the USA.
Ending up on the west coast he did many odd
jobs until he ending up working as an assistant
to a Russian stage magician The Great
Maxwell. One of his good friends at that time
was Jack "Brass" Brady, after Jack ended up
working for Roger Carlyle, they kept in touch,
with Jack looking up Thomas whenever he
was back on the west coast.

In pursuit of some new tricks The Great

Maxwell joined a secret fraternity for stage
magicians The Esoteric Circle, however soon,

he confessed to Thomas that he regretted

bitterly the decision, the fraternities rituals
were not just for show, the nut-jobs took it for
serious and they were saying to Maxwell that
now he knew their secrets he couldn't leave.
One night The Great Maxwell did not turn up
for his performance and some shifty looking
men tried to grab Thomas! he managed to
evade them, but the Great Maxwell was never
heard from again and Thomas decided that
the west coast was no longer safe for him.
Now going by the name of Jesse Riden, he
made his way to NY and survived by his wits
as a con-man. One day he came across a
newspaper cutting that talked about the
missing Carlyle expedition and mentioned the
heiress to his fortune: Erica Carlyle. Thomas
used the information he knew about Roger
from Jack to present himself to Erica as a
spiritualist who was receiving information
from the spirit of Roger Carlyle, and
implanting suggestions that Roger might still
be alive, but held captive somewhere. Erica
believed him sufficiently to pay his passage to
the UK, where he said the spirit was leading
him and continue to pay him some expenses.
When the rest of the group went to England,
Erica suggested to Jesse (Thomas) that he
meet up with them in order to exchange
information. Thomas decided to stake out the
group first in order to learn more about them,
possibly to con them too, but when he saw
the web the Brotherhood of the Black
Pharaoh was weaving around them and
especially when he was holding th body of the
slain Helen, Thomas was reminded of how the
The Esoteric Circle killed his friend The Great
Maxwell and he decided to use his abilities to
help the group as much as possible. Later
when evidence emerged that Jack Brady
might still be alive, Jesse (Thomas) decided
that he had to travel with these people to go
find and help Brady.

229

Rabbi Tsou Jung.

Played by Lus Figueiredo

commentaries in the Kaifeng Torah. Based on

his memory of its contents, he fears it reveals
great danger for the world in the near future
and he decides it is time to return to China
and if he could travel by Russia to retrieve the
book, all the better.

Fahim Khalid
Played by Rui Bia

Born into the very small Kaifeng Chinese

Jewish community he was interested in
religion but the community had no trained
Rabbis. In Shanghai he crossed paths with a
Jewish merchant named Mikhail Zaslavsky and
accepted his proposal to travel back with him
to his homeland Russia to learn how to be a
Rabbi. Jung brought a copy of his communities
Torah, which has many commentaries written
by his predecessors.
In Russia, he opened a restaurant, which
served a mix of eastern and western food, to
help support himself as he studied.
Sometime after, a civil war erupted, forcing
him to learn how to protect himself and his
peers. Confronted with the horrors of war he
felt that there was more to learn about life
and spirituality and so he travelled to London
to attend a Religious course with focus on
Occultism in Oxford University. Some years
passed and, having finished his BA. When he
fled Russia he had to leave his Torah hidden in
the basement of his restaurant.

As a child witnessed parents murdered by

mysterious creatures; Spent 2 years of his
childhood on the streets, and was able to
survive using the only skill his father was able
to teach him before he passed, to throw
knives; One day met Dr. Kafour , who decided
to take him under his wing to teach him what
he knew about the occult and the ancient
mysteries, so that one day Fahim could
understand better what happened to his
parents; During the following 25 years, Fahim
continued to use his street skills to gather and
filter rumours about interesting artifacts for
Kafour. Fahim is an expert on getting things
out of Egypt from under the eyes of the
authorities. For some years now Dr. Kafour
has been working with Fahim, who is a tomb
raider and smuggler, Fahim brings to Dr.
Kafour the more historically valuable items he
finds and in return the doctor helps with the
export of items that the Museum has in
abundence. Fahim also keeps a special eye
out for mythos items, and has been sent on
missions to retrieve such items by Dr. Kafour.
He has skimmed through the museums copy
of Al Azif by Alhazred the mad and from there

His Kabbalastic studies in the UK leads him to

reinterpret his understanding of the
230

has learned the secrets of sealing a gate by

creating an Elder sign.
Fahim also has a personal reason to
investigate the mythos, when he was a young
man his parents, circus contortionists were
killed in front of his eyes by a large flying
monster. He had known that a short time
before they died they had been employed to
enter a difficult to enter tomb. The person
who hired them was Alfred Penhew, he now
understands that Penhew most likely knew
the tomb his parents were hired to enter had
a curse to fall on the first to enter it. Fahim
wishes to follow the investigators to wherever
Penhew now is and have his revenge.

James Barrington
Played by Lus Figueiredo for most of session 8

Clues known by Inspector Barrington

(1) Jackson Elias told him that the murders
were ritual killings by the Brotherhood of the
Black Pharaoh, an Egyptian death cult.
Barrington interviewed Edward Gavigan of the
Penhew Foundation about this; Gavigan
denied that the cult has any modern-day
equivalent or that the method of murder
imitated those of the ancient cult. Gavigan
implied that Elias was a sensation-seeking
profiteer.
(2) A favourite Egyptian nightspot in London is
the Blue Pyramid Club, in Soho. Many of those
who were murdered had frequented the club,
but police stake-outs learned nothing.
(3) Before dying, one victim reportedly cried
out Hotep!, an ancient Egyptian word
meaning rest orpeace, according to
Edward Gavigan.
(4) A spice dealer, Tewfik al-Sayed, was
interviewed. He had once guided an Egyptian
expedition for the Penhew Foundation. Tewfik
also denied that the Brotherhood of the Black
Pharaoh still existed. A police tail learned
nothing.
(5) American friends of Jackson Elias including
two P.I.s (Artie Rathlin and John Kuzak) have
recently visited London and have suggested
that there is a link between the disappearance
of an employee of the Penhew foundation,
Paul Maclean and the Egyptian murders.

Inspector James Barrington is a methodical

man in his early fifties. For nearly a year he
has been investigating a series of murders, the
Egyptian murdersso called because
seventeen of the dead were native to Egypt.
His predecessor on the case, Clive Souper,
disappeared mysteriously and never has been
found; Barrington assumes that he was
assassinated, and dearly wants to apprehend
the murder or murderers.

(6) Artie Rathlin come to the inspector with a

tip about deliveries being made from the
foundation which led to the inspector and
Artie trailing a van to an abandoned factory,
which later was raided, where signs that
somebody had been kidnapped and killed
were found.
(7) The inspector led a raid on Trotter Trading,
the base for a night watchman service, which
231

owned the van where a ritual club was found

and four people were arrested. The inspector
was persuaded to allow the American
investigators 20 mins time to investigate the
location before the raid
(8) One of the policemen on the raid made a
complain about the American investigators
going in first to the inspectors superior and
Barrington has been given a warning
(9) That night, the inspector was woken and
asked to come meet Artie Rathlin who had
been found on Oxford street with a gunshot
wound and a bag full of exotic artefacts.. he
gave the following statement "It was a
massacre..We went in planning on finding
evidence that Gavigan was behind the
Egyptian Murders and the murderous cult and
after that we would come to you and report it
so you could raid the place knowing exactly
what and where you would find what you
needed to find... We were searching for things
in his office and we opened his safe and there
was money there which we didn't even touch,
and then suddenly everything went to shit...
We had to hide and in our unluckiness we
were "lucky", we found what we're looking
for, below a tomb there it was, a hidden
room. We entered it and searched it and we
found what we wanted. And then.. Two cult
members show up with clubs with nails
(which proves a connection between Gavigan
and the cult/murders) and they attack us, and
upstairs, there he was, the man
himself....Gavigan. We fight them off but one
of our members ends up getting clubbed in
the head and is dying. Trying to save me from
another cult member attacking me he tries to
shoot him but ends up hitting me , resulting in
this wound right here, and Kuzak is the only
one in good shape now. So, he goes for the
stairs to try and catch Gavigan, but he is
surprised by this crazy dog which attacks him
and ends up biting his head off.. Seeing this I
felt helpless, and the only way I could do

anything about my friends deaths was to grab

the evidence before it got destroyed and run
for my life.. I don't know how the hell I got out
of there alive..I don't believe in god, but that
had to be a sign from him that i was doing the
right thing... I was walking on the road trying
to escape, when I noticed a police car
coming.. Now.. if I wanted to run, I could've,
but instead I stood in front of the police car
and stopped them . I could've also hidden the
bag before I stopped the car, which I didn't
because it would all have been in vain if
someone else got their hand on it. So I asked
the police to bring me to you , and here we
are..."
(10) Amongst the exotic items Ratlin claims he
took from the foundation were some false
passports for Edward Gavigan and a unique
book that the fiance of the missing Paul
Maclean had claimed was in his possession
before he went missing. Although on some
level you believe Rathlins story, he has
confessed to Breaking and Entering and word
has reached you that the Penhew foundation
has reported a break in and 2 murdered
watchmen, so you have no alternative than to
arrest him, but something is not right with this
story, and you are going to found out the
truth, even if it costs you your job.

Helen Coulston
Played by Samuel Foley for the end of session
5 and by Lus Figueiredo for the start of
session 8.
In 1912, the discovery of Piltdown Man was
announced. It was then that you knew that
you wanted to be an archaeologist, but it was
a closed male world and it was not possible
for a woman to gain any kind of qualification
in the science. Even as you pursued a degree
in English Literature, you maintained an
interest, reading and learning whatever you
could. It was even at an archaeological dig in
the Shetlands that you met your fianc Paul
232

Maclean, and then two years later followed

him to London where he had found work at
the Penhew Foundation. Fortunately, you
were also able to find work at the Penhew
Foundation, not as an archaeologist, but as a
librarian in charge of the Foundations
archives. You are sure that your knowledge of
archaeology, both self-taught and learned
from Paul, was a factor in gaining the position.

might be Garne Fragments, but no book like

that exists in the library at the Foundation.
Where could he have gotten the book from?
Mr. Gavigan has been kind enough to give you
a few days off work, but the worry is too
much, and you are sure that being at work will
keep you occupied until the Police have some
news But they are taking so long

Artie Rathlin PI
Played by Rui Bia

Although your personal interest in matters

archaeological is on Stone Age Britain, your
knowledge of Ancient Egypt is used almost
every day.
Outside of work you enjoy the company of
Paul and knitting thick pullovers that he
dutifully wears. You are currently worried at
the disappearance of your fianc. Of late, he
seemed distracted and more interested in
reading some book that he brought home
from work. Then one day, he did not turn up
at work nor was he in his flat. The police were
contacted, but their investigations turned up
nothing Paul is gone!

Not much is known of Artie Rathlin PI from

before the time that Emily Durand walked
into his office and he unwittingly took on his
last case.
The other investigators eventually discovered
that he has fought in France during the Great
War, was a proud Irish-American, played the
harmonica, was over fond of the hard liquor,
had a growing tendency for pyromania and
that he wouldnt let go of a case until he had
seen it through to the bitter end

You suspect that it must be something to do

with work, but what? He has been secretive
and acting strangely after you caught him
reading that book. He refused to show it to
you, saying that it was something that he got
from work. You did catch sight of the title, it
233

Major George Randall

Played by Rui Bia
They say that the Empire was won on the
playing fields of Eton, but you know that the
cream of Englands playing fields was
destroyed on the fields of Flanders. After Eton
you went to Sandhurst and from there
returned to your birthplace in India. You were
commissioned in the British
Indian Army and attained captaincy in a
cavalry regiment in the years before the Great
War. For you these were good years, not only
were you a hunting and shooting man, you
looked damned good on a horse and damned
good in uniform.

Instead it was a hell of mud, blood, and later

vile, dishonourable means such as mustard
gas and the ugly mechanistic tank. It was also
a time of good comrades, but as you lost them
you wearied of the war and its leaders, and
you often resorted to hunting the enemy as
you had once stalked the game of Indias
jungle and Africas plains.
Since the end of the Great War, you have
been unable to settle, whether at the family
seat in England, back in India, or even
Australia. The one thing you have enjoyed is
hunting, just you and your prey, be it lions,
tigers, or elephants. Yet even that challenge is
beginning to pall and you feel that you should
be serving King and country once again.
You have heard tales of strange things and
unspeakable doings amongst the native
peoples of both India and Africa, mostly over
a drink in the officers mess, but you were
always ready to dismiss such absurdities.

At the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, with no

imminent sign that your regiment was going
to be sent to France, you resigned your
commission and sailed for England. There you
immediately enlisted in the British Army and
were commissioned as a lieutenant in an
infantry regiment. The Great War did not turn
out to be glorious fight that you and almost
everyone else expected. Gone were the days
of the cavalry charge and war no longer
possessed any style.

234

Jackson Elias

followers. A skeptic, Elias has never found

proof of supernatural powers, magic, or dark
gods. Insanity and feelings of inadequacy
characterize death cultists, feelings for which
they compensate by slaughtering innocents to
make themselves feel powerful or chosen.
Cults draw the weak-minded, though cult
leaders are usually clever and manipulative.
When fear of a cult stops, the cult vanishes.

Snapshot given to you by Jackson Elias, pictured

on the right

Jackson Elias is of medium height and build,

and dark-complexioned. He has a feisty,
friendly air about him and, as an orphan in
Stratford, Connecticut, he learned to make his
own way early in life. He has no living
relatives, and no permanent address. You like
him, and value his friendship, even though
months and sometimes years separate one
meeting from the next. Youd be upset and
probably crave vengeance if anything
happened to your friend. The world is better
for having Jackson Elias in it. His writings
characterize and analyze death cults. His bestknown book is Sons of Death, exposing
modern-day Thuggees in India. He speaks
several languages fluently and is constantly
traveling. He is social, and enjoys an
occasional drink. He smokes a pipe. Elias is
tough, stable, and punctual, unafraid of
brawls or officials. He is mostly self-educated.
His well-researched works always seem to
reflect first-hand experience. He is secretive
and never discusses a project until he has a
final draft in hand. All of his books illustrate
how cults manipulate the fears of their

Skulls Along the River (1910)

exposes headhunter cult in Amazon
basin.
Masters of the Black Arts (1912)
surveys supposed sorcerous cults
throughout history.
The Way of Terror (1913)analyzes
systematization of fear through cult
organization;
warmly reviewed by George Sorel.
The Smoking Heart (1915)first half
discusses historical Mayan death
cults. Second half
instances
present-day
Central
American death cults.
Sons of Death (1918modern-day
Thuggees; Elias infiltrated the cult and
wrote a book about it.
Witch Cults of England (1920)
summarizes covens in nine English
counties; interviews practicing English
witches; Rebecca West thought some
of
the
material
trivial
and
overworked.
The Black Power (1921expands
upon The Way of Terror; includes
interviews with several anonymous
cult leaders.

All of these books are published by Prospero

Press of New York City, and all were edited by
owner/editor Jonah Kensington.
Kensington is a good friend of Jackson Elias,
and knows the investigators well.

235

Custom Rules for the Campaign

The Campaign was run using the Sixth Edition
rules for Call of Cthulhu with the following
home rules.

Hero Points
Or how one of the investigators managed to
survive from the first to last sessions
Each character starts with 1 Hero Point and
gains 1 per Chapter completed
Characters can spend a hero point (after the
dice roll) to:
1.

turn a fail into a success

2.
turn a success into an exceptional
success/impale
3.
open an opportunity that didnt exist
before i.e. a dodge opportunity when the
character has no more dodges left etc
It might be acceptable to allow characters to
increase the effect of a hero point by falling
forward i.e. no only does the opportunity to
dodge be created, but it succeeds guaranteed,
but now the player is prone on the floor as
they dived for cover
Each use of a Hero point temporarily
decreases a characters luck score by half its
present value. This recovers itself at the rate
of 10 per day
It is allowed to accumulate up to 3 Hero
points

Falling Forward
When a player fails a roll they may request to
roll again with the understanding that failing
again will have a deleterious result. This is
only available if the keeper agrees. No Skill

check is awarded. Not available if the user

fumbled. Costs 10 luck

Sanity House rule

When insane (some sort of raging mania not
just a phobia or two) further SAN losses are
reduced to max of 1 per incident if a second
SAN roll is failed (if it is succeeded then the
loss is as before)

Team Rolls
Step One: Advantaged or Disadvantaged
In cases where teams must oppose skill rolls
you must decide whether your situation is one
of being: Advantaged and Disadvantaged.
Your roll is an advantaged roll if having more
people makes you more likely to succeed. For
instance, lots of characters trying to pick a
lock; lots of characters working to brew the
same batch of ale; lots of characters trying to
keep watch; engaging in ritual spells; engaging
in boating down the river; researching specific
pieces of information; most downtime job
action rolls; tracking; battle co-ordination etc.
Your roll is disadvantaged if having more
people makes you less likely to succeed. For
instance, if the characters are jointly trying to
sneak past the guards; swimming as a group;
climbing as a group; running long distance as
a group etc.
It is possible that two teams both roll
advantaged rolls, or both have disadvantaged
rolls.
Step Two: Calculate Skill Rating
Team rolls are resolved as follows: each team
calculates the skill they have to roll against. If
your roll is advantaged then it is calculated as
the highest skill of the characters involved,
plus 1/10th of the skill of everyone else
involved.

236

Disadvantaged is calculated as the skill rating

character with the highest skill, then for every
other character you modify that roll by: ( 100
their skill ) divided by 10. Note in cases of
great disparity of skill levels, say 2 characters
one with sneak 90% and the other with sneak
10% the GM may multiply the effect of the
other characters (say 18% instead of 9%) on
the high skill roller to arrive at a realistic
chance to succeed
Step Three: Make the roll
Every character then makes a roll. The success
level of the opposed test is determined by the
roll of the character with the highest skill. But
everyone else gets to roll too, and their
success level has further effects. If they fail or
succeed, nothing more happens. An individual
failure is mitigated just as long as the roll of
the character with the highest skill makes it. If
they succeed, they dont really add to the
project (and if the roll of the character with
the highest skill is a fail or a fumble, tough
titty it seems your characters attempt to aid
the team endeavour just wasnt good enough
to make a difference). If they succeed, they
deserve an experience tick. They can get an
experience tick, even if the team as a whole
fails. If they fumble, then they screw up. This
may affect the whole skill attempt, or just
screw over the individual character.

of other characters, a re-roll is earned for the

character with the highest skill. They can
make the re-roll and then choose the best of
the rerolls.
Step four: Resolution
With all of this done, compare the final rolls.
Then resolve as you would with an opposed
roll for two single characters. That is, if one
success level is better than another, the
better succeeds. If theyre the same, they
draw or its whoever made it by the most etc.
Opposed Skills Rolls
Sometimes a team of characters must
attempt to overcome one or more adversaries
in a contest. In any case where it is
conceivable that a team roll is relevant, the
Team rules should be used. For instance, if the
characters are trying to sneak past guards, its
a team roll. If the characters are all on watch,
and someone tries to sneak past, its a Team
roll. If the characters try to jointly intimidate
someone, its a team roll. If the characters try
to ascend a mountain together, its a team
roll. If the characters head off to pick some
pockets, its a team roll etc. Characters do not
have the option of picking whether its a team
roll or not, and if a team roll could be
appropriate then it is appropriate. Team rolls
have four steps.

For instance, if they are trying as a group to

swim a river then they screw themselves over
but the group may do okay. If the group are
jointly making, say, a sculpture then it screws
over the project. If a character gets a special
or better, they get some further effect.

Unopposed Skill Rolls (Team)

Firstly, a special by one character can cancel

a fumble of another character if they so wish.
If they use this option they use up their
special and cannot get the second benefit.
Secondly, for every special (or better) that is
rolled, and isnt used up solving the fumbles

Characteristic Rolls (Team)

Works just as above except that when you

come to step four, resolution is figured just as
you would figure unopposed skill rolls for
single cases.

In the Team case it again matters whether the

roll is advantaged or disadvantaged, although
in most cases itll be advantaged (in most
cases where you think its disadvantaged you
should, unlike the skill case, make single rolls).
237

In advantaged cases add of your stat to the

highest stat and then make the appropriate
roll on the resistance rable. In disadvantaged
cases, minus [ ( 20 your stat ) / 4 ].

Reading Mythos Tomes

The official rules are a bit unrealistic in the
way you gain Cthulhu Mythos (CM) skill and
lose SAN.. by the rules nothing happens for
weeks.. months and then the day you turn the
last page of the book bang! You gain the skill
and also potentially go mad.
Here is a set of rules to better allow us to
apply those changes within the timescale of
the campaign.
A mythos book, a tome, can be considered to
have been skimmed or to have been read by a
character. Skimming represents a superficial
read through of the work and allows the
character to know what the book is about, if it
contains spells and use the book for
reference, reading the book represents having
studied
extensively
and
understood
completely the work.
To Skim a work
A book can be skimmed at the rate of 100typescript pages/hour or 10 manuscript/hour.
When complete make a SAN check, half the
published SAN loss (round up) is suffered with
no cthulhu mythos gain. When the book is
later read SAN is checked again (on first spell
learnt or first CM point gained) subtract the
skimmed amount from the amount lost then.

roll can be repeated once again when the

book is read.
Use as a reference. When making a CM roll
it is possible to try to use a tome as a research
tool, only one book can be used for a roll, but
it might be possible to consult multiple books,
rolling separately. It takes 1 hour for
typescript and 1 day for manuscript books, a
language roll is needed, If successful add what
remains of CM to be gained from tome to the
characters CM skill and then make the CM
roll.
To read a work
Once skimmed a work can be studied
extensively. Number of days study per CM
point gain are calculated by dividing the total
study time by the CM gain, during study the
CM skill increases as the days of study are
completed. A character may be able to study
quicker by applying the Research modifier;
see below. A day of study assumes 8 hours
work. Each days study requires a language
check for the day to count.
When the book is studied SAN is checked
again either on first spell learnt or first CM
point gained, subtract the amount lost by
skimming, it might be possible to simplify this
if skimming is the be directly followed by
reading and just proceed to full SAN loss on
first CM point gain.
Once a tome is read a player can try again to
learn a spell that was not learnt while
skimming

Once skimmed a work can be used to:

Learn a spell, to lean a spell takes as long
again per spell as to skim the book, the
chance to learn the spell is the books spell
multiplier times INT with added Occult skill
/10 or CM skill what ever higher. Fumbling the
roll means the spell can never be learned
from this source by that player. If failed the

Use the tome as a reference (adding again

the value of CM to skill of character, and
taking 10mins for typescript and 1 hour for
manuscript books, a language roll is needed
only one book can be used for a roll, but it
might be possible to consult multiple books,
rolling separately)

238

Research Modifier

Feverish Study

Talented and better equipped readers may

study tomes are faster rates than less able
scholars. Total the following for the
researcher:

If an Investigator studies a tome for sixteen

hours per day devoting their every moment to
their work; nothing may interrupt them. In
turn, reading time is reduced to normal (or
for tracking purposes it might be easier to
count each day as 4 days). From the second
day and on, a POW x 3 roll is needed. Success
indicates no negative effect. Failure results in
a daily Sanity check, with a cost of 1/1d3
points of Sanity. Once 5 or more points of
Sanity are lost, character becomes obsessive
and the investigator must roll under their CON
x 3 or lose 1d3-1 HP due to exhaustion and
neglect. Obsessed investigators must be
physically restrained from study or they will
continue until the tome is completed or they
are dead. Sanity loss might be capped at the
tomes normal cost as or might be allowed to
accumulate to reflect a serious mania on the
investigators part. Those suffering a
significant loss in this way might be stricken
with an appropriate phobia after the tome is
completed as well.

One point for each point of INT above 14

One point for each point of EDU above 14
Total of skill in Tomes language, minus 20,
then divided by ten.
Cthulhu Mythos divided by 5 or Occult
divided by 20,whichever is higher.
The library rating. Large or well-staffed
institutions (such as the British Museum)
would have a rating 20, smaller institutions
lower, individual collections a 1 or 2.
The total value of all these factors is
subtracted from 100; the resulting number is
the percentage of the normal reading time
this particular investigators study of a tome
will take.

239

Combat
Speed human = 8
Single Move Action = Speed in squares
Moving from a threatened square to another threatened square costs twice movement cost or else
opponent gets a free attack
Order of action- each category resolved in descending DEX +1D6 order
1. Aimed and ready to fire firearms (if any) (only those not involved in HTH)
2. Movement/those who needed to draw or shoulder weapons/those firing for the
second time/ Hand to hand attacks
3. Guns rated for 3 shots (they might only get a second here if they were not drawn in
1 above)
Roll for Conflicted Dex rank
Full round Attack

2 of the following

Repeating same action

Gun with multiple

attacks per round
HTH combatant
with multiple
attacks
If an attacker fires
once with gun
then requires a
dodge attempt
they can but forgo
additional attacks,
if they have
already attacked
more than once
they then cannot
dodge

Attack/Cast spell

Each attack is at %, Spells not

repeatable
Can be repeated as required each
the previous %

Dodge

Parry/Block (2 x dex)

Second Parry/Block at %

Move

Yes

Other (operate equipment, pick

up item, use skill)

Depends

Shotguns cannot impale, to fire both barrels at once roll STR vs recoil 12 or knockdown, each barrels
attack must roll to hit separately
Point Blank Range (distance <= DEX in feet) doubles the Base Skill for firearms. For 2H weapon (Rifle
or Shotgun) this bonus only if target is not engaged in combat with attacker. However the attacker
can move back then shoot but that uses up move action (not full attack)
Shooting into a HTH Melee: Lose the point blank bonus. If the roll to hit >= the skill (adjust for
relative size of ally and target) then the ally rolls a luck test, if they fail they are hit instead. If weapon
is a shotgun or a burst it hits both. Also possible to resolve with contested Luck roll if more than one
ally involved (both fail both hit?)

240

Hit Locations
Humanoid
Area
R Leg
L Leg
Abdomen
Chest
R Arm
L Arm
Head

Melee
01 - 04
05 - 08
09 - 11
12
13 - 15
16 - 18
19 - 20

Missile
01 - 03
04 - 06
07 - 10
11 - 15
16 - 17
18 - 19
20

For non-humanoid- RQ II has a whole bunch of tables, adjust below depending on size of limb
relative to rest of body
Lose HP >= current HP CONx5 or unconscious
HP>= total HP, location disabled or CON x3
Lose HP >0 Total HP
Arm hit DEX x5 or Drop obj
Leg hit DEX x5 or fall

241

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