Sully closes Prodigies and looks over his notes. He pulls the unsmoked Old Gold from his pocket and puts it between his lips, sitting for a few minutes in thought. Then he makes his way back to Professor Wells's office in search of the others.

"Not that I expect to be handling the book extensively, I also have some gloves which I use to develop film." He exchanged the necessary pleasantries with this man, and turned to Professor Wells. "Well, I suppose we should be going then, Professor?"

"Yes, I think that's wise. To go study this book a bit. Thank you again for your assistance, Choffard. I'll see you soon, I'm sure!" He lead Flatt back to his office, and settled down to take a quick study of the book, using the gloves he had.

Sully enters Wells's office.

"Hello fellows, did you get some information? I've traced the Bishop family back to Sermon Bishop, a wizard in Massachusetts in colonial times. He worked some kind of longevity magic and was attempting 'blaspemical resurrections'. When things got too hot for him and they apparently killed him, his niece or something, Agatha, who was supposed to be a witch, came to New York."

When they're ready to hear it, he tells them about Sermon Bishop and Agatha Bishop and the founding of the cemetery where Agatha is buried.

OOC: While As Flatt and Wells update Quinn on what they came across, I need a bit of clarification, probably from the professor. I’m presuming it will be Wells who studies Cultes des Goules, but how does he plan to go about it? Will he skim the book first, or simply jump right into reading it, cover to cover?

OOC:

I should have specified that - I think he'll skim the book first, and then when time allows he will take a deeper study (just to allow for other investigators to do stuff instead of sitting around watching him read).

Arthur found his hands were shaking a bit as he lit up a cigarette. "What would you like to bet that the Bishops finally found the way to continue those practices without getting caught?"

After a moment, he started telling Sully about their business. "We've picked up this book...in French, translated by someone into English. Cultes des Goules. It apparently discusses...raising the dead, and those strange gods the Professor mentioned. I don't like the book at all."

OOC: If the Professor studies the text, then Arthur will nonetheless be willing to help in any way possible, e.g., notes dictation. If you're going to mishandle a scary book, you might as well really mishandle it. :)

(I think he'll join in for the skimming, and find other matters to attend to otherwise.)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:05, Tue 21 June 2022.

"It is an unpleasant book to be sure, but perhaps there's some leads here for us to follow...something to help trace our favorite undertaker's extracurricular activities. Something illegal surely. Perhaps the Bishop leads you all have turned up are something to follow up on? Whatever this Agatha got involved with?"

He spoke absent mindedly, the main part of his attention focused on the book.

OOC:

I'm certainly down for a joint study operation, and I agree...let's really mishandle it :D

Sully watches the professor turn pages in his old book for a few minutes, but is soon bored and still craving a smoke.

"I think I'll go back to the cemetery and see if I can scout out old Agatha's tomb and any other Bishops that might be resting there. Care to come along, Arthur?" He suggests that they meet in the evening and lets Wells name the spot.

As the investigators discuss potential plans for the evening, Jake Morris returns from his search for answers on the Lower East Side.

OOC: The Professor and Flatt will be able to complete an initial reading (skim) of Cultes des Goules prior to meeting up with the others after dark. Between Wells’ grasp of Romance languages and the accompanying folio, comprehending the essence of the text will not require a reading roll.

If Wells and Flatt press forward with said reading, they will be subject to a Sanity Loss of 1d10 points. They will also gain 8 points of Cthulhu Mythos skill. They will discover any spells that the tome contains, but mastering any of the magical invocations will require additional study.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:47, Wed 22 June 2022.

"What is this?" Jake laughs as he returns to the professor's office and finds the other pouring over old books. "You guys are here reading while I'm out pounding the streets? Huh!"

He quickly summarizes his interviews with the relatives of two recent victims taken from the ghoulish scrap book they found at the cemetery.

"Both of them mentioned the old cemetery by name. Both had bad feelings about it. The horn player, he saw a tall man watching him a couple of times before he got killed."

He reads from his notes. "I quote, 'he had a top hat on and a heavy coat with a fur collar.' Sounds familiar, huh?

"The girl, she avoided the place like the plague until she got caught short one night and that was all it took. There may be another eye witness, a salesman. I'll follow up. But he saw someone crouched down that scared him, he said.

"This place has a bad reputation around here. Pretty much everyone knows to stay well away.

"Oh, and by the way, the cops are investigating a break in at the bone yard. I stopped and chatted with my old pal, MacBrady -- he says that Bishop reported three bodies pulled out of cold storage and mutilated. The cops think it may be the killer on a spree. I don't know. We left those dead guys locked up. We didn't tear 'em up. Must have been someone else who came in after us.

"Or Bishop is just covering his tracks with a smokescreen."

On the marble front steps of the building, Sully has just gotten a cigarette lit and taken a drag when he sees Jake approaching. He greets the detective, fills his lungs with an enormous drag on the Old Gold, and drops the half-consumed cylinder to smolder on the porch.

He follows Jake back inside, trailing a thin stream of exhaled smoke up to Wells's office.

Drawn ever further into the reading, Wells continued, even when parts of him told him it was more sensible to stop.

OOC:

Well, shit. :D

12:14, Today: Anthony Wells rolled 10 using 1d10.  Sanity Loss..

Arthur took notes, replete with his own speculations, like a demon, wide-eyed and disturbed at every moment.

OOC: Right there with you, Professor.

"03:35, Today: Arthur G. Flatt rolled 9 using 1d10.  sanity loss."

OOC: Professor Wells and Mr. Flatt, before we proceed further, I need you both to provide me with an INT (Idea) roll.

OOC: Too smart for his own good...



00:33, Today: Anthony Wells rolled 37 using 1d100.  Idea (75).

OOC: Likewise, Professor. :)

"03:42, Today: Arthur G. Flatt rolled 7 using 1d100.  intelligence :(."

The hours that unfold seem to take on a life of their own, but it is a terrible life; an awoken, undulating shadow filled with the sinister slitherings of barely glimpsed horrors, and the dismantling of truths that both Wells and Flatt had long taken for granted, even quietly clung to as foundational to their understanding of the world and their own fragile existence within it. As Cultes des Goules disgorges its fell secrets into the waiting minds of its readers, both men feel their grasp on all that seems familiar and stable slipping, replaced by the unshakable recognition of the presence of abhorrent, alien beings, hidden within the darkness and the deep recesses of the Earth, possessed of unspeakable, hideous power, and entirely unconcerned for the welfare of humankind.

OOC: Professor Wells, Mr. Flatt, due to the sudden sanity loss you each suffered, you are both temporarily insane. The bout of insanity will last for…

21:03, Today: The Keeper rolled 3 using 1d10.  Time.

…three hours, after which…

21:07, Today: The Keeper rolled 10 using 1d10.  Professor Wells - Bout Effect.

…Professor Wells emerges with a new mania…

21:07, Today: The Keeper rolled 9 using 1d10.  Arthur Flatt - Bout Effect.

…and Arthur gains a new phobia.

The Call of Cthulhu Keepers Rulebook offers a fairly exhaustive list of manias and phobias in the chapter on sanity. You are each welcome to choose one from the list or, if you prefer, you can make a d100 roll to select one at random.

Once you’ve determined what psychic scar you’ve inherited, post your selection here and I’ll move the scene forward with additional information gleaned from the nightmarish tome.

As well, each of you please add 8 points of Cthulhu Mythos skill to your respective character sheets and lower your maximum sanity by the same amount.

Wells stopped his reading to share his thoughts with Flatt.

"Man was not meant to consume peanut butter, Flatt. It is a dreadful, dreadful concoction that will kill you if you eat enough of it...sticking to your mouth until you cant swallow  or do anything. Did you know that it takes five hundred and forty peanuts to make a jar of that foul death paste?"

Arthur had, for his very own part, been ruminating on the many uses for a chicken which they had discovered in the past hours. He wouldn't be able to look at a chicken without being reminded of terrible things for some time thereafter.

But he took notes on the peanut butter closely, at least until the end, when he suddenly snapped loudly at the professor.

"What the god damn does peanut butter matter, Wells?!"

He threw his notes across the room, knocking his chair over backwards. Froze. Tidied his hair and set everything back in order.

"I'm...apologies, Professor."

OOC: Probably should have hit "Post message" on this first...

"Peanut butter? It doesn't matter at all, Flatt. I am simply warning you against its many dangers. Specifically, five hundred and forty dangers. One for each nut. One by one, those nuts will spell doom for..." He shook his head.

"No, my apologies. I've been rambling. I had a childhood caregiver choke to death on peanut butter in front of me as a young boy, and I haven't been able to stomach the stuff since. But that's neither here nor there. I don't know why this book remined me of that. This ninety-two page book. Ninety two is four times twenty three, as you well know."

OOC:

In Well's background, he has arachibutyrophobia, which explain all the peanut butter references.

Additionally, here he picks up the following manias:

1. Arithmomania -  obsessive preoccupation with numbers.
2. Ichthyomania - obsession with fish

The latter will remain latent, until triggered by narrative events, like obtaining spells that allow for the summoning of fish.

Arthur was sweating as Anthony Wells spoke on the peanuts, looking like he was trying to stop himself from taking notes as the old man rambled. When the Professor took a quite natural pause, Arthur started mopping the sweat from his face.

He listened, and after he listened, he said: "Do you think these Bishops...do you think they use chickens? Sacrificially, you understand, the bloody butchering and all that?"

OOC: In case it's not clear, Arthur picked up a case of chicken fear, based on a random roll. Maybe it's easier to imagine a chicken and be afraid than it is to imagine a person. :)

Not sure that there's anything else to say in this scene. What did we learn from the book, other than spells?

Cultes des Goules primarily concerns itself with the worship of Nyogtha, also called The Sanguine and The Haunter of the Red Abyss. An impossibly ancient being, Nyogtha is said to dwell deep within the darkest places of the earth, its form amorphous and unknowable. The monstrous deity is said to grant its followers power over death, including the ability to extend their own lifespans and to raise the dead as servants to do their bidding. The latter process is a magickal working that the text refers to as the “black binding”.

Nyogtha is said to be served by loathesome humanoid creatures, the gules of the book’s title. (The English approximation of the term is “ghouls”.) The tome describes them as bipedal creatures possessing rubbery skin, hoof-like feet, bestial features that are canine in resemblance, and long claws. Ghouls crave and subsist on rotting remains and thus tend to reside near crypts and graveyards, dwelling in networks of underground tunnels. Due to this appetite, the monsters are never far from human civilization, existing in secret. Some claim that the ghoulish delight in eating dead flesh arises from the fact that they are able to absorb the essence and memories of life of the one consumed.

Ghouls are not the only vile creatures detailed within the dark pages. Sections of the text speak of a monstrous entity that dwells within a primordial forest, progenitor to innumerable, gibbering creatures which stalk the wilds. It also describes great winged beasts, neither fully insect nor reptile in nature, which serve a terrible master in a vacant city hidden within the stars.

The book details many repulsive rituals associated with the veneration of Nyogtha and its kin, along with certain magickal workings said to call upon the ancient being’s power, or even to summon Nyogtha itself.

OOC: The following spells are described within the pages of Cultes des Goules. If either Wells or Flatt wish to learn any of them, please let me know and we can review the time and requirements involved.

• Black Binding (Create Zombie)
• Call/Dismiss Nyogtha
• Call/Dismiss Shub Niggurath
• Contact Ghoul
• Resurrection
• Shriveling
• Summon/Bind Byakhee
• Summon/Bind Dark Young
• Voorish Sign

It's evening, but still somewhat light as Jake and Sully return to the professor's office at the university. They don't have much to report other than old Agatha Bishop lived well into her nineties from 1677 to 1770 and is in an isolated section of the cemetery.

"How about you guys?" Jake asks breezily. "Learn anything in them books?"

"I think it very likely that these peanut butter lovers use chickens in their proceedings; at least as practice. If they will stoop to using humans, then why stop there? Why not chickens, or any other animal for that matter? Sacrificially or otherwise..." He broke off into a brief chuckle, which devolved into muttering, and continued to study until the others rejoined them.

He looked at Jake as he entered as if he hadn't seen him in ages before snapping out of his stupor. Replaying the question in his head once, he paused only to wonder as to Jake's level of education.

"Yes, we did learn something from 'them books,' or rather this book, as it was just a singular volume that we were studying," he said referring to Cultes des Goules. "Unfortunately, much of it is material that most will dismiss as fantasy, though I hope you will forgive me for saying that we have witnessed sufficiently strange events to the effect that I am more and more inclined to give some credence to them. These people were involved in the practice of worshipping non-traditional deities, at least ones not ascribed to any major religion or culture that I've ever heard more than the merest fragment of a hint of in my studies. They must have professed a true belief in rituals such as resurrection as well as the creation of zombies. It isn't enough to tell me what they were doing or why they were doing it specifically, but that they are involved in funerary practices is disturbing. Who knows what demented experiments and rituals they are performing on the dead?"

And if any dead got loose from their experiments, might not they then kill innocent citizens passing through the area?