Masks of Nyarlathotep: Chapter 1 (New York City)

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"Let me check that for you. One minute.............oh yes, that telegram orginated from the Waverly House Hotel, Russel Square, London, England."

"Wonderful! Thank you so much!" Miriam gushes, and then hangs up. Fishing around in her purse, she pulls out a small, leather-covered notebook and a small box containing a few pencils and writes down the address.

"I have the address. Tell you what, how about we meet back at my flat for some dinner around eight o'clock or so? That should give all of us some time to do a bit of research and time to compare notes as well. Then we can send a query back to Jackson tomorrow. How does that sound?" Miriam asks of the others.

 

[yangnome]

"Spending all afternoon in confession? No need to lie ot gather information you can get with the truth Miriam. Of course, if you are ready to confess, I am more than willing to clear my afternoon fo ryou." He winks at Miriam.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"Tut tut Father, people are more willing to give all for their faith, you should know that. At any rate, if our dinner meeting is set, then I'll be on my way," Miriam says, gathering up her purse.

*Unless anyone objects to her plan, Miriam will call for a cab.*

"The Library," she tells the cabbie, and settles back to watch the streets go by. Dear Edward, it's been so many years since you were taken from me. The good Father wants to rekindle my faith, but I buried that with you. I'm afraid you wouldn't approve of I'm doing, your son certainly doesn't. Ah well, you had your business, and I have mine now. And I am doing good from time to time, with what "gifts" I received after your death. I'm off on another one, I'm certain of it, and that's enough to salve my conscience.

*Miriam sighs as she pulls up to the Library. She tips the cabbie generously and walks into the blessedly warm confines of her usual haunt. I could never win arguements with Edward, and I still can't even though he's dead. Focus, Miriam dear, you must get something done today other than conversations with a ghost.*

*Finding one of the librarians to help her, she collects a healthy stack of newspapers and begins her research. If she come across anything particularly odd or occult, she'll try to get ahold of some volumes to research that phenomena further, writing down everything she encounters in her notebook.*

 

[Gomez]

That night.......

After several hours of running around town, going over hundreds of old newspapers, and asking around, the group sits and relaxes at a back table of the stylish Delmarco restaurant. Smoke drifts across the room from several cigars and cigarettes. The noise of clinking glass and china mingles with that of conversation. Smartly dressed waiters move about the room with a hurried grace. With the last of the dinner plates taken from the table, you spread the days research across it for everyone to see.

First, is a picture of the members of the Carlyle Expedition itself.

And then a set of newspaper clippings that tells their tragic tale.

BIG APPLE DATELINE
Roger Carlyle, the playboy whom everybody knows - or knows about! - is quietly leaving New Yawk tomarrow to check out the tombs of Egypt! You've seen the cuties ROGER has found in the nightspots-who can doubt he'll dig up someone - er, something - equally fabulous from the Egyptian sands?
New York Pillar-Riposte, April 4, 1919

CARLYLE EXPEDITION EMBARKS FOR ENGLAND
Led by fabulously wealthy playboy Roger Carlyle, the Carlyle expedition departed this morning for Southampton aboard the crack British steamship Imperial Standard. Contrary to earlier reports, the expedition will perform researches in London under the auspices of the Penhew Foundation before continuing to Egypt next month. Readers may recall the enormous party which Mr. Carlyle, now 24, gave at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on reaching his majority. Since then, scandals and indelicate behaviour have become Carlyle's trademark, but he never has become tarnished in the eyes of Manhattanites. Members of the expedition have been reluctant to reveal their purpose in Egypt. Other Expedition Members Renowned Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew is assistant leader of the team, and in charge of excavations. Dr. Robert Huston, a fashionable Freudian psychologist, accomplanies the expedition to pursue parallel researches into ancient pictographs. Miss Hypatia Masters, linked in the past to Carlyle, will act as photographer and archivist. Mr. Jack Brady, intimate to Mr. Carlyle, accompanies the group as general factotum. Additional members may be secured while in London.
New York Pillar-Riposte, April 5, 1919

CARLYLE DEPARTS EGYPT
CAIRO(AP) - Sir Aubrey Penhew, temporary spokesman for the Carlyle expedition, indicated Monday that the leaders are taking ship to East Africa for a 'well earned rest'.
Sir Aubrey debunked rumors that the expedition had discovered clues to the legendary wealth of the lost mines of King Solomon, maintaining that the party was going on safari "in respite from our sandy labors."
Roger Carlyle, wealthy New York leader of the expedition, was unavailable for comment, still suffereing from his recent heatstroke.
Discussing that unfortunate incident, local experts declared Egypt entirely too hot for Anglo-Saxons at this time of year, and suggested that the young American had not been well-served by his democratic enthusiasm, rumored to have led him to personally wield pick and shovel.
New York Pillar-Riposte, July 3, 1919

IMPORTANT VISITORS
MOMBASA (Reuters) - Leading members of an American archaeological expedition arrived here on holiday from digs in Egypt's Nile Valley.
Our Under-Secretary, Mr. Royston Whittingdon, held a welcoming dinner for them at Collingswood House, where the wit of Sir Aubrey Penhew, expedition co-leader, was much in evidence.
Accompanying Sir Aubrey are two Americans, youthful financier Roger Carlyle, and medical doctor Robert Huston. The party leaves inland tomarrow, for Nairobi and hunting.
New York Pillar-Riposte, July 24, 1919

CARLYLE EXPEDITION FEARED LOST
MOMBASA (Reuters) - Uplands police representatives today asked for public assistance concerning the disappearance of the Carlyle expedition. No word of the party has been received in two months.
The group includes wealthy American playboy Roger Carlyle and three other American citizens, as well as respected Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew of the United Kingdom.
The expedition left Nairobi on August 3, ostensibly on camera safari, but rumor insisted they were actually after legendary biblical treasures.
Carlyle and his party reportedly intended to explore portions of the Great Rift Valley, to the northwest of Nairobi.
New York Pillar-Riposte, Oct 15, 1919

ERICA CARLYLE ARRIVES IN AFRICA
MOMBASA (Reuters) - In response to clues, Miss Erica Carlyle, sister to the American leader of the lost Carlyle expedition, arrived in port today aboard the Egyptian vessel Fount of Life.
Several Kikuyu villager reports recently have been received concerning the putative massacre of unnamed whites near Aberdare Forest. Miss Carlyle declared her intention to find her brother, regardless of the effort needed. She brought with her the nucleus of a large expedition.
Detailing agents to coordinate supply and other activities with Colony representatives, Miss Carlyle and the remainder of her party depart for Nairobi tomarrow. Her companion, Mrs. Victoria Post, indirectly emphasized Miss Carlyle's purposefulness by recounting the rigors of the voyage aboard the Semite ship.
New York Pillar-Riposte, March 11, 1920

CARLYLE MASSACRE CONFIRMED
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The massacre of the long-missing Carlyle expedition was confirmed today by district police representatives. Roger Carlyle, New Yorks rollicking playboy, is among the missing.
Authorities blame hostile Nandi tribesmen for the shocking murders. Remains of at least two dozen expedition members and bearers are thought found in several concealed grave sites.
Erica Carlyle, Roger Carlyle's sister and apparent heiress to the family fortune, led the dangerous search for her brother and his party. She credited Kikuyu tribesmen for the discovery, although police actually found the site.
Among other expedition members believed lost are Sir Aubrey Penhew, noted Egyptologist; New York socialite Hypatia Masters, and Dr. Robert Huston. Many bearers also are reported dead.
New York Pillar-Riposte, May 24, 1920

MURDERERS HANGED
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Five Nandi tribesmen, convicted ringleaders of the vicious Carlyle Expedition massacre, were executed this morning after a short, expertly-conducted trial.
To the end, the tribesmen steadfastly refused to reveal where they had hidden the bodies of the white leaders of the expedition. Mr. Harvis, acting for the Colony, cleverly implied throughout the trial that the massacre was racial in motivation, and that the fair-skinned victims were taken to a secret location, there to suffer the most savage treatment.
Miss Erica Carlyle, defeated in her efforts to rescue her brother, left several weeks ago, but is surely comforted by the triumph of justice.
New York Pillar-Riposte, June 19,1920

 

[Gomez]

OOC: Miriam has not recieved any reply from her telegram to Jackson's last know address.

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

"Well, that's all very interesting," William says as he browses through the articles, a cigar in his hand. "King Solomon's Mines, eh? I'm surprised that Haggard fellow wasn't interested in this." He grins. "This is interesting here, about the Nandi. Wonder if there were any bears involved?", he asks with a laugh. "But, seriously. Perhaps we should be checking out this Penhew Foundation."

 

[Gomez]

You were also able to find some information on the Carlyle Expedition members themselves.

Roger Carlyle
Playboy dilletante and leader of the Carlyle Expedition. He attended a number of excellent universities over three years (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Miskatonic, Cornell and USC), though his career in each was rather short. His parents died in an automobile crash a few years later. His sister appears to have handled most of the family affairs. He appears to have fallen under the influence of an African woman with the nom de plume of Nichonka Bunay

Sir Aubrey Penhew
Assistant leader of the Carlyle Expedition and in charge of excavations. Colonel in the British army during the war and retired in 1916 because of injury. Can trace family back to William the Conqueror. Graduated with honours in classics from Oxford. Spent several years in Egypt, surveying and performing exploratory excavations amid the then little known wonders up river, to the First Contaract and beyond. Sir Aubrey is credited with founding several important branches of Egyptology, and with several important archaeological discoveries, particular in Dhashur. The Penhew Foundation, set-up by Sir Aubrey, has underwritten many important researches at home and abroad. He has tile to several stately homes, as well as mansions in London, the Cotswolds, Monaco, and Alexandria, and town houses in Paris, Rome and Athens. He is without family or heirs (other than the foundation). He has a biography.

Dr Robert Huston
Freudian psychologist accompanying the Carlyle Expedition to pursue researches into ancient pictographs. There is some talk of him being involved in various sects when young. Graduated with honours from John Hopkins. After three years he left his circulatory-ailments practice and his wife, and went to Vienna to study first under Freud and then under Jung. He was one of the first Americans to take up this field, which dealt so much with sexual behaviour. His elegant manners and sardonic wit, as well as his salacious and dangerous past, made him much in demand when he returned to NYC. His practise made him very wealthy. Roger Carlyle was a patient, and he joined the expedition to continue his treatment. After he was declared dead his records were turned over to the Medical Affairs Board of the State of New York – controversy about this has reached the newspapers.

Hypatia Masters
Photographer and archivist for the Carlyle Expedition. Has been romantically connected with Roger Carlyle. Heiress to the Masters armament fortune. She attended Swiss and French schools. She has earned very good reviews for a number of photographic shows she has put on. There is talk in the gossip columns of an affair with a Catholic Marxist (Raoul Luis) at City College of New York.

Jack Brady
General factotum for the Carlyle Expedition. Intimate to Roger Carlyle. Served in the marines in China and on the Western Front and earned a bronze star. Roger Carlyle provided him with the best defence possible against a murder charge in California and he was acquitted on several technicalities. He was then rarely separated from Carlyle, acting sometimes as his bodyguard.

 

[Cannibal_Kender]

"Good idea", Charles reponds to William's suggestion. "Perhaps one of us should speak with Erica Carlyle as well."

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"If anyone has to go speak to the lady, let it be me. I'm a dab hand at soothing frazzeled nerves and tempers, if she's uncomfortable talking about it. Heaven knows I would be," Miriam says, taking tea instead of wine. In polite society it would normally be a sin to have dinner without wine, but wine did strange things to her "gifts," so she did without, citing doctor's orders if she was questioned about it.

"Though it's rather curious, it looked at first to be a bit of an open and shut case. But then no bodies, the controversy over the records... There are a lot of mysterious threads hanging out of this little case file," she comments, sipping her tea.

 

[Album Cover X]

E.G. flips thru the newspaper articles again while listening to the others decide the next course of action.

Scanning at no particular article he shakes his head in agreement at Miriam's last statement.

Something does fail to add up here. I wonder what the Pillar edited out of these articles.