Session 3: New York Part 1
January 5, 1925
Leonard receives a telegram from Jackson Elias telling him that he has information concerning the “Carlyle Expedition” and is looking for a reliable investigative team. Leonard contacts the rest of the group, and arrangements are made to meet with Jackson in New York on the 15th. The group does some research on the Carlyle Expedition, and learns that it was led by:
- Millionaire Roger Carlyle
- Photographer Hypatia Masters
- Noted Egyptologist Sir Aubrey Penhew
- "Freudian" Dr Robert Huston
- Mr. Jack Brady, a confidant of Mr. Carlyle
The expedition met a foul end in Kenya, apparently being slaughtered by the local aboriginal people.
January 15, 1925
Jackson calls in the morning and asks the group to meet him in the Hotel Chelsea at 8:00pm.
When they arrive, they find Jackson already dead, ritually disemboweled with a strange mark carved into his forehead, as well as three men armed with long knives. In the ensuing violence, one man is killed, one is captured, and one escapes.
Law enforcement arrives, and the group learns from Lt. Martin Poole that Jackson is the 9th victim in the last two years to have been found murdered in this fashion. Captain Robson of the 14th precinct (Harlem) had arrested a man named Hilton Adams for the crime, and he was found guilty a couple months ago. The police had also consulted a folklorist named Dr. Mordecai Lemming, who indicated that mark on the victims’ foreheads seemed to be connected to an African death cult.
Leonard is taken to the hospital to be treated for his injuries, so the group agrees to meet at his office the next morning.
January 16, 1925
The group examines the documents they found in Jackson’s room and learn:
- Jackson was interested in a lecture on the “Cult of Darkness” held a few days earlier; the lecturer, Prof. Anthony Cowles, has already returned to Arkham;
- Jackson made inquiries at Emerson Imports about buyers for goods from Kenya/Mombasa (Emerson Imports directed him to a man named Silas N’Kwane, for whom Emerson imported goods through Ahja Singh).
- Jackson was in contact with Miriam Atwright at Harvard University regarding a book that was no longer in their collection, although she mentioned in a letter that the information might be found there in other volumes;
- A matchbook and a photo that seem to be connected to the Far East.
- Jackson’s funeral is to be held at 2 PM on the 17th.
They then go to meet Captain Robson at the 14th precinct. The man is suspiciously well-dressed for a police captain, and his answers about the arrest of Hilton Adams (who was discovered at the scene of one of the murders) don’t seem very convincing. Hilton Adams is currently awaiting execution in Sing Sing.
The group then visits the Juju House, Silas N’Kwane’s shop. N’Kwane tells them that he never met Jackson, but he’s clearly hiding something. There also appears to be a hidden door in the floor of his shop. He does however tell the group of the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, a Kenyan cult that sacrifices victims on a mountain in Kenya in a fashion similar to Jackson’s murderers.
