[COC] Beyond the Mountains of Madness

[KitanaVorr]

"Yes, Tony, honey."

Throwing one last wink over her shoulder, she lets Tony help her into her fur coat before walking the long walk out of the room...making sure her hips swung in all the right directions and the cameras caught every good angle of her athletic and curvy body in that scandalous lacey number. Though with Roxie Hart, she always made sure every angle was great.

 

[DallasPA]

Father Steele momentarily ponders the idea of heading to the Blue Note in Lower Manhatten, but quickly dismisses the idea.

The Father replies, " I would love to spend more time acquinting myself with the rest of our party, but a club is not a place for a man of the cloth."...."May God Bless You!!!! and I hope to meet you all back here on the 1st."

Father Steele decides his time can be better spent researching the known geology of the South Pole, and intensely researching the the first expedition; especially any material that has anything to do with the diggings of Dr. Lake and his reported findings, He decides that the University Library and a couple of Musuems would be a good place to start.

 

[Yellow Sign]

Miskatonic University Library, Arkham Mass.
September 27th, 1933
2:35 PM

Father Steele finally closed Professor William Dyer's Summary Report on the Miskatonic University Expedition to Antarctica, 1930-1931. It is a fat university press document and the text is pedantic and dense, couched with abstruse technical vocabulary. It was a very dry read.

"Well, at least I learned a thing or two." thought Father Steele. It praised Lake's work again and again, but carefully turns aside from sensationalism. The "Pre-Cambrian" footprints are identified as the fossilized imprints of some incredibly ancient form of sea-dwelling plant life, similar to the more recent well-preserved specimens found by Lake's party in the fossil cave. Lake's description of the specimens as "animals with internal organs" is clalked up to scientific error resulting from over-excitement, lack of rest, and possible "snow craze".
Dyer is at a loss to explain the disaster at the camp, though is sorrow and regret are very clear. He concludes from the state of the remains that the men of the party would almost certainly have died from the blizzard in any case, but lays the blame for the destruction of the dogs and the dispersal of the evidence on a person or persons unknown--possibly the student George Gedney, who ran amok during the hours of the storm.

Father Steele sits back and thinks. "I think my next move is to go see the specimens and evidence that was collected. I believe they have it stored in the Geology Department here." As he looks up he sees a familiar face, Richard Lawton sitting at a nearby table. "Thats the photographer from the National Geographic that's going on the expedition. I wonder what he is doing here?"

 

[Yellow Sign]

Miskatonic University Library, Arkham Mass.
July 27th, 1933
2:40 PM


With several books including a Miskatonic University Yearbook from 1929 open on the table, Richard Lawton was trying to make sense of it all. It had taken some effort including using a favor from a friend at the New York Times. But he had found five of the twenty-two men who where part of Dyer's rescue party to Lake's Camp. They were:

Professor Frank Pabodie, a geologist who is still teaching at the University.

Arthur Tighe, a radio man who is working at the Kingsport Head Radio Station. Kingsport was just a few miles from Arkham.

Tom Sherman, a pilot. He is currently in the Army, stationed in the Philipines.

Fred Williamson, a camp worker. He lives in Indiana.

William Wylie, camp worker. He lives in Galveston, Texas.

All the others are either dead or missing. Lawton had also found something very interesting. Looking at the Miskatonic University Geology Department's faculity picture in the 1929 yearbook, he saw William Dryer standing next to Dr. William Moore. Moore had his hand over Dryer's shoulder and they both had big smiles on their faces. I guess that makes sense. Moore was a professor at Miskatonic at the time of the Expedition.

Lawton sees a shadow come over the pictures and he looks up and there is Father Steele.

 

[Yellow Sign]

The Blue Note Speakeasy
Somewhere in Lower Manhatten
Around Midnight

"Tony" Louwman sat next to "Razor" Rayburn. Smoke from their cigarettes drifted up to the ceiling. Roxie was belting out a song as she stood on a panio. "She sure was in good form tonight!" thought Tony. Ever since she joined up with that Expedition she had been on a tear. Well that was fine by him as long as he got to go along too.

Rayburn was nursing a gin and tonic. As dives go this was a pretty nice place. They didn't water the drinks down too much and the music was good. Well great when Roxie was singing. They still threw insults at each other faster than you could spit but for some reason he always found himself back here hanging out with her and Tony. Tony was a pretty good lug.

Roxie let the last note hang in the air for a few seconds. The crowd erupted in a round of cheers, whistles, and applause. A handsome wolf with his tongue hanging down by his shoes helped her down off the panio and she blew him a kiss and then brushed him off. She sauntered over to her table.
"Boy singing is thirsty work! Would one of you boy's get me a drink?"

 

[DallasPA]

As the gentlemans face rose to meet mine, I replied:

" Greetings, I believe your name is Mr Lawton. Even though we were not formally introduced, I do believe that you are a member of the expedition party that I am a part of. If I am not being to intrusive, I thought maybe we could share any info either of us may discover. That is, if you are indeed doing some background research on the previous expedition."

 

[Fanog]

The Blue Note Speakeasy
Somewhere in Lower Manhatten
Around Midnight

"Your turn, Rayburn. I'll have another one as well." Antonie says, smiling. He's come to appreciate the exchanging of insults between Roxie and the man next to him, enjoying to be around them both.

Yeah, I may have been mistaken about this Rayburn character. A little on the nervous side, but nice enough to be around. Knows when to shut his flapper, too.

Feeling quite content, Antonie leans back in his chair, silently counting the days 'till the start of their expedition.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Richard extends his hand. "Father Steele, right? Fancy seeing you here. Yeah, I'm checking some things out for the Class of Antarctica, 1931. The guys with Dyer didn't stick around much. I was actually hoping to figure out where Dyer and Danforth got to, but no one seems to know. Trying to avoid publicity, I guess."

Richard looks back at the books thoughtfully. "Didn't I hear you'd had some geological training? I was going to try to talk to Professor Pabodie while I was here, maybe you could come along and translate..."

 

[zombiedude]

"So, um, Antonie, how did you meet up with our little songbird? Not to pry, but are you an item? I only ask because personal feelings out in the cold could affect judgment, and I need to know where we all stand."

Slides Antonie another drink

"Myself, I never let personal feelings get in the way of my job. I've seen too many "professionals" meet with a grisly end because their emotions got in the way."

Orders an irish coffee


"Why, I recall a time I was wing walking with a couple of fellow daredevils. All three of us were on a different plane, and the poor fellow's wife went for a looong walk off a short wing. He was so distraught that he fell too, and I suppose they are together today in the afterlife. Tough luck, eh? Thankfully, I kept my head, even though I had been seeing the girl."


Gives Antonie a wink and then drinks his coffee

 

[Fanog]

Us, an item? Dear God, the man mustn't have eyes for these kind of things. The way things were going at the reception, Roxie would have been an item with every one of the gents present. Er, except for Starkweather, or course.
Antonie flashes a silent smile, but promptly stops. He wouldn't want Rayburn to think something was up. just keep it neutral...

"No, we're not an item. I'm Ms. Roxie's personal assistent - chauffeur, a bit of bodyguard, that kind of work. Late Joseph Rockefeller, her husband, gave me a job, quite some years ago. Ms. Roxie kept me around after he died..."
Something in his voice tells that he'd rather not speak to much of it. At least, Antonie seems relieved to hear that Rayburn changes the subject.

After hearing the story of the wing-walkers, Antonie laughs, even though his arched brow shows that he doesn't necessarily approve.
"So, you could say that you kept your head, because of what happened, he?"

"So, what got you started in this daredevil business in the first place, boredom or some special occasion? Let's hear your story..."