Jonah, Ju-Ju, and Jackson's Junk:

afternoon of Jan 26th

The gang decided to spend some time with Jonah Kensington, the editor of Prospero House, and Jackson Elias's publisher. This place was the closest thing Jackson had to a home address. In his last two months, Jackson had apparently made some discoveries about the Carlyle expedition, after having traveled to Nairobi (Kenya), Shanghai (China), and London. His notes grew stranger, and the one from London was hardly even decipherable, looking more like the ravings of a madman. Jonah believes that Jackson discovered something about a blood cult, maybe connected to the Carlyle Expedition, which got him killed.

Jonah hands over all of the evidence that he can find which he thinks might help, and invites the gang to the funeral.

After leaving Jonah, and checking ammunition levels, the gang headed up to Harlem where the Ju-Ju House is supposed to be. The address takes them to a dark alley (maybe not so bad while the sun is still up), which ends up in one of Harlem's less attractive spots: a courtyard, surrounded by apartments and the back of a pawn shop. The Ju-Ju House is a small place with a sign on the east end, opposite the bench with the sleeping wino.

The window features African masks and talismans. Upon entering, they are greeted by Silas, an old African man, who reminds them that the store is closing soon. The dusty store looks like it gets very little business, and nothing, even to the experts in the group looks suspiciously different than what one might expect in a place like this. There's even a stuffed giraffe.

The gang wastes no time, however, with the African bric-a-brac, and dive right into an aggressive interrogation. Poor Silas. They even end up beating him up, plying him for information, and dragging his old ass down the basement stairs, where he has intimated that something untoward is being kept.

The basement door opens on its own, however, before the players need to find a way to open its hefty lock, and some moving corpses start emerging and attacking, one of which is the self-same cultist that Ambrosch shot in the head yesterday night. In fact, the bullet-hole is still there. (SANITY CHECK!) A random cultist is also down there, and fires up the stairs, doing a bit of damage before seeing the other end of Mickey's shotgun.

Only blunt weapons seem to damage these zombies, and when they are finally all dead, with some collateral damage to the gang, the basement remains opened and quiet. It's a queer underground space: drums, tethers above a covered pit, which seems to be making a wailing sound beneath its stone cover, a mask, a book (Africa's Dark Sects, just the book that Jackson had been looking for), and some kind of ceremonial leopard outfit, complete with claws. What now?

Room 410  Jan. 15, 1925

Our intrepid adventurers arrive in NYC and get a room at the Waldorf Astoria (on Tex's dime). Ambrosch receives a phone call from an unusually nervous Jackson Elias, who asks to meet at his hotel room, at the Chelsea, 8pm. Upon arrival the group gets no response to their knocks, busts down the door, and is promptly attacked by three men.

Two of the men are black, and one is white, and all three are wearing a bizarre headdress, like a silly attempt at Mardi Gras in January. The front man slashes Oscar with a long African knife, nearly killing him, while Pancho dives in and starts punching. Mickey joins the fight, berating himself for going anywhere without a shotgun. Hank tries his hand with a dropped African knife, and decides that his fists will work better. After several rounds of fight, the two black cultists are dead, and the crazy-eyed white guy is subdued.

The characters now see what is left of Jackson Elias. His corpse is horribly cut open down the front, and his intestines are strung around his own neck and the bedposts. Strands of the intestines have been sliced out, and now everyone understands what is dangling from the cultists' horrible headdresses. There is a symbol carved into Jackson's forehead:

Mickey and Ambrosch try to get information out of the white cultist, but he has gone from crazed to completely unresponsive. They take him down to the lobby where the police take over, dragging off the cultist and questioning Mickey and Ambrosch.

Back at room 410, the rest of the group find a collection of new evidence, forming a trail that leads to all parts of the globe: London, Cairo, Shanghai, Australia, and Africa.

Next Steps  Jan 16, 1925

While Mickey and Ambrosch speak to the police, Pancho helps Oscar to a hospital, while the rest make their way to NYU to see if they can catch the end of Prof. Cowles' lecture. Turns out that the lecture was a week ago.

The next morning, after acquiring some new weaponry (That's kind of a bulky coat, Mickey...), the group splits up to investigate both Prof. Cowles and Emerson Imports. Prof. Cowles is back at Arkham University, where he is lecturing for the semester, but Mickey is able to speak to him over the phone. Cowles mentions his research into the ancient Sand Bat death cult of Australia, and how it might be connected to other modern death cults.

At Emerson Imports, Arthur Emerson says that J. Elias was interested in any imports from Mombasa (Kenya). He provides one connection to the investigators, just as he did to Elias: the Ju-Ju House in Harlem. Once in a while that place receives oddities from Mombasa--weird little ritualistic stuff that makes Emerson uncomfortable (masks, African fetishes).

The investigators get more money (another grand!) from Tex's secretary, but also 6 invitations to a black-tie party tomorrow night at Erica Carlyle's mansion. "Get yourself some really nice clothes and don't embarrass yourselves. This is a high-class event. Try to squeeze her for info. She's tough."

Tex's Invitation

It's the evening of December 30, 1924, and Tex Rickard is a millionaire who is having a party at his Boston home tonight to invite people to the January groundbreaking for the newest Madison Square Gardens, and to promote some of New York's best boxers. The famous Jack Dempsy is there, plus an up-and-coming guy named Poncho Villa from the Philippines.

Tex pulls you aside, along with seven or eight others, to discuss something in private. Tex's secretary has been scouting out the Boston area for a team of people with unique skills--everything from physical prowess to psychic sensitivity.

A friend of his named Jackson Elias, an author (and skeptic) who investigates the occult and writes about his findings, has just wired Tex to ask for a team of investigators. He has discovered something new about the Carlyle expedition and would like a team of capable, thoughtful people with varied skills to help him look into it. (To learn about the Carlyle expedition, see Collected Evidence.)

Tex sends you all on a train down to NY to meet with Jackson Elias...