11. Elegy for Lost Innocence
--- UNEXPECTED TENTACLE SESSION 11 ---
--- ELEGY FOR LOST INNOCENCE ---
--- (1.5.96) ---
From mwo20@cam.ac.ukThu May 2 15:17:18 1996
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 14:08:53 +0000 (GMT)
From: Marcus Ogden {mwo20@cam.ac.uk}
To: Tim Massingham {tlm21@hermes.cam.ac.uk}
Cc: Cthulhu RPG {dhf20@hermes.cam.ac.uk}, jenf2@hermes.cam.ac.uk,
mjc42@hermes.cam.ac.uk, tmac2@hermes.cam.ac.uk,
Tim Massingham {tlm21@hermes.cam.ac.uk}
Subject: Re: Write-up
On Thu, 2 May 1996, Tim Massingham wrote:
+
+ Since I've an hour with nothing to do till until my next
+ (completely pointless) lecture...
+
+ last night scenario was a transition into the 2nd and far
+ deadlier part of the campaign. Thus a large part of the session was
+ spent recapping. I think most the important points are contain below,
+ but I could be mistaken.
+
+ After arriving in Brent, Warwick refused to give us any
+ information so we decided to send a telegram to Tattler in order to get
+ a lift back. Warwick decided he needed a new set of clothes and
+ proceeded to mug to nearest inhabitant of Brent (a which the good reverend
+ severely disapproved I might add.) The professor decided that ripped(?)
+ clothes were the fashion and didn't follow Warwick example (I think the Profs
+ fashion sense was just several decades ahead of his time.)
+ After going to the nearby town and sending the telegram, the
+ reverend had a sudden compulsion to buy a newspaper on the strength of
+ an article on coins ('the professor will be interested'.)
We also found out from the newspaper that we are in May 1921, i.e. about
a month after we took ship for Tahiti.
+ A this point we
+ had the recap. and finally coaxed some info out of Warwick.
i.e. at this point a large neon sign appeared above Warwick's head saying
"Ask Me About..." Some technological discussion about "wind-up neon
signs" ensued. (Actually, the tangent count was way up tonight - Tim
tried to keep us on the straight-and-narrow, but...)
+ It turns out that Warwick and the professor had indeed met, about
+ a hundred years ago by Warwick's personal measure of time, but somewhere
+ in the prof's future (hence he can't tell us much for fear of what could
+ happen.)
Somewhere in both Prof. Hargreaves' personal future, and the actual
future (i.e. after May '21), but 100 years in Warwick's personal past.
Warwick started wandering the Dark Path in the mid-18th Century aged about
38. He hasn't aged since, so is at least 150-odd years old.
+ Warwick was locked in a cell during some 'war of nations' and
+ some how talked to the prof (in the next cell perhaps?) The prof told
+ him how the great resurrection must be stopped and how the others with him
+ had gone completely insane.
We theorised at this point (based on the ripped clothes?) that this meant
that the goal of the campaign was to go forward in time to 1996 and stop
the Sex Pistols reunion.
On a more serious note, Warwick "couldn't remember" details of the
situation (it was more than 100 years ago by him, after all), but he did
remember Prof. Hargreaves' name, a strange thing to remember. There may
well (chortle - TimC) be more to this than meets the eye.
+ Warwick somehow escaped, although he can't
+ tell us how since the information has already proven to have driven us
+ insane once. Warwick then buggered off.
+ Swanson duly arrived with transport, but not before we read
+ Tattler's obituary in the paper (I said it was a plot device.) We were
+ hastened to a tailors and quickly fixed up with cheap suits to attend
+ the funeral and then the hearing of the will (2 of Mr Big CÕs body guards
+ were at the funeral - I think he knows we're back.) At the hearing of
+ the will Swanson was bound into the Prof's service.
i.e. Swanson gets a weekly payment from Tattler's estate as long as he
remains in Prof. Hargreaves' service.
+ We went to the rectory to find that the Rev. had lost his post
+ and was rumoured to have spent the last few weeks in an asylum (again.)
+ No reports in the paper refer to the massacre at Eynsham, a bad sign I
+ think.
+ Retiring to the Prof's house, we washed etc. and went to bed, only
+ for the Prof and Jeremiah to be a woken by a knocking in the early hours
+ of the morning. Tattler's maid entered and gave us a box which she had
+ been bound over by the will to deliver to us. She exited stage pretty
+ sharpish.
Anyone for a quick sweep on the life expectancy of the maid? Unless, of
course, the Guild of Maid Assassins are the *real* Big Cheeses...
[Scooby Doo accent] "Of course! They were there the *whole time*..."
+ Inside the box was a book, a small(?) sum of money ($2000), the
+ MASK and a letter from Tattler. The letter said that Tattler had a
+ visit from Allerton a few years back inquiring about an Indian ritual
+ (the great resurrection. - Allerton is Mr. B. Cheese) Tattler couldn't
+ help, but during the course of his research came across a cave painting which
+ described the ritual, which involved the mask. Tattler, putting a few
+ random numbers together and getting the right answer asked
+ Arnold 'lets shoot myself in rev's study' Witticker to find this mask.
Allerton approached Tattler asking about an American Indian ritual
(Tattler's field), involving a mask. Tattler thought the mask might be the
missing Chieftain's Mask he had read about (the only thing he had heard of
that might fit the bill). His curiosity was aroused - he couldn't find
anything in books about the ritual, but he did eventually find some cave
paintings that seemed to portray it. So he got his research student (and
our friend), Arnold Whittaker, to see what he could find out about the
mask.
Eventually (as we already know), Arnold wrote to him to say that he had
found where the mask was. He came to the rectory one night from the
library in a state of great excitement and got us to return to the library
with him. Later we were discovered wandering the library, memories gone,
and Arnold had disappeared... later to be discovered in the study at the
rectory, having committed suicide. Presumably whatever he had discovered
had driven him totally insane, and us partially so.
Tattler had discovered that Allerton and his associates were trailing his
movements, and in particular had visited the caves with the paintings
shortly after he had. With all the incidents surrounding Arnold's
disappearance, he realised he was getting into some heavy shit: Allerton
was not just in this out of archaeological interest. He resolved that he
would do all he could to stop the mask falling into Allerton's hands.
+ Tattler realised he was being watched, so couldn't do much. He
+ knew that Allerton had visited the caves shortly after he had, so knew
+ the mask had to be found and hidden. After we found the mask and grudgingly
+ handed it over to the museum, Tattler switched the mask with a fake,
+ which is current on display.
Tattler also knows Allerton is looking for the "stick" (the one Allerton
interrogated us about, but Benny sent to Tahiti). In his letter Tattler
told us to keep the mask on us at all times, and as for the stick,
Allerton is "way ahead of us" (i.e. we'd better get moving).
Along with the mask, Tattler sent us a .45 revolver (in case we feel like
getting into any more gunfights for the GM to find creative ways of
getting us out of), and a book of Arnold's which may be of some
significance (with neon sign attached saying "Mythos Tome: Free Spells -
You Have Nothing To Lose But Your SAN"). A little bit of light reading
for Tim, this Latin text was written in Bohemia in the 1200s.
(All this is plausible enough, but I'm still not convinced Tattler wasn't
up to his elbows in ichor (along with Julian of course). Get ready to make
those "1d6+1 sanity loss for meeting someone you know to be dead"
rolls...)
+ Being a fan of old books (or cultist for short) Jeremiah started
+ to read to riveting 'nameless' thirteenth century book. Tattler refers
+ to another book which Arnold had read (the one that drove him completely
+ insane, and us on hearing partially so.) This is current missing, so Mr
+ B C probably has it.
+ "Can I skim the book"
+ "Right, lose lots of san. One bit about 'Cursing all the land
+ dwellers looks interesting."
+ "Can I go back and read that bit."
+ "Do you want to learn the spell then?"
+ "What! What the heck, I may as well" - told you Jeremiah is a
+ cultist.
+ Other things to come out of the session was a frank discussion
+ that Julian is really Big Cheese and the reason why he turned up late is
+ all the time needed to brief him.
Maybe he is manipulating Tim's mind from a distance, winding up the
clockwork so to speak.
(Rrrubbish! - TimC)
+ Also, since he knows what's happening, it does matter that he misses most /
+ all of the session - in fact why am I writing this? Since all the
+ non-cultist players were there...
Hey, just because you're not the Big Cheese doesn't mean you're not a
cultist. Let Fr. Michael show you his collection of Yog-Sothoth
memorabilia sometime...
+ Only joking, I don't think Tim is _that_ devious. On second thoughts...
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