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[Call of Cthulhu - IC] Whispers in the Darkness

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  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    "My arm's fine, I've dealt with worse. Let's get up the others and head back to the hotel."

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    [Cayrus, El Skid, and Peff]
    The building manager stares at you through his thick glasses, and a slightly agape mouth, totally at a loss. He looks back at the phone. "No, I don't understand any of this. No ambulance, thank you though!" He sighed and looked around. "I'm going to make myself some tea. You all sort this out, I haven't got the time for it."
    [Captain Marcus]
    Mathew just gives you a wry look and leans into the hallway. You can hear your companion's voices not far off. "Hey guys, bring the car around. It is time. to. go."

    Brian continues to shrug, almost instinctively. "He won't go far, none of us really will. Not as far as all that. That's the secret...all there...in his book..." The boy slumps over, catatonic.

  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    Frustrated but not feeling up for the argument "...Fine. Let's go find the rest and you can take a look for yourself." Motioning back to Ford's arm, "Hiding your wound won't stop an infection though."

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  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    Todt sighs and collects the samples, leaving the sample of the blue "cocaine" still under the microscope. Hopefully the university can use this to find out what's wrong with Brian. And to find out what the hell it is. Maybe we can hack into their computers later.

    Finished, he stands up and heads for the door.

  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    [All]
    Todt grabs the scrawled notes Brian left behind, and finds the entrance and group much easier this time. How could he have forgotten they were just around the corner? Hadn't he tried that before?

    Unceremoniously leaving Brian in a chair in front of the endlessly befuddled caretaker, along with a hefty payment for the lab and trouble, the group does its best to jog/walk back to the vehicle without appearing suspicious or lingering long enough to deal with any authorities. It is perhaps less dignified than the team is normally accustomed to.

    Agent Ford stop only long enough to allow Mathew to purchase a large case of beer, and the team arrives back at the motel, sweaty, disheveled, and badly parched.

  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    Todt places the stack of papers on the end table next to his bed.

    "Agent Ford! What happened to your arm?"

    Todt roots through his medical supplies looking for some bandages.

  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    edited April 2013
    Guy grabbed a beer and sat down heavily on one of the beds.

    "I think we need a debrief" he said as he watched Todt go to work, for once speaking without his french accent. He was just that tired.

    "For me, I did some research at the library and ran into some weird stuff. In the end, though, I found a couple of interesting books that seem to relate to what's going on in the occult section. I was hoping to find a bit more, but well...that didn't really work out." there was genuine sadness in his voice at his failures in the library.

    El Skid on
  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    Ford make sure the curtains of the room as closed tight and then sits down near the window.

    "If you could examine my arm Doctor, that would be wonderful." He grunts in pain as he removes his jacket to reveal is bloodied forearm.

    "I was exploring the perimeter of the lab building when this punk kid accosted me with a knife. Me must have been on some sort of hallucinogen or something." Ford's face momentarily goes blank as he recalls the encounter and the vision he'd had.

    He shakes his head. "So Doctor, what happened in the lab?"

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    Dr. Todt swabs away the blood and disinfects the arm with an iodine patch. The cuts weren't too deep, so he puts some antibiotic ointment on them, covers them with a large bandage, and wraps gauze around the bandage to secure it to Ford's arm.

    "We found out that the cocaine wasn't cocaine. It was something different. I've got the graduate student's notes, I'll have a look at them later tonight."

  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    "It was definitely NOT just cocaine..." Javier says, still irritated at the downplaying. Opening his second beer. "Wait some kid jumped you? I thought you were our muscle?" *chug chug*

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  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    "Thanks, Doc" Ford said as he reached over and grabbed a beer of his own.

    "It was just some crazy punk with a knife at the bottom of some stairwell. At first I thought he might be injured, but he was clearly off his rocker. He was muttering something about Khasmarot and when I got close he lunged at me. I pulled my gun and he backed down. Drugged up punk, simple as that," he said dismissively.

    "I'm more interested in what happened at the lab. Why'd you call for an ambulance? Did something happen back there?"

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    edited April 2013
    "Khasmarot? Sounds Middle Eastern. And yeah, lots of things happened back there. We had 3 samples. A flesh sample from the deceased county coroner, a sample of blue cocaine from our run-in with the reporter, and a sample of her vomit during her overdose. I ran standard tests on the coroner and vomit samples as I don't have the training to run spectroscopic analysis on the cocaine."

    Todt starts putting the medical supplies back in his bag.

    "The coroner was decayed when we ran into him. If he wasn't dead, then he certainly had some sort of flesh-eating bacterial infection. Normally, a sample taken from the outer layers of the skin would exhibit decay. However in the Appleton sample something had stopped the decay process. Arrested it."

    He swallows, and continues.

    "There was also something growing on the nuclei of the cells. They appeared to be using their own proteins for fuel, self-cannibalizing. The growths were mutations formed from those proteins. They were unusually regular for something inside a cell, like tiny fractals. The sample reacted with several chemical tests and literally disappeared. The vomit sample exhibited all the same characteristics, but when I turned on the low-frequency ultraviolet light, it started quivering.

    It shouldn't have quivered. A UV light doesn't give off enough energy to move it, and even if you blasted the thing with gamma rays it still wouldn't move. It would've had to have been alive to move, and this was day-old vomit. It shouldn't have moved, but it did. When I turned the light off, it changed. I've never heard of anything reacting like this stuff did, either in the way it reacted or in the amount of time. Most chemical reactions take place over hours, but this stuff took seconds."

    Todt finishes putting back his supplies and sits on the bed.

    "Anyways, since neither Dr. Cubillo nor I possess the necessary training in chemistry, we hired a graduate student named Brian to analyze the cocaine sample for us. He took one look at the stuff and it burst every capillary in his eyes. Dr. Cubillo takes one look at the guy and passes out. Brian then starts ranting on about 'prismatic compounds', Pluto, and some guy named Werner Aufenbaum before he passes out too.

    So there I am, in a lab with samples that defy the laws of science and everything I've learned in medicine, with two passed out people lying on the floor. Thankfully Javier woke up in time for us to leave, but I still feel bad about leaving Brian without any help. I did leave some of that blue cocaine under the microscope, in case they need it to heal him."

    Todt leans back against the headboard, happy to get the day's events off his chest.

    "What'd you do today, Matthew? You were there with us but you didn't notice anything that happened in the lab."

    Captain Marcus on
  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    Mathew calmly sips at his beer as he pulls a folded set of papers from his pocket. He lays the sheets down one at a time. "This..." he says laying down a photo, "is Mr. Jedediah Gammell. Age 60. You might recall a certain horrible corpse man trying to club us to death with Mr. Gammell's thigh."
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    A chill runs up Guy's spine. It is the third time he's seen that old man's face today. First in the library, then in the book...and now...
    "This..." another page, "Is the obituary that ran in the Albuquerque Journal last week."
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    "Here... is something I found from an old wire service article from 1963."
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    "As to our other matter, I've found transport requests for heavy airlifts out of Laos since the mid-70s, and a memo from this morning to all local EON staff cancelling leave for security personnel."
    Mathew takes another long gulp from his beer and leans back with a self satisfied look on his face.

  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    "Sounds like he deserved whatever happened to him. Well, that's a location to add to the list. I'm not sure what all this has to do with Dr. Morgan, but I'm sure we'll find out if we keep at it."

  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    "That guy... Hold on." said Guy, pulling out the relevant book.

    "One of the books I found has him in there, but I didn't get a chance to read much of it." He opened the book to a page with the man's picture in it and held it out.

  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    "This just keeps getting weirder," Nathan said, sipping on his beer. "Why would a millionaire die outside an ER alone and apparently penniless? Twenty years is a long time, though..."

    Nathan also noted Mathew's references to Laos and activity at the EON facility. More info for Codburn to mull over. What are these guys up to?



    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    "Welsh thas a little too creepy and convenient, don chu thing?" Javier said, now onto beer #5. "How old ish that book?"

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  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    "It could have something to do with that death-cult he was in. I doubt the authorities would give him a free pass for killing children. He must have spent all his money on the lam."

    "Speaking of books, could you pass me that one in German, Guy? I'd like to take a look at it and I doubt anyone else can read it. Danke. Here, Javier, have these lab notes. You always were better at chemistry."

    Todt leans back against the pillow and starts reading.

  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    "I'm going to go get some ice, this beer's getting warm."

    Nathan get up and heads out the door, making sure to grab the ice bucket off the table.

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    Mathew gets a bright look on his face. "I need supplies!" He jogs out of the door and into the sweltering Albuquerque evening.

    Dr. von Todt sets to reading, with a concentrated look on his face.
    After an evening skimming through it, "In the Secret Symbols of Letters" appears to be a detailed account of a small collection of young scholars and aristocrats who had formed a social drinking club during their time at a University in Hamburg near the turn of the century. After one of the men, Mssr. Elgenberg, brings a small Asian artifact to the group and a new hazing ritual begins. Though it starts innocently enough, a powerful obsession takes over the group.

    The boys, heirs to industrial empires and freshly graduated doctors, begin offering themselves for permanent mutilations in ceremonies with crude attempts at ceremonial chanting and robes. After two months the group carries out its first ceremonial sacrifice. The group is unsatisfied, and desperate to obtain some indescribable thing that they can all feel waiting for the right offering. They are soon on a trek into the deepest jungles of French Indochina, seeking out the tribes that had crafted the idol. It gets a bit tougher to follow here, but you notice the word Khasmarot, what appears to be a recipe or experimental guide, and the repetition of a name, presumably the tribe the group seeks out: Thahket.

    Only 3 men survive the journey: a young Irishman named Jedediah Gammell, and Mssr. Elgenberg, who elects to remain among the tribesmen, and Wilhelm Roerdich, the book's author. An editors note, as part of the reissue of the tome, points out that Herr Roerdich vanished into Siberia during the Russian revolution, and that no anthropological study has confirmed the existence of any Thahket tribe.

  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    "HA....sure, why not Krish! Give em to me!" Javier begins trying to focus on the lab results.

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  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    edited May 2013
    Javier pours over the notes.
    At the top of the page is scrawled a simple bibliographic note: Werner Aufenbaum, "Notes and Revelations on the Flora and Fauna of the Dwarf Planet," University of Königsberg Press,1891. Much of the work on the first three pages is inscrutable chemistry work that is well beyond your training in pharmacology. You do gather that Brian quickly discounted the notion that the substance was cocaine, and a longer list of crossed out works with much more recent works suggests he had discounted more widely accepted theories on the substance.

    The last few pages are a set of grainy faxed images of Aufenbaum's work, with Brian's notes cluttering the margins. It's seems to be portions of a diary followed by computations. The doctor (is he a doctor?) recounts a diagram he saw in a dream, proving that there are colors the eye can perceive that are beyond the ken of anything found on Earth. Pluto, the dwarf planet and gateway to our solar system, is the first enclave on the materials present. Aufenbaum claims to have seen these things too, a frozen planet teeming with impossible life. An illustration follows, depicting a vast field of blue vegetation, tended by some shadowy thing in the near distance.

    Aufenbaum believes these things to be some sort of harbingers from beyond our corner of space and possessing incredible properties. Highlighted at the end of the last page is the beginnings of Aufenbaum's chemical breakdowns, gleaned from his brief glimpses in dreams of the vegetation's most basic structures. The chemical symbol matches exactly with that of the "cocaine". The flowers, Aufenbaum insists, pulse with the contents of some impossible vein, drawing back into the darkest beyond without reckoning. And the pulse will quicken as the time grows nearer.

    PsychoLarry1 on
  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    Guy grew fidgety as the others pored over notes and generally made themselves useful.

    Excusing himself, he stepped outside to take a stroll as the strange man and various remembered visions dance around in his head.

    He needed to clear his head of whatever this was so that he could function properly....in all ways.

  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    A single line of blood begins streaming from Javier's left nostril, "...strong beer." he somehow sounds completely sober, despite all of the alcohol he's consumed.

    He stands up, goes to the mirror, and touches the blood running down his face. Using three fingers, he reaches out to his image in the mirror and streaks the blood across it. "I know you...what will do? Will you tell them? What would you say, even if they believed you?" Eyes wide, he continue to stare at the now bloodied image.

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  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    Todt makes comments as he's reading.

    "Hm. It says here that there was a secret society composed of young rich men, who mutilated themselves and made sacrifices in the deepest heart of Indochina. Only three of them came back, and one of them was our friend Jedediah Gammell, millionaire, heart attack victim, and child-killer. There's also some sort of ritual called Khasmarot and a name of a tribe, Thakhet."

    He looks over at Javier and starts.

    "Jesus! Javier, are you okay? You've been acting kind of strange lately. Would you like to see a therapist?"

  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    "Strange? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh Kris, that's rich. Have you looked around us lately? Have you seen this?" Javier starts shaking the lab copy at Todt "Open your damn eyes before you talk to me about strange!" He throws the report at Todt.

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  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    [El Skid]
    You step out into the sweltering nighttime air. Down the street, you can see Mr. Ford in profile, leaning against the inner wall of a phone booth, and talking intently into the receiver. Mathew steps briskly from around the corner of the building, coming from the direction of a nearby strip mall. In his arms, he's holding a large board, and an armload of plastic bags. "Supplies!" he says, when he sees you.

  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    edited May 2013
    Guy nods at Matthew and holds the door open for him. As the door closes behind Matthew, Guy quickly walks over toward the phone booth, trying to keep a car between himself and Mr. Ford so he can hear the conversation.

    El Skid on
  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    Nathan hung up the phone and started back toward the hotel lobby. As he passed by the nearest parked cars, he say Guy hunching awkwardly beside a car.

    "Mr. Laperdue! Can I help you with something?"

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    Mathew strides into the hotel room, and places his bags near the desk. After grabbing another beer, he begins to unpack the bags, pulling out a variety of craft materials. Soon he's set to work, sketching in a small pad of paper, and clipping away.

  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    edited May 2013
    "Absolument!" said Guy to Mr. Ford, not a trace of guilt on his face though he had just effectively been caught.

    "I was hoping zat you could tell me what you were reporting back to headquarters about us. You see...I know that zere are some odd theengs going on, but I assure you zat we 'ave been togezere for quite a bit, and ze oddness is mostly in zis case, not our group." True sincerity radiated from Guy's every word, to go with a smidgeon of confusion when talking about the odd theengs.

    El Skid on
  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    "I think odd is an understatement, Mr. Laperdue."

    Nathan looks around quickly and then steps close to Guy. In hushed tones, he says, "I assure you, my orders are perfectly in line with your's: protect your group and find Dr. Morgan. I was simply relying your progress in the investigation."

    Stepping back, Nathan continues, "Now, unless you need something else, I suggest we return to the room and continue with the investigation."

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    "You go ahead, Monsieur Ford. I would like to keep an eye on our surroundings for a bit, just to be on ze safe side." With that Guy sauntered off.

  • PsychoLarry1PsychoLarry1 Registered User regular
    Day 4
    Have your lives altered so drastically that yesterday felt almost restful? After finishing your late night studies, you all turn to bed, save Mathew, who remains quietly working on some sort of craft project at the desk. The tiny window mounted air conditioner is no match for the desert air. You had always been told it got cool at night, but you all sleep fitfully and wake up still weary and sweating profusely. Mathew is mounting his project against the wall, and looks up as you start to stir with the radio alarm. He gestures to it, a corkboard covered in familiar photos, crude sketches, and yarn. "Just like in all those cop movies!" he says proudly and deeply slurred. It's difficult to say whether the slurring is from profound exhaustion, or the many empty beer cans on the desk beside him.

  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    "Very nice, but you forgot a connection."
    Todt makes a yarn connection between Cambodia/Laos and Jedediah.
    "There's some names missing."
    He puts up "Thahket tribe?" and "Khasmarot" and links them to Camodia/Laos. He then puts up "Werner Aufenbaum" and connects that to "Powder".

    "Matthew, did you stay up all night? You should get some sleep."

  • CayrusCayrus Consul Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!Registered User regular
    "Alright, I'm just the muscle, can someone explain to me what all this means?"

    Former Secret Service Agent Nathaniel Ford in Call of Cthulhu: Whispers in the Darkness

    Henri Emmanuel Gratien St Pierre in Where No Man Has Gone Before

    Lord Augustus Cumberbatch in Eclipse Phase
  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    Guy looked at the board, and whistled. "From ze looks of zis, it means our case is linked to some very nasty and disturbed people, not just to an employee who went crazy as a matter of course. From what we've found out about zis powder, I would guess zat someone connected to these crazies gave him a transplant with some extra additives. Ze question is: Why him in particular, and what does zis mean for our investigation?"

  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    "We're trying to find Dr. Morgan. He kidnapped Louisa. Dr. Appleton was her doctor or surgeon or something. They both had contact with Jedediah, who was in a death-cult in Laos. N. Samphan is from Laos and is over at the local EON complex which is doing some very unauthorized experiments. His employee is Codburn who I believe was Morgan's boss. The powder destroys animal cells in ways that break laws of biology, and Dr. Appleton , who was rotting but alive when we found him, exhibited the same effects. Werner Aufenbaum wrote a book about aliens on Pluto and predicted (Todt glances through Brian's notes) this effect."

    Todt drops the notes.

    "HOLY SHIT! DR. APPLETON GAVE THE DECEASED JEDEDIAH GAMMELL'S HEART TO MORGAN!"

    "He must have preserved it somehow with the powder!"

    He rushes over to the board.

  • PeffPeff Registered User regular
    "Uhhhnnnnnnnnnn"

    Javier rolls over and pulls a pillow over his head.

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  • Captain MarcusCaptain Marcus now arrives the hour of actionRegistered User regular
    Todt starts to add new cards to the board, but stops midway-

    "Wait. If Gammell died recently, and he'd been in college in the 1880s, then that makes him over a hundred years old. That's impossible. They gave the heart of a centenarian as an organ donor? Perhaps that powder halts the aging process by killing the cells, but somehow keeps the user alive..."

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