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Tatters of the King

2024-07-08T23:23:34Z

Greywolf:

[http://www.unboundbook.org Return to the Unbound Publishing website]
[[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 which our role-playing group played. Play commenced on May 8th 2006 and ran until October 2nd 2006.

'''''Please note that this Wiki is an actual play record originally created for the players, and as such contains numerous campaign spoilers!'''''

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [https://unboundbook.org/TotK-wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=guide-london-environs-muirhead-1922.pdf London], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928 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 who engage in different pursuits - those who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying...

==Cast of Characters==
Tatters of the King is full of interesting and diverse characters, none more so than the Player Characters themselves!

===Keeper of Arcane Lore===

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

===[[Player Characters]]===

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

* [[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by [[Darryn Mercer]].
* [[Andrew Saunders]] (Deceased) - British Museum curator and proud Scot, played by [[Julia Blackmore]].
* [[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by [[Nicola Bishop]].
* '[[Umberto]]' (Deceased) - 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'''
* ''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:
** [[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher and amateur actor (Acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] and Estus's friend and companion).
** [[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress (sister of [[Andrew Saunders]])
** [[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor (husband of [[Hannah Keith]])
** [[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor
** [[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress
* [[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

'''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]] (deceased) - Abusive husband of Delia
* [[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby
* [[Coombes| 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
* [[Ian Gore| The Reverend Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India
* [[Henrietta Tullis|Mrs Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India
* [[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India
* [[Francesca Nicholson|Miss Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India
* [[Patricia Berry|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'''

* [[Ricardo Delnegro|Mayor Ricardo Delnegro]] (deceased) - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer
* [[Roberto Anzalone]] (deceased) - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign
* [[Malcolm Quarrie]] (deceased) - Elusive scientist and occultist
* [[The King in Yellow]] - Beautiful, yet terrible, alien god

==Literary Works==
[[Image:mask.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Masque of Yhtill]]
Works of Fiction and Fact as found in on the journeys of our intrepid Investigators.

*[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/67/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]
* [[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]
* [[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous
* [[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==
Places of wonder and terror. Haunts of the Yellow King and other locales of interest.

* [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]], in Mustang, the legendary site of the death of the ogress Balmo
* [[Leng]], legendary icy plateau - not on this Earth
* [[The Upper House]], labyrinthine alien structure, found in Leng

==Sessions==

The Monday Night Players' run through of ''Tatters of the King'' was completed over 16 fun and exiting gaming sessions. As each lasted anywhere between and hour and a half and three hours, the campaign took over 30 hours of game time to finish.

* [[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 Trail of the Pilgrims
* [[Session 15]] - Drakmar and Beyond
* [[Session 16]] - The King Steps Down
* [[Aftermath]] - Forever Wondering

==Collected Audio Recordings==

The audio for all of the sixteen sessions that were recorded are collected here.

* [http://www.unboundbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TotK-Session-1-Opening-Night.mp3 The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 1 - Opening Night] - Total Running Time : 1h 41m (62.3 Meg) - ''Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such is quiet in places and has some quality issues.''
* [http://www.unboundbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TotK-Session-2-The-Plot-Thickens.mp3 The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 2 - The Plot Thickens] - Total Running Time : 1h 54m (50 Meg) - ''Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such is quiet in places and has some quality issues.''

Carlo Schippone

2024-07-08T22:29:58Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:Schippone2.jpg|right]]

Carlo was [[Roberto Anzalone]]'s graduate student and travelled on the expedition with Anzalone, [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]].

His diary ([http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/f/f3/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1.pdf Part 1],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/d/d9/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Part 2],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/4d/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_3.pdf Part 3],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/17/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1a.pdf Translation Part 1], [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/c/c9/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Translation Part 2]), discovered in the Nepalese village of Kag, shows a great mental deterioration after reaching [[Drakmar]]. According to reports from [[Te]] he had returned alone from Drakmar, claiming his companions had been 'taken by ghosts' and was being nursed to health by the monks.

When the investigators reached the Monastery at Te they came under fire from Schippone, who wounded their guide before [[Withers]] put a bullet through his brain from long range. It was discovered that Schippone had killed the monks and had been living alone in the Monastery for many weeks.

At Drakmar the investigators discovered that Schippone had murdered Major Delnegro after the mental influence of [[Chaugnar Faughn]] sent him into insanity. He fled the scene before Quarrie or Anzalone could stop him.

Carlo Schippone

2024-07-08T22:29:35Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:Schippone2.jpg|right]]

Carlo was [[Roberto Anzalone]]'s graduate student and travelled on the expedition with Anzalone, [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]].

His diary ([http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/f/f3/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1.pdf Part 1],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/d/d9/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Part 2],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/4d/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_3.pdf Part 3],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/17/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1a.pdf Translation Part 1], [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/c/c9/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Translation Part 2]), discovered in the Nepalese village of Kag, shows a great mental deterioration after reaching [[Drakmar]]. According to reports from [[Te]] he had returned alone from Drakmar, claiming his companions had been 'taken by ghosts' and was being nursed to health by the monks.

When the investigators reached the Monastery at Te they came under fire from Schippone, who wounded their guide before [[Withers]] put a bullet through his brain from long range. It was discovered that Schippone had killed the monks and had been living alone in the Monastery for many weeks.

At Drakmar the investigators discovered that Schippone had murdered Major Delnegro after the mental influence of [[Chaugnar Faughn]] sent him into insanity. He fled the scene before Quarrie or Anzalone could stop him.

Carlo Schippone

2024-07-08T22:29:09Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:Schippone2.jpg|right]]

Carlo was [[Roberto Anzalone]]'s graduate student and travelled on the expedition with Anzalone, [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]].

His diary ([http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/f/f3/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1.pdf Part 1],http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/d/d9/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Part 2],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/4d/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_3.pdf Part 3],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/17/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1a.pdf Translation Part 1], [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/c/c9/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Translation Part 2]), discovered in the Nepalese village of Kag, shows a great mental deterioration after reaching [[Drakmar]]. According to reports from [[Te]] he had returned alone from Drakmar, claiming his companions had been 'taken by ghosts' and was being nursed to health by the monks.

When the investigators reached the Monastery at Te they came under fire from Schippone, who wounded their guide before [[Withers]] put a bullet through his brain from long range. It was discovered that Schippone had killed the monks and had been living alone in the Monastery for many weeks.

At Drakmar the investigators discovered that Schippone had murdered Major Delnegro after the mental influence of [[Chaugnar Faughn]] sent him into insanity. He fled the scene before Quarrie or Anzalone could stop him.

Session 13

2024-07-08T22:28:17Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 11th September, 2006==

=== Friday January 12th 1930 ===

The ship steams across the Red Sea on the 2-day leg to the port of Aden. In mid-morning, Withers receives a telegram. Though he does not immediately reveal its contents and does not appear to be unhappy at receiving it, it clearly gives him pause. As the day progresses his friends can see an occasional smile, although he doesn't share the content and evades any questions on it.

At lunch, Mrs [[Tullis]] announces her planned Gilbert and Sullivan recital, "[[William and Arthur]]", and allocates songs to each of the guests. Realising their voices are not strong, the investigators decide to start rehearsing that afternoon, but [[Julian Knight]] does not turn up. The rehearsal is not encouraging.

Francessca, who is getting concerned that her friend Patricia is falling rather heavily for Captain Withers and that she has seen little evidence that he returns the feeling, expresses to Nathaniel that Captain Withers should make his intentions towards her clear. Both Withers and Brown think that it might be better to come from her in a non direct and more face saving way but Francessca is insistent and says that Patricia has recently been badly hurt by a man and that it is important that Captain Withers doesn't behave in a similar fashion.

So later that evening an extremely reluctant and highly embarrassed Captain Withers suggests a walk along the deck after dinner. Although he does his best to let her down lightly Patricia reacts badly, accusing Withers of not liking her because of her less outgoing nature. She doesn't listen to his urgent denials and confessions of already loving another before he meet her and Patricia eventually dissolves into tears and runs off into the night to her friend, [[Francesca Nicholson]], for comfort.

Also that very evening Francesca declares her love to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who returns the feelings in full.

=== Saturday January 13th 1930 ===

[[Image:Aden.jpg|thumb|300px|The Port at Aden|right]]

In late morning the ship docks at the port of Aden. Passengers go ashore and visit the town. Withers goes into town to try and find some flowers to make up for his rejection of Ms. Berry, but can find none of quality in the dingy town. Browne stays on board as Francesca is comforting Patricia. Although he tries not to, he can't help but feel a little annoyed at Withers for being the reason for his inability to spend time with Francessca. [[Patricia Berry]] is absent from both lunch and dinner, but is witnessed by Nathaniel and Francesca that evening on the dance floor with [[Julian Knight]], clearly the worse for drink and equally clearly trying to spite [[Withers]]. Francesca advises Nathaniel that anything they try to do will only make things worse, and Nathaniel advises George to stay away from the ballroom.

=== Sunday January 14th 1930 ===

[[Withers]] meets with [[Julian Knight]] and warns him not to mistreat [[Patricia Berry]] or sully her honour. Knight sneers at Withers, saying that it is Withers who has wronged her.

That evening Table 8 dines with the Captain and Knight is sober, charming and a perfect gentleman.

=== Monday January 15th 1930 ===

The investigators speak at length to [[Umberto]] while making plans of what to do when they reach India. They agree to allow him to accompany them on the trail of [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

Once more [[Julian Knight]] dances with [[Patricia Berry]], but he remains sober and is a gentleman throughout the evening.

=== Tuesday January 16th 1930 ===

The last full day aboard the ship, Tuesday ends with the passengers' concert. Each table in the dining room puts on its own show - varying from short melodrama to poetic recitation. Table 8 delivers "[[William and Arthur]]" with great success; Francesca and the two Gentleman solo's shine in particular and receive great applause. [[Withers]] and [[Julian Knight]] engage in a little singing rivalry, a by-product of which results in the medley being more of a success than previously expected. Much champagne is drunk and everyone parties into the night.

=== Wednesday January 17th 1930 ===

[[Saunders]] and [[Browne]] awake with severe hangovers as the Malabar Coast hoves into view. The ship docks at [[Bombay]] in mid-morning and the passengers disembark.

Mrs [[Tullis]] takes charge of making sure everyone's luggage is gathered and transport arranged to the Taj Mahal hotel, where she has insisted everyone spend their first night (she can get a group discount on this finest of Indian hotels).

A dockside photograph of the table 8 crew is arranged. [[Patricia Berry]] looks unhappy, and [[Withers]] is concerned.

A few minutes later, as the table 8 crew says their farewells (though they plan to meet later for a meal), there is a sudden scream from [[Francesca Nicholson]]. The investigators turn to see her looking down into the water from the dock. "Patricia fell in!" she yells. In seconds Withers has dived into the water and is trying to save Ms Berry, but she fights him and its obvious she intends to drown herself. It's all Withers can do to keep her head above water, but soon [[Saunders]] jumps in to help, and between the two men, Patricia is brought to the steps and safety.

"Why did you do it?", asks Withers.

"It was Julian," she sobs, "what he did to me."

[[Image:taj.jpg|thumb|400px|The Taj Mahal Hotel|right]]

Furious, Withers leaves Patricia with Saunders and rushes up the steps, storming past a confused Browne, to find [[Julian Knight]], who can be seen boarding a taxi. 'Stop right there, you son of a bitch!' Withers yells as he runs after Knight. It looks like Knight may escape, but as the taxi starts out it is cut off by a produce truck. Withers drags the startled Knight out of the taxi and orders him to defend himself. Knight seems in shock but a fist whistling past his ear convinces him that [[Captain Withers]] is in deadly earnest and he turns to engage the Captain. Mrs Tullis steps in to prevent interference by the local constabulary as the two men fight. A few blows land before Withers ends the fight with a body blow followed by a right cross which drops Knight like a sack of potatoes.

As Withers stands over the battered, bleeding diplomat, Miss Berry walks over and, with great courage and all the dignity she can muster, points at Knight and loudly says "That man raped me!"

Knight is arrested. Mrs Tullis assures the group that her connections will ensure that Julian will have great difficulty exercising his diplomatic immunity.

As soon as a doctor has looked at Patricia, and given her a clean bill of health, Withers apologises for his profanity in front of the ladies('Quite reasonable in the circumstances, old boy!') and those without permanent accommodation in the city head for the Taj Mahal hotel accompanied by Mrs Tullis, who smoothes the way at every step.

[[Umberto]] finds his own accommodation, but the others enjoy a fine meal in the luxurious surroundings of the hotel, where Mrs Tullis recommends [[Sivakumar Patel]] as a guide for the investigators, and tells them she can make arrangements to have him meet them the next morning.

Both Withers and Browne are distracted by the fact that each feels in some way responsible for what happened to Patricia. Withers guilt is greater, but is much ameliorated by his act of revenge against Knight.

=== Wednesday January 18th 1930 ===

After a hearty breakfast, the investigators meet their guide, [[Sivakumar Patel]], also known as 'Siva'. The decision has been made that the movements of [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]] in Bombay need to be looked into before travelling any further. While the others go in search of local newspaper archives, [[Withers]] goes shopping with [[Siva]]. He asks to be shown some good jewellers and Siva proudly tells him that Bombay is the jewellry capital of India.

At the offices of the Times of India [[Browne]] finds a [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/0/0b/28_Newspaper_Article_on_the_Arrival_of_Italian_Archaeological_Expedition.pdf report] of the Italian Expedition's arrival in the city, but no more details. It is decided to ask Siva if he can find out who [[Quarrie]] hired as a guide while in the city.

Meanwhile, at the market, Withers sees what appears to be the [[Stranger]], the Pallid Mask himself, standing amidst the crowd. As Withers stares in amazement the apparition walks straight through another shopper before brushing Withers with its sleeve. When it does this Withers receives a sudden powerful vision of [[Carcosa]], then the Stranger is gone, leaving the man that he walked through sobbing uncontrollably. Withers asks Siva if he saw what happened, but Siva saw nobody.

Back at the hotel, Siva agrees to go and ask around to see what he can find out about the Italian expedition. He returns a little after lunch with the news that he located the guide they used, one Rajinder Singh, and has been to see him. According to Singh the Europeans spent their time shopping and exploring the city, but that they did visit a Holy Man at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Silence the Towers of Silence], who spoke to them and seemed disturbed by what they said to him. Siva can take the investigators to see this man if they are interested. They are indeed.

In mid afternoon the investigators, including [[Umberto]] board a couple of ''gharis'' and head to the Towers of Silence, on the outskirts of the city. there amongst the vulture picked remains atop the Parsee funerary towers they find the Holy Man in question, a wizened old Parsee. Siva translates for them.

The Holy Man says that he remembers the man who bore the mark of a God upon his soul. He says that Nathaniel Browne also bears this mark, but not as strongly.

The God in question is the Outsider, the God In White, who is 'older than the Earth'.

The outsider can be found in the North, in the mountains where the 'small people' think him a Buddha. He is even now walking towards us.

The investigators return to their hotel and agree that they must travel to Nepal as soon as possible and try to pick up Quarrie's trail in Mustang. Reverend [[Gore]] is taking the Saturday morning train to Jabalpur, which is en route to the Nepalese border, so the investigators decide to travel with him. They set about making sure that they are fully equipped for a journey that will include a hike of at least 2 weeks in each direction from the end of the railway to the heart of the Kingdom of Mustang.

That night the dreams come again, more vivid than ever.

Continue to [[Session 14]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Edwards

2024-07-08T22:27:50Z

Greywolf:

[[image:Edwards.jpg|right]]

Edwards was one of the men who met regularly with [[Alexander Roby]] in late 1925. This information came from both [[Delia Morrison]] and [[Vincent Tuck]]. The group also included [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and possibly a man called [[Coombes]].

Aged about 40, neatly-dressed and sporting a beard and moustache, Edwards lived alone in short-term lodgings at 50 Berriman Road in Islington. Neither Delia, nor Tuck found out his first name. He spent his time in the library and meeting the other men, and despite driving a car did not appear to be employed.

Referred to by [[Alexander Roby]] during his monologue to [[Dr Bartlett]], Roby said the following:

- Edwards told Roby to work only with him.

- Roby and Edwards were in some way opposed to, or in disagreement with [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

- Roby also says 'What Edwards and I are doing now harms no one.'

After the disappearance of Alexander Roby and Nurse [[Evans]] from [[St Agnes Asylum]] it was discovered that his full name is '''Montague Edwards''' and that he had been at the Asylum all along, posing as Nurse Mark [[Evans]].

The [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] of [[Lawrence Bacon]] printed in Occult magazine refers to Edwards as the "Laird of Mullardoch" which ties him to [[Loch Mullardoch]] in Scotland.

Edwards had a reader's ticket for the British Library, for which his references were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe, his former teacher. Schwabe remembered Edwards and was able to give a little more information about him.

As a young man Edwards attended the Slade School of Fine Arts, but showed no real desire to graduate or exhibit, despite his talent. He dropped out in 1907 and seems to have disappeared from society.

While at Slade he saw slides of the 1907 Oxford University dig at [[Springer Mound]] and seemed to show great interest in them.

As witnessed by the investigators in [[Carcosa]], and explained by Roby, Edwards had come away from encountering [[Hastur]] on Springer Mound with an unnatural ability to regenerate from the effects of physical damage, which he had refined into a particularly bloody form of masochism. This seems to explain the large amounts of blood found at the scenes of the Asylum murders, and [[Lucius Harriwell]]'s stories of the Devil being covered in cuts.

There can be no doubt that Montague Edwards was the Asylum killer.

==His Death==

In December 1928 Edwards took [[Alexander Roby]] to [[Loch Mullardoch]] and called Carcosa to Earth. On the 10th of December, while attempting to summon [[Hastur]], Edwards was foiled by Roby, apparently using [[the Chime of Tezchaptl]] and his blasted corpse was hurled back to the real world, where it was discovered in Mullardoch House.

Shortly after this, the corpse changed into a hideous scaly form with boneless arms and attacked [[Nathaniel Browne]], who was saved by [[Bartlett]] and [[Withers]]. After being pinned to the wall with a garden fork, the creature was finally killed with a rifle bullet through the brain, after which Edwards was apparently finally dead. His hideously disfigured corpse has been explained by the police as the result of being attacked with acid, probably by Roby.

Session 14

2024-07-08T22:26:42Z

Greywolf:

==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. [[Browne]] spends as much time as possible with Francesca, in between equipping for the trek across Nepal.

=== Friday January 20th 1930 ===

A farewell dinner is held at the [[Tullis]] home. Francesca and Patricia do not attend, as Patricia doesn't wish to be around [[Withers]] at the moment. Mr Tullis proves a somewhat curmudgeonly, blustering man. The typical ''sahib'', but the meal is fine.

=== 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.

The investigators' carriage proves to be occupied by a large Indian family, and only after the conductor has been payed some ''baksheesh'' is the problem solved. The train pulls out of Bombay and begins to head North. the investigators are sharing a 6-bed carriage with The Reverend Gore. [[Siva]] insists on more modest accommodation for himself.

Gore continues to show his great knowledge of India in conversation.

=== Sunday January 22nd 1930 ===

The train continues across India. The land is flat, arid and featureless, punctuated by small poverty-stricken villages characterised by communal reservoirs called ''tanks'', starving dogs and wild monkeys.

In the larger towns the platforms throng with passengers and well-wishers.

=== Monday January 23rd 1930 ===

The Reverend [[Gore]] disembarks in Jabalpur. the investigators turn down his offer of a short stay with him due to the difficulties inherent in getting all of their supplies off the train.

The investigators are now alone and able to discuss their plans.

=== Tuesday January 24th 1930 ===

The train continues across India. As the train travels North the climate gets steadily warmer

=== Wednesday January 25th 1930 ===

As the train slowly edges its way through the suburbs of the city of Benares it passes a crowd standing near to the tracks. The crowd are chanting angrily and some are gesturing to the train. [[Siva]] says they are chanting 'The King Steps Down'.

Suddenly violence breaks out. Rocks are thrown at the train and one smashes a window and hits [[Withers]] on the head as he rummages for his gun. The rioters attack the train en masse just as the train grinds to a complete halt.

Withers fires at a man trying to enter the train through the broken window but misses as [[Umberto]] tries to stop him from killing anyone. In the confusion the maddened rioter enters the carriage, falling to the floor where [[Browne]] swings a foot at the man. The kick is ineffectual and the rioter sinks his teeth into Browne's ankle, driving him away and allowing the madman to leap to his feet and grab [[Saunders]] by the throat. A crack on the back of the skull from Withers' revolver finally puts him out.

Other rioters try to enter the carriage but are driven off just as the train starts to move again. Troops who were travelling at the far end of the train soon arrive to restore order. Apparently those rioters who boarded the train have now calmed down and don't seem to know what happened. Some say a man showed them 'the yellow mark' and they became enraged.

The train moves into the city centre and the investigators disembark. Their attacker is taken away by the soldiers. Siva arranges the movement of the expedition's gear from the train to the platform for the connecting train to the Nepalese border. Despite the chaos of the station Siva proves most capable and nothing more important than the odd box of spoons and trifling items of that nature are lost.

Within 2 hours the investigators are on a second, older train, heading North.

=== Thursday January 26th 1930 ===

The train heads North to the border. This train is less comfortable than the Bombay service and the service is less efficient. Siva proves the difference between a pleasant journey and a tiresome one.

=== Friday January 27th 1930 ===

The train arrives at the railhead at Nautanwa. The expedition's gear is removed from the train and placed in storage until a guide and bearers can be found. Yet more ''baksheesh'' is paid to ensure nothing goes missing.

=== Saturday January 28th 1930 ===

In the town a boarding house frequented by Nepalese is located, and with the aid of [[Siva]] a merchant called [[Jigme Rinzing]] is found who is willing to guide the party as far North as Gori Padi where he will find then another guide for the Northern part of Nepal. Rinzing is not planning on leaving for a couple of days, however, which will make for a frustrating delay in this out of the way town.

=== Sunday January 29th 1930 ===

The day is spent in final preparation for the trek. Fresh food is purchased, water-bottles are filled and Nepalese outer garb procured to ease the crossing on the border. At Rinzing's suggestion facial hair is shaved off - very few Nepalese have any - and tea is rubbed into faces to brown them.

=== Monday January 30th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 1===

After [[Browne]] manages to negotiate around some last minute concerns about the amount of baggage the Nepalese bearers are expected to carry, the expedition sets off for the border crossing. [[Siva]] agrees to continue with the party, as a translator is required.

Deciding on subterfuge rather than a difficult detour through woods in search of a gap in the border fence, the party almost passes by the customs officers without comment, but [[Saunders]]' pale Scottish complexion raises suspicions and it looks as if the British officer drinking tea in the guard post may be called upon until Saunders produces a thick wad of rupees to persuade the customs man to look the other way.

Nepal is entered. Crossing the border the party pass through thickly wooded country and stops the night in an inn at the village of Butwal.

=== Tuesday January 31st 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 2===

Today's trek follows a gorge lined with terraced farms and ends at Tansing, a village notable for its fine metalwork.

=== Wednesday February 1st 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 3===

Everyone feels fit and healthy as the day begins, but by mid afternoon the tricky terrain and worsening weather makes for heavy going. It is necessary to camp outside tonight, as no village is nearby. Dreams of the King in Yellow continue to disturb the investigators' sleep.

=== Thursday February 2nd 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 4===

After a tricky morning's travel the expedition reaches the lakeside town of Pokhara, which supports a street bazaar. while exploring the bazaar the investigators meet a trader who sold cooking utensils to another group of Europeans some months earlier. through him they trace the Italian expedition's former guide, Yangser Chumpo.

Yangser needs to be paid to talk, but when he does he shares the following information:

*There were four white men, one spoke Nepalese and Tibetan
*They were going to Drakmar, above the Monastery at [[Te]], near the village of Kag.
*That is not a good place, as the ''chortens'' have fallen and the black ghosts inhabit the caves.
*When he realised that was their destination, Yangser Chumpo told them they must leave, and when they did not, he left them.
*He is sure the ghosts must have taken them

=== Friday February 3rd 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 5===

The ground rises steadily as the investigators trek past several small villages until the reach a place called Rigme, where effigies of a goddess called ''Dhaulitya'' adorn the houses. This intrigues [[Saunders]] who takes many photographs and notes, the villagers in these parts recognise the investigators as westerners, but this deep into Nepal, none of them cares much.

=== Saturday February 4th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 6 ===

At 5000ft above sea level the party encounters a narrow rope bridge. [[Nathaniel Browne]], suffering from acute acrophobia, proves quite incapable of crossing it until he requests and is given opium by [[Jigme Rinzing]]. When a second such bridge is reached later, Browne gets a second dose. The others worry that Browne seems used to the evil poppy.

The day ends at the market town of Hille on the main trade route to Tibet.

=== Sunday February 5th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 7===

By the end of the day the party are 8000ft above sea level and have reached the village of Gora Pani, [[Jigme Rinzing]]'s final destination (as his home is nearby).

It is just as well that the expedition will be delayed for a day while new help is found, as altitude sickness is beginning to effect some of the party.

=== Monday February 6th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 8===

The day is spent in Gora Pani. [[Jigme Rinzing]] locates a new guide, a Tibetan called [[Tsewan Pemba]] and hires a new group of 6 bearers, a smaller number than were hitherto being used, which requires some of the heavier items to be traded in the town for food and other necessities.

The day's rest enables everyone to recover from the altitude sickness of the previous day. From here, the Annapurna range fills the Northern horizon.

=== Tuesday February 7th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 9===

[[Image:kali.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Approaching the Kali Gandaki]]
Today the Kali Gandaki river gorge is reached, a most impressive sight. the day ends at the village of Gasa, where the women threshing grain on the flat roofs of the houses creates whirlwinds of chaff.

=== Wednesday February 8th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 10===

A day of slow progress, featuring more rope bridges and more opium for [[Browne]]. in Tukatcha, the first ethnically Tibetan village reached, the bearers have to be replaced, but the new ones are willing to go all the way to Kag. The investigators have decided not to talk of Drakmar

=== Thursday February 9th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 11===

Now traveling 9000ft above sea level, the expedition passes the tree line today and reaches a land of barren rock and wind-eroded caves. Red, black and white-painted ''chortens'' abound and prayer flags blow in the wind like the tatters of the king in yellow. This truly is the Himalaya.

Altitude sickness begins the threaten again, and [[Saunders]] is feeling the effects.

=== Friday February 10th 1930 -Trek to Drakmar - Day 12===

The expedition, growing weary from its long, high trek has a short day's travel. Reaching the village of Jomoson, where the investigators see their first yaks, the expedition rests as [[Tsewan Pemba]] wishes to meet with a man here about the possible marriage of his young daughter.

While exploring the town [[Saunders]] finds that amongst the five Buddhas in the local temple is one that is quite clearly the King in Yellow. Though painted white, the statue disturbingly seems to take on a yellow tinge when looked at for more than a few seconds.

The monk in the temple say that the God in Yellow is a god of the sky.

=== Saturday February 11th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 13===

[[Image:chortens.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Chortens, Mustang]]
At 10,000 feet, with the effects of altitude quite noticeable to all, the expedition follows the Kali Gandaki to the town of Kag. Kag looks like a fortress perched on a cliff, its houses built together, surrounding a central square.

In the monastery at Kag, where Pemba has arranged for the Europeans to sleep for the night, a monk gives [[Umberto]] a book which proves to be [[Carlo Schippone]]'s diary ([http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/f/f3/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1.pdf Part 1],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/d/d9/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Part 2],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/4d/29_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_3.pdf Part 3],[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/17/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_1a.pdf Translation Part 1], [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/c/c9/30_Carlo_Schippones_Diary_2.pdf Translation Part 2]), which was brought here from the monastery at Te many weeks ago.

[[Umberto]] reads the diary and tells the tale of the Italian expedition - the use of sorcery to cloud the mind of Major [[Ricardo Delnegro]] - encounters with creatures called 'the Tsotowa' - the religious fervour slowly changing to fear, terror and madness - and in the end Schippone's scribbled ravings about '[[Miri Nigri]]', 'The White Acolyte', murder, blood and monsters. It ends with the phrase 'What have I done?' scrawled over and over again.

That night, as the investigators try to sleep they hear their guide and bearers in animated discussion

=== Sunday February 12th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 14===

The day's trek reaches the deepest river gorge on earth - 18,000 feet deep, an awesome sight. The party has to leave the river and climb to 11,000 feet. It is bitterly cold. As darkness falls the small village of Tayen is reached.

In Tayen the locals say that there was a European at the monastery up at [[Te]]. The boy who came to the village for food for the lama told of him, and brought his book down to be taken to Kag in search of someone who could read it. According to the boy, the stranger came from Drakmar, where the Guru Rimpoche slew the Ogress Balmo and stained the cliffs with her blood. The ghosts in the caves took his companions.

The boy has not come down for many weeks. the villagers of Tayen think that ghosts, or even Balmo herself, have taken the monks too.

=== Monday February 13th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 15===

This morning [[Tsewan Pemba]] comes to Withers and says he and his men will go no further. Ghosts and demons lie ahead, and no sane man would walk into that. The bearers are paid off, and they leave.

[[Siva]] now approaches the investigators and says that he is too frightened to go any further, and he begs his friends not to go themselves. Siva reveals he has children, and he won't leave them without a father.

He agrees instead to stay at Tayen and guard the expedition's supplies. he has found a local who wishes to go to the monastery and ask the monks to help his sick son. this man will lead the investigators up there tomorrow if they really must go. Since [[Saunders]] still feels ill from mountain sickness the enforced day of rest is a blessing in disguise.

=== Tuesday February 14th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 16===

This proves to be the hardest day's travel so far. [[Saunders]] is suffering and the terrain is treacherous. the investigators rope themselves together, which saves [[Umberto]]'s life at one point. Meanwhile their guide, who is at least a decade older than any of them, bounds ahead like a mountain goat.

Eventually the Monastery at [[Te]] comes into view. A boulder-strewn plain lies between the ridge and the building itself. As the investigators crest the ridge, they spot a figure moving in a doorway. Before they can react a shot rings out and their guide, a hundred yards ahead, falls to the ground.

The investigators dive behind boulders for cover as the gunman walks out of the monastery, carbine in hand, and moves forward towards the guide lying on the ground. Faint noise and movement reveal that he is still alive but not likely to remain so unless prompt action is taken. Nathaniel Browne has no weapon and Andrew Saunders' shotgun is useless as the figure is a good 200 yards away. To everyone's surprise, Umberto unwraps a rifle of his own, but, wishing to incapacitate rather than kill and doubting his ability to do so at so long a range, he attempts to close with the unknown assailant while remaining under cover.

Withers is a rather better marksman, and his weapon is military grade, but it's still a tricky shot and his first shot goes awry, startling the shadowed figure who had no inkling of any other armed persons in the vicinity. The gunman moves forward working the gun's action and, having reduced the range, fires another shot in the direction of Withers, but the bullet ricochets off the boulder Withers is hiding behind.

Meanwhile Withers carefully aims his rifle. The Captain fires a second, perfect, shot and the gunman falls, a red mist spraying from his head.

The investigators hurry to the two fallen figures. The guide is alive, though badly hurt, but Withers is able to stem the bleeding. The gunman proves to be [[Carlo Schippone]], bearded and apparently suffering the after-effects of frostbite - Withers' shot was instantly fatal.

Withers stays alone outside with the injured guide while the others check out the monastery complex to seek help, or at least to look for something from which to make a stretcher. They find the bodies of the three monks and their servant boy, evidently shot dead at least a month ago by Schippone, and in an unpleasant state.

Outside, Withers catches a glimpse of something moving amongst the rocks on a high ridge. He is glad when the others return and the injured man can be carried into the more defensible surroundings of the monastery. The monastery complex is large enough for the investigators to camp indoors without the smell of the corpses being a problem.

Now the problem of what to do with the injured man is raised. He can't be carried back to Tayen, and nor can he be abandoned here. Its just been decided that someone needs to go back for help when [[Siva]] stumbles out of the darkness. Wracked with guilt at abandoning his friends and employers, he has followed them after all.

The investigators, although worried about the possibility of danger to Siva being left alone in the monastery, have very few options and ask Siva if he will stay here with the injured man and wait for them for at least 5 days. Siva is glad to be of service - this way he is helping them but does not need to go to [[Drakmar]]. Withers, who is especially concerned after reasoning that the movement he saw high up in the mountains this evening couldn't possibly have been Siva, searches out a defensible room for Siva to remain in.

An uneasy night is spent at Te.

=== Wednesday February 15th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 17===

[[Image:mustang.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Approaching Drakmar]]
In the morning the investigators leave Siva with Schippone's carbine and enough food to last a week, then head up towards Drakmar.

There is still a lot of climbing to do, and the going is hard in the cold mountain air. The night is spent camped in the open in one of the loneliest, most desolate spots on the planet. That night everyone's recurring dreams reach terrifying, portentous climaxes. [[Nathaniel Browne]] wakes up screaming.

The investigators all reveal that they have dreamed horrible dreams of the King in Yellow, but none shares the details with his fellows just yet - Browne especially seems emphatic that whatever is happening simply 'must' be stopped. The rest of the night is all but sleepless.

=== Thursday February 16th 1930 - Trek to Drakmar - Day 18===

In early afternoon the final ridge is crested and before the investigators lies the astonishing sight of the cliffs of [[Drakmar]]. A plain scattered with fallen [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorten chortens] lies between them and a great expense of red-stained cliffs. The cliffs are riddled with dozens of apparently man-made caves.

This is [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]]'s final destination, the places where legend says that the Guru Rimpoche slew the ogress Balmo. [[Nathaniel Browne]] believes that he can hear, almost below the threshold of human hearing, a deep slow rhythmic thumping, something like a gigantic heartbeat.

Continue to [[Session 15]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

The Turner Codex

2024-07-08T22:26:00Z

Greywolf:

This book was found in [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s house - open on his desk. Published in 1902 it contains translations of writings found hammered in unknown writing, onto copper sheets discovered in Guatamalan ruins.

The writings are a set of prayers and libations to a God called Hastur. Included amonst them is the full text of the prayer carved onto the stones at [[Springer Mound]] and instructions for the craetion and use of [[The Chime of Tezchaptl]].

Andrew Saunders has been studying the book, and has learned the following: [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/1b/13_Extracts_from_and_Notes_concerning_The_Turner_Codex.pdf Notes]

Tatters of the King

2024-07-08T22:25:45Z

Greywolf:

[http://www.unboundbook.org Return to the Unbound Publishing website]
[[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 which our role-playing group played. Play commenced on May 8th 2006 and ran until October 2nd 2006.

'''''Please note that this Wiki is an actual play record originally created for the players, and as such contains numerous campaign spoilers!'''''

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928 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 who engage in different pursuits - those who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying...

==Cast of Characters==
Tatters of the King is full of interesting and diverse characters, none more so than the Player Characters themselves!

===Keeper of Arcane Lore===

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

===[[Player Characters]]===

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

* [[Nathaniel Browne]] - A failed writer, looking for his big story, played by [[Darryn Mercer]].
* [[Andrew Saunders]] (Deceased) - British Museum curator and proud Scot, played by [[Julia Blackmore]].
* [[Captain George Withers]] - Coldstream Guards. Career soldier. Played by [[Nicola Bishop]].
* '[[Umberto]]' (Deceased) - 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'''
* ''The Group'' - an amateur theatrical troupe:
** [[Michael Gillen]] - Retired publisher and amateur actor (Acquaintance of [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] and Estus's friend and companion).
** [[Hannah Keith]] - Amateur Actress (sister of [[Andrew Saunders]])
** [[George Keith]] - Amateur Actor (husband of [[Hannah Keith]])
** [[Walter Paige]] - Amateur Actor
** [[Jean Hewart]] - Amateur Actress
* [[Talbot Estus]] (deceased) - American novelist, now debuting as a playwright

'''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]] (deceased) - Abusive husband of Delia
* [[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby
* [[Coombes| 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
* [[Ian Gore| The Reverend Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India
* [[Henrietta Tullis|Mrs Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India
* [[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India
* [[Francesca Nicholson|Miss Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India
* [[Patricia Berry|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'''

* [[Ricardo Delnegro|Mayor Ricardo Delnegro]] (deceased) - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer
* [[Roberto Anzalone]] (deceased) - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign
* [[Malcolm Quarrie]] (deceased) - Elusive scientist and occultist
* [[The King in Yellow]] - Beautiful, yet terrible, alien god

==Literary Works==
[[Image:mask.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Masque of Yhtill]]
Works of Fiction and Fact as found in on the journeys of our intrepid Investigators.

*[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/67/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]
* [[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]
* [[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous
* [[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==
Places of wonder and terror. Haunts of the Yellow King and other locales of interest.

* [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]], in Mustang, the legendary site of the death of the ogress Balmo
* [[Leng]], legendary icy plateau - not on this Earth
* [[The Upper House]], labyrinthine alien structure, found in Leng

==Sessions==

The Monday Night Players' run through of ''Tatters of the King'' was completed over 16 fun and exiting gaming sessions. As each lasted anywhere between and hour and a half and three hours, the campaign took over 30 hours of game time to finish.

* [[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 Trail of the Pilgrims
* [[Session 15]] - Drakmar and Beyond
* [[Session 16]] - The King Steps Down
* [[Aftermath]] - Forever Wondering

==Collected Audio Recordings==

The audio for all of the sixteen sessions that were recorded are collected here.

* [http://www.unboundbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TotK-Session-1-Opening-Night.mp3 The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 1 - Opening Night] - Total Running Time : 1h 41m (62.3 Meg) - ''Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such is quiet in places and has some quality issues.''
* [http://www.unboundbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TotK-Session-2-The-Plot-Thickens.mp3 The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 2 - The Plot Thickens] - Total Running Time : 1h 54m (50 Meg) - ''Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such is quiet in places and has some quality issues.''

Session 11

2024-07-08T22:23:49Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 28th August, 2006==

=== 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 philosophy, or maybe ''theology'' 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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/9/99/25_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 strangers. 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 monster, 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 find that 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, though they find none.

The police and an ambulance are called and the investigators explain that their friend 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 sealed 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. They explain their presence in the city as a search for Malcolm Quarrie, who they describe as an old friend.

=== 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 Villiers]] 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 university 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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/a/ad/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 about 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]]'. The book also mentions '[[Drakmar]]' as being a location within Mustang, but gives no other details.

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 when 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 separate 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.

Continue to [[Session 12]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Malcolm Quarrie

2024-07-08T22:21:45Z

Greywolf:

== Rumours of Quarrie ==
[[Image:Malcolm.jpg|right]]

Malcolm Quarrie was one of the men who both [[Delia Morrison]] and [[Vincent Tuck]] referred to as spending a great deal of time with [[Alexander Roby]] in 1925. His other associates being [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Edwards]] and [[Coombes]].

Referred to by [[Alexander Roby]] during his monologue to [[Dr Bartlett]], the following is stated:

- Roby does not know where Quarrie is.

- He may be attempting to 'bring' [[the King in Yellow]].

- It appears Quarrie disagreed with Roby and [[Edwards]] on one or more issues.

- Quarrie believes that [[the King in Yellow]] has called himself [[the White Acolyte]].

Roby also asks Bartlett to pass on a stanza of poetry to Quarrie as a warning or piece of advice:

'' The stars that burn their charcoal death,''

'' Shrink back, they feel the hoary breath,''

'' Of he who ransoms great Carcosa.''

'' He flees where queen and prophet met,''

'' Where twin suns fall but never set,''

'' Escapes the tomb of lost Carcosa.''

According to [[Vincent Tuck]] who saw him in 1925, Quarrie was about 35, upper middle class with black hair and a slim build. A scientist, he worked at the Royal Society in Piccadilly and lived alone at 12 Moreton Street in Westminster.

Malcolm's wife, [[Hillary Quarrie]], apparently lives at [[Nug's Farm]] in the West Country. According to the letters found at Quarrie's former address he was estranged from Hillary.

[[Wilfred Gresty]]'s letters connected Hillary to a man called Atkinson, and Gresty's ambitions. The full story of The Qauarrie family's involvement with the [[Goatswood]] cult can be found on [[Hillary Quarrie]]'s page.

Aleister Crowley believed that Quarrie had gone to Italy in search of [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]].

== Evidence of Quarrie ==

The [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/4d/23_Malcolm_Quarries_First_Letter.pdf first letter] gave his reasons for breaking with [[Bacon]] and his circle and told of his planned '[[Pilgrimage of Grace]]' to bring [[Hastur]] to Earth. It gives his location as [[Milan]] and says he can be reached by letter through the Thomas Cook offices in that city.

The [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/7/78/24_Malcolm_Quarries_Second_Letter.pdf second letter], far more recent, explains that Malcolm is about to set out on his 'Pilgrimage' and gives specific contact details through [[Thomas Villers]] at the shipping office of [[Giuseppe Colombo]] in Milan.

In Milan, [[Thomas Villiers]] revealed that he and Quarrie had travelled to Italy together, having broken with the [[Bacon]] group after [[Springer Mound]] and met [[The Brothers of the Yellow Sign]] in Rome, prior to joining a splinter group of the Brotherhood in Milan, with Colombo and professor [[Roberto Anzalone]].

Quarrie and Anzalone formed an expedition, ostensibly to Tibet, but whose true destination appears to be in the Nepalese kingdom of [[Mustang]]. Quarrie left for the Himalaya some weeks ago and according to his letter to his wife expected to encounter [[the King in Yellow]] at some time after December

== Meeting Quarrie ==

Quarrie was finally encountered on the other side of the gate from [[Drakmar]] to [[Leng]]. There is was that surrounded by their [[Tcho-Tcho]] captors the investigators finally caught up with their ‘quarry’.

Astonished to see Westerners, Quarrie at first assumed they were fellow Pilgrims, but it soon became obvious that these men had come all this way to stop him, not aid him.

They told Quarrie of their dealings with [[Roby]], [[Bacon]] and [[Edwards]] and of course of their meeting with [[Hillary Quarrie]], and her message to her husband. They also gave Quarrie the warning that Roby told them to give him. He gave a wry smile and said this was all ‘a test of faith’.

Quarrie trekked across Leng with the investigators and their Tcho-Tcho escorts, and from there spent 2 days wandering the dark halls of [[the Upper House]] with them – all this time they tried to persuade him that what he wished to do was dangerous, but his religious fervour was inpenetrable.

== Quarrie's Death ==

Eventually, while Quarrie sat explaining his credo to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who was finding it more convincing with every passing minute, [[Umberto]] walked up to Quarrie and, without warning, put a bullet through his head.

Almost as soon as Quarrie was dead, Browne realised that Malcolm had been attempting to sway him by the same sorcerous means used on Major Delnegro. With Quarrie gone, the power of his arguments quickly faded.

Dr. Lionel Trollope

2024-07-08T22:21:15Z

Greywolf:

[[image:trollope.jpg|right]]

A lifelong bachelor, Dr Trollope lived in a fine house on Long Acre, London WC2, a short walk from his offices in Bloomsbury.

The Roby family physician for 30 years, and physician to many well-off London families, Trollope had a fine collection of objets d'art and was well-groomed and well-dressed.

As one of the 3 men who committed [[Alexander Roby]], and the middle man between the Roby family and [[Dr. Charles Highsmith]], Trollope's views on the Roby case were of great interest to Bartlett, and the 2 men met in Long Acre on 1st November 1928.

Trollope described the circumstances of the [[Roby murders]] and expressed the opinion that Alexander was unfit for release., though when pressed it turned out he believed that asylum inmates in general should never be released.

On the evening of November 3rd 1928, Dr Trollope was murdered in St James' Park. A
[[report]] of the murder appeared in the next day's Daily Express.

On November 4th, Dr Bartlett received a letter ([http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/63/09_Letter_from_Dr_Trollope_part_1.pdf page 1], [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/f/f4/09_Letter_from_Dr_Trollope_part_2.pdf page 2]), written by Trollope on the day of his death, revealing more facts about Roby, and also describing a vision in which Trollope accurately predicted the exact circumstances of his own death.

Trollope may have been murdered by [[the Tall Man]].

Session 10

2024-07-08T22:14:35Z

Greywolf:

==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.

[[Image:Christ_Church_Spitalfields.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Christ Church, Spitalfields]]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 pay a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the morning. 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 - Day ===

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, he won't wait.

[[Withers]] checks his gun and the 2 men head across country to where [[Nug's Farm]] is marked on their map. They pass over a footbridge and find themselves following a very old footpath across the icy landscape. The region looks like it hasn't progressed in 200 years - farm machinery is horsedrawn, there is no sign of modern architecture or amenities. Soon the path passes through a small wood that does not appear on the map.

The wood is thick, and strangely warm. A deep thrumming noise, almost below the range of human hearing, is just audible and starts to bring on headaches. Then the investigators spot a bizarre figure watching them through the trees. Humanoid, with a strangely goat-like face and naked from the waist up, the man, if man it truly is, seems at first to be wearing thickly furred trousers, but in the seconds before he disappears into the trees Withers and Bartlett realise that the fur is his, and that his legs are jointed the wrong way, and do not end in feet.

Realising that they have seen what seems to be a Satyr, Withers and Bartlett prepare themselves for the unexpected. Leaving the wood they see in the valley below a small, but well-maintained farm. Somehow this place seems more healthy, more homely than any other structure around here. On the far side of the farm sits the brooding bulk of Goatswood Forest itself, a long spur of the forest cuts the farm off from Mercy Hill to the North, and the hamlet is not visible from here.

The investigators head for the farm, trying their best to look like innocent ramblers out for a country stroll. In the yard of Nug's farm a labourer is working on repairing some tools. He sees the approaching strangers, enters the house and [[Hillary Quarrie]] emerges. The labourer has the inbred, unhealthy, goat-like appearance common to Goatswood locals, and reminiscent of [[Wilfred Gresty]], but Hillary is a normal, quite attractive woman, albeit somewhat dowdily dressed in overalls and boots.

As the investigators draw closer, Hillary whistles and 3 huge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastiff mastiffs] (Pig, Bull and Walter) emerge from the house and stand by her. Hillary hails the strangers and asks what brings them to this place on such a cold day.

Withers and Bartlett cut straight to the chase, they are here because they seek [[Malcolm Quarrie]], and they were present when Malcolm's former friends brought [[Carcosa]] to Earth. Hillary invites them into the house, but seems more interested in listening than talking. She hears the entire story of the [[Roby]] case and the [[Hastur]] cult, then reveals that she knows almost nothing of these things, and cares little as she is quite confident that her Gods, the British Gods, will protect this land from such alien horrors. She states simply that [[Edwards]] could not have succeeded, for [[Shub-Niggurath]] would not allow it.

[[image:21_Photograph_of_Malcolm_Hillary_Sarah.jpg|right|400px|thumb|The Photograph of Hillary, Malcolm and a baby outside Nug's farm]] She offers the investigators some stew, and they notice, upon the mantle, a photograph of Hillary, Malcolm and a baby outside Nug's farm. Before Hillary can tell them anything of real interest her farmhand, Will, calls her outside. Through the window the investigators see that [[Wilfred Gresty]] has arrived, and he has brought with him an entourage, half a dozen local men with the familiar goatlike look, but also 3 or 4 of the half-human creatures seen earlier in the woods.

Its obvious that there is some kind of confrontation going on - Gresty is animated and gesticulates wildly while Hillary is grim-faced and imperturbable. Only a few words can be heard from within the house, but its clear that Gresty is delivering an ultimatum and that Hillary is in no mood to accept. Gresty turns and storms off with his followers and Hillary returns to the house with a look of urgency.

Hillary goes straight to her study and starts bringing papers into the kitchen to burn in the pot-bellied stove. She is ripping pages from a book and shoving them into the flames when she seems to notice the investigators again. They ask what is happening and remind her that they know Gresty. Hillary pauses, calms a little and decides to tell her story. She tells them that she would like very much for them to stay here and aid her tonight, as she thinks she needs help, but that she understands fully if they don't wish to and says they will need to leave before nightfall if this in their choice. First, however, she sits them down and tells them everything.

[[Hillary Quarrie]]'s story is detailed on her page of this wiki, but the upshot of it is that tonight she will be fighting for her life, and the future of the Goatswood cult. Gresty has convinced Atkinson to act against her and she must defeat both of them, or die. She knows where Malcolm is, or at least where he was until recently, and as a sign of good faith she fetches the only 2 letters she has received from her husband since he went to the continent.

The [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/4d/23_Malcolm_Quarries_First_Letter.pdf first letter] was over a year ago, but the [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/7/78/24_Malcolm_Quarries_Second_Letter.pdf second letter] is only a few weeks old and gives an address in [[Milan]], Italy, through which Malcolm can be contacted.

The investigators read these letters, consider the situation and agree to stay to aid Hillary. She tells them that she has destroyed '[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]' in the stove so that if Gresty wins he will never have access to the secrets within that book. All they can do for now is sit and wait. Hillary asks them to promise that she will do whatever she asks tonight quickly and without question - otherwise they will be in great danger. They agree, but start to worry exactly what will be expected of them.

Will, the farmhand, turns up with several other men loyal to Hillary. She turns them away saying that she has help enough and that if she is defeated it is best that no other cult members be seen to have stood with her. Will and his friends leave, reluctantly, and the afternoon moves into evening.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 - Night ===

Night falls. On the far side of the woods, in Mercy Hill, a bonfire is lit, its flickering glow clearly visible from Nug's Farm. Voices are raised in pagan prayer. There are chants and then a scream. Hillary tells Withers and Bartlett that now is the time, and leads them out into the yard, shutting her dogs up in the house. She tells the investigators to go to the henhouse and bring back 2 chickens each, and to hold them by the necks. Withers is perturbed that this means he won't be able to use his gun.

Fetching the chickens is less easy that it seemed, and both investigators get scratched and pecked, but soon they stand behind Hillary looking out towards Goatswood, struggling poultry in hand. They see the wicked curved knife in Hillary's hand and start to worry if this is an entirely appropriate activity for respectable Christian gentlemen.

Something huge stirs and begins crashing its way through the trees towards them. "It's one of Shub-Niggurath's Young." says Hillary, "I can deal with this." She raises her voice and starts to scream out the words of what can only be a spell.

''"Ishnigarrab!"'' she screams, slashing at one of the chickens, tearing it open with her knife, but not yet killing it.

''"Say it! Help me. Say it!"''

Both investigators repeat the word.

''"The Black Mouth!"'', and a second chicken is slashed. ''"Repeat it!"''

This time only Bartlett responds

''"The Black Tongue!"'', and another slash.

Once more, Bartlett responds alone.

''"The Black Lip!"'', and a final slash.

[[Image:Dark_Young.gif|right]]

This time neither investigator responds, for both have seen the vast horror which has emerged from the woods. A great writhing shadow the size of a house, huge trunk-like legs supporting a mass of thick writhing tentacles. The stench of the thing is indescribable. For a second it stands still, seemingly transfixed by Hillary's ritual.

''"Ishnigarrab! Utug Xal"'', and Hillary turns and neatly decapitates the chickens held by the stupefied Bartlett, but as she turns to kill Withers' birds she sees that the Captain has dropped them and is instead levelling his rifle at the creature.

''"You fool!"'', she shouts, and darts towards the closest of the two injured chickens.

Withers fires - one shot, two shots, three shots. The only effect they seem to have is to stir the creature from its reverie, and it starts to move forwards towards the farm once more. For Withers time seems to slow down for a few seconds, as he assesses the situation.

Bartlett is staring slack-jawed at the approaching horror. Hillary has caught the third chicken and has hacked its head from its body, and across the farmyard the final hen is fleeing for the henhouse. Suddenly, Withers realises what he must do. He turns, levels his rifle, aims carefully and puts a bullet straight through the last chicken, completing the sacrifice.

Shub-Niggurath's Young stops in its tracks. Hillary, exultant, strides towards it, covered in blood from the chickens.

''"You will kill the ones who summoned you, and all who were there with them. Then you will go back to your Mother to draw on her teat!"''

The creature turns and begins to stride back towards Mercy Hill. "You might want to go inside," says Hillary, "you won't want to hear this."

Withers and Bartlett take her advice, heading inside the house and Hillary stands in the yard listening to the screams and crashes coming from beyond the trees as Mercy Hill is destroyed and Gresty, Atkinson and their faction meet their horrible, but well-deserved ends.

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

[[Withers]] and [[Bartlett]] wake up in the chairs where they slept the previous night. They both have chicken blood splattered on their skin and clothing. Hillary offers then breakfast and a chance to wash up, then leads them to Clotton to catch the northbound bus.

She thanks them for their aid and tells them that now the Goatswood Cult is in her hands she will use its power to bring about a new Golden Age for Britain. They have done a great service for their country, though she doubts they truly understand that. She hopes they find Malcolm, for although his plans are unlikely to harm Britain, protected as it is, the rest of the world is not so safe.

Finally, asked if she has a message for her husband, Hillary replies "Just tell him that Sarah is healthy and happy."

The investigators board the nearly empty bus and head back to Gloucester. Shaken by their experience, but carrying with them that which they have sought for over a year, a clear signpost to the location of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. [[Saunders]] is back in London today, so an evening meeting at Bartlett's house seems apt.

Continue to [[Session 11]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 10

2024-07-08T22:13:23Z

Greywolf:

==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.

[[Image:Christ_Church_Spitalfields.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Christ Church, Spitalfields]]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 pay a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the morning. 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 - Day ===

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, he won't wait.

[[Withers]] checks his gun and the 2 men head across country to where [[Nug's Farm]] is marked on their map. They pass over a footbridge and find themselves following a very old footpath across the icy landscape. The region looks like it hasn't progressed in 200 years - farm machinery is horsedrawn, there is no sign of modern architecture or amenities. Soon the path passes through a small wood that does not appear on the map.

The wood is thick, and strangely warm. A deep thrumming noise, almost below the range of human hearing, is just audible and starts to bring on headaches. Then the investigators spot a bizarre figure watching them through the trees. Humanoid, with a strangely goat-like face and naked from the waist up, the man, if man it truly is, seems at first to be wearing thickly furred trousers, but in the seconds before he disappears into the trees Withers and Bartlett realise that the fur is his, and that his legs are jointed the wrong way, and do not end in feet.

Realising that they have seen what seems to be a Satyr, Withers and Bartlett prepare themselves for the unexpected. Leaving the wood they see in the valley below a small, but well-maintained farm. Somehow this place seems more healthy, more homely than any other structure around here. On the far side of the farm sits the brooding bulk of Goatswood Forest itself, a long spur of the forest cuts the farm off from Mercy Hill to the North, and the hamlet is not visible from here.

The investigators head for the farm, trying their best to look like innocent ramblers out for a country stroll. In the yard of Nug's farm a labourer is working on repairing some tools. He sees the approaching strangers, enters the house and [[Hillary Quarrie]] emerges. The labourer has the inbred, unhealthy, goat-like appearance common to Goatswood locals, and reminiscent of [[Wilfred Gresty]], but Hillary is a normal, quite attractive woman, albeit somewhat dowdily dressed in overalls and boots.

As the investigators draw closer, Hillary whistles and 3 huge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastiff mastiffs] (Pig, Bull and Walter) emerge from the house and stand by her. Hillary hails the strangers and asks what brings them to this place on such a cold day.

Withers and Bartlett cut straight to the chase, they are here because they seek [[Malcolm Quarrie]], and they were present when Malcolm's former friends brought [[Carcosa]] to Earth. Hillary invites them into the house, but seems more interested in listening than talking. She hears the entire story of the [[Roby]] case and the [[Hastur]] cult, then reveals that she knows almost nothing of these things, and cares little as she is quite confident that her Gods, the British Gods, will protect this land from such alien horrors. She states simply that [[Edwards]] could not have succeeded, for [[Shub-Niggurath]] would not allow it.

[[image:21_Photograph_of_Malcolm_Hillary_Sarah.jpg|right|400px|thumb|The Photograph of Hillary, Malcolm and a baby outside Nug's farm]] She offers the investigators some stew, and they notice, upon the mantle, a photograph of Hillary, Malcolm and a baby outside Nug's farm. Before Hillary can tell them anything of real interest her farmhand, Will, calls her outside. Through the window the investigators see that [[Wilfred Gresty]] has arrived, and he has brought with him an entourage, half a dozen local men with the familiar goatlike look, but also 3 or 4 of the half-human creatures seen earlier in the woods.

Its obvious that there is some kind of confrontation going on - Gresty is animated and gesticulates wildly while Hillary is grim-faced and imperturbable. Only a few words can be heard from within the house, but its clear that Gresty is delivering an ultimatum and that Hillary is in no mood to accept. Gresty turns and storms off with his followers and Hillary returns to the house with a look of urgency.

Hillary goes straight to her study and starts bringing papers into the kitchen to burn in the pot-bellied stove. She is ripping pages from a book and shoving them into the flames when she seems to notice the investigators again. They ask what is happening and remind her that they know Gresty. Hillary pauses, calms a little and decides to tell her story. She tells them that she would like very much for them to stay here and aid her tonight, as she thinks she needs help, but that she understands fully if they don't wish to and says they will need to leave before nightfall if this in their choice. First, however, she sits them down and tells them everything.

[[Hillary Quarrie]]'s story is detailed on her page of this wiki, but the upshot of it is that tonight she will be fighting for her life, and the future of the Goatswood cult. Gresty has convinced Atkinson to act against her and she must defeat both of them, or die. She knows where Malcolm is, or at least where he was until recently, and as a sign of good faith she fetches the only 2 letters she has received from her husband since he went to the continent.

The [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/wiki/images/4/4d/23_Malcolm_Quarries_First_Letter.pdf first letter] was over a year ago, but the [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/wiki/images/7/78/24_Malcolm_Quarries_Second_Letter.pdf second letter] is only a few weeks old and gives an address in [[Milan]], Italy, through which Malcolm can be contacted.

The investigators read these letters, consider the situation and agree to stay to aid Hillary. She tells them that she has destroyed '[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]' in the stove so that if Gresty wins he will never have access to the secrets within that book. All they can do for now is sit and wait. Hillary asks them to promise that she will do whatever she asks tonight quickly and without question - otherwise they will be in great danger. They agree, but start to worry exactly what will be expected of them.

Will, the farmhand, turns up with several other men loyal to Hillary. She turns them away saying that she has help enough and that if she is defeated it is best that no other cult members be seen to have stood with her. Will and his friends leave, reluctantly, and the afternoon moves into evening.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 - Night ===

Night falls. On the far side of the woods, in Mercy Hill, a bonfire is lit, its flickering glow clearly visible from Nug's Farm. Voices are raised in pagan prayer. There are chants and then a scream. Hillary tells Withers and Bartlett that now is the time, and leads them out into the yard, shutting her dogs up in the house. She tells the investigators to go to the henhouse and bring back 2 chickens each, and to hold them by the necks. Withers is perturbed that this means he won't be able to use his gun.

Fetching the chickens is less easy that it seemed, and both investigators get scratched and pecked, but soon they stand behind Hillary looking out towards Goatswood, struggling poultry in hand. They see the wicked curved knife in Hillary's hand and start to worry if this is an entirely appropriate activity for respectable Christian gentlemen.

Something huge stirs and begins crashing its way through the trees towards them. "It's one of Shub-Niggurath's Young." says Hillary, "I can deal with this." She raises her voice and starts to scream out the words of what can only be a spell.

''"Ishnigarrab!"'' she screams, slashing at one of the chickens, tearing it open with her knife, but not yet killing it.

''"Say it! Help me. Say it!"''

Both investigators repeat the word.

''"The Black Mouth!"'', and a second chicken is slashed. ''"Repeat it!"''

This time only Bartlett responds

''"The Black Tongue!"'', and another slash.

Once more, Bartlett responds alone.

''"The Black Lip!"'', and a final slash.

[[Image:Dark_Young.gif|right]]

This time neither investigator responds, for both have seen the vast horror which has emerged from the woods. A great writhing shadow the size of a house, huge trunk-like legs supporting a mass of thick writhing tentacles. The stench of the thing is indescribable. For a second it stands still, seemingly transfixed by Hillary's ritual.

''"Ishnigarrab! Utug Xal"'', and Hillary turns and neatly decapitates the chickens held by the stupefied Bartlett, but as she turns to kill Withers' birds she sees that the Captain has dropped them and is instead levelling his rifle at the creature.

''"You fool!"'', she shouts, and darts towards the closest of the two injured chickens.

Withers fires - one shot, two shots, three shots. The only effect they seem to have is to stir the creature from its reverie, and it starts to move forwards towards the farm once more. For Withers time seems to slow down for a few seconds, as he assesses the situation.

Bartlett is staring slack-jawed at the approaching horror. Hillary has caught the third chicken and has hacked its head from its body, and across the farmyard the final hen is fleeing for the henhouse. Suddenly, Withers realises what he must do. He turns, levels his rifle, aims carefully and puts a bullet straight through the last chicken, completing the sacrifice.

Shub-Niggurath's Young stops in its tracks. Hillary, exultant, strides towards it, covered in blood from the chickens.

''"You will kill the ones who summoned you, and all who were there with them. Then you will go back to your Mother to draw on her teat!"''

The creature turns and begins to stride back towards Mercy Hill. "You might want to go inside," says Hillary, "you won't want to hear this."

Withers and Bartlett take her advice, heading inside the house and Hillary stands in the yard listening to the screams and crashes coming from beyond the trees as Mercy Hill is destroyed and Gresty, Atkinson and their faction meet their horrible, but well-deserved ends.

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

[[Withers]] and [[Bartlett]] wake up in the chairs where they slept the previous night. They both have chicken blood splattered on their skin and clothing. Hillary offers then breakfast and a chance to wash up, then leads them to Clotton to catch the northbound bus.

She thanks them for their aid and tells them that now the Goatswood Cult is in her hands she will use its power to bring about a new Golden Age for Britain. They have done a great service for their country, though she doubts they truly understand that. She hopes they find Malcolm, for although his plans are unlikely to harm Britain, protected as it is, the rest of the world is not so safe.

Finally, asked if she has a message for her husband, Hillary replies "Just tell him that Sarah is healthy and happy."

The investigators board the nearly empty bus and head back to Gloucester. Shaken by their experience, but carrying with them that which they have sought for over a year, a clear signpost to the location of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. [[Saunders]] is back in London today, so an evening meeting at Bartlett's house seems apt.

Continue to [[Session 11]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 9

2021-07-30T04:57:27Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 7th August, 2006==

''(During this session, almost the entirety of the year 1929 passed by. This [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929 link] contains detailed coverage of the news and cultural events of that year)''

=== December 1928 ===

Inverness, the morning after. [[Bartlett]] is hospitalised and sedated, his wife hurries to be by his side. [[Saunders]], though critically hurt, is conscious, and Jennifer and the rest of his family flock to his side.

Meanwhile, [[Browne]] and [[Withers]], more or less intact, use their experience of such things to spin a tale to the Scottish police which convinces them that their attacker was [[Alexander Roby]], who killed [[Edwards]] with some kind of acid then stabbed [[Saunders]] before fleeing. Though there are many holes in the story, it's the best the police have, and the investigators are released.

Local newspapers report the [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/5/5a/19_Newspaper_Article_on_Events_in_the_Highlands.pdf deaths of a number of villagers] in Cannich on the night that Carcosa vanished

On the 14th, Browne returns to London, where he is inspired to start turning his experiences into short stories. He is joined a couple of days later by Withers. They still want to find [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and [[Wilfred Gresty]].

[[Browne]] sends a letter, by hand, to 'Occult Magazine', offering a book of [[Bacon]]'s to the author of the dead occultist's obituary. The next day he receives a call from a man claiming to be the writer, and an invitation to meet that evening by [http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/east_karl_marx_tomb.jpg Karl Marx's Tomb] in Highgate Cemetery.

[[Image:marx.jpg|thumbnail|Karl Marx's tombstone|right]]

Browne arrives early, and Withers hides behind a nearby gravestone. It is a chill evening. A middle-aged man arrives and introduces himself, though Browne instantly recognises [[Aleister Crowley]], the self-styled 'wickedest man alive'.

Crowley thought little of Bacon, and is disappointed that the book on offer is merely a copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]' (Browne having a spare one of these and unwilling to risk [[The Turner Codex]]), but he's much more interested in [[Edwards]] and [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and attempts to trade for information. He reveals that Quarrie went to Italy to seek 'Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo' ([[the Brothers of the Yellow Sign]]), a society which performs a version of '[[The King in Yellow]]' annually.

Shortly after this, Browne realises Crowley is attempting to use Mesmerism, or some other form of mental domination on him. When Crowley realises his attempts have failed he says that he must leave, but invites Browne to a party he is holding the next week. As he leaves the cemetery, Crowley tells Withers 'you can come out now'.

Browne goes to the party - from which Crowley is sadly absent, and learns many things about the appetites of the rich and bored. He bathes in sin for a few hours, and returns to write more stories.

Over the next week or so, in the run up the Christmas, Withers is busy with duty and Browne with writing, so no further leads are uncovered.

Bartlett wakes from his induced coma, screaming about 'the eyes', and has a nervous breakdown.

Christmas comes. Bartlett is under sedation, Browne at his niece's, Withers is at the Windsor castle celebrations, with the King himself present, and Saunders, though hospitalised, has a family Christmas as far as is possible.

On Hogmanay, Saunders is spirited out of the hospital by his cousin and has so much fun he sets his recovery back by a month.

1928 ends.

===January 1929===

[[Browne]] finishes his book of short stories and submits them to his publisher. With [[Withers]] he visits Tewkesbury, but can trace no living relative of [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

All leads reach dead ends.

===February 1929===

[[Saunders]] is released from hospital, returns to London and dines with his friends. [[Browne]] is delighted to reveal that his book is to be published!

Withers and [[Delia Hartston]] drift ever closer, still kept apart by social convention.

[[Bartlett]], physically mended (though badly scarred) is transferred to a private hospital in London, and his friends visit him. He starts therapy for his mental injuries, under some of the best care in the world. As a leading doctor quotes "My god, man - this is Doctor Frederick Bartlett of the Tavistock Institute! We can't have him stark raving mad and screaming about eyes!".

Saunders returns to work.

===March 1929===

The Hyades dip below the horizon and with that the influence of [[Hastur]] stops dead. The dreams stop - those artists, like [[Browne]] filled with inspiration based on the Carcosa mythos feel themselves bereft of ideas - though slowly their sane, everyday muses return.

The long cold winter ends.

Browne's book, '[[The Tatters of the King]]' is published, and sells in truckloads to all those whose dreams of Carcosa have just left them. He is a great success, and starts to enjoy this new experience.

[[Bartlett]] is released to the care of his wife. A combination of medication and psychotherapy is slowly returning him to mental health.

===April 1929===

Spring is in full bloom, and, in the absence of further leads, the investigators forget about [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and [[Wilfred Gresty]] and enjoy their lives.

===May 1929===

There is talk of a US publication for [[Browne]]'s stories.

===June thru November 1929===

The events of the previous year sink ever further into memory, and the investigators meet less frequently. All seems right with the world until the middle of the month.

On the 17th, the Hyades rise, and the dreams return with a vengeance. Both [[Browne]] and [[Saunders]] find their dreams of the previous year extended to dark, disturbing conclusions. Once more [[the Yellow Sign]] and [[the King in Yellow]] start to appear in graffiti, art and whispered rumour.

On October 29th, the American Stock Market crashes dramatically. It seems to mark the end of the good times.

The investigators meet and decide to start looking for clues all over again, but November is a frustrating, fruitless time.

===December 13th 1929===

Suddenly, a breakthrough. The papers [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/61/20_Newspaper_Article_on_Grestys_Arrest.pdf report] the arrest of a '[[Wilfred Gresty]]' for an assault on a priest in a London Church, and reveal the location and time of his appearance before the magistate, later that very day.

At long last, the game is, once more, afoot!

Continue to [[Session 10]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 8

2021-07-30T04:55:29Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 24th July, 2006==

===Monday December 10th - Entering Carcosa===

[[Image:pigmask.jpg|right|200px]]

As the mist billows away the investigators realise that Mullardoch House is no longer visible. Instead, through the archway ahead of them is what appears to be an abandoned Roman villa. From ahead of them comes light and distant music, behind them the buildings are dark and silent, so they head through the archway.

On the other side they see that the villa is now a tall wooden tower with a great fire burning on its peak – like an ancient lighthouse. The archway behind them has changed too, now a simpler, lower building. Deciding that the lighthouse may be important, as it stands where Mulalrdoch House should, they enter its open door to find a bare room containing 4 masks on hooks and the stairs up. The masks are ornate stylised animals: an owl, a pig, an ape and a lion. They take one each and go up to the roof.

On the roof a fire with no apparent fuel course burns in a great brazier. From here they can see the extent of the city, spread along both sides of the Loch, which is now also the Lake of Hali. Twin suns shine palely through the clouds and on the opposite side of the Lake sits a vast palace, from which faint music spills. The decision is made to head for the palace.

Back at ground level the entry gate has changed once more, now its surmounted by a great crystal sculpture of a bird with the head of a horse. [[Saunders]] catches a glimpse of movement, turns are sees two creatures that look like the [[the Springer Mound Monsters]] fly behind a distant spire.

===The Narrow Bridge===

The investigators head into the city, soon locating a high bridge, only a foot wide and without handrails, crossing a deep canal. [[Nathaniel Browne]] starts across, slips and falls into the water. [[Withers]] dives in after him, but by the time [[Bartlett]] and [[Saunders]] reach the edge of the path, neither can be seen. They call for their friends, but hear no reply. Saunders decides to hurry across the bridge, also slips and is only just saved by Bartlett. They decide to find another way across further downstream.

Withers hits the water, resurfaces and realises he cannot see Browne. Treading water he calls for him and hears a distant shout. Steps lead up from the water nearby, so Withers takes them. When he reaches the top the bridge back across the river has changed to something larger and safer, but Withers is alone.

Browne has had a similar experience. After hitting the water he splashed his way to the nearby steps, an shouted up to his friends, but nobody came. Climbing the steps he found himself alone, with an unfamiliar bridge back across the water. Then he heard a gunshots deeper inside the city, and thinking it was his companions, followed the sound.

===Split Up===

[[Browne]] finds himself entering a Roman-style ampitheatre, apparently in use as a theatre. He catches a glimpse of movement, sees a gun aimed from behind a pillar and dives for cover as a flurry of pistol shots come his way. He calls out, and his assailant breaks cover and runs for the exit. It is a portly middle-aged man in a tweed suit and tie. The click of hammer on chamber shows he is out of ammunition. Browne intercepts the man, tries to tackle him and receives a pistol blow to the temple in return.

Browne reels away, dazed, but his assailant, recognising Browne as just a man (and a Brit, at that) calms down and apologises, introducing himself as [[Quentin Spence]]. “Quentin Spence the poet?” asks Browne. The man confirms that this is indeed he. Spence is pleased to be recognised and explains that he’s had enough of this place and was trying to leave. He’d come here at [[Edwards]]’ instructions, being a member of the [[Hastur]] ‘brotherhood’ for some time, but he had seen monsters and horrors here that were more than his bargained for. He explains that Edwards has been attempting to summon [[The King in Yellow]], somehow harnessing repeated performances of the [[play]] for power, but thus far has only succeeded in calling up more [[flying creatures]] and other horrible monstrosities.

At this point Browne notices the legs of a corpse sticking out from behind a piece of scenery, a local in carnival gear and a bird mask, dead from a bullet wound to the head. He turns to find Spence backing slowly towards an exit. Browne advances angrily on Spence demanding that he explain his actions. Spence levels his gun at Browne again, says “I've reloaded it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kill him – just let me leave”. Browne continues to advance, telling Spence he can leave, but not with the gun as he fears that Spence cannot be trusted with it. Spence drops the gun and scuttles away. Unfortunately, as Browne suspected, he was bluffing and had not reloaded the gun after all. Browne now wanders the streets of Carcosa alone and unarmed.

Withers soon encounters a group of locals, Carcosan revellers, masked as they all are. One of these locals, a leatherworker named [[Noss]] takes an interest in Withers and offers to be his guide. He can take him to a place where he can be reunited with his companions, or to the lakeside where a boat the the Palace can be procured, or to see the ‘other outsider’, who can be found at the Scultpure Museum. Withers asked about this man and from the description he is given realises that it is probably [[Alexander Roby]], He asks to be taken the the Sculpture Museum.

Crossing the canal through a tunnel, Saunders and Bartlett find themselves in an area of narrow winding residential streets. The catch a distant glimpse of what appears to be [[the Stranger]] from the play, head in his direction and eventually come upon the gardens surrounding the Sculpture Museum, where they encounter Withers and Noss, who have just arrived.

Poor Nathaniel Browne wanders Carcosa alone, unaware of any of this.

===The Sculpture Museum===

[[Noss]] leads the investigators towards the small white building at the centre of a garden full of many fantastic works of sculpture, including a medusa, a perfect simulacrum of a cypress tree standing beside its living twin and, immediately outside the entrance to the building, four creatures like [[the Springer Mound Monsters]] which turn out not to be statues at all, but the real thing, bound here for centuries.

A doorway leads to a concourse and a great stairway leading into the first of a network of great underground galleries. Noss leads the way past two enormous and beautiful dioramas of New York City, one current and one futuristic, through a gallery of thousands of whistles from many times and cultures, each similar in its own way to the cult's [[bone whistle]]s and via many other strange sights. In one gallery [[Andrew Saunders]] finds an unfinished clay man that reminds him of [[Nathaniel Browne]]. Eventually they discover a circular study hall.

Once inside, they find Roby, initially napping, but easily wakened and now apparently sane and rational, he greets [[Bartlett]] and is happy to discuss whats happening. He has brought Carcosa to Earth by writing it into being and now he can life here eternally. The city will remain on Earth for 4 more days before it leaves, taken with it all who remain. The rest of the cult are staying in the Palace, where they are enjoying the Queen's hospitality, but Roby wanted some solitude.

Noss tells them that Roby’s friends, lead by [[Edwards]] have been summoning creatures such as the one they saw in the woods - Roby recognises these as the Spawn of Hastur, and that a great flock of flying creatures, which Roby calls [[byakhee]] are also present. Roby realises Edwards is trying to call the King in Yellow, which is impossible in this place (Roby wrote a flaw into the city when he created it) and doing so will bring Hastur in a terrible form that’ll kill everyone. Roby decides to head the Palace to talk to Edwards – the others come with him.

===The Lake of Hali===

Roby leads everyone to the lakeside, where they are pleased to find [[Browne]] at the wharf. Across the Lake the roof of the palace is covered in hundreds of [[byakhee]], but nonetheless they find a boat and start throw across the lake. [[Noss]], unwilling to defile the palace with his presence, bids his farewell and stays ashore.

Halfway across a Spawn surfaces, dives under the boat and knocks it heavily, pitching [[Withers]] and [[Saunders]] into the Lake. They are able to grab onto oars and save themselves, and only [[Bartlett]] gets a clear view as the creature breaks the surface off the stern and dives back into the depths. An hour or so later the boat reaches the crowded palace wharf and the investigators enter the massive and complex Palace of Cassilda.

===In the Palace===

Inside the palace they travel through many halls and corridors, seeing occasional glimpses of revllers under they come across the corpse of a cook, his throat slashed, and [[Withers]] sees [[Coombes]] bloody knife in hand, fleeing the scene.

As the investigators move on through a long gallery, Coombes appears on a balcony high above the party and taunts them. Browne retorts in kind, reminding Coombes of his failure to protect Bacon. It appears that being here has sent Coombes over the edge and he is now using the palace as a private hunting ground.

A few rooms later a young noblewoman, [[Yolanda]] runs straight into [[Withers]]. She apologises but says that a tall man with a knife was chasing her. They here Coombes' footsteps hurrying away down the corridor. Yolanda asked the investigators where they are going, and offers to help them find the terrace where the visitors are performing their play - a play they are performing for the fourth consecutive evening. The investigators realise that time is unreliable here, as it should not yet be dark. The view through the windows, however, shows alien stars in a black sky.

Yolanda leads them to a room overlooking the terrace where [[Edwards]] and his friends are acting out a version of "[[the King in Yellow]]" for an audience of hundreds of strangely silent [[byakhee]]. As a part of the play Edwards is being repeatedly struck with a sword, blood flying everywhere, but his wounds heal almost instantly. Roby explains that he’s been able to do this since Springer Mound, and that he seems to like it. [[Saunders]] wants to use the [[Chime of Tezchaptl]] to interrupt the play, but Roby says this will bring the byakhee down on them – he is sure that [[Hastur]] is not coming just yet and wants a chance to talk to Edwards.

The investigators agree to wait, and watch as the play concludes and another Spawn is summoned from he waters of the Lake. Yolanda suggests everyone retire to her chambers. By now she's openly flirting with an extremely uncomfortable Withers.

===Tuesday December 11th - Roby's Plans===

[[Alexander Roby]] tells the others to get some rest – he needs to go and see [[Edwards]] alone. He leaves and returns an hour later, furious – Edwards means to go through with it and won’t listen to reason. Roby says he needs to consider the answer. A little later he asks to borrow a revolver, and is given one. [[Bartlett]] is instantly worried by his manner and does not allow him to leave the room.

“Sorry, Bartlett. It’s the only way", Roby makes to shoot himself. Roby explains that if he dies, [[Carcosa]] will leave the Earth and Edwards’ plan will fail. There follows a tense scene where the investigators try to talk him out of suicide, which is finally resolved when they come up with an alternate plan. Roby can have the [[Chime of Tezchaptl]] and try to use that first. If it fails, suicide is still an option.

The rest of the day is spent waiting for the next performance of ‘The King in Yellow’ as Roby reads the [[The Turner Codex|Turner Codex]] so he can learn the usage of the Chime. As the time comes, Roby tells the investigators they cannot come with him, He’s told [[Yolanda]] how to get them out of Carcosa and he's asked her to take them immediately. If they don’t follow they will be trapped in Carcosa when it leaves Earth. Feeling guilty at leaving him to face his fate alone, but also feeling powerless to do otherwise, the investigators follow Yolanda through the palace to a garden containing a maze – she leads them inside, but Coombes has been following.

===Leaving Carcosa===

Within the maze, Yolanda loses her way and walks into an ambush. She is assaulted by Coombes, but his knife misses, grazing the ear of Withers instead as he pulls Yolanda down. Combes turns to flee and is winged by a shot from [[Withers]]' pistol, but vanishes into the maze.

At this point the howls of a thousand [[byakhee]] come from the Lake and the city begins to shake – Roby has succeeded. The investigators, realising they have little time, hurry to reach the centre of the maze, where a stone mosaic of the Yellow Sign is found.

[[Browne]] steps onto it and disappears, but [[Yolanda]] reveals she cannot follow. [[Withers]] steps through, then [[Saunders]] and [[Bartlett]] realise that if they go through, Yolanda will be trapped with Coombes. Bartlett, badly shaken, apologises and leaves. Saunders decides to leave her armed and hands his shotgun to Yolanda, as he tries to explain its use, Coombes arrives.

“Hello Andrew” he says, “ready to play with the big boys?” and he throws a knife in front of Saunders. Yolanda is staring at the gun in her hands, with no apparent idea of its function, so a knife fight starts. Unfortunately Coombes is very good, and Saunders isn’t. Saunders feels Coombes' sharp blade enter his side, falls back onto the mosaic and hears the blast of a gunshot just as he passes back into his own world.

===Mullardoch House===

The investigators find themselves in the enclosed kitchen garden of Mullardoch House as Carcosa shimmers and blinks out of existence around them. [[Saunders]] is badly hurt, so [[Withers]] and [[Browne]] enter the house to find a telephone. in the hall they find the hideously burned and twisted corpse of [[Edwards]], hurled back into this world when the energy of the spell was turned back on him by Roby's use of the Chime.

As Browne picks up the phone, Withers sees the corpse start to shift and transform, rising seconds later as a humanoid horror with boneless arms – matching the description of the Canal Monster (which they guess must have been [[Lawrence Bacon]], similarly resurrected). Withers fires several revolver shots at the thing with little visible effect and it closes on Browne, who is cornered.

Suddenly [[Bartlett]] rushes in with a garden fork and pins the Edwards thing to the wall. The suckers on the end of its boneless arm engulf the side of the Doctor’s head and half of Bartlett’s face is torn away just as Withers puts a well-aimed rifle bullet straight through its brain.

Edwards dies, for good this time, his corpse reverting to its former ruin.

Bartlett is saved from the brink of death by Withers’ first aid skills, and help is called for.

The investigators have been left with a warning from Roby. Unlike Edwards, Malcolm Quarrie knows what he’s doing. He plans to call the King in Yellow to Earth and must be found, and stopped. With Bartlett and Saunders seriously injured and hospitalised, and the authorities in search of explanations, Quarrie will have to wait.

Meanwhile, that very night, a dozen of the villagers' of Cannich die, in an echo of events in [[Clare Melford]]'s 'night of the curse'. There is a [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/5/5a/19_Newspaper_Article_on_Events_in_the_Highlands.pdf report] in the next day's newspaper

The investigators are taken to Inverness, two of them to hospital, two for questioning by the police. It is a long night for everyone involved.

Continue to [[Session 9]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 8

2021-07-30T03:26:10Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 24th July, 2006==

===Monday December 10th - Entering Carcosa===

[[Image:pigmask.jpg|right|200px]]

As the mist billows away the investigators realise that Mullardoch House is no longer visible. Instead, through the archway ahead of them is what appears to be an abandoned Roman villa. From ahead of them comes light and distant music, behind them the buildings are dark and silent, so they head through the archway.

On the other side they see that the villa is now a tall wooden tower with a great fire burning on its peak – like an ancient lighthouse. The archway behind them has changed too, now a simpler, lower building. Deciding that the lighthouse may be important, as it stands where Mulalrdoch House should, they enter its open door to find a bare room containing 4 masks on hooks and the stairs up. The masks are ornate stylised animals: an owl, a pig, an ape and a lion. They take one each and go up to the roof.

On the roof a fire with no apparent fuel course burns in a great brazier. From here they can see the extent of the city, spread along both sides of the Loch, which is now also the Lake of Hali. Twin suns shine palely through the clouds and on the opposite side of the Lake sits a vast palace, from which faint music spills. The decision is made to head for the palace.

Back at ground level the entry gate has changed once more, now its surmounted by a great crystal sculpture of a bird with the head of a horse. [[Saunders]] catches a glimpse of movement, turns are sees two creatures that look like the [[the Springer Mound Monsters]] fly behind a distant spire.

===The Narrow Bridge===

The investigators head into the city, soon locating a high bridge, only a foot wide and without handrails, crossing a deep canal. [[Nathaniel Browne]] starts across, slips and falls into the water. [[Withers]] dives in after him, but by the time [[Bartlett]] and [[Saunders]] reach the edge of the path, neither can be seen. They call for their friends, but hear no reply. Saunders decides to hurry across the bridge, also slips and is only just saved by Bartlett. They decide to find another way across further downstream.

Withers hits the water, resurfaces and realises he cannot see Browne. Treading water he calls for him and hears a distant shout. Steps lead up from the water nearby, so Withers takes them. When he reaches the top the bridge back across the river has changed to something larger and safer, but Withers is alone.

Browne has had a similar experience. After hitting the water he splashed his way to the nearby steps, an shouted up to his friends, but nobody came. Climbing the steps he found himself alone, with an unfamiliar bridge back across the water. Then he heard a gunshots deeper inside the city, and thinking it was his companions, followed the sound.

===Split Up===

[[Browne]] finds himself entering a Roman-style ampitheatre, apparently in use as a theatre. He catches a glimpse of movement, sees a gun aimed from behind a pillar and dives for cover as a flurry of pistol shots come his way. He calls out, and his assailant breaks cover and runs for the exit. It is a portly middle-aged man in a tweed suit and tie. The click of hammer on chamber shows he is out of ammunition. Browne intercepts the man, tries to tackle him and receives a pistol blow to the temple in return.

Browne reels away, dazed, but his assailant, recognising Browne as just a man (and a Brit, at that) calms down and apologises, introducing himself as [[Quentin Spence]]. “Quentin Spence the poet?” asks Browne. The man confirms that this is indeed he. Spence is pleased to be recognised and explains that he’s had enough of this place and was trying to leave. He’d come here at [[Edwards]]’ instructions, being a member of the [[Hastur]] ‘brotherhood’ for some time, but he had seen monsters and horrors here that were more than his bargained for. He explains that Edwards has been attempting to summon [[The King in Yellow]], somehow harnessing repeated performances of the [[play]] for power, but thus far has only succeeded in calling up more [[flying creatures]] and other horrible monstrosities.

At this point Browne notices the legs of a corpse sticking out from behind a piece of scenery, a local in carnival gear and a bird mask, dead from a bullet wound to the head. He turns to find Spence backing slowly towards an exit. Browne advances angrily on Spence demanding that he explain his actions. Spence levels his gun at Browne again, says “I've reloaded it. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to kill him – just let me leave”. Browne continues to advance, telling Spence he can leave, but not with the gun as he fears that Spence cannot be trusted with it. Spence drops the gun and scuttles away. Unfortunately, as Browne suspected, he was bluffing and had not reloaded the gun after all. Browne now wanders the streets of Carcosa alone and unarmed.

Withers soon encounters a group of locals, Carcosan revellers, masked as they all are. One of these locals, a leatherworker named [[Noss]] takes an interest in Withers and offers to be his guide. He can take him to a place where he can be reunited with his companions, or to the lakeside where a boat the the Palace can be procured, or to see the ‘other outsider’, who can be found at the Scultpure Museum. Withers asked about this man and from the description he is given realises that it is probably [[Alexander Roby]], He asks to be taken the the Sculpture Museum.

Crossing the canal through a tunnel, Saunders and Bartlett find themselves in an area of narrow winding residential streets. The catch a distant glimpse of what appears to be [[the Stranger]] from the play, head in his direction and eventually come upon the gardens surrounding the Sculpture Museum, where they encounter Withers and Noss, who have just arrived.

Poor Nathaniel Browne wanders Carcosa alone, unaware of any of this.

===The Sculpture Museum===

[[Noss]] leads the investigators towards the small white building at the centre of a garden full of many fantastic works of sculpture, including a medusa, a perfect simulacrum of a cypress tree standing beside its living twin and, immediately outside the entrance to the building, four creatures like [[the Springer Mound Monsters]] which turn out not to be statues at all, but the real thing, bound here for centuries.

A doorway leads to a concourse and a great stairway leading into the first of a network of great underground galleries. Noss leads the way past two enormous and beautiful dioramas of New York City, one current and one futuristic, through a gallery of thousands of whistles from many times and cultures, each similar in its own way to the cult's [[bone whistle]]s and via many other strange sights. In one gallery [[Andrew Saunders]] finds an unfinished clay man that reminds him of [[Nathaniel Browne]]. Eventually they discover a circular study hall.

Once inside, they find Roby, initially napping, but easily wakened and now apparently sane and rational, he greets [[Bartlett]] and is happy to discuss whats happening. He has brought Carcosa to Earth by writing it into being and now he can life here eternally. The city will remain on Earth for 4 more days before it leaves, taken with it all who remain. The rest of the cult are staying in the Palace, where they are enjoying the Queen's hospitality, but Roby wanted some solitude.

Noss tells them that Roby’s friends, lead by [[Edwards]] have been summoning creatures such as the one they saw in the woods - Roby recognises these as the Spawn of Hastur, and that a great flock of flying creatures, which Roby calls [[byakhee]] are also present. Roby realises Edwards is trying to call the King in Yellow, which is impossible in this place (Roby wrote a flaw into the city when he created it) and doing so will bring Hastur in a terrible form that’ll kill everyone. Roby decides to head the Palace to talk to Edwards – the others come with him.

===The Lake of Hali===

Roby leads everyone to the lakeside, where they are pleased to find [[Browne]] at the wharf. Across the Lake the roof of the palace is covered in hundreds of [[byakhee]], but nonetheless they find a boat and start throw across the lake. [[Noss]], unwilling to defile the palace with his presence, bids his farewell and stays ashore.

Halfway across a Spawn surfaces, dives under the boat and knocks it heavily, pitching [[Withers]] and [[Saunders]] into the Lake. They are able to grab onto oars and save themselves, and only [[Bartlett]] gets a clear view as the creature breaks the surface off the stern and dives back into the depths. An hour or so later the boat reaches the crowded palace wharf and the investigators enter the massive and complex Palace of Cassilda.

===In the Palace===

Inside the palace they travel through many halls and corridors, seeing occasional glimpses of revllers under they come across the corpse of a cook, his throat slashed, and [[Withers]] sees [[Coombes]] bloody knife in hand, fleeing the scene.

As the investigators move on through a long gallery, Coombes appears on a balcony high above the party and taunts them. Browne retorts in kind, reminding Coombes of his failure to protect Bacon. It appears that being here has sent Coombes over the edge and he is now using the palace as a private hunting ground.

A few rooms later a young noblewoman, [[Yolanda]] runs straight into [[Withers]]. She apologises but says that a tall man with a knife was chasing her. They here Coombes' footsteps hurrying away down the corridor. Yolanda asked the investigators where they are going, and offers to help them find the terrace where the visitors are performing their play - a play they are performing for the fourth consecutive evening. The investigators realise that time is unreliable here, as it should not yet be dark. The view through the windows, however, shows alien stars in a black sky.

Yolanda leads them to a room overlooking the terrace where [[Edwards]] and his friends are acting out a version of "[[the King in Yellow]]" for an audience of hundreds of strangely silent [[byakhee]]. As a part of the play Edwards is being repeatedly struck with a sword, blood flying everywhere, but his wounds heal almost instantly. Roby explains that he’s been able to do this since Springer Mound, and that he seems to like it. [[Saunders]] wants to use the [[Chime of Tezchaptl]] to interrupt the play, but Roby says this will bring the byakhee down on them – he is sure that [[Hastur]] is not coming just yet and wants a chance to talk to Edwards.

The investigators agree to wait, and watch as the play concludes and another Spawn is summoned from he waters of the Lake. Yolanda suggests everyone retire to her chambers. By now she's openly flirting with an extremely uncomfortable Withers.

===Tuesday December 11th - Roby's Plans===

[[Alexander Roby]] tells the others to get some rest – he needs to go and see [[Edwards]] alone. He leaves and returns an hour later, furious – Edwards means to go through with it and won’t listen to reason. Roby says he needs to consider the answer. A little later he asks to borrow a revolver, and is given one. [[Bartlett]] is instantly worried by his manner and does not allow him to leave the room.

“Sorry, Bartlett it’s the only way", Roby makes to shoot himself. Roby explains that if he dies, [[Carcosa]] will leave the Earth and Edwards’ plan will fail. There follows a tense scene where the investigators try to talk him out of suicide, which is finally resolved when they come up with an alternate plan. Roby can have the [[Chime of Tezchaptl]] and try to use that first. If it fails, suicide is still an option.

The rest of the day is spent waiting for the next performance of ‘The King in Yellow’ as Roby reads the [[The Turner Codex|Turner Codex]] so he can learn the usage of the Chime. As the time comes, Roby tells the investigators they cannot come with him, He’s told [[Yolanda]] how to get them out of Carcosa and he's asked her to take them immediately. If they don’t follow they will be trapped in Carcosa when it leaves Earth. Feeling guilty at leaving him to face his fate alone, but also feeling powerless to do otherwise, the investigators follow Yolanda through the palace to a garden containing a maze – she leads them inside, but Coombes has been following.

===Leaving Carcosa===

Within the maze, Yolanda loses her way and walks into an ambush. She is assaulted by Coombes, but his knife misses, grazing the ear of Withers instead as he pulls Yolanda down. Combes turns to flee and is winged by a shot from [[Withers]]' pistol, but vanishes into the maze.

At this point the howls of a thousand [[byakhee]] come from the Lake and the city begins to shake – Roby has succeeded. The investigators, realising they have little time, hurry to reach the centre of the maze, where a stone mosaic of the Yellow Sign is found.

[[Browne]] steps onto it and disappears, but [[Yolanda]] reveals she cannot follow. [[Withers]] steps through, then [[Saunders]] and [[Bartlett]] realise that if they go through, Yolanda will be trapped with Coombes. Bartlett, badly shaken, apologises and leaves. Saunders decides to leave her armed and hands his shotgun to Yolanda, as he tries to explain its use, Coombes arrives.

“Hello Andrew” he says, “ready to play with the big boys?” and he throws a knife in front of Saunders. Yolanda is staring at the gun in her hands, with no apparent idea of its function, so a knife fight starts. Unfortunately Coombes is very good, and Saunders isn’t. Saunders feels Coombes' sharp blade enter his side, falls back onto the mosaic and hears the blast of a gunshot just as he passes back into his own world.

===Mullardoch House===

The investigators find themselves in the enclosed kitchen garden of Mullardoch House as Carcosa shimmers and blinks out of existence around them. [[Saunders]] is badly hurt, so [[Withers]] and [[Browne]] enter the house to find a telephone. in the hall they find the hideously burned and twisted corpse of [[Edwards]], hurled back into this world when the energy of the spell was turned back on him by Roby's use of the Chime.

As Browne picks up the phone, Withers sees the corpse start to shift and transform, rising seconds later as a humanoid horror with boneless arms – matching the description of the Canal Monster (which they guess must have been [[Lawrence Bacon]], similarly resurrected). Withers fires several revolver shots at the thing with little visible effect and it closes on Browne, who is cornered.

Suddenly [[Bartlett]] rushes in with a garden fork and pins the Edwards thing to the wall. The suckers on the end of its boneless arm engulf the side of the Doctor’s head and half of Bartlett’s face is torn away just as Withers puts a well-aimed rifle bullet straight through its brain.

Edwards dies, for good this time, his corpse reverting to its former ruin.

Bartlett is saved from the brink of death by Withers’ first aid skills, and help is called for.

The investigators have been left with a warning from Roby. Unlike Edwards, Malcolm Quarrie knows what he’s doing. He plans to call the King in Yellow to Earth and must be found, and stopped. With Bartlett and Saunders seriously injured and hospitalised, and the authorities in search of explanations, Quarrie will have to wait.

Meanwhile, that very night, a dozen of the villagers' of Cannich die, in an echo of events in [[Clare Melford]]'s 'night of the curse'. There is a [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/5/5a/19_Newspaper_Article_on_Events_in_the_Highlands.pdf report] in the next day's newspaper

The investigators are taken to Inverness, two of them to hospital, two for questioning by the police. It is a long night for everyone involved.

Continue to [[Session 9]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 7

2021-07-30T03:19:14Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 17th July, 2006==

===Saturday 1st December===

''--- Continued ---''

As the shock of the latest revelations soak in, the investigators begin to discuss their next move. It is agreed that Roby must be located, and that the authorities would not be able to grasp the nature of the threat. Various lines of research are suggested, but no clear strategy is formulated.

Everyone goes home to sleep on it.

===Sunday 2nd December===

The Sunday papers report the discovery of the bodies of two vagrants in the area of the Regent Canal. The investigators' thoughts initially turn to [[Lawrence Bacon]] and his victim of Tuesday night, but the facts of the story do not fit this idea. Both men had been freshly murdered, with the killing of the second victim apparently witnessed, though details are sketchy.

With all offices and libraries closed, the investigators spend the day with family, or in private study.

===Monday 3rd December===

The "London World" this morning carries a lurid description of 'The Canal Monster', claiming that the witness who saw the second killing described a vaguely humanoid creature that walked with a wet sloshing noise which tore out the tramp's insides. The story was written by a reporter called [[Cec Watts]].

[[Withers]], wanting to be sure that neither victim was [[Lawrence Bacon]], while secretly fearing that the killer WAS him, calls the police with a story of a missing friend and visits the Islington police station where investigating officer DI Hodges is based. Hodges reveals little, and the sketches of the victims' faces show non-descript middle-aged men unknown to Withers.

Meanwhile [[Saunders]] follows up [[Edwards]]' application to the British Library and [[Browne]] looks up information on [[Tezchaptl]]. Although Browne's search is fruitless, Saunders discovers that Edwards' references for a reader's ticket were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe of the Slade School of Fine Arts. Saunders contacts Schwabe who has clear memories of Edwards as a young artist who showed talent but no desire for fame, or even success, and who left Slade without completing his degree. He also reveals that as a keen amateur archaeologist it was Schwabe who told Edwards of the 1907 dig at [[Springer Mound]], and showed him slides of the site. He remembers Edwards being very interested in the place, for reasons that were never clear. Schwabe has no idea where Edwards might be.

[[Browne]] calls [[Cec Watts]] at the London Globe with an offer to compare information about the Canal Killings. They arrange a meeting in a pub the following day.

[[Saunders]] tries to find familiar names in the Tewkesbury phone book. and contacts a couple of W Gresty's only to discover thats it's a common name in the region, and neither of them is, or know of, [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Tuesday 4th December===

In Brazil a seaplane, carrying a dozen eminent scientists, crashes during a flyby to honour the eminent aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont with the loss of almost all on board.

[[Browne]] meets [[Cec Watts]] in a pub and gives him an edited version of [[Vincent Tuck]]'s statement about [[Lawrence Bacon]], along with Tuck's name, in return for a promise to share information. Browne is hoping that Watts will come to suspect Bacon of the canal murders and will be able to find out more without directly involving the investigators. Browne gives Watts a PO Box number to contact him through.

===Wednesday 5th December===

A day spent watching, waiting and worrying. [[Bartlett]] places a small ad in an attempt to contact [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Thursday 6th December===

The newspapers report the discovery of the body of [[Cec Watts]], found floating the previous day in Regent's Canal, an apparent victim of the Canal Killer.

[[Browne]], knowing he's been seen with Watts, visits the police and spins a tale to DI Hodges inventing an innocent explanation for the contact involving a story that he was writing, Hodges seems to buy the story. As Browne goes to leave, Hodge asks if the name Lawrence Bacon means anything to him. Browne manages to stop any shocked reaction from showing on his face, and replies that he doesn't think so. Hodges says that Bacon's address was found on a slip of paper in Watts' possession and lets slip that Bacon's shop was visited by the police and found to have been thoroughly ransacked by unknown hands (although the investigators had taken items from the shop, they certainly had not left it in a condition which could be described as 'ransacked').

===Friday 7th December===

[[Dr. Highsmith]] phones [[Doctor Bartlett]]. He has been able to talk to [[Lucius Harriwell]], now under close confinement and in a straitjacket, but back at St Agnes. According to Harriwell he overheard the Devil talking with [[Alexander Roby]] about leaving with him to 'complete the work', shortly after which Harriwell heard terrible sounds from the next cell. The 'Devil' then entered Harriwell's room, covered in blood and deep cuts. He threw one of his 'hands' (apparently a knife) to Harriwell and said '''"Seven days for his work, Lucius, then five for mine."'''

Highsmith has told the police that he believes Harriwell met the real murderer, but Atkins is certain Lucius was the asylum killer, and would not listen.

The investigators think that it's possible that [[Edwards]] has taken [[Roby]] back to [[Springer Mound]], and as they have no other current leads jump in their cars and drive to Suffolk as fast as they can. At [[Long Melford]], asking about recent strange activity in the area they are told of trucks that arrived at Harold Jennings' old farm one evening, a week or so after Jennings' died.

The investigators head to Springer Mound and find that the [[Springer Mound monsters]] have gone, as have the nine stones - with evidence of trucks and heavy lifting equipment involved. [[Bartlett]] climbs the mound, smells the tar pit at its summit, has his dream come back to him anew - the smell of rotting fruit so terribly familiar - and insists on leaving.

In [[Clare Melford]], it is discovered that Dick Blair, the pub landlord who came to the village shortly after 'the night of the Curse', is gone, having suddenly quit just after the trucks visited Springer Mound. The investigators return to London, feeling that events are moving on without them.

===Saturday 8th December===

The BBC and the morning papers report last night's killing of the supposed perpetrator of the Canal Murders by armed police in the railway engineering yard near Kings Cross Station. The details remain sketchy, but the police seem sure the killer is dead, though he has not been named and no picture has been released. The area remains sealed off.

The investigators plan to gather at [[Bartlett]]'s home for lunch, but before he can leave the barracks, [[Withers]] is visited by [[Delia Hartston]] who is accompanied by Withers' sister. Delia has just received a
[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/67/16_Robys_Note.pdf note] from [[Alexander Roby]], asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] near Inverness, Scotland, where he will prove that he was 'not chasing the devil'. Delia has no intentions of going, but knows Withers was seeking Roby.

Meanwhile, on the tube train to Wimbledon, [[Browne]] is leafing through 'Occult Magazine', new that morning, and finds an [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] for [[Lawrence Bacon]] written by someone under the pseudonym 'Perdurabo' who clearly knows a lot about Bacon's past. The obituary is strange as Bacon is not officially dead, and useful as it refers to [[Montague Edwards]] as a mutual friend of both Bacon and the writer, and as the self-styled 'Laird of Mullardoch'.

With this new information, and the apparent timeline referred to by [[Lucius Harriwell]] the decision is made to travel as fast as possible to Inverness. A train leaves that afternoon, for an overnight stopover in Manchester and arrival in Inverness at 2pm the next day. [[Bartlett]] is reluctant to leave his wife alone but, as [[Saunders]]' family live in the area of Inverness, she is convinced to accompany her husband on the trip on the pretense of meeting them.

The investigators take that train, and spend a snowy night in Manchester.

===Sunday 9th December===

The train heads on Northwards towards Scotland. The investigators encounter a nervous passenger who is absently fiddling with a [[bone whistle]] just like the one they have. The turns out to be [[Henry Lister]], a pathetic excuse for a man whom Withers easily intimidates into telling all he knows.

Lister, who has been terrified of death all his life, joined an occult society that used to meet at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop, because he had been told that Bacon knew the secret of conquering death. The society studied and eventually worshipped a being called [[Hastur]] who they endeavoured to return to Earth to bring about a golden age of art and wonder.

According to Lister the order, or cult, attempted to bring Hastur to earth at [[Springer Mound]], but Lister had backed out of the ceremony early and saw nothing. He knows that not everyone returned from Suffolk, and that Bacon and [[Edwards]] were changed by the experience, and that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] left the order shortly afterwards.

After Springer Mound the cult began working towards a new end, of which Lister was told nothing. The great day was approaching, said Bacon, who still held meetings at his shop,though with much reduced frequency and attendance. Finally the members were told to travel to Inverness by December 5th, where they would be picked up at the station and taken to the place where Hastur would return to Earth.

Lister had dithered and prevaricated for days before finally deciding to travel to Scotland, several days late. However,the meeting with the investigators finally destroys his resolve and he leaves the train in the Lake District, abandoning his whistle and with it the Hastur cult.

The train arrives in a cold, snowy Inverness at 2pm. Saunders' relatives meet the investigators, who have no choice but to endure an afternoon and evening of Scottish hospitality. The decision is made to travel to [[Loch Mullardoch]] first thing on Monday morning. Heavy snow falls overnight.

===Monday 10th December===

(Although the investigators are unaware of it, today marks the debut of the character Tintin in the first of Herge's strips.)

Leaving Mrs Bartlett with the Saunders clan, the investigators drive through the village of Cannich, and beyond down the [[Loch Mullardoch]] road. They reach a gate marked 'Private Property' and pass through, but soon realise that with the heavy snow on the ground it is unsafe to attempt to take the car the whole way to the loch. They park the car as safely as possible and head towards the loch on foot.

The trees seem to be straining towards the loch, and as they get closer they seem almost to be creaking under some unnatural pressure. After a few miles, the sound of something large crashing through the treetops is heard and a creature looking somewhat like a living barrage balloon drags itself into view, using long tentacles to pull itself through the tops of the trees. Its swollen body pulses and glistens. It is utterly alien and [[Bartlett]], thinking it beautiful, has to be physically dissuaded from following it.

Shortly after the thing swims away through the air, the investigators encounter a clearing containing one of the monoliths from [[Springer Mound]], its top glistening with the slime of the alien creature.

With mounting trepidation the group trek on towards the loch, eventually cresting a small rise to see before them the dark surface of the water filling the valley ahead and at its near end the somewhat ugly two-storied white hunting lodge that is Mullardoch House, with a pair of snow-covered cars parked outside.

[[Image:mullardochhousex.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Mullardoch House]]

The road dips back downwards, and the loch is out of sight. At this moment a mysterious mist or fog billows up from nowhere, cutting off visibility. The investigators move forward a few steps, and looming out of the fog, between the investigators and the house, comes a large ornate marble archway that they are sure was not there a second before. As the investigators stare open-mouthed at this wonder, the fog clears as quickly as it came, revealing that Mullardoch House and the investigators now stand in the midst of a vast city of baroque architecture which fills the valley behind them and ahead of them wraps around the shores of what was Loch Mullardoch, but which now is all too clearly the Lake of [[Hali]].

Somehow, each of the investigators knows the name of this place. It is the city of [[Carcosa]], somehow brought to Earth!

Continue to [[Session 8]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 6

2021-07-30T03:15:26Z

Greywolf:

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

===Tuesday 27th November===

[[Image:regents.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Canal, Near Kings Cross (It's just a coincidence, we swear!)]]

[[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.

Bereft of other ideas, [[Dr Bartlett]] hurls his Thermos flask, which ricochets off Bacon's shoulder and lands in the canal. [[Saunders]] steps in to aid Withers, firing a shot which rips through Bacon’s coat, scattering the contents of his pocket on the ground and caries on, 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 Andrew's remaining revolver rounds 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.

====Bacon's Shop====

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 contains the full text of the verse that was carved on the stones at [[Clare Melford]].

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

As Bartlett and Withers have started to try to clear the basement of junk, they have disturbed something. There is a scuttling, a snuffling and a scrabbling as a horrible humanoid, dog-faced creature comes out of the darkness towards them. Bartlett, who has a clearer view, runs in terror, as Withers fires a shot into the darkness, hitting the creature, which yelps in pain. The unmistakable sound of more creatures coming up from the depths causes Withers to beat a hasty retreat. He initially considers setting fire to the junk in the basement to burn the creatures out, but a moment's thought makes 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 meets the others coming downstairs and tells them to flee.

The four investigators run into the night, returning to Browne’s home. A stiff drink is supplied to the extremely shaken Dr Bartlett, and they settle down to examine the spoils of their conquest of Bacon.

===Wednesday 28th November===

The next day, everyone is somewhat shaken and short of sleep. [[Browne]] decides to look for new accommodation, 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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/69/14_Wilfred_Grestys_Second_Letter.jpg 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 him 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 hideously disfigured corpse of Roby - or what appears 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 !

Continue to [[Session 7]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 5

2021-07-30T03:08:05Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 5th June, 2006==

===Tuesday 13th November===

The private detective Walsh contacts [[Withers]] about [[Edwards]] and [[Lawrence Bacon]]. Edwards has long gone from the last known address, leaving no trace. Bacon has run his shop in Islington for several decades and is still there. He rarely if ever leaves and the shop is open by appointment only.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] visits [[Talbot Estus]] to return ‘[[Le Roi en Jeune]]’. [[Michael Gillen]] seems to have moved out, and Estus is dishevelled and his apartment is a mess. He has been struggling to make any headway at all on his novel and seems unwell. A passionate discussion on [[The King in Yellow]] ensues, and Browne lends Estus his copy of ‘[[der Wanderer durch den See]]’. Putting two and two together regarding Estus' apparent astrophobia and his own reactions to [[the Springer Mound Monsters]], Browne asks whether Estus has seen a similar creature. Estus reveals a dream he has had, of [[Cassilda]]’s palace surrounded by flocks of black flying creatures similar to [[the Springer Mound Monsters]].

Browne leave Estus' apartment somewhat concerned over his mental health. He calls [[Dr. Bartlett]], asking him if he will visit Estus in a professional capacity. Bartlett agrees and asks Browne to arrange a meeting.

===Wednesday 14th November===

[[Image:tolkien.jpg|thumb|Tolkien during the war]]
Withers hears from his private detective about [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. Quarrie left the Royal Society in 1926, apparently to go overseas. The current resident of his former address does not know where but holds some mail for him, including letters from Pembroke College, Oxford.

Withers asks [[Andrew Saunders]] if he can help, as he has a contact at Oxford, and Saunders calls his friend John Tolkien to ask if John can find out anything about Quarrie. Tolkien recalls Quarrie’s name – he was a fellow scholar of Anglo-Saxon who once corresponded with him, as they had a mutual acquaintance. Quarrie wrote a book called ‘[[British Gods]]’ which was a study of Anglo-Saxon deities in the West of England. Tolkien owns a copy and invites Saunders to dinner in Oxford on Saturday.

Saunders also contacts the Archaeology Department at Oxford and locates Professor Hudson, who was on the [[Springer Mound]] dig in 1907, as a graduate student. This dig was nothing more than a training dig organised by a now deceased Professor, and it found nothing of interest. However, when Hudson lists the students on the dig he mentions a ‘Charles Edwards’ who he is sure died at the Somme.

===Thursday 15th November===

[[Bartlett]] calls [[St Agnes Asylum]] to tell [[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] that he will be recommending that [[Alexander Roby]] be released. Highsmith asks Bartlett to attend the release hearing in Hereford on November 30th to speak on Roby's behalf. Bartlett agrees.

===Friday 16th November===

Once again everyone meets for dinner at Bartlett's house to discuss events. The Dover sole is particularly fine.

===Saturday 17th November===

[[Andrew Saunders]] travels to Oxford to meet Professor Tolkien and discuss [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. Tolkien knows little, but is able to give Saunders a copy of '[[British Gods]]'. Tolkien takes Saunders to dinner and they discuss 'Beowulf'.

===Sunday 18th November===

The investigators have a quiet Sunday, getting on with their lives. Saunders reads a good chunk of '[[British Gods]]' including mention of a pagan fertility deity known as Shub-Niggurath or the black goat of the woods with a thousand young, who was worshipped in the west country in ancient times.

===Monday 19th November===

[[Browne]] calls [[Talbot Estus]] to try to persuade him to see [[Doctor Bartlett]], but Estus refuses.

[[Saunders]] attempts to trace [[Malcolm Quarrie]] via the Royal Society, but the best he can discover is that Quarrie is believed to have travelled to 'the continent'.

===Tuesday 20th November===

[[Doctor Bartlett]] receives a [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/b/bc/12_Wilfred_Grestys_First_Letter.pdf letter] from someone called [[Gresty]]. In the letter, Gresty claims to have been a part of the same group as [[Alexander Roby]], [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Malcolm Quarrie]], [[Edwards]] and [[Coombes]], and that the group has split up. He also asks their assistance in dealing with Bacon, who he says will go out on the night of the full moon (November 27th). Gresty says that he will prevent Coombes from being present, and that this will make Bacon easier to handle.

Bartlett and [[Withers]] discuss the letter. Bartlett phones [[Delia Morrison]] about Gresty, but she has never heard of him. He also tells Delia to contact Withers or himself if she thinks of anything that may be helpful.

===Wednesday 21st November===

[[Delia Morrison]] calls [[Withers]], saying she has found something and would like him to visit at six that evening. Withers, wary of any possible 'untowardness' in visiting her alone, invites [[Bartlett]].

When they arrive they find that [[Peter Morrison]] is present and Delia has a black eye. Withers reacts with anger, and Morrison, who has been drinking, challenges him to a fist fight.

Withers and Morrison face off in the front garden, and Withers wins handily, his second and final blow smashing into Morrison's midriff, leaving him gasping on the ground. Delia spits on her helpless husband and says 'if you ever lay a hand on me again, you are dead.' Morrison ends up hospitalised with a ruptured kidney, but the police press no charges as both Bartlett and Delia bear witness to Morrison's having started the fight.

Delia apologises to Withers for using him this way as in truth, she has no more information about [[Alexander Roby]]. She bids 'adieu' to him with a gentle kiss on the cheek.

===Thursday 22nd November===

At [[Saunders]]' urging [[Browne]] visits [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s former home and gains mail that was meant for him by posing as a relative. The letters include a couple from his mother in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire which refer to a 'Hillary', who seems to be Quarrie's estranged wife and announce the death of Quarrie's father. In the second letter his mother effectively disowns him and says she is moving away to live with 'Aunt Tessie'. No addresses are included in the letters.

Saunders decides to seek Quarrie in European academia and starts sending off cables to various learned institutions.

Walsh, the private detective, reports to [[Withers]] that there has been no movement of any interest at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop. In the light of the [[Gresty]] letter Withers ends Walsh's employ, deciding it's time to take a personal interest.

Withers gives his sister, Anna, [[Delia Morrison]]'s address and number and asks Anna to look after Delia.

[[Doctor Bartlett]] finds a disturbing note scribbled in a psychological journal that refers to [[The King in Yellow]], but is unable to locate it a second time.

===Friday 23rd November===

The weekly dinner at [[Doctor Bartlett]]'s house becomes a discussion about the situation with [[Lawrence Bacon]] and the [[Gresty]] letter. After much debate it is agreed that all four investigators will watch, and attempt to follow Bacon on the 27th, and that the police will not be informed in advance.

===Saturday 24th November===

In preparation for Tuesday night, [[Withers]] and [[Browne]] reconnoiter the area around Bacon's shop. Browne finds a good hiding place in the gardens of the Royal Fever Hospital, opposite the shop while Withers traces the route to the canal, as described in [[Vincent Tuck's report]].

While wandering the canal area, Withers is very disturbed to encounter a drunken tramp singing [[Cassilda]]'s song from '[[The King in Yellow]]'.

===Sunday 25th November===

A day spent in at church, with family or just quietly at home. [[Withers]] is invited to dine with his sister and finds himself in the awkward situation of sitting opposite [[Delia Hartston]] (who no longer calls herself 'Morrison').

===Monday 26th November===

A day spent at work, reading and writing, is interrupted when [[Browne]] gets a phone call from a barely coherent [[Talbot Estus]]. Estus says "I won't do it, I won't." and asks Browne "who are you, what do you want?".

Concerned, Browne calls [[Bartlett]], reporting that he is very disturbed by Estus' behaviour and fears that he may be a danger to himself or others. The pair arrange to meet at Estus's apartment building. Arriving first, Browne attempts to gain a response from within, but none is forthcoming. Barlett arrives and the two attempt to force entry. While attempting to break down the door (during which Browne re-injures his ankle), a neighbour arrives. He has a spare key and lets them in. Estus is found hanging in his study, an apparent suicide. Browne is shocked and falls backward to the floor.

A suicide note is found which says ''"Did I see my destiny, or did I make it? I know what I must do. Damn Roby and damn his book."'' The remains of [[Der Wanderer durch den See]] burn in the fireplace. Bartlett rings for an ambulance, while Browne, shaken by the entire experience, and realising that just like [[Dr. Lionel Trollope]], Estus apparently foresaw his own death while in possession of the book, starts to rummage through Estus's papers. He finds endless discarded drafts of the start of Estus's novel (it seems he never even settled on a beginning to his ''magnum opus''), and keeps some sheets. He also locates the copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]', which he swiftly pockets.

===Tuesday 27th November===

Despite being shaken by events of the previous night, the investigators meet as planned at 'the Cripple', a pub a few doors down from [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop. At closing time they take positions in the bushes across the street and in an alley at the corner, and wait.

Just before midnight a huge, bearded man leaves the shop. He answers the description of Bacon, except that he is clearly a good 20 years younger than they have been expecting. Nevertheless, they follow him, seemingly managing to avoid detection.

Bacon, if this is indeed he, follows the same route that he did when followed by [[Vincent Tuck]]. Once near Regents Canal he starts looking in doorways and alleys. [[Browne]] is closest when he enters an alley, just off the canal path, and starts to chant. A hideous screeching cacophony fills the air, joining with the chant, and the horrific screaming of a human being comes from within the alley. Browne hides in a nearby doorway.

[[Withers]], who is in the open on the canal path, fumbles for his gun. As he does this, the screeching stops and a vagrant staggers from the alley. Seeing Withers, the poor wretch screams for help. Bacon grabs the vagrant from behind and lifts him up. Withers fires a warning shot into the air. Bacon hurls his victim against a wall, where his body seems to break apart, and turns to face Withers.

Withers aims at Bacon as Bacon starts shouting 'Coombes, Coombes, where are you man, you're needed!'

[[Saunders]] and [[Bartlett]] close the gap and find themselves behind Withers on the canal path as Bacon, realising Coombes is not there, starts to rush towards Withers, chanting the words "arggan colubra, arggan colubra!". He passes Browne, still hiding in the shadows of the doorway. Browne prepares to attack Bacon from behind, aware that with his ankle still hurting, he is unlikely to be able to outrun him.

Withers fires - the shot seems to hit 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!

Continue to [[Session 6]].

==Audio Recording==

Session 5 - Total Running Time : 2h 47m (39 Meg)

[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/attachments/UBB_Tatters_of_the_King_-_Session_Five.mp3 Four Go Mad in London]

Delia Hartston

2021-07-30T03:00:46Z

Greywolf:

[[image:deli.JPG|right|Delia Hartson]]

Delia Hartston (now Delia Morrison) is [[Alexander Roby]]'s former fiancee. When [[Dr Bartlett]] spoke to Roby, Roby initially seemed to think he was talking to Delia.

[[Grahame Roby]] expressed a distrust of Delia, suggesting she was in some way involved with the [[Roby murders]].

[[Captain George Withers]] engaged a private detective to locate her and traced her to Enfield, North of London, where she lives with her husband [[Peter Morrison]]. They married less than a year after Delia split with Roby, and he is 12 years her senior.

Withers and [[Bartlett]] visited her. She told them of Roby's dealings with [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and [[Edwards]] and also mentioned [[Coombes]]. She also provided them with a copy of '[[the Walker by the Lake]]' and told them of [[Clare Melford]] and the 'nine teeth' that could be found there.

Withers believed that Delia's husband beat her, and was greatly troubled by this. When Delia invited Withers to her home on 21st November. ostensibly with information about the Roby case, Withers encountered a drunken, bellicose Peter and saw that Delia was sporting a black eye.

Challenged to fight by Peter Morrison, Withers soundly beat and hospitalised Delia's husband. Delia warned the stricken man to stay away from her.

After this event, Withers asked his sister Anna to take Delia in and Delia temporarily moved to Anna's house. Dining together at Anna's house shortly afterwards, both Delia and Withers struggled with their growing feelings for one another and the scandal that any relationship would surely cause.

When Delia received a note from Alexander asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] she immediately brought it to [[Withers]].

After his return from [[Drakmar]], Withers married Delia.

Session 2

2021-07-30T02:58:28Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 15th May, 2006==

===October 31st 1928, Halloween===

Halloween. The four friends meet at [[Dr Bartlett]]'s Wimbledon home on Wednesday evening, for a game of bridge. The house has been dressed with pumpkins and other spooky accoutrements by Mrs Bartlett. Dr Bartlett raises the subject of the [[play]] and mentions that he recently encountered references to various elements of its contents during a professional consultation.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] explains that such elements have already been published as part of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Chambers Chambers'] work and that this would explain where Bartlett's patient most likely encountered it.

===November 1st 1928===

[[Dr Bartlett]] meets [[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] in his London home. Trollope describes the [[Roby murders]], and explains that he does not think [[Alexander Roby]] is now, or ever will be, fit for release.

Trollope seems drained and preoccupied.

[[Nathaniel Browne]], desiring to peruse a copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]', calls [[Talbot Estus]] and reveals what he has so far discovered about the roots of the [[play]]. Intrigued by names in the play turning up in the [[works of Ambrose Bierce]] and thus having a possible source which predates 'Le Roi en Jeune', Estus arranges for Nathaniel to visit him for lunch the following day.

On his return home, Bartlett discovers that a man claiming to be a taxi driver was looking for his house earlier in the day, but never called. This appears to be [[the Tall Man]], who makes more appearances later on.

===November 2nd 1928===

[[Nathaniel Browne]] keeps his lunch date with [[Talbot Estus]]. Arriving at the home of Estus and [[Michael Gillen]], Nathaniel finds that Gillen is away on business. Over lunch, Browne and Estus describe their mutual enthusiasm for '[[the King in Yellow]]'. Estus is surprised and offended by Nathaniel's insistence that the [[play]] was not performed as written, but nonetheless is persuaded to lend Browne his copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]'.

[[Dr Bartlett]] visits [[Grahame Roby]] who is belligerent and unhelpful, but does mention [[Delia Hartston]].

Grahame Roby clearly does not have the slightest intention of consenting to [[Alexander Roby]]'s release.

That evening, Bartlett dines with [[Withers]] and tells him what he has learned about the Roby case. Withers offers to attempt to trace [[Delia Hartston]].

===November 3rd 1928===

[[Nathaniel Browne]] begins his own translation of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]', finding that it differs from [[Talbot Estus]]'s play in some significant ways.

Withers, prompted by [[Bartlett]] engages a private investigator, by telephone, to trace [[Delia Hartston]].

As evening falls, [[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] is murdered in St James' Park.

===November 4th 1928===

[[Image:stjames.jpg|right|thumb|Winter in St. James Park]]

The [[Daily Express Reports]] the murder of [[Dr. Lionel Trollope]] in [[St James' Park]], one of the suspects matches the description of [[the Tall Man]].

A man, possibly [[the Tall Man]] delivers a housebrick to [[Captain George Withers]] at Victoria Barracks, in what appears to have been an exercise to confirm Withers' billet. Withers arranges to change his accommodation in reaction to this.

Later, [[Dr Bartlett]] receives a posthumous letter ([http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/63/09_Letter_from_Dr_Trollope_part_1.pdf page 1], [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/f/f4/09_Letter_from_Dr_Trollope_part_2.pdf page 2]) from Trollope, mentioning [[Delia Hartston]], [[Lawrence Bacon]] and [[Vincent Tuck]]. The letter appears to predict, in exact detail, the circumstances of Trollope's death. Trollope also reveals that Roby once had a book published - '[[The Walker by the Lake]]'.

That afternoon, Bartlett receives a visit from [[Detective Inspector Andrew Taylor]], investigating the Trollope murder, who is interviewing all those who had appointments with Trollope in the days before his death. Bartlett is reasonably open with Taylor, mentioning the mysterious activities of [[the Tall Man]] and the possible connection to [[the Roby Murders]].

===November 5th 1928, Guy Fawkes' Night===

Fireworks at [[Dr Bartlett]]'s house. They discuss the events of the last few days, during which it becomes clear that everyone knows that Bartlett has been consulting on the case of [[Alexander Roby]].

[[Bartlett]] discusses the fact that he has been somewhat disturbed by his current work and that a friend of his ([[Dr. Lionel Trollope]]) has not only been murdered, but apparently predicted the exact circumstances of his demise in his letter to Bartlett. He urges [[Browne]] to find a book called '[[The Walker by the Lake]]' which may be pertinent to the case. Browne agrees but is frustrated by Bartlett's unwillingness to share details of the book such as its authorship.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] reveals the copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]' that he borrowed from Estus. The [[Yellow Sign]] on the cover seems to writhe and move upon the page, disturbing [[Withers]] and bringing back memories of bad dreams for [[Andrew Saunders]]. This dream was the mirror of Saunders' previous doppelganger dream. in this version Saunders was the armed version of himself, attempting to seize a crown from his unarmed self.

Browne reveals what he has discovered about '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]' and its differences from [[Talbot Estus]]'s [[play]].

After [[Bartlett]]'s wife calls everyone outside for the fireworks (during which [[Browne]] sees the [[Yellow Sign]] formed by one of them, but the others do not), Bartlett receives a frantic phone call from Nurse [[Price]] at the asylum, announcing the murder of [[Frederick Long]].

On the way home, [[Saunders]]' cab is cut off by a black car and Saunders is threatened by [[the Tall Man]], who warns Saunders to tell his friends to 'drop this matter'.

Continue to [[Session 3]].

==Audio Recording==

Session 2 - Total Running Time : 1h 54m (50 Meg)

[http://www.unboundbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TotK-Session-2-The-Plot-Thickens.mp3 The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 2 - The Plot Thickens] - Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such is quiet in places and has some quality issues.

Session 1.5

2021-07-30T02:57:31Z

Greywolf: /* 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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/44/04_The_Letter_from_Dr_Highsmith.pdf a letter] from [[Dr. Charles Highsmith]], superintendent of [[St Agnes Asylum]] in [[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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/5/54/05_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===

[[Image:vangogh.png|right|thumb|200px|Corridor in the Asylum, by Van Gogh]]

[[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 response 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' (see
[http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/2/2e/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 strange 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.

Continue to [[Session 2]].

==Audio Recording==

This session was run between [[Mark Chiddicks| the Gamemaster]] and
[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (as played by [[Marcus Gustafsson]]). There was no recording done of this session.

Session 1.5

2021-07-30T02:56:45Z

Greywolf:

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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/4/44/04_The_Letter_from_Dr_Highsmith.pdf a letter] from [[Dr. Charles Highsmith]], superintendent of [[St Agnes Asylum]] in [[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://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/5/54/05_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===

[[Image:vangogh.png|right|thumb|200px|Corridor in the Asylum, by Van Gogh]]

[[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 response 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' (see
[http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/2/2e/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 strange 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.

Continue to [[Session 2]].

==Audio Recording==

This session was run between [[Mark Chiddicks| the Gamemaster]] and
[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] (as played by [[Marcus Gustafsson]]). There was no recording done of this session.

Session 1

2021-07-30T02:55:26Z

Greywolf:

==Session Report - Played Monday 8th May 2006==

===October 17th 1928===

[[Image:scala.jpg|right]]
[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]], a research psychologist, is invited by former patient [[Michael Gillen]] to see the premiere of the play [[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] at the [[Scala Theatre]] on Charlotte Street, and to make an informal assessment of the mental state of playwright [[Talbot Estus]], Gillen’s companion and housemate. Bartlett offers his second ticket to his friend [[Captain George Withers]], a career army man. Before the performance, while sitting in the bar, they meet [[Andrew Saunders]]. Saunders, a museum curator with a special interest in mythology, is an acquaintance and former patient (after a very strange experience on a train journey) of Doctor Bartlett. Saunders' sister [[Hannah Keith]] is starring in the [[play]], and he has invited his friend [[Nathaniel Browne]], with whom he shared the aforementioned train journey. Nathaniel, an author, is very enthusiastic about seeing this new play by the noted novellist, [[Talbot Estus]].

Watching the [[play]], the PCs observe that the audience is reacting strangely to the performance. Gasps of horror, surprise and even laughter are expressed at points in the performance that seem wholly inappropriate.

During the intermission between the two acts, Nathaniel reveals that the play is affecting him deeply, especially the appearance of the [[Yellow Sign]]. Similarly Andrew admits to being affected, though not as much. Captain Withers seems unimpressed, and Doctor Bartlett seems more interested in the audience's reaction to the play than the play itself. While they are talking, the group overhears a couple talking heatedly about the play, with the woman insisting she saw things which the husband disputes were there at all. Nathaniel is also puzzled that he saw two people get up and leave in the middle of the performance whereas the others saw no such thing.

Many of the patrons do not return for the second act.

The PCs watch the second act during which the emotions of the crowd appear to become more intense, culminating in a near riot at the end of the [[play]]. Some people cry out and others scream. Nathaniel is left crying uncontrollably, while the man on his left punches his wife and grabs Nathaniel. Fortunately Captain Withers, mystified rather than affected by the performance and rendered furious by the assault on the lady, remains clear-headed enough to save Browne from his assailant. Someone sets off the fire alarm and there is a stampede toward the exits before the ushers restore order.

Partly to avoid the police, who have arrived in the wake of the riot, the four companions go to the after-play reception and meet with the cast, who are largely unaware of any untoward incident. [[Browne]] meets [[Talbot Estus]] and discusses the play (which has inspired him) and its meaning with great fervour. [[Saunders]] discovers that his sister, [[Hannah Keith]] has been dreaming of [[Carcosa]] and seems to find the [[play]] disturbing, as does young [[Jean Hewart]]. [[Michael Gillen]] tells [[Doctor Bartlett]] that [[Talbot Estus]] seems to have a fear of the stars, as well as a mania for the [[play]], which he is attempting to novelise.

The reception breaks up after Estus has a heated exchange with the [[Scala Theatre]]'s manager, who is pulling the plug on the production because of the riot. Arrangements are made by the new acquaintances to meet for lunch at the weekend.

===October 18th & 19th 1928===

[[Nathaniel Browne]] dreams several times of playing in a discordant orchestra, with a picture of the [[Yellow Sign]] instead of music. Researching the play’s origins he discovers the works of [[Robert W Chambers]] and that multiple plays of the same name appear to have existed in the past. He starts to write stories featuring elements from the play.

[[Andrew Saunders]] dreams several times of confronting an armed doppelganger of himself in a [[Carcosa]]n Palace, and arranges to see his sister after the lunch with his friends.

[[Captain George Withers]] thinks little of the play until he encounters a landscape of [[Carcosa]] during a regimental function at a gallery.

[[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] also thinks little of it, but does notice the [[Yellow Sign]] in a piece of London graffiti that says “The King will change London”. He also discusses [[Talbot Estus]] with [[Michael Gillen]], but states there’s little he can do if Estus is unwilling to see him.

===October 20th 1928===

The four new friends meet for lunch at Overton’s Oyster House. The play is discussed. [[Nathaniel Browne]], given a script by [[Talbot Estus]], has discovered that the play as performed does not match the [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/67/CARCOSA.pdf script] that Estus wrote. [[Andrew Saunders]] agrees to mention this to his sister, [[Hannah Keith]].

At tea, Saunders discovers that both his sister and her husband have identical scripts to Browne's, and claim to have performed the play as written.

Meanwhile, [[Dr Bartlett]] receives an intriguing letter from an asylum superindendent in Herefordshire…

Continue to [[Session 1.5]].

==Audio Recording==

Session 1 - Total Running Time : 1h 41m (62.3 Meg)

[http://www.unboundbook.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/TotK-Session-1-Opening-Night.mp3 The Monday Night Players Present...Tatters of the King Session 1 - Opening Night] - Note: This recording was made in 2006 and as such is quiet in places and has some quality issues.

Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger

2021-07-30T02:48:24Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:01_Playbill.png|right]]
[[Image:02 Cast List.png|right]]
A fantasy in two acts by [[Talbot Estus]] performed by 'The Group' at the [[Scala]] theatre on the 17th of October 1928.

==Cast==

[[Cassilda]], queen of [[Yhtill]] - Mrs. [[Hannah Keith]]

Thale, older son of [[Cassilda]] - Mr. [[Walter Paige]]

Uoht, younger son of [[Cassilda]] and Naotalba, [[Cassilda]]'s high priest - Mr. [[George Keith]]

[[Camilla]], daughter of [[Cassilda]] - Ms. [[Jean Hewart]]

[[The Stranger]] - Mr. [[Michael Gillen]]

[[The King in Yellow]] - Mr. [[Talbot Estus]]

==The Story==

[[Cassilda]] is Queen of a City ([[Yhtill]]) which overlooks the Lake of Hali.

On the far shore of Hali, when the [[Hyades]] rise, can be seen the mysterious city of [[Carcosa]], a city with five [[singularities]] (of which four are revealed). It is said [[The King in Yellow]] rules there.

Yhtill is at war with the city of [[Alar]], ruled by [[Aldones]] who is closely related to [[Cassilda]] – there is an endless stalemate in this war.

Nothing ever happens of note in [[Yhtill]].

There is an endless debate about the succession between Cassilda’s two sons that seems to hinge on which one their sister Camilla chooses as her husband.

[[Cassilda]] fears the coming of [[The Yellow Sign]] – a symbol sent from [[Carcosa]] to all Yhtillian monarchs. Its significance is unclear

A [[stranger]] wearing a pale mask arrives in the city, causing a great commotion.

[[The stranger]] tells the royal family that the mask is a weapon against the [[King in Yellow]]. He reveals that he wears the [[Yellow Sign]] – and later claims he does this as a sign of its powerlessness against the [[Pallid Mask]], but its revelation causes horror amongst the royal family.

[[The Stranger]] suggests a masked ball, in which all shall wear the [[Pallid Mask]], and thus be free forever of the influence of the King.

During the ball, the [[Stranger]] reveals that he is a spy from [[Alar]], and that he wears no Mask.

At this, the [[King in Yellow]] makes his appearance, slays [[the Stranger]] and tells the people of [[Yhtill]] that Yhtill and [[Carcosa]] are now the same city, and that the price of this alliance against [[Alar]], which will be destroyed is the ‘fixing of the Mask’ – [[Cassilda]] and her family are horrifed and the King ends by asking ‘Did you think to be human still?’

==Oddities==

The play as described (which is as it was seen by the PCs) differs significantly from the [http://tatterswiki.ddns.net/images/6/67/CARCOSA.pdf script], but the performers say that they performed the script exactly as written.

In both versions of the play large sections of exposition appear to be missing – the cause and effect relationships between various elements are a total mystery. The character of the Child, for example is very peculiar.

At the beginning of the second act, the child delivers a speech in front of the closed curtain indicating that it is now too late for the audience and that by returning to watch the second act they have committed themselves to the consequences.

During the play, people's reactions did not seem to be in line with what was actually happening on the stage. People would react with gasps or laughter at points where nothing appeared to elicit surprise or humour.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] noted that in the latter part of the first act, there appeared to be something being said very subtley between the lines.

He also noticed a couple two rows in front of him leave during this time, but the other PCs said that this event did not occur.

The play, particularly [[The Yellow Sign]] seemed to affect the emotions of some people very strongly, whereas others were affected little, if at all. After the King's exit in the last scene, there were many people overcome with emotion (to the point of almost fomenting a riot). [[Nathaniel Browne]] cried uncontrollably, while the man next to him punched his wife in the face. Due to the uproar, the last few lines of the play were drowned out.

Some people seem to have watched (or thought they have seen) different versions of scenes than others.

==Reviews==

[[Theatre Review]]

[[On Stage]]

Springer Mound

2016-03-07T20:16:40Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:SpringerMound.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Springer Mound]]Springer Mound is a low hill on the land of [[Harold Jennings]] just outside the Suffolk village of [[Clare Melford]]. [[Andrew Saunders]] and [[Nathaniel Browne]] explored the hill and discovered a ring of nine holes surrounding a pool of viscous, tar-like liquid on its summit, which smelled of rotting fruit.

On its overgrown lower slopes, Saunders located nine uprooted obelisks, almost certainly the 'nine teeth' spoken of by [[Alexander Roby]]. These obelisks were of recent manufacture and had strange lines of poetry engraved upon them, referring in one place to '[[Hastur]]'.

Two flying creatures endlessly circled the Mound at a great height, and when [[Harold Jennings]], in an attempt to scare Saunders off his land accidentally discharged his shotgun into one of the stones, one of these creatures swooped down to attack, revealing the true nature of [[the Springer Mound Monsters]].

The nine stones and the smell of rotting vegetation both appeared in the dream that [[Doctor Frederick Bartlett]] had while visiting [[Weobley]].

The stones were removed by truck a week or so after Jennings' death and taken to Scotland. The creatures apparently disappeared at the same time.

Session 13

2014-04-09T03:32:57Z

Greywolf: /* Wednesday January 17th 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 11th September, 2006==

=== Friday January 12th 1930 ===

The ship steams across the Red Sea on the 2-day leg to the port of Aden. In mid-morning, Withers receives a telegram. Though he does not immediately reveal its contents and does not appear to be unhappy at receiving it, it clearly gives him pause. As the day progresses his friends can see an occasional smile, although he doesn't share the content and evades any questions on it.

At lunch, Mrs [[Tullis]] announces her planned Gilbert and Sullivan recital, "[[William and Arthur]]", and allocates songs to each of the guests. Realising their voices are not strong, the investigators decide to start rehearsing that afternoon, but [[Julian Knight]] does not turn up. The rehearsal is not encouraging.

Francessca, who is getting concerned that her friend Patricia is falling rather heavily for Captain Withers and that she has seen little evidence that he returns the feeling, expresses to Nathaniel that Captain Withers should make his intentions towards her clear. Both Withers and Brown think that it might be better to come from her in a non direct and more face saving way but Francessca is insistent and says that Patricia has recently been badly hurt by a man and that it is important that Captain Withers doesn't behave in a similar fashion.

So later that evening an extremely reluctant and highly embarrassed Captain Withers suggests a walk along the deck after dinner. Although he does his best to let her down lightly Patricia reacts badly, accusing Withers of not liking her because of her less outgoing nature. She doesn't listen to his urgent denials and confessions of already loving another before he meet her and Patricia eventually dissolves into tears and runs off into the night to her friend, [[Francesca Nicholson]], for comfort.

Also that very evening Francesca declares her love to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who returns the feelings in full.

=== Saturday January 13th 1930 ===

[[Image:Aden.jpg|thumb|300px|The Port at Aden|right]]

In late morning the ship docks at the port of Aden. Passengers go ashore and visit the town. Withers goes into town to try and find some flowers to make up for his rejection of Ms. Berry, but can find none of quality in the dingy town. Browne stays on board as Francesca is comforting Patricia. Although he tries not to, he can't help but feel a little annoyed at Withers for being the reason for his inability to spend time with Francessca. [[Patricia Berry]] is absent from both lunch and dinner, but is witnessed by Nathaniel and Francesca that evening on the dance floor with [[Julian Knight]], clearly the worse for drink and equally clearly trying to spite [[Withers]]. Francesca advises Nathaniel that anything they try to do will only make things worse, and Nathaniel advises George to stay away from the ballroom.

=== Sunday January 14th 1930 ===

[[Withers]] meets with [[Julian Knight]] and warns him not to mistreat [[Patricia Berry]] or sully her honour. Knight sneers at Withers, saying that it is Withers who has wronged her.

That evening Table 8 dines with the Captain and Knight is sober, charming and a perfect gentleman.

=== Monday January 15th 1930 ===

The investigators speak at length to [[Umberto]] while making plans of what to do when they reach India. They agree to allow him to accompany them on the trail of [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

Once more [[Julian Knight]] dances with [[Patricia Berry]], but he remains sober and is a gentleman throughout the evening.

=== Tuesday January 16th 1930 ===

The last full day aboard the ship, Tuesday ends with the passengers' concert. Each table in the dining room puts on its own show - varying from short melodrama to poetic recitation. Table 8 delivers "[[William and Arthur]]" with great success; Francesca and the two Gentleman solo's shine in particular and receive great applause. [[Withers]] and [[Julian Knight]] engage in a little singing rivalry, a by-product of which results in the medley being more of a success than previously expected. Much champagne is drunk and everyone parties into the night.

=== Wednesday January 17th 1930 ===

[[Saunders]] and [[Browne]] awake with severe hangovers as the Malabar Coast hoves into view. The ship docks at [[Bombay]] in mid-morning and the passengers disembark.

Mrs [[Tullis]] takes charge of making sure everyone's luggage is gathered and transport arranged to the Taj Mahal hotel, where she has insisted everyone spend their first night (she can get a group discount on this finest of Indian hotels).

A dockside photograph of the table 8 crew is arranged. [[Patricia Berry]] looks unhappy, and [[Withers]] is concerned.

A few minutes later, as the table 8 crew says their farewells (though they plan to meet later for a meal), there is a sudden scream from [[Francesca Nicholson]]. The investigators turn to see her looking down into the water from the dock. "Patricia fell in!" she yells. In seconds Withers has dived into the water and is trying to save Ms Berry, but she fights him and its obvious she intends to drown herself. It's all Withers can do to keep her head above water, but soon [[Saunders]] jumps in to help, and between the two men, Patricia is brought to the steps and safety.

"Why did you do it?", asks Withers.

"It was Julian," she sobs, "what he did to me."

[[Image:taj.jpg|thumb|400px|The Taj Mahal Hotel|right]]

Furious, Withers leaves Patricia with Saunders and rushes up the steps, storming past a confused Browne, to find [[Julian Knight]], who can be seen boarding a taxi. 'Stop right there, you son of a bitch!' Withers yells as he runs after Knight. It looks like Knight may escape, but as the taxi starts out it is cut off by a produce truck. Withers drags the startled Knight out of the taxi and orders him to defend himself. Knight seems in shock but a fist whistling past his ear convinces him that [[Captain Withers]] is in deadly earnest and he turns to engage the Captain. Mrs Tullis steps in to prevent interference by the local constabulary as the two men fight. A few blows land before Withers ends the fight with a body blow followed by a right cross which drops Knight like a sack of potatoes.

As Withers stands over the battered, bleeding diplomat, Miss Berry walks over and, with great courage and all the dignity she can muster, points at Knight and loudly says "That man raped me!"

Knight is arrested. Mrs Tullis assures the group that her connections will ensure that Julian will have great difficulty exercising his diplomatic immunity.

As soon as a doctor has looked at Patricia, and given her a clean bill of health, Withers apologises for his profanity in front of the ladies('Quite reasonable in the circumstances, old boy!') and those without permanent accommodation in the city head for the Taj Mahal hotel accompanied by Mrs Tullis, who smoothes the way at every step.

[[Umberto]] finds his own accommodation, but the others enjoy a fine meal in the luxurious surroundings of the hotel, where Mrs Tullis recommends [[Sivakumar Patel]] as a guide for the investigators, and tells them she can make arrangements to have him meet them the next morning.

Both Withers and Browne are distracted by the fact that each feels in some way responsible for what happened to Patricia. Withers guilt is greater, but is much ameliorated by his act of revenge against Knight.

=== Wednesday January 18th 1930 ===

After a hearty breakfast, the investigators meet their guide, [[Sivakumar Patel]], also known as 'Siva'. The decision has been made that the movements of [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]] in Bombay need to be looked into before travelling any further. While the others go in search of local newspaper archives, [[Withers]] goes shopping with [[Siva]]. He asks to be shown some good jewellers and Siva proudly tells him that Bombay is the jewellry capital of India.

At the offices of the Times of India [[Browne]] finds a [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/0/0b/28_Newspaper_Article_on_the_Arrival_of_Italian_Archaeological_Expedition.pdf report] of the Italian Expedition's arrival in the city, but no more details. It is decided to ask Siva if he can find out who [[Quarrie]] hired as a guide while in the city.

Meanwhile, at the market, Withers sees what appears to be the [[Stranger]], the Pallid Mask himself, standing amidst the crowd. As Withers stares in amazement the apparition walks straight through another shopper before brushing Withers with its sleeve. When it does this Withers receives a sudden powerful vision of [[Carcosa]], then the Stranger is gone, leaving the man that he walked through sobbing uncontrollably. Withers asks Siva if he saw what happened, but Siva saw nobody.

Back at the hotel, Siva agrees to go and ask around to see what he can find out about the Italian expedition. He returns a little after lunch with the news that he located the guide they used, one Rajinder Singh, and has been to see him. According to Singh the Europeans spent their time shopping and exploring the city, but that they did visit a Holy Man at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Silence the Towers of Silence], who spoke to them and seemed disturbed by what they said to him. Siva can take the investigators to see this man if they are interested. They are indeed.

In mid afternoon the investigators, including [[Umberto]] board a couple of ''gharis'' and head to the Towers of Silence, on the outskirts of the city. there amongst the vulture picked remains atop the Parsee funerary towers they find the Holy Man in question, a wizened old Parsee. Siva translates for them.

The Holy Man says that he remembers the man who bore the mark of a God upon his soul. He says that Nathaniel Browne also bears this mark, but not as strongly.

The God in question is the Outsider, the God In White, who is 'older than the Earth'.

The outsider can be found in the North, in the mountains where the 'small people' think him a Buddha. He is even now walking towards us.

The investigators return to their hotel and agree that they must travel to Nepal as soon as possible and try to pick up Quarrie's trail in Mustang. Reverend [[Gore]] is taking the Saturday morning train to Jabalpur, which is en route to the Nepalese border, so the investigators decide to travel with him. They set about making sure that they are fully equipped for a journey that will include a hike of at least 2 weeks in each direction from the end of the railway to the heart of the Kingdom of Mustang.

That night the dreams come again, more vivid than ever.

Continue to [[Session 14]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

William and Arthur

2014-04-09T01:43:58Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:gands.jpg|right]]

Mrs [[Henrietta Tullis]] organised this very successful Gilbert and Sullivan recital on [[the Viceroy of India]]. All of the passengers from table 8 took part. The running order was:

1 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXWkIZUPmDY Three Little Maids From School] - Mrs Tullis, [[Francesca Nicholson]], [[Patricia Berry]]

2 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1dy44jV8EM I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General] - [[Stephen Thomas]]

3 - [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpVbBH9Ip8I A Policeman's Lot is Not a Happy One] - Rev [[Ian Gore]]

4 - "[[A British Tar is a Soaring Soul]]" - [[Browne]], [[Withers]], [[Saunders]], [[Julian Knight]]

The best singers proved to be Miss Nicholson (who managed a beautiful delivery despite the overacting of Mrs Tullis) and Mr Thomas, though the comedy policeman routine by Reverend Gore (who had obtained a replica policeman's helmet from somewhere) brought the loudest applause.

The "British Tar" number was notable for Withers and Knight attempting to out-sing each other, which happily disguised the lesser talents of Browne and Saunders and made for a better performance overall.

A British Tar is a Soaring Soul

2014-04-09T01:38:51Z

Greywolf:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Ky0v_0w0E YouTube]

A British Tar Is A Soaring Soul lyrics 
by Gilbert & Sullivan 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

A British tar is a soaring soul, 
As free as a mountain bird, 
His energetic fist should be ready to resist 
A dictatorial word. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His nose should should pant, and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame, and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave, and his heart should glow (protrude), 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow... 

(All:) 

His nose should pant and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave and his heart should glow, 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

His eyes should flash with an inborn fire, 
His brow with scorn be wrung; 
He never should bow down to a domineering frown, 
Or the tang of a tyrant tongue. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl, 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his costomary attitude. 

(All:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl; 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his customary attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude!

A British Tar is a Soaring Soul

2014-04-09T01:37:38Z

Greywolf:

<html><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value=" http://www.youtube.com/v/p6pgxLaDdQw&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1 "></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" http://www.youtube.com/v/p6pgxLaDdQw&rel=0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1 " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></html>

A British Tar Is A Soaring Soul lyrics 
by Gilbert & Sullivan 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

A British tar is a soaring soul, 
As free as a mountain bird, 
His energetic fist should be ready to resist 
A dictatorial word. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His nose should should pant, and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame, and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave, and his heart should glow (protrude), 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow... 

(All:) 

His nose should pant and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave and his heart should glow, 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

His eyes should flash with an inborn fire, 
His brow with scorn be wrung; 
He never should bow down to a domineering frown, 
Or the tang of a tyrant tongue. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl, 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his costomary attitude. 

(All:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl; 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his customary attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude!

A British Tar is a Soaring Soul

2014-04-09T01:37:15Z

Greywolf:

<html><iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1-Ky0v_0w0E?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></html>

A British Tar Is A Soaring Soul lyrics 
by Gilbert & Sullivan 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

A British tar is a soaring soul, 
As free as a mountain bird, 
His energetic fist should be ready to resist 
A dictatorial word. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His nose should should pant, and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame, and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave, and his heart should glow (protrude), 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow... 

(All:) 

His nose should pant and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave and his heart should glow, 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

His eyes should flash with an inborn fire, 
His brow with scorn be wrung; 
He never should bow down to a domineering frown, 
Or the tang of a tyrant tongue. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl, 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his costomary attitude. 

(All:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl; 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his customary attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude!

A British Tar is a Soaring Soul

2014-04-09T01:33:25Z

Greywolf:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Ky0v_0w0E&feature=kp

A British Tar Is A Soaring Soul lyrics 
by Gilbert & Sullivan 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

A British tar is a soaring soul, 
As free as a mountain bird, 
His energetic fist should be ready to resist 
A dictatorial word. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His nose should should pant, and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame, and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave, and his heart should glow (protrude), 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow... 

(All:) 

His nose should pant and his lip should curl, 
His cheeks should flame and his brow should furl, 
His bosom should heave and his heart should glow, 
And his fist be ever ready for a knock-down blow. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" together:) 

His eyes should flash with an inborn fire, 
His brow with scorn be wrung; 
He never should bow down to a domineering frown, 
Or the tang of a tyrant tongue. 

("Ralph", "Boatswain" and the "Carpenter" at different levels:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl, 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his costomary attitude. 

(All:) 

His foot should stamp, and his throat should growl, 
His hair should twirl, and his face should scowl; 
His eyes should flash, and his breast protrude, 
And this should be his customary attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude, 
His attitude!

Session 16

2009-08-25T21:58:28Z

Greywolf: /* George Withers */

==Session Report - Played Monday 2nd October, 2006==

=== The Upper House - February 1930 ===

[[Image:king.jpg|right]]
The [[King in Yellow]] appears standing beside the gate. He was not seen to pass through it.

The King does not speak, but all hear his words in their minds:

''GREETINGS PILGRIMS I AM THE KING IN YELLOW WHICH OF YOU HAS COME TO GUIDE ME''

''THE WHITE ACOLYTE WILL BE MY HONOURED SERVANT MY HIGH PRIEST TO CARRY MY GOSPEL TO THE WORLD''

====Nathaniel Browne====

Ahead of the others, [[Nathaniel]] stands, awestruck by the power and majesty of the being before him. This is his muse, the very personification of the driving force behind the last year and a half of his life. There seems nothing more important to him than to be the servant of this being, this god, this king. But he remembers. He remembers the deaths of [[Bacon]], [[Edwards]], and [[Quarrie]]. He remembers the grave of [[Frederick Bartlett]], his friend. He remembers the horrors which have driven him and his friends across London, across England, across oceans and high mountains. He remembers his dream, the graveyard of the world. At last, finally and overwhelmingly, he remembers [[Francesca]]. His love is a greater thing than his art. His head moves slowly to the left, then to the right in slow, but unmistakable, denial. He passes the test. He will not serve. He will not be the [[White Acolyte]].

====George Withers====

Such is the power of the King in Yellow's presence that for a brief moment even [[Withers]] remains transfixed by his majesty and beauty. Of all his friends and companions Withers has always remained the most unaffected and unimpressed by the power of the dream they have been pursuing. Far, far removed from the positive revelry in sensation that Nathaniel Browne has abandoned himself to, and distant even from the professional curiosity about those people affected felt by his close friend Doctor Frederick Bartlett. Frederick! The thought of his friend snaps Withers out of his brief reverie - his dear friend was butchered by one of the servants, or heralds, or some damn thing serving the creature that stands before him now. How could he have allowed himself, even for a second, to waver in his purpose? That THING is a threat to every thing he holds dear and there is no damn way that George Withers is going to be the White Acolyte. He'd burn in hell first!

====Umberto====

Recognising the King in Yellow from his dreams, for a second the majesty of the King makes Umberto doubt all he believes. Surely this reality is greater than any Christian myth? Then he realises that this being is the truth behind the story of Satan. This is the Lord of Lies, and Umberto will not be tempted.

====Andrew Saunders====

Saunders has spent his adult life living a lie. His life has been a never-ending succession of compromises and half-truths. The majesty and glory of the King in Yellow offers certainty, beauty and freedom. The veil lifts from his eyes and Saunders wants nothing more than to serve this being. Saunders realises that it is his destiny to be [[the White Acolyte]].

===Action Resumes===

The voice in his head urges him to be it's servant, but [[Nathaniel Browne]] again denies it. The voice says "ONE OF THESE OTHERS LOVES ME". Nathaniel turns to his companions, a look of deep worry sketched on his face. "Remember Franscesca" begs [[Withers]]. "I know" replies Browne, "It's not me I'm worried about". [[Umberto]] begins to move toward the King, his right hand grasping the symbol around his neck. He is closely followed by Withers. Browne intercepts, raising a hand to block his path, "No, I don't think so" he says. Umberto looks bewilderedly at Browne. "What are you doing?" asks Browne. "That is the apparition!" replies Umberto. "The King?" enquires Browne, confused. "No king of mine" replies Umberto in a firm voice.

Suddenly, Withers notices that [[Saunders]], uninvolved in this confrontation, has moved forward - a vacant, rapt, expression on his face - and has almost reached the imposing figure of the King! "Saunders!" shouts Withers, realizing he cannot reach his friend in time. Saunders appears to struggle against an irresistible pull, "Shoot me Withers, shoot me!" he begs. Withers draws his revolver, carefully aiming for the Scotsman's legs. Click! The round is a dud! Hastily Withers makes to fire again, but he is too late - Saunders' outstretched arm makes contact with the spectre's robe, the king's unseen eyes seem to bore into those of Withers, Browne and Umberto and they stand, paralyzed. Unable to move under the king's unearthly gaze, the others can only watch and listen.

A change comes across Saunders' expression. It is obvious that his infatuation with the King in Yellow is fading fast. "No", the sound seems torn from the Scot's throat, a few seconds later "No, you'll destroy it!" and finally, in total denial, "NO!". At this third declaration, the others find they can move again, but before they can react, the King in Yellow spins, becoming a whirlwind of yellow. The tatters of his robe hit Saunders and, before their horrified eyes, the others see Saunders torn apart, a gout of red stained gore spreads across the floor. Withers fires, his bullet passing harmlessly through the whirlwind of colour.

The King in Yellow reforms. His voice fills their heads once more: WILL ONE OF YOU GUIDE ME. "Go to [[Carcosa]], it's where you belong!" says withers, 'Nooo!!" shouts Umberto, "By the Lord's name I shall not!", Nathaniel remains silent. WILL YOU GUIDE ME the King asks again, his face looking straight at Nathaniel, "No!", he shouts. At this third denial, the King turns on the spot and vanishes.

While Browne moves forward to inspect the lectern next to the gate, Withers and Umberto approach what is left of Andrew Saunders. "I'm so sorry", intones Umberto, "it should have been me". "Oh, God" says Withers, "poor Saunders".

"The [[Yellow Sign]]!" - the sudden outburst from Browne breaks their reverie. "What?" says Withers. "This lectern", replies Browne, "it's just like the one in the cave where we came to this place". "You think it's somehow magical?" asks Withers. "Yes!" replies Browne. "Then let's get out of here!" shouts Withers. Browne nods, drawing the knife with the yellow sign pommel from his belt, he slices his palm and places it against the lectern. For over a year this sign has been the focus of his life, the tracing is perfect. The gate changes from misty white to blue. Nathaniel steps through. Immediately, a high-pitched keening noise begins to emit from the gate. There is a gasp of horror from Umberto. Withers turns and sees the King in Yellow, flying at high speed towards the gate. "Quickly!" he says, jumping through. The last thing he sees, as his face passes through the curtain of blue light, is the King's robed arm sweeping the bloody sign from the lectern.

===The Return===

Withers emerges from the gate and stumbles, yelping in pain. The skin has been stripped from the back of his trailing right leg, leaving it raw and bloody. Browne rushes forward to help. He glances up at the gate, finding it has returned to a misty white curtain through which can once again be seen the elephantine bulk of [[Chaugnar Faughn]]. The two have clearly returned to Mustang. Withers looks
back at the gate in horror - Umberto has not followed them through! The fate of the world rests in the hands of a man they hardly know, nor trust.

===Gethsemane===

[[Image:Prayer.jpg|right]]

Back in Leng, the gate snaps shut as the King wipes the blood away. The King advances on Umberto. ''WILL YOU AID ME'' "No!" reiterates Umberto, clutching at his holy symbol. ''I CANNOT LEAVE YOU HERE YOU WILL WAIT I WILL SEE YOU SOON'' The robes of the King flap up blocking Umberto's view and he finds himself in cold and solitary darkness.

Umberto flicks on his torch, finding himself in a large, flagstone floored chamber with four exits, one in each wall. This is clearly deep in the bowels of the [[Upper House]]. There is absolute silence. Careful to mark his route, Umberto explores his surroundings, finding himself back in the labyrinth of
the Upper House. Without the piping to guide him and with no idea where he is, Umberto returns to the room the King left him in and prays.

After an hour or so, the King's voice again fills his head. ''YOUR FRIENDS ARE DEAD YOU ARE ALONE BUT YOU NEED NOT BE GUIDE ME TO YOUR WORLD AND YOU WILL BE MY CHOSEN ONE'' "Never!" says Umberto defiantly, "you will not break me, I serve a higher power!". At this, the presence leaves him. Some hours later, the King returns and asks again, and is again rebuffed, although Umberto can feel his resistance ebbing slowly away. The presence does not return for some hours, during which Umberto again prays. Finally, just a moment after the last power from his torch is gone and he is again left in total blackness, the voice again returns.
''DARK AND ALONE HUNGRY IT NEED NOT BE LIKE THIS GUIDE ME''
"No..., my...heart..lies...with...God!" this time Umberto barely resists the King's mental intrusions, delivering the words through gritted teeth. For a time beyond knowing, Umberto lies in the darkness. Finally, when all his food is gone and but a sip of water remains, Umberto realizes what he must do.

'''Umberto cradles the rifle in his lap.'''

"Dominus reget me et nihil mihi deerit." - "The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want."

'''He takes a round from his pocket and lays it on the floor'''.

"In loco pascuae ibi; me conlocavit super aquam refectionis educavit me." - "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters"

'''He picks up the rifle in his left hand.'''

"Animam meam convertit deduxit me super semitas iustitiae propter nomen suum." - "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake"

'''He cranks the lever to open the breach.'''

"Nam et si ambulavero in medio umbrae mortis non timebo mala quoniam tu mecum es virga tua et baculus tuus ipsa me consolata sunt." - "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

'''He loads the round.'''

"Parasti in conspectu meo mensam adversus eos qui tribulant me inpinguasti in oleo caput meum et calix meus inebrians quam praeclarus est." - "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemes; thou annointest my headwith oil; my cup runneth over."

'''He cocks the rifle.'''

"Misericordia tua subsequitur me omnibus diebus vitae meae..." - "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..."

'''He raises the barrel to his mouth, the toe of his right foot reaching for the trigger.'''

"Et ut inhabitem in domo Domini in longitudinem dierum." - "and I will dwell in the house of The Lord forever."

'''A bang, a thump, then silence...'''

===Home Again===

[[Image:Explode.jpg|400px|right]]

BOOOOMMMMM!!!! A huge explosion rocks the cave where the gate lay. Browne and Withers have given up waiting for Umberto. They hope beyond hope that he has somehow managed to defy the King, or lead him elsewhere and have determined to seal the cave to prevent others coming to free him. Withers initially wanted to use his dynamite to destroy the gate, but Browne thought it unwise as he felt it may break down the very walls of reality and bring [[Hastur]], or something even worse, to Earth. The two argued about whether to collapse the cave or wait for Umberto to come out. At last they reached a compromise - they would wait as long as they could and then collapse the cave. That time limit has now expired.

The two stand now at the base of the rockface, watching the dust settle. They know that a mere barrier of rock will mean nothing if Umberto leads the King back to Earth. Nathaniel idly wonders what the natives might think if they hear the explosion, perhaps the voice of the gods. This may not be so far from the truth.

They make their way back to the Monastery at [[Te]] where they find [[Siva]] still waiting for them. He is surprised by their quick return and they come to realize that during their journey to [[Leng]], no time has passed in this world. Fortunately, in their absence, the old guide has recovered somewhat from his wounds, he is not up to the journey down the mountain, but can wait alone at the monastery until help is sent. After another uneasy night at the Monastery, the troupe of three make their way wearily down the mountain. Withers and Browne wonder with every step whether the King will come through the portal, but the trip remains uneventful back through Nepal, and then through India to [[Bombay]], where Francesca awaits, then on to London, and Delia. For better or worse, the adventure is over.

Continue to [[Aftermath]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 13

2009-08-25T21:53:54Z

Greywolf: /* Tuesday January 16th 1930 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 11th September, 2006==

=== Friday January 12th 1930 ===

The ship steams across the Red Sea on the 2-day leg to the port of Aden. In mid-morning, Withers receives a telegram. Though he does not immediately reveal its contents and does not appear to be unhappy at receiving it, it clearly gives him pause. As the day progresses his friends can see an occasional smile, although he doesn't share the content and evades any questions on it.

At lunch, Mrs [[Tullis]] announces her planned Gilbert and Sullivan recital, "[[William and Arthur]]", and allocates songs to each of the guests. Realising their voices are not strong, the investigators decide to start rehearsing that afternoon, but [[Julian Knight]] does not turn up. The rehearsal is not encouraging.

Francessca, who is getting concerned that her friend Patricia is falling rather heavily for Captain Withers and that she has seen little evidence that he returns the feeling, expresses to Nathaniel that Captain Withers should make his intentions towards her clear. Both Withers and Brown think that it might be better to come from her in a non direct and more face saving way but Francessca is insistent and says that Patricia has recently been badly hurt by a man and that it is important that Captain Withers doesn't behave in a similar fashion.

So later that evening an extremely reluctant and highly embarrassed Captain Withers suggests a walk along the deck after dinner. Although he does his best to let her down lightly Patricia reacts badly, accusing Withers of not liking her because of her less outgoing nature. She doesn't listen to his urgent denials and confessions of already loving another before he meet her and Patricia eventually dissolves into tears and runs off into the night to her friend, [[Francesca Nicholson]], for comfort.

Also that very evening Francesca declares her love to [[Nathaniel Browne]], who returns the feelings in full.

=== Saturday January 13th 1930 ===

[[Image:Aden.jpg|thumb|300px|The Port at Aden|right]]

In late morning the ship docks at the port of Aden. Passengers go ashore and visit the town. Withers goes into town to try and find some flowers to make up for his rejection of Ms. Berry, but can find none of quality in the dingy town. Browne stays on board as Francesca is comforting Patricia. Although he tries not to, he can't help but feel a little annoyed at Withers for being the reason for his inability to spend time with Francessca. [[Patricia Berry]] is absent from both lunch and dinner, but is witnessed by Nathaniel and Francesca that evening on the dance floor with [[Julian Knight]], clearly the worse for drink and equally clearly trying to spite [[Withers]]. Francesca advises Nathaniel that anything they try to do will only make things worse, and Nathaniel advises George to stay away from the ballroom.

=== Sunday January 14th 1930 ===

[[Withers]] meets with [[Julian Knight]] and warns him not to mistreat [[Patricia Berry]] or sully her honour. Knight sneers at Withers, saying that it is Withers who has wronged her.

That evening Table 8 dines with the Captain and Knight is sober, charming and a perfect gentleman.

=== Monday January 15th 1930 ===

The investigators speak at length to [[Umberto]] while making plans of what to do when they reach India. They agree to allow him to accompany them on the trail of [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

Once more [[Julian Knight]] dances with [[Patricia Berry]], but he remains sober and is a gentleman throughout the evening.

=== Tuesday January 16th 1930 ===

The last full day aboard the ship, Tuesday ends with the passengers' concert. Each table in the dining room puts on its own show - varying from short melodrama to poetic recitation. Table 8 delivers "[[William and Arthur]]" with great success; Francesca and the two Gentleman solo's shine in particular and receive great applause. [[Withers]] and [[Julian Knight]] engage in a little singing rivalry, a by-product of which results in the medley being more of a success than previously expected. Much champagne is drunk and everyone parties into the night.

=== Wednesday January 17th 1930 ===

[[Saunders]] and [[Browne]] awake with severe hangovers as the Malabar Coast hoves into view. The ship docks at [[Bombay]] in mid-morning and the passengers disembark.

Mrs [[Tullis]] takes charge of making sure everyone's luggage is gathered and transport arranged to the Taj Mahal hotel, where she has insisted everyone spend their first night (she can get a group discount on this finest of Indian hotels).

A dockside photograph of the table 8 crew is arranged. [[Patricia Berry]] looks unhappy, and [[Withers]] is concerned.

A few minutes later, as the table 8 crew says their farewells (thought they plan to meet later for a meal), there is a sudden scream from [[Francesca Nicholson]]. The investigators turn to see her looking down into the water from the dock. "Patricia fell in!" she yells. In seconds Withers has dived into the water and is trying to save Ms Berry, but she fights him and its obvious she intends to drown herself. It's all Withers can do to keep her head above water, but soon [[Saunders]] jumps in to help, and between the two men, Patricia is brought to the steps and safety.

"Why did you do it?", asks Withers.

"It was Julian," she sobs, "what he did to me."

[[Image:taj.jpg|thumb|400px|The Taj Mahal Hotel|right]]

Furious, Withers leaves Patricia with Saunders and rushes up the steps, storming past a confused Browne, to find [[Julian Knight]], who can be seen boarding a taxi. 'Stop right there, you son of a bitch!' Withers yells as he runs after Knight. It looks like Knight may escape, but as the taxi starts out it is cut off by a produce truck. Withers drags the startled Knight out of the taxi and orders him to defend himself. Knight seems in shock but a fist whistling past his ear convinces him that [[Captain Withers]] is in deadly earnest and he turns to engage the Captain. Mrs Tullis steps in to prevent interference by the local constabulary as the two men fight. A few blows land before Withers ends the fight with a body blow followed by a right cross which drops Knight like a sack of potatoes.

As Withers stands over the battered, bleeding diplomat, Miss Berry walks over and, with great courage and all the dignity she can muster, points at Knight and loudly says "That man raped me!"

Knight is arrested. Mrs Tullis assures the group that her connections will ensure that Julian will have great difficulty exercising his diplomatic immunity.

As soon as a doctor has looked at Patricia, and given her a clean bill of health, Withers apologises for his profanity in front of the ladies('Quite reasonable in the circumstances, old boy!') and those without permanent accommodation in the city head for the Taj Mahal hotel accompanied by Mrs Tullis, who smoothes the way at every step.

[[Umberto]] finds his own accommodation, but the others enjoy a fine meal in the luxurious surroundings of the hotel, where Mrs Tullis recommends [[Sivakumar Patel]] as a guide for the investigators, and tells them she can make arrangements to have him meet them the next morning.

Both Withers and Browne are distracted by the fact that each feels in some way responsible for what happened to Patricia. Withers guilt is greater, but is much ameliorated by his act of revenge against Knight.

=== Wednesday January 18th 1930 ===

After a hearty breakfast, the investigators meet their guide, [[Sivakumar Patel]], also known as 'Siva'. The decision has been made that the movements of [[Quarrie]] and [[Anzalone]] in Bombay need to be looked into before travelling any further. While the others go in search of local newspaper archives, [[Withers]] goes shopping with [[Siva]]. He asks to be shown some good jewellers and Siva proudly tells him that Bombay is the jewellry capital of India.

At the offices of the Times of India [[Browne]] finds a [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/0/0b/28_Newspaper_Article_on_the_Arrival_of_Italian_Archaeological_Expedition.pdf report] of the Italian Expedition's arrival in the city, but no more details. It is decided to ask Siva if he can find out who [[Quarrie]] hired as a guide while in the city.

Meanwhile, at the market, Withers sees what appears to be the [[Stranger]], the Pallid Mask himself, standing amidst the crowd. As Withers stares in amazement the apparition walks straight through another shopper before brushing Withers with its sleeve. When it does this Withers receives a sudden powerful vision of [[Carcosa]], then the Stranger is gone, leaving the man that he walked through sobbing uncontrollably. Withers asks Siva if he saw what happened, but Siva saw nobody.

Back at the hotel, Siva agrees to go and ask around to see what he can find out about the Italian expedition. He returns a little after lunch with the news that he located the guide they used, one Rajinder Singh, and has been to see him. According to Singh the Europeans spent their time shopping and exploring the city, but that they did visit a Holy Man at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Towers_of_Silence the Towers of Silence], who spoke to them and seemed disturbed by what they said to him. Siva can take the investigators to see this man if they are interested. They are indeed.

In mid afternoon the investigators, including [[Umberto]] board a couple of ''gharis'' and head to the Towers of Silence, on the outskirts of the city. there amongst the vulture picked remains atop the Parsee funerary towers they find the Holy Man in question, a wizened old Parsee. Siva translates for them.

The Holy Man says that he remembers the man who bore the mark of a God upon his soul. He says that Nathaniel Browne also bears this mark, but not as strongly.

The God in question is the Outsider, the God In White, who is 'older than the Earth'.

The outsider can be found in the North, in the mountains where the 'small people' think him a Buddha. He is even now walking towards us.

The investigators return to their hotel and agree that they must travel to Nepal as soon as possible and try to pick up Quarrie's trail in Mustang. Reverend [[Gore]] is taking the Saturday morning train to Jabalpur, which is en route to the Nepalese border, so the investigators decide to travel with him. They set about making sure that they are fully equipped for a journey that will include a hike of at least 2 weeks in each direction from the end of the railway to the heart of the Kingdom of Mustang.

That night the dreams come again, more vivid than ever.

Continue to [[Session 14]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 7

2009-08-25T21:42:39Z

Greywolf: /* Friday 7th December */

==Session Report - Played Monday 17th July, 2006==

===Saturday 1st December===

''--- Continued ---''

As the shock of the latest revelations soak in, the investigators begin to discuss their next move. It is agreed that Roby must be located, and that the authorities would not be able to grasp the nature of the threat. Various lines of research are suggested, but no clear strategy is formulated.

Everyone goes home to sleep on it.

===Sunday 2nd December===

The Sunday papers report the discovery of the bodies of two vagrants in the area of the Regent Canal. The investigators' thoughts initially turn to [[Lawrence Bacon]] and his victim of Tuesday night, but the facts of the story do not fit this idea. Both men had been freshly murdered, with the killing of the second victim apparently witnessed, though details are sketchy.

With all offices and libraries closed, the investigators spend the day with family, or in private study.

===Monday 3rd December===

The "London World" this morning carries a lurid description of 'The Canal Monster', claiming that the witness who saw the second killing described a vaguely humanoid creature that walked with a wet sloshing noise which tore out the tramp's insides. The story was written by a reporter called [[Cec Watts]].

[[Withers]], wanting to be sure that neither victim was [[Lawrence Bacon]], while secretly fearing that the killer WAS him, calls the police with a story of a missing friend and visits the Islington police station where investigating officer DI Hodges is based. Hodges reveals little, and the sketches of the victims' faces show non-descript middle-aged men unknown to Withers.

Meanwhile [[Saunders]] follows up [[Edwards]]' application to the British Library and [[Browne]] looks up information on [[Tezchaptl]]. Although Browne's search is fruitless, Saunders discovers that Edwards' references for a reader's ticket were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe of the Slade School of Fine Arts. Saunders contacts Schwabe who has clear memories of Edwards as a young artist who showed talent but no desire for fame, or even success, and who left Slade without completing his degree. He also reveals that as a keen amateur archaeologist it was Schwabe who told Edwards of the 1907 dig at [[Springer Mound]], and showed him slides of the site. He remembers Edwards being very interested in the place, for reasons that were never clear. Schwabe has no idea where Edwards might be.

[[Browne]] calls [[Cec Watts]] at the London Globe with an offer to compare information about the Canal Killings. They arrange a meeting in a pub the following day.

[[Saunders]] tries to find familiar names in the Tewkesbury phone book. and contacts a couple of W Gresty's only to discover thats it's a common name in the region, and neither of them is, or know of, [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Tuesday 4th December===

In Brazil a seaplane, carrying a dozen eminent scientists, crashes during a flyby to honour the eminent aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont with the loss of almost all on board.

[[Browne]] meets [[Cec Watts]] in a pub and gives him an edited version of [[Vincent Tuck]]'s statement about [[Lawrence Bacon]], along with Tuck's name, in return for a promise to share information. Browne is hoping that Watts will come to suspect Bacon of the canal murders and will be able to find out more without directly involving the investigators. Browne gives Watts a PO Box number to contact him through.

===Wednesday 5th December===

A day spent watching, waiting and worrying. [[Bartlett]] places a small ad in an attempt to contact [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Thursday 6th December===

The newspapers report the discovery of the body of [[Cec Watts]], found floating the previous day in Regent's Canal, an apparent victim of the Canal Killer.

[[Browne]], knowing he's been seen with Watts, visits the police and spins a tale to DI Hodges inventing an innocent explanation for the contact involving a story that he was writing, Hodges seems to buy the story. As Browne goes to leave, Hodge asks if the name Lawrence Bacon means anything to him. Browne manages to stop any shocked reaction from showing on his face, and replies that he doesn't think so. Hodges says that Bacon's address was found on a slip of paper in Watts' possession and lets slip that Bacon's shop was visited by the police and found to have been thoroughly ransacked by unknown hands (although the investigators had taken items from the shop, they certainly had not left it in a condition which could be described as 'ransacked').

===Friday 7th December===

[[Dr. Highsmith]] phones [[Doctor Bartlett]]. He has been able to talk to [[Lucius Harriwell]], now under close confinement and in a straitjacket, but back at St Agnes. According to Harriwell he overheard the Devil talking with [[Alexander Roby]] about leaving with him to 'complete the work', shortly after which Harriwell heard terrible sounds from the next cell. The 'Devil' then entered Harriwell's room, covered in blood and deep cuts. He threw one of his 'hands' (apparently a knife) to Harriwell and said '''"Seven days for his work, Lucius, then five for mine."'''

Highsmith has told the police that he believes Harriwell met the real murderer, but Atkins is certain Lucius was the asylum killer, and would not listen.

The investigators think that it's possible that [[Edwards]] has taken [[Roby]] back to [[Springer Mound]], and as they have no other current leads jump in their cars and drive to Suffolk as fast as they can. At [[Long Melford]], asking about recent strange activity in the area they are told of trucks that arrived at Harold Jennings' old farm one evening, a week or so after Jennings' died.

The investigators head to Springer Mound and find that the [[Springer Mound monsters]] have gone, as have the nine stones - with evidence of trucks and heavy lifting equipment involved. [[Bartlett]] climbs the mound, smells the tar pit at its summit, has his dream come back to him anew - the smell of rotting fruit so terribly familiar - and insists on leaving.

In [[Clare Melford]], it is discovered that Dick Blair, the pub landlord who came to the village shortly after 'the night of the Curse', is gone, having suddenly quit just after the trucks visited Springer Mound. The investigators return to London, feeling that events are moving on without them.

===Saturday 8th December===

The BBC and the morning papers report last night's killing of the supposed perpetrator of the Canal Murders by armed police in the railway engineering yard near Kings Cross Station. The details remain sketchy, but the police seem sure the killer is dead, though he has not been named and no picture has been released. The area remains sealed off.

The investigators plan to gather at [[Bartlett]]'s home for lunch, but before he can leave the barracks, [[Withers]] is visited by [[Delia Hartston]] who is accompanied by Withers' sister. Delia has just received a
[http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/16_Robys_Note.pdf note] from [[Alexander Roby]], asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] near Inverness, Scotland, where he will prove that he was 'not chasing the devil'. Delia has no intentions of going, but knows Withers was seeking Roby.

Meanwhile, on the tube train to Wimbledon, [[Browne]] is leafing through 'Occult Magazine', new that morning, and finds an [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] for [[Lawrence Bacon]] written by someone under the pseudonym 'Perdurabo' who clearly knows a lot about Bacon's past. The obituary is strange as Bacon is not officially dead, and useful as it refers to [[Montague Edwards]] as a mutual friend of both Bacon and the writer, and as the self-styled 'Laird of Mullardoch'.

With this new information, and the apparent timeline referred to by [[Lucius Harriwell]] the decision is made to travel as fast as possible to Inverness. A train leaves that afternoon, for an overnight stopover in Manchester and arrival in Inverness at 2pm the next day. [[Bartlett]] is reluctant to leave his wife alone but, as [[Saunders]]' family live in the area of Inverness, she is convinced to accompany her husband on the trip on the pretense of meeting them.

The investigators take that train, and spend a snowy night in Manchester.

===Sunday 9th December===

The train heads on Northwards towards Scotland. The investigators encounter a nervous passenger who is absently fiddling with a [[bone whistle]] just like the one they have. The turns out to be [[Henry Lister]], a pathetic excuse for a man whom Withers easily intimidates into telling all he knows.

Lister, who has been terrified of death all his life, joined an occult society that used to meet at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop, because he had been told that Bacon knew the secret of conquering death. The society studied and eventually worshipped a being called [[Hastur]] who they endeavoured to return to Earth to bring about a golden age of art and wonder.

According to Lister the order, or cult, attempted to bring Hastur to earth at [[Springer Mound]], but Lister had backed out of the ceremony early and saw nothing. He knows that not everyone returned from Suffolk, and that Bacon and [[Edwards]] were changed by the experience, and that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] left the order shortly afterwards.

After Springer Mound the cult began working towards a new end, of which Lister was told nothing. The great day was approaching, said Bacon, who still held meetings at his shop,though with much reduced frequency and attendance. Finally the members were told to travel to Inverness by December 5th, where they would be picked up at the station and taken to the place where Hastur would return to Earth.

Lister had dithered and prevaricated for days before finally deciding to travel to Scotland, several days late. However,the meeting with the investigators finally destroys his resolve and he leaves the train in the Lake District, abandoning his whistle and with it the Hastur cult.

The train arrives in a cold, snowy Inverness at 2pm. Saunders' relatives meet the investigators, who have no choice but to endure an afternoon and evening of Scottish hospitality. The decision is made to travel to [[Loch Mullardoch]] first thing on Monday morning. Heavy snow falls overnight.

===Monday 10th December===

(Although the investigators are unaware of it, today marks the debut of the character Tintin in the first of Herge's strips.)

Leaving Mrs Bartlett with the Saunders clan, the investigators drive through the village of Cannich, and beyond down the [[Loch Mullardoch]] road. They reach a gate marked 'Private Property' and pass through, but soon realise that with the heavy snow on the ground it is unsafe to attempt to take the car the whole way to the loch. They park the car as safely as possible and head towards the loch on foot.

The trees seem to be straining towards the loch, and as they get closer they seem almost to be creaking under some unnatural pressure. After a few miles, the sound of something large crashing through the treetops is heard and a creature looking somewhat like a living barrage balloon drags itself into view, using long tentacles to pull itself through the tops of the trees. Its swollen body pulses and glistens. It is utterly alien and [[Bartlett]], thinking it beautiful, has to be physically dissuaded from following it.

Shortly after the thing swims away through the air, the investigators encounter a clearing containing one of the monoliths from [[Springer Mound]], its top glistening with the slime of the alien creature.

With mounting trepidation the group trek on towards the loch, eventually cresting a small rise to see before them the dark surface of the water filling the valley ahead and at its near end the somewhat ugly two-storied white hunting lodge that is Mullardoch House, with a pair of snow-covered cars parked outside.

[[Image:mullardochhousex.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Mullardoch House]]

The road dips back downwards, and the loch is out of sight. At this moment a mysterious mist or fog billows up from nowhere, cutting off visibility. The investigators move forward a few steps, and looming out of the fog, between the investigators and the house, comes a large ornate marble archway that they are sure was not there a second before. As the investigators stare open-mouthed at this wonder, the fog clears as quickly as it came, revealing that Mullardoch House and the investigators now stand in the midst of a vast city of baroque architecture which fills the valley behind them and ahead of them wraps around the shores of what was Loch Mullardoch, but which now is all too clearly the Lake of [[Hali]].

Somehow, each of the investigators knows the name of this place. It is the city of [[Carcosa]], somehow brought to Earth!

Continue to [[Session 8]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 7

2009-08-25T21:41:25Z

Greywolf: /* Thursday 6th December */

==Session Report - Played Monday 17th July, 2006==

===Saturday 1st December===

''--- Continued ---''

As the shock of the latest revelations soak in, the investigators begin to discuss their next move. It is agreed that Roby must be located, and that the authorities would not be able to grasp the nature of the threat. Various lines of research are suggested, but no clear strategy is formulated.

Everyone goes home to sleep on it.

===Sunday 2nd December===

The Sunday papers report the discovery of the bodies of two vagrants in the area of the Regent Canal. The investigators' thoughts initially turn to [[Lawrence Bacon]] and his victim of Tuesday night, but the facts of the story do not fit this idea. Both men had been freshly murdered, with the killing of the second victim apparently witnessed, though details are sketchy.

With all offices and libraries closed, the investigators spend the day with family, or in private study.

===Monday 3rd December===

The "London World" this morning carries a lurid description of 'The Canal Monster', claiming that the witness who saw the second killing described a vaguely humanoid creature that walked with a wet sloshing noise which tore out the tramp's insides. The story was written by a reporter called [[Cec Watts]].

[[Withers]], wanting to be sure that neither victim was [[Lawrence Bacon]], while secretly fearing that the killer WAS him, calls the police with a story of a missing friend and visits the Islington police station where investigating officer DI Hodges is based. Hodges reveals little, and the sketches of the victims' faces show non-descript middle-aged men unknown to Withers.

Meanwhile [[Saunders]] follows up [[Edwards]]' application to the British Library and [[Browne]] looks up information on [[Tezchaptl]]. Although Browne's search is fruitless, Saunders discovers that Edwards' references for a reader's ticket were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe of the Slade School of Fine Arts. Saunders contacts Schwabe who has clear memories of Edwards as a young artist who showed talent but no desire for fame, or even success, and who left Slade without completing his degree. He also reveals that as a keen amateur archaeologist it was Schwabe who told Edwards of the 1907 dig at [[Springer Mound]], and showed him slides of the site. He remembers Edwards being very interested in the place, for reasons that were never clear. Schwabe has no idea where Edwards might be.

[[Browne]] calls [[Cec Watts]] at the London Globe with an offer to compare information about the Canal Killings. They arrange a meeting in a pub the following day.

[[Saunders]] tries to find familiar names in the Tewkesbury phone book. and contacts a couple of W Gresty's only to discover thats it's a common name in the region, and neither of them is, or know of, [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Tuesday 4th December===

In Brazil a seaplane, carrying a dozen eminent scientists, crashes during a flyby to honour the eminent aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont with the loss of almost all on board.

[[Browne]] meets [[Cec Watts]] in a pub and gives him an edited version of [[Vincent Tuck]]'s statement about [[Lawrence Bacon]], along with Tuck's name, in return for a promise to share information. Browne is hoping that Watts will come to suspect Bacon of the canal murders and will be able to find out more without directly involving the investigators. Browne gives Watts a PO Box number to contact him through.

===Wednesday 5th December===

A day spent watching, waiting and worrying. [[Bartlett]] places a small ad in an attempt to contact [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Thursday 6th December===

The newspapers report the discovery of the body of [[Cec Watts]], found floating the previous day in Regent's Canal, an apparent victim of the Canal Killer.

[[Browne]], knowing he's been seen with Watts, visits the police and spins a tale to DI Hodges inventing an innocent explanation for the contact involving a story that he was writing, Hodges seems to buy the story. As Browne goes to leave, Hodge asks if the name Lawrence Bacon means anything to him. Browne manages to stop any shocked reaction from showing on his face, and replies that he doesn't think so. Hodges says that Bacon's address was found on a slip of paper in Watts' possession and lets slip that Bacon's shop was visited by the police and found to have been thoroughly ransacked by unknown hands (although the investigators had taken items from the shop, they certainly had not left it in a condition which could be described as 'ransacked').

===Friday 7th December===

[[Dr. Highsmith]] phones [[Doctor Bartlett]]. He has been able to talk to [[Lucius Harriwell]], now under close confinement and in a straitjacket, but back at St Agnes. According to Harriwell he overheard the Devil talking with [[Alexander Roby]] about leaving with him to 'complete the work', shortly after which Harriwell heard terrible sounds from the next cell. The 'Devil' then entered Harriwell's room, covered in blood and deep cuts. He threw one of his 'hands' (apparently a knife) to Harriwell and said '''"Seven days for his work, Lucius, then five for mine."'''

Highsmith has told the police that he believes Harriwell met the real murderer, but Atkins is certain Lucius was the asylum killer, and would not listen.

The investigators think that it's possible that [[Edwards]] has taken [[Roby]] back to [[Springer Mound]], and as they have no other current leads jump in their cars and drive to Suffolk as fast as they can. At [[Long Melford]], asking about recent strange activity in the area they are told of trucks that arrived at Harold Jennings' old farm one evening, a week or so after Jennings' died.

The investigators head to Springer Mound and find that the [[Springer Mound monsters]] have gone, as have the nine stones - with evidence of trucks and heavy lifting equipment involved. [[Bartlett]] climbs the mound, smells the tar pit at its summit, has his dream come back to him anew - the smell of rotting fruit so terribly familiar - and insists on leaving.

In [[Clare Melford]], it is discovered that Dick Blair, the pub landlord who came to the village shortly after 'the night of the Curse', is gone having suddenly quit just after the trucks visited Springer Mound. The investigators return to London, feeling that events are moving on without them.

===Saturday 8th December===

The BBC and the morning papers report last night's killing of the supposed perpetrator of the Canal Murders by armed police in the railway engineering yard near Kings Cross Station. The details remain sketchy, but the police seem sure the killer is dead, though he has not been named and no picture has been released. The area remains sealed off.

The investigators plan to gather at [[Bartlett]]'s home for lunch, but before he can leave the barracks, [[Withers]] is visited by [[Delia Hartston]] who is accompanied by Withers' sister. Delia has just received a
[http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/16_Robys_Note.pdf note] from [[Alexander Roby]], asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] near Inverness, Scotland, where he will prove that he was 'not chasing the devil'. Delia has no intentions of going, but knows Withers was seeking Roby.

Meanwhile, on the tube train to Wimbledon, [[Browne]] is leafing through 'Occult Magazine', new that morning, and finds an [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] for [[Lawrence Bacon]] written by someone under the pseudonym 'Perdurabo' who clearly knows a lot about Bacon's past. The obituary is strange as Bacon is not officially dead, and useful as it refers to [[Montague Edwards]] as a mutual friend of both Bacon and the writer, and as the self-styled 'Laird of Mullardoch'.

With this new information, and the apparent timeline referred to by [[Lucius Harriwell]] the decision is made to travel as fast as possible to Inverness. A train leaves that afternoon, for an overnight stopover in Manchester and arrival in Inverness at 2pm the next day. [[Bartlett]] is reluctant to leave his wife alone but, as [[Saunders]]' family live in the area of Inverness, she is convinced to accompany her husband on the trip on the pretense of meeting them.

The investigators take that train, and spend a snowy night in Manchester.

===Sunday 9th December===

The train heads on Northwards towards Scotland. The investigators encounter a nervous passenger who is absently fiddling with a [[bone whistle]] just like the one they have. The turns out to be [[Henry Lister]], a pathetic excuse for a man whom Withers easily intimidates into telling all he knows.

Lister, who has been terrified of death all his life, joined an occult society that used to meet at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop, because he had been told that Bacon knew the secret of conquering death. The society studied and eventually worshipped a being called [[Hastur]] who they endeavoured to return to Earth to bring about a golden age of art and wonder.

According to Lister the order, or cult, attempted to bring Hastur to earth at [[Springer Mound]], but Lister had backed out of the ceremony early and saw nothing. He knows that not everyone returned from Suffolk, and that Bacon and [[Edwards]] were changed by the experience, and that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] left the order shortly afterwards.

After Springer Mound the cult began working towards a new end, of which Lister was told nothing. The great day was approaching, said Bacon, who still held meetings at his shop,though with much reduced frequency and attendance. Finally the members were told to travel to Inverness by December 5th, where they would be picked up at the station and taken to the place where Hastur would return to Earth.

Lister had dithered and prevaricated for days before finally deciding to travel to Scotland, several days late. However,the meeting with the investigators finally destroys his resolve and he leaves the train in the Lake District, abandoning his whistle and with it the Hastur cult.

The train arrives in a cold, snowy Inverness at 2pm. Saunders' relatives meet the investigators, who have no choice but to endure an afternoon and evening of Scottish hospitality. The decision is made to travel to [[Loch Mullardoch]] first thing on Monday morning. Heavy snow falls overnight.

===Monday 10th December===

(Although the investigators are unaware of it, today marks the debut of the character Tintin in the first of Herge's strips.)

Leaving Mrs Bartlett with the Saunders clan, the investigators drive through the village of Cannich, and beyond down the [[Loch Mullardoch]] road. They reach a gate marked 'Private Property' and pass through, but soon realise that with the heavy snow on the ground it is unsafe to attempt to take the car the whole way to the loch. They park the car as safely as possible and head towards the loch on foot.

The trees seem to be straining towards the loch, and as they get closer they seem almost to be creaking under some unnatural pressure. After a few miles, the sound of something large crashing through the treetops is heard and a creature looking somewhat like a living barrage balloon drags itself into view, using long tentacles to pull itself through the tops of the trees. Its swollen body pulses and glistens. It is utterly alien and [[Bartlett]], thinking it beautiful, has to be physically dissuaded from following it.

Shortly after the thing swims away through the air, the investigators encounter a clearing containing one of the monoliths from [[Springer Mound]], its top glistening with the slime of the alien creature.

With mounting trepidation the group trek on towards the loch, eventually cresting a small rise to see before them the dark surface of the water filling the valley ahead and at its near end the somewhat ugly two-storied white hunting lodge that is Mullardoch House, with a pair of snow-covered cars parked outside.

[[Image:mullardochhousex.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Mullardoch House]]

The road dips back downwards, and the loch is out of sight. At this moment a mysterious mist or fog billows up from nowhere, cutting off visibility. The investigators move forward a few steps, and looming out of the fog, between the investigators and the house, comes a large ornate marble archway that they are sure was not there a second before. As the investigators stare open-mouthed at this wonder, the fog clears as quickly as it came, revealing that Mullardoch House and the investigators now stand in the midst of a vast city of baroque architecture which fills the valley behind them and ahead of them wraps around the shores of what was Loch Mullardoch, but which now is all too clearly the Lake of [[Hali]].

Somehow, each of the investigators knows the name of this place. It is the city of [[Carcosa]], somehow brought to Earth!

Continue to [[Session 8]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 7

2009-04-24T12:09:37Z

Greywolf: /* Monday 10th December */

==Session Report - Played Monday 17th July, 2006==

===Saturday 1st December===

''--- Continued ---''

As the shock of the latest revelations soak in, the investigators begin to discuss their next move. It is agreed that Roby must be located, and that the authorities would not be able to grasp the nature of the threat. Various lines of research are suggested, but no clear strategy is formulated.

Everyone goes home to sleep on it.

===Sunday 2nd December===

The Sunday papers report the discovery of the bodies of two vagrants in the area of the Regent Canal. The investigators' thoughts initially turn to [[Lawrence Bacon]] and his victim of Tuesday night, but the facts of the story do not fit this idea. Both men had been freshly murdered, with the killing of the second victim apparently witnessed, though details are sketchy.

With all offices and libraries closed, the investigators spend the day with family, or in private study.

===Monday 3rd December===

The "London World" this morning carries a lurid description of 'The Canal Monster', claiming that the witness who saw the second killing described a vaguely humanoid creature that walked with a wet sloshing noise which tore out the tramp's insides. The story was written by a reporter called [[Cec Watts]].

[[Withers]], wanting to be sure that neither victim was [[Lawrence Bacon]], while secretly fearing that the killer WAS him, calls the police with a story of a missing friend and visits the Islington police station where investigating officer DI Hodges is based. Hodges reveals little, and the sketches of the victims' faces show non-descript middle-aged men unknown to Withers.

Meanwhile [[Saunders]] follows up [[Edwards]]' application to the British Library and [[Browne]] looks up information on [[Tezchaptl]]. Although Browne's search is fruitless, Saunders discovers that Edwards' references for a reader's ticket were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe of the Slade School of Fine Arts. Saunders contacts Schwabe who has clear memories of Edwards as a young artist who showed talent but no desire for fame, or even success, and who left Slade without completing his degree. He also reveals that as a keen amateur archaeologist it was Schwabe who told Edwards of the 1907 dig at [[Springer Mound]], and showed him slides of the site. He remembers Edwards being very inetrested in the place, for reasons that were never clear. Schwabe has no idea where Edwards might be.

[[Browne]] calls [[Cec Watts]] at the London Globe with an offer to compare information about the Canal Killings. They arrange a meeting in a pub the following day.

[[Saunders]] tries to find familiar names in the Tewkesbury phone book. and contacts a couple of W Gresty's only to discover thats it's a common name in the region, and neither of them is, or know of, [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Tuesday 4th December===

In Brazil a seaplane, carrying a dozen eminent scientists, crashes during a flyby to honour the eminent aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont with the loss of almost all on board.

[[Browne]] meets [[Cec Watts]] in a pub and gives him an edited version of [[Vincent Tuck]]'s statement about [[Lawrence Bacon]], along with Tuck's name, in return for a promise to share information. Browne is hoping that Watts will come to suspect Bacon of the canal murders and will be able to find out more without directly involving the investigators. Browne gives Watts a PO Box number to contact him through.

===Wednesday 5th December===

A day spent watching, waiting and worrying. [[Bartlett]] places a small ad in an attempt to contact [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Thursday 6th December===

The newspapers report the discovery of the body of [[Cec Watts]], found floating the previous day in Regent's Canal, an apparent victim of the Canal Killer.

[[Browne]], knowing he's been seen with Watts, visits the police and spins a tale to DI Hodges inventing an innocent explanation for the contact involving a story that he was writing, Hodges seems to buy the story. As Browne goes to leave, Hodge asks if the name Lawrence Bacon means anything to him. Browne manages to stop any shocked reaction from showing on his face and replies that he doesn't think so. Hodges says that Bacon's address was found of a slip of paper in Watts' possession and lets slip that Bacon's shop was visited by the police and found to have been thoroughly ransacked by unknown hands (although the investigators had taken items from the shop, they certainly had not left it in a condition which could be described as 'ransacked'
).

===Friday 7th December===

[[Dr. Highsmith]] phones [[Doctor Bartlett]]. He has been able to talk to [[Lucius Harriwell]], now under close confienment and in a straitjacket, but back at St Agnes. According to Harriwell he overheard the Devil talking with [[Alexander Roby]] about leaving with him to 'complete the work', shortly after which Harriwell heard terrible sounds from the next cell. The 'Devil' then entered Harriwell's room, covered in blood and deep cuts. He threw one of his 'hands' (apparently a knife) to Harriwell and said '''"Seven days for his work, Lucius, then five for mine."'''

Highsmith has told the police that he believes Harriwell met the real murderer, but Atkins is certain Lucius was the asylum killer, and would not listen.

The investigators think that it's possible that [[Edwards]] has taken [[Roby]] back to [[Springer Mound]], and as they have no other current leads jump in their cars and drive to Suffolk as fast as they can. At [[Long Melford]], asking about recent strange activity in the area they are told of trucks that arrived at Harold Jennings' old farm one evening, a week or so after Jennings' died.

The investigators head to Springer Mound and find that the [[Springer Mound monsters]] have gone, as have the nine stones - with evidence of trucks and heavy lifting equipment involved. [[Bartlett]] climbs the mound, smells the tar pit at its summit, has his dream come back to him anew - the smell of rotting fruit so terribly familiar - and insists on leaving.

In [[Clare Melford]], it is discovered that Dick Blair, the pub landlord who came to the village shortly after 'the night of the Curse', is gone having suddenly quit just after the trucks visited Springer Mound. The investigators return to London, feeling that events are moving on without them.

===Saturday 8th December===

The BBC and the morning papers report last night's killing of the supposed perpetrator of the Canal Murders by armed police in the railway engineering yard near Kings Cross Station. The details remain sketchy, but the police seem sure the killer is dead, though he has not been named and no picture has been released. The area remains sealed off.

The investigators plan to gather at [[Bartlett]]'s home for lunch, but before he can leave the barracks, [[Withers]] is visited by [[Delia Hartston]] who is accompanied by Withers' sister. Delia has just received a
[http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/16_Robys_Note.pdf note] from [[Alexander Roby]], asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] near Inverness, Scotland, where he will prove that he was 'not chasing the devil'. Delia has no intentions of going, but knows Withers was seeking Roby.

Meanwhile, on the tube train to Wimbledon, [[Browne]] is leafing through 'Occult Magazine', new that morning, and finds an [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] for [[Lawrence Bacon]] written by someone under the pseudonym 'Perdurabo' who clearly knows a lot about Bacon's past. The obituary is strange as Bacon is not officially dead, and useful as it refers to [[Montague Edwards]] as a mutual friend of both Bacon and the writer, and as the self-styled 'Laird of Mullardoch'.

With this new information, and the apparent timeline referred to by [[Lucius Harriwell]] the decision is made to travel as fast as possible to Inverness. A train leaves that afternoon, for an overnight stopover in Manchester and arrival in Inverness at 2pm the next day. [[Bartlett]] is reluctant to leave his wife alone but, as [[Saunders]]' family live in the area of Inverness, she is convinced to accompany her husband on the trip on the pretense of meeting them.

The investigators take that train, and spend a snowy night in Manchester.

===Sunday 9th December===

The train heads on Northwards towards Scotland. The investigators encounter a nervous passenger who is absently fiddling with a [[bone whistle]] just like the one they have. The turns out to be [[Henry Lister]], a pathetic excuse for a man whom Withers easily intimidates into telling all he knows.

Lister, who has been terrified of death all his life, joined an occult society that used to meet at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop, because he had been told that Bacon knew the secret of conquering death. The society studied and eventually worshipped a being called [[Hastur]] who they endeavoured to return to Earth to bring about a golden age of art and wonder.

According to Lister the order, or cult, attempted to bring Hastur to earth at [[Springer Mound]], but Lister had backed out of the ceremony early and saw nothing. He knows that not everyone returned from Suffolk, and that Bacon and [[Edwards]] were changed by the experience, and that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] left the order shortly afterwards.

After Springer Mound the cult began working towards a new end, of which Lister was told nothing. The great day was approaching, said Bacon, who still held meetings at his shop,though with much reduced frequency and attendance. Finally the members were told to travel to Inverness by December 5th, where they would be picked up at the station and taken to the place where Hastur would return to Earth.

Lister had dithered and prevaricated for days before finally deciding to travel to Scotland, several days late. However,the meeting with the investigators finally destroys his resolve and he leaves the train in the Lake District, abandoning his whistle and with it the Hastur cult.

The train arrives in a cold, snowy Inverness at 2pm. Saunders' relatives meet the inevstigators, who have no choice but to endure an afternoon and evening of Scottish hospitality. The decision is made to travel to [[Loch Mullardoch]] first thing on Monday morning. Heavy snow falls overnight.

===Monday 10th December===

(Although the investigators are unaware of it, today marks the debut of the character Tintin in the first of Herge's strips.)

Leaving Mrs Bartlett with the Saunders clan, the investigators drive through the village of Cannich, and beyond down the [[Loch Mullardoch]] road. They reach a gate marked 'Private Property' and pass through, but soon realise that with the heavy snow on the ground it is unsafe to attempt to take the car the whole way to the loch. They park the car as safely as possible and head towards the loch on foot.

The trees seem to be straining towards the loch, and as they get closer they seem almost to be creaking under some unnatural pressure. After a few miles, the sound of something large crashing through the treetops is heard and a creature looking somewhat like a living barrage balloon drags itself into view, using long tentacles to pull itself through the tops of the trees. Its swollen body pulses and glistens. It is utterly alien and [[Bartlett]], thinking it beautiful, has to be physically dissuaded from following it.

Shortly after the thing swims away through the air, the investigators encounter a clearing containing one of the monoliths from [[Springer Mound]], its top glistening with the slime of the alien creature.

With mounting trepidation the group trek on towards the loch, eventually cresting a small rise to see before them the dark surface of the water filling the valley ahead and at its near end the somewhat ugly two-storied white hunting lodge that is Mullardoch House, with a pair of snow-covered cars parked outside.

[[Image:mullardochhousex.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Mullardoch House]]

The road dips back downwards, and the loch is out of sight. At this moment a mysterious mist or fog billows up from nowhere, cutting off visibility. The investigators move forward a few steps, and looming out of the fog, between the investigators and the house, comes a large ornate marble archway that they are sure was not there a second before. As the investigators stare open-mouthed at this wonder, the fog clears as quickly as it came, revealing that Mullardoch House and the investigators now stand in the midst of a vast city of baroque architecture which fills the valley behind them and ahead of them wraps around the shores of what was Loch Mullardoch, but which now is all too clearly the Lake of [[Hali]].

Somehow, each of the investigators knows the name of this place. It is the city of [[Carcosa]], somehow brought to Earth!

Continue to [[Session 8]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 7

2009-04-24T12:07:38Z

Greywolf: /* Saturday 8th December */

==Session Report - Played Monday 17th July, 2006==

===Saturday 1st December===

''--- Continued ---''

As the shock of the latest revelations soak in, the investigators begin to discuss their next move. It is agreed that Roby must be located, and that the authorities would not be able to grasp the nature of the threat. Various lines of research are suggested, but no clear strategy is formulated.

Everyone goes home to sleep on it.

===Sunday 2nd December===

The Sunday papers report the discovery of the bodies of two vagrants in the area of the Regent Canal. The investigators' thoughts initially turn to [[Lawrence Bacon]] and his victim of Tuesday night, but the facts of the story do not fit this idea. Both men had been freshly murdered, with the killing of the second victim apparently witnessed, though details are sketchy.

With all offices and libraries closed, the investigators spend the day with family, or in private study.

===Monday 3rd December===

The "London World" this morning carries a lurid description of 'The Canal Monster', claiming that the witness who saw the second killing described a vaguely humanoid creature that walked with a wet sloshing noise which tore out the tramp's insides. The story was written by a reporter called [[Cec Watts]].

[[Withers]], wanting to be sure that neither victim was [[Lawrence Bacon]], while secretly fearing that the killer WAS him, calls the police with a story of a missing friend and visits the Islington police station where investigating officer DI Hodges is based. Hodges reveals little, and the sketches of the victims' faces show non-descript middle-aged men unknown to Withers.

Meanwhile [[Saunders]] follows up [[Edwards]]' application to the British Library and [[Browne]] looks up information on [[Tezchaptl]]. Although Browne's search is fruitless, Saunders discovers that Edwards' references for a reader's ticket were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe of the Slade School of Fine Arts. Saunders contacts Schwabe who has clear memories of Edwards as a young artist who showed talent but no desire for fame, or even success, and who left Slade without completing his degree. He also reveals that as a keen amateur archaeologist it was Schwabe who told Edwards of the 1907 dig at [[Springer Mound]], and showed him slides of the site. He remembers Edwards being very inetrested in the place, for reasons that were never clear. Schwabe has no idea where Edwards might be.

[[Browne]] calls [[Cec Watts]] at the London Globe with an offer to compare information about the Canal Killings. They arrange a meeting in a pub the following day.

[[Saunders]] tries to find familiar names in the Tewkesbury phone book. and contacts a couple of W Gresty's only to discover thats it's a common name in the region, and neither of them is, or know of, [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Tuesday 4th December===

In Brazil a seaplane, carrying a dozen eminent scientists, crashes during a flyby to honour the eminent aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont with the loss of almost all on board.

[[Browne]] meets [[Cec Watts]] in a pub and gives him an edited version of [[Vincent Tuck]]'s statement about [[Lawrence Bacon]], along with Tuck's name, in return for a promise to share information. Browne is hoping that Watts will come to suspect Bacon of the canal murders and will be able to find out more without directly involving the investigators. Browne gives Watts a PO Box number to contact him through.

===Wednesday 5th December===

A day spent watching, waiting and worrying. [[Bartlett]] places a small ad in an attempt to contact [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Thursday 6th December===

The newspapers report the discovery of the body of [[Cec Watts]], found floating the previous day in Regent's Canal, an apparent victim of the Canal Killer.

[[Browne]], knowing he's been seen with Watts, visits the police and spins a tale to DI Hodges inventing an innocent explanation for the contact involving a story that he was writing, Hodges seems to buy the story. As Browne goes to leave, Hodge asks if the name Lawrence Bacon means anything to him. Browne manages to stop any shocked reaction from showing on his face and replies that he doesn't think so. Hodges says that Bacon's address was found of a slip of paper in Watts' possession and lets slip that Bacon's shop was visited by the police and found to have been thoroughly ransacked by unknown hands (although the investigators had taken items from the shop, they certainly had not left it in a condition which could be described as 'ransacked'
).

===Friday 7th December===

[[Dr. Highsmith]] phones [[Doctor Bartlett]]. He has been able to talk to [[Lucius Harriwell]], now under close confienment and in a straitjacket, but back at St Agnes. According to Harriwell he overheard the Devil talking with [[Alexander Roby]] about leaving with him to 'complete the work', shortly after which Harriwell heard terrible sounds from the next cell. The 'Devil' then entered Harriwell's room, covered in blood and deep cuts. He threw one of his 'hands' (apparently a knife) to Harriwell and said '''"Seven days for his work, Lucius, then five for mine."'''

Highsmith has told the police that he believes Harriwell met the real murderer, but Atkins is certain Lucius was the asylum killer, and would not listen.

The investigators think that it's possible that [[Edwards]] has taken [[Roby]] back to [[Springer Mound]], and as they have no other current leads jump in their cars and drive to Suffolk as fast as they can. At [[Long Melford]], asking about recent strange activity in the area they are told of trucks that arrived at Harold Jennings' old farm one evening, a week or so after Jennings' died.

The investigators head to Springer Mound and find that the [[Springer Mound monsters]] have gone, as have the nine stones - with evidence of trucks and heavy lifting equipment involved. [[Bartlett]] climbs the mound, smells the tar pit at its summit, has his dream come back to him anew - the smell of rotting fruit so terribly familiar - and insists on leaving.

In [[Clare Melford]], it is discovered that Dick Blair, the pub landlord who came to the village shortly after 'the night of the Curse', is gone having suddenly quit just after the trucks visited Springer Mound. The investigators return to London, feeling that events are moving on without them.

===Saturday 8th December===

The BBC and the morning papers report last night's killing of the supposed perpetrator of the Canal Murders by armed police in the railway engineering yard near Kings Cross Station. The details remain sketchy, but the police seem sure the killer is dead, though he has not been named and no picture has been released. The area remains sealed off.

The investigators plan to gather at [[Bartlett]]'s home for lunch, but before he can leave the barracks, [[Withers]] is visited by [[Delia Hartston]] who is accompanied by Withers' sister. Delia has just received a
[http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/16_Robys_Note.pdf note] from [[Alexander Roby]], asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] near Inverness, Scotland, where he will prove that he was 'not chasing the devil'. Delia has no intentions of going, but knows Withers was seeking Roby.

Meanwhile, on the tube train to Wimbledon, [[Browne]] is leafing through 'Occult Magazine', new that morning, and finds an [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] for [[Lawrence Bacon]] written by someone under the pseudonym 'Perdurabo' who clearly knows a lot about Bacon's past. The obituary is strange as Bacon is not officially dead, and useful as it refers to [[Montague Edwards]] as a mutual friend of both Bacon and the writer, and as the self-styled 'Laird of Mullardoch'.

With this new information, and the apparent timeline referred to by [[Lucius Harriwell]] the decision is made to travel as fast as possible to Inverness. A train leaves that afternoon, for an overnight stopover in Manchester and arrival in Inverness at 2pm the next day. [[Bartlett]] is reluctant to leave his wife alone but, as [[Saunders]]' family live in the area of Inverness, she is convinced to accompany her husband on the trip on the pretense of meeting them.

The investigators take that train, and spend a snowy night in Manchester.

===Sunday 9th December===

The train heads on Northwards towards Scotland. The investigators encounter a nervous passenger who is absently fiddling with a [[bone whistle]] just like the one they have. The turns out to be [[Henry Lister]], a pathetic excuse for a man whom Withers easily intimidates into telling all he knows.

Lister, who has been terrified of death all his life, joined an occult society that used to meet at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop, because he had been told that Bacon knew the secret of conquering death. The society studied and eventually worshipped a being called [[Hastur]] who they endeavoured to return to Earth to bring about a golden age of art and wonder.

According to Lister the order, or cult, attempted to bring Hastur to earth at [[Springer Mound]], but Lister had backed out of the ceremony early and saw nothing. He knows that not everyone returned from Suffolk, and that Bacon and [[Edwards]] were changed by the experience, and that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] left the order shortly afterwards.

After Springer Mound the cult began working towards a new end, of which Lister was told nothing. The great day was approaching, said Bacon, who still held meetings at his shop,though with much reduced frequency and attendance. Finally the members were told to travel to Inverness by December 5th, where they would be picked up at the station and taken to the place where Hastur would return to Earth.

Lister had dithered and prevaricated for days before finally deciding to travel to Scotland, several days late. However,the meeting with the investigators finally destroys his resolve and he leaves the train in the Lake District, abandoning his whistle and with it the Hastur cult.

The train arrives in a cold, snowy Inverness at 2pm. Saunders' relatives meet the inevstigators, who have no choice but to endure an afternoon and evening of Scottish hospitality. The decision is made to travel to [[Loch Mullardoch]] first thing on Monday morning. Heavy snow falls overnight.

===Monday 10th December===

(Although the investigators are unaware of it, today marks the debut of the character Tintin in the first of Herge's strips.)

Leaving Mrs Bartlett with the Saunders clan, the investigators drive through the village of Cannich, and beyond down the [[Loch Mullardoch]] road. They reach a gate marked 'Private Property' and pass through, but soon realise that with the heavy snow on the ground it is unsafe to attempt to take the car the whole way to the loch. They park the car as safely as possible and head towards the loch on foot.

The trees seem to be straining towards the loch, and as they get closer they seem almost to be creaking under some unnatural pressure. After a few miles, the sound of something large crashing through the treetops is heard and a creature looking somewhat like a living barrage balloon drags itself into view, using long tentacles to pull itself through the tops of the trees. Its swollen body pulses and glistens. It is utterly alien and [[Bartlett]] thinking it beautiful, has to be physically dissuaded from following it.

Shortly after the thing swims away through the air, the investigators encounter a clearing containing one of the monoliths from [[Springer Mound]], its top glistening with the slime of the alien creature.

With mounting trepidation the group trek on towards the loch, eventually cresting a small rise to see before them the dark surface of the water filling the valley ahead and at its near end the somewhat ugly two-storied white hunting lodge that is Mullardoch House, with a pair of snow-covered cars parked outside.

[[Image:mullardochhousex.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Mullardoch House]]

The road dips back downwards, and the loch is out of sight. At this moment a mysterious mist or fog billows up from nowhere, cutting off visibility. The investigators move forward a few steps, and looming out of the fog, between the investigators and the house, comes a large ornate marble archway that they are sure was not there a second before. As the investigators stare open-mouthed at this wonder, the fog clears as quickly as it came, revealing that Mullardoch House and the investigators now stand in the midst of a vast city of baroque architecture which fills the valley behind them and ahead of them wraps around the shores of what was Loch Mullardoch, but which now is all too clearly the Lake of [[Hali]].

Somehow, each of the investigators knows the name of this place. It is the city of [[Carcosa]], somehow brought to Earth!

Continue to [[Session 8]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Session 7

2009-04-24T12:02:46Z

Greywolf: /* Sunday 2nd December */

==Session Report - Played Monday 17th July, 2006==

===Saturday 1st December===

''--- Continued ---''

As the shock of the latest revelations soak in, the investigators begin to discuss their next move. It is agreed that Roby must be located, and that the authorities would not be able to grasp the nature of the threat. Various lines of research are suggested, but no clear strategy is formulated.

Everyone goes home to sleep on it.

===Sunday 2nd December===

The Sunday papers report the discovery of the bodies of two vagrants in the area of the Regent Canal. The investigators' thoughts initially turn to [[Lawrence Bacon]] and his victim of Tuesday night, but the facts of the story do not fit this idea. Both men had been freshly murdered, with the killing of the second victim apparently witnessed, though details are sketchy.

With all offices and libraries closed, the investigators spend the day with family, or in private study.

===Monday 3rd December===

The "London World" this morning carries a lurid description of 'The Canal Monster', claiming that the witness who saw the second killing described a vaguely humanoid creature that walked with a wet sloshing noise which tore out the tramp's insides. The story was written by a reporter called [[Cec Watts]].

[[Withers]], wanting to be sure that neither victim was [[Lawrence Bacon]], while secretly fearing that the killer WAS him, calls the police with a story of a missing friend and visits the Islington police station where investigating officer DI Hodges is based. Hodges reveals little, and the sketches of the victims' faces show non-descript middle-aged men unknown to Withers.

Meanwhile [[Saunders]] follows up [[Edwards]]' application to the British Library and [[Browne]] looks up information on [[Tezchaptl]]. Although Browne's search is fruitless, Saunders discovers that Edwards' references for a reader's ticket were [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and Dr Schwabe of the Slade School of Fine Arts. Saunders contacts Schwabe who has clear memories of Edwards as a young artist who showed talent but no desire for fame, or even success, and who left Slade without completing his degree. He also reveals that as a keen amateur archaeologist it was Schwabe who told Edwards of the 1907 dig at [[Springer Mound]], and showed him slides of the site. He remembers Edwards being very inetrested in the place, for reasons that were never clear. Schwabe has no idea where Edwards might be.

[[Browne]] calls [[Cec Watts]] at the London Globe with an offer to compare information about the Canal Killings. They arrange a meeting in a pub the following day.

[[Saunders]] tries to find familiar names in the Tewkesbury phone book. and contacts a couple of W Gresty's only to discover thats it's a common name in the region, and neither of them is, or know of, [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Tuesday 4th December===

In Brazil a seaplane, carrying a dozen eminent scientists, crashes during a flyby to honour the eminent aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont with the loss of almost all on board.

[[Browne]] meets [[Cec Watts]] in a pub and gives him an edited version of [[Vincent Tuck]]'s statement about [[Lawrence Bacon]], along with Tuck's name, in return for a promise to share information. Browne is hoping that Watts will come to suspect Bacon of the canal murders and will be able to find out more without directly involving the investigators. Browne gives Watts a PO Box number to contact him through.

===Wednesday 5th December===

A day spent watching, waiting and worrying. [[Bartlett]] places a small ad in an attempt to contact [[Wilfred Gresty]].

===Thursday 6th December===

The newspapers report the discovery of the body of [[Cec Watts]], found floating the previous day in Regent's Canal, an apparent victim of the Canal Killer.

[[Browne]], knowing he's been seen with Watts, visits the police and spins a tale to DI Hodges inventing an innocent explanation for the contact involving a story that he was writing, Hodges seems to buy the story. As Browne goes to leave, Hodge asks if the name Lawrence Bacon means anything to him. Browne manages to stop any shocked reaction from showing on his face and replies that he doesn't think so. Hodges says that Bacon's address was found of a slip of paper in Watts' possession and lets slip that Bacon's shop was visited by the police and found to have been thoroughly ransacked by unknown hands (although the investigators had taken items from the shop, they certainly had not left it in a condition which could be described as 'ransacked'
).

===Friday 7th December===

[[Dr. Highsmith]] phones [[Doctor Bartlett]]. He has been able to talk to [[Lucius Harriwell]], now under close confienment and in a straitjacket, but back at St Agnes. According to Harriwell he overheard the Devil talking with [[Alexander Roby]] about leaving with him to 'complete the work', shortly after which Harriwell heard terrible sounds from the next cell. The 'Devil' then entered Harriwell's room, covered in blood and deep cuts. He threw one of his 'hands' (apparently a knife) to Harriwell and said '''"Seven days for his work, Lucius, then five for mine."'''

Highsmith has told the police that he believes Harriwell met the real murderer, but Atkins is certain Lucius was the asylum killer, and would not listen.

The investigators think that it's possible that [[Edwards]] has taken [[Roby]] back to [[Springer Mound]], and as they have no other current leads jump in their cars and drive to Suffolk as fast as they can. At [[Long Melford]], asking about recent strange activity in the area they are told of trucks that arrived at Harold Jennings' old farm one evening, a week or so after Jennings' died.

The investigators head to Springer Mound and find that the [[Springer Mound monsters]] have gone, as have the nine stones - with evidence of trucks and heavy lifting equipment involved. [[Bartlett]] climbs the mound, smells the tar pit at its summit, has his dream come back to him anew - the smell of rotting fruit so terribly familiar - and insists on leaving.

In [[Clare Melford]], it is discovered that Dick Blair, the pub landlord who came to the village shortly after 'the night of the Curse', is gone having suddenly quit just after the trucks visited Springer Mound. The investigators return to London, feeling that events are moving on without them.

===Saturday 8th December===

The BBC and the morning papers report last night's killing of the supposed perpetrator of the Canal Murders by armed police in the railway engineering yard near Kings Cross Station. The details remain sketchy, but the police seem sure the killer is dead, though he has not been named and no picture has been released. The area remains sealed off.

The investigators plan to gather at [[Bartlett]]'s home for lunch, but before he can leave the barracks, [[Withers]] is visited by [[Delia Hartston]] who is accompanied by Withers' sister. Delia has just received a
[http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/16_Robys_Note.pdf note] from [[Alexander Roby]], asking her to meet him at [[Loch Mullardoch]] near Inverness, Scotland, where he will prove that he was 'not chasing the devil'. Delia has no intentions of going, but knows Withers was seeking Roby.

Meanwhile, on the tube train to Wimbledon, [[Browne]] is leafing through 'Occult Magazine', new that morning, and finds an [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/1/10/17_Bacons_Obituary.pdf obituary] for [[Lawrence Bacon]] written by someone under the pseudonym 'Perdurabo' who clearly knows a lot about Bacon's past. The obituary is strange as Bacon is not officially dead, and useful as it refers to [[Montague Edwards]] as a mutual friend of both Bacon and the writer, and as the self-styled 'Laird of Mullardoch'.

With this new information, and the apparent timeline referred to by [[Lucius Harriwell]] the decision is made to travel as fast as possible to Inverness. A train leaves that afternoon, for an overnight stopover in Manchester and arrival in Inverness at 2pm the next day. [[Bartlett]] is reluctant to leave his wife alone but, as [[Saunders]]' family live in the area of Inverness, she is convinced to accompoany her husband on the trip on the pretense of meeting them.

The investigators take that train, and spend a snowy night in Manchester.

===Sunday 9th December===

The train heads on Northwards towards Scotland. The investigators encounter a nervous passenger who is absently fiddling with a [[bone whistle]] just like the one they have. The turns out to be [[Henry Lister]], a pathetic excuse for a man whom Withers easily intimidates into telling all he knows.

Lister, who has been terrified of death all his life, joined an occult society that used to meet at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop, because he had been told that Bacon knew the secret of conquering death. The society studied and eventually worshipped a being called [[Hastur]] who they endeavoured to return to Earth to bring about a golden age of art and wonder.

According to Lister the order, or cult, attempted to bring Hastur to earth at [[Springer Mound]], but Lister had backed out of the ceremony early and saw nothing. He knows that not everyone returned from Suffolk, and that Bacon and [[Edwards]] were changed by the experience, and that [[Malcolm Quarrie]] left the order shortly afterwards.

After Springer Mound the cult began working towards a new end, of which Lister was told nothing. The great day was approaching, said Bacon, who still held meetings at his shop,though with much reduced frequency and attendance. Finally the members were told to travel to Inverness by December 5th, where they would be picked up at the station and taken to the place where Hastur would return to Earth.

Lister had dithered and prevaricated for days before finally deciding to travel to Scotland, several days late. However,the meeting with the investigators finally destroys his resolve and he leaves the train in the Lake District, abandoning his whistle and with it the Hastur cult.

The train arrives in a cold, snowy Inverness at 2pm. Saunders' relatives meet the inevstigators, who have no choice but to endure an afternoon and evening of Scottish hospitality. The decision is made to travel to [[Loch Mullardoch]] first thing on Monday morning. Heavy snow falls overnight.

===Monday 10th December===

(Although the investigators are unaware of it, today marks the debut of the character Tintin in the first of Herge's strips.)

Leaving Mrs Bartlett with the Saunders clan, the investigators drive through the village of Cannich, and beyond down the [[Loch Mullardoch]] road. They reach a gate marked 'Private Property' and pass through, but soon realise that with the heavy snow on the ground it is unsafe to attempt to take the car the whole way to the loch. They park the car as safely as possible and head towards the loch on foot.

The trees seem to be straining towards the loch, and as they get closer they seem almost to be creaking under some unnatural pressure. After a few miles, the sound of something large crashing through the treetops is heard and a creature looking somewhat like a living barrage balloon drags itself into view, using long tentacles to pull itself through the tops of the trees. Its swollen body pulses and glistens. It is utterly alien and [[Bartlett]] thinking it beautiful, has to be physically dissuaded from following it.

Shortly after the thing swims away through the air, the investigators encounter a clearing containing one of the monoliths from [[Springer Mound]], its top glistening with the slime of the alien creature.

With mounting trepidation the group trek on towards the loch, eventually cresting a small rise to see before them the dark surface of the water filling the valley ahead and at its near end the somewhat ugly two-storied white hunting lodge that is Mullardoch House, with a pair of snow-covered cars parked outside.

[[Image:mullardochhousex.jpg|right|400px|thumb|Mullardoch House]]

The road dips back downwards, and the loch is out of sight. At this moment a mysterious mist or fog billows up from nowhere, cutting off visibility. The investigators move forward a few steps, and looming out of the fog, between the investigators and the house, comes a large ornate marble archway that they are sure was not there a second before. As the investigators stare open-mouthed at this wonder, the fog clears as quickly as it came, revealing that Mullardoch House and the investigators now stand in the midst of a vast city of baroque architecture which fills the valley behind them and ahead of them wraps around the shores of what was Loch Mullardoch, but which now is all too clearly the Lake of [[Hali]].

Somehow, each of the investigators knows the name of this place. It is the city of [[Carcosa]], somehow brought to Earth!

Continue to [[Session 8]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Tatters of the King

2009-04-24T12:00:21Z

Greywolf:

[[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 which our role-playing group played. Play commenced on May 8th 2006 and ran until October 2nd 2006.

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

==Guest Book==

Add your comments here in the [[Guest Book]].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://www.unboundbook.org/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 who engage in different pursuits - those who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying...

==Cast of Characters==
Tatters of the King is full of interesting and diverse characters, none more so than the Player Characters themselves!

===Keeper of Arcane Lore===

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

===[[Player Characters]]===

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

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

* [[Andrew Saunders]] (Deceased) - British Museum curator and proud Scot, played by [[Julia Blackmore]].

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

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

'''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]] (deceased) - Abusive husband of Delia
* [[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby
* [[Coombes| 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
* [[Ian Gore| The Reverend Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India
* [[Henrietta Tullis|Mrs Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India
* [[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India
* [[Francesca Nicholson|Miss Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India
* [[Patricia Berry|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'''

* [[Ricardo Delnegro|Mayor Ricardo Delnegro]] (deceased) - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer
* [[Roberto Anzalone]] (deceased) - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign
* [[Malcolm Quarrie]] (deceased) - Elusive scientist and occultist
* [[The King in Yellow]] - Beautiful, yet terrible, alien god

==Literary Works==
[[Image:mask.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Masque of Yhtill]]
Works of Fiction and Fact as found in on the journeys of our intrepid Investigators.

*[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]
* [[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]
* [[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous
* [[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==
Places of wonder and terror. Haunts of the Yellow King and other locales of interest.

* [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]], in Mustang, the legendary site of the death of the ogress Balmo
* [[Leng]], legendary icy plateau - not on this Earth
* [[The Upper House]], labyrinthine alien structure, found in Leng

==Sessions==

The Monday Night Players' run through of ''Tatters of the King'' was completed over 16 fun and exiting gaming sessions. As each lasted anywhere between and hour and a half and three hours, the campaign took over 30 hours of game time to finish.

* [[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 Trail of the Pilgrims
* [[Session 15]] - Drakmar and Beyond
* [[Session 16]] - The King Steps Down
* [[Aftermath]] - Forever Wondering

==Collected Audio Recordings==

The audio for all of the sixteen sessions that were recorded will be collected below.

Ghouls

2009-03-04T04:53:45Z

Greywolf:

[[Image:Ghoul.jpg|200px|right]]

According to myth, a race of subterranean humanoids who live on the flesh of the recently dead - usually scavenged by digging up into newly-burried coffins. According to occultists such as the Comte d'Erlette ghouls live beneath many of the world's great cities (notably Paris, with its famed Catacombs) and are intelligent. Indeed they are said to willingly interact with humans who share their interest in occult subjects, and often trade with those who practice black magic.

Legends of ghouls and creatures like them exists in many cultures, though the word '''ghul''' originates in Arabic culture.

[[Andrew Saunders]] believes that the creatures that came up from [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s basement were Ghouls.

File:Ghoul.jpg

2009-03-04T04:50:35Z

Greywolf:

Session 10

2009-03-04T04:39:50Z

Greywolf: /* Sunday December 15th 1929 - Night */

==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.

[[Image:Christ_Church_Spitalfields.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Christ Church, Spitalfields]]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 pay a garage owner an exorbitant fee to hire him to drive them to the area in the morning. 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 - Day ===

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, he won't wait.

[[Withers]] checks his gun and the 2 men head across country to where [[Nug's Farm]] is marked on their map. They pass over a footbridge and find themselves following a very old footpath across the icy landscape. The region looks like it hasn't progressed in 200 years - farm machinery is horsedrawn, there is no sign of modern achitecture or amenities. Soon the path passes through a small wood that does not appear on the map.

The wood is thick, and strangely warm. A deep thrumming noise, almost below the range of human hearing, is just audible and starts to bring on headaches. Then the investigators spot a bizarre figure watching them through the trees. Humanoid, with a strangely goatlike face and naked from the waist up, the man, if man it truly is, seems at first to be wearing thickly furred trousers, but in the seconds before he disappears into the trees Withers and Bartlett realise that the fur is his, and that his legs are jointed the wrong way, and do not end in feet.

Realising that they have seen what seems to be a Satyr, Withers and Bartlett prepare themselves for the unexpected. Leaving the wood they see in the valley below a small, but well-maintained farm. Somehow this place seems more healthy, more homely than any other structure around here. On the far side of the farm sits the brooding bulk of Goatswood Forest itself, a long spur of the forest cuts the farm off from Mercy Hill to the North, and the hamlet is not visible from here.

The investigators head for the farm, trying their best to look like innocent ramblers out for a country stroll. In the yard of Nug's farm a labourer is working on repairing some tools. He sees the approaching strangers, enters the house and [[Hillary Quarrie]] emerges. The labourer has the inbred, unhealthy, goatlike appearance common to Goatswood locals, and reminiscent of [[Wilfred Gresty]], but Hillary is a normal, quite attractive woman, albeit somewhat dowdily dressed in overalls and boots.

As the investigators draw closer, Hillary whistles and 3 huge [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastiff mastiffs] (Pig, Bull and Walter) emerge from the house and stand by her. Hillary hails the strangers and asks what brings them to this place on such a cold day.

Withers and Bartlett cut straight to the chase, they are here because they seek [[Malcolm Quarrie]], and they were present when Malcolm's former friends brought [[Carcosa]] to Earth. Hillary invites them into the house, but seems more interested in listening than talking. She hears the entire story of the [[Roby]] case and the [[Hastur]] cult, then reveals that she knows almost nothing of these things, and cares little as she is quite confident that her Gods, the British Gods, will protect this land from such alien horrors. She states simply that [[Edwards]] could not have succeeded, for [[Shub-Niggurath]] would not allow it.

[[image:21_Photograph_of_Malcolm_Hillary_Sarah.jpg|right|400px|thumb|The Photograph of Hillary, Malcolm and a baby outside Nug's farm]] She offers the investigators some stew, and they notice, upon the mantle, a photograph of Hillary, Malcolm and a baby outside Nug's farm. Before Hillary can tell them anything of real interest her farmhand, Will, calls her outside. Through the window the investigators see that [[Wilfred Gresty]] has arrived, and he has brought with him an entourage, half a dozen local men with the familiar goatlike look, but also 3 or 4 of the half-human creatures seen earlier in the woods.

Its obvious that there is some kind of confrontation going on - Gresty is animated and gesticulates wildly while Hillary is grim-faced and impeturbable. Only a few words can be heard from within the house, but its clear that Gresty is delivering an ultimatum and that Hillary is in no mood to accept. Gresty turns and storms off with his followers and Hillary returns to the house with a look of urgency.

Hillary goes straight to her study and starts bringing papers into the kitchen to burn in the pot-bellied stove. She is ripping pages from a book and shoving them into the flames when she seems to notice the investigators again. They ask what is happening and remind her that they know Gresty. Hillary pauses, calms a little and decides to tell her story. She tells them that she would like very much for them to stay here and aid her tonight, as she thinks she needs help, but that she understands fully if they don't wish to and says they will need to leave before nightfall if this in their choice. First, however, she sits them down and tells them everything.

[[Hillary Quarrie]]'s story is detailed on her page of this wiki, but the upshot of it is that tonight she will be fighting for her life, and the future of the Goatswood cult. Gresty has convinced Atkinson to act against her and she must defeat both of them, or die. She knows where Malcolm is, or at least where he was until recently, and as a sign of good faith she fetches the only 2 letters she has received from her husband since he went to the continent.

The [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/4/4d/23_Malcolm_Quarries_First_Letter.pdf first letter] was over a year ago, but the [http://www.unboundbook.org/wiki/images/7/78/24_Malcolm_Quarries_Second_Letter.pdf second letter] is only a few weeks old and gives an address in [[Milan]], Italy, through which Malcolm can be contacted.

The investigators read these letters, consider the situation and agree to stay to aid Hillary. She tells them that she has destroyed '[[The Revelations of Glaaki]]' in the stove so that if Gresty wins he will never have access to the secrets within that book. All they can do for now is sit and wait. Hillary asks them to promise that she will do whatever she asks tonight quickly and without question - otherwise they will be in great danger. They agree, but start to worry exactly what will be expected of them.

Will, the farmhand, turns up with several other men loyal to Hillary. She turns them away saying that she has help enough and that if she is defeated it is best that no other cult members be seen to have stood with her. Will and his friends leave, reluctantly, and the afternoon moves into evening.

=== Sunday December 15th 1929 - Night ===

Night falls. On the far side of the woods, in Mercy Hill, a bonfire is lit, its flickering glow clearly visible from Nug's Farm. Voices are raised in pagan prayer. There are chants and then a scream. Hillary tells Withers and Bartlett that now is the time, and leads them out into the yard, shutting her dogs up in the house. She tells the investigators to go to the henhouse and bring back 2 chickens each, and to hold them by the necks. Withers is perturbed that this means he won't be able to use his gun.

Fetching the chickens is less easy that it seemed, and both investigators get scratched and pecked, but soon they stand behind Hillary looking out towards Goatswood, struggling poultry in hand. They see the wicked curved knife in Hillary's hand and start to worry if this is an entirely appropriate activity for respectable Christian gentlemen.

Something huge stirs and begins crashing its way through the trees towards them. "It's one of Shub-Niggurath's Young." says Hillary, "I can deal with this." She raises her voice and starts to scream out the words of what can only be a spell.

''"Ishnigarrab!"'' she screams, slashing at one of the chickens, tearing it open with her knife, but not yet killing it.

''"Say it! Help me. Say it!"''

Both investigators repeat the word.

''"The Black Mouth!"'', and a second chicken is slashed. ''"Repeat it!"''

This time only Bartlett responds

''"The Black Tongue!"'', and another slash.

Once more, Bartlett responds alone.

''"The Black Lip!"'', and a final slash.

[[Image:Dark_Young.gif|right]]

This time neither investigator responds, for both have seen the vast horror which has emerged from the woods. A great writhing shadow the size of a house, huge trunklike legs supporting a mass of thick writhing tentacles. The stench of the thing is indescribable. For a second it stands still, seemingly transfixed by Hillary's ritual.

''"Ishnigarrab! Utug Xal"'', and Hillary turns and neatly decapitates the chickens held by the stupefied Bartlett, but as she turns to kill Withers' birds she sees that the Captain has dropped them and is instead levelling his rifle at the creature.

''"You fool!"'', she shouts, and darts towards the closest of the two injured chickens.

Withers fires - one shot, two shots, three shots. The only effect they seem to have is to stir the creature from its reverie, and it starts to move forwards towards the farm once more. For Withers time seems to slow down for a few seconds, as he assesses the situation.

Bartlett is staring slack-jawed at the approaching horror. Hillary has caught the third chicken and has hacked its head from its body, and across the farmyard the final hen is fleeing for the henhouse. Suddenly, Withers realises what he must do. He turns, levels his rifle, aims carefully and puts a bullet straight through the last chicken, completing the sacrifice.

Shub-Niggurath's Young stops in its tracks. Hillary, exultant, strides towards it, covered in blood from the chickens.

''"You will kill the ones who summoned you, and all who were there with them. Then you will go back to your Mother to draw on her teat!"''

The creature turns and begins to stride back towards Mercy Hill. "You might want to go inside," says Hillary, "you won't want to hear this."

Withers and Bartlett take her advice, heading inside the house and Hillary stands in the yard listening to the screams and crashes coming from beyond the trees as Mercy Hill is destroyed and Gresty, Atkinson and their faction meet their horrible, but well-deserved ends.

=== Monday December 16th 1929 ===

[[Withers]] and [[Bartlett]] wake up in the chairs where they slept the previous night. They both have chicken blood splattered on their skin and clothing. Hillary offers then breakfast and a chance to wash up, then leads them to Clotton to catch the northbound bus.

She thanks them for their aid and tells them that now the Goatswood Cult is in her hands she will use its power to bring about a new Golden Age for Britain. They have done a great service for their country, though she doubts they truly understand that. She hopes they find Malcolm, for although his plans are unlikely to harm Britain, protected as it is, the rest of the world is not so safe.

Finally, asked if she has a message for her husband, Hillary replies "Just tell him that Sarah is healthy and happy."

The investigators board the nearly empty bus and head back to Gloucester. Shaken by their experience, but carrying with them that which they have sought for over a year, a clear signpost to the location of [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. [[Saunders]] is back in London today, so an evening meeting at Bartlett's house seems apt.

Continue to [[Session 11]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

File:Dark Young.gif

2009-03-04T04:39:11Z

Greywolf:

Session 9

2009-03-04T00:50:42Z

Greywolf: /* December 1928 */

==Session Report - Played Monday 7th August, 2006==

''(During this session, almost the entirety of the year 1929 passed by. This [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929 link] contains detailed coverage of the news and cultural events of that year)''

=== December 1928 ===

Inverness, the morning after. [[Bartlett]] is hospitalised and sedated, his wife hurries to be by his side. [[Saunders]], though critically hurt, is conscious, and Jennifer and the rest of his family flock to his side.

Meanwhile, [[Browne]] and [[Withers]], more or less intact, use their experience of such things to spin a tale to the Scottish police which convinces them that their attacker was [[Alexander Roby]], who killed [[Edwards]] with some kind of acid then stabbed [[Saunders]] before fleeing. Though there are many holes in the story, it's the best the police have, and the investigators are released.

Local newspapers report the [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/5/5a/19_Newspaper_Article_on_Events_in_the_Highlands.pdf deaths of a number of villagers] in Cannich on the night that Carcosa vanished

On the 14th, Browne returns to London, where he is inspired to start turning his experiences into short stories. He is joined a couple of days later by Withers. They still want to find [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and [[Wilfred Gresty]].

[[Browne]] sends a letter, by hand, to 'Occult Magazine', offering a book of [[Bacon]]'s to the author of the dead occultist's obituary. The next day he recieves a call from a man claiming to be the writer, and an invitation to meet that evening by [http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/east_karl_marx_tomb.jpg Karl Marx's Tomb] in Highgate Cemetary.

[[Image:marx.jpg|thumbnail|Karl Marx's tombstone|right]]

Browne arrives early, and Withers hides behind a nearby gravestone. It is a chill evening. A middle-aged man arrives and introduces himself, though Browne instantly recognises [[Aleister Crowley]], the self-styled 'wickedest man alive'.

Crowley thought little of Bacon, and is disappointed that the book on offer is merely a copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]' (Browne having a spare one of these and unwilling to risk [[The Turner Codex]]), but he's much more interested in [[Edwards]] and [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and attempts to trade for information. He reveals that Quarrie went to Italy to seek 'Il Fratelli di Signo Giallo' ([[the Brothers of the Yellow Sign]]), a society which performs a version of '[[The King in Yellow]]' annually.

Shortly after this, Browne realises Crowley is attempting to use Mesmerism, or some other form of mental domination on him. When Crowley realises his attempts have failed he says that he must leave, but invites Browne to a party he is holding the next week. As he leaves the cemetary, Crowley tells Withers 'you can come out now'.

Browne goes to the party - from which Crowley is sadly absent, and learns many things about the appetites of the rich and bored. He bathes in sin for a few hours, and returns to write more stories.

Over the next week or so, in the run up the Christmas, Withers is busy with duty and Browne with writing, so no further leads are uncovered.

Bartlett wakes from his induced coma, screaming about 'the eyes', and has a nervous breakdown.

Christmas comes. Bartlett is under sedation, Browne at his niece's, Withers is at the Windsor castle celebrations, with the King himself present, and Saunders, though hospitalised, has a family Christmas as far as is possible.

On Hogmanay, Saunders is spirited out of the hospital by his cousin and has so much fun he sets his recovery back by a month.

1928 ends.

===January 1929===

[[Browne]] finishes his book of short stories and submits them to his publisher. With [[Withers]] he visits Tewkesbury, but can trace no living relative of [[Malcolm Quarrie]].

All leads reach dead ends.

===February 1929===

[[Saunders]] is released from hosptal, returns to london and dines with his friends. [[Browne]] is delighted to reveal that his book is to be published!

Withers and [[Delia Hartston]] drift ever closer, still kept apart by social convention.

[[Bartlett]], physically mended (though badly scarred) is transferred to a private hospital in London, and his friends visit him. He starts therapy for his mental injuries, under some of the best care in the world. As a leading doctor quotes "My god, man - this is Doctor Frederick Bartlett of the Tavistock Institute! We can't have him stark raving mad and screaming about eyes!".

Saunders returns to work.

===March 1929===

The Hyades dip below the horizon and with that the influence of [[Hastur]] stops dead. The dreams stop - those artists, like [[Browne]] filled with inspiration based on the Carcosa mythos feel themselves bereft of ideas - though slowly their sane, everyday muses return.

The long cold winter ends.

Browne's book, '[[The Tatters of the King]]' is published, and sells in truckloads to all those whose dreams of Carcosa have just left them. He is a great success, and starts to enjoy this new experience.

[[Bartlett]] is released to the care of his wife. A combination of medication and psychotherapy is slowly returning him to mental health.

===April 1929===

Spring is in full bloom, and, in the absence of further leads, the investiagtors forget about [[Malcolm Quarrie]] and [[Wilfred Gresty]] and enjoy their lives.

===May 1929===

There is talk of a US publication for [[Browne]]'s stories.

===June thru November 1929===

The events of the previous year sink ever further into memory, and the investigators meet less frequently. All seems right with the world until the middle of the month.

On the 17th, the Hyades rise, and the dreams return with a vengance. Both [[Browne]] and [[Saunders]] find their dreams of the previous year extended to dark, disturbing conclusions. Once more [[the Yellow Sign]] and [[the King in Yellow]] start to appear in graffiti, art and whispered rumour.

On October 29th, the American Stock Market crashes dramatically. It seems to mark the end of the good times.

The investigators meet and decide to start looking for clues all over again, but November is a frustrating, fruitless time.

===December 13th 1929===

Suddenly, a breakthrough. The papers [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/61/20_Newspaper_Article_on_Grestys_Arrest.pdf report] the arrest of a '[[Wilfred Gresty]]' for an assault on a priest in a London Church, and reveal the location and time of his appearance before the magistate, later that very day.

At long last, the game is, once more, afoot!

Continue to [[Session 10]].

==Audio Recording==

Link to come...

Tatters of the King

2009-03-03T23:35:53Z

Greywolf: /* 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 which our role-playing group played. Play commenced on May 8th 2006 and ran until October 2nd 2006.

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

==Guest Book==

Add your comments here in the [[Guest Book]].

==Setting==

The game is initially set in [http://www.yog-sothoth.com/docs/article-london-guide-1928.pdf London], [http://www.unboundbook.org/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 who engage in different pursuits - those who would see an inhuman power come to Earth such that it would make mundane activity seem like a last twitch before dying...

==Cast of Characters==
Tatters of the King is full of interesting and diverse characters, none more so than the Player Characters themselves!

===Keeper of Arcane Lore===

The Game Master is [[Mark Chiddicks]]

===[[Player Characters]]===

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

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

* [[Andrew Saunders]] (Deceased) - British Museum curator and proud Scot, played by [[Julia Blackmore]].

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

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

'''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]] (deceased) - Abusive husband of Delia
* [[Vincent Tuck]] - Private Detective, hired by Grahame Roby
* [[Coombes| 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
* [[Ian Gore| The Reverend Ian Gore]] - Missionary, en route to India
* [[Henrietta Tullis|Mrs Henrietta Tullis]] - Matronly figure, en route to India
* [[Stephen Thomas]] - Quiet, bookish man, en route to India
* Miss [[Francesca Nicholson|Miss Francesca Nicholson]] - Bright young thing, en route to India
* [[Patricia Berry|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'''

* [[Ricardo Delnegro|Mayor Ricardo Delnegro]] (deceased) - ''Alpini'' officer and Himalayan adventurer
* [[Roberto Anzalone]] (deceased) - Professor of Asian History and Brother of the Yellow Sign
* [[Malcolm Quarrie]] (deceased) - Elusive scientist and occultist
* [[The King in Yellow]] - Beautiful, yet terrible, alien god

==Literary Works==
[[Image:mask.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Masque of Yhtill]]
Works of Fiction and Fact as found in on the journeys of our intrepid Investigators.

*[[Carcosa, or The Queen and the Stranger]] - a fantasy in two acts, [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/67/CARCOSA.pdf script] by [[Talbot Estus]]
* [[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]
* [[Le Roi en Jeune]] - a rare French play, playwright anonymous
* [[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==
Places of wonder and terror. Haunts of the Yellow King and other locales of interest.

* [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]], in Mustang, the legendary site of the death of the ogress Balmo
* [[Leng]], legendary icy plateau - not on this Earth
* [[The Upper House]], labyrinthine alien structure, found in Leng

==Sessions==

The Monday Night Players' run through of ''Tatters of the King'' was completed over 16 fun and exiting gaming sessions. As each lasted anywhere between and hour and a half and three hours, the campaign took over 30 hours of game time to finish.

* [[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 Trail of the Pilgrims
* [[Session 15]] - Drakmar and Beyond
* [[Session 16]] - The King Steps Down
* [[Aftermath]] - Forever Wondering

==Collected Audio Recordings==

The audio for all of the sixteen sessions that were recorded will be collected below.

Guest Book

2009-03-03T23:35:20Z

Greywolf:

== Tatters of the King Guest Comments ==

Session 6

2009-02-17T03:58:56Z

Greywolf: /* Friday 30th November */

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

===Tuesday 27th November===

[[Image:regents.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Canal, Near Kings Cross (It's just a coincidence, we swear!)]]

''--- 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.

Bereft of other ideas, [[Dr Bartlett]] hurls his Thermos flask, which ricochets off Bacon's shoulder and lands in the canal. [[Saunders]] steps in to aid Withers, firing a shot which rips through Bacon’s coat, scattering the contents of his pocket on the ground and caries on, 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 Andrew's remaining revolver rounds 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.

====Bacon's Shop====

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 contains the full text of the verse that was carved on the stones at [[Clare Melford]].

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

As Bartlett and Withers have started to try to clear the basement of junk, they have disrturbed something. There is a scuttling, a snuffling and a scrabbling as a horrible humanoid, dog-faced creature comes out of the darkness towards them. Bartlett, who has a clearer view, runs in terror, as Withers fires a shot into the darkness, hitting the creature, which yelps in pain. The unmistakable sound of more creatures coming up from the depths causes Withers to beat a hasty retreat. He initially considers setting fire to the junk in the basement to burn the creatures out, but a moment's thought makes 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 meets the others coming downstairs and tells them to flee.

The four investigators run into the night, returning to Browne’s home. A stiff drink is supplied to the extremely shaken Dr Bartlett, and they settle down to examine the spoils of their conquest of Bacon.

===Wednesday 28th November===

The next day, everyone is somewhat shaken and short of sleep. [[Browne]] decides to look for new accommodation, 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://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/6/69/14_Wilfred_Grestys_Second_Letter.jpg 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 him 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 hideously disfigured corpse of Roby - or what appears 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]

Session 5

2009-02-17T03:56:04Z

Greywolf: /* Thursday 22nd November */

==Session Report - Played Monday 5th June, 2006==

===Tuesday 13th November===

The private detective Walsh contacts [[Withers]] about [[Edwards]] and [[Lawrence Bacon]]. Edwards has long gone from the last known address, leaving no trace. Bacon has run his shop in Islington for several deacdes and is still there. He rarely if ever leaves and the shop is open by appointment only.

[[Nathaniel Browne]] visits [[Talbot Estus]] to return ‘[[Le Roi en Jeune]]’. [[Michael Gillen]] seems to have moved out, and Estus is dishevelled and his apartment is a mess. He has been struggling to make any headway at all on his novel and seems unwell. A passionate discussion on [[The King in Yellow]] ensues, and Browne lends Estus his copy of ‘[[der Wanderer durch den See]]’. Putting two and two together regarding Estus' apparent astrophobia and his own reactions to [[the Springer Mound Monsters]], Browne asks wheteher Estus has seen a similar creature. Estus reveals a dream he has had, of [[Cassilda]]’s palace surrounded by flocks of black flying creatures similar to [[the Springer Mound Monsters]].

Browne leave Estus' apartment somewhat concerned over his mental health. He calls [[Dr. Bartlett]], asking him if he will visit Estus in a professional capacity. Bartlett agrees and asks Browne to arrange a meeting.

===Wednesday 14th November===

[[Image:tolkien.jpg|thumb|Tolkien during the war]]
Withers hears from his private detective about [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. Quarrie left the Royal Society in 1926, apparently to go overseas. The current resident of his former address does not know where but holds some mail for him, including letters from Pembroke College, Oxford.

Withers asks [[Andrew Saunders]] if he can help, as he has a contact at Oxford, and Saunders calls his friend John Tolkien to ask if John can find out anything about Quarrie. Tolkien recalls Quarrie’s name – he was a fellow scholar of Anglo-Saxon who once corresponded with him, as they had a mutual acquaintance. Quarrie wrote a book called ‘[[British Gods]]’ which was a study of Anglo-Saxon deities in the West of England. Tolkien owns a copy and invites Saunders to dinner in Oxford on Saturday.

Saunders also contacts the Archaeology Department at Oxford and locates Professor Hudson, who was on the [[Springer Mound]] dig in 1907, as a graduate student. This dig was nothing more than a training dig organised by a now deceased Professor, and it found nothing of interest. However, when Hudson lists the students on the dig he mentions a ‘Charles Edwards’ who he is sure died at the Somme.

===Thursday 15th November===

[[Bartlett]] calls [[St Agnes Asylum]] to tell [[Dr. Charles Highsmith]] that he will be recommending that [[Alexander Roby]] be released. Highsmith asks Bartlett to attend the release hearing in Hereford on November 30th to speak on Roby's behalf. Bartlett agrees.

===Friday 16th November===

Once again everyone meets for dinner at Bartlett's house to discuss events. The Dover sole is particularly fine.

===Saturday 17th November===

[[Andrew Saunders]] travels to Oxford to meet Professor Tolkien and discuss [[Malcolm Quarrie]]. Tolkien knows little, but is able to give Saunders a copy of '[[British Gods]]'. Tolkien takes Saunders to dinner and they discuss 'Beowulf'.

===Sunday 18th November===

The investigators have a quiet sunday, getting on with their lives. Saunders reads a good chunk of '[[British Gods]]' including mention of a pagan fertility deity known as Shub-Niggurath or the black goat of the woods with a thousand young, who was worshipped in the west country in ancient times.

===Monday 19th November===

[[Browne]] calls [[Talbot Estus]] to try to persuade him to see [[Doctor Bartlett]], but Estus refuses.

[[Saunders]] attempts to trace [[Malcolm Quarrie]] via the Royal Society, but the best he can discover is that Quarrie is believed to have travelled to 'the continent'.

===Tuesday 20th November===

[[Doctor Bartlett]] receives a [http://unboundbook.org/wiki/images/b/bc/12_Wilfred_Grestys_First_Letter.pdf letter] from someone called [[Gresty]]. In the letter, Gresty claims to have been a part of the same group as [[Alexander Roby]], [[Lawrence Bacon]], [[Malcolm Quarrie]], [[Edwards]] and [[Coombes]], and that the group has split up. He also asks their assistance in dealing with Bacon, who he says will go out on the night of the full moon (November 27th). Gresty says that he will prevent Coombes from being present, and that this will make Bacon easier to handle.

Bartlett and [[Withers]] discuss the letter. Bartlett phones [[Delia Morrison]] about Gresty, but she has never heard of him. He also tells Delia to contact Withers or himself if she thinks of anything that may be helpful.

===Wednesday 21st November===

[[Delia Morrison]] calls [[Withers]], saying she has found something and would like him to visit at six that evening. Withers, wary of any possible 'untowardness' in visiting her alone, invites [[Bartlett]].

When they arrive they find that [[Peter Morrison]] is present and Delia has a black eye. Withers reacts with anger, and Morrison, who has been drinking, challenges him to a fist fight.

Withers and Morrison face off in the front garden, and Withers wins handily, his second and final blow smashing into Morrison's midriff, leaving him gasping on the ground. Delia spits on her helpless husband and says 'if you ever lay a hand on me again, you are dead.' Morrison ends up hospitalised with a ruptured kidney, but the police press no charges as both Bartlett and Delia bear witness to Morrison's having started the fight.

Delia apologises to Withers for using him this way as in truth, she has no more information about [[Alexander Roby]]. She bids 'adieu' to him with a gentle kiss on the cheek.

===Thursday 22nd November===

At [[Saunders]]' urging [[Browne]] visits [[Malcolm Quarrie]]'s former home and gains mail that was meant for him by posing as a relative. The letters include a couple from his mother in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire which refer to a 'Hillary', who seems to be Quarrie's estranged wife and announce the death of Quarrie's father. In the second letter his mother effectively disowns him and says she is moving away to live with 'Aunt Tessie'. No addresses are included in the letters.

Saunders decides to seek Quarrie in European academia and starts sending off cables to various learned institutions.

Walsh, the private detective, reports to [[Withers]] that there has been no movement of any interest at [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop. In the light of the [[Gresty]] letter Withers ends Walsh's employ, deciding it's time to take a personal interest.

Withers gives his sister, Anna, [[Delia Morrison]]'s address and number and asks Anna to look after Delia.

[[Doctor Bartlett]] finds a disturbing note scribbled in a psychological journal that refers to [[The King in Yellow]], but is unable to locate it a second time.

===Friday 23rd November===

The weekly dinner at [[Doctor Bartlett]]'s house becomes a discussion about the situation with [[Lawrence Bacon]] and the [[Gresty]] letter. After much debate it is agreed that all four investigators will watch, and attempt to follow Bacon on the 27th, and that the police will not be informed in advance.

===Saturday 24th November===

In preparation for Tuesday night, [[Withers]] and [[Browne]] reconnoiter the area around Bacon's shop. Browne finds a good hiding place in the gardens of the Royal Fever Hospital, opposite the shop while Withers traces the route to the canal, as described in [[Vincent Tuck's report]].

While wandering the canal area, Withers is very disturbed to encounter a drunken tramp singing [[Cassilda]]'s song from '[[The King in Yellow]]'.

===Sunday 25th November===

A day spent in at church, with family or just quietly at home. [[Withers]] is invited to dine with his sister and finds himself in the awkward situation of sitting opposite [[Delia Hartston]] (who no longer calls herself 'Morrison').

===Monday 26th November===

A day spent at work, reading and writing, is interrupted when [[Browne]] gets a phone call from a barely coherent [[Talbot Estus]]. Estus says "I won't do it, I won't." and asks Browne "who are you, what do you want?".

Concerned, Browne calls [[Bartlett]], reporting that he is very disturbed by Estus' behaviour and fears that he may be a danger to himself or others. The pair arrange to meet at Estus's apartment building. Arriving first, Browne attempts to gain a response from within, but none is forthcoming. Barlett arrives and the two attempt to force entry. While attempting to break down the door (during which Browne re-injures his ankle), a neighbour arrives. He has a spare key and lets them in. Estus is found hanging in his study, an apparent suicide. Browne is shocked and falls backward to the floor.

A suicide note is found which says ''"Did I see my destiny, or did I make it? I know what I must do. Damn Roby and damn his book."'' The remains of [[Der Wanderer durch den See]] burn in the fireplace. Bartlett rings for an ambulance, while Browne, shaken by the entire experience, and realising that just like [[Dr. Lionel Trollope]], Estus apparently forsaw his own death while in possession of the book, starts to rummage through Estus's papers. He finds endless discarded drafts of the start of Estus's novel (it seems he never even settled on a beginning to his ''magnum opus''), and keeps some sheets. He also locates the copy of '[[Le Roi en Jeune]]', which he swiftly pockets.

===Tuesday 27th November===

Despite being shaken by events of the previous night, the investigators meet as planned at 'the Cripple', a pub a few doors down from [[Lawrence Bacon]]'s shop. At closing time they take positions in the bushes across the street and in an alley at the corner, and wait.

Just before midnight a huge, bearded man leaves the shop. He answers the description of Bacon, except that he is clearly a good 20 years younger than they have been expecting. Nevertheless, they follow him, seemingly managing to avoid detection.

Bacon, if this is indeed he, follows the same route that he did when followed by [[Vincent Tuck]]. Once near Regents Canal he starts looking in doorways and alleys. [[Browne]] is closest when he enters an alley, just off the canal path, and starts to chant. A hideous screeching cacophony fills the air, joining with the chant, and the horrific screaming of a human being comes from within the alley. Browne hides in a nearby doorway.

[[Withers]], who is in the open on the canal path, fumbles for his gun. As he does this, the screeching stops and a vagrant staggers from the alley. Seeing Withers, the poor wretch screams for help. Bacon grabs the vagrant from behind and lifts him up. Withers fires a warning shot into the air. Bacon hurls his victim against a wall, where his body seems to break apart, and turns to face Withers.

Withers aims at Bacon as Bacon starts shouting 'Coombes, Coombes, where are you man, you're needed!'

[[Saunders]] and [[Bartlett]] close the gap and find themselves behind Withers on the canal path as Bacon, realising Coombes is not there, starts to rush towards Withers, chanting the words "arggan colubra, arggan colubra!". He passes Browne, still hiding in the shadows of the doorway. Browne prepares to attack Bacon from behind, aware that with his ankle still hurting, he is unlikely to be able to outrun him.

Withers fires - the shot seems to hit 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!

''--- To be continued ---''

==Audio Recording==

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