Session 13 | London/Essex | Tea and biscuits

Marvellous art by Christine Mitzuk

Game system: Call of Cthulhu 6th ed

Dramatis personae

Carl Blackwater | Foreign correspondent | 31 yrs | Martin

Slim Shady | Attorney | 46 yrs | Djuro

Absent this session

Kent Bengtsson | Aviator | 38 yrs | Berndt

H.P Rennfarth | NYPD Forensics Specialist | 27 yrs | Mats

Edward Foxworthy | Big game hunter | 34 yrs | Flan

Link to background stories and portraits

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Trying to make sense of things

London, UK, Thursday, February 5th, 1925 | morning

The morning after the terrible events at Gavigan’s Essex mansion finds the investigators tired and weary. Over breakfast tea and too-hard scones, they read about a grisly murder in the Daily Chronicle (Clue #27a), a grisly murder that pertains to them, as the victim is none other than Mr. Tewfik! The article states that the man was stabbed as well as shot in his Bethnal Green home – facts that the investigators know for sure have been fabricated. The article also mentions witnesses and three men disappearing in a London cab… Which means that someone is on their trail…

Securing the loot

They also discuss the possibility to arrange for shipping of the hitherto found artifacts to New York for safekeeping in the reinforced basement of Rennfarth’s antique store and end up calling Mr. Emerson of Emerson Import and Export in N.Y. Mr. Emerson promises to make inquiries with his London contacts about this and will call back the next day.

In preparation for the shipping, the PCs decide which items they will keep with them and which ones to ship home. They also cut loose the antediluvian swamp painting (that absorbed Slim Shady) and roll it up, stuffing it into a leather map field tube that Foxworthy bought. That way they can have the painting on hand at all times.

British Museum

British Museum

They also decide to pay a visit to the scholars at British Museum to see if someone can help with identifying the black sphinx from the Ju-Ju shop. After some of the usual red tape, coupled with dreadful tea and dry biscuits, they get to see the head of the Egyptology department – museum curator John Hattersleigh. This polite but peculiar man is reserved at first, but when he lays eyes upon the black sphinx he becomes most excited. After a first look he says that he can’t decipher the most unusual hieroglyphs and demands the aid of the foremost expert on all things Egyptian, a Mr. Reginald C. Thorpe, Ph. D. Now, Dr. Thorpe is as confounded as Dr. Hattersleigh, so the consult Mr. Walter Frunck, Ph. D in Sumerology. Together they conclude that:

• The hieroglyphs are unusual and probably very old
• They show some similarities with Sumerian
• More time is needed to study the glyphs properly
• It is definitely the real deal and no newly made fake

 

British Museum curator John Hattersleigh

Reginald C Thorpe, Egyptology

Walter Frunck, Sumerology

 

It is decided that the academics may borrow the sphinx for about 48 hours after which the investigators will get it back along with any new insights pertaining the strange inscriptions or its origins.

 

The Penhew Foundation

The next stop is a second visit to the Penhew Foundation. Apparently, the staff on duty has no clue as to the whereabouts of Mr. Gavigan. It is claimed that he is ill at home and not available. Slim sees a chance and starts arguing about a fictive “most valuable statuette” that was left in Mr. Gavigan’s tender care at the time of their last visit and wouldn’t the staff now let them into Gavigan’s office to retrieve said statuette because they must return to the US this very day! Needless to say, the Foundation staff does not fall for Slim’s bluff and the whole thing ends up with the shady attorney literally being thrown out of the premises by security staff.

 

Gavigan’s residence

Not deterred by the debacle at the Penhew Foundation, our intrepid investigators locate a pub, where they consult the Metropolitan telephone registry over a pint, searching for Mr. Gavigan’s private address. It turns out that the man lives in a flat in the posh Mayfair area. Armed with this new knowledge, the PCs hail a cab and travel there. Gavigan lives in a three-story townhouse which is all deserted when they bang the door with a large brass lion knocker. To avoid unwanted attention, the investigators abstain from breaking and entering. Instead, they knock on the left neighbor’s door instead. A surly manservant opens the door, asking their business and is talked into getting the master of the house, a retired army colonel by the name of James St. John (pronounced sinjin).

Gavigan’s residence in Mayfair

Despite his age, St. John is a most energic man, tall and imposing, with that obvious presence produced by a life of command. The old man orders tea and biscuits and invites the PCs to his library, complete with dusty hunting trophies and age-old unread tomes with leather covers.

James St. John, complete with swagger stick

 

Other than the odd war story and assertions about what a “jolly good chap” Gavigan is, nothing new is learned from the colonel. The PCs leave the townhouse with nothing more than stomachs rumbling from extensive consumption of tea and biscuits…

Before leaving, the sneak into the back garden of Gavigan’s house, where they find a patio and a locked rear entrance. Keeping a low profile, they do not risk breaking into the house. This time.

After having spent most of the day visiting various places in London, learning next to nothing, the PCs decide that they need to go to the Essex Mansion again, to investigate the main building., as they had to flee a throng of crazed cultists last time.

 

Scotland Yard

Before going back to the hotel to equip themselves for their nightly mission to Essex, the PCs go to see Inspector Barrington about leaving for Derby later. The Inspector is suspicious at first, but having heard about the strange killings in Derby and Elias’s interest in the case, he agrees to the idea. Barrington also cautions them about using force or intimidation up there, stating that “the Yard has eyes and ears everywhere”.

 

Back to Essex

London, UK, Thursday, February 5th, 1925 | about 5 pm

After calling for Pete the cab driver and gearing up, the investigators leave for Essex as the sun sets. It is dark, cold and foggy as they leave the big city…

Pete parks the cab at a distance from the gates and the PCs sneak the last bit. From a small knoll, they reconnoiter the place. The gate has been temporarily mended and from what they can see, there’s only one guard at the gate. In the distance, lights can be seen in the mansion.

Climbing over the wall some 100 meters from the gate, the PCs sneak along the wall until they come to the gate. They manage to knock out the Egyptian guard without a sound and proceed by giving him a coup de grace. In the small guard shed next to the gate, they discover a phone. The guards probably use it to communicate with the main building, so the investigators disable it by cutting the cable. The dead guard is hidden by rolling his body into the muddy water nearby before moving towards the mansion through the mists…

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And that’s where we had to stop for the day. Stay tuned for next session of Masks of Nyarlahotep, Fist of d20’s style!