# The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep d20



## Nebulous

*Introduction*

What follows are the details of our lengthy Masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, including the Australia chapter. 





Each session has taken roughly 3-5 hours to complete.  The investigators started at 1st level and ended at 8th.  

We started with using the Wealth System out of Grim Tales (and d20 Modern) and used that all the way up to the beginning of the Cairo chapter – and then I dropped it.  I didn’t like it, the players didn’t really like it, and they usually had enough money to get what they needed within reason.  After that money was never an issue. 

Masks is a modern adventure set in the year 1925.  It deals with only one aspect of the Cthulhu Mythos, the soul of the Outer Gods: Nyarlathotep!  Beginning in New York, the adventurers continue onto London, Cairo, Kenya, Australia and China for a world-hopping extravaganza of horror and action.

If you ever plan on playing in the campaign, keep in mind that to continue reading these notes will completely ruin the story for you.  If you plan on RUNNING this campaign, read on, and make sure your players don't see it!

Here is a list of the sessions:

#1: The Death of Jackson Elias
#2: Don't Push The Shiny Red Button!
#3: Massacre at the JuJu House
#4: Onward to London
#5: Castle Plum
#6: The Paintings of Miles Shipley
#7: The House in the Marsh
#8: Hello, Cairo
#9: Ambush at the Broken Camel
#10: The Drunk Dutchman 
#11: Mad Warren Bessart  (1st adventure recapped in story-form)
#12: The Black Pharaoh
#13: A Fatal Mistake (or, The Cotton Plantation of Omar Shakti)
#14: Beneath the Pyramids
#15: The Ritual of Nitcrosis
#16: Coming of the Black Sphinx
#17: Cats in the Museum
#18: Desert Assassins
#19: Flames on a Train
#20: The Night Lodge of Colonel Endicott
#21: Vampires, Fires, and Tea
#22: Old Bundari
#23: Mountain of the Black Wind
#24: The Spawn of Nyarlathotep
#25: Escape from the Mountain
#26: Onward to Australia!
#27: An Unexpected Detour
#28: City of the Great Race
#29: Huston's Headquarters
#30: Kakakatak
#31: Out of Time
#32: Mr. Chang's Miraculous Escape 
#33: Jack "Brass" Brady 
#34: Gray Dragon Island
#35: The Superweapon



TECHNICAL Notes concerning the characters:

We used the d20 Call of Cthulhu book to generate characters, and spliced them with d20 Modern Talent Trees and an Action Point system from Grim Tales.  Characters all had a Massive Damage Threshold equal to their Constitution.   Simple example:  if you have a 17 Con and a +3 Con modifier, you are Disabled between 0 and -3 hit points, Dying at -4 hit points, and Dead at -17 hit points.  Characters were made tougher so they would live longer.

If I have any regrets about this campaign, they would be: 

A) I didn't flesh out NPC's as well as I could have, and wasted some opportunities for memorable people and encounters. Others though i feel that i nailed pretty darn well. Most it worked out perfectly.

B) More roleplaying would have been nice.  Their descent into madness was sometimes not as profound as it could have been.

C) The horror aspect was undermined by their unceasing bravado.  Not a bad thing, but hardcore CoC players will balk at some of what they see here. You would be surprised by how many problems gasoline and dynamite can solve (especially if you have a camel).

I want to note that this particular Cthulhu campaign is being played (and run) by experienced D&D players, some of whom are comfortable with Epic Level play, and none have ever played much Call of Cthulhu (the Keeper has played the most). Therefore, understanding the nature of my players, I decided to refrain from too much Library Use and Research in this game. It's still there, but the party does not spend days and days snooping around for clues in musty books. It did happen initially in the earlier chapters, but that tactic was dropped later on in favor of shooting their problems to death.  The emphasis is much more on action than roleplaying, for better or worse. 

Thus, the tone of this adventure has become (even more so than written) "Indiana Jones and the Masks of Nyarlathotep".  It is a pulp-rollercoaster ride across the world, with the PC's pulling off some fairly unlikely stunts. But do not think that they are immune to Death or Insanity!  They are not immune, just more resistant than your typical CoC players.


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## Nebulous

*Adventure #1:  The Death of Jackson Elias*



It is a cold and blustery January 15th, 1925, in New York City.







The adventure begins with the popular song I'm Afraid playing in the background of a coffee shop.  Ice coats the buildings and gales whip through the streets, as our four disparate friends sit together for hot drinks.  

Here were the main players at the start of the campaign:

Jason:  The Keeper (GM)

Leo: playing Huey, a quiet bookseller in NY.  He worked with his father in a small occult bookshop.
Jeff: playing a Private Investigator named Morty.
David: playing Chang Chin, a Chinese ex-mafioso/ex-karate teacher, now with the Catholic robes. 
Kent: playing Arnold Silvermine, rumrunner and general bad apple. 

Huey has recently received a radiogram from an old friend, a popular writer named Jackson Elias who has been well known for a few years from penning non-fiction books about obscure religious cults around the world. He’s a sensationalist writer with a penchant for wry writ and astounding bravery…and cynicism.  Huey, the owner of a small occult bookshop on 5th Street, has long been a friend and keeps stock of his many books, such as Skulls Along the River, The Way of Terror, and Sons of Death.   Huey knows that Jackson is friendly, feisty, and above all, fearless. 

In fact, Chang, Huey, Morty and Arnold Silvermine all knew Jackson at one time or another. The details as to how each character (besides Huey) specifically knew Jackson are never brought up, but Jackson was the lynchpin between the group members.  When Huey receives the radiogram from sea, Jackson tells him that he has AMAZING information regarding the Carlyle Expedition, and he needs Huey to gather together a small group of accomplices.  The radiogram was received a month ago, and just two hours ago, Huey received the anticipated phone call from Jackson at his bookshop.  

Jackson sounded irate, panicky, and cryptic on the phone, but he offered Huey (and whoever else he could scrounge up) some work, and he offered an undisclosed amount of money. Once again, it has to do with the ill-fated Carlyle Expedition. 

Huey’s bookshop, co-owned with this father, is in dire financial straits, so the offer of money comes as a welcome incentive. 

Chang, the ex-Chinese Mafioso and current man-of-the-cloth and Karate Teacher, has little need for money as he has seen the sin of corruption one too many times.  But he is happy to help in whatever way he can.

Morty Jones, the Private Investigator, has been short on funds for some time and is willing to do anything for extra cash. He’s just not very good at his job. 

Arnold Silvermine, the rumrunner, is a step above a common thug and plans to milk this cash cow for whatever he can.  HOWEVER, he is an exceedingly rich thug with Wealth feats from illicit operations.

As the investigators sit in the coffee shop, waiting for 8pm to roll around so they can meet Jackson at his 410 hotel room at the Chelsea, they discuss the Carlyle Expedition, and what Jackson could possibly need them for.  

Five years ago, as the investigators recall, the Carlyle Expedition was an extravagant group brought together by NY socialite and millionaire, Mr. Roger Carlyle.  The entire expedition was heavily documented, and Huey has even done a little research into the matter while waiting for Jackson to arrive in the States.  In 1920 Roger Carlyle gathered together a group of six persons who embarked on a journey across the world in search of fabulous artifacts.  

They went to London, Egypt and finally Africa, but it ended as a massacre in Kenya.  The party was wiped out by savages, or so the story goes, and their remains devoured by wild animals.  But from what Jackson Elias has hinted at, there is more to the sordid tale, and he needed to tell someone. Quick.

Around roughly 7:45 pm the investigators leave the coffee shop and tromp through the snow to the Chelsea Hotel.  Rapping on Jackson’s door at Room 410, they receive no response.   Chang listens at the door and faintly hears movement within.  They knock again, but still no answer. It’s about 8:03 pm.   

Morty Jones, the PI without any clients, quietly unlatches the safety on his holster.  He’s got a bad feeling about this.  

Chang sees Morty arm himself, and Chang also happens to be carrying a small Walther 6mm pistol, a carryover from his days with the Mafia.  He never leaves home without it.  

Huey sees Morty and Chang pull out guns, and he steps back, hands raised and says “Guys, hey wait a second!  What are you doing?”

Arnold Silvermine, rumrunner and general bad apple, sees their guns and he whips out a concealed knife, which incidentally, he never leaves home without either. He regrets not having brought a shotgun, an oversight he is sure to never make again.

The investigators don’t bother with any more subterfuge; something is wrong, they can smell it, so without further delay Chang SLAMS into the door!  He bounces off, the hinges hold, but the second strike cracks the molding and Chang spills inside, with Morty and Arnold hot on his heels, Huey hanging back and wringing his hands. 

The sight greeting them instigates instant Sanity Checks:






Jackson Elias is sprawled on the bed, his entrails ripped out, a grisly spray of fresh blood on the floor, the walls, his face.  A devilish rune marks his forehead and blood drips to the floor. But there’s movement!  A black man is climbing out the second story window, and another is hiding right behind the door!  A cruel hooked blade stabs down at Chang, but he ducks, and plants a bullet in his attacker’s gut.  The negro man, wearing a bizarre headdress sporting a long red tassel, staggers back, blood blooming through his fingers.  He hits the wall, when Morty steps in and fires twice more, one bullet puncturing the plaster, the other punching through his heart.  He collapses, dead, but the second negro man has leapt out the window, the flutter of paper items falling into the room behind him.

Huey and Arnold rush to the windowsill just in time to see a black Hudson roadster waiting at the bottom.  The murderer launches into the backseat and the car peels away, but it is too dark to see the license plate. Already, the investigators are hearing screams of surprise from the three gunshots that have echoed through the hotel. 

Huey leans over Jackson Elias, stifling a sob.  His friend has been hideously mutilated, and so recently that the body is still hot. Still, he takes the time to scribble down a replica of the rune scribed on Jackson’s forehead.  Arnold and Chang rifle through the dead negro’s clothes, including an empty leather pouch, while Morty hesitantly straddles the doorway, his pistol shielded beneath his overcoat. Numerous residents poke their heads into the carpeted hallway, peeking tentatively around.

“Nothing to see here!” says Morty with false authority.  “Police business!”   

But they all know that the real police will be arriving very soon, and depending on how the investigators handle this situation, they may or may not be implicated in the deaths.  They decide to stick around, which gives them a few more minutes to search the room and—

--a snake!  

A black mamba slithers out from behind the dresser, sending everyone into a tizzy.  Further gunshots are refrained from, so the highly poisonous (and foreign) snake is squashed with a dresser drawer before it can bite anyone.  They gather up the dropped clues, wondering who the hell so maliciously killed their friend Jackson? And WHY?

ITEMS FOUND:

1)	a letter from someone in Cairo named Faraz Najir,   
         addressed to Jackson
2)	A Penhew Foundation card, with the name Edward Gavigan
3)	A matchbox for the Stumbling Tiger Bar in Shanghai
4)	Emerson Imports card, with the name “Silas N’Kwane” 
         written on the back
5)	Letter from Miriam Artwright, a Harvard Librarian
6)	The bloody symbol on Jackson’s forehead


The police eventually arrive and the investigators are initially cuffed and taken downtown for questioning.  The cooperate, and are very carefully interrogated by Lt. Marvin Poole, a taciturn homicide officer who has also stomped on Morty’s toes in the past, and ruined some perfectly good jobs.  Poole has also clunked heads with Arnold Silvermine over illegal business, but the police can’t find a connection with the investigators in this case. Wrong place at the wrong time, it seems, and they aren’t charged.  

The party has nothing to hide (not yet anyway; their cooperation with authorities over the campaign will quickly downslide) and their guns are registered, and it was seemingly in self defense.  The police know that something bad is brewing in Harlem; however, when Morty tries to glean more information out of Lt. Poole, he botches his roll rather badly and only infuriates the detective!  

“Get outta here, ya bottom-scrubbing amateur.  Leave the important stuff to the Big Boys.  I don’t wanna see you and your friends involved with this anymore.  We had too many killings of this nature already.”

The next few days feature headline articles in the Observer noting the death of Jackson Elias in the obituary and his funeral date.  A little more digging around in the local newspapers unveils some leads above and beyond the scraps of paper they’ve already found (and kept hidden) from Lt. Poole.  (and this more or less ends the involvement of Poole in the campaign).  

They find references to the Prospero House, Jackson’s publisher, and Huey gives Miriam Artwright a call, asking about the book she failed to find for Jackson, Africa’s Dark Sects (Dark Sex!  Which spawned a juvenile campaign-long joke that has never gotten old).  It mysteriously vanished from the Harvard library a few months ago.  They also tell Miriam that they want to drive up and show her the peculiar symbol found on Jackson’s head.  She agrees to a future meeting. 

The party decides they should next go to Prospero House, the publisher of Jackson’s books on religious cults, and speak directly with Jonah Kensington, the editor-in-chief.  Maybe he can shed some more light on what is going on, and what exactly happened to Jackson Elias. 

And there we stopped.


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## Nebulous

Adventure #2: Don't Push the Shiny Red Button!



The Prospero Publishing House is located in a towering highrise on Lexington Avenue. 






The four investigators take the lumbering elevator to the top floor on a chilly Thursday morning and step through the doors. The decorations are modest, and Jonah Kensington, the chief editor, is a busy, busy man in his early fifties, sleeves rolled to his elbows and a sheen of sweat decorating his face, but he figuratively stops the presses when he hears that the investigators have come asking about Jackson Elias.






“You must be his friends!  Huey Fulton it is, right?  Jackson told me that he would be recruiting some help with his project.  This is a damn shame, his death.  The world was a better place with Jackson in it, but I guess you know that.  And if the police are half right, this was a cult murder of some kind.  As sure as the sun shines.  Jackson finally got himself in too deep.” 

Jonah thinks that some old enemies finally caught up with Jackson and silenced him, and the investigators tell him about what happened at the hotel:  the two negro men with dangling red tassels on their hats. Jonah nods gravely during the story, listening carefully, and concedes that Jackson Elias’s new project might have been even more important (and deadly) that Jackson was aware.

“Jackson believed that he had found evidence that not all of the Carlyle Expedition were dead, that in fact, it might have been a cover up for the past five years.  Here, take a look at this.”

He shows the investigators a letter from Jackson, stating in clear terms that he believes at least some of the Carlyle principals are alive, and that the inquest and trial of their “murderers” in Kenya was contradictory to the facts.  Jonah wired him money in Hong Kong, and again in London.  Jackson had told Jonah that he had discovered amazing things, and mentioned a conspiracy of world wide proportions.  He said there was a timetable, and that he needed to find the missing pieces.

“Once Jackson finally arrived back in New York recently he handed me a whole stack of letters.  But…well, boys, I don’t think Jackson was in his right mind.  This stuff was crazy talk, most of it mish-mash of ramblings that didn’t make much sense at all.  It was like he had gone crazy, or was keeping the real facts stuffed in his brain with this paper trail as a codex. I don’t know.  Ever since Jackson started telling me about this, I’ve been combing through the old newspapers and accumulating everything I could find about the old Carlyle Expedition.  There’s quite a bit.”

Jonah Kensington shows them a small box of papers, including Jackson’s Nairobi notes, and multiple articles detailing the Carlyle Expedition starting from the departure in New York, through London and Cairo, and finally to their demise in Kenya.  They spend time poring over these clues (Nyarlathotep Papers #3-10) and the investigators come away with a slightly better idea of who these people were:

Roger Carlyle, playboy millionaire and leader, Dr. Aubrey Penhew of the Penhew Foundation in London, (assistant leader of the team in charge of excavations); Dr. Robert Huston of New York (a fashionable “Freudian” psychologist who accompanied them to research ancient pictographs); Miss Hyapatia Masters (acting as photographer and archivist); Mr. Jack Brady (Carlyle’s personal bodyguard), and a mysterious negro woman whose purpose is not publicly known.






Jonah Kensington also tells them about Carlyle’s rich socialite sister, Erica Carlyle, who has gained control of the estate since his death.

“Supposedly for the better,” Jonah says.  “I hear that Roger was running the business into the ground.

“Which was…?”

“Oh, imports and exports I believe.  Transport, munitions, stuff like that.”

“Maybe we should speak with her,” suggests Morty Jones, the PI.  “She might be able to tell us some more about her brother.”

Jonah Kensington taps his fingers, flicking his gaze between the four men standing before him; a down on his luck Private Investigator, a fidgety pale bookkeeper (who looks suspiciously like HP Lovecraft, a stocky Chinaman, and a shifty fellow with a 5 o-clock beard who looks like he wants to steal something when nobody’s looking.

“I’ll tell you what, fellas.  Jackson was a good friend of mine, and probably you too.  If you want to start snooping around and asking questions, I’m all for it.  Furthermore, if you want to help finish the book, to find out what Jackson knew, I’ll even pay you for it.  If you even need to go abroad, I’ll finance it.  This means a lot to me, and money is no object.”

The investigators like hearing this, and they each shake hands with Jonah Kensington.  It’s a deal. Kensington will act as a financier (within limits) and support their backs.  Kensington offers to make a few calls to the Carlyle Estate and see if he can set up an interview with Erica Carlyle, but no promises.  She is reclusive and only the upper echelons of society see her much.  He says he’ll contact them later.

That’s fine with the investigators.  In the meantime, they have some clues to follow up on, and the stack is getting bigger by the day.

Emerson Imports was a card in Jackson’s pocket, so Morty and Chang decide to check it out.  Meanwhile, Huey and Arnold drive up to Harvard to meet with Miriam Atwright and see if she can identify the symbol that was scrawled so horribly on Jackson’s forehead.

Emerson Imports turns out to be a long narrow building with a sock at both ends. It is a warehouse full of freight, run by a fellow named Arthur Emerson.  Morty and Chang ask him about Jackson Elias, and Emerson claims to remember the visit, and offers his condolences.  Elias had been checking the import roster to find connections in Mombasa. When further pressed, Emerson says that the only Mombasan exporter he accepts is Ahja Singh, whose only U.S. account is the Ju-Ju House on Ransom Court, in Harlem.

Chang turns the card offer and asks him about the name on the back: Silas M’Kwane.

“Oh, sure.  That’s the fella the runs the Ju-Ju house. I tell ya boys, those darky fellows are trouble.  I done told Elias the same thing.  I’d leave ‘em alone if I was you.” Chang and Morty thank Emerson and leave the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Huey and Arnold question Miriam Artwright about the symbol.  After some research, she confirms that it is a symbol from an African tribe known as the Bloody Tongue.  Thanking her, they leave and head back to New York.

The next day is the funeral, so everyone gathers at the frigid site.  There aren’t too many people, but Jonah points out Erica Carlyle to the investigators.  She’s an attractive young woman in her twenties, accompanied by a burly bodyguard named Joe Corey.











Jonah says that he was able to arrange a meeting with her at 9am the next morning, under the pretense that they have valuable information concerning her departed brother, and that it is too sensitive to relate over the phone.  Jonah even insisted that her brother’s death is related to a recent rash of murders.  Although not pleased with the news, Erica agreed to speak with the four investigators, with the caveat that she can end the interview at any time.

And forcibly expel them from the grounds if she so wishes.

So Huey, Morty, Chang and Arnold show up the next morning at 9 am sharp at the Carlyle House at her Westchester Estate. Guns are stowed away (including Arnold shotgun in the trunk) because an amiable approach will be best in this case.

A butler allows entrance to an extravagant mansion where the investigators are asked to wait in a lavish library parlor.  They immediately begin snooping around, and against all odds, Arnold Silvermine pulls a book of Poe’s poems that conceals a hidden panel.  They can hear footsteps approaching the door, and with a second miraculous roll, Arnold fumbles with the panel to reveal a RED BUTTON.










Erica and her bodyguard Joe Corey glide into the room and Arnold hastily replaces the book without pushing the button. It gnaws at him though, what might lay behind it, and he continually throws glances at the shelf throughout the brief interview.  Corey looks mean as a snake and they spot the bulge of a pistol beneath his waistcoat.

“Very well, gentlemen, what do you have to tell me that is so important.  I would not have granted this at all except for Mr. Kensington’s insistence.  I owe him a favor and consider the debt paid.  What do want?”

After some small talk (and sweet talk), the investigators ease into their purpose.  They think (with no evidence whatsoever) that Roger Carlyle is STILL ALIVE.  And to prove it, they want more information from Erica.

The millionaire inheritor of the Carlyle Estate is shocked into silence, and her bodyguard Joe Corey nearly throws the investigators out right then and there for such pretentious , but Erica stops him.

“Tell me what you know.”

They offer what they have, which isn’t much, mostly the details about Jackson Elias and some of the clues he found.  They don’t mention the attack in the hotel or how they killed anyone. More than anything, they want to hear Erica’s opinion of the rest of the expedition.

What Erica Reveals:

1)      Roger’s African Expedition was not ordinary.  He was fascinated to the point of obsession with the “Negro Woman” whose name she does not know.  Erica thinks such a relationship is depraved.  Roger began having strange dreams soon after he met the Negro Woman, but would never discuss them.


2)      Erica talked Roger into seeing Dr. Robert Huston, and she believes that Huston   talked Roger into going on this wild expedition to other countries.  However, she thinks the Negro Woman caused Roger to lose his grip on reality.


3)      Roger said that M’Weru was queenly, a priestess, and that she held secrets he must have. For a while Erica encouraged this insane expedition, hoping that Roger would see how stupid the idea was, but then it really happened.  She blames the Negro Woman for the whole ordeal. 

Erica ends the interview soon after, claiming that she has urgent business.  Arnold Silvermine is about to implode from curiosity as to what lies behind the bookshelf.  But Joe Corey and his pistol are a strong deterrent, and the investigators are escorted out after thanking Erica Carlyle for her time.

Afterwards, they briefly considering breaking back in that night and pushing the Red Button, but the grounds are fenced, walked by armed guards and dogs, and very difficult to infiltrate.  They’re not sure why so many precautions were taken (GM Note:  because cultists broke in previously trying to find and steal Roger’s rare Mythos book collection behind the secret door!) and they never find out. 

And they never pushed that red, red button.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #3:  Massacre at the Ju-Ju House

After their interview with Erica, the investigators decide to check out a clue in the local area:  Silas N’Kwane and the Ju-Ju House.  It’s Saturday now, and they enter Harlem via taxi just as light snow has begun to fall.  

The Ju-Ju House is hard to find, located down a dirty, narrow alley.  The driver parks on the curb, obviously uneasy with this part of town, and they trot down the alley, the bell on the door tinkling as they step inside and shake the snow from their boots.  Along the way they’ve been discussing their options, and the consensus is that they need to reveal as LITTLE as possible about themselves and Jackson Elias.  The catch is that to learn about Elias they have to mention him.  Still, after Emerson’s warning, and after their run-in with the fellows at the hotel, they’re cautious.  

An older black man sits nonchalant behind the counter.  He smiles at the investigators and nods.  “Can I help you?”

The Ju-Ju is an odd assortment of foreign goods and unidentifiable odds and ends from many countries.  














Chang is quick to see a knife in the display window similar to the one that nearly eviscerated him at Jackson’s hotel a few days earlier.  

“There,” he says.  “What is that called?”

“A pranga,” answers the old man. “African hunting weapon.”

Arnold Silvermine inspects a large artifact that is reminiscent of the Giza Sphinx.  He has a nose for valuable items, and his nose starts to tingle.  He can tell at a glance that this thing is worth some money, and probably inlaid with real gold. Still kicking himself for not pushing that Red Button, he casually inquires about the statue.  






“What’s that thing?  How much for it?”

The old man’s expression (who they assume is Silas N’Kwane) noticeably darkens.  “It is the Black Sphinx from ancient Egypt.  4th Dynasty of Sneferu, and it is not for sale.”

Sensing a lie, Arnold presses him.  “But I’m wealthy as King Solomon. I want to buy it.  How much?”

“Not for sale!”  Silas stands, and about that time two black gentlemen enter the Ju-Ju House.  There is a moment of unspoken tension as they all share glances.  Huey places a hand on Arnold’s shoulder and tries to diffuse the situation. 

“Ignore him sir, he has no manners.  We’re just…looking around.  We’re…we’re collectors of rare antiques.  I’m sure there’s something else here to interest us.”  Huey knows that something is up, and the dark looks from the Negro men who just entered don’t make him feel any better.  The investigators look around for a few more minutes, then bid farewell and quickly leave. 

“What the hell was that?” asks Morty, slapping Arnold’s arm.  “You weren’t going to buy that weird junk.”

“Junk my white ass.  It’s worth a pretty penny, sweetheart.” 

“I would rather not get a “pranga” between my ribs,” mutters Huey.  “Those guys were hiding something…”

So, they decide to return that night. 

It is bitterly cold by the time they return long after dark.  New snow has fallen and covered the world under a glistening white sheet.  A taxi drops them off quite a few blocks away, and they shuffle through the snow, but rounding the corner, they spot a familiar black Hudson roadster! 






Sure, it could be another car, but they don’t think so.  Several black men get out, heavily bundled beneath coats, and trudge through the dirty alleyway.  The Hudson slowly drives away. 

The investigators have a plan, however crazy it might be: they have to get inside the shop, and Chang is a pro at picking locks.  They move down the alley and sneak into a boarded building they saw on the way in.  It looked like it led into the back of a derelict pawn shop.  They are able to pry the boards off the door and then place them back once inside.  Sure enough, it’s an empty pawn shop that opens onto 138th Street.  From there, they observe anyone approaching the Ju-Ju House.

An hour later the roadster pulls up the head of the alley, but this time the men exiting carry a bundled sheet with them that looks suspiciously like a body.  The three black men carry the “body” into the Ju-Ju House.  The four investigators wait about 20 minutes, discussing all of their options, including CALLING THE COPS, but finally decide to act on their own. Like Lt. Poole said, if they’re caught in the middle of any more murders there’s going to be trouble. Bullets are loaded into pistols, shells into Arnold’s shotgun, buckles are strapped and secured, and they scamper across the open courtyard to the front of the shop.  As suspected, it is locked, but Chang is able to pick it. 

“Isn’t this terribly illegal?” hisses Huey, but Morty tells him to shut up. 

The bell jingles as they enter, and the four quickly scamper into the darkness and duck.  There are a few doors leading out of the main room, but almost immediately, they hear footsteps from around the corner!

Silas N’Kwane appears, but Chang is standing right there.  The old man barely has time to release a half-hearted whimper before Chang smashes him in the nose with the butt of his pistol.  Silas crumples, blood pouring from a broken face, and Chang lands a knee in his gut and presses the muzzle to his temple.

“Make a sound and you die.”  Silas is bound and gagged, giving them a few minutes to search the Ju-Ju House.  There is a small restroom (where Silas emerged) and a larger store room, replete with a long table decorated with items from around the world, as well as several large glass cases filled with obscure cultural knick knacks.  They search everywhere, finding no trace of anyone else…

…until Huey’s foot creaks on the rug.  There is a trap door beneath.  

Arnold takes the gag out of Silas’s mouth.  “Who’s down there?” he asks, but Silas spits in his face.  Arnold gags him again, but Huey thinks he’s a liability and a threat. The others agree, and with little remorse (beginning a campaign-long trend) someone slits Silas’s throat while the others look away.  There’s group-wide Sanity Loss from this violent act, and then they move the table and roll back the carpet.

The handle for the trapdoor is recessed in the floor.  They pull it up, revealing a steep stairwell. They have no idea what to expect, but these guys are prepared for the worst.  Huey is handed a pistol even though he doesn’t know how to shoot it.  Morty shows him how to take the safety off. They listen, and hear below the muffled beat of drums.  

Bong da da dong bong da da bong da da da da BONG da da dong…

Chang descends the stone stairwell first, sniffing the acrid air, twin pistols at the ready. (In perfect honesty, he was never very good at karate and I don’t even think David even took the right Feats for his character!).  It stinks here of sweat and things hidden from the light. A kerosene lamp illuminates their path, and at the bottom they reach a stone floor.  The tunnel stretches thirty paces left to a closed wooden door, crisscrossed by thick iron bands.  Arcane runes decorate the door, and Huey, owner of the occult bookshop, recognizes some of them from the myriad tomes he and his father collect. They are signs representing “Evil Lies Here.”  Huey doesn’t much like that.

The drums are louder now, clearly emanating from behind the door.  

The investigators are terrified, but know that they have to do something.  The white sheet they saw earlier possibly contained a living captive.  They regret not doing something earlier, but that’s water under the bridge.  Now’s the time to stop Jackson Elias’s killers from taking any more victims!

And time for some payback.  

Arnold Silvermine jiggles the knob.  Surprisingly, it is unlocked.  Licking his lips, he pushes it open a smidgen, and through the crack sees a sliver of horror:

Two naked Negroes beat fervently on drums, a hideous blood red tassel dangling from crude headdresses.  There are more people here judging from the sound of instruments. The PC’s  know that as soon as they reveal themselves they’ll be swamped by enemies (as any D&D player knows!) so they Ready Actions. Counting on surprise, Chang KICKS the door in and fires at the two nearest targets!

Chang plants a bullet between the eyes of a drummer, splattering his brains on the wall.  Chaos ensues, but the investigators take advantage of it.  Morty, Arnold and Huey all takes shots into the room, now revealed to be a medium sized chamber with a stone pit in the center, partially covered by a stone slab.  A wheel and pulley system off to the side manipulates the slab. 






But there are at least TWENTY more stunned naked Negroes in this room!  Bullets and shells fly, dropping two more before they can gather themselves. Even when they do spot the intruders they are slow to respond.  Morty, Chang, Huey and Arnold alternate positions in the doorway, blasting away as fast as they can, mowing down everyone they can see in a hail of lead and buckshot.  Cultists surge at them, trying to grapple guns away, but stumble over corpses blocking the exit.  One yanks Chang’s pistol from his hands, but he shoots a hole through his neck, blasting him backward.

Four other cultists begin cranking the pulley system attacked to the slab, and the stone slides aside…

Horrible inhuman screams begin wafting up from the pit, so horrible that the investigators stumble away from the sound.  Something unnatural dwells down there, something the cultists are letting out!  

Ten cultists are dead by now, or nearly dead. Huey, trembling with the pistol, shoots an attacker in the arm and sends him spinning toward the pit.  The man stumbles and slides, falls partially in, and screams in AGONY as something in the pit YANKS him down.

At the back of the room a curtain opens and for the first time the investigators witness the source of this madness:

The High Priest of the Bloody Tongue Sect in New York City:

Mukunga.






They never learn his name, only that he was dressed in flowing ceremonial feathered garb.  Lion’s claws adorn his hands on makeshift gloves, and his lips peels back in a snarl. With a wave of his hand, two previously unnoticed curtains fall away, and out stumble four hideously ROTTING CORPSES.  










It is the first time any of the investigators have seen a zombie and the sight nauseates them. Huey is overwhelmed with terror and starts clicking madly on the trigger, not even noticing that he has to reload.

In the meantime, the horrible wailing from the pit grows louder.  It strains the Sanity of everyone who hears it, so Huey and Arnold rush toward the winch, attempting to shut the lid. Chang and Morty keep shooting at anyone who isn’t taking cover, and within several rounds they’ve eliminated the majority of opponents in the room by herding them into the doorway, taking minimal damage themselves. 

But Mukunga is no ordinary opponent.  His zombies absorb bullets while he crouches behind them, chanting a spell in a hideous unknown tongue, and pointing his finger, a rippling ray of black putrescence streaks out! 

The ray strikes Chang, rotting his pinky finger to the bone, the skin blackening and falling away.  Chang shrieks in pain, falling to his knees, and Morty the PI rushes to his rescue, clicking mercilessly with his pistol until the chambers run dry.

Morty is out in the open, and the High Priest unleashes another Shriveling Spell straight into Morty’s face.  His cheek and lip buckle under the chaotic magic, sloughing away in a gruesome wet glob of fleshy matter. 

“Run!” screams Arnold.  “Run! Run! Run! RUN!”

Chang finishes closing the Chakota Pit (another detail the investigators never understand or see) and stumbles out of the room, even as a zombie swipes at him.  Morty holds a hand to his mangled face and follows, but Huey is already down the hallway running for his life.  Arnold fires once more, hitting Makunga in the shoulder and spinning him around.  The zombies converge on the doorway, climbing over the dead mounded nearby.  

Chang grabs the kerosene lamp from the ceiling and tosses it, flames licking and spreading immediately. Huey reaches the top, breathless and terrified, and knocks everything off the table, shoves it over and rolls up the carpet.  Chang painfully exits the stairwell, followed by Morty and finally Arnold, pumping shotgun shells behind him and splattering a zombie’s head into black goo.

They cram the carpet down the stairwell and light it with a second kerosene lamp, and then close the trapdoor and pile as much junk on top as they can find. Flames crackle beneath for a while and smoke wafts through the cracks, but they try to keep it sealed.  They wonder if anyone heard the battle; gunshots zipping back and forth underground, the screams of the dying and injured and insane. 

They debate leaving but decide they can’t; not if someone still needs to be rescued down there.  There was an alcove in the back, from where the zombies appeared.  Morty is in terrible pain and has swathed his mangled face with a cloth; Chang has trouble holding his pistol with a missing pinky finger.  

After a while they haven’t heard any police sirens, so they open the door. The rug has burned to a crisp and sooty smoke chokes them all, and two zombies trying to clamber over the rug have burned too.  Arnold leads the way, bursting back into the room, and this time they catch Makunga by surprise!

The priest, coughing, has been busy trying to complete the sacrifice.  A nude and unconscious woman dangles from her wrists above the Chakota pit while the priest manages the winch, but he has trouble considering his wounds.  Arnold shoots Makunga point blank, killing him instantly. 

The woman is alive, but barely, so they wrap her up in something warm. The rest of the basement is inspected, uncovering several items that they don’t understand, and that frankly frighten them, but all are confiscated as loot:

*Makunga’s feathery robes 
*The Lion’s claws 
*A book called Africa’s Dark Sects (stamped as belonging to the Harvard Library, and   
                    this book entered permanent play as “Africa’s Dark Sex” and a longstanding 
                    source of silly humor belying our ages)
*de Vermis Mysteriis (not part of the scenario but I threw it in there)
* A copper bowl engraved with runes that no one recognizes
* A metal headband of indeterminate metal 
* A short staff that has a distinctly African origin.
* A wooden African-themed mask with no apparent means to attach it to your face
* The big Black Sphinx statue!  Yes, they somehow carried it out with them.  

The investigators stumble out of the Ju-Ju House early in the morning.  It is well below freezing outside, snowing heavily, and they’re somewhere in Harlem without a car.  Morty and Chang are severely injured, and once they start taking Subdual Damage from the cold, Chang falls unconscious.  They drag him by his armpits, staggering through the drifts, trying to find a safe haven somewhere, anywhere, before at least one of them dies, or the cops pick them up on any number of serious charges.

And there we stopped.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #4: On to London

The investigators reach Huey’s shop, Fulton Books, and hide there.  Over the next few days Chang and Morty recuperate, and they check the local paper, and sure enough there’s an article about a massacre in Harlem.  The murders are blamed on a death cult, but most of the pertinent details are left out of public scrutiny. Some eyewitnesses claim to have seen four men leaving the vicinity late at night, but no confirmations could be made.

The investigators seem to have gotten away.  

They pore over the items taken from the Bloody Tongue priest: the books of dubious origin (one which may be bound in human skin), the bowl, the staff, the mask, and the peculiar metal headband.  Huey has some basic skills in the African language he learned in college, and words on the staff translate to say something like “Nyambe Be My Power.”  Whatever that means. 

There is no way in HELL any of them will try on the African mask. 





[Later on I taunt them about the powerful magic they have at their disposal and have never used]

They stow the items away, although Huey continues to pore over Africa’s Dark Sects and de Vermis Mysteriis every chance he gets.  He is fascinated by what they contain, but he has a hard time with the Latin in the latter book.  The former is written in Old English and he reads about a powerful spell called “Create Corpse Walker.”  Obviously, this is what created the abominations in the Ju-Ju House. 

While Chang and Morty are resting, Huey and Arnold decide to snoop around and unearth a few more clues.  If they want to reach the bottom of this mystery, and learn what Jackson Elias wanted to tell them, they’ll have to know as much about the Carlyle Expedition as possible.

Roger Carlyle holds the key to everything. 

Huey remembers reading a snippet about Dr. Robert Huston in one of the many newspaper articles.  After his death, all of his professional records were turned over to the Medical Affairs Board of New York City…but not destroyed. 

After talking to Erica, Huey knows that Huston treated Roger Carlyle professionally, and maybe a record of his descent into madness exists. Maybe there’s a clue there somewhere.  They find their way to the Medical Board Office, and after being coolly rebuked by the secretary, Chang and Huey try a more covert approach.  Huey is able to sneak in after using Chang as a distraction.  The file room holds all of Dr. Robert Huston’s records in nearly labeled cardboard boxes, and Huey steals a handful of relevant files that he stuffs down his pants.  

The secretary, suspicious, ends up calling security, but Chang and Huey run for the hills.  The notes reveal Huston’s psychological analysis of Roger for over a year.  In summary, Roger was having vivid dreams and hallucinations, addressing himself in the third person with his second given name of Vane (which Leo amazingly jots down in his game notes for later retrieval).  A tall gaunt man addresses him in the dream, a blazing inverted ankh on his forehead, who asks Roger to “become a god with him.” Huston also says that Roger is impulsive when concerning the Negro woman “M’WERU”.  The last entry states that if Huston does not accompany Roger Carlyle on the expedition, then Huston will be threatened with “exposure.” 

The notes only baffle the investigators and prompt more questions than answers.  But at least they have the name for the sixth member of the expedition: M’Weru. 

Several days after the incident at the Ju-Ju House, the investigators return to Jonah Kensington at Prospero Press.  Kensington is glad to see them, and asks if they’ve turned up any more information.  “Not enough,” is the answer, and the next leg of the journey begins. 

They discuss their options with Jonah and decide that London is the next logical step.  London was the last place that Jackson visited, and there are some people there that he perhaps spoke to.  One of the clues in Jackson’s pocket was a business card for the Director of the Penhew Foundation, Mr. Edward Gavigan.  Jonah tries to conact the Penhew Foundation on the phone, but after being on hold for an hour he gives up.  Transcontinental communication can be problematic. 

“Get in touch with a fella named Mickey Mahoney at The Scoop in London. He’s a publisher of a tabloid rag there.  The sort of stuff that Jackson would have loved, corpses floating in the Thames and all that.  Maybe he knows something. Hell, maybe he knew Jackson.”

So Morty, Huey, Arnold and Chang put their affairs in order.  Bills are paid, deeds scribbled out, and friends and relatives told that they’ll be out of the country for a short while.  They all expect to return, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe. 

A week later, around the beginning of February 1925, they find themselves aboard The Lucianda, cresting the Big Blue between America and England.  They have brought several TRUNKS full of weapons, ammunition and supplies.  Huey dives headlong into Africa’s Dark Sects and De Vermis Mysteriis, their dark words turning somersaults in his fevered brain.  He learns the ritual to Create Corpse Walker, and by placing a black opal in the mouth of the recently dead, he can animate a subservient being.  The secrets of the Mysteriis are much harder to unravel, and Huey begins to have unpleasant dreams. And waking nightmares. The book whispers to him sometimes, and once he even sees blood dripping from the pages onto the gently rocking deck of the boat. 

[GM Note:  I had a crib sheet of rules taken from the d20 rulebook, spliced with the BRP spell rules, with a dash of my own flavor.  Learning spells could take a long time, and required multiple rolls.  As the campaign progressed, and players didn’t really use magic that much, or they rolled up characters who were already practiced sorcerers, I dropped the initial system for something easier].

The Bible in Huey’s cabin is found in different places, always emitting a strange mildew stink.  Long before the Lucianda docks at a London port, Huey packs the tome away and doesn’t look forward to seeing it again. 

The investigators, when not combating sea sickness, gambling, reading or contemplating what lies ahead, try to piece together their clues.  There is a naval telegraph aboard, and Jonah Kensington is contacted.  They have already established a plan:

At every junction possible, Jonah will be telegraphed and mailed copies of their current position, status, and any clues they have accumulated. [GM Note: this is a meta-game precaution as well as a practical one; this campaign can be difficult to integrate new characters who have any idea of what is going on, or incentive to continue the quest others started months ago].

Ten days after leaving New York the investigators reach London. It is the first time any of them have been here and the bustling chaos overwhelms them. 














The first thing they do, after checking through customs and finding a hotel, is to seek out Mickey Mahoney of The Scoop, as Jonah suggested.  They find the climate of London chill and damp, so long overcoats seem appropriate.  And coats adequately conceal their pistols and shotguns, an issue that will come back and bite them in the ass later on. 

[GM Note: I remember once that Kent’s character Arnold couldn’t even sit down because the shotgun would poke right up out of his jacket; I think he sawed the end off after that.  Their killing everything that moved with loud projectiles really caused them some trouble in London, and…well, you’ll see.]

The Scoop on the third floor of Fleet Street is a hubbub of tapping typewriters and flying paper.  The investigators ask if they can meet Mr. Mahoney, and a short, red-haired, cigar-chomping energetic man with an electric buzz of impatience soon greets them. 






“What ya Yankies want? Make it fast or get the hell outta ‘ere. Time is money, blokes, and I’m a busy buster.”

The Americans explain their situation: how Jonah Kensington of Prospero Press gave them his name; and that they are here regarding the death of their friend and author Jackson Elias. 

“Oh, bloody hell,” mumbles Mickey, his face falling.  “Ayup, I heard about that on the wires.  A shame.  Bloody goddamned shame.  Mr. Elias came to me a few months ago.  Smart chap he was, keen as a knife edge, although a little shaky. He promised me up and down that he had a story ‘bout a death cult here in London. I never got the story, ya see, Jackson skipped town. What ya know about it?”  He rubs his fingers together.  “It’s worth a penny or two.”

The investigators don’t spill the beans to Mahoney, not knowing how much they can trust him, or anybody really.  Mahoney is intrigued though, sensing that these boys know more than they’re letting on. It’s journalistic instinct.  

“Oh sure,” adds Mahoney slyly, “Elias poked around in some back issues of The Scoop. Found several articles that interested him.  I still got ‘em laying around.  Want a looksee?”

Of course they do, so Mickey shows them the articles, all written by Mickey himself:

1)	“Police Baffled By Monstrous Murders!”
2)	“Slaughter Continues!”
3)	“Shocking Canvases Bring Recognition”

The investigators read over the articles, scribbling down notes and even taking copies.  The details are dubious at best, and don’t seem related to Jackson at all.  They wonder why Jackson was interested in any of these in the first place, but don’t express their bafflement to Mahoney. 

“Well,” he says, disappointed with their lack of enthusiasm, “if something strikes your fancy let me know.  The Scoop is always lookin’ out for the strange, weird and bloody. Emphasis on bl-uuudy. If you can actually bring me quality pictures, I’ll TRIPLE the pay.”  Morty likes the sound of that.  As a private detective, even a poor one, he always carries photographic plates and a camera with him.  

The investigators leave the publisher and decide to check out the Penhew Foundation, following the direct lead from Jackson. 






The Penhew Foundation is a monstrous stone structure located between Regents Park and the Thames River. The connection between Aubrey Penhew of the Carlyle Expedition and the Penhew Foundation is not lost on the investigators. 

Gavigan comes to greet them soon after their arrival.  He is a crisp British man in his fifties, meticulously dressed with not a crinkle or crest out of place.  He escorts them to his lavishly paneled mahogany office and offers them cigars and brandy. 





“How can I help you gentlemen?”

“Well,” says Huey carefully, “We’re here on behalf of a friend of ours.  A deceased friend.  Perhaps you’ve met him. Mr. Jackson Elias?”

Almost imperceptibly, Chang notices that Gavigan’s eyebrow twitches; the Mafia taught him that trick, 101 Ways That A Man Can Lie. 

“Ah, yes.  Met him once, I did.  He came here asking questions concerning a dark period of Egyptian history that Roger Carlyle had obtained from some Negro Woman.  Sir Aubrey had long been interested in this same time period, when a terrible sorcerer, The Black Pharaoh, was reputed to have ruled the Nile Valley.  Unfortunately,” says Gavigan, smiling ruefully, “it was a hoax.  The Negro Woman stole the expedition’s funds and disappeared. The loss greatly hurt the expedition leader, Mr. Carlyle. Not the funds itself, but the lack of trust.  He had hinged so much on…the truth, as he thought it. Gentleman, let us walk.  These rooms can be so stifling and there is much of the Foundation I would like to show you.  Do you enjoy history?”

Chang wants to search the office after suspecting that Gavigan isn’t telling them the whole truth, but there’s no way to avoid joining the others.  

The group leaves Gavigan’s office and proceeds through the extravagant corridors of the Penhew Foundation, laced with glass exhibits featuring thousands of year’s worth of rare artifacts from ancient Egypt and the Middle East. They engage Gavigan in further conversation, trying to draw out more clues about Jackson Elias and the Carlyle Expedition. 

“After the loss of M’Weru and the funds, they sought a cooler climate in Kenya.  But as you know, they met with disaster.  Nearly all their records were lost in Kenya as well.  Aubrey Penhew had taken them along.  We DO have several letters of interest that Aubrey sent us, but I’m afraid those are confidential.”

The party presses Gavigan to let them see these documents, but Gavigan sternly rejects them, and continues their tour through ancient pottery, shards, and bas-reliefs for another hour. They suspect that Gavigan is hiding something, and although a cool customer, he finally gets angry and insulted at their constant prying.  

“Good day, gentlemen!  I’m sorry about your friend.  Good bye!”

The investigators leave the Penhew Foundation, somewhat perplexed.  It is late in the evening by now so they take time to tour the city, drinking some dark beers and sampling the local cuisine.  Morty thinks they’re being followed, but can’t be sure, and they end their dinner abruptly and return to the hotel. That night they discus what to do the next day, and decide that maybe they should either go back to the Pehnew Foundation, or see Mickey Mahoney again and take another gander at those three articles that interested Jackson Elias so much.    

After packing away their trunks of artifacts and weapons as safely as they can, and latching them with heavy padlocks, they go to sleep, but Huey is awakened late that night by a quiet click.  In the dim light he sees his door open a sliver.  Chang is snoring loudly on a cot, and Morty and Arnold are likewise resting. The crack widens a little bit more, and Huey feigns sleep, watching with growing terror as someone enters the room!

Huey finally shrieks and bolts up, but two thugs have slid inside their room like thieves in the night.  They both brandish knives, and the one closest to Huey takes a vicious swipe at him, drawing a crimson gash across Huey’s palm.  The room is thrown into chaos as a fight begins in the gloom, shouts and bumps and moans as two killers try to silence the investigators. In the havoc, the gas main on a wall-mounted lantern is knocked off, and flammable gas begins seeping into the chamber.  

Morty finally plugs one of the killers with a bullet, but he’s not fast enough to stop the other from lighting a match! WHOOSH! Flames spark and spread up the curtains instantaneously, and the group begins a mad dash to drag their belongings out before the hotel burns down.  The thug flees, shouting, “Fire! Fire! Arson! Fire! There! I saw ‘em!”

Cursing their luck, the investigators throw what they can out of the window and jump to safety, joining the confusion as dozens of people flee the burning building. It’s not the last time that fire in a public place will accompany the PCs.  Firefighters and policeman have arrived, and the investigators slink away before they get compromised for a murder or a fire.  They haven’t been in town long enough to get arrested!

Dragging their belongings down the street, the investigators start taking random alleys, pushing through viscous fog until they find a cheap hostel to stay at. They think they were possibly followed yet AGAIN, so this time they devise a trap.

Using himself as bait, Huey takes a walk along the Thames. It’s dark out, and sure enough, the same thug from before eventually catches up to him.  But Chang, Morty and Arnold are waiting, and the thug is overpowered. 

“Who are you?  Who sent you?” 

The man is reluctant to answer, and to continue their trend of silencing the enemy one at a time, Huey HIMSELF cuts the man’s throat and drops the corpse into the Thames. 

Shaking from equal dread and delight, Huey wipes blood from his trembling hands with a handkerchief, telling himself, “I’m a good man.  A good man. I know it.  I know I am.  I know.  I know it. I know it…I…I…I know it! I’m…a good man.”

He has trouble sleeping that night.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #5: Castle Plum

The morning paper has an article concerning the destroyed hotel, and several Americans are suggested as suspects. Feeling that they have been specifically targeted, the investigators decide to cool their heels outside of London and let the heat die down.  The article entitled “Police Baffled by Monstrous Murders!” centers around a small town called Lesser Edale a hundred miles outside of London.  If Jackson Elias had an interest in events there, then maybe there are further clues. 

The take a bus and arrive the next day, bringing with them just the bare necessities: guns, ammunition, and black trenchcoats.  They look like friggin’ gangsters traipsing across the London countryside. 

Lesser Edale is a picturesque, quaint little town of rolling green heath and open blue sky. 






The townsfolk are welcoming of the guests at the local pub, the Laughing Boar, until the investigators start dropping questions concerning the Scoop’s newspaper article.  There is clearly an aura of tension in the town concerning the murders, and when Constable Tumwell arrives, he corroborates the general fear.  He thinks it’s a wild animal at large, and the folks in the pub still say strange things are heard around the full moon. 

[As soon as the full moon is mentioned (and the general description of “hairy monsters” tearing up folks, the players immediately suspected they were dealing with a werewolf.  So, I changed that aspect of the story slightly.] 

[I do recall that Leo had scribbled the name “Vane” in his notes, but I never connected the subplot (although I did reward him an Action Points for astute notekeeping).] 

After thoroughly questioning everyone, they find that Lawrence Vane is a suspect, and that he can be found at Castle Plum, an imposing stone edifice located several hundred yards above the village on a rocky bluff. 






Sir Arthur Vane is the senior head of the family, with his son Lawrence Vane and his twin daughters, Eloise and Alyssa Vane. 

A servant answers the door, and the investigators introduce themselves as American “specialists” seeking information about the murders. They’re able to Bluff their way inside and get an audience with the older Sir Arthur.  After some time smoking cigars and sipping brandy, Arthur’s distrust is eased, his tongue is loosened, and the investigators find out that the man is truly, truly frightened. 

…of his daughter Eloise.

He tells the investigators that his family suffers from a curse put on them by a witch as she burned at the stake in 1682.  Since then, some female daughters turn into vicious were-creatures, and there is no known cure, none that he and his son Lawrence have been able to find.  They are the only two who are aware that Eloise transforms on nights of the full moon because the servants are sent away.  Her twin sister Alyssa suspects she is sick, but Lawrence and Arthur do not openly discuss it with her. 

This very night is the full moon, and Arthur invites the investigators to stay…if they dare.  He and Lawrence typically lock Eloise in the dungeon and wait for dawn as her howls echo throughout the countryside. 

She recently escaped however, and committed atrocious murders that Lawrence was barely able to conceal. 

Photographic evidence of a genuine werewolf transformation is EXACTLY what Mickey Mahoney of the Scoop would pay dearly for, so Morty primes his camera.  Arthur lets them speak briefly with Eloise and Alyssa, but Eloise seems quiet and distracted, unwilling to talk.  Alyssa is more sociable, and secretly tells the investigators that she worries about her sister.  “Can you help her?  Is that why father brought you here?  Can you?”

They have no idea what they can or can’t do, and we have to separate meta-game player knowledge from character knowledge concerning werewolves. 

Later that day all the servants are sent away, the gates are closed and locked, watches are set, and Eloise Vane is heavily sedated with opiates in her wine. Her brother Lawrence gently carries her to the basement. 

“I cannot watch,” Sir Arthur tells them. “It…pains me too much.” 

The dungeons of the castle are located off the wine cellar.  It is dark and moldy, and Lawrence points them to the cell.  Eloise can be seen lying prone on a bed of straw.  She is manacled, but Lawrence says that she gains supernatural strength, so much that he fears she might rend the bars aside one day.   He does not stay either, retreating to the study with his father, so Morty sets up his photographic equipment and they wait for the moon to rise. 

Two hours later, Eloise begins to twitch.

Although careful to conceal their guns from the father and son, Arnold and Chang have pistols loaded and ready in case the thing somehow breaks free. Clicking the shutters on the camera, Morty starts taking pictures of the terrifying sight:

Her body warps and buckles, hair poking through her flesh, and Eloise suddenly jerks up, her face warped into a snarl, canines jutting from her jaws. The investigators are completely freaked out by this event and take some Sanity hits, but not enough to send any of them nuts. It’s not until they hear the screams from somewhere upstairs that they realize something has gone horribly wrong. 

Chang, Arnold and Huey race from the dungeon to the main level, leaving Morty alone (and terrified) as he watches Eloise grow in size, muscles rippling beneath a coat of shaggy black fur.  Her muzzle elongates, and she suddenly SLAMS against the bars, bending several outward in her insatiable bloodlust.  Morty’s presence is sending her into a rage, and Morty glances at the lantern hanging on the wall, and at the bed of straw in the cell…

The study is empty, Lawrence’s and Arthur’s cigars and brandy only partially touched. Immense stairs wrap up to the balcony, and the investigators carefully creep up, calling their names, guns cocked and ready. 

There is no response, just an odd shuffling sound from behind a door at the top of the stairs, and peeking in, Chang sees a huge black shape hulking in the room.  It whirls around, and Chang begins screaming bloody murder.

It is a seven-foot tall half man/half boar, its tusks bathed in blood and entrails, Sir Arthur Vane’s eviscerated corpse dangling from its hands.  Allysa Vane’s shredded nightgown hangs in tatters about its hoofed feet. 






Chang starts shooting his twin pistols, but the bullets glance harmlessly off the beast’s unnatural flesh. It lowers its head and CHARGES in a mighty pounce, and by pure, pure luck, Chang falls flat and the wereboar soars over his head and crashes through a door across the hall.  It would have killed him instantly. 

They’re in over their heads.  The run screaming down the stairs, Arnold pumping shotgun shells at the thing, but it does minimal damage. The boar slams into Arnold, bowling him down the stairs where he comes to a painful halt at the bottom.  The wereboar leaps off the balcony and crashes into the floor, cutting off Huey’s escape route. 

In the meantime, Eloise the werewolf is tearing her cell to shreds.  The manacles have snapped, and she is bending the bars apart.  Morty is at his wits end, and decides that he is going to burn her to death.  He throws the lantern onto the straw, and immediately flames shoot up, catching fire to the wolf’s matted fur.  Unholy wails rip through the dungeon as Morty stumbles back, still trying to click off some pictures through the smoke. 

Huey, Chang and Arnold are having a rough time.  The wereboar is impervious to damage and swipes at them, nearly killing Huey.  He’s saved at the last second by Lawrence Vane who stumbles to the balcony, blood streaming from a head wound.

“Alyssa! Alyssa! NO!  What have you done to father?”

The boar is distracted, staring up at her brother with a mixed expression of rage, recognition and distraught, when Chang sees a godsend hanging above the massive front door:

It is the Vane family heirloom:  twin silver-plated axes.  [Totally not part of the written scenario but I couldn’t resist throwing it in there]

He leaps up, snags an axe off and plants it into Alyssa’s back.  The silver blade cuts through flesh and bone, and blood splatters Chang’s face.  Alyssa bellows in pain and explodes out a window to escape.  Arnold grabs the second axe and they give chase, even as Morty stumbles up the stairs with thick smoke coiling behind him. 

“The castle’s on fire!” he shrieks.  “I…I think I did something bad!”

Lawrence begins shrieking and crying and pushes past Morty to run down to the dungeon. 

The investigators stumble outside and give chase to the beast which has leapt with incredible speed up into the hills.  But it is a full moon and the night is bright, and they can see the creature…and they can see a mob of villagers carrying torches, pitchforks and rifles!

Sure enough, Lesser Edale has armed itself to the teeth this night, and after hearing so much commotion from Castle Plum, they’ve come to investigate. 

“There! Get the beast!” screams Arnold, and he spearheads the lynchmob of drunken commoners as they surge after the creature’s footprints and blood trail.  Behind them, flames have continued to devour Castle Plum, and the clean night is soon bathed red with heat and soot. 

Alyssa the wereboar bloodily plunges through three more villagers before she is finally cornered by two dozen people with torches a top a hill. And braving her wrath, Arnold and Chang bring the Vane family curse to a vicious end, and cut her down in a blur of sharp silver blades. 

Soon afterward, there is a group of shocked villagers standing around the corpse of a mangled nude young woman, while the crackle of flames and crumbling stone on the hill behind them….

The evening did not go as smoothly as the investigators had hoped, but they do manage to loot some quality rifles (and silver axes) from Castle Plum before it is razed completely to the ground.  Constable Tumwell is barely able to believe what happened, and insists that the investigators might need to stick around and fill out some paperwork. 

They politely decline, and then get the hell out of Lesser Edale before anything else goes wrong, taking the earliest Omnibus as possible in the morning.  The last thing they see is poor Lawrence Vane crying on the shoulder of a sympathetic soul, his entire family and fortune gone in one terrible night. He might recover one day, but he’ll be spending some quality time in a mental institute for a long, long while. 

And so the investigators return to London, realizing that they are leaving a trail of chaos in their wake.  Three American Caucasian men and a Chinaman in trenchcoats, blazing a trail of vigilante justice against the Mythos! (and whoever else gets in their way!)


----------



## Dr Simon

I'm sure Call of Cthulhu isn't meant to be funny, but this is hilarious stuff!  I'm reminded of Belkar's comment in Order of the Stick - 'If in doubt, set something on fire'.


----------



## Nebulous

Dr. Simon, it gets even better.  By the end of the Cairo chapter, my group coined a new term: The Gas Camel.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #6:  The Paintings of Miles Shipley

February 21, 1925

The investigators take the omnibus back to London and return to _The Scoop_ to see Mickey Mahoney.  They tell him they found zilch relating to Jackson Elias, but boy did they get some good pictures!  Many of Morty’s photos of Eloise’s transformation are blurry, but tantalizing nonetheless.  Mickey’s eyes grow saucer-wide and he whistles, telling them “This stuff is ace, boys!” and pays Morty handsomely. 

[GM Note: this is when we were still using the d20 Wealth System and Arnold Silvermine wanted to buy an airplane.  I think the goal was to dropship guns and supplies into new locations across the globe. It didn’t work]. 







“So, boys,” says Mickey after paying them.  “There’s word on the street ‘bout some fellows fitting your description.  I’m not saying it was you or not, but…well, you might want to be a tad careful.  Misconceptions and all that.  Inspector Barrington of Scotland Yard even stopped by yesterday, wanting to know if I’d seen anything particularly interesting that might make it into the Scoop.  Just so ya know, all this Lesser Edale business is classified.  Professionals like myself don’t release our sources.”

“Oh, one more thing,” he adds.  “I forgot to mention this, but Jackson Elias interviewed Inspector Barrington. Don’t know what they talked about, but he might tell you.  Or he might not.”

The investigators discuss their current options and leads:  Inspector Barrington knows something about Elias and the London Murders (called the Egyptian Murders by the presses); there’s the possible Mythos painting that Jackson Elias was interested in from Miles Shipley; and Edward Gavigan of the Penhew Foundation has acted suspicious, but for what reasons they don’t know.  He has otherwise been generous with his knowledge. 

The investigators attempt to stave off further illegal accusations by going straight to Inspector Barrington of Scotland Yard in an act of goodwill. They find Barrington just as he is leaving his office one fine drizzly morning.  In his early fifties, Inspector Barrington looks these four Americans up and down as they approach, obviously unsure of their motives.






The PC’s say that they were supplied his name by Mickey Mahoney of _The Scoop,_ and that they are professional investigators working for a private firm in the States. They believe that the rash of twenty-four cult-like murders might be related to a similar series of deaths across the Atlantic. 

Lighting a cigarette, Barrington begins walking slowly in the rain, the investigators tagging along.  While they hold an umbrella over him, Barrington begins jotting notes, asking their names and ages and other personal details. 

“Private firm, eh?  You know, there been people fitting your description turning up around trouble.  You know anything about that?”

The PC’s deny any involvement in fires, murders, and burning down castles full of werewolves.  But they DO supply Inspector Barrington with enough knowledge for an exchange of information.  He’s informed about a death cult in New York called the Bloody Tongue, which is only a branch of its parent cult in Kenya.  And they hint that this has something to do with a man who interviewed Barrington several months ago: the deceased Jackson Elias. 

Mentioning the murders and Elias gets Barrington talking.  He’s desperate to solve these so-called “Egyptian Murders” because most of the victims were Egyptian.  

What He and Jackson Talked About:

1)	Jackson said that the murders in London were conducted by the Brotherhood of the Black Pharaoh, an Egyptian death cult from ancient times.  Elias interviewed Edward Gavigan of the Penhew Foundation, who finances Egyptian digs, but Gavigan denied that any such cult existed to his knowledge. 
2)	A favorite Egyptian club is the Blue Pyramid in Soho. Many of the victims frequented this place, but the police haven’t been able to make a connection.
3)	A spice dealer named Tewfik al-Sayed had once guided a Penhew Foundation expedition to Egypt.  Barrington was suspicious of this man and had him tailed, but turned up nothing.  He’s still on their “suspicious” list. 

Barrington and the investigators reach Traflagar Square as the rain beats down harder. Barrington ends the interview by giving them a warning:

“We can use the help, but I would refrain from any illegal activities.  Overzealous foreigners can find a mess of trouble.  Consider yourself warned.  Have a good day.”

Barrington leaves, and the investigators have New Clues added to their growing list of Things To Do.  Jackson Elias had certainly homed in on some problems here in London, and the investigators think they’re getting close. They decide to talk to this Tewfik al-Sayed fellow who owns a spice shop.  

A few hours later, they find him, a chubby Egyptian fellow behind the counter of a two story building in Soho. Tewfik sees amiable enough, but denies knowing anything.  He admits to knowing Edward Gavigan, and yes, he was hired a few times as a guide on an Egyptian dig.  The current dig is being led by Dr. Clive of the Clive Expedition, a competent man who doesn’t need Tewfik’s services. 

The investigators don’t get any more useful information out if Tewfik al-Sayed, so they leave his shop and continue their search for clues. 

Options: 

       1.  Return to the Penhew Foundation and search for clues.
       2.  Snoop around this Blue Pyramid nightclub for clues
       3.  Check out the “Shocking Canvases” newspaper article that interested Jackson.  

They settle for the last option and head to the house of Miles Shipley.  On the way they see an issue of the Scoop and read the cover story:


“DERBYSHIRE DEMONS!”
By Mickey Mahoney​Last night in Lesser Edale the disturbing rash of murders in the area met a horrific conclusion. A dozen witnesses saw and hunted down a huge hairy beast seen departing the residence of Sir Arthur Vane. Armed with torches, pitchforks, guns, and—amazingly—two silver axes, the citizens of Lesser Edale and several visitors chased the monster and killed it, only to find it was the daughter of Sir Vane IN DISGUISE, as admitted by local Constable Tumwel.  There were a number of deaths involved with this incident, including Sir Vane himself, his daughters, and several townsfolk…


Shaking their heads at the memories of that night, the investigators continue to the residence of Miles Shipley and knock on the door. 

His mother, Bertha Shipley, opens the door and inquires if they are here to purchase paintings.  Lying, they say YES, but Arnold Silvermine gained the Wealth Feat early in the campaign and has been supplying everyone with money since the beginning. A little extravagant spending on New Age art is nothing. Hell, Arnold wants to buy a plane! 

[GM Note: The short-term goal is still to contact Jonah Kensington in New York as often as possible, mailing and telegramming him their current whereabouts, persons whom they’ve met, and clues collected.  They succeed at this reasonably well in London, taking the time after each chapter (or during) to contact Jonah and keep him abreast of their progress (or lack thereof).  The party is VERY worried about a TPK and the difficulty of story continuity.  I happened to agree with them.] 

So masquerading as art dealers, the investigators easily talk their way inside and are led to the drawing room.  Bertha is plump and likable enough, and talks about current art deco trends and her son’s fantastic progress and fortune as she leads them to the waiting area. 

Stacks of paintings lean against the walls, and while the investigators wait for Miles to arrive, they casually browse through the collection.  The scenes are horrible, horrifying Mythos-related abominations, and everyone suffers Sanity loss for the unprepared shock, especially Arnold Silvermine who thumbs through about ten pictures!  One particular painting features a towering black mountain with a manlike creature standing over it, as large as the mountain itself, waggling a hideous red tongue…






Miles Shipley finally arrives.  He is a thin, pale young man with hollow cheeks and vacant eyes.  He mumbles a greeting and asks if they have come to purchase his masterpieces? 

“Dark beauties.  Ancient lust.  Sinful yearning of the flesh and soul and pain and pleasure.  I can share it with you.  For a price.  Yes, always a price…”






He talks like a loony, but the investigators want to learn what he knows, so they end up buying six works of art.  Only Arnold has the balls to view each one, and after the resulting Sanity bash the others carefully roll the paintings up.  

[GM Note:  Included were multiple CoC pieces depicting various aspects of the Mythos unrelated to this adventure, although Arnold picked up ranks in the Mythos Skill. Much of it had an Egyptian flair, which fueled their expedition to Cairo] 

[GM Note 2: the d20 cthulhu mythos skill is inaccurate.  The character’s Sanity is percentile based, while their Mythos Skill is d20.  I never fixed this problem really, but the EASY solution is this: make the Sanity and Cthulhu Mythos skill all percentile.  Don’t let PC’s gain ranks in Mythos.  They gain small increments of percentiles, at the GM discretion. Their max sanity goes down an equal rate.]

Morty notices a stairwell with a padlock on the door at the bottom, but when asked what is down there, Miles says that’s his secret project, and no one can see it. 

Temptation is deadly, and the investigators try to talk him out of his decision, but the man is adamant.   Miles gives them a receipt for the paintings they bought and callously waves them off, even as he strips naked and begins to paint with his fingers a new blasphemous creation. 

On the way out, Chang notices a funny smell in the kitchen as the Bertha closes the door behind them, but can’t quite place it. Bertha carefully watches them leave…

The investigators naturally want to return and scope out the Shipley residence in more detail.  Returning after midnight, they sneak in under cover of London fog, and Chang picks the lock. It is deathly quiet inside, and Morty sees Miles Shipley asleep in bed.  The door to his mother’s room is closed. 

They sneak to the vaulted art room and Chang picks the lock on the door to the basement. Beyond is a small chamber housing a single large painting under a canvas.  Fingers twitching, Huey volunteers to peel the canvas back, knowing that something horrible and Sanity draining surely lurks beneath.  

The painting depicts a jungle setting from a prehistoric era.  Hundreds of serpents writhe in false motion around a black stone altar in a swamp.  In the background, hints of large dinosaurs peek above the trees, and lizard eyes glance through the branches.  Huey stares, mesmerized, and continues to stare…

…and stare….

…and stare…

…and the serpents begin to truly wiggle!  He feels a part of him detach, but through supreme willpower Huey pulls away, and averts his eyes from the painting.

“Cover it!” he gasps.  “Cover it!”

Chang whips out a knife and cuts away the back of the painting, rolls it up, and stuffs it inside an empty cardboard tube.   This is the only painting they actually steal.   

But on the way to the backdoor in the kitchen, they are met by Bertha Shipley standing by the exit with a cup of coffee in her hands. 

“Did you forget something?” she asks in a strange, husky voice. 

Huey tries to stammer out a lie, but is cut short by a serpentine rasp from Bertha.  Her tongue flicks in and out, forked, as she hisses:

“I will devour you meddlesome humans! You DIE NOW!”

Bertha’s transforms in a heartbeat, her fat skin sloughing off to unveil the true creature beneath: Ssathasaa, a huge serpent-man sorcerer who has encased himself in Bertha’s flesh.  The investigators are taken completely off guard, and the serpent person flings itself into their midst, clawing and biting with sharp poisonous fangs. 

Huey and Morty are both ripped across the face, blood pouring into their eyes, and they stumble backward shrieking.  Arnold is flipped over the kitchen table as it cracks beneath his weight, and Chang unloads both barrels of his pistols into the snakething’s abdomen. 

Green blood splatters, and then it’s atop him in a flash, poisonous fangs gnashing at his throat, but Chang barely manages to keep them from piercing his jugular.  Huey slams a kitchen chair onto the serpent’s head, and Morty pulls out his pistol, clicking off rounds. 

Arnold recovers, and whips out his shotgun, planting buckshot in the thing’s back as soon as he has a clear shot.  The serpent staggers under the blow, then backhands Arnold, knocking him into the wall where he crumples, dazed. 

About that time, Miles Shipley stumbles into the kitchen, screaming “Leave Mother ALONE!” but Morty tackles him to the floor and starts raining punches on his head to knock him unconscious.  

The serpent man staggers away, chanting the words to a spell, and Chang thinks these words sound familiar-- he heard the same thing in the basement beneath the Ju-Ju House when he lost his pinky finger.  “Nooooo!” he screams, and plants two more bullets in each serpentine eye.

Brain matter explodes out the back of Bertha’s inhuman head, and she slowly crumples, her scales flaking off, green froth bubbling from her mouth. Stinking fumes rise from her corpse, even as the investigators hear the WAIL of police sirens outside. 

They’ve been busted.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> By the end of the Cairo chapter, my group coined a new term: The Gas Camel (TM).




This is Leo (the guy who plays Huey - spoiler: 



Spoiler



...for now.  Neville Thornbottom and Chad Slambody later


).  This was a pretty gung-ho campaign...and I've played a LOT of RPGs, but coming up with The Gas Camel (TM) is one of my proudest gaming accomplishments.


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> This is Leo (the guy who plays Huey - spoiler:
> 
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> 
> 
> 
> ...for now.  Neville Thornbottom and Chad Slambody later
> 
> 
> ).  This was a pretty gung-ho campaign...and I've played a LOT of RPGs, but coming up with The Gas Camel (TM) is one of my proudest gaming accomplishments.




Here's an idea, Leo:  the group's name could be dubbed:

The Company of the Flammable Camel






Edit:  It's not as sadistic as it sounds, but the Gas Camel chapter won't be posted for some time.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Edit:  It's not as sadistic as it sounds, but the Gas Camel chapter won't be posted for some time.




No, it is not as sadistic as it sounds.  It is, in fact, far more sadistic than it sounds...especially once we realized we could expand the definition of "camel" to include "horse", "truck", and "person".


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> No, it is not as sadistic as it sounds.  It is, in fact, far more sadistic than it sounds...especially once we realized we could expand the definition of "camel" to include "horse", "truck", and "person".




You're a bad, bad man.


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #7: The House in the Marsh*

*Adventure #7: The House in the Marsh*

The PC’s are initially arrested for assault, but to their advantage, the corpse of Ssathasaa dissolves into a puddle of unidentifiable goop.  Even better, Miles Shipley proves himself to be absolutely insane, babbling so much B.S. that he can’t even press charges or agree that the PC’s are to blame.  He’s thrown into an asylum and Bertha’s disappearance is eventually blamed on him. 

The investigators claim it was self defense and that they were invited inside for a showing. And they still have receipts for the paintings they bought previously! Although heavily fined, [Arnold Silvermine soaking up the brunt with his family wealth and cashed stock bonds] and their weapons confiscated [bringing them down to nearly no offensive capabilities] they are released from jail after a week or so.

During the downtime, they make acquaintances with WESLEY THATCHER, a British detective who is interested in their case, and who turns out to possess knowledge of the Mythos.   They convince him that their mission is a worthy one, even if flagrantly unlawful at times. 







[GM Note:  Thatcher was controlled by a brief player for about two or three sessions.  His character was actually instrumental in getting the PC’s out of London because they were in so much legal trouble by then. And honestly, they probably got off easier than they should have].

Upon leaving jail, they check their hidden trunks.   They have taken care to hide their residence and gear, and if anyone tracked them, they found nothing.  Their trunks of Mythos items and ammunition (and silver axes) are intact, but now the PC’s are missing pistols and shotguns.  Police detective Wesley Thatcher joins their team and tells them that they really need to lay low.  Barrington is out for blood and desperate to solve the Egyptian Murders, but Thatcher steals a few items from impound anyway, including the serpent painting from Miles Shipley. 

Their first business of priority, because bullets solve problems, not libraries, has Arnold Silvermine using his gangster skills to set up an illegal trade for artillery in the near future. He calls connections and arranges for a late night transaction later in the week.

In the meantime, Jonah Kensington is called, telegrammed, and mailed a few boxes of handwritten notes and copied letters detailing EVERYTHING that they have been through:  the were-creatures, the attack in the hotel they burned down, the snake person in Miles Shipley’s House, the crazy painting, everything. Jonah Kensington even sends them a telegram in return, letting them know about some info he dug up in back in the states:


WORLDWIDE TELEGRAM

TO: PROSPERO PARTY
FROM: JK

NEW INFO!

R. CARLYLE SAVED JACK BRADY FROM MURDER CONVICTION 1918.  UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP. MORE: R. CARLYLE COVERED UP HUSTON’S LOVER’S SUICIDE. BLACKMAIL? UNKNOWN. MORE:  HYAPATIA MASTER’S PURPOSE ON TRIP UNKNOWN.  PHOTOGRAPHER?

PLEASE UPDATE 

[STOP]

Jonah has been very helpful, and the PC’s are glad to have him coordinating things from his end. 

However, a few nights later, when Arnold goes to meet his weapons contact, he nearly meets disaster. 

The alley is dark and foggy, the streetlamps burned out, and Arnold carries just a single flashlight.   The others are elsewhere, leaving Arnold to conduct his illicit business on his own.  Arnold calls out the name of his contact, LaVue, a Frenchman, but there is no answer.  The fog is unusually thick, even for London, and Arnold soon finds himself confused and lost in the twisting alleys. 

“LaVue!  LaVue! La— Oh.”

He stumbles across a corpse.  It’s probably LaVue, and yes, there are pistols to buy in a leather satchel.  Arnold snatches them up, but almost immediately feels tenebrous coils of mist pushing up his nostrils, down his throat, slamming him against the brick wall.  He’s suffocating, choking, and stumbles to his knees, scanning with the flashlight for his assailant.  The coils of mist recede, sighing, and Arnold staggers to freedom, heaving lungfuls of clean air, as the fog crawls away to hide…






[GM Note:  The PC’s never learned that E. Gavigan had sent a Fog Spawn after them, although they later collected the necessary components for the spell]

Re-armed and refortified (and with a temporary 5th party member, Wesley Thatcher), the PC’s evaluate their clues:

1)	The Blue Pyramid Club
2)	E Gavigan and the Penhew Foundation
3)	Tewfik al’Sayed and his spice shop

The Blue Pyramid is a new clue, so they put the others on the backburner. This is the place Inspector Barrington told them was a hotspot for the Egyptian Murders. Somewhere, there must be a link to Jackson Elias.  He knew about the cult, and possibly even its hierarchy. 

The Blue Pyramid is a hazy Soho nightclub featuring sensual belly dancers, greasy food, and strong drinks.  It is very busy the night the PC’s arrive, so they settle down and watch for familiar faces or anything out of the ordinary.  They drop a few questions to the dancers, such as “Does anyone know about the Egyptian Murders?”  They don’t get many answers, although later one particularly attractive young woman slides up and down Huey, making him uncomfortable and aroused at the same time.  Only after she has left does Huey notice a note in his lap!

“MEET ME AT MIDNIGHT AT THE CORNER.  I HAVE INFORMATION. BURN THIS.” 

Huey eats the note instead, and whispers to the others what it revealed.  They stick around for a while and leave the club around midnight. 

They’re very cautious, hands to their guns, but the girl is hiding in the shadows on the corner, alone, just as she said. 

“My name is Yalesha,” she whispers, “and I must say this quickly. I know of the Brotherhood.  They are a dark sect in this city, and they killed my brother!  My sweet brother Jory…”  She starts crying, and wipes away tears in anger. “Listen, all I know is that once a month a truck comes to the back of the club late at night. A few dozen club members sneak out the loading dock, led by a fat man named Tewfik. I don’t know where they go.  That is all I know. Just…do something. Goodbye.”

She vanishes into the night, leaving the investigators a vital new clue:

Tewfik al-Sayed is involved with this after all!  

Wesley Thatcher is aware that Barrington has had Tewfik tailed in the past, but it never turned up a lead. Wesley is strangely loyal to this group of vigilante Americans, and he agrees to help them track down the late night truck.  

[GM Note:  oddly enough, the investigators never return to Tewfik’s spice shop to ransack it, burn it down, or interrogate Tewfik.  They never return to the Penhew Foundation either, and they never found the London warehouse or The Ivory Wind. So much burning potential wasted!]

They have no idea when it will arrive, so for five nights in a row they hire a taxi driver named Fred Mearls.






Fred is a talkative fellow who thinks that he has been hired as part of a secret international espionage mission.  The PC’s let him keep thinking that, only that when the time is right, Fred will need to drive them as far as needed. 

On a wet, blustery Friday night, the fog rolling in thick and cold, they finally get their chance.

A truck pulls up to the back and a handful of men exit the club.  Tewfik al-Sayed is the driver. 

“Alright, Fred,” Morty tells the cabbie.  “Here’s where you earn your pay.  Don’t lose them!”

“You got it, boss.”

The truck rolls slowly through the fog, and soon exits London and heads into the countryside, moving northward. 

“Heading to the marshes, looks like,” says Fred authoritatively.  “Ain’t nothing out there ‘cept muck and mud and islands. Old dykes keep water back from the mainland.”

For an hour and a half the taxi tries to follow the truck at a leisurely distance, not getting too close or too far, but the lights are finally lost. Cursing, the investigators keep driving for a while, and then turn back, and this time they spot a narrow rutted path diverging from the main road. 

“Park over there,” they tell Fred.  “Keep the engine running, lights off.  Give us an hour—no, two hours—to come back.  After that, get the hell out of here and contact the police. Tell them…there’s been a murder.” 

“Right-o,” says Fred, saluting. “Ya know, we’re near the water’s edge.  There’s some islands out there, used to be old farming grounds. Now, it’s all just thousands of acres of grass and scrub, although I do think there’s an old estate out here. Called the Misr House, or some such name.”

Morty, Arnold, Huey, Chang and the British cop Wesley thank their driver, and then walk down the steep path, keeping their flashlights covered as much as possible.  They can smell the stink of rotting vegetation and fish, saltwater, and centuries of black mulch. After about half a mile, they see lights in the distance, and a six-foot wall with a guardhouse. The wall extends left and right as far as they can see.

They move off the path and creep along the wall for a few hundred yards, and then climb over. There are lights in the distance, and the shape of large building on an island.  But the only apparent way to reach it is by bridge from the guardhouse. The investigators walk along the shoreline for a while, their feet sucking down into wet mud, and they finally reach the guardhouse. Chang carefully peeks in.  There are several men playing cards within, rifles resting against the wall.  The PC’s scurry onto the road, clambering hand over hand in pitch darkness across the bridge until they reach the far side, and then scamper into the wet reeds. 

They’re safe. 

But they heard strange noises from the island, low chanting, but can’t discern the location.  They creep through the brambles and trees and finally reach the backside of the house.  It is actually a large mansion, the foundation partially sunk down into the earth.  A backdoor opens and torch-bearing men in robes walk out, heading toward a summit on the island. 






The investigators scout around the house, peeking in windows, but don’t see anyone else inside.  They break into a large furnished room that features a slightly open door on one end and a wall-sized fireplace on the other.  This fireplace, oddly enough, is utterly clean. Chang feels a chill draft from it, and after poking around, he finds a moveable brick.  Chang pushes it and a secret door opens; a narrow stairwell winding downward.










Clutching their guns, the investigators creep single file down the stairs, flashlights piercing the darkness.  Huey closes the heavy panel behind them.  At the bottom they find numerous empty cells with recent evidence that prisoners were held here.  On one wall, scrawled in dried feces, are the words: “There is no God.” Great, they think. Lovely place here. 

The corridor ends at a closed iron door. Listening, they hear nothing beyond it…and then a quick flutter, like a bird. Pushing open the unlocked door, the investigators flash illumination in all directions, pistols ready to fire at anything that squeaks.  It appears to be a sorcerer’s workshop.  






There are multiple tables and bookshelves and scientific equipment. Bags of incense, spell components and jars and beakers and bags of rare herbs and bottles of pickled body parts. 

On a writing table, beside a lamp, Huey sees a short, unfinished handwritten letter dated yesterday:

_“Dear Aubrey,
Elias has been dealt with in New York. You must stop Jack Brady. It is stupefying that he has evaded us for so long. This man may be an obstacle to the Great Work. If you wish, I will…”_

Aha! This letter is vital evidence that Aubrey Penhew and Jack “Brass” Brady of the Penhew Foundation might very well be alive, and that Brady is some sort of an enemy to them now!  Huey tucks the letter away after showing the others.  They see scrolls and a fat ledger scribbled with shipping dates and locations around the world.  There are small vials with what look like grubs, and…

…and there is something down there with them.

They hear the flutter of wings again, and movement brushes by Arnold’s face.

“Oh, !” He fires off a round, piercing the wings of some strange small creature that they can barely see.   It flutters in and out of sight, whipping a poisonous barbed stinger and then jetting away into invisibility. 






The investigators retreat in full chaos, shooting madly, but the invisible imp [GM Note: Gavigan’s familiar, and not part of the campaign book] hounds them, trying to thrust a poisonous stinger into someone’s jugular. They race back up the narrow stairwell to the secret fireplace entrance, and push onto the main floor.  The imp does not follow, and they take time to search the rest of the house.

A decrepit stairwell leads to the second floor, where there is a rune-engraved door and many empty bedrooms.  They briefly try to open the door, but it is magically sealed and they can’t even damage it.  It retrospect, they think that something might be LOCKED in there that they shouldn’t let out, so they retreat downstairs and sneak in the general directions the cultists were heading earlier.

Up the hill.

There is a ritual being conducted.  They see a dozen men in robes standing around a tall stone stele. 






Several crying prisoners are chained to the stele.  The moon is a cruel sliver behind the clouds.  The investigators make sure their guns are loaded, and carefully approach the ritual, hiding behind large boulders. They’re not too far away when two men remove their hoods, and they clearly see Edward Gavigan and Tewfik al-Sayed. 






These guys are leading the little gathering, and when they point, cultists begin beating the prisoners with clubs! Gavigan and Tewfik are chanting, their arms raised, and a strong wind begins to blow, carrying upon it unnatural whines and cries. Something unwholesome has been summoned. 

The investigators can’t stand to see innocents tortured, so they rush from their hiding places and open fire!  

Gunshots ring across the night, and a blast catches Gavigan in the shoulder, spinning him off his perch on a rock. Chaos fills the top of the hill, but as soon as the investigators think they have the upper hand, a horrible screech rends the air.  A large winged creature circles down through the clouds, and the investigators turn tail and run for their lives. Prisoners be damned! 






They keep shooting at the cultists, but a few cultists are armed too, and the investigator’s retreat turns into a staggered line of ducking, crawling and popping off shots.  The winged thing scoops up a prisoner, blood and intestines raining down as it soars up and dismembers the poor man. 

Chang is shot in the leg and tumbles down to the bottom of the hill.  A cultist catches up to him with a knife in hand, but Chang kicks his leg out from under him, staggers up, and keeps running.  Morty hangs back to cover Chang, but by this time Huey and Arnold and Wesley Thatcher have sprinted far ahead. 

They run madly across the bridge, but blaring sirens and lights halt their retreat. It’s the London Police!  A fully armed squad forces their way through the gate after exchanging gunfire with the guards.  The team is led by Inspector Barrington who has had the investigators tailed.  Their taxi driver Fred Mearls is already in cuffs, and he vigorously waves at the investigators, saluting and smiling, and makes the motion “My Lips Are Sealed My Espionage Friends!” 






Everyone is arrested, and Gavigan and Tewfik are brought in on charges of possible murder and kidnapping. In the meantime, the creature summoned soars up into the clouds and vanishes, unseen by the authorities. 

The PC’s are in trouble too.  They carry illegal guns, and they might have something to do with the ritual on the hill, and possibly the murder of several attendees.  Gavigan tries to pass it off as religious freedom and that the investigators trespassed and killed innocent members, but Gavigan lands in a load of trouble.  Barrington isn’t buying any of this crap, and the ensuing investigation finds evidence of murder on the island, [including buried corpses later on]. 

Tewfik and the surviving cultists are arrested and everyone is thrown in jail.

Back at Scotland Yard, The PC’s are interrogated one at a time to learn what they know about the Egyptian Murders.  They’re as honest as they can be, citing again that they’re a private team hired to learn about Roger Carlyle’s lost expedition. Barrington tries to corroborate this information with Jonah Kensington in New York.










Wealthy Arnold Silvermine gets them out on bail a few weeks later, and they take a rowboat back to the mansion and steal EVERYTHING they can find!  The Misr House has been boarded and padlocked, but that doesn’t stop them from getting in.  The pesky imp is shot and killed, and the investigators end up loading their rowboat full of occult items, everything they couldn’t steal during their first visit to the Misr House.  This includes a fat ledger that implicates importers and exporters across the globe, such as Aja Singh in Mombasa, Ho Fong in Shanghai, Silas N’Kwane in New York, Randolph Shipping in Port Hedland, Australia, and many more. 

It also includes a heavy black stone bust of an Egyptian ruler that Morty finds himself staring at, mesmerized by the man's intense soulless black eyes.  He wonders who this dark pharaoh was...






Wesley Thatcher is fired but continues to help the PC’s.  He gets them fake passports to leave the country, because they might be arrested again at any time, or deported to America and brought up on charges there.  All of their guns were confiscated, but they managed to keep their spare trunks hidden at a tertiary hotel. 

The session ends with the group falling into a fitful sleep, knowing that dawn will greet them as they are about to embark on a new journey to Cairo, following a trail of clues and confusion.

At this point, they know that dark magic is afoot in the world, and the Carlyle Expedition was somehow involved, and some of them possibly still alive.  Jackson Elias found that out too, and was killed for his knowledge.  

The investigators pray they’re not next on the list.


----------



## GodPhoenix

A couple of comments...



			
				Nebulous said:
			
		

> their weapons confiscated [bringing them down to nearly no offensive capabilities] they are released from jail after a week or so.




I think this was when Kent (Arnold Silvermine) got the idea of arranging a _weekly_...*sigh*...gun deilvery service.



> [GM Note:  The PC’s never learned that E. Gavigan had sent a Fog Spawn after them, although they later collected the necessary components for the spell]




Oh yes we did.  I don't think we knew "for absolute certain" but we were convinced enough to cast Heartseeker at him from the other side of London to let him know we were "for realz".



> and they never found the London warehouse or The Ivory Wind. So much burning potential wasted!][/color]




Had we found the warehouse, dear readers, I'm sure we would have burned it down.



> Wealthy Arnold Silvermine gets them out on bail a few weeks later, and they take a rowboat back to the mansion and steal EVERYTHING they can find!




The proceeds of which funded many future warehouse-related fires.


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> Oh yes we did.  I don't think we knew "for absolute certain" but we were convinced enough to cast Heartseeker at him from the other side of London to let him know we were "for realz".




Heartseeker, eh?  That must have been from a scroll?  I forgot all about that part, i'll have to edit it back in.  Speaking of editing back in...




			
				GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> The proceeds of which funded many future warehouse-related fires.




...the PC's also found this item in Gavigan's workshop, a hint of things to come:

It also includes a heavy black stone bust of an Egyptian ruler that Morty finds himself staring at, mesmerized by the man's intense soulless black eyes.  He wonders who this dark pharaoh was...


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #8: Hello, Cairo

March 7, 1925 

The session begins with the investigators asleep in bed the morning they are to sneak out of London. Thatcher has heard that Barrington is arranging new warrants for their arrest, but  Thatcher has preemptively hired a boat to shuttle the PC’s out of the country.  They will have new identities and passports to use in Cairo, another favor Thatcher procured through illegal avenues. He himself will stay and suffer the consequences of his actions.

However, Edward Gavigan holds one last trick up his sleeve.  






Gavigan is aware of the theft from the Misr House, and with help from Tewfik al-Sayed and his Magic Mirror, these two sorcerers toss Sanity-shredding spells against the heroes, and each one is privately subjected to his own hellish experience.  As if their experiences in the last chapter weren’t Sanity draining enough!

[GM Note: I showed each player what was happening in his dream, and described it while the others wondered what he was looking at…and why they were gulping].  

Bone-white children with horrible eyes and sharp fangs assault Morty. 






Arnold finds himself in a bloody morgue, a toetag on his foot, his intestines being devoured by a female ghoul. 






Huey’s brain is sucked out by some amorphous abomination. 






David’s character is actually attacked by Ygolonac, the palms in his hands chewing up Chang’s face and swallowing his flesh






[They all rolled VERY high Sanity loss scores in their dreams, but upon waking, and realizing it was just a dream, the losses were considerably lessened.]

Shaking from the nightmares, they assume that none other than Edward Gavigan could have done this to them.  And the investigators aren’t ones to idly sit back!  Searching through scrolls stolen from the Misr House, Huey is able to decipher a Latin manuscript detailing a spell called “HEARTSEEKER.”  Directed at Gavigan by using some of his personal accouterments as a focus, Huey studies and casts the vile spell, hoping to kill Gavigan.  The results are unfortunately unknown. 

They decide to leave late that night before something else goes wrong.  They’re under house arrest by Scotland Yard, but Thatcher arranges an elaborate diversion that allows the PC’s time to leap unseen into the back of a truck. Thatcher himself drives them to the docks where he bids them goodbye, good luck, and he exits the campaign permanently.  They’ll need the luck.  

It is the last contact they’ll have with Gavigan for a long, long time. 

Within a week, they find themselves resting on the tranquil Isle of Patmos in the Mediterranean, the fabled place where St. John wrote Revelations.  






Patmos is a rocky place featuring goats and monasteries, cawing seagulls and the gentle murmur of waves, and for a short while the PC’s are able to regain fragments of their tortured Sanity.  But then it’s onward to Cairo, where they suspect that the Carlyle Expedition unearthed more clues, and where Jackson Elias contacted someone named FARAZ NAJIR, an antiquities dealer. 

Furthermore, the ledger obtained from Gavigan’s estate has addresses here in Cairo, as well as numerous other countries.  Surely, some of these people must know something?  And how involved are they in these murderous cults? 

Current Leads (not including clues in several other countries):
1)	Some guy named Brady, probably Jack Brady from the original expedition, has caused problems for Gavigan and Aubrey.  According to Jackson’s Nairobi notes, Brady might be in China. 
2)	Faraz Najir, on the Street of Jackals, dealt with Jackson Elias buying items
3)	The Penhew Foundation has financed digs in Egypt many, many times
4)	The Carlyle Expedition passed through here and possibly left evidence

They arrive in Egypt near Port Said, and after unloading, secure a train to Cairo.  






They have managed to bring all of their trunks and luggage with them, and sneak past pesky customs officials, which was an adventure in and of itself. 

It is March 18, 1925, approximately two months since their journey first began. 

The weather is actually quite nice, with a few clouds scuttling across the sky.  They pack themselves onto the train for the half a day ride into the city, absorbing all the new sights, but nothing has prepared them for the exoticness of Egypt. 




Arabic languages waft around them, and Huey is able to pick up a few words. The Academian in him proves useful sometimes!  The train finally disembarks at Ezbekia Gardens, a huge central area not unlike Central Park in NY. The PC’s step off the train and are overwhelmed by the sheer size and bustling fervor of Cairo.  It is home to over 800,000 people, and they all seem to be out at once!  Animals and citizens flock through the streets, and the investigators are bowled over by a wave of scents and sound foreign to them, and not all pleasant.






A post office is nearby, as well as the American and British Embassies, so they register where needed and take time for some sightseeing.  This plaza also houses nicer hotels, and financial institutions. They do have a few leads to follow up, but they have no idea where anyplace is, and the language barrier is becoming a problem.  They realize they’ll probably need a guide, even though one member of their party speaks limited Arabic.










But they don’t stay long in Ezbekia Gardens.  They forge out into the city, dragging their trunks behind, drinking in the luxurious, fantastic Cairo, home to secrets millennia old.  And they find that much of the city is terribly poor. Beggars stagger up to them, many with noses rotted away from syphilis.  Dirty children run through the streets, and the eyes of thieves glare darkly from alleys.






They finally pick a hotel called The Broken Camel [GM Note: which has nothing to do with the Gas Camel; that doesn’t rear it’s ugly head until “Desert Assassins”], which doesn’t seem too bad, and fairly innocuous.  That’s what they want, to blend in as well as they can.  After the chaos in London they’re wary about starting gunfights in Cairo.  They’re not even quite sure what the local laws are regarding foreigners and weapons. [They find out soon enough]

The hotel concierge points in the direction of several young men who will act as guides, introducing them to an innocent-looking ten-year old boy named Ma’Moud. They soon learn that Ma’Moud is homeless, impoverished, and desperate for companionship.  He is more than happy to show the investigators around Cairo, and even though he speaks rudimentary English, they quickly come to like and rely on him. [And Ma’Moud enters campaign play as a long-enduring NPC]






The Street of Jackals is still their biggest Cairo lead, and one Faraz Najir, who had some business dealings with Jackson Elias.   

The streets are bustling with commerce and people, the tide of noise and scents nearly overpowering.  The investigators have no idea where they are, so they trust Ma’Moud for guidance.  The next day will test their determination, and force upon them the first death of the campaign. 

In fact, the entire Egypt chapter racks up the body count. 

The session ends with them overlooking the Nile River, the sun dipping into a molten horizon…


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #9: Ambush at the Broken Camel

Early the next morning, something tapping on the window wakes Chang up.  The sun has just crested the city skyline. Yawning and stretching, he pulls back the curtain and looks out…

…and sees Ma’Moud throwing up small pebbles from the alley below.  Ma’Moud waves, smiling, and Chang waves back, about to close the curtain…

…when a window directly across the street draws his attention.  The curtain jerks back, and with horribly delayed reaction, Chang sees three armed men, two of them feeding a sleeve of bullets into a Gatling gun!






“LOOK OU--!” is all he can manage. 

Hundreds of bullets rupture the morning calm, punching through plaster, wood, and glass as the investigator’s hotel room is mercilessly shredded. Chang falls flat, an arm pierced, but Huey, still groggy in bed, is not so lucky.

A bullet critically strikes him between the eyes, and then several more riddle his chest, lungs, and heart, cruelly ending Huey’s fight against the Mythos that not even Action Points can salvage. And he never got to cast “Create Corpse Walker!” [another character, dark sorcerer Lucius Lardlover, amends that later]

Chang leaps to his bed and rips both pistols out.  Morty and Arnold have fallen flat and are scrabbling for the door. But Chang has brass balls and he rolls to the window, popping up, sending a retaliatory hail of bullets across the alley.  He kills one assassin, but another takes pot shots into their room, hoping to hit someone with blind luck. 

Morty scrambles out the front door under a haze of misty plaster and paint dust, followed by Arnold, but the killers don’t take more than three or four rounds to conduct their dire business.  With the machine gunner dead, they drop their large gear and run. Chang debates leaping across, but the distance is too far.  “Downstairs!” he yells.  “They’re running out!”

Chang glances at Huey’s corpse, but swallows his grief for later. Sooner or later, they knew this was bound to happen. 

[GM Note: The bad guy's chance of actually hitting someone were very slim, but the campaign book suggested that cultist retaliation (such as rifling their hotel) was possible, especially if the cult was aware of them; and critical hits suck.]

Morty, Arnold and Chang fly through the Broken Camel and burst out the front door, hanging a left into the adjacent alley and see two cultists leaping off a fire escape. Both sides hunker behind trash barrels, pistols raging between them, pinging off brick walls and filling the dirty alley with smoke and confusion.  Chang is nicked in the ear, but his attacker is shot twice in the chest, dropping him.  The second tries to run, but Arnold chases him down and blasts him in the back. 

It is only their second day in Cairo, one of their party is dead, the enemy knows who they are, and they’re scared, wounded and gasping for breath in a dingy alleyway with no idea what to do next.  

Ma’Moud is frantic, screaming and jabbing his finger at approaching witnesses. Not wanting to get caught in the middle of this mess, the investigators retreat to the Broken Camel, grab their gear and exit as quickly as possible. Ma’Moud follows, wringing his dirty brown hands and pointing witnesses in the opposite direction, claiming that the killers ran THAT-A Way. “Go! Go! Go! Bad men that way!” He wants his new American friends to stay free and alive, so he offers misdirection for free. 

They’re barely able to avoid authorities who raid the Broken Camel and the adjacent building, hunting for culprits. 

The investigators hoof it back to Ezbekia Gardens and check into the ritziest, most expensive hotel that Arnold can afford, but later that day they are approached by police concerning the murder of Huey Fulton, except that Huey had no identification on him and the police are just following leads provided by witnesses.  By now the investigators have approached the U.S. Embassy looking for help, because they’re going to need it. 

[GM Note:  I remember some confusion during this part of the campaign over legal ramifications in 1920’s Cairo.  Some stuff I glossed over or hand-waved, but these would be excellent facts to research for future games.]

They’re finally released after denying all knowledge of anything, but are afraid that they’re in far over their heads in dangerous territory.  Huey’s loss is a difficult ordeal, but the corpse is never claimed or identified. They want to wash themselves clean of any connections.  Their lives may very well depend on it. 

[GM Note: although the players never directly learned this, Edward Gavigan had sent warning to Cairo that a group of American vigilantes were on the move, and they should be killed as soon as possible if spotted.]

Jonah Kensington is contacted back in New York and they give him the bad news.  Kensington agrees to tell Huey’s father, Huey Fulton Sr., that he’ll have to run his occult bookshop by himself from now on.  His son, unfortunately, won’t be returning home. 

They decide to lay low and avoid Faraz Najir for a few days, and by chance wind up at the Cairo Museum across the Nile River.  






There might be a connection between the Egyptian Exhibits at the Penhew Foundation in London and the extensive collections here in Cairo, so they politely ask to speak with the curator, and are introduced to a gentle elderly man who speaks English very well: Dr. Ali Kafour. 






“Dr. Kafour,” says Morty carefully, “we’re travelers and…historians from America.  We’re looking for any knowledge you might have about Jackson Elias, the Penhew Foundation, or a man named Roger Carlyle. He would have passed through here about five years ago.” 

Ali Kafour’s eyebrows arch.  He glances around as if the walls have ears.  “I know of these people. Gentlemen, let us speak in private.  Come with me.”  

Ali places a quick call on an interior phone line, and then leads them through the museum, past lavish exhibits of ancient masonry and crumbling stone hybrid animals, and other representations of Horus, Isis, Bast and Tutankhamen.  






He leads them down into steel-lined vaults to an office that is quiet, remote, and decorated with curious knick-knacks and an ornate red Persian rug. A young Englishman is waiting there and he nods at their arrival. 

[GM Note: this is Leo’s new character, a sorcerous scholar and devotee to Ali Kafour who had been created as a backup character; technically, everyone was supposed to have a backup character]

“Gentlemen,” Dr. Kafour says kindly, “please ask any questions you have.  And if you don’t mind, my assistant Neville Thornbottom will remain with us.  He has a vested interest in these affairs, and is a keen academic with the…occult.”

_The occult._

Wonderful. Not quite sure what they’ve gotten themselves into, yet again, but Morty, Chang and Arnold segue into a story about murder, corruption and lies, feeling safer and safer as Ali Kafour barely flinches, and they finally start pulling out the Big Guns, babbling about hidden death cults and black brotherhoods and zombies and the lost Carlyle Expedition which may not really be lost, and, and, and—

“Wait!” barks Dr. Kafour. Sweat dampens his forehead and his hands jitter with nervous excitement.  “Neville, shut and lock the door.”  Neville does so and sits back down, his face equally flushed. “Dear sirs,” whispers Ali Kafour, “I know the horrors of which you speak.  You have stumbled, quite unwittingly it seems, upon a great conspiracy.  A global abomination.  A plan of some sort of which I am only partially aware.  But I will tell you what I know.  We should be safe here from prying ears.  Magical or otherwise.” 

And that is all they wanted to hear. 

WHAT DR. KAFOUR KNOWS:

He is a source of awful, enlightening information, and the investigators are shell shocked (and Sanity slammed) by his story:


1) Ali believes that in 1920 the Carlyle Expedition uncovered a secret about the Black Pharaoh that led to their vanishing in Kenya. The investigator’s friend, Jackson Elias, discovered this secret and was silenced too. In some circles, The Black Pharaoh is also known as…

…NYARLATHOTEP.​
A dark god with many faces who is all too real and involved with mankind.  In fact, this god has so many aliases that they are known as Masks.

2) During 3rd dynasty Egypt a mortal sorcerer named Nephren-Ka came to
power and revived the worship of a primordial deity known as the Black
Pharaoh. Over time, distinction between man and god blurred into one.  The Black Pharaoh was finally thwarted and killed by Sneferu, a powerful king, and all traces of the Black Pharaoh were stricken from the land, or buried in the Collapsed, Bent, and Red pyramids, located in Dhashur and Meidum. 

According to legend, the Red Pyramid at Dhashur is said to guard the land lest Nephren-Ka rise from the dead to rule the world… 

2 a. When questioned in more detail about this Black Pharaoh, Ali Kafour tells them this:

1.	Nephren-Ka’s voice could travel the land as a Black Wind
2.	The Black Pharaoh would return one day to destroy the world.
3.	Inhuman worshipers of the Black Pharaoh are said to lurk in the dark
4.	The Great Sphinx of Giza has an important—and unknown--relation to Nitcrosis.


Nitcrosis?  [pronounced “Night – Crow – Siss” in this campaign] Who is that? they ask, getting even more confused.  Ali Kafour elaborates on this elusive person from Egypt’s dark past; an ancient and cruel queen of the Nile Valley who tortured her subjects. Little is known about her reign, but she and the pharaoh Nephren-Ka may have had a connection. 

3) The CLIVE EXPEDITION is the current Penhew Foundation dig active in Egypt, but recently they had a new mummy stolen from a pyramid at Giza.  The mummy, who Ali believes was NITCROSIS, coincides with a prophecy that foretells the return of the Black Pharaoh.  But the mummy has mysteriously vanished from Giza’s smallest pyramid Menhaura, right out from under the nose of the Clive Expedition and the stationed guards. 

4)	Ali Kafour doesn’t know where the Clive Dig is now, but a man named Janwillen Vanheuven might.  He was publicly fired from the dig several months ago for alcoholism and maybe other reasons.  The local paper archives have all the details. If they can track him down, he might know where the Clive Expedition has gone.  He might even know more than that…

5)	Ali Kafour has always respected Sir Aubrey Penhew, Director Edward Gavigan and the Penhew Foundation itself, but ever since Sir Aubrey’s death there has been numerous expeditions to Cairo accompanied by mysterious deaths, disappearances and suicide, following the same symptoms established by the Carlyle Expedition. The whole region seems cursed. 

The PC's are quick to tell Ali that Gavigan was a cultist  and nearly killed them, to which Ali replies
that their group is in dire danger, and they face threats greater than any imagined.  Ali suspects that the dead Mummy Queen Nitcrosis plays a vital role in upcoming events, but he knows not how.  His co-worker Neville Thornbottom volunteers to join their fledgling group and use his extensive Mythos knowledge to help them.

And Neville knows potent and reality-altering magic, like the extraordinary Bodywarping of Gorgoroth, magic stronger than the rest of the party has ever seen. 

[GM Note: Ali Kafour, unknown to them, is an accomplished magician too, but his secret skills are not revealed.  He remains in the background as their financial connoisseur, eventually replacing Jonah Kensington in New York as the core party is destroyed, driven mad, and replaced by new heroes opposed to the Mythos…except for Chang Chin, the longest running survivor]

Morty, Chang, Arnold and Neville step out into the sunshine near the Cairo Museum, their Egyptian guide Ma’Moud smiling up at them. He is so trusting, and the players (not just the characters) feel a deep compulsion to keep him safe and alive.  They now possess a greater understanding of the terrible plans that Jackson Elias had unearthed.  There is a plot at work here, the reins held by a dark and malevolent deity that they can barely comprehend.  And this deity commands hundreds if not thousands of worshippers who will slay them to keep their secrets hidden. 










Using Ma’Moud, they finally attempt to find The Street of Jackals and one Faraz Najir, an antiquities dealer who dealt with Jackson Elias in the past. It takes three hours, but their meandering path leads them to Old City and the crumbling edifices of ancient Cairo. 






But Najir’s old shop is a burned out shell.

Bummed, the investigators discuss what they should do.  They have no idea where to find this man.  Speaking fluent Arabic, Neville Thornbottom asks a local shop owner where they can find the former resident of this location.  






The man invokes Allah at the mention of Faraz Najir, and tells Neville that “a demon made of fire came years ago and set the shop aflame. The owner barely escaped alive.”  However, the informant knows where Faraz set up a NEW shop, and for a few coins greasing his palm, he tells them.

Kahn El-Khalili is a crowded marketplace bustling with vendors and buyers, and the new address is on the Street of Potters.  Ma’Moud is able to competently lead them there, and within an hour, they have found their man. 

Amidst dozens of similar markets is a door marked in several languages, one of which states “Faraz.”  Neville and Morty enter, pretending to browse while Arnold and Chang remain outside.  Ma’Moud rubs his toe in the dirt and watches his new, bizarre American friends. 

The shop is filled with worthless junk, even the newcomers can see that, and lording over this house of rubbish is a hideously scarred man slouched behind a counter: Faraz Najir.






Old burns scar half of his flabby face, and he raises a weak hand in greeting. 

Drawing closer, Neville calmly asks if Faraz has any knowledge regarding a man named Roger Carlyle, leader of an expedition that passed through this region roughly five years ago.  Or perhaps a man named Jackson Elias, an American writer?  

Faraz’s eyes grow wide. “Blasphemers!” he hisses.  “Leave this place!  Leave now! You go!  Go! GO! GO! GO!”

He shoos them away with a broom, but when Neville and Morty continue to press questions, Faraz picks up a cheap bronze urn and chucks it at them.  “Help!” shouts Faraz. “HELP ME!”

The investigators don’t wait around.  Apologizing, they scramble out as curious onlookers note them.  Morty tosses some coins to the ground, and the last thing they see is Faraz Najir bending down to pick them up, biting a silver between his teeth…

Discouraged, but not beaten, the investigators send Ma’Moud back to watch Faraz and see if he goes anywhere.  The boy happily obliges, and they wait at a local cafe for any word.  A few hours later Ma’Moud runs up and tells them that Faraz has gone to a restaurant. They decide to pay the man off for information, and approach Faraz again, telling him they just have some simple questions!  And money!

“We mean no harm!” Neville insists in Arabic.

Arnold Silvermine throws a silver coin down. Faraz stands up, about to run, but scowling, asks,

“WHAT in Allah’s holy name do you want?” 

“Just questions answered, kind sir; a moment of your time,” Neville answers. 

“Time is money,” the shopkeeper spits. They flip him another coin. He waits.  They flip him two more.  “I will answer, but not here, not now.  Meet me at the El Hussein Mosque the day after tomorrow.  5 in the evening.  I will answer your questions only there, under the merciful eye of Allah.”

Thanking him, the investigators leave and travel back to Ezbekia Gardens, hoping that this lead will pan out, and wondering just how merciful Allah truly is.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #10:  The Drunk Dutchman

The next day the investigators hop a tram to Giza.  They have not been to the pyramids yet and want to see firsthand where the mummy (possibly Nitcrosis) was stolen from the Clive Expedition.   

Find the mummy, and they might find the next clue to the Carlyle Expedition. 

They reach Giza and are awed by its sweeping majesty.  The leonine Sphinx looms over them as if ready to pounce, and the great pyramids stoically rest behind it, etched upon the horizon like sleeping giants.  














The investigators inspect the Menhaura pyramid (the smallest one), asking the guards about the mummy found by the Clive expedition.  The guards claim to have heard screams that night, and other guards near the chamber disappeared without a trace. The current sentries are pretty unnerved by that, but insist that there is no way such a huge sarcophagus could vanish!  The investigators conduct their own search and find a discolored stone in the tomb but no apparent means to move it.  






There are other tourists here and the investigators finally leave, having hit a dead end.  

They return to Cairo and talk to Ali Kafour.  His sources haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary, but he suggests Janwillen Vanheuven again.  Maybe the Dutchman can tell the investigators more about the Clive Expedition, who can in turn inform them about the stolen mummy.  It is a long shot, but a chance nonetheless. 

Finding the man proves problematic though and requires some door knocking at the local embassies and paying off a few citizens.  But within two days, they hear that a Dutch fellow lives in a very, very poor part of town in Old Cairo on the Street of Moths.  It is difficult to find, and requires another lengthy trip through the sprawling city.







When they arrive, an old Egyptian man is shooing cats out the front door of a tailor shop.  Neville politely asks if he has seen a man named Janwillen Vanheuven, and the tailor tentatively points inside.  He looks the group up and down, and then turns a “Closed” sign on the door and shuffles down the street, throwing back worried glances. 

The investigators enter the shop and can smell Vanheuven before they see him. 

Janwillen is passed out in a small, squalid bedroom.  Well, not so much a bedroom than a converted closet. His “door” is a tattered cloth.  There is a stained wireframe cot, a bedside table cluttered with paper, pens and books, a chair, and dirty clothes strewn in the corner.  And seven empty bottles of liquor.  And body odor so potent it is nearly tangible. 

“Ahem.  Mr. Vanheuven?” asks Morty in English, covering his nose.  Janwillen mumbles and rolls over.  “Mr. Vanheuven?  Are you awake?  We would like to speak with you.”

A cat jumps to the windowsill in the anteroom, licking its paws. 

Janwillen doesn’t answer, and on a whim, Chang squats to his hands and knees and searches under the bed, spotting a mound on the dirt floor as if something is shoddily buried there. 

Interesting.  They note this discovery, and then jostle Janwillen awake.  They need to talk to him.  The Dutchman fumbles with his spectacles and blinks at the strangers.  They’re Europeans!  He seems glad to see them, and unsteadily shakes their hands.   He is obviously suffering from a wretched hangover.






The investigators question him about the Clive Expedition and what happened to his employment there, and after some initial disgruntled reactions, Janwillen tells them his story. 

“Oh, yah, how I miss them…the good Doctor Clive and Doctor Gardner…”

The Clive Expedition, he says, had found a secret chamber at Giza several months ago, and within were remarkably well-preserved scrolls indicating that the mummy could, perhaps, be Nitcrosis. 




He wasn’t sure about that, and soon afterwards was fired by Dr. Clive, and then the whole expedition uprooted to MEMPHIS. Janwillen barely got to inspect the scrolls personally.

Neville jots the new location down.  Memphis is a hundred miles south of the original dig site at Giza.

“Why were you fired?”

He jerks his head to the bottles strewn around the room.  “My hobby,” he answers sullenly. “And…more. Perhaps. I…I do not know for sure.”

And then without provocation, Janwillen offers his personal opinions of the Clive principals:  

Dr. Henry Clive (English, a brilliant man and scholar); Johann Sprech (an unlikable German fellow); Agatha Broadmoor (a dotty old woman); James Gardner (his favorite by far); and Martin Winfield (another British archaeologist). 

[GM Note: by now the PC’s are getting cramped fingers from writing clues down] 

He respects each of them as professionals. “I do not take it personally,” he says, although from his misty eyes the investigators think he might. But soon enough, he segues into a story about an AMAZING FIND he has recently made.  

“Yah! I’ll be much famous,” he murmurs, his eyes dancing.  “Da international recognition I deserve!”

You see, he says, Gardner had given him some information, probably because Gardener felt bad about Janwillen getting fired and all.  And Gardener probably thought it was a useless red herring. Well, if only he knew what he had given up! Following Gardner’s hint, Janwillen ventured all alone into a dark, secret catacomb beneath the city streets, and he finally found a shrine.  A special shrine.  A shrine filled with small cubby holes in the walls, and the strong stink of urine. A statue was there, and in a secret compartment in the base of the statue he miraculously discovered some delicate scrolls. 






Oh yes, Janwillen claims that as soon as his new discovery is translated from Coptic to Dutch he will be rich and famous, even more so than Dr. Clive, and he won’t need their stupid mummy to gain fame and for—

“Aaagh!”

Janwillen is interrupted by a cat slinking into the room.  It maliciously hisses at him, and Chang damn near pulls out his pistol and shoots it. He hates cats anyway. 






“DEMON!” Janwillen screams and throws a shoe at it.  “Damned cats have been following me everywhere,” he mumbles.  “You’d think I was a tunafish.”

The investigators wonder about that.   

Regardless, the party wants to talk to Janwillen in more detail about both his secret project and the Clive Expedition, so they offer him brunch and booze.  Unable to refuse, Janwillen throws a hat on, pulls on some pants, and stumbles outside.

When halfway to the snack shop, Chang runs back, digs under the bed, and uncovers several ancient papyrus scrolls in a leather pouch. He glances over them, beaming at his treasure. Poorly concealed fortunes never stay concealed for long, and Chang stuffs the scrolls down his pants before rejoining his friends.  






On the corner, three cats are slyly watching him.


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #11: Mad Warren Besart (Part 1)*

Adventure # 11: Mad Warren Bessart
*Part 1: A Ghoulish Evening*

[GM Note 1 - For different reasons, the campaign stalled for nearly a year between the last episode and this one, and when it restarted, we had permanently lost one player and gained another.  It was hard getting everyone up to speed.   It is a very complex scenario even if you DO play regularly (which in our case was every 2-4 weeks, with occasional bursts once per week). Our game unfortunately halted in the middle of what I consider to be the most difficult chapter to run— EGYPT]. 

[GM Note 2 - Character Update:  All characters are 3rd level by now.  I never used experience points; I just leveled them up at my own discretion.  It averaged every 4-5 adventures.  New characters were introduced at the same level as a dead/insane one for balance reasons].

The cast--

Leo:  playing his new spellcaster Neville Thornbottom
Jake (new): playing greasy Oscar “Ocho” Ochenta, a drug dealer down on his luck
David: playing Chang still, a true survivor (but oddly incapacitated by  
            liquor or intestinal viruses for much of the remaining campaign)
Jeff:  still playing his investigator Morty Jones from New York City

Kent (sadly absent): as Arnold Silvermine, wealthy rumrunner and bad apple. 



IMMEDIATE GOALS:

1) Pick Janwillen’s brain about the Clive Expedition.  This Penhew-funded expedition has knowledge  
         about the mummy, and the stolen mummy probably has something to do with the Black Pharaoh, 
         who is probably an aspect of Nyarlathotep, which is actually a true god that the investigators can 
         barely comprehend. 
2) Either let Janwillen finish translating the Black Rites of Bast, or steal the Rites and translate it 
         themselves. Why?  They don’t even know. Why not? 
3) Meet with Faraz Najir at 5 o’clock this evening at the El Hussein mosque, under the holy eye of Allah. 
         There, he will speak to the investigators about Jackson Elias and Roger Carlyle.  For a price, of 
         course. 
4) Don’t die. 



It is nearly dark.






Neville, Arnold, Chang, Morty and Ma’Moud sit at a local Cairo cafe with the drunken Dutchman, Janwillen Vanheuven.  He is nearly incoherent by this point, but happy to accept their food and liquor.  Arnold Silvermine leaves to go find them some more booze. The small café has closed for the evening as they talk on the veranda, and stark evening shadows are already crawling across the streets. 

However…

…two tables away sits a thin, oily man from Paraguay, watching them with beady eyes:

Oscar “Ocho” Ochenta (our new player, Jake).






Ochenta is a drug dealer who has been screwed by the scummy people he associates with. They’re lying degenerates, like himself.  In fact, he has almost no money left at all, with holes in his pockets and skeletons in his closets.  But these American gangsters seem loaded, throwing money around left and right.  He listens to their entire conversation, convinced that these jokers can somehow earn him a quick buck.  Especially if he steals whatever it is they’re talking about!

“Eh, yooze there,” says Oscar to the group, interrupting them. “My name ez O-scar Ochenta. And I would like to offer you my…services.”

He passes himself off as a mercenary and guide for hire, and if they need extra muscle, he’s their man.  Actually, they DO need help, so after settling on a generous price, Oscar Ochenta is accepted at their table. Such is the trust required in a roleplaying group!

They continue with Janwillen’s alcohol-fueled interrogation.

Vanheuven spills as much as he can remember about the Clive Expedition, repeating himself quite a lot, and the reasons for his being “fired.”  “I cannot blame ‘dem,” he slurs.  “‘Ook at me, I’m a ‘retch!” 






Janwillen honestly admired the Clive Expedition: Dr. Clive, Johan Sprech, Agatha Broadmoor, Martin Winfield, and James Gardner.  His tongue is loose and he holds nothing back.  In truth, he finds himself inferior to every one of them! 

They’re so good at what they do, he cries, and he is a poor archaeologist, but wait until they see his discovery!  Gardner should never have told him to dig around in that secret holy place beneath the city. His eyes are alight as he talks about the Rites of Bast, but little does he know that the investigators have already swiped it from under his bed.  

And little do they know the trouble they’ve attracted by doing so. 

Even as Janwillen talks about the manuscript, a cat streaks up and rakes Janwillen’s foot!  He screams and kicks at the beast. It retreats, growling, hissing and spitting. 

“Monster!” he shrieks.  “Leave m’lone!” 

The cat finally leaves, and soon afterward, Janwillen falls unconscious, his forehead striking the table with a meaty “thunk.”  The party is left debating what to do, wondering why these cats are stalking Janwillen, and more importantly, why has Arnold Silvermine been gone so long?  But moments later agonized screams erupt from around the corner.

“Oh God!  God no! HELP! AGGGHH! Agh!!  Morty! Chang! HELLLLLPP!”

Everyone launches up except for Janwillen, whom Oscar and Ma’Moud stay behind to protect. Morty follows the screams, reaches the dark alley first, pistol out, but he skids to halt.  The sight beyond paralyzes him.






A fiery blue Eye of Horus blazes on a brick wall, dripping molten motes to the ground, and crawling from the earth are two rotting ghouls!  Their eyes shine with unholy light, and they move with speed and strength belying their rotting frames.  They seem to have sprouted from the street itself, and both abominations grapple Arnold Silvermine. 




“MORTY! Good Christ!  SAVE ME!!!!!” shrieks Arnold, trying to push the hands away.

Morty screams too and shoots, but it is too late.

One ghoul grips Arnold under the chin and peels off HALF his face like a grisly wet sheet. The other plunges its claws beneath his ribcage and rips his lungs out. Arnold gasps, shudders, but is dead within seconds, his intestines spilling out in ropy hot coils, and then the monsters surge toward Morty!





[GM Note:  Kent graciously allowed me to kill his character after he had moved away.  We discussed some options and settled on this one.  That is actually (half of) Kent’s face in the picture above].

Chang spins into the alley and starts shooting. Neville backs off, debating if magic is appropriate here, but reluctant to cast anything. Magic demands a grueling toll, corrupting both your body and spirit.  Back at the café, Oscar Ochenta has casually packed a pipe full of his last hashish crumbs, even as gunshots echo from the darkness.  Ma’Moud looks up at him, obviously frightened. “Tough town, kid,” grunts Oscar, and lights the pipe. 

After a brutal barrage of ammunition, the ghouls are soon destroyed, their bodies quickly decomposing, crawling with sickly white maggots that also slide into goopy residue.  The glowing Eye of Horus fades and disappears. There is no time to drag Arnold’s mangled corpse through the streets, so they strip him of anything valuable, Chang murmurs a prayer, Janwillen is hauled up by his armpits and they shuffle back to his dirty hovel.

They don’t know where the zombie-things came from, or how or why they appeared.  Someone must have set traps around the city to target them, and it looks like a potent spell.  Chang and Morty cannot help but recall Arnold’s nightmare before leaving London.  His death this evening seems eerily familiar… 






They spend the night crowded in the tailor shop, too scared to leave, barricading entrances with furniture and ready for anything. Even Oscar Ochenta joins them, and he only met these bastards a few hours ago!  He doesn’t question their odd actions, or the cats, or why Morty has blood all over him, or why they insist on staying awake with their guns loaded.  Hell, he’s seen this behavior before.  It is common in the drug trade.  

The night passes without incident, but in the morning, Janwillen Vanheuven has actually forgotten who they are.

“Eh? What ya want wid me?”

But promises of liquor, money, a place to continue his translations, and haven from the cats are easy incentive for the Dutchman.  The investigators offer to take him to the Cairo Museum, sure that Dr. Ali Kafour can find the man an empty room to continue his work.  All they want in return is more information about the Clive Expedition, and possibly an interview. No, definitely an interview. They want Janwillen to lead them to Memphis.  That is the payment for giving him a safe place to complete his translations. 

And to acquire the book for themselves, which becomes their new goal. 

Janwillen agrees, so they hand the original Rites back to him and they all leave, tromping across town to the Cairo Museum.  Hopefully, Ali Kafour won’t mind what they’re proposing to do.  

On the way to the museum, Oscar "Ocho" Ochenta notices the withering stare of a beautiful Egyptian woman.  His heart flutters from her beauty, her sensuality, but she vanishes into the crowd, and no one else seemed to notice her. 






Odd, considering her attire. But how fleeting love is, he thinks. She’ll be back for ol’ Oscar.  Ocho mentions that a fine woman was watching him, but they don’t make much out of it.  Oscar hasn’t proven himself a reliable companion yet. In fact, he’s sort of creepy. 

At the museum, Dr. Ali Kafour is mildly surprised (and annoyed) that the investigators have brought this drunken, slovenly man as a GUEST into the museum.  “This is not a boarding house!” he whispers later when Janwillen is out of earshot. 

“No,” says Neville Thornbottom, “but these are dire times, sir. In fact, doctor, I would like to suggest that we all stay here.  There are several storage rooms in the basement that can be converted.  After two attacks so far on these gentlemen I fear that it could happen again.  And this…Vanheuven fellow…he needs time to decipher the script.  Plus,” he adds slyly, “Someone else can help decipher the scrolls while Janwillen is passed out.  Good Lord, the man is in a stupor sixteen hours a day!”

Ali Kafour is finally convinced to agree with Neville.  The Rites are a major archaeological find, and it IS dangerous running around the city, especially at night.  The Museum offers a small amount of magical and material protection.  He has the staff rearrange the basement; long enough for the investigators to complete their search in Cairo. Ali also hires someone to translate the Rites of Bast while Janwillen is “sleeping.”

The investigators help Janwillen set up a new room complete with writing utensils and a bottle of bourbon.  He thanks them profusely, saying that with their assistance he’ll soon wield the most fabulous discovery of the century-- The Black Rites of BAST!

“Yeah, wonderful,” mumbles Morty. He’s heard about enough of this crazy . Boring detective work in New York City never sounded better, but he’s needed here. Something big is happening, and they’re the only ones who know about it.   


continued next post...


----------



## Nebulous

continued..."Mad Warren Besart"
*Part 2: Warren's Tale*

Neville Longbottom wields knowledge of both the Mythos and Egyptian lore, and coupled with Ali’s expertise, they tell the others that Bast is a benevolent deity, surely mythical under most standards, but from what they’ve experienced so far, gods are more real than previously imagined.  For this reason, the Black Rites could offer a magical advantage if translated and used against the enemy.

But tonight the investigators have a date with Faraz Najir.  They are supposed to meet him at the El Hussein mosque at 5pm where he has agreed to answer their questions.  So, arming themselves as usual, the investigators follow Ma’Moud back to Old City where they wait for the antiquities dealer to finish his evening prayers. 

Along the way, Ma’Moud tells them that it is extremely disrespectful to interrupt the processions, and unrepentant foreigners could find themselves stoned for doing so.  It is sound advice. They pat Ma’Moud on the head and tell him what a good boy he is. He beams with pleasure while holding Morty’s hand.  

They find the mosque without any trouble, and by 5:15 Faraz Najir looks annoyed to see them there.  Perhaps he thought they would forget. Morty and Neville speak with him while Ma’Moud, Oscar, and Chang wait outside.  

The horribly burned Arabic man answers only when cash is offered, but his lips are soon flapping:







“Under the holy grace of Allah, I will tell you people this:

A) He had previously sold artifacts to Roger Carlyle's agent, a man named Warren Bessart. This was some years ago, and he does not know where Bessart, a Frenchman, is now.  Bessart might have more information. Or, he might be dead. Who knows?

B) With prodding, (verbal intimation) he reveals that the artifacts he "procured" were in fact STOLEN from Omar Shakti, a powerful businessman who lives on a cotton plantation outside of town.  One of these artifacts was a bust of the Black Pharaoh, incidentally seen (and acquired) by Morty in Gavigan's workshop in London. This very bust is now locked in a steel vault at the museum, along with their other artifacts. 






C) The Black Brotherhood, a gang of killers and madmen, wants something from the mosque of Ibn Tulun, but he does not know what. Even when pressed, Faraz insists he knows nothing. 

Meanwhile, while Morty and Neville are interviewing Faraz, Oscar Ochenta is lighting a cigarette, wondering how he can eventually scam these Americans.  But his thoughts are interrupted when the same staggeringly gorgeous woman from before approaches him again.

“Return what was stolen!” she says in a husky voice. “For your own good!” Ocho assumes that she meant her heart, naturally, being the kind of man he is, but she vanishes without elaboration, almost as if the air blew her away. He mashes out his cigarette, wondering if he’ll ever have the chance to seduce this sexy, sexy woman! 

Besides, there’s no telling what she wanted back from Ocho; her virginity perhaps? 

Neville and Morty exit the mosque and tell the others what they found:  Great, they think. Even more clues, and the trail through Cairo thickens.  They have a feeling it will only get worse before it gets better (and they’re right).  Nevertheless, they lay out their options:

1)	This guy named Warren Bessart sold stuff for Roger Carlyle. Find him. 
2)	The stuff that he sold was actually stolen by Faraz Najir from a rich Cairo businessman named Omar  
         Shakti. Check him out? Maybe.
3)	The Black Brotherhood, the local branch of Nyarlathotep, wants something from the Ibn Tulun 
         mosque.  What exactly, Faraz has no idea, but that was the word on the street. 

The group (sans Chang Chin who is sick and laid up) tries to find Warren Bessart first, and after inquiring at the French Embassy, find that the man is still registered in Cairo on the Street of Scorpions at a place called The Red Door.  They go there together, but are very, very tentative about entering once they arrive. There IS a door painted red, but something smells like a trap. [That’s what I led them to believe anyway]

But once inside this small clothing shop, Oscar smells hash.  His nose twitches.  DRUGS!  He forges ahead, leaving the others behind, and worms his way into a squalid room. 

The owner tries to stop him, but Oscar is on a mission, brusquely pushing the man aside. Neville is able to calm the shopkeeper and tell him that they are dear old friends of…Warren. Right? Neville smiles, and the shopkeeper believes him.  

So Oscar follows his nose to a small room. There is a man here all right, a Caucasian who might be Warren Bessart. 






He looks sickly and sallow, and offers Ocho a hit from his pipe, but the pipe is empty.  That’s just no good, and the man becomes sullen, irate, and tries to leave. But Oscar is mad too!  He feels cheated. The others enter moments later, and this is when Oscar devises the (selfish) plan of scoring more hash to supply Warren, and coax him into talking later.  Supply his habit, Oscar tells them, and Warren will reveal all they want to know.  They promise Warren Besart that they’ll bring him more hash, and the crazed man actually agrees to wait for their return. 

So, still being daylight, the group splits up three ways:

Prong A) 

Neville investigates the mosque of Ibn Tulun, searching for clues that might explain why the cult is interested in it. 






Faraz gave them the sketchiest hint possible, and they’re not even sure it’s true, but Neville tries anyway.  He asks to meet the nazir, a white-haired gentleman named Achmed Zehavi. 






The nazir is willing enough to talk, but Neville’s ultimate problem stems from his line of questioning:  in his attempt to remain vague and inconspicuous, he fails to ask the right questions. 

The Black Pharaoh, Nyarlathotep, and the Black Brotherhood are never mentioned. 

Still, Neville learns that several recent robbery attempts have made the mosque nervous. “To steal what?” he asks, but Akhmed shrugs.  “Many valuable holy artifacts here. My dear friend, are you searching for something particular?” 

Neville can only say no, and leaves his line of questioning vague, especially since he is alone. 

Neville walks around the mosque several times, admiring ancient paintings and architecture, but can’t shake the feeling that he missed something, somewhere, somehow…

[GM Note: I shudder to think what would have happened if they had stolen the Sword of Glory or the Girdle of Nitcrosis hidden at the mosque].

Prong B) 

Oscar tries to score cheap hash from the one contact he has left in Cairo: a seventy-three year old woman named Oolah with only five teeth, so Oscar offers his “services” and gets paid with a small bag of drugs.  He immediately finds a scalding shower and hopes the degradation was worth the payoff. Oolah KNOWS it was worth it. 






Prong C) 

Morty and Ma'Moud take a rattling bus 15 miles outside of town to the cotton plantation of Omar Shakti, but are reluctant to raise suspicions. All they see are workers in the hot white fields surrounding the house. Morty debates getting closer and seeing if he can spy anything suspicious, but without backup he knows it could be dangerous.  Even if this is a legitimate business, trespassing might not be taken lightly.  Besides, the sun is setting and he fears to be out after nightfall. From experience, this cult thrives in the dark hours…






They regroup later that evening, reach Warren Bessart again (miraculously still waiting for them), and with the help of Oscar’s sex-purchased narcotics, they are able to wean a horrifying story out of the Frenchman.  Bessart is a physical and psychological mess, a train-wreck of a man who slips between reality and delusion as frequently as a sober man might blink.  But Oscar Ochenta squats beside him to share the hash, and Bessart begins unveiling his tale in stops and starts, swapping from French to English to broken Arabic.

In fact, Bessart's addiction stemmed from what he saw in the desert that fateful night, so long, long ago...






“I acted as a purchasing agent, permit holder and equipment liaison for an American--a man named Roger Carlyle. At his instruction, I purchased items from Faraz Najir and shipped them illegally to Sir Aubrey Penhew in London.  I only know that they were ancient artifacts, nothing more. I swear it!”

Warren recalls that their main dig was at Dhashur, also know as the Bent Pyramid. One day he saw them all enter the Bent Pyramid and disappear. All that is, except for a man named JACK BRADY.   Brady, he says, was disturbed by the others vanishing, but having nothing else to do but wait, they drank. And drank, and drank some more….

When Carlyle and the others returned the next day they were somehow "different." They seemed very excited by what had happened to them inside, but would not elaborate. 

That very evening, an old Egyptian woman named Nyiti visited Warren.   She said that her son had been a digger and fled the Carlyle Expedition because they consorted with ancient evil:  The Messenger of the Black Wind! But this old seer could see that Brady and Warren’s souls were not corrupt, but if they needed more proof, they could witness a ritual at Meidum that very night. 

And foolishly, Warren went. 

The whole Carlyle Expedition was there, in addition to an unknown robed man and hundreds of raving lunatics. The desert came alive under the moonlight with unspeakable horrors, and an orgy of death devoured nearly everyone!  Horrible creatures slithered from the sand and ate nearly every human being present.  But the worst thing Warren saw, the sight that drove him mad, was a great beast the size of an elephant with five shaggy heads…




…until Warren saw what it truly was.

Even recalling these memories brings him to the brink of hysteria and he begins puffing madly on the hash pipe. Oscar yanks it away before he finishes it all.  The other investigators are crowded near, the ones who can understand his broken speech, trying to piece together what this madman is saying.  And wondering how much is true, and how much is just crazy talk. 

Warren finally says that after the monsters left, there were only a few people alive. Warren was hidden, and he wandered deep into the desert, wanting to die after what he had seen.  If the world were truly this mad, he did not want to live in it. 

As he was about to slash his wrists with a chunk of sharp rock, he says that a young man named Unba found him and took him to his nearby village in El Wasta.  Unba had been the digger that fled the Carlyle Expedition before the ritual. There, Unba and his mother Nyiti cared for Warren and nursed him back to sanity, but it took several long, difficult years. 

After returning to Cairo, Warren has spent the days since trying to banish the memories from that night.

He has never quite succeeded. 



Next chapter, the investigators brush with annihilation closer than ever before, with unexpected results...


----------



## GodPhoenix

I thought you said you were going to photoshop that picture of Kent...


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> I thought you said you were going to photoshop that picture of Kent...




I did.  I added two gnarly hands.  Kent's just an ugly boy! (actually, i really appreciate him letting me deface his mug and then smear it across message boards.  I hope that was entertaining. It was fun as hell mocking it up).


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #12: The Black Pharaoh

*Part 1: The Clive Party*

Having nothing else to learn from the hash-addled Warren Bessart, the investigators take the clues gleaned from him (the Bent Pyramid, demons in the desert, and some woman named Nyiti) and check on Janwillen's progress with the Black Rites at the Cairo Museum.   Janwillen has been busy drinking and scribbling as usual.  The papyrus text and his own notebook are dribbled with sweat, and his new office stinks nearly as bad as the old one. 

“All going well!” he says.  “Just a few more weeks.  Just a few. The secrets of Bast will soon be mine! Ahh…I mean…ours.” 

They let him continue working, and soon join Dr. Ali Kafour in his office.  But he is not alone.  There is also an older woman seated in a wheelchair who nods curtly at the group. 

“Gentlemen,” says Dr. Kafour, “I would like for you to meet an old friend of mine.  Her name is Gi-Gi (sort of pronounced “Jshee-Jshee”). I believe that your particular line of…professionalism…might benefit her.”






Gi-Gi, as she explains, has traveled far and wide seeking answers concerning her missing husband, as well as her growing psychic sensitivity. 

[GM Note:  This was a player named Shambavi who played with us twice and then backed out of the campaign.  Her history was interesting, although ultimately wasted.  In a nutshell, her husband had mysteriously vanished after a car wreck.  GiGi herself was crippled from the wreck and developed clairvoyant talents that the doctors could not explain.  In her mind’s eye, she began having visions of Cairo, strange symbols, and her husband there, so she traveled to Egypt to find him, afraid that he had fostered occult or satanic secrets that he never revealed to her].

Not revealing too much too soon, the party asks GiGi to accompany them as they travel south by train to find the Clive expedition at Memphis, and afterwards explore the Bent Pyramid. According to Warren Bessart, some truly strange events occurred at the Bent Pyramid…

Two retainers are hired for the trip, a bald, silent eunuch nicknamed "Euni" to push Gi-Gi, and another “Nameless” Egyptian bodyguard. Ma'moud follows as willingly as he has since the day they first met him. Gi-Gi immediately takes a liking to the boy and asks him about her new acquaintances. 






Ma’Moud says that they have recently lost two companions to very violent deaths. Oscar and Gi-Gi are convenient replacements, but Ma’Moud doesn’t mention that. 

Nodding her head, Gi-Gi suspects that this group knows more than they’re letting on, and she is determined to discover the root of it. 

While GiGi is indisposed with Ma’Moud, Dr. Kafour takes the rest of the group aside.  He has been inspecting their artifacts hidden at his museum, and discovered that they have been carrying two extremely powerful items all along: the Mask of Hamaya and the Staff of Nyambe!  The first allows contact with a deity, vastly increasing the chances of summoning it.  But the last thing the investigators want is a face-to-face chat with Nyarlathotep. They don’t even want to touch the mask.

The Staff of Nyambe is possibly more useful, but Ali wants to do more research before he hands it over. He also tells them that cultists would gladly kill them to possess these items. Especially the Black Sphinx statue, which also increases the chance of summoning Nyarlathotep. They don’t want to do that, and they ask Ali to keep the artifacts safe in the museum for as long as he can, or until they retrieve them later.

The tireless scholar that he is, Ali has also been poring through old musty tomes, piecing together forgotten clues.  His research has unveiled some tantalizing information, and he wants to discuss it.

“Have you, by chance,” he asks, “ever heard of the Eye of Light and Darkness?”

They have not, and Ali peers through his bifocals at a tome spread before him, reading the words carefully:

“OF THOSE SIGNS EFFECTIVELY SEALING THE FESTERINGS OF THE DARK GOD, THE MOST POTENT IS THE EYE OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS. ONCE INSCRIBED INTO THE SUBSTANCE OF A HIGH PLACE NEAR A HAUNT OF EVIL, THE EYE EXPELS THE EVIL FOR SO LONG AS IT LASTS.  IT IS FORETOLD IN PROPHECY THAT SUCH AN EYE CAN WARD AGAINST MINIONS OF THE BLACK WIND, HE WHOSE TRUE NAME SHALL NOT BE UTTERED HERE.”

Sighing, Ali Kafour looks up at them.  “From what I know, such a sign once existed here in Egypt, but where, I know not. If we were to find it, the battle may significantly sway in our favor.”

He goes on to say that his contacts still have no news of a sarcophagus being smuggled out of the country, and Ali thinks it is in the vicinity unless shuttled away by powerful magic. In which case, a search is futile anyway. 

Regardless, the group decides that Janwillen Vanheuven should guide them to Memphis and introduce them to the Clive Expedition. Dr. Clive, perhaps, might accept such a formal introduction, but Janwillen insists that Clive HATES strangers at his digs. In fact, he doesn’t seem to like Janwillen either. Their last parting was unpleasant (but Janwillen was also drunk and vitriolic). 

Later that day, a lumbering train ride brings the group of eight [Neville, Morty, Ma’Moud, Gigi, Euni, “Nameless”, Oscar and Janwillen; Chang is out with intestinal problems] to Memphis where they disembark among the other tourists.











The Clive Dig is roped off, but they cross it. An armed guard approaches them, his weapon pointed down, demanding they leave, but Vanheuven convinces the guard to let just three of them inside-- Morty, himself and Neville must speak with Dr. Clive. The excuse is that they have urgent news from the Penhew Foundation and must give Clive the message personally. The others wait outside, Euni holding an umbrella over Gi-Gi to protect her from the harsh sunlight.

The Clive dig is heavily guarded by armed Egyptians. Signs clearly state in several languages: “NO ADMITTANCE.” Dark skinned men glare at them as they walk by, holding silent menace in their eyes. 






A guard leads Morty, Janwillen and Neville to a wide tent and holds the flap aside. Within, Dr. Clive turns around, smoking a cigarette, obviously surprised to see Janwillen and not exactly pleased.  He is a distinguished elderly gentleman in his fifties.






Beside him is a young German man with blondish hair: Johann Sprech.  There is a pistol slung at his belt.






“Vanheuven!” exclaims Clive. “What in Christ’s good name are you doing?  You don’t work with us anymore! Has your drunken arse forgotten that? Who have you brought here?”

Janwillen’s composure crumbles. “Ah! Oh! Clive! No no no no no no ! My old friend, look…I… I’m…I am not here for job.  I…I brought these gentlemen! Scholars! Academics like yourself! Oh, yah, but much wiser than me.  They wanted to meet you.  I promise this is all! I…I did good, yah?”

“You…are an idiot. Nothing more.”

Janwillen grovels, whines, and babbles enough for Clive to grant audience with his guests, anything to get the man to shut up and leave.  Johan Sprech glowers at Janwillen as if he wants to kick a boot through his teeth. 

Nevertheless, Dr. Clive respectfully answers Neville's and Morty's questions concerning the theft of the mummy from the Giza site a few months ago. Clive can offer few details other than it was extremely unusual.

His companion, Johann Sprech, shows little love for the visitors and practically oozes resentment. He brandishes the revolver in his belt, tapping it occasionally throughout the interview.

“We left Giza,” admits Clive, “In order to avoid the media blitz.  It was embarrassing enough to actually lose an entire mummy, much less suffer the indignity of reporters hounding us with questions.  You…you’re not media are you?”

Johan sneers at the mention of this, but Neville and Morty quickly deny any such affiliations. “No, no,” they explain, “We’re just…um…historians doing research for a book.”  Which is true enough.  Neville really is a scholar and a writer doing research for a book. 

Clive looks unconvinced, but Neville is able to miraculously bluff his way through the interview, asking if he can speak with any of the other principal members concerning the mummy.  For his book, that's all. Clive looks at them carefully, and finally says that if they can find Gardner or Winfield they can ask a few questions. BUT…

…Johan Sprech must accompany them.  The German bulldog hasn’t said a word yet; he’s just staring daggers at Neville, Morty and Janwillen, the latter of whom won’t even make eye contact.  

“But you, Janwillen,” says Clive, “You are restricted from ever setting foot here again.  Understood?”

“But Clive, I…I…I…”

“No ‘buts’ man.  You had your chance.  Join your friends and then I want all of you gone. Come back, and we’ll consider it trespassing. We have strict rules here enforced by the Egyptian government.  You understand.”

They understand that this is a thinly veiled threat; they might be shot if they return.

Dejected, Vanheuven is led away while Morty and Neville follow him.

As they are crossing a large dune, another expedition member, James Gardner, jogs up to them.






“Janwillen!” he exclaims, and heartily pumps the Dutchman’s hand.  “Good Lord, I never thought to see you again.  How is life?  Did you ever go look for that shri—”

“Oh yes!” says Janwillen. “And I—” He glances at Johann.  “—and I found nothing, sorry to say. Thank you anyway, Gardner.” 

Neville and Morty question the British man Gardner about the theft of the mummy from their dig at Giza.  Gardner seems amiable enough, and he even mentions his theory about a secret subterranean complex beneath Giza. He thinks that is how they (whoever THEY actually are) stole the mummy, but no one has ever been able to prove it despite constant searches. Johan Sprech continues to follow them everywhere like a shadow, even to the tent where Janwillen says hello to his old friend Agatha Broadmoor. 






Neville, thinking fast, is able to distract Johann Sprech outside while Morty quickly questions this elderly woman who seems extremely out of place in the middle of an Egyptian dig. She is seated in front of a mirror, dressed in bright, gaudy silks and painting her nails bright orange when Morty squats at her side.

“Ms. Agatha…Broadmoor? My name is--”

“In a dream,” she says quietly, without looking at him, “I knew you would come. A…kind man.”  She touches his face absently, as if remembering.  “A good man. Yes, one who would come to stop the evil. To do what I cannot.”

“Evil?” asks Morty quickly, glancing behind him at the tent flap.  Outside, he can hear Johan Sprech and Neville arguing about something. Neville seems to be comparing German automobiles to American vehicles in a negative light.

Unexpectedly, Agatha Broadmmoor hisses between her teeth: “THE DARK QUEEN MUST NOT be resurrected under any means!  The time comes soon!” 

Morty’s jumps back.  Her eyes are wide open, and she stares at him as if gazing through his very soul.

“They brought me here to speak with the spirits.  It is a talent I have, ever since a child.  Through séance I converse with the deceased. I hear their pain and mutters and madness.  Always so much madness.”

The Penhew Foundation hired her for the explicit purpose of contacting an ancient Egyptian Queen named Nitcrosis.  But through her dreams, and from the advice of her Holy Guardian Angel, Agatha fears that success at this endeavor will have dire consequences. 






But she is frightened now and has no choice.  She knows of THREE items needed to revive the dead queen: The Crown, the Necklace, and the Girdle of Nitcrosis, the last of which has never been found.  The cult has found the first two artifacts. She mentions these things casually, as if rattling off the names of her pets. But her ditsy persona returns, and she picks up her nail polish again.

She seems to trust Morty on an intrinsic level, but cannot elaborate further before Sprech bursts inside.

“YOU!” growls the German.  “American infidel. LEAVE! NOW!” He demands for everyone to go immediately, and seems eager to shoot transgressors.  Agatha continues painting her nails as if they had discussed nothing more important than the weather.  

Janwillen, Morty and Neville trudge across the hot sand, confused and embarrassed, not sure if they should have come here or not. 

The last thing they see is Dr. Clive standing atop a sand dune, lighting a cigarette and watching them leave.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #12: The Black Pharaoh, continued...

*Part 2: The Bent Pyramid*

Once outside the Memphis dig, Morty tells everyone about Agatha Broadmoor and her bizarre warning.  Apparently, there are three relics needed to return Nitcrosis to life: The Girdle, Necklace, and the Crown.  And Agatha thinks that the cult has all but one item.

How Agatha obtained this knowledge still perplexes them, but they do not think she is lying.  

The group isn’t sure what to make of the new revelation, so while musing it over, they board the next train to their final destination at the ruins of Dhashur. This is where the madman Warren Bessart claims to have seen the Carlyle Expedition enter the Bent Pyramid, vanish, and then return the next day, mysteriously changed and somehow younger looking. 

A short while later, around four in the afternoon, they step off the train and gaze up at the ruins.  The Bent Pyramid is well named.  Skewed to one side, Nevelle explains that it happened due to an architectural glitch in the early design, a flaw rectified in later models.   






They take the normal tour, as well as a quick look at the pink-hued granite structure nearby, The Red Pyramid.  Neville has been here many times previously, and the party finds nothing unusual at either site except for a boarded off entrance on the south side of the Bent Pyramid.






This, they think, warrants some more snooping.  Curiously, Nevelle does not remember it being there before. 

Flexing their investigative muscles, Morty and Gi-Gi break in while the others keep watch, and to offer distractions if needed.  Naturally, GiGi’s wheelchair attendant Euni does most of the work, tearing the boards down and pushing her over the debris. Beyond the entrance lies a dim chamber supported by wide, thick pillars. Their flashlights splash across graven statues who eternally watch for intruders. Stone eyes seem to follow them, or maybe that is just their imagination.






But it is Morty, while taking photographs, who discovers a somewhat obvious secret entrance embedded within a massive column. 






A hairline crack forms the outline of a door. They tell the others and unanimously decide to wait and hide until after dark when the guards and last train have departed, and then they will all sneak back inside. But Janwillen is unhappy being here, and afraid that Dr. Clive will hate him forever.  He wants to leave, so taking Ma'moud, the archaeologist and boy return to Cairo.  As for the rest of the group, giddy with excitement, they execute their plan to perfection, and by the time night has fallen, they are the sole living beings at the Bent Pyramid. 

Upon closer inspection, the secret entrance inside is not very secret.  In fact, it begs to be found. 

At a mere touch, the crack opens to reveal a ramp leading up into the pyramid. The party cautiously ascends, intimidating the hired help to go first. 

“B—but why me?” moans Nameless.

“Because of this,” answers Oscar, and waves money at him.  Gulping, the Egyptian man continues.  Euni pushes Gi-Gi in her wheelchair, her psychic senses shouting that this is a very, VERY bad idea.

Morty shifts his photographic equipment to the other shoulder, wondering what in God’s name is waiting for them.  

Nevelle licks his lips, his mind racing a thousand miles an hour.  A hidden entrance!  Who would imagine that such a discovery had been here all this time? He knows it will be a greater find than Janwillen’s Black Rites…

Trundling along in her chair, GiGi speculates about her husband, and how his mysterious disappearance from the car wreck has led her to a pyramid outside Cairo.  Life can be so, so strange…

And finally Oscar “Ocho” Ochenta.  He snaps his cigarette lighter on and off, on and off, on and off, his fingers jittery from nervous tension.  He has somehow been corralled into this expedition and is beginning to have serious doubts about following this group of nutcases around Cairo.  Drug trafficking can be dangerous, yes, but this is just CRAZY. 

But they will not make progress if they do not take risks, so ignoring Gi-Gi’s psychic counsel, they clamber ever onward. 

[GM Note:  The investigators knew they were walking into trouble, but the desire to see what happened next overpowered all sense of self-preservation] 






At the top of the long ramp waits an unusually large room. By normal geometrical laws, a room this size and shape should not exist at the pinnacle of the pyramid. Eight short pedestals each support a fat red jewel, and at the rear of room rests a throne carved from black obsidian.  Sitting on this throne is a desiccated corpse, and surrounding the throne on three sides are bizarre bas-relief murals.









The mummified corpse is especially unnerving, and they take care to avoid it, but do not quit watching it either.  That would be…unwise.

But they need to get closer to read the murals, so part of the group advances while the rest hang back. Morty sets up his tripod and starts taking pictures of everything, licking his lips and hoping for the best. 

But they don’t fully understand what they’re looking at, not even when Neville leans in close, translating the ancient hieroglyphics carved above the throne.  His fingers trace the dusty indentations, slowly revealing to him a horrifying tale. 











It tells a story that he can only partially translate, foretelling of a child to be born at a place called The Mountain of the Black Wind, and of world destruction ensuing soon after. 

Another mural features a large world map.  Upon the map are inlaid rubies connecting vague regions in Kenya, Australia, and China. A ribbon of ebony stones crosses the Indian Ocean.  Arcane runes wrap around the circumference of the map, but no one is able to decipher them. 






Lastly, there is star and planetary chart that seems to expand beyond the solar system! In fact, the map depicts stars, known and unknown, from the entire galaxy. The implications of this make them nearly woozy.  Morty is sure to take multiple pictures of this chart, fearing the awful significance it holds. 

Just then, closer to the entrance, GiGi and Nameless notice that one of the jewels on its pedestal has begun to quietly burn. 

“Gentlemen,” she says in her firm, officious voice.  “Something is happening. Quickly, come back! Now!”

The gems flare up one after the other in staggered sequence, no heat, until the final jewel glows and the entire chamber begins to shake. From the first warning everyone has been backing away from the throne, but bricks and flagstones suddenly begin building themselves up from the ground to form a rigid stone wall.  The exit will be sealed within seconds!

Nameless throws himself at the exit, but is repelled by flying debris. 

Laughter BOOMS throughout the chamber, and the skeletal remains on the throne stir to life. Wind whips through the pyramid and the skeleton transforms before their very eyes into a young Egyptian man clad in pharaoh regalia, clearly in the bloom of health: 

Nephren-Ka himself.









Invisible demons screech to life at his left and right, and initiative rolls...no one was able to leap out the door before it sealed.  Nameless and Euni start pounding on the stone until their fingernails crack, and everyone else crowds to the rear of the room, guns pulling out, as the figure on the throne haughtily gloats.




They don’t really know what to think; they just react in sheer, blind, traumatized terror. 

Neville Thornbottom pulls out all the stops, and recites the most powerful, potent magic he knows: The Bodywarping of Gorgorgoth.  His flesh buckles and stretches, his limbs fatten and bulge, the pallor of his flesh transforms from pink to gray, and within moments he has shockingly become an adult male elephant!

[GM Note:  Neville suffers the rigid requirements for the spell; it is not magic to cast lightly.  I allowed him to shapechange one size category larger than normal for extra penalties, so his Intelligence and Sanity were shredded by this spell].  

His companions had NO idea that this young man was about to change into a raging pachyderm, (or the GM for that matter) and it inadvertently knocks a few Sanity points off them as well. But that is the least of their worries.

Neville the Elephant trumpets and charges, but the invisible demons intercept him, lacerating Neville’s tough gray flesh. 




Oscar Ochenta, floundering in terror, (and regretting that he followed these s) is targeted by Nephren-Ka and subjected to a vision so horrible, so HORRENDOUS, all he can do is babble and quiver. The others see Ocho stagger, and his eyes growing so wide they nearly explode from their sockets.  The vision never quite leaves him.





Nephren Ka seems to thoroughly enjoy that.




A second ray streaks from the Pharaoh and randomly strikes Nameless.  The man bursts into a pillar of flame, his eyeballs popping, his skin hissing and sloughing off, and he crumples into a charred heap of smoking black bone.  In retrospect, it might have been a poor target.  






Nevelle the Elephant slams the demons aside, charges the Black Pharaoh, and thoroughly gores him! 











The Pharaoh is crushed into his own throne, tusks pinning him to the chair while the demons transform into a visible Star Vampire and Leng Spider.  The demons skitter forward, but a hail of bullets meets them, a few punching through unnaturally tough chitin.

[GM Note: The campaign book called for 2 hunting horrors, but for some reason hunting horrors in d20 are as strong as ancient red dragons.  I just swapped them out for something easier. Plus, I had the painted minis].

Euni the eunuch goes fighting-mad and rushes the spider.  He grapples the thing’s pincers, while everyone else (save GiGi so far) continues firing on whatever target is available. The elephant trumpets, stomps, and keeps Nephren-Ka trampled underfoot. He is an avatar of a god, yes, but one of decidedly mortal stature.  A massive foot crushes his face and ruins a lethal spell.

[GM Note: I didn’t quite know what a raging elephant could do.  They were surprisingly powerful when we looked at the stats].

The Pharaoh’s laughter is not echoing through the chamber like it was before.

But the Leng spider is not a horror to be trifled with.  Serrated claws crush the eunuch in a deadly embrace, and Euni is cut in twain by the beast, earning himself the new name “Dui” (it was much, much funnier if you were there).

Morty shoots a flaming gem and discovers that they can be destroyed in a burst of energy. He starts doing that, walking down the line, aiming, and clicking off shots, even as wheelchair-bound psychic investigator GiGi surprises everyone by pulling a hand-cannon from the undercarriage of her wheelchair.  The kickback is so strong that she smacks straight back into a wall (missing her target anyway).

[GM Note:  Her character had snuck a huge gun into her repertoire without telling me.  It was such an amusing mental image that I didn’t care how silly it might have been; she was like a crippled Dirty Harry].

Neville the elephant and multiple gunshots annihilate the star vampire, but the Leng Spider hooks its claws into Nevelle for horrible damage. The Black Pharaoh manages to wriggle away, battered by the attack, and his visage transforms for a second time.  His skin glows golden, so disturbing that no one can stand to look at his face. 




Hands outstretched, Nephren-Ka launches a spell that paralyzes everyone...their feet root to the stone, their limbs freeze, and all they can do is watch as death approaches…except for the elephant!  Neville makes the nearly impossible saving throw by the narrowest of margins.

Things look dire as the final dice spin…

Nephren-Ka casts magic again but the elephant makes a SECOND save, defying the odds with a 5% chance of success, and launches into the Pharaoh, finally dealing a full 100 points of damage [my predetermined threshold]. The corporeal body is destroyed, and with a whistling rush of air, the horrible avatar of Nyarlathoptep rises from the blasted corpse and disappears into a halo of sickly light, sucking the leng spider with it. Through pure luck, the party makes most of their Sanity checks (except Oscar Ochenta, who has single digits left and permanent psychotic disorder) and avoid the debilitating penalties from witnessing so much supernatural mayhem. 

They have somehow fended off an icon of evil, and only the hired servants perished. 

Neville reverts to human form upon the conditions of the spell being met [The Black Pharaoh dead, and nothing less], but he is woozy, injured, and brain-fried.  They have to carry him out.  Oscar Ochenta is even worse off, convulsing on the floor and choking on his own puke. 






[GM Note: This was NOT how I expected the encounter to go, proof that players will always, always surprise you.   This was supposed to be more about torture and taunting, and then the Black Pharaoh would release the PC’s, leaving them alive but permanently scarred. The Black Pharaoh would scare them, lie to them, and hurt them for his own nefarious reasons.  Although it worked out contrary to what probably should have happened, it did not diminish the terror or fun].

But events at the Bent Pyramid are not over. The entire back mural depicting the birth of the spawn of Nyarlathotep vanishes to be replaced by a stunningly realistic pre-Dynastic Egypt.  

In fact, it IS real. 






Natural warm air blows through the gateway.  The smell of sand and food wafts in, accented by hints of frankincense and myrrh, and the faint fishy whiff of the Nile River.  But no one steps through the portal.  Justly, they suspect a trap, and soon the gateway vanishes and the previous mural returns.

The wall that erected itself earlier crumbles to dust, and the investigators stagger into the cool desert night, enormously lucky to be alive and mentally whole.  

It is the first time and last they will be so fortunate battling a god.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Adventure #12: The Black Pharaoh
> Nephren-Ka casts magic again but the elephant makes a SECOND save, defying the odds with a 5% chance of success, and launches into the Pharaoh, finally dealing a full 100 points of damage [my predetermined threshold]. The corporeal body is destroyed, and with a whistling rush of air, the horrible avatar of Nyarlathoptep rises from the blasted corpse and disappears into a halo of sickly light, sucking the leng spider with it.



Trampled to death by an elephant.  Bet ol' Nyarly didn't see _that_ coming!   I picked elephant because I thought it would make for an interesting, if surprising, combat.  I wasn't counting on it being a living tank.  When I first looked at the stats, I must have been in a DND frame of mind, instead of CoC.

I was just as surprised as Jason (the DM/Nebulous)...totally worth it though...I'll never forget the look on his face.  Very Knights-of-the-Dinner-Table-ish moment.


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> I was just as surprised as Jason (the DM/Nebulous)...totally worth it though...I'll never forget the look on his face.  Very Knights-of-the-Dinner-Table-ish moment.




Totally worth it, I agree.  And it sort of set the pace for the rest of the campaign. Although Nevelle's balls-to-the-wall attitude gets him in a pinch next chapter.  Remember that, Leo?


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Although Nevelle's balls-to-the-wall attitude gets him in a pinch next chapter.  Remember that, Leo?




Oh yeah, that rings a bell...a big, squid-shaped bell.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #13: The Cotton Plantation of Omar Shakti

*Part 1: The Good Dr. Blumpkin*

After their battle with the Black Pharaoh the party stumbles from the Bent Pyramid, but eight hours have mysteriously passed. The sun sparkles well above the horizon and other tourists are ready to join them on the tram back to the city. 

Their confidence is bolstered by their success (they gain some Sanity back to counter the shocks experienced), and they arrive in Cairo around noon, certain that they now stand a chance against whatever Nyarlathotep can throw at them.

It is a false sense of security. 

While passing a street kiosk for the Cairo Bulletin, an article by Editor Nigel Wassif catches Nevelle's eye: 

"Local Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Ruins!"​
The night before, a localized earthquake damaged portions of the mosque where Nevelle had previously spoken to the elderly nazir, Achmed Zehavi.  Nearly half of the building had been destroyed, the ceiling caving in to crush dozens of workers and worshipers alike. 






The cult wanted something in the mosque, or so Faraz Najir told the investigators. Zehavi confirmed this with Nevelle. The article also states that many of the priests are dead or missing, but Achmed Zehavi is being treated at a local hospital. Knowing that their newest accomplice, the unfortunate Oscar Ochenta (who keeps staring at the sun and muttering), will need some psychiatric help, they decide to drop him off there and question Zehavi at the same time.

But not yet. In the meantime, Oscar is tossed into a chair and fastened with a bib. 

Once back at the museum, the group finds Chang feeling much better after his gastrointestinal illness.  And after the woeful story they tell him, he is glad he was sick!

Nevelle is little better off than Oscar.  He will recover, but requires bed rest.  He refuses to check into a hospital, fearing that it will just make him an easy target for cultists.  But Gi-Gi is trained in the medical field, and she gives Nevelle expert care. They will wait a few days to give him time to recuperate.

Ali Kafour is also relieved to see the group return, and he warmly hugs each member. 






Ma’Moud is ecstatic too, bouncing around like a beach ball and wrapping his brown arms around their waists. They tell Ali everything that happened, and his face falls by the end of the dire tale. He fears that a great evil is soon to be unleashed upon the world, and that the pieces are falling into place faster than ever. He will do what he can to acquire the party some special aids, but it will take time. They do not ask what these “aids” are, and he does not elaborate.  But Ali says that they need to speak with their Dutch friend in the basement.  He has had…an accident.

The party checks on Janwillen Vanheuven, and they are only mildly surprised to see him covered in cat scratches.  He is nursing a bottle of whiskey, moaning, complaining, and most importantly, not translating. 






“Agh! Dit was ‘orrible!” he cries. “She…she…she…ohhhhh…Christ…”

He says that a woman—a ravishing woman!—approached him about returning the scrolls, and when he rebuffed her, a dozens cats attacked him, right there on the front steps of the Museum.






The Dutchman is smeared with salve and bandages, and says that the wounds will impair his writing ability. The little bastards even bit through his fingers! 

The investigators are worried that these Black Rites might not be worth the trouble.  Who is this strange Cat Woman anyway, and how far will she take this aggression?  But returning the scrolls is not an option.  They need them. Somehow, the Rites must aid in their battle against Chaos. Otherwise, why were they even introduced in the first place? 

[Inject snide GM snicker]

GiGi and Morty take a closer look at the photographic plates taken inside the Bent Pyramid, and with the help of an atlas and astronomy books, they make some startling discoveries. A celestial event will occur on January 14, 1926...nine months hence...an eclipse across the Indian Ocean. The hieroglyphics behind the throne foretell the coming of the Child of Nyarlathotep in the Mountain of the Black Wind, and an apocalypse that ensues soon after, and continuing strife for an entire year until the Great Old Ones return.  The who? 

This…child…whatever it is…will help usher the end of the world.  The very birth of this thing at the mountain is an ill omen of the most malevolent kind.




They now have knowledge of a timeline, and Chang and Morty recall that Jackson Elias had mentioned a timeline to Jonah Kensington. This must be it!  Furthermore, Jackson was in Kenya, in Nairobi specifically, and kept extensive notes detailing his experiences there and the people he spoke with.  It is also where the Carlyle Expedition supposedly perished. 

The investigators clearly have more leads to follow in other countries, but they are not done in Egypt yet.  Something evil is brewing here.  Chang and Morty contact Jonah Kensington in New York and update him on their progress, even mailing him copies of their notes.  Jonah is very worried and says that they should return, but the investigators say that they're in too deep.  It is far too late. 

Several days after returning from the pyramid, the group embarks for the Cairo Hospital. Oscar Ochenta is still a mess, even though Gi-Gi has tried to heal his ravaged mind. His brain has become pudding and she cannot communicate with him at all. 

The PC’s wheel Oscar into the psychiatric ward and fudge the details about how their friend developed a severe disorder after visiting the pyramids at Dhashur.  They think it is possibly genetic, and they have no other “logical” explanation. (None they admit at first anyway)

The on-call doctor at the ward is a Scandinavian man named Olaf Blumpkin [Jake’s 2nd character], and he becomes extremely interested in Oscar’s psychological state.  






“The pyramids, eh?” he says, shining a light into Oscar’s pupils. “And he was fine before that?  How long have you known this man? How old is he?”

“Yes.” “Yes.”  “Not long.  “We don’t know.” The investigators do not mention Oscar’s drug fetish either.  “He looked healthy enough,” they insist. 

Blumpkin has never seen anything quite like this, but it appeals to his love of unsolved mysteries.   How did this happen?  What secrets swirl behind this man’s eyes? Oscar is a burbling mess, mumbling “Hotep…hotep…hotep…hotep,” over and over, and suffers a mild nosebleed that won’t quit dripping no matter now much pressure the nurses apply. 

“What is that?  Who is Hotep?” he asks.  Morty just shrugs. Chang blinks rapidly. Nevelle stares at his feet. 

Even though Oscar’s companions deny it was drug related, they inadvertently drop some hints that perhaps they DO know what truly happened to Oscar Ochenta. 

Something…unspeakable.  Staring into their eyes, the doctor can see signs of their burgeoning instability. 

Now they have gained Dr. Blumpkin’s curiosity. His inborn, natural, and insatiable lust for the unknown.  He tries a new tactic. “Gentlemen, you might be responsible for this man’s medical care.  He has no identity, no money, no passport, nothing. It could be very, very costly…”

Their eyes widen.  They’re not paying for Oscar’s well being.  They hardly knew him!

“…but if we treat him as a test case, a subject for my study regarding schizophrenia and related mental ailments, perhaps we can reach an agreement.”

They’re not sure what he means.

Blumpkin removes his glasses.  “I am seeking hard data for a casebook on psychological disorders.  I need to know what caused this…strange…incapacitation in your friend. I need to know what you know.”    In other words, Dr. Blumpkin wants to join their group. Morty and Chang don’t try to change his mind.  “Sure,” they say.   “We can show you...uh...stuff.”  

The good doctor does not ask them to clarify. Smiling, he checks Oscar into the institution, and then calls out sick for the rest of the day.

“Well, show me,” he says.   

Later, in another room of the psychiatric ward, Gi-Gi is trying to coax the nearly mad nazir of Ibn Tulun into talking. His head rolls around, and Nevelle viciously reprimands him.






“You should have told me what you were hiding old man!"  

Well, Nevelle didn’t really say that, but he was thinking it. But the nazir has a moment of clarity, and his one good eye gleams with tears.  He remembers Nevelle and his visit that day! He says that something ungodly ripped through the basement, right through a secret chamber where the Girdle of Nitcrosis had been kept and guarded for over 1000 years. Everyone else was either eaten or crushed, and the worm-like abomination sank into the earth, taking the Girdle with it. He then relapses, quivering from the memory of a giant demon from the world’s depths…






The players are gently reminded about their previous, albeit brief, interaction with the Clive party at the Memphis dig just a few days prior, where they picked up a few important tidbits of information.

[GM Note: The players were getting pretty overwhelmed by the wave of clues and NPC’s by this point.  These sessions sometimes came at multi-week intervals; it was also after a long hiatus with some new players who were sifting through other junk from prior sessions too]

a) Dr. Clive, leader of the Clive Expedition at Memphis, does not know what happened to the missing  
    mummy they found at Giza. He is also an avid smoker.

b) Johann Sprech, the German archaeologist, is an avid dick.

c) Agatha Broadmoor is a dotty old psychic who fears the resurrection of Nitcrosis, and secretly hopes to 
    stop it. She knew somehow that the Brotherhood was in possession of two items needed for the ritual. 
    They now most likely have the third component, the Girdle. The moon indicates that the time is ripe for 
    a ritual, and it is Agatha’s job to speak with Nitcrosis.

d) James Gardner, a jovial British member of the party, thinks that there MUST be a secret entrance in, 
    around, or under the Giza complex, so that thieves could steal the sarcophagus. Not the police, or even 
    the investigators, have been able to find it. They have already been to Giza to search the original theft 
    site and found nothing.

e)  They did not get a chance to speak with the last member of the Clive party, Martin Winfield.  Would he 
     have offered them new information?  Or threatened to pull a gun like Sprech did? 

So, running out of leads, the party decides (with Leo’s prompting!) to follow up one detail they have not investigated in-depth yet:

The Cotton Plantation of Omar Shakti.​



“Doctor Blumpkin,” says Neville.  “We…ah, believe that Oscar Ochenta’s neurosis is related to a…um…disorder originating at a cotton plantation.  We…we need to inspect this source for…ah…authenticity.”

“Authenticity?  What do you mean?  Viral? Bacterial?  Do I need a mask or breathing apparat--”.

“Oh no no, nothing like that.  You just need to be…quiet.”  Nevelle puts a finger to his lips, and the unspoken promise of skullduggery is enough to send Dr. Blumpkin’s heart galloping.  Now THIS is what he wanted! Intrigue!  

Later that evening, before dark, they have all reconvened at the Cairo Museum, which has become their official base of operations.  After a quick meal, they don their best attire, in case they need to look presentable at a moment’s notice, and proceed to arm themselves with a few infiltrators’ tools of the trade, including pistols, bullets, some flashlights, a Molotov cocktail, and lockpicking tools.  This is done without Blumpkin’s knowledge.

He just brings a pen and notebook.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #13: The Cotton Plantation of Omar Shakti

*Part 2: A Fatal Mistake*


March 31st, 1925
8:30 pm

_“These Americans—and a Chinaman—have accepted me 
into their group.  They seem to know more than they’re telling, 
and for some mad reason I trust them!”
--O. Blumpkin​_

While waiting for a taxi outside the Museum, a sensual woman approaches the four well-dressed gentlemen on the steps. [GiGi has already permanently exited the campaign by this point, and her character relegated to NPC status].  No one recognizes the stranger.  Long hair dangles over her shoulders, and none can resist the sway of her breasts. However, she halts not far from them, her jaw set in anger. 

“RETURN what was stolen!  The scrolls are not yours to keep.  They belong to another, and only misfortune will follow.”

Chang, Morty and Nevelle assume that this must be who Oscar saw a few days ago, and subsequently tried to hit on. She is indeed quite beautiful. Oscar was right about that.

“This is your final warning,” she hisses.  “There will be no more offers.  Return the Black Rites to me, or suffer the consequences.” 

“Why?” demands Nevelle.  “Really, why? Who are you?  We…we have no qualms with you.  We only want to…to… study and use--”

But she stalks away into an alley teeming with cats, and the darkness swallows her.

“That was…rather odd,” says Doctor Blumpkin.

Morty sighs.  “Yeah. We get that a lot around here.”

After their encounter with the Cat Lady, the investigators decide that standing out here might not be good for them. They want dependable transportation, so bringing the doctor who is busy jotting notes, thankful that these fellows have taken the time to enlighten him, they borrow a transport truck from the museum’s loading dock.









With Chang behind the wheel, they drive to within a mile of the plantation, park, and walk the rest of the way.  Morty has been here previously and has a good idea of the layout.  Before long, they spot lights from the house. They reach the perimeter of the field and crawl through the cotton until they are within twenty yards of a back door and storage shed.

At this point, the group does not really know WHY they are here, only that Omar Shakti is possibly a bad person and a cult leader, although they're not positive. There is no solid proof.  He is a well-known and respected Egyptian businessman. So, with only two flashlights for four people, a Molotov cocktail, several pistols and ammunition, and the good doctor with his notebook, they decide to break in.

All at the insistence of Neville Thornbottom, who says that this must be done! 

Three bright spotlights illuminate the exterior grounds. They see a single man exit the back door, enter the shed, and return inside. They watch for a while, see some lights flip on and off, and Chang finally sneaks to the shed to look around. Nevelle supports this strategy, so long as Nevelle is not in danger.  Morty is nervous, and Dr. Blumpkin is so excited that he nearly hyperventilates. They are actually breaking and entering! Fantastic! It is wrong…but fantastic! 

Inside the shed, all Chang finds is a canvas bag full of small animal skulls.  This is useless to him, although he wonders why someone would keep a bag of skulls.  Are those…cat skulls? He peers closer, but isn’t sure.  He just doesn’t understand the whole cat angle recently, and it worries him. 

Outside, Dr. Blumpkin scribbles in his notebook:  
_
“We have reached the plantation. Moving in! 
Searching for clues.  What did Ochenta see?”_

Chang leaves the shed and moves to a window, keeping to the shadows, and soon afterward he has disabled a window lock.  He gives his companions thumbs up, and after considerable prompting by Nevelle (who is now treating the other investigators like malleable ninjas while he sits safe in the cotton field), they all gather at the window and one by one roll into a quiet, carpeted, immaculate hallway.

The first room they search is an impressive study, boasting a huge oil painting of their target, Omar Shakti. He looks unpleasant. 









But paintings are always suspicious, and sure enough, they find a sturdy wall safe behind it, but the combination is too tough to bypass.  Blumpkin asks why Chang is trying to crack this man’s safe, and Morty tells him that there might be proof inside. 

“Proof of…what kind?” whispers Blumpkin, but Morty shushes him. 

Footsteps creak over their head.  Someone is above them.

They abandon the safe and enter the hall, navigating the dim corridor until they reach the kitchen.  It is well maintained, with polished copper pots, hand towels, ladles, culinary knives, and a shiny waxed floor. 

There is a basement door here, and past the kitchen are stairs that lead to the second level. But they hear a rhythmic sound from the basement, a mechanical “whomp whomp whomp whomp whomp,” so they opt to investigate that first. Morty descends, his pistol out, his flashlight offering him meager illumination.  It stinks of mothballs and gasoline, and they soon find a gas generator that provides auxiliary power to the house.  It is quite expensive and high quality. Exhaust vents lead outside.  But surely a man of Shakti’s wealth can afford power lines to his estate? 

[GM Note:  I never thought these guys would actually break into Omar’s house, so this entire session was run off-the-cuff, aside from what the campaign book suggested. I eventually learned to stop assuming what they would do next…uh, near the end of the China chapter]

But almost immediately, someone tromps down the stairs from the 2nd floor, flips on the light in the kitchen, and turns on the water faucet.  The investigators scuttle like frightened cockroaches, pressing themselves into the shadows, but no one enters the basement.  Soon, the water and lights are turned off. 

Breathing collective sighs of relief, a plan begins to form. 

A plan of ambushes.  

Followed by plans of secondary and then tertiary ambushes. Of pots and pans and guns and…and…cleavers!  Right! Cleavers to incapacitate the person upstairs!  No, no, no, that won’t do, and they go back to the first plan, where they will hide under the steps and then run UP the steps and WHACK!  But no, no, let's not do that. They can’t do that.  But wait! Yes, let’s turn the lights off but make the NEW guy do it, but the new guy Blumpkin doesn't want to do it because he doesn't know why the hell he is here in the first place with three men he has never met before today, and first they were pushing a crazy man around in a wheelchair a few hours ago and now they’re waving pistols and flashlights and short-fuse volatile chemicals, and all Blumpkin has is a notebook, and he's getting really really really freaked out by the whole thing, but the others don’t seem to care and just keep saying “Dammit, help us here, Blumpkin!” With some well-worded manipulation, they force Blumpkin to consider it an initiation into their club.  Chang, Morty and Nevelle leave and wait outside in the shadows, while Dr. Blumpkin, alone and terrified, pours sugar from the pantry into the generator’s gas tank.

This is their plan: break the generator so someone comes to fix it. 

Blumpkin performs admirably, and then skedaddles to the study and hides behind a plush chair, Omar’s oily eyes bearing down on him.  While hunched there, covered in sweat, (his hands shaking so badly that he can barely scribble: 

“Sugar mission complete!” 

the doctor hears two voices discussing the damaged generator.  They are in the room above him.  He also hears a cat meowing.  Apparently, they have already noticed the flickering lights, and one man is instructed to fix it.

Blumpkin listens to footsteps come down the stairs, pass through the dining room, into the kitchen, through the basement door, and then down to the generator. He springs up and slides to the door, braces a chair against the knob and locks someone down there, who he thinks is the servant and not this mysterious “Omar” fellow.

The doctor grabs an iron skillet and then motions for the others to enter.  As a huddled group, they creep upstairs, weapons brandished.  Blumpkin grips a pen in one hand like a dagger, the skillet in the other. 

At the top of the stairs, they spot a slightly open door, probably the room above the study.  Light shines through a crack, flicking because of the failing generator. This is it.  This is why they came here, to confront Omar Shakti and determine if he is an agent of Nyarlathotep.  If not, they will apologize and leave; otherwise, he’ll get the same treatment as the Black Pharaoh!  

Desiring the element of surprise while they still have it, the investigators BURST into the room, guns and writing implements aimed and pointed, screaming, "Put up your hands you sonavawhore!"

Omar Shakti sits on a huge pie-wedge bed, wearing bright blue silk pajamas, petting a white Persian cat on his lap.  Surprised, he raises his hands, very, very slowly. The cat stops purring. 












“Gentlemen,” he says in heavily accented English, “there is no need for violence.  I will obey your wishes. Take what you want…” And he gestures around the bedroom.

But the white cat launches up in a blur of motion, streaking cheetah-fast to the nearest person:  Blumpkin!

“Yeeeaaah!” Blumpkin screams and whacks the cat out of midair with his frying pan.  It splats against the wall and crumples to the floor, convulsing. 

Nevelle holds Omar at gunpoint.  “Don’t move!”   Omar’s hands are raised, but he shakes his head as if reprimanding a naughty boy. Blumpkin is about to have a heart attack when he sees the cat's tongue lash out from its mouth like a growing pink snake.

“Oh…dear…Christ God in Heaven.”

The barbed tongue strikes at Chang’s feet.  The cat’s body is shaking now as if something beneath the skin wants out. Its flesh ripples and tears, spurting fluids and ooze to the floor.

"You should not have come here," growls Omar Shakti.

Nevelle Thornbottom answers him by pulling the trigger.  The bullet rips through Omar’s shoulder, but in the next instant Omar’s flesh warps into stony rivulets.   A split second after that, he utters a quiet word and Shakti vanishes from sight.   Screaming non-stop now, Blumpkin swings his frying pan back and forth, but when he strikes a target that feels like solid rock, pain lances all the way up his shoulder. 

The cat begins to rise, but it is not quite a cat anymore, but something from a nightmare with distended jaws that drip viscous saliva, talons pushing from elongated digits, and these awful, awful ungodly eyes, and as it reaches for the doctor--








--CHANTING begins, the intonation of horrible syllables that mortal men were not meant to hear, and a foul wind sweeps through the room, as rank as an unearthed graveyard, and and and AND--

--and Jake had to leave so we stopped.


[GM Note: I told the group, “Don't forget to roll up new characters. Um…you're basically fighting a lich.”]


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #14:  Beneath the Pyramids

--and a fetid wind swirls through the bedroom, stinking of rot and death!

The white Persian is barely a cat now, but some man-sized abomination with tufts of patchy fur and diseased fangs. It falls on Doctor Blumpkin, shredding him almost fatally.  The doctor presses a hand to the wounds, knowing he’ll die if he doesn’t get medical attention quick. Morty runs out the door, terrified, while Chang unloads two more rounds, punching holes in the cat-thing's ribs. 

For the second time in three days, Nevelle calls upon the darkest magic he knows, aware that the psychological damage may be permanent.  In a slurping burst of ectoplasmic fluid, he bodywarps into a large squid, its tentacles flailing over half the room!

[GM Note: Any D&D player knows that grappling a spellcaster is the best offense]

Omar Shakti appears at the top of the bed, standing on the mattress, chanting, and points a finger at--

--Nevelle.




Nevelle's soul is sucked out, the light dimming from his eyes almost as soon as he appeared, and the squid slumps lifeless to the floor. However, the Bodywarping of Gorgoroth does not transform your clothes or belongings, so Nevelle drops his wallet, the Molotov cocktail and...a lone stick of DYNAMITE.

Doctor Blumpkin lunges for the stick, fumbling for his lighter, and sparks the fuse. Aha! “DIE MONSTER!” he shrieks, nearly insane himself by this point.  Chang flees past Morty who is waiting at the top of the stairs, screaming in his broken English: "Dine-a-mite! Dine-a-mite!"

The cat-thing swipes a paw across Blumpkin's face, tearing his right ear off.  Blumpkin staggers, sparks spitting across him. The other claw rakes down his chest, puncturing bone-deep, and the beast pulls the man straight into a fanged mouth that closes onto his neck, pumping blood everywhere.  

Dr. Blumpkin was with the group for less than eight hours. 

Sniffing, Omar Shakti steps off the bed, picks up the dynamite from the dead man's hands, and snuffs the fuse.

Chang and Morty run screaming out the front door.  They have NO idea where to go or what to do, but running as fast and as far as they can is their only (unlikely) hope.  Their truck, property of the Cairo Museum, is parked nearly a mile away on the roadside.  They spot the garage connected to the house. Desperate, the two men smash a door down and see an exquisite luxury car inside. 






By pure Luck (Roll) they find keys above the sun visor, and Morty starts the ignition, just as the ground begins to rumble.  Morty looks at Chang, Chang at Morty, and they both look out the garage together…

What they see shakes them to their very core.

Dust billows from behind the house, and then something huge and purple-green lumbers out, a writhing creature akin to a fiendish earthworm nearly three stories tall.

“Oh… me,” groans Morty.




Morty is shell-shocked, gibbering, unable to drive, so Chang throws him in the backseat, grabs the wheel, and slams his foot to the pedal. They peel out of the garage, even as the abomination crashes down, its massive bulk nearly crushing them.  The garage is destroyed in an explosion of wood and dust. They fishtail out onto the dirt road, seeing the monster in the rearview mirror, but they are soon followed by another powerful earthquake.

A widening crack appears in the road, chasing them, but Chang swerves left and right and left again, runs into the ditch and back out and bumps onto the road, and the crack swallows their abandoned truck as they speed past it.

Racing into the night, they do not slow down until they reach Cairo fifteen miles away.

Morty is a mess. He can’t stop shaking. He has seen too much craziness for months on end now and it has taken a permanent toll on his sanity. He develops a mood disorder, randomly swinging between mania and depression.  He falls into bed, drags a pillow over his face and cries himself to sleep. Chang is weathering the situation better than Morty, but he is upset too.  They just lost half their group!  What do they do now? 

Realizing that Omar is a respected Egyptian businessman and that they just stole a
rare vehicle in Cairo, they know they can't keep it. The police will be alerted. It shouldn’t even be seen here! They need to discuss options with Dr. Ali Kafour

But when Chang barges in to tell Ali Kafour what happened, he is actually in a private meeting with a sinister looking man, the (honorary) Dr. Lucifer Lardlover (Jake's 3rd character), and his loyal bodyguard, Chad Slambody ("The World's Most Perfect Specimen of Man"- Leo’s 3rd character too]. 






Lucifer is a black magician and member of an elite occult circle (The Necrotic Mallard) of which Ali is also a member (thanks to Jake for that colorful Lodge title).  Dr. Kafour has recruited Lucifer to help them with the Black Brotherhood in Cairo, a problem that Lardlover has long been aware, but it is worse than he ever suspected.  

Chad Slambody is an ex-professional wrestler hired as Lardlover’s personal bodyguard.  His physique is comparable to an iron tank.  His bravado is akin to a Greek hero.  Muscles bulge where lesser men do not enjoy muscles.  He is fearless, flawless, and quite loyal to his boss, Lucifer.   Chad doesn’t ask questions, he just does as he is told. 

And he is told that tomorrow signals the last night of the full moon, and a cruel religious cult possesses the relics needed to resurrect the long dead Egyptian Queen Nitcrosis.

“That’s right, my friend,” says Lucifer upon seeing Chad’s expression, “the dead can be returned to life through dark rituals. Not recommended…but it is possible. ”

Lucifer suspects they will need a sacrifice, to exchange one life for another, but the quality, and quantity, of the blood offering can vary drastically. Personally, he doesn’t like to tinker with resurrection. The karmic payback is atrocious. 

After formal introductions, the new party decides to frame the Clive Expedition for the break-in and theft at Omar Shakti’s cotton plantation (sans Morty who is weeping into his pillow).   It is a weak plan, but they are desperate to allay any suspicions from themselves or Ali Kafour.  Honestly, Omar Shakti ing terrifies them. 

They aren’t sure how much trouble this will cause for the Clive Party or the cult, but they need to throw a monkey wrench into the plans somehow, and they aren’t sure how else to do it.  After all, they do not have any idea where this ritual is to take place. Why the hell couldn’t Agatha Broadmoor have told them that instead? 

With Ali Kafour's help that very night, they drive Omar’s stolen car all the way to Memphis.  To their dismay, the entire Memphis dig is abandoned.  Signs are gone.  Ropes taken down.  Guards and lights and cars and digging equipment, all of it vanished.  They park Omar’s car anyway and drive back in Ali's vehicle. 

[GM Note: They’re not 100% that Clive is an enemy, but by this point, everyone and everything is suspect]. 

Later that night Chang, Morty (who they rouse from his depressed slumber), Lucifer, and Chad sit with Ali Kafour in his office, discussing their experiences, plans, and repercussions of failure.  There are few people in the world aware of Nyarlathotep, and Ali admits that even he does not fully understand the big picture.  The small group assembled here has the power to stop a tragedy from occurring, and possibly saving thousands of lives. But the risk will be great, so great that it might very well be suicidal. 

Morty Jones doesn’t get a wink more of sleep, and actually sits on the edge of his bed, staring at a pistol in hands. 

Ali Kafour greets them early the next day.  He has been busy with the finishing touches on several items they might need, but it has taken a toll on his permanent health to create them. The old man looks rough.  Dark, puffy circles ring his eyes, and he walks with a pronounced limp.  He offers them four azure vials of what he calls “Elixirs of Fortitude” (a Sanity buffer), “The Tooth of Amon-Re” (punches through Damage Reduction), “The Dust of Ibn-Gazi” (throw upon the invisible to make visible), and a crate of three smuggled British Browning 1900 Autoshotguns, plus extra ammo.

Chad Slambody expertly cradles a long shaft in his hands, admiring its damage potential…

In addition, Lardlover is given the Staff of Nyambe, and told that when the words are recited, it will protect him the dire effects of magic. But only a small buffer. Lucifer must still be wary when tapping into the arcane arts.  Using the enemy’s magic against them can still damage his mind, body and spirit.   Accepting the artifact with sincere thanks, Lucifer stuffs it beneath his robes. 

Tonight is the night.

A ritual is to take place somewhere near Cairo, and the only vague clue they have is from the Clive Expedition member James Gardener. 






Gardener theorized that there must be a secret complex in or around Giza, and that is where the sarcophagus of Nitcrosis might have gone. The party has been to the Giza pyramids before and found nothing conclusive. However, they now have GiGi to use, and hope that her psychic powers can unveil something new.  GiGi is not staying at the cramped, impromptu quarters in the Museum.  They call her on the phone and arrange for her to meet them.

In addition, Dr. Kafours asks if they will take another gentleman, Dr. Worthington Lester Cobblebottom (a backup character Jeff made because Morty was severely lacking in Sanity).  Furthermore, Lester Cobblebottom is a trained scholar staying at the Museum, and sneaking in to translate the Black Rites whenever Janwillen Vanheuven is incapacitated.  He finds the work very rewarding, although these fellows that Dr. Kafour associates with are very odd.  Especially the one with all the muscles who takes his clothes off too much. 






They all head out during the day, scouting the pyramids, finding nothing yet again, and finally venture out into the open terrain. Somehow, GiGi feels that this is the right thing to do, although the hot weather is antithetical to her weak constitution. She doesn’t have Euni to push her anymore, but Chad Slambody is a strapping fellow and always willing to expose himself.  He strips his shirt away and helps GiGi. 

They don’t really know what they’re looking for.  And why could no one find it before?  They have no answers, and are starting to get extremely annoyed, frustrated, hot and angry, when Gigi finally twitches from a faint psychic pulse:

It originates from a clump of rocks in the distance.






It begins as a mild headache between her eyes, increasing as they approach until it has blown into a migraine. Horrible evil radiates from this area, and GiGi has to leave (plus no one wanted to push her; it would slow them down!).

Nestled at the top of the pile is a hole. Lacking rope and flashlights (and lacking Morty Jones, who has been sleeping the past eight hours) they return to the city, re-equip with necessary gear, hide the shotguns, tell Morty to “Pull yourself together, man, we have work to do!” and return to the rock formation by 6 PM.

Chad Slambody volunteers to scale down first. The route is treacherous, and he finds himself bouncing off the rough walls, skinning his arms and elbows, but he eventually drops into a cool, dry tunnel. Nearby, a stairwell leads into impenetrable darkness.  He takes a few hesitant steps, but the hair prickles on the back of his neck.

Something is waiting down there.






Chad waves for the others to follow, and soon Chad, Lucifer, Chang and Morty are huddled at the bottom, accompanied only by the rasp of their breathing.  It would be too difficult for GiGi to navigate this route anyway, so Ma’Moud has accompanied her back to the museum.  It is definitely not the place for a kid either, and Lester Cobblebottom has better things to do than crawl around in a cave. 






Flashlights are lashed to shotguns, but only Chad is proficient in their use.   He gives the others a quick tutorial on how to aim, reload and brace against recoil.  Morty waves him off; he’s seen this done too many times since leaving New York. 

They stick to the “left-turn-only-rule”, and discover that they are in a maze of tunnels.  The path is worn smooth by thousands of pattering feet, possibly over thousands of years.  The main tunnel is the widest, but from smaller branching tunnels they hear faint slobbering sounds, as if air is being sucked through a wet orifice. After a short detour they find themselves standing at the rim of such a hole.  A sound emanates from far, far in the depths, but when the stone around the hole quivers--as if it were membranous and alive--they all step back.  Suddenly nauseated, they realize that they are standing on the rim of what resembles a large anus.  The air is tainted with a stink that they don’t care to dwell on, so they quickly leave, but Chang throws up in a corner, completely overwhelmed.

“Eyes open,” whispers Lucifer Lardlover.  “Chad, watch yourself.  The followers of the Black Messenger have many tricks at their disposal.  Possibly necromantic abominations.  Maybe inhuman allies.  Maybe even--”

“Roses!” says Morty.  

Morty points his flashlight, and true enough, dozens of black roses bloom along a thorny vine.  The petals open slowly, and the group of armed men steps back.  They glance at each other.  More roses begin crawling across a vine in their path with alarming speed, opening with quiet menace.  Continue through the roses or head back?  They opt to head back, afraid that the flowers hold some malignant poison.  Lucifer cannot discern any occult significance from the rose; it could be anything.  Or nothing.






They try another tunnel, trudging up a slope inscribed with ancient runes that have been worn nearly illegible. 

They finally turn down a narrow left tunnel and see flickering torchlight at the end, but more importantly, a huge shadow stretches toward them.  There is something alive down there about to turn the corner! Chang and Chad ready their guns just as a horrifying beast swings into view.






The creature is eight feet tall with the head of a crocodile, and it wields a brutal scimitar!

It growls and advances, weapon raised high to bring it down in a devastating blow, but everyone opens fire. 

Unfortunately, Chad's ammunition malfunctions and explodes in his face. He staggers away, partially blinded, while Chang pelts it with buckshot.  For the first time in his life, Lucifer Lardlover pulls the trigger of a gun and levels a solid blast into the thing's chest.  It is knocked against the rock wall behind it, bloody ribs jutting from the hole in its chest, incredulously looks down at the gaping wound, and then topples over dead. 

Lardlover blows smoke from the muzzle.

“Nice shot,” Chad tells him. 

The magician sniffs.  “Of course it was.” 

And they all quickly reload...


----------



## Nebulous

Last Sunday's session marked the 36th game and the conclusion of this campaign.  Whew! It was a lot of fun, pretty chaotic, and with plenty of...er, improvised rules for explosions, gasoline and rigged bombs.  The sessions are all typed up, i'm just having to edit them for clarity and notes. The "GM Notes" are there mostly so that the players can see what I was thinking, or stuff they missed, or the smart things or blatantly stupid things they did. 

We're starting up Dawn of Defiance very soon, and I told them if they start lashing drums of starfighter fuel to droids and Jawas i'm probably going to cry.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #15:  The Ritual of Nitcrosis

Lucifer Lardlover bends over their defeated foe and inserts a black opal into the chest cavity.  Blood stains his fingers, but he pushes further into the croc-man’s heart.  Arcane words roll off his tongue while he holds the Staff of Nyambe, and employing vile mysticism, the magician demands the soul to return!

Whether the actual soul comes back or some other animus spirit, the shattered corpse stirs, and then stands to its feet as Lardlover’s shambling servant. 

“Good Lord, that is disgusting,” mutters Chang.  The crocman’s intestines hang out, trailing black blood to its scaly feet. 

Morty holds a hand to his mouth. He will not be taking pictures of this atrocity, and actually refused to bring his photography equipment at all. No one should be exposed to this madness anymore!  No one! 

“Fear not,” says Lucifer, patting his reptilian servant on the shoulder.  “The creature is mine to command now. It is harmless unless instructed to harm.  Let us move on.  I sense prowlers in the darkness. Gentlemen…stay sharp!” 

They continue deeper into the maze, with only flashlights to give them an inkling of where they are and the horrors looming out of sight.

The undead croc-man leads the way as a meat shield, plodding with slow, labored steps.  They actually have to slow down to keep pace with the thing. They soon reach an alcove filled with golden incense burners, and what is possibly a hieroglyphic poem to the Black Pharaoh. If Nevelle were here he would have fully deciphered the words, but no one else cares, and they fear that understanding the poem may be more harmful than helpful.  






They order the crocman to take the golden treasures, but it only understands a few words of Arabic. They stuff an extra flashlight into the shredded hole in its chest and send it ahead as a point guard.

They pass several other corridors writhing with black roses and skirt around them, eventually winding back to the main tunnel. They keep using the "left only" rule and turn into a side passage, but Chad Slambody is shocked when he sees a severed head thrust upon a pole.  He jumps back, gnawing a knuckle, and tells the others they might not want to look. 






[GM Note: this sequence was written when Gigi was still an active character.  I desperately wanted to see that old woman meet her doom in a wheelchair. What GM wouldn’t?  Anyway, tying back to GiGi’s character background, the head on the pole was her husband’s head, but Chad didn’t suffer nearly the Sanity blast that she would have.  Oh well].

They advance further, peeking into every dark nook and cranny, and finally find several empty cell rooms capable of holding prisoners.  Perhaps even hundreds. The area reeks of human refuse and suffering.  

Morty spots a small white object in the corner, so he bends down to pick it up.

A cigarette butt.  He sniffs it, thinking immediately of Dr. Clive.  

They trudge onward, working deeper into the maze until they are lost, save for chalk marks they scrawl at junctions (and the handy overhead map on the game table). The chalk actually gives them an idea of where they are because they pass the same marks several times. 

They eventually reach a winding staircase that leads to the main tunnel and a T-junction.  Chad Slambody pauses partway down when he sees growing torchlight. To their horror, a massive Elephant-headed man walks by, followed by a second, and then three jackal-headed men, followed by two serpent-men hybrids!






As Lucifer Lardlover suspected, anthropomorphic beings are alive and well in this place. The monsters look formidable, so the party heads another direction rather than confront them.

They soon reach a ten-foot gap in the floor that is too risky to jump.  They backtrack and take an alternate route, clambering up a steep, wet slope.  But as Chang slides down the opposite side he sees a humanoid shape lurking around the corner. He grinds to halt, trying to scuttle back up, but a jackal-man whirls around the corner and aims a bow at him!

“Agh!” cries Chang.  “Somebody kill that th—”  

The beast chuckles, bowstring creaking, but Chad Slambody removes the top of its head with a well-placed shotgun blast.  The sound echoes through the tunnels, ricocheting into infinite darkness.  They don’t know who or what could hear the noise, or if reinforcements will come to investigate. 

They reach a new portion of the main tunnel where Morty hears marching footsteps again, most likely the elephant man troupe continuing their rounds. They decide to follow this time and eventually catch up, although the slow, lumbering crocman-zombie lags far behind. 

The investigators are nearly surprised when the anthropomorphic monsters reverse direction and head back at them! The party retreats down a side tunnel, waiting until the group has passed, and decide that NOW is the time to attack, sandwiching the enemy between themselves and the crocman zombie who can’t keep up. With clear line of sight down a stretch of tunnel, the four heroes arrange themselves in ranks and unleash a barrage of scattershot, bullets and magic from Lucifer Lardlover. [He’s rather fond of Fist of Yog-Sothoth, and the Staff of Nyambe absorbs the ability score damage]

Fortune is with them, for the large Elephant Man would have killed someone with one strike.  Chad Slambody scores a critical hit and the monster perishes from a severed spinal column.  The huge elephant man collapses forward and crushes two of its allies.  The second elephant man charges, swinging a polearm, and the jackalmen frenzy against the croc-zombie. Bullets fly, some hit, some don't, the walls echoing with gunshots and screams until the air is clouded with smoke, but two rounds later the enemies are all dead save for one subdued jackalman that whines miserably to itself.  They break its neck. 

Sagging against the walls in relief, the investigators are unharmed. 

Lucifer Lardlover knows he can animate the dead elephant man as an ally, but only if he cuts the crocman loose from servitude. Furthermore, with his keen occult wisdom, Lardlover knows that if the elephant man has 9 or more mystical elements of its infinite soul called mysterious "Hit Dice" then it will rip free from his dark charm and attack them!  But it slides in with just 8 hit dice, and their new servant is fearsome indeed.  They send the pachyderm clomping down the passage as a beefy shield.

[GM Note: I would like to remind everyone that we are running “Indiana Jones & The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep” with a D&D crowd.  From the beginning, I wanted to run a pulp-action scenario, so yes, much of what happens is contrary to the typical Cthulhu scenario (although these reanimation spells are in the corebook).  We had a great time, and that’s what matters in the end]. 

For another half an hour they wander through the maze but don’t encounter any other foes, until the see tall pillars flanking another room.  This place looks important, and yet another jackal-headed guard waits here. 






The elephant man is given specific orders:  KILL!, so it approaches the oblivious guard.  The jackalman realizes too late that something is wrong with his huge, gray ally, but by then the elephant man has popped its head like a big wet grape.  Blood and brains splatter the floor and walls, and the investigators gingerly step around the gore and climb the steps.  They cautiously enter enters a new area, but this place fills them with growing dread...

It is a massive chamber 500 x 400 feet, the ceiling supported by columns whose stony branches sway in the ethereal wind of otherworldly dimensions. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of robed cultists fill the room, which is lit only by torches, and they are engaged in the midst of hideous rituals.

Blood, sex, and murder.

Now the party knows where the prisoners are.  The ritual follows a pattern established by the one Chang and Morty witnessed at Gavigan’s estate, but on a much larger scale.  Their Sanity suffers from witnessing the atrocities here, but they have all swallowed Ali Kafour’s Elixirs of Fortitude and are able to keep their composure. 

[GM Note: I was thinking of Shen’s potions from Big Trouble in Little China]

Using the shadows to their advantage, the party moves closer and finds a dark alcove.  Extra robes hang from hooks, so the party dons these conveniently placed garments, and casually stride into the chamber, trying to blend into the madmen, sadists and killers.

Screams of anguish wash over them, and Morty averts his eyes, unwilling to watch the madness.  There are even animal-headed beasts ravaging human females, grunting with pleasure as they spread their wild seed. 

A short distance into the ceremony chamber they find a stairway leading down to red light. From this red light emanate human screams. Prisoners! Hating to see so much senseless death and torture, Chad Slambody and his boss Lucifer Lardlover investigate the stairwell, while Morty and Chang hang back.  They creep down until the red light permeates everything, and a hazy doorway looms before them.  Lucifer begins to suspect that the light and mist share an unnatural origin, but they push on regardless. 






But prisoners do not wait through the light as they first expected, but rather a shifting haze of fiery mist that burns their lungs, and begins to suck them toward it!  Coughing in pain, Chad staggers back, and grabs Lucifer’s robes. Discordant voices whisper to them, begging them to join their eternal suffering, but Chad doesn’t want any part of that.  Before he is sucked into the nothingness, they both stumble backward through the arch.  Behind them, ghostly entities flit back and forth, and they realize with a certain amount of (Sanity draining) dread that they just walked through a Doorway to Hell.

Morty is losing it.  He presses himself against Chang, trying to keep his eyes averted.  A naked Egyptian man holding a wet skull and spinal column bumps into him, babbling gibberish and frothing at the mouth.  Morty pushes him away, deciding he must kill as many of these bastards as possible! 

Cultists surround them on all sides, a literal tide of bodies, and they find themselves pushed to the very edge of a large rectangular pit. To their disgust, the pit is filled with black water and uncountable writhing black leeches.  Screaming sacrifices are tossed in a dozen at time to be devoured at the slimy leisure of the vat's vile inhabitants. 






Chang can barely stand to look either, but morbid fascination takes over, and who should he see bob to the surface but their old friend FARAZ NAJIR!  The fat antiquities dealer is bloated more than ever, and surely not enjoying his reward for speaking to the PC’s.  He is one person they don’t mind seeing dead, and his corpse sinks back into the soupy black broth. 






The heroes blend into the chaos for now, just four in a throng of hundreds of depraved maniacs, but the bustling crowd separates them. Chad and Lucifer stick together, Chang and Morty in their own group. There are several more features looming in this large chamber, but they need to get closer. 

Lardlover sees a sacrificial ziggurat twenty feet high, topped by a golden sarcophagus and people climbing the stairs, some of whom resemble the Clive Party! 

Chad and Lucifer were told what they look like, and suspect that these individuals might be the same people: Clive, Agatha, Johan, Martin Winfield and Johan Sprech.  Even from this distance, Morty spots Johan’s shock of blond hair. However, there is a sixth cloaked person they do not recognize, and wonder if it is the vile sorcerer Omar Shakti.






But there is more.

They see a sweating emerald stone throne with two chairs, and a high catwalk leading out of the chamber. Nearby sits another narrow stele and a secondary entrance to the room.  And at the very back of this immense chamber looms a gaping rift in the far wall as if it has imploded, and the darkness within is eerily complete, like the center of a cosmic black hole...

They don’t know what to do yet, other than watch the festivities commence.


----------



## GodPhoenix

This whole story arc was hilarious.  I almost peed myself when Jake's character was fumbling around with the generator in Omar Shakti's basement.  Of course, if I remember correctly, I think the next adventure summary marks the beginning of our dynamite-as-grenade phase...which led to our dynamite-for-healthy-living phase.

Edit: yeah, I know, laughing during a game of Call of Cthulhu isn't "standard" but if you knew this group...


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> Of course, if I remember correctly, I think the next adventure summary marks the beginning of our dynamite-as-grenade phase...which led to our dynamite-for-healthy-living phase.
> 
> Edit: yeah, I know, laughing during a game of Call of Cthulhu isn't "standard" but if you knew this group...




Yes, it does start a trend of explosion addiction. I think it was only because of Luck and Action Points that you guys didn't kill yourselves.  My God, the last adventure with the Gas-Firmies is almost too unbelievable to post here..I don't know if people will shake their heads at how we mangled Cthulhu or be glad that at least we had fun while doing it.

Edit: Just for the record, i have run regular Cthulhu adventures and love them, i was just going for something different here. Remember that haunted asylum, Leo? No friggin' Gas-Camel there...


----------



## Abciximab

I run a D&D campaign with players that tend to kill first and ask questions... Well, actually, not that often. It's very funny reading how that translates in a story hour. Can't wait for more.

Do what you have to and damn the consequences! (Chances are, we'll be gone by the time the authorities show up. Hopefully. With any luck.)


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #16:  Arrival of the Black Sphinx

[GM Note: My brother joined us this session as Ali Najirfaz, a reporter from the Cairo Bulletin kidnapped by the cult. He is chained to a pillar and watches the scene unfold]. 

The ceremony room is chaotic. Hundreds of robed cultists throw victims to the leech pit in an orgy of pain and screams. The atrocities are horrible, and the party finds itself separated amid snarling madmen and terrified, naked victims. 

Hundreds of faces turn toward the end of the room.  The Clive party has ascended the steep steps toward the sarcophagus. Morty and Chang cannot see the details, but Chad Slambody and the necromancer Lucifer Lardlover are much closer.  The old woman and another man are bound by ropes and led to the top.





Omar Shakti, leader of the Black Brotherhood in Egypt, stands with his hands spread, while others lurk near the prisoners, and the old woman begins to rhythmically sway back and forth. Using his arcane knowledge, Lucifer surmises that they are using the woman, a known medium, to guide Nitcrosis's soul across the abyss and reunite it with her mummified corpse.

Success here will be disastrous. 

Chad and Lucifer quietly confer, and in a moment of clarity (or madness!) they attempt to light two sticks of dynamite under their robes. The old woman must die! 

[GM Note: They came to this conclusion completely on their own, but it is a suggested tactic in the campaign book.] 

But the sparks are seen sprinkling between their legs, although to their advantage most people are looking elsewhere.   But a curious cultist beside Lucifer asks him: “What are you doing?” Chad, knowing not a smidgen of Arabic just stares dumbly, while Lucifer offers the cool-headed bluff: 

"Ceremonial candles, my friend."

The gullible cultist accepts the answer, and in the mere seconds they have left, Chad and Lucifer advance, trying to get closer to the ritual and hope they don't miss.  Or kill themselves.

Meanwhile, Chang and Morty are loitering near the leech pit where Morty tries to innocuously bump a cultist to his doom with a “Bluff vs. Why are you Killing Me? check.” Morty succeeds, and the cultist splashes into the pit. But Morty and Chang are clueless as to what is about to happen across the room.

Chad and Lucifer hurl their sticks of dynamite to the top of the sacrificial stone. Their aim is true, and although they are seen by some, the impending explosion is shocking enough to send the entire throne room into confusion. Flames demolish the top of the altar. Omar Shakti is launched away.  Dr. Clive and Johan Sprech are killed, their mangled corpses ejected into the air. And Agatha Broadmoor, the old medium, who sits innocently on her knees, is blown to pieces, foiling the resurrection of Nitcrosis in one fell swoop. Chad doesn’t even care, although both men lose some Sanity for their callousness. 

Neither Chad nor Lucifer really expects to live, but they’re confident that they helped bring an end to this ritual.  Still, they aren’t ready to give up.

“Chad!” hisses Lardlover. “Go now!  Retrieve that vile mummy! We must destroy it if possible!”

In the brief chaos offered by their plan, Lucifer raises a wall of fog to obscure their actions, while Chad mounts the steps to steal the corpse and the three items of power needed to revive her. Chad struggles with the mummy, which doesn't weigh much and is surprisingly resilient…until Chad hears the roar. Something huge is just on the other side of the fog wall, something larger than a house. Chad sees a dim shadow surge toward him, but he is saved from madness by virtue of the wall of fog obscuring his sight. He drops all pretense of stealth and leaps down the stairs with the mummy in his arms, streaking for the exit.

Chang and Morty and Lucifer begin running toward the exit too, and that is when things get bad... 

...as the floor rumbles...

...it tilts...

...and an unholy moan reverberates from the gargantuan hole in the far wall.

The ground shakes so much that everyone is thrown to their knees. A mad dash ensues for the heroes, while the cultists have fallen prostrate, honoring the God Who Walks Among Them. Only the four investigators are running away, staggering, falling, picking themselves up and struggling desperately for the exit.  But Morty trips continuously, he can't stay on his feet, and the others pass him by with nary a glance.   You’re on your own, buddy! Pillars crack and fall and a gargantuan presence presses onward, crawling over the altar, and the sound of cultists being smashed, crunched and devoured spills across the room. 

[GM Note: A discussion arises as to whether or not this big “something” would step on Omar Shakti, who had fallen behind the ziggurat.  Ultimately, I said that perhaps he got squished by accident, thus ending their fear of Omar’s revenge].

Kidnapped Cairo Bulletin reporter Ali Najirfaz squeals and averts his face, but peeks out as the thing stomps by. It is so hideous…and so beautiful! Finally, his break-out story!

No one else has seen the abomination yet, no one has dared turn around and look, they just run for their lives.

Everyone but Morty reaches the exit and flees down the stairs into the tunnels, but Morty falls yet again at a crucial junction.  The massive creature has been gaining on him every time he slips. Morty's fractured mind snaps at the last instant. He is filled with blissful euphoria! The end is near! AT LAST! He is laughing as a five-mawed hand grabs his extremities and Morty sees the thing in hideous detail.  




Surprisingly, he rolls very low Sanity damage, and just shrugs his shoulders. 

“Eh.  Could be worse.”

He is lifted three stories high and dropped into the mouth of the Black Sphinx.

[GM Note:  Our group considers this the Best Death of the campaign; not only did Morty not mind that he was about to die, he was unimpressed by the Black Sphinx].

The surviving heroes dash through the maze, dodging or killing the hybrid animal-men that pop up, and they eventually find the rope at the exit tunnel and enter the cool Egyptian night, exhausted and terrified, but confident that they have at least postponed the diabolical plans of Nyarlathotep.  However, Morty Jones is not with them, and in the confusion, they never saw his final fate.

Meanwhile, still chained to a column in the throne room, insane news journalist Ali Najirfaz shouts to himself: "Wow! What a scoop!"


----------



## GodPhoenix

Abciximab said:
			
		

> Do what you have to and damn the consequences! (Chances are, we'll be gone by the time the authorities show up. Hopefully. With any luck.)




Ha!  Yes, that was our "strategy" too.  You know, we never set out to be the crazy kill-em-all, explosion-happy group...it just kind of spiraled out of control.  I think it all started with that burning rug/tapestry we threw down into the basement of the JuJu house early in the campaign.

And yes, Jason, I remember the haunted Asylum..._shiver_...no gas camel there.  It ended up quite differently than the waves and waves of exploding hirelings*...but that's a story for another day.

* - very, very Knights of the Dinner Table


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> Ha!  Yes, that was our "strategy" too.  You know, we never set out to be the crazy kill-em-all, explosion-happy group...it just kind of spiraled out of control.  I think it all started with that burning rug/tapestry we threw down into the basement of the JuJu house early in the campaign.




That rug indeed might have been an instigator of "Hey, this strategy works," but pyromania didn't come into full bloom until you realized that a camel loaded with gasoline made a horrible target...unless pushed toward the Bad Guys. From there, acquiring explosives and fuel by any means legal or illegal became a party goal. More often than not it actually saved their lives.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> More often than not it actually saved their lives.




Actually, the number of un-intended* casualties from our reckless use of explosives was astonishingly low.

* - Firmies don't count...those were completely intentional.


----------



## Numion

Great stuff, want more!!!

Hilarious quote:

"Ceremonial candles, my friend." - Lardlover, about lit dynamite


----------



## Nebulous

Numion said:
			
		

> Great stuff, want more!!!
> 
> Hilarious quote:
> 
> "Ceremonial candles, my friend." - Lardlover, about lit dynamite




Thank you! Yeah, i always loved that line too, the zany stuff players say. I'll probably post the next chapter today or tomorrow.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #17: Cats in the Museum

Lucifer, Chad and Chang have no sooner crawled out of the secret entrance when they hear angry shouts: they are being pursued! But their friend Morty is not with them, and they never actually saw him devoured by the abomination below. The rope is taut and shaking, but after shouting down and receiving no answer, Lucifer decides to cut it. But he only has a pocketknife, so eschewing that idea, he unloads his shotgun. The rope snaps, and they hear screams as someone plunges to the bottom.







It is dark out. They wait for a few moments and are displeased to see pinpricks of light approaching them from two different directions: cultists have begun swarming out of the Great Hall from other entrances. It is a five-mile tram ride from Cairo, but the transit station is closed. As they debate what to do...






... Worthington Lester Cobblebottom IV, M.D., Ph.D., Esq., (Jeff’s 2nd character) is asleep in his silk embroidered pajamas in a converted storage closet at the Cairo Museum.  He rolls over, dreaming--of all things!--meowing cats, to which he is extremely allergic. He falls back asleep, hugging his fluffy pillow...

...while Chad, Chang and Lucifer strike out into the desert, hoping to circumvent the men targeting them. They want to make a wide berth around their pursuers, and eventually return to the tram tracks. They discuss ambushing the enemy, but there are too many of them, and no adequate place to hide. They stop and wait out in the desert, until the torches reach their original exit point, and then follow their tracks through the sand. They didn’t even think about that!

...when Cobblebottom thinks he hears cats again. He sits up this time, thoroughly annoyed, and stuffs a towel under the door. Dr. Ali Kafour will hear about this in the morning, that's for sure!  Lester regrets he did not stay in a hotel. He settles back down and closes his eyes...

...as Lucifer decides that he will block their advance with magic. The cultists are half a mile away, but there is nowhere to run or hide except deeper into the desert. Lucifer calls forth another billowing wall of fog that bubbles up from the ground. It is a huge area, and gives the party time to escape. They move as fast as they can, until they reach the transit station, and see more people gathered in front of the Sphinx. Despite how many cultists died during the ritual, there are obviously many survivors, and possibly even their leader, Omar Shakti, who they did not see physically perish. Deciding that the Museum is their best refuge, they begin trotting along the tram tracks, heading toward the distant lights of Cairo...

...when Cobblebottom hears a scream. This time he shoots up, determined to find out what is happening. He gets dressed, grabs a flashlight, and steps out into the hallway. He is in the basement level, well below the Third Dynasty display room and the Administrative Wing. At the top of the stairs he sees a cat staring at him with wide yellow eyes. Annoyed, he covers his hand and nose, and skirts by it. The cat hisses and scratches, but Cobblebottom reaches the Exhibit room. It is completely dark and silent in the museum, no sign of life at all, although there are usually one or two security guards making rounds. There is another gentleman staying in the Museum as well, a drunken Dutchman named Janwillen Vanheuven, who owns a book called the Black Rites that Cobblebottom has been secretly translating. The Dutchman is a drunk and a fool, but Cobblebottom is pleased to be able to work so closely with the great Dr. Ali Kafour and his exquisite collection of rare artifacts. 

Feeling like he is being watched, Cobblebottom tiptoes through the display room, splashing light everywhere, highlighting leering stone statues of Horus, Isis, and Ra, and other Egyptian gods who care little for his well being.  Perhaps he just imagines these statues watching him?




He reaches the entry room where the guard kiosk waits by the front door. He approaches carefully, and is shocked to see a bloody handprint on the glass! There is more blood inside, but no sign of the night watchman. Extremely worried now, Cobblebottom shakes the front door. It is locked, and only the night guard has the key. He decides to go to the Dutchman's room.

That is when Cobblebottom spots five cats on the stairwell to the second-floor display rooms.  Unnerved now, he skitters through the dim light, and by chance throws a glance behind him…

...and sees a LARGE feline shape slink between the shadows...

...as the others trudge wearily to within a mile of the city. They have eluded their pursuers so far, and all they care about now is finding a place to sleep and forget about the atrocities witnessed beneath Giza...

...but Cobblebottom feels a hollow bubble of fear form in his stomach.

Why does Dr. Kafour have cats in his museum!? And big ones too! He races to the basement entrance and sees the door ajar, and another bloody handprint on the door. He opens the door and finds the crumpled body of the security guard on the platform below, his throat ripped out, his body cooling in a pool of blood. Steadying himself, Cobblebottom eases down the stairs, and estimates that the guard has been dead less than half an hour.

He hears a low, rumbling growl, and then an adult female lion pounces toward him from around the corner! Cobblebottom squeals in terror, grabs the guard's pistol from the holster, and (fortunately winning an initiative roll) flees to the top of the stairs and slams the door, even as the lion thuds against it, roaring and clawing.  He was only seconds from death. 

Shaking with fear, he runs to the main foyer, and sees a black panther loping toward him. 






He is trapped, but then Cobblebottom spots another figure in the recesses of the room. A woman says:

"Return what was stolen! The Black Rites! I have asked too many times now."

He knows that Janwillen Vanheuven keeps the papyrus scrolls tucked under his bed, so Cobblebottom agrees to get them. The mysterious woman says that the cats will not attack if he obeys her. So Cobblebottom opens the door, eases past the lion licking blood from her paws, and navigates the basement until he reaches Vanheuven's room, and sees an angry alley cat pawing under the door...

...and around this time the others have stumbled across the city limits. They make their way to the museum and knock on the glass door, but the guard does not answer. Probably making his rounds, so they decide to wait...

...although Cobblebottom does not wait long to enter Vanheuven's room. He tries to talk sense to the Dutchman first, but he refuses to listen, so using his key, Cobblebottom opens the door and forces his way in.  He begins to wrestle the unshaven, smelly man, who clutches the Black Rites to his bare chest, willing to die rather than
release the stolen scrolls that will make him famous!

But Lester beats the man into submission, cracking his head against the floor.  Janwillen falls limp, mumbling, “Famous…famous…” through bloody lips.  Lester staggers out of the room with the prize.  

“I have it!” he shouts. “I have it! Don’t hurt me!”

He runs upstairs around the same time that Chad, Lardlover, and Chang are getting very worried.  [They’re also having the meta-game issue of watching Lester nearly die while they loiter outside the museum].  

They finally smash a window and alarms start ringing.

“That’ll wake ‘em up,” mutters Chad.

Lester runs upstairs, sees Chad, Chang and Lardlover, and then everyone sees the seductive priestess of Bast petting her black panther.   The panther growls at them, but does not attack.






“Your stubbornness has brought death,” she says.  “You should have listened sooner. Wrap the book, fool, and bring it to me.”

Nodding and shaking, Lester does as instructed and drapes the Black Rites in his pajama top.  He approaches her, but Lardlover intervenes.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Cobblebottom?” 

Chad fingers the safety on his shotgun.  Chang licks his lips and waits. Lardlover stares intently at the Cat Lady, whose dark eyes never leave his face.  She stalks closer to him, the panther trotting at her side, a low growl reverberating in its throat.   She approaches within a few inches of his face, but Lucifer is only a man, and even his black heart quickens.  Rosy lips brush his own. 

“Why would you resist?” she breathes.  “The book is nothing to you.” She steps around him toward Chang, who is likewise enraptured by her beauty.  But when she sidles up to Chad Slambody, he easily rebukes her wiles. 

“Take your book and scram, lady. I’m tired.”

[GM Note: This was a very interesting encounter because we determined that Chad Slambody is completely, utterly and unavoidably GAY.  His homosexuality becomes a theme of his character, and actually dips into some pretty bizarre territory as his mental stability dwindles.  Leo even started using a set of pink dice.  Yes, we’re very immature sometimes].

The Cat Lady grabs the Black Rites from Lester, and throwing a final glare at the men, she steps through the shattered door and vanishes as if the darkness swallowed her up.  There are still a few small cats poking around, but the large ones have disappeared with her.






Lester Cobblebottom wipes the sweat from his face.  “What in God’s name was that all about?”

***

The alarm is still blaring when the authorities and Dr. Ali Kafour arrive.  There are considerable questions to be answered, such as how the guards died, and who did it? But footprints in the blood reveal distinct paw prints, and the wounds are obviously animal-inflicted. 

The unbelievable story is corroborated by the four characters; someone broke into the museum and released a panther from the zoo.   

Dr. Kafour vouches for the investigators and proves that they are currently staying as guests.  As usual, they seem to be involved at the center of a violent crime.  After the authorities leave and the PC’s have made their final statements, Dr. Ali Kafour informs the group that the servants of Nyarlathotep will stop at nothing to kill them now. 

“My friends, you must leave the country as soon as possible. The danger is only beginning now.”

But destroying the mummy Queen Nitcrosis, Ali assures them, was a great blow against Nyarlathotep’s plans.  This will set back the god’s agenda, although he feels that the overall plot is not thwarted.  Nevertheless, the investigators still have the mummy, the Girdle, the Necklace and the Crown in their possession.  Rather than risk these items being stolen again, the mummy is stuffed into a sarcophagus until Ali can work on destroying it, the Girdle is locked in a vault, the Necklace is thrown into a chest and sunk seven miles offshore, and the Crown is shipped to another country under false labels, hopefully lost forever in some foreign warehouse.

During these few days they all keep a low profile, and Worthington Lester Cobblebottom IV, M.D., Ph.D., Esq. is given a brief explanation of their quest.  They need help desperately, and a man with Lester’s skills will prove useful.  And in typical Cthluhu-fashion, Lester abandons his sedentary career to galumph across the world to certain doom with strangers following vague hints and ramblings from deceased madmen. Why not?

There are several clues leading to Kenya, Australia, and China.  Dr. Kafour arranges a camel caravan that will take them to the east coast, and from there a steamer to Mombasa, where the investigators will continue their search for the lost Carlyle Expedition, and perhaps prevent the birth of his son, a possible Anti-Christ, at a mysterious place called the Mountain of the Black Wind...




The days ahead will prove very difficult.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #18: Desert Assassins

*Part 1: The Gas Camel*

April 1st, 1925

After disrupting the resurrection of Nitcrosis, Dr. Kafour fears that death squads will target the party.  To continue the hunt for the missing Carlyle Expedition, they must find a mysterious place called the Mountain of the Black Wind where a child of Nyarlathotep is supposedly to be born.  For Worthington Lester Cobblebottom (Jeff secretly hid “Worth-Less” into his name) this journey is both frightening and exhilarating. The group has lost one member, private investigator Morty Jones, but Lester is a worthy replacement.  And to their surprise, young Ma’Moud practically begs these men to bring him along!  They have grown attached to the boy, and although their journey will be dangerous, they don’t consider it much worse than him suffering alone and destitute in the slums of Cairo. Except for maybe losing his eternal soul. They take him anyway. 






Their final night together, Ali Kafour tells them, “Contact me when you can, I will be here. Good fortune my friends, and may God be with you. May God be with us all.”

The next morning they meet their caravan guide, Ra’eje.  He seems very amicable, and does not question the nature of their journey. Obviously, they are just seekers of knowledge and adventure. Dr. Kafour says that Ra-eje was paid specifically NOT to ask questions. His camel seems curious though. 






Lester Cobblebottom is all but oblivious to the dangers ahead.  Oh sure, he knows about the Priestess of Bast and the murders in the Museum.  He knows that his companions seek to disrupt a religious ritual in Kenya, and that this ritual can have far reaching consequences, but Lester does not understand the full implications of their mission.  That knowledge will come with time…and madness.

Still, Lester has been poring over the Black Rites for a short while now, and has learned some tantalizing hints about the Mythos, about strange, extraterrestrial gods in the center of the cosmos, and dark words that can invoke spirits and magic.  

At dusk they head off into the desert, with great Cairo dwindling behind them for the last time. They will not return here. 




[GM Note: Each investigator rides a camel, the first time they’ve had to deal with these beasts.  But they quickly find a use for their strength and resilience: a 50-gallon drum of gasoline is strapped to the back of one camel and carefully shielded from the sun. From what they learned beneath Giza, things that go BOOM! can solve problems]. 

Three days after leaving the city, they find themselves huddled in a tent while a brutal sandstorm howls outside. 

Ra'eje casually speaks with them, but the investigators are reluctant to share information. Ra'eje begins to tell a story about his childhood, a horrifying story he says, but is interrupted by camels moaning outside. He grows very still, listening.  A few moments later, he says that something besides the sandstorm has disturbed them. He looks out and sees three riders shuffling closer.






“I…I cannot tell who they are," says Ra'eje. "Nomads perhaps.”

The investigators are immediately suspicious, but the riders are hailing them, and Ra'eje beckons them to join their group in the safety of the tent. It will be cramped, but manageable. Chad Slambody tucks a loaded shotgun under his sleeping mat just in case. Lucifer Lardlover tries to detect a hint of danger [failing his Special Ability check], but senses nothing. The men don't seem armed, but the investigators do spot long bundles on their camels that might conceal rifles.

The three strangers soon enter the tent, all Arab men, although only one of them speaks broken English. They make small talk with Ra'eje, and the group as a whole gathers around the central pole.  Lanterns hang from hooks while they wait out the storm, giving them enough light to see each other. Chad immediately spots a concealed dagger beneath the robes of one man, and attempts to convey this information to his boss, Lucifer Lardlover. However, he bungles the attempt and finds the Arab man staring intently at him.

Chad gulps, embarrassed.

Lucifer and Chad take their discussion outside to the camel circle, where Chad blurts to Lucifer what he saw, but almost as soon as they have left the tent and entered the howling wind, the Arab man jabs a lean finger at Cobblebottom and Chang.

"KILL THEM!"






Daggers whip out, the leader slashing Cobblebottom with twin blades, nearly killing him. The wounded scholar staggers back, screaming in pain and trying to shield himself. He has no idea what is happening, blood pouring from wounds across his arms and chest. Chaos ensues in the tent as Ra'eje screeches even louder than Lester and begins digging frantically out from beneath the edge of the tent, throwing handfuls of sand behind him. Chang pulls out his pistols and fires multiple times, but in the cramped quarters, his aim is deflected, followed by a punch to the jaw and a knee in his gut.  One gun drops to the floor, but Chang blasts the attacker with the other weapon, downing him.  The killer writhes in pain and Chang stomps on his head, only to be bashed senseless by their leader, a cold, calculating assassin of no small talent. 

Assuming attack position, Chad THROWS himself into the melee, hooking an arm around an assailant’s neck and kicking the other in the crotch. An elbow to the ribs flings Chad away, and he realizes with growing despair that the man in their midst is a trained murderer. [And well above their Challenge Rating]

The next 7 or 8 rounds features a hectic fight of mostly missed shots by Chang, and gay Chad Slambody putting the wrestling moves on anyone he can catch, trying his damnedest to hamstring the leader who is proving extraordinarily difficult to subdue.

It should be noted, and this will be important later, that the camel loaded with fifty gallons of gasoline is precariously close to random gunfire. (Because one never knows when you might need high explosives when fighting otherworldly powers). They’re worried that stray bullets could hit their "Gas Camel," so Cobblebottom and Ma’Moud try to haul the beast away before a Critical Miss explodes the thing in their faces.  Ma’Moud slaps the camel, screaming its name and shooing it, but the animal is stubborn and oblivious to the danger it poses.






Two of the cultists are finally shot down, but the one with twin knives is a deadly opponent, and he severely wounds everyone except for Lucifer, who manages to stay outside the tent, popping in for the occasional pistol shot.  But his aim is atrocious, and in fact, he manages to wing Chang!  Cursing in the foul language of the netherpits, Lardlover resorts to a magical offense. 

Chad tries to retrieve his shotgun and put an end to the assassin, but two critical failures later, he drops the loaded gun at his feet (the discharge ripping through the tent and narrowly missing the Gas Camel) and the Arab stabs him yet again. Chad is going to lose this fight, he knows it now. In a desperate move, Lucifer summons his potent magical skills, and throws a wave of force into the tent, slamming into the assassin but also cracking the support pole in half. The tent collapses, but it is already full of bullet holes and buckshot and knife slashes, and now oil lanterns catch on fire.

Chad manages to crawl out, but sees the man moving under the canvas and throws himself on top, grappling and kicking, even as the assassin's knife punches through and stabs him yet AGAIN!  Grimacing in pain, Chad rains punches on the killer while Chang pops a few more shots into the tent, and the man is finally subdued from shock, blood loss, and suffocation.

He nearly killed everyone single-handedly. 

Chad staggers away while Lester tries to bind his wounds. Chad has been stabbed over half a dozen times in his arms, legs and torso.  Ra’eje cowers by his camels, praying for the mercy of Allah.  Lucifer sinks to his knees, head bowed, while Chang collapses into the sand and Ma’moud weeps, face buried in his hands. And all around them, the merciless sandstorm continues to rage…

Before long the storm dies out, and morning finds them with a vehement cultist cursing at them.  The man did not perish overnight as they had thought, but now that he is conscious, he is quite vocal. He tells them that the Dark One will devour their souls and rend the flesh from their bones. Unperturbed, they bury the man up to the neck in the sand and leave him to die. The assassin's camels were carrying what looks like incensed kindling for a makeshift pyre or shrine, and they deduce that these men wanted to probably burn them alive as sacrifices to Nyarlathotep.

The Gas Camel has kept its fuel tank preserved, and for that they consider themselves lucky.  The previous encounter could have been disastrous. But as a relevant side-effect, they realize the strategic value of an animal that can haul large amounts of explosive chemical!  [GM Note: the player’s minds are churning full throttle in meta-game mode now. Finding and using anything explosive becomes priority number one]. 


They set off toward the horizon.  The last thing they hear behind them is curses from a soon-to-be dead man buried up to his neck in the hot, hot white Sahara sand.


----------



## Numion

Nebulous said:
			
		

> The unbelievable story is corroborated by the four characters; someone broke into the museum and released a panther from the zoo.




Hehee, quite an explanation  That explanation is basically CSI-proof 



			
				Nebulous said:
			
		

> Unperturbed, they bury the man up to the neck in the sand and leave him to die.




 That one came out of the blue! God damn .. the nonchalant way you describe it makes me really laugh out loud. Any SAN damage?

Really funny stuff, once again. This has to be one of the funniest storyhours I've read. As for the explosives, I think every CoC campaign takes a turn in that direction, whether it's intended as pulp-style or not 

Chad Slambody for the win! Too bad, I gather, that he isn't going to be one of the long-lived characters. He's showing a lot of potential for funny RP 

The replacement PCs way of throwing their careers away to follow a group of unstable individuals on a senseless quest is the very ... essence of RPing. Happens in every game from D&D to Traveller; it's just funnier in CoC, since some of these guys actually seem to have a career.

Keep up the great work!


----------



## Nebulous

Numion said:
			
		

> Hehee, quite an explanation  That explanation is basically CSI-proof
> 
> That one came out of the blue! God damn .. the nonchalant way you describe it makes me really laugh out loud. Any SAN damage?




Yeah, that museum fiasco was...well, a fiasco! And I'm sure there was some San loss in the desert, but not too much.  The PC's tactics became even more ruthless than the cultists by the end.  The bad guys could have learned something!



			
				Numion said:
			
		

> Really funny stuff, once again. This has to be one of the funniest storyhours I've read. As for the explosives, I think every CoC campaign takes a turn in that direction, whether it's intended as pulp-style or not




I admit, we did laugh a lot, and it translates well here.  It was not a scary campaign i don't think, but there were many moments of nail-biting tension.  Maybe Leo can say for sure, but i think they feared death or TPK just about every adventure, even if it didn't usually happen.  Laughing in the face of death, you might say.



			
				Numion said:
			
		

> Chad Slambody for the win! Too bad, I gather, that he isn't going to be one of the long-lived characters. He's showing a lot of potential for funny RP




I'll let Leo comment on Chad, his golden-child of gaming. Yes, he was more fun than you could shake a stick at.  And the source of countless off-color jokes.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> I admit, we did laugh a lot, and it translates well here.  It was not a scary campaign i don't think, but there were many moments of nail-biting tension.  Maybe Leo can say for sure, but i think they feared death or TPK just about every adventure, even if it didn't usually happen.  Laughing in the face of death, you might say.




A TPK was our primary concern...it would have meant a big loss in story continuity...and that kept the tension high throughout the campaign.  Oh, plus DM/Jason/Nebulous really seems to enjoy scaring the crap out of us. 



			
				Nebulous said:
			
		

> I'll let Leo comment on Chad, his golden-child of gaming. Yes, he was more fun than you could shake a stick at.  And the source of countless off-color jokes.




Chad is one of my favorite characters of all time.  He went from simple-minded body builder to a heartless and deranged killer...I guess that's what mythos does to ya.  He reminds me of a DND thief that I played up to L21 (from 2E to 3E to 3.5E) who took kind of an opposite route.

Oh, and things really pick up from here on out (not that they weren't fun up to this point).


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #18: Desert Assassins

*Part 2: Mombasa*






Two days later they reach the coast. They book passage for the five day journey south to Mombasa, and the "gas camel" is brought with them after purchasing it from Ra’eje. This trip gives them time to lick their wounds and plan the next stage of their journey. Ra’eje bids farewell, and they make him swear to tell no one what happened.  Nodding solemnly, he agrees to their wishes. 

The boat ride is uneventful, and they actually find the trip relaxing.  For a short time, they are able to pretend that they are safe.  Along the way, Lester continues reading books the party has acquired, and he even skims De Vermis Mysteriis.  What he finds appalls him, and Lester finally shuts the book, shivering despite the warm, humid day. 






Chad, Chang, and Lucifer pore over the accumulated clues from Jackson Elias and others.  In particular, they study Jackson’s Nairobi Notes, which details many of the people Jackson visited in Nairobi.  Some of these individuals are surely worth contacting, although the investigators hardly trust anyone. 

They eventually arrive at their destination and are pleased to see that Mombasa is a thriving port town with a healthy mix of different nationalities. They are able to easily blend in.






This bustling coastal city of 30,000 people features Arab, African, Portuguese and British influences. The party is a rich group now that they have two members with healthy bank accounts again (Lester and Lucifer), so they book themselves into swanky housing and absorb the sights for a few days just like any other tourist. Their ultimate goal is to reach the capital of Kenya, Nairobi, some three hundred miles inland, where the Carlyle Expedition died and vanished. From there, their journey will grow even more dangerous. 

However, both Cobblebottom and Lucifer swear that they see someone following them, a nondescript Arab man with a full beard and turban, but he always mysteriously vanishes. No one else sees this stranger, and Lucifer finally disregards it as a coincidence.  After all, there are many people here who fit that description.






After researching their notes, and with suggestions from Chang, they discover that there IS one small clue in Mombasa that they can investigate while here: 

Mombasa Exports.






This warehouse sits on the waterfront, and they have proof that it sent artifacts to the Penhew Foundation in London and the Ju-Ju House in NY. There is a good chance that cultists are affiliated with Mombasa Exports, so on the last night of their stay they decide to find what secrets lie within, with the ultimate goal of abolishing those secrets in a blaze of vengeance.

But they take time to plan their escape.  They are still carrying several trunks filled with odds and ends related to their travels, although the majority of their most powerful, Mythos-related items were left with Dr. Kafour in Cairo, such as the rolled-up painting from Miles Shipley, the Bust of the Black Pharaoh, and the Black Sphinx lifted from Silas N’Kwane at the Ju-Ju House in New York City. 

They pay someone to load the Uguandan baggage car ahead of time in case they need to make a quick getaway in the morning. Ma’moud, the good boy that he is, stays with their belongings. He is worried about what they are doing, but they tell him everything will be alright.  Wiping a tear away, Ma’Moud says he will wait.

However, the "Gas Camel" is brought with them on this mission, for one never knows when you might need a highly explosive camel. This disturbs Lester Cobblebottom for he sees just how far his companions are willing to take matters, including the demolition of innocent pack animals.

“Do…do we really need the camel?” he asks Chad.  

“Of course,” the ex-body builder grunts.  He is slipping jars of shoe-polish into a bag, although Lester can’t fathom why he is doing that either.  

Lucifer says:  “Our foes are sundry, doctor.  The men in the desert were proof of that.  If Mythos artifacts abound in this warehouse, they must be destroyed.”

“D--destroyed? Mythos?”

Chad ratchets a shell into the chamber of his Browning shotgun.  “With extreme prejudice, Cobblebottom.  Let’s go. Less talk, more action.”






They head out into the dim night, four men carrying concealed weapons and leading a camel by the reins.  If not for the multitude of other animals in the streets of this port city, a camel might actually seem strange.  As is, they don’t really stand out. 

A short while later they find themselves just off Nasser Road, where the dockyards jut over the waterway. They see a sign for Mombasa Exports, and are able to keep to the shadows.  Well, as much as they can considering that they have a camel with them. 

Half an hour later they shuffle up to their destination.






This mission calls for stealth, so Chad Slambody volunteers to strip naked, despite objections from the others.  Using the black shoe polish and some oil he finds in a drum, he smears himself to aid a furtive approach. Chad scales the fence and checks the back of the warehouse.  His quiet approach pays off.  There is a Negro man smoking a cigarette behind the building.  He has a pistol strapped to his belt, but Chad returns to the others and reports first, rather than risk detection. They decide that everyone should cross the fence together, but they leave the gas camel tethered outside in the shadows, along with its flammable cargo. 

Sneaking back, they find the man is smoking another cigarette, and by using a few decoy sounds, [YIP! YIP! YOP! YIP!] they lure him around the corner.  Chad pounces, sucker punches the guard across the jaw and within seconds has him trussed up like a turkey. Lucifer insists that this man must be killed and dropped into the sound, but Cobblebottom objects: they don't know if he is a cultist or just a guard. Sneering, Lardlover lets Cobblebottom have his way, and the guard is spared.  For now. 

Chad takes the man’s keys and maneuvers to the back of the loading dock.  A single bulb illuminates the area and a metal door beneath the light. The others hide and watch while Chad opens the door. 

It is dark inside, but he sees a faint glow from the other side of the room.  Boxes and crates are stacked nearly ceiling-high, creating a winding maze.  Chad slides forward, and soon sees a white man, an Arab man and Indian man playing cards, their weapons on the table. [sounds like the start of a joke]  Chad watches them for a minute or two, and then returns to tell the others. 

Gunshots will draw too much attention, and the last thing they need is to get arrested again. London was bad enough (although this is player paranoia, not character, except for Chang).  They whisper among themselves and decide to lure the guards out one at a time. Chad is itching to grapple these fellows, especially if they are just scummy cultists. The others wait around the corner while Chad whistles and flexes his muscles. 

Someone asks in English, “What?  What you want, Marco?”

Chad whistles again. A chair slides back from the table.  He hears footsteps clomping through the maze of boxes.

“What you whistling for?  Don’t you got a damn tongue in your mou--”

As soon as the man crosses the threshold, Chad clocks him. It is the Caucasian guard, and he is slammed into the concrete wall, lips busted. Chad lands on top of him in a heartbeat, a wriggling naked bodybuilder smeared in oil, and quickly incapacitates the man in a chokehold, forcing him unconscious. Chang and Lester haul the man off the loading dock and tie him up.

Pumped full of adrenalin, Chad lures the next man out by trying to mimic the previous guard’s voice.  It is the Indian who comes to investigate, but Chad launches his attack a fraction too late. The guard reels from the blow, but is not stunned.

“Help! Someone HELP ME!”

Chad slams him against the wall, knees him, and throws him down. Lester Cobblebottom rushes up and whacks him with a 4-by-4, but their stealthy approach has been compromised.  Lucifer surges into the warehouse and finds cover, none too soon, for the final guard comes to the rescue.  He starts shooting, and bullets whiz past Lester’s ears. 

“Shoot back!” orders Chang, and out whip his twin pistols.  Bullets and smoke fill the dark room, holes punching through plywood and crates.  The guard is fortunately a poor shot and doesn’t manage to hit anyone, and after suffering a wound in the shoulder, Chad flies at him.  He is thrown down and grappled, and the others pile on top.  Within a few moments, the guard is gagged and tied, and all four security guards are dragged inside and the back door is locked.

The prisoners glare at them, but there is not much they can do.

But the investigators have made too much noise, too many mistakes.  It is only a matter of time before someone comes.  For all they know, the police might be on their way already.  They must hurry if they want to do finish the job here, and that job includes screwing up whatever diabolical plan Nyarlathotep has brewing. 

The warehouse is packed full of crates, too many to possibly search through, but Lucifer finds a metal safe in the office and Chang picks the lock. Inside are several hundred dollars, pounds and rupees, as well as a fat ledger book. They take everything.  Chang wants to search the crates for hidden Mythos items, but it would take hours and hours.  Instead, they debate as to whether they should destroy the warehouse with or without the Gas Camel.






The four guards are within earshot of this heartless conversation, their eyes growing wide as they hear their fates discussed. Lester votes for the easiest, quickest way out, such as leaving NOW, killing no one, but Chad, Chang and Lucifer harbor other plans. 

“Evil deserves no mercy, Cobblebottom,” says Chad.  “Be brave. You’re showing weakness, man.” 

Wringing his hands, Lester doesn’t know if this is being brave or being stupid. 

Ultimately the life of the Gas Camel is spared, but the four guards are lashed to the gasoline drum after Chad rolls it inside.

“Sorry, ‘bout this,” Chad tells them.  “But you shouldn’t have become a cultist.” 

They are thrashing their heads back and forth, kicking and screaming through the gags, but that doesn’t stop Chad from dousing them with fuel and leading a trail to the back door. Chad waves, lights the fuse, and the investigators head for cover as a thunderous explosion rocks the warehouse district. The camel is slapped on the ass and sent trotting across the city, its nefarious job complete. 

The next morning the investigators wake up feeling like they accomplished a lot.  Lester Cobblebottom isn’t so sure about their methodology, but doesn’t say anything. On the way to the train station, they read a newspaper article about how half the warehouse district was burned down the previous night by vandals.






Bemused, Chad and Lucifer exchange glances, confident that one less cultist warehouse will cause them problems now.

[GM Note:  This was actually the first warehouse they, um…killed.  The first of several. The guards weren’t even cultists, and I told them that later.  They killed a bunch of fellows just earning a buck]. 






The Uguandan Railway is busy this morning with travelers taking the train from Mombasa to Nairobi.  Chang, being a Chinaman, is given a hard time for trying to sit in the White Car, but Lester pays his way and the complaints subside.  Probably for the best, because Chang would have shot his way in. 

Soon, they begin the 16-hour train ride to Nairobi. They study the stolen ledger book in closer detail, and find many entries for "objects of art" sent to familiar locations such as New York and Silas N’Kwane, the Penhew Foundation and Edward Gavigan, and to Cairo, Australia, Shanghai...and even to Nairobi...to someone named Tandoor Singh...objects of art labeled as "bricks of tea."

With the name Tandoor Singh in mind, they settle back and watch the Kenyan landscape slide by...


----------



## Nebulous

*The Complete Masks of Nyarlathotep, updated 3/6/08*

Adventure #19: Flames on a Train

*Part 1: Train Trouble*

After demolishing a warehouse in Mombasa, the investigators have boarded the Ugandan Railway to Nairobi. The tranquil landscape slides by, including frosty Mt. Kilimanjaro, immense golden savannas, and lakes dotted by pink flamingos. 














The investigators discuss their objectives and pore over notes gained from Dr. Ali Kafour, as well journals from others who perished in the battle against Chaos. They have a few people in Nairobi to contact, but more importantly, they are nearing the massacre site of the Carlyle Expedition, and closer to unpeeling another layer of the mystery that surrounds them. 

And somewhere in this country, a child of Nyarlathotep is destined to be born.

This event must be stopped at all costs. 






Day dwindles into night, and the investigators are lulled to slumber. Darkness fills their carriage, the White Car, which is at the very end of the locomotive. A dining car separates them from the Brown Car, where the middle class sits, which is separate from the Black Car where the Negroes and the poorest of the poor are relegated. The baggage car, flat cars and engine are further up the line.

A noise besides the rhythmic rattle of the train wakes Lucifer Lardlover. Rubbing his eyes and yawning, he stumbles to the dining car, empty and silent as a grave this time of night, but then he hears it again:  an eerie, ululating whine from somewhere in the browncar, and seconds later he hears panicked screams!

The door between the carriages flings open and terrified people pour inside, overturning tables, chairs and carts in their haste. Lucifer sees the source of their fear: a pulsing, sparking, swirling core of bright plasma, spitting droplets of flame in all directions, igniting everything it touches, and it bobs straight toward him! Even worse, Lucifer spots a second flaming creature behind it as both burn through the carriage doors and surge into the dining car. 






“Ugh…this bodes ill. GENTLEMEN! AWAKE! AT ONCE!”

Lardlover flees back to his comrades, urging them to gather their belongings. 

Chang is unfortunately wallowing in the depths of drunken slumber and impossible to rouse. (GM Note: Dave is absent again and we have to work around it, so Chang is frequently drunk, mourning, or unconscious, although sometimes pushed to the forefront if needed). 

Chad Slambody, The Perfect Specimen of Man, grabs his shotgun and wrap his loins in a towel (he always sleeps nude) and leaps into action, attempting to disable the pin between the dining carriage and the whitecar. He fails, and the pin remains stuck. Sparks shoot forth from the living ball of fire, searing him, sucking away his very will to live [Constitution Damage], while a mind-shattering burst of alien intelligence overcomes his senses [Bad Spell]. He is filled with unbearable fear of fire, and in panicked flight, drops his gun, flings open the back door, and LEAPS from the train, the towel around his ample manhood fluttering into the night.

He strikes the ground hard, jumps up running, naked again, as far and fast as he can.

The others are trapped at the end of the train, debating if they should fight or flee. From the other side of the car, someone throws a bucket of water at one of the flaming spheres, severely damaging it.  Steams hisses forth and the creature screams in its peculiar voice. As Lester Cobblebottom attempts to flee, a fire creature lobs sparks at him him, burning his hands and hair.  Shrieking and batting the flames out, Cobblebottom throws Chang's unconscious body from the train.

The Chinaman strikes the tracks face first, bounces, rolls, and lays still. Cobblebottom follows him, twisting his ankle upon impact, and rolls to a painful halt. A few other passengers cower in terror, but the spheres seem to be targeting the investigators and no one else. Lucifer ducks and dodges, about to leap off, when Mamoud cries: "Master! Master! Da sand! Da sand!" An ashtray is filled with sand, and both he and Mamoud began scooping handfuls of the stuff at the living fire, trying to suffocate it. One of the creatures is extinguished in the dining car by water, while Mamoud and Lucifer finally force the other to retreat.

Two of the cars are on fire, smoke and flames belching forth, and the train slowly grinds to a halt as bewildered passengers pour out. Miraculously, no one died in the conflagration.






Several hours pass. Chad Slambody finally stops running, regains his composure, and walks back to the train, feeling somewhat embarrassed and unmanly. Cobblebottom and Chang gather enough nerve to return as well, while Lucifer Lardlover contemplates the beings encountered.   He deduces from his Mythos knowledge that they were probably fire vampires, denizens from a distant star system and servants to Outer Gods that can only be brought by summoning and binding magic.

Exactly WHO summoned and bound them is unknown. 

Passengers are questioned about how the fire started, but there is no clear-cut answer, and the odd sparking balls are dismissed as anomalies, and certainly nothing supernatural. Suspicious eyes are turned to the investigators, but they do not offer input and keep knowledge of extraterrestrial demonic entities to themselves. The train starts up again and finally crawls into Nairobi about two in the morning.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #19: Flames on a Train (Part 2)

*Part 2: The Nairobi Star*


The investigators finally arrive in Nairobi, although much later than expected.






Exhausted, the party checks into the swankiest hotel they can find, The Hampton House, where they enjoy clean sheets and large, comfy beds. 






Both Cobblebottom and Lardlover hail from wealthy families, and they don't mind spending cash on the others. Dawn finds them all up early, enjoying a continental breakfast on the ivy-clustered veranda. Nairobi is 6000 feet above sea level, much cooler and crisper than the sweltering coastal streets of Mombasa. As they discuss their options, a black paperboy hands them a one-page newsletter - The Nairobi Star - claiming that it is the best paper in the whole town. And the only paper.  A brief glance reveals that there have been some strange deaths at a game lodge in the highlands recently.

Strange deaths, eh? 

Sensing a plot hook, a red herring, or a death lure, they think it might be worth checking out.  But first, Lucifer, Chad, and Cobblebottom decide to check the newspaper and search for old articles relating to the Carlyle Expedition five years ago in 1919. The streets are filled with vendors and buyers from many nationalities, as well as a prominent British garrison of armed soldiers.  The investigators are careful to make sure their shotguns are left at the Hampton House, although they carry concealed pistols.














When they arrive, they find that The Nairobi Star is a small, white clapboard building in whitetown, maintained for many years now by its writer, editor and widowed founder: Mrs. Natalie Smyth-Forbes. 






“Hello, gentlemen.  May I help you?  I am extremely busy right now with the next issue.”

She is a graying woman in her mid-fifties, who takes an immediate flirtatious liking to Lester Cobblebottom.  Cobblebottom doesn’t know how to react (or Jeff for that matter!) A quick roll of the dice determines that Cobblebottom happens to be a 45-year old virgin...

Flustered, flattered, and ultimately embarrassed, Lester Cobblebottom stammers, sweats, and fidgets, which only makes him more endearing to the elderly editor. While Cobblebottom investigates the records, in very close proximity to Natalie Smyth-Forbes, her hand on his shoulder, Chad and Lucifer decide that might it is better to let nature takes its course (as unnatural as heterosexuality is to Chad Slambody) so they head into Nairobi to find some guides. Eventually they will have to head into the bush (no pun intended) to find the location of the Carlyle massacre.

Meanwhile, Cobblebottom finds two useful articles. 

One picture features Hyapatia Masters who, in Cobblebottom's professional opinion, looks extremely pregnant. Another picture is of five hanged Nandi tribesmen, who were accused of brutalizing the Carlyle expedition.  Natalie remembers each person from the Carlyle Expedition, she interacted with them personally, albeit briefly, and gives her opinions.  Roger was strange, she says, and Natalie was sweet, but seemed very tired all of the time.  Sir Aubrey Penhew could be overbearing and rude. It isn’t much to go on. 

She is interrupted by heavy knocking on the door.  Sighing, she opens it to reveal a man with a flaming red moustache.






“Mrs. Forbes!” he roars.  “With extreme displeasure I must come here yet AGAIN to vent about your publication.  I am a legitimate business owner running a legitimate business, and your typed crockery is not helping my material assets! Cease and desist, woman!  CEASE AND DESIST!” 

Frowning, but not budging, Natalie coldly introduces Lester to the boisterous, volatile, Colonel Endicott, owner of the Nairobi Game Lodge, who is furious that Mrs. Smyth-Forbes continues to shed his establishment in a poor light. The deaths were accidents!  They shouldn’t have gone out there if they couldn’t rough it, and so on and so forth.  He blames the deaths on naivety.  One doesn’t go on a professional game hunt expecting to shoot poodles. 

Natalie vehemently disagrees and feels that it is her personal and civic duty to tell the news how she sees it; if the lodge environment is dangerous, then the community has the right to know.  A shouting match ensues, but Cobblebottom cleverly worms his way in between, diffuses the situation, and asks if Colonel Endicott will take him to the lodge. Endicott is pleased by the offer, stating how he can see that Lester is a natural sportsman and hunter, and a date is set for the next morning: 9 am sharp...

...and a dinner date is set for Natalie and Lester for that night, once the Colonel has left.






While enjoying the company of a vivacious older woman, Lucifer and his manservant Chad Slambody decide that they need more dynamite: they are down to two sticks, and there is nothing in the world more useful than explosives. They get lucky and find a heavily guarded depot outside of town that stocks blasting caps and powder for railway construction. However, getting into the locked and guarded area won’t be so easy.

But Chad and Lucifer are long time compatriots in crime, and they devise a plan. Stripping his clothes away, despite the chill at night, and slathering himself in dark paint, Chad slinks like a shadow to the rear of the compound.  In the meantime, his devious associate Lardlover boldly strolls to the gate and demands the attention of the four armed British soldiers.

These men are not impressed by this tall man in a top hat and cloak, but, Lardlover soon employs impressive sleight of hand, flattery, and a keen use of words.  Chad uses this distraction to sneak by, break a lock on an interior door, and infiltrate a storage room.  Meanwhile, Lardlover proves himself as an impressive showman.

He first wows the guards with magic tricks and eventually a well-placed FIST OF YOG-SOTHOTH! against an innocent apple, exploding the fruit into a hundred wet pieces and cracking the cinderblocks behind it. 






[GM Note:  This whole theft sequence was actually very lengthy]

Inside, Chad finds a case of dynamite and is able to get out another door. Their heist is successful, and the guards are awed by the illusory powers of the Great Lucifer Lardlover, magician extraordinaire.  He promises them tickets to his show in Brussels if they ever make it out that way, and they give him a standing ovation as he bows and slides into the darkness.  Mission accomplished.

But later that night...

…the investigators are woken by familiar, eerie whining and whistling, soon accompanied by the crackle and whoosh of flames.  Two more fire vampires!  The sound alone is enough to send everyone into a panic, but they’re trapped in their rooms. These horrible creatures have materialized practically at their bedsides, and the results are disastrous. They throw pans of water at them, but Cobblebottom is almost killed when the spitting sparks drain his Constitution. He collapses unconscious to the floor, beginning to smolder. Chad Slambody escapes with the case of stolen dynamite by crashing - naked yet again - out of a two-story window. Chang is caught on fire as he flees out the door, dragging the unconscious Lester behind him.  Lucifer manages to grab one of their trunks of clues, gear and ammunition and hauls it with him. The hallway is filled with hotel guests and they all rush out of the building together, running for the street as people daisy-chain buckets of water and spray hoses to quench the fire.






The night ends with the Hampton House burning and smoking, and the investigator’s belongings possibly destroyed. From the detonated warehouse in Mombasa, to the burning train in the low country, and now a ravaged hotel in Nairobi, flame and destruction follow on their heels wherever they go, and the investigators realize this time that they could possibly be blamed...


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #20: The Night Platform of Colonel Endicott

*Part 1: Mrs. Natalie to the Rescue*

[GM Note: During this crossover adventure, Jake (playing Lucifer Lardlover) had to leave our campaign, and was replaced by Bridgett (playing Father Salvatore). Both were here for this session].

The fire vampires have severely damaged the Hampton House Hotel, but flinging himself from the room, naked Chad Slambody rescues their case of dynamite and hides it in an alleyway. After all, this is the most important part of their inventory.  Concentrated efforts by the locals prevent the fire from destroying everything, and the vampires do not make their presence known, disappearing among formless smoke and flames. 

The investigators lose some of their possessions, but for the most part are very lucky. [Making appropriate Luck rolls].  One trunk is burned to a crisp, but it held minor items of interest and a few clips of pistol ammunition that spurt off live rounds. 

However, Reggie Baines, the manager of Hampton House, is furious.

“What the hell did you blokes do up there? I heard about you boys coming off the train from ‘Basa.  Burned the train down too, did ya? Well SCREW you pyros!”

The investigators deny any such arsonist habits [thanking the elder gods that that their true pyromaniac hobbies are a secret], but neither Reggie nor the local law enforcer, Captain Montgomery, who is active on the scene, possesses adequate proof. The claims are purely circumstantial.

The damage seems to indicate that the fires started in their rooms and Reggie Baines repeats to Captain Montgomery that the PC’s were also on the train that burned up (if only he knew they were also in a Mombasan warehouse that exploded!).  There is no solid proof, but Captain Montgomery coolly advises the investigators that if they cause any more trouble, he'll kick them out of the city.  His expression is stern, and they do not doubt the threat. 






New characters, same players, pushing the legal limits in a foreign country yet again. 

But someone else has been ousted from his room at the ravaged hotel: Father Salvatore, [Bridgett’s character] a Roman Catholic priest also staying at the Hampton House, and someone already well-versed in a crusade against…

…EVIL.  

Salvatore knows that malignancy thrives in the world of man, and he has devoted his life to stamping it out with Faith; and if that fails, Bullets. 






Salvatore begins speaking with Chang Chin, who is also a man of the cloth [and a gangster, and (sigh) a martial arts teacher, and newly, a crusader against incomprehensible bad-stuff]. Their common circumstances (being ousted from their hotel, and a similar outlook on faith and religion) easily gets them talking.  Furthermore, Father Salvatore can see in Chang’s eyes that this man has known his share of pain, perhaps more than he wants to discuss.

[GM Note:  If Dave had actually been here this session, Chang wouldn’t have roleplayed anything at all].

They have not been on the street for long when Lester Cobblebottom's romantic acquaintance, Natalie Smyth-Forbes, rushes up to him.  She flings pudgy arms around his neck and squeezes. 

“Oh, Lester! I was so worried!” 

Cobblebottom turns red, trying to disentangle himself from her groping embrace.  Natalie sees that they are in trouble, so she kindly invites Lester and his friends to stay at her home. Cobblebottom and Lucifer are both very injured from the vampires and need several days to regain their strength.  This postpones their meeting with Colonel Endicott until April 8th. 

[GM Note: About the only way to heal in this campaign is 1 hp/level/day of full rest]. 

They make their trip to Natalie’s home as inconspicuous as possible.  Someone has obviously been watching them, and the last thing they want is her house burning down too. Her late husband left Natalie financially stable, and her home is large for a single woman.  There are several spare rooms and couches for guests, but Lester Cobblebottom, the 45-year virgin, is not invited to her bedroom.

“Too soon, Lester,” she says, patting his cheek.  “But we have all the time in the world, my dear, don’t we?”

Lester smiles uneasily, not too sure about that.    




They feel relatively safe here for a few days, but still wonder who or what has been summoning the fire vampires. In the meantime, Father Salvatore and the others talk in more depth, and a deep bond of trust forms between them. Salvatore is pleased to find that he not the only one who knows about agents of the Mythos, although his experience has mostly concerned demonic possession, including many failed exorcisms. 

Salvatore agrees to join their group and their global fight against chaos.

In the meantime, there are still many, many people to talk to in Nairobi, 

[GM Note: I dropped multiple names and plot hooks from the campaign book and blurbs about each, such as Nails Nelson, Johnstone Kenyatta, and Dr. Horace, but these characters were somehow all completely ignored] 

but the party decides to follow up the mysterious deaths at the hunting lodge of Colonel Endicott instead.  It just sounds…interesting.  There are rumors of a man running around naked in the woods (which perks Chad's interest greatly) and the party, with their occult knowledge (particularly Chang in this case) thinks that it might be a were-creature, like the one he slew in England at Castle Plum. So, naturally, they steal some antique silverware from Natalie, wondering if they have the skill or tools to craft silver bullets.  






No, they don’t.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #20: The Night Platform of Colonel Endicott

*Part 2: Night Prowlers*


The next morning, Colonel Endicottt picks them up in his truck and drives them to the mountain lodge.  He is a boisterous, pugnacious man full of himself and his accomplishments, and they quickly tire of listening to him.  He downplays the fact that five people have been mauled to death on his estate in the past three months, and says that they were probably fools running around in the bush without weapons.  There can be some big cats and jackals out there, and Natalie thinks it is a rogue tiger (She also told Lester that HE was a tiger, turning him so red that he nearly suffocated).






The game lodge is large and swanky, but the investigators are the only occupants besides the Colonel and his servant Silent Joe, a Kenyan who never speaks. But he does roll his eyes as they unload trunks full of shotguns, ammo clips, pistols, dynamite, and bandoleers.  They obviously don’t understand the meaning of “overkill.”






The party rests that night after poking around a bit, and after breakfast the next morning they head off into the woods. However, they do not leave until after they have stolen some of the Colonel's finest silverware and chopped it up in the machine shop. The idea is to stuff it down a shotgun barrel and KA-BLOOEY Mr. Werewolf.  Or, just stab it to death with kitchen utensils.  Unknown to them, Silent Joe secretly observes their theft…

The day progresses slowly, although Chad does manage to bring down a deer-like animal. They bring the corpse with them as a trophy to show Colonel Endicott, but the only strange thing they find are small children's footprints in the sand by the river. Suspicious, but not unreasonable. Natives claim this land as their territory.










The platform is roughly a mile from the lodge. It is near the river, raised up on stilts twenty feet high. A ladder is the only way up. There are three rooms, with some basic supplies, some extra rifles and ammunition and a fifth of good liquor. The group leaves the dead deer at the bottom as bait, and spends the evening talking quietly, until the sun goes down, when they all grow uneasy.  The forest is quiet.

Almost too quiet. 






By midnight, everyone but Father Salvatore has drifted into half-slumber, when he hears a scratching sound at the bottom of the platform.  Picking up a lantern, he steps to the edge of the exterior railing.






The ladder has already been removed for safety purposes, but leaning over, he sees a child-like form clambering up the support strut like a monkey!  He shouts a warning to the others and unloads his weapon, blasting the thing in the head.  With pale white skin and red feral eyes, he had no idea what it was.  Almost human, but not quite.  Regardless, it is dead now, its little limbs askew at the bottom of the platform, its head a mangled mass of bloody bone and brain.

And then the shrieking begins.

Father Salvatore’s heart leaps into his throat. The woods are filled with these things suddenly surging all around the platform, and everyone lurches up as creatures come screaming out of the dark, climbing the wooden legs from all four sides. They move with incredible speed and agility and are able to reach the top within seconds. 






What ensues next is a long, tense battle for their lives. [GM Note: This took over 2 hours of game time]  The investigators are vastly outnumbered, but armed to the teeth, and they start shooting at the things as they climb up. There are too many though, and many reach the platform and rip into anyone they can find, biting, clawing, shredding and grappling. Blood splatters everywhere, both human and inhuman, among a tangled mesh of arms, legs and screams.






And then the large ones start scaling up, as tall as men with slick white or pink skin and hoofed feet. Shotguns only hold four shells, and there aren’t enough guns floating around to keep firing continuously. Ammo must be desperately reloaded, guns are flung back and forth to allies as they aim and fire, Ma’Moud screaming the whole time as claws push inside from the open windows.  The boy is dragged out by his hair and nearly slaughtered, but Father Salvatore drags him back inside, leaving tufts of his hair in the thing’s grip. Chad slams the butt of his rifle across a creature and spins it off the perch, but stumbles himself when a large monster suddenly latches to his back, its mouth stretching open to rend a hole through his neck. Lester blasts it away at the last moment, saving his life.  Two white monkeys leap to Salvatore’s shoulders and starts gnawing.  The clergyman rams the rifle butt down the throat of one, followed by a load of buckshot to the face.  Monsters continue clambering up as some of the investigators stumble precariously at the edge, saved from falling to doom only by the wooden railing, although there are several tense moments where that nearly happens. 

And just when don’t think they can survive another moment of combat, just when they think the surge will never end,  the creatures subside, slinking back into the darkness of the jungle. 

“What the hell ARE those things?” gasps Chad.

Lucifer suspects that they are ghouls, abominations created from human stock and warped into feral marauders.  Breathing heavily, they count their ammunition.  It is low, but not out yet. They debate running for the hunting lodge, but fear that the risk is too great.  On the ground, without benefit of height or cover, another wave of ghouls could easily overpower them, and the tall ones are hideously strong. 

But not even an hour has passed before the wails begin again, an eerie cacophony that sweeps through the jungle, and a second wave rushes them, this time attacking the support struts first!






The hunting platform sways under the assault, and everyone grabs for something, but the tower does not collapse. Yet.  Teeth and claws tear into the wood, destroying it in chunks, like sharks rending at a boat.  The investigators are terrified by this point.  Soon enough the tower will crumble into the horde and they’ll be devoured, never to be seen again.  Desperation inspires the use of dynamite, and by carefully measuring the wicks (and praying for no bounce-back rolls), explosives are tossed down at clumps of monsters not too close to the platform. Half a dozen are killed at a time, and soon the woods are awash in flame, but the horrible things still keep coming. 

The final attack comes from a ghoul leader (Cthulhu ghouls are very different than D&D ghouls) who casts three blindness spells at the investigators atop the platform.  They see the monster briefly hiding in the gloom, digging its claws into a mangled human skull and pointing up at them. It hides and maneuvers to a new location, repeating its tactics several times. 






Lardlover feels it first, a pressure behind his eyeballs and his vision dims, but he is able to resist the dark magic.  Hans and Lester are likewise targeted, but fortune is with them, and none are permanently blinded.   Hissing in anger, the ghoul retreats.

And finally, several hours after the initial assault, the sun rises over the forest.






Smoke billows everywhere, mixed with the stink of charred flesh and smoldering vegetation.  The investigators warily climb down and sift through fifty dead ghouls littering the ground.  It is a bloodbath.  They themselves are drenched in the red stuff, some of it their own, most of it back-splatter from demolishing monsters at point blank range with a 12-gauge gun.

They want to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, before something worse than ghouls rears its ugly head.  But before they leave they take time to cobble together a makeshift sling to carry some of the corpses back to the hunting lodge, and to casually ask Colonel Endicott, 

"Sir…exactly what kind of bears are these?"


----------



## GodPhoenix

Ok...I resisted adding this but I just can't.  At one point, we asked Colonel Endicottt what kinds of animals we were likely to encounter.  The DM  (Nebulous) started by saying things like lions, giraffes, etc...and then threw in elk.  "Elk?" we said.  "Yeah, you know, elk," he said.  We still make fun of the legendary (and very, very hard to find) 'african elk'.


----------



## Nebulous

My African elk, the gazzelk:


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> My African elk, the gazzelk:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any relation to the vicious African gazebo?
Click to expand...


----------



## Numion

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> Ok...I resisted adding this but I just can't.  At one point, we asked Colonel Endicottt what kinds of animals we were likely to encounter.  The DM  (Nebulous) started by saying things like lions, giraffes, etc...and then threw in elk.  "Elk?" we said.  "Yeah, you know, elk," he said.  We still make fun of the legendary (and very, very hard to find) 'african elk'.




Doesn't this have precedent in Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan books? Apparently he wasn't as knowledgeable about african fauna as he was about loinclothes, and Tarzan apparently killed a moose in the jungle..   

Thanks for the update anyway, great stuff


----------



## Nebulous

Numion said:
			
		

> Doesn't this have precedent in Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan books? Apparently he wasn't as knowledgeable about african fauna as he was about loinclothes, and Tarzan apparently killed a moose in the jungle..
> 
> Thanks for the update anyway, great stuff




Ha! If i had said "moose" then these guys probably would have laughed so much we would have had to end the session.  No, i never heard that about Burrough's though, that's hilarious.  I'm confident that at least i had the right "family"of deer, give or take a few stripes and horns.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Ha! If i had said "moose" then these guys probably would have laughed so much we would have had to end the session.




I agree.  If you had said moose it would have been game-over for the day.  We would have been forced to switch to Arkham Horror just to regain our composure.  (although we probably would have tried to get you devoured)


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> Nebulous said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> My African elk, the gazzelk:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Any relation to the vicious African gazebo?
Click to expand...



Of course!


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Of course!




I wish I had your job...you know...a job where I could sit around and photoshop random stuff all day. 

Edit - next time, please don't use your own teeth


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> I wish I had your job...you know...a job where I could sit around and photoshop random stuff all day.
> 
> Edit - next time, please don't use your own teeth





We have no idea what you're talking about. 








And don't make fun of my teeth.


----------



## JohnBiles

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Yes, it does start a trend of explosion addiction. I think it was only because of Luck and Action Points that you guys didn't kill yourselves.  My God, the last adventure with the Gas-Firmies is almost too unbelievable to post here..I don't know if people will shake their heads at how we mangled Cthulhu or be glad that at least we had fun while doing it.
> 
> Edit: Just for the record, i have run regular Cthulhu adventures and love them, i was just going for something different here. Remember that haunted asylum, Leo? No friggin' Gas-Camel there...




I think all Cthulhu players go through a phase of dynamite addiction at some point.  I tried running one campaign which ended horribly when the PCs all, but one, got taken captive and their captors found dozens of sticks of dynamite on them.

Which then got blown up by the remaining PC, who wanted a 'diversion' to rescue them during.  Except he'd failed to notice that:
1) they were in an underground cavern under the sphinx
2) the dynamite was by a support pillar, as the animal-men didn't understand it.

Everyone died horribly, so I said 'Okay, we now go to a parallel universe where that DID NOT HAPPEN...'


----------



## Nebulous

JohnBiles said:
			
		

> Everyone died horribly, so I said 'Okay, we now go to a parallel universe where that DID NOT HAPPEN...'




Yeah, a TPK was a constant concern of ours.  It wasn't so much the problem of them dying in horrible ways (which is fun!) but for story continuity with new characters who would have no clue about the plot, or incentive to continue this crazy quest.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #21: Fires, Vampires & Tea

Trudging up the slope from the decimated night platform, the group hauls a makeshift litter of ten ghoul corpses as hard evidence of the supernatural. Someone will have to pay attention to this. They're nearly out of the jungle when Silent Joe appears.  






He cradles a rifle and, speaking for the first time, says: "So...you found the small demons."  He seems to have known that there was SOMETHING unnatural out there, living beneath an old Boyovo burial ground.  Colonel Endicott's hunting platform was built right in the middle of it.

Silent Joe seems impressed by the investigators. They are all hurt, scratched, bloodied and aching, and he suggests that they should meet his great-grandfather Old Bundari, a shaman in the tribal village of Boyova. He knows about "strange happenings" in Kenya, but Silent Joe won’t say much more. The investigators agree, but insist they need to go to the lodge first, rest and clean up, and show Endicott the corpses, the real reason behind the mysterious murders.

They meet Endicott at the top of the stairs.  He is clad in striped gown-pajamas with a cap and fuzzy ball, still drunk and discombobulated from the night before; he thought that the dynamite explosions were thunder. Silent Joe is clearly apathetic toward his employer. The Colonel is about to go outside and investigate the strange "elk" that the group has killed, when he stops, and says: "Do you hear that?"

Unfortunately, Chang, Lucifer, Lester and Chad are all too familiar with the sound: 

The haunting cry of fire vampires! 






Flames are already licking the front porch, and they ask Endicott about a reliable water source. There is a pump-action well outside and buckets, so the group rushes that direction. Father Salvatore, new to the team, is unfamiliar with this vampiric danger, but he is a fast learner. And after a night of killing ghouls, he is not entirely surprised by the development.

Chang runs for the safety of the deeper woods, while Salvatore and Lester pump water into buckets. Chad Slambody spots movement behind a distant tree, and hears the chugging of an engine that won't quite start. He jogs in that direction, narrowly dodging a fire vampire that floats down from the porch in ambush; another drops off the roof. The vampires shoot straight toward the targets in the open: Lester and Father Salvatore. They desperately throw water at the entities, but what damage they inflict is negated by the deadly life-draining touch of the vampires. They swell and spark even brighter.

Chad finds a middle-aged Kenyan man wearing a turban trying to kickstart a motorcycle. At the last second he gets it going, spins out, and erupts through the brush, hits the dirt road and spins out toward Nairobi. Chad leaps through the brush, levels his shotgun and FIRES! The back wheel explodes, rubber and metal shredded in a bloom of flame, and the man is launched head over handlebars and rolls to a painful stop.






Meanwhile, the vampires chase Lester and Father Salvatore. The humans are much faster though, and outrun them. Lester tries to find keys in the truck while Salvatore runs inside and fills buckets from the faucet. The game lodge is already inundated with smoke and flames, and he begins coughing from smoke inhalation. Silent Joe, terrified now, begins popping off shots at the living flames, but it does no good. Colonel Endicott runs out the front door with his shotgun Mrs. Caruthers readied in his hands.

“DIE you flaming sons of bitches!”

Elsewhere, Chad begins wrestling the man he blasted off the motorcycle, and finally renders him unconscious in a brutal chokehold.

Lester can't find any car keys and tries to run inside, but the smoke forces him out. Chang and Salvatore have just filled several buckets when something NEW tears through the back door in a splintering hail of fire and wood: a man-sized living flame, swinging its fists! 






They abandon all attempts to fight it and flee out the front door after Silent Joe, who has grabbed the keys to the safari truck. The hunting lodge is largely on fire now, and Colonel Endicott's gun retorts can be heard from behind the building. Everyone loads into the truck, the unconscious man in the turban is haphazardly lashed to the hood, and the wheel around back, where Chad once again makes an impressive feat of strength and manhandles Endicott as they drive by, hauling him into the vehicle. They tear down the bumpy road, leaving the lodge to burn behind them, along with the ghouls...

Ten miles later they stop, nearly halfway back to Nairobi. The smoke will be seen and fire wagons dispatched, and the party need to get their stories straight. They slap their captive awake, who they suspect summoned the demonic fire beings, probably three times now, even on the Unguandan Railway from Mombasa. But Colonel Endicott recognizes him: Tandoor Singh! Browntown's best tea-seller and owner of a small shop. He is threatened, and hisses that "M'weru will kill you all!"  They recognize the name M'Weru as being the same enigmatic black woman who helped lead the Carlyle expedition five years ago, and with whom Roger Carlyle was infatuated.

Soon, the fire patrol arrives, the group points them toward the lodge, and the investigators continue to Captain Montgomery at the police station.  With Colonel Endicott's help and support, they are able to pin the arson charges on Tandoor Singh. He is already babbling like a deranged man and doing a poor job of defending his reputation.

Unfortunately, in other news, Lucifer Lardlover, the French magician of dark power, has had an urgent calling from his secret circle, the Order of the Flaccid Mallard. He must depart Nairobi at once, but orders his henchman Chad Slambody to protect Lester Cobblebottom instead, and to help the investigators with their mission, as it is of utmost importance.

Thoroughly depressed, and still in his pajamas, Colonel Endicott goes to the pub to get ripped. The investigators wearily return to Natalie Smyth-Forbes, who has been very worried about her wonderful Lester Cobblebottom. She coddles him and tends his many wounds, but Chang and Chad have other plans that night.  Before turning Tandoor Singh over to the authorities on trumped up evidence of arson, they found a key on him.

A key to his Tea Shop, where they arrive around midnight. Chad is customarily naked and oiled up, and they carry cans of empty gas to further incriminate Tandoor. However, before entering, they spot two Kenyan men at the back door, wearing caps with long red tassels...






...men who Chang instantly recognizes as cultists of the Bloody Tongue, many of whom they killed in New York City. Kenya is the central headquarters for the Bloody Tongue branch. The cultists wait for Tandoor, but he is in jail and won’t be coming to the door, so they soon leave. Chad and Chang sneak in, and after a thorough search, find a door to the basement. Bravely, Chang advances alone while Chad keeps watch.

The basement reeks of death. The earthen cellar floor has grave-like mounds. There is a hideous altar with handcuffs, and a disgusting squid-like statue holding four basalt scythes. Inside a cabinet Chang finds a note, a book, robes, a cleaver and incense cones, and takes them. They leave the back door open and position the gas cans as further arson evidence, and then get as far away as they can, hoping no one saw them...

The next morning they look over what they have found. The book is written in Hindi, and only Natalie can read the title: *The Chthuat Aquadigen*. The most interesting item is the note however:

It is a folded telegraph from Port Hedland, Australia, addressed to Tandoor, dated several days prior. It is from someone named Huston, (possibly Huston of the Carlyle Expedition) and he is trying to find Tandoor's cousin in Mombasa, after some terrible accident at a warehouse.






It seems that several of the lost (and presumed dead) members of the expedition are not so dead and lost after all: there have been references to Brady, Huston and M'Weru long after their documented fates in Kenya.

And there we stopped.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> Adventure #21: Fires, Vampires & Tea
> A key to his Tea Shop, where they arrive around midnight. Chad is customarily naked and oiled up, and they carry cans of empty gas to further incriminate Tandoor.




This was probably the most fun I've ever had framing an NPC in a game...certainly the most satisfying.


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> This was probably the most fun I've ever had framing an NPC in a game...certainly the most satisfying.




Really? I didn't know that. You certainly got his number, that's for sure. And it doesn't get any better for ol' Tandoor next chapter...


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #22: A Serious Problem*

*
Adventure #22: A Serious Problem*

The next morning Chad, Chang, Lester and Father Salvatore decide that even though Tandoor Singh is in jail, he just poses too much of a threat.  He tried to burn them up multiple times, and now revenge is in the air.

They decide to kill him. 

Lester is not too sure about this plan initially, but Chad bullies him into submission by calling him a “wimp”, a “portly busybody,” and an “academic ass****.”  Their plan boils down to this:  since Tandoor can’t escape from an enclosed prison room, they will funnel poisonous gas from a rare jungle concoction into the chamber.  How do they make this concoction?  Well, that turns out to be easier than they thought. 

Silent Joe has already told them that a relative of his, an elderly shaman named Old Bundari, might be very interested in hearing about their endeavors, especially killing the ghouls. So, they ask Silent Joe to take them to Old Bundari.  They load into a truck and rattle out of Nairobi, out into the verdant countryside, chasing down the occasional herds of wild elk and moose. 

Once they arrive in the small town of Boyova, Silent Joe gets out and says that he will contact Old Bundari.  The investigators wait in the hot car while dozens of children surround the vehicle, peering into the windows.  Chad and Lester start to get nervous.  Chad doesn’t like kids anyway, and these little Kenyan boys and girls are staring at them with wide, expressionless brown eyes.   Small handprints are all over the windows. 

Father Salvatore slowly loads shells into his shotgun. He’s getting worried too, and the expressionless gazes from these creepy kids are really starting to get under his skin. “Back off!” he shouts.  “Give us some space!”  They kids don’t listen, and then a few of them jump on the roof, dancing up and down.  Others start rocking the truck back and forth, and the stunned investigators suddenly realize that they’ve been led straight into a trap!






“RUN FOR IT!” bellows Chad Slambody.  He kicks a door open, slamming three children into the dirt, and he bullrushes three more out of the way.  Small hands grapple Chad from every side, but he punches them.  Father Salvatore tries to clamber out as well, but when kids plug the hole, he mercilessly blasts them apart with his shotgun.   Chang isn’t taking any chances either, so he sparks a stick of dynamite and throws it into the crowd.  Children are obliterated in a wave of smoke and fire, and grinning ruefully, Chang remembers how much he loves being an amoral investigator. 

Chubby Lester Cobblebottom tries to fight his way out too, but he is overpowered by small lean bodies.  Children start pulling his hair, biting his ears and tug his pants down around his ankles so that he trips.  He clambers onward like a turtle, laden with half a dozen bodies hammering their fists on him.  “You’re…hurting me!” he cries. 

Silent Joe suddenly appears, laughing maniacally, and for some reason he wields deadly handaxes in each hand, and immediately throws them at Chad Slambody.  Chad deflects the first, but suffers the second handaxe piercing his thigh, but then he unloads both barrels of his shotgun into Silent Joe’s face.  His head erupts into a bloom of blood and spurting fluid, but he doesn’t go down! 






A hissing, amorphous tentacle writhes out of Joe’s neck hole, and he staggers toward Chad, hands outstretched like a ravenous zombie.  

“Kill that thing, Chang!” he shouts.  But Chang is already on the ball, and after vaulting a defensive wave of kids, Chang slams another stick of dynamite down the Silent “Slimy” Joe’s neck hole.  The abomination staggers and then explodes into a rich red shower of intestinal goo. 

With half of the evil children destroyed, Chad, Chang and Father Salvatore beat the rest of the little bastards from Lester.  Both of his ears have been chewed off by this point, but they wrap gauze around his head to stem the flow of blood.  They look all around, but everyone in the village seems to have fled, and they don’t have the car keys. But they see a single plume of smoke rising from a hut, and they surmise that this must be the abode of the warlock Old Bundari. Reloading their ammunition, they advance. 

The dome-shaped hut is constructed from mud and wood, and it is suitably vulnerable to dynamite. Two rounds later, all that is left is a gaping hole in the ground. 

“You want some more?” screams Chad to the sky.  “Huh?  Huh?  COME GET SOME OF MY BOOMSTICK!” 

But they seem to have either driven off or killed everyone that might be a threat.  They quickly ransack the rest of the village and find:

1)	Joe’s car keys.
2)	5 barrels of fermented ale
3)	100 gp, 342 cp, 3 pp
4)	Rare mixtures of jungle herbs, oils and brews labeled with skulls.  

Piling back into the truck, they return to Nairobi, only slowing down to run over elk that get in their way.  Once they arrive back at Mrs.  Natalie Smyth-Forbes house she tends her wounded lover, but there’s not much to do for eaten ears. She says that she is a talented seamstress though, and might be able to stitch him some new ones. 

The investigators then take the rare poisonous plants, herbs and tonics gained from the village, and start mixing them.  They are careful to wear masks while they do this, and a good thing, because once they burn a practice batch, they kill every plant in Natalie’s home.  Nodding grimly to each other, now they put the final phase of their plan into motion.  Using the cover of night, Chad strips naked and oils himself up, and slithers like a black mamba to the jailhouse.  Chang pulls up nearby with a few barrels of their concoction, and they attached a plastic tent and hoses to the ventilation system on the back of the jailhouse, and light the poisonous material with Bunsen burners. 

The green gas begins pumping out, and within minutes police officers are staggering into the night, choking and rolling around and gagging.  Their lips are purple and their faces hideously swollen.  Chad feels a smidgen of remorse, so he cuts all of their throats with a pranga as they come out the front door.  Lester, Salvator, Chang and Chad all have gas masks on, and this was also a good plan, because they gravely miscalculate how much poison they are actually using.  It spills out of the jailhouse and inundates the streets of Nairobi.  Animals start falling over dead.  Cars bump off curbs and smash into windows.   Pedestrians drop dead in their tracks.  And STILL the gas keeps spreading!

By morning the streets and homes of Nairobi are quiet as death, and the investigators stand in the midst of a greenish haze.  Eventually the sun burns off of the poison, and they strip their masks away.  

“Do you think we got him?” asks Salvatore. 

“Only one way to be sure,” says Chang, so he plants more dynamite around the jailhouse and sends it to Hell in a thunderous wave of flame and shattered granite. 

“Now what?” asks Lester.  “Everyone’s dead.”

This seems as a good as time as any to become the new Lords of Nairobi, and wait out the End Times rather than actually trying to confront M’Weru at the Mountain of the Black Wind.  About a week later a particularly horrible storm ravages the countryside, and the investigators are pretty sure the Spawn was born and has assumed its place in the world, but that’s not really their concern anymore.

The investigators have gained control of the railway and rule Nairobi with an iron fist.  Man-whores are shipped in for Chad; Chang practices his demolition skills on entire herds of farm animals; Lester moans a lot and complains that Natalie no longer finds him attractive without ears; and Father Salvatore decides to abandon his faith and become a cleric of Nyarlahotep. 

Not the way I would have finished the campaign, but what the hell. 

THE END


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nice


----------



## Abciximab

Herds of Moose and Elk, huh? All right Mr Burrough's. 
I'll wait for the next post to see what really went down...


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #22: Old Bundari

(What REALLY happened)   

Several days after the destruction of Colonel Endicott's game lodge, the party finds themselves resting at the home of Mrs. Natalie Smyth-Forbes. She has run a full article about the arsonist Tandoor Singh, and he is still in jail. The bodies were found in his basement, as well as the cans of gasoline that Chad and Chang planted there. It is unlikely that Tandoor will be troubling them again anytime soon.

[GM Note:  Luckily for the PCs, he never told M’Weru about their presence and tried to handle the “problem” by himself].

However, one night after Father Salvatore has retired to bed to read his bible, while the others drink tea outside on the veranda (except for Chang, who fears that his wife has left him, and has drunk himself into another stupor) he notices a faint breeze stirring the curtains.  

The hair rises on Salvatore's neck. 

The room is dim, candles burning low.  On the table lies the strange book that Chang found in the basement of Tandoor's tea shop, translated from Hindi as the Chuaat Aquadigen. A corner is rippling. And then slowly, it opens. Salvatore watches, entranced, his heart beating faster. A page turns. Another page turns.  Several more pages flip, and then a breeze begins to build from nowhere, and soon the pages are flipping furiously and wind WHIPS around the room! He bolts up, terrified, but composes himself and steps toward the book. Wind rattles the bookcases and slings unattended objects across the room. Something is sighing; a deep, mournful breath of stagnation, but Salvatore reaches out and simply closes the book.

The gale ceases. Paper and debris settle to the floor, and seconds later Chad, Lester and Natalie burst into the room, gazing oddly at Father Salvatore and the destruction. He tries to explain what happened, but stops upon seeing a single sheaf drifting to the floor, ripped from the binding. The page is written in Hindi, undecipherable, but the group can identify markings along the perimeter that looks like rise of the sun until it reaches a black eclipse.  Disturbed, Natalie quietly asks that they clean up the mess.

The next day brings another unexpected incident: the local jailhouse catches on fire.

Plumes of smoke are seen rising up, and soon thereafter they hear the wail of sirens. It is later revealed that Tandoor Singh died in the conflagration, and it seemed to originate from his very cell block. He will not be a threat at all now, but his death raises new concerns for the party: did someone wish to silence Tandoor, or did he kill himself rather than face punishment by his superiors?

The group was told by Silent Joe (who is not as silent as he initially seemed) that they should speak with Old Bundari, a Boyovo shaman. Silent Joe even comes up to them in the marketplace the same day that Tandoor dies, and tells the group that he can take them to Old Bundari immediately.  They fail to persuade him to wait, although they do manage to buy a wooden peace-pipe from a gift shop as a last minute gift. Maybe this will convince Old Bundari to like them by kissing his ass.   






Not quite knowing what to expect, they pile into his truck, and Silent Joe transports them out of town, bouncing along a hot, dusty road into the verdant countryside.














An hour later they stop at a quaint village: Boyova. Silent Joe asks them to wait in the car while he goes to talk with a very tall Kenyan man dressed in ceremonial clothing and makeup. Children surround the car, peering inside and chattering.  Joe finally returns and introduces the group to Okumo, assistant to Old Bundari, the tribal shaman of Boyova.






Okumo is terse, although he speaks English very well. He does not seem impressed with the group at all, and is very dismissive of their presence (after all, they were not asked to come), but when they begin dropping hints of their true purpose, such as the Carlyle Expedition, and the Cult of the Bloody Tongue and the Black Wind, Okumo's demeanor changes. They have struck a chord with him, a common ground that gains his trust almost immediately. He leads them inside a conical hut that is plastered with occult symbols of warding and protection, and leads them to the very center where Old Bundari waits in a mystical reverie.

Along the way, Okumo explains to them several important facts:

1) The Carlyle Expedition was attacked and carried away five years ago by agents of evil, and taken to the Mountain of the Black Wind. It is possible that all of them are still alive, and not torn to shreds as the reports have indicated. The Corrupted Ground, where the incident occurred, is shunned by everyone. It is cursed now.

2) Once per year the Black Wind is summoned via a brutal, bloody ritual, and a storm of pestilence is unleashed upon the land. This demonic storm is yet another Mask of Nyarlathotep, and the time has come yet again.

3) M'Weru, the black woman with whom Roger Carlyle was infatuated, is the high priestess of the dark god at the Mountain of the Black Wind.

4) The child of Nyarlathotep is soon to be born, and will help usher in the destruction of the world. The group already suspects that Hyapatia Masters has been the chosen mother for quite some time now.

It takes many hours for Old Bundari to wake from his dream trance. Chad does sit ups and stomach crunches while the others nap, quite bored and irritable in the sweltering hut, until the old man finally stirs. He swells, as if stirring to life, and flutters rheumy eyes at them. 






Okumo acts as translator because Old Bundari does not speak English.  During his exploration of the Dream Time and the astral worlds, Bundari has known that these foreigners would arrive. They have a great task ahead of them, as did their companions and acquaintances before, those that have perished in the battle against Evil. The Bloody Tongue has grown arrogant, and kidnapped hundreds of victims for a foul ritual. 

Old Bundari offers them two important gifts: a fly whisk that can stave off evil magic and a chameleon in a cage, Who-Is-Not-What-She-Seems. 






"Who" must be regularly fed a steady diet of flies, and when needed, she can be released from the cage, but she will only help once. Okomu volunteers to guide the group northward, through the dense jungle, to the Corrupted Ground and beyond to the Mountain, and the investigators convince him to bring along several (meatshield) warriors.

Old Bundari finally mentions the Eye of Light and Darkness, and if the investigators know of it. They do, but only the little that Chang and Chad heard from Dr. Ali Kafour in Cairo.  For the group’s newcomers, Salvatore and Lester, they do not know of the Eye.

According to legend, Bundari says, the Eye had the power to chain the black god within his mountain for eternity. It worked similarly once, in Egypt, until the god tricked a mortal man into destroying the seal. The investigators suspect that this man was none other than eccentric millionaire Roger Carlyle.

They sincerely thank Old Bundari for his assistance, and promise him that they will do the best they can to stop the ritual at the Mountain of the Black Wind.  Silent Joe takes them back to Nairobi where they begin preparations to leave in the next few days.

However, before they depart, they receive an urgent telegram from their mystical friend in Cairo: Dr. Ali Kafour! 

He is doing well, and tells them that an Australian professor named Dr. Anthony Cowles and his peer, Dr. David Dodge will be heading through Mombasa--and possibly Nairobi--on their way back to Australia.  These two gentlemen have been giving lectures across the world regarding what they believe to be a hidden city in the Australian desert.  After attending their lecture in Cairo, Dr. Kafour spoke with them intently about their beliefs, and it has come to Dr. Kafour's knowledge that both men are marginally aware of the occult, and there is evidence of another Nyarlathotep cult forming there: the Sand Bat. Cowles and Dodge plan to mount an expedition when they return, and Dr. Kafour remembered the clues found within the Bent Pyramid.






According to that map, Australia houses one-third of a worldwide conspiracy, in roughly the vicinity of Cowle’s and Dodge’s hidden city. 

In the telegram, Dr. Kafour urges the investigators to accompany them (even if just for their protection), so they all make tentative plans to meet in Nairobi once Dodge arrives in the country (assuming, of course, that anyone survives the Mountain of the Black Wind!). In addition, they will be accompanied by their old comrade Gi-Gi, the wheelchair bound psychic, who Ali Kafour has recruited to help them.






Several days later, the group heads off after stocking up on necessary equipment for the journey (including a Gas Camel, which is actually a Gas Mule now). They are walking into the jaws of death and fear that they might not return from this expedition. Ahead of them waits the deepest jungle and a country full of madmen but with Okumo’s guidance, they soon reach a village named Ndovu, but Okumo warns them to say NOTHING about the Black Wind or the Corrupted Ground. The natives here live in great fear of both.

For now, the investigators keep them mouths shut, and their eyes upon an ominous black mountain looming in the distance...

[GM Note: I knew this would be a quiet chapter with no gunfights, cultists, or explosions (hopefully) so I added the scene at the beginning with the creepy book]


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #23: Mountain of the Black Wind*


Three days after leaving Nduvo, the investigators arrive at the outskirts of the Corrupt Ground where the Carlyle Expedition supposedly perished.

The jungle has been hot, sticky and treacherous, but insects keep their distance from the chameleon, Who.  But once close to the Corrupted Ground, a viscous fog curls around the ground, and the jungle sounds fade. Their guide Okumo whispers that it is a cursed place, and the warriors that accompany them are hesitant to even set foot near. The foliage assumes strange shapes and twisted patterns, the vines warped into bulging green and gray shapes almost like rotting tentacles.






Stepping timidly across thick roots, it is Father Salvatore and Chad Slambody who first see a strange face lurking in the underbrush, nestled among the roots of a dying tree. Edging closer, Chad and Okumo spot several bright green snakes writhing around a statue’s head that gazes out from the shadows. 










Green mambas, Okumo says, but then the snakes suddenly dart forward! Chad destroys one with a quick shotgun blast, but Father Salvatore is struck in the leg by another. He staggers away, screaming, but several more shots later the snakes are dead. However, the corrupt ground is alive with a distant _slithers_, hisses, and the promise of more aggressive reptilians. Okumo insists that nothing should live in the Corrupt Ground, and that this is highly unnatural.  The group should leave at once. They agree, and do not search it further.

Father Salvatore is badly hurt by the snake venom, but Okumo is able to brew a tonic to help him, and Lester Cobblebottom applies his medical knowledge to extract the poison. If poisonous snakes were not bad enough, by the next day, Chang and Father Salvatore have also acquired mild fevers, and once again, Okumo tries to brew medicine and salves to ease their discomfort. It is not malaria or anything so serious, but they will feel ill for several days.

A crescent moon is nigh, and from experience (especially with Chang's previous testimony) these cults prefer to indulge their ceremonies under such a furtive light. The first night after leaving the Corrupt Ground, Chad spots dim, bobbing firelight in the distant jungle, but does not alert anyone, and the light soon vanishes. The next morning, Okumo finds tracks and tells them that a large number of people have been traveling in this direction. They begin to follow the loose trail of snapped twigs and trampled plants.

That afternoon, while still quite distant from the black mountain looming over the tree tops, the group hears faint chattering. It is a mish-mash of Swahili and other tongues, but they cannot discern any clear words. They creep forward slowly, while Ma'moud clings fearfully to their Gas Mule/Camel.






There! A sentry is spotted in the boughs of a yucca tree, nearly forty feet off the ground. A hill rises up before the investigators, and they soon spot another sentry on a rocky outcropping above them. The investigators are huddled together under thick underbrush, and discuss their options. It is finally decided, with a rather ingenious plan on the part of Lester Cobblebottom, that Chad should shimmy forward (naked as his name day) while Chang quietly circumvents the scout on the rock and eliminates him from behind. However, they detect even louder chattering they heard originally. There are more men concealed somewhere else.






Taking their time, and maximizing the stark shadows from the canopy, Chad and Chang move into position while the others wait. Chang shimmies up another tree to inspect the hilltop and is disgusted to see the remains of a horrid ritual: bones and skulls are lashed together into a grisly shrine. He then spots six more Kenyans trotting behind the hill. He scampers down, and eases up the hill, until he is behind the sentry on the rock. Likewise, Chad Slambody crawls panther-like up the yucca tree, a knife clenched in his teeth and a shotgun strapped to his naked, glistening back. Chad has a clear view of the sentry's undercarriage peeking through his loincloth, and has momentary regrets about having to kill him.

However, that does not stop Chad from rising up, plunging the Tooth of Amon Re into the man's larynx, and watching him plummet to the ground in a spurting trail of blood and smashed tree limbs. Chang does the same, but the sentry is not killed by the initial blow. He falls away, and Chang is forced to swipe several more times before cutting him down.

But by now, the other voices have risen in volume and intensity. Chad begins climbing down, and has nearly set foot on the ground when he sees several men shoving through the undergrowth toward him! He scampers partway up, even as they point and shriek and let loose with crude arrows, which either sink into the tree trunk or are shrugged away by Chad's golden-hard flesh. (DR 2 saved him so, so many times from nitpicking damage)

The others maneuver closer for a clear line of sight to seven or eight men charging across a shallow creek. They're not all Kenyan either: at least one is Asian, and another Arab, and all of them bear sharpened prangas. Chad uses the tree for protection and whips out the shotgun, blasting one attacker in the chest. But it is Chang who evens the odds more than anyone. Even as he scrambles down the hill, he is pulling out a stick of dynamite, calculating how much wick to pinch off, and then it is lit, aimed and thrown into their midst!

A harrowing explosion rocks the ground. A flash of fire and dirt and screams, and five cultists are blown in every direction. Survivors charge up the hill toward Father Salvatore and one of the warriors from Nduvo, while others launch themselves at Lester, Chad, Okumo, and everyone else. Spears fly, more bullets are released, and the afternoon is split by screams of pain. Chang jogs back to the hilltop to assist his friends, but two sharp retorts suddenly ring out! A bullet tears through an arm, and he spins to see two rifle-bearing Arab snipers at the top of a small waterfall.

Father Salvatore slides down on his tummy, using boulders as cover, and manages to snipe back at the two Arabs with his shotgun, plucking them off the rock before they can inflict any more damage. As quickly as the battle begun, it is over. Dust and smoke fill the air along with the coppery taint of new blood, but the party is relatively uninjured (aside from Chang's wounded arm).

Bolstering their courage, they reload weapons and trudge onward, knowing that the worst is yet to come.

By evening, many hours and miles later, they find themselves walking up an incline to the crest of a long ridge. Trees and bushes line the ridge, but before they reach the crest, they clearly hear distant rhythmic chanting. Debating what to do, and a few of them finally crawl forward and peek through, and are dismayed by the sight:

Ten thousand people fill a valley below them. 

At least ten-thousand, possibly more. It is almost like a gathering for a festival. Tents dot the valley floor. Groups mill about: African, Indonesian, European and more.  Some people are chained to poles, most likely sacrifices for the looming ritual, and Chang at least has seen this scenario three times now: once in the Ju-Ju House in NY, once at Gavigan's estate in London, and once beneath Giza, with the summoning of the Black Sphinx. 

The investigators watch for a long time, trying to discern any kind of pattern, anything that stands out as a central base, anything or anyone that might indicate what will happen next, but the general feeling culled from their surveillance is one of waiting.  Drums begin beating at a fast tempo from hundreds of drummers, filling the valley with a reverberating thump. They debate entering the valley and joining the cultists, because the investigators do not significantly differ in reappearance.  Although predominantly black, many of the participants are still Caucasian.






They wait even longer, anxious and very, very worried, until night falls, and gloom spreads across the valley floor. The sun sinks behind the mountain, haloing it with a ball of red fire, and then it slowly vanishes as a crescent moon rises. Bonfires are lit, torches flicker to life as anticipation rises, and then the drums come to a halt...

...as a female figure walks out onto a hidden ledge on the mountain itself, a hundred feet above the valley floor, and raises her arms to the blackening sky...








And there we stopped.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #24: The Spawn of Nyarlathotep 


*Part 1:  An Unwelcome Arrival*

Savage drums beat within the valley. Thousands of cultists from around the world have gathered for this vile celebration. The investigators watch from the tree line as a half mile away, a Kenyan woman (M'Weru) emerges from a hidden entrance above the valley floor. The chanting and drumming ceases, and rippling anticipation steals over the crowd. The party wants to kill her, (even though they barely know who M'Weru is, but she LOOKS important) but she is out of gun range. Plus, she is very difficult to see in the gloom, illuminated only by bulky torchbearers at her side. M'Weru begins to speak in Swahili, and her voice washes over the congregation with unnatural clarity and strength, as translated to the others by Okumo:


"Hail, the son of the Dark One! 
Nyar Shagnath! Tonight is the night of his birth, 
and the world shall know FEAR!"

And so on and so forth. Her lunatic ramblings agitate the crowd of thousands, and they begin chanting back at her as the fervor grows. The investigators need to get closer, so with Okumo, the twins, and two other (highly expendable) warriors, they descend the shallow ridge with their Gas Mule lumbering behind with 50 gallons of gasoline in 10 gallon containers. The only one that stays behind is ten-year old Ma'moud, shivering behind a yucca tree with increasing dread. 

(GM Note: he is a potential line of continuity if a TPK occurs here, along with Ali Kafour in Cairo).

Their goal: use the mule and Kenyan mooks as cover, and begin tossing sticks of dynamite into the crowd, sowing mayhem, death and confusion until they can get closer to M'Weru. Unbelievably, this is the best idea they can come up with (_aside from just blending quietly into the crowd?_). The odds are overwhelming, the threat nearly insurmountable, and the clock is ticking down. Something very, very bad is soon to happen.

[GM Note: I actually couldn’t believe they were trying to do this!]

As they maneuver into position, pressing through throngs of bodies, they see miserable sacrificial victims chained to poles. There is no way to save them, and the investigators wonder if killing them first will somehow disrupt the ceremony. But M'Weru has not been idle up on her perch; she is now holding a baby in her arms. Its shrieks echo across the valley as she raises it above her head, and then she casts it from the ledge! The child falls and splatters on the jagged rocks below, and the ceremony begins!






The child's death is the impetus for the ritual to commence, and cudgels, clubs and hammers begin to pummel the sacrifices. No man, woman or child is safe. The scene is one of unspeakable horror, and investigators are wallowing in the middle of it! Furthermore, clothes are shed, and aside from Chad Slambody who adores the nude body, the others are reluctant to take their clothing off to join the masses, especially Lester Cobblebottom. The ritual quickly becomes one of completely naked abominations.  The night erupts into an orgy of blood, and the very sight of these atrocities gnaws at the fragile Sanity of the heroes...

They enact their plan at once. Chad lights a fuse that Chang has prepared with his demolitions expertise, and tosses it as far as he can. The explosion rocks the ground and a plume of fire and smoke shoots into the sky.  No one expected that. The group huddles tightly together, moving toward M'weru up on the ledge while hastily lighting more dynamite and trying to throw it from concealment. However, they finally draw attention to themselves, particularly when a madman attacks the still-clothed Father Salvatore, and bashes him across the forehead with a cudgel. 

The scene becomes one of complete anarchy.  

Screams of the dead, dying and the utterly insane fill the valley. Three more cultists throw themselves at Father Salvatore, brutally bashing him, until they are dispatched with shotgun blasts. Even Lester begins throwing dynamite, but his actions are spotted, and Kenyan cultists launch toward him, but are intercepted by the warriors from Boyova. A frantic grappling match ensues as DOZENS of cultists jump into the fray, while the remaining frazzled investigators stumble into the crowd, hauling the mule and trying to distance themselves from their fallen (meatshield) companions who are pulled to pieces.  

It is only through extreme luck and some Action Points that they get away. 

But their progress toward the mountain is slow, hampered by uneven ground and throngs of people. Clouds begin to swirl overhead as the combined deaths draw upon the dark power of the ritual. The moon glimmers evilly in the heavens, and thunder rumbles. The group finally reaches a sheer cliff of granite rising thousands of feet, and they see a narrow switchback trail that leads to the ledge where M'Weru was standing. But she is gone. They begin climbing up, but Who the Chameleon becomes increasingly manic, thrashing against the sides of her cage like a wounded animal, when a sudden HUSH falls across the entire valley.

The investigators are too late.

Something is coming.

A rising wind extinguishes torches, bonfires, smoldering corpses and all sources of light, growing in intensity, until the clouds overhead unleash a terrific bolt of LIGHTNING so bright, so fearsome, it cowers everyone to their knees. 






At this point, MaMoud, the loyal Egyptian boy from Cairo, takes off into the jungle (which is quite dangerous in and of itself). Mist pours down from the mountaintop in thick, tenebrous coils, but this is no ordinary mist.  It spins and congeals into increasingly solid form, and as the investigators cling to the cliff face, shuddering in the Black Wind that whips across the valley like a sharp knife, the most horrible thing they have ever seen appears over them, straddling the mountain like an unholy giant--

Nyarlathotep. God of the Bloody Tongue.






A thousand feet high, with black flesh and a horrid red whip tongue, the very air and earth buckles from its evil presence. Flying beasts swoop around its head and torso, and then begin to dive-bomb the crowd of worshipers. The investigators are terrified by this development, but most manage to squeeze their eyes shut and shield their mind from the horror...

...except for Lester Cobblebottom Ph.D. Esquire M.D. The aging antiquarian cannot tears his gaze from the madness given form and substance, and part of his mind is shattered. He begins screaming non-stop, shaking and convulsing and is inflicted with temporary insanity. (GM Note: Lester gets reamed this adventure with madness penalties)

The group keeps pushing up the narrow ledge, pressing themselves against the wall, trying to reach the safety (does that even exist here?) of a narrow cave entrance above them. 

Cultists swarm after them by the hundreds, but are forced to file up the narrow ledge. The whole time, Who the Chameleon is going nuts inside the cage, and Father Salvatore finally unleashes her and lets her drop down. The lizard scampers to the valley floor, growing in size even as the bewildered investigators watch, remembering Old Bundari's instructions for his pet: 

“She can only be used once!”











Who is soon the size of a dog and throws herself onto a shocked cultist, tearing into his neck with vicious teeth. Moments later she attains the size of a cow, and soon after she is even larger, her scales gaining a reddish hue, her muscles bulging, her jaw elongating and extending, claws stretching into horribly long talons. She rears up on her hind legs and STOMPS a cultist into the ground, blood blooming around her foot. 






The few cultists that have managed to follow the party are ripped from their precarious perches on the ledge, or scramble back down, screaming.  Who bites another victim, pulls him into the air and begins to swallow him. 











The power of the Black Wind is pervasive, and even as she decimates the enemy, smoke begins billowing away from Who.  She is dissipating under the black magic of the god, but not before inflicting a terrible toll upon her foes.  The investigators use her diversion to good advantage and keep scrabbling toward higher ground, hoping they can outdistance anyone. 

Even as this is happening, the ground begins to bubble and froth in the center of the valley. Rocks and dust shoot up, and a stairwell magically unfolds from the earth itself, extending up, up and ever higher, between the legs of Nyarlathotep who watches his worshipers frolic below. Frenzies cultists begin to climb the stairs by the hundreds, heading ever closer to their Black Lord and ignoring any other diversions (such as the investigators). 

And in appreciation, Nyarlathotep scoops some of them up in his horrid hands, lifting them high and crushing them in his fist.  Blood, gore and viscera rain down from the heavens, showering the others on the stairs in a grisly baptism. Another hand scoops down, grabs a handful of screaming, mad, both lucky and unlucky cultists who are touched by their benefactor, and are tossed into the storm-ridden sky, hurtling miles away into the jungle. Despite this, only a few hundred are killed out of the thousands present. Shantaks swoop down and carry victims off into the sky, and the investigators consider using the magical headband they have, in hope that it might protect them from the creatures. 






They continue up the narrow trail, trying not to look at the horrible God above them, and in due time, they reach the cave entrance and stumble inside as the wind howls behind them...


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #24: The Spawn of Nyarlathotep


*PART 2: Dark Places*

It is very dark.














Limestone stairs descend into a black pit. Outside, the screams and laughter and peals of agony are slightly muted. The group shuffles down the natural steps, tugging the Gas Mule behind them. Lester is scratching his face, mumbling and wild-eyed (GM Note: He is inflicted with confusion than can happen on a roll of 1, and tonight, the party rolled more 1's than I've ever seen; Chang had 3 in a row!)

Horrible bat-headed sculptures flank an exit tunnel, and a successful Mythos Check compares them to another mask of Nyarlathotep: The Sand Bat of Central Australia.






A pool of water lies in the next extremely dark chamber, and the only source of illumination they have are weak flashlights. The pool is filled with hungry black leeches, which reminds Chang and Chad of a similar pool beneath Giza. 










Naturally, Chad Slambody is still naked, and the others are in a state of half-clothed disarray, after trying to sneak through the multitude of naked cultists (they got very, very lucky with their rolls).

Chad spots a stalagmite jutting up from the floor in an adjacent chamber, and he sees the light splash across the head and shoulder of an immobile man. Sneaking forward, he gets close enough to suspect that the man is dead, but not dead in a good way; dead in a bad way; a stinking, still-walking, likely to eat-your-brain kind of way. The group has not seen zombies in some time (most have not seen zombies at all, but Chang is familiar with them from as far back as the Ju-Ju House in NY City). 















They decide to burn the thing, and Chad sneaks back, returns with a 10-gallon drum of gasoline, and discreetly plants it near the zombie and leads a trail back to his hiding spot. But another zombie appears! A huge, hulking black man, his eyes white, blood dripping down his jowls. He spots Chad and shambles toward him, but Chad has already lit the gasoline. KA-BOOM!






One zombie guard is blasted from his perch and plummets into a nearby chasm. The second guard is caught on fire but still charges ahead, until a shotgun and pistol rip his chest cavity to pieces, and it collapses into a stinking heap. Beyond, the party is met with yet another problem:

A rickety rope bridge extends across the chasm where the zombie fell. It can still be seen smoking and flicking at the bottom. Chad works his way across, but there is no way they will risk taking the 500+ lb. Gas Mule on the bridge. It is tied off and left behind while they confiscate supplies from it: namely, Gas, Dynamite and Weapons.  (GM Note: Gas, Dynamite and Weapons have helped the party survive as long as they have; and a hell of a lot of luck).

They continue winding through the darkness in a terrified bundle. Their flashlights only let them see shadows up to 60 feet, and these rooms are larger than that. They reach another deep hole stretching through the dark, and see large rats scampering nearby, but it is what waits at the end of the room that sends Chad, Lester, Chang, Father Salvatore, Okumo, and the two Kenyan warriors rolling another Sanity Check:





A horrific statue of Nyarlathotep in his Bloody Tongue aspect towers over them! 

Slathered in blood and symbols, it also doubles as a throne, for a crude chair is carved into it. There is a large iron cage in one corner, enough to contains dozes and dozens of people, and a pile of moldy scrolls in another with large rats nearby. In front of the throne, flanking it on both sides, are two bizarre pillars: one is encrusted with human skulls, the other is made from some weird green stone. (GM Note: I think that by this point even Chang had lost too much Sanity too fast, and is inflicted with something unpleasant, but not permanent).


















It is not until they encourage Lester Cobblebottom (already tenuously close to more insanity) to inspect the bizarre green column of alien stone, that things go downhill for him even worse. He fails a Will Save, and losing more Sanity and rolling poorly on related dice, he is ravaged by both Confusion and a Split Personality!  He begins babbling and shrieking, and then takes off running into the darkness. 






Chad and a Kenyan warrior follow him, but seconds after he has started running, Lester spins around and shoots the Kenyan dead! Chad grapples him, wrestling Lester to the ground, who has now taken on the Split Personality of a strong, brave man, which is not supported his puny strength and stature. In his mind, he is trying to be brave and stalwart like Chad Slambody! Although just not so gay. Of course, the others do not know of this inner turmoil, all they know if that Lester has gone mad.

Furthermore, Lester is hearing voices. 

Yes, the Green Pillar of alien stone is speaking to him with the incessant drone of thousands of voices chanting in unison, echoing through his fevered brain. When Lester finally calms down, he has a moment of insight and clarity, and deduces that the voices were cultists very nearby awaiting the birth of the Son of Nyarlathotep. The group decides to destroy the two pillars (they positively reek of Evil) and unfortunately for them, the Skull Pillar begins screaming with hundreds of voices and everyone suffers more Sanity Loss. Even Chad Slambody succumbs by this point as the group is constantly whittled down by the Mountain of the Black Wind 

[GM Note: he rolls a 6-month long term insanity that we later decide will be NECROPHILIA! Fun!]

The Throne Room is thoroughly searched, the scrolls seized, a golden statue tucked away, and the throne itself inspected by Chang, although he is loathe to go near it. His bravery pays off however. A secret panel is revealed behind the throne, and the group timidly steps into a long corridor that curves and winds upward into the mountain.

Twenty minutes of climbing later, they soon hear the eerie echo of woman in labor.  [GM Note: I actually was able to find a creepy soundtrack of a woman in labor that sounds like its echoing in a tunnel].  They hear the commotion and murmur of thousands of bodies and voices, and soon they squirm into a single narrow passage that opens up into a truly massive chamber in the heart of the black mountain. 

From here, things get worse.


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> NECROPHILIA! Fun!]




You just don't normally see those two words right next to each other, do ya?



			
				Nebulous said:
			
		

> GM Note: I actually was able to find a creepy soundtrack of a woman in labor that sounds like its echoing in a tunnel




You have a knack for finding oddly appropriate sound effects.


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #24: The Spawn of Nyarlathotep (Part 3)*

*PART 3:  Birth (and Death) of a God*

The ceiling is over 100 feet high. Six pillars support the roof, but they are not regular pillars, but rather horrid stone tentacles replete with wet suckers. 

[GM Note: I had the room built out on a battlemap, but didn’t take pictures.  It was pretty big. I think one mini represented 100 people, or something like that].

Thousands of cultists cram shoulder to shoulder into a room that is wider than a football field. To the south, a huge, ragged hole has collapsed the wall, and from here, wide stone steps descend to the valley floor. While the investigators crept through the inner secret corridors, the cultists took the route and up and past their vengeful god. In the center of this chamber (which is seemingly expanded from natural lava tubes) sits a 3' x 7' green stone altar. However, everyone’s attention is focused on the east side of the chamber, a good 500' from the investigators, where a dais rests against the wall, and something HUGE is squatting upon it that looks like a big quivering, ochre balloon. 

With the dim light, thousands of swooning cultists, and some pillars in the way, it's really hard to see. The entire group is scared, but they've come too far, through too many hardships and trials to fail now. 

Okumo, Chang and Lester stay behind, watching from the shadows of the secret alcove, while Chad and Father Salvatore gear up with dynamite and gas, and quietly blend into the crowd, prepared to sacrifice their very lives for the Greater Good. No one really notices them; they look like every other dirty, disheveled, blood-encrusted maniac. The sound they heard in the tunnel is even more magnified in the Great Chamber: a woman is in the pangs of child birth, and as Chad and Salvatore push through the crowd, drawing ever closer to the fleshy mound on the dais, they see what exactly has happened to Hyapatia Masters after all these years:






She is enormous, just a quivering flesh-bag for the entity inside her. Her skin is pulled taut, while her head wags off the end. Her lips are crusted with blood and she is crying and laughing and babbling incoherently. A tight line of bodies forms a semi-circle around her twenty feet out, giving her room for the spectacle to come. Chad and Father Salvatore have their work cut out for them, and Salvatore murmurs a quick prayer. 9 sticks of dynamite are already bundled together, and Salvatore quietly uncorks a gas can and weaves a trail of gas through the crowd.

But Hyapatia Masters starts convulsing! (GM Note: The entire soundtrack from the past 2 adventures was from horror movie Slither, and the soundtrack for Hyapatia Bursting was called "Brenda Bursting")  

Something massive squirms inside her body, and then two hideous orange eyes roll open within her translucent flesh! 






Hyapatia screams one last time in agony, one last mad shriek after 5 years of incubating the son of the Devil inside her ravaged body, and her head pops open. Brains gush out, the skin-sack splits, embryonic fluids splash forth, and something ungodly wriggles into the world, flailing eyes and mouths and tentacles, a huge orange abomination the size of the entire dais. 






A chorus of praises fills the dark cathedral...

...just as Chad Slambody throws a bundle of dynamite, and immediately pushes back into the crowd of bodies.  But Father Salvatore is impulsive, thrashing to the very forefront, levels his shotgun and pumps a round into the dynamite as soon as it lands at the body of the thing. The bundle of dynamite explodes, washing the dais and all spectators with a bloom of flame.  Unearthly shrieks spill from the dais as the newborn Spawn of Nyarlathotep, only barely alive in the world of the living, is blasted into a thousand chunky bits of goo and blood and squirmy evil.  The shock blast knocks Salvatore off his feet as well as about one hundred other people, and inflicts incredible damage. Some are killed instantly; others are rendered unconscious, and Salvatore is only saved from death by pure luck, despite being struck in the head by shrapnel. Dazed, he falls to the ground, but many cultists spotted him, and their hands grapple the priest from every direction.

From the hidden alcove, Chang, Okumo and Lester (and No-Name Mook) cringe as the thunderous explosion rocks the entire room.  Chunks of the ceiling crack and fall and the crowd stumbles backward from the flames. Screams wash back and forth as they shield their eyes from the glare.

But the explosion also ignites the trail of gasoline, and second later, a secondary explosion sends more corpses flying into the air. Once again, dynamite has ruined a perfectly good ceremony of Nyarlathotep (GM Note: and for those surviving cultists from Giza who are also attending here, this is like deja-vu). Chad Slambody, naked and alone, hammers through the crowd. He shakes off several grappling arms and chucks his last stick of dynamite ahead of him, creating even more smoke, havoc and death, and hurtles himself around the conflagration. He is using the confusion to the best of his ability, and being as dirty and naked as everyone else, he meshes into the chaos.

But Father Salvatore is not so lucky.  A dozen cultists pull his arms and legs and lift him over the heads while he chants the Lord's Prayer in defiance! He struggles to free himself, but no amount of Action Points can save him from a thousand combatants. He is hauled to three nearby pits previously unnoticed, and Father Salvatore is given a glimpse of three potential fates:

A pit of black and green mambas.  A pit of ravenous rats.  Or a pit of carnivorous giant ants.

















He is not really given a choice. M'Weru appears, her face twisted with anger, and points to the center pit. Father Salvatore is thrown down into the rat swarm, hundreds of black furry bodies crawling over him, infected teeth piercing his genitals, eating his nose off, gnawing his fingers and toes as he slowly screams his last...and hopefully gets a ride to Heaven, and not the maw of a certain nearby evil god.

But, the others don't know about this. Chad finally reaches the blackened alcove and reunites with his allies, even as thousands of cultists thrash behind them, caught in the chaos the heroes have sown.  But their luck may have run out.

The Spawn is dead.  The investigators are injured and near Insanity. Daddy has just lost his Son, and is pissed. And the party is still five days outside of Nairobi, with a jungle teeming with insects, snakes, disease and cultists in between them and freedom.

Can they make it with no dynamite and dwindling ammo? Will they escape the Mountain of the Black Wind alive? Will Lester Cobblebottom fracture into a third disoriented personality? Will M'Weru capture and feed them to the rats and ants?  Will Chad finally make sweet man-love to Chang before thousands of cultists tear them limb from limb?

Find out next time. 

[GM Note:  Although it took a long time to write this segment, it was no more than a 4 hour session].


----------



## GodPhoenix

Snakes...and rats and ants.  Why did it have to be snakes...and rats and ants?


----------



## Nebulous

GodPhoenix said:
			
		

> Snakes...and rats and ants.  Why did it have to be snakes...and rats and ants?




Well, the adventure book actually called for a pit of disgruntled kittens, a pit of green healing salve, and a pit of some Swedish massage girls.  The snakes, rats and ants are just there because i'm an ***hole.   

Looking ahead, there's quite a few chapters left, about 10. I guess making it through twenty four of these so far is pretty good.  I'm just glad i wrote it down, there's so much i would have forgotten.


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #25: Escape from the Mountain (Part 1)*

*Part 1:  Old Friends*

The Spawn is dead! Chunks of its ravaged body decorate the Ceremony Chamber with radioactive red and orange viscera. Mass chaos ensues as thousands of panicked cultists push for the exit, the long, treacherous stairway leading down to the valley below.  But the investigators (along with their ally Okumo and one trembling mook) are huddled in their secret alcove, just as Chad Slambody streaks up to them.  He is bloody, sooty, and wild-eyed, but he's alive and doesn't know what the hell happened to Father Salvatore. 

They don't wait to find out.

A dozen of M'Weru's undead bodyguards are trundling toward them; fat, stinking black men, their skin sloughing off in wet sheets.






The heroes run down the tunnel, Chang in the lead, until they reach the Throne Room of M'Weru. They have only two flashlights between them, and naked Chad Slambody doesn't have his gun anymore, discarded somewhere during the confusion. [GM Note- insert jokes about Chad's "suitcasing" capabilities] They run through the cavernous room, backtracking to where they know they last left the Gas Mule. Lester Cobblebottom is somewhat composed now, free of his former madness, but Chad Slambody is concealing a new affliction, one that pulls at his loins, tugs at his testicles, a yearning for men who CANNOT RESIST HIS ADVANCES! The chaos of the past several months has finally deteriorated his senses and Chad seeks solace in what seems rational: sex with the dead! 

In their glassy eyes he is perfection; the perfect specimen of Man. [GM note: Leo opted for this particular malady over the boring hypochondria]

However, the foul statue of Nyarlathotep overlooks them all, a 15-foot monstrosity that fills the investigators with dread.  A sudden wind whips up inside the throne room, keening through the corners, howling with peculiar similarity to the wind outside the mountain.

The investigators reach the rickety bridge again where they first crossed with a rope and left the Gas Mule tethered on the far side.  The beast of burden still sits here, and the heroes cross the chasm one at a time. The bridge sways back and forth in the unnatural wind, and it is extremely treacherous to cross. Hand over hand they navigate the chasm, with boards falling beneath their feet.  When it is finally Lester's turn, he ties one end of the rope around his waist and hobbles over the bridge.  But it breaks! His feet splinter through the wood and he plunges into the ravine, only to painfully slam against the wall, saved only by the rope anchored under his armpits.  The others haul him up even as they hear voices from nearby. 

Torchlight begins to flicker elsewhere in the cavern. They pull faster until Lester crests the top, and then they see several fat dead men have reached the far side. Staring at them with soulless white eyes, they approach, but lack the dexterity or foresight to navigate the damaged bridge.  Both zombies fall to their second deaths and splatter messily in the darkness at the bottom.  The bridge is impassable now, and the investigators cut the last remaining strands and discard the bridge into the chasm.

However, they hear strange shrieks in the darkness, and the scrape of claws on rock.  Something else has entered this room, and they don't want to find out what.

Almost to the exit!  They reach the bottom of the room that leads up to the ledge where M'Weru first tossed the infant to its death a few hours earlier. Outside, the wind screams with unholy fury, and they hear the screams of thousands of men and women climbing down the stairs from the Ceremony Chamber. Chad Slambody reaches the top first, sprinting ahead...

...and stops in his tracks. Horrified.




A cyclone of immense proportions twists in the distance, two baleful blue eyes burning within the darkness. Chad shudders and averts his gaze, even as the others clamber up and witness what is waiting for them.  Lightning crackles and pounds the earth, arcing from trees and sparking them into blooms of flame.  Men and women run shrieking from the magical stairwell, flee into the jungle. And the magical stairwell begins to crumble...

Chaos swirls before the investigators and they are reluctant to step out, so they opt to wait. Chad runs back down to set a trap in the corridor, in case anyone or anything manages to cross the chasm. He hauls gasoline off the Gas Mule and begins to place the fuel in the narrow tunnel, keeping an eye on more torch-bearing zombies gathered at the far side of the crevasse. But then he hears it: bird-like ululating shrieks from deeper in the chamber, and the flap of leathery wings...as something huge and bone-white slithers up behind the zombies, viscous saliva dropping from a fleshless head that resembles a desiccated horse skull.






Chad (wisely) decides to run.  They have few choices now.  The winged monstrosity will cross the chasm and be on top of them in seconds, so they clamber out onto the ledge and begin picking their way down the trail, with Lester hauling the terrified Gas Mule.   The cyclone finally moves out of sight, but even as they step out onto the ledge, the great magical stairway completely crumbles!  The remaining cultists who still have not escaped fall to their deaths and are crushed under tons of rock.

Purple lightning continues to strike the ground, buzzing and arcing over the corpses, many of which were sacrificial victims from earlier, or were killed by the investigator's liberal use of dynamite. The electricity worms among the dead, and then, to the dismay of everyone climbing down the trail, the dead begin to stir!


----------



## Abciximab

> [GM note: Leo opted for this particular malady over the boring hypochondria]




Maybe he's actually a hypochondriac that _thinks_ he has necrophelia.

I'm enjoying this story hour as well as your new one and looking at your minis, props and images, I have to say, you have way too much time on your hands. 

I hope it continues.


----------



## Nebulous

Abciximab said:
			
		

> Maybe he's actually a hypochondriac that _thinks_ he has necrophelia.




Haha.  Well, in the next sequence i think our poor surviving mook warrior finds out that it's not all in Chad's head! 



			
				Abciximab said:
			
		

> I have to say, you have way too much time on your hands.
> 
> I hope it continues.




Yeah, it's been QUITE slow at work recently, so i'm taking advantage of it!  I couldn't even guess how many hours it takes to stage the DREAD thread, snap pictures, manipulate images, look for additional images, and then post. If i wasn't having so much fun i probably wouldn't bother!


----------



## GodPhoenix

Nebulous said:
			
		

> and a pit of some Swedish massage girls.




This would have been the best death scene EVAR.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #25: Escape from the Mountain

*Part 2: No More Room in Hell...*







Hundreds of corpses slowly lurch to their feet.  Throats are slashed.  Entrails pulled out.  Arms blasted off and legs missing. The dead are randomly interspersed among the living, and the dead do not discriminate between who they attack. They fall upon anyone close enough to reach, tearing out chunks of flesh devouring them, and the investigators have reached ground level right in the middle of this chaos. To escape the valley, they must push ahead, reach the far side, climb up the hill and plunge into the jungle.

They don't have time to wait. Even as they huddle at the base of the mountain, the dead have noticed them and begun to advance, hands stretched out, their jaws gnashing in hunger. Using the bewildered Gas Mule as a shield, Lester keeps close to it, and the group dashes forward, using their superior speed and maneuverability to weave among the zombies. Still, there are far too many to fully avoid them all, and claws rake them as they run by.  Chad is bitten savagely on the shoulder, tearing out chunks of muscle, and Chang attempts to throw a drum of gasoline as an incendiary diversion.  He throws well enough, but both Lester and Chad shoot...and miss! Cursing, Chang doesn't have time to fire himself, the zombies will surround him, and so he keeps running.

And if that weren't bad enough, they hear the bird-like screeching behind them as something bone-white and slick emerges onto the ledge, croaking like a malignant vulture. Chad risks a glance back at it and sees the thing spread its diseased wings...






...but it is what Chad sees atop the mountain that chills the blood in the veins.






An avalanche of black fog is rolling down the mountainside! Consuming the entire landscape, devouring everything like a terrible wave of malignancy, and it will soon sweep the valley floor and engulf them all. Chad screams at everyone to run faster, so they do, pushing dead people out of the way in their haste.  The flying creature leaps off from the ledge and swoops down, plucking someone right off the ground, and soars up into the night sky, its shrieks receding. They finally break through the ranks of zombies and have a clear run uphill to the crest of the valley, and a straight shot to the jungle beyond where they can hide, but they just aren't fast enough to escape the wave of black fog.

It spills around them, cold, chilling, clammy, invading their noses and lungs. Everyone is overcome by horrible coughing, but only Chad Slambody is able to resist the affliction. Chang, Lester, Okumo and the Mook are stopped by pain and debilitating cramps, moving at only half speed. They all instantly lose several points of Wisdom, Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma or Strength, and Chad is forced to slow down and find them in the fog, rather than running ahead on his own.

The group finally tears into the jungle, wheezing and coughing, and the black fog is left behind.  They find a place to camp as close as they dare, and fall into an exhausted and nightmare-plagued sleep. But the morning does not relieve their ailments. Chang and Lester lose many more points of ability scores, the Mook and Okumo are coughing up blood, and the group is easily five days from civilization. And without the guidance of Okumo or the Mook, they lack the survival skills to navigate the jungle at all.  Even worse, as Lester and Okumo suspect, they have been inflicted with a magical disease they no one can heal.  

They will all surely die unless they can reach Old Bundari in time.

It takes them a week to find Nairobi at their reduced snail's pace, and along the way, the Mook finally succumbs in a froth of blood.  Which is good news for Chad Slambody! His necrophilia affliction has been haunting him for days now, and he finally spies an opportunity to take full advantage of it.  He volunteers to haul the dead man back to his home in the Boyova village, which spawned one of the best/worst quotes from the adventure:

*Leo: "But I don't want to leave him behind."
Dave: "No, you just don't want to LEAVE his behind..."*

With only a few relevant ability score points keeping them alive, Old Bundari begins a magical ritual to bring Chang, Lester and Okumo back to full health.  It is a tricky, highly time-intensive procedure that will take several months to fully complete.  In the meantime, still hale and whole, Chad meets some allies in Nairobi and their predetermined spot at the Hampton House Inn (the same one partially burned down by the fire vampires). As planned, Dr. Anthony Cowles, Dr. David Dodge, and his old companion Gi-Gi from Cairo have come to Nairobi while on their way to Australia.

ABOUT COWLES and DODGE:














Dr. Ali Kafour of the Cairo Museum (and one of the party's most trusted allies) has had extensive conversations with these two distinguished Australian scholars.  They have been giving a series of lectures around the world concerning a Cult of the Sand Bat in central Australia, and after spending much time with Dr. Kafour, they have come to the mutual agreement that something dark and disastrous is brewing in the Outback. Dr. Kafour believes that a new cult of the Dark One has been resurrected, and that they are up to no good.  This is the sole reason why he put the investigators in touch with Dr. Dodge and Dr. Cowles. Like the investigators, Ali Kafour is well aware of the significance of the map found in the Bent Pyramid, and the locations in Kenya, Australia and China that form a tridiagonal mystery. The professors are more interested in the possibility of a buried city from an archaeological standpoint.

However, whatever the investigators decide to do once Chang and Lester have recovered, Old Bundari has some unsettling news first.

One full month has passed since the destruction of the Spawn.  In the wake of that incident, the worst plague of malaria, Yellow Fever, and a new ailment--Black Fever (which is what Lester and Chang have) has swept over Kenya.  Floods, fires and other calamities have raged out of control in the rural areas, and they know that this is the wrath of Nyarlathotep unleashed. His son is dead, but M'Weru is still alive somewhere.

They are all gathered around a campfire in Boyova with Old Bundari. He has just woken from his reverie, bathed in sweat, his old eyes dark with worry.  Okumo is there to translate his Swahili to English:










"I have seen a vision.  A dream of the future.  A time when a great cloud descends upon the whole world.  A cloud of evil, so vile and hateful that none can escape it. I have seen this, and know it to be possible. Listen...and heed this warning:

...If there is no more room in Hell, the Dead Shall Walk the Earth!"

[GM Note: This quote is from George Romero – Dawn of the Dead]

That is Old Bundari's dire prophecy, and the investigators finally understand the implication of their success...or failure. If Nyarlathotep succeeds in his plan, the world will be subjugated to an unparalleled holocaust of doom, and the cancer will spread across the globe and devour the living until none are left at all...







And there we stopped.  

[GM Note:  This was a significant departure from the campaign book, which sort of leaves it open as to what might happen, but with the suggestion that things continue on just like they are today, with an escalation in war, immorality, and selfishness in human society, a sure sign that Nyarlathotep walks among us.  I opted for a more cinematic alternative].


----------



## Nebulous

I should note that the Kenya Chapter makes a pretty good stopping point for this campaign, if you wanted to run a shorter version of it. Australia can actually be skipped, but there was just SO much cool stuff i wanted the players to see Outback, i pulled Cowles and Dodge back into the storyline, and starting planning for it before they even went to the Mountain of the Black Wind.  Cowles and Dodge and GiGi were also backup NPCs in case of a wipeout.

All that zombie stuff, the Black Fever fog, the horse thing, and the tornado raining purple lightning were not part of the campaign, i added it in.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #26: Onward to Australia!

*
Part 1: Goodbyes & Hello…*

July 11, 1925.

Two months have passed since the destruction of the Spawn, and the investigators are finally ready to begin the next stage of their journey.  Old Bundari has successfully treated Lester's and Chang's sickness, the Black Fever that rolled down the mountainside, and the two men feel fit enough to travel. Old Bundari and Okumo offer the group their blessings, and see them off to the Uguanda Railway.  Once there, several other individuals are waiting for them to depart:












Colonel Endicott, the raucous Englishman whose hunting lodge was burned down by fire vampires; his assistant Silent Joe, who put the investigators in touch with Old Bundari the shaman; and the only crying person in the bunch, tearful Mrs. Natalie Smyth-Forbes.






"Oh, Lester Cobblebottom, you're just not the man i knew! You...you...have such sudden bouts of uncommon bravado!  I think we must end this torrid relationship!" (GM Note: which may or may not have ever been consummated; probably not – only Jeff knows)






And thus, Lester's mental condition [the one that exhibits uncommon bravado at unexpected times] has wrecked the only love life he's ever known.  Oh well. Silent Joe nods curtly, but Colonel Endicott is especially thankful for their assistance, and for saving his life, even though his Hunting Lodge did burn to the ground.  In gratitude, he offers them something very dear to him: "Mrs. Caruthers!” he trumpets. “Named after a good woman, blokes, but she's an even better gun!" (+1 masterwork).  Chad Slambody accepts the gift [and immediately renames it "MR. Caruthers.”]

Along with Gi-Gi, the crippled wheelchair psychic, and the little Egyptian servant boy Ma'Moud who has dutifully followed them since Cairo, Chad, Chang and Lester hop onto the train and head to Mombasa, where they have booked passage to Port Hedland, Australia, following a trail of meager clues that will hopefully lead them to the next stage of Nyarlathotep's grand plan for world extinction.

So they can blow it up.






Dr. Ali Kafour from the Cairo Museum wires them $5000 to assist with fees, and the investigators have personally met the two men who will aid them in the next stage: Dr. David Dodge from Sydney, and Professor Anthony Cowles.  Ali Kafour vouches for both of them, so the PCs do not suspect them as being cultist plants.

Both men have long left for their homeland, and Cowles and Dodge possess evidence that a great city lies buried beneath the sand in Western Australia, hidden deep in the outback, a city originally discovered five years ago by a man named ARTHUR MacWHIRR. 

MacWhirr is now dead (from influenza, nothing supernatural oddly enough), and the only other person who knows the exact coordinates of the city is his friend and confidante, Dr. Hans Hazzenbaum (Bridgett's new character, replacing a different NPC from the campaign book), a German anthropologist living in Port Hedland and studying ancient Aboriginal society. Dodge and Cowles have returned to Sydney to organize funding for the expedition, and are waiting to hear back from the investigators once they arrive in Port Hedland.

So, two weeks since leaving Mombasa, after a long, chugging steamship journey across a vast ocean, the party finally limps into port on the flattest continent on Earth.











In their downtime, both the two month interval since Lester and Chang's sickness and the two week boat journey, the group has had ample time to study their collected clues, and have found several links and discoveries:

A) Ledgers from warehouses in London, Mombasa and Nairobi link items that have been sent to Shanghai, New York, Australia and Africa. Some of the items are clearly labeled as suspicious cult-related items.  One such warehouse is actually in Port Hedland: 

Randolph Shipping Co.

B) A recent telegraph from Port Hedland to Tandoor Singh in Nairobi (the Tea Seller who had been summoning the fire vampires, and ultimately burned up in a jail cell) places a man named "Huston" in Port Hedland.  Quite possibly the same "Huston" of the Carlyle Expedition.

C) Dr. Anthony Cowles, the Australian archaeologist, is a master of Aboriginal and Koori history, and he is aware of an ancient religious sect that has recently arisen:  The Cult of the SAND BAT. (This was hinted at in the Mountain of the Black Wind)






After talking extensively with Ali Kafour in Cairo, Dodge and Cowles are convinced that a new cult of Nyarlathotep has risen in the desert, and they have probably begun human sacrifices in earnest. This doesn’t so much scare the archaeologists as fascinate them. 

D) The map photographed in the Bent Pyramid (by Morty, Jeff's dead and devoured character) depicts a triangle of important locales in Kenya, Australia and China.  The Mountain of the Black Wind was one such important site they believe, and the investigators have disrupted whatever atrocities planned there and killed the Son of the Dark One.  The next important site is in Western Australia, very likely the same location that Arthur MacWhirr found, the same location where Dr. Hans Hazzenbaum knows the coordinates, and the very same place that Cowles and Dodge would like to mount an official expedition to root out the secrets of a lost city beneath the sands.






E) Poring over their collected Mythos tomes, Lester and Chang finding themselves reading De Vermiis Mysteriis and Africa's Black Sects (Sex! Heh, heh, that never gets old), respectively.  Lester is shocked and horrified by the book, but he learns many secrets about the Great Old Ones and the Outer Gods, and he learns two blasphemous spells. Chang learns how to place a black opal in the mouth of the recently dead, and bind a black spirit to animate the corpse.  Hideous of course, but he keeps the ritual imprinted, just in case. [GM Note: I don’t know if these spells ever get used; I don’t think so. Magic in this campaign was very low-key aside from the dedicated magician Lucifer Lardlover]

This was all some necessary bookkeeping to keep the players up to speed about what was happening, and to refresh their memories regarding the clues in Australia.


----------



## Nebulous

Part 2: Port Hedland







Port Hedland in 1925 is a dusty, dirty place, bustling with herders and surveyors, gold-hunters and miners and a fair share of prostitutes and houses of ill-repute thrown into the mix. None of the group has ever been to this continent, but at least they speak the same language. Their first order of business is to find Dr. Hans Hazzenbaum (Bridgett’s new character). Hans is expecting these American visitors after Dodge and Cowles alerted him to their eventual arrival.  Hans is very excited about the prospects of an expedition, for it will be an incredible opportunity to study Aboriginal history that he never knew existed.  A city in the desert! Fascinating!

So, Hans answers the door to find a surly Chinaman with a priest collar, a grimy Egyptian boy, an old woman in a wheelchair, a tall, impossibly handsome, muscular chap, and a middle-aged gentleman with a slight paunch, dabbing the sweat from his face with a cloth. An eclectic group no doubt, and not quite what he expected.

Hans invites them to his study for tea and crumpets, and they discuss in depth the nature of MacWhirr's discovery 5 years ago.  It turns out that there was much more evidence than just the photographic plates that Cowles and Dodge used in their lecture: MacWhirr had taken reams of notes and drawings, more pictures, etc. but something curiously happened not long after his death: another scholar approached Hans (who was in charge of MacWhirr's estate after his untimely death) and wanted to borrow them, perhaps to further his own research. 

"FOOL that I was," Hans concedes, "I let the man take the materials, all except for a journal and a few photographic plates.  I believe his name was...it was...was it Haw-ston?"

This to the investigators sounds suspiciously like “Huston” (and if they had thought to show Hans a photograph of the CARLYLE EXPEDITION in their possession, he would have heatedly confirmed: Yes! That's the thieving bastard!)

There was also a diary of MacWhirr that the investigators read, which details attacks by strange entities in the desert that killed their camels and some of his traveling companions, and strange large birds flapping lazily in the sky...






It sounds like several years ago Huston stole material from Hans and journeyed out into the desert to find this city. The investigators have no idea why, but it must be of some import to the grand scheme. And if anything, Nyarlathotep is one hell of a grand schemer.

Hans invites them to stay in his modest home, although the accommodations are pushed to their limit. He had not expected quite so many guests.  Dr. David Dodge and Professor Cowles (over a 1000 miles away in Sydney) are alerted to the other members of the expedition arriving from Kenya, and David Dodge says that he will be on his way and should arrive within 2 weeks. The investigators attempt to do some psychological analysis with the help of Hans, to see if any of the maladies accrued during their journeys can be alleviated, but it doesn't do much good.

[GM Note: And it should be known that Hans Hazzenbaum has NO CLUE about the Mythos, and a nice, healthy Sanity hovering around 80%. The others don't tell him jack-squat.]

Their next order of business is to check out the sights and secrets of Port Hedland, which somewhat resembles the Old West in America.  Further south in Cuncudgerie, where they will go next once Dodge arrives, it is even more lawless.  Apparently, gold strikes have caused an explosion of visitors to push into Western Australia, prompting many railways to be blasted to accommodate the growing, greedy population. So the entire mentality of the area is very much like the California Gold Rush of the 1880's.  This is a place for pioneers, vagabonds, and fringers.

And their attention is eventually, undoubtedly, irrevocably!, drawn to a certain WAREHOUSE on the docks, Randolph Shipping Co.  According to the ledgers that they have acquired from other countries, cultist items passed through this very place.  And the investigators have a time-proven vendetta against cultist warehouses--

Death by fire!

But this time they take a wiser, cautionary approach.  Chad Slambody volunteers to get a job as a dock worker at the warehouse, to infiltrate it slowly over the next two weeks and see exactly what goes on there.  So, he applies and meets TODDY RANDOLPH, owner of Randolph Shipping Co.  






[GM Note: Man, I love this picture of Toddy, it says everything. Thank you Google!]

He is a fat, balding, surly man who stinks of whiskey and sweat, as foul-mouthed and disgusting a man that Chad has ever met, and instantly unlikable.   But Chad is a strapping fellow, and would make an excellent worker, so he's hired for a shilling a day.

Yay.


----------



## Nebulous

*The Complete Masks of Nyarlathoptep d20*

Adventure #26: Onward to Australia!
*
Part 3: The Thing in the Crate*

Chad performs up to his usual standards, flexing when appropriate, discarding his shirt most of the time to unveil bronzed skin. He meets other dockworkers who are mostly Australian riffraff, but there are also  native Abos thrown into the mix.  One such individual is named Johnny Bigbush  [GM Note: and for whatever reason, there were many genital jokes this session], a somewhat strange Aboriginal who is always talking about "Bundai! Who will rise sleeping in the center of the earth and devour the world and the Rainbow Snake!"  

[GM Note:  I read another GM’s recap where he incorporated this hint in a fantastic way; I didn’t actually follow up on it, too much else going on down there].

The others shrug it off to Johnny Bigbush smoking too much peyote, but Chad is suspicious.  Regardless, three days later, Toddy Randolph says that Johnny Bigbush has been fired.  Word around the warehouse is that he ran off into the desert to find his Koori tribe by the river.

Chad hears lots of local gossip, including rumors about a Bat Cult in the deep desert, and other disappearances, and the always popular stories about gold veins near Cuncudgerie.

So, Chad works and works and works, watching the patterns of movement and guards.  Surprisingly, the guards at the warehouse are relatively few.  Toddy Randolph sleeps there every night, and he has a few fellows that stick around too, but they're often drinking at the pub down the street.

Times passes, and the day before Dr. David Dodge is due to arrive in Port Hedland, the investigators act.  They have planned it out, and already purchased 30 gallons of gasoline and a small skiff. The warehouse is hard to infiltrate from the outside, so they paddle up from the docks and sneak in the back. Chang, Chad and Lester are privy to this little visit, while Hans is left in the dark.  In fact, they convince Hans to go to the pub and start buying rounds for the patrons, hopefully to keep Toddy Randolph distracted and drunk enough while they search the warehouse at their leisure.  Gi-Gi and Ma'Moud are relegated to useless NPC status.

The warehouse is dark, silent.  The slap of waves on pylons is all they hear as they clamber up the ladder. Flashlights in hand, they slowly weave through the stacked crates, poking around here and there, and then...






...Chang spots an odd red symbol scrawled on a crate.  For some reason, it sends shivers coursing through him. They take note, but scurry to the interior door that Chad knows is locked.  Fortunately, Chang has ample lockpicking skills, and is able to jimmy it open. Toddy's office is also locked, but the lock can't resist Chang's determination, and they take as much time as they need. [Fortunately, it wasn't trapped]. There is a cot inside, a rolltop table, and not much else.  The marked crate is hauled back here and they crack it open while Chang searches the bed and the table.  He finds a loaded .38 pistol (which is promptly unloaded) and Toddy's warehouse ledger which he briefly thumbs through.

There! That same odd symbol is scrawled in the ledger too, the same one from the crate.  In fact, Chang sees it repeated several times, beside shipments to Shanghai and London and Kenya, even one south to Cuncudgerie, Australia. Using a crowbar, Chad cracks open the crate, and the three men anxiously lean over, pulling out the straw.






A green idol rests at the bottom of the crate. Writhing stone tentacles adorn the mouth of the hideous creature, and vestigial stone wings sprout from its back. Lester has seen this icon before, in the Vermiis Mysteriis just recently, and whispers to the others that it is known as K-TULU, a demon god that slumbers beneath the sea until the Stars Are Right, when it shall awaken. Shivering, they cover the idol rather than look at it.

Toddy's ledger says that everything has been shipped out, except for two items: one must be the idol, so they start looking for the other. A half hour has passed since they first arrived, and there is no indication that anyone knows they are here.  Shuffling through the dark and the dusk, then peer behind every crate and box, until they finally spot a similarly marked crate stacked high up.  Chad climbs a ladder to haul it down, but the box is heavy and unwieldy and slides from his grip!

It strikes the floor, one corner splintering off with a loud crash, but another sound instantly issues forth from the crate!

THRUUM! HUUUUM!!  THRUMMM! HUMM!

A rhythmic mechanical pulse, punctuated with occasional high pitched tinkling like wind chimes.  It is unlike anything they have ever heard. Through the smashed wood, they see the glint of GOLD.

Curiosity wins over fear, and they are quite fearful of what the box might contain. They pry the rest of the boards loose, remove the straw, and shine their lamps within:






It is a device that defies categorization. Constructed of gold and possibly platinum, it has wheels and mirrors and glass tubes, all of it slightly illuminated by an indiscernible source of soft light. One part looks somewhat like a cushioned eyetube that one might find on a microscope or binoculars.  Unnerved now, they decide to exit the warehouse with the artifacts while their luck is still holding.  The gasoline is dispatched for maximum effectiveness,  a 10 gallon drum set up for detonation, and they clamber down into their skiff and load the artifacts, and then light the gasoline.  Paddling madly away, they watch the flames lick and spread through the dock, and then to the interior, and then several minutes later:

KA-BOOM!

The drum ignites, and Randolph Shipping Copany begins a quick journey to decommission. [And joins a growing trail of ruined property across four continents!]

The next morning, word travels that a huge accident occurred at the warehouse overnight.  Speculation is rampant about whether it was arson or not, and some blame is even thrown toward Johnny Bigbush, but nothing sticks.  The trio was able to escape free and clear, without so much as a bullet fired (which typically prevents them from investigating warehouses at length)

The artifacts are smuggled into Hans Hazzenbaum's basement (without his knowledge) and the investigators take a closer look.  The Golden Machine is the more interesting of the two, so Chang fiddles with the switches and dials and protruding knobs until he activates it!

TRUMMMMM.....HUMMMMM.....THRUUUMMMMMM

And there is the eyepiece. Rubber pads the rim, and on a whim, Lester Cobblebottom presses his face to it.  He sees nothing but blackness. No! Wait.  Two tiny, tiny pinpricks of light he tells the others, like small stars.  Lester continues gazing for a full minute, unmoving.  They ask him what he sees.  He doesn't respond.  They nudge him.  He doesn't move. Panic begins to build. "Lester?" They push him, and Lester falls away from the strange device, his eyes riveted open, his body locked into position like a mannequin!

THRUUM! HUUUMMM!  THRUMM!

They slap Lester around but there is no response.  Chad Slambody unselfishly (and somewhat predictably) volunteers to haul Lester into a cold shower and scrub him down while naked. Hans Hazzenbaum, also witness to this event, is freaking out about right now.  These odd people have dragged a bizarre device into his home, and now there are two naked men in his shower, one of whom is comatose! 

Someone begins knocking at the front door upstairs, probably Dr. David Dodge, come to meet the members of the expedition. Cursing, Hans rushes upstairs to greet him, while Chad lathers Lester up good.

Lester finally falls limp (unlike Chad!), but he does not respond to cold water or stimulation.  Hans and Dodge return downstairs, and Hans finally insists that Lester needs medical attention, he has obviously had a seizure or some sort of aneurysm, but the medical facilities in Port Hedland are lacking.

Hans bundles Lester up, they stick him in a truck, and Hans roars off to the local infirmary. Upon arriving in the parking lot though, Lester wakes up and begins screaming! Thrashing, convulsing, his eyes bugging from their sockets, he is a man who has lost his mind. He doesn't seem to recognize Hans, or to even know himself.  Hans calls for help and someone eventually comes out to help Lester inside where he is given a morphine sedative.

Lester stays overnight at the infirmary, but is released the next day to Hans Hazzenbaum.  He is physically well, but unresponsive to questions. He seems to be suffering from 100% amnesia.

Chad and Chang are very worried about this turn of events, and given the unknown nature of the Mythos artifact that Lester toyed with [GM Note:  And it's unanimously decided that JEFF WON CTHULHU!], they decide the wiser course of action is restrain Lester physically until they feel they can trust him. Lester fights this restraint tooth and nail, but they finally tie him to the bed. He manages to escape later on, and they find Lester huddled in the corner, surrounded by open books. He is flipping through pages at an astonishing rate, but when he realizes that he is being watched, he shams unconsciousness.

[GM Note- I took Jeff aside to tell him what was happening, as it can be rather complex and will have repercussion later on. Congrats, you won CoC. Good job Jeff!]

Dr. David Dodge is also perplexed by this turn of events, but they convince him to just wait a few days, to see if Lester's condition changes.  And five days later, Lester begins speaking again, whispering of the strangest dream he had, of basalt towers rising thousands of feet into an infinite sky.  He has been far away in his dream, but he was not alone.  But the details are slippery, and fade away before he can grasp them. Perhaps they'll return.

Next stop, Cuncudgerie, where David Dodge, the investigators, and a team of Abos will drive a caravan of trucks into the deep desert, to find what secrets lurk in the shifting sands.


----------



## Nebulous

ADVENTURE #27: An Unexpected Detour


*PART 1: The Deadfella Man*

The group has reached Australia and already managed to dig up trouble:  the warehouse of Toddy Randolph smolders on the docks, and Lester Cobblebottom reels from his experience with a golden machine.  Hans Hazzenbaum, German anthropologist and long-time resident of Port Hedland, has been recruited as a new member for the expedition, along with the slightly mad Chad Slambody (The Perfect Specimen of Necrophiliac Man),  the duo-personality Lester Cobblebottom, Chan Chang, who has increasingly drowned himself in his cups to the point of ineptitude, Ma'Moud, the brave little Egyptian boy from Cairo, and Dr. David Dodge, archaeologist from Sydney.

So, August 9, 1925...

...finds the group (sans Ma'Moud, who has stayed at Hans’s house with Gi-Gi and the maid) clattering down the wooden railway between Port Hedland and Cuncudgerie, their final destination before they set out into the Great Sandy Desert. Hans possesses the coordinates to the Lost City, taken from the man who originally found it five years ago, one deceased Arthur MacWhirr. It is winter now, the sky clear and crisp but warm in the day and bone-chilling at night. The 14-hour train ride has lulled them into slumber, but Lester sleepily sees three rather large birds wheeling the distance.

Rather...large. Yes.  He tries to note their location, but the landmarks are all nearly identical: scrub grass and rocks and more scrub grass. Hours later, the group pulls into the train station and they disembark into Cuncudgerie.






And just as David Dodge warned them, it is a filthy rat nest of rowdy miners, surveyors, thieves and whores. Western Australia has recently hit somewhat of a Gold Rush, not unlike California in the 1800's, and an explosion of gold fever has prompted towns to literally develop overnight. Mangy dogs yelp in the streets; trucks rattle and belch fumes; the stink of bodies and liquor wafts from pubs lining the dusty dirt roads. The group's first order of business is to find a place to sleep for the night (The Oily Rag Motel! Named for its inevitable demise) and an outfitter to gear up, so Lester, Hans and Chad head that way while Dodge tries to recruit some Aboriginal labor workers and vehicles to take into the desert.

Wycroft Outfitters is the first one they stumble across, and entering, they soon find the proprietor, one Mortimer Wycroft, a tall Caucasian man with pale skin, sunken cheeks and long greasy gray hair.  






Wycroft is a...odd fellow…the group soon discovers.  His questions about their journey are slyly answered by Hans as the group wanders the store, picking out rope and miner's helmets, tins of food and beans and medicine. Three Abo employees watch them, one of whom actually helps Chad Slambody pump extra gasoline into drums behind the building.

It is while pumping the gas that Chad notices a peculiar tattoo on the man's bicep, but he can't quite remember where he saw it...

Finished re-supplying (including a much-appreciated crate of dynamite) the group bids adieu to Wycroft and goes to find David Dodge.  Dodge, in the meantime, has secured three Dahmler trucks and six Aboriginal workers who will accompany them into the desert.  They're bringing enough food and water for about a month, and according to the rough map Dodge possesses of the nearby desert, their journey will take them roughly 4 days.  They can leave in the morning, so in the meantime they relax at a nearby pub with the locals, where Hans and the others try to catch up on some of the local gossip.

After all, Lester and Chang have reason to suspect that another branch of Nyarlathotep, The Cult of the Sand Bat, is active in this region of the world, and it would behoove the group to know as much as possible about them. (Such knowledge was bestowed upon them by Dr. Anthony Cowles, David Dodge, and Ali Kafour)

So, four hours and several Gather Info checks later, the group has acquired the following tidbits of information:

a) Don't bother the Slatterly's near Dingo Falls! They're bad news
b) A bloke named John Carver took an expedition out east a "while back”, dug a big hole, and then fired the whole crew.
c) Mortimer Wycroft of the Outfitter is a weird fella also called "The Deadfella Man" behind his back because of his pale skin.
d) Big birds seen around the deeper desert
e) Strange, very emaciated Koori's seen in the desert too, taller than most folks
f) Strange disappearances and murders among the tribes.
g) There's a ghost been seen around Dingo Falls (actually, I forgot to drop this hint. Ignore it!)

So, with their newly acquired knowledge, the group rises the next morning, slogs some coffee, load the trucks and then set off into the horizon.


----------



## Nebulous

LESTER’S DREAM*

[GM  Note:  Backtrack a little:  This was a private email sent to Lester’s player before they went into the desert, and related to his companions later; much of this Australian chapter is based on Lovecraft's Shadow Out of Time story].






“It is very cold outside.  The moon is a high, white orb, uncluttered by clouds.  You are in a desert at night, the endless sands a deep shade of blue.  Stretching before you are immense towers rising thousands of feet into the air, great black basalt structures that stab toward the moon.  Moving quickly, almost as if your thoughts dictate your actions, you find yourself at the base of one of these towers. With a wave of your...

...PINCER???

and you reel back from shock.  Your arm is crab-like, clacking, and then you wave it over the rock wall.  A fissure opens. You "think" yourself inside and it seamlessly closes behind you with a snap. And then you're twirling down into darkness.  Down and down and down, gliding over dusty stone ramparts and beneath daunting arches.  Pinpricks of colored lights guide your way, but you seem to know your destination. This is all familiar.

An enormous vaulted chamber whose lofty stone ceiling is nearly lost in the shadows overhead.

There are colossal, round windows and high, arched doors, and pedestals or tables each as taller than a...human? Vast shelves of dark wood line the walls, holding what seem to be volumes of immense size with strange hieroglyphs on their backs. The exposed stonework holds curious carvings, always in curvilinear mathematical designs, and there are chiseled inscriptions in the same characters that the huge books bear. The dark granite masonry is of a monstrous megalithic type, with lines of convex-topped blocks fitting the concave-bottomed courses which rest upon them.

There are no chairs, but the tops of the vast pedestals are littered with books, papers, and writing materials - oddly figured jars of a purplish metal, and rods with stained tips.  On some of them are great globes of luminous crystal serving as lamps, and inexplicable machines formed of vitreous tubes and metal rods.

The interior windows are glazed, and latticed with stout-looking bars.  The floor is of massive octagonal flagstones, while rugs and hangings are entirely lacking.

You abruptly sweep through Cyclopean corridors of stone, and up and down gigantic inclined planes of the same monstrous masonry. There are no stairs anywhere, nor is any passageway less than thirty feet wide. Some of the structures through which you float must tower in the sky for thousands of feet.

There are multiple levels of black vaults below, and never-opened trapdoors, sealed down with metal bands and holding dim suggestions of some great peril.

You approach one of these flat doors, feeling great anxiousness, and you do not quite know why...

...as the door begins to violently shake!”

***


Lester Cobblebottom, you bolt up from your nightmare, still in the home of Hans Hazzenbaum, bathed in sweat, and if I remember, I’ll dock you a few Sanity points for the experience.

You can thank me later.*


----------



## Nebulous

PART 2: The Tall Man

There are no real roads on the route they're taking, just a mish-mash of dry tire ruts and cattle tracks. It is bumpy and hot and sweaty, and they pop a tire by the end of the first day.  While changing the tire that evening they spot a cloud of dust approaching in the distance.  Cautious, they unclasp their guns, but it is just a cattle herd with five or six cowboys ranging inland from the desert. 






They're sociable enough, but warn the investigators of "strange sounds" they've been hearing in the desert at night.  Something even stole some of their herd!  They're spooked and heading back to Cuncudgerie for a spell.

The group debates whether they should stay at Dingo Falls for the protection and fresh water offered there, but Chad Slambody is INSISTENT that the group keep their distance. Don't they remember what the locals said? The Slatterly clan lives near there, and that means trouble! So the group avoids the dangling plot hook (and 3 pages of the campaign book) and camps out in the desert.

The night passes without incident, and on dawn of Day Two they set off again.  Past Dingo Falls, heading East toward Gumgy Well, they spot a ramshackle house on a hill about a quarter mile away.  Even from that distance, the eerie jangle of a banjo wafts down to them from a kid playing on the front porch, watching as they pass by... 

(GM Note: and yes, this was a Deliverance scenario with requisite banjo music.  "Squeal like a piggy, Chad!")

I had the whole thing set up:





















By that afternoon the group spots an odd rock structure atop a shallow plateau.  Deciding to stop and rest, both Lester and Hans are intrigued by the potential archaeological significance of this item, as it surely manmade.  Dodge tells them it is called the Singing Stone, from the way wind whistles through a hole.  Hans and Lester clamber to the stop to study the Stone and make notes, even a charcoal rubbing of old hieroglyphics.






But bent over, Hans sees a tall shadow fall across him.  And it's not Lester.  The wind has grown still. Hans feels a presence immediately behind him, and turning slowly, he is shocked to see a thin, gaunt humanoid nearly eight feet tall!






[GM Note: I actually used the pic from the campaign book, but didn't have it here to scan].

It seems to be an Aboriginal man at first glance, but the unnaturally long fingers and jutting canine teeth denote a different species, or some undiscovered offshoot.  The strange man has apparently appeared through a gaping hole in the rock that was not there moments before.  Hans kicks Lester, whose mouth falls open at the sight. Hans also notices that further down the slope, where the trucks are parked at the bottom, the wind is kicking up dust devils, yet it is ominously still and quiet at the top of the rise.

The strange man is horribly thin and bears a wooden staff topped by a small skull.  He stares intently at Hans and Lester, so Hans makes a stammering attempt to greet him in the native Koori tongue.

The Tall Man squats and begins drawing on the rocks and sand with incredible speed.  Hans and Lester watch, mesmerized. The drawing that emerges is one of uncertain horrors. An amorphous thing of flailing arms and mouths, and men dying in its grasp.  Hans continues to questions the Tall Man, but there is a distinct communication barrier between them.  The Tall Man does not speak except through images that are drawn with alarming speed and precision.  More pictures illustrate themselves upon the sand, and Hans begins to understand.  The Tall Man points to the crevice from which he emerged.

He wants them to follow.  Hans nudges Lester down the hill to grab Chad and the others, and Hans continues his strange conversation.

Details about a creature called "The Living Wind" emerge, something that is inimical to the Tall Man and his people.  He is asking for help to kill this Living Wind. And what insane investigator can turn down a dark crack in a rock housing unnameable horrors?

[GM note: and here we reach the Unexpected Detour where the players deviate from what I THOUGHT they would do (shun the uncertain route), and entered down the path of "Oh, my God, what have they done...?" Meanwhile skipping, mind you, the entire Slatterly clan encounter (and two other encounters) which would have been much less dangerous excursions].

A short while later Dodge and Chad and Lester have returned to the top, although Dodge is ADAMANT about not following this strange man down into a strange hole to kill an unstoppable strange thing made out of wind. But the investigators are full of bravado, ammunition and dynamite, and what on earth can resist that potent combination?  They agree to help the Tall Man, and take three of the Abo mooks with them.  The other three stay back with Dodge, who agrees to wait just three days to see if they will return or not, then he's heading on to the coordinates of the lost city by himself.  [GM Note: I actually made an error, the Mimi Tall Man was not supposed to let them go unless all 10 went, but oh well.]

So, making sure they have plenty of rope and headlamps, checking their ammunition, the group follow the Tall Man into the narrow crevice.  With a wave of a spindly finger, the Singing Stone seals shut behind them and darkness envelopes the party.  They abruptly feel themselves falling as if through molasses, and colored lights flash and burn in their corneas.  The sensation is sickening and unsettling, but over almost as soon as it begins, and they find themselves in a circular cavern illuminated by dimly glowing crystals.  But they are not alone.  






There are perhaps fifteen of the Tall Man's tribe here as well, watching furtively from the shadows, along with massive mummified remains of a nearly extinct species…


----------



## Nebulous

*Part 3: The Living Wind*

At this point, Hans pointedly asks if the Living Wind has any weaknesses--a question asked about thirty seconds too late--and the Tall Man scribbles a new symbol in the sand:

A bolt of lightning.

[GM Note: this begins a plan of trying to rig a "shocking device" from their accumulated batteries. Not a bad idea exactly, but absolutely useless when you see what they're up against]

The Tall Man is insistent that they begin their quest, and he still has offered nothing in the way of explanation or gratitude or compensation for a job well done/attempted. With another slice of his uncommonly long digit, a crack opens in the wall as if a veil were peeling apart and the group is urged toward it.






There is a wide corridor beyond curving left and right into utter darkness.  A thick layer of dust covers the great octagonal flagstones beneath.  It is completely still and silent, with the unrelenting weight of millions of tons of rock above their heads. The three Abo helpers are shaking now and regretting their decision to accompany these guys. The group heads right, and after about a mile down this tunnel, they see something at the edge of their flashlights.

And the sight of this makes Lester tremble with fear. He has seen it before in his dreams.






A rectangular hole gapes in the floor of the tunnel.  On the far side, a huge unhinged lid lies on the flagstones. They approach the hole slowly and have the impression of great yawning depths below, and they hear the faint whistle of wind.  Their lights cannot penetrate the depths. There's barely room to skirt around the edge, so tying a rope to Chad's waist, he carefully circumvents until he reaches the other side.

The lid is heavy, and all senses of self-preservation scream at them to "Close This Hole." Chad tries, but despite his great strength, it's not enough.  They throw more ropes across, hoping to anchor them somehow, but the wind has picked up, blowing dust around in swirling eddies.  A chattering sound begins somewhere far, far down in those Stygian depths, an inhuman voice that rakes their ears.  A sound that grows increasingly louder with the wind!

Desperation soars through them.  Chad heaves mightily, throwing all of his weight and brawn into pushing up the lid while the others pull.  Precious seconds slide by as wind roars by the ears and the eerie, garbled croon of something massive and hungry surging up from the depths. The lid finally tilts upright, and then slams down with an echoing thud. But it is still not latched, so they manically begin fumbling with large, bulky latches obviously not designed for human fingers.  Only one latch is secured when

SLAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

The trapdoor shudders violently as something pushes up from beneath, and the investigators quickly bolt down the second latch. Wind pipes and whistles through the cracks, accompanied by the disturbing guttural growl and eerie whistling of what can be nothing other than the Tall Man's Living Wind. The investigators can see why they were so scared of this thing now, but they have little choice:  either continue and find another way to kill it, or go back and admit defeat.

If there even IS a way back now.

[GM Note: Ah, to so willingly trust this giant, fanged Tall Man. Wait til you see what happens if you piss him off!]

They continue along the remote dusty corridor for about another mile, until they hear in the distance that same horrible slurping and whistling and groaning, the sound of wet mucous strained through alien orifices. They are actually at a junction with two smaller tunnels branching off from the main one, but they tentatively creep forward, but the sound of the Living Wind retreats, having moved in the opposite direction.

They eventually see a dim, dim light in the distance and move toward it.  Before reaching it, they hear a familiar sound:  the rhythmic hum of an electric generator. Sure enough, they find a single light bulb strung from the ceiling on a long stretch of wire bearing left and right into infinite darkness.  A gasoline powered generator keeps the weak light alive.  Human footprints exist here, all around the generator and continuing down the new tunnel.

They're about to move on when they hear the splitting of stone again, and The Tall Man fearfully steps out. He doesn't stay long, and the investigators do not attempt to follow him. Apparently though, there are many such trapdoors as the one they closed, some without doors at all, and the Living Wind exists in great number in the deeper vaults.  More discouraged than ever, they head left, and eventually exit the tunnels in which they have been wandering.

But the new environment does not make them feel any safer.  It opens up into an enormous black plaza, stretching up and left and right and all around them to unknown distances.  The wires continue up to a ceiling somewhere, and far, far in the distance awaits another bulb down the line. They stay along this rough path until they see a few more bulbs twinkling like lone stars in space, and then beyond that:

A blue glow.






The blow glow increases. Much larger than a light bulb, and they finally find themselves at the outskirts of a bizarre machine they cannot readily identify. Alien tubes and walls bend at obtuse angles.  Crusted with untold age and decay, the machine is a whole area unto itself, rising up several stories above their heads, groping into the darkness with its weak azure tint. Unknown metal and the faint wisp of ozone accompany the structure, but even while they're poking around, curious but fearful, Lester spots several bobbing lights coming closer from an adjacent tunnel.

Chad, Lester, Hans and the three Abo's gather together and carefully approach the tunnel entrance, trying to see who or what is coming from the darkness, but they're too distant.  But the headlamps and flashlights of each group are soon readily visible to each other, and a voice calls out to them:

"Who goes there?"  Chad and Lester don't understand the language, but Hans does: it's native Koori-speak. He answers back in same: "Who are you?", but the other group, still about fifty feet away, spreads out in the twenty foot wide tunnel.  There's about five or six individuals, very hard to tell in the deep gloom.

"Who are you?" the other group asks again.  There is a distinct blue pinprick coming from the unknown group that doesn't look like a flashlight. And then Hans, in his naivety and fear of the horrible circumstances they find themselves in, truthfully answers:

"We are just explorers! We're lost down here, and maybe--"

"Agh! KILL THEM!"

That's their answer, in Koori, which only Hans and the mooks immediately comprehend, but the next instant unleashes a thunderclap of light and blue fire! 

Electricity spews and arcs down the tunnel, spraying the entire party in a wide berth of pain and flame.  Clothes ignite and flesh sears as tendrils of energy spew from the tip of some sort of gun, enveloping all six of them. Screaming, the investigators stagger back, horribly burned, but another arc unleashes unleashes, slamming them again.  The mooks die, screaming as their eyes pop and skin welds to the walls in grisly patterns.  A few Action Points later, with Lester very nearly dead, the investigators are running FULL TILT away from the strangers, back toward the glowing blue machine.  They tear out of the tunnel and hide around the cusp, while Chad tosses two sticks of dynamite back and readies an action to fire the moment anyone comes barreling through.

And seconds later three Aboriginal men with clubs do spring out of the tunnel, and BAM! BAM!

The dynamite explodes in a bloom of fire, shattering bones and sending limbs flying into the black plaza like sparking cinders.  The other enemies retreat deeper into the tunnel and the investigators stand at the entrance, popping off a few pistol and rifle shots, but the darkness makes it hard to reach a target.  One enemy is felled though, but the most potent Abo bearing the bizarre gun spins around, ready to let loose with another barrage of energy.

At that moment though the investigators hear the very unwelcome and unwanted wail and gibbering of a Living Wind approaching from the dark recesses of the plaza. And in a moment of indecision, almost pinned between THAT thing and a foe with a lightning gun, they retreat, trying to reach a haven of darkness or cover somewhere else.  But three failed Luck Rolls suggest otherwise, and they are unable to reach cover before the Living Wind surges into the blue glow like some swirling demon.






It is a massive amorphous being, shimmering with slime and translucent flesh, parts of it fading in and out of view as if slipping into invisibility.  Uncountable tentacles flail and beat the air while hungry mouths gape and snap, huge distensible maws that lurch out hungrily for anything within reach.  It spots the investigators who are shell-shocked at the thing's appearance, but scant seconds later an arc of electricity spews from the far tunnel!

Chunks of the being's ethereal flesh explodes into ectoplasmic goo, showering the ground with green and gray gunk, and the Living Wind spins toward the source.  The man in the tunnel entrance wields the gun, and screaming, and unleashes another round of burning plasma straight into the Living Wind.  The creature reels from shock, but is hardly near death.  It surges forward, tentacles almost magically appearing from thin air, and they encircle the man's arms, legs, torso and neck, and with a sickening slurp and pop and squeeze, he is easily dismembered and disemboweled, every piece of his body showering the ground within half a dozen yards.  The lightning gun falls ineffectually to the ground, while the Living Wind moves into the tunnel, stuffing it full, and chases the one man left.

And there is a single hot lightning gun left on the ground, slathered with blood, viscera and slime...






...as the investigators fearfully glance at each other, still standing out in the open...


And there we stopped.


----------



## Nebulous

*ADVENTURE #28: City of the Great Race*

The Living Wind has chased a fleeing Koori down the tunnel, leaving the highly-desired lightning gun not far from the investigators.  They still don't know where they are in this massive, echoing place beneath the earth's crust, and aren't too eager to find out.  More than ever, they regret their decision to follow the Mimi tribesman down into this black hellhole!

Chad and Lester retrieve the gun, discussing how it might be operated, inspecting its odd loops and handles designed for hands much larger than a human’s. Soon they think they understand how to discharge a bolt of lightning, partly because Lester remembers seeing this gun before!  He finds it hard to describe, but he knows it has something to do with his bizarre experience with the Golden Machine.  Unfortunately, Lester also suspects that the gun has a finite power source and will stop working at any time without warning.

While the two of them inspect the gun, Hans Hazzenbaum speaks quietly with Ronnie Talltree, the only Abo who survived the attack because he was standing further back (GM Note: actually, this is Liz's character, she was playing for the first (and last) time this adventure). 






The group discusses what they should do, and quickly decide that they do NOT want to follow the route of the Living Wind. There are only a few options, none of which are very appealing: head back the way they came, following the trail of light bulbs through these vast, dusty vaults, or spearhead into the darkness, taking their chances with whatever might be out there.

They take the latter option, and roping themselves together, forge off into the black, kicking up clouds of silent sooty gray dust. The ground is uneven and their movement slow, but they eventually reach a high rock wall.  They move along the wall for half an hour, and finally see pinprick bulbs in the distance. They don't approach however, deciding first that they should mark this spot and backtrack in the other direction.  Chad Slambody volunteers to be pointman (a naked pointman) so he strips down, (despite the constant 52 degree temperature) and scouts ahead.  He eventually hears a humming generator and finds the same tunnel they exited previously before reaching the mysterious Blue Plaza. Rather than retracing their steps, they continue past the tunnel entrance, hugging the wall rather than wandering in the wide open black space that could house any number of unseen horrors.

A while later, after stopping and listening several times, they see another familiar trail of bulbs winking in the darkness. But it is where the bulbs lead that perks their interest:

A dim purple glow far, far in the distance. Again, Chad forages ahead, leaving the others in inky stillness, anxiously awaiting his return.  Chad remains as stealthy as he can, picking his way over rubble and smashed masonry. The purple glow increases, and he soon discerns the shape of a huge hemispherical stone building with purple light emanating from at least two open portals. He estimates that the building to be at least 2000 feet across. He slides even closer until he reaches the smooth, cool stone of the exterior, and inches toward the portal.  He hears a sound now, a constant thrumming and humming from inside, and carefully, he PEEKS around the corner.

The sight within shocks Chad and he reels back, not sure if he wants to enter this room or not.  He returns to the others and tells them about what he saw, and together, they all return to the portal and look in.






The purple light and humming obviously originates from a huge crystal hemisphere inside the larger stone hemisphere. It dominates the center of the room, flanked by four cyclopean pillars. But it is the statues that rattle the Sanity of each investigator:

Twenty-five tall, the sculpted obscenity of Sand Bat leers over a sacrificial altar. On three sides lurk equally horrible renditions of Outer Gods and Great Old Ones, their names unknown, their ranks obscure, although Lester recalls seeing similar sketches in the Necronomicon and Des Vermiis Mysteris.  Slowly, having little option other than to wait outside or continue their trek, they enter the room and advance toward the devilish altar.  The air tingles with hidden energy and the hair stands up on their arms.  Lester inspects the dark bloodstains and determines that it is about a week old. No one wanders too close to the hideous statues, but the keen ears of Ronnie Talltree detects a mad scrabbling of claws behind the Sand Bat!  A brief warning gives the investigators time to raise their guns, just as three bat-like abominations come screeching out from cover!

They are larger than a man, with wrinkled faces and maws dripping viscous saliva.  They're fast too, and launch at the intruders, but a volley of shotgun blasts greets them first.  Injured but alive, the Bat-Toad Things close the distance in a heartbeat and pick a target each, all but Lester Cobblebottom, (with 8 hit points) who has already started fleeing toward the exit (with the lightning gun).

The beasts are powerfully muscled, and Chad soon learns that besides their great strength, the creatures also possess hundred of needle sharp tubes inside their membranous wings, and Chad gets thoroughly cocooned and thrown to the ground! Needles begin draining his bodily fluids ("Which Fluid Exactly and How was It Drained?" being Leo's first question) and Chad goes on to fail Grapple after Grapple after Grapple, writhing in agony as his Dexterity is whittled away.  Ronnie and Hans are having their own problems though, but Ronnie whips out his machete and begins hacking mercilessly at the Bat-Toads.  Chunks of flesh tear and rip away, and the creature retreats before he can kill it.

Hans gets enveloped as well, but Ronnie is desperately hacking away while Chad's muffled screams emanate from the folds of his enemy. A machete blade comes incredibly close to stabbing Chad, but he does manage to wrestle away, but doesn't make it more than ten feet before the thing SLAMS into him and wraps him back up.
In the meantime, Lester Cobblebottom, huffing and puffing and straining his heart, has reached the archway out of the Purple Dome, but he hears the distant whistling and moaning of a Living Wind in the distance. Dismayed, he miserably begins trotting back to warn the others.

Ronnie and Hans kill the final two Bat-Toads, completely beheading the last one, but soon after they regain their composure, dust swirls and gusts up through the openings to the dome, and a gibbering Living Wind begins to circuit the structure, but seems hesitant to enter. The investigators wonder if it has to do with the presence of the electrified crystal hemisphere...?

Regardless, they are now trapped.  The Living Wind was obviously attracted by the sounds of shotguns and pistol fire, and it is now navigating the exterior, a whirling, cacophonous entity of ire and evil.  They don't have anywhere to run, practically nowhere to hide, and if the thing DOES decide to enter...

The trespassers investigate their surroundings, trying to find a way into the glowing crystal sphere, but it seems solid, although it shimmers sometimes as if moving. The only other item of interest are two female plug adapters attached to long rubber cords that stretch out of the room, following the trail of lightbulbs.  Regardless, they come up with a plan--set dynamite around the statues and blow them to Kingdom Come, and try to obliterate the Living Wind.

Ronnie Talltree and Hans Hazzenbaum wait around the statues, while Lester Cobblebottom is volunteered to take the lightning gun and approach the exit.  Maybe they can get some lucky shots off, but Lester is only halfway across the floor when a peculiar breeze picks up and begins forcing him against his will toward the exit!  Chad notices and runs to help him, but he too is caught by the bizarre draft that tugs and pulls and tries to prevent them from retreating. The Living Wind is out there somewhere, forcing the investigators outside, but Chad throws a rope around Lester, and through extreme willpower they are finally able to struggle out of range. (GM Note:  and i told them that this was a CR 13 monster; designed as an average encounter for four 13th level D&D characters; it could actually have killed them quite easily with a whirlwind or tornado attack; this particular Living Wind was toying with its prey first)

They switch exits and run to the far side. Sure enough, the Living Wind is heard following the perimeter of the hemisphere, but Lester is ready this time, and as soon as he sees the monstrosity slurping and slavering and slopping around the edge, he pulls the trigger!

LIGHTNING explodes from the discharge nozzle, splattering huge chunks of the Living Wind into ectoplasmic goo. The thing shrieks and retreats, whether dead or frightened they don't know for sure, but judging from the large amount of stinking fluid everywhere they very likely dealt it a mortal blow. If the Living Wind is mortal at all; they just don't know.  Lester's lightning attack also destroys the line of bulbs and they all blink out.

They set the next stage of their plan into motion and detonate the sticks of dynamite; fortunately, Chad has demolitions skill and doesn't blow himself up. The statues erupt into a shower of stone and fire and dust, but the peculiar purple dome is unscathed.  Feeling somewhat good about their endeavors, and the happy fact that they are still alive, they shoulder their gear and follow the trail of dead bulbs out of the Purple Plaza.  Their only alternative is to set up camp and wait there for someone or something else to show up.

About twenty minutes later they see multiple points of light bobbing in the distance.  This probably isn't good news, because even further back there looks like a large multi-tiered structure. Someone must have heard the commotion or is coming to see why the bulbs are burned out. The investigators retreat, quietly discussing their options, and finally decide to duck back inside the purple dome plaza, listen for whoever is approaching to get within range, and then hop and dump the lightning on them.

This is what they do, once again with Lester at the forefront, and they eventually hear the scrape of boots on stone, and see the wavering shimmer from several floodlights.  Lester leaps around the doorway and FIRES!

Lightning crackles and burns into a group of about eight Aboriginal men.  They are completely surprised, in the resultant blue glow, Lester sees that the two in the forefront both carry Lightning Guns themselves! They are electrocuted immediately, their hair sizzling, their skin blackening, popping and splitting, and they are launched out of the way. There's only a few left, but one man at the back of the group is Caucasian, wearing a yellow mining hat, and seems unphased by the attack.   In fact, he's just staring listlessly at the ground, until someone puts a bullet between his eyes.

Within seconds the sneak attack is over and only one Koori cultist is alive.  Hans screams at him in his native tongue to surrender or die, and is able to intimidate the man into submission. Blubbering and moaning, the Koori is clearly quite insane, his eyes wild, sometimes laughing and groaning, but he submits to intense questioning from the group.  Between his garbled speech, muddled sanity and limited intelligence, the investigators are able to glean the following information:

a) He is a follower of Sand Bat, a great god who flies in the Dark.
b) a man named Huston is their leader and priest
c) They are all down in this dangerous place to do the will of Sand Bat toward the Great Work.
d) The Living Wind, also known as flying polyps, are not part of Sand Bat's plan, nor do they work for Sand Bat.
e) There are MANY many polyps, living deep in the vaults beneath this city.
f) This is the City of the Great Race, who died or abandoned it over 100,000 years ago. (and the investigators slowly realize that THIS was their destination all along! Brought here by the Mimi several days ahead of schedule without even having to find the hidden entrance).
g) Huston's headquarters are in the building behind them with multiple tiers.
h) There are about a hundred people in the city, all followers of Huston, their high priest.
i) Sand Bat is often summoned in an orgy of blood that takes place in the Purple Dome Plaza.
j) They are very scared of the polyps, but the lightning guns keep them away, and if you stay quiet and stay away from their doors, they generally don't bother you.
k) The dead Caucasian man was a dead worker for Huston.  Huston made him that way. The investigator's surmise that he was a zombie and did not react to their attack
l) There is one way out of the city, and the cultists points in the general direction.  It is several miles away, and guarded  by a bunkhouse.  Thousands of bats live there.
m) The three Bat-Toads killed in the Purple Plaza were holy servants of Sand Bat, to be regarded with respect and praise.

The next tidbits of information are scrounged from the charred pockets of the dead:  2 crumpled letters signed by R.H. One demands that the cultists practice their Shriveling Spell next Tuesday (a rather horrible spell that mutilated both Chang and Morty in the NY Chapter, long long ago), and the other note states that a "two legged deer" is free and running around, and there is no excuse why it can't be found.

The investigator's are somewhat comforted that they aren't as horribly lost as they first surmised.  The Mimi cannot be trusted, that much is sure, for it hardly warned them of the massive dangers, nor did it warn of the large number of polyps inhabiting this lost city. But for now they have a goal, if not a solid plan, to thwart the next stage of Nyarlathotep's plan for world destruction.

And there we stopped.


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #29: Huston’s Headquarters*

After interrogating the captured cultist, the party quietly dispatches him. Their main problem now is finding a place to rest. They are weary and injured, particularly Lester (as usual). They decide to find a place to camp in the dark, away from any main thoroughfares; it will be the safest option, if anything can be considered safe in these caves.  But they now have three lightning guns to protect them if a Living Wind (or anything else) appears. 

They set off, and a few hundred yards from the Purple Dome Plaza they stumble upon a rift.  The chasm is eight feet narrow at the smallest point, and they are glad to have used flashlights to navigate the broken terrain; they could have easily tumbled to their deaths.  Chad ties a rope around himself and leaps across, but the others are very hesitant. It could be a fatal drop, and they fear that a living wind might lurk in the black depths.  They distantly hear the whistle of slippery motion over eons-old architecture. They set up camp on the original side of the chasm and try to get some sleep, letting Ronnie Talltree take the first watch.

It is several hours later when Lester wakes up with a jolt, and sees several bobbing lights moving away from the Purple Dome Plaza.  He wakes the others, and they creep forward together to get a better look.  Upon closer inspection, still hidden well within the darkness, they discern five men, four of which are Caucasian, led by an Abo with a rifle.  The Caucasian men carry gurneys laden with corpses, obviously the remains of the last cultist group that the investigators annihilated.  Finding this an opportunistic stroke of good luck, they quickly decide to strike from cover.  Dispersing closer, rifles and lightning guns in hand, they soon unleash volleys of blue fire over the unsuspecting cultists.  Hair sizzles and catches flame; clothes erupt and fire leaps from charred eye sockets, and a shotgun blast levels the leader before he even knows what happened.  Only one Caucasian man survives the attack, burning as he stands, but oddly enough, he does not scream in pain, nor does he try to extinguish the fire.  He burns quietly for a few moments, his flesh blackening, peeling, falls to his knees, and finally keels over.

The investigators inspect the bodies and find wallets on a few of them, offering Australian names and places of birth in Sydney, Port Hedland, and other locales. They keep the wallets for later reference.  The fifteen bodies are dragged as quickly as possible to the chasm and tossed over the edge (save for one, which Chad Slambody retains for selfish and nefarious reasons).  They fear that the bodies were being taken back to the "headquarters" for reanimation.  The group rests for a while longer, recovering some of their strength, and when ready, they move ahead toward the distant rectangles of light.

Chad scouts ahead and finds a three story building made of wood.  There's a ramp on the right side leading up, with platforms and doors at three different levels. But there's also a guard on the roof waving a bright arc light back and forth in a random sweeping pattern, obviously trying to dissuade or spot anyone approaching.   The investigators realize that YES, they have made some commotion with gun shots and explosions, but the lightning gun discharges could just as easily have been from cultists fending off polyps.   They discuss their options, and lacking a better, cohesive plan, Chad decides to shoot out the spotlight from the maximum distance.

Two deafening retorts later, and the glass bulb shatters into a thousand pieces and the light winks out.

At this juncture, the group debates whether they should destroy this building now and sift through the remains, or try and infiltrate it.  The ringleader of this cultist operation, Dr. Robert Huston, is possibly inside, and he is no doubt a dangerous animal. Ronnie and Chad flank right while Lester and Hans move closer, but Hans soon spots a new train of cultists approach the building from the left, nearly twenty of them in a long, staggered line under the dangling light bulbs.  They are still several hundred yards away, but the investigators are completely hidden within darkness.   A few cultists finally reach the front of the building and enter the bottom door, while two remain as guards outside, fearfully glancing around with clubs in hand.  Chad and Ronnie lope back to the others after a quick surveillance run, and soon after, the man inside comes out rolling a 50-gallon barrel down the ramp, and Chad decides to SHOOT first and ask questions later.

His aim is true, and a split second after the guards spot his muzzle flare, the barrel explodes!  Yes, 50 gallons of gasoline rip off a huge, fiery chunk of the building away, spitting flame and fumes and smoke high into the air, revealing in a hell-red glow more details about the alien architecture of the city. The cultists nearby are launched away with dying screams, but part of the building facade is on fire now and the resultant glow makes the investigators visible, albeit dimly.  

Furthermore, after the explosion, the screams of men and women are heard emanating from somewhere inside the wooden structure.

The investigators start popping off more shots at the approaching cultists, missing more than hitting, and with riotous cries of rage and madness, the Abo's charge their location, bat-teeth clubs lifted above their heads!

Chad, Lester and Hans rattle off a few shots but most fly wide, although a few cultists are wounded. Soon they have closed within melee range, so Hans and Lester unpack their lightning guns and level off a few devastating bursts.   Electricity spits and sizzles, and amid the screams of the dead and dying, the investigators ruefully grin at each other.   Their pleasure is short lived when they realize that the shock troops were just a diversion for the more lethal spellcasters in the back ranks:

Hands lifted, terrible syllables rolling from their tongues in an unknown language, four Aboriginal cultists point at the investigators and unleash withering rays of black putrescence from their fingertips!

The Shriveling spells inflict horrible damage, and are nearly impossible to dodge.  Lester writhes in agony, his skin rotting where the evil touches him.  Hans screams in pain is well, and naked Chad Slambody loses a nipple to the dark magic; it melts from his naked chest like hot taffy.  But the vile spells do not kill the investigators, and their next round of lightning guns demolish the sorcerers.

They regroup, and almost immediately break up into separate squads to cover as much ground as possible.  Chad leaps over the flames engulfing the ramp and sprints to the second floor.  Ronnie Talltree follows, while Lester scouts out the line of bulbs to make sure no one else is approaching, and Hans smashes out a first floor window and crawls into the room. It is a storage room obviously, filled with heavy crates, arc lights, tins of food and water, welding equipment, drills, mining hats and rope and shovels and wheelbarrows and steel track...and THREE 50-gallon drums of gasoline!!!

The fire is spreading quickly, crackling along the walls and eaves, filling their lungs with acrid smoke and inching ever closer to the combustibles.  Hans tears through the room, throwing anything of potential value out the window and into wheelbarrows.

Chad peeks furtively into the second floor door, and sees several dozen Aboriginal captives locked in cages.  The stench of refuse and bodily waste is nauseating, but he enters anyway, using Ronnie as a translator. The natives are terrified, pressing to the backs of the cages, but Chad almost immediately spots a pregnant woman nearly at the brink of birth.  She's in late labor, huffing and puffing on the iron grid, and Chad doesn't like the sound of that.  Bad things tend to come out of the wombs of captives; Hyapatia Masters in Kenya being a prime example.  He nearly shoots her dead right there, but Ronnie talks him out of it.  They try to open the cage doors, even wedging a crowbar in, but the doors are strangely sealed; there's not even a proper lock.  In a moment of inspiration, Chad wonders if they are magnetically closed...

Hans warns everyone that there are barrels about to explode on the ground floor, so if they're going to rescue the prisoners and search the 3rd floor, they better get it done.  The group clambers to the top landing, and very, very carefully, Chad peeks in, shotgun readied to blast the head off anything that moves, especially a madman of Nyarlathotep named Dr. Robert Huston.

Inside is a living area replete with a cluttered desk, a leather swivel chair, a mound of gear and equipment, bookshelves piled high with antiquated scrolls, a kitchenette, a rumpled sleeping cot, and a shortwave radio in the corner. There's no sign of a living soul.  They begin rummaging through the room as fast as they can.  Hans spots a strange metal helmet on the table with electrodes sticking out, as well as a copper bowl with Mythos runes. Both are confiscated. Lester finds in the desk a heavy handwritten manuscript entitled "GODS OF REALITY" that weighs in at a hefty 600 pages.  He takes it, and Chad finds hanging on the wall above the shortwave radio a strange electronic device on a leather thong.

Intrigued, he rushes down the ramp with the device and sprints into the cage room.  Sure enough, the mechanism sends a mild electric charge through the magnetic locks and unseals them.  Unfortunately, at about the same time, he hears a horrifying baby squeal, and sees a putrid trail of greenish blood and slime leading from the loins of the mother.  Something unwholesome indeed has sprouted from her, groping toward the bars with a wobbly head full of needle teeth, barely able to move on emaciated stubby legs.  Chad dispatches it with a well-placed shotgun blast and splatters demon-baby all over the prisoners in the cage.






Free now, but unable to escape down the ramp due to burning timber and smoke, they notice for the first time a knotted rope on the back of the building.  One by one everyone begins slithering down until they reach the back of the complex, which is shrouded in darkness.  But Chad can't stand to leave the gasoline barrels!

Against his better judgment, he orders everyone to get the hell away from the house, and he primes a single stick of dynamite against the outer wall.  If placed just right, it will destroy the wall and allow him to roll a drum of gasoline out before it explodes. And as luck would have it, the wall ruptures just as needed and the barrels are still intact, although dangerously close to the flames.  Chad and Ronnie manage to get one out and they collapse to the dusty stone outside only seconds before the entire headquarters erupts into a plume of flame like a Roman candle, raining burning debris down on their heads.






Surrounded by soot and hot ash, trembling prisoners, the crackle of flames and splintering wood, the investigators huddle in the dust and the dark, their faces bathed in red, wondering what to do next. 

And there we stopped.


P.S.

"GODS OF REALITY"

_Monday, April 21st, 1923

Madness is the mark of the gods, the response to the whisper of ancient secrets, and the unseen hand that turns the world in its disordered course.  With it, I have peered beyond mere dream and pattern, beyond childhood impetuosity and adult grief, beyond the analysis of which other men are capable.  Accepting madness, I accept the gods and rule well with their gifts thereby…_


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #30: Kakakatak*

The headquarters of Dr. Robert Huston smolders on the ground. The investigators, dirty and tired, try to calm the fifteen frightened Aboriginal prisoners they've rescued.  The prisoners are weak and injured, undernourished and some beyond or near insanity.  They will be a burden to the party, so they decide to return to the Purple Plaza Dome and fortify there.  Hopefully the Living Winds won't penetrate the electrified field within.  Hopefully.

However, just as the group is nearing the dome, bright flashlights spill out of the entryway!  Guns are raised, but they soon recognize their Chinese friend Chin Chang.  

[GM Note: welcoming Dave back from a multi-session hiatus; read the recaps Dave, they help!  NEW NOTE:  Dave never read single email or recap] Chang seems sober for the moment, and somewhat befuddled from the bizarre circumstances.  Apparently, as he relates to everyone else, the Tall Man returned to their camp outside of the Singing Stone, where he and David Dodge were awaiting their return.  The Tall Man made it explicitly clear that the others needed Chang's help, so against his better judgment, he followed into the stone wall, plunging down into the cyclopean depths of this horrible place where the wind always seems to blow...

The weary prisoners huddle together, but the investigators don't have time to rest.   Huston is out there somewhere, most likely aware of their presence, and planning his own malicious counterattack. David Dodge and three of his Abo assistants stay with the prisoners, while the others scout the remains of the destroyed headquarters. Ronnie Talltree is able to pick up a faint trail of footprints in the dust.  He follows them with a hunter's intuition, leading the group under the trail of dim bulbs and power cables that stretch into inky blackness.  This is the same route that the Shriveling spell casters first marched along, so the group is wary about meeting anyone. They've only killed about thirty cultists, so many more lurk here, most likely at the bunkhouse near the entrance. 

Wherever that is.

Two miles later of nothing but dark and dust, the trail diverges.  The second trail has no power cables snaking down the incline, but Ronnie's keen ears notice the distant echo of a mining pick.  Nor do Huston's footsteps (assuming they ARE Huston's footsteps) deviate to the secondary trail, but they decide to investigate anyway.  A short while later they find mining carts filled with rubble, broken picks and shovels, and curiously enough, an arc light illuminating a single Caucasian miner in a red sweater and mining cap, chipping away at a rock wall.






He does not respond to their greeting, and they instantly suspect that this is yet another zombified miner.  Chad risks getting close enough to inspect the man while the others keep their guns ready, and sure enough he finds odd burn marks on his scalp.  Burn marks that correspond exactly with the electrodes on the helmet they scavenged from Huston's office.  They leave him to his work, he seems harmless enough, and inspect the area for anything worthwhile.  Hans finds two sticks of dynamite, but Chang thinks they might be more dangerous than normal because of aging nitroglycerin.

They return to the footprints and press onward into ever-encroaching darkness.  Half and hour later the trail splits again, but with two interesting options: A dim red glow in the distance, and nearby, the dusty stone turns into a metal walkway. They follow the metal ramp, which segues into a steel plated tunnel, that soon opens into a thirty by thirty foot room replete with an astounding amount of electrical equipment. There are spare parts for motors, drills, engines, and other items that defy description.  Many of the goods look terrestrial, but some is unearthly origins, with slick surfaces that defy known substances or utility.

Chad find an exit tunnel and scouts ahead.  There's a second room, this one housing a bizarre black terminal that rises up through the floor and into the ceiling.  It is covered with knobs and buttons, and one whole side is removed, revealing red, green and blue wires.  There is a metal cot anchored to the wall, with a helmet hanging over it.  They inspect the room carefully, but it eludes their understanding.  There's yet another exit, and this time Chad finds a rectangular doorway that leads into a very dark room, but Chad doesn't step through.  There's a closed fuse box to the right.  His eyes fortunately drift to the tiny centimeter-wide holes that line both sides of the metal entrance.  Lugging back a piece of dilapidated machinery from another room, he tosses it in the chamber.  Sparks fly! The machinery has bounced off an invisible electric forcefield.

Chad busies himself with the faceplate on the wall after Chang bypasses the lock.  He thinks he can reroute the power supply and perhaps deactivate it, but after fiddling around for a moment with the circuit board, everyone hears the distinct sound of radio interference from the first chamber.  They backtrack, and find that Chad has rerouted power into a buried shortwave radio.  Hans adjusts the dials, trying to zero in on the chatter, and then they clearly hear someone say: "Wycroft?  Where are you?  Wycroft?"

This is perhaps referring to Mortimer Wycroft, the strange owner of the Outfitter in Cuncudgerie where the investigators originally purchased their supplies. And in a revelation of certainty, Hans Hazzenbaum identifies the voice as Dr. Huston!  (GM Note: Hans first encountered Huston several years ago when Huston stole archaeological evidence of the City of the Great Race from him).  Hans' ire is raised, but they switch the radio off.  There is the forcefield to investigate first.  Chad throws another piece of equipment inside, and sure enough, the field is down.  Gingerly, he steps in, shining the flashlight into the corners of an octagonal metal room...

...when something moves.

It is large and misshapen, rising from the shadows behind a black glass orb on a pedestal.  A sinewy neck balances a bulbous head with three eyes, and Chad is too shocked to fire his shotgun. (i.e. lost initiative).  Psychic waves instantly pound against Chad's skull, and he hears an alien voice inside his mind:

"GOOD.  THE FORCEFIELD IS DOWN."






The creature slithers forward, but Chad reacts in a split second.  He leaps out the door and yanks the clamps from the circuit board.

"NO! RELEASE ME!"

The group scurries back from the door, but the creature doesn't pass the threshold. It carries an odd board in its claws, not unlike a synthesizer, and when Lester sees the creature he immediately recognizes it!  His dreams rush back to him with alarming clarity, and pieces of a life from long ago stream into his consciousness.  This is the lifeform he switched consciousness with, maybe not this exact creature, but the species in general. Lester is too stunned to ask any questions though.

[GM Note: because Jeff had to leave!  I hope the second half of this recap doesn't confuse you too much]

The being continues communicating telepathically with Chad Slambody, while the others watch a very curious one-sided conversation as Chad argues back.  The investigators naturally don't trust this large alien, and from what they've experienced in the City, everything down here is lethal. The being, identifying itself as Kakakatak, is a Yithian, a species that existed on Earth over 100,000 years ago.  It politely, and insistently, asks for help. 

The one called Huston-Robert has imprisoned it here by terrible magic, a Time Trap spell that yanked the Yithian through time.  And naturally, the investigators make it clear that Huston is a "dick", that they HATE Huston, and reiterate that he is a "big dick". Kakakatak seems to sympathize with their anger (and learns several colorful curse words).

The group is still confused as Chad tries to relate the details, and Kakakatak tries to penetrate Hans' mind instead, but the anthropologist rejects the attempt. Stammering through the conversation, the group slowly learns that the Yithians were forced to flee Australia 100,000 years ago because of the Flying Polyps, also known as the Living Wind.  The polyps were from a distant galaxy, and at one point actually conquered three planets in this solar system.  The Yithians developed lightning guns to control the polyps, and finally locked them in deep, deep vaults.  But the polyps escaped eventually, and this time the Great Race of Yith were nearly destroyed.  So, to survive, they propelled their consciousness hundreds of thousands of years into the future into new bodies.

It is a complicated explanation that Kakakatak reveals, and it states several times in its roundabout way that the humans are not smart enough to fully comprehend.  [Least of all Chad Slambody, already teetering on the edge of rampant necrophilia]

The group wants to know why they should help it at all, and Kakakatak says that he knows much about Huston's plans, including a powerful "device" at a hidden place Gray Dragon Island.  This leads to the question of "why did Huston cast the spell in the first place?":  Kakakatak explains that Huston desires to learn the secret of Time Travel and propel himself forward to 1926, just prior to the opening of the Great Gate and the End of the World!  He is an impatient megalomaniac who has frayed the fabric of time and space with his meddling.  The Yithian does not know how much damage Huston has actually inflicted.

Huston (who was originally Roger Carlyle's Freudian psychologist from New York, remember?) intended to torture secrets from Kakakatak, and has performed that job admirably, but Huston's magic has not fully succeeded yet. Furthermore, Huston has been taking pains to shield his mind from Kakakatak with Rituals of the Hexagram and Pentagram, and wearing special Mind Helmets.

The Yithian wants to bargain for his freedom with valuable information, and also offers the secret of returning life to the undead miners.  They not actually dead, just vegetable-like and subservient.  They are the workers who Huston (under the pseudonym "John Carver") originally hired to dig into the City.  None ever made it home.  The forcefield is temporarily dropped and the Mind Controller Helmet is given to Kakatak to work on.

Hans, Ronnie and Lester retrieve the miner they recently discovered, and find out that he follows simple orders.  This IMMEDIATELY becomes a meta-game issue because the party has found a new, controllable Gas Camel! Even the Yithian is disgusted by the investigator's callous disregard for their own species. Ultimately though, it is decided to be unethical and cruel to strap a can of gas to this poor Aussie, so soon enough, after the modified helmet is attached, the man's memories and personality are returned.

He is very confused and in shock, and remembers nothing before being in the desert working for John Carver (i.e. Huston). And as a perk for their good deed, all investigators received 1 Sanity point.  [making them regret the other 5 potential Sanity points they shot, electrocuted or burned previously]

One last question they ask, "What will you do if freed?"  Kakakatak says that his only hope is to reverse the Time Trap spell, perhaps by finding an intact Library.  The investigators have already salvaged dozens of scrolls and several books from the headquarters, so perhaps the key lies there.  The Yithian is pleased to hear this, although he does not seem concerned about the potential fate of the world.  Something about "there are many timelines."

The party feels that they can trust the Yithian now, so Kakakatak is released.  He undulates by on a large gastropod "foot," and says that he might need help traversing parts of the City.  Over the past 100,000 years it has fallen into terrible disrepair.  The group heads out into the dust and dark, angling down, moving debris when needed, and some time later the Yithian stops and activates a powerful beam of light from a wall.  Arching buttresses and towering columns are revealed,  (which looked nothing at all like the Mines of Moria, nope nope nope) and then he opens a secret door into a chamber.  Everyone crowds in and the door seals.






They are in a safe place, he tells them, where they can rest, free from harm if the Living Wind should come.  A spare Lightning Gun is given to Chang. Supplies are very low, but the investigators agree that they need to bring the fifteen Aboriginal prisoners here from the Purple Dome.  There was originally enough food in the headquarters to feed and water everyone, but it is burned down now, so there are very few supplies to share.  The whole group (PC's and NPC's alike) must escape or they will eventually perish from hunger and thirst, and Kakatak says that Yithian food is incompatible with human physiology.

They all agree to rest here for a day, despite knowing that Huston is out there planning and scheming.  They're just too weak and injured to risk a full confrontation.  While resting in the hidden alcove, Kakakatak slips into a deep meditative trance, and Hans Hazzenbaum pores over "Gods of Reality," Dr. Huston's handwritten journal. Some of the conclusions come as a Sanity blasting shock to Hans, but he gleans not only impressive knowledge about the Mythos, but Man's position and the plans of Nyarlathotep in the near future.

*Journal Details: (non-sequential, and tailored specifically to our campaign)*

1.  Huston is obviously a madman who regards most of humanity as insects beneath his boot.  He aspires to become a true god and lord over the Earth. Chunks of the journal are written in code or shorthand.

2.  There are three holy sites required for completion of the "Great Work."  One is in Kenya (Mountain of the Black Wind), Australia (City of the Great Race) and China (Gray Dragon Island).  A ritual is to be performed simultaneously on Greenwich Time during the full eclipse on January 14 1926.  It is Huston's holy duty to perform his 1/3 of the operation.

3.  A powerful Device is being built in China, the likes of which no one has ever seen.  It will aid in tearing the veil between the worlds and ushering in a new era of destruction and chaos when the Great Old Ones will once again inhabit the planet. (and as Old Bundari saw in a prophetic dream-vision, "The Dead Shall Walk the Earth."

4.  Someone known only as "H.F." is referred to again and again in China, in conjunction with the Order of the Bloated Woman.

5.  The Purple Dome plaza is a storage device for power and life energy.  They have been conducting death rituals to amass energy for the Great Work.  Kakakatak knows more about this Dome.  It is very old.

6.  The journal mentions pulling the Yithian through time in order to learn secrets from him.  It was a horrible spell and difficult to cast.  The Yithian is resisting his torture and probes, but Huston knows he can break it eventually.

7.  Huston has been casting experimental Chaos Magick to bend the fabric of Time.  There have been some unexpected side effects in the caves.  He mentions a Red Plaza and a "two-legged deer", possibly Johnny Bigbush.

8. Huston talks about how impatient he is and can not sit and wait for the eclipse.  He wants to propel himself forward.

9. One of the cultists of Sand Bat, a fool named "JOHNNY BIGBUSH"  tried to separate himself from the order recently.  Angered, Huston used him in an experiment, but the spell got out of hand.  Johnny is alive and being protected by the dogs.  Huston doesn't understand what happened and is annoyed. This is the same man that Chad briefly worked with at Randolph Shipping.

10. Someone named Gavigan, whom Huston thought was dead or imprisoned, is said to be helping H.F. with a delicate matter. 

11. Toddy Randolph of Randolph Shipping in Port Hedland is a fat, corpulent fool who demands too much for his services.  Huston is thinking about silencing him.

12. The Mind Controller helmet works well enough, but takes far too long to implement.  He wants to refine the process.

13.  Huston is highly suspicious of the Yithian and fears that it is reading his mind.  Huston performs lengthy ceremonies and rituals to shield himself, as well as wearing special helmets while interrogating Kakakatak.  "The beast MUST reveal its secrets!"

14.  Nitcrosis the Mummy was supposed to Queen and Warden of the Western Hemisphere.  She was a lover to the Black Pharoah. Her demise was unfortunate, but not critical. Besides, it would have been a catfight between her and M'Weru ruling on the same continent.

15. There are those who would wreck and sabotage the Great Work, and they have been active in London, Egypt and Kenya, inflicting terrible damage to the plans. Huston is worried, but ultimately convinced that Nyarlathotep will crush them.

16.  He mentions demons impregnating several Koori prisoners during Sand Bat rituals, but the births always stagnate and die or grow into deformed monstrosities.  Still, he cannot bear to rid himself of Nyarlathotep's progeny.  He keeps them.  Somewhere...

17.  Roger Carlyle disappeared in Kenya around the same time Jack "Brass" Brady did.  No one has ever seen them again.  Brady was an ignorant idiot too weak to assist Nyarlathotep, Huston thinks. "His mother did not love him, obviously."

18.  Mentions several times of a "Dark Mistress" in Shanghai.

19.  Huston was present in Kenya at the Mountain of the Black Wind several months ago, and achieved orgasm while watching some meddlesome priest of God get devoured by giant rats... (eeewwwwww!) [GM Note: and that's not from the book, just me being gross]

20. ?


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #31: Out of Time*


The investigators (a.k.a. the homicidal arsonists) have rescued Kakakatak, intellectual member of the Yithian race, from the clutches of Dr. Robert Huston, priest of Nyarlathotep and former NY psychoanalyst for millionaire Roger Carlyle. Now, huddled together with the Aboriginal prisoners, they rest in the secret room that Kakakatak opened for them.  Huston's journal unveils many, many clues regarding his state of mind, and the purpose of the idols and altars in the City.  It most importantly reveals that a terrible machine is being built in China near Shanghai that will help usher in the doom of the world on January 14th, 1926.  Each of the holy sites in Kenya, Australia, and China will funnel energy into the ritual, although the investigators have inflicted massive damage upon the Purple Dome by dynamiting the Sand Bat altars.  They wonder, Has that been enough to disrupt the Great Work?  Can they stop the ritual at all from here?  Perhaps. They just don't know.

Huston's trail has undoubtedly grown cold, so the investigators don't worry about trying to catch up with him.  Their food and water supplies are low, and the Aboriginal slaves need nourishment. In the meantime, Kakakatak wants to find a hidden library so he can hopefully reverse the Time Trap spell.  To assist him, two Abos are volunteered (much to their chagrin!), and the Yithian's claws gently clack around their trembling shoulders. Kakakatak wishes the investigators well with telepathic sympathy, and perhaps they will meet again in a different time and/or place.  When questioned directly by Hans Hazzenbaum about the future of Earth, the Yithian does not seem concerned, and the PC's ponder the pernicious unpredictability of time travel (and whatever Back to the Future II taught them;  "You should watch it Kak!  You might learn something useful!").

With a particularly good idea, Hans asks if Kakakatak can imprint him with a mental image of how the city looked in the past.   The Yithian complies, placing those intimidating claws on Han's head, and tingling warmth buzzes through his brain.  An hour later the German anthropologist has acquired vivid memories of the Great City in its prime:  vaulting ceilings of incredible splendor; crystal halls and exquisite architecture on a scale larger than anything ever seen before.  The city resided mostly on the surface, but has long since fallen to disrepair.  Only the labyrinthine under-vaults exist now, but these have been subjected to massive damage from shifting tectonic plates and the cyclonic fury of the polyps.

He has a rough idea of where the original gravity-lift pads were located, but Hans comes away with the impression that the Yithian, while benign enough, considers the humans an inferior species.  Kakakatak soon slithers out of the secret chamber on its large gastropod foot, the Abos with him flinging back fearful glimpses until the darkness swallows them all.

The party decides to leave their safe little hole, bringing the prisoners along, and find the exit. And if there are as many Sand Bat cultists lurking around as they think there are, it won't be easy. An hour later they have reached the junction where they first rescued Kakakatak.  In the distance looms an indistinct red haze, the path and lightbulbs stretching that general direction.  Chad feels that he should conduct some nude reconnaissance, so he scampers ahead into the dark.  Several hundred feet away is a massive, flat circular dais raised a few inches off the floor.  The red light seems to come from the air itself, but is bright enough to negate any shadows.  Rubble litters the dais, but the figure sitting at the center is what bothers Chad:

A hundred yards distant squats a black man with a dingo beside him.






Chad gets the others, and after conferring quietly, Chad, Ronnie and Hans advance into the stone circle, leaving behind Chang (note that David was absent this session, with some interesting side effects for his character), David Dodge, and the fifteen rescued prisoners.  There is a discernible "pop" in air pressure as they step up onto the massive round dais, a sensation in their skulls that doesn't quite dissipate. The red light suffuses everything, and looking up, the ceiling appears murky and insubstantial, almost like clouds or mist.   There is even a rumble of thunder, and the stone floor slightly vibrates.

The man can clearly see them approaching.  There's no good place to hide, they're mostly out in the open, so they quickly ready actions to fire off a shot at either the dog or the man if anything "unpleasant" happens.    The dog in particular worries them.

When a few hundred feet onto the dais, the group spots another dingo leap to a rocky pile, and then leap off -- and vanish!  It blinks out of sight, completely unnerving everyone.  The three investigators finally reach speaking distance with the Aboriginal, and Chad asks him: "What are you doing here?"

The old man is in his forties or fifties with gnarled skin like bark and a mop of tangled black hair.  The dingo sits quietly between his legs, peering intently at Chad, Ronnie and Hans.  He answers in English, "Too scared to leave, but my friends keep me safe," the accent thick, his voice quiet and dry. "Huston does not come here anymore. Evil, evil man."  The group confirms that they hate Huston too, and he is about to answer more when far in the distance, Lester, David Dodge and the other rescued prisoners see several more dogs suddenly appear behind their companions!

Hans catches sight of the dog from the corner of his eye, but his reaction is too slow.  The dog leaps forward before Hans can swivel...but the dog only begins licking his hand!  The other dogs seem equally affectionate, and the group slowly lower than rifles and shotguns. They motion for Lester to run up.  He crosses, his ears popping too, wading into the thick red light and the increasing gusts of wind. Swirling clouds are now concentrating counter-clockwise above them.  They continue questioning the old man, asking him why he sits here, and most importantly if he knows the way out of this horrible place. Chad Slambody suspects this is Johnny Bigbush from Huston's notes, and Johnny confirms this.  But Johnny looks a world of difference from their last contact a few weeks ago at the Randolph Shipping Company (JB was a dock worker who was fired in Recap # 17). The man sitting here is easily thirty years older than how Chad remembers him, but he can distinctly see the resemblance.

Johnny goes on to say how he felt horrible for the crimes he had committed; murder and rape and other atrocities, all for the glory of Huston's dark god, the Sand Bat. Johnny even sacrificed some of his own cousins, bashing their brains in with bat teeth clubs. His sins were insurmountable, and Johnny had gone to Huston to tell him he could no longer be part of his organization.  Johnny suspected that he would die, and wanted to in many ways, and Huston indeed tried.   Johnny was rounded up with other prisoners and subjected to a spell here in the Red Plaza,  indeed,  the very place where Kakakatak was pulled through Time itself.   But Huston's manipulation of the fabric of time and space have caused grave fluctuations with unintended side effects. Time is warped in the Red Plaza, bending to the whim of storms that sweep across it.  Huston barely escaped with his life, and Johnny would have died too, rotted away to dust and bone (and the investigators now see piles of dust, skull fragments and dessicated ribs scattered about)

...if not for the dogs.

These strange dingoes appeared out of nowhere, surrounding him, yipping and yapping and licking him, their presence protecting him from the storm...and from the /others /that appeared.    Chad and Hans question him further about these "others",  but quickly, for the unnatural weather has begun to terrify them, and Lester regrets running out onto the dais in the first place!

"The hounds of mist," Johnny whispers.  "They come from the corners.  The air itself.  They are Chasers.  Hunters.   Devourers.  And they are coming...now."

The party gives Johnny a cursory invitation to leave with them, but he is too scared to leave.  He has no hunger here, no thirst, no wants or worries.  Perhaps he can forget his sins, and so long as his friends stay, he feels safe.  So leaving Johnny Bigbush to his fate, whatever that may be, the group rushes off, three yellow dingoes yipping and barking around them.  David Dodge and the prisoners are a hundred yards away outside the plaza, but the wind has kicked up red dust storms and they are soon completely obscured.  Pressure builds in everyone's heads, staggering them from the sudden onset, and even Chad Slambody is thrown to his knees.  A horrible sensation ripples over them and Chad looks at his hands, seeing them wrinkle and crease, age spots spattering his perfectly toned skin.  The muscles of his face and biceps sag, and to the shock of the others, Chad has physically aged nearly 10 years in a matter of seconds!   I'll need double the toning oil, no doubt about that, he muses.

Lester, Hans and Ronnie also writhe under the magic, aging as well, but the dingoes stay close, trying to stay in physical contact with the humans.  But their problems are only worsening.  Even a minute later they still have not reached the edge of the plateau.  Red dust envelopes them on all sides, and the howl of places that stretch deep and dark and maliciously into unknown spaces between the stars.  Large shadows begin flitting in and out of sight, great hulking shapes much larger than a man, bestial and feral.  The blink-dingoes snarl and yap, scanning all directions.  Weapons are ready, even a lightning gun is unpacked, and none too soon for a black shape appears out of nowhere!






Shotgun pellets explode over the beast and then it launches at them, a creature of horrible canine jaws that distend like a snake's maw.  It flies toward them, literally, but a dingo intercepts and the duo tumble to the ground, snarling and biting. More shotgun blasts are leveled at the abomination, and soon it is splattered to oblivion and melts into a puddle of blue goo. More shadows encircle the party and within seconds they realize they've been surrounded by what Lester suspects are called Hounds of Tindalos, creatures that prey upon anyone traversing the Timeline.  Their concentration here must be testament to just how much chaos Huston has inflicted.

Blinking spontaneously onto the backs of the Hounds, the dingoes tear into them with their teeth.  But the Hounds are larger and stronger, and their wounds begin to heal even as they are created.  The investigators linger for a moment to help the dingoes, but then decide that this might be the best opportunity to flee;  if the rampant aging process does not kill them soon, the Hounds will with overwhelming numbers.  Limping on muscles that are suddenly tight, joints that creak and grind, Lester, Chad, Hans and Ronnie keep trudging through the swirling red murk, hoping they're going the right direction and not just wandering deeper into some metaphysical hell.

The sound of combat eventually fades behind them, the opaque redness thins, and the group finally stumbles off the shallow dais into the familiar, bleak underground halls.  They are uninjured, save for some ability point damage Chad sustained from his aging.  A single dingo remains with them, standing on the path that actually circumvents the red dais.  Behind, the crimson murk is still thick, and Johnny Bigbush cannot be seen. However, their friends Chang and David Dodge and the Aboriginal prisoners they had left outside the dais are GONE.  The group is dismayed by this turn of events, but Ronnie is unable to find their tracks in the confusing mishmash of prints.  It is almost like they vanished.  Hans takes an immediate liking to the dog, and is pleased to see that it remains with them, trotting ahead and occasionally vanishing and reappearing nearby in its peculiar fashion.  Lester surmises that it must be some sort of evolutionary offshoot of the hounds, and that they are bitter enemies.

Using Kakakatak's mental imprint, Hans guesses the direction the exit might lead, and fortunately there is a trail of dim bulbs winking down into darkness that leads roughly the same direction.  An hour later they reach a junction where another gasoline generator sputters, and have two choices:  a dim blue glow to the left, or the possible exit from these deadly caves to the right.  There is still no sign of their lost companions, and after a brief delay, they decide that getting out should be their chief priority.  They are still wounded and in need of rest, food and water.

A short while later they see more lights in the distance and the outline of several small bunkhouses. A few humanoid shapes mill about in the gloom, so Chad slithers ahead "nude incognito" (so covered in congealed dust and sweat that's he's barely recognizable as human) and scouts it out.  The walls of the cavern close in at this place to form a natural chokepoint, and there are several one-story structures erected. Beyond them, a wide stairway ascends.  Chad sees about four or five cultist sentries, but they don't seem particularly alert.  Regrouping with the others, they all move up and plan their course of action:  dynamite surprise, and mow down anyone who survives.  It is a tactic that has always worked well.

The plan nearly fails off the bat when Chad fumbles the thrown dynamite, but he is able to miraculously PUNT the explosive back into the settlement.  The initial relief of not being blown up is undermined by the dynamite being poorly placed; it only kills one man, but then everyone with a shotgun or rifle unleashes immediately.  The noise dislodges THOUSANDS upon thousands of bats that swoop down out of the cave and up the stairwell, a great cacophony of shrill madness.  The cultists are unprepared for a sneak attack and the investigators drop them one at a time, blasting heads apart with bloody aplomb.  But twelve more enemies swarm out from the buildings and streak toward them, screaming and waving their clubs, but the investigators kill most before they can make contact. Hans even pounds a bullet through two foes at once!  Even as the last of them get within melee range, Lester takes down four with a well-placed lightning-gun burst.

Within thirty seconds of the initial attack handfuls of dead cultists litter the ground, but the investigators are well aware of the danger noise brings:

Flying polyps.






Already they hear the distant crooning and wailing of the incorporeal demons, so they tear through the bunkhouses for any clues or food, and do find cans of beans and tins of water.  They rush up the stairs, slipping on wet white bat guano, their breath heaving in their lungs as the blackness gradually shifts to lighter shades of gray.  Daylight lurks in the alcoves several hundred feet above, and just when they're at the top they see the outline of two more cultists, rifles aimed down at them.

"The wind is coming!" screams Hans.  "The wind is coming!"  This (true) threat is enough to convince the guards to flee, and moments later Hans, Lester, Chad and Ronnie burst up the steps into a canvas tent.  Sandbags, barrels of gasoline and a churning power generator are here too.  Just outside the large tent are two Dahmler diesel trucks.  Beyond that, four cultists are fleeing for the hills, and behind, down in those deep, black, black cyclopean depths, gusts of wind push up the stairs, followed by horrible gurgling and slavering.

Fortunately, one truck has keys in the ignition, so they toss all of their stolen supplies in the back (including the blink dingo!), clamber aboard, and Chad mashes the pedal to the metal.  The truck trundles ahead into the fierce Australian afternoon while Lester and Hans peel back the canvas and watch the tent.  Sand is swirling around in violent eddies from the enclosed stairwell, but then the truck swerves around a bend and the entrance to the City of the Great Race is blissfully lost from sight.....................

They travel for a short while, not sure of where to go or what to do.  David Dodge and their friend Chang are still missing, probably lost or captured (or dead!) down in that black pit.  But there's not much they can do, not yet.  They decide to rest in the shade for several hours, gain some strength back, and then return later and see what happened.  Time passes, and when ready, they return in the truck and find considerable damage done to the area.  They confer among themselves and decide, at the VERY LEAST, they can go down the steps again and search the bunkhouses.  They briefly consider returning to the blue glow they saw at the last junction, but the threat is just too great.  They are fortunate to be alive, and fortunate to have found so little resistance at the exit.  Nowhere did they encounter the fifty or sixty cultists that they originally expected. But the bunkhouses have been destroyed.  Utterly.  A flying polyp has swirled among them, smashed everything and consumed the corpses of everyone.  There is nothing left to do, and too much of the city to explore (approximately 24 square miles) to find their missing companions.  Robert Huston is still at large somewhere, and the Sanity and Stamina of everyone is dwindling.

With heavy hearts and feet they clamber back into the truck, and using the original map from David Dodge, Ronnie Talltree navigates them back toward Cuncudgerie.  The weather is unseasonably hot, and the mysterious Singing Stone slides by in the afternoon haze two days later, where the Tall Man first approached them (and whom the investigators would still gladly riddle full of bullets!), followed by signs for Dingo Falls and the eerie abode of the Slatterly Clan, and two days after that, after suffering multiple popped tires and overheated radiator trouble, the group lumbers into Cuncudgerie just after dark.






But fireworks greet them.  Nothing too flashy, but neither Hans or Ronnie know what the celebration is for, and they're both locals. The streets are filled with people tipping their mugs and bumbling about half-drunk, watching with feverish smiles the starburst of colored lights in the night sky above.  When asking what the event is, Hans is harshly answered:

"Where ya been, living in a hole? It's New Years Eve, moron.  Tomorrower is January 1st, 1926!"

And with awful dread, the investigators realize their predicament.  At least four months have lapsed in the caves, not just the few days they thought. Chang and Dodge did not vanish -- Lester, Hans, Chad and Ronnie did!  Their friends must have given up hope and wandered away, and this explains why the exit was so woefully unprotected--from the cultist's point of view, the party had been gone for many months and were probably assumed to be dead or have escaped.  Huston has had four months to mop up the damage, rebuild, refortify, and according to the clues, a ceremony takes place on Gray Dragon Island in just fourteen short days, a ceremony that will tear a rift in the cosmos and the world will meet a fate worse than death. Can they still strike at the beating heart of Nyarlathotep's organization? Do they go back?  Do they continue?

Somewhere in Shangai the Order of the Bloated Woman is making final touches to the plan, and the ragged investigators don't know if they have time to stop it.


----------



## Nebulous

*Adventure #32: Mr. Chang's Miraculous Escape*
*
PART 1: Chang's Story*


Fireworks explode over Cuncudgerie, bathing the investigators in bursts of colored light.  It is New Years Eve, 1926, and they have 14 days until the end of the world when Nyarlathotep's plan comes to fruition.  They discuss their options: first and foremost they need a plane, it's the fastest way to get anywhere, but they haven't seen any planes. They're very rare and expensive. They also need to resupply, and Hans figures he might have time to return to his house in Port Hedland where the others can regather their stashed supplies. And they might want to give Mortimer Wycroft a visit, because they know he has worked with Huston and the cultists, and more importantly, he owns a shop with lots of stuff to steal.

Ronnie Talltree, one-time PC relegated to NPC, bids adieu to these whitey weirdos.  He's seen enough crazy  recently to last him a lifetime.

Hans Hazzenbaum looks around for the blink-dingo...but it is nowhere around.  Unsurprising; this beast seems to have no normal modes of eating, drinking, or defecation. Hans  feels that it is lurking in the corridors between Time, waiting for the vile Hounds of Tindalos to spring again on the victimized time traveler's from Huston's mad schemes...

The others head back to the Oily Rag Inn where they initially stayed many months ago, but WHO do they see sitting at the bar pounding shots of whiskey?

Chin Chang!

Chang slouches on a barstool, deep into his cups, looking far more weathered and downtrodden than ever before.  His head has been shaved, but hair is growing back in patchy tufts that he keeps hidden beneath a crumpled felt hat.  His expression upon seeing his companions is one of disbelief, then confusion, and then drunken exultation.


 “Good Christ, you’re alive!” he slurs.

“Mr. Chad, and Lester, I…I thought I would never see you again!  Is this real?  What happened to you?  The last Dodge and I saw, the four of you had stepped onto that red dais, where the Abo was sitting with some dog.  As soon as you started heading back the wind began to blow and clouds of dust spun up.  We were afraid it was one of those Living Winds, so we backed off the path and waited, but you never came out.  A few minutes later it cleared up, and all we could see was that black fellow sitting out there as if nothing had happened.  It was a trap, we knew it, and we called out for you as loud as we dared, waiting hours for you to return.  We were scared to go out and vanish just like you did, so we finally gave up and kept going.

We kept going, God help us, trying to find a way out of those caves.






We followed the trail of bulbs.  The prisoners could barely keep up. Moaning and dragging their feet, it was all Dodge and I could do to push them on.  We finally saw more lights in the distance, but…but they were waiting for us.

Sixty at least. They’d barricaded themselves behind these small buildings with guards everywhere.  But more cultists were hiding off to the sides, in the dark, watching us struggle along the trail.   It was the only way out and they knew it.  Came at us from both sides.

They killed some of the prisoners first, hacking them down in cold blood, but me and Dodge fought back.  I still had that lightning gun, and I burned a dozen of them to a crisp before the rest mobbed me.  They beat me and Dodge senseless, and I admit, chunks of my memory aren’t so good anymore.  Or maybe I don’t want to remember.

They trussed us up like pigs and carried us off, I don’t know where, and left us in a dark, dark room.  They finally threw in scraps of bread and water, and I wondered why they bothered keeping us alive. 

Well. I found out.

Huston finally came, and for the first time I put a real face to the man who I’d been searching for since New York City.  If only Morty and Arnold knew how far into this mess I’ve come, they would be glad they died already.






Huston is mad! A loony, you can see it in his eyes.  He’s doesn’t have a lick of sense anymore, and he raves on and on and on about gods and destiny and eternal prosperity.  Dr. Dodge, now, he didn’t fully understand this whole Dark God business.  We never told him all our experiences.  Like we never told Oscar Ochenta, or that Dr. Blume in Cairo…the less they know the better, but they died all the same.

All the same.

Huston interrogated us.  And it hurt.  It hurt bad.  And when he thought we were lying, he dragged me to that room where we found that weird alien.  There was a cot in there with…with this helmet thing.  He strapped me down and plugged me into it.  Oh Lord, he wanted to read my mind, to peel me apart one layer at time!  For hours it felt like hot needles were poking into my head. They shaved me. I could smell skin burning.  I could feel my brain melting in my skull while he rummaged around inside.  I never stayed conscious for long; I would pass out, wake up in darkness hours or days later, only to repeat the process!

I tried to resist, I tried my hardest, but he found what he wanted.  All my memories, all the way back to when we first found Jackson Elias dead in that hotel room in January. 







I can’t even remember all that happened now. He knows where we went, who we talked to.  He knows that me, Morty and Arnold got that fellow Gavigan in London arrested.  He knows we killed that mummy under the pyramids in Giza; he knows we destroyed the monster in the Black Mountain in Kenya; he knows everything!

And he knows your faces.  Every little detail that I could remember he etched into his own mind.  I had actually forgotten what you looked like until you stepped into the bar, and then it all started flooding back.  This went on for I don’t know how long.  Days or weeks or months.  Dodge was tortured too, and I could hear his screams.  Always screaming.  That poor man, he just wanted to find a Lost City.  Well, I suppose he got his wish.






But Huston got what he wanted from Dodge, too.  He and Hans knew each other professionally, and Huston discovered where Hans lived, in Port Hedland.  Huston knew that we had stolen that Golden Machine from the warehouse, and we had stashed it Han’s home!  Huston told me all of this, gloating the whole time, the evil bastard.  He sent his cronies to retrieve it, and they found that old woman still there, what’s her name, the old biddy in the wheelchair?  She’d been looking after Ma’Moud until our return, along with Han’s housemaid.






I think they killed her.  I don’t know about the boy, but Huston said they took what they needed and burned the house down.  Probably burned our trunks too, I don’t know for sure. The fools were just there for the machine.  I guess they had found it in the City and were shipping it off to another cult branch.

Huston wanted to know where you were.  And how you escaped. How did we find his hideout? Did we know his plans?  Answers I wanted to know myself, but it was like you had just disappeared into thin air.  But Huston told me, after he knew that you had vanished in the Red Plaza, he said this, laughing:

‘“Rotted to dust!  Even their bones are lost forever.  You’re friends did not escape, foolish mortal.  The sands of Time consumed them!’”

Anyways, I don’t know how long we were there.  It all just blurred together into a haze.  One day they tied me and Dodge up and dragged us into the city.  We were led along with a bunch of other Aboriginal prisoners just as pathetic and weak as us.  They took us to that Purple Dome Plaza, where all those blasted statues were.  I think you told me you fellas had dynamited it a long while back. Four or five months ago I guess it was.

Well, it was still in poor shape, but they’d been rebuilding.  The big Sand Bat statue was erect again, and they were ready for some bloodletting.

I’d seen this song and dance before and knew our time was up.

Huston was there in full regalia, accompanied by dozens of his servants.  They beat prisoners to a pulp with bat-teeth clubs, but they saved the worst for me and Dodge.  Huston took Dodge first, hauled him naked and screaming onto the obelisk, chanting those horrible prayers the whole time.  I couldn’t bear to watch, but they forced me to, pried my eyes wide apart. 

Huston cut his chest open with a stone knife and ripped his beating heart out, holding it up in the electric blue buzz of that dome.  Then Huston ate his heart.  And then the cultists ate what was left of Dodge.

I was up next, and I admit, I’ve never been so scared in all my life.  I would have pissed myself again if there were anything left to piss.  They dragged me onto that slick hot slab, and…and…

‘“A worthy foe,”’ I remember him saying. ‘“Your blood will be sweet to my Master.  But not even your ignorant meddling can stop the Rending of the Veil.”’

He raised that stone dagger, so I just whispered my last prayers, confident that I had done the best a man can hope to do…

…but then I felt pain in my head and body the likes of which I can barely describe.  It’s like every cell in my body was quivering.  Huston screamed, and I heard every single one of those boys screaming in pain too.  I rolled off the altar, unable to see straight, this sonic shriek so harsh in my head that my teeth rattled in my gums…

…and that’s when I saw it.

That damn alien had come back.  It was carrying what looked like a lightning gun, but it had this vibrating funnel on the end, and all kinds of tubes coming out, attached to its back.  It slithered slowly across that wide plaza and put a metal circlet around my head, and all of sudden, just like that, the pain stopped.

And then…and then that thing spoke into my mind.

‘“I have failed,”’ it told me.  ‘“I can never return.  Never to leave this zone. Flee while you can human. Follow the lights south and then west.  Do not stop. Do not look back. Find the surface, and enjoy the short time Earth has left.  In the sun.
I shall remain here.  This device will falter soon, and they will come after you. Do not stop.  Do not look back.

I can offer nothing more, except…Remember.”’






It put an appendage on my face when it said that.  Remember.  Strange thing to say, huh? Like how could I forget? [ GM Note: Savvy players got my Star Trek 2 reference!]

Anyway, I stumbled out of there without another word, but in retrospect, I wish I had killed the hell out of Huston.  But I didn’t. I ran for my life.

I could still feel that big alien in my head even when I was staggering under that long trail of light. Running through a Blue Plaza I could feel his thoughts, even when I was climbing these tall stairs smeared in bat guano.  And I could feel his thoughts when knives and clubs pummeled him to death soon afterward, his cries echoing in my brain like a dying voice in a canyon…

That big stupid alien gave itself up to free me, but it wouldn’t raise a finger—or claw—to hurt anyone else.  It just didn’t want to be here anymore.

There were no guards at all, everyone was at the ritual. I got a truck running outside.  It had some onions and a pouch of warm water in the backseat; that was it.  I tore off into the desert, not having a clue where to go, just knowing that I had to get as far away as possible.  I heard dim explosions later, and saw a plume of dust far behind me.

I drove for hours. I can barely remember this part, but I ended up driving straight into a ditch and couldn’t get out. I started walking, straight into the night, with just a bag of onions and a thimble of piss-warm water.

I walked for days, not knowing where I was going, expecting any second for someone to slide a stone knife between my ribs, or plant me on a spit and eat me.  I started hallucinating.  I would see these dingoes sometimes out of the corner of my eye, and sometimes I thought they were real…but sometimes they weren’t.

I even saw that big stone on the hill, and that goddamned Tall Man up there, beckoning me to come closer! Just a little closer…or maybe it was just a dream…






At some point a bunch of cow herders found me nearly dead out in the middle of nowhere.  Snakebit, sunburned, dehydrated, delirious and amnesic, they took me back to Cuncudgerie and patched me up.






I’ve been here for weeks.  I don’t even know how long exactly.  I haven’t seen you since August, and I figured without your help, there was nothing to do but wait.

Wait for the end, just like that big alien said.  Enjoy these last days we have.
So I can do that, can’t I?

Can’t I?

Are…are we?”


----------



## GrolloStoutfoam

Very, very cool.  Just wanted to chime in on how good this storyhour is.  Please keep up the great work.


----------



## Nebulous

GrolloStoutfoam said:


> Very, very cool.  Just wanted to chime in on how good this storyhour is.  Please keep up the great work.




Hey, thanks for the encouragement.  I'm going to try and wrap this one up in the next few weeks.  The stories are all done, just have to polish it some more.  It was one hell of a campaign.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #31: Mr. Chang's Miraculous Escape

*PART TWO:  Gavigan!*


That's Chang's story, and the companions drink with him in solemn remembrance of Dodge, GiGi, and poor, poor MaMoud, the loyal Egyptian boy who trusted them for many adventures now [they first met him in Episode # 10: Hello, Cairo].  Maybe there's a chance he's alive, and Hans vows to find out (although Hans only met him once). Angry now, and realizing they're even more screwed than before, with barely any belongings left except for what's on their back and about $1000 left over from Ali Kafour, they discuss their options.

Lester Cobblebottom suspects from what he knows about the Mythos, if they can completely  up one of the 3 holy sites, the ritual can be stopped.  The City of the Great Race is nearby,and Huston is alive and dangerous.  Lester is not sure though if that plan will work 100%, and they're also aware that a mysterious Terrible Machine is being built in China.  Still, The City seems like their best bet, so they ask around about where a plane could be rented, and a few locals point out that Mortimer Wycroft, The Deadfella Man, has been known to call in planes from time to time. They decide to sleep on it, because there is no way they can think of to get a plane tonight.

In the morning they scope out Wycroft's Outrigger, and peeking through windows, can't see anyone inside.  But it's a two story building, so he could very well be upstairs.  Someone else confirmed that he actually does live here.

The back of the building is shielded from sight, so after hopping a chain gate, they try to enter the back door.  The lock isn't hard to pick, but the heavy oak crossbar on the inside is impassable.  They try the front door too, risking being seen in broad daylight, but it's still early and the late night revelers are sleeping off hangovers. The front door is similarly barred, so Chad Slambody resorts to the old fashioned entry:  bash it down.

They return to the backdoor, and with Chang's help, they start ramming the door.  It takes nearly a minute of concentrated effort, woods splintering under their combined weight, and finally the hinges give way.  It makes a lot of noise, but not as much as the double-barreled shotgun leveled at them inside! "Get the  outta here ya thieves!"  screams Wycroft, and unloads at Chang.  Chang ducks, pellets tearing  his arm, but most just rip out chunks of the door. Two black Abos on either side of the door swing machetes (or shortswords!) at Chad, but he deftly knocks their clumsy swings aside. Before Wycroft can shoot again, Chang grapples him, forces the gun down, knees him in the gut, and then throws him to the floor and starts strangling.






"Wait! We need him to talk!" cries Lester.  And then he plants a bullet through the neck of a cultist.  Blood squirts betweens the man's fingers and he falls dead.  Chang and Wycroft keep wrestling, the latter streaming garbled obscenities, while Chad slashes the throat of the second cultist.  He falls atop the corpse of his fallen comrade.  Wycroft can't fight back forever, he's outnumbered and they finally subdue him.  He's beat up, tied and gagged, and hauled upstairs while Lester and Hans try to barricade the back door, but it is very damaged. Then Lester checks the front window. Crap.

The gun shots have gained attention.  There are people in the streets looking cautiously around, a few of them armed.  But the Outrigger isn't targeted quite yet, and Chad has the clever idea of sneaking out the back door and firing off pistol shots to lead them away.  It's a risky maneuver, and he's gone a long time in a desperate footchase to avoid pursuers or witnesses. In the meantime, Chang, Hans and Morty threaten Mortimer Wycroft.  They need a plane, and they need it NOW.  Wycroft is uncooperative at first, cursing them, telling them he knows who they are, but the investigators are relentless, and Wycroft finally succumbs (and all the while they passed multiple rolls that someone would come snooping around the Outrigger and see the busted back door)

There's a radio upstairs, and an hour later Wycroft is able to get a chap named Lonnie Magoo on the line.  He sounds sleepy and irritated, but the investigators tell Wycroft to tell him that plenty of money is involved.  The cargo is 4 passengers, and they need to reach coordinates in the deep desert as soon as possible.  TODAY.  Lonnie Magoo perks up and says that he can be there in 3 hours, flying down from Port Hedland.  The investigators have already decided to return to the City of the Great Race, and using Han's knowledge and Lester's knowledge, map it out as well as possible.

They're gonna kill Huston and blow the Sand Bat to hell once and for all.  Or, they can just kick back and rule Cuncudgerie like kings!  Nobody is going to argue with the hot end of a lightning gun (they still have three).

Someone comes to the door of the Outrigger and starts knocking, asking for Wycroft.  Wycroft says that it's the local constable, but they force Wycroft at gunpoint to answer that he hasn't seen or heard anything.  The constable's investigation continues elsewhere. The PC's manage to maneuver their stolen truck around the back of the Outrigger and they start throwing in everything they can find. Wycroft is tied up and gagged and Chang stays behind to guard him. The others drive out to the landing strip.






An hour later than expected, they see a plane approaching.  It bumps to a landing, and out hops a jovial Aussie who introduces himself as "Lonnie Magoo, my services for you!" He has a few simple rules:  cash up front, and no questions asked by either party.  He doesn't care what they're doing or why, and they shouldn't ask too much about him either.  But there's no way the Silver Bullet can carry that much stuff, not with four people in it, so they strip it down to the necessities: guns, extra bullets, one lightning gun, and dynamite stolen from Wycroft.  Sparking a fat marijuana joint ("I never fly sober," he tells them) Lonnie takes them out to the coordinates of the City, and by pure luck they are able to find a suitable strip of road nearby used by the trucks at the dig site.

They tell Lonnie to give them a few hours, and they'll pay him extra.  He agrees, kicking back and lighting another huge joint.   But he doesn't have to wait as long as they anticipated.  The entrance to the City has been destroyed.  The few trucks are burned out shells.  The tents are flattened.  They wonder if they have enough dynamite to blast their way back in, but it is probably a quarter mile or more of rock and sand.  They even briefly consider finding the Singing Stone and seeing if the Tall Man will let them back in, but that's a long shot and they scrap it. Discouraged, they load back up on the plane and tell Lonnie that they have had a change of plans:

Plan B. They need to reach Shanghai. Fast. And try to stop the Terrible Weapon, whatever the hell it is.  No doubt, The Order of the Bloated Woman will make that difficult.

"Bloody Shanghai!" balks Lonnie. "You chaps will have to pay out the arse for that!"

They're low on money, but Lester can get more wired to him. Even better, they make a deal with Lonnie.  They show him what the lightning guns can do by discharging a brilliant burst, it's electric glow kindling greed in Lonnie's eyes.  "Holy !  What is that?"  Two lightning guns are worth an untold fortune, and the PC's lie and tell him the charges never run out.  He accepts the offer, and after packing up what they can at Cundcudgerie, they head north for Port Hedland.

Mortimer Wycroft, the Deadfella Man of Cuncudgerie, is last seen writhing in the back of an abandoned truck, his wild eyes shooting daggers of hate at them...

By January 2nd they've reached Port Hedland where Hans Hazzenbaum tries to put his affairs in order. He has been assumed dead and missing for several months now.  There is an insurance settlement that he picks up for his burned down house, and Hans makes inquiries as to what happened.  No one knows for sure, but the corpses of two women were found in the ashes.  They spend more time asking around if a little Egyptian boy was found, and they eventually hear that yes, one was seen in the vicinity.  MaMoud escaped after all.  Chad, Lester and Chang are especially relieved to hear this, and Hans goes the extra step to set up a fund and contact information for Ali Kafour at the Cairo Museum.  If MaMoud is found by the local authorities, he will have transport back home.  If the PC's can stop the ritual, even if they die trying, at least the boy can live the rest of his life in peace.  If they DO manage to return, Hans sets some money aside for himself to fall back on.

[GM Note:  i particularly enjoyed the "Short Term / High Yield" trust fund joked about during the sequence above]

And then they're off for China, for better or worse, to complete the final leg of a horrible journey. Lonnie Magoo, as an excellent smuggler, has actually transported opium and other illicit cargo to Shanghai a number of times.  He gets stoned and tells many stories, and the PCs can't avoid getting stoned in the small compartment and having to listen. It's four days to China, stopping as often as possible to refuel.  The load they're carrying is very heavy and requires them to hop to ports across the Indian Ocean.  Lonnie gives them the lowdown on the current state of China and Shanghai, and the PC's find that they're about to set foot in a political and social hothouse:

1) The British opened Shanghai to occupation and imports in 1842
2) Population is about 2 million; 20,000 are non-Chinese, mostly Japs
3) All layworkers are Chinese; upper crust management can be other races
4) Economy is in RUINS; even the moderately wealthy can live like kings.
5) 100 different political factions fie for power.  Very dangerous!
6) Built on the Yangtze River
7) Tuberculosis is a major problem
8. Walls everywhere; guards everywhere; no one trusts anyone
9) Uniformed Chinese are respectful and courteous; beware anyone else.
10) Post WW1, there are daily riots in the streets. Ties directly to the ruined economy

Lonnie Magoo "My Services for You" is questioned by the investigators as well, although Hans tries to keep his line of inquiry subtle. Hans wants to know in particular if Lonnie knows about Mortimer's association with the Cult of the Sand Bat, and if Lonnie is a cultist or cult associate himself, like Wycroft.  But Lonnie keeps a cool (stoned) demeanor and they can't glean any deception from him. He seems to be shooting straight, but the PC's have seen too much to trust anyone. After all, Lonnie IS a ruffian. Lonnie is also asked about several islands, with red herrings thrown in there to confuse the real question: Gray Dragon Island.  Lonnie denies hearing about any of them.

Four days after leaving Darwin, they come to a bumpy landing on a hidden strip between to wet rice fields. The air is mild, and they step out into the sun on January 8th 1925.  Six days until the ritual is to be completed. Chang can barely remember when this terrible ordeal started on January 15th, 1925.  Nearly a year ago...






Lonnie has proven himself trustworthy, at least for the right price.  They ask him about places to stay in close relation to The Stumbling Tiger Bar on Lantern Street, the only solid lead they have in Shanghai.  According to a matchbox that Jackson Elias had in New York (which Chang found), Jackson was there snooping around.

All Leads:

1) Stumbling Tiger Bar
2) Jack "Brass" Brady was seen somewhere in Shanghai, and he's their main lead.
3) According to cultist rumor and evidence, Brady is some sort of renegade enemy who can't be found. Only Chang has seen EVERYTHING about Brady and attests to his significance.
4) Someone named H.F. (according to Huston's journal "Gods of Reality") is the leader of the Cult of the Bloated Woman.
5) Bloated Woman is the Chinese branch of Nyarlathotep, although lesser known Masks exist in many other countries.
6) Gray Dragon Island is important, once again, according to Huston's stolen journal.
7) Someone or something named "Dark Mistress" is referred to several times in Huston's journal
8. Although the ledgers are all missing now (burned or stolen from Hans's house in Port Hedland) Chad remembers a clue from China:  Ho Fong Imports received cultist items.
9) Ledgers from New York (Ju-Ju House), Gavigan's estate in England, Mombasa, Nairobi, and Australia (in Toddy Randolph's warehouses) all collaborate and prove that these sites were exchanging items.
10) According to Huston's journal, someone named Gavigan in Shanghai is helping H.F. with "a delicate matter."  The name Gavigan gives Chang pause.
















Shangai is huge, bustling, manic and...stinking. Roting fish and exhaust fumes waft over the city from the Yangtze River. Walking in from the landing strip, the PC's are soon lost in the bustle and roar of 2 million people and a shattered economy. They navigate to their hotel with Chang's help, who is a Chinese native and speaks the language fluently.  Lester Cobblebottom speaks it as well, but it hesitant to make that fact known.  He prefers to keep it hidden.

The Stumbling Tiger Bar sits unobtrusively on a dirty corner of Lantern  Street.  Upon entering, the tavern is a dingy dirty place, emanating twanging music and sour alcohol. It is one room, plastered with years worth of smoke and displaced saliva on brass spittoons. Lester cringes at the many diseases that might spawn in a place such as this. There are about eight people in here, some alone, some sitting in pairs. The bartender is a chubby Chinese man wiping the counter down.






The investigators saunter up to the bar and order drinks.  Chang asks the bartender if he happens to know an American named Brady.  The bartender looks around,  his face somewhat impassive, and simply says, "Knew man once named Brady.  Think he leave Shangai."

Almost imperceptibly, Chang and Chad notice a man at at nearby table lean back in his chair at the mention of "Brady." As if to hear their conversation better. Sniffing, Chang takes his beer and approaches this other man.  Hans and Chad don't know what anyone has said yet, but Lester does. Chang is about to ask the Asian man a question, when Chang spots someone at a table further back.






A man he hasn't seen in nearly a year.  Edward Gavigan of the Penhew Foundation! He looks different, grizzled and coarse, certainly not the clean cut and charming socialite from before.  Their eyes briefly meet, but Chang doesn't know if Gavigan recognizes him or not. By all odds, Chang should have been dead a long, long time ago.  With mixed emotions, Chang stops at the table of the man who leaned back in his chair.

"Help you friend?" the man asks. [GM Note: the picture of this fellow looks suspiciously like the dude from Big Trouble in Little China]






"You know a guy named Brady?" asks Chang.  "Jack Brady? He's American. He's maybe been in this pisshole before."

The man's eyebrows furrow together and he purses his lips. He glances at Lester, Chad and Hans and the bartender. "Perhaps I do.  Perhaps I don't," he whispers back.  "But this is not the place to ask such questions.  Meet me in the alley outside, alone, in fifteen minutes." He tips his hat, finishes his drink, and leaves. Chang  returns to the counter where the others are waiting.  The bartender is furiously rubbing the counter, eyeballing everyone.

"The other man!" says Chang in a low voice.  "I know him! That's Gavigan! From London! Leader of the Black Brotherhood before we screwed them over, and the son of a bitch looked right at me!"




And there we stopped.

P.S.  I think you'll level up here: everyone to 8 except Chang, he's 7.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #32: Jack "Brass" Brady

*Part 1: Mayhem in the Streets*

  Following up on their best lead after leaving Lonnie Magoo and his Silver Bullet, the investigators have dropped questions at the Stumbling Tiger Bar, knowing that Jackson Elias or Jack Brady or both men frequented this place. Chang is hunched at the bar after seeing Mr. Edward Gavigan, who may or may not have identified Chang.  It has been a long, long time since they met, nearly a year, and both men look somewhat different. The bartender continues to mop the counter with mechanical strokes, eyeballing everyone. Lester, Hans, and Chad all order drinks, agreeing to follow the plan:

  --in a few minutes, Chang will exit and find the Chinese contact in the alley.  Supposedly, he knows something about Brady. Of course they don't trust him, so Chad will follow in the shadows in case anything goes wrong.  Gavigan continues to sip whiskey in silence, brooding and seemingly oblivious, and Chang soon saunters out of the Stumbling Tiger.  There are many narrow, stinking alleys outside, so he's not sure which way to go.  He turns left, and sees a man leaning against the wall not far away.  Chang approaches him.

  "That's close enough," says the man.  He holds a hand inside his coat, as if touching a gun.  Chang is careful to ready his own pistols. "What is your name? Who do you work for?  What do you know about an American named Jack Brady?"

  The questions come fast and furious, and Chang stammers out his answers.  He isn't here to deceive anyone, but he'll gladly shoot anybody that crosses him. [The murderous Mafia instinct usually overrides the kindly priest instinct].  Chang gives his name, saying that they don't work for anyone at all, they're a private outfit, self-financed, and they know that Jack Brady used to be a member of the Carlyle Expedition out of New York City in 1920. And that Brady had some sort of falling out with the rest of the Carlyle expedition.

  "Carlyle?  Who? What are you talking about?  I can sniff a lie at thirty yards.  I'll ask you again, who do you work for?  The New Chinese Order?  Firm Action?  WHO?"

  Chang is alone, but suspects that Chad Slambody has his back if this conversation goes sour.  Sure enough, Chad has reached the corner and is peeking around.  He sees Chang and the contact, but can't quite make out the words (nor does he understand a lick of Chinese).  Meanwhile, Edward Gavigan stands, stretches, and goes to the restroom. It's a single room, but Lester and Hans immediately suspect that there might be a window!  Lester hasn't unveiled the fact that he can speak and read Chinese, so he continues surveillance inside while Hans trots outside the bar to see if Gavigan is climbing out.

  Hans doesn't see any exits, but on the way back a bar patron presses past him in the doorway. The man glares darkly at Hans, and Hans checks his pockets for anything stolen (or dropped off) but seems untouched.  The man walks down an adjacent alley and lights a cigarette.








  Back to Chang:

  The contact is full of questions, each one loaded with potential threat.  Chang doesn't know if this guy is a cultist or a free agent, or how dangerous he is.

  "What do you know about a superweapon?" hisses the man. "If you have any information you better reveal it now, for your own good."

  Actually, Chang DOES know about a superweapon, but only the sketchiest details. Huston's Australian journal hinted about it several times. "We've heard about a superweapon," says Chang.  "Probably at a place called Gray Dragon  Island.  Do you know where it is?"

  The contact furrows his eyebrows.  "I know of it.  A small dormant volcano in the middle of no--"

  Soft clapping interrupts him.  Chang and the contact spin around to see Edward Gavigan step out of the shadows behind them. "Ah, Mr. Chang I presume," he says in English.  "I thought that was you inside, but wasn't sure.  It has indeed been a long, long time since we last met.  I cannot thank you enough for my extended stay with Scotland Yard."






  "You're welcome," growls Chang.  He unhooks both pistols from their holsters.

  "Before you do anything rash, let me offer this word of warning:  if you find Jack Brady before we do, give him this message.  "Return the Cryptical Books of Hsan to Ho Fong within three days, or Mei-Ling dies a slow, agonizing death at the Seven Gates of Heaven. If we find him first however, it won't matter. Good day, gentleman. We'll meet again."

  Gavigan turns and walks down an gloomy alley toward Flower Street. Chang whips his pistols out and pushes past the contact, who looks surprised at the turn of events.  "Wait! What are you doing?" he hisses.  Chang ignores him a speeds around the corner, intending to finish off Gavigan once and for all!  He shouldn't have been so brazen and haughty without ample backup. Gavigan is leisurely strolling away, and Chang doesn't hesitate.  BANG! The bullet catches Gavigan in the shoulder.  He flinches.  Stops. Turns.

  "That...was not wise."

  BANG!

  The second bullet catches him above the heart.  Gavigan flinches again, but not the reaction expected from a man shot twice at close range. And Chang does what Chang does best:  HE RUNS LIKE HELL!  He flees past the Chinese agent, who is yelling: "Don't kill him! We need him!"  But Chang is already thinking that killing Gavigan might be harder than anticipated.  Chad Slambody doesn't have any qualms about trying though.  After the first gunshot, he enters Aggressive Mode, oddly enough fully clothed and ungreased (so far). Chad dashes past the Chinese agent who seems unsure what to do.











  Back in the bar, Lester and Hans hear the gunshots and leap up. Hans gets out first, but Lester is accosted in the entryway by the same man who was smoking the cigarette.  He CHARGES Lester, a poisoned sickle raised over his head.  He slashes Lester's arm as someone else simultaneously tries to kick Lester's leg out from beneath him. Lester is being attacked by two thugs, even as the bartender leaps over the counter screaming "No fighting here! No fight!"

  But Chad is itching for a fight, and he spins around the corner, prepared to pummel Edward Gavigan to death, a man he knows knows only by reputation.  But Chad is stopped cold in a VERY painful way.

  Waves of energy ripple from Gavigan's outstretched hands as a readied Fist of Yog-Sothoth slams into Chad. He is launched clear off his feet and crushed into the wall behind him, splintering wood and fracturing ribs. Two expended Action Points save him from nearly dying, and Gavigan calmly strolls away, whistling.

  Hans and Lester meanwhile are having a tough time with the thugs.  The sickle is poisoned, but Lester is able to avoid serious damage.  Hans misses several shots and hits a few more, but neither thug is killed.  The bartender attacks one with a heavy skillet, screaming "No fighting here!" over and over. 

  But police whistles are shrieking across the district.  They're about to get pinched, and if they go to jail now they'll never get out in time to save the world.

  The thugs run, one of them limping with bullets in his shoulder and stomach, but the investigators don't give chase. They reconvene in the alley, Chang and Hans helping Chad walk.  The Chinese agent holsters his gun and says:  "We'll talk again.  Tell me where you're staying.  Meet me there in one hour!" They tell and he runs off.  Using Chang's ambivalent and questionable knowledge of Shanghai from undetermined past visits, he tries to lead them in a roundabout way back to their hostel.  Uniformed policemen are seen in the streets, but the wounded investigators duck into a busy, colorful, frantic street parade.  Fireworks are spinning and popping, and they merge as well as they can, picking up a change of clothes from street vendors.










  But their best disguise comes from a Chinese dragon in the parade! They lure a chain of dancers into a dim alley and beat them unconscious, stealing the dragon costume and eventually meandering their way back across town where they ditch the dragon. As he said, the Chinese informant is waiting for them in the shadows near their hostel. They all go upstairs where the questioning continues, Chang still the translator, although the agent knows a smattering of English.






  The man introduces himself as Isoje Taro, COMMANDER Taro, an operative for the Emperor.  He won't say much more beyond that.  He says that he is aware of a militant group in a warehouse on the docks, on Karo Street.  This group, a tangent of the New Chinese Order, might have something to do with Jack Brady and a superweapon.  He has had agents stake it out in the past, but could confirm nothing.  If Brady is involved, that is well hidden. Agent Taro also says that McChum of the Stumbling Tiger Bar might know where Brady is, which is probably why Gavigan and his goons were also there.  Taro isn't sure who Gavigan is, only that he works for the wealthy businessman Ho Fong.

  Now, it’s the PC's turn to share.  Again, they claim to be freelancers who are interested in Brady and the superweapon, and they have inside knowledge that there is a timeline ticking down.  They show him Huston's journal which talks about a weapon, and mentions Gavigan, and the initials "H.F." which could be Ho Fong.  Gray  Dragon Island is mentioned, but Taro confirms that it is an unclaimed rock in neutral waters, named so because of active steam vents that gives the illusion of a breathing dragon.  It would take a day to get there by boat.

  They ask Taro what he knows of the Order of the Bloated Woman, but Taro says it's only a myth.  As far as he knows, they're up only up against military fanatics, not the supernatural, in which he does not believe.

  Isoje Taro departs soon afterward.  The investigators still don't trust him, wondering if they're being led into an elaborate setup by the cult.  But they have a few new options now:

  1) Go find this warehouse where Brady might be
  2) Learn more about Gray Dragon  Island
  3) Pick the bartender's brain, McChum, if he really knows where Brady is or not.






  Lester uses his Chinese language skills to research the island while Chang talks to McChum, and the bartender isn't too pleased to see Chang back so soon. But Chang throws some Mexican silver dollars his direction and McChum quits complaining.  

  "Look," he says.  "Brady saved my life once.  I owe him that.  I haven't seen him in these parts for months."  Chang asks a few more questions about Roger Carlyle and Jackson Elias, but the bartender is elusive and vague.  Chang finally leaves a message with him: some friends of Jackson Elias are looking for Brady.  If Brady comes here, let him know. McChum shrugs and agrees. In the meantime, Lester is only able to find out that Gray Dragon island is surrounded by deadly reefs, so it will take a skilled boatman or someone familiar with the area to reach it.

  They mull over their options as time continues to dwindle, and the end of the world creeps ever nearer…


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #32:  Jack “Brass” Brady

*Part 2: Kidnapped*


  And the investigators decide to follow up the next clue:  the warehouse for Firm Action.

  All that Isoje Taro told them is that these guys are militant anarchists that the Emperor is having watched because they might be building a superweapon.  There are many political factions vying for control in China, and everyone seems to have a private army. If Brady is involved with this group, the investigators need to find him.

  And then there's that whole business of someone named "Mei Ling" to be killed within three days as the Seven Gates of Heaven if Brady doesn't comply.

  They walk down the docks, and it's night now so Chang is getting jumpy.  But along the way Hans spots a docked boat in the harbor that gives him pause.  There are English letters stenciled on the side:  DARK MISTRESS.

  The words burn in his brain, but he can't remember where he saw them.  He quizzes the others, but they can't remember either. It's not until Hans pulls out his crib sheet of Huston's journal that he sees a small scribbled reference to something called "Dark Mistress in Shanghai." So it's a boat!   They are immediately torn between two options: investigate this boat, or try to find Brady.  There's even the option of just tossing a few sticks of dynamite aboard and sort the mess out later. There's nothing explosives can't fix.

  The boat is dark and possibly unmanned, but they decide to find the warehouse.  Later, they might check out the boat in more detail.  Within half an hour they've found the street, and there is a heavily boarded warehouse next to a loud, steaming metal foundry. Chad sneaks down an alley, but has just barely turned the corner when he sees guards at the end:

  Three of them in front of a padlocked door, all bearing automatic weapons.

  Chad slowly steps back into the shadows.  He's tough, but three machine guns would cut him to ribbons, and he hasn't recovered from Gavigan's magic spell yet. So the investigators devise a clever plan. [GM Note: And Dave wasn't there to object to Chang between thrown into danger!] Using Chang as a courier, the investigators whip up a letter as if it was written by Jackson Elias to his old acquaintance Jack Brady.  They sign it J.E. which seems fashionable to do, and send Chang down the alleyway--unarmed!-- to deliver the note. Hopefully the note will somehow reach Brady who will contact them.  They really don't know any other way to find the man.

  So, while Lester, Hans and Chad hang back out of sight,  Chang approaches the guards, who immediately raise their machine guns.  "STOP!"  Chang stops and hands them the letter, which is immediately ripped open and scanned.  One guard nods at the door.  A second guard unlocks the padlock.  The third keeps his gun trained on Chang.  Chang swallows.  They motion him inside, and Chang's too scared to squeal, "But i'm just the delivery guy!  This wasn't part of the plan!"

  A guard follows him inside, and Chang's nearly releases his bowels when TWENTY armed men and women swing their pistols, shotguns, and automatic rifles in his directions.  "ON YOUR KNEES!" the guard bellows, and kicks Chang down.  He's smacked a few times, bound with rope and gagged and thrown into a very, very dark room.

  Just as dark as the Great City beneath the Outback, and Chang's phobia kicks into high gear, piss squirting hotly down his leg. 

  Ten minutes after Chang's departure, the others still haven't heard from him.  They wait a half hour and start to get very worried. They heard and saw nothing.  He was supposed to come straight back.  Chad sneaks up again and sees two guards.  They wait a full two hours, and still no Chang, and they realize that something bad has happened.  They're thrown Chang to the wolves with no clue how to rescue him! They debate killing the guards, but a little metagame knowledge of the army inside deters them.  Chang could easily be killed.

  Frustrated now, they work their way back to their hostel, but instead of going inside, they find a place to stay nearby: a ramshackle two-story building with squeaking stairs and even squeakier rats, but it serves as a lookout point.  Hans takes first watch, and they observe their hostel across the street to see if anyone is coming or going.  Much later that night they do see movement and hear harsh drunken voices in the street, but more importantly, they find a sheet of paper slipped under the door to their hideout:

  "9 am.  Autumn Cafe."

  Someone knew where they were anyway, and they realize that Shanghai is full of deception and subterfuge. The next morning they arrive at the cafe as instructed and order green tea and sweet cakes.  Twenty minutes later, a Caucasian man casually sits down with them.






  "My name is Jack Brady," he says quietly, "and I think you've been looking for me.  We got your friend too, but don't worry, he's alive.  For now anyway, if you stay on the level with me. Now keep seated! I'm sure you got questions, but i got some talkin' to do, so you listen up and you listen good."

  He is in disguise and only looks vaguely familiar to the picture they possess. Jack Brady launches into an extensive story with hardly a hitch, and the investigators are drawn further into the web of lies and malice that have plagued them and the Carlyle Expedition for such a long, long time. It is a tale of terror.

  WHAT BRADY KNOWS IN A NUTSHELL

  1) He was with the Carlyle Expedition from the beginning and always considered Roger a good friend. He was Roger's bodyguard.
  2) Sorry to hear that Jackson Elias is dead.  He told Jackson EVERYTHING he knew in hopes that people would read his book and destroy the cult
  3) He knew that Roger's black girlfriend M'Weru was trouble. Roger foolishly followed her without question.
  4) Roger had bad dreams about becoming a god, especially in Egypt.
  5) In Cairo, Roger talked about "destroying the eye to open the path"
  6) Roger climbed the Red Pyramid in Dhashur and worked terrible magic.  It broke the seal in half.  Brady took one half of the seal.  The other was never found.
  7) Brady knows what happened; the seal kept evil things out of the world, and Roger broke it on purpose
  8) The whole Carlyle gang, except Brady, disappeared inside the Bent Pyramid for days [this is where Neville turned into an elephant and stomped Nephren-Ka]
  9) They eventually came out, but looked younger and acted different.
  10) They went to Kenya, where Roger told Brady that they had found a true god who would help them rule the earth.
  11) Patricia was sick a lot [the PC's know that she was host to the Spawn of Nyarlathotep in the Black Mountain five years later, another "Bloated Woman"]
  12) Before they left Nairobi for the Black Mountain, Brady decided to kidnap Roger.  He drugged Carlyle, stole the money box, and headed to Mombasa
  13) Roger regains some composure, but upon realizing what he has done, goes even more insane.  Brady finally leaves him in an asylum in Hong Kong.
  14) Brady had friends in Shanghai and planned to stay there...until he saw Aubrey Penhew aboard the Dark Mistress, and knew the evil would never end.
  15) Brady knows that there are cults scattered across the globe under different names, infiltrating every culture, continent and social class.
  16) Firm Action is a militant branch of quasi-terrorists who Brady has convinced to attack Gray  Dragon Island.
      a. Firm Study, Belief, Practice, Action
  17) Mr. Mu, an ally and scholar from the Chinese Museum is translating the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
      a.  Brady learned that this Mythos item was coming to China via boat and hijacked it.  Ho Fong found out, and has been trying to get it back.
      b. With the book translated in the next few days, they can create The Eye of Light & Darkness and place a ward on Gray  Dragon Island
  18) Evil beings cannot approach or be summoned near the eye, although without the second half, the power is greatly weakened.
  19) If successful, Brady wants to place similar wards in Australia, Kenya, and the Bent Pyramid.
  20) The partial Eye will not be invisible, and Nyarlathotep will know how to destroy it. But it's better than nothing.
  21) He's not sure what the superweapon is, but Ho Fong has been importing parts from around the world for a long time.  Spare parts are in other warehouses.
  22) Brady doesn't know what to expect on Gray Dragon  Island, and that greatly frightens him.

  The investigators have a turn to ask their own questions, but one thing they DON'T mention is Mei-Ling! This is quite possibly Jack Brady's girlfriend in Shanghai, a cheap little street whore perhaps, who knows?  But if Brady finds out that Ho Fong and Gavigan have kidnapped her, that could very well jeopardize the entire mission. 

  Assuming, anyway, that Brady doesn't already know.  After all, someone named Chin Chang has been crying, pissing and pooping himself all night, begging for release from a dark, dark room...


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #33: Gray Dragon Island


[Alternate title for the session: "We're Gonna Dynamite the Hell Out of It!" Which could have been the title for many chapters]
*
Part 1: Firm Action*

Hans Hazzenbaum, Chad Slambody and Lester Cobblebottom are still sitting with Jack "Brass" Brady at the Autumn Cafe.  As of last night, Chang Chin was captured by Firm Action at their warehouse and no one has seen him since. According to Brady, he's still alive. It is now 9:30 am. After nearly a year of searching for the lost members of the Carlyle Expedition, they have a good idea what happened to everyone.  Roger Carlyle is in a Hong Kong asylum not too far from Shanghai.  Huston is still in the Great City in Australia, and Sir Audrey Penhew is probably fortified on Gray Dragon Island a few hundred miles offshore.

This island, Brady tells them, is Firm Action's target.

Brady has not told Firm Action exactly what they're up against: supernatural cultists.  He has left it vague. He wanted their help after all, not to sound like a loony.  So Firm Action thinks that they are fighting a corrupt government agency hiding out on the island, financed secretly by businessman Ho Fong. With roughly 150 Firmies in their ranks and plenty of guns, they should be able to put some hurt on the faction.

"And that's the story we peddle," insists Brady, glancing around the cafe.  "Don't mention anything else you might have seen before now.  And God knows you've seen some crazy stuff." He's fidgety, worried that he has been followed. He nods to a slender Chinese fellow who approaches with a tray of green tea.  








The waiter nods curtly and departs.  "That's Chu-Min, leader of Firm Action.  He wanted to see you blokes for himself, to gauge you.  He might look like an innocent kid, but he's a dangerous man.  We've been training Firmies on and off for the past year. They're a bloodthirsty group, I'll grant them that."

But not as bloodthirsty as the Order of the Bloated Woman. Brady says the cultists of Ho Fong use a poisoned sickle as their weapon.  Victims are found with their arms chopped off, the torsos washing up on shore, the arms never to be seen again.  He doesn't know what they do with the arms, or why.   He goes on to say that Ho Fong is a deadly man, probably the most dangerous in all of China, and his mansion is impenetrable.  











Broken glass and spearheads circumvent a thirteen-foot tall stone wall.  The investigators glance at each, secretly wondering if killing Ho Fong or Gavigan in a preemptive strike is a wise decision.  Or a suicidal one?

The investigators have a few questions of their own, but Brady only grants them about ten minutes.  It is too dangerous for him to be out in public like this.  Dangerous for the investigators too.  Gavigan knows who they are and what they're capable of, and has undoubtedly reported back to Ho Fong.  Furthermore, the party has not and WILL not tell Brady about Mei-Ling!  His girlfriend has been captured as a hostage by Ho Fong in exchange for the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan.  If the exchange isn't made by tomorrow, according to Gavigan, she'll die horribly at something called the Gates of Heaven.

As of right now, it is five days until Doomsday, January 14th 1926.  After that, the dead will have a restless sleep until the Great Old Ones return...

The investigators ask Brady about the magical book that he stole.  Brady learned about the book arriving via freight ship from another cultist exporter.  Brady hijacked the ship with some Firmie buddies and stole the book.  He currently has a scholarly friend, Mr. Mu, deciphering the text.  When complete, Brady plans to use his half of the Eye of Light and Darkness to create a partial ward on Gray Dragon Island.  It will be vastly inferior to a full ward if they possessed both halves, but it is better than nothing.  "After that, I plan on placing a ward in The Great City, onThe Mountain of the Black Wind, and finally at the Bent Pyr--Good Christ.  What is that dog doing here?"






And sure enough, the blink-dingo from Australia has mysteriously popped up at Hans's side, growling at thin air. Lester is particularly worried about this; if his assumption is right, the Hounds of Tindalos have their scent, and nothing will stop their pursuit across time and space.  As if they don't have enough things trying to kill them already! Hans pets the dog and it starts licking his hand.

Brady is aware of the time crunch.  Firm Action will be ready soon and they have maps of the island, the reefs, the tides, and capable pilots to maneuver boats close enough to disembark. If the investigators want, they are welcome to add their input. Brady is about to say more when Chu-Min rushes up, a wobbling plate of rice cakes in his hands, and tosses it to the table.  Brady pulls out a small edible note from under the rice cake.  His eyes widen.

"GO!  NOW!  Head back to the warehouse! Don't follow me! GO!"

He springs up and vaults off the balcony, leaving the investigators flustered.  They spin around but don't seen anyone approaching.  Chu-Min has vanished as well.  They are just armed with pistols, so Chad volunteers to return to their hotel and retrieve shotguns and a lightning gun. Hans and Lester will run to the Firm Action warehouse and await for his arrival.  Hopefully, the Firmies won't shoot them.

They split up, pushing through the crowded streets, Hans and Lester getting turned around and forced to backtrack several times down dirty alleys...

...when two men armed with sickles cut off their route. "Capture them!" one shouts in Mandarin.  Lester understands, and Hans get the gist of it.  Hans runs away, but two more men have boxed them in at the other end of the alley, one of whom is a huge, hulking fellow snapping a metal man-catcher!  Morty and Hans are both armed with small caliber pistols, and they dont' hesitate unloading on their foes. Man-catcher is shot through the arm, but that doesn't stop him from clamping the metal teeth of his weapon around Hans's waist.  Hans is slammed into the wall, dazed, but his gun hand is still free and he rattles off several shots. Bullets puncture the man's chest and he collapses backward, dropping the mancatcher.






Meanwhile, a few blocks away Chad Slambody hears gunshots, but naturally assumes that it's not related to his friends...

A sickle slashes Lester's arm and he kills his attacker, but is barely able to toss off the other masked men trying to grapple he and Hans.  Fisticuffs fly between them, and then Lester leaps across the corpses and into the street, Hans hot on his heels. "Keep running, Lester!" pants Hans.  "We got to lose them!"

They run as fast as they can, stuffing their pistols out of sight, throwing back glances to see if they're being followed. Taking a much longer route than necessary, they reach the docks half an hour later and breathlessly limp down the corridor leading to Firm Action's headquarters.  Three guards armed with automatic rifles stop them, but they seem to have be expecting them.  Hans and Lester are pushed inside where they are quickly frisked, disarmed and led to a locked room with their friend Chang.

Chang is doing a little better now, but he had a rough night in absolute darkness.  His pants are still damp. Fortunately, he was SO scared, he forgot to mention anything about Mei-Ling and her impending doom at the Seven Gates of Heaven.  They tell Chang to keep it that way; it might drastically change Brady's course of action.   About an hour later Chad Slambody arrives at the warehouse with bundled shotguns, ammunition and an ass-whopping lightning gun in a burlap sack. He was able to avoid any cultists in the streets, and none followed him as far as he knows.

Before long, the young fighter Chu-Min comes to speak with them.  His smile from earlier is gone, replaced by a scowl that he backs up with angry words.  Chu-Min is a volatile, angry young political dissident.  In Mandarin (he speaks no English) he tells the PC's that he would not allow them here at all except for Brady's insistence.  According to Brady, the investigators are practiced warriors willing to support Firm Action's cause, and they have inside knowledge about the enemy on Gray Dragon Island.  And Chu-Min wants them to start talking.

So, with that introduction out of the way, the party is led to a large table under bright lamps, strewn with maps and paper and cartography tools.  Predominantly featured on the table is a huge map of Gray Dragon Island.  Tapping it, Chu-Min says that they know a primitive village exists near the beachhead.  There is a volcano cone on the west side of the island, but all other sides are steep cliffs.  The only real entrances are two small black sand beaches.






Chu-Min says that Brady will not arrive until right before they leave.  It is too risky otherwise.  The men that hunt Brady do not know about Firm Action and their troops, which will be their greatest advantage: surprise.  Well, that and the hundreds of pistols, submachine guns, grenades, detonators and bombs they've been buying on the Black Market. Firm Action is a literal arsenal, and the PC's are overjoyed to hear this.

Although Chu-Min and his lieutenants have already mapped out their route and general plan of action, they ask the PC's for any input.  Lester is careful to explain to Chu-Min that the enemy on the island have been seduced by a religious cult.  He doesn't mention any magical dangers, but he does say that they are suicidally devoted to their faith.  And there very well could be hundreds and hundreds of zealots...

Their final plan: six boats loaded with roughly 150 people will approach the island under cover of dark. There is a good chance that the enemy thinks SOMEONE will come, but they won't expect so many heavily armed fighters. The investigators will stay on a boat with Jack Brady and ten others, hanging back while the others raid the beachhead.  They will give the Firmies about half an hour to establish a safe zone, and then the PC's will move in.

They debate several options, going back and forth and changing their minds several times, but ultimately there are too many unknowns about Gray Dragon Island.  From what they have experienced in the past, (Lester making an educated guess with his occult and Mythos knowledge) the site at Gray Dragon Island is very likely to follow the same parameters established by previous cult headquarters:  There will be a wide area large enough to accommodate hundreds if not thousands of worshipers; there will be a statue representing the local masks of Nyarlathotep, the Bloated Woman, and there very well might be a demonic guardian in the vicinity.  Fortunately, they're going to have the firepower to deal with these problems.

The next order of business concerns Ho Fong, Gavigan, Aubrey Penhew, and the Dark Mistress.

They briefly consider raiding Ho Fong's mansion.  If they can kill him and/or Edward Gavigan, they'll have two less sorcerers to worry about.  But they decide it will be too difficult, will waste time, and might get themselves killed instead.  The best plan is the current one: sneak attack on Gray Dragon Island with hundreds of angry Chinamen! (and women)  And then there's the whole business with the Dark Mistress.  The investigators didn't board this strange ship when they first saw it, and according to Chu-Min, it stays moored at the docks for very brief periods, only a few hours.  There is something strange about the ship he says, but Chu-Min doesn't know what.  Regardless, they'll keep an eye on the ports to see if and when the Mistress returns again.  If she's there, they'll let the PC's know.

As for Sir Aubrey Penhew, Brady has not seen him in a long, long time.  It is likely that he never leaves the island at all.  It is a fortress of evil solitude.

The last person they talk about is Isoje Taro, the secret agent for the Emperor.  This guy wanted to infiltrate and sabotage whatever superweapon Firm Action was working on, but Taro has been misguided.  The true danger lies on Gray Dragon Island, but Chu-Min is quick to point out that the Emperor and Firm Action are diametrically opposed. Still, the investigators wonder if there is a way to get their help, but they don't have a means to contact Isoje.

That's about all they can do, and the evening passes without incident as the investigators play cards, talking amongst themselves, and try to steel their resolve for the coming battle.  It won't be easy, no matter what happens, and they know that Gray Dragon Island will hold plenty of surprises.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #33: Gray Dragon  Island

* Part 2: Welcoming Party*

  The next morning a visitor arrives at the warehouse:  






  it is Mr. Mu, Jack Brady's scholarly friend and the translator of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan.  He has brought a small scribbled page that Brady wanted the investigators to see, and perhaps judge if it will change their plan of action.  It is a copy of the translation which spells out in detail how the ward must be fashioned to seal the island.  Of note, it requires the blood of an innocent, which Lester thinks means someone who has NO knowledge whatsoever of the Mythos.  Even SEEING a Mythos-elated abomination might taint their subject's blood, so they immediately begin planning how to blindfold, gag, and stuff someone's ears with wax so they cannot possibly see, hear, smell or taste evil! 

  This unlucky person will be their "innocent" whose blood must be spilled during the evocation of the Eye of Light and Darkness. How much blood?  Well, Lester isn't sure about that.   Chad Slambody even suggests buying themselves a young prostitute and using her as an innocent, but in the end they volunteer a young Firm Action guerrilla fighter who they'll keep hidden from the fight. Maybe in a trunk.  Locked in the boat's hold.

  The investigators can't do much more.  It is three days until the eclipse over the Indian Ocean, and with the translation complete, Firm Action is ready to roll.  It will take at least 12 hours to reach the island, so they will be leaving mid-afternoon, arriving well after dark when the tide is high and try to avoid most of the dangerous reefs.  All goes according to plan, and by that afternoon Jack Brady, in another excellent disguise, meets them at the predetermined location.  Firm Action has a small fleet of boats, but they depart from different docks so as not to attract attention.  Brady is carrying the translation of the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan and his half of the Eye of Light and Darkness.

  They'll have just one shot to do this, or they'll have to wait another thirty days until the next full moon.  And by then it might be too late.

  The winds and waves are calm, and by evening a thick cowl of clouds has obscured the darkening sky. There is no moon to be seen, and the night is black as tar.  Anything could be waiting out there.  Around three in the morning, after Hans and Chang have been fighting debilitating sea-seasickness, puking their guts out over the railing, the small fleet of Firmie vessels comes to a halt.






  "The island is that way," says Brady, pointing.  They can't see anything yet.  "The others will approach, we'll hang back as planned and wait for the assault to begin." The other boats putter forward, winding through treacherous waters, bristling with guns, bombs, and fanatically loyal Firmies.  The PC's have a squad of Firmies on their own boat (Three 3rd level lieutenants, seven 1st level grunts). Ten minutes later, while watching with several sets of binoculars, they see the first boat strike the shore and Chu-Min rushes out.  There are now torches seen glittering in the sand on the beach, forming a shallow semi-circle around the landing area.  At a secondary beachhead, they can just barely see a wooden dock jutting out over the water.

  As for the Dark Mistress, there is no sign.

  Twenty troopers disembark into the shallows and splash to shore.  Twenty more land, following their brethren.  All is going well...

  ...until the water around the other boats begin to bubble and froth!

  "Ho-lee ," groans Chad. Inhuman scaled creatures leap from the water by the dozens, hauling people off the small boats or dragging them back into the surf, razor talons and teeth digging into soft flesh.  Screams and gunshots begin to immediately echo across the night. 

  "What do we do?" asks Hans.  "Do we help them?  Or wait it out as planned?"

  "Give 'em time," says Brady.  "Although I do feel guilty 'bout not telling my boys more.  This is a bad, bad place."

  The Firmies take Sanity hits as they encounter Deep Ones and hybrids surging at them like bloodthirsty sharks. Automatic gunfire explodes over the water, punctuated by grenade bursts. But many troops make it to shore, and they're holding their own, mowing down anything green, scaly and slimy under a hail of lead. 






  But the investigators have problems of their own.  Chang and Chad hear it first.  A distinct cracking sound from the hull, followed by muffled creaking.  The fishmen are trying to sink their boat!  "Full power!" yells Brady, and the driver slams the gear forward.  "Get us to the other shoreline! FAST!"  Gasoline fumes pump into the air, and the vessel lurches into motion, sputtering through the black water as the sound of damage continues unabated below them.  To protect their innocent blood sacrifice from any sort of "Sanity" or "Mythos" damage, they've already sequestered a young Firmie below deck and told him to NOT come up no matter what he hears!

  (It's just a guy in a rubber suit!  That's all! Nothing to see here!)

  The boat finally grinds to shore, but after crowding to the railing, the investigators and their comrades see six scaly, amphibious creatures trying to clamber up the sides.  Everyone unloads at once, picking the deep ones off the sides of the boat before they can fully ascend. The last deep one manages to slash over the railing and nearly kills a grunt. Others take him below deck where he'll be safer.  At the other beachhead, dozens of Firmies have reached the small village and are rolling explosives into the huts.  Explosions bloom in the night, sending geysers of sand and limbs spraying down in a grisly rain.  Chu-Min is at the forefront of the attack, swinging his automatic rifle in a wide berth and screaming obscenities.

  Now that the investigators are beached, they see that there are several large bonfires, or burning buildings, they're not sure anymore, and a line of torches leading up to the volcano cone.  But there is movement and light from a cave entrance a few hundred feet up the side of the cone, and to their dismay, dozens and dozens of people are streaking out, nearly all of them swinging sickles.  At least a hundred cultists charge straight toward Chu-Min and his squads, while fifty others veer off and charge south right toward the party.

  "Take 'em down!" shouts Chad.  Everyone starts plugging shots off, dropping a handful of cultists as they cross the distance between them.  But it's not enough, and the next round they're tossing as many grenades as possible.  The earth is torn to pieces from shrapnel, and two dozen more cultists are blown to smithereens, but there's still around thirty still clambering toward the boat, about to surround it. And then it gets worse.

  They hear splashing and growls from the back of the boat.  Chad runs back and sees three more fishmen scaling the side, stabbing their claws into the wood.  He demolishes the head of one monster into green mush with his shotgun, but what Chad sees slithering in the water like a nasty black oil slick sends tremors into his knees.











  Something large, tentacled, and meaner than hell lashes a probing tentacle to the boat railing.  And then two tentacles.  And then three.  And then four.  It begins crawling up, and Chad screams for help and tosses two grenades off the side...

  BOOM! BOOM!  Chunks of the thing's body is pulverized, but it relentlessly continues.

  Back at the bow of the grounded boat, the Firmies and investigators are having problems.  There are too many enemies to simply shoot them all, so they start dropping grenades off the sides, indifferent to the damage inflicted on their own vessel (They might not be leaving this island anyway). Cultists are annihilated as they climb up, although the boat is hideously damaged too.  It won't be floating away, no doubt about that. Lester, Hans and Chang offer Chad a hand, and good thing, because more fishmen are trying to scale the rear of the boat.  The oily abomination pulls itself all the way up, and slaps four meaty, serrated tentacles across the heroes.  The damage is awful, and they stagger back for cover, realizing that concentrated attacks by the monster will easily kill them.  They keep pumping shells into it, backing away as they do so. 

  The last of the cultists attacking the boat are slain, and the investigators retreat from the amorphous monster, stunned by how much damage the thing can absorb.  Numerous maws and eyes and twitching limbs morph from its putrid body, but at least it's movement is restrained on the small deck.  The investigators swap out with the soldiers, the few that have line of sight with the monster, and Chad rips a backpack of gasoline off the guy in front of him, throwing sight unseen toward the back of the boat.  It lands square in the largest mouth of the beast, and the next instant a Firm Action soldier levels his pistol and shoots.

[GM Note: At this point, Leo rolls miraculously LOW damage with 6d6 dice...it's enough to kill or maim three Firmies and launch them off the boat like flaming rags, but it's not enough to kill the shoggoth!]

  They have to get off this boat. If this thing can't be stopped, they need room to run.  Hans leaps off the side, firing in mid-air and twists his ankle upon hitting the sand. Lester follows, and Chang comes last. But Hans Hazzenbaum, our stalwart German anthropologist who has been introduced to the madness of the Mythos since Port Hedland, is the last to shoot the blasphemous thing in the...head?  It's seems all like head and teeth, but no matter, the disgusting abomination stops writhing, the tentacles cease flailing, and the remaining bulk spews out reeking juices and blood and viscera in a wide stinking berth, staining the deck a grisly color.

  And in the hold below, their trembling "innocent blood" wonders what the hell is happening up top.



  And there we stopped.  

[GM Note:That was a 4-hour session.  Next time we play COULD be our last Cthulhu game, guys.  Although it is possible we might need a "Loose Ends" chapter or an "Epilogue" session.  We'll see how far we get our next time.  The rest of Gray Dragon  Island awaits...]


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #34:  The Superweapon

*Part 1: Monologues & Mayhem*


  January 12th, 1926

  Thursday, 2:24 am

  The initial wave of cultists, deep ones, and hybrids have been repelled by the Firmies and investigators.  They stand breathlessly on the bow of their ruined boat and survey the destruction.  The village is a mass of burning huts and bodies.  Limbs are strewn everywhere from the dozens of grenades rolled to the feet of the enemy.  Blood soaks the sand and crimson waves crash to the shoreline.  Moans of the injured waft on the wind, but the investigators are only mildly hurt.  They were able to destroy the shoggoth before it inflicted serious harm.

  But even as Hans Hazzenbaum wipes grit from his eyes, there is an echoing retort of gunfire and a glob of wet brains and blood splatters him!  A Firmie to his side has been shot through the back of the head, the front of his face ripped off.  He falls forward, gurgling.  Hans screams and staggers away, and everyone looks back to the surf: 

  And there it is, the Dark Mistress churning through the water at high speed, and someone taking shots at them with a high powered rifle.  An eerie green light emanates from somewhere below deck.






  "Damn it!" says Chad Slambody.  "I knew we should have sunk that thing!"

  They immediately leap off and find cover.  Not far away, Chu-Min is trotting toward them from the ruined village.  A haze of orange light illuminates everyone, making them easier targets for the Dark Mistress.  Chu-min is injured, blood streaming into his eyes, and dozens of Firm Action fighters follow in his wake.  But then surprisingly, he walks straight up to Jack Brady and cracks him across the jaw!

  "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" he shrieks in Chinese.  "What is this?  What...what are these monsters!"  Chu-Min has obviously gone off the deep end and lost quite a bit of Sanity.  Jack Brady massages his chin, glaring at him, and says,

  "Did what I had to Chu.  To get you here to help me. Get over it."

  The investigators collectively roll their eyes.  No, Brady, don't piss him off more!  But Hans and Chad don't understand a lick of this conversation, only that Chu-Min is furious.  He storms off, taking a large percentage of the Firmies who loyally follow their leader.  Many of the others seem indecisive.  Everyone has taken some Sanity shocks.

  "He's gone mad," says Chang, and Hans gets an idea.  Dragging Chang with him, Hans follows Chu-Min, tapping him on the shoulder and trying to offer psychological counsel, but with Chang as a translator the attempt is garbled.  Chu-Min cannot be swayed.  He says that he's taking as many people from this island as possible, if they can find a boat that will still run.  (They don't know how much damage the fishmen inflicted to the hulls).  Sighing, Hans admits failure, but Chang spins Chu-Min around and forces him into staying!

  "We all die if you leave! The whole world might end! You WILL help us! Fight for your country dammit!"  The persuasion is effective, and Chu-Min grudgingly brings his squads back. 

  Meanwhile, the Dark Mistress is still puttering around offshore, winding through the dangerous reefs and taking occasional shots.  The investigators aren't too sure what to do about that, but they definitely keep an eye on the boat, hoping they don't somehow get flanked by more enemies pouring off of her.  The investigators reconvene with Jack Brady and outline their plan of action:  at this point, they've decided to forgo the Eye of Light and Darkness until the next full moon, assuming they survive this ordeal.  The superweapon must be inside the cone of he volcano, so that is where they head.






  There are 75 Firmies left alive, and they have a fair amount of ammunition and grenades.  Furthermore, almost every last Firm Action member is carrying a backpack with 1-2 gallons of gasoline.  Chu-Min and Jack Brady have collectively brainwashed these young men and women to the point that they are fanatically dangerous, some even so loyal that they will sacrifice themselves for Firm Action's cause.

  And having 75 mini-Gas Camels is the player's dream come true.

  From ground level, the path winds up the cone for about two hundred feet until it reaches a cave entrance.  Torches illuminate the entrance, which is suitably horrible for this island:  a gaping mouth, ringed by writhing tentacles and open eyes. 






  Four 1st level Firmie scouts are sent ahead.  Everyone else begins clambering up the steep path to the cave entrance, but the whole time the wind has been picking up.  Sand whips around their feet and stings their eyes.  At first they're not sure if it is just blurry vision, or a mirage in the night, but the air above the entrance seems hazy.  It quickly grows blurrier and rounder, washing back and forth like swirling liquid in a drain, and to their horror, an inhuman screech erupts from the hole, followed seconds later by an immense flying creature!






  [GM Note:  From now until the end, we had to crank out both abstract and individually detailed attacks, saves, Sanity checks, damage, and deaths for the Firmie squads.  It was more math than I anticipated, but it worked out pretty well.  And over 75 people shooting guns (and lightning!) at one target deals a crapload of damage]

  The dragon-ish creature (a Hunting Horror) bats its tremendous wings and swoops down to the ground, lashing a barbed tail around a scout's waist.  He is severed in two, both halves of his body falling to either side and cascading down the black rocks.  But the Sanity of the Firm Action fighters holds up, and they collectively unleash a barrage of automatic rifles and pistol shots.  Chad, Chang and Brady start pumping shotgun shells at the thing, while Hans and Lester pull out their lightning guns and discharge volleys of hissing blue electricity.  The hunting horror is hammered by the attacks, metal piercing its unnatural flesh in dozens of places.  It staggers under the onslaught, but is resistant to the damage and its wounds quickly begin to heal.  It beats its wings and scuttles forward, snapping the head off another unfortunate victim and battering several more away with its wings.

  The Firmies and investigators keep firing and moving, firing and moving, scaling back down the path as the hunting horror obliterates those closest to it.  But even a demon of its size and wrath cannot withstand so much concentrated firepower.  The beast finally launches fifty feet up into the air, its eyes glowing like hot embers, and the hair of a Firmie in the front ranks begins to smoke.  He screams, "Agh! Agh! It hurts!"  

  [GM Note:  The horror cast Death By Flames, attempting to ignite the gasoline packs they all carried for a lethal chain-reaction.This could have been a truly memorable end to the campaign as these Chinese gas bombs detonate in a line down the mountainside, sending heroes and NPC's alike to their doom].

  A quick-thinking squad leader shoves the man off the side, but horror could not maintain sufficient concentration anyway. The barrage of firepower striking it is just too much.  Twisting and turning, it finally disengages and transforms into smoke, jetting over the cliffs and vanishes from sight.

  Cheers fill the night air, and bolstered by their success, the assault continues up the slope until the entrance is reached.  Squad leaders quickly establish a guard garrison at the entrance. The path inside leads down into the volcano, and it reeks of fumes.  Warmth rises from the depths, and the promise of waiting death. But they're come too far to stop now!  But they're packed tight into the tunnel, and even the rambunctious heroes can see the danger of their flammable friends in such close proximity.  There is a loud speaker mounted near the entrance, and it begins to crackle.

  "Do not resist the will of our Lord," demands a voice.  "Join us, and live forever!"

  As what? Zombies? Well, the investigators aren't too keen about that.  They don't recognize the voice though, even thought he is speaking to them in English.  But they know that the Firmies are walking on thin psychological ice, as well as the investigators.  They have all suffered Sanity loss, and so they decide to rest for a while before continuing, just long enough to calm their nerves.  Soon, several more scouts are sent down the stairs, which are coated in slippery slime.  Their backpacks are removed for this purpose, and it turns out to be a very wise tactic.  Partway down, two of them slip and fall, and roll all the way down through a wall of noxious fumes pumping through a crevasse. Strange sounds emanate from behind the mist, and the investigators hear shrieks of pain. Moments later two scouts clamber back up.  They're injured and say that four men with guns that shot burning violet light were waiting for them!

  Hmm...Hot violet light...gasoline...combined?  [*I swear you guys are a bunch of pyromaniacs.*]

  Chad runs back up the stairs to the entrance.  He has an idea. But even before he arrives he hears scattered gunshots and grenades from outside.  Surging to the top, he sees the guard garrison raining bullets down on another fishman patrol clambering up the slope, attempting to flank them.  But they're just too far away to make it without dying.   Chad grabs a corpse and hauls it back down the stairs, and they fit the body with three backpacks full of gasoline, and roll it down the slippery slope.  The body plunges through the opaque walls of fumes, while Lester contributes to the trap by shouting in Chinese:

  "Oh no! I tripped!"  [Very silly yes, but funny]

  As hoped for, the cultists at the bottom unleash their violet flamethrowers (or whatever they are) at the booby-trapped corpse, and ignite the gasoline.  A bloom of fire flashes up and down the tunnel, sending a small shockwave of force and heat that sears the eyebrows off the nearest investigators.  Dying screams echo from below. Noting human could have survived that point-blank detonation.

  They continue on, seeing black charred bodies that were carrying some sort of metal contraptions on their backs, hooked to a firing nozzle.  It is not exactly a flame thrower, but they're hopelessly damaged now.

  The voice echoes over the loudspeaker system again:  "The time of the Unveiling is at hand!  Do you not wish to witness the birth of a new era?  Do not oppose the might of Nyarlathotep!  Cease your struggle and join us! Your reward will be great."

  The investigators soon see an orange glow emanating from the bottom of the stairwell.  It has grown VERY hot, and they hear bubbling magma. When they finally breach the center of volcano, they see Nyarlathotep's superweapon for the first time and are awed by it.






  It is an immense, silvery rocket nearly 80 feet high.  Girders support it around a magma pit where a blinding white light emanates from multiple rods reaching into the lava.  Nearly two hundred feet away on the opposite side of the cavern is a large dais, with a huge, hideous statue of the Bloated Woman.  Dozens of black-garbed cultists are crowded on or near the dais.   To the investigator's left is a bubbling pool of foul, greenish water, with a cave entrance above it.  To their right is a calmer pool, but the heads of several deep ones lurk there.  Scattered around the central rocket are half a dozen more Chinese cultists. 

  For the third time, the voice crackles over the loudspeaker system.  "I know who you are!  You have been a problem for a long, long while now.  You cannot possibly hope to leave this place alive! I offer you this chance to live forever! Surrender!"

  "Who are you?" shouts Hans.

  After a moment of silence, the voice crackles back:  "Sir Audrey Penhew. Welcome to my evil lair." [Not really, i just had to pretend though]

  So this is the man himself, Nyarlathotep's High Priest now and the main instigator behind this superweapon.  They aren't sure where he is, but he is probably near the dais.  The majority of the Firmies are still crowded into the tunnel, but squads slowly spill out into the cavern.  Hans spots movement in the cave above the bubbling pool, and sees a massive fish man lurking in the shadows.   






  More fishmen clamber out of the opposite pool, hissing.  The cultists on the dais are armed, some with pistols, others with rifles, and the guns are pointed at them.






  Things are about to get very, very messy, very very quickly.  But Lester has a plan!  "Distract him," he whispers to Hans.  "Keep that smug bastard talking for just a minute."

  Hans falters.  "Ah...how...how will we live forever, Penhew?  How...how can we trust you?  Or...your god?  You've been trying to kill us for months!"

  Crackling laughter echoes across the room, tainted by maniacal glee. "Death is but another stage of life," he drawls.  "Our plans have been in motion for years and years now.  This rocket, the warhead, the staging of the Great Work for the eclipse that comes in two days hence.  It is a work of brilliance designed by our Dark Lord. Time and Space shall be ruptured by the radium bomb, and simultaneous rituals will enable Nyarlathotep to fully exist on this world.  Not an avatar, not a summoned entity, but a full and living GOD! We on earth are but his humble servants, and shall be rewarded in the hereafter as rules and kings of the planet."

  Hans manages to keep Penhew monologuing while Lester throws together a (Talent Tree) plan.  Squads are given explicit orders, and most of the gasoline backpacks are removed and placed in the tunnel.  Fishmen continue filling the placid pool, their large bulbous eyes reflecting orange in the lava's glow.  A very, very large deep one steps out of the cave entrance above the green, bubbling pool, holding a glob of gray slime in either hand.   Firmies rank up, making sure guns are loaded and cocked.   Penhew's cultists take aim with their rifles.

  This is about to turn into a Chinese standoff, with the investigators flanked on three sides.

  "Put your weapons down and surrender!" says Penhew again, obviously growing irritated.  "You cannot survive! Put YOUR GUNS D--"

  "FIRE!" screams Lester.

  And Hans shouts to the his invisible blink-dingo from Australia:  "If you're here dog, go bite Penhew!"  Hans doesn't actually see anything happen (worth a try though).

  The good guys win initiative and a hail of bullets explodes toward the large deep one above the green, bubbling pool.  Bullets rip through its chest, heart, head, blasting one hand off at the wrist.  It staggers and then falls forward into the muck.  Lester and Hans unleash jagged voltage from their lightning guns and electrocute a dozen fishmen in the pool nearest to them before they can clamber out, killing them all instantly.






  Squads start shooting at cultists, both near and far, and their shots are returned by enemies on the dais.  Bodies are dropping left and right, but the bubbling green pool turns out to be a huge source of trouble.  Slime sprays out and a truly massive shoggoth lumbers forth, probably three times larger than the one they killed outside.  The Sanity loss for seeing this ten-thousand pound abomination slithering toward them should have been enough to ruin their remaining Sanity, but everyone loses a surprising small amount! [I think I rolled a few 3's]   But not all the Firmies are in the room yet, many of them still crowded into the tunnel. Countless bullets puncture the monster, but inflict minimum damage. 






  "GRENADES!" shouts Chu-Min, and a dozen Firmies toss hand bombs.  Some strike true, but a few others badly miss their mark, roll back, and explode in the middle of their comrades.  The shoggoth raises itself up and scuttles forward at tremendous speed, slamming its bulk down onto crates and Firmies, crushing the life out of eight people at once. The sounds of their bones crushing beneath its bulk is sickening.  The abomination rises up again, flailing pseudopods and innumerable toothy mouths that yawn and snap, spitting saliva at its next juicy targets...

  ...the investigators.




  And there we had to stop.


----------



## Nebulous

The next post will be the last one.  Campaign over.  It actually ended many months ago and we've been playing Star Wars and D&D ever since, which have their own accompanying story pictorials similar to this one.


----------



## Nebulous

Adventure #34: The Superweapon 

*PART 2:  ENDGAME!*

  The immense shoggoth flails toward the Firm Action soldiers, but their Sanity has miraculously held together.  Sticking to their (dubious) plan, the squad starts tossing packs of gasoline at the monster.  One soldier is unsure of this tactical decision, and looks back at Chang and Chad with no small amount of consternation on his face.  But Chad doesn't care, and both he and Chang start shooting at the gasoline tumbling within the membranous folds of the monster.  It ignites in a flash of light and heat, ripping holes in the shoggoth, and incinerating every last nearby soldier.  Their grenades explode as well, and shrapnel pelts Chang and Chad.   The beast roars from multiple mouths, but it is very much alive, smoking and burning and thrashing in even greater rage.






  Chad and Chang run for lives; the creature will annihilate them if it gets closer.  Meanwhile, another squad of Firmies runs toward the rocket, priming their grenades to throw at the support struts. The plan is to weaken the metal and ground so that the weight tears it loose.  Lester Cobblebottom waddles to the entrance of the support tower and squeezes inside.  Spiraling stairs reach all the way to the top, so he starts clambering up.  Hans keeps an eye on the pool, but it is filled with two dozen electrocuted fishmen, and no more seem to be coming out.  Either they're all dead, or they have learned their lesson and are staying away.
















  Firm Action soldiers and Penhew's cultists continue to exchange gunfire, but the cultists suffer severe losses.  Bullets drop them dead one after another, and they roll lifeless down the steps of the dais.  Penhew and the woman at his side have their arms raised and are chanting toward the ceiling, but their allies give them considerable cover from bullets.  Two cultists run at the nearest Firmie squad, trying to ignite explosives in their hands, but they gravely misjudge the distance and explode themselves into chunky pieces.

  The previous squad throws their grenades at the support struts, and the metal and rock is torn asunder by roughly ten grenades.  The weight of the rocket pulls it down to one side, and hot magma wells up out of the pit.  But the rocket is still standing, although the support tower is pulled perilously from its mooring.  Lester is inside when this happens, about halfway up, and is thrown from his feet.  He starts rolling down the metal stairs until he can catch himself, and then starts climbing down before the entire tower falls.






  But the shoggoth proves unstoppable.  It surges forward at incredible speed, mowing over anyone in its path.  The last Firmie squad descends the steps from the entrance tunnel and are obliterated.  The shoggoth rolls over them like a huge, fleshy wave, and uncountable mouths rip into them.  But they too were carrying gasoline packs, and Chad detonates one of these in another lethal round of chain-reactions.  Flames explode over the shoggoth again, smearing chunks of its flesh across the floor and walls.  Greasy, oily smoke roils off its body, and while the mass is smaller than before, the abomination is somehow still alive, and it rolls after fleeing targets.

  [GM Note:  The first explosion of gasoline and grenades dealt roughly 150 points of damage, but this son of a bitch per the d20 rules has close to 500 hit points and regeneration, resistance to just about everything, and Damage Reduction on top of that. I didn't add it to the scenario, it's part of it, but i DID add the smaller one outside that you killed].

  The Firm Action squad near the rocket readies their last grenades to destroy another support strut, but sparking flames rise from the magma pit in a curious fashion.  They have never see a Fire Vampire before, but they throw their grenades anyway.  Most of the grenades bounce true, either ripping through the metal or sending gouts of lava up.  The second support strut is damaged enough that it cannot carry the weight of the rocket, and it begins sliding into the magma pit even faster, displacing more and more magma, and leaning at a sharp angle.






  But one soldier fumbles his grenade. It slips from his sweaty hands, and as he desperately falls to his knees and tries to retrieve it, the bomb explodes in the middle of the group.  It kills or wounds everyone around it.

  Two more suicidal cultists run screaming at another Firm Action squad, and this time they are able to gauge the distance correctly.  They explode kami-kazi style, taking a large part of the Firmie group with them.  The carnage by this point is horrendous.  There are only small handfuls of Firm Action soldiers and cultists left on either side of the fray.   Jack "Brass" Brady is alive, and Chu-Min is amazingly alive as well after the shoggoth rolls over him, but knocks him aside rather than stopping to kill him.  He staggers to his feet, covered head to toe in bloody slime and soot.






  Penhew raises a wall of opaque pink fog that obscures all line of sight to he and the Occidental Woman, but the investigators and other survivors are more worried about the rampaging shoggoth at this point.  It approaches to within a hair's breadth of Chang and Chad, the latter of whom chugs the last of his dynamite into the thing's mass and jumps into the support tower for cover. 

  "Shoot it!" screams Chang to surviving Firm Action soldiers nearby. "SHOOT IT!" 

  They start popping off shots at the small bundled target, and luckily hit the charge.  The dynamite explodes, sending more shoggoth splattering across the room.  The blast completely knocks the tower over and Chad Slambody is thrown into a wall.

  But the goddamn shoggoth is still alive, albeit severely injured.  And the Fire Vampire is spitting sparks across the floor as it floats after horrified victims.

  Penhew and his woman run out of the obscuring mist and make a beeline for a hallway. The Firm Action soldiers run for another door, one with a heavy crossbar sealing it.  Rather than wondering what might be hidden behind the door, they quickly pry the bar off and surge inside, but find that it is a dead end room.  There is a huge cage filled with nearly fifty wailing Chinese prisoners.   The bars are locked, but repeated pistol fire destroys the mechanism and prisoners start surging out, only to see the monstrous shoggoth not far away.  The shoggoth is quite pleased to see more food.

  The rocket by now has slid over halfway into the lava pit, and is positioned at a precarious angle.  Even if it were to launch, it wouldn't rise straight up.  Somehow, Chang has a feeling that the Yithian Kakakatak is with him in mind or spirit, and Chang knows that the rocket is of Yithian origin, from plans stolen in Australia. There is a chance that it still might launch after it has siphoned enough energy from the lava, but Chang doesn't know if it will detonate or not.  If the warhead is primed, as the Yithian knows, the radioactive blast will destroy all of Gray  Dragon Island.

  Chad, Lester, Chang and Hans grab Brady and Chu-Min, and they all rush for the exit.  They've used most of the firepower at their disposal, and the abominable shoggoth is still alive. The lightning gun is their last hope for defense, but would require someone getting suicidally close to the beast.  They elect to run instead and detonate the gasoline packs in the entrance hall.  The shoggoth starts chasing prisoners and cultists, devouring and crushing anything it can catch.

  The investigators cram everything they can find into the hall, including the last two sticks of dynamite, then they climb up the steps to the exit, reconvene with the five guards garrisoned at the top, and roll their grenades down. The gas, dynamite and grenades ignite in an earth-rocking explosion, and the tunnel is collapsed.  Dust and fire billows out, but they're already running down the side of the volcanic cone for the beach. 

  Inside the mountain, Aubrey Penhew is still alive, and it is unknown if he has a route of escape. But they feel certain that the rocket cannot be launched; they inflicted significant damage to it, far too much damage to be repaired by the time of the eclipse on January 14th.  They rush to the beach, and are dismayed to see the Dark Mistress still puttering around several hundred yards offshore.  Using their last lightning gun, Hans electrocutes the water again, and they kill several more deep ones hiding in ambush just under the surface.  They all swim out to the remaining boat and clamber inside, knowing that they don't have a chance in hell of outrunning the Dark Mistress.  She barrels at them for a few moments, but before it gets within range of combat, the Dark Mistress veers off and races at high speed to the East, probably for Shanghai.

  Where they know Ho Fong is still on the mainland, and that bastard Edward Gavigan.











  The investigators slump to the floor while Chu-Min wordlessly starts the engines.  He is covered by blood and slime, his hands trembling so much that he can barely control the steering wheel.  He will never be the same again. Jack Brady stares into space, mumbling to himself and clutching the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan to his chest like a baby.  He will have to return in a month's time with "innocent blood" to attempt to ritual for the warding spell, assuming that they successfully managed to stop the rocket from launching. 

  Han's Sanity is healthy enough, but he has seen more horrors than any anthropologist should ever be exposed to.  The universe is a fouler place than he suspected. Perhaps if their obligations are done here (you know, saving the world and all that) he will return to Port Hedland, but knows there is nothing left for him there.  Perhaps his homeland of Germany beckons, to be as far from the Mythos taint as he can possibly get.  Unfortunately, Hans has the uncomfortable feeling that once he is alone his blink dingo will return, for some unseen monstrosity beyond Time and Space waits for the chance to strike, bending and folding itself from interdimensional angles to snap at him...






  Chad Slambody teeters at the edge of madness.  His necrophilia is intact and permanent, a psychotic disorder that will continue to plague him for the rest of his life.  He is sexually and psychologically very confused, glaring darkly across the water and wondering how to feed his secret addiction. Maybe he'll get a job as a gravedigger.






  Lester Cobblebottom has been on a downward spiral ever since seeing the avatar of Nyarlathotep at the Mountain of the Black Wind. He mumbles to himself as well, and expects at any moment for fish-men to clamber up the sides of the boat and pull him into the water. He doesn't know how he will ever be able to reintroduce himself to a normal career again, for the world as he knew it is merely a convenient facade for a much darker truth.






  And Chang Chin, mafioso, clergyman and Karate teacher, sucks in the cool salt air and ponders how in God's name did he manage to stay alive for the past year, ever since finding Jackson Elias dead in New York City.  Would he have come on this horrible journey if he knew the price to pay?  He can't really say. And what is this alien presence he feels behind his eyes?  Kakakatak is with him, but whether this bodes good or ill remains to be seen. It was Yithian technology that nearly ended the world.

  Their little boat limps toward Shanghai to refuel, and they're unsure of what exactly will be waiting for them when they arrive.  In two short days they will know if their efforts at Gray Dragon Island have fully paid off.  If the dead begin to rise from their graves and consume they living, they'll know that they failed. But they think they succeeded.  The rocket cannot launch. It must not.  They think they stopped it. They think so.

  They...pray so.

THE END



GM NOTE:

  Great game everyone, that was a classic campaign!

This isn't a bad place to stop, but if you want to collaborate via some email exchanges, i'm all for that.  Such as-- if you have specific plans for your characters, we can add that as an epilogue. The Dark Mistress, Ho Fong, Gavigan, Penhew, Huston, and M' Weru are dangling loose ends, but that's sort of cool too.  These are all very dangerous cultists who will continue their unabated worship of Nyarlathotep, perhaps trying to build another rocket for a future eclipse in ten years or so. You've managed to save the world at great personal self-sacrifice, but the war is not won.  These individuals will continue to stir up trouble in other, lesser ways, but maybe that is just for other heroes to worry about.   
  As an aside, this whole chapter would have gone differently if you had captured the Dark Mistress and tortured the Captain for answers about Penhew and the island. He was a half-breed deep one himself, Captain Saryovard.

  Oh, and now is a good time to tell Brady about his girlfriend Mei-Ling. "By the way Jack, in all the excitement, we forgot to mention that..."






  As for the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan, in the campaign book they were actually stolen by Brady from a guy named Lin-Tang.  






  He was another faction trying to kill Brady, not just Ho Fong and Gavigan. He had a whole section devoted to him, but i condensed it.  And there was a red-herring with yet another demon cat scenario i chopped out.  And getting into Ho Fong's mansion to rescue Mei-Ling would have been problematic, but possible. It didn't help that Gavigan knew about your presence and all security forces were alerted.  Gavigan had deadly spell potential and could have cast Fist of Yog-Sothoth many times. And Ho Fong looks just like the villain from Big Trouble in Little China when he starts casting magic.  Again, much of the Shanghai chapter was skipped, but it was fun nonetheless.






  Isoje Taro was not fully exploited, but things were getting confusing enough with Chu-Min and all the Firmies.  It is still possible to find Commander Taro if you want, although i'm not sure what you would tell him.

  The only member of the party you never met was Roger Carlyle.  He is in a Hong  Kong asylum under an assumed name that Brady knows.

  The warhead is in Penhew's workshop, and was going to be mounted the next day on the rocket. I was a little lenient with the grenades blowing up the support struts, they were supposed to be tougher and require cutting through them with the violet torch guns.  The warhead is still primed and is a functional radium bomb that will spread poison over a hundred square miles if it detonates (such as by dropping it in magma).  Penhew has locked himself into his private chambers, and the shoggoth will kill everyone it sees and finally return to its pool to regenerate.  Tricking the shoggoth into the tunnel when you were leaving would have killed it, the sucker was down to about 30 hit points.

  I'm still astounded that none of the core party died or went crazy in there. Luck was really with you (and uh, not with 75 alternate targets). As for Star Wars, we're definitely establishing from Day 1 how much damage explosives do, how much you can carry, and how much you can afford. Fortunately, the book covers that.  [thermal detonators are probably the equivalent of dynamite; if you start lashing drums of starfighter fuel to droids and Jawas I might actually cry]

  Honestly, in Star Wars terms, I think your sadistic Cthulhu characters would have amassed more Dark Side Points than Emperor Palpatine!


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## Nebulous

Thanks for reading everyone.  This was a really fun campaign and I hope some of that passed off in the recaps.  See you around!  

Ia! Ia! 

Nebulous


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## Dr Simon

Gah, you snuck the ending in when I wasn't looking.

Well, I'm sorry to see that they didn't set off the nuclear bomb and blow everyone up in the end, but that James Bond-esque segment was perfectly suited to your players.

Thanks for one of the most amusing Call of Cthulhu tales I've ever read! Looking fowards to the Star Wars one, and I see the stormtrooper minis couldn't wait until the game started....


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## Nebulous

Dr Simon said:


> Thanks for one of the most amusing Call of Cthulhu tales I've ever read! Looking fowards to the Star Wars one, and I see the stormtrooper minis couldn't wait until the game started....




Thank you!  It is the first campaign i've ever fully finished, they usual peter out and we move on to something else. And yeah, we were all itching to play Star Wars before the Masks campaign was over.  It's been great fun so far.  

Nebulous


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## Jasperak

That was an awesome read over the past months. I would have loved to played in that game. Kudos to you Nebulous. I think I need to have a cigarette now.


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## Schmoe

I just started reading this today... but I'm already on chapter 12!  This is a great read, thanks for posting it.  Now I'm itching to find a CoC game


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## Nebulous

Schmoe said:


> I just started reading this today... but I'm already on chapter 12!  This is a great read, thanks for posting it.  Now I'm itching to find a CoC game




Ha, well, i'm glad you're enjoying it.  Better late than never


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## mikeawmids

I only just found and read this entire thread and it is possibly the best Story Hour I have ever had the fortune to read. Thankyou to the GM and players for putting this up online.


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