Jonathan looks at the paintings, a strange feeling coming from them. He tightens his grip on his pencil, eyeing each and every painting.

Suddenly, he lunges at one of the paintings, stabbing it with his pencil, then tearing the canvas as he drags it across.

Jonathan stabs at ‘The Dark Pharaoh’, tearing a long slash in the canvas. With a crazed look in his eyes, he turns on the next painting, but is quickly overpowered and restrained. After a short while, he comes to his senses again.

Miles and Bertha both look justifiably horrified, and Miles is visibly shaking. “There, there, Miles. It’s all right. You can paint more masterpieces,” says Bertha in a soothing voice to her son. She turns to you with a frown on her face.

“Please, I must ask you to leave. If you wish to purchase any paintings, come back in a few days. And I am afraid I must insist on 100 pounds for the damage done here today.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:52, Wed 19 Sept 2018.

Before Rachel knew what was happening, she heard the ripping sound of canvas that made her heart drop to her stomach. Turning around, she saw Gustav and Dermot jump on Jonathan who seemed to have ripped a painting with a pencil.

Instinctively Rachel reached into her bag for her gun but instead had pulled out her check book. In shock she looked down at her hand awkwardly.

"Ah...Of course, of course." Rachel weakly responded. "A hundred pounds, you say? Hahaha of course he had to pick the one that cost more. No worries, no worries," Rachel rambled in shock as she wrote down the amount and handed the check over to Mrs. Shipley shakily.

"We're terribly sorry, we don't know what came over him. We'll be back soon, I'm so sorry about this. Uh... Johan, be a dear and pick up that...painting...for me. We'll be on our way." Rachel said, running her hands agitatedly through her hair as she stuffed her check book back in her bag.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:09, Wed 19 Sept 2018.

In reply to Jonathan Graham (msg # 43):

Gustav together with Mr. Murphy subdued Mr. Graham before he can ruin another expensive painting. When Jonathan visibly calm down, Gustav goes over to him, disarm him of his pencil and helped him get back on his feet.

"Oh Mr. Graham. that painting looks expensive..."

Gustav then turns to both Miles and Bertha and says "I would assume this isn't the first time this had happened?"


will view their reaction to see if they will lie or tell the truth
This message was last edited by the player at 02:14, Wed 19 Sept 2018.

In reply to Gustav Schmidt (msg # 46):

When Dermot witnesses the brutal pencil assault, he throws a quick punch which glances off Jonathan’s face — barely connected. He helps Gustav wrestle him to the ground. Before he can shake his head at this fresh wave of absolute nonsense, he strains to hear some faint noise. As the group is ushered unceremoniously into the cold of winter, he swears he could hear a muffled cry coming from inside the locked closet! He shakes his head to try to clear out his mental cobwebs.

"Oi'll wager he takes some sick inspiration from sordid deeds he's wrapped up in somehow. Did anyone wonder about that locked closet? I could almost swear I heard something crying out from inside. A captive? Or a strange creature?"

Rachel looked positively horrified at the thought of the artist holding someone hostage in that house with those terrible paintings.

"We should go back-- I can't imagine being stuck in there with those horrid paintings!"

They tossed around several ideas on how to re-enter the Shipley house, a few ludicrous ones, but eventually, they came up with some sort of plan. They'd re-enter the house earlier than planned, through the backdoor. Rachel and Johan would act as distractions up front.

"Let's dump the painting back at Bromley's," Rachel suggested as she picked at her lunch. Handing over a check for a hundred pounds had certainly made her lose her appetite.

"I don't think his mother should know about this, and I think I have just the thing to knock her out quietly." Rachel muttered absently to no one in particular, mentally double checking if she had remembered to bring belladonna. She'd check her bags later, but she was sure she had syringes, and if she had forgotten belladonna, they could probably pick it up from midwives with enough coin.

"If the worst should happen, we should return the painting, slash all other paintings, and make sure there's no evidence of our transaction with them. Yes, yes, we'll have to go much earlier than expected, before they've had a chance to tell anyone we were there."

"Just to make sure, the plan is to garner information from Miles, free their hostage, if they truly have one, and get out quickly?"

Rachel and Johan knock at the front door of the Shipley house around 10 PM in the evening. It is a cold and foggy evening, making it difficult to see very far.

There is no response initially, but after a few minutes the door is unlocked and Bertha Shipley peers out through the crack of the opened door.

"Goodness gracious! Do you know what time it is, dear? Whatever are you doing here at this hour?"

The rest of you have quietly moved to the back of the house and are gathered at the back door. The door is near the kitchen window and there are no lights on inside.

[You can try a Lock-picking or hard (1/2) Mechanical Repair to open the door. A STR roll would also force it open but would be noisy]


This message was last edited by the GM at 13:01, Fri 21 Sept 2018.

In reply to GM (msg # 50):

"I'm terribly sorry-- but I've lost my wedding ring, I'm trying to find it--we've looked everywhere we went today!" Rachel said worriedly, laying it on thick on the old woman.

"I've got to find it--it's the only thing I have left," Rachel choked out a fake sob, "to remember my husband by."

"Oh, that is terrible," says Bertha and opens the door. "Where did you lose it?"

"I think I might've dropped it in Miles' art room? With Jonathan's sudden outburst, it might have slipped off-- I knew I shouldn't have put off getting it adjusted."

Bertha nods and draws her shawl closer around her. "Come in. We will find it. I think Miles is still up there painting now." She moves aside to let Rachel and Johan in.

Rachel lets Bertha go first and then stabs at her back with the syringe she had hidden. The needle gets tangled up in the thick shawl and Rachel pretends to have lost her footing. Johan makes a fuss about catching Rachel, and Rachel jabs the syringe into Bertha’s arm.

Bertha’s skin is surprisingly tough, but the needle goes in. She whirls around and stares at Rachel. Her eyes turn yellow and the pupils turn to slits. She lunges at Rachel, her mouth a jagged row of sharp pointed teeth!

The monster misses Rachel and the young antiquarian picks up an umbrella from the nearby umbrella stand and swings ineffectually at Bertha. Johan also attempts to hit the lizard person, but just bashes a big hole in the drywall instead.

Bertha grabs Rachel’s arm and sinks her teeth into it. Rachel can feel venom coursing through her veins but with a heroic effort she manages to stay awake.

The kitchen door burst open, and Gustav and Jonathan run into the hallway, followed by their friends. Seeing that she is heavily outnumbered, Bertha runs quickly through the front door and into the cold, foggy night. Jonathan moves to the doorway to try to snap a picture of her, but when the picture is later developed, it is just a blurred image that could be anything.


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:04, Fri 21 Sept 2018.

"Just finish up here quickly, I don't think I should move around too much," Rachel muttered, shaking her head to remain conscious. She found a hair tie and quickly tied it three inches above the bite.

"Do..do you think Miles is the same as his mother? We'd better get their hostage out quick."

In reply to GM (msg # 52):

Gustav kneels over to Rachel, checks her injuries and got a clean handkerchief to apply pressure over the bite mark.

"What in the kaiser's name is that thing?"

"Are you all right?"

added Gustav, with just a hint of concern in his voice. After doing what he can do for Rachel, he signals everyone to proceed upstairs and rescue whoever is crying in the second floor.

Before going up, Gustav ask hylun if he was able to take a picture of the damn thing. He whispered to him "Told you, wonderful things happen whenever we are together"

In reply to Gustav Schmidt (msg # 54):

As Gustav takes the lead up the stairs, Dermot issues a warning.

"After that holy show, it'll be a miracle if we're not known. Be on yer guard."

He draws his pistol and follows up the stairs.

You reach the door to the attic. It is locked but you force it open. Huddled up in the corner, you see Miles Shipley, clutching a paint brush in his hand. He stares at you wide-eyed.

“What is all this noise? You’re not allowed in here. Only mother is allowed in here. She’s a lizard, you know?” He giggles. “She ate my real mom and now she shows me the true world. I paint for her, and bring her food. I have to paint more!”

He turns his back to you and continues work on his latest painting, depicting a screaming woman being throttled by a massive, coiling thing made of smoke and shadow. The woman bears a strong resemblance to Rachel.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:05, Fri 21 Sept 2018.

“Wait...” Rachel mutters, remembering something. She pushed herself off thr chair and made her way towards the staircase.

“Gustav? Gustav!” Rachel called as she stands at the foot of the staircase. “The snake thing—I drugged her! She shouldn’t be able to get far!”

“Shit, should’ve gotten a stronger dose.” Rachel muttered to herself while keeping watch around her surroundings.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:18, Fri 21 Sept 2018.

In reply to Rachel Katz (msg # 57):

"Your mom's a lizard? Ye must be locked out of a tree like a monkey who forgot his keys. Lizard, ha!"

After Rachel calls down the stairs, he looks at her and blinks.

"What's this about snakes and lizards? Did some reptile give you a fright? I thought maybe ol Bertha was lookin ta hop on ye, but here we barged in and found ye all bleedin about the arm with nothin ta show."

In reply to Dermot Murphy (msg # 58):

Without waiting for a response, Dermot strides over to see to the closet lock. (He'll try to break it if possible.)

Dermot marches over to the closet and inspects the lock. As he touches the door, Miles lets out a piercing wail and lunges at him. “No, not that one! Not that one!”  But the young man is very weak and easily stopped.

Dermot quickly deals with the lock. Inside the closet, a dirty sheet covers an easel and a canvas. Uncovered, the canvas reveals a sketched out and half painted piece, clearly unfinished. The painting on the canvas shows a swampy area infested with serpents. A small island in the center holds a stone altar. The scene looks to be from the distant past (A successful Archaeology or Science (Botany) roll will yield further information)

Viewing the painting is unsettling, as the composition seems to move, provoking a queasy feeling and a SAN roll (0/1 loss).

Dermot leans in to study the painting. Suddenly, the images appear to become three-dimensional. In the space of a few seconds, the waters of the swamp start to ripple, the plants sway, the serpents wiggle, and the altar glows…

[Can I get a Hard (1/2) POW roll for those who study the painting, please?]

Ground Floor
The front door leads into a hallway, which ends at the kitchen, and has entrances to the reception room, dining room, and parlor along the way, as well as the staircase leading up to the upper floor. The property’s rear door, in the kitchen, opens onto a small garden enclosed by a 9 foot (3 m) high brick wall. A locked door in the kitchen leads down to the basement. Apart from the prevalent foul smell, the ground floor offers nothing particularly suspicious or out of place.

Upper Floor
Three of the four bedrooms are perfectly ordinary; the doors are unlocked and lead into dusty rooms with scant furnishings. The fourth bedroom is where Shipley sleeps and is locked —Shipley has the key. Inside Shipley’s room, the bedclothes are a mess and items of clothing are strewn about. The room contains a bed, wardrobe, dressing stand, and a wall closet. Hidden behind a hatbox on the top shelf of the closet is a lacquered box. The box contains a syringe and a small vial filled with a greenish colored liquid. The syringe has been used so often that the proper dosage can easily be seen by the line of green residue within the tube. It has about 3 doses left.

The Basement
This large room is cluttered with various junk. Boxes, crates, and broken chairs are stacked about. You also find a stone tub covered by a metal lid. When you lift the lid, you see the remains of a butchered body that has been half eaten…
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:40, Sat 22 Sept 2018.

In reply to GM (msg # 62):

After an astounding level of commotion, Bromley walks upstairs to see an incapacitated Miles and several of his companions gazing at a painting. It beggars belief, but one of them appears to be... to be fading away right in front of him.

Lurching forward, Bromley manages to grab the increasingly temporal figure and 'drag them back'. There's nothing else for it, this painting and all like it must be destroyed.

Before doing so, Bromley sets about exploring the house. Pushing through the basement, he spies a stone container. Having not learned his lesson in New York about peering under stone lids, he is troubled to find a butchered body of a young girl. While grotesque, it pales in comparison to some of the sights he has seen.

What Gustav learns from Miles Shipley;

Miles was a struggling artist with few prospects until he met a man named Arthur Cotting in the Rose & Crown public house two years ago. This man swore that he could show Shipley scenes to paint, which no artist before had ever captured. Using hypnosis and doses of the Plutonian Drug, Cotting (actually a serpent man) sent Shipley’s consciousness back in time to the era when serpent people ruled the planet. Shipley saw their basalt cities, visited their temples, watched their blood rites, and witnessed their gory wars. As he feverishly painted picture after picture of the hellish sights, Shipley’s sanity slipped away, even as his paintings grew in power and impact.

In return for such a gift, Cotting (or Ssathasaa in his own sibilant speech) wanted a safe place in which to live and eat a hearty meal or two each week. Miles’ home became the place, and human flesh would make up the meals. Miles’ aged mother, Bertha Shipley, comprised the first meal; Miles killed her, and Ssathasaa ate her and took her form, that of a kindly 70-year-old woman. It is as Bertha that Ssathasaa now lives.

Miles is now incurably insane and addicted to the Plutonian Drug. He rarely leaves his house, except to hunt down meals for his muse. These meals have been Bertha’s old friends, prostitutes, or down-and-outs. He is careful not to be noticed going about with these unfortunate victims and tends to only go looking for Ssathasaa’s food after the sun has gone down.

Dermot and Gustav leave the house in search of the fleeing serpent man. Dermot has no trouble following the faint tracks, even in the heavy fog and they soon find the nearly unconscious form of the creature hidden in a narrow alley. Ssathasaa is sitting on the ground, leaning against a brick wall and hisses with anger as you approach. He has assumed the form of Bertha again.

“You meddle in things you do not understand! I curse you!”

You notice a revolting odor of burning hair in the air, and from the corner of your eye, you glimpse what appears to be a sparkling gray cloud with thin, whip like tentacles reaching out towards you…
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:32, Sat 22 Sept 2018.

In reply to GM (msg # 65):

Dermot turns toward the evil fog in preparation for defense, but not quickly enough. He struggles to break free as tendrils of living mist flow into his mouth and nose, choking him. He looks toward Gustav in fright.


This message was last edited by the GM at 00:14, Sun 23 Sept 2018.

In reply to Dermot Murphy (msg # 66):

Dermot and Gustav manage to break free. Dermot hoofs it like Forrest Bump back to the Shipley house, peering over his shoulder now and then to be sure Gustav is following. They reach the Shipley house and bar the door and latch the windows. Dermot feels agonizingly betrayed by the watery element he normally feels so able to master. After a moment, he regains his composure and looks toward Gustav, huffing from exertion.

"While I appreciate your loyalty and enthusiasm, next time ye could take care not to burst my head open."

In reply to Dermot Murphy (msg # 67):

"What happened? Did you find her?" Rachel asked as they arrived, barring the doors once again behind them. She had taken Miles down to the living room with her, handed him a pile of papers and his pencils to keep him calm.