Our game - The Armitage Files

[crimsontree]

We went to Jerry Grant's speakeasy in Brooklyn. The speakeasy was still closed because it was late in the morning,
the door was locked but I could see Jerry counting his money with his back to the entrance.
So I picked the lock all nice and quiet and went inside, but when we Dr. Grant entered the speakeasy jerry noticed him by the noise he made.
He asked us what we came doing here. We said we found the kid of the Cornelisz.
He told us to go to the Cornelisz's that they would be happy to hear that we found the kid.
I told him that we needed to talk first because they wouldn't be happy. But when I approached Jerry, he shot me in the shoulder.
Jonathan had his gun on the ready and fired back and I got my shotgun and fired at his hand, but the backfire made me hit his head instead.
We quickly closed the door of the speakeasy and searched for clues of Jerry being connected with the Cornelisz and their magic.
We couldn't find anything strange, he did have a roll of money with a total value of 1000 dollar and some keys.
After we went out the speakeasy throw the backdoor we went to a post office to see where Jerry Grant lives.

Once at the house we saw a older man working in the front garden, we decided that we wouldn't confront the man in the garden.
So I would sneak in the house throw the back and see what I could find out about Jerry. So said so done, the backdoor was open so getting is wasn't the hard part.
The house was a pretty normal house no strange things about the place, there was a picture in the room with 3 people in the picture.
The man in the front garden a younger version of Jerry and a woman.
So this must be the parents place of Jerry Grant and when I got upstairs I found out he still lived here.
His room was easy to recognize with all the girls on the walls and a playboy magazine next to the bed.
When I searched the room my eye caught a glims of some text being written in the magazine.
He had written that the Cornelisz where very rich and when they were done with him every one around here would fear him.
After reading this I found all the proof we needed, so I was ready to go downstairs when suddenly a whistle ling noise came from below.
It was a tea kettle which was boiling water downstairs in the kitchen.
I waited for the man to go to the kitchen and then went casually out of the house through the front door.
After this we went to the house of the Cornelisz.

When we arrived at the house the car of the Cornelisz was parked in the driveway.
But when we knocked on the door nobody opened up. Jonathan walked around the house to see if anyone was home.
After we made sure the area was save I unlocked the door. There was nobody in the hallway so we went to the door I presumed to belong to the basement.
Just in time I spotted a stone on the floor in front of the door, it was one of those strange stones that where in the garden as well.
I used the spear to try and destroy the stone but it was blocked by the stone and sparks came from it.
Dr. Grant said that the stone must be a protection stone against the Watchers and there equipment.
So I used a walking stick to shovel it a side so we could get to the basement.

But none of us was prepared for what happened next...

When I walked down the stair towards the basement I got hit by a black electrical/flame that came shooting up the stairs.

The shot wound in my shoulder was nothing compared to this I almost fell down the stairs but luckily Dr. Grant got me and pulled me back up the stairs.
Jonathan went to the cover the stairs but when he came close he was also hit by the black flames. Dr. Grant went to Jonathan to help him.
He used his pistol to shoot down into the basement and by some luck hit someone. He swear when he got hit and the sparkling noise stopped for a moment.
Then I heard footsteps coming from upstairs, Ms. Cornelisz was coming down the stairs with a gun pointed at me.
After some shots were fired I went down after I got hit (again).
Jonathan was less lucky, when Dr. Grant was just in time to jump aside for another black flame coming up the stairs.
Jonathan was already laying on the stairs unable to move so got hit again this time in his face.
In reply Dr. Grant emptied his gun toward the basement and hit the person downstairs again but this time he also fell to the ground.

After also killing Ms. Cornelisz he checked on Jonathan to find out he had left us.
Dr. Grant dragged us to the car, cleared the house and sat it on fire.
He dropped me at the hospital and burried Jonathan under a bridge as he was told to do by Rico Eibon.
He would learn Dr. Grant a spell so Jonathan could teach Armitage the spell.
Dr. Grant resurrected Jonathan with his last efforts and then went back to Faraday ... his wife and kids. There he spent the next few days staring into the void.

8 days later....

I woke up in a hospital in New York and my wounds where a bit better. But I still had some burning marks on me from the confrontation with the Cornelisz.
They said that Dr. Grant had been calling everyday to check on me. So I went back to Arkham but not before I informed Diamond Walsh.
He arranged me a ride to Arkham and once back in the factory Jonathan was upstairs smoking a cigarette, but he was missing one arm.
We went to see Dr. Grant that same night, only his wife wouldn't let us speak with him.
We finally convinced her that he was working for the government to do research to help in the war in Europe.
When we promised we would get the monkey away from the house we could speak with Dr. Grant.
When we came onto the attic Faraday jumping on a chair dressed in a pink dress and Dr. Grant was sitting in a cage, spanking his monkey.

[crimsontree]

At night we had an appointment with dr. Armitage. A lot was talked about: Rico, dr. Armitage himself (we decided to finally place our trust in the man), the Red Hollow case (Peasley is to return in three weeks!) and the NAPL. We decided to investigate the NAPL the next day. We also teached dr. Armitage the Invocation of non-Euclydian time spell.

So we went after the North American Preservation League. Research showed they were conservative isiolationists who rather keeped the USA white and pure. Whatever that might mean. Central seemed to be a man known as Fred Giraus. He is not only the founder of the NAPL, but also the sheriff of Bensons Creek. Local membership (about 20, mostly Girauses) or associate membership (a few hundreds) were mentioned. Their base of operations is the Red Hollow hotel/motel, in - of course – Bensons Creek. All in all, we prepared for trouble (in effect: we bought new guns).

Our investigation started when we went south to Louisiana where we were halted by the local towns fool, Zebedy Willson. He found a girl. Or to be more precise: the bloated body of an approximately twelve year old girl with long blond hair. Apparently, she was dead for a few days. Cause of dead seemed to be the clawmarks on her back and on the inside of her thighs. To complicate things, we found footprints of a goat and some goat hairs on the body. We also found a very old abbey; in fact, the abbey seemed too old to be in the USA anyway… We send Zebedy to fetch the sheriff, which he did. Fred, in his role of sheriff, gave us some information (the girl was named Karin Miller). But apparently he remembered his role and did everything possible to hush up the whole story. He forebode Zebedy to talk about it.

We went to the Hotel/Motel. It was a strange affair. All rooms were used. In fact, they were not for rent anyway. The Red Hollow was a monument that was to be reserved in its former glory. But nowadays, it was not longer a Hotel (or Motel). The friendly receptionist made an appointment for us with the local farmer Graysson. We were able to sleep in the barn, there. Before we went to that farm, we visited the local pub. A bit of a sad affair, the barmaid Gloria certainly was not! In fact, she was everything the Lucky Star Saloon was not. But anyway, we had a drink (or two) and found out some gossip and a pretty view.

But finally we retreated to Grayssons farm. We slept at the hay stack, but much sleep we did not get. The local goats turned out to be of the loud variety. Somehow, they managed to chant some unholy prayer! We checked out what was happening and found for of the animals on their back in a – lets say – state of enjoyment. Someone (something?) had done some not to nice things to them (best not mentioned what exactly had happened) that they somehow interpreted in the most positive way. All in all, it looked like some dark ritual to us. Then, we followed some trail we found. We followed it for a while. It ended close to a trailer, with a few excited men dressed in white sheets. We knew enough. We drew our guns and waited to utter the secret code word, “resus monkey”.

[crimsontree]

Jonathan approached the people and demanded that they should stop.
But when they noticed him, they all drew a knife and started to stab each other with it.
On this action Jonathan opened fire and shot one of them down and after a few good shots all of them where injured or dead.
Jonathan shot the last one who was already injured through the head.
I saw a girl riding away on a bike, probably a farm girl trying to escape the carnage.
When the surrounding was safe we checked out the trailer and the truck.
The trailer was outfitted like a living area with some clothing from a girl and a broken window.
The glass was struck out from the inside and there was a bit of blood on it.
Jonathan scouted the barn where the camper was standing next to, there he discovered a man and a woman hanging by their preaches parts.
They probably were the owners of the farm.

In the mean while I searched the truck and found out that there was loads of lab equipment and a lot of samples, plants and more plants.
When searching throw the books I found a note with a summing spell on it, something to do with Shub-Niggurath.
The spell described what had already happened, the chanting, the sacrificing of a lot of blood for a girl, being the last part of the spell.
Then it all made sense the girl must probably be the vessel for something evil, something to do with Shub-Niggurath.

We set in the persuade with the truck, Luciano at the wheel, we made good time trying to catch up.
But then we came at a T-junction, I decided to go right towards the town.
But when we almost where at the village there was still no sign of a bike or the girl.
She probably want in the other direction at the T-junction, so I tried to turn the truck around but in the hasty move I parked the truck in the ditch and blocked the road with the truck and trailer.
We decided to continue the persuade with my pickup truck that was a little bit back towards the T-junction.
We had to made up for the lost time with driving in the wrong direction and for losing the truck.
So I put the pedal to the metal and soon we were on the right track not far beyond the T-junction we found a crashed bike in the ditch.
It looked like it was hit by a vehicle. After investigating the tracks and the trashed bike it looked like it was a set up.
The tire of the bike was bent on purpose to look like it was hit. We also found some tractor tracks leading back to a farm,
but there was no tractor there so it must be heading away from the village. Still desperately trying to catch up I drove 80 miles on this farm road.
But when we came on top of a hill going over the pass there was someone laying on the road, I tried to steer around him but I hit him and then got off the road and getting to a standstill in a phone pole.
The car was crashed and smoke came out of the engine. We could forget about getting up with the girl who probably was miles away by now.
We checked out the man on the road, it was a farmer and his head was smashed, but not by a car.
It looked more like someone smashed something hard against his head on the back and not the side my car would have hit.
After getting our gear from the truck we managed to buy a car from a farmer not far from here, it was a battered pickup truck.
We continued our journey towards the next town and went to the gas station. There we encountered Zebedy Willson he explained that he was working here.
He would arrange a tow truck to pick up my black pickup truck I crashed.
We also told him about the man laying on the road who was hit by someone before us and that I evaded him and ended up against a phone poll.

After we resupplied we went back toward the other town with a detour a road going around the area of the crash.
We had no way of tracking the girl so we went on to the next thing that was standing out in the area.
The abbey that was standing near the swamp with it medieval style.
The abbey was not in that good of a condition the roof had a lot of holes and the stone wall had a opening about 4 meters from the ground, but the stained glass window was in perfect condition.
As was the door because we couldn't get it open it must be locked from the inside.
So I climbed up the wall and went through the opening. When I climbed down the light shined through the stained glass on to a sarcophagus that was laying in the middle of the abbey.
The cover stone had a knight in armor carved in it with a great sword on top of him, in the blade where set the letters Livonian.
When dr. Grand and Jonathan asked if I found something they sounded quite far away and when I checked to see if I could open the door there wasn't any door at all.
But it must have been the strange light coming through the stainless glass because when I looked again there was a door.
I let the others in and we went investigating this strange abbey. We couldn't find anything strange apart from the stainless glass and the sarcophagus.
But when we tried to approach the sarcophagus we ended walking in the other direction straight out of the abbey.
Eventually I managed to walk towards the sarcophagus by not wanting to walk to the sarcophagus.
When I finally spoke the words Livonian the slab started to move a bit, and after speaking it 2 more time the slab fell to the ground.
Inside lay a young man wearing armor and carrying a sword on his chest with the letters Livonian set into it.

....Then the young man started to breath and move....

After a scare moment when we all didn't know what to make of this, the young man spoke something in Latin.
After explaining the situation we managed to calm everyone down and get the knight out of the sarcophagus.
When Dr. Grand tried to look at his wounds Jonathan hold the sword of the knight...

*poff*

his arm became one big green puffball, but it didn't stop there it kept on growing.
When I finally got the spear out of the car there was nothing to see of Jonathan, he was one big puffball.
I tried to use the spear to get the spores off of him but it didn't work it was simply to massive.
We, sir Olsen (the knight), Dr. Grand and Luciano, managed to get to the car in time.
We drove off back towards Arkham. Without Jonathan but with a new member a Livonian knight from the past.

[crimsontree]

Tukka-tukka-tukka. We first heard is being said by Cecile when we decided to give her a call about Johanathan. She did not cry, she did not shout when we told her Johnathan was dead. Her reactions were quite neutral. When she started doing tukka-tukka-tukka. We decided to head over ASAP. For it was the same tukka-tukka-tukka which was spoken by the three siencentist before they started killing people.

We found Cecilia at het others home, her mother was out for a moment. She was in the hospital because she accidently (??) fell from the stairs. We spoke some more with Cecilia about Johanthan. She told us she was very angry with us, but again with the same neutral voice.

Her voice shifted when she spoke of the latest pos song: tukka-tukka-tukka. It was on the radio quite a lot and she owned a copy of the gramophone record. “Tukka-tukka-tukka” by the Red Book triplets, produced by Eric Zahn. For regular people this may sound as a usual name but for us alarm bells went off. For it was Eric Zahn the deceased (??) instrument maker who made pipes for Azazoth (or at least we suspect that). And the Red Book (or box?)… Disturbing indeed.

We asked Cecilia if we could take the record. She was reluctant at first but later she said we could have it. Just before she left, all of a sudden she smashed her head onto the glass table. Luckily Dr Grant was able to use chloroform on het or else she may have continued harming herself or us. Quick examination turned out she had a bleeding head wound and a glass splinter in her left eye. We quickly dragged Cecilia out of her house and in to the car so we could take her to the hospital.

At the hospital while filling in the paperwork we reanalyzed Johanthan never told us Cecilia’s last name. Strange how these things tend to fade to the background. However we were able to tell her that her mother was brought in a few days ago with a broken hip. After the nurse checked the records she learned Cecilia’s last name. We learned that her mother died three days ago.

We decided once more to shift our priorities. The Armitage inquiry and the documents could wait. If radio stations were playing this wicked song across the country, it has to be stopped. We called professor Armitage to tell him about the song and it’s (possible) connection with the Herald of End Times Azazoth.

Meanwhile Luciano went to a record shop and asked about the Red Book trio. What he learned there was most disturbing. Not only was tukka-tukka-tukka being played in America, but in Europe as well. To make things worse, the Red Book trio was recording an album; producer: Eric Zahn.

This recording needs to be stopped at all cost. We decided to make great haste and go to the production company as soon as possible. The production company is located in New York, so Lucciano called our ally Diamond Walsh once more. He understood the gravity of the situation quite quickly and vowed his aid to us.

While packing equipment and preparing for the journey dr. Grant noticed Faraday was missing. He said he needed to pick up some research note’s from his home and went to get them. Later it turned out dr Grant claimed that Faraday had left him a message “I’m home”. When Dr Grant arrived at his home the sight would be quite disturbing to most men. Dr Grants children were in the yard crying/shocked with bruises and cuts telling dr Grant they weren’t allowed in. Dr grant entered his house to find it in a very bad state. Monkey excrements everywhere, torn curtains and some structural damage. Dr grant went upstairs because he heard noises there. When he opened the bedroom door his mind finally snapped. Faraday now far more muscular then the last time and quite bigger as well was having sex with his wife in an animalistic way. Dr Grant called his monkey, but instead of answering the monkey looked at him and mentally forced dr grant away. Just before dr grant was forced out of the room his wife Josefine turn to dr grant and with a face wet of sweat and more monkey excrement said: tukka-tukka-tukka.

Dr Grant went ouside the house and ignored the cries form his children. He went to get some gasoline and torched his home. After that he called the asylum to have his children taken in. With nothing left to live for dr Grant went back to the factory. Eric Zahn, the production company all will burn and be cleansed in glorious flames!
After meeting up with Luciano and Ollie, all three went on their trip to New York. Dr Grant was…altered. He was told many times to slow down by Ollie and Luciano, but he told them to “stop it, it is annoying” or mumble about “glorious flames”. Lucciano managed to filch dr grant his ether flask form his pocket and was able to subdue him just before the car drove of a pier in high speed.

Dr grant was put in the backseat under the close guard of Ollie. Dr grant did not listen to the hope giving words Ollie spoke to him. Instead he grabbed his ether flask and managed to get unconscious. The next memory of dr Grant would be his wife, tears in her eyes running towards him while being in a white room . Dr grant looked puzzled at his friends, trying to understand what they were saying. tukka-tukka-tukka? It does not make sense.

[crimsontree]

*****************

The three of us went to the Cloisters restaurant at Miskatonic Univercity. It was Friday, April 23th. We made a plan. We wanted to go to New York to investigate the Red Box trio. They seemed to be german triplets. And quite young, too. We went with four of us: Luciano, sir Olsen, Patrick Demsey and Polten Williams.

We were looking for Erich Sahn and his instruments. Problem was, Erich Sahn was known to be dead for 25 years. He owned a recording studio that’s in use even today. In fact, the Red Box trio was recording their latest album there. The studio’s are called SOSI, Society Of Syncrative Inquiry. We restated that the gravure on the hit record formed a patron that looked a lot like the pyramid under Crown Hill.

We went to New York by car. First, Luciano visited Diamand Walsh. He learned a lot from his fellow criminal. The triplets came from Berlin, Germany. Erich Sahn is their producer. He went to Germany in 1910 or so and reputedly he came back to the USA a short while ago. It seemed he wasn’t dead, after all.

Soon, we went on to the SOSI recording studio. It turned out to be a very huge building. Not so huge as some others around, but still. With some minor trouble and some flattery, we went to the 14th floor. From the outside, it was the only floor that mirrored. The others were simply glass. Inside, an strangely adorned elevator took us to a glass like dark corridor. It turned out to be made of obsidian. We crossed the corridor and found more strange drawings on the walls and ceilings. Somehow we found out that Tacha (the name of the song) means Freedom or Escape in the language of the Yith, the elder race.

At the end of the corridor, we encountered a closed door. With the help of the strange drawings we (at least, some of us) figured out how to open that closed door. It gave way to a large spherical room with in the middle a second spherical room. Inside the smaller one was the Red Box trio, all quite old man. A voice sounded out of some sort of machine. It was the voice of Erich Sahn. He told us the reason for the song and what it did. He tried to strengthen the human race so they could stand things to come. Or die in the process. Erich sounded convincing when he told us he did all this for the sake of good. At least, what he perceived as good. Unable to do anything about it or stop it by force, we retreated…

After we got back at the lighthouse in Kingsport, we decided that we should find out more about Austin kittrell.
I made some phone calls and was given a lead on a friend of him in kingsport, named Jeffrey Hill.
He was found dead not to long ago. Will be given a few minute to investigate before the police would arrive. So we went on our way.
When we arrived at the apartment we knocked on the door. A woman with tears in her eyes opens up the door. She's messed up, she keeps rattling about "those eyes".
Finaly we manage to stellel her down, she will make some thee for us when we check out the room of Jeffrey.
The room was unlocked by the woman, we find the table toppled over en some thee cups broken and a Jeffry in his bed laying with his face down. His eyes were taken out and someone tried to burn something's in the fireplace. Something that was once a book, some notes and we found a library pass inside the chimney. We also found out that there are two sizes of cloths in the wardrobe.
After carefully examining the room, Olsan and I went upstairs to miss Elway.
She had some thee ready and we talked about Jeffrey, that he was a good student and didn't make any fuzz. The opposite was his roommate who get odd hours and brought girls with him. His name is Daniel Rafbone, his parents got enough money to pay the rent en he uses the rest of the money to go to speakeasies.
Dempsey found a note in one of the coats with the address of the apartment and the address of the sender.
It was send form "Gollem and Sons Rarebooks", that's a company that tries to find strange old books for their clients. But there was no sign of the note that would have been inside the envelope.
So we diced to go up the other lead the library pass. We were in luck because the librarian was just about to leave. Professor Drew conformed what miss Elway told us about Jeffrey. Jeffrey was always studding had, but for the last few weeks he was almost obsessed with a book "The invisible path" written by Martin Balgrave. We went to check out where he would usually sit to study, there we found a line of text carved in the desk. *see note*

A few phone calls conformed that Jeffrey wanted to order the book, but Gollem and Sons didn't have that book but they sent him a list with people who got the book.
Next we went to one of the uptown speakeasies to check for Daniel Rafbone.
We found him drinking at one of the bars, after a quick chat we found out that he didn't know nor carried for Jeffrey, as long as his suites were alright. But when we said that they would maybe be after him instead he began to worry. He finally told us that he gave him a note and that he was always talking about boring stuff. The note said that he would kill himself and burn the book because it is evil.

We retreated to the lighthouse.

While lord Olsen was reading anything that might help him quest to catch up with time in the lighthouse, the others found out about the murder of Jeffrey Hill. They others came back for lord Olsen and together they planned to visit some of Austen Katrell’s pubs. We first went to the biggest of them all, th Red Room night club. After we bribed our way in (one needed to be a member – or so they said), we split up in two groups: Dr Grant and Luciano scouted ahead, Dempsey and lord Olsen followed to provide back up, if needed.

The night club turned out to be a large and luxurious place, with two levels and a balcony. At the grand stage, a jazz band was playing. The crowd was dancing and really having a good time. The place was decorated in red and white, with many copper knobs and railings. Dr Grant managed to meet up with a nice lady named Ruby Green. He talked to her resulting in her leaving “to powder her nose”. At some point, a man in a white suit came to sing a enthralling song. The crowd loved it; and it must be said - it really was a very spectacular song… It turned out the singer was the man where were looking for, Austen Katrell.

Not much later, dr Grant sat down next to Austen when he was enjoying a drink and the company of (of course) Ruby Green. She was (literally) waived away. Dr Grant thanked Austen for the membership of the historical society. They talked some more, and Luciano joined the two of them. Austen told that Giovanni had convinced Austen. Gardner, apparently, had done not soo nice things to Giovanni. Austen healed him and wished him away. During the conversation, Austen tried to retrieve information from Luciano. Austen seemed to be well informed indeed. It turned out that Giovanni is now somewhere safe in Europe.

Suddenly, Austen becomes aggressive towards Luciano and puts a broken bottle on his neck. Dr Grant and lord Olsen secure the way out by returning to the great central hall. Dempsey is to help Luciano from the clutches of Austen. Several guards (who were present about anywhere all the time) draw their guns. While we leave the play, Austen uses spells to close the doors and open them again! Somehow, we manage to get out without triggering a fire fight (and many innocents being hurt).

We went for Oliver Gardner, to warn him. He lets us in, but when in his study, a witch on a broom becomes visible. She wracks the large window of the study and Gardner seems to have a heart attack. To get him out of harms way, lord Olsen picks up Oliver to bring him to the car. They others try to take care of the witch, while lord Olsen leaves the building. Outside, however, are two zombies. Later, it turned out these once were Giovanni and Rico. But for now, they are a nuisance. Luckily, the others manage to kill the witch. All in all, it’s a scare experience for Luciano. Anyway, we escape with Oliver alive (although barely). Thank goodness…

[crimsontree]

Quickly we drove back to Arkam, Gardeners blood pressure low, but stable. If we ‘d hurry he would make it. Kingsport is in great trouble now that Austin Kitrell showed it true colors. Kitrell needs to die, but not today and perhaps, not by our hand. In the car Gardener regained his senses and had a chat with Sir Olsen about the Livonian Knights. Apparently there are still knights among us and a way to find them might be trough the Masonic Lodges. But that too, was something to delve in at a later time. When we reached the factory I injected Gardener with the last of his serum. Sir Olsen and Dempsey drove gardener to the hospital while I was treating the wounds of Luciano.

Later that night, or better, early in the morning we had a chat with professor Armitage. I do not know if the lack of sleep, or the fact that it wasn’t the first time we went to Armitage was the reason I wasn’t paying attention. Two things sparked my interest. The first thing was that the Inquiry and the Vizzini family would prepare an assault vs. Kitrell. Let’s hope not too many men will die.

The second thing was access to the “reserved” books of the Oren Library. Armitage wasn’t pleased to do so. I think his reasons were that he knew how the horror in those “dreaded volumes” would affect us. He advised us to read the books together, so we could look after each other. Also, as extra security a Elder Sign would be placed in the factory floor. A reassuring thought. A place of (imagined) safety is a great asset.

After our chat with Armitage it was time for some well earned rest. Fatigue can numb the mind and our minds may very well be one of our strongest weapons. Later the day we went to visit mr. Phillip or Phillips, the encyclopedia salesmen. Trusting the document this man also had some knowledge regarding Masonic Lodges.

We went to his neighborhood and asked around if people knew mr. Philip. We learned that Mr Philip had been selling Botanica encyclopedia’s for two weeks and suddenly stopped doing so. At the moment he was living with his aunt because his parents died at young age. The residence did not look at its best. Outdoor painting and garden had been neglected for some time. With nothing more to learn from inquiring it was time to face the man. Luciano and I would ring the door. Sir Olsen and Dempsey would be backup if needed. When the door was opened by an elderly lady she was reluctant at first. When I told her I worked for Botanica and wanted to buy the books back she became more open. She told us of her nephew, Howard Philip and how he spend most of his time on the attic. He was having an “artistic” period. Painting and the writing of poems. The lady escorted us upstairs, visibly straining her.

When we met Howard he was reluctant to speak with us as well. We seemed to bother him, he had the same look as scientists sometimes have when they are working on a great project. Slowly he opened the door and that is when we saw the art Howard was making. Many paintings and drawings depicting surreal places, strange rituals and many other things not of this world. The “poems” were written, sometimes scribbled on the wall. A first impression would be that this man was severely insane. After a while I started recognizing things in the books I’ve read and the things Faraday and I spoke about.
Howard though that we were part of “them”. His suspicion was quite easy to tackle when we said that we weren’t working for Brittanica, but that we were here because of the dreams and the things he’s drawn. Saying we believed him did the trick. He kept asking for our names, which I was reluctant to give. Luciano, after while told his name and Howard told him his. It would only be later that I would realize that this man has the same name as the writer of the novels Jonathan used to read. “Howard Philip Lovecraft, at your service”.



- Armitage will send Peasley jr to look after gardener
- Armitage will hire a secretary mentioned later in the documents
- A lot of the paintings have to do with summoning

[crimsontree]

During the meeting with Mr. Lovecraft we heard a gunshot outside. Luciano went outside to see what happened.
At the moment he came out Dr. Dempsey shot at a man in a police uniform. Then another man appeared, apparently the brother of the 'policeman'. Dempsey shot him dead. The Livonian knight hit the one in the police uniform too hard & killed him. The group panicked and fled the scene as neighbours of H.P. Lovecraft came onto the street. The investigators took the body of the 'policeman' to the factory.

Once in the factory they decided to notify Armitage. Dr. Armitage himself decides to go to Lovecraft & bring him along to Miller's factory. The Elder Sign will be made at the factory tonight. Luciano tightened security around the factory by placing armed members of the Vizzini family at it's perimeter. Poulton Williams continued his work in a temporary lab in the factory. Around midnight, Armitage arrived at the factory with H.P. Lovecraft.

[crimsontree]

We were at the factory, Poulsen Williams, HP Lovecraft and the four of us. Dr Armitage came over to inscribe the Elder Sign on the factory. HP Lovecraft complains about the way dr Armitage uses the symbols. It was too Jiddisch to his taste. Anyway, I gave him $200 to pay for his expenses. He refused, but we agreed that the money was to be used to print his stories for the general public.

We thought this would be an uneventful evening, but we were in for a surprise.

Luciano had contact with Diamond Walsh, by phone. New York seemed to have become one large street pary. Everyone was playing Tukatukatuka music and having a carefree time. A bit too carefree in the mind of Diamond Walsh.

Suddenly, while Dr Armitage and HP Lovecraft were still drawing the Elder Sign, we were under attack. Something was slashing its way through the door. It turned out to be a zombie or rather, the zombified 'policeman'. He screemed “the black man” all the time. Together, we managed to shoot the zombie and slice him to pieces. Just before he went away, he was able to say “Kitrell, master, return to normal”. It turned out that Kitrell was the black man, aka Nyarlathotep, the herald of the End Times!

Not much later I got the tendency to cry, my eyes started to water without any logical trigger. I prayed, in full armor which I donned earlier, and let the tears flow. After a while, some sort of Yeti materialized behind me. I turned around and stood up, ready to strike when necessary. The Yeti brought me a message: I was an or-di-nair-ry shopkeeper, and I owned a monster of a sword that I fed humans lest it eat my family. Luciano got a message about the taste of human flesh compared to animal flesh. He got this unsettling message from a dying (dead?) man in a crematorium. He talked about MG, which was (amongst other things) MyGo and Modena Grimoire.

Dempsey got his message all out (the first two were only in our heads). It was a warning from dr Armitage, in the voices of both dr Armitage and Dempsey himself… It was a “delaying messure”, as he put it. The tears of Azazoth was him magus opus. He painted a horrible picture of a post apocalyptic east coast and Arkem.

Dr Grant also got his message all out. He got proof about dr Armitage being the sender of the documents. Dr Armitage, as we had seen in the Dreamlands, will be having troubles with his leg. He has included some pus from his leg in the documents. He tells about a vampire and about trapping him. Then suddenly, the Yeti disappears.

The ghost of Poulten storms in. His improved Y-scope is not working properly. It is locating SW, with a radius of about 200 miles. This implies New York. Poulten rambled about monkey blood and some other blood. The Y-scope made funny noises, and would become quite eratic later on.

The tiny zombieparts of the 'policeman' came together above the now finished Elder Sign to form the face of Austen Kitrell. He wants to have the Red Book and tries to convince us to give it to him. He promises us to wipe out all cultists on the east coast. He claims that dr Armitage messed thing up on a galactic scale. Dr Grant seemed to fall for this ploy.

While Kitrell talked, dr Armitage was having a heart attack. I ran over to him. Before fainting, dr Armitage told me to not open the box. The face of Kitrell changed into some kind of box, with a lid. Meanwhile, HP Lovecraft turned out to be beheaded.

Unfortunately, dr Grant tries to open the box. I stop him, at sword point. After some discussion, Dempsey shoots at the box. It explodes and a piece of paper falls out. And the shot killed William Poulsen in the process. The document was written in latin and contained a spell: Call Azazoth. Dempsey takes the documents and everything is inverted in color and in slow motion for a while. Dempsey tears the document apart and folds it into a five sided cube…

And then, a bright and omnipresent light came from the South West. A mushroom cloud formed there. It seemed that New York was hit by some super bomb… This can mean only one thing: the end times have begun!