*** Session 01 - Scene 12 (of 14) ***

Not sure what to do next, Le Doux and Eberhardt decide to stake out the doctor's office and see if they cause Broncati to do anything rash.

Hawk arrives sometime later, noticing the two in the car. He heads over to the car and knocks on the window.

Eberhardt explains they are waiting for the doctor to see where he goes. Hawk asks if they spooked the doctor already. Eberhardt says they have. Hawk tells them to wait and see what happens then he heads in to the office.

The nurse inside isn't very accommodating to him until he mentions he's there on personal business related to the cop sitting in the car outside watching the place.

Edith goes to get the doctor, who comes out looking very mad. His disposition does not improve when Hawk suggests they need to speak privately.

Hawk tries telling the doctor he is there to help him with his police problem, noting he's involved in a murder and illegal abortions. When Broncati asks what he wants, Hawk tells him he wants the truth.

Broncati tells Hawk off, yelling at him to get out. As he leaves, Broncati yells racial slurs at him in Italian. Hawk makes a note to tell the tough guys in the neighborhood about it.

Hawk heads back over to the car and tells the others he didn't have any luck either. He does finally let them in on the information he found after Le Doux sardonically remarks he'll pay him twenty dollars if he'll stop whining about the money; but Hawk refuses Le Doux's money.

Eberhardt realizes that Broncati appeared to arrive at the Devereaux home right after he called Le Doux, so he is likely the murderer. They decide to stay watch to see what happens.

*** Session 01 - Scene 13 (of 14) ***

As it starts to get dark, Hawk makes his way around back to watch from there. He spots a car he assumes is Broncati's back in the alley. He decides to cut the gas line to avoid any high-speed chases later.

Eventually, Edith flips the sign to Closed and leaves, locking the door. The men figure Broncati must live in the apartment upstairs. Eberhardt notes one of the girls he saw in the waiting room earlier never appeared to leave.

A short time later in the alley, Hawk spots the doctor hauling a pair of lumpy, heavy-looking burlap bags out to his car. He starts up the car and Hawk slips around to the front to let Le Doux and Eberhardt know.

Le Doux has Hawk get in the car and the three of them follow Eberhardt's car as it drives out of the alley. Broncati appears to be heading north, but he doesn't get too far before he has to pull over his car suddenly; clearly it ran out of gas from the cut line.

The three men decide to approach Broncati and threaten him. Eberhardt tells Broncati clearly he is having some trouble and offers him a ride, asking him where he is going.

When the doctor refuses and says he'll just walk home, Eberhardt offers to grab his things. Broncati says they can leave that, saying it is just some trash for the dump.

Eberhardt grabs one of the burlap bags anyway. It is heavy, and he notices it is dripping blood. When he confronts the doctor about it, Hawk pulls out a gun. He tells the man to put his hands on the car. He pats him down to make sure he isn't carrying a weapon.

Broncati is clearly frightened and asks them not to shoot. Eberhardt tells him they have him now, and opens the bag to discover the chopped up body parts of the missing patient and her unborn child. He barely manages to maintain his sanity at the horrific sight.

Eberhardt expresses his shock to the doctor as he cuffs him, but Broncati insists it isn't what he thinks. He explains the girl died from the operation.

Le Doux tries to play good cop again, saying if he tells them everything they ask about they will let him go. Broncati offers to show them everything.

Broncati says they need to drive him to the place "where the bodies go". Hawk wants to know about Devereaux, but Broncati says it will all make sense when they reach the place.

Eberhardt decides to play along, putting him in the car while Le Doux tells him he can talk on the way. He directs them to the bayou near City Park. Eberhardt stops just outside the bayou, insisting Broncati tell them before they go any further.

Broncati tells him this is where he gets rid of the bodies when things go bad, noting sometimes they don't survive the abortion procedure. Hawk presses him about Devereaux. Broncati explains Devereaux kept after him about the girl (referring to Madeline). Madeline didn't survive, but Devereaux wouldn't let the matter drop so Broncati decided he had to murder him and arranged for the fake evidence to throw off the police.

Hawk tries extorting Broncati for money, but the doctor explains he doesn't actually have much because most of his patients are poor. He keeps trying to get them to go out into the swamp, saying it will make more sense there, but they decide heading out into the dark bayou at night with a murderer is a bad idea. They haul him to jail, kicking and screaming.

*** Session 01 - Scene 14 (of 14) ***

After Broncati is put in the holding cell at the precinct, Eberhardt spends the rest of the night filling out paperwork while Le Doux goes back to his office to find Nibbons asleep on the couch as he tired from waiting for them to return. They are unsure if Broncati will get charged on Devereaux, but feel Mrs. Devereaux will feel justice has been served in any event.

Hawk, however, decides that since the doctor is in jail he may as well make some money by burglarizing his office.

Breaking in, he finds the hallway behind the waiting room leads to a half bathroom and an exam room along with a set of stairs. He pockets some drugs from the exam room and heads upstairs to the apartment.

The apartment upstairs has a private bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom along with a boarded-up door. Hawk pries off the boards and opens the door to find a small library room. A chair with a small table are in the center of the room with an open book on it.

Hawk sees the book appears to be in Italian. The title reads, La Sostanza Alternativa. It lies on top of another book, The History of the Holy Inquisition. Since Hawk is interested in money not books, he ignores them.

Tossing the bedroom, he finds little more than a few dollars and a couple of items he might be able to pawn. The bedroom also has a door to an attic, but Hawk finds little up there except some junk. He also notices there is a hole in the attic floor showing down on the library room but thinks little of it.

After he leaves, Hawk makes the rounds to local criminals talking about how the doctor was arrested for killing black girls at his office. He hints perhaps they should burn the office down.

*** Session 01 - Session Notes ***

This was our first official session of the campaign, and it was night and day from the prologue experience. It may not come across fully in the write-up, but the session was quite a mess.

It had all of the earmarks of things I dislike in a session:
* PCs who refuse to cooperate with other PCs because "their character wouldn't"
* Players who can't follow clues; and worse, get fixated on red herrings far long after they've been revealed as such.
* Everyone looking to a single player to do everything / come up with every idea for them.
* PCs who think they can just walk up to NPCs and get the information they want.

The Le Doux player got really frustrated during the session. He got really tired of the other players just looking at him to solve the whole thing himself. He also fought multiple times with the Hawk player about the whole "insulting him by only paying him a dollar" thing / Hawk not sharing what he knew so they couldn't advance the investigation.

I was also annoyed at the Hawk character. We had concerns at the start - and so far the player is playing him far more 70's Blaxploitation than a believable character from the 20s.

We're hoping everyone got the message by the end of the session and things will go better next time.

Random notes about the session:
* The initial setup with all the false clues is an homage to Dashiell Hammett's short story, "The Tenth Clew" (hence I used the title for my session of "Too Many Clews").

* The newspaper articles were handouts I gave the players. I want to give them a series of 4-6 stories per session to add to the atmosphere; some will contain clues, some won't. On a side note, it takes a long time to write up fake newspaper articles.

* The Giants / Phillies game article contains scores from a real game in the 20s. The players were surprised by the high scores, but that was actually fairly typical then from what I saw in my research. All of the names / facts in the newspaper article are taken from actual history.

* The new juice drink story is a joke about "inventing" the (non-alcoholic) Pina Colada. Naturally, none of the players caught the joke. In real life, both the drink and a tiki bar are anachronistic, but its all part of a setup for something later.

* The Scopes trial is more for setting the tone. Like the baseball article, it contains all real facts from the times.

* The O'Conner story was mainly there to show there was a cover-up and the PCs didn't officially get much credit.

* The Devereauxs, their lawyer, and Jilly Dupay are named after characters in the film, The Skeleton Key, but that's the only connection.

* The murder weapon is clearly a joke on The Maltese Falcon.

* Most of the clues, again, are inspired by the Hammett story.

* The middle newspaper clip is a Simpsons reference.

* Theophile Gautier was a real person. I picked his named at random by looking for names of 19th century French poets. Later on, several NPCs seem to know who he is as if he were very famous, but really I just wanted to make it obvious to the PCs it was a random fake name. As you read, that didn't work - I had to explicitly tell them it was a fake clue more than once.

* Ms. Kringle is taken directly from the TV show Gotham. I needed a quick NPC to point out Eberhardt was following a red herring. On a side note, the dialog for that was hilarious because the player can only do a German accent without slipping into a French one if he does an over the top Hanz and Franz style accent.

* The interesting thing about the way the PCs tried to solve the case was they picked up on a few things right away - the maid going missing and the strange entries in the accounts, and figured out some of the clues at the crime scene were a plant, but still spent an inordinate amount of time chasing down the false clues instead of focusing on the ones that couldn't have been planted by the killer.

* I'm still not sure if the Nibbons player caught the hint about "liking jazz music" as later on he related the information to the others rather literally.

* The Hawk and Le Doux argue about money thing happened in and out of game multiple times in the session extending for over 15 minutes at one point. The Hawk player insisted he felt insulted by the low pay while the Le Doux player was offended because he felt he was being historically accurate and the Hawk player wasn't acting like a black man in the South in the 20s but rather a more modern "black man with an attitude" type.

* Because of the way the investigation went, the poor Nibbons player just sat around the last hour of the game since they never went back to get him.

* PCs having a hard time getting information out of an uncooperative NPC is a recurring theme I've seen over the years. It's like they literally can't comprehend a way to influence a NPC outside of either bribery or intimidation.

* In the game, the Le Doux player really did shoot the doctor; mostly because he was frustrated none of the other players were trying to help him solve the case. It was kind of a "guys, I'm not really a private detective so can you actually help?" sort of thing. Once the frustration was vented, we decided to do that part over.

* Hawk was on thin ice with his tactics in bursting into the doctor's office. If he tries it with anyone who isn't an immigrant criminal, he's going to get lynched.

* Hawk cutting the gas line put a major crimp in the "follow Broncati" plan. Not sure why he did that.

* There was much more going on with the plot in the bayou. It would have been a real horror moment if they would have gone in. In fact, the climax in the bayou was my original inspiration for the scenario, inspired by the various Planned Parenthood debates/scandal. Note that this scenario is not intended to be political - I'm not making a social commentary on abortion, it's simply part of the plot.

* Because we missed the real climax, the session ends anti-climactically with Hawk going through the doctor's office / apartment. And because the player doesn't really "get" the occult angle of the game, he totally glosses over the important part of the location with the occult books. But since he told other people to go to the house, I'm thinking someone else will find the doctor's book / notes and the story will continue later...

Quote from: jgants;860401The new juice drink story is a joke about "inventing" the (non-alcoholic) Pina Colada. Naturally, none of the players caught the joke. In real life, both the drink and a tiki bar are anachronistic, but its all part of a setup for something later.

I was wondering if it was that or if you were introducing Jamaica Ginger, "Jake".

*** Session 02 - Cast of Characters ***

Bruno Eberhardt: A 1st generation German immigrant and seasoned police officer. He does some work on the side for Le Doux and others to supplement his income.

Boudreaux "Boo" Le Doux: A Cajun and former swamp guide turned private eye who styles himself after hardboiled pulp detective novels.

Chester Lee Nibbons: A younger, bookish White guy who works as Le Doux's "partner" in order to pay off a gambling debt to him.

Benjamin "Hawk" Brooks: A Black street kid turned enforcer. He works as muscle and provides information for Le Doux, for a price.

Patricia "Patsy" Walker: A former model turned demonologist from Long Island. She is tracking down increased cult activity in the Crescent City area.

*** Session 02 - Scene 1 (of 17) ***

Two weeks pass since the arrest of Dr. Amenti Broncati. Officer Eberhardt seems to gain the most from the investigation, getting promoted to detective and being placed in the homicide division. Le Doux scoffs when he hears the news, as Bruno is clearly getting credit for a case again when he didn't really do anything to solve it.

As before, things have slowed down again and Le Doux, Nibbons, Eberhardt, and Hawk find themselves sitting around and reading the newspaper.

Le Doux is looking at the national news section. He finds this story interesting:

Search for National Monument Site

Historian Doane Robinson and sculptor Gutzon Borglum are scouting locations this year for a national monument site.

Originally an idea for important Sioux figures to be carved into the Black Hills, the project has transformed into carvings of former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

While the exact location is still to be determined, officials confirmed it will still be located somewhere in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.

Hawk, however, is more interested in the local news. He reads this story:

New Film Scouting Local Sites

Mammoth Studios announced yesterday that it will be looking at locations in Crescent City to use for its upcoming film, The Tower of Darkness.

The film was previously attempted in Hollywood back in 1921, but the mysterious disappearance of star Jason Roland during filming caused the production to halt.

Roland was a rising Hollywood star whose sudden vanishing act is still under investigation. While various illicit rumors about the star have come up over the years, police have been unable to substantiate any of them.

A previous attempt to continue the film was plagued with problems on set and eventually the film was shut down after the crew complained the set was haunted.

Director Robert Waite revived the project after securing new financing to re-shoot the film on location in the South.

Although the film now stars Wes Nelson, the leading lady will still be played by Stella Houston, Roland's former girlfriend.

Eberhardt believes the more important story in local news is the one related to their recent case:

Dago Doc Sent to Nut House

Dr. Amenti Broncati, a recent immigrant from Lucca, Italy, was found mentally incompetent to stand trial yesterday. Dr. Nathaniel Essex of the Crescent City Asylum testified in a preliminary hearing that the doctor suffered from acute delusions, likely the result of his guilt from his brutal practice of performing abortions and cutting up the remains of the girls who died in the procedure.

Police found Broncati transporting two bags of remains in his car two weeks ago and he was arrested for murder. According to investigators in the case, Broncati disposed of the remains of his victims in the bayou near City Park. Police have searched the bayou area but found no other remains.

In his testimony, Essex described his sessions with Broncati as full of lurid details of dismemberment and "feeding the swamp". According to Essex, one of Broncati's delusions involves a belief in a demon that lives in the swamp and feeds on the remains of the dead.

Judge Benedict Willard expressed his distaste in the matters being discussed and his reluctance to not have Broncati hanged at the first opportunity. But because of the testimony, Willard said he had no choice but to confine Broncati to the Crescent City Asylum until such time as he is fit to stand trial for his crimes.

Nibbons is more interested in the international news story:

German Socialist Traitors to Publish Novel

The National Socialist German Worker's Party (called Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or DAP, in their native tongue) are at it again. After the laughable attempt to take control of the Weimar Republic in Munich last year by staging a treasonous march from the Burgerbraukeller beer hall (in the event called the Beer Hall Putsch), the new plan of the DAP is to publish their manifesto of struggles and plans for Germany.

The first volume of the work is set to be published this year, with the second volume published next year, according to Eher-Verlag editor Max Amann.

According to Amann, the book was written by the current DAP president, a known Bavarian patriotic association activist, during his incarceration in Landsberg Prison after being convicted of treason last year. He was released late last year.

Various German officials have been quoted publicly mocking the effort as well as the rapid decline of political power of the DAP. The Governor of Landsberg was quoted as saying of the author, "He hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial."

*** Session 02 - Scene 2 (of 17) ***

Le Doux wonders if they can get any cases out of the report of a "demon in the swamp" or the "haunted film set", though notes he doesn't believe in any demons or spirits, only criminals.

About this time, demonologist Patricia Walker comes in the door. She tells Le Doux she has an update – she has discovered evidence of a second cell of the Cult of Allatou. According to Walker, the second cell is a group of businessmen in the community who call themselves "The Committee". So far, she has been unsuccessful in rooting out any members of the cult and her investigation into the cult has hit a brick wall.

Patricia also wanted to see Le Doux as she's been hearing troubling rumors around town about an occult text being loose in the community; apparently discovered in a recent burglary. She is concerned that such a text in the wrong hands will be very dangerous.

Le Doux wants to know more about the book, but Walker's knowledge is limited. She doesn't know what specific tome is involved, but believes it is now in the possession of someone in Marigny, and that the burglary occurred in the same area. From what she heard, the burglary was of some kind of office.

*** Session 02 - Scene 3 (of 17) ***

A short while later, Eberhardt heads over to the First Precinct to begin his first detective rotation. As he in a junior detective, he is placed with Det. Lee McElroy and Det. A.C. La Fleur, two of the best detectives in the division.

It doesn't take too long into the evening before they get their first call of a report of a body found on Gallatin Street. Det. McElroy notes that is one of the worst sections of Marigny, where all the smugglers, sailors, and street gangs tend to be found.

Arriving on the scene, they find Officer Goodhope along with a very drunk sailor, who the officer identifies as a witness. A body lies in the nearby alley. McElroy tells Eberhardt to take the witness interview while he and La Fleur examine the scene.

The sailor gives his name, eventually, as George Kerns. According to Kerns, he was out with his friends because it was a nice night. His speech is quite slurred and it takes a while for him to get a coherent sentence out.

Eberhardt presses him on the murder. Kerns explains he was headed back to his ship at the wharf, when he cut through the alley and stumbled across the body. According to Kerns, "He was dead. He was... all messed up."

Kerns can't give any kind of exact time (he'd just had his fifth cup of "juice"), and admits he didn't see anyone else around. Eberhardt feels there is little else they can get out of him, but tells him not to go anywhere in case they come up with more questions. Kerns responds by asking to borrow Eberhardt's hat, as he is feeling nauseous.

Heading over to the body, Eberhardt finds McElroy giving it a good look-over. He tells Eberhardt the guy is pretty cut up. According to the senior detective, he appears to have been killed with a heavy blade type of weapon. Eberhardt relays the witness was no help, saying "What can you do with a drunken sailor?"

Looking around, Eberhardt sees there is a lot of blood. La Fleur points out to the others a large black feather he found near the body; it appears to have some kind of animal bone tied to it with twine. Eberhardt bags it as evidence.

Feeling the feather may be occult-related, given the recent strange activities he's witness, Eberhardt checks the body for any symbols carved into it but finds none. He digs through the man's pockets; he finds no identification but does discover a hidden pocket containing an opium pipe and some kind of medal.

The medal appears to be a military medal. Eberhardt has a hard time reading it in the dark alley, but eventually makes out, "Haitian Campaign 1919-1920". Eberhardt recognizes the medal as referring to the Second Caco War, the recent conflict in Haiti where U.S. Marines fought against the rebel forces of Charlemagne Peralte to secure the presidency of Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave (in the government established by the U.S. occupation in order to secure U.S. business interests on the island). Eberhardt also recalls prior to WWI how the German Empire had a major base at Haiti as part of their Latin America espionage program and silently disapproves of how the U.S. propped up the Haitian government and U.S. business interests with their military occupation in order to limit German influence.

Detective La Fleur shakes Eberhardt out of his thoughts by calling out that he's found something else. As Eberhardt and McElroy look over, La Fleur shines his flashlight on the brick alley wall, showing some ornate chalk drawings. Eberhardt sketches them down on his note pad; he recognizes them as voodoo "veves", symbols of Damballah-Wedo, the life-giver, and Ogoun, the warrior.

McElroy isn't impressed. He says the opium pipe is the only evidence he needs in order to figure out what happened. Dismissing the case as a fight between hopheads over some white dragon, McElroy says it isn't worth investigating. Eberhardt goes along with the man, planning to continue the investigation himself. He offers to take the evidence back to the precinct and handle the paperwork, deciding he will stop by Le Doux's office first.

*** Session 02 - Scene 4 (of 17) ***

When Eberhardt returns, he finds the four of them are still sitting around with the paper. He tells them he has something to show them. He starts with the feather, telling Le Doux it was found at a murder and he seems to like these kind of cases.

Hawk is still thinking about the book Patricia mentioned. He asks if Eberhardt heard anything around the office about it, wondering if it was related to Broncati since he did have a library room. Eberhardt says he'll check on it when he gets back to the station while Hawk makes plans to ask around his community.

Le Doux uses all his investigative skills to point out the feather isn't ordinary, as it has a bone attached to it with twine. Hawk has him show it to Patricia.

Miss Walker identifies it as a voodoo fetish associated with death. Le Doux asks what the feather is used for, and she tells them it would typically be used to mark a person for death (to mark it as a ritualistic killing). Hawk rambles on about how in the Black community they would have used an ace of spades to mark the body while Walker rolls her eyes at him.

They also show her the voodoo veves, but she can offer little in the way of information Eberhardt doesn't already know. In voodoo, she explains, a veve is a beacon for the Loa, spirits who act as intermediaries between the living and the divine beings. Having the veves at the death suggests a ritual sacrifice of some kind.

Patricia notes the Cult of Allatou does not use these kind of symbols or rituals, so this is likely an unrelated occult event. She muses about the increasing occult activity in the region. Hawk expresses his displeasure about all of it, not liking cults or the occult at all.

Eberhardt then shows them the medal he found as well.  Le Doux examines it closely while Hawk suggests they look up military records to try and find if the victim was a marine. Eberhardt also says he can look for a tattoo on the body at the morgue.

Le Doux wants to chase down the voodoo angle first. But the only voodoo practitioner he is aware of is "Miss Cleo", a rather colorful performer who has several ads in the paper and even a radio ad for people to "come on down for your free palm reading".

Eberhardt suggests Nibbons go to the library to see if he can find any information on marines in the city who won the award. Le Doux agrees that is a good idea. Hawk also tells him to check out the doctor's office to check about the book.

Hawk gives enough details the others surmise he already burglarized the place. Le Doux confronts him about it but he plays it off as rumors he heard but does admit to "catching sight of the upstairs" while he talked to the doctor.

While Nibbons checks that out, Hawk plans to ask around the neighborhood. He's fairly certain the strange book he saw in the upstairs apartment in the doctor's office is the one Patricia is talking about.

*** Session 02 - Scene 5 (of 17) ***

Eberhardt, Walker, and Le Doux decide to drop in on Miss Cleo before Eberhardt heads back to the precinct. Even though it is late into the evening, the neon sign on her shop in Treme identifies it as being open.

The storefront appears to be rather run-down. They pass through some beads in to the parlor area. Along one wall is a large set of shelves filled with candles bearing price tags.

A large Black woman in her 40's appears from a back room, greeting them loudly. None of the three notice her obviously fake Haitian accent, but they do recognize her as Miss Cleo from her ads.

Miss Cleo asks who wants their reading first. Patricia volunteers Le Doux. She looks it over and makes several sounds indicating something is wrong. She tells him he is under some "bad juju" and has a curse on him. Miss Cleo explains she can make it go away right away by providing her "free candle ceremony", though they need to purchase the "special ceremonial candle" for only $29.95.

Walker can tell Miss Cleo is a complete fraud. She whispers the information to Le Doux.

To Cleo, Le Doux stays friendly. He says she must know a lot about this sort of thing. She explains, "Oh yes, child, Miss Cleo knows all about all the voodoo and hoodoo."

Le Doux asks Eberhardt for the feather. He shows it to Miss Cleo. She confirms the feather is what put the "bad hoodoo" on all of them. She says the candle ceremony can cover all three of them at once for only $35.

When he asks her about what the feather is, Miss Cleo describes it as the mark of the devil. According to her, it is a "black phoenix feather" or "the devil's feather." She goes on to explain about it "floats straight on down from Hell."

Convinced this is a dead end, Le Doux and Eberhardt discuss the questioning as a waste of time. Miss Cleo tries to tell them they can't waste time in getting the candle ceremony done, but they don't listen. She tells them to watch themselves, as the devil feather will put a cloud over them. Le Doux thanks her but tells her they will pass and they leave.

Outside, they wonder where they might find an authentic voodoo practitioner. Patricia and Eberhardt are too new to the area to know any, and Le Doux laments he always avoided such things as he doesn't believe in spirits and so on.

Eberhardt notes he needs to get back to the station to file his reports and check the evidence in. But Le Doux has an idea; he wants to head to Chez Louisianne. He wants to talk to Miss Marie.

*** Session 02 - Scene 6 (of 17) ***

Chez Louisianne is still open, though getting close to closing time. Still, the owner Frank warmly greets Le Doux, recognizing him from his last visit. He's happy to see Le Doux has brought some new friends this time.

Le Doux orders up some food and enquires about Miss Marie. Frank says she is, but reminds him he isn't a regular yet. Le Doux says he understands, but only needs to talk to her.

Miss Marie eventually comes over. She immediately identifies Patricia as having "the gift", saying she can always sense people who have it.

Le Doux explains there have been strange happenings lately, and he needs her expertise. He shows her the feather. She says there are feelings of evil and death around the feather, telling Patricia she's surprised she didn't feel it too.

Saying the feather was found on a dead body, Eberhardt wants to know who might have put it there. Miss Marie explains it would be someone who practices the dark, evil version of voodoo. She warns them to stay away from people like that, saying they are witches.

Le Doux wants to understand why the feather was used. Miss Marie says the use of the feather is for a death with a purpose – a warning or revenge.

When he shows her the sketches of the symbols on the wall, Miss Marie explains they will need to find a practitioner of voodoo to help them. She asks if they have heard of Marie Laveau back in the day; Le Doux does recall the name as being of a major voodoo practitioner of the 19th century.

Miss Marie tells them they need to find one of the descendants of Marie Laveau who carried on her practices. Le Doux asks her where they might find such a person. She suggests they look for a man named Lucien Celine. Le Doux leaves a large tip as they leave.

*** Session 02 - Scene 7 (of 17) ***

Meanwhile, Nibbons heads over to the doctor's office in Marigny. However, when he arrives at the location he finds it apparently burnt down several days ago. He attempts to look through the remains of the building, but it appears to have been picked over pretty good already.

Chester also has things he wants to look up in the library, but it is closed already. He tries jimmying the lock, but is interrupted by the night watchman.

Abandoning the effort, Chester heads back to the office.

*** Session 02 - Scene 8 (of 17) ***

Walking through the streets of Treme and Marigny, Hawk asks around with the people he previously sent towards the doctor's office to see if anyone saw or took any books. He gets a few names to run down, but people are nervous; apparently ever since Broncati's office was torched the klan has been more active in the area.

Hawk asks one of his contacts, "Bear" Brown, about what people might have done with the books (as he's fairly certain they didn't grab them to read). Brown says he hasn't done much with books himself, but he heard the Blue Acadian bookstore has some good books in the back. He also mentions hearing about a female cousin of a mutual acquaintance of theirs, named Jamal, who made some money selling things there.

Hawk spends the rest of the night trying to track down some of the names Bear gave him, but has little luck.

*** Session 02 - Scene 9 (of 17) ***

After dropping off Le Doux and Patricia back at the office, Eberhardt heads back to the precinct to drop off the evidence and fill out his paperwork.

Once he's done with that, he tries asking around about a burglary at the Broncati office, but the detectives in the Property Crimes Division don't much care for him interfering in their cases.

McElroy spots Eberhardt and tells him not to worry about it and focus on his own assignments. He also says they have a lead on the identification of their dead junkie. Using his Marine tattoo, McElroy has identified him as John Taubert, a known hophead.

According to the police files, Taubert has had several arrests for heroin over the last few years. McElroy is convinced the death was drug related. Eberhardt agrees the case is closed, though he grabs the file to look over.

Scanning the file, Eberhardt looks for any kind of associates related to voodoo. He does, however, see that several of the arrests occurred around the Maple Leaf Room – a run-down dance club in Marigny.