Tatters of the King - User contributions [en-gb]

Session 14

2006-09-18T19:34:01Z

203.211.85.164: /* Saturday February 11th 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 18th September, 2006==

=== Thursday January 19th 1930 ===

The investigators have just 2 days left in Bombay to prepare fully for the long journey North to Mustang.

=== Friday January 20th 1930 ===

A farewell dinner is held at the [[Tullis]] home.

=== Saturday January 21st 1930 ===

The train to the Northern city of Benares leaves first thing in the morning. All 4 investigators board with the Reverend [[Gore]], who offers to show them around Jabalpur if they wish to break their journey at that city.

=== Sunday January 22nd 1930 ===

The train continues across India.

=== Monday January 23rd 1930 ===

The Reverend [[Gore]] disembarks in Jabalpur.

=== Tuesday January 24th 1930 ===

The train continues across India.

=== Wednesday January 25th 1930 ===

Arrival in Benares. Riot. train attacked. Change trains.

=== Thursday January 26th 1930 ===

The train heads North to the border.

=== Friday January 27th 1930 ===

Arrival in Nautanwa.

=== Saturday January 28th 1930 ===

Guides hired, lead by [[Jigme Rinzing]].

=== Sunday January 29th 1930 ===

Preparation for the trek.

=== Monday January 30th 1930 ===

Crossing the border. Day 1.

=== Tuesday January 31st 1930 ===

Day 2

=== Wednesday February 1st 1930 ===

Day 3

=== Thursday February 2nd 1930 ===

Day 4 - Pokhara. Locate Yangser Chumpo, Quarrie's guide. Confirmation of Drakmar.

=== Friday February 3rd 1930 ===

Day 5

=== Saturday February 4th 1930 ===

Day 6 - Rope bridges. Browne has trouble crossing. Resorts to opium.

=== Sunday February 5th 1930 ===

Day 7 - Gori Pani - delay for a day as altitude sickness kicks in.

=== Monday February 6th 1930 ===

Day 8 - Rest in Gori Pani

=== Tuesday February 7th 1930 ===

Day 9

=== Wednesday February 8th 1930 ===

Day 10 - More rope bridges. More opium.

=== Thursday February 9th 1930 ===

Day 11

=== Friday February 10th 1930 ===

Day 12 - Jomoson - the 5 buddhas.

=== Saturday February 11th 1930 ===

Day 13 - The monastery at Kag - find Schippone's diary.

=== Sunday February 12th 1930 ===

Day 14 - Tayen - stories of ghosts.

=== Monday February 13th 1930 ===

Day 15 - Pemba and the porters quit. Siva says he'll wait here with the supplies.

=== Tuesday February 14th 1930 ===

Day 16 - A day of rest before the mountain

=== Wednesday February 15th 1930 ===

Day 17 - Up the mountain to Te with a local guide. Schippone attacks and is killed by Withers. guide is shot. Into monstery. Bodies found. That evening Siva arrives.

=== Thursday February 16th 1930 ===

Day 18 - On towards Drakmar, Siva stays with injured man at Te. Sleep on the mountain. Dreams reach their climaxes

=== Fridayday February 17th 1930 ===

Arrival at Drakmar

Session 14

2006-09-18T19:31:49Z

203.211.85.164: /* Saturday January 21st 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 18th September, 2006==

=== Thursday January 19th 1930 ===

The investigators have just 2 days left in Bombay to prepare fully for the long journey North to Mustang.

=== Friday January 20th 1930 ===

A farewell dinner is held at the [[Tullis]] home.

=== Saturday January 21st 1930 ===

The train to the Northern city of Benares leaves first thing in the morning. All 4 investigators board with the Reverend [[Gore]], who offers to show them around Jabalpur if they wish to break their journey at that city.

=== Sunday January 22nd 1930 ===

The train continues across India.

=== Monday January 23rd 1930 ===

The Reverend [[Gore]] disembarks in Jabalpur.

=== Tuesday January 24th 1930 ===

The train continues across India.

=== Wednesday January 25th 1930 ===

Arrival in Benares. Riot. train attacked. Change trains.

=== Thursday January 26th 1930 ===

The train heads North to the border.

=== Friday January 27th 1930 ===

Arrival in Nautanwa.

=== Saturday January 28th 1930 ===

Guides hired, lead by [[Jigme Rinzing]].

=== Sunday January 29th 1930 ===

Preparation for the trek.

=== Monday January 30th 1930 ===

Crossing the border. Day 1.

=== Tuesday January 31st 1930 ===

Day 2

=== Wednesday February 1st 1930 ===

Day 3

=== Thursday February 2nd 1930 ===

Day 4 - Pokhara. Locate Yangser Chumpo, Quarrie's guide. Confirmation of Drakmar.

=== Friday February 3rd 1930 ===

Day 5

=== Saturday February 4th 1930 ===

Day 6 - Rope bridges. Browne has trouble crossing. Resorts to opium.

=== Sunday February 5th 1930 ===

Day 7 - Gori Pani - delay for a day as altitude sickness kicks in.

=== Monday February 6th 1930 ===

Day 8 - Rest in Gori Pani

=== Tuesday February 7th 1930 ===

Day 9

=== Wednesday February 8th 1930 ===

Day 10 - More rope bridges. More opium.

=== Thursday February 9th 1930 ===

Day 11

=== Friday February 10th 1930 ===

Day 12 - Jomoson - the 5 buddhas.

=== Saturday February 11th 1930 ===

Day 13 - The monastery at Kag - fine Schippone's diary.

=== Sunday February 12th 1930 ===

Day 14 - Tayen - stories of ghosts.

=== Monday February 13th 1930 ===

Day 15 - Pemba and the porters quit. Siva says he'll wait here with the supplies.

=== Tuesday February 14th 1930 ===

Day 16 - A day of rest before the mountain

=== Wednesday February 15th 1930 ===

Day 17 - Up the mountain to Te with a local guide. Schippone attacks and is killed by Withers. guide is shot. Into monstery. Bodies found. That evening Siva arrives.

=== Thursday February 16th 1930 ===

Day 18 - On towards Drakmar, Siva stays with injured man at Te. Sleep on the mountain. Dreams reach their climaxes

=== Fridayday February 17th 1930 ===

Arrival at Drakmar

Session 14

2006-09-18T19:15:46Z

203.211.85.164: /* Friday January 20th 1930 */

Tatters of the King

2006-09-18T19:14:58Z

203.211.85.164: /* Sessions */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==Keeper of Arcane Lore==

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew2.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

'[[Umberto]]' - Mysterious former Vatican investigator. Played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (deceased) - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue - Opening Night'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One - The Madman'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two - A Walk in the Park'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

Michael [[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three - Springer Mound & the Canal'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

'''Chapter Four - The Flight North '''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa'''

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

'''Chapter Six - Talk of Goatswood'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

'''Chapter Seven - Nug's Farm'''

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

'''Chapter Eight - The Brothers of the Yellow Sign'''

[[Paolo Tuminardo]] - Milanese Guide and young Fascist

[[Giuseppe Colombo]] - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Thomas Villiers]] (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign

'''Chapter Nine - The Viceroy of India'''

[[Julian Knight]] - Minor diplomat and lounge lizard, en route to India

The Reverend [[Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India

Mrs [[Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India

[[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India

Miss [[Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India

Miss [[Patricia Berry]] - Quiet, shy young lady, en route to India

'''Chapter Ten - A Thousand Miles'''

[[Sivakumar Patel]] - Guide and translator from Bombay

[[Jigme Rinzing]] - Nepalese merchant/guide

'''Chapter Eleven - To Drakmar'''

[[Tsewan Pemba]] - Tibetan Guide

[[Carlo Schippone]] (deceased) - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer

'''Chapter Twelve - The Upper House'''

Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer

[[Roberto Anzalone]] - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

[[Milan]], Lombardy, Italy

[[The Viceroy of India]] - Modern P&O passenger liner, en route to India

[[India]], the gateway to Nepal

[[Bombay]], port of entry to India

[[Nepal]], mountain kingdom, closed to Westerners

[[Mustang]], a small kingdom in Northern Nepal

[[Drakmar]], an obscure location, somewhere in Mustang

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo

[[Session 12]] - The Viceroy of India, or "May I Have This Dance?"

[[Session 13]] - A Matter of Honour

[[Session 14]] - The Pilgrimage of Grace

[[Session 15]] - Drakmar

Tatters of the King

2006-09-18T19:14:33Z

203.211.85.164: /* Sessions */

Tatters of the King

2006-09-18T19:13:18Z

203.211.85.164: /* Notable Non-Player Characters */

Tatters of the King

2006-09-18T19:10:12Z

203.211.85.164: /* Notable Non-Player Characters */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==Keeper of Arcane Lore==

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew2.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

'[[Umberto]]' - Mysterious former Vatican investigator. Played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (deceased) - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Weobley'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

Michael [[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

'''Chapter Four'''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five'''

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

'''Chapter Six'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

'''Chapter Seven'''

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

'''Chapter Eight'''

[[Paolo Tuminardo]] - Milanese Guide and young Fascist

[[Giuseppe Colombo]] - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Thomas Villiers]] (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign

'''Chapter Nine'''

[[Julian Knight]] - Minor diplomat and lounge lizard, en route to India

The Reverend [[Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India

Mrs [[Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India

[[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India

Miss [[Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India

Miss [[Patricia Berry]] - Quiet, shy young lady, en route to India

'''Chapter Ten'''

[[Sivakumar Patel]] - Guide and translator from Bombay

[[Jigme Rinzing]] - Nepalese merchant/guide

'''Chapter Eleven'''

[[Tsewan Pemba]] - Tibetan Guide

[[Carlo Schippone]] (deceased) - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer

'''Chapter Twelves'''

Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer

[[Roberto Anzalone]] - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

[[Milan]], Lombardy, Italy

[[The Viceroy of India]] - Modern P&O passenger liner, en route to India

[[India]], the gateway to Nepal

[[Bombay]], port of entry to India

[[Nepal]], mountain kingdom, closed to Westerners

[[Mustang]], a small kingdom in Northern Nepal

[[Drakmar]], an obscure location, somewhere in Mustang

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo

[[Session 12]] - The Viceroy of India, or "May I Have This Dance?"

[[Session 13]] - A Matter of Honour

[[Session 14]] - The Pilgrimage of Grace

Tatters of the King

2006-09-12T09:21:54Z

203.211.85.138: /* Sessions */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a new Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==GM==

The Keeper of Arcane Lore is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (deceased) - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

'[[Umberto]]' - Mysterious former Vatican investigator. Played by Marcus Gustafsson.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

Michael [[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

'''Chapter Four'''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

'''Chapter Six'''

[[Paolo Tuminardo]] - Milanese Guide and young Fascist

[[Giuseppe Colombo]] - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Thomas Villiers]] (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Roberto Anzalone]] - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Carlo Schippone]] - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer

Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

'''Chapter Seven'''

[[Julian Knight]] - Minor diplomat and lounge lizard, en route to India

The Reverend [[Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India

Mrs [[Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India

[[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India

Miss [[Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India

Miss [[Patricia Berry]] - Quiet, shy young lady, en route to India

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

[[Milan]], Lombardy, Italy

[[The Viceroy of India]] - Modern P&O passenger liner, en route to India

[[India]], the gateway to Nepal

[[Bombay]], port of entry to India

[[Nepal]], mountain kingdom, closed to Westerners

[[Mustang]], a small kingdom in Northern Nepal

[[Drakmar]], an obscure location, somewhere in Mustang

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo

[[Session 12]] - The Viceroy of India, or "May I Have This Dance?"

[[Session 13]] - A Matter of Honour

[[Session 14]] - The Pilgrimage of Grace

Carlo Schippone

2006-08-29T07:18:31Z

203.211.85.83:

[[Image:Schippone.jpg|right]]

Session 11

2006-08-29T07:08:00Z

203.211.85.83: /* Saturday December 21th 1929 */

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

The investigators meet this evening at Dr. [[Bartlett]]'s house to discuss events in the Severn Valley and what should be done with the information gathered there. [[Saunders]] has arrived back in England that very morning.

the decision is made to visit Milan as quickly as possible in order to be back in London by Christmas.

=== Tuesday December 17th 1929 ===

Tickets and guidebooks are purchased, excuses are made to spouses, bags are packed.

=== Wednesday December 18th 1929 ===

The 8.30am boat-train is caught, via Dover, arriving in Paris in late afternoon. With 4 hours to kill before the sleeper rain leaves for Milan, the investigators walk by the Seine and dine at a pleasant bistro in the shadow of Notre-Dame. The sleeper train leaves for Milan.

=== Thursday December 19th 1929 ===

[[Image:milan1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Central Milan]]

The investigators arrive in [[Milan]] at 7.30am and book into the Hotel des Anglais. The desk clerk arranges an interpreter/guide, and young [[Paolo Tuminardo]] - well-dressed, polite and a fervent member of the Fascist party is introduced.

The investigators tell him they need a guide for the tourist sites later, but for now they need an interpreter to help them with some urgent business. They ask for his aid in finding the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan's ''Navigli'' region and he leads them to a cab and thence into the winding streets of Southern Milan's canal district.

Asking for directions at a small cafe, Tuminardo locates Colombo's office and leads the way inside.

In the office a strange pair of companions sit at a desk above which hangs a version of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painted from the rear. The two men in the office are a wizened, bald old man with a milky eye and a sour expression and a somewhat effete looking young man with a startlingly sharp nose and long hair.

Tuminardo explains that his friends are looking for [[Malcolm Quarrie]] or [[Thomas Villiers]], at which point the young man stands and introduces himself in a refined English accent as Villiers.

The old man sits silently, scowling. "Don't mind Signor Colombo." says Villiers.

The investigators ask about Quarrie, at which point Villiers happily responds "The official story is that they have gone to Tibet, but in reality they are on a Pilgrimage..."

Colombo explodes into angry, rapid Italian invective. Obviously he understands enough English to realise what Villers is discussing. The old man shouts at Villers, telling him that he should not tell these strangers such things and that the [[King in Yellow]] will crush the likes of them - at least thats what Tuminardo was able to gather from his tirade.

Villiers suggests to the investigators that they accompany him to his studio, he has no idea whats got into Giuseppe, but clearly they have outstayed their welcome. On the way to his studio, a few doors from Colombo's, Villiers explains that he knew Quarrie in London and came to Italy with him when they both broke with their former friends in England.

The investigators dismiss Paolo and tell him to meet them outside later, then enter Villiers' cramped studio. They are surrounded by dark abstract paintings and blank canvasses. Villiers goes to get a bottle of grappa and some glasses and returns to explain the philosopy of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] and the purpose of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s Pilgrimage.

He tells how he and his friends believe that the Christian Trinity is a distorted version of the true Trinity of [[Hastur]] and that Quarrie, along with the university professor [[Roberto Anzalone]] has gone in search of their God. At about this time [[Browne]] notices a page of notes pinned to a blank canvas. Several phrases leap out at him - '[[Springer Mound]]', '[[The King in Yellow]]', '[[Nepal]]' and '[[Drakmar]]'. It seems to be [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/25_Notes_found_in_the_Studio_of_Thomas_Villiers.pdf notes for a planned tryptich]showing the Trinity of Hastur. Browne pockets the paper.

Just as Villiers is about to explain the Pilgrimage in detail he suddenly stops talking. A strange look comes across his face as if he's suddenly realised that he's telling private business to stangers. He says 'I just need to get something' and makes for the door.

Before anyone can react, the artist opens the door and cries out "Angel! I bound you and I release you!". He steps out, slams the door shut behind him and a heavy thump comes from the roof.

The investigators look up just as the skylight implodes and a [[byakhee]] crashes down to the floor, almost on top of [[Bartlett]]. Bartlett barely has time to register surprise as the creature tears his stomach open with a single grab of its great claws, spraying gore across the room.

Browne dives for the window, Saunders grabs an easel and Withers picks up a nearby poker and lays into the monstet, cracking a perfect blow against its snout, breaking bone and crushing flesh. the byakhee shrieks and with a thundrous flapping of wings flies staight up and out into the night sky.

Outside, Browne gives chase to Villiers, catching him, landing an ineffective blow and then receiving a well-aimed kick to his bad ankle that leaves him writhing as Villiers flees into the night.

Back in the studio, the others try to aid Bartlett, but he is already dead. The rest of the investigators stand in stunned horror for a few seconds, but still have the presence of mind to search the studio for further clues, of which they find none.

The police and an ambulance are called and the investigators explain that their freind was killed by Villiers using some kind of metal implement that they did not see properly. Inspector Materazzi of the Milan police takes them in for questioning and the studio is seasled off as a murder scene.

The police hunt for Villiers, as the prime suspect in Bartlett's murder, and the respectable nature of the investigators is to their advantage, as their story is believed.

=== Friday December 20th 1929 ===

The day is taken up with further questioning, formal identification of the body, contacting Bartlett's family and the Tavistock Institute and all the other inevitable mess that follows a death by foul means.

That evening [[Thomas Villers]] is found dead, floating in the canal, an apparent suicide. Materazzi considers the case closed.

=== Saturday December 21th 1929 ===

Saunders decides to take the opportunity to do a little local research with Paolo's aid and visits the university library. While there he remembers that the unievrsity funded [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s expedition so he makes a call, presents his credentials from the British Museum and ends up having an afternoon meeting with Dr. Bacci, Anzalone's colleague who tells him what he knows of [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/27_Newspaper_Article_on_the_Departure_of_Italian_Archaeological_Expedition.pdf the planned expedition].

Using information provided by the Englishman, Quarrie, professor Anzalone hopes to discover the lost city of Jiwakhar, former capital of the Southern Tibetan kingdom of Gungthang. Bacci lends an 1845 book anout the area to Saunders, and from it, and maps available in the library discovers that Gungthang is immediately North of the little known Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]], which was mentioned in [[Villiers]]' notes and which may be the true destination of the '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]'.

Bacci says that Anzalone and Quarrie trvelled with [[Carlo Schippone]], a graduate student, and Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] of the ''Alpini''. Delnegro's involvement is indicative of the Fascist government's desire to be involved in all significant Italian endeavours in order to take its share of the credit.

Bacci believes the expedition will be gone for at least 6 months.

Saunders decides to keep the book and post it back from England.

=== Sunday December 22nd 1929 ===

Italy being a pious nation, not much is open on Sunday. The surviving investigators rest, read, mourn their friend and start planning a trip to Nepal or Tibet - though nepal will be problematic as the nation is closed to Westerners.

=== Monday December 23nd 1929 ===

The day is spent travelling back to London. Bartlett's coffin is met by relatives ehrn they reach Paris.

=== Tuesday December 24th 1929 ===

The surviving investigators arrive in a snowbound London on the morning of Christmas Eve. They are hardly in the mood for celebration, but they all have at least one or two people they need to buy presents for, and they seperate and agree to meet up again at Bartlett's funeral, which is arranged for New Year's Eve, Monday 31st December, 1929. Bartlett's story will end with the decade.

Session 11

2006-08-29T07:06:54Z

203.211.85.83: /* Thursday December 19th 1929 */

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

The investigators meet this evening at Dr. [[Bartlett]]'s house to discuss events in the Severn Valley and what should be done with the information gathered there. [[Saunders]] has arrived back in England that very morning.

the decision is made to visit Milan as quickly as possible in order to be back in London by Christmas.

=== Tuesday December 17th 1929 ===

Tickets and guidebooks are purchased, excuses are made to spouses, bags are packed.

=== Wednesday December 18th 1929 ===

The 8.30am boat-train is caught, via Dover, arriving in Paris in late afternoon. With 4 hours to kill before the sleeper rain leaves for Milan, the investigators walk by the Seine and dine at a pleasant bistro in the shadow of Notre-Dame. The sleeper train leaves for Milan.

=== Thursday December 19th 1929 ===

[[Image:milan1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Central Milan]]

The investigators arrive in [[Milan]] at 7.30am and book into the Hotel des Anglais. The desk clerk arranges an interpreter/guide, and young [[Paolo Tuminardo]] - well-dressed, polite and a fervent member of the Fascist party is introduced.

The investigators tell him they need a guide for the tourist sites later, but for now they need an interpreter to help them with some urgent business. They ask for his aid in finding the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan's ''Navigli'' region and he leads them to a cab and thence into the winding streets of Southern Milan's canal district.

Asking for directions at a small cafe, Tuminardo locates Colombo's office and leads the way inside.

In the office a strange pair of companions sit at a desk above which hangs a version of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painted from the rear. The two men in the office are a wizened, bald old man with a milky eye and a sour expression and a somewhat effete looking young man with a startlingly sharp nose and long hair.

Tuminardo explains that his friends are looking for [[Malcolm Quarrie]] or [[Thomas Villiers]], at which point the young man stands and introduces himself in a refined English accent as Villiers.

The old man sits silently, scowling. "Don't mind Signor Colombo." says Villiers.

The investigators ask about Quarrie, at which point Villiers happily responds "The official story is that they have gone to Tibet, but in reality they are on a Pilgrimage..."

Colombo explodes into angry, rapid Italian invective. Obviously he understands enough English to realise what Villers is discussing. The old man shouts at Villers, telling him that he should not tell these strangers such things and that the [[King in Yellow]] will crush the likes of them - at least thats what Tuminardo was able to gather from his tirade.

Villiers suggests to the investigators that they accompany him to his studio, he has no idea whats got into Giuseppe, but clearly they have outstayed their welcome. On the way to his studio, a few doors from Colombo's, Villiers explains that he knew Quarrie in London and came to Italy with him when they both broke with their former friends in England.

The investigators dismiss Paolo and tell him to meet them outside later, then enter Villiers' cramped studio. They are surrounded by dark abstract paintings and blank canvasses. Villiers goes to get a bottle of grappa and some glasses and returns to explain the philosopy of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] and the purpose of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s Pilgrimage.

He tells how he and his friends believe that the Christian Trinity is a distorted version of the true Trinity of [[Hastur]] and that Quarrie, along with the university professor [[Roberto Anzalone]] has gone in search of their God. At about this time [[Browne]] notices a page of notes pinned to a blank canvas. Several phrases leap out at him - '[[Springer Mound]]', '[[The King in Yellow]]', '[[Nepal]]' and '[[Drakmar]]'. It seems to be [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/25_Notes_found_in_the_Studio_of_Thomas_Villiers.pdf notes for a planned tryptich]showing the Trinity of Hastur. Browne pockets the paper.

Just as Villiers is about to explain the Pilgrimage in detail he suddenly stops talking. A strange look comes across his face as if he's suddenly realised that he's telling private business to stangers. He says 'I just need to get something' and makes for the door.

Before anyone can react, the artist opens the door and cries out "Angel! I bound you and I release you!". He steps out, slams the door shut behind him and a heavy thump comes from the roof.

The investigators look up just as the skylight implodes and a [[byakhee]] crashes down to the floor, almost on top of [[Bartlett]]. Bartlett barely has time to register surprise as the creature tears his stomach open with a single grab of its great claws, spraying gore across the room.

Browne dives for the window, Saunders grabs an easel and Withers picks up a nearby poker and lays into the monstet, cracking a perfect blow against its snout, breaking bone and crushing flesh. the byakhee shrieks and with a thundrous flapping of wings flies staight up and out into the night sky.

Outside, Browne gives chase to Villiers, catching him, landing an ineffective blow and then receiving a well-aimed kick to his bad ankle that leaves him writhing as Villiers flees into the night.

Back in the studio, the others try to aid Bartlett, but he is already dead. The rest of the investigators stand in stunned horror for a few seconds, but still have the presence of mind to search the studio for further clues, of which they find none.

The police and an ambulance are called and the investigators explain that their freind was killed by Villiers using some kind of metal implement that they did not see properly. Inspector Materazzi of the Milan police takes them in for questioning and the studio is seasled off as a murder scene.

The police hunt for Villiers, as the prime suspect in Bartlett's murder, and the respectable nature of the investigators is to their advantage, as their story is believed.

=== Friday December 20th 1929 ===

The day is taken up with further questioning, formal identification of the body, contacting Bartlett's family and the Tavistock Institute and all the other inevitable mess that follows a death by foul means.

That evening [[Thomas Villers]] is found dead, floating in the canal, an apparent suicide. Materazzi considers the case closed.

=== Saturday December 21th 1929 ===

Saunders decides to take the opportunity to do a little local research with Paolo's aid and visits the university library. While there he remembers that the unievrsity funded [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s expedition so he makes a call, presents his credentials from the British Museum and ends up having an afternoon meeting with Dr. Bacci, Anzalone's colleague who tells him what he knows of the planned expedition

using information provided by the Englishman, Quarrie, professor Anzalone hopes to discover the lost city of Jiwakhar, former capital of the Southern Tibetan kingdom of Gungthang. Bacci lends an 1845 book anout the area to Saunders, and from it, and maps available in the library discovers that Gungthang is immediately North of the little known Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]], which was mentioned in [[Villiers]]' notes and which may be the true destination of the '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]'.

Bacci says that Anzalone and Quarrie trvelled with [[Carlo Schippone]], a graduate student, and Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] of the ''Alpini''. Delnegro's involvement is indicative of the Fascist government's desire to be involved in all significant Italian endeavours in order to take its share of the credit.

Bacci believes the expedition will be gone for at least 6 months.

Saunders decides to keep the book and post it back from England.

=== Sunday December 22nd 1929 ===

Italy being a pious nation, not much is open on Sunday. The surviving investigators rest, read, mourn their friend and start planning a trip to Nepal or Tibet - though nepal will be problematic as the nation is closed to Westerners.

=== Monday December 23nd 1929 ===

The day is spent travelling back to London. Bartlett's coffin is met by relatives ehrn they reach Paris.

=== Tuesday December 24th 1929 ===

The surviving investigators arrive in a snowbound London on the morning of Christmas Eve. They are hardly in the mood for celebration, but they all have at least one or two people they need to buy presents for, and they seperate and agree to meet up again at Bartlett's funeral, which is arranged for New Year's Eve, Monday 31st December, 1929. Bartlett's story will end with the decade.

Milan

2006-08-29T06:01:10Z

203.211.85.83:

Milan, or ''Milano'' is the largest city in the Northern Italian province of Lombardy. It is a thriving industrial city of 850,000 people and is one of the cities where Mussolini's Fascists have their strongest power base.

[[image:milanmap.jpg|right|thumb|500px|Map of Central Milan]]
Milanese companies such as Alfa Romeo and Pirelli provide a large number of relatively low paid jobs and consequently the city has a large number of tenement blocks, locally called ''Ringhieri''.

In contrast to the urban sprawl of tenements and factories Milan also contains a number of architectural and cultural treasures to rival any in Rome including its famous cathedral, the internationally reknowned La Scala opera house and Leonardo Da Vinci's painting 'the Last Supper'.

[[Image:milancath.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Milan Cathedral]]

[[Image:navigli.jpg|right|thumb|250px|The Navigli]]

Milan is home to a faction of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]], members of which include [[Giuseppe Colombo]], [[Thomas Villiers]], [[Roberto Anzalone]] and [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. Colombo's offices are found in the ''Navigli'' region of Milan, an industrial area threaded by a network of canals used to transport goods

Abzalone and Quarrie's '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]' was funded by the local university, and is supported by the Italian army, who sent along a captain from the local ''Alpini'' regiment of skilled mountain troops.

Tatters of the King

2006-08-29T06:00:26Z

203.211.85.83: /* Player Characters */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a new Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==GM==

The Keeper of Arcane Lore is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (deceased) - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

[[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased?) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

'''Chapter Four'''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

'''Chapter Six'''

[[Paolo Tuminardo]] - Milanese Guide and young Fascist

[[Giuseppe Colombo]] - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Thomas Villers]] (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Robert Anzalone]] - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Carlo Schippone]] - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer

Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

[[Milan]], Lombardy, Italy

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Frateilli di Signo Giallo

Tatters of the King

2006-08-29T05:59:52Z

203.211.85.83: /* Notable Non-Player Characters */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a new Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==GM==

The Keeper of Arcane Lore is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

[[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased?) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

'''Chapter Four'''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

'''Chapter Six'''

[[Paolo Tuminardo]] - Milanese Guide and young Fascist

[[Giuseppe Colombo]] - Ancient, curmudgeonly Italian Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Thomas Villers]] (deceased) - Insane artist and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Robert Anzalone]] - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign

[[Carlo Schippone]] - Graduate student and Himalayan adventurer

Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

[[Milan]], Lombardy, Italy

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Frateilli di Signo Giallo

Session 11

2006-08-29T05:55:03Z

203.211.85.83: /* Saturday December 21th 1929 */

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

The investigators meet this evening at Dr. [[Bartlett]]'s house to discuss events in the Severn Valley and what should be done with the information gathered there. [[Saunders]] has arrived back in England that very morning.

the decision is made to visit Milan as quickly as possible in order to be back in London by Christmas.

=== Tuesday December 17th 1929 ===

Tickets and guidebooks are purchased, excuses are made to spouses, bags are packed.

=== Wednesday December 18th 1929 ===

The 8.30am boat-train is caught, via Dover, arriving in Paris in late afternoon. With 4 hours to kill before the sleeper rain leaves for Milan, the investigators walk by the Seine and dine at a pleasant bistro in the shadow of Notre-Dame. The sleeper train leaves for Milan.

=== Thursday December 19th 1929 ===

[[Image:milan1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Central Milan]]

The investigators arrive in [[Milan]] at 7.30am and book into the Hotel des Anglais. The desk clerk arranges an interpreter/guide, and young [[Paolo Tuminardo]] - well-dressed, polite and a fervent member of the Fascist party is introduced.

The investigators tell him they need a guide for the tourist sites later, but for now they need an interpreter to help them with some urgent business. They ask for his aid in finding the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan's ''Navigli'' region and he leads them to a cab and thence into the winding streets of Southern Milan's canal district.

Asking for directions at a small cafe, Tuminardo locates Colombo's office and leads the way inside.

In the office a strange pair of companions sit at a desk above which hangs a version of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painted from the rear. The two men in the office are a wizened, bald old man with a milky eye and a sour expression and a somewhat effete looking young man with a startlingly sharp nose and long hair.

Tuminardo explains that his friends are looking for [[Malcolm Quarrie]] or [[Thomas Villiers]], at which point the young man stands and introduces himself in a refined English accent as Villiers.

The old man sits silently, scowling. "Don't mind Signor Colombo." says Villiers.

The investigators ask about Quarrie, at which point Villiers happily responds "The official story is that they have gone to Tibet, but in reality they are on a Pilgrimage..."

Colombo explodes into angry, rapid Italian invective. Obviously he understands enough English to realise what Villers is discussing. The old man shouts at Villers, telling him that he should not tell these strangers such things and that the [[King in Yellow]] will crush the likes of them - at least thats what Tuminardo was able to gather from his tirade.

Villiers suggests to the investigators that they accompany him to his studio, he has no idea whats got into Giuseppe, but clearly they have outstayed their welcome. On the way to his studio, a few doors from Colombo's, Villiers explains that he knew Quarrie in London and came to Italy with him when they both broke with their former friends in England.

The investigators dismiss Paolo and tell him to meet them outside later, then enter Villiers' cramped studio. They are surrounded by dark abstract paintings and blank canvasses. Villiers goes to get a bottle of grappa and some glasses and returns to explain the philosopy of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] and the purpose of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s Pilgrimage.

He tells how he and his friends believe that the Christian Trinity is a distorted version of the true Trinity of [[Hastur]] and that Quarrie, along with the university professor [[Roberto Anzalone]] has gone in search of their God. At about this time [[Browne]] notices a page of notes pinned to a blank canvas. Several phrases leap out at him - '[[Springer Mound]]', '[[The King in Yellow]]', '[[Nepal]]' and '[[Drakmar]]'. It seems to be notes for a planned tryptich showing the Trinity of Hastur. Browne pockets the paper.

Just as Villiers is about to explain the Pilgrimage in detail he suddenly stops talking. A strange look comes across his face as if he's suddenly realised that he's telling private business to stangers. He says 'I just need to get something' and makes for the door.

Before anyone can react, the artist opens the door and cries out "Angel! I bound you and I release you!". He steps out, slams the door shut behind him and a heavy thump comes from the roof.

The investigators look up just as the skylight implodes and a [[byakhee]] crashes down to the floor, almost on top of [[Bartlett]]. Bartlett barely has time to register surprise as the creature tears his stomach open with a single grab of its great claws, spraying gore across the room.

Browne dives for the window, Saunders grabs an easel and Withers picks up a nearby poker and lays into the monstet, cracking a perfect blow against its snout, breaking bone and crushing flesh. the byakhee shrieks and with a thundrous flapping of wings flies staight up and out into the night sky.

Outside, Browne gives chase to Villiers, catching him, landing an ineffective blow and then receiving a well-aimed kick to his bad ankle that leaves him writhing as Villiers flees into the night.

Back in the studio, the others try to aid Bartlett, but he is already dead. The rest of the investigators stand in stunned horror for a few seconds, but still have the presence of mind to search the studio for further clues, of which they find none.

The police and an ambulance are called and the investigators explain that their freind was killed by Villiers using some kind of metal implement that they did not see properly. Inspector Materazzi of the Milan police takes them in for questioning and the studio is seasled off as a murder scene.

The police hunt for Villiers, as the prime suspect in Bartlett's murder, and the respectable nature of the investigators is to their advantage, as their story is believed.

=== Friday December 20th 1929 ===

The day is taken up with further questioning, formal identification of the body, contacting Bartlett's family and the Tavistock Institute and all the other inevitable mess that follows a death by foul means.

That evening [[Thomas Villers]] is found dead, floating in the canal, an apparent suicide. Materazzi considers the case closed.

=== Saturday December 21th 1929 ===

Saunders decides to take the opportunity to do a little local research with Paolo's aid and visits the university library. While there he remembers that the unievrsity funded [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s expedition so he makes a call, presents his credentials from the British Museum and ends up having an afternoon meeting with Dr. Bacci, Anzalone's colleague who tells him what he knows of the planned expedition

using information provided by the Englishman, Quarrie, professor Anzalone hopes to discover the lost city of Jiwakhar, former capital of the Southern Tibetan kingdom of Gungthang. Bacci lends an 1845 book anout the area to Saunders, and from it, and maps available in the library discovers that Gungthang is immediately North of the little known Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]], which was mentioned in [[Villiers]]' notes and which may be the true destination of the '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]'.

Bacci says that Anzalone and Quarrie trvelled with [[Carlo Schippone]], a graduate student, and Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] of the ''Alpini''. Delnegro's involvement is indicative of the Fascist government's desire to be involved in all significant Italian endeavours in order to take its share of the credit.

Bacci believes the expedition will be gone for at least 6 months.

Saunders decides to keep the book and post it back from England.

=== Sunday December 22nd 1929 ===

Italy being a pious nation, not much is open on Sunday. The surviving investigators rest, read, mourn their friend and start planning a trip to Nepal or Tibet - though nepal will be problematic as the nation is closed to Westerners.

=== Monday December 23nd 1929 ===

The day is spent travelling back to London. Bartlett's coffin is met by relatives ehrn they reach Paris.

=== Tuesday December 24th 1929 ===

The surviving investigators arrive in a snowbound London on the morning of Christmas Eve. They are hardly in the mood for celebration, but they all have at least one or two people they need to buy presents for, and they seperate and agree to meet up again at Bartlett's funeral, which is arranged for New Year's Eve, Monday 31st December, 1929. Bartlett's story will end with the decade.

Session 11

2006-08-29T05:54:16Z

203.211.85.83: /* Tuesday December 23nd 1929 */

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

The investigators meet this evening at Dr. [[Bartlett]]'s house to discuss events in the Severn Valley and what should be done with the information gathered there. [[Saunders]] has arrived back in England that very morning.

the decision is made to visit Milan as quickly as possible in order to be back in London by Christmas.

=== Tuesday December 17th 1929 ===

Tickets and guidebooks are purchased, excuses are made to spouses, bags are packed.

=== Wednesday December 18th 1929 ===

The 8.30am boat-train is caught, via Dover, arriving in Paris in late afternoon. With 4 hours to kill before the sleeper rain leaves for Milan, the investigators walk by the Seine and dine at a pleasant bistro in the shadow of Notre-Dame. The sleeper train leaves for Milan.

=== Thursday December 19th 1929 ===

[[Image:milan1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Central Milan]]

The investigators arrive in [[Milan]] at 7.30am and book into the Hotel des Anglais. The desk clerk arranges an interpreter/guide, and young [[Paolo Tuminardo]] - well-dressed, polite and a fervent member of the Fascist party is introduced.

The investigators tell him they need a guide for the tourist sites later, but for now they need an interpreter to help them with some urgent business. They ask for his aid in finding the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan's ''Navigli'' region and he leads them to a cab and thence into the winding streets of Southern Milan's canal district.

Asking for directions at a small cafe, Tuminardo locates Colombo's office and leads the way inside.

In the office a strange pair of companions sit at a desk above which hangs a version of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painted from the rear. The two men in the office are a wizened, bald old man with a milky eye and a sour expression and a somewhat effete looking young man with a startlingly sharp nose and long hair.

Tuminardo explains that his friends are looking for [[Malcolm Quarrie]] or [[Thomas Villiers]], at which point the young man stands and introduces himself in a refined English accent as Villiers.

The old man sits silently, scowling. "Don't mind Signor Colombo." says Villiers.

The investigators ask about Quarrie, at which point Villiers happily responds "The official story is that they have gone to Tibet, but in reality they are on a Pilgrimage..."

Colombo explodes into angry, rapid Italian invective. Obviously he understands enough English to realise what Villers is discussing. The old man shouts at Villers, telling him that he should not tell these strangers such things and that the [[King in Yellow]] will crush the likes of them - at least thats what Tuminardo was able to gather from his tirade.

Villiers suggests to the investigators that they accompany him to his studio, he has no idea whats got into Giuseppe, but clearly they have outstayed their welcome. On the way to his studio, a few doors from Colombo's, Villiers explains that he knew Quarrie in London and came to Italy with him when they both broke with their former friends in England.

The investigators dismiss Paolo and tell him to meet them outside later, then enter Villiers' cramped studio. They are surrounded by dark abstract paintings and blank canvasses. Villiers goes to get a bottle of grappa and some glasses and returns to explain the philosopy of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] and the purpose of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s Pilgrimage.

He tells how he and his friends believe that the Christian Trinity is a distorted version of the true Trinity of [[Hastur]] and that Quarrie, along with the university professor [[Roberto Anzalone]] has gone in search of their God. At about this time [[Browne]] notices a page of notes pinned to a blank canvas. Several phrases leap out at him - '[[Springer Mound]]', '[[The King in Yellow]]', '[[Nepal]]' and '[[Drakmar]]'. It seems to be notes for a planned tryptich showing the Trinity of Hastur. Browne pockets the paper.

Just as Villiers is about to explain the Pilgrimage in detail he suddenly stops talking. A strange look comes across his face as if he's suddenly realised that he's telling private business to stangers. He says 'I just need to get something' and makes for the door.

Before anyone can react, the artist opens the door and cries out "Angel! I bound you and I release you!". He steps out, slams the door shut behind him and a heavy thump comes from the roof.

The investigators look up just as the skylight implodes and a [[byakhee]] crashes down to the floor, almost on top of [[Bartlett]]. Bartlett barely has time to register surprise as the creature tears his stomach open with a single grab of its great claws, spraying gore across the room.

Browne dives for the window, Saunders grabs an easel and Withers picks up a nearby poker and lays into the monstet, cracking a perfect blow against its snout, breaking bone and crushing flesh. the byakhee shrieks and with a thundrous flapping of wings flies staight up and out into the night sky.

Outside, Browne gives chase to Villiers, catching him, landing an ineffective blow and then receiving a well-aimed kick to his bad ankle that leaves him writhing as Villiers flees into the night.

Back in the studio, the others try to aid Bartlett, but he is already dead. The rest of the investigators stand in stunned horror for a few seconds, but still have the presence of mind to search the studio for further clues, of which they find none.

The police and an ambulance are called and the investigators explain that their freind was killed by Villiers using some kind of metal implement that they did not see properly. Inspector Materazzi of the Milan police takes them in for questioning and the studio is seasled off as a murder scene.

The police hunt for Villiers, as the prime suspect in Bartlett's murder, and the respectable nature of the investigators is to their advantage, as their story is believed.

=== Friday December 20th 1929 ===

The day is taken up with further questioning, formal identification of the body, contacting Bartlett's family and the Tavistock Institute and all the other inevitable mess that follows a death by foul means.

That evening [[Thomas Villers]] is found dead, floating in the canal, an apparent suicide. Materazzi considers the case closed.

=== Saturday December 21th 1929 ===

Saunders decides to take the opportunity to do a little local research with Paolo's aid and visits the university library. While there he remembers that the unievrsity funded [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s expedition so he makes a call, presents his credentials from th British Museum and ends up having an afternoon meeting with Dr. Bacci, Anzalone's colleague who tells him what he knows of the planned expedition

using information provided by the Englishman, Quarrie, professor Anzalone hopes to discover the lost city of Jiwakhar, former capital of the Southern Tibetan kingdom of Gungthang. Bacci lends an 1845 book anout the area to Saunders, and from it, and maps available in the library discovers that Gungthang is immediately North of the little known Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]], which was mentioned in [[Villiers]]' notes and which may be the true destination of the '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]'.

Bacci says that Anzalone and Quarrie trvelled with [[Carlo Schippone]], a graduate student, and Major Ricardo Delnegro of the ''Alpini''. Delnegro's involvement is indicative of the Fascist government's desire to be involved in all significant Italian endeavours in order to take its share of the credit.

Bacci believes the expedition will be gone for at least 6 months.

Saunders decides to keep the book and post it back from England.

=== Sunday December 22nd 1929 ===

Italy being a pious nation, not much is open on Sunday. The surviving investigators rest, read, mourn their friend and start planning a trip to Nepal or Tibet - though nepal will be problematic as the nation is closed to Westerners.

=== Monday December 23nd 1929 ===

The day is spent travelling back to London. Bartlett's coffin is met by relatives ehrn they reach Paris.

=== Tuesday December 24th 1929 ===

The surviving investigators arrive in a snowbound London on the morning of Christmas Eve. They are hardly in the mood for celebration, but they all have at least one or two people they need to buy presents for, and they seperate and agree to meet up again at Bartlett's funeral, which is arranged for New Year's Eve, Monday 31st December, 1929. Bartlett's story will end with the decade.

Session 11

2006-08-29T05:52:37Z

203.211.85.83: /* Friday December 20th 1929 */

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

The investigators meet this evening at Dr. [[Bartlett]]'s house to discuss events in the Severn Valley and what should be done with the information gathered there. [[Saunders]] has arrived back in England that very morning.

the decision is made to visit Milan as quickly as possible in order to be back in London by Christmas.

=== Tuesday December 17th 1929 ===

Tickets and guidebooks are purchased, excuses are made to spouses, bags are packed.

=== Wednesday December 18th 1929 ===

The 8.30am boat-train is caught, via Dover, arriving in Paris in late afternoon. With 4 hours to kill before the sleeper rain leaves for Milan, the investigators walk by the Seine and dine at a pleasant bistro in the shadow of Notre-Dame. The sleeper train leaves for Milan.

=== Thursday December 19th 1929 ===

[[Image:milan1.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Central Milan]]

The investigators arrive in [[Milan]] at 7.30am and book into the Hotel des Anglais. The desk clerk arranges an interpreter/guide, and young [[Paolo Tuminardo]] - well-dressed, polite and a fervent member of the Fascist party is introduced.

The investigators tell him they need a guide for the tourist sites later, but for now they need an interpreter to help them with some urgent business. They ask for his aid in finding the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan's ''Navigli'' region and he leads them to a cab and thence into the winding streets of Southern Milan's canal district.

Asking for directions at a small cafe, Tuminardo locates Colombo's office and leads the way inside.

In the office a strange pair of companions sit at a desk above which hangs a version of Da Vinci's "Last Supper" painted from the rear. The two men in the office are a wizened, bald old man with a milky eye and a sour expression and a somewhat effete looking young man with a startlingly sharp nose and long hair.

Tuminardo explains that his friends are looking for [[Malcolm Quarrie]] or [[Thomas Villiers]], at which point the young man stands and introduces himself in a refined English accent as Villiers.

The old man sits silently, scowling. "Don't mind Signor Colombo." says Villiers.

The investigators ask about Quarrie, at which point Villiers happily responds "The official story is that they have gone to Tibet, but in reality they are on a Pilgrimage..."

Colombo explodes into angry, rapid Italian invective. Obviously he understands enough English to realise what Villers is discussing. The old man shouts at Villers, telling him that he should not tell these strangers such things and that the [[King in Yellow]] will crush the likes of them - at least thats what Tuminardo was able to gather from his tirade.

Villiers suggests to the investigators that they accompany him to his studio, he has no idea whats got into Giuseppe, but clearly they have outstayed their welcome. On the way to his studio, a few doors from Colombo's, Villiers explains that he knew Quarrie in London and came to Italy with him when they both broke with their former friends in England.

The investigators dismiss Paolo and tell him to meet them outside later, then enter Villiers' cramped studio. They are surrounded by dark abstract paintings and blank canvasses. Villiers goes to get a bottle of grappa and some glasses and returns to explain the philosopy of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] and the purpose of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s Pilgrimage.

He tells how he and his friends believe that the Christian Trinity is a distorted version of the true Trinity of [[Hastur]] and that Quarrie, along with the university professor [[Roberto Anzalone]] has gone in search of their God. At about this time [[Browne]] notices a page of notes pinned to a blank canvas. Several phrases leap out at him - '[[Springer Mound]]', '[[The King in Yellow]]', '[[Nepal]]' and '[[Drakmar]]'. It seems to be notes for a planned tryptich showing the Trinity of Hastur. Browne pockets the paper.

Just as Villiers is about to explain the Pilgrimage in detail he suddenly stops talking. A strange look comes across his face as if he's suddenly realised that he's telling private business to stangers. He says 'I just need to get something' and makes for the door.

Before anyone can react, the artist opens the door and cries out "Angel! I bound you and I release you!". He steps out, slams the door shut behind him and a heavy thump comes from the roof.

The investigators look up just as the skylight implodes and a [[byakhee]] crashes down to the floor, almost on top of [[Bartlett]]. Bartlett barely has time to register surprise as the creature tears his stomach open with a single grab of its great claws, spraying gore across the room.

Browne dives for the window, Saunders grabs an easel and Withers picks up a nearby poker and lays into the monstet, cracking a perfect blow against its snout, breaking bone and crushing flesh. the byakhee shrieks and with a thundrous flapping of wings flies staight up and out into the night sky.

Outside, Browne gives chase to Villiers, catching him, landing an ineffective blow and then receiving a well-aimed kick to his bad ankle that leaves him writhing as Villiers flees into the night.

Back in the studio, the others try to aid Bartlett, but he is already dead. The rest of the investigators stand in stunned horror for a few seconds, but still have the presence of mind to search the studio for further clues, of which they find none.

The police and an ambulance are called and the investigators explain that their freind was killed by Villiers using some kind of metal implement that they did not see properly. Inspector Materazzi of the Milan police takes them in for questioning and the studio is seasled off as a murder scene.

The police hunt for Villiers, as the prime suspect in Bartlett's murder, and the respectable nature of the investigators is to their advantage, as their story is believed.

=== Friday December 20th 1929 ===

The day is taken up with further questioning, formal identification of the body, contacting Bartlett's family and the Tavistock Institute and all the other inevitable mess that follows a death by foul means.

That evening [[Thomas Villers]] is found dead, floating in the canal, an apparent suicide. Materazzi considers the case closed.

=== Saturday December 21th 1929 ===

Saunders decides to take the opportunity to do a little local research with Paolo's aid and visits the university library. While there he remembers that the unievrsity funded [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s expedition so he makes a call, presents his credentials from th British Museum and ends up having an afternoon meeting with Dr. Bacci, Anzalone's colleague who tells him what he knows of the planned expedition

using information provided by the Englishman, Quarrie, professor Anzalone hopes to discover the lost city of Jiwakhar, former capital of the Southern Tibetan kingdom of Gungthang. Bacci lends an 1845 book anout the area to Saunders, and from it, and maps available in the library discovers that Gungthang is immediately North of the little known Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]], which was mentioned in [[Villiers]]' notes and which may be the true destination of the '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]'.

Bacci says that Anzalone and Quarrie trvelled with [[Carlo Schippone]], a graduate student, and Major Ricardo Delnegro of the ''Alpini''. Delnegro's involvement is indicative of the Fascist government's desire to be involved in all significant Italian endeavours in order to take its share of the credit.

Bacci believes the expedition will be gone for at least 6 months.

Saunders decides to keep the book and post it back from England.

=== Sunday December 22nd 1929 ===

Italy being a pious nation, not much is open on Sunday. The surviving investigators rest, read, mourn their friend and start planning a trip to Nepal or Tibet - though nepal will be problematic as the nation is closed to Westerners.

=== Monday December 23nd 1929 ===

The day is spent travelling back to London. Bartlett's coffin is met by relatives ehrn they reach Paris.

=== Tuesday December 23nd 1929 ===

The surviving investigators arrive in a snowbound London on the morning of Christmas Eve. They are hardly in the mood for celebration, but they all have at least one or two people they need to buy presents for, and they seperate and agree to meet up again at Browne's house after Christmas.

Nug's Farm

2006-08-26T07:01:56Z

203.211.85.93:

Nug's Farm is [[Hillary Quarrie]]'s home. It is situated near Mercy Hill, a tiny village in the Goatswood region of the Severn Valley, Gloucestershire. The location appears to be tied intimately to the worship of [[Shub-Niggurath]] in the region.

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] bought the farm for his new bride and they renovated it together, making it far more homely than the average Goatswood hovel.

Since the destruction of the hamlet of Mercy Hill by Shub-Niggurath's Young in December 1929 Nug's farm is the centre of the Goatswood cult. Hillary Quarrie expressed a desire to being her daughter Sarah back to live their with her after the death of [[Atkinson]].

Murders

2006-08-26T07:00:43Z

203.211.85.93:

The following murders, related to the [[Alexander Roby]] case, have so far been committed:

[[The Roby Murders]] - Herbert and Georgina Roby: Curzon St, London, October 14th 1926

Committed by a [[byakhee]] summoned by Alexander Roby

[[Cuthbert Yates]]: St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, November 27th 1927

Committed by Montague [[Edwards]], posing as Nurse [[Evans]]

[[Dr Lionel Trollope]]: St James' Park, London, November 3rd 1928

Committed by Michael [[Coombes]]

[[Frederick Long]]: St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, November 5th 1928

Committed by Montague [[Edwards]], posing as Nurse [[Evans]]

[[Thomas Clarke]]: St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, November 30th 1928

Committed by Montague [[Edwards]], posing as Nurse [[Evans]]

The murders of 2 unidentifed vagrants by [[Lawrence Bacon]]

[[The Canal Murders]]: Near Regent's Canal, Islington, early December, 1928

Committed by Lawrence Bacon, risen in monstrous form

And unknown number of murders committed by Michael [[Coombes]] in the Palace in [[Carcosa]]

Murders

2006-08-26T07:00:21Z

203.211.85.93:

The following murders, related to the [[Alexander Roby]] case, have so far been committed:

[[The Roby Murders]] - Herbert and Georgina Roby: Curzon St, London, October 14th 1926

Committed by a [[byakhee]] summoned by Alexander Roby

[[Cuthbert Yates]]: St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, November 27th 1927

Committed by Montague [[Edwards]], posing as Nurse [[Evans]]

[[Dr Lionel Trollope]]: St James' Park, London, November 3rd 1928

Committed by Michael [[Coombes]]

[[Frederick Long]]: St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, November 5th 1928

Committed by Montague [[Edwards]], posing as Nurse [[Evans]]

[[Thomas Clarke]]: St Agnes Asylum, Weobley, November 30th 1928

Committed by Montague [[Edwards]], posing as Nurse [[Evans]]

The murders of 2 unidentifed vagrants by [[Lawrence Bacon]]

[[The Canal Murders]]: Near Regent's Canal, Islington, early December, 1928

Committed by Lawrence Bacon, risen in monstrous form

And unknown number of murders comitted by Michael [[Coombes]] in the Palace in [[Carcosa]]

Session 6

2006-08-26T06:58:09Z

203.211.85.93: /* Tuesday 27th November */

==Session Report - Played Monday 12th June, 2006==

===Tuesday 27th November===

[[Image:regents.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Canal, Near Kings Cross]]

''--- Continued ---''

[[Withers]] fires - the shot seems to hit [[Lawrence Bacon]] but deflect away, hardly slowing him. As he closes on Withers the moonlight clearly shows his raised hands twisting, morphing and turning into the heads of a pair of hissing snakes!

Withers keeps shooting as Bacon closes on him, but the occultist hardly flinches. He reaches Withers and starts to flail his snake-arms at the Captain. [[Nathaniel Browne]] thinks better of attacking Bacon and instead goes to look at the remains of the vagrant – he immediately wishes he hadn’t.

[[Dr Bartlett]] hurls his Thermos flask and [[Saunders]] steps in to aid Withers, firimng a shot which rips through Bacon’s coat, scattering the contents of his pocket on the ground and nearly hitting Nathaniel in the process - Andrew begins to think better of firing into a melee with his skill in firearms. The combined brawl/gunfight is hard to follow in the dark night, but another shot rings out and Bacon yells – he’s finally hurt! Withers keeps dodging the snakes, his luck seems almost supernatural, until he realises he’s run out of bullets.

Saunders and Withers start pummelling Bacon, who pulls away from then, steps back, raises his arms to attack and treads on a loose stone on the edge of the canal path – it gives way under his bulk and with a cry of surprise he falls 10 feet to the cold water below, sinks like a stone and does not resurface.

Withers, miraculously unscathed, takes Saunders gun just as Browne hobbles up wielding a piece of wood he found in the alley. Withers empties Andrews remaining bullets revolver into the canal, hoping to hit Bacon if he still lives, but there is no movement or sound from below.

Saunders checks the items that fell from Bacon’s pocket and finds a [[bone whistle]] carved in the likeness of one of [[the Springer Mound Monsters]] and the keys to Bacon’s shop. The investigators immediately decide to search the shop, before Bacon’s friends have a chance to miss him.

Letting themselves into Bacon’s shop, the group soon split up. Browne and Saunders explore Bacon’s personal quarters, while Withers and Bartlett check out the basement, a low, cluttered space from which comes a distinct smell of decay.

In Bacon’s study Browne discovers copies of ‘[[Le Roi en Jeune]]’ and ‘[[der Wanderer durch den See]]’ as well as a book titled ‘[[The Turner Codex]]’ which appears to be a translation of prayers and libations in the name of a being called ‘[[Hastur]]’, and which conatins the full text of the verse that was carved on the stones at [[Clare Melford]].

Saunders finds an intricately engraved chime or bell (later identifed as [[the Chime of Tezchaptl]]) hanging from a hook. Shortly after he picks this up gunshots sound from downstairs.

As Bartlett and Withers started to try to clear the basement of junk they disrturbed something. There was a scuttling, a snuffling and a scrabbling as a horrible humanoid, dog-faced creature came out of the darkness towards them. Bartlett, who had a clearer view, ran in terror, as Withers fired a shot into the darkness, hitting the creature, which yelped. The unmistakable sound of more creatures coming up from the depths caused Withers to beat a hasty retreat. He initially considered setting fire to the junk in the basement to burn the creatures out, but a moments thought made him realise that these creatures were coming up from the ground beneath the house, most likely from the sewers (a rather disturbing thought!), and any attempt at burning them in their lair would be a true exercise in futility. He met the others coming downstairs and told them to flee.

They ran into the night and return to Browne’s home with the spoils of their conquest of Bacon, and supplying a stiff drink to the extremely shaken Dr Bartlett.

===Wednesday 28th November===

The next day, everyone is somewhat shaken and short of sleep. [[Browne]] decides to look for new accomodation, concerned at the possibility of a vengeful [[Coombes]]. [[Bartlett]] spends the day coming to terms with a new reality, and locks his basement door.

[[Saunders]] hits the books in search of an explanation for what was living beneath Bacons’ house, and finds references to the lore of [[ghouls]]. He packs his wife off to visit family in Inverness

===Thursday 29th November===

A [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/14_Wilfred_Grestys_Second_Letter.pdf letter] arrives for [[Dr. Bartlett]]. It is from [[Wilfred Gresty]], thanking Bartlett for ‘the murder of Bacon’ and containing intriguing references to [[Hillary Quarrie]], [[Nug's Farm]] and what appears to be a cult worshipping ‘the Goat’ (maybe [[Shub-Niggurath]]) in the West Country, whose leader, [[Atkinson]] has failed to sleep with Hillary and who Gresty intends to supplant as leader.

Bartlett catches the train to Hereford, for Friday’s release hearing for [[Alexander Roby]]. Although initially intending to be accompanied by Withers, due to recent events he asks him to stay in his house while he is away from home, and protect his wife.

He dines with [[Dr. Highsmith]].

===Friday 30th November===

Bartlett testifies at Alexander Roby's release hearing and as expected recommends his release. Roby is not present, and after the hearing Bartlett asks Highsmith if he can accompany his to St Agnes Asylum to see Roby prior to Roby's transfer to the Kent sanatorium that Bartlett has recommended.

At St Agnes, Bartlett and Highsmith find the door to Roby's cell open, and the hidesously disfugured corpse of Roby - or what seems to be Roby - slashed to death on the bed. The room is splattered with blood. Too much blood.

Highsmith goes to call for help and the shocked Bartlett attempts to make sense of the scene. He hears a movement and turns to see [[Lucius Harriwell]] entering the room, a bloody knife in his hand.

"It was the Devil. Is was the Devil." says Lucius. Highsmith appears in the doorway behind harriwell, a fire extinguisher in hand, and cracks Harriwell of the skull with it, rendering him unconscious.

Highsmith can't find either of the nurses on duty - [[Evans]] or [[Thomas Clarke]]. He calls the police.

Detective Inspector Atkins arrives - Highsmith tells him that Harriwell said "The Devil made me do it." Atkins says "I told you so."

Despite the disappearance of the 2 nurses, it does indeed seem that Harriwell was the killer, and after his statement is taken, Bartlett is allowed to return to London.

===Saturday 1st December===

When the murder of [[Alexander Roby]] is reported in the papers, the other investigators quickly contract [[Dr. Bartlett]] who tells them to meet at his house that afternoon.

Shortly before lunch, Bartlett gets a call from [[Dr. Highsmith]]. [[Grahame Roby]] has arrived in Hereford to identify the body, and has stated that it is not his brother. It appears that the dead man is in fact [[Thomas Clarke]] and that [[Alexander Roby]] and [[Mark Evans]] have disappeared.

The investigators meet as arranged. During the ensuing discussion, the phone rings.

Highsmith is calling from the town of Leominster, where he has driven in search of Evans. Evans' apartment is apparently empty - he's let himself in.

The only thing of any interest his has found is a letter from the British Museum - nothing more interesting than a renewal form for a reader's ticket - which is addressed to [[Montague Edwards]].

Pennies drop all round - [[Evans]] and [[Edwards]] ARE THE SAME MAN !

==Audio Recording==

[http://www.tentaclesandunderpants.info/downloads/viewDownloads.html;jsessionid=1mpexavapatn9?id=12733 Audio Recording of the sixth session]

Tatters of the King

2006-08-24T20:01:05Z

203.211.85.21: /* Sessions */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a new Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==GM==

The Keeper of Arcane Lore is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

[[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased?) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

'''Chapter Four'''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased?) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased?) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

[[Session 11]] - Il Frateilli di Signo Giallo

Tatters of the King

2006-08-24T20:00:10Z

203.211.85.21: /* Sessions */

[[Image:Tatters_Cover.gif|right]]
'''Tatters of the King'''[http://catalog.chaosium.com/product_info.php?products_id=773&osCsid=07f84f248e3a49f3cf6199ee7fbb6629] is a new Call of Cthulhu campaign written by Tim Wiseman and published by [http://chaosium.com Chaosium] and through which our role-playing [http://tentaclesandunderpants.info group] is currently being run. Play started on May 8th 2006. See [[current events]] for next session date.

The game is being played in the suburb of Ellerslie, in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auckland Auckland, New Zealand].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/1928.doc 1928]. It is the start of a bitterly cold winter, the worst in decades.

London is the capital of an empire covering a quarter of the globe and governing one quarter of the human race. The people busy themselves with concerns of politics and government, finance and production, work and recreation. How fragile things are. What ignorance there is.

There are those whose engage in different pursuits - who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying.........

==GM==

The Keeper of Arcane Lore is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

==Players==

The players are:

[[Nicola Bishop]]

[[Julia Blackmore]]

[[Marcus Gustafsson]]

[[Darryn Mercer]]

==[[Player Characters]]==

[[image:crew.jpg|right|200px]]

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] - Eminent research psychologist, played by Marcus Gustafsson.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by Darryn Mercer

[[Andrew Saunders]] - British Museum curator and proud Scot, Played by Julia Blackmore.

[[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by Nicola Bishop.

==Notable Non-Player Characters==

'''Prologue'''

[[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:

[[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher, amateur actor and acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]]. Estus's friend and companion.

[[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress and sister of [[Andrew Saunders]]

[[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor and husband of [[Hannah Keith]]

[[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor

[[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress

'''Chapter One'''

[[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] - Asylum Superintendent

[[Alexander Roby]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Lucius Harriwell]] - Incarcerated Madman

[[Price and Evans]] - Asylum Nurses

'''Chapter Two'''

[[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] (deceased) - Roby family physician

[[Grahame Roby]] - Financier, Alexander Roby's brother

[[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]] - of New Scotland Yard

[[Delia Hartston]] - Alexander Roby's former fiancee, now [[Delia Morrison]]

[[Peter Morrison]] - Abusive husband of Delia

[[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby

[[Coombes]] (deceased?) - Sinister stalker, Bacon's ex-bodyguard.

'''Chapter Three'''

[[Harold Jennings]] (deceased) - Unfriendly Suffolk farmer

[[Montague Edwards]] (deceased) - Alexander Roby's secret guardian

[[Lawrence Bacon]] (deceased?) - Antiquarian, occultist and sorcerer

[[Malcolm Quarrie]] - Elusive scientist and occultist

'''Chapter Four'''

[[Cec Watts]] (deceased) - Tabloid Journalist

[[Henry Lister]] - Terrified cultist and necrophobe

[[Quentin Spence]] - Poet and Failed Cultist

[[Noss]] of Yhtill - Leather worker from an alien world

[[Yolanda]] - Noblewoman from [[Cassilda]]'s court

[[Aleister Crowley]] - Famed Occultist

'''Chapter Five'''

[[Wilfred Gresty]] (deceased?) - Writer of letters and spy for the Goatswood cult

[[Hillary Quarrie]] - Estranged wife of Malcolm and priestess of the Goat

[[Atkinson]] (deceased?) - Ailing leader of the Goatswood Shub-Niggurath cult

==Literary Works==

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]

[[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_in_Yellow The King in Yellow] - a collection of short [http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/chambers/stories/kinginye/contents.htm stories] by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers]

[[An Inhabitant of Carcosa and Haita the Shepherd]] - by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce Ambrose Bierce]

[[Der Wanderer durch den See]] - by [[Alexander Roby]]

[[British Gods]]: Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain - by [[Malcolm Quarrie]]

[[The Turner Codex]]: A translation of Mesoamerican prayers and libations to Hastur - trans. M. Turner ''et al''

[[The Tatters of the King]]: A book of short stories by [[Nathaniel Browne]]

[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]: The Goatswood cult's compilation of occult knowledge

==Locations==

[http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/mapengwa.htm Map of England and Wales, 1928]

[http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], England - [http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/roads-central.htm Map of London, 1926]

The [[Scala Theatre]], Charlotte St, London

[[St Agnes Asylum]], [[Weobley]], Herefordshire, England

[[Clare Melford]], Suffolk, England

[[Loch Mullardoch]], near Inverness, Scotland

[[Carcosa]], a dream city made flesh

[[Goatswood]], an area of the Severn Valley in Gloucestershire

[[Nug's Farm]], Hillary Quarrie's home, in the Goatswood region

==Sessions==

''As referred to in the session reports below, there have been a number of [[murders]] related to the Roby case.''

[[Session 1]] - Opening Night

[[Session 1.5]] - The Madman

[[Session 2]] - The Plot Thickens

[[Session 3]] - Alexander's Friends

[[Session 4]] - Teeth of Winter

[[Session 5]] - Four Go Mad in London

[[Session 6]] - Death by Night, Death by Day

[[Session 7]] - Missing Persons

[[Session 8]] - To Walk Upon the Earth in Carcosa

[[Session 9]] - Aftermath - a Year in the Lives...

[[Session 10]] - Nug's Farm, or "Are You Local?"

Session 10

2006-08-24T19:59:03Z

203.211.85.21: /* Sunday December 15th 1929 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 21st August, 2006==

=== Friday December 13th 1929 ===

With [[Saunders]] in Oslo, at a curators' conference on Viking culture, it is left to [[Withers]], [[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] to go to court to see [[Gresty]]'s appearance before the magistrate.

Gresty turns out to be a scrawny man in his 40s, with protuberant ears, a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He appears contrite, and somewhat agitated in court, pleading guilty to the charge of breaking and entering, but not to assault.

Speaking in a strong West Country accent, Gresty says that he has been having trouble sleeping, and on the night in question was walking the streets in a fit of insomnia when he was struck by an impulse to pray - he can't explain why he did it, but he chose to break into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church%2C_Spitalfields Christ Church, Spitalfields], cutting his hands as he climbed through the window, and that he was kneeling at the altar when he was disturbed by a voice. Turning and fleeing in sudden terror he must have accidentally knocked the verger to the ground.

Gresty appears genuinely sorry, and is fined 2 pounds plus the cost of repairs.

As Gresty leaves the court, Bartlett approaches him and introduces himself. Gresty is thrilled to meet his 'friends', and is most interested to hear that they went to Scotland and witnessed (indeed, caused) the death of [[Montague Edwards]]. He invites them to his local watering hole, The Plough Inn, for a drink and a chat.

Gresty explains that he is a true servant of 'The Goat' sent here from the West Country to infiltrate the worshippers of Hastur, and that he succeeded briliantly. He is proud of his role in the death of [[Lawrence Bacon]], and reveals that as the housemate and drinking partner of [[Coombes]] he was able to learn all of [[Bacon]]'s plans and work against them.

He says also that he has been awaiting the death of his superior in the Shub-Niggurath cult, [[Atkinson]], so that he can return home to inherit the role of leader, and that now that Atkinson is near death he has been summoned.

Realising that the influence of Hastur was once again strong, he decided to act against it by going to a place sacred to the 'British Gods' and calling upon their aid. He chose Christ Church because as one of the churches of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor] it is [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=GtGQ0hW5bh6yVf231YWQt0SL3l861ZcnGx1XhmPvQSzvJSmnGvYn!-325043583!377065349?a=o&d=5002021737 in reality] a shrine not to 'the carpenter god' but to the true, old gods of Britain.

He sliced his hands open deliberately and called upon 'Shub-Niggurath and Y'Golonac', and was then interrupted by the verger, who he deliberately knocked to the ground in anger and being so interrupted.

At this point, having touched on a personal obsession, Gresty launches into a rambling discourse on Hawksmoor and his churches - going so far as to lead the investigators to Christ Church, where he stands on the pavement outside, excitedly proclaiming his beliefs.

When he calms down, and is offered Bartlett's hip flask, which he drains, Gresty explains that he is about to return to his home at Mercy Hill in the Severn Valley, where 'the woman at Nug's Farm' thinks she is Atkinson's heir, but that he, Wilfred Gresty will inherit.

With this, the now quite inebriated Gresty walks off into the London throng. At last the investigators have a location for the elusive [[Nug's Farm]], and with it [[Hillary Quarrie]].

=== Saturday December 14th 1929 ===

[[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] have booked an early train to Gloucester, but there is a problem. Despite yesterday's promising lead, there is no sign of Mercy Hill on any modern map of the Severn Valley.

As time is thought to be of the essence it is agreed that [[Browne]] will head at once to the map room of the British Library and scour old maps for the location of Mercy Hill, and will give his friends the map reference by telephone. If Browne cannot locate it, at least the others can ask locally.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Browne has located a set of 1911 military survey maps of the area, and on them he locates not only Mercy Hill, but also Nug's Farm itself! The buildings that make up these settlements are in fact marked, though not identified, on the latest Ordnance Survey maps, which Withers carries, but oddly the local forest, [[Goatswood]] appears to have encroached significantly on them since 1911.

Browne phones the hotel where the others have just arrived and gives them the grid references. They head off to hire a car, but find that nothing is available and end up having to pat a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the moening. The only other choice is a daily bus which stops at the village of Clotton, but this does not run at weekends.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 ===

Its a bitterly cold morning as the car struggles south along the minor road that heads into the [[Goatswood]] region. The driver explains that the people around here keep themselves to themselves and are not well thought of amongst 'decent people', but he's happy to take their money, and asks no questions.

Soon they are passing through grim little villages of ancient cottages, with hardly a sign of people or of commerce. They are dropped off in one of these places, a village called Clotton, which has no pub, no shops and apparently no electricity. The church is a boarded up ruin. The only sign of life is the movement of a curtain, but there is no answer to a knock on that door.

The driver agrees to return, but it must be before dusk, if they are not here when he arrives, we won't wait.

[[Withers]] checks his gun and the 2 men head across country to where [[Nug's Farm]] is marked on their map.

Session 10

2006-08-24T19:58:20Z

203.211.85.21: /* Sunday December 15th 1929 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 21st August, 2006==

=== Friday December 13th 1929 ===

With [[Saunders]] in Oslo, at a curators' conference on Viking culture, it is left to [[Withers]], [[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] to go to court to see [[Gresty]]'s appearance before the magistrate.

Gresty turns out to be a scrawny man in his 40s, with protuberant ears, a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He appears contrite, and somewhat agitated in court, pleading guilty to the charge of breaking and entering, but not to assault.

Speaking in a strong West Country accent, Gresty says that he has been having trouble sleeping, and on the night in question was walking the streets in a fit of insomnia when he was struck by an impulse to pray - he can't explain why he did it, but he chose to break into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church%2C_Spitalfields Christ Church, Spitalfields], cutting his hands as he climbed through the window, and that he was kneeling at the altar when he was disturbed by a voice. Turning and fleeing in sudden terror he must have accidentally knocked the verger to the ground.

Gresty appears genuinely sorry, and is fined 2 pounds plus the cost of repairs.

As Gresty leaves the court, Bartlett approaches him and introduces himself. Gresty is thrilled to meet his 'friends', and is most interested to hear that they went to Scotland and witnessed (indeed, caused) the death of [[Montague Edwards]]. He invites them to his local watering hole, The Plough Inn, for a drink and a chat.

Gresty explains that he is a true servant of 'The Goat' sent here from the West Country to infiltrate the worshippers of Hastur, and that he succeeded briliantly. He is proud of his role in the death of [[Lawrence Bacon]], and reveals that as the housemate and drinking partner of [[Coombes]] he was able to learn all of [[Bacon]]'s plans and work against them.

He says also that he has been awaiting the death of his superior in the Shub-Niggurath cult, [[Atkinson]], so that he can return home to inherit the role of leader, and that now that Atkinson is near death he has been summoned.

Realising that the influence of Hastur was once again strong, he decided to act against it by going to a place sacred to the 'British Gods' and calling upon their aid. He chose Christ Church because as one of the churches of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor] it is [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=GtGQ0hW5bh6yVf231YWQt0SL3l861ZcnGx1XhmPvQSzvJSmnGvYn!-325043583!377065349?a=o&d=5002021737 in reality] a shrine not to 'the carpenter god' but to the true, old gods of Britain.

He sliced his hands open deliberately and called upon 'Shub-Niggurath and Y'Golonac', and was then interrupted by the verger, who he deliberately knocked to the ground in anger and being so interrupted.

At this point, having touched on a personal obsession, Gresty launches into a rambling discourse on Hawksmoor and his churches - going so far as to lead the investigators to Christ Church, where he stands on the pavement outside, excitedly proclaiming his beliefs.

When he calms down, and is offered Bartlett's hip flask, which he drains, Gresty explains that he is about to return to his home at Mercy Hill in the Severn Valley, where 'the woman at Nug's Farm' thinks she is Atkinson's heir, but that he, Wilfred Gresty will inherit.

With this, the now quite inebriated Gresty walks off into the London throng. At last the investigators have a location for the elusive [[Nug's Farm]], and with it [[Hillary Quarrie]].

=== Saturday December 14th 1929 ===

[[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] have booked an early train to Gloucester, but there is a problem. Despite yesterday's promising lead, there is no sign of Mercy Hill on any modern map of the Severn Valley.

As time is thought to be of the essence it is agreed that [[Browne]] will head at once to the map room of the British Library and scour old maps for the location of Mercy Hill, and will give his friends the map reference by telephone. If Browne cannot locate it, at least the others can ask locally.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Browne has located a set of 1911 military survey maps of the area, and on them he locates not only Mercy Hill, but also Nug's Farm itself! The buildings that make up these settlements are in fact marked, though not identified, on the latest Ordnance Survey maps, which Withers carries, but oddly the local forest, [[Goatswood]] appears to have encroached significantly on them since 1911.

Browne phones the hotel where the others have just arrived and gives them the grid references. They head off to hire a car, but find that nothing is available and end up having to pat a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the moening. The only other choice is a daily bus which stops at the village of Clotton, but this does not run at weekends.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 ===

Its a bitterly cold morning as the car struggles south along the minor road that heads into the [[Goatswood region]]. The driver explains that the people around here keep themselves to themselves and are not well thought of amongst 'decent people', but he's happy to take their money, and asks no questions.

Soon they are passing through grim little villages of ancient cottages, with hardly a sign of people or of commerce. They are dropped off in one of these places, a village called Clotton, which has no pub, no shops and apparently no electricity. The church is a boarded up ruin. The only sign of life is the movement of a curtain, but there is no answer to a knock on that door.

The driver agrees to return, but it must be before dusk, if they are not here when he arrives, we won't wait.

[Withers] checks his gun and the 2 men head across country to where [[Nug's Farm]] is marked on their map.

Session 10

2006-08-24T19:57:23Z

203.211.85.21: /* Sunday December 15th 1929 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 21st August, 2006==

=== Friday December 13th 1929 ===

With [[Saunders]] in Oslo, at a curators' conference on Viking culture, it is left to [[Withers]], [[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] to go to court to see [[Gresty]]'s appearance before the magistrate.

Gresty turns out to be a scrawny man in his 40s, with protuberant ears, a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He appears contrite, and somewhat agitated in court, pleading guilty to the charge of breaking and entering, but not to assault.

Speaking in a strong West Country accent, Gresty says that he has been having trouble sleeping, and on the night in question was walking the streets in a fit of insomnia when he was struck by an impulse to pray - he can't explain why he did it, but he chose to break into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church%2C_Spitalfields Christ Church, Spitalfields], cutting his hands as he climbed through the window, and that he was kneeling at the altar when he was disturbed by a voice. Turning and fleeing in sudden terror he must have accidentally knocked the verger to the ground.

Gresty appears genuinely sorry, and is fined 2 pounds plus the cost of repairs.

As Gresty leaves the court, Bartlett approaches him and introduces himself. Gresty is thrilled to meet his 'friends', and is most interested to hear that they went to Scotland and witnessed (indeed, caused) the death of [[Montague Edwards]]. He invites them to his local watering hole, The Plough Inn, for a drink and a chat.

Gresty explains that he is a true servant of 'The Goat' sent here from the West Country to infiltrate the worshippers of Hastur, and that he succeeded briliantly. He is proud of his role in the death of [[Lawrence Bacon]], and reveals that as the housemate and drinking partner of [[Coombes]] he was able to learn all of [[Bacon]]'s plans and work against them.

He says also that he has been awaiting the death of his superior in the Shub-Niggurath cult, [[Atkinson]], so that he can return home to inherit the role of leader, and that now that Atkinson is near death he has been summoned.

Realising that the influence of Hastur was once again strong, he decided to act against it by going to a place sacred to the 'British Gods' and calling upon their aid. He chose Christ Church because as one of the churches of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor] it is [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst;jsessionid=GtGQ0hW5bh6yVf231YWQt0SL3l861ZcnGx1XhmPvQSzvJSmnGvYn!-325043583!377065349?a=o&d=5002021737 in reality] a shrine not to 'the carpenter god' but to the true, old gods of Britain.

He sliced his hands open deliberately and called upon 'Shub-Niggurath and Y'Golonac', and was then interrupted by the verger, who he deliberately knocked to the ground in anger and being so interrupted.

At this point, having touched on a personal obsession, Gresty launches into a rambling discourse on Hawksmoor and his churches - going so far as to lead the investigators to Christ Church, where he stands on the pavement outside, excitedly proclaiming his beliefs.

When he calms down, and is offered Bartlett's hip flask, which he drains, Gresty explains that he is about to return to his home at Mercy Hill in the Severn Valley, where 'the woman at Nug's Farm' thinks she is Atkinson's heir, but that he, Wilfred Gresty will inherit.

With this, the now quite inebriated Gresty walks off into the London throng. At last the investigators have a location for the elusive [[Nug's Farm]], and with it [[Hillary Quarrie]].

=== Saturday December 14th 1929 ===

[[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] have booked an early train to Gloucester, but there is a problem. Despite yesterday's promising lead, there is no sign of Mercy Hill on any modern map of the Severn Valley.

As time is thought to be of the essence it is agreed that [[Browne]] will head at once to the map room of the British Library and scour old maps for the location of Mercy Hill, and will give his friends the map reference by telephone. If Browne cannot locate it, at least the others can ask locally.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Browne has located a set of 1911 military survey maps of the area, and on them he locates not only Mercy Hill, but also Nug's Farm itself! The buildings that make up these settlements are in fact marked, though not identified, on the latest Ordnance Survey maps, which Withers carries, but oddly the local forest, [[Goatswood]] appears to have encroached significantly on them since 1911.

Browne phones the hotel where the others have just arrived and gives them the grid references. They head off to hire a car, but find that nothing is available and end up having to pat a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the moening. The only other choice is a daily bus which stops at the village of Clotton, but this does not run at weekends.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 ===

Its a bitterly cold morning as the car struggles south along the minor road that heads into the Goatswood region. the driver explains that the people arou d here keep themselves to themselves and are not well thought of amongst 'decent people', but he's happy to take their money, and asked no questions.

Soon they are passing through grim little villages of ancient cottages, with hardly a sign of people or of commerce. They are dropped off in one of these places, a village called Clotton, which has no pub, no shops are apparently no electricity. The church is a boarded up ruin. The only sign of life is the movement of a curtain, but there is no answer to a kcock on that door.

The driver agrees to return, but it must be before dusk, if they are not here when he arrives, we won't wait.

[Withers] checks his gun and the 2 men head across country to where [[Nug's Farm]] is marked on their map.

Session 10

2006-08-24T06:17:08Z

203.211.85.21: /* Friday December 13th 1929 */

Session 10

2006-08-24T06:01:18Z

203.211.85.21: /* Saturday December 14th 1929 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 21st August, 2006==

=== Friday December 13th 1929 ===

With [[Saunders]] in Oslo, at a curators' conference on Viking culture, it is left to [[Withers]], [[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] to go to court to see [[Gresty]]'s appearance before the magistrate.

Gresty turns out to be a scrawny man in his 40s, with protuberant ears, a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He appears contrite, and somewhat agitated in court, pleading guilty to the charge of breaking and entering, but not to assault.

Speaking in a strong West Country accent, Gresty says that he has been having trouble sleeping, and on the night in question was walking the streets in a fit of insomnia when he was struck by an impulse to pray - he can't explain why he did it, but he chose to break into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church%2C_Spitalfields Christ Church, Spitalfields], cutting his hands as he climbed through the window, and that he was kneeling at the altar when he was disturbed by a voice. Turning and fleeing in sudden terror he must have accidentally knocked the verger to the ground.

Gresty appears genuinely sorry, and is fined 2 pounds plus the cost of repairs.

As Gresty leaves the court, Bartlett approaches him and introduces himself. Gresty is thrilled to meet his 'friends', and is most interested to hear that they went to Scotland and witnessed (indeed, caused) the death of [[Montague Edwards]]. He invites them to his local watering hole, The Plough Inn, for a drink and a chat.

Gresty explains that he is a true servant of 'The Goat' sent here from the West Country to infiltrate the worshippers of Hastur, and that he succeeded briliantly. He is proud of his role in the death of [[Lawrence Bacon]], and reveals that as the housemate and drinking partner of [[Coombes]] he was able to learn all of [[Bacon]]'s plans and work against them.

He says also that he has been awaiting the death of his superior in the Shub-Niggurath cult, [[Atkinson]], so that he can return home to inherit the role of leader, amnd that now that Atkinson is near death he has been summoned.

Realising that the influence of Hastur was once again strong, he decided to act against it by going to a place sacred to the 'British Gods' and calling upon their aid. He chose Christ Church because as one of the churches of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor] it is in reality a shrine not to 'the carpenter god' but to the true, old gods of Britain.

He sliced his hands open deliberately and called upon 'Shub-Niggurath and Y'Golonac', and was then interrupted by the verger, who he deliberately knocked to the ground in anger and being so interrupted.

At this point, having touched on a personal obsession, Gresty launches into a rambling discourse on Hawksmoor and his churches - going so far as to lead the investigators to Christ Church, where he stands on the pavement outside, excitedly proclaiming his beliefs.

When he calms down, and is offered Bartlett's hip flask, which he drains, Gresty explains that he is about to return to his home at Mercy Hill in the Severn Valley, where 'the woman at Nug's Farm' thinks she is Atkinson's heir, but that he, Wilfred Gresty will inherit.

With this, the now quite inebriated Gresty walks off into the London throng. At last the investigators have a location for the elusive [[Nug's Farm]], and with it [[Hillary Quarrie]].

=== Saturday December 14th 1929 ===

[[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] have booked an early train to Gloucester, but there is a problem. Despite yesterday's promising lead, there is no sign of Mercy Hill on any modern map of the Severn Valley.

As time is thought to be of the essence it is agreed that [[Browne]] will head at once to the map room of the British Library and scour old maps for the location of Mercy Hill, and will give his friends the map reference by telephone. If Browne cannot locate it, at least the others can ask locally.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Browne has located a set of 1911 military survey maps of the area, and on them he locates not only Mercy Hill, but also Nug's Farm itself! The buildings that make up these settlements are in fact marked, though not identified, on the latest Ordnance Survey maps, which Withers carries, but oddly the local forest, [[Goatswood]] appears to have encroached significantly on them since 1911.

Browne phones the hotel where the others have just arrived and gives them the grid references. They head off to hire a car, but find that nothing is available and end up having to pat a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the moening. The only other choice is a daily bus which stops at the village of Clotton, but this does not run at weekends.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 ===

Session 10

2006-08-24T05:59:35Z

203.211.85.21: /* Friday December 13th 1928 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 21st August, 2006==

=== Friday December 13th 1929 ===

With [[Saunders]] in Oslo, at a curators' conference on Viking culture, it is left to [[Withers]], [[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] to go to court to see [[Gresty]]'s appearance before the magistrate.

Gresty turns out to be a scrawny man in his 40s, with protuberant ears, a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He appears contrite, and somewhat agitated in court, pleading guilty to the charge of breaking and entering, but not to assault.

Speaking in a strong West Country accent, Gresty says that he has been having trouble sleeping, and on the night in question was walking the streets in a fit of insomnia when he was struck by an impulse to pray - he can't explain why he did it, but he chose to break into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church%2C_Spitalfields Christ Church, Spitalfields], cutting his hands as he climbed through the window, and that he was kneeling at the altar when he was disturbed by a voice. Turning and fleeing in sudden terror he must have accidentally knocked the verger to the ground.

Gresty appears genuinely sorry, and is fined 2 pounds plus the cost of repairs.

As Gresty leaves the court, Bartlett approaches him and introduces himself. Gresty is thrilled to meet his 'friends', and is most interested to hear that they went to Scotland and witnessed (indeed, caused) the death of [[Montague Edwards]]. He invites them to his local watering hole, The Plough Inn, for a drink and a chat.

Gresty explains that he is a true servant of 'The Goat' sent here from the West Country to infiltrate the worshippers of Hastur, and that he succeeded briliantly. He is proud of his role in the death of [[Lawrence Bacon]], and reveals that as the housemate and drinking partner of [[Coombes]] he was able to learn all of [[Bacon]]'s plans and work against them.

He says also that he has been awaiting the death of his superior in the Shub-Niggurath cult, [[Atkinson]], so that he can return home to inherit the role of leader, amnd that now that Atkinson is near death he has been summoned.

Realising that the influence of Hastur was once again strong, he decided to act against it by going to a place sacred to the 'British Gods' and calling upon their aid. He chose Christ Church because as one of the churches of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor] it is in reality a shrine not to 'the carpenter god' but to the true, old gods of Britain.

He sliced his hands open deliberately and called upon 'Shub-Niggurath and Y'Golonac', and was then interrupted by the verger, who he deliberately knocked to the ground in anger and being so interrupted.

At this point, having touched on a personal obsession, Gresty launches into a rambling discourse on Hawksmoor and his churches - going so far as to lead the investigators to Christ Church, where he stands on the pavement outside, excitedly proclaiming his beliefs.

When he calms down, and is offered Bartlett's hip flask, which he drains, Gresty explains that he is about to return to his home at Mercy Hill in the Severn Valley, where 'the woman at Nug's Farm' thinks she is Atkinson's heir, but that he, Wilfred Gresty will inherit.

With this, the now quite inebriated Gresty walks off into the London throng. At last the investigators have a location for the elusive [[Nug's Farm]], and with it [[Hillary Quarrie]].

=== Saturday December 14th 1929 ===

[[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] have booked an early train to Gloucester, but there is a problem. Despite yesterday's promising lead, there is no sign of Mercy Hill on any modern map of the Severn Valley.

As time is thought to be of the essence it is agreed that [[Browne]] will head at once to the map room of the British Library and scour old maps for the location of Mercy Hill, and will give his friends the map reference by telephone. If Browne cannot locate it, at least the others can ask locally.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Browne has located a set of 1911 military survey maps of the area, and on them he locates not only Mercy Hill, but also Nug's Farm itself! The buildings that make up these settlements are in fact marked, though not identified, on the lastest Ordanance Survey maps, which Withers carries, but oddly the local forst, [[Goatswood]] appears to have encroched significantly on them since 1911.

Browne phones the hotel where the others have just arrived and gives them the grid references. They head off to hire a car, but find that nothing is available and end up having to pat a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the moening. The only other choice is a daily bus which stops at the village of Clotton, but this does not run at weekends.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 ===

Session 10

2006-08-24T05:58:33Z

203.211.85.21: /* Saturday December 14th 1928 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 21st August, 2006==

=== Friday December 13th 1928 ===

With [[Saunders]] in Oslo, at a curators' conference on Viking culture, it is left to [[Withers]], [[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] to go to court to see [[Gresty]]'s appearance before the magistrate.

Gresty turns out to be a scrawny man in his 40s, with protuberant ears, a scraggly beard and bad teeth. He appears contrite, and somewhat agitated in court, pleading guilty to the charge of breaking and entering, but not to assault.

Speaking in a strong West Country accent, Gresty says that he has been having trouble sleeping, and on the night in question was walking the streets in a fit of insomnia when he was struck by an impulse to pray - he can't explain why he did it, but he chose to break into [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Church%2C_Spitalfields Christ Church, Spitalfields], cutting his hands as he climbed through the window, and that he was kneeling at the altar when he was disturbed by a voice. Turning and fleeing in sudden terror he must have accidentally knocked the verger to the ground.

Gresty appears genuinely sorry, and is fined 2 pounds plus the cost of repairs.

As Gresty leaves the court, Bartlett approaches him and introduces himself. Gresty is thrilled to meet his 'friends', and is most interested to hear that they went to Scotland and witnessed (indeed, caused) the death of [[Montague Edwards]]. He invites them to his local watering hole, The Plough Inn, for a drink and a chat.

Gresty explains that he is a true servant of 'The Goat' sent here from the West Country to infiltrate the worshippers of Hastur, and that he succeeded briliantly. He is proud of his role in the death of [[Lawrence Bacon]], and reveals that as the housemate and drinking partner of [[Coombes]] he was able to learn all of [[Bacon]]'s plans and work against them.

He says also that he has been awaiting the death of his superior in the Shub-Niggurath cult, [[Atkinson]], so that he can return home to inherit the role of leader, amnd that now that Atkinson is near death he has been summoned.

Realising that the influence of Hastur was once again strong, he decided to act against it by going to a place sacred to the 'British Gods' and calling upon their aid. He chose Christ Church because as one of the churches of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor] it is in reality a shrine not to 'the carpenter god' but to the true, old gods of Britain.

He sliced his hands open deliberately and called upon 'Shub-Niggurath and Y'Golonac', and was then interrupted by the verger, who he deliberately knocked to the ground in anger and being so interrupted.

At this point, having touched on a personal obsession, Gresty launches into a rambling discourse on Hawksmoor and his churches - going so far as to lead the investigators to Christ Church, where he stands on the pavement outside, excitedly proclaiming his beliefs.

When he calms down, and is offered Bartlett's hip flask, which he drains, Gresty explains that he is about to return to his home at Mercy Hill in the Severn Valley, where 'the woman at Nug's Farm' thinks she is Atkinson's heir, but that he, Wilfred Gresty will inherit.

With this, the now quite inebriated Gresty walks off into the London throng. At last the investigators have a location for the elusive [[Nug's Farm]], and with it [[Hillary Quarrie]].

=== Saturday December 14th 1929 ===

[[Bartlett]] and [[Browne]] have booked an early train to Gloucester, but there is a problem. Despite yesterday's promising lead, there is no sign of Mercy Hill on any modern map of the Severn Valley.

As time is thought to be of the essence it is agreed that [[Browne]] will head at once to the map room of the British Library and scour old maps for the location of Mercy Hill, and will give his friends the map reference by telephone. If Browne cannot locate it, at least the others can ask locally.

Fortunately, by early afternoon Browne has located a set of 1911 military survey maps of the area, and on them he locates not only Mercy Hill, but also Nug's Farm itself! The buildings that make up these settlements are in fact marked, though not identified, on the lastest Ordanance Survey maps, which Withers carries, but oddly the local forst, [[Goatswood]] appears to have encroched significantly on them since 1911.

Browne phones the hotel where the others have just arrived and gives them the grid references. They head off to hire a car, but find that nothing is available and end up having to pat a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the moening. The only other choice is a daily bus which stops at the village of Clotton, but this does not run at weekends.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 ===

British Gods

2006-06-08T09:21:52Z

203.211.85.187:

Subtitled 'Religion and Myth in the Western Kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon Britain' [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s Masters' thesis was expanded into this 360 page book and published in 1924 by the Oxford University Press.

It is a study of the Gods of Anglo-Saxon England, primarily those Celtic, Roman, Sumerian and other Gods worshipped between 50BC and 650AD in the West of England. It concentrates on a fertility Goddess called Shub-Niggurath, who Quarrie claims was worshipped in various forms and under various names by in England by Celts, Romans and Saxons throughout antiquity.

Most scholars who have discusssed her believe Shub-Niggurath to be an aspect of the mother-goddess Brigid, but Quarrie attempts to trace her origins, and believes her worship originated in Assyria and moved West through Europe to gaul and from there to England. Worshippers of 'The Goat With a Thousand Young' had a very fierce reputation. In England her worship was centred in the Forest of Dean and the towns of Gloucester, Bath, Cirencester and Brichester.

Professor JRR Tolkien of Pembroke College, Oxford gave a copy of this book to [[Andrew Saunders]], who has since read it.

Tatters of the King

2006-06-08T09:15:37Z

203.211.85.187: /* Literary Works */

Talbot Estus

2006-06-02T23:51:43Z

203.211.85.83: /* Facts */

[[Image:Talbot_Estus.png|right]]
Talbot Estus, born Waldo Easterman in Lansing, Texas is a noted American novelist, producing works of what he calls romantic horror or macabre romances (though critics can find little difference between the two).

Talbot's earlier works were popular, but his later works suffer from either lack of originality, or, on the odd occasion they are inventive, excessive peculiarity.

He is a tanned, active-looking man with a thick moustache and full head of hair. He has poor eyesight and uses 3 different pairs of glasses for varying tasks. A fastidious dresser, he has a weakness for Panama hats.

His homosexuality an open secret, he shares his London flat with his former publisher, [[Michael Gillen]]. Gillen is worried about Estus, believing that he has an irrational fear of the stars (astrophobia) and an unhealthy obsession with the play "[[The King in Yellow]]".

Estus told [[Nathaniel Browne]] that he had read and enjoyed the stories of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Robert W Chambers], but it was his discovery of the French play, '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]'
that showed him the true importance, and power of this material.

Since the play predated Chambers it must have been his source, but according to the literary world, Chambers invented it all himself. The existence of the French play disproves that, and it goes far beyond Chambers' mere hints, so Estus wrote to Chambers about it some months back. Chambers, somewhat rudely, has not replied at all. Estus suspects that Chambers is embarassed as being found out as a plagiarist of a far greater work. Estus himself freely acknowledges the play as being the root of his own work.

==Works==

The Grey Lady (1905) - heavily influenced by 'The Turn of the Screw'

The Haunting of Agatha May (1912) - his biggest success

The Curse of Beydelus (1921) - a tale of a magician's pact with a demon

Evilroot (1926) - a ghost story and an excursion into Egyptology

The Revenant King (1928) - a poorly received tale of medieval horror

[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] (1928)

According to [[Michael Gillen]], Estus is working on an epic treatment of '[[The King in Yellow]]' in novel form.

==Facts==

Talbot is currently working on a novel treatment of the same material from the play [[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]]. His attachment to the work seems almost maniacal. In the play itself, he appeared as [[the King in Yellow]].

Talbot is homosexual, and his lover is [[Michael Gillen]] though this relationship may be less than secure (or perhaps non-exclusive) as he mistakenly attempted to seduce [[Nathaniel Browne]], confusing respect for his work for personal affection, during a visit.

Talbot often checks windows and seems fearful of the sky at night. [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] has suggested that Talbot may suffer from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophobia astrophobia].

Alexander Roby

2006-05-16T08:50:10Z

203.211.85.219:

[[Image:Alexander_Roby.jpg|right]]
Born in 1892 to a wealthy middle class London family, Roby dropped out of Peterhouse prior to knocking around the Foreign Office for a couple of years. He left the FO and spent his time studying fringe interests (astronomy, art, the occult) and mixing with people of whom his family did not approve.

On October 14th 1926 Roby's father Herbert and sister Georgina were brutally murdered at the family home in Curzon Street. Alexander was the only other person at home, and initially claimed responsibility. He was arrested, but instead of being charged was committed to St Agnes Asylum. The papers committing him were signed by Dr [[Highsmith]], Roby's older brother [[Grahame Roby]] and the Roby family physician, [[Dr Lionel Trollope]].

[[Highsmith]] believes Roby suffers from 'sympathetic mania', which manifests as severe night terrors, or scotophobia, that start each year at the anniversary of the muders and continue until the Spring. These attacks are being well-managed with laudanum, and Highsmith believes him fit for release to the care of his family or a convalescent home. Highsmith also believes Alexander innocent of the the [[Roby murders]].

His release hearing is scheduled for November 30th 1928.

Roby spends his time studying poetry and has made unusual marginal notes in his poetry books referring to various elements common to both the [[play]] 'Carcosa' and Robert W Chambers's '[[King in Yellow]]' stories.

He made an unusual [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/Typed_Transcript_of_Alexander_Robys_Verbal_Responses.pdf statement] to [[Dr Bartlett]].

Price and Evans

2006-05-16T08:49:01Z

203.211.85.219:

Nurses Price and Evans work at St Agnes Asylum.

Price told [[Dr Bartlett]] all about the murder of [[Cuthbert Yates]], and also took the Doctor for a drink at the Wheatsheaf pub. He was present at Bartlett's first meeting with [[Alexander Roby]].

In the late evening of November 5th, Price phoned Dr Bartlett, in an agitated state, to tell him about the murder of [[Frederick Long]] at St Agnes Asylum.

Evans befriended Alexander Roby and gave him pencils, against asylum rules. Evans shares an interest in poetry with Roby. He was present at Bartlett's second meeting with Alexander Roby.

Alexander Roby

2006-05-16T08:48:16Z

203.211.85.219:

[[Image:Alexander_Roby.jpg|right]]
Born in 1892 to a wealthy middle class London family, Roby dropped out of Peterhouse prior to knocking around the Foreign Office for a couple of years. He left the FO and spent his time studying fringe interests (astronomy, art, the occult) and mixing with people of whom his family did not approve.

On October 14th 1926 Roby's father Herbert and sister Georgina were brutally murdered at the family home in Curzon Street. Alexander was the only other person at home, and initially claimed responsibility. He was arrested, but instead of being charged was committed to St Agnes Asylum. The papers committing him were signed by Dr [[Highsmith]], Roby's older brother [[Grahame Roby]] and the Roby family physician, [[Dr Lionel Trollope]].

[[Highsmith]] believes Roby suffers from 'sympathetic mania', which manifests as severe night terrors, or scotophobia, that start each year at the anniversary of the muders and continue until the Spring. These attacks are being well-managed with laudanum, and Highsmith believes him fit for release to the care of his family or a convalescent home. Highsmith also believes Alexander innocent of the [[the Roby murders]].

His release hearing is scheduled for November 30th 1928.

Roby spends his time studying poetry and has made unusual marginal notes in his poetry books referring to various elements common to both the [[play]] 'Carcosa' and Robert W Chambers's '[[King in Yellow]]' stories.

He made an unusual [http://greywolfnz.homeip.net/wiki/attachments/Typed_Transcript_of_Alexander_Robys_Verbal_Responses.pdf statement] to [[Dr Bartlett]].

Session 1.5

2006-05-16T08:46:35Z

203.211.85.219: /* October 30th 1928 */

This was a special one on one session with Dr [[Bartlett]] as the only player character.

==Session Report - Played Thursday 11th May, 2006==

===October 20th 1928===

[[Doctor Bartlett]] receives [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/04_The_Letter_from_Dr_Highsmith.pdf a letter] from [[Dr. Charles Highsmith]], superintendent of St. Agnes Asylum in [http://www.beenthere-donethat.org.uk/images.big/weobley01big.jpg Weobley], Herefordshire, requesting a meeting on the 28th at the Great Western Hotel in London.

===October 28th 1928===

At the meeting, Highsmith explains that the patient he wishes to consult [[Bartlett]] about is [[Alexander Roby]], who has been committed to St Agnes for the last 2 years following the [http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/05_Two_Newspaper_Stories_on_the_Roby_Murders.pdf brutal murders] of his father and sister, killings he initially claimed responsibility for, but was never in fact charged with.

[[Highsmith]] has to make a recommendation for the release, or otherwise, of [[Roby]] and was leaning towards release when he came under pressure from the Roby family, through the conduit of family physician [[Dr Lionel Trollope]] to keep [[Alexander]] confined. The head of [[Alexander]]'s family is his brother, the prominent banker [[Grahame Roby]].

[[Highsmith]] wishes to understand the motives behind the family's position, but they hasn't been able to get them to reveal any details. He also wants Bartlett's professional opinion of the state of mind of [[Alexander Roby]], and asks [[Bartlett]] to accompany him when he returns to Herefordshire on the 30th. Intrigued, though unsure of his suitability for what amounts to a private investigation, he agrees.

===October 30th 1928===

[[Bartlett]] joins [[Highsmith]] on the 10.20am train, to change at Bristol for Hereford. A car meets them and takes them the 20 miles to the village of Weobley. The asylum squats on a hill overlooking the village - a grim Victorian building.

[[Highsmith]] describes [[Roby]]'s symptoms - extreme night terrors, or scotophobia, which manifest around the anniversary of the Roby murders in October each year and continue until April. The attacks are controlled with high doses of laudanum. apart from these attacks, Roby is uncommunicative and seems to live in a world of his own. [[Highsmith]] suggests that [[Bartlett]] examine [[Roby]] on his own initially, and instructs two of his male staff, Nurse [[Price]] and Reeves, his secretary, to accompany Bartlett.

En route to Roby's cell [[Price]] asks if Bartlett is here about 'the murder', which turns out not to be the Roby killings, but a murder that happened within the asylum a year before. Bartlett asks if he can talk to [[Price]] about that after seeing Roby.

In [[Roby]]'s cell, the madman is reading a book and does not react to his visitors. Bartlett examines Roby's books, which are all poetry by modern poets such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Graves Graves] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound Pound], and discovers marginal notes in pencil throughout them. He is astonished to find a note referring to [[Carcosa]] and soon finds other referring to [[Cassilda]], [[Hastur]] and other elements of the [[play]].

Eventually [[Bartlett]] gets a reponse from [[Roby]], who soon goes into a strange monologue, which Reeves records in shorthand and types up later. Amongst other things, Roby refers to unknown associates called [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and [[Edwards]]. When Roby asks Bartlett if he's seen the [[Yellow Sign]], Bartlett says 'yes'.

[http://www.artistmonkey.com/Downloads/06_Typed_Transcript_of_Alexander_Robys_Verbal_Responses.pdf Roby's statement]

After that, [[Roby]] returns to reading his poetry, so [[Bartlett]] sends Reeves to type up the statement and goes with [[Price]] to the staff break room to hear about the asylum murder of November 27th, 1927.

The murder was brutal and mysterious. A nurse called [[Cuthbert Yates]] was slashed to death with at least 2 knives in the cell of Roby's neighbour, the brain-damaged [[Lucius Harriwell]]. The police suspected [[Harriwell]], but since he was clearly insane and already indefinitely incarcerated they saw no point in prosecution. The asylum staff, however, don't believe Harriwell capable of such a thing - he was found cowering in his cell, insisting 'the Devil' was responsible, and no weapon was found. Roby was heavily sedated, and despite the interesting parallels with the [[Roby]] murders, could not have been involved.

The stange thing, however, was that the amount of blood found in the cell far exceeded that which could have been lost by the victim alone. No second victim was found, and nobody was reported missing. [[Price]] says that Hereford CID handled the case.

[[Bartlett]] agrees with [[Highsmith]] that [[Roby]] seems harmless, and says he'll see what he can find out in London. In further discussion with Highsmith, Bartlett finds out that Roby befriended the nurse, [[Mark Evans]], and Evans gave him pencils on 2 occasions, against instructions. Evans himself says that Roby talked to him about poetry and asked him for pencils so he could 'complete his work'. He knows he shouldn't have done it, and won't again.

That evening, Bartlett visits the Wheatsheaf pub with [[Price]] and other staff, and they talk about the murder, Roby and Highsmith, but Bartlett learns little more.

===October 31st 1928===

After breakfast, [[Bartlett]] visits [[Roby]] again, this time in the company of [[Evans]], but Roby is uncommunicative, except to say "Don't forget to tell Quarrie." just as Bartlett leaves.

[[Bartlett]] is driven back to Hereford, has lunch at the station hotel and returns to London. He has an [[appointment]] to play bridge with [[Withers]], [[Browne]] and [[Saunders]] at his Wimbledon home that evening.