NOTE: This part of the adventure originally featured a new character, played by Ron's player, who decided to retire Ron after his marital issues had "resolved," see below. After a couple of sessions, Ron's player went back to playing Ron for a variety of reasons. In order to keep the narrative manageable for those who weren't present at the game, I'm going to carefully cut around the briefly-played new character and streamline a few things. Yay, continuity (sort of)!
October 19, 1925
 |
| Some of the News That's Fit to Print |
The Bayonne train station shootout is mentioned on the
front page of the NYT. The Bayonne police chief, Halloran, mentions that the
three bodies they found had no identification, but that he suspects Mob
activity. He is currently following up on leads.
Meanwhile, back in New York (and Ashby), everyone takes the day to advance their own personal goals.
Johnny
Purchases a knife and several dozen chickens so that he
can create a Blessed Blade. He also sends another letter to his war buddy,
Junior, and visits his parents in Atlantic City. He has a lovely time with his
parents, and they give him some baklava to take home. He cannot shake the
feeling that he is running out of time.
Mikhail
While his mother strolls around town, trying to make
friends with everyone she sees, Mikhail enlists James’ and Angie’s help to
acquire the wardrobe. They find it and lash it to the roof of Mikhail’s car.
Mikhail and Angie talk about what’s happened, and Mikhail apologizes for not
being able to trust her before. Angie understands, but warns Mikhail that, “if
we’re gonna take on the Lodge, I gotta warn you I only got five bullets left in
this thing.”
Mikhail pops by the general store and, as luck would have it, finds a box of .45 caliber ammunition for only $4.43. He buys it, thus ensuring that Angie has 100 more bullets to fire at Lodge members.
Vivian
Embraces her role as the group’s researcher and tries to correlate everything that they know so far about the Lodge’s activities. She also suspects that VLACTOS is a Valusian word, checks her notes from her last library visit, and is gratified to be proven right. It means, “Of the Ebbing Tide.”
Vivian is pretty sure that the Jade Sphinx is the Arc of Vlactos, and is
relieved that it is out of Carl Stanford’s hands.
Vivian visits the NYPL again and consults with the librarian who taught her what he knew about Valusian. She goes through his notes to learn more about Valusia and learns that it was a powerful nation that was destroyed many ages ago. Its people seemed to favor iconography featuring snakes. There isn’t much else.
The Judge
Takes a cab to his local police station and gives a statement about the criminal shenanigans that occured at his house the night before. While there, he learns that the impound lot in Bayonne has his car.
The judge, refusing to take a cab back to his house, uses his high Credit
Rating to force the Bayonne police department to release his car and bring it
to the New York Police Station within two hours. When asked if he is going to
drive himself home, the judge sniffs, looks at the beleaguered patrolman who
has driven his car all the way from Bayonne, and asks him to drive the car (and
the judge) to back home to Staten Island.
Dr. Black
 |
| Dr. Edward Call |
Arranges to borrow the use of a cabin in the Catskills
from one of his colleagues, Dr. Tanhauser, to use as a bolthole in the event of
an emergency.
He also learns, from a mutual acquaintance, that Dr. Call, a fellow Lodge member, is growing concerned about the Silver Twilight Lodge's activities. Dr. Black agrees to meet Dr. Call for lunch the next day to talk over his suspicions.
Ron
At 8 pm, Ron arrives at the French restaurant to find
that he and his wife are the only patrons. They are served by two waiters in
immaculate white uniforms and are even served champagne—somehow! There’s also
an orchestra!
Connie is suspicious and irritated, but is still dressed to the nines. She and
Ron talk, and Ron manages not to taste his shoe leather too much. He also finds out that, on the night he broke
into his own house to sleep in his own bed, Connie was out visiting her
brother.
RON: How is he?
CONNIE: Mildly concussed, thanks to you!
RON: Ah.
Connie is moved by the ostentatious display of the evening, especially the necklace, but questions Ron on whether or not all this stuff got paid for by his, “Italian business.” Ron swears that it isn’t and helps Connie put the necklace on.
After this point, a grateful Connie starts to cry, grabs Ron’s hands in hers, and asks him what she wants to do to save their troubled marriage. Ron says he should move back in. Connie tearfully accepts.
A happy ending?! In a Call of Cthulhu game? Madness!
October 20, 1925
 |
| I'm Sure It's Fine. They're Still Dead, After All... |
The New York Times reports that the three bodies
recovered from the train station shootout were stolen from the Bayonne morgue
late yesterday evening.
Johnny, for one, is delighted to have the opportunity to kill Max Reed again.
The End of the Italian Soap Opera?!
Ron Jr. discovers his parents in post-coital bliss downstairs in the kitchen, and is thoroughly weirded out. He goes to talk to Vivian for some advice. Vivian is also weirded out, and plans on checking out this whole "second honeymoon" thing.
Dining with Dr. Call
Dr. Black meets Dr. Call at the diner. They have a
conversation about the Lodge. Dr. Black is, unsurprisingly, sympathetic to Dr.
Call’s concerns. Dr. Black, perhaps a bit injudiciously, starts talking about
magic, the occult, sorcery, and other very bizarre things. Dr. Call ends up
leaving abruptly, leaving Dr. Black to pay for his own coffee and Dr. Call’s coffee.
The Very Exciting Paperwork of Judge Putnam
Judge Putnam goes to the office to do some work. He spends the morning with his secretary trying to get the building plans of the Silver Twilight Lodge. No one can seem to locate the plans, but he does get a layout of the old gaslight lines inside the building.
In a previous session, Judge Putnam had decided that the group should have an official name--the London Group. He now proceeds to have his secretary and his lawyer, Raleigh Rothschild, draw up paperwork to incorporate the London Group, with himself as president, Johnny as vice president, and Dr. Black as the secretary. He also takes pains to edit his will.
Judge Putnam then calls the Bayonne city morgue and talks to someone there who is very, very tired of answering phone calls. The man confirms that there was a break-in, that there was no damage, and that nothing was taken except for the three bodies. He confirms that the bodies were in a locked room, to which only a very few people had the key. He mentions several times that he has told all of this to the police already. He mentions that the head forensic specialist is named Dr. Van Stoeber.
Last of all, Judge Putnam decides to take Kane's rather dubious advice from the night before and has his secretary send a letter over to the Silver Twilight Lodge. In the letter, the judge pretends to be the person who was supposed to kill him and then assume his identity. He informs the Lodge that he has succeeded in replacing Judge Putnam, and that he is now waiting for further instructions.
At this point, the Judge calls his home to talk to Johnny.
Operator, Number Please
Johnny has been fielding calls ever since he got back from
dropping Judge Putnam off at the office. He gets a call from Vivian, catching him
up on her research. He gets a call from Mikhail, who is wondering what to do
about the wardrobe that he, James, and Angie collected. He gets a call from
Kane, who is feeling nervous about being home alone. The results of these calls are:
- Mikhail is told to drive partway down to Hartford, CT. Johnny will meet him there to take custody of the wardrobe.
- Johnny tells Judge Putnam that he will be leaving to do get the wardrobe. The judge tells Johnny to first stop by the office, because he has some paperwork for Johnny to sign. He also wants Johnny to call him a car service to take him home, as he refuses to take a cab.
- Kane will go with Johnny, since it gets him out of the house. Johnny tells him that, once they secure the wardrobe, they will go to upstate New York and buy as much dynamite as the judge can afford.
At the Judge’s Office
 |
| Oh, Hello, Mr. Stanford |
Kane and Johnny arrive at Judge Putnam’s office only to
discover that the judge is having a friendly meeting with…Carl Stanford?! Kane
is amused that the judge is going through with his plan even though the others said
they didn’t want to go through with this plan. Johnny is not sure if he can
trust the judge anymore, and is pretty sure everyone’s going to die. Mr.
Stanford is just ever so happy to see everyone and shows himself out. Judge
Putnam thinks that Mr. Stanford believed the ruse, giving them yet another way
into the Silver Twilight Lodge.
OOG: It should be noted that the judge's player sent the letter to Carl Stanford in secret (they texted me to let me know that this was what they were doing), and so the players discovering Carl Stanford meeting with Judge Putnam at the judge's office was a legitimate surprise to everyone, both in and out of game. The players (apart from the person playing Judge Putnam), needed a few minutes to calm down after this scene--they were legitimately horrified. Then we continued.
Johnny signs the paperwork and realizes he will inherit everything in the event of Judge Putnam’s death. If Johnny dies first, the London Group instead inherits everything. Johnny is flabbergasted and appalled. The judge, rather pragmatically, says that he is old, has no children, and that what they’re doing is very dangerous. Johnny signs the paperwork, but is still unsure of the judge and his real plans. He makes a quick phone call to Vivian, to fill her in on what just happened, and then he and Kane head north to Connecticut.
Mikhail, Kane, and Johnny Go to Connecticut
Mikhail leaves Angie to mind the store (and his mom, and
James), while he takes the wardrobe down to Hartford. The wardrobe is quite
large and ends up tied to the roof of Mikhail’s car. Mikhail puts his extreme
paranoia to work and watches for signs of pursuit or interest.
Just outside of Hartford, a new-looking pickup truck, driven by two gentlemen, drives past him, going the other direction. Mikhail watches them pull a quick U-Turn on the road behind him and start following him. Mikhail, once again, takes evasive action and manages to lose them before driving into Hartford. He pulls onto Asylum Avenue and parks in front of City Hall.
Johnny and Kane arrive quite a bit later and meet up with Mikhail. As the three of them transfer the wardrobe from Mikhail’s car to the judge’s touring car, Mikhail notices the truck from earlier is doing slow laps around City Hall. He assumes, correctly, that the men in the truck are waiting for the transfer to be completed, and that they will follow Johnny and Kane back to New York when they depart.
Mikhail has Johnny and Kane leave first. When the truck drives off after them, Mikhail follows both vehicles in his car. Johnny takes the caravan down increasingly remote roads, until he finally stops the car on a very narrow dirt road somewhere in Western Connecticut/Eastern New York. The truck stops several yards behind Kane and Johnny and the two men get out. One of them reaches into his coat and pulls out something that looks like a wallet.
By this point, Mikhail has pulled up behind the truck, and is pretty certain that the two men haven’t seen him. He waits as the two men approach the judge’s touring car.
Once the two men are close for him to do anything about it, Johnny realizes that the man holding the wallet is Logan Terry, a police officer and a Lodge member. Logan, brandishing his badge, tells Kane and Johnny to get out of the car while the other man draws a gun from his coat.
Logan Terry--When Your Secret Order Needs a Dirty Cop on the Payroll
CLIFFHANGER!
The Judge’s House
Unbeknownst to the judge, Johnny has informed Vivian and Dr.
Black that Judge Putnam has gone through with Kane's foolhardy plan to pretend to be
his own assassin, and has made contact with Carl Stanford. Worried that the
judge might either be murdered or do something even worse if left to his own
devices, Johnny asks Vivian and Dr. Black to visit with and mind the judge for the
evening.
“He’s an old white man,” says Johnny, “so just sit with him and play cards. It'll be fine!”
Vivian and Dr. Black arrive and agree to a bracing night of card games. While the doctor pours the drinks and the judge sets up the card table, the doorbell rings. They open the door it to find a very angry, very Teutonic, very pockmarked man with an impressive mustache standing on the front porch.
“Please tell the judge that Maximilian Reed is here to see him.”
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