The Glass Cannon Podcast - Time For Chaos S1 | E11 – Let's Scream Together

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

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Service fees, exclusions and terms apply. Instacart. Groceries that over-deliver. You are listening to the Glass Cannon Network, the premier source for role-playing game entertainment. Good evening everybody, it's Friday night and according to my watch, it's time for chaos. Tonight is a very special episode. It's episode 11 and my sort of soft goal in my brain before we started season one of Time for Chaos is that this would be a 20 episode season.

Now maybe it'll be 22, maybe it'll be 18, but the goal was 20 in my head, which would mean that we are about to approach the second half of the first season, which is exciting. We'll see if it works out. I have no idea. I really have no idea what's happening every time I sit down to play this season, which is exciting. We'll see if it works out. I have no idea. I really have no idea what's happening every time I sit down to play this game, which is exciting and also terrifying. So that's, I don't know what to call it,

the good news, bad news? It's just news is what it is. But I do have bad news is after tonight, we're taking two weeks off before the next episode because next week is Gen Con and we're toning down the content that we're putting out remotely because we're gonna be putting out so much content at the con so we're taking almost all next week off for most of our shows and then the following week just there's been some scheduling

issues and whatnot so we need to take another week otherwise we're gonna drive ourselves crazy it's already an untenable schedule so So we need to take another week. Otherwise we're going to drive ourselves crazy. It's already an untenable schedule. So we've got to take two weeks off. Then we're coming back strong. So that puts a lot of pressure on tonight's app. Kate, how are you going to make tonight's app special? I was wondering if maybe there was another DMV we could go to in the city, like maybe like North Manhattan or maybe in the Bronx.

The Brooklyn DMV? Yeah. Yeah, this should. The Brooklyn DMV. Yeah, different borough. In all DMV app. That was nice because it just killed time and didn't actually get into any of my prep. Uh. No. Is there a department of boating vehicles?

Air time DMV? How are you guys doing tonight? This is, the chatter pre-show is that you're nervous about going to the going to the could to jail Is that what's gonna happen? Looks like you're under arrest for murder murder Yeah, what can go wrong? It's gonna be fine. We can totally fix this.

I'm sure you can fast talk your way out of this one. Or not. I think it's been too many episodes, and we're still with the original cast. We've got to fix that tonight. I think there aren't enough role-playing games that take place entirely in prisons. I would like to play this out for several episodes. Oh, it's the RPG. Yeah, exactly.

And I mean, last episode, we broke into things. This one is we break out, maybe, possibly. This is a trap. Who knows? Who could tell? We dealt with uncanny and eldritch entities from beyond our veil of existence. So who's to say we can't find our way through the American

justice system? Something happens in Calakathulu where it doesn't take long before investigators are like, we should break into that government building. We didn't like the information we got. Let's steal a car and drive there and break in. I mean, honestly, the credit goes to you, Troy, because you played a guy who was so obnoxious that I think we felt we needed to fuck that guy over. It was less about getting the information, more about vandalizing his desk.

That's a lot of the urination for a TTRPG. Yes. More so than usual. There's DNA testing in 1924. And no, right? No DNA testing. Why would Lumenal come into play? Let's say yes.

Let's say Tesla himself shows up. Possibly already dead. And comes and does it. Do you guys have any, I wanted to give you a bachelor party update. I don't know where we're going yet. We were on pins and needles. Yes, thank God. I know.

I didn't want to leave you hanging. I didn't want to talk about it before we went live because I'm sure all of America is wondering as well. It looks like it's been narrowed down to two cities. Vegas and Montreal. I said that I could do both weekends in September, so we'll see. I really know what's going to happen. Now I'm kind of pulling for Vegas. If we're going to do it, let's just do it. Yeah, man.

So stay tuned. Keep us posted. Yeah, please. Figure out what tattoo you want on your face. You know, I do need a good face tat I'll get someone else's face tattooed on. Oh, there you go. Yeah So you all already look like one of those 80s photos where you're like looking to the side and looking straight at the same time Yes, like those star search things was like a man and then a woman those fun was like a man and then a woman. Those are fun. Remember Star Search, Kate?

Oh, God. All right. Well, you know, there was a topic last week that we didn't hit on hobbies. I wanted to, I really wanted to dig into this because I think maybe it's just an excuse for me to talk about what I have going on behind closed doors. But do you guys have hobbies that really only you share and maybe you wish other people shared it or it's something that like maybe only a couple of you

and your friends do and you're like, man, I really wish other people were into this so that I could share this love that I have with someone else. That would require me to have free time, Troy. Well, yeah. But you know, there's hobbies that, no, I guess all hobbies do take time.

Yeah, there must be something. There's a lot to prioritize. Rob, I know you were a big, you play the Star Wars miniature game, right? I love that game, X-Wing, yeah. I talked to Joe about it on Cannon Fodder. But you've got buddies that play it? No, that's the problem.

So yeah, this is full on. Yeah, I try. Like all my buddies in Denver here are too cool for the most part. Otherwise it's just a scheduling nightmare. And the other ones that would be willing haven't really played it. So then I have to like teach them. But part of buying hundreds upon hundreds of dollars worth of plastic Star Wars ships is to be like, hey man, I got everything you need.

Like you come here, you tell me what you wanna be and I'm gonna build this list for you and then put out all the ships that I never actually touch with my hands. So yeah, I just need, yeah. I just, there's a game shop here that I went to for a few weeks, but it's every Wednesday. I conflicts with my ultimate Frisbee league

that I'm also in. So that's been an issue. What a weird city. I used to play ultimate Frisbee league. Yeah, it's full, there's a lot of- I competed. Here you go. Oh really? Here's your friend.

Guys should have set up a game. Yeah, I don't know. We could play it. I'm sure that's a game you could play on Zoom. Try bringing people together. That's what I did. Here we go. Here's your friend. You guys should have set up a game. Yeah, we could play it. I'm sure that's a game you can play on. Try bringing people together. That's what I did. What is this for? Yeah, I'm not good.

I don't want to get, you know, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. It's just an excuse to run around like an idiot. And I'm myself and my buddy are maybe the oldest people on the team by at least a decade. So that's cool. Just getting lapped maybe the oldest people on the team by at least a decade. So that's cool. Just getting lapped by people who are a little bit more intense than you would think on an ultimate frisbee field

in Colorado. They get pretty intense. A lot of diving, a lot of diving catches. There's also a prevailing theory that people who get super into ultimate frisbee just weren't good enough for like other sports. So they bring that intensity to, I'm down for the rebuttal, Nora.

I just feel like some of these- Nora is the D1 starting quarterback for Florida State. I just feel like some of these guys, some of these guys are just sort of like so aggro about Frisbee and I get being competitive and stuff like that, but it's like at the end of the day, you kind of want to be like, have you seen what you look like when you play this game?

Like- I had a completely different experience from you. Really? Yeah. Like they were all cool? Well, like I lived in Korea for four years. And so a bunch of us had like, there was those league ultimate frisbee.

Oh no, we lost Troy. Troy. That's all right, I'm still here. I just- Okay. I'll keep talking as this- Just keep talking, don't worry about my shitty camera. I lived in South Korea for four years and a bunch of the expat community, along with...

We had an Ultimate Frisbee League. We actually played a semi-international competition. And we got to play like in the stadiums that they played World Cup in, which was awesome. Whoa! So we played like Taiwan and China and Japan, Guam. That's amazing. I loved the Guam's teams because they had really fun names

that had Guam bears and the Guam bats. That's fun. But everything was like really chill because it was just an excuse to drink beer and. That could be because there's a level of, maybe it's like a self-esteem thing. Like you could look at yourself in the mirror and be like, I'm playing an international game today

in a World Cup stadium. And like, you've got nothing to prove because you've made it. Whereas you're playing in a public park and you could tell the chances that someone was gonna be an asshole, they greatly increase if they're wearing a t-shirt that says like, a league name on it or something like that,

you know what I mean, as opposed to like, a fucking Pokemon shirt. We were Kim Jong-Illin, man, we had. Damn, that's bold. Kim Jong was like a boombox. Skating the line. Yeah. The puns, if you got someone with a pun on their shirt, immediately trustworthy. Headbands, not as trustworthy. No. But there's a lot of red, white, and blue headbands. I'm wearing at least four different knee braces, which is impressive.

Ultimate Frisbee. That started when we were in high school. Like no one played Ultimate Frisbee, I thought, until like the mid-90s. It was around, but I think it was just in Northern California. Hacky Sack was also big. Oh, Hacky Sack was huge. Oh, yeah. Ross, Ultimate Frisbee, X-Wing, what's your poison that you know I did end up listing like seven things, I'm sorry.

I took a turn. No, no, that's great. Loved hearing all about the X-Wings and about all the insecure aggression that's being taken out with the whip disc. You know, my hobbies are like, I feel like all I have are hobbies. But I don't know.

Years ago, I did have some time and I got really into like cassette culture. So I like collect cassettes and I released four small press cassettes of- Are you talking audio cassettes? Yeah, yeah. Like, um, of music. And I haven't done it in a while, but I'd love to get back into it. I've got my little synthesizers and mixers back there. Oh, yeah.

It'd be fun to get back in. So you just pressed in cassettes in your... Yeah, yeah, it was fun. I did everything. I recorded them and then bought blank cassettes from a place that makes them in all kinds of different colors, created the labels, printed them off. It was very DIY. That's awesome. Proposition.

Yes. And sold them at local shops and over the mail. Can you make a theme for our show? Yeah. Okay. Challenge Gauntlet Throne. I will make a theme for the mail. Can you make a theme for our show? Yeah, okay, challenge gauntlet throne. I will make a theme for the show. Yes.

Nice. Yes, it can replace the one that we use when it's a Vaughn Heavy episode. What about you, Kate? Are you, you got hobbies, right? What do you got going on over there? I mean, I have things I like to do, but I don't like doing them with other people.

Like, I like playing video games alone. I don't want to play with other people. I just started drawing again. That's an alone thing. Even when I like, I learned to knit and I would go to the bar with my friend with all my knitting stuff and she would bring her jewelry making stuff

and we would just sit next to each other and do our stuff. I love that. Yeah. That's nice. That's the mark of a true friend. Yeah, like I don't like doing things with other people outside of socializing. I like socializing. You just like to get blackout drunk with a stranger.

One thing that I think would be nice is if, I used to do jujitsu more and it would be nice if I had friends who liked to do like jujitsu anditsu and kickboxing because I feel like that would make Me go more if like I had a good friend who did it and it would be fun to like fight each other and like Yeah, I was like fighting like grown men Martial arts I did that too. It's fun. I've been for a while Troy you were a big you were like like in, what did you do? Karate, taekwondo? I did tempo for years and I was just about to test for my black belt when I timed it

bad. It was like time to go to college. And so I didn't test. I always wanted to get back into it, you know what I mean? But like nowadays when you're in your 40s, it's like, if you're, you have one opportunity to do something health related. It's like you can either lift weights, do CrossFit, be a marathonist or take martial arts.

You know, you can't be like, well, I've got kids, so I'll just wake up at 4 a.m., take an hour and a half jujitsu class, then hit the gym for some free weights. This is, you're bringing people together again. You and I are going to sign up for a jujitsu class and we're gonna fight each other. Do we have to touch strangers?

But that's the thing listen, I don't like touching strangers either, but I like choking strangers So like you're talking it's a trade-off One of those shirts that you'll see on the court Rob Choking stranger. Yep It's like oh this guy's to guard me like an asshole. I could get into that. BJJ was huge now with the UFC blowing up. I was way into UFC for a while.

But anyways, I find this all very interesting. My hobby that I'm not going to get too far into, because I want to jump into the episode, is I started this beginning of COVID, and I talk about it all the time now. I got way back into collecting sports cards. And it's taking over my life. And I don't even even wanna play games anymore.

I just wanna go on eBay. So I'm gonna humor you guys for the next hour and 45 minutes and then I've got a couple auctions I have to look at. Can you not make a game, is there not already a game that uses baseball cards? I'm sure there is, but like I'm enjoying the, I don't know, I was so into it as a kid.

And then when COVID hit and all sports stopped, the business boom, because everybody was like so desperate to have some sports to latch onto. So they started buying cards again. So all of a sudden, cards, the card market blew up and I'm just it's it's becoming a problem. But it's so much fun listening to the fucking podcast. I'm reading magazines, selling stock, I'm investing in cards, it's great. Anyways, yeah, sell all your stocks, buy cards,

that's where the money's at. Let's talk about- The original NFTs. The original, don't even, very, very different, you can actually hold it in your hand. Yeah. You can hold it! Can we do hot takes about NFTs now? They're old news. What the hell happened last week?

You guys- Nothing, really. I mean, if you look at it- You guys went to the DMV, you went up to Sing Sing Prison to try and speak to Hilton Adams, who was arrested for murders similar to the murder of Jackson Elias, were laughed away by the cops, but you did leave with some information that, oh, are you friends of the reporter, Rebecca Schozenberg, who wrote the article about Jackson Elias's death?

Or are you friends of his wife who comes here all the time? Oh, okay, so his wife comes here. All right, so you get a couple of connects. You come back and meanwhile, Carter and Fay Rue's break into the newly minted three employee DMV to look for some information on this car. You found out that it was stolen uptown on, I believe, Lexington Avenue. It belonged to a man named Thomas Witherspoon, I believe. So you got a lead there, and you pissed on the guy's desk that was mean to you and left.

Reconvene, went to the funeral the next day and obviously a somber affair. You meet Jackson's publisher, Jonah Kensington, whose name you saw pop up on some correspondence. He tells you, you should come by his office, Prospero House Publishing. He needs to talk to you. Jackson came and saw him when he came back to New York and they spoke. He thinks you guys should speak. And then also there's a man, a guy by the name of Carlton Ramsey and his niece, who Carlton was Jackson's lawyer.

But both Carlton and Jonah clearly seemed like they were friends with Jackson as well, very close friends. And they invited you to the reading of, he invited you to the reading of Jackson's will in his office Monday morning. It says you were all named in it. So you've got a couple of leads. There's a bunch of reporters at the funeral.

They're probably like vultures now at this point because Hilton Adams was arrested for these murders and yet there's a new murder. They want to ask all these questions. And then meanwhile, Lieutenant Martin Poole comes up and puts you in his squad car because you've been got. Let's do a luck improvement roll here. While you guys roll that, remember you're trying do a luck improvement roll here. While you guys roll that, remember you're trying to get over your luck here. And if you do, you'll get a D10 worth of luck back.

Couple rules things, last week we used luck on a push roll. Can't do that. In the heat of our excitement, I allowed it. But yeah, can't do that. Can't use luck on luck rolls. Can't use luck on luck rolls. Can't use luck on pushed rolls. Also Vaughn, Michael pointed out between sessions, regains a hit point of day. So he's now up to eight out of nine.

And I joked in an email this morning that he will wake up in prison back to full health shortly before his execution. But let's pick out, yeah, what'd you guys do? Anybody improve their luck? Oh, yep. Got nine points. Or no, yeah. I did not succeed on that. Okay. All right. Let's-

Seated. Then I just roll a D10 and take the. Yeah, D10 and then add it to your luck. Well, we're in the money, y'all. Don't worry, I'm adding one whole point to my luck score. You'll live forever. Kate, you improve? Yep, I got nine. Woo.

Ooh. Just good, I needed it. I feel like I failed the last couple of times. Kata. No, I rolled probably what will I feel like I failed the last couple times. Kata? No, I rolled probably will be the lowest roll of the evening for me. I rolled a 13. Oh wait, I want to get under or over?

You want to get over. Nice. Yeah, fine. Yeah, you want to fail. So Lieutenant Poole puts you in his car. You're all kind of jammed in the backseat. It's not a squad car. He doesn't put you in his car. You're all kind of jammed in the back seat. It's not a squad car. He doesn't put you in cuffs. Really doesn't make a big scene out of this, especially with all those reporters around. But, you know, I'm sure some of them know this is a police officer.

It seems very strange. Puts you in the back of his car and drives you through Brooklyn, back into Manhattan. You actually pass by the street where the Hotel Chelsea is and he brings you to a precinct on West 20th Street, right around the corner from the hotel. He brings you in and brings you into a long hallway with a bunch of doors and sits each of each of you in like individual interrogation rooms. Leaves you waiting there for a long time. You know, obviously the funeral was in the morning

by the time you get back to Manhattan and you go through some just general hubbub and you're sitting there for what feels like over an hour until a pool comes into Vaughn's room and he sits down across from youvonne and says, can you explain to me what you were doing at the Hotel Chelsea on the night of January the 15th? Vaughn is like wheels are turning, he was like, prisoner's dilemma, how does this work? But also is like, I mean, if they've come this far, they know so much, they saw us coming, going. I was there to meet a friend. And what was this friend's name?

He's taking notes here while you're talking. Sadly, I believe you know this friend's name. Because my friend, I should hope, is currently in one of your city's moors, receiving... Oh, no. In fact, I just left his side, seeing as he's currently being interred in Brooklyn on Mr. Jackson Elias, a very close friend of mine. So you're a friend of the deceased, Mr. Elias. Was he expecting you?

Did you have a planned meeting, hangout? Arrived in this country, sir. And indeed his room at his personal summits. Okay. But what time did you come to the Hotel Chelsea? And that's something that I'm sure Vaughn remembers in great detail. And tells him. He says so. Okay. We've done some digging on you, Mr. Villiers. You're a veteran. You know, for a lot of men who have fought out there, they took the war home with them.

Sometimes, maybe they struggle to tell who's a friend, who's an enemy. Is that maybe what happened the other night, Mr. Villiers? May I have the pleasure of speaking to another veteran of the late Unpleasantness? Mr. Poole? No, no, thankfully, my service is right here, but I have friends, and I know what they've been through. I don't mean to offend, but I'm wondering if maybe that's what happened here, you went to see your friend and-

I can assure you, sir, I can assure you in the fog of war that yes, when one finds themselves in No Man's Land, yes, it is quite difficult to distinguish a friend from a foe. In fact, that damnable confusion is one of the most wretched things about it. But, I believe it instills within you, as much as it instills in you I. In some of us a shattering fear are such things. When we do meet people of ferocious loyalty, goodness of character, uprightness, and compassion. Qualities that the

late Mithrilais had in a great abundance. And we bind those individuals to us with hoops of steel, knowing just how rare those qualities are. You say he summoned you? Yes. To his hotel? I might even have one of the telegrams on me. Like... But what was so urgent that you needed to be summoned? At 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock at night at a hotel room?

And you obviously weren't alone. Had some friends with you. Yes, indeed, we form a bond that transcends the boundaries of nations. sends the boundaries of nations. We've aided Mr. Lyas and his researches, research that brought us to part south. Part south. Where about? Down in Alabama, Florida? Down in Alabama, Florida? I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure. No, though we did spend some time in Peru. Peru?

As you say that, we cut to him in a room with Feru. Same setup. So you're a graduate student at Miskatonic up in Massachusetts. Correct. As you see Feyruz open up a silver monogrammed cigarette case, take one out and light it up. And what are you studying up there at Miskatonic? I study cryptology. Cryptology. What brings you to New York, specifically the Hotel Chelsea the other night. Well, I received an invitation by Mr. Jackson Elias to have a little reunion.

And what happened when you approached Mr. Elias' apartment? Apartment? Or his hotel room. Oh, well. It's my understanding that he was using it as an apartment. Sadly.

Didn't get to find out why. And why is that? Well, you were there at the funeral, weren't you? I was, but I want to know more about what happened the actual night. You, uh, went up to his room? Walk me through this. Well, I wish to find out what happened next to you of us. So you never spoke to Mr. Elias that night? Never saw him?

Sadly, no. He's very concerned for him, you see. Very concerned, yeah, I can imagine, because we have some reports from some eyewitnesses that saw you and the British gentleman downstairs in the elevator speaking, actually, to some of my officers. And other people saw you outside during some commotion when a car sped off. Do you remember anything about that? Well, there was a car that sped off. I found it very peculiar.

What kind of car was it, do you remember? I believe, as Nora, not Beirut, checks her notes. Stop stalling, Gibran! Tell us what you know. I believe it was a 1915 Black Hudson touring roadster. Good memory. I was only able to catch a bit of the fate, see that.

I found it very suspicious that they had all this commotion had gone about and they had sped off. And then we come to find our unfortunate circumstance with our dear friend. Having some trouble with the timeline of this event. So from what I understand, you had an appointment to meet Mr. Elias around 8 p.m. You go to his room. You don't hear from him. you don't connect with him, but then Shortly around say 8 45 p.m. You and your friend speak to my officers and

some story about newlyweds maybe But then earlier than that maybe around But then earlier than that maybe around 815 820 or so I got reports of seeing you outside seeing this car which you remember very specifically is a Blah blah blah and he repeats back to you So I'm just I'm having a little trouble understanding here What you're not telling me Well It is correct that I what you're not telling me. Well,

it is correct that I did say that my friend and I were honeymooning. But you have to understand that once you see a promotion like this and well, you know how things are around here. You can never trust anyone. like this and well you know how things are out here you can never trust anyone we didn't know if these circumstances were suspicious under mr. Elias's unfortunate passing he leans in he's like you know I'm trying to help here right now listen I would love for you to come in here and tell me that you had something to do with all this I

don't think you did but I do think you know things that can help me well I would start with that vehicle Start with that vehicle. We leave there, and now he's sitting across from Margo, arms folded, just staring at you. Is Margo nervous at all? Probably. Yeah, I mean, in the room alone, hoping that we're all doing the same thing and no one's,

I don't know, yeah, hope everything goes well. Just staring at you, he's a big guy. I think I said it looked like back in the day, maybe he was younger, I liked the football player's physique, but now he's getting old, the muscles turning to fat, but he's still just a big guy and He's staring at you, and he's like miss sour You're from Germany yes, yes May ask what a young lady from Germany is doing hanging out here in New York around

a murder scene? Well, I was here to meet the person that was murdered. Jackson Elias, he is our friend. Jackson Elias is your friend? Yes. You had a meeting planned with him? Yes, with my other friends. And your friends, you all went to his apartment

around 8 p.m.ish or so, his hotel room? It was a hotel, we were supposed to meet him. Walk me through that, you knock on the door. And she maybe goes inward and just looks around, And she maybe goes inward and just looks around. Like, because how do you tell someone what you saw without sounding crazy? He just kind of leans in. He's not menacing. He's just kind of, he sees that maybe there's something here.

It's all right. I imagine you saw some pretty horrible things. Maybe things you haven't seen before. Can you help me out and just tell me what you saw? Oh, it just... listen. We came to meet our friend. That was it. We came to meet our friend. Okay, you met your friend, but your friend wasn't there. Or he was, but... Did you get in? Did you open the door? Did you see anybody that did this? Did you see your friend? I did see my friend.

You did? And was he still alive? No. He wasn't. Did you see anybody else in the room? Many people. Many people, how many people? I think it was three, right?

Three. Remember from our notes? What do they look like? White guys, black guys, Hispanic? Oh, geez. As she visibly tries to remember, while I look at my notes, I mean, the room, it wasn't shambles.

I mean, Jackson was the way he was. Any distinguishing characteristics of these? The men, they were all wearing suits, but they had a flannel, checkered scarf tied around their head. All three of them, the same. Okay. And what happened next?

I mean, it's happened so fast. So one had a knife, one had a machete. Um, I think one was climbing out the window and we saw our friends and we tried to stop those men. And we saw our friends and we tried to stop those men. And we did. And it got hairy and I feel and then we're here now. It's, we're here now. We cut out of the air.

They sit in there looking at Carter. Nobody knows the trouble I see. Oh, did you want to talk about something? Yeah, I want to ask you if if you don't mind me asking, what happened to your face? It was an accident. Yeah, no, God no.

This is an accident on my estate, my property. There was a mare, a horse, that means horse, and she kicked. And she kicked me right in the face. This property is in Massachusetts. Yes. Are we being charged with something sir? I know a little thing or two about the law here. I feel like we're getting a little bit of a run around. We were put in this car very silently. Separated us. I know your tactics. Yeah, no. Right now you aren't being charged. But if I were you, I would stay right where you're sitting so we could chat a little bit longer.

Because I got this other report about you. Maybe it wasn't you, but it was a man that matched your description causing some trouble at the DMV yesterday, Department of Motor Vehicles. It's a new department here in the city. Yeah. And then I get a report this morning that they had a break in last night. Now, I'm not saying you were that guy.

I'm not saying that you had anything to do with this. But if you make this a little more difficult for me, then maybe I gotta start going and doing some digging down there and seeing if you did have any connection to that. So while I'm not charging you for anything here, maybe if I start digging over there, then I'll find something to charge you with. Well that'd be refreshing, because then you'd be doing your god damn job.

Let me tell you what I know so far. Yeah, tell him. Hit me, Jack. You and your friends have a meeting with this Jackson Alliance 8 p.m. The Hotel Chelsea Saint of a man by the way put that in your notes by all accounts You get there There's it's unclear here from some of your friends stories whether or not you go in it appears that you did go in you see the deceased

Obviously a horrible scene room room ransacked, and there are multiple attackers. A chase ensues. That's right. And they take off in a... name's the make of the car. Am I missing anything so far? Apart from the fact you guys haven't caught these dudes, yeah. No, you nailed it. Explain to me why you and your friends were on. Did you find something in there? Why we ran after the assailants? Because I just assumed NYPD was not

going to be able to catch them. Why you ran from the scene of the crime and didn't talk to me or my officers when we came to the scene. We're in the middle of an investigation, okay? When we have- I'm sorry, are you an officer? No, I'm a bit of a crime fighter, you might say. I find evil and I stamp it out.

Sir, I don't know how they do things up in Massachusetts, but here, the crime fighters wear a badge he slams his badge on the table oh yeah you're gonna flash your buzzer at me that's slang for a badge in the 20s it's pretty good letting you know that googled it while you guys were talking to other people you got explained to me how I'm supposed to look at this. How am I supposed to look at this? There is a dead body and there's four people fleeing the scene.

Now, I don't think you had anything to do with the murder, but I think you guys know something that you're not telling me, so please help me. Help me help your friend. All right, here's the straight news, Jack. We get in there. Our buddy, again, just a... Saint of a man. That's right.

Did you write that one down? I've wrote it down. Gutted like a pig. Just intestines everywhere. These three bros are there. Headbands, knives of various shapes and sizes. These three bros are there. Headbands, knives of various shapes and sizes. They flee.

Alright, now we're consumed with vengeance. I, I don't know what came over me. I jumped out of a four story window, landed like a puma. But they got away. All right now these guys They got in a car Sure, you have it written down somewhere in 1915 Hudson Turric Hudson drivers black Zip away Bob's your uncle, right? My friend Vaughn would say that then

Well, then we run why do we run again? Who's to say what lurks in the hearts of humans? But when it comes to righting wrongs, the four of us, the buddy squad, as we like to be called, we wanted to get to the bottom of this. And frankly, don't take this the wrong way. NYPD, you guys, a little bit corrupt, a little bit kind of got your head up your ass. You know, I mean, we had leads.

We had leads. Give me a fast talk role. Jesus, it took you long enough. Fast talk. First one giving the cop the business. Okay, my fast talk's a five. Really? Let's see what happens. It could be your charm. Go charm.

I got charm. Yeah, I got charm. I'm not gonna hamper you with the wrong rule. I got a 68 under a 75. Okay, so success. It's enough for him to just shake his head. Now look, before you say anything else, let me ask you a question. Do you want to deputize us?

Absolutely not, no. I don't know why that was very quick. No, I'm thinking about keeping you here overnight. Maybe under normal circumstances I would just keep you here throw you in a cell or maybe bring you downtown put you in gen pop just feel like that's a bad like that's a bad call I mean you essentially were investigators a bad call is not telling me everything you know I told you we went after them I told you that car that's about it

we're as frustrated as you are I don't know if that's true. You don't seem very frustrated, you're right. Flash out of there. And now he's got all four of you in a room And he says, you know, if I didn't have so much going on right now with this investigation, I would charge you and I would lock you up. If for nothing else than to teach you a lesson that if you find a dead body here in New York or anywhere, you don't flee the scene. You know how bad that looks? Now the only reason I'm not doing that is I don't think you had anything to do with this.

But I do think you know things. And if you want to be like Mr. Tillinghast here as amateur investigators going around trying to solve crimes, let me tell you something about people who do that here in New York City. They end up the next ones dead or worse. Now you're not being charged and you're free to leave. But before you go, I just want to tell you something. If Mr. Elias was indeed your friend as you have all said he was, then perhaps you'll answer me a couple of questions. It's gonna help me, a professional investigator, dig into this case. I don't know if you're aware

of this but this is actually the ninth murder of its kind in the last two years. Similar to your friend here, Mr. Elias, the victims, all the other eight victims were found mutilated with this thing carved into their forehead. Were they all in the same line of work? Well no, beyond that, none of the victims seem to be connected in any way. Nor does your friend seem to be connected to any of the former victims. They came from all walks of life. They were poor, wealthy, middle class, black, white, from all over the city. The

only thing connecting them was that mark on their forehead. There was this doctor, doctor, he like looks through some papers, doctor by the name of Mordecai Lemming. The pictures got leaked to the press showing this symbol. He went on record saying that perhaps it was linked to some African death cult when we went and questioned him. He didn't have any other useful information beyond that. He's not a medical doctor, by the way. He's like a eccentric Manhattan folklorist. But, uh, Carter takes a tiny notebook and pencil out of his jacket. Like, what else can you tell us about the victims?

Uh, well, I can tell you that, uh, up until this latest body was found, your friend, excuse me, the investigation was closed when Captain Robeson of the 14th Precinct in Harlem arrested a local man by the name of Hilton Adams, who was found at the scene of the eighth murder. Now there hadn't been any murders since until your friends here. So that makes me wonder if maybe other people are involved or perhaps Robeson got the wrong guy. Does any of this information maybe make you think of something that you think would be helpful to me. I feel like we all just kind of look slowly around at each other like hmm.

Oh not at the moment. But if anything comes up you're our first call. What was your friend up to? What do we love to know? Said that he was summoning you. You don't just get summoned to an apartment from Germany, from England, from Massachusetts. There was something important,

and I don't know why you wanna hold this information from me, but I think something's going on. And I tell you right now, Robeson's not gonna be the one to figure it out. So why can't we work together here? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Give us a badge, give us four badges. No, I'm not giving you any badges.

Okay, don't give us a badge, but give us a document. I want information. I want information about your friend. What was he up to? Perhaps we could do a bit of exchange. We give you some information, you give us access to records.

That's not how this works, Mr. Braun. You give me information, I go out and do my job, and I try and find your friend's killers. You don't give me information, then your friend died for nothing. Then your friend died for nothing. That's too... Oh, sorry, Vaughn, I don't want to... The name you ju... No, no.

Cut you off, go ahead, my friend. The name you just dropped, uh... The name you just dropped, sport, Mordecai Lemming, the doctor. That was someone you interviewed about the murders, not a victim himself, yeah? Correct, correct. Yeah, when when the photos got leaked to the press of these These forehead marks He came forward Said that he believed they were linked to some sort of African death cult while the press had a field day with that

You know we looked into it You know, I do think that there is some sort of ritualistic situation going on here. The way that all the bodies were mutilated, they all have this symbol. It just doesn't add up. And it just doesn't add up to this man that's sitting on death row. So I'm thinking maybe, maybe he did have something to do with it. Maybe he had some friends who are still out there.

Or maybe Robeson got the wrong guy. Well, there is a book that might help you, but we're having trouble finding it. Perhaps you would have better luck. And what's the name of that book? I believe Mr. Lemming might be less of a crackpot than you gave him credit for old sport. And the name of the book you're after, and I need you to listen terribly closely so that there's

no confusion, is Africa's Dark Sects. What's that? Dark Sects. What's that? Sects. You spell that last word. The Dark Sects of Africa, S-E-C-T. Sects. Book that has been banned by your estimable country

with its great quantity of largesse and freedom for obscenity. Yes, and aren't you the ones that go around and collect these books that are banned? Perhaps you've come across it. That's not my job. I don't deal with collecting books. But this was a book that your friend Mr. Elias was interested in? Yes. Oh, that's interesting. friend Mr. Elias was interested in? Yes. Well, that's interesting.

These sorts of, um, I mean, you barely needed to hear it from us if you looked over his curriculum vitae, but cults of this sort, the sort that this, um, lemming chap were speaking of, were Mr. Elias' bailey with? Right, well I know he was an author. I've never read any of his work, but he was interested in all this sort of cult stuff apparently. Obviously something's going on here that is different from your average murder. Well, you know where I am and I obviously know how to find you. So if you think of anything else,

I would appreciate it and I'm sure your friend would appreciate it as well if he came and spoke with me and I ask you a favor bring it to me and don't bring it to Robson. Why is that? I'd prefer if this information stayed in this precinct. All right, well, if you want to roll a persuade or a charm here, you can. Let me see how persuasive and charming I am. Not very charming. Is there a persuade? Let me persuade, I am. Not very charming. Is there a persuade? What's the, uh?

Persuades, I'm like the top right. Aha, even worse. No, no. So let me see what I can roll here. Yeah, no, not even close. I wanna try. If I, shouldn't you work together with your fellow co-worker? I'd rather not work with that department.

Is it your opinion that this Hilton Adams was railroaded? You've brought up his perhaps being not the right man for the crime a number of times. Are you telling me it's possible that NYPD could arrest the wrong person? I just think it's rather strange that the man that they arrested is locked up right now and yet another murder exactly like that happens and you now tell me there were three men there. So either Adams is involved with some group and he was just the unlucky one that got caught,

or he's innocent. Yes. Would you roll, Kate? Oh. 29 under 50. Nice. Hey. The reason I'm being a little dodgy about Captain Robeson is I've heard some rumors

that he's not exactly on the up and up. When these murders started becoming more frequent and people started linking them together, he lobbied early on for the role to lead up the investigation so he could crack down on what he referred to as disruptive elements in his precinct. In fact, the matter is not all the murders were happening in Harlem. These were happening all over the city. But he got the investigation. And this isn't sour grapes. It's not something that I wanted on my back. I've got to deal with the murders that happened in my precinct. And I understand they're all linked as a greater

thing going on here. But I have a feeling Robson isn't on the up and up. And yeah, that's all I'm going to say about that. All right. Well, thank you for your cooperation, Lieutenant. We'll be in contact if we have any more questions. Carter stands up. Yeah, I'll be in contact as well. No, I'll contact you. We'll contact you. Yes, I'm sure we'll all have cause to contact each other for too long.

But we'll probably contact you first. Yes. Again, thank you so much for your help. As long as we all understand each other. I don't know if we do. Ferus puts out her cigarette on the desk. On his palm. What the fuck? Get out of our ass. You put out your cigarette on his head. Guys are bad.

I love how Ferus and Carter are just so antagonistic to Dorothy. A cab. To get out of our ass. you don't like cops, man. Yeah, yeah, don't like them cops. You leave and you've been there for the better part of the day. He really, really held you over the coals there trying to see if he could get any information out of you.

Obviously, didn't arrest you, so that's a good thing. Some of you were kind of a dick to him, but that's okay. He got on his bad side. Seems like a nice enough guy. Seems pretty exasperated and is a little concerned about this Captain Robeson. We'll say it's around four o'clock on Saturday. You've got an opportunity to meet with Jonah Kensington at Prospero House Publishing. You've got the will reading on Monday and also Rebecca Schozenberg, the reporter who was mentioned at

the prison who wrote the article on Elias, said to come by her office as well. Tomorrow is Sunday. So, you know, you're going to kind of have to probably push a lot of those meetings off. You don't think she'll be at her office on Sunday. Prosper House is probably closed and the will readings on Monday. So you've got the rest of the day here on Saturday. It's already four o'clock. Not like the day is over, but I don't know how much else else you want to break

into or what other cops you want to break into, or what other cops you want to bully. But what is your plan for like the rest of the day, Saturday and Sunday, before you can really get back into it on Monday? I'm interested to see what we have in the will. What are we getting? Yeah, maybe find out Monday. Definitely want to go to the will, what are we getting? Yeah, maybe.

Yeah, I definitely, Monday. Definitely wanna go to the will reading. Magical items. Okay, so that's not that immediate, okay. So all of those immediate meetings are kind of punted. Monday's gonna be rough. I absolutely swamped.

I have not had a packed calendar in a while. Packed meetings. I absolutely swamped. I have not had a packed calendar in a while. Packed of staff meetings. You just want to come and relax in New York and you've got all these meetings. Right. I mean, I really want to talk to that reporter and I'd, and just because we spent all that time

talking with various librarians, going to like some sort of sort of antiquarian bookshop or a cult bookstore or something, and seeing if we can find a copy of Africa's Dark Sex that fell through the cracks. Well, how about- There's a Dr. Mordecai Lemming. Yeah, that's where I was gonna go.

That's where I was gonna go. He might know. Yeah, there's a doctor, and then also, if Carlisle's sister is still a person who exists, I feel like maybe finding out something about that and then making sure we organize our day efficiently on Monday. Sunday's gonna be mostly planning.

Mostly planning. Yeah, and by the way, perfectly. We could also try to stake out that car that's in On Lexington Avenue somewhere along to Thomas Witherspoon, or maybe talk to Thomas Witherspoon. You could try and track down Thomas Witherspoon. Also, just throwing it out there,

it's perfectly reasonable to be like, can we just fast forward to Monday? You don't have to always do something every minute of the day. No, no. It's role play every single day. First of all, assume this entire conversation is happening at Speakeath. Right, right.

We went straight. Right below the police station. Yeah, exactly. Well, I feel like Dr. Morbacay would not necessarily require a Monday, we'll be waiting till Monday, right? I feel like that's a knock on the door. Hey,, hey, you seem to have some thoughts about this thing that you're probably pretty passionate about. Maybe we'll talk to him on Sunday. Maybe he has a sneaky copy of a book that's banned since he's an eccentric folklorist.

Also- Did we hear also that Hilden Adams, the man in prison, that his wife is still out there kicking around? Yes. Yes. Yep. Also, it's probably not the smartest move, but tailing Robeson, seeing what he's up to. Sounds dirty. Yeah, I feel like after after hearing what Poole said, suspicions are sparked in Vonsmine and probably others that like, is this rope sent in on it?

Well, he's a captain too, right? So that's above Lieutenant, I think. Yeah, what if they have this cult has Poole within the NYPD and- Wheels within wheels. Tendrils of everyone. Yeah. Lot of sweet, sexy options.

What do you think about it? I think I'm going to go to the museum. The weekend, maybe the Mets. Does anyone want to come? Yeah, I mean, what else have we got? Awesome. I'm pretty sure it's free. For students.

Yeah, free. You can pay what you want on Sundays. Perfect. All right, so you guys go to the museum and we will listen to this word from our sponsor. Cultural enrichment. Museum Jack. We look at the wall and Framed is sponsor. Kleenex.

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Don't hesitate, head to heroforge.com to let adventure bloom. All right, so you wake up early Sunday, you hit the Met, which I think might have been around in 25, I don't know, I don't feel like looking it up. Don't yell at me! Don't yell at me! Art did not exist. Oh, yes. Art did not exist until 1936. Everybody knows that. And if maybe the group goes to the Met, maybe Vaughn tries to sneak in a mass before the trip

Yeah, I wonder what's he's a new man you call him a suck up yeah to God God suck up church people always sucking up to God Like Vaughn's on his way, and Carter's like, he's not listening. Well, you know what's perfect, Von? If you are staying at the Waldorf Restoria, then you would absolutely go to St. Patrick's Cathedral right there on Fifth Avenue. Hop, skip, and a jump from the Waldorf.

If you, do you think you'd been to New York before this moment? Yes. I believe he has, but briefly. Okay, well now you can take in the sights while ruminating upon your friend's horrid murder and you go into the church. Beautiful. Have you ever been to St. Patrick's? I think I've only seen it from the outside. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's been around since it was constructed or started construction in 1858 uh and was dedicated in 1879. It's beautiful. Uh definitely worth checking out, um, if you're ever in the city. So you go there, uh we'll say that's a classic, uh, the Mass is in Latin, uh somber.

Sombra, say a little prayer for your friend Jackson and then you show up late to the museum. You've got the whole day Sunday and then a jam packed Monday. Before I get into anything you might want to do on Sunday, let's see order of events for Monday. Will reading first? Well, we know that meeting with the reporter needs to come before trying to go meet the guy in the prison. And is there anything else that needs to be in a certain order? In the Prospero house wanted to wanted to see us.

Yep, Jonah Kensington at Prospero House. But isn't that where the will reading is happening, as in those two dudes? No, Ramsey, Carl Ramsey is the lawyer. Oh, but they're buddies. He's buddy with the Prospero House. They're buddies, yeah. And they wanna talk to us.

They both wanna chat with you. If we do the will reading first, if there's something, any new information that we gain from that, it might alter the order of events that we yeah that makes sense yeah yeah Ramsey for the will reading and then swing over to Prospero house for the the meeting with Jonah Kensington and then reporters like she'll she'll be having a drink somewhere yeah there are They're always waiting for stories. Yeah, her office is on 43rd Street,

so yeah, you can kind of, you could bang them all out in a day and see what time it is. And somewhere in there we'll do brunch. Yeah, nice brunch. Bottomless mimosas. Monday brunch. Monday brunch.

What do you want to do for the rest of Sunday here? Should we try to find Mordecai? Yeah, you want to try to find Mordecai of Looming? Yeah. Yes. All right. Let's just do a general, somebody do a library use roll here to see if you can track down his adds.

I'm good at that. Yoo-hoo! I'm good at that. Here we go. 19! Under 50. We don't even have to try. She's got it.

He's pretty easy to track down, as it were. He lives at the Murray Hill Hotel on East 40th Street and Park Avenue, not far from the Waldorf, although a bit of a hike from the Met. Do you have a map up, Troy? Or is this just your general New York City knowledge? Well, it helps that I lived here for 20 years, but there is some good maps of New York. Well, the Met's in the Upper East Side, right? Yeah.

I just want to make sure. I actually don't care. We've gone too far. We've gone too far down this road already. Yeah, I can't show you this map right now, because it has stuff I don't want you this map right now because it has stuff I don't want you to see, but there's a great map of Manhattan. I'll clean it up and take some things off

just to show you 1920s. I just want to know the map was founded in 1870. So everything is fine. Everything is fine. We'll get all the YouTube comments. You just went and looked at all the Jackson Pollocks. Oh, wait, no, he wasn't. No, no, I ruined the immersion.

They have a Banksy. Banksy's. All right, so do you want to like just stop in unannounced on this doctor's home? I feel like, yeah. That could go wrong. Exactly. Yeah, we're always knocking on doors and having cool experiences.

Right. That is, that's classic Kala Katulu. All right, so you head over to Park Avenue. And you get to this building, classic old New York building along Park Avenue. You know, if you don't know Park Avenue, New York, whereas most of the streets are one way, Park Avenue is like a double Avenue so one side of the street the cars are going this way the other side of the

street and then there's a huge strip in the medium. There's a lot going on especially on 40th Street the closer you get to Times Square. So big big building and you see there's a double stairway leading up to the entrance of this hotel turned apartment building, which leads into a marble lined reception hall. You see two smartly liveried doorman, tall strapping dudes. They open the door for you and say good morning and maybe they or good afternoon they give kind of a sideways glance at Faeruz, Carter and Margot because you dressed a little shabbily when compared

to Vaughn just looking at straight-up credit rating Vaughn's credit rating is like a 90 and you guys sit around like 10 or 20. So, you know, this is Park Avenue and they might give you a sideways glance, but they open the doors. I'm a tilling cast. Nonetheless. Yes. They can tell that your belt is like a knockoff Hermes. It's not like a real Hermes belt.

I just don't have, I'm not liquid when I travel. It's just an extension cord. It's got that extension cord. Yeah. Just, yeah. It's got that bunch of shoelace belt. Wait a minute, this guy's wearing a barrel with two straps. I'm a hipster. Do you realize how much Peruvian treasure

I have in my pockets right now? Yeah. Have you even seen the amount of gold we've seen before? No. What a strange thing to say to a stranger. Please come in. You walk inside and it's very old. I mean, obviously it's 1920s, but even for this period, it's old world New York.

You think that the decor inside has probably changed very little from the late 1800s. And you see an impressive marble staircase right in the middle of the lobby, like leading up to the floors where everyone lives. And there's a reception desk with a smiling young man, and he says, good afternoon. How may I be of assistance? Excuse me, would you be so good as to show us to the rooms of Dr. Mordekai Leming? Yes, and is Dr. Leming expecting you? People are always asking us that.

No, I'm afraid we're breaking in on him rather unannounced. As you can see, I've just late arrived in your wonderful building and indeed your wonderful country. I can tell from your accent. Is it French? No, not as such. I suppose there's an argument to be made that there's some Norman influence, but no, I have the distinction of being from England, sir. Yeah. That's my second guess. Um, well, I apologize. I, I can, I can call him, but, uh, may I, may I know what this is concerning? Yeah.

If, if Vaughn, if you don't mind. Certainly. We wanted to, uh, return a book to him that we collectively borrowed. It's called it. Africa's Dark Sex. All right. Um. Just a moment. Yes, if you can entice him with Africa's Dark Sex, I think that he'll give us admittance post-aste.

All right. That's a very popular title. Yes. And you can tell he's about to ask how to spell it. He just doesn't worry. He calls up and says, you see, he's just to ask how to spell it. He just doesn't worry. He calls up and says, you see he's just waiting, waiting for a ring. Hello, Dr. Lemming. I have four people here. I'm sorry, I didn't get your names.

Margot. Margot. Carter Tillinghast Esquire. Margot Carter Tillinghast Esquire. Margot Carter Tillinghast Esquire and? Dr. Elias. Dr. Elias and you sir? Von Villiers. And Von Villiers. They say they're returning a book to you, Africa's Dark Sex.

He does not remember ever having that book or lending it to anyone. He's wondering what this is about. Carter turns the other as he's like, this guy's dimmer than I thought. Shit. Do you have a card by any chance? A card? Yes. Oh, Faeruz takes out a card and draws that symbol and hands it to him. Which symbol? The symbol of the symbol that we've been seeing on the forehead.

Curved on the forehead. And hands that to him. Hands that to the clerk? Yeah. I'm sorry, what do you want me to tell him about this? He'll know. Can you run up and just show it to him? This is a matter of great importance.

Dr. Lemming, I do apologize. They've handed me a business card with a hastily drawn symbol. This is rather strange. It looks like perhaps a flower. There's like two parentheses with some dots. Oh. All right then. I'll send them right up.

Dr. Lemming, he is on the fourth floor. You can walk right up the stairs. We are playing a point and click adventure. I'm sorry, it's just like, it's amazing. It's just like a, I had to work, fuck. Oh wait, we got this thing, try this thing. Click, click, click, and then totally work. Little hand going around.

Yeah. So yeah, Vaughn will give just a little nod to the concierge and just look to the group and he's like, well, of course. After you, Ms. Elias, doctor. And I give a little wink to the gentleman. So you four scallywags walk up, hey, I said the fourth floor, it's actually the sixth floor.

So it's a sixth floor walk up, you go up the big marble staircase. Changes everything. Forget it, forget it, we don't wanna go. A roll for jump. Vaughn Smoker's lungs bail after the fourth floor. Go on without me. You get up, there's a beautiful building,

and you get up to the sixth floor, and there is a man, a small, balding, pale man, waiting outside the door to an open apartment. His clothes are just kind of all cattywampus and he's covered in ink and dust Grubby cuffs. He just looks like an old academic and he just he looks at you with wide eyes and he's like hello Hello, please please come in May I see the the the the drawing that you showed the the clerk downstairs? I see like hands on the card. Oh

Yes, yes, please, please come in, come in. And he ushers you in to his apartment. It is opulent, but it's overcrowded with books and papers everywhere. There's Rococo detailing on the walls and ceilings, just fighting for your attention amongst a sea of books and random objects from every continent, all with the shared theme of myth and folklore. If you spend even more than a second trying to read the spines of some of these books, and he says, tell me, what brings you here?

And with this symbol, I'm very familiar with this symbol. Does this have something to do with the latest murder? Yes. So you've heard. Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, it's been in the paper. I read the paper every morning and I saw this and I was waiting. I was waiting for you to come. I assume you're with the... Wait, are you with the police? Who are you?

In a manner of speaking, yes, Lieutenant Poole did say we were free to investigate and help him out. But even more so, we were fortunately friends of the deceased. And you were friends. I'm so sorry for your loss. And may I ask how you knew Mr. Elias? General adventuring. History. Research.

Share research. Who could say really? He like colleagues and companions. share research. Who can say, really? Colleagues and companions. He giggles like kind of nervously and just reaches in his vest and pulls out a little flask and downs him. He's like, oh, just a little nerve tonic, sorry.

But whoa, don't be so fast to put that away. No, no, no, no, no, it's fine. I need it for my condition. It's just, it's terrible. I need it for my condition. It's just, it's terrible. It's terrible to hear about another murder, yet another murder. All these murders, something's not right. But all I can tell you is what I told the police.

I believe this mark here, I'm assuming they found it on your friend as well. If they're connecting it to the Hilton Adams murders as the only thing that they found before, I think this has something to do with an African death cult. Either there's an African death cult here in New York who is committing these murders or there's someone mimicking an African death cult

to stir up ill feelings. That's all I know. I am very sorry. What can you tell us about this symbol in particular and also about that death cult? Well, in my study of myth and folklore, I consider myself a man of many tastes, but African folklore has always been the most attractive to me. I find that there is much to learn from these primitive cultures if you really dig in. And I see that it's something I've seen in many of my books before. It is linked to a cult that as far as I knew, is no longer existence known as the Bloody Tongue.

And of course, Vaughn is like glances over it he's like, that's what we saw in our library delving as well. You mentioned something about Africa's dark sext and a book. Obviously, you just wanted to speak with me. I'm intrigued, but this is a very difficult book to track down. Do you have a copy of this book in your possession? Why would you mention this? Well, we were hoping you would help us out with that. Yes, an antiquarian and a bibliophile such as yourself, we thought might have a copy of their own. Are we too looking for that particular volume? Unfortunately, I do not. I'm familiar with it, of course course I will admit that I have looked into it

before I didn't have full access to it but I read a little bit of it and I found it rather incomprehensible and to be completely honest I didn't like the way that I felt after I read it it's just this this this man who spent some time out there on the Dark Continent and ran afoul of some cults, as it were, and it really changed his life. Well, ended his life, as it were, but I don't know, I don't really remember the exact story. As a collector myself, I would kill to get a copy of it. How do we even know about this? Dr. Leming, as Faerûs inches closer to an uncomfortable distance, closeness, in your research, have you come across anything of the supernatural within these cults?

You know, a lot of the mythology that I study, they mention magic, they all believe in magic. Do I believe in that? Not so much, but they all, the stories speak of magic. The myths go back to a time when gods walked the earth. If you believe in that, then you believe in magic as well. Myself, I'm a bit skeptical. Yeah, magic sounds pretty crazy. Carter's gonna look at everybody else.

There have been stories of people who have found tomes and books that unlocked great secrets. Maybe I'm getting cynical in my old age, but I just believe that's a lot of hogwash. In all of your copious amount of studying, did you ever come across anybody that you suspected was maybe still trying to carry this torch, trying to start a New York chapter of African death cults? I mean, did you ever get any close to anybody that was even sniffing around that? No, no. You were sort of an enthusiast, if you ever encountered an urban practitioner. No, no, not at all.

I consider myself the foremost expert, maybe not in the world, certainly in New York, but until these people started showing up with these symbols on their head, it was the first I'd ever seen this type of anything linked to a cult here in New York City. What does it you know about the Bloody Tongue, aside from its rather disturbing name? I think it was linked to one of their gods or gods from another place meant to come here and do harm. You know, see, these people, sometimes they worship the sun, sometimes they worship the wind, but there are some people who maybe they're not right in the head and they worship

things that are darker. Maybe they worship gods they think that can come and give them great power so that they can take over the world. Now, I'm not saying those people don't exist here in America. Those people exist everywhere, both in primitive times and in modern times, but You know what that has to do with these poor people dying all over New York City, I Don't know people doing it in the name of this this God trying to call Amir I don't know which what's is there a name for this God? You know, I don't know. I'd have to really dig into it. It's not a god that is native to Africa, as it were.

I think all these gods, they have different names, like the Roman gods. The Roman gods have the same god as the Greek gods. The African gods, they all have the same names. I can't remember. I'd have to look and see. Any connection to Peru? To Peru? No, I mean, there's plenty of cult activity

down there as well. You know, Mr. Elias, I never knew him, but I'm familiar with his work, and he wrote a book recently about some time he spent in Peru studying one of these cults. I read so many books, I can't remember anything about it, but we've read it. Yeah, I wish I could be of more help.

If you're interested in more African culture and whatnot, there's a great shop I go to. I have a man here in New York, his name is Silas Nakwane. He's got a shop up in Harlem. It's great, you know, anything I need, I always go to him. He's, it's a little shop, it's not too big. It's got a bunch of African curios. It's called the Juju House.

You know, he might be able to help you. I doubt he's going to have a copy of this book you're looking for. But he may know more about the Bloody Tongue. Or he might even have some fetishes that may help you in your research. I'm assuming you're trying to find out what happened to your friend. But Silas de Cuane, he runs a nice shop and at reasonable prices to boot. Okay.

Can I, can I, can I spot hidden around this, around all this clutter, in particular looking for, I mean, if a copy of this book is here, but also if there's like a, I don't know, like a flannel headband or something that is similarly... Or even just scouting the little book titles that he's collected.

What else he's got? Yeah, for sure. Great. We're only a spotted... Let me see if he's got like a bong. Oh, man. Hold on, 85 over 75. Nailed it.

That's the opposite. Can we do a collective spot hidden as we're all? Well, all we know is Vaughn's looking around and it's just like, there's so much going on here, you can't really hone in on anything, but any of you can roll a spot hidden, sure. Okay, I'm gonna attempt. I feel like Margot's kind of more so watching the guy,

and I'd like to roll something on him, like psychology. Ooh, yeah. Ooh, yeah. That's what I was thinking. Because when he took the swig and seemed sweaty, I feel like that gave her, who was that guy's name? The guy, Larkin? Gave her Larkin vibes. Yeah. He did have Larkin vibes, you're right.

Which guy had Larkin vibes? The one we're talking to, Mordecai. Lemming, yeah. I rolled a 36 under 80, so that is a hard success. Hard success. Looking around to see if anything jumps out at you. You don't. Vaughn is meanwhile looking at a totem on the wall that he kind of turns over and it just says made in China on the back. Oh that's a paperweight.

Hmm. You don't see any red flannel headbands, which is good. Not that he'd probably leave those laying out if he was a member of the Scuttle. Oh, sorry, let me just hide my death headband. How did that get out? Just seeing if there is a copy of that book, certainly nothing jumps out at you and you're like, you know, you're used to scanning the stacks at Miskatonic Library, you know, really quickly seeing,

quickly discerning what his order is here, if there's any order to the way his books are. You don't see Africa's dark sex, but you do see a little book that jumps out at you that says something like, you know, something to the effect of Kenyan cult and its worshippers. Kenyan cults and its worshippers. Dr. Lenning. Yes? Dr. Lenning? Yes? Would you mind if I take a little look at that?

Right over there. Oh, please, yes. I would love for you to look at a book. Anything you want to look. Just, you know, don't take anything. This is all I have of my books. But please, you're more than welcome. In fact, it's very, very rare that I get visitors. We should, I would love to I would love to know

more about things that you're interested in as well. And he picks up the phone and he's like, yeah Thomas I have some visitors here. Could you, this is Dr. Lemming. Could you please send up some cucumber sandwiches and then lemonades to my apartment? Yes. Yes, I have four guests. They seem very nice. We're going to sit and chat. I'm just, yeah, please.

Cucumber sandwiches and lemonades. All right. And he's like, I am working on so many different things these days, I so seldom get to talk about them. And you seem like good listeners. He just starts going on and on about all the nonsense that he's working on right now. You're digging into that book. Is this a rare edition? Oh, no, no. Which one is that? What do you have there?

As I... Kenyan cults and it's, I can't read my own handwriting, worshipers. Practitioners, oh right, worshipers. All right, so you start going through that quickly. Margo, what are you doing? I guess like while he was talking, just like asking him questions, I wanna know like, did anything happen in your life

that like triggered you to like get into all of this and like roll a psychology. Yeah, all of this and like roll a psychology? Yeah. Oh yeah. Roll a psychology. Yeah. Hard success. 17 under 50. 17. Under 50.

You just, you don't feel like anything, anything happened to him. You just think he's a lifelong academic that never really made anything of himself. And maybe the second he saw this thing in the news, thought maybe this would be his big shot. But even Lieutenant Poole told you, like, he really couldn't offer any other information. And you feel the same way now as you're questioning him it's like he's just telling you what you already know. As you dig into that book give me a spot hidden.

Feyreuse. For library use if that's probably better for you. I rolled a 48 under 80. Perfect. So you do see as you're scanning through, just looking for something to jump out at, you see a reference to the Bloody Tongue. is believed by certain Kenyan cults to be an unnatural, primal, and alien avatar, embodying rage and callous disregard. They believed it was this enormous monstrosity, nearly ten times the size of an average human, with rending claws and in place of its face a single long blood-red tentacle that stretches upward as if looking for the stars, a single bloody tongue. I would say that as Margo is engaging him in conversation,

I'm gonna try to stealthily take notes on all of this. Okay. Everygo, who's got the worst luck here? Mine's 36 right now. It's lower than mine. Yeah, lower than mine. Give me a luck roll, Kay. Okay, here we go, you guys.

Group luck roll. 39 over 36. Oh, you could spend, can you spend? No, she can't spend luck on, she can't spend luck on luck. Can't spend luck on luck. So he, while you've distracted him long enough that Fae Ruse could dig into this book, he just starts droning on and on. And the cucumber sandwiches and lemonade are taking forever to come up. And just when you think you can get a word in edgewise, the door rings and he's like, ah, that must be Johnson.

And he goes over and he's like very slowly wheels at a cart of cucumber sandwiches and lemonade. He's like, oh, this is so wonderful. Now, I hope everyone likes mayonnaise on their cucumber sandwiches because Johnson always puts mayonnaise on it. And it's just going on forever. He's like, now what were we talking about?

Ah, yes, Egypt. And he just goes on and on about it. And you realize like, you're never gonna get out of here unless you're rude or make some sort of social role to try and pull yourself away. Right, I'm gonna try to charm our way out. Here we go. Oh, each of you, beautiful country.

Oh my God. If that doesn't work, Marco's gonna be German and rude. Nice. I think we're gonna fall back on your German-ness because I am like, I have not rolled like under 80 in the last little bit. So I'm trying to be charming.

It's like, hmm. Yes, of course, the sandwich is simply charming, but I'm afraid it might be time for us to adapt. You see, you've been simply overwhelming in your voluminous knowledge. It's hard to simply process it all. Oh, nonsense. I'm still in North Africa.

We have so much more to talk about. Yes, of course. That's true all the way. We do absolutely appreciate your breadth of knowledge, but we do have another appointment. Yes. That does have to do with our daily department. Have I told you about Tanzania?

Oh, the time I spent there as a lad. You know, we barely made it out of Mali, so yes. Yes, no. Do we need more cucumber sandwiches? No, it's a bastard. We're getting out of here right now. Perhaps a little gin in your little... Jesus Christ, enough! Carter's just standing up like,

you've served your purpose. At this point, Faeruz is pocketing the book. Well, there's no reason to be rude, my good man. Jibba jabba, flim flam with you. Don't mind my friend, he gets very cranky when he needs to go to bed. I'm a tilling ass. This is- We really need to take him to bed, you see.

I don't understand why you would be so rude to me. I've meant nothing but kind. I've not once mentioned your disfigurement. Oh, oh, oh. And I could have. I saw at the moment you walked in and I didn't say anything. Margo is trying to hold you back

and he says that and she's like, nope. I have sat here, sir, and listened to your microaggressions against the African people. How dare you say microaggressions? I feel as if they are my people. I've studied them so much. Faber's just a hands, Vaughn a cigarette

and lights one up herself. I mean, read the room. I gave you cucumber sandwiches. No one likes cucumber sandwiches. They taste like nothing There was mayonnaise on them and it enhances the flavor mayonnaise is gross I am calling down to the desk. I'm having them. I'm gonna have you thrown out of here. We're leaving You can't throw out someone who's leaving. No, I'm just gonna throw you out. Anyways, it's a six story walk up No, I'm just gonna throw you out anyways. It's a six story walk up.

I was just walking out. Wouldn't be the first time you jumped out a window. These hooligans are being rude. We're just walking out. But you'll come back. You'll never come back here again. It's always been nice to have like one encounter where we just really did it and no, but.

It's his own fault. I mean, when I'm sitting there staring at some sort of fucking fertility statue for 40 minutes, because it's more interesting than what this old bat is talking about, than Jesus Christ. Yes. I did find word on the bloody tongue in this one.

Hang on it. And as she holds up the book. Not a total waste then. And as we're passing the concert, like cracking jaw when there's cucumbers in, which is Thomas. Oh my god. Sucked all the flavor out of them.

Good words. To Mr. Lemming. And you are, they open the doors and you walk out back on a park avenue. You can still hear Dr. Mordecai lemming cursing from the stairs. Just yelling down from the window. Cucumber!

They were the finest cucumbers in the Tri-State area! These were important from Israel! What do you want to do now? Sleep off till the will reading? So yeah, it's... Yeah, I think so. So we were with him for hours, so it's midnight now, probably. That failed luck roll, you were there for... It's pretty late now.

I like that the failed luck roll just led to a day of boredom. I'm so sorry, I feel like that was my fault. I just kept him going on and on and on. Why did you keep engaging him in conversation? I was just trying to see if he was also a zombie, like Larkin, he looked a little bit sweaty and was drinking and being just weird. You know, being very weird.

Not everyone is possessed. Come now, it's not Margo's fault. You don't know that. No, I agree with you. I was saying that it's not Margo's fault here. That man would have joked on about anything. Ugh, I'm gonna have to shake that off with more alcohol. it's not Margo's fault here. That man would have jaunt on about anything. Oh, I'm gonna have to shake that off with more alcohol. As long as it doesn't have cucumbers in it. Yes. You head back to the Waldorf Astoria

and order some bootleg cucumber gin to have a nice little party in Vaughan's hotel room. You wake up the next day with the goal of heading to Harlem. Ramsey's office is on 124th Street and Lennox Avenue. One of the cool things about playing Call of Cthulhu is they give you a lot of information about the times and whatnot and what it was like there. And so there's a whole section on Harlem that I think would be interesting now that we're actually going into Harlem.

1920s Harlem is obviously different from today's Harlem. And stop me if you don't find this all interesting. I actually think it's interesting. It kind of sets the tone for what you're walking into here when you go to visit Colin Ramsey. In the early days of New York, Harlem was predominantly a white affluent neighborhood. But when European immigrants like Italians and Jewish refugees started rolling in at the 19th, in the end of the 19th century, all of the white affluent people like left.

And those immigrants in turn would migrate when New York's various black communities started moving in. And then a lot of newcomers coming in from the great migration when black immigrants from the British Caribbean colonies came to New York and a growing number of Latin Americans came in after World War I to settle in the area that is now known as Spanish Harlem. So during the 1920s, Harlem is populated by African Americans predominantly in central and West Harlem.

And then there's Irish, Italian, Jewish, and Latino communities in East Harlem and then there's Irish, Italian, Jewish and Latino communities in East Harlem. A lot of police brutality, the more things change. And there was a lot of racial tension as all these different racial groups were being switched in and out. And that was further fueled by the return of African-American soldiers coming back home from the war, seeking housing, work, and recognition of their civil rights following the time they spent in the Great War. There's a lot of gangs, and the gangs were African American gangs that were forming across the city to protect their neighborhoods from the police and from rabble rousers, Irish

rabble rousers, Irish rabble rousers. But a lot of the tension in Harlem at the time was police versus ethnicities. So you're this is kind of setting the tone for what you're walking into as you head up to Carlton Ramsey's office. You're getting looks left and right as you walk up there because you're you're you look different. up there because you're you're you look different. And so you get there and he's got a small office with that his niece works in this like a small desk up front that she's

sitting at and you met her at the funeral as well. Willa is her name I believe. And his desk is in the back of the office. It's a pretty cramped office, papers everywhere. You knock on the door and he greets you and he's like, please, please come in, come in, come in. Have a seat and he already has chairs set up around his desk. He's trying to compose himself a little bit. He says it's been a hectic few days, obviously, for all of us. Thank you for coming.

I imagine this is not how you expected your time in New York would go. I fancy myself a professional in what I do, but I will admit I'm shook by this as well. And so I apologize in advance if I seem unprofessional at all. That's not my intention. He was a dear friend and the world has truly lost a great man. The world is worse for it and just the way it all went down. Well, I don't have to tell you, so I hope you're okay, and it's very kind of you to come.

I know he would have wanted you to be here, and I know that for sure, and so I know it's early in the morning, and this may seem a bit unprofessional, but he just walks over to a cupboard and pulls out a bottle of brown liquid. It's like if ever an occasion called for a little bootleg bourbon, now is the time. He pulls out her own glass from a bag that she has. It's got the Waldorf Astoria.

It says Waldorf Astoria on the side. A couple Waldorf towels fall out. A bunch of soaps and plastic bags. Stiddy Archibron. Holding them blind. For anyone that wants, he pours and he's like, I can't tell you how many times Jackson and I would polish off a bottle of this stuff just talking. I mean, I talk and he's the one doing all the talking. I'm just listening.

Listening to his stories. I think he was just using me as a sounding board for stuff that he would write, but I'm going to miss those times. To Jackson. To Jackson. To Jackson. To Jackson. To Jackson. To Jackson. To Jackson. To Jackson. Clinks.

He drinks about half of it, puts it down, maybe fills it up and then pushes it to the side. So, Elias was a a wise man, prescient, if you will, and he came to me the day before he died and updated his will. The day before, you say?

The day before, yeah. Now, I know what you're thinking, and he didn't say anything explicitly, but I believe he was in fear for his life and wanted to make sure his affairs were in order should the worst happen. He was too smart. He was too smart for his own good. But he was also onto something that he cared deeply about and perhaps too deeply, and that's why we're all here today but yeah it was the day before he died he updated the will so I'm gonna go through it right now and and he just starts reading the will and the important

points are pretty much I'll give you the bullet points of what he's saying. He says, Elias has given me full power of attorney and gave me complete authority to liquidate his assets. I've been instructed to use these assets to create and manage a fund. Jackson requested that any friends of his, four of you, who attend this reading, make use of these funds to continue his investigation. His investigation into the Carlyle expedition. Specifically for the Carlyle, we can't just maybe take a chunk out to buy a car.

We could all fit in with maybe like a machine gun. No, unless it's pertinent to the investigation. His goal was to have you use this money in the event that something happened to him to further his investigation. He believes that he was on to something earth shattering and named the four of you as the only people that would ever be able to finish his research. So we can't take the money out to maybe start a restaurant, maybe like a themed restaurant where people come and when it's their birthday.

No. We got Sparkler. Okay, okay. I just want to make sure. I'm gonna hold on to the money and I'll make disbursements from this fund to pay for travel, accommodation, living costs, any equipment purchases you may need, legal bills hopefully not, but you may run into that. But we can't shoot a movie starring us. No. No. Okay. All right.

I think we're clear here, sir. No. Medical expenses, not movies. Whatever you need to further his research. And if you have to pay anything out of pocket, obviously not taking a picture, just hold onto your receipts. Bring them to me in a timely fashion. I'll also remain a point of contact for you should you choose to further

his investigation, further his work. You know, if your research ever takes you in separate directions and you need someone to contact one of your friends, I can be that person. I accept that role. It's the least I can do for my friend. I can also coordinate any communications between you and other people you may be trying to get in touch with. I'm essentially part of your group, as it were, should you choose to accept this. Would you happen to be in possession of any journals or anything that he'd been working

on recently? Well he left me a note to be read to you in the event of his death. That's as good as anything. So let's read that. And I'll direct you to roll 20, where I will search far and wide for this one handout. Handout number 4222. This one handout and number of four thousand two hundred and twenty two Here it is. It is a handwritten letter from Jackson Elias It says greetings from beyond the grave

By now, you know that I've all by now, you know that all I've really left you is a whole heap of trouble. If I were still around to have an opinion on the matter, I would understand if you decided to walk away from it all. Hell, if I'm dead right now, that's a good indication I should have done the same. But you know me too well, and I know you too well. If you were the kind of person who always did the sensible thing, we wouldn't be such good friends. You've been there when I needed you in the past, and I hope you will be again, even if it's too late to save me.

I've been pulling threads all over the world, and while most of them are still unraveling, I think I'm onto something big. Carlton and Jonah can fill in more of the details for you. I've left some of my papers and notes with them, which should help you work out which hornes nests you need to poke next. I trust you to bring my killers to

justice. Of course, I'm assuming I was murdered. It will be just plain embarrassing if I was run over by a trolley car. Follow my investigation to its bloody end and seek out the truth. I'm not asking you to finish my book. None of you could even write worth a damn. What the fuck? Your friend always, Jackson. Now that's, God, that's very nurturing. Carter's shook by the jab at the end.

Yes, that seems particularly pointed. Didn't you send him your manuscript? I didn't send at the end. Yes, that seems particularly pointed. Didn't you send him your manuscript? I didn't send him the manuscript. I gave him a soft pitch, but maybe my syntax was off or the grammar wasn't. Maybe he didn't get to reading it and he never knew how great you are. There's a post script. Oh. It says Carlton or Carter.

That's me. Carlton. Carlton, or whatever your name was. Your book was perfect, for I had a wobbly table. And it is no longer wobbly. That son of a bitch. When I put it under it.

All right, that's fine, Jackson. You asshole. And Carlton says, I've read this note now maybe a dozen, two dozen times. It's just wild to me that he knew. And if he knew, then there's other people that knew as well. He got caught up, as he said, in some hornet's nest, and he got stung. So if this is something you're going to do, you have to understand that you're going to

be at risk as well. And I don't mean this to scare you. I don't want you to not do this But just understand if it could happen to Elias it could happen to you Yeah, we understand all too well I think Jonah has some things from him. He actually has more, I don't know, things that might help you directly with this investigation because Elias came to him right when he got back to New York for his untimely passing. So you should definitely make a point to see Jonah over at Prospero House. I trust him implicitly. But Jackson did leave something with me. I've stared at it now and I have no idea what it means. He just shows you a like blurry grainy photograph.

Let's see if I can find it. Ah, there we go. He handed this to me and told me to keep it safe and to give it to you as well. I don't know. Maybe this is something that will be important later. Just looking at this photo in the back, like the buildings in the background, do I recognize where this is? We're all like, what do you have, geography? Or what is a skill that you have?

Who knows, you know? Let's- A little something apropos. Uh, let's see. You may not have it, but somebody else may have. I don't know if there's geography or there's something. There's navigation. I don't think that's...

There's history, but I do not, I'm not good at that. Anybody good at history? No. No? I mean five. I feel like regardless of if we're good at it, we're all looking at the boat and like the first three letters that we see, H-A-R, and like looking at the buildings and like trying to find like familiarity.

Yeah, there's like a large steam yacht or maybe diesel powered yacht beyond some like junk boats. Yeah. Yeah, you see those three letters. D-A-R. D-A-R. And then the dim background is a building with a large tower. Yeah, the tower has a clock and then there's another building that looks kind of like

the dome, like the Capitol building. Yeah. And he also gave me this here and again I don't know what the point of this was and when I asked him about it he just shook his head and said, they'll figure it out. And it is a fucking flyer for an event that has already passed. Sprawl. Cult of Darkness. Polynesia. Give that a read, Ross. Tonight only the Cult of Darkness in Polynesia, the southwest Pacific. A two

hour lecture with slides delivered by Professor Anthony Cowles, PhD, University of Sydney, Australia, presenting Loxley Fellow of Polynesian Esoterica at Miskatonic University, Skyler Hall, New York University, tonight only, this tonight, I assume, being last night. Yes, this is already past.

And you see this, Feyrouz, and you've heard of this professor. He's a visiting professor from Australia who is on like a grant at Miskatonic and he must have come here to do this lecture at NYU. Yes of course. I recognize this professor nobody could understand a damn what he ever said. Oh, another one of those? Australians, you know. Oh. Yes. And to podium, yes.

They're always like, can I get a flit white, a flit white? Yes. Yes, and everything always sounds like it's a question. I'm sorry, I wanna hear Margo, I wanna see her German accent. Do they always go... Do they get a flat, a flit white? Yes, yes. Wow.

The way they say flat, flit. Yes. Flit. Is this right, Sarah? No, I'm not good at... Oh no. I could never understand it. I'd rather enjoy your Sydney by way of Frankfurt pronunciation. Indeed, these

antipodians are the only people I know who can insert four to five syllables in the word no. Oh god, I mean, you're the reason they are who they are, right? You just sent all your prisoners to the island. Yes, I suppose we're the reason they are how we are and you are how you are. Well, at least we fought you. Well, whatever. We don't do it now. Carlton just shakes his head. He's like, I think he just... This is probably how he wanted to go. Well, not the way he went, but I think he just... He loved tempting fate. He loved these mysteries. He loved unraveling them. He had to know it was gonna catch up with him at one time or another even leaving these things with me I don't think he wishes you any harm. Certainly not but

Just be careful you can't be reckless. Oh Don't worry, sir Shanty reckless at all Nope, says says Winsing is the bruise on his back from jumping out a window yesterday. No. It is in our nature to try to not be reckless. Just thinking of a Sing Sing CEO

just fucking berating him for it. And a sneak into the. You know that. Fae'ra is just remembering Carter urinating all over. and berating them for a sneak into the universe. Before one acts. Faber is just remembering Carter urinating all over the desk and chair. We are the very definition of responsible investigation.

We have to be professionals. Jackson's work is in good hands. Don't go mouthing off to any cops and peeing on desks. Or jumping out of windows, as the saying goes. Before we leave, can I try to roll a history on that photograph? Yeah. Just to see what's happened before. Nope, definitely don't know.

The make of those boats, I mean, all this time my mind has been occupied by thoughts of Kenya. Now suddenly we've got this photograph. It looks though it was shot somewhere outside of Hong Kong and a flyer from a gentleman who's an expert on Polynesia. Where in the world is taking us? I'm very excited to find out. And I just want to check with you, sir, one more time. If we want to take the money to say start a hot sauce company, maybe create an empire, people looking for delicious yet spicy additions to their meal,

we can't touch that money. Jackson said you were a charmer, a hot ticket. You're not gonna get any of the money got it. Okay, that's fine. Well, I respect you We'll let your friends handle the money even if we named it after him like Elias Jalula No, no, no that that would not be Too complicated Frank's easy. Give me that bourbon back, Mr. Tillinghouse. All right, you've earned it.

Perhaps we could do some R&D with my acquaintance, Texas Peter. Well, listen, I am yours. You don't have to give me an answer or anything. This was his wish for you to further his investigation. And I am here at your disposal. He has a considerable amount of money. He came in even more money after he spent some time with you all in Peru.

I didn't really get any of that money that he got. That's fine. The point is, there is a considerable sum, but it is not unlimited. However, I am yours. If you need me to make phone calls for you, if you need me to do anything, I want to help as well. Thank you very much, Mr. Ramsey. We'll lean on your professionalism and good graces.

We are up to the challenge. Yes, and perhaps this Halton and Jonah would be our next visit. And so the will reading is over. Is your intention to still go to Prospero House? We have a packed itinerary here. Yeah. All right, so you're up in Harlem

and now you wanna head over to Prospero House, which is, I believe, over to Prospero House, which is, I believe, Lexington Avenue near 35th Street. So we've got a bit of a hike. But you get down there, and if you were to look into Prospero House or ask the concierge at all about it, you know that it's a rather modest concern

that does not aim for best sellers, but rather for books that deserve to be published because they will interest select readers for generations to come. And you're like, that's my boy, Jackson Elias. You get there and it's probably like maybe 10, 20 desks that you can see, maybe half of them are full and some small offices off to the side.

You speak to a receptionist and she's like, ah, Mr. Kensing Singh is expecting you. You bring him back and you see Jonah again. Again, I said he's about 48 and seemed like a nice guy. All very

New York. And he's the owner and editor in chief. So he's got the biggest office there. And he sees you, and he's like, please, please come in, come in, come in. Have a seat. How are you doing? Are you coming from the will reading? Yeah. No hot sauce company in the future, apparently. It's fine. I don't know what you're talking about. Do you feel comfortable sharing with me what went on there? Not a great deal to share, really, only that we, it seems, have been entrusted with carrying on Mr.

Elias's great work. And there is some dispute as to whether the funds we've been offered to do that are to be used for the work at hand or as a seed capital. Right, right. Well, you know, he really liked you guys and he's been doing this stuff for a long time. And I don't think he ever came across people like you that really helped him in his investigations and his research. Obviously, what happened in Peru, like I said, the funeral, really changed the trajectory of his life. And sadly, that trajectory ended in the hotel room the other night. But I know that you were very important to him, and Carlton didn't tell me anything about the will. But I kind of could infer that you were an important part of kind of keeping his legacy alive.

The reason I wanted to speak with you is, are you familiar with these other murders, with Hilton Adams and what not? Not that they have occurred. Yeah, not too much. Well, this connection to the Adams murders is a bit too convenient, if you ask me. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that. You know, from what I gather, even the police think that this is all to do with some sort of cult. Whether it's a cult here in New York City or a cult elsewhere.

It's cult. It's cult related. And you know, as well as I, that Elias was infatuated with these blood cults. So, I'm thinking one of a couple things happened. Maybe one of his old enemies

from one of his travels caught up with him. Either that or whatever he was working on right now was even more dangerous and important than Elias himself had believed. Perhaps he got in deeper than he was supposed to and someone had to silence him. I don't know. But, and he gets up and he like closes the door and he brings his chair around the desk

So he's sitting with all you he's like you see Oias was convinced that one of these blood cults Massacred the Carlisle expedition but He also believed that not all the principles of the expedition had been killed, like they reported in the papers. He pushes a button on his desk. Margaret, can you bring me in the correspondence with Mr. Elias?

Thank you, Margaret. And a little Steno comes in, gives him a file, he watches her walk out, he digs into the folder and he's like, here, I want you to look at this letter he sent me from Nairobi last August. Nairobi, you know, is where the remains of the Carlisle expedition were found. they were there taking an unexpected Safari And he shows you This letter right here who wants to give this a reason tricky to read August 8 1924 from Nairobi. Rob, you wanna try that?

Yeah, man, they really commit to the handwritten. They really do. Right? I haven't read something like this in this style in a long time. All right. Yeah. Yeah, cursive. August 8th, 1924, Nairobi. Slashed August. Here, Jonah.

Big news. There is a possibility that not all of the members of the Carlisle Expedition died. I have a lead, though the authorities here deny the cult angle. The...good god. Natives. Natives, thank you! I was going like, the matinees? The natives? Sing a different tune! You wouldn't believe the stories. Some juicy notes coming your way. This one may make us all rich.

Blood and kisses, Jay." So Jackson believed that members of the Carlyle expedition were killed by these blood cults, but some of them were still alive and he managed to dig up evidence contradicting the testimony admitted during the inquest and trial that was held in Kenya. He's like, all right, this there's a lot here in these notes, but they're very important. Look at this. And he pulls out this just massive list of notes. Let's just go around the horn here and read these kind of crib notes for you. Set one of the Nairobi notes, sets forth the offices, officials, and tribes

which Elias visited while he was in Nairobi searching for material concerning cults and cult rituals. Elias mentions Roger Corden, the colonial undersecretary for internal affairs. However, he notes that nothing conclusive was learned. Elias discounts the official version of the Carlisle Massacre. Kay, you want to do set two? Set two describes his trip to the massacre site. He notes particularly that the earth there was completely barren and that all the tribes of the region avoid the place. Sounds familiar. Saying that it was cursed by the god of the black wind, whose home was the nearby mountaintop.

Nora. Set three is an interview with a Johnstone Kenyatta, who says that the Carlisle murders may have been performed by the Outfit of the Bloody Tongue. Oh, the Cult of the Bloody Tongue, why did I say outfit? An outfit scene. Oh, it's an outfit. He says that the cult is reputedly based in the mountains

and that its high priestess is part of the mountain of the Black Wind. Elias is politely skeptical, but Kenyatta insists upon the point. In quotes, Elias records that regional tribes fear and hate the Bloody Tongue, that tribal magic is of no protection against the cult, and that the cult's god is not of Africa. We're asking. Sent 4 follows up on the Kenyatta interview. Elias confirms from several good sources that the Bloody Tongue exists, though he finds no first-hand evidence of it. Tales include children stolen for sacrifice and

creatures with great wings that are said to come down from the mountain of the Black Wind to carry people off. The cult worships a god unknown to folklorists, one fitting no traditional African pattern, Elias lists Sam Marija, railway station, Neville German, Dr. Starrett, Lieutenant Selkirk, and Colonel Endicott are people he questioned. Rob? Set five is a single sheet reminding Elias that the Cairo-based portion of the Carlisle itinerary must be examined carefully. He believes that the reason which prompted Carlisle's Kenyon side trip is on the Nile. Set six is a long interview with Lieutenant Mark Selkirk, leader of the men who actually found the remains of the Carlisle expedition.

Importantly, Selkirk says that the bodies were remarkably undecayed for the length of time which they lay in the open, quote, almost as if decay itself wouldn't come near the place. Secondly, the victims had been torn apart as if by animals, though what sorts of animals would pull apart bodies so systematically he could not guess,ote, unimaginable, inexplicable. Selkirk agrees that the Nandis, like the Nandi tribesmen that were blamed, found guilty and hanged,

that the Nandis may have had something to do with the episode, but suspects that the charges against the ringleaders were trumped up. Quote, it wouldn't be the first time, he says cynically. Finally, Selkirk confirms that no Caucasians were found among the dead. Only the corpses of the Kenyan bearers were scattered across the barren plain,

despite what was claimed the inquest. Kate? Set seven is another single sheet. Elias ran into Niles Nelson at the Victoria Bar in Nairobi. Nelson had been a mercenary for the Italians on the Somali-Abyssinian border and had escaped to Kenya

after double crossing his employers. Nelson claimed to have seen Jack Brady alive in Hong Kong less than two years before Elias was in Kenya and long after the Kenyan court declared that Brady and the rest of the expedition were dead. Brady was friendly, though guarded and pass a turn. Don't know what that means. Nelson didn't press the conversation.

This report only strengthened Elias' belief that the principal members of the exhibition might still be alive. Remember Jack Brady was Carlisle's right-hand man that went along from New York as part of the original expedition. And then, Nori, you want to finish this out? Yes, supposedly killed along with all of them. Set A discusses a possible structure for the Carlisle book, but is mostly featureless,

which with entries like Tell What Happened and Explain Why. There's a lot here, obviously. I can't make heads or tails of it, really. This isn't my area of expertise. I'm a publisher. I can't make heads or tails of it really. This isn't my area of expertise. I'm a publisher. I'm not an artist. I'm certainly not an investigator. But I knew it would be important to you. Anyways, he went to Nairobi. That was in August.

The next I heard from him, he sent me a wire from Hong Kong to say that his inquiries were proceeding nicely. So now he's in Hong Kong. And after that, I didn't hear from Elias until probably the middle of last month. It was right before Christmas, actually almost exactly a month to the day, December 16th, 1924. He sent me a wire from London this time. His telegram was very excited and frankly a bit crazy sounding. He said he'd been in London for

a few days where he dug up a lot of stuff that he'd seen unbelievable things and mentioned a conspiracy of monstrous worldwide proportions. He said, what did he say? He said there was a timetable and that he needed to find the missing pieces. He also mentioned needing to go to Australia, but wouldn't or couldn't explain more. That wire ended saying that he would see me in New York soon. And so the next morning he left London on a boat to New York, the Fala Rope. And at this point, Ramsey's looking through the folder and he, not Ramsey, Kensington's looking

through the folder and he pulls out a piece of paper and he starts to read it and you can tell he reads something that like gives him pause and he says yeah so Yeah, so... Anyways... It's just a lot. He arrived in New York a couple days ago. He came and saw me and he left me a couple business cards, which he told me to hand, hold on to them. So I want to give those to you as well. And some notes and stuff. And he's just kind of like closing up the folder. Do you need to attend to something? No, no, no.

It's just, I don't know. He seems a little agitated by whatever that piece of paper was. He's like, I just feel bad. I can tell that... And you know, Jackson was always a guy that got wrapped up in his work. Always a guy that really... He gave it his all, and that's why I loved publishing his books. I was a fan. I completely understand. Might I see those papers? Indicating the folder that he just put that piece of paper into?

And he puts his hand on he's like well What I'm trying to get at is that you know something about this particular investigation seemed to have really affected him in a strange way and These these last few notes that he That he sent me were so bewildering and fragmentary that at the time I just concluded that either my dear friend had gone over the edge and needed six months in a sanitarium or else that he so little trusted anyone that he'd hidden all the important data in his head so that it would be undetectable.

Mr. Kensington. Yes. There was a time in one of our previous expeditions that I felt as though I was at the end of my tether. And at that moment it was Mr. Elias who held me in a comforting embrace and brought me back from the precipice. There's anyone who could be trusted to look into what he wrote at this trying time of his, I assure you, it is myself. Yeah, yeah, no, I believe you. Yeah, no, I believe you. My concern is I just, I don't want this to reflect poorly on our friend.

He did not judge me. Not to... We should not judge the sprinters in others' eyes while we neglect the planks in our own, and I myself am in possession of a great many planks and so I shall not judge our departed friend by whatever he wrote." We also just frankly need to know anything he wrote down to help us. Yes, and knowing what we know about the source of expeditions that he intelligence and it may not be as irrational as it may have first seemed.

Yeah. Yeah. Especially when we're dealing with cults and gods. Yes. Okay. Well, just remember, we want to remember Jackson for the good times, right? And that this Jackson for the good times, right? And that this hopefully will lead to some good, even though, well, you just read for yourself and he pulls out this piece of paper and hands it to you, Vaughn, and you see the following and if you look at it it's almost unreadable and it's like, what's what I want to say, like it's all fragmentary and not even complete sentences. It's a little all over the place. Clearly his handwriting is different. It's like a very shaky hand.

But when you get to the final note, this is what it looks like. And if you're having trouble reading it, which you probably will, just scan down to the bottom here and it's been translated. I know. Oh, oh wow, this whole time. Yeah.

Oh, I see. Yes. Good for us. Many names, many forms, but all the same and toward one end need help. Too big, too ghastly. These dreams, dreams like Carlyle's? Check that psychoanalyst's files. All of them survive. They'll open the gate. Why? So the power in danger is real? They... many threads beginning, the books are in Carlyle's safe? Coming for me. Will the ocean protect? Oh, no quitters now must tell and make readers believe. Should I scream for them? Let's scream together. Okay then. Poor tracks.

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