Cairo Part 1 Audio

That Girdle Belongs in Either a Museum or My Pocket!

Fresh from battle, our jolly bunch of investigators found it beneficial to come up with a plan. That plan consisted of getting the sam-hill out of dodge. They had delivered a mighty blow to the London chapter of the Cult of the black Pharaoh, but certainly not a fatal one. With injuries and death a-plenty, they headed back to their hotel.

The next morning they awoke to an empty bed with a letter from Horace Scarth, detailing why he chose to depart from the expedition. Frankly, I believe it was primarily due to the giant skeletal bird and the fact that he was almost sucked into a painting with a bunch of lizard people. Whatever the REAL reason, he was gone from their lives for good. Smallhousen, as you know died and Colette wasn't ding so hot. After Regina convinced Inspector Barrington to purchase her a new firearm, the crazy bunch of hooligans headed for the nearest shipyard to catch a ship Cairo.

Once on bored they were introduced to a bevy of fine individuals that were increasingly eager to join in the excitement. Miss Olivia Pendergast was found obsessively re-arranging the ships library when Elly Mists stumbled in and introduced herself. The two talked briefly and found out that they had crossed paths in London. Miss Pendergast was a a curator for the London Museum of Natural history (or something like that).

At dinner, a Fimi Defonce invited herself to the table where she began to inquire about the Carlyle expedition. Her bubbly personality managed to irk no one, surprisingly. She was the daughter of a famous Belgian detective, and was out to prove her chops to the world by solving a long closed mystery.

Conversations continued, and everyone was just charmed with Fimi, until the attention was pulled to their waiter, a man with a thick french accent and shifty eyes. Jock Botam, thief extraordinaire introduced himself. He pegged them right away as a force to be reckoned with, so he dropped the waiter act and offered to assist them on whatever they might be up to.

The rest of the trip consisted of drinks, libraries, healing and sneaking. Then they arrived at Port Siade.

Fimi, Olivia and Jock had no problem getting off the boat. It quickly became apparent to the rest, however, that they should have filed for permits for their firearms before leaving the country. It took the remainder of Regina Shmee's gin rations to bribe the customs officer into allowing them to keep their boomsticks. They then boarded a train, with Yalesha's help, and headed for Cairo.

For those that don't remember, Yalesha was a dancer at the Blue Pyramid in London. The group saved her from becoming a ritual sacrifice, and in return she agreed to be their guide while in her home country of Egypt.

The train ride was, sketchy, to say the least. The train stopped at strange intervals, and there were a group of men keeping tabs on our, primarily female, bunch of travelers. Once in Cairo, Yalesha found a small hovel of a hotel to stay in for cheap. Though tiny, it was clean, much to the relief of Miss Pendergast.

Night fell and with it the investigators. Into sleep, that is. Fimi decided to take the second watch, during which she heard voices arguing outside the door. She quickly woke Yalesha to translate. The men from the train were seeking the westerners. After waking the rest of the group, it was a miracle the arguing voices didn't hear the innumerable guns cocking in the next room. A knock came. Yalesha insisted it was just the inn-keeper. She was correct. He warned them that someone was out to get them (duh) and that they should be very careful. Regina took this opportunity to show off her new necklace which displayed an inverted ankh and asked if they were wearing something similar. This was not appreciated. The inn-keeper told them they could stay the night at no charge, but that they would have to find a new place to stay from then on.

The following morning they hit the streets and found an English Language news paper. It primarily focused on social events, but proved to be a wealth of information. Also the man in charge loved westerners and allowed them to use his telegraph machine for free. Colette immediately sent a wire to Harriet Oslow in New York telling her that the desperately needed money. Discussions were had regarding Omar Shokti, Willem Besart and Faraz Najir. There was an interesting story about a current Penhew Foundation dig in Egypt, the Clive Expedition. Rumor was that they had found the mummy of the evil Queen Niticris, who reigned alongside the Black Pharaoh in the third dynasty. However it had been mysteriously stolen. Also, the found the local favorite restaurant of the Carlyle expedition; The Turf Club.

Hungry and tires our heroes went in search of the upscale dining facility that they had no hopes of affording a real meal at. After finagling their way into the establishment, they met a fine man by the name of Jasper. It brought back painful memories of their beloved Jasper Eagleton, but this man simply wanted to chat and had no real information to offer aside from what was readily available to them. After they decided to split a salad, they questioned the waiter and mater' de. The Carlyle expedition had indeed dined here quite frequently, until they left for Africa, of course. Before leaving, Pendergast and Jock noticed a barely noticeable powdery substance on the rim of their unused drinking glasses. The two began wiping the substance up with their handkerchiefs. Jock did so to inspect the substance later, Olivia just compulsively cleaned them.

One thing they had learned in particular about Mr. Faraz Najir was that he was one of the few people that saw Jackson elias during his time in Egypt. He apparently sold antiquities. After learning that he was a customer of the local shipping house found in a ledger they ransacked from the Penhew Foundation's chairman, they decided to look him up.

Faraz Najir had a shop on the street of the Jackal. That is, he did, what was left of it was simply ash and rubble, with a single necklace with an inverted Ankh in the wreckage. Locals informed the investigators that the shop had been cursed and a supernatural force burned it to the ground. Najir had opened a new shop further down the street.

It has become almost a sacred ritual for this lot to rough up local shop keepers, so they commenced with the usual accusations and threats. Eventually, once Regina showed off her fancy new cultist necklace, he went completely crazy and started waving a scimitar at them. A crowd gathered and a riot almost started, until the group decided to pull out the strongest remedy to a heightened situation they knew of. Cash. Bribing the poor man who had lost almost everything (including his good looks, half his face was scarred from the fire) the got him to agree to a scret meeting the following day at a local mosque.

Calling it a day, they headed to their new digs, a local family that Yalesha knew had offered to house them and keep their belongings secure. At peace, oddly, they all slept wonderfully and headed out to the local importer where they hoped to find out more information about stuff and sundries and ledgers and business and such.

Jock wasted no time in casing out the joint, attempting to see if it had any gaps in security. It did not. A man offered to answer any questions they might hae, though he appeared to be very busy. Hoping to understand just what the contents of the ledger meant, the man was able to trace certain artifacts to Faraz, Shokti and a Willem Besart. Olivia Pendergast posed as a liaison for the Egyptian museum, and in doing so received a small crate that they asked her to deliver. The crate, according to the slip, contained an ancient Egyptian scroll and two stone scarabs. Her creed was, for perhaps the first time, put to the test.

Surprised and relieved, they found Najir still alive and willing to talk. He escorted them his local Mosque and informed them of the dangers surrounding the Brotherhood and how he believed they were attempting to raise the evil Niticris from the dead. He was convinced that they were after something hidden in the Mosque of Ibn-Tulun, also located in Cairo. As for connections with Jackson Elias, he had sold the man a statue of Ra, as well as sundry information about the brotherhood. Roger Carlyle had used his agent to purchase items as well, a Mr. Besart, who still resided in Egypt, as far as Najir knew, though he couldn't say where. Ripe with information and leads, the gang decided there was still enough time to hit the Mosque of Ibn-Tulun.

In-ornate and smaller than expected, the Mosque stood on the edge of Cairo, just on the outskirts of the desert. Jock went in to case everything out and found the place to be of substantial historical importance. Unable to crack the mystery of what they held with a three minute conversation, he reported to the group that the only option was to lay siege to the place under the cover of darkness. This plan was discussed at length, as was the idea of allowing the Brotherhood to steal whatever was hidden within and just steal it back. Ultimately, Elly came up with an idea that was agreed upon. Just tell them that the brotherhood was after something. An enemy of an enemy sort of deal, you know?

In they waltzed and would have gotten no further than Jock had Regina not shown her fancy necklace and explained that they wanted to help. Escorted to a smaller room at the heart of the Mosque (that is to say, it was an  appendage) they met with an older teacher who informed them that the Girdle of Niticris was quite safe. He appreciated their concern and assistance, but he did not believe the brotherhood capable of stealing the artifact necessary to raise the evil queen. Why wasn't the girdle simply destroyed? The man explained that they had tried to destroy it through a number of means, but nothing seemed to work. He then excused them from the Mosque. Or at least he tried, until Regina chimed in that she wanted a go at the girdle. He was reluctant, until she showed him her fancy new silver daggers she had pinched from Gavigan. As he reached for the blades, he felt the remnants of some foreign power stemming from either the daggers or Regina or both. He agreed to give it a shot.

He showed them through several large doors leading well underground where four strong guards and a much older man holding a jeweled scimitar stood guard in front of a gargantuan safe. Once the safe was unlocked Regina was shown the chain mail and jewel encrusted girdle that was the source of a great amount of trouble. With a hack and a slash, the girdle succumbed to the daggers, throwing Regina back and filling the room with light. The guards cheered, and the old man handed Shmee his scimitar as he cried tears of joy. Then the earth trembled, and they were told they were in grave danger.

Masks of Nyarlathotep 2: London Bridges Burning Down

Dick Shmee goes on holiday

If this makes no sense I suggest you do what Vizzini says and go back to the beginning
Part 1 Part 2

In the aftermath of the horror at the Ju-Ju House, Hariet Oslow managed to wrangle Wilhelm up the flight of stairs and into a van, they raced off to the hospital. If you remember in our last installment, Wilhelm was nearly killed by a quartet of dastardly zombies and a maniac priest brandishing lion paws as weapons. While the good Dutchman drifted in and out of consciousness, Dick Shmee took the opportunity to  try on his new loot. A strange ceremonial mask was found, among other knick-knacks, to which Dick instantly laid claim to. Upon placing the mask on his face, Dick transcended to a new level of consciousness, understanding far more about the cosmic scale of reality than was healthy. However, being Dick Shmee, he was unimpressed. The mask fell away from his face and he was relatively unharmed. A feat that would have left a lesser man a slobbering idiot.

Back at the hospital, a large, though not unattractive nurse by the name of Jezebel met the hysterical Hariet Oslow and the Dying Wilhelm Schonewetter at the entrance. upon learning that he had been bit by a zombie, Jezebel nearly tossed Wilhelm off the top of the building. She did, however remember her responsibility to help all those that she could. In an attempt to revive the man she inadvertently put him into cardiac arrest, causing her to get a stern reprimand from the head doctor. Wilhelm was left at the hospital. Jezebel and Hariet took the absence of the dying man to become better acquainted. It was learned that the Cult that was meeting at the Ju-Ju house was responsible for the murder of Jezebel's fiance. She instantly quit her job at the hospital and joined the motley bunch to fight death cults around the world! And to be honest, she wasn't a very good nurse anyway.

After burning down the Ju-Ju house in broad daylight, Ellie, Colette and Dick decided to drop off their good friend Jefferson S. Shipp at a local insane asylum and lay low at an apartment rented by Hariet, who soon joined them with Jezebel in tow. Recent events payed a devastating toll on Hariet, and while she wasn't ACTUALLY injured she expressed to her friends that she simply needed to take a break from gallivanting around fighting heathens. She was to offer the services of an old family friend, a man by the name of Kun Li, the son of their family butler. Along with his aid, she would agree to finance the rest of the expedition. Before she had a chance to leave, however, there was a stern knock at the door.

A representative of the Pinkerton detective agency sauntered into the room. Mr. Horace Scarth had a few questions about the death of Jackson Elias. As the story went, Scarth was hired by Wells Fargo, who was to fulfill Jackson's life insurance policy, to make absolutely certain that Jackson was dead. The conversations were tense, and there was a particular moment where the man inadvertently mistook Jezebel's flirtatious advances as borderline threats. He had made up his mind to accompany this strange lot in their investigation, as it would tie directly into his own research. Somehow.

Hariet had had enough. She departed from her friends and was shortly replaced by Kun Li, a young Chinese man of average height and above average reflexes. Yes, Mr. Li was, of course, a martial arts expert. Upon his inclusion to the party, Colette began to show some of her true colors. While she was an intelligent, beautiful and large woman, she had an immediate distaste for Kun Li. Having just committed a plethora of felonies, the logical next step was to flee the country. Passage was booked on a steamer headed for London. Since they were fleeing anyway, it seemed beneficial to check out the Penhew foundation, which was responsible for funding the doomed Carlisle expedition and whose address was found at the scene of Jackson's murder.

Setting foot in London, they were greeted by the shouts of a newspaper boy claiming some catastrophe had taken place in New York in which a Harlem neighborhood had been charred. Ellie bought every copy and proceeded to destroy them. While no one had gotten a good look at her whilst Dick, Colette and herself doused the Ju-Ju house in liquor and tossed a match into it, she thought it better to be safe than sorry. This did give ol Dick the idea to go visit a local newspaper man. After getting the address for the local paper from the newsie, they migrated towards Fleet Street. On the way, Colette made an off-handed remark about Kun Li's nationality. This was the straw that broke the camels back...and almost Colette's jaw. Kun li, with no warning dropped Colette to the ground with a quick punch, doing far more damage than he intended. Once the dust was brushed off, they kept their distance from each other, tensions higher than ever.

 Mickey Mahoney ran a tabloid covering all the juicy stories that major papers wouldn't. He was saddened by the news of Jackson's death as they had been acquaintances. Whe last he saw Jackson alive, he had been interested in two articles that Mahoney had printed. The first was regarding a local painter who rose rather quickly in the art community by creating works that were absolutely horrifying and disturbing. The second article was about a series of murders targeting locals of Egyptian lineage. Taking note that the local artist lived within the general vicinity of the Penhew foundation, the party decided to split up to cover more ground. Horace, Dick, Kun Li and Jezebel went to see a man about a painting. Colette and Ellie, being the scholastic types, decided to attempt to meet the director of the Penhew foundation for a tour of the museum.

The three would-be art aficionados, walked up to the home of Miles Shipley, the man responsible for causing ripples in the art community with his depictions of horrors beyond description. That being said, he had a charmingly quaint little home. It had white walls with a brick chimney and a sun roof to let in that sunshine that London is so famous for. It wasn't Miles who opened the door to their knocking, however. An old woman with a kind face and a knitting basket in hand answered their summons and inquired to their identity. All three expressed interest in her son's art, and they had no qualms about flashing money to show just how serious they were.

The old woman led them through the house to where her son sat staring at a blank canvas surrounded by a number of his other works. Miles Shipley, it was clear to see, was absolutely insane. His eyes were huge and bloodshot, and he was borderline incoherent, wanting only to talk about his paintings, often repeating himself. His mother could not have been more proud. Jezebel, Dick, Kun Li and Horace examined the paintings and subsequently all lost a small portion of their already fickle sanity. Dick, however, did find an exact painting of his prized mask, and he was adamant about buying it. However, when they stumbled upon a painting depicting the murder scene of Jackson Elias, the questions became heated. Miles only responded by asking them if they had seen his paintings. Mrs. Shipley denied that there was any correlation to reality in the paintings, but did offer to show them Miles' masterpiece. Jezebel was the only one skeptical enough to not take up that offer. The old woman opened a locked closet door to reveal a mesmerizing painting of a swamp surrounded by strange lizard-human hybrids. In the middle of the swamp was a small island with a stone altar, it was so realistic that it looked as if it was moving. Jezebel readied her pistol, seeing the dazed look in their eyes. Suddenly, Kun Li, and Dick Shmee vanished, leaving a dazed Scarth rubbing his eyes, and an old woman smiling at this peculiar turn of events.

"Where are they?!" Jezebel shouted as she advanced on the old woman, gun drawn and pointed at eye level. "Where are who? What are you talking about?" asked the old woman, cowering away from the barrel of the gun. "The two that just disappeared!" Jezebel shouted again. "There's only been the two of you, there was no one else." They went back and forth with this while Horace pulled out his firearm as well. The old woman was shaking violently, begging for her life and that of her son. "How do we get our friends out of the paining?! I'm going to count to 3 and then I'm pulling the trigger!" Jezebel was hurling any threat that came to mind when she realized the two had not vanished, but rather were transported into the painting. She got to 2 before the old woman coughed up a suitable answer. "Downstairs, there is a key in the brook closet, you must place the key on the painting for ten seconds, but DO NOT look at the painting while doing so." She lied. Scarth ran downstairs to look for the key that did not exist, rummaging around a closet as gunfire roared above him. The gunfire had come from Jezebel's firearm. The old woman, in a desperate attempt to flee the situation ran across the room. Jezebel fired at her, but being surprised at the sudden burst of speed missed the shot. Before he had time to fire again, Miles was savagely throwing punches at her, while what was once his mother transformed into a giant humanoid lizard. Jezebel dropped Shipley, but not without taking substantial damage. And by the time Scarce gave up his futile search, the lizard-man was propping an unconscious Jezebel up to the cursed painting and holding her eyes open. The Pinkerton man put a quick stop to this. Jezebel was taken to a hospital, and both she and Horace were questioned by the police as to just what happened. Due to the nature of their being a giant monster in the living room, they chalked the violence up to self defense and told the two not to leave town.

Dick and Kun Li were having a rougher time. They were transported to the center island in the painting and fending off wave after wave of lizard-man-beasts. Eventually, Kun li was bit and succumbed to the venom, while Dick managed to kill off the remainder on the island before his mind collapsed and caused his body to follow suit. When Dick awakes, he no longer finds himself in immediate danger. That just won't do, so he dawns the mysterious mask once more his consciousness is transported to the presence of a fearful horror. what was once a sunny, warm day is now dark, and cold, but the thick humidity remains. His vision is blocked by an incredibly thick cloud of mist and vapor, an earthy scent invades your nostrils. As you look to the ground, you realize you're standing on damp grass. In the mists you hear inhuman squeels and in your peripheral vision you see shapes darting in and out of the mist, always faster than you're able to turn your head. Before you, in the mist is a shape, a mass of twisting, writhing matter that, for explainable reasons, you know to be the center of this new existence. With sudden understanding, the fog clears and you realize this isn't a mist, but is actually part of the being you now face. dripping from stalactites above your head is a strange substance oozing into numerous stone chalices. Suddenly, With a voice that sounds like infantile cries mingled with the voice of an old crone you hear "Richard. What a pleasant surprise". Dick is able to muster enough strength for one last retort before his mind is enveloped by madness and his body by the unimaginable horror. 
*****Preemptive madness here. I need to check Dick's stats, he might have survived this. If so I will make an addendum.*****

Meanwhile, a few blocks away: Colette and Ellie were having a lovely time in the Penhew foundation. They had managed to gain a private tour with the suave, albeit conceited, Edward Gaviga, the current president of the foundation that focused on finding and preserving artifacts from ancient Egypt. Ellie was forward with her inquisitions about "The Black Pharaoh". Gavigan was familiar with the name as a figure of pure shadow, the head of a cult in the third dynasty, but something of little to no consequence. While on the tour, they had passed by Gavigan's office and seen a safe that was hinged open. Colette wanted nothing more than to have a closer look. Ellie was enthralled. She could listen to Gavigan drone on all day about every piece in that museum a hundred times and never bore. Colette used this as an opportunity to sneak around. Claiming she needed to use the restroom, she first looked for windows and possible other entry points into the building before heading into his office to snoop around.

During this time, the building was preparing to close for the day, so Gavigan bid adieu to Miss Ellie Mists, and worked his way down to his office. Colette hearing the footsteps did what was only logical in her mind; hid in the closet. Inside the closet she noticed that something was not quite right. Perhaps the walls were warped funny, or the depth was off, she could not put a finger on it, despite having an hour or two to think things over. Ellie was escorted off of the property promptly at 16:00 due to the foundation closing to the public. Gavigan sat at his desk riffling through paperwork before finally standing up and walking to the closet to retrieve his coat. Imagine his surprise when he found instead a shockingly tall archaeologist standing where his coat should be. "I don't know what you think you're doing, but if you don't leave now, I'm calling the police." Gavigan said cool as ever. To which Colette responded by bulling out a pistol and stating that she was going to get some REAL answers. She believed he was not forthcoming with his information regarding the Black Pharaoh, and she had friends that were being murdered and she wanted the truth!

Masks of Nyarlathotep 1: Party Crashing and Harlem Fires

To the Library!

Part 1 

Boy, where to begin... Well, we had our first session that was officially set in the masks of Nyarlathotep campaign, and it was a beast. I don't know how anyone (character or PC) might have fared if we hadn't come up with the fantastic idea to have the whole session over a dinner consisting entirely of brunch foods. After everyone had a plate full of quiche and a glass of orange juice, we settled in for our nearly five hour session. And I'm going to re-cap this as loosely as possible, because a lot happened. I might not get all the details right, but the only way you'll know that is by listening to the entire session starting with part 1 right here.

So, to start things off, Dr. Epsteen was unable to attend to the unfortunate events that occurred throughout New York. All the other regulars were there (introduced in the first campaign we ran) as well as a fellow by the name of Jefferson S. Ship. A con-man and colleague of Jackson Elias. Jackson had sent a telegram to Harriet Oslow, informing her that he needed a crew of investigators to aid his search for truth in regards to the, assumed murdered, Carlisle expedition. This motley group, you'll remember, was headed by a rich, albeit naive New York socialite, who had ideas of grandeur and went to Egypt to seek only he knows what. The story goes that after spending some time in Egypt, Carlisle and his gang headed for a nice little vacation in Africa. Once they arrived, they spent a little time relaxing, taking in the scenery and getting horribly murdered by a death cult.

So, naturally the investigators interest was piqued when Elias claimed to have information about a long closed case. Dick Shmee, Jefferson Ship, Wilhelm Schonewetter, Colette Blue, Elly Mists and Harriet Oslow got together for a little planning Pow-wow in New York. In the midst of the mindless prattle, Harriett received a frantic call from Jackson Elias. The short and the long of it was that Elias wanted the crew to meet him at 8:00 pm in his hotel room. The gang obliged; only to be met by a locked door. Jefferson led the charge in attempting to pick the lock. This failed, options were weighed, even the idea of shooting the lock was considered. So, while Jackson's corpse was being mutilated on the other side of the door, Harriet Oslow attempted to convince the concierge to let them in the room. Yes, unbeknownst to the investigators, Jackson Elias was in the process of having his innards strewn about the room while his murderers ransacked his belongings. The concierge was being less than co-operative, particularly with Dick's unsavory demeanor. For this reason, Dick decided to solicit illegal alcohol to the kitchen staff. After which he was promptly kicked out into the cold by two police officers.

In the meantime, Elly led the way back up to Elias' room to knock a little louder. This meant that Elly and Colette combined their considerable girth to politely knock the door off of it's hinges. Upon entering the dark room the investigators see a man's head duck below the outside window as he descends the fire escape. Harriet, Elly and Collette wasted no time to pursue the strange man with a funny hat down the fire escape. They took absolutely no notice to the poor structural integrity of the emergency staircase. It rips away from the wall.The three investigators and the mysterious, dark skinned man fall to the ground. This all unfolds directly in front of Dick, who has been staring at a car idling in the alley. Dick threw a molotov cocktail to try to stop the car from escaping. This failed, so Collette attempted to chase it down. This also failed.

Jefferson and Wilhelm and  aka: those that had not exited the hotel, either by throwing themselves out of a fourth story window or being escorted by police officers, were treated to the far reaching horror of Elias' death. It reached from about the bed post to the dresser, which was about as far as his intestines were stretched. Those that saw this took a nice little hit to their sanity. They noticed that Jackson had a strange rune carved ever so delicately into his forehead. The police arrive and ask the usual questions. Sure some of the group had a gun, but as Elly so eloquently put it "I didn't shoot his intestines out." Among the leads gleaned from the crime scene were an address for an Emerson Imports in New York and a bar in Shanghai. After attempting to take a cab to the address in Shanghai, and not ever making it to their intended destination, the tired group called it a night.

Bright and early the next morning the gang split up. Half headed to the library to study death cults in an attempt to identify the mark left in Elias' head. The other half decided to head off to Prospero press, the publisher of their deceased friend. The library provided a little information, namely that the symbol stemmed from "The Cult of the Bloody Tongue" stemming from Africa. Meanwhile, the other half of the gang head to the publishing company to speak to Jonah Kensignton, Jackson's editor. They waltzed in and Dick promptly told him that his biggest asset and close friend had been gutted. Kensington was shocked, naturally but offered to give them any information that he could, which included more information on the Carlisle case, including hints that some of the party may still be alive and that those that were punished for the murder could be innocent. Kensington and also offered to pay the investigators should they agree to finish his work.

At some point the investigators headed over to Emerson Imports to follow up Elias' train of thought. Here they learned that Emerson Imports sends a good number of brica-brac to an establishment in Harlem called "The Ju-Ju House". The group of white investigators barged into a small curios shop in the heart of Harlem and began demanding questions of the small, old African man that ran the shop. The shopkeeper had a small key on a leather strap around his neck like a necklace. "What's they key go to?!" Colette immediately asked him, and continued to ask until he gave a satisfactory answer. "Nothing, it's a good luck charm". They left, but only after Dick Shmee bought a large amount of tribal masks and a shootout was narrowly avoided by an unusual stroke of common sense.

Other leads led them to investigate the Penhew Foundation. What they gleaned was that it was founded by one of the members of the Carlisle expedition, is based in London and is a massive curator of Egyptian historical artifacts. Those at the museum offered to write the investigators a letter of itroduction, should they ever find themselves in London.

Following a new line of investigation, Miss Oslow attempted to use her social standing to gain an interview with Roger Carlisle's sister, Erica. Erica now runs the estate. While Erica was unnavailable, the woman who answered the phone promised to have her call back as soon as she could. Harriet Oslow, however, was on the guest list of the party that the secretary was sending out invitations to that very moment. So Harriett and a plus one were invited to the Carlisle mansion. Naturally, everyone else was going to try to get in, one way or another.

So, while some members of the party decided which dresses to wear to the party at the Carlisle mansion (or how to break into it) Others spent their night breaking into The Ju-Ju House in the middle of the night.

Jefferson S. Shipp and Dick Shmee took it upon themselves to stealthily break into the tiny shop in an attempt to catch someone in the act of something! But they weren't entirely sure what.  To their surprise, they located a trap door behind the counter. Following it downwards, they reach a door with light shining through the cracks. What had started as a faint drumming sound was getting louder and louder as they approached the door. After some minor discussion about burning the place down and leaving, the decision to open the door won out. On the other side of the door is a frenzied mob of cultists, all dancing around in a frenzy to the beat of the drum. being the only ones with clothes on, Jefferson and Dick were certain to be noticed sooner rather than later. After an extremely brief attempt to fit in, the cultists notice the two strangers. Everyone screamed, including the two investigators and a chase ensued. The two investigators narrowly dodged (most of the) spears and knives being thrown at them. In the dead of winter, the two men are chased through Harlem by a mob of angry naked cultists. Shmee was able to convince the people watching from their windows to call the police by shouting "They're murdering virgins in there!". Due to the cold weather and the circumstances of being completely undressed, the mob dispersed and by the time the police arrived there was nothing to be seen.

Once things settled down, it was time to get ready for the shindig at the Carlisle estate. And while one thing was certain, everyone was going to go, regardless of if they had an invite or not. Jefferson attempted to whip up some phony invites, a truly brilliant plan. Unfortunately the results were less than desirable and they ended up looking like used napkins with illegible writing scribbled on the front. Harriet assured everyone that once they made it inside that they would be fine, but invites would certainly be checked at the door.

Harriett and Elly are let in with no complications simply because they had an invite. Dick was able to finagle his way in by impersonating a member of the press and offering the guard a role in an upcoming film. Jefferson and Colette meandered to the back door to attempt to sneak in through the kitchen. Colette considered attempting to flirt with the head butler when he questioned them, but her large size and low level of physical attractiveness couldn't even hope to be inconspicuous. They dropped that plan. Wilhelm stood back and observed the situation as it unrolled. The Dutchman walked up to the head butler informing him (in broken English) that there was a truck blocking his car. He impersonated being a chauffeur to one of the wealthy families. It was truly a brilliant plan to lure the butler away from his post, unfortunately he sent another of his staff to look into the situation. Colette sprang into action, pretending to be a horribly intoxicated guest of the party that had wandered outside and now demanded entrance to the kitchens. But the butler, ever the intelligent one, was not about to let these ruffians in. So, they walked up the fire escape.

Harriett caught up with Erica, but it was evident that they were on less than friendly terms. Their conversation was laced with underhanded insults and eye rolls. Dr Huston, another member of the doomed expedition was mentioned. He had accompanied Roger on the trip in order to continue his psychiatric care. Shmee then took a few photos and then asked to use the phone. He then proceeded to use it to establish more "business deals" directly in contrast to current prohibition laws. Dick then meandered his way up to the second floor where he found a library. To his right he noticed shapes lurking outside the window. Further inspection showed it was a con-man, a large woman and a Dutchman. He let them inside.

It didn't take long for the lot to find a hidden safe behind one of the library shelves. They found the combination and looted it. It contained a number of books and scrolls all relating to various dark cults. Quickly grabbing dust covers from other books, they disguised the contraband books as more reputable and well known ones. As security drew closer, panic struck and they each rushed out in their own time and fashion. In doing so they left one of the volumes from the safe behind.

After things cooled down a bit post party, (which took a few days after reading some sanity shattering volumes) Erica extended an invitation to Harriett to speak privately. It was a somewhat unexpected invitation, but a welcome one nonetheless. After tea and crumpets, Erica got down to brass tacks. She informed Harriett that she had been robbed the night of the party. It was clear that she just wanted to know if she had seen anything regarding the crime. Harriett gave a description to a police sketch artist. She then dug deep to find the courage to head up to the library and retrieve the last book that had been hidden in a different dust cover. She failed to find that courage, however, and retreated back to her hotel and the rest of the investigators. This was more than Dick Shmee could take.

Dick, by all counts should have been killed in his attempt to single-handedly infiltrate the Carlisle mansion alone and steal the last book. He was not. He bypassed all security, to enter the library, found the book he needed and dodged every bullet that they slung at him. The display would have made Robin Hood gape in astonishment.

Burglary not being enough for this lot, they decided to arm themselves to the teeth and extract the truth that rested in the basement of The Ju-Ju House. They chose high noon to walk into the store, lock the door and force the elderly shopkeeper to let them into the basement. Reluctantly, he led them down the staircase and into the room that once contained countless nude cultists. The room was large, it had a giant round stone that seemed to be covering a hole in the ground and was movable by a winch. The only other feature seemed to be an alcove with curtains obscuring what was held within it. As it turned out, it contained a crazy cultist priest and four zombies. The priest, who was using lion claws as weapons swiped furiously. Colette attempted to threaten the man with her single shot derringer. He was not in a reasoning mood.  As the zombies showed themselves, Jefferson literally could not handle it anymore and ran for the door screaming. Wilhelm and Colette were on the front line, firing away, but Wilhelm was getting bit left and right, and swiped at by the crazy lion-paw-wielding priest. Harriett ended up getting in a sword fight, Shmee and Elly shot from a safe distance, and Wilhelm gave it his all as he shot from the ground up at the attacking undead. Once the battle was done, everyone was still alive (technically) but Collete, with her insatiable curiosity, decided to open the pit and have a glance inside. There they found a monster that looked like a giant slug with dozens of faces. It was horrible and disgusting.

In the end, the crew survived the attack, but at a cost. Wilhelm nearly succumbed to his injuries, hanging on to life by only a shred. Jefferson, although temporarily regaining his sanity enough to join the fray, lost his mind entirely after the adrenaline died down. He will almost certainly have to spend a good amount of time in a sanitarium before he's back fighting zombies again.

Part 3