Masks of Nyarlathotep: Session 7

The party consisted of:

Lillian Fogg- Museum Curator

Lydia Lisbon- Drug Dealer using Photographer as a cover

Chomden Tsomo- Mountaineer

Curtis Flanagan- Author

Violet Adair- Dancer/Occultist

Warning: If you’re planning on playing the campaign and not running it for others, you should stop reading now.

The investigators go to Carlton’s office to see if he could join them to meet Mrs. Adams so he could offer some legal advice but he rebuffs them, stating both that he is incredibly busy and that such an act is outside his necessary duties as executor of Jackson Elias’ will. He also states that the group should get more details before circling him into any such requests.

Understanding they’re more or less on their own, they leave to go to the library to find more info on the Hilton Adams case. On their way, they’re stopped by some cops, who in no uncertain terms try to tell the investigators to stop nosing around where they don’t belong and otherwise intimidate them. The investigators thank the police for their time and quickly move on.

At the library, their quest for information was fairly futile. The eight murders had no common thread except they all happened in Harlem. They also found that next to no collaboration happened between the precincts in Harlem where the murders occurred, showing that the cops gave next to no damns about it. The only real possibility they found was in reference to a Dr. Mordecai Lemming, a folklore expert who was called in to consult on the case. 

After the library, they went to meet with Rebecca and Mrs. Adams at the Lafayette Theater. As the investigators walked up to meet them Mrs. Adams looked at them like they were carrying dead rats in their mouths and whispered something to Rebecca. Rebecca gave her a quick pat on the hand.

After chilly introductions Millie led them into the theater, where apparently the cleaning staff knew both her and Rebecca. The group went into the main theatre that they had all to themselves. Millie obviously doesn’t trust the investigators, but she trusts Rebecca and really doesn’t have much to lose.  

She tentatively explains that the problem started when after people in Harlem started disappearing, Hilton and some of his war buddies, Needham Johnson, Douglas Fells, Art Mills, and Jackie Wallace, started patrols in the neighborhood to find out what the reason was and hopefully stop it. The investigators asked if she knew where they could be found. Millie said they usually hung out at Teddy’s Diner, but the investigators got the strong impression that she had no real love for them.

Almost immediately, the men started getting hassled from all ends. The cops told them to mind their own business, and prominent black businessmen and even clergy came down on them for scuffing the image of Harlem they had fought long and hard to establish. Millie said that Hilton tried to keep her out of all of it, but did let slip that that there was some sort of African cult that was behind it all, and they were probably paying off the cops to keep heat off of them. Hilton was arrested shortly thereafterwhen he was found standing over the body of the 7th victim. The cops found his bloody army-issue knife nearby, but Millie never saw him go on patrol with it.

Millie states that she started casing the place that Hilton thought was the cult base, a store called the Ju Ju House. Once a month in the dead of night, about 30 or so people of all walks of life would go into the Ju Ju house, sometimes with large crates. She admitted that there could be a speakeasy down there, but highly doubted it. She even saw police detectives stop by occasionally, confirming for her they were crooked.

When the investigators state they have been to the Ju Ju House, Millie’s eyes go wide with terror, calls them stupid and fears for her own life. Just then, the investigators see a figure dashing out of the theater. Giving chase, they run after the man until they corner him in a dead end alley.

As flight was no longer an option, the man put up a fight. Curtis attempts to throw a punch but falls short. The spy slashes Curtis with his knife, then proceeds to put Curtis between himself and the others, knife held to Curtis’ neck.

Lydia and Lillian attempt to get a bead on the man, but they run to high a risk of shooting Curtis. Suddenly, Violet out of nowhere goes into a pirouette that distracts the man as she glides forward, round-housing him in the head and dropping him like a sack of potatoes. 

While Lillian tended to Curtis’ wound, Chomden and Violet went to pull the man up to get him back to the theater where they could interrogate him. As they approach him, however, the man laughs maniacally then tells them that more shall come after them, and they shall fear the Cult of the Bloody Tongue. With that, he bites down hard then slumps to the ground, foaming from the mouth from poison…