Masks of Nyarlathotep 4
Our fourth session of Call of Cthulhu’s Masks of Nyarlathotep starts with a time skip to 1925. It has been four years since we left Peru. Four years since we found the lost Pyramid and uncovered some mysteries around Larkin and the creatures of the Pyramid. Evelyn has gone back to London, where she has continued her work at the British Museum. She has been working on an exhibition based around the explorations of and findings of Flinders Petrie. He had discovered a turquoise mine in Sinia, where there was a temple of Hathor.
Except for some communications with Jackson Elias, Evelyn has not heard from the others of that expedition. Last she heard, they had gone back to the USA. For her part, Evelyn has mostly tried to forget what happened, but that hasn’t stopped the inquisitive side of her occasionally digging into the topic of the occult. Such investigations are often followed by an application of alcohol to help her forget.
Saturday, January 3rd, 1925
This morning I received a telegram from Jackson Elias, asking to meet in New York in 12 days. He has news about the Carlyle Expedition, which went missing a few years ago. It had been found massacred in 1920 whilst looking for Biblical treasures in the Great Rift Valley. The noted Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew had also been part of the exhibition, and he was found dead with the others.
The next ship to New York leaves on Monday, so I don’t have much time. Coming up with an excuse to get the Museum to expense it wasn’t as hard as I feared, but most of this is going to have to come out of my pocket. Fortunately, they still remember that the last time I ran off I came back with a lot of gold artefacts for them to add to their collection, so they are hoping for the same again.
The rest of the day is spent digging through newspaper report on the Carlyle Expedition. They vanished in 1919, and were found massacred and mutilated almost beyond recognition in 1920. Local tribesmen were blamed for the atrocity, but those accused never gave a reason for why they had done it.
It had been led by Roger Carlyle, a New York playboy, along with Sir Aubrey Penhew. There was a Miss Hypatia Masters, another New York socialite, Mr Jack Brady, an ex-Marine, and Dr Robert Huston (a doctor of medicine) who were also part of the expedition.
After they went missing, it was Roger’s sister, Erica Carlyle, who drove the investigation into what had happened.
Some of this I had already heard about it, but the full details wasn’t something I’d really paid attention to at the time.
Monday, January 5th
I caught a ship to New York on Monday morning, and are due to arrive in New York on the 10th. Though it’s officially ‘first class’, the ship is not the best that I’ve been on. Fortunately, there is a good supply of alcohol which needs to be finished before we get to New York.
January 10th, Saturday
I arrive in New York, mostly recovered from a hang over, and head to find the Waldorph Astoria to get a room for the week. I’m expecting that we won’t be spending long here. If we have to go all the way back East after this though, I’m going to be annoyed.
The following morning, I meet two of my previous companions – Clayton and Monty – at breakfast. Clayton is still staring in movies, but Monty has moved up in the world and has joined the Bureau of Investigation.
Apparently the two have already made good use of the hotel’s concierge, Alfred Wilson, to find out information, and he comes to deliver a message from Elias to say that he is journeying in New England, and to meet him on the 15th at the Hotel Chelsea at 8pm.
January 12th, Monday
I go to the main New York library, to see if they have any information on the exhibition. However, the librarians here are very rude, and kick me out. They didn’t even use the correct classification system for organising their collection, and they got very upset when I pointed this out to them. Apparently I’m not allowed back.
Fortunately, Alfred seems to know everyone who knows anything in the city, and is able to dig out the information we need and arrange meetings for us.
January 13th, Tuesday
Mr Bradley Gray is the lawyer for Roger Carlyle, who Monty managed to track down after questioning Alfred. Monty gets a meeting with him in the morning. He has been representing the Carlyle family for several generations. Roger and Erica were orphaned at an early age. Roger was always fond of the esoteric, and had been investing a large portion of the family fortune in the expedition.
Miss Hypatia Masters was heiress to the Masters Armament factory. She was always well known for her documentation of the more interesting end of the immigrant community, photographing their customs and practices.
Mr Brady was a sergeant in the marine corp who had served in Shanghai and in the Western Front.
Jonah Kensington is Elias’ publisher, and Clayton and myself go to meet with him. He hasn’t seen Jackson for a while. He does know that Jackson is working on a new book. Clayton’s charms win over Jonah, and he shows us a letter from Elias. It says that he doesn’t believe all the members of the expedition died, and that the cult angle was probably hidden. The letter was sent from Hampton House Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya back in August of last year.
Unusually, it is signed “Blood and kisses”.
January 15th, Thursday
In the evening, we head to Hotel Chelsea to meet with Jackson Elias. We go up to Jackson’s room. Though there was the sound of movement from in the room, nobody answers our knocking. So Clayton barges the door open. Jackson is laying on the floor, his intestines hanging out. There are two black men, and a white man, going through his things. All three are wearing headbands with long cloth strips hanging down behind.
With a yell, Clayton charges into the room, towards the white guy leaning over Jackson’s body. Monty pulled out his gun and called out for everyone to stop. Clayton tripped over Jackson’s body, landing on the ground, clearing the way for Monty to shoot one of them, hitting them in their leg.
I popped my head around the door, and seeing Jackson on the floor went for him to see if I could do anything for him. Monty shot another one, and the third came charging at us swinging a knife. There was more shooting, and I kept my head down whilst getting to Jackson.
He is dead. He also seems to have a design carved into his forehead, which looked very much like the tattoo which we saw on Larkin’s chest all those years ago.
As the shooting stopped, I tried to patch up the others who had been shot. If they died, we wouldn’t be able to question them.
Lefty heads downstairs to take charge of the police situation, whilst the rest of us searched the bodies, including Jackson. We found several letters, photos and business cards upon their persons. There was also a flyer for a “tonight only” talk on Polynesian cults by Professor Antony Cowles. However, there was no date on the flyer.
Amongst the items we found on the various bodies were:
- Business card for Edward Gavigan, Director of the The Penhew Foundation. 35 Tottenham Court Road, London
- A box of matches from the Stumbling Tiger on 10 Lantern Street (presumably in Shanghai)
- A photo of Shanghai
- Business card for Emerson Imports, 648 West 47 Street New York
- A letter from Miriam Atwright at Harvard, to Jackson, about a book he was looking for.
- A letter from M Warren Besart in Cairo, to Roger Carlyle, saying that someone on the Street of Jackals had a thing to sell.
Once the police arrive and figure out what happened, we were asked to go with them in order to clear up matters. They are very polite, and once we get them some fresh doughnuts (thanks to Alfred), are willing to share things with us. Apparently Jackson is the ninth person to turn up with this symbol carved on their head. The detective mentions a Dr Lemming, who identified the symbol as belonging to a death cult. That’s a name that Alfred had turned up previously when we were trying to find someone who had knowledge of African cults.
Apparently, the string of murder cases was considered closed after a Captain Robson arrested a local man, Hilton Adams. Adams had been found at the scene of the eighth murder and was now awaiting execution. The murders had occurred over the last couple of years. The detective we spoke to mentioned that Captain Robson hadn’t been much of a detective, so it was surprising that he had managed to solve it.
January 16th, Friday
Next morning, we meet up to have a conversation over breakfast. During breakfast, we receive a couple of messages. The first is that the funeral of Jackson will be happening tomorrow. This is something that we want to attend, not just out of respect, but also to see who else turns up.
The second is a request by Jackson’s lawyers for us to attend the will reading.
After some discussion, we decide to go to Emmerson Imports, which is owned by Mr Arthur Emmerson. They do shipping for things all around the world. Jackson came to him asking whether he was importing anything from Mombasa, in Kenya. Emmerson is the US agent for an Mobasan import Aja Sing. He imports African art – masks, drums, spears etc – into New York.
Goods are sent to Ju Ju House in New York, which is owned by Silas N’Kwane, who’s name was on the back of the business card.
So we head to the Ju Ju House in Harlem. There is a dubious looking courtyard in which the Ju Ju House is located, in the middle of a set of tenements. However, there are some nice pieces of African carved art in the shop window. They look someone more expensive than I’d expect for the area. Clayton goes in asking about getting stuff for his films, and I’m going along as his assistant, and the others as hangers on. It’s a small shop, filled with artefacts. There are fetishes which are components of ritual magic from various African cultures on display up on the walls.
The guy behind the counter is an African American man, who identifies himself as Silas N’Kwane. He is wearing a shuka, which is something of Maasai tribe. He doesn’t look Maasai. He is very insistent that he only sells art, despite the objects on display suggesting otherwise.
He does seem to be trying to hide something, and when the name of Elias is mentioned, we are almost certain that his denial of knowing the man is a lie.
Whilst I try to haggle down the prices of some of the items that Clayton is showing interest in, the door opens and three black men try to come into the shop. They seem quite large, and are possibly carrying guns. N’Kwane insists that we leave so he can deal with other customers. We leave, though Lefty and Monty hang around outside to try and listen in on what is being discussed.
Their attempts are only partially successful, and they overhear mention of “not back”, “Madari” and “moving some boxes”. Possibly we need to investigate the place further, but all of us stick out rather obviously in this part of the city so we’ll need to come up with a way of doing this.
There was an awful lot of information being thrown around in this session, much more so than in the previous three. It’s the sort of thing where it might be useful to have a board to keep track of everything, with little bits of thread connecting them altogether. I did try putting together a mind map using some random mind map software, though the one I chose might not be the best choice.
Since we are together in person, it might be nice to have a real board, though finding something big enough that can be stored between sessions might not be practical.
In any case, it was a good session, which kicks off the ‘sandbox’ part of the campaign. I’m guessing that where we go next will be very much up to us. London, Cairo, Kenya and Shanghai are all prospects at the moment. I’m sure that more options will turn up over time.
