Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 3969517" data-attributes="member: 31465">Adventure #2: Don't Push the Shiny Red Button!The Prospero Publishing House is located in a towering highrise on Lexington Avenue. <img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/02132.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> The four investigators take the lumbering elevator to the top floor on a chilly Thursday morning and step through the doors. The decorations are modest, and Jonah Kensington, the chief editor, is a busy, busy man in his early fifties, sleeves rolled to his elbows and a sheen of sweat decorating his face, but he figuratively stops the presses when he hears that the investigators have come asking about Jackson Elias.<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/jonah.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> “You must be his friends!  Huey Fulton it is, right?  Jackson told me that he would be recruiting some help with his project.  This is a damn shame, his death.  The world was a better place with Jackson in it, but I guess you know that.  And if the police are half right, this was a cult murder of some kind.  As sure as the sun shines.  Jackson finally got himself in too deep.” Jonah thinks that some old enemies finally caught up with Jackson and silenced him, and the investigators tell him about what happened at the hotel:  the two negro men with dangling red tassels on their hats. Jonah nods gravely during the story, listening carefully, and concedes that Jackson Elias’s new project might have been even more important (and deadly) that Jackson was aware.“Jackson believed that he had found evidence that not all of the Carlyle Expedition were dead, that in fact, it might have been a cover up for the past five years.  Here, take a look at this.”He shows the investigators a letter from Jackson, stating in clear terms that he believes at least some of the Carlyle principals are alive, and that the inquest and trial of their “murderers” in Kenya was contradictory to the facts.  Jonah wired him money in Hong Kong, and again in London.  Jackson had told Jonah that he had discovered amazing things, and mentioned a conspiracy of world wide proportions.  He said there was a timetable, and that he needed to find the missing pieces.“Once Jackson finally arrived back in New York recently he handed me a whole stack of letters.  But…well, boys, I don’t think Jackson was in his right mind.  This stuff was crazy talk, most of it mish-mash of ramblings that didn’t make much sense at all.  It was like he had gone crazy, or was keeping the real facts stuffed in his brain with this paper trail as a codex. I don’t know.  Ever since Jackson started telling me about this, I’ve been combing through the old newspapers and accumulating everything I could find about the old Carlyle Expedition.  There’s quite a bit.”Jonah Kensington shows them a small box of papers, including Jackson’s Nairobi notes, and multiple articles detailing the Carlyle Expedition starting from the departure in New York, through London and Cairo, and finally to their demise in Kenya.  They spend time poring over these clues (Nyarlathotep Papers #3-10) and the investigators come away with a slightly better idea of who these people were:Roger Carlyle, playboy millionaire and leader, Dr. Aubrey Penhew of the Penhew Foundation in London, (assistant leader of the team in charge of excavations); Dr. Robert Huston of New York (a fashionable “Freudian” psychologist who accompanied them to research ancient pictographs); Miss Hyapatia Masters (acting as photographer and archivist); Mr. Jack Brady (Carlyle’s personal bodyguard), and a mysterious negro woman whose purpose is not publicly known.<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/car.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Jonah Kensington also tells them about Carlyle’s rich socialite sister, Erica Carlyle, who has gained control of the estate since his death.“Supposedly for the better,” Jonah says.  “I hear that Roger was running the business into the ground.“Which was…?”“Oh, imports and exports I believe.  Transport, munitions, stuff like that.”“Maybe we should speak with her,” suggests Morty Jones, the PI.  “She might be able to tell us some more about her brother.”Jonah Kensington taps his fingers, flicking his gaze between the four men standing before him; a down on his luck Private Investigator, a fidgety pale bookkeeper (who looks suspiciously like HP Lovecraft, a stocky Chinaman, and a shifty fellow with a 5 o-clock beard who looks like he wants to steal something when nobody’s looking.“I’ll tell you what, fellas.  Jackson was a good friend of mine, and probably you too.  If you want to start snooping around and asking questions, I’m all for it.  Furthermore, if you want to help finish the book, to find out what Jackson knew, I’ll even pay you for it.  If you even need to go abroad, I’ll finance it.  This means a lot to me, and money is no object.”The investigators like hearing this, and they each shake hands with Jonah Kensington.  It’s a deal. Kensington will act as a financier (within limits) and support their backs.  Kensington offers to make a few calls to the Carlyle Estate and see if he can set up an interview with Erica Carlyle, but no promises.  She is reclusive and only the upper echelons of society see her much.  He says he’ll contact them later.That’s fine with the investigators.  In the meantime, they have some clues to follow up on, and the stack is getting bigger by the day.Emerson Imports was a card in Jackson’s pocket, so Morty and Chang decide to check it out.  Meanwhile, Huey and Arnold drive up to Harvard to meet with Miriam Atwright and see if she can identify the symbol that was scrawled so horribly on Jackson’s forehead.Emerson Imports turns out to be a long narrow building with a sock at both ends. It is a warehouse full of freight, run by a fellow named Arthur Emerson.  Morty and Chang ask him about Jackson Elias, and Emerson claims to remember the visit, and offers his condolences.  Elias had been checking the import roster to find connections in Mombasa. When further pressed, Emerson says that the only Mombasan exporter he accepts is Ahja Singh, whose only U.S. account is the Ju-Ju House on Ransom Court, in Harlem.Chang turns the card offer and asks him about the name on the back: Silas M’Kwane.“Oh, sure.  That’s the fella the runs the Ju-Ju house. I tell ya boys, those darky fellows are trouble.  I done told Elias the same thing.  I’d leave ‘em alone if I was you.” Chang and Morty thank Emerson and leave the warehouse.Meanwhile, Huey and Arnold question Miriam Artwright about the symbol.  After some research, she confirms that it is a symbol from an African tribe known as the Bloody Tongue.  Thanking her, they leave and head back to New York.The next day is the funeral, so everyone gathers at the frigid site.  There aren’t too many people, but Jonah points out Erica Carlyle to the investigators.  She’s an attractive young woman in her twenties, accompanied by a burly bodyguard named Joe Corey.<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/bette.bmp" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/crook.bmp" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Jonah says that he was able to arrange a meeting with her at 9am the next morning, under the pretense that they have valuable information concerning her departed brother, and that it is too sensitive to relate over the phone.  Jonah even insisted that her brother’s death is related to a recent rash of murders.  Although not pleased with the news, Erica agreed to speak with the four investigators, with the caveat that she can end the interview at any time.And forcibly expel them from the grounds if she so wishes.So Huey, Morty, Chang and Arnold show up the next morning at 9 am sharp at the Carlyle House at her Westchester Estate. Guns are stowed away (including Arnold shotgun in the trunk) because an amiable approach will be best in this case.A butler allows entrance to an extravagant mansion where the investigators are asked to wait in a lavish library parlor.  They immediately begin snooping around, and against all odds, Arnold Silvermine pulls a book of Poe’s poems that conceals a hidden panel.  They can hear footsteps approaching the door, and with a second miraculous roll, Arnold fumbles with the panel to reveal a RED BUTTON.<img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/09668.jpe" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="http://www.med.unc.edu/~saasha/Masks/11464.jpe" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />    Erica and her bodyguard Joe Corey glide into the room and Arnold hastily replaces the book without pushing the button. It gnaws at him though, what might lay behind it, and he continually throws glances at the shelf throughout the brief interview.  Corey looks mean as a snake and they spot the bulge of a pistol beneath his waistcoat.“Very well, gentlemen, what do you have to tell me that is so important.  I would not have granted this at all except for Mr. Kensington’s insistence.  I owe him a favor and consider the debt paid.  What do want?”After some small talk (and sweet talk), the investigators ease into their purpose.  They think (with no evidence whatsoever) that Roger Carlyle is STILL ALIVE.  And to prove it, they want more information from Erica.The millionaire inheritor of the Carlyle Estate is shocked into silence, and her bodyguard Joe Corey nearly throws the investigators out right then and there for such pretentious <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />, but Erica stops him.“Tell me what you know.”They offer what they have, which isn’t much, mostly the details about Jackson Elias and some of the clues he found.  They don’t mention the attack in the hotel or how they killed anyone. More than anything, they want to hear Erica’s opinion of the rest of the expedition.What Erica Reveals:1)      Roger’s African Expedition was not ordinary.  He was fascinated to the point of obsession with the “Negro Woman” whose name she does not know.  Erica thinks such a relationship is depraved.  Roger began having strange dreams soon after he met the Negro Woman, but would never discuss them. 2)      Erica talked Roger into seeing Dr. Robert Huston, and she believes that Huston   talked Roger into going on this wild expedition to other countries.  However, she thinks the Negro Woman caused Roger to lose his grip on reality. 3)      Roger said that M’Weru was queenly, a priestess, and that she held secrets he must have. For a while Erica encouraged this insane expedition, hoping that Roger would see how stupid the idea was, but then it really happened.  She blames the Negro Woman for the whole ordeal. Erica ends the interview soon after, claiming that she has urgent business.  Arnold Silvermine is about to implode from curiosity as to what lies behind the bookshelf.  But Joe Corey and his pistol are a strong deterrent, and the investigators are escorted out after thanking Erica Carlyle for her time.Afterwards, they briefly considering breaking back in that night and pushing the Red Button, but the grounds are fenced, walked by armed guards and dogs, and very difficult to infiltrate.  They’re not sure why so many precautions were taken (GM Note:  because cultists broke in previously trying to find and steal Roger’s rare Mythos book collection behind the secret door!) and they never find out. And they never pushed that red, red button.</blockquote>

Verification