Actual Play: Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? Part 3

I cannot forget Carcosa where black stars hang in the heavens; where the shadows of men's thoughts lengthen in the afternoon, when the twin suns sink into the lake of Hali; and my mind will bear for ever the memory of the Pallid Mask. 
― Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow

[Part One] [Part Two]


Setting:

New Orleans, LA; Tuesday, February 1 - Saturday, February 5, 1921

Characters:

  • Earl Crowley - Antiquarian settled in Arkham
  • Jordaine Furst - Strasbourg-born Great War spy for France
  • Fredrick Tardiff - Great War veteran, Kingsport artist

Summary:

Hearing Fowler and Papa Screech back in the estate, the investigators exercised stealth. Crowley and Tardiff prepared to burn the side of the teleportation portal on the estate side of the gate while Furst snuck upstairs to see if there was anything worth seeing.

Upstairs she did find something rather disturbing behind a locked door (which she easily picked) - a shrine to his dead wife and daughter, with a copy of The King in Yellow as well as a tattered notebook. Flipping through it she found it was a set of instructions as to how one might summon Hastur. She pocketed the notebook and, going back downstairs, put the King in Yellow in the kindling they had laid out.

Their attempt to sneak out was not quite successful - Papa Screech heard them and pursued, opening fire with his handgun. Furst and Crowley returned fire, killing him. However, Fowler lived in a wealthy neighborhood and they quickly heard the whistles of police officers responding to the sound of shots fired. However, Tardiff had an ace up his sleeve - a spell he had learned to summon a mist, providing them a cloak in which to escape.

The next day Crowley and Furst monitored the swamp summoning area while Tardiff kept an eye on things in New Orleans.

Tardiff learned that Fowler had been taken to a hospital for a nervous breakdown - and that the portal had indeed been destroyed. He also discovered that Fowler had vanished during the night.
Crowley and Furst saw some of the remaining cultists dragging Fowler to one of the old hits, tied up. From listening to their talk it was clear they were distraught, refusing to believe that Papa Screech was truly dead and hoping he would soon appear so they could complete the summoning ritual.

That being established, the two returned to New Orleans to meet with Tardiff. They decided to make an anonymous tip to the police about Fowler and informed their patron, Charles Sunstram, of all that had transpired.

Keeper Notes:

This last part was a pretty quick session, but we weren’t quite able to finish in part two. I was rather impressed by this old adventure - I ran it pretty close to as written, though I did add an extra clue here or there as it seemed there were a few too many pinch points. New Orleans was a nice diversion from our New England based campaign and over the years I’ve come to appreciate the Robert Chalmers that influenced HP Lovecraft.

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