Well, we were in the middle of it. I quickly looked around but found no ceremonial weapons to beat the zombies with. So I started blasting. Fortunately, we had our weapons prepared. Even my gimpy backup pistol did work, and we only took 1 punch to Archie's chest before downing the living dead.
Just as combat was winding down, I heard footsteps. We stepped out of the way to let a cultist run down the stairs. Amos knocked him out.
We did some looking around, hiding the unconscious cultist in a box seemingly specifically designed to carry human bodies. We examined the corpses, but other than signs of ritual execution, there was nothing particular. We quickly took whatever items seemed of interest, then rushed up the stairs to set an ambush for any further visitors. Just in time, as Silas was approaching with another cultist in tow.
We hid around the shop, weapons at the ready, hoping to surprise both of them and block their escape. However, the cultist escaped, and we only got Silas. Amos knocked him out as well.
With the escaped cultist possibly bringing in reinforcements, and us not wanting to risk a shootout where we could be investigated, or even worse, face the police, we put Silas in a box and torched the place. We took him to an abandoned mill, courtesy of Archie, and tried to question him. However, he went fully mad and no useful info came forth. I tried my charms but only enraged him. Seems like someone who doesn't tolerate women in power.
We looked at the looted items instead. Among them was:
- a book titled Africa's Dark Secrets, property of trustees of Harvard university
- a lockbox: Archie failed his lockpicking but Amos smashed it up, and we got some watches and jewelry
- an unnaturally warm headband decorated with cuneiform script
- an African mask with 4 monstrous creatures on top as decoration
- a Bloody Tongue cult mask (with actual human tongue)
- a fist weapon made of lion claws
- a burnished copper bowl
- a carved wooden scepter decorated with Egyptian hyeroglyphs
- a marine chronometer set to Greenwich timezone
- a high priest's robe
Lacking any other ideas, I put on the headband, and Sanchez tried on the mask. It tied around his head, leading to a vision... next session.
#####################################################
So while Sanchez was breathing steadily under the mask forced on his head, we killed Silas and pondered on what to do. Amos went out to siphon some gas to burn the corpse with.
Quickly, Sanchez recovered[1], started speaking Spanish and was apparently suffering from memory loss. He had no idea we had left Peru. I tried to calm him, but his touch burned my arm. Finally, he wandered over to Silas to check for a pulse, but the old man's arms sloughed off at his touch.
Just as we were processing all this crap, Amos ran in talking about some flying monster coming our way. Just as we readied our guns, a gigantic hunting horror broke through the wall, and hissed about us dying at the command of the sorcerer.
Time to exit, stage right. Good thing Amos made his previous checks, and the car wasn't totally out of gas, and the siphon was put away. The monster slithered unto the mill as we sped away.
Now unfortunately Amos isn't our best driver, and he failed his check at the first 90 degree bend in the road. We slid out unto the snow, and hurriedly got out to push the car back. The monster flew over us and randomly tried to hit me with its tail, but a dodge and a bit of luck[2] saved me.
We sped off again. The horror attacked the car, ripping off the roof. Easier target to shoot at! But Sanchez fumbled so hard, he let my spare gun fly away into the snow. Amos made his check at the following stretch of icy road, and we kept shooting at the monster while overtaking another vehicle. At this point the chase seemed dire, but double crits from both Archie and myself[3] made the horror fall behind, just enough for the sun to rise. The monster burst into flames and quickly hid in between the surrounding trees. Whew. We reached New York without further incident.
 |
| Who's left? Who's relevant? |
We quickly parked the car to avoid being pulled over due to missing roof syndrome, and debated our next destination. With things heating up in New York, the decision was to abandon the city and pursue whatever other leads we had in the States. Sanchez, still in his bout of madness, only wanted to go back to Peru, which I promised to silence him. Pinky promise. Which made my right pinky fall off at the last knuckle.[4] Sigh.
We took an overnight train to Massachusetts, aiming for Harvard University. I studied my wounds, which seemed to have transitioned to necrosis, and would heal in time. Sanchez studied the book we found, Africa's Dark Sects by one Nigel Bladewell. A quick once-over indicated that these African adventures described several tribes and their rites, and might contain some knowledge of actual magic. But it would take 6 weeks to fully comprehend all of it.
We stopped at Harvard to talk to Miriam Atwright, mentioning Jackson and their correspondence. The professor was distraught at hearing of Jackson's murder, but did everything in her power to aid us in our search. We kept quiet about finding the book they were missing, which apparently disappeared one night while under lock and key, with an unspeakable odor left in the room. The university tried to get another copy, but couldn't find any. We asked about the symbol cut into Jackson's forehead, and the professor, along with a later search in the library, yielded some new information. The Cult of the Bloody Tongue was originally Kenyan, but at some point was exiled from dynastic Egypt - going back a long way and further muddying the waters regarding the Carlyle expedition. We found references to a book titled Équinoxe Divisé but no further information regarding writer or publisher.
Taking our goodbyes from Miriam, we went to test Sanchez' newfound powers by trying to adopt an animal. The kitten dissolved in Sanchez' gloved hands, and we narrowly escaped the proprietor chasing us with a baseball bat.
Unwilling to stay more in the city, we took a train to Arkham, and geared up before further issues arose. I bought pistols and ammunition for everybody. A short telegram to Jackson's lawyer ensured the rental car and other issues would be taken care of.
The next day, we asked around after Professor Cowles, as mentioned in the leaflet we found in Silas' lockbox. Everybody knew of him, on account of his beautiful daughter.[5] After researching his daily routine, we purposefully ran into him on the street in front of his favorite restaurant, and invited him and his daughter Ewa to lunch. An extreme success on my charm check resulted in a lot of information about an Australian death cult involving bats. We also obtained a letter of recommendation. This, we decided, would be our next destination.
As we boarded a ship to Australia, a newspaper article talked about arson in Harlem. The basement supposedly contained some dangerous animal, like a bear, which killed 4 firefighters as they rushed in to contain the blaze. Suspects still at large!
This was actually the end of a chapter. We endured sanity gains and losses, and decided to resolve skill progression the following session.
[1] After a lengthy 1-on-1 talk with the Keeper.
[2] 4 to be exact.
[3] I did an astonishing 22 damage.
[4] Totally appropriate for Lucy.
[5] And totally not for looking like Thormund Giantsbane.
No comments:
Post a Comment